Murder on the Victorian Express (IC)

[Supercape]

Somewhere in London, Midnight...

Lord Lockwood pushed open the door to the cellar. He had spent over a month tracking down this operation, and all the evidence was conclusive. Admittedly, he was now technically breaking the Law, but only to preserve it. Breaking and entering... technically.

Ms. Henrietta Wells had commissioned him to solve the problem. Experimental weapons from the Royal Metaphysical society had gone missing. All sorts of arms and ammunition that the British Empire took great care in maintaining for itself, in order to preserve its military supremacy. They had been disappearing....

He pushed the door open with his cane, which opened with a horrible creak that made him wince. It was almost pitch black in the cellar, so he risked lighting the gas lamp he had brought with him, but kept the flame low.

Carefully, he pried open one of the crates in the cellar, and his eyes widened as he saw the contents.

"A ha!" he proclaimed.

"You shouldn't have poked your nose in, Lord Lockwood" came the voice behind him, and before the detective could spin around to face the speaker, a heavy cosh came crashing down on his skull, bringing sweet oblivion.

"Now then. What shall I do with you, hmmm?" came the voice as it bent down over the defenceless figure...

[Supercape]

GM

Later, on Earth Prime

8th March.

Ms Henrietta Getrude Wells arrived on Earth Prime in the Brit Machine, trying to be less conspicuous this time. As she was dressed to the hilt in Victorian Garb, and was driving an automobile that looked like it was half steam engine, half junkyard, that was somewhat difficult. Suffice to say, she did not succeed.

As the crowds gathered around the vehicle, all piping, whistling, and spinning cogs, she brought out he trusty copper plated Omnitron, and adjusted a few dials. The medals awarded to the heroes of the British Empire (having originated in her own dimension) could be honed in on, and used to transmit her message.

"I say, I say. Ms. Wells here. The British Empire of Earth Victoriana is in need of your assistance!" she said, hesitantly, tapping the Omnitron cautiously.

[Aoiroo]

Let's see, ginger pills, protein shakes mix that don't taste like feet, iron supplement and off brand icy hot, that's like twenty eight dollars plus tax, maybe a candy bar. That'll take the thirty advance on the Anderson job. Still need to get dinner, do I still have that frozen pizza.

Tapping her foot as she waited in line at the local pharmacy/little bit of every other store you could think of she tried to go over where this purchase left her finaincely for the next few days. She got a spike in Feburary when she went around buying last minute Valentine's gifts and delivering them before several spouses got home, and in one instance, a song/candy gram as a special request (which came with a fifty dollar bonus). But the factor of gas and paying insurance of her car had run her down more quickly than it used to, that and regular working out had increased her overall appetite and need for protein in her diet rather than just cheap carbs. As the line moved forward and she set her purse on the counter, she let out a sigh the guy started to ring her up when something started to hear a voice from her purse.

What the hell?

Reaching in, she reached for the buzz that came with it, and felt the shape of her metal. Taking a few seconds to think this over, she covered it with her hand and pulled it out holding both hands over it to cover it from view and putting it to her ear like a cell phone.

"Ms. Wells, how nice to hear from you again, what do you need, and if this means your in town, where?"

[Cubist]

Elsewhere in Freedom City, a feline speedster was wrenched from unconsciousness. Jubatus had been in the converted SUV he called home, sleeping normally -- well, as 'normal' as anything was for him these days -- and now that he was awake, he was trying to remember what had roused him. Might have been nothing; Morpheus knew that the cheetah had woken up screaming/growling from nightmares often enough in the first few calendar-weeks after the fur showed up. Then again, Jube hadn't had one of those nightmares in the past three calendar-months, and he hadn't screamed this time... Let Hallstonne worry about it, he mused. That's what a therapist is for. In the meantime...

In the meantime, Jubatus found he just wasn't sleepy any more. Figures. I got time to kill, then, he thought to himself. Don't need to hunt for any more freelance contracts just now... existing contracts fall into one of two categories, either 'don't feel like working on it at the moment'' or else 'waiting on necessary external resource'... don't need to go on an early shopping trip... In the end, there was only one item on Jube's agenda that really could use his attention right this second: Doing the superhero thing.

And a few clock-seconds later, the fastest cat alive was speeding over the streets of Freedom.

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris had been on patrol, but all things considered, he'd been hoping for a quite night. Sadly, such a thing was not to be for him.

Kind of hard to have one of those when the love child of a Model T and a steampunk convention comes barreling down the road out of a flash of light. He had to stop and spend several moments making sure he wasn't seeing things.

When he moved closer and managed to catch the woman making a call, stating her name as "Ms. Wells", he was definitely intrigued. He walked closer, stopping about 30 feet away, patiently waiting for her to finish her...phone call?

'Talk about anachronisms? It's just weird seeing all her gear made from brass and gears...Kinda nifty looking in one sense, though.'

[Supercape]

GM

"Ah, Lady Carrie" replied MS. Wells, "There is indeed a problem the empire could use your aid with. A murder no less, on the trans-indian railway, of one of our most esteemed scientists, and one of my friends. "

She sighed, downcast. "I was travelling with him, through India... and he was found dead. The authorities... are not filling me with confidence, we are stuck in the middle of mountainous terrain, so I used the only resource I had.. the Brit Machine, was being transported for demonstration at the university of Delhi. "

"I don't know if you can help, but I smell trouble, and I didn't know who else to ask..."

[Aoiroo]

Walking outside the store as she listened she let out a sigh of her own. She glanced down the street and found that not a block away was the Brit Machine with a small crowd of people admiring it and from the looks of it a dude in an armored suite which she didn't recognize as she approached. She scanned the skies overhead to see if any of the other members of the previous party had gotten the message. She knew Edge could teleport so she didn't doubt if he was coming he'd be there by now, as for Grim and Cannonade, well they were both much faster than her so she was probably the only person in range of whatever radio device Ms. Wells was using (or maybe the only one that carried it on her person). Either way when she got there, she say only one other hero and a very distressed looking Ms. Wells as she moved through the crowd. She responded on the radio in a lowered voice.

"Okay, I'm here, and I understand your diress, but you have to find a way to be less conspicuious in your travels. A cloaking mechanism or something."

Putting the radio/metal back into her purse she moved around the crowd and tapped(clinked really) the armored hero on the shoulder to get his attention. She still kept her voice low, since not many people weren't really paying attention to the hero since his own mechanics while much more modern and impressive didn't have the classical charm the Brit Machine exuded.

"Hey, I'm Carrie, and I know her."

She pointed a thumb at Ms. Wells,

"And, there are some details you're gonna need if you want to help out that I'd be happy to disclose to you, but could you be so kind as to scatter the pedestrians before this becomes the next big Youtube video."

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris turned to regard Carrie as she tapped him somewhere close to the shoulder. His somewhat menacing visage calmly listened to her request. After a moment, he nodded.

"Best not to let things get too crowded..."

With that, he took a few tromping steps towards Ms. Wells and her vehicle, then turned to face a large portion of a crowd. When he spoke, his voice rang out with authority and gravity.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I understand this is a curious occurrence. However, for the sake of this lady here, I would request that you all move along and let myself and any other heroes and/or members of the city authorities deal with the situation. Thank you, and have a nice day."

His words and tone were generally friendly...but they were still coming from what looked like a six and a half foot tall metallic wolf-man. Hopefully both sets of factors would mean the crowd dispersed shortly.

[Supercape]

GM

The crowds did indeed clear, although not too far. Camera's and eyes continued to soak in the peculiar view. Even for Freedom City, this was something unusual.

"Why thank you, noble gentleman!" said Ms Wells to Fenris "you have a fine upstanding manner, if I may say so! and a friend of Lady Carrie too, it seems. Hmmm, if the Lady here can vouch for you, I could certainly use the assistance of such a splendid fellow as yourself!"

[Aoiroo]

Carrie raised an eyebrow before looking at her,

"Lady Carrie? Did the last incident, aww nevermind."

No real need to question it at the moment she turned towards the guy in the wolf armor.

"I'll be honest, I don't really know this person, I'm just playing by ear."

She turned towards Fenris,

"You don't really seem to be some armored lunatic though, and I don't think there are any other heroes in the general area, probably because the power didn't get knocked out like last time."

Which was a good thing, but it did make dimensional arrivals much more noticable to anybody flying over head.

"Anyway, this is Harriet Wells, she's a dimensional hopper from a parallel universe that culturally resembles Great Britian around the turn of the century, but technologically is far more advanced. Last time she came to our universe, I was more or less a tagalong with a couple of real heroes and got a metal by association, though it seems none of the other heroes got the message that she's back in town. Anyway, she hopped on her dimensional carriage because she wants to grab some help from this universe to help solve a murder that's happened in her universe."

Taking a few seconds, she turned to Ms. Wells,

"Considering how unpredictable the time set up is between dimensions, is it possible that we have the time to say call like the Freedom League or something to help you out instead, or maybe the Interceptors? I'm not really much of a detective."

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris shrugs at the questioning of how he knows anyone present.

"Don't know either of you. Just thought the lady here had a good idea. Nice to meet you, Ms. Wells, Ms. Carrie. You can call me Fenris. And no, I'm not "some armored lunatic". And Ms. Wells arrival wasn't flashy overall; I just happened to be in the area. I...hm. Hold your thoughts for a moment, ladies."

He turned, starting to take a step...then in a flash, was just a few feet away from those still standing around taking video of the situation.

"I'm all for freedom of the press and so forth, but out of respect for our visitor, let's not treat this like a zoo exhibit folks. Thank you."

His mannerisms and voice tone (muted that both were by the nature of his armor) were exceedingly polite; clearly his goal was merely to give Ms. Wells the closest thing to privacy he could in such a situation.

[Supercape]

GM

The crowd did indeed retreat. Not that far, of course. It was a spectacular sight, and cameras would be clicking as long as there was film or memory available.

"You were capable enough last time" replied Ms. Wells, before addressing her armoured saviour, Fenris "and perhaps your dashing young knight could be of some assistance too?"

She brought up her watch, which spun in an odd rhythm. "And given the parabolic nature of n-dimensional event-transfer, I suspect time is something of the essence if we are to resolve this..."

"If you can assist at all, I would beseech you do" she asked, with genuine feeling, as she gestured to the seats beside her.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie shrugged her shoulders and let out a sigh,

"Well hopefully will hit a nice median so as not to get there too late."

Carrie hoisted her bag onto her shoulder and climbed up onto the Brit Machine to take a seat. Reaching into the bag, she grabbed some ginger pills to quell the probably inevitable nausea from the first trip before thinking for a few seconds and turning towards Ms. Wells.

"This isn't going thing isn't going to explode again, is it?"

[Supercape]

GM

"It would be most impertinent of the thing to do so" replied Ms Wells. "I spent quite some time refining its machinery since your last trip, and have actually gone a few trips since to other dimensions. Do you know there is a most peculiar dimension populated by humanoid rabbits, cats, and the like... I won't even try to explain how the laws of physics operate there. Very unruly. "

Ms Wells was already adjusting the wheels, dials, and levers on the machine, as it piped away. Carrie could see some minor alterations had been made, but the basic apparatus looked just as antiquated - and complex - as previously.

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris kept an eye on the crowd as he flashed back over to the two conversing ladies.

"Please ma'am, call me Fenris. I don't know if I'm "dashing", and begging your pardon, but I'm not "her knight". I'm no one's but my own, if you see where I'm going with this. That said, I'd be happy to help."

He eyed her vehicle, trying to spot a good place to put his rather large frame.

"Don't think I'll get sick; sounds like it shouldn't feel much different than what I do pretty regularly in this thing. At least so far as physical reactions go. Um. I'll sit in the back, if that's okay."

With that, he slowly began trying to place himself in the contraption, careful not to catch his armor on any of the gear sticking out all over.

[Aoiroo]

"If you're prone to car sickness, you're gonna want to take something, because if I heard correctly, we're going to be landing this thing on a train."

She thought about it for a few seconds before turning back to Ms. Wells,

"Are we returning to the exact location you started from, or do you have some sort of in stable return point that machine locks onto as a default? I would much rather be in the place we're supposed to be immediately rather than on some empty train tracks in the middle of the British countryside."

[Supercape]

"I wish it were the British countryside..." said Ms. Wells, downcast. "The train is in the middle of India, halfway up a mountain. A fantastic feat of engineering, the trans-asian express. Unfortunately, it also means we are cut off from civilisation, by and large. "

With Fenris and Carrie seated, Ms. Wells started to wind up a brass lever, recalibrate some dials and - perhaps just for effect - beep her horn. Whatever the truth was, the effect was an escalation of steam, whistling, and rotating cogs, faster and faster, until the surroundings seemed to bend and blur with the sheer velocity of the rotating contraptions.

And with a whoomph, the Brit Machine propelled itself across the dimensions.

"Hold on", said Ms. Wells, frantically "steering" by pulling on a variety of levers "picked up some drag..."

The Brit Machine started to wobble and yaw with alarming ferocity as it sped into Earth Victoriana.

[Cubist]

Jubatus had just dealt with a purse-snatcher, and was on his super-speedy way to whatever criminal act might be next, when the world went mad around him. Without any warning, Freedom City vanished -- taking the gravity and atmosphere with it -- and was replaced by a bizarrely shifting array of colors that looked like something Peter Max might have come up with after a hit of particularly good acid. What the [bg=black]xxxxixx[/bg] hell!? and Need air! and countless other reflexive thoughts vied for Jube's attention, each one elbowing the others out of its way. Casting his gaze wildly in all directions, one thing caught the feline speedster's eye: It looked like an automobile with mass quantities of gears and cogwheels, a steampunk nightmare. Could it be his ticket out of this weird, airless space? Jubatus forced himself over towards the machine, not knowing or caring how he was able to do this in freefall, and used his claws to cling to a gear-free curved metal panel.

The panel itself was alright, but the vacuum which surrounded it was damned cold. Jube risked a temporary withdrawal of one of his four points of support; that is, he used one hand to wrap himself up in a heat-containing space blanket he extracted from his vest. It wasn't as easy as if he'd used both hands, nor was the end result anywhere near as effective, heat-conservation-wise, but the feline just wasn't willing to risk losing his grip on the vehicle he was literally hitching a ride on. When assembling the 'kit' for his vest, Jube had figured the space blanket would be useful to prevent hypothermia after fishing someone out of the South or Wading Rivers. Fortunately, its insulating properties would serve him just as well here and now.

Would this vehicle hit an air-filled space before Jubatus suffocated? He had no idea... but he knew how to load the dice in his favor. The feline downshifted as hard as he could, reducing his tempo until he was only running at 1/30 of normal speed. He didn't like to downshift, because it increased gravity's pull on him even as it stretched Time out. But he was in freefall, and 'twice nothing is still nothing'.

Jubatus had literally bet his life on this vehicle. He hoped the bet would pay off.

Jube allowed a small amount of air to escape from his lungs; if he remembered what he'd read about sudden decompression, keeping it in was just asking for internal damage from the pressure differential. And tiny ice crystals in his exhaled breath glittered in the rainbow light...

[Supercape]

With a crash, a wobble, and a spinning of realities, the Brit Machine made an undignified landing on Earth Victoriana. There was significant crash, a hissing of steam, but this time it did at least stay in one piece.

It, and its passengers, had landed in a quaint but sturdy carriage onboard what must have been the Asian Express. This was, presumably, the carriage on which the Brit Machine had been transported. Tool kits and engineering devices littered the carriage, a few damaged by the crash landing.

"What a mess!" exclaimed Ms. Wells, surveying the damage before catching sight of Jubatus. "Oh dear... you aren't from that silly dimension are you?" she inquired.

[Aoiroo]

The jerking, wobbling, and dilbihitating well everything that was dimensional travel made Carrie hold her stomach in her chair. The ginger keep her last meal down, but she was still rather dizzy. When the machine did land in what was a cluttered storage car she gripped the edge of the chair for support as she moved off the Brit Machine rather slowly. She needed a second to notice what it was Ms. Wells was talking to a new person. Turning towards the edge she was nearly caught off balance to see the rather strange form of the human/cheetah hybrid wrapped in a blanket. Though it took a few seconds to register she did in fact recognize this particularly strange hero,

"No, he's..."

She got a little off balance the edge of the machine she scratched her head,

"Sorry, umm, he's one of ours, Jubatus right, or do you prefer Jay?"

She rubbed her eye for a second before looking around the storage room,

"Well this makes things, complicated. The how of things first hand but, ohh, umm right explanations,"

Pinched her nose,

"Right, um, we're in an alternate dimension, it's like a steampunky turn of the century British Empire sort of deal, except right now we're on a train that's going through India, and there has been a murder and..."

The train shook a little and Carrie had some trouble catching herself,

"Can we do this like in a cabin, I think I need to lay down."

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris had simply been enjoying the trip. The dimensional travel seemed like what he did when he moved fast...except it was taken to the extreme. They weren't just sliding in the space between space, they were moving in the space between universes! And while bumpy, the landing was still impressive. After all, they'd hit a train moving along at no small pace, on a mountain pass it seemed!

"I have to say, Ms. Wells, this is a most impressive piece of machinery. If we have a chance later, I truly would like to discuss its workings with you."

He carefully climbed out of the machine, minding his own notable bulk as he did so. He stepped back to let the two ladies assist the cheetah-man, simply watching the process with open curiosity.

[Cubist]

It wasn't Hell, just a reasonable facsimile thereof. Jubatus kept his eyes firmly shut while the vehicle moved through... whatever weird space-like continuum it was moving through, and not just to keep his tears from freezing. Those bizarrely-twisting colors, they were just wrong on a primal level somewhere below, or off to one side of, mundane consciousness. Closing his eyes didn't completely eliminate the bizarre colors, but it helped. A little. Apart from that, he was hearing things; impossible voices in the vacuum, voices which spoke not-quite-clear words in eldritch tones, voices whose disquieting words gradually approached comprehensibility as the journey continued --

And then it was over.

Gravity returned with a vengeance -- the feline retained enough presence of mind to turn off his Timeshift, so he wouldn't be crushed by the intensified gravity of his downshift -- and he let himself collapse to the ground, or floor, or whatever it was. It was solid, and there was air to breathe, and heat to thaw the nascent ice crystals off of his body, and he spent a couple of minutes curled in on himself, shivering, at his default tempo of 6...

...right, enough malingering. Jubatus hadn't entirely recovered from his recent ordeal, but he'd at least caught his second wind. He was functional, for a given value of 'functional'. And... hmm. The dude in the tin can had to be new; Jube couldn't recall having seen any information about him on the internet or the mainstream news media. The older woman looked to be the owner of the steampunky vehicle, if her Victorian-influenced clothing was any indication. The younger woman he didn't recognize at all. These people obviously hadn't done anything to harm Jube while he was incommunicado; this suggested that their intentions were good, or at least not actively evil. But that behavioral clue was only suggestive, not conclusive, so he'd have to be wary.

Jube downshifted to the normal tempo of 1 just in time to hear the younger woman ask him, "--you prefer Jay?" Okay, she was a Freedom City resident who paid attention to media coverage of heroes. Heroine in her own right? Maybe.

"I, hrrm, go by Jubatus when I'm doing the hero thing. Not a secret identity, as such -- that, hrrm, doesn't really work when you're blatantly nonhuman 24/7 -- but, you know, more of a stage name. Let's just say it helps categorize incoming requests." To the other two: "Like she said, I'm Jubatus. Who're you guys?"

After hearing the younger woman's '25 words or less' summary of the situation, the feline looked at Miss Steampunk. "Murder. So... we're here because you" -- he pointed at Miss Wells -- "felt like pulling in help from another dimension? I'm going to assume you had a damned good reason to do that, rather than let your Empire's home-grown bobbies handle the investigation. Want to explain the full situation?"

[Supercape]

Miss Wells drew herself up to her full 5 feet five inches and fixed Jubatus with a penetrating glare. She had not become one of the most prominent members of the notoriously sexist institute for metaphysical engineering without being possessed of a formidable intellect and determination.

"We are, I regret to say" she explained with precision, "in the middle of the Indian colonies, in rather perilous mountain region. We wont have any police service for a day... and I am not sure of the quality of investigation they will provide. In the meantime, the culprit may get away. If I suspected a simple assailant, or mugger, I may have left it that, distressing as it may have been. However, the victim was one of the finest engineers in England, and I suspect a rat. "

[KnightDisciple]

Fenris frowned, at least inside his armor. The outside remained impassive.

'I need to figure out how to make this thing show expressions...not important right now!'

He shifted his stance a bit, his body language making it clear he wasn't a fan of Jubatus's attitude towards Ms. Wells.

"I'm Fenris. Now, as for you giving her the nth degree about this: back off. It's obvious we're in a non-standard situation. So her bringing us here isn't so shocking. I'm a bit flattered she trusts me on this, myself. Besides, sounds like we've got industrial espionage going on. And if this friend of hers has anything like her car here, this might be more serious than it sounds."

He gave the time-traveling car a long, contemplative glance.

[Supercape]

"Indeed" nodded Ms. Wells. "The fact is, he helped me design it... and build it."

She waved her hand over the Brit Machine, which was still steaming and whirring, although it was (as far as any of the heroes could tell) powering down after its trans-dimensional journey.

"I didn't always approve of the direction he took the Institute, but you should be aware that he was the one of the foremost weapon designers for the Empire. And we were travelling as incognito as we could - very few people knew about our planned demonstation at the University of Dehli. Only myself, and two bodyguards, who were, as far as I can tell, drugged. "