One of These is Not Like the Other (IC)

[Avenger Assembled]

"Sonofa..." Avenger wiped his forehead, one of the reflexive gestures he'd kept even after undeath. "We did it!" He looked around wildly, scanning the room intently, and would have celebrated more if not for the dead body in the other room. "Too late," he added, a grave look on his face. "And too fast. That bastard. Is everybody OK?" He moved quickly to Taylor's side.

[Gizmo]

Jack of all Blades' light footed stance worked against him, and he skidded forward a few inches as the malicious doppelganger's gravimetric energies imploded. Digging the soles of his boots into the floor, the swordsman regained his balance just in time to watch their foe vanish from site. Even his metahuman energy awareness confirmed that the evil Dark Star had disappeared.

"Uh... okay? Yay?" he said uncertainly, cocking one eyebrow. "Is that normal? 'Cause I gotta tell you, not helping my opinion of the cosmic stuff." While Avenger saw to his wife, the fencer looked about the library. "Huh. I kinda expected our Twinkle Twinkle to just show up once laughing boy was dealt with. You don't think he's really...? I mean, c'mon, it's Dark Star, right?" Jack's sixth sense put him in a unique position to appreciate just how powerful the space faring hero really was, and it was tough to imagine anything doing much more than slowing him down. Then again, they'd just defeated his wicked double, so evidently it was possible. Irksome as he found the straight-laced boyscout, Jack still considered him an ally on friendly terms, and above all a decent man. The swashbuckler hoped there as still time to save him.

[angrydurf]

The Gravtic flux that had filled the room hadn't touched Ace as the villainous double vanished apparently defeated. He glanced from Phantom and Avenger to Jack of All Blades, "So it would seem, I'll call Star Island and see if their instruments picked up anything." he said solemnly, "The double mentioned a prison. Maybe with him out of the picture the real Dark Star will be freed." Though Ace had his doubts about that as if it was the case wouldn't the gravtic hero already have returned?

He sighed as he flipped his phone open once more calling Star Island he didn't give his contact on the other end a chance to speak and began to explain as soon as he heard the line pick up, "Its Ace, we just took care of the double, I think, did you detect any disturbances wormholes? Anything?"

[alderwitch]

After wrestling the glowing starheart into what looked like a pickle jar, Taylor pulled the sliver of glass from the broken phylactery out of her hand and watched the skin seal shut in its wake as she dropped the shard onto the table with a few others that she'd plucked out while the men were touching bases. "There is no 'normal' when it comes to this sort of thing... Something with that much power has to be put down quickly."

She pushed the glowing jar over to the middle of her desk and looked up at Jack answering him in a quiet undertone, "I'm fine."

[Avenger Assembled]

Jack hugged Taylor gently, then looked over at Stesha's dead body. "We need to bury her," he said quietly, "before we do anything else. Dark Star may be far away, and Stesha deserves something better." He rubbed his eyes. "I know a funeral director who can make all the arrangements. But someone should probably talk to her family while all that's going on."

[alderwitch]

"Oh, god, we can't let her family see her like this, Jack..." Taylor protested weakly, before turning her eyes back to Stesha as well, "She's... She's..."

For once words failed the stoic mystic and she gave a little helpless gesture with her hands, eldritch power sparking through her fingertips uselessly as tears filled her eyes.

[Electra]

The rough handling during the fight had not been kind to Stesha's body, which had been in bad shape to start with, and was now in a graceless and twisted heap off near the bookshelves. When Taylor and the others looked at it more closely, though, lines that had at first appeared to be trickles of dark blood turned out instead to be tiny roots, creeping out from under her torn clothing and matted hair, growing down to the floor and beginning to creep through the carpeting. They were growing quickly, visibly lengthening as they seemed to search for a place to take root.

[angrydurf]

Ace looked up covering the microphone as he shook his head, "Put her in the ground already? Most certainly not not until we are sure ..." He trailed off as he seemed to get some kind of response from the other end of the phone he nodded, "Keep looking." he replied and covered the mic once more, "I wouldn't count her out yet."

It was hard to say if Ace was merely covering for his grief with this mad talk or if he had some real reason to believe she would return to life.

"HAHA, SEE!" he let out a mad cackle as he noted the roots seeking sustenance, "Absorbing a full grown mankana can do odd things to a person after all."

[Gizmo]

"Hey, I'm no doctor, but - " At Ace's raucous laughter, Jack of all Blades looked more closely at the still form of his hosts' fallen friend. His eyebrows shot up as he noticed the tiny, earthy tendrils. Instinctively he focused his metahuman senses, and discovered a fragrance of tulips so faint he might have been imagining it. Turning to the older heroes, he opened his mouth to ask a question, then shut it again, looking perplexed. Finally deciding that after everything that had happened that day he really didn't need to worry about sounding crazy, he cocked his head to one side and asked, "So, funny question... is and/or was she, like... a plant or something maybe?" He mimed petals over his head awkwardly "Sorta, y'know, flower... type... thing...?" It did indeed sound as ridiculous out loud as it had sounded in his head.

[Cyroa]

Ace's contact replied quickly. "Things are still rather busy here. Tracking multiple objects inboud and intercepting. But it looks like, I hope, the League and the others we managed to contact will intercept and stop them all. As for wormholes? No, not that we can tell. Though there have been wierd gravitic disturbances in Freedom City a few moments ago not to mention energy surges that were off the scale. Things seem to have subsided for now though."

[Avenger Assembled]

"Hah," said Avenger, without laughing. He walked over to Stesha's broken, fragile body, and gently scooped it up against his chest, the roots on her skin immediately sticking to his in a way that hopefully wouldn't last long. "Well, how about that? We're going to the mushroom garden in the basement," he said. "I'll be right back." And with that, he vanished.

[alderwitch]

Taylor held out her hands to Ace and Jack, teleporting down to the basement without waiting for anything other than their hands. They actually beat Jack down, as athough invisible, his travel was still not quite as fast as the direct route. With a gesture, she cleared out a space of fresh dirt, eldritch energy blowing the plants out of the way. Stesha would never have approved but if she opened her eyes to scold Taylor, she'd be the happiest person.

When Jack appeared again, she gestured silently to the cleared plot of dirt and hovered over him.

[Gizmo]

Jack of all Blades took a steadying step as they rematerialized in another room, a queasy expression flickering across his face. "Wurg, more teleporting, fun times," he muttered largely to himself. The swordsman watched as Phantom and Avenger went about their business without offering explanation. He wondered at bit at the porcelain skinned man's disappearing act. Just how many powers does this guy have? Jack still couldn't pin down what his energy awareness was trying to tell him about his grim host; he would have guessed a magic user of some kind but that didn't feel quite right, certainly not the same way the lady of the house registered. Placing his hands behind his head, Jack decided for once to keep his mouth shut and observe.

[angrydurf]

Ace smiled wide as the tendrils sought out nourishment and gladly took the trip through the wrenching blackness to the basement. As they arrived he looked around confused, "A mushroom garden? Seriously? How much more stereotypical can you get."

As Avenger arrived he looked eagerly on for further signs of her resuscitation. He pulled a small vial from his pocket and shook it, "Liquid sunshine." He explained, "She's a plant and needs light." He made sure to give Avenger a warning glance as he prepared to deploy the mystic liquid.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Bright," Jack commented, automatically shielding his eyes from the harsh glare like a man looking directly into the sun. "The soil here is good. It should give her the nutrients she needs...for whatever she's working on." He watched as Stesha partially sank into her new home. "And for the record, Ace, the mushrooms are used at Sajarno's, the organic pizzeria on Ditko Street. Best brick oven pizza in the tri-county area, or so I've heard."

[Electra]

The roots began growing much faster as soon as they began contacting suitable dirt, making a soft but audible noise as they spread and multiplied. In moments, a carpet of them had spread over Stesha's form, obscuring her almost completely. With a single, convulsive movement, the roots pulled together as one, drawing the body beneath the soil entirely, leaving not so much as a bump behind to show what had been there.

[alderwitch]

Taylor watched her disapear and then stood up to slide an arm around Jack's waist, looking at the other two heros. For the first time in hours she managed a smile that dimpled both her cheeks, "Now you've just set him up to tease you about being Italian. At least it's not garlic. Jack's allergic."

She gave Jack a droll look, remembering the first time he'd had dinner at her folks house. She'd forgiven the deception but that didn't mean she didn't enjoy teasing him now and again, "We should see if we can track down Dark Star - ours, I mean. I might be able to scry for him if the library's not a total wreck."

[Gizmo]

Jack of all Blades stared blankly at the garden for a moment after the body buried itself in the soil. "Well, of course she's a plant-lady-thing. How silly of me to have ever assumed otherwise," he muttered under his breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose. This was rapidly becoming a very silly day.

When Phantom mentioned her husband's aversion to garlic, the swordsman turned to Avenger. "Wait, seriously? I thought tall, dark and monologuing back there was just blowing smoke. You're actually a Lugosi-style, fang-having 'I vant to suck your blood' vampire?" He looked from Phantom to Ace. "But... good, right? Good-ish? Mostly not evil?" He turned back to his brooding host. "I swear, if you try to tell me you run a private investigations company, I'll..."

The swashbuckler trailed off as a horrible realization dawned on him. He pointed at the cloaked sorceress, his tone almost accusatory. "She's pregnant. And you ripped off your shirt for, like, no reason." Jack covered his eyes with his palms and groaned. "Dios, my teenage sister thinks those books are stupid, and I'm freaking living them." He gave Ace a wounded look. "Why do you hate me?"

[angrydurf]

Ace grinned and let out a small laugh, "Well you didn't ask earlier if she was a plant lady so that's your own fault really." He replied simply, it was difficult to tell if Ace actually thought that was a reasonable question to have asked earlier or was merely poking at Jack of all Blades. He approached closer to the soil to look for further signs of Steshas return. "And I don't hate you. The books may be poorly written that doesn't mean they lack a grain of truth. At least for some vampires." He shot Avenger a wide grin, "Jack is indeed a vegetarian. Or so I have been assured. As for the sparkling I think that's just an affectation he maintains rather than any real aspect of his curse." Ace had let up on his generally antagonistic approach to Jack after many assurances that he was indeed on a strict diet, but some things were too good to pass up.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Feh. We chased away the monster, didn't we?" Jack looked down at the place where Stesha had been and shook his head. "I've buried too many friends down here," he said unhappily. A moment later, with hopefulness dawning in his voice, he added, "The difference is, Stesha buried herself. That's something, at least. The soil down here is very fertile, it's been used to grow many things over the years."

He folded his arms behind his back, his well-muscled torso flexing as he did so. Fighting the urge to violently beat Jack's good guess out of his skull, he simply said, "I don't come to your house and ask you a lot of stupid questions about your personal life, so I'll thank you not to do the same. As for you, Ace, you're not getting any of my mushrooms." He relaxed at that, putting his arms around Taylor.

[Gizmo]

"Strictly speaking, he did come to my house," Jack of all Blades pointed out, gesturing to Ace with his thumb, "which we're not done talking about, by the way. That might not be your fault, per se, but I'm treating you lot as one, gestalt, making-my-day-very-strange entity right now."

Rubbing the bridge of his nose, the fencer sighed. "Look, I'm glad I could help with the Anti-Twinkle Twinkle, and I'm glad your friend is... okay, or something. I'd like to help find the real Slim Shady, but we're venturing a little outside of my skill set, now."

[angrydurf]

Ace sighed and glanced at Jack seriously. "Look I'm sorry, it was a calculated risk, and time was of the essence. If it really concerns you I'll help you out with a little subterfuge when this is all done."

He didn't get why people obsessed over this whole secret ID thing all it ever seemed to do is leave your family surprised when the villains barged down the door to take you hostage rather than prepared. But the man had help him out so he'd help him out.

Ace looked back to the plot of soil showing slight nervousness for the first time. He had no doubts she'd be back but these things were unpredictable she might not be back exactly as she was before.

[Electra]

For its part, now that the body was gone, the soil seemed entirely undisturbed, as though nothing had ever been there. Aside from the littered half-grown mushrooms that Phantom had blown aside, it looked exactly as it had five minutes ago. It was apparent that her body had wanted to be buried and had acted to enforce that wish, but what that meant now was hard to determine.

[Avenger Assembled]

"Let's go," said Avenger decisively, pulling his shirt back on and finding the spare costume he kept hidden in the basement. "Phantom can scry for Dark Star and get us all in gear. Inigo Montoya here can go find who murdered his father."

[alderwitch]

Taylor grinned slightly, leaning into Jack and teleported them back upstairs to the wrecked library. She stepped forward a little, and with all the bells and whistles of earlier, her scrying was a little anticlimactic. She stood utterly still as if she wasn't even breathing (which she wasn't for those paying attention to such things). Except for eyes that glowed white, there was nothing mystical at all. She could have been zoning. After a minute or so she moved again and held her hands out for people to take for another ride through the Void. For Avenger, at least, the crackling black nothingness broke only by white eldritch fire was becoming downright familiar. "Got him. Himalayas."

It was a sign how used to life with Jack was that she didn't even consider not everyone would be immune to thigh deep snow.