Supercape

The heat was coming from the central room of the factory. It didn't take long for Jubatus to find it, with his infrared vision - the walls were positively glowing. In the room, five anarchists were dancing around a large bonfire they had lit in the middle of the room. Smoke and heat belched forward, obscuring vision - and a heavy drum and bass track made hearing almost as hard. Every now and again, one of the anarchists would come forward and smash up a piece of machinery or electronics. Two security guards and two scientists had been tied up next to the fire, and were clearly suffering from the smoke and heat.

At Freedom City University Physics Department "Come in, come in" said Quentin, gesturing for Tarrant to join him. It was mid afternoon so a lot of the department was busy with research projects and teaching, but Quentin had managed to wrangle some time at a laboratory. A few other scientists milled around engrossed in their own research or chatting over coffee - a few nodded and swapped a few words with Quentin, who was clearly fairly well respected and popular on campus. "Right then, lets have a look at this before that Vulture Liebniz comes in and ruins the day" said Quentin, carefully placing the rock in a spectroscope. "Where was it found, did you say?"

No problems Sorus! Sorry not to see you but totally understand. The thread is, I think "semi open" in that anyone who has a good reason to pip in can do so providing its not too full. Also, people may wish to pop in for parts of the threads and not others I guess.

"Oh fantastic" said Slick dejectedly, as the dummy trundled slowly and gracelessly towards its cold fate. If he had lungs he would be hyperventilating. Flashes of his early years under Nazi experimentation kept popping up in his psyche. "I've probably had worse, but even so..." "Try not to enjoy this to much" he said to Miss Americana as he steeled his mind for the frigid horrors that he had concocted in his imagination.

"Just have a nice cup of tea beforehand!" said Supercape with a smile full of encouragement. He went straight to the kettle "and in my case, afterwards!". He had taken to carrying tea bags with him all the time, including in costume, for fear of being without his beloved brew. It was just one more step before he would have a tea-utility belt. "You didn't look nervous at all!" lied Supercape - although in truth Dragonfly had done very well, and it was only because he knew her that he could detect the more obvious signs. "And in any case, it served its function. The expo hall is still buzzing. " he pointed at a video screen showing a live feed from the hall. "I guess we may have to do smaller shows now and again, just to keep up the PR side of things, but hopefully nothing on this scale".

"Hmph" muttered Rene. "Travelling by air at that speed through the Arctic? Sounds a bit cold to me..." He brought out a notebook and carefully removed a picture of a Street in Freedom City. His home. "I shall let you deal with Toy Boy and the authorities, as you seem much more official than me. I shall have to make my own way back. " He brought out his paintbrush and started waving it in mid-air. Colours and lights danced around, and Victory could see an image form on the picture. "All that red tape and legalese" muttered Rene "its no good for my heart you know. After all" he continued, as he faded from view and the image on the picture become quite clearly that of Rene giving a wave to the camera. "I'm just a helpless old man!". Was it possible that the last bit of Rene to fade away into the picture was his left eye, hung motionless in the air for a fraction of a second, before disappearing with a wink?

"Of course, Monsieur, of course. Nothing more dangerous than magic in the wrong hands, or hands that don't quite know what they are doing. Why, I remember when Broken Crow was teaching me the rudiments of thaumaturgy and..." He paused. Best not let too much of the mystery around him evaporate. "...well lets just say the cat was never quite the same". He coughed. He gestured towards nowhere in particular. The park was actually a pleasant walk. "Walk with me a moment and tell me your story, if you would be so good?"

"I'm afraid not. Not yet anywhere. Or not in this dimension". Supercape briefly thought of the Giant steam robots under construction in Earth Victoriana dimension. Well, he was just test - driving the dimensional scanner... He eased out a crink in his neck from watching Marcus circle the track at high speed. "Well, I suppose the fun part is over. I have to say I have given you some valuable training, at least. So we best head up to the Simulator Suite". He pressed a button for a lift at one of the three spines running at the edge of the Lab. "Anything in particular you had in mind?"

"Of course! the track is reinforced with malleable plastics on either side, so its hard to do a serious injury. But don't let health and safety.. or Claremont, for that matter, know!" he winked. He studied the vehicle Marcus had chosen. "Ah yes, the Solar Cycle. Its a little experiment for a moon vehicle. Powers up by solar radiation. Electric motors. Not a fantastic top speed, and no aerodynamics at all of course, but it accelerates and decelerates like nothing else. And its got a great set of wheels!" he added, pointing to the enormous custom tyres that took up most of the vehicle. It looked like some kind of quad bike crossed with a brick, with a large silvery roof to complement it.

Quentin peered at the rock. It was fairly unremarkable to his eyes, but he nodded sagely - to impress his fellow professor if nothing else. The mass was wrong, for starters. And the radiation was deeply odd, shifting around like a blob of mercury - something a mineral had no right to do. His senses were not as precise as a well calibrated machine, but they did point to something very very strange. Hopefully the right instruments could help. "Yes, yes" he mumbled. "Looks like a rock to me!" he winked. "I can't say much right now, but it certainly bears further investigation. Perhaps we should escort it to the physics department here?"

"Indeed I did" said Rene, raising his hand and putting on his best fierce voice... "You are a very, VERY, naughty boy" he said, with all the menace he could muster. "Noooo... Noooo!" squealed Toy Boy, scrunching up his face and holding his hands over his behind as best he was able. Rene chuckled. "You fully deserve a good spanking, Monsieur. But in this case, I shall let the courts of law decide what is right and best for you. Which, I should imagine, would mean a loss of liberty and a stay at a certain high security specialist prison in Freedom City. I'll let your brain, which I am sure is quite spectacular, do the imagination for you. " He looked at Victory "can you take him back to Freedom? I could do with a ride myself... perhaps there is a Sleigh here we could borrow?"

"Aha!" said Supercape, raising his finger as if solving a Sherlock Holmes mystery "bit of a... what do they call it over here... gear head is it?" He started walking Marcus through the various machines, both vehicles and support items. This level also had a small parking space for the Lab members and a few VIPS, but as normal it was barely half full, so he avoided this non-descript area. He pointed out a few items of interest, but this really wasn't his field. He took Marcus almost directly to the small circular testing track that wove a figure of eight around at least half of the sub level. "Fancy giving it a whirl?" he said, with a grin. Driving wasn't for him (being able to go anywhere in the multiverse in the blink of an eye put the dampers on any other form of transport), but he could see the attraction for his student.

He is at your Mercy!

Ok, I dont know what you are up to with this which is just the way I like it! So, applying Supercapes Acute senses: Gravity/Mass, Electricty, EM Energy, Radio (Waves), and Radar, to the object...

"Here? in your pocket?" asked Quentin, almost rubbing his hands in glee. "And please, call me Quentin. Sir is for students, and only the ones that aren't particularly smart..." "So I guess you have a small chunk here? and the rest stored away safely? well... lets have a look then! I doubt I can shed any light right here, but I would appreciate a quick peek!" As he spoke, he already started focussing his uncanny senses on his professorial peer.

Toy Boys statted up is pretty useless and helpless in a "straight" fight. He isn't going to fight, so yes, you can pretty much do as you will at this point!

"Certainly. The greater the mystery, the greater the attraction, I always say". He wished now that he had access to the Lab, but the equipment at the University was pretty descent, even if it wasn't world class like the science HQ of Freedom. He stood up, having completely forgotten about the half-brewed tea. All in all, he conceded, he was pretty excited about the whole prospect. "Where did you find this? where is it? what tests have you run? how much of it is there? *Ahem* Sorry, too many questions all jumbled up. Can we go and see it?"

"Lets have a look at the Garage first then, before we have to go through all that training nonsense" smiled Supercape. "To be honest, you could probably teach me a thing or too!" He stepped into the Lift and once Marcus has followed, the elevator swiftly descended one floor to the Garage. "Only one floor, a bit lazy of me, but as I had called it..." he mumbled as way of an apology. The garage was huge, and probably the least pristine place in the whole Lab. Despite air vents and state of the art materials, it couldn't quite shake off the smell of petroleum, fuels, and oils. The whole level was one big parking space, repair and workshop for all manner of ground vehicles, some of them only half constructed.

Quentin sat up. "Well that is most certainly of interest" he replied, his interest piqued. "Radioactive? Higher mass than expected?" he pondered the matter, tapping his chin with his finger. "There are plenty of possibilities, from a theoretical physical point of view. In real life, so to speak, they would be highly improbabe. I'm not an expert geologist, of course, but I expect that's why you called me in. That's your field, I presume?"

Victory opened what must surely have been the last possible toy to house the scallywag in question, and sure enough, cute as a button and as furious as a bull, sat Toyboy, amidst a plethora of scanners, video feeds, joysticks, and keyboards. "Curse you Victory! Curse you!" the man-child screamed in a high pitched voice. "I'll get my hands on that technology if the last thing I do" he continued waving his fist.

"Why of course" said Quentin, standing up and successfully knocking over his tea this time. "Blast and damnation" he cursed, dabbing off the cold Earl Grey from his desk. Offering Tarrant a seat, he sat down - more carefully this time - in his comfortable leather chair. "Can I offer you anything? Cup of tea perhaps? whilst you explain to me how I can help".

"Excellent! the Lab is more than just pure science, we do get down and dirty in oil and grease and wires and all that stuff too. Workshops, the Garage, the Hanger... although I confess my fellow Labbites are much better than me in that department. I'm more pure science. Mainly quantum physics, but I study practically anything I set my eyes on!" He lead Marcus to a lift and pressed for an elevator. He studied his PDA once more. "Says here those Claremont fellows suggest some 'alien environment' training, which I guess means the simulator suite. But really, anything you want to see whilst you are here?"

"Yes indeed, yes indeed" said Quentin, promptly removing his feet from the desk and shaking himself awake. "Just resting my eyes" he mumbled in a hurried manner, nearly knocking over the cold tea on his desk. Damn, late night at the Lab last night. And boring class this morning. Must have caught up with me, how mortifying! "*Ahem*" he coughed, adjusting his bow tie in his habitual manner. It was almost a tic now. "Come in come in, I don't believe I have had the pleasure... Mr...?"

"Please, none of that 'Sir' nonsense. It flatters my ego. Which shouldn't be flattered!" he gave a sparkling wink to Marcus. Looks like a good one he said to himself. "I could give you the Lab spiel about how its all blah blah this and blah blah that. But really, for us, its a just a giant toy box. Well, in the shape of a skyscraper. With a fusion reactor powering it. " He paused "its really quite fun!" he laughed "don't be intimidated. We do a lot of work here, and not just us. Scientists from all around the globe pop in to help with the efforts of promoting safe science for all mankind. We have every kind of division and study here. Anything you are particularly interested in? or studying yourself?"

"Nice improv" mentioned Rene. "Very Jazz. More to you than meets the eye!" he said, tapping his nose. He poked the dust that had been the robotic swarm with his foot, leaving a trail of carbon. "I have to hand it to his inventiveness, if not his morals. He has some class there. Some artistry". He shook his head clear. "However, I would rather discuss his artistic merits face to face..." he muttered in a more irritated tone. "Where is he???"