ic Scrier's Masquerade (IC)

[Raveled]

Ironclad rubbed at her temple, or at least where her temple would be if she hadn't been wearing her helmet. This Gabriel was thoroughly injured, it didn't take a medical degree to see that, and it could have been because of torture. She didn't know anything about 'sound-producing nodules,' but metahuman biology wasn't her forte. Although, engineering was...

"Excuse me." Ironclad walked forward and took the plans away from alterna-Gabriel, looking them over closely. Quantum computing was beyond her skill, but she knew the theory behind it and knew some of the structures it would have to have. "There's an occlusion chamber," she said, pointing. "Those sensors... they look kind of like a SQuID. I guess that's the output?" She shook her head. "I should try imaging this..."

[Gizmo]

"I've got just one, very important question for you," Jack announced, shifting his posture abruptly to lean forward across the table and point a finger demandingly at the alternate Gabriel's face. The swashbuckler's face was the picture of absolute seriousness and stone cold interrogation as he asked, "In this universe, this world... am I a hot chick?"

"Jack..." Jill sighed, folding her arms and raising her eyes heavenward as she moved to stand just behind his seat.

"Because I've met a female version of myself before," her brother continued, ignoring her and maintaining his stoic expression, "and she was just as gorgeous as you'd expect given the smoldering manflesh she's a variation on." Jack turned the finger pointed at their host to indicate his own masked face. "But she was a little extra French, too --"

"Jack."

"-- which leaves me still without a definitive answer to the age old question 'if I were a lady, would I be like a ten or a totally mind-blowing eleven on the yowza scale?'" He spread his hands wide. "I know, it's a real puzzler. Cosmic in it sco-"

"JACK." the younger sibling interrupted, raising her voice and smacking the fencer across the back of his head. "Dios, shut up already. This sounds like a serious problem. I think we should help them."

"Well of bloody course we'll help," Jack rebutted, straightening in his seat and looking vaguely annoyed that his joke had been cut off. "They already know we will, that's what we do. It's not like we're about to say, 'Sorry, you'll have to get someone else to deal with the dictator with the magic future computer'." Turning back to the injured resistance cell leader, he gave him a genuinely serious look. "But you pull this kind of kidnapping junk and pal, I'm going to be sassing you while you pin the damn medal on my alluringly toned chest. Deal with it."

[KnightDisciple]

GM Post

"I never realized what a selfish, egotistical, shallow ass you were, Jack. Since this version of you is dead. Was too busy being a thief, albeit one without powers. Until he was ventilated by the SWAT teams they sent after him. Your sister was "merely" disappeared, though she at least was helpful."

There was a false, sickly sweet smile on the scarred Gabriel's face now. His voice never wavered from that calm, polite tone, but it was clear he was not in a good mood.

"Meanwhile, my subordinates, who at the time were in command due to, well, the chain of command while I was unconscious and in intensive physical therapy, decided it would be quicker and more assured to kidnap you. I have already had severe words with them. More words will be spoken later.

I suppose if you think your life was too busy being a grandstanding hero, snarking at people you don't really know at all, shaking your fist impotently at heroes who use weapons even vaguely gun-like, and/or going and mating with your tree-woman lover, we can always send you back. If you're scared."

The smile disappeared.

"Make no mistake, Jack of All Blades. We are the good guys. But we are in desperate straights. And I am personally in no mood for your self-righteous snark. Not since I woke up to my whole body being a collection of agonies, the woman I love in barely better condition, and half my family dead after my "betrayal" was exposed to Mastermind and his top cronies. If you want to get in a pissing contest of "I've got a right to be upset", I'm game. But don't throw down the gauntlet unless you're willing to follow through."

[Raveled]

Ironclad put the plans down and crossed her arms, giving the broken Gabriel a long, hard look, trusting her blank helmet to keep her expression hidden. Truthfully, this new Gabriel kind of scared her. She hadn't had much interaction with her universe's Gabriel, but he had always struck her as a peaceful, honorable man at heart. This new one was angry, too direct, and too willing to exploit a not-entirely-moral situation that fell into his lap.

"We'll help you," she said finally. "God, of course we'll help you. We wouldn't be much like heroes if we didn't. But abducting us like this is the worst possible decision you could have made. Putting aside how it makes us feel, I don't know how much we four can do. I mean, if you had approached us earlier, we might have been able to bring more heroes with us. I'm sure the rest of the Lab would have followed us and I would've petitioned the Freedom League to at least send along someone." She shook her head. "We'll do what we can, but don't expect us to be able to liberate your entire world over a weekend."

[Ecalsneerg]

"Wow," said Arrowhawk, breaking his pensive silence. "That's a... hell of a situation. And honestly," he inclined his head towards Ironclad. "She's right, and in more ways than one. You picked four people whose counterparts in this dimension were taken down. Honestly, I'm not sure that bodes well, because while it means no time in getting versed in our capabilities, you also know our capability is incapacitation."

He leaned forward onto the table, to glare at Gabriel. "I'm going to make this damn clear. I'll help you. For all the people suffering up there. Not for you. You're incompetent. Fighting and getting wounded, yeah, that proves you're willing to go to the wall for what you believe. I can respect that." He leaned closer, red eyes burning brighter under the cowl. "Appointing subordinates who panic? Can't respect it. Not taking responsibility for them and consistently blaming them, not yourself? Can't respect it. Being a smug little bastard? Ditto."

He leaned back on his good leg and pointed at Jack. "This man is the most supremely arrogant, irritating, foppish waste of oxygen I have ever had the displeasure of having to work with, and I'm preferring him to you right now. So give us the information. Send us where we need to go. And if this is a trap, you better damn well be on the side of angels. Because you'll need them to stop me coming after you."

He went to sharply turn away. "Oh, and 'shaking our fists impotently at guns'? Another crack like that and I'll show you impotent. If the other version of me is incapacitated, I am currently the most deadly goddamn marksman on this planet, and you will remember it is not you doing me a favour."

[KnightDisciple]

GM Post

Whatever truth may have been in the words of Ironclad and Arrowhawk, this Gabriel no longer seemed to care. Almost before the bow-wielding marksman was done speaking, the scarred man gave an annoyed grunt and slashed a hand through the air in a "be quiet" gesture.

"Look. We're getting distracted. The point is, we're still looking at a project that will likely threaten multiple dimensions, given time. I mean, when they start hooking some of their psychics with minor technopathy up to that monstrosity, I wouldn't be shocked to see them start bending the laws of physics."

He looked at Ironclad for a moment, shaking his head a bit as he answered her earlier question/statement.

"You can't win our war. The four of you are here to do nothing but utterly destroy and ruin this project. You've been picked because we've seen what all of you can do. You're solid fighters, and more than that between all your skills you will be able to gain entry into the complex. Worst case, Gabriel can simply sing the whole place down around their heads."

He seemed to lose focus for a moment, though the other Gabriel might pick up his voice floating through the air to call for some extra equipment. In less than a minute, a half-dozen men and women brought in a small laptop with an odd attachment, as well as some tablet PCs for everyone to examine. A few moments of quick typing on one of the worker's part got a translucent blue-green hologram floating above the table. The other workers hurried from the room, but the one operating the projector took a seat as his leader continued. As he spoke, the display shifted to show the various things he spoke on.

"Right now we're in an underwater base embedded in the ocean floor in the South Pacific. If you can't tell, we're close to one of the fictional sets of coordinates for R'lyeh. This was actually going to be a research base for Mastermind's government, but it got "lost in the shuffle" and then deemed "unworkable". At any rate, we'll get you from here to North America by one of our better submarines."

The display indicated a landing in Panama.

"A quick hike over Panama leads to a boat that will bring you to a boat that carries you to Freedom City. We're doing our best to speed this along. I'm thinking you get there in about 3 days."

The projection zooms in to Freedom City itself, which looks somewhat different than what the heroes recall.

"I'm strongly recommending you all go in civilian identities for some of the distance. Some adjustments will need to be made for Gabriel, but beyond that you all should be fine. None of the rest of you are well-known enough that you can't get by without notice by the average citizen. Avoid security forces no matter the cost."

His eyes were as hard as Arctic ice as he spoke.

"You may see a very sad city when you get there. You'll be moving through non-meta territory for a while; despite the pretty picture Mastermind paints, they don't get nice things a lot of the time. But they typically don't care about much of anything, if you don't make a show about it. Just pass through, you'll be fine.

When you get to the edge of the neighborhood where the complex is, you'll want to change into work clothes, I imagine. Won't be many civilians, mostly guards, soldiers, and a few mercs. Hopefully that's all there is; most of those would be low level metas, or particularly loyal non-metas."

The complex was highlighted on the map, a huge sprawling building.

"It's locked down pretty tight, but it's not a military fort or a supermax prison. Freedom City's been calm for a couple years now; the Fight is on other fronts. They've been going for mostly quantity over quality..."

Suddenly, a pair of familiar pictures appeared.

"Assuming the two leads on the project aren't present. Doktor Archeville and Miss Americana are brilliant scientists...and rather potent forces on the battlefield. I've tangled with here once or twice in-costume; she's rather ruthless about how she goes about things. The Doktor's a bit more merciful, but I think it's because Mastermind subverted him when he helped wrench some sort of evil alternate personality out of him a couple decades ago. He's in it for the science and the chance to "provide a better world and future". True believer and all that, though I guess the flag-girl is too, though truer to her boss's actual vision.

They're the co-leaders of the Interceptors, Mastermind's premier public anti-Resistance force. He's got people who are better at dirty jobs and wetworks floating around, but these folks do the high-profile fights. They've got several sub-teams floating around, but right now this is who they have assigned to the mad scientist duo."

Three more pictures appeared.

"Edge is a member of the Lucas family, who gladly kiss up to Mastermind's whole group. He's a pretty potent reality warper, but a bit dim-witted.

All-Star tried to get his own team, but...well, he's hot-headed, and no brighter than Edge. Still, bit of a powerhouse. Basically this group's muscle.

Razorwing is one of the reasons I wanted you here, Arrowhawk. He can take some of our own non-meta agents, but I have a feeling you can lock him down pretty well, and basically outwit him. More physical skill than mental, though by no means stupid.

They may be one step up from a Saturday morning cartoon on the surface, but this team shouldn't be taken lightly. I've seen them decimate teams of agents sometimes. I think all of you are skilled enough and powerful enough to not only give them pause, but beat them.

Which is good, because they're likely going to be your one real challenge in destroying the Quantum Supercomputer. If they're not there, it'll go easier. Plan for them to be there."

He looked at each of them.

"Questions about the operation?"

[Raveled]

Ironclad watched the presentation impassively (something helped by her blank helmet) until the faces of Miss Americana and Doktor Archeville flashed up on screen. When she saw them she inhaled sharply and stood up straighter. She knew intellectually that this was a different dimension, different rules, different history, but to see two such heroes and to know they would be the opposition... She wondered what she would do if she was forced against Dragonfly or any of Blake's incarnations. More to the point, could she do much against Miss American and the Doktor. That was a pretty formidable team, the rest of the 'heroes' aside.

She cleared her throat and addressed broken-Gabriel. "I understand you're used to working under the radar, as it were," she said, "but if time's a factor why are we going slow? I mean alright, stealth, fine. But give me a few days and I'm sure I could whip up something to punt us into orbit and smack down in the middle of the facility, before Mastermind or anyone else knew what was happening."

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk pondered over in his head the tactical possibilities and plans they would possibly need to survive three days deep cover. He somehow didn't see the resistance having the resources for some form of flight, and in any case it would heighten the risk of being found and overwhelmed.

"Equipment," he said quietly. "I'll need access to an armoury, and possibly my counterpart's personal one. Rations, water, maybe sleeping bags in case we have to hide in the wilderness... I'll also need a quiver fill-up, and perhaps a couple of..." He swallowed at the dirty word about to come forth from his mouth. "Collapsible hand crossbows. A longbow is too obvious if you're not in full combat."

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel had been quieter than average for him. The fact that his interdimensional "brother" had done a fair bit of talking probably "balanced the scales". Of course, it was that very same talking that made him so quiet. After all, it was shocking enough to see himself so broken, but to see the woman he cared deeply about (loved?) nearly as bad, and hear that his family hadn't wholly survived? Add onto it the fact that here there were heroes playing villain, and it was enough to make just about anyone stop and take a think.

"What do we know about the attitude of the average person on the street right now? How hard would it be to talk at least some of the guards down from trying to fight us?"

He gave Ironclad a slightly cautious look.

"I don't know about shoving us into orbit and then slamming us back down. I don't think collateral damage would be an issue, but would we have barf bags strong enough? Besides, it sounds like both plans involve surprise, really. It's just how we achieve that surprise that changes."

Finally, he asked the question he had to ask, yet part of him dreaded the answer. He asked it subtly, such that only his "brother" heard him.

Who survived, brother? Who of our family is left, and how did the ones who've left depart the world?

[Gizmo]

The local Gabriel-equivalent's irate tirade had certainly had the desired effect of halting the tongues of both bandana mask wearing siblings, though perhaps not for the reasons their host had intended. Jill's expression shifted from one of chagrin at her brother's questionable manners to clouded anger the moment a word was said against Jack's character; much of it she might have said herself, but a stranger had no right, particularly while asking for their help. Jack himself, thick skinned as he was, looked fairly amused by the biting reaction right up until the point where Willow was obliquely mentioned. Immediately any pretense of lazy indifference and exaggerated ease melted from his face and body language, clearly revealing the previously concealed readiness for violence to the experienced combatants in the room.

While the younger of the pair looked ready to continue the argument, the question of whether the taciturn cyborg could claim the excuse of unconsciousness with regards to spying on their personal lives as well poised on her lips, things might well have come to blows where the elder was concerned had Ironclad and Arrowhawk not spoken up first. It was the grizzled archer's use of 'foppish' in particular that appeared to restore a measure of the fencer's humour, or at least the pretense of such. Jack remained silent during the long explanation of the situation's detail, perhaps marshaling his self-control and patience. He did let out a grunt when the name of Mastermind's enforcers was revealed, but didn't comment until their membership was listed. "I can take All-Star out, no question." Rather than the theatrical boasting of his earlier behaviour, this was a statement of unshakeable confidence. "Archeville or Razorwing, too, if it comes to it."

"Just get me whatever medical supplies you've got," Jill added, still glaring daggers but evidently deciding it wasn't worth arguing with someone who obviously wasn't concerned with their feelings or well-being in the slightest.

[KnightDisciple]

GM Post

Scarred-Gabriel pondered Ironclad's suggestion for a few moments before shaking his head.

"Not enough materials. Besides, we're basically in the middle of a quarter-mile high underwater mountain where the peak is still another quarter-mile under water. We don't have a physical place to launch from. Maybe, maybe if you stripped every sub we had and most of our non-life-support gear you could cobble something like that together, especially since Jessica's here on-base. The two of you could probably build just about anything. But we don't have the manpower to strip our subs like that, and we can't afford to. This base serves as one of our main hubs, especially for operations in South America, Australia, and Antarctica.

Besides, I don't know what kind of anti-air defenses the Doktor and Americana have cooked up, and I'd rather not have you all find out the hard way. Either method gets you there with little advance warning. But going on the ground at least gives you a chance of getting further before getting found out. Plus, it's hard to say what that sort of impact might trigger; you should know how some scientists can be with playing with volatile substances. I'd be worried about fallout on the rest of the city. At least damage from the inside might have some control."

He turned to face Arrowhawk.

"Your counterpart left plans and instructions for a case similar to this one. He was nothing if not thorough. Anything you feel you need that we don't have, let me know, I'll see what we can do. We should be able to fabricate it here, or on the way."

He looked at all of them for a moment.

"Jessica, our Jessica, will be going with you the whole way. She'll continue to brief you on the journey over, as well as helping with final equipment preparation. As well, once on the ground, she'll work to establish Mission Control, though don't rely on a lot of continuous communication. I'd wager at this point they may even have some sort of method of keeping Gabriel's communication out, or rendering it less effective. More difficult to pick it out, though."

He turned to Jack and Jill, his eyes strangely dualistic; one moment they were like a battle hardened commander, the other they were just...dead.

"You can sort among yourselves how you confront your enemies on the field, so long as you beat them. Which I have full confidence you can; while some of them will be formidable, others likely won't stand up as long as they'd like to think they will.

As for medical supplies, our infirmary has several emergency field kits available. It's amazing the things you can get lost in paperwork when you know how to talk to people."

He once more regarded the group as a whole.

"I must emphasize again this is a single mission, not a campaign. But this mission will surely restore the balance. Which means we'll at least have a chance, which is more than we could have asked for with this thing reaching completion."

He then turned to Gabriel, a grimace across his features.

Mother and Father are in one of the infirmaries; they took a couple of moderate wounds, but are recovering, though they're rather distraught. They had some special forces come after them, but our people got there at the same time and extracted them.

Doyle and his wife are physically fine, but quite shaken up, and Doyle's furious at me for a whole bunch of stuff. SWAT was coming, but they were gone by that point.

Grandparents passed away a few years ago. Stress of living in a world like this, though it wasn't any one cause with them. But it took them all. Grandmother Doreen passed two years ago in her sleep; she was the last of them.

Brody...his wife was a metahuman, you see. A speedster. So they sent in a metahuman with the regular squad of special forces.

All-Star apparently volunteered for the job, and insisted on a press crew going with them. To show how Mastermind's government wasn't afraid of filthy terrorists and their destructive lies and agents.

Sandra got about 5 feet out the front door before All-Star hit her like a freight train back into the house and into the wall. We think she was going to try disarming the soldiers. One of them made sure she...wasn't a threat. Brody tried to jump over her, but one of the soldiers hit him in the leg. Then All-Star broke him over his knee. Again, a soldier finished the job.

This was all on live television, mind you. They had it playing during a "break" in my torture sessions.

Riona was visiting Brody and Sandra. I...I think she was talking about a guy she was dating? I lost track sometimes of what her social life was like. She came running in from the kitchen with a knife. Stupid, reckless, brave sister...All-Star just blasted her, and that was that.

So really, it's probably less than half our family, compared to what you have left.

[KnightDisciple]

Gabriel listened passively as the other him explained some of the situation, what could and couldn't be done, made promises about supplies, and so on; all the mundane parts of leadership, it seemed.

Then he got the answer to the question, and almost wished he hadn't. For several moments, he sat there in shock, his exposed skin almost as white as his costume.

Then he stood suddenly to his feet, his hands all but slamming the table, which hummed a bit beneath his open palms. If the others looked, they'd see cracks forming in concentric circles around Gabriel's hands, thousands of tiny microfissures forming strange patterns as he physically pushed down into the metal just a bit.

"I don't care about the others, but All-Star is MINE. I'll be sure he's not a threat to even a flea when we're done."

The sheer anger, nay, hatred with which those words were uttered were uncharacteristic for Gabriel, or at least this Gabriel.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk just smirked and nodded at the other Gabriel. "I don't really need instructions, I can remember most of my ideas on how to disable the majority of those people. I just need to know where, if anywhere, they diverge in capabilities or powerset from their counterparts in our world, and I can adapt my plans to that."

Then he saw their Gabriel's outburst and frowned. Outwardly, he was completely unfazed by it, inwardly, he was somewhat worried. So he put one gloved hand on the Irishman's shoulder. "Your anger is controlling you, mate. Channel it, and you can do things you wouldn't normally. Let it rule you to the point you're smashing terrain, and it'll be making your decisions, they won't be good ones, and someone will get killed. Stay on mission. Trust me, I know anger."

[Raveled]

Ironclad inhaled deeply when Gabriel mentioned her name. It could have been some other gadgeteer named Jessica, of course, but it didn't seem that the multiverse worked that way. "Okay," she said. "I guess we'll meet with my alternate-not-really-me version of myself." She paused and looked the battered Gabriel over closely. "She... she didn't make that exoskeleton for you, did she?"

[Gizmo]

Jack sat through the rest of their involuntary host's long-winded instructions and explanations with the body language of a man taking the matter seriously but impatient to get moving and active. Though no stranger to leadership as of late, his strengths did not lie in long term planning, nor did he honestly see the need for it. In his experience, the one who got things done was the one who actually went out and acted rather instead of sitting about drawing up strategies and debating the finer points. Although I so love a 'fine point'.

Their own Gabriel's angry interjection seemed out of character, but with Arrowhawk dealing with it and no great need for supplied himself, the swordsman simply stood nearby, fingers laced behind his head and idly counted tiny cracks in the room's ceiling.

[KnightDisciple]

GM Post

"Arrowhawk is correct, Gabriel. Control the anger. Don't let it control you. Remind yourself of what you'll have to return to when you go home."

He signaled the man operating the projector, and it faded out, even as a few Resistance members came into the meeting room and stood at the ready.

"I'll have someone take you to your double's personal armory, then to our general armory. I'll get you what information we know on powers, skills, and so forth in about an hour. It will be available to any and all who want it.

Jill, we'll have someone get you to the infirmary now, and to any other supply stores you feel a need to access. Your brother is welcome to accompany you, or we can guide him to a gym, sleeping quarters, whatever he feels he needs at the moment."

He gave Jessica an inscrutable look.

"Yes. She made it. She and Sonya bolted it on themselves. Feel free to work with her on any devices you feel will be useful. That don't involve orbital flight."

The expression he flashed might almost be considered a smile to some, but it quickly faded.

"One thing to make clear: there will be a portion of this mission where you cannot be in costume. You will have to go in civilian identity. We can provide makeup, image inducers, or the like for you. For Gabriel they will be required; my face, my pre-scarring face, is too widely known otherwise. The rest of you could probably get away with minimal work. If it wasn't obvious, though, your primary concern for identity concealment is each other, not us. Here, secret identities are rarely a luxury we possess. You'll have the journey to make your minds up, though.

Spare clothes and the like will be provided as you need them."

Slowly, carefully he stood, grabbing a sturdy cane provided by one of the aides.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I need to go sleep off the body-wide agony I'm experiencing. Good day, ladies and gentlemen."

With that, he left the room, though the various aides stood ready to help guide the heroes to their desired destinations.

[Raveled]

Ironclad's helmet folded back and she shook out her short blonde locks, running a hand through her hair in a nervous gesture. She glanced at the other heroes and shrugged. "Good luck with your other-yous," she said, before leaving the room to deal with her own alternate self.

She spoke to one of the aides and he guided her into the complex. She thought she was headed deeper, but she couldn't be sure. Her GPS couldn't link up with any satellites (from the bottom of the ocean? Of course not) but her inertial direction finder left an electronic breadcrumb trail, and she was heading steadily away from where they had all woken up.

Eventually they came to another airlock, but this one was covered in geometric designs picked out in silver and gold, like a single huge circuit. The aide punched something into a keypad next to the door and left. Jessica waited for the door the open -- and reeled back from the wave of high-energy, heavy-metal music that poured out. She put her hands over her ears, and only then realized that the music wasn't being produced aurally, but simply broadcast over regular radio waves.

She reached out with her mind and found the controls to the music, and shut it off entirely. Only then did she manage to step inside the place and look around. It was a long, low-ceilinged room, made all the lower by strings of LEDs hanging from the ceiling that produced the only light. The walls were covered in shelves and the shelves were covered in all manner of random machinery and electronics with their guts spilling out. It was the electronic equivalent to a slaughterhouse, and with her helmet down Jessica couldn't see to the far end. She took a deep breath and proceeded, regardless.

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk just rolled his eyes and sighed. "Siding with Mastermind looks somewhat tempting. Hell, I'm not convinced this isn't an elaborate trap." For a moment he stood, looking pensive, one hand idly scratching at the stubble on his cheek. After a moment he seemed to make up his mind.

He flashed dark red eyes at one of the aides. "But there are people who need help and don't make me homicidal." He extended a finger out to the man.

"You. I need access to armouries, and personal files." He began to stride towards the door when he paused. "And I hate teleportation. It makes me nauseous. Someone get me some coffee for it."

[Raveled]

Jessica proceeded cautiously through the gloom, eyes hunting for a familiar silhouette. Without warning a shape reared up from a table in front of her and stormed towards the heroine. A familiar voice demanded, "Who shut off my music," and with no warning Jessica came face-to-face with... herself.

Well, a version of herself. Other-her was still tall and gangly, but she looked more... starved, and weather-worn, and her face was the kind of unhealthy pale that only came from staying indoors for weeks at a time. She was also bald; her head was shaved and shining, though after a moment Jessica discerned that part of the shine came from more metallic, geometric designs tattooed or inlaid on her skull. The other-her was wearing what looked like welding goggles, but with red lenses set in them. Other than that she was dressed much as Jessica herself usually was when working; heavy woolen shirt with many, many pockets, dirty jeans, and tennis shoes.

Jessica blinked and took a few steps back, while her other-self looked her armor up and down. "Well. King Crab said we might be getting some visitors but I was frankly expecting something a bit... I dunno. Grunge. You are a fancy me, aren't you?" Goggles-Jessica walked around her perplexed self, taking in the view from all angles. "I might have to wrangle a few design docs from you, me."

Armored-Jessica broke away from her own appraising gaze, backing up against a table littered with electronics tools. "Slow down you -- me -- whoever. I'm still getting used to the idea of someone else like me walking around."

Goggles leaned close in and nearly shouted in Armored's face. "Well get used to it! 'Cause we're going to be seeing a lot of each other over the next week, Jessica!"

Armored cringed back and pushed her other-self away. "Fine. Let's just... why don't we sit down and talk? I think we have a lot to go over between us..."

[Gizmo]

"Hey, look on the bright side, 'Hawk," Jack offered. "If it is a trap, we get to fight are way out and make them look dumb doing it." With their host having left, the fencer's lackadaisical attitude seemed to have returned, though a keen ear would note it was a little more forced than it had been previously.

"He's a very 'glass half full' person," his sister clarified dryly, as she nodded briskly to the aide assigned to take her to the medical facilities. Jill followed where she was being led and her brother stepped in close behind, not about to let her run off on her own.

"If anything goes wrong, just yell something Scottish really loud," he called over his shoulder, sticking his hands in the pockets of his greatcoat and whistling tunelessly.

[KnightDisciple]

GM Post

Arrowhawk was rapidly led to his counterpart's armory, with his coffee and a bit of light food provided on the way. He was given as much time as needed, and one of the aides would stay with him to continue to act as a guide (unless he asked for more to stay and help carry things or the like).

Jill and Jack were quickly led to the medical area of the base, which encompassed a large number of rooms. They were steered to a storage area that included most needed supplies, as well as a few different means of carrying them. But despite the comparatively isolated location of the storage area, they inevitably passed some of the treatment wards, containing Resistance members wounded during fights, or occasionally during extraction from intelligence work. It likely didn't alter their moods any, but it did reinforce the genuinely precarious nature of the fight on this world.

Ironclad and Jessie had a chance to talk, argue, and/or invent for several hours before they were giving a page stating they had an hour before the submarine left.

Gabriel Prime spent what time he could mostly asking about the enemies they'd be facing, specifically the Interceptors. It paid to be somewhat well-informed about the enemy, at least in the basics.

--------------------------------------------------

It was a few hours later, and the motley group of heroes, the Jessica from this world, and a small group of techs and crewmen scurrying back and forth were gathered in front of the rather unique-looking submarine that was apparently going to be their home. A few hundred meters long, it took up one side of the cavernous submarine bay.

One of the crewmen noticed the mismatched entourage, even as a few others were carrying the last bits of supplies (including what passed for "luggage" for the heroes) on board. Said crewman walked over and gave a somewhat sloppy salute.

"Petty Officer Hudson, ladies and gentleman. This is the Siren. She's not really built for a straight up fight. More of a mobile, stealthy base. Too bad we can't take her all the way to our target, but she'll get us a good deal of the way there, and quicker than you'd think. Everyone on board if you could, we're shipping out ASAP."

With that, he motioned for them to follow him on board, where he'd lead them to a conference room.

"I'd take you to the bridge, but it's too hectic right now. Can't afford the distraction; we can give you the nickel tour later, once we're under way. Sit tight, though you can always flag someone down for quick directions. The head's behind that door over there."

With a parting gesture that indicated the bathroom, Hudson left the group to themselves.

[Gizmo]

Gathering together what supplies would be useful on the move and which could be carried without weighing her down into a shoulder-strung saddlebag, Jill grew increasingly distracted by the sounds coming from the nearest medical ward. Eventually she stormed in with a scowl, her ill mood leaving her with little patience as she berated one of the base's staff for his numerous mistakes, presumably doing his best with what little training he had. The masked prodigy quickly went to work on the injured rebels herself, foregoing the use of her metamagi abilities to demonstrate the proper methods of treatment. Nearby, her brother gave the flustered nurse a reassuring grin and began lightly joking with the injured and their caretakers, his infectious charm slowly raising their collective spirits as he played the cheerful heart to his sibling's practical mind. By the time they moved on, both bodies and morale were in notably better shape.

Later, taking in the Siren at a glance, Jack made an expression of consideration. "Well, it's no spaceship, but it's got potential," he decided with exaggerated magnanimousness. "I'm going to need an eyepatch, though, and maybe a parrot."

[Ecalsneerg]

Arrowhawk eyed the ship up and down. He'd memorised the files he'd been given access to, not bothering to allow a security risk like carrying them on his person to occur. He'd not bothered to laden himself down with much, simply loading up a tote bag with some food, a sleeping bag and his armour and cape, along with his collapsed longbow and quiver.

Nonetheless, he had a couple of throwing knives tucked into the socks underneath the loose black sweatpants and black t-shirt he wore. His face was slightly creased with wrinkles on the brow and the corners of the eyes, and his messy crop of barely trimmed black hair was flecked with grey. He leaned on a long metal walking stick wearily.

"Why?" he said in a quieter voice than usual. "You squawk enough as it is." He leaned back on a nearby bulkhead.

[Raveled]

The Jessicas didn't keep the rest of the group waiting long. Goggles had ditched the goggles for a pair of wrap-around sunglasses, and her head was covered by a short-cropped blonde wig. She was wearing a frame backpack and held something that looked like a human head in her hands. Armor-Jessica wasn't armored at the moment or carrying anything extra, but she was playing with a tool that looked like the love child of a monkey wrench, a soldering iron, and a volt meter. "So you see," Goggles said, "we had to make the head rigid to fit in the voice modulator and logic centers. Of course, that meant it raised the lowest potential size; no carrying the dummies under the clothes anymore. I always felt the payoff was worth it, but Boss Man scrapped the project. Now I just have the prototype heads." She shrugged and left the head on a convenient packing crate. "Anyway, are you sure you don't want a wig? It's 100% protection against Mastermind's psychic spies!"

Armor shook her head, looking uneasy. "I'm fine, really. If it gets to the point where we're being scanned by psychics, we've kind of already lost the fight, haven't we? In that case I'll armor up and punch them, or whatever."

Goggles nodded distractedly, as the pair came to a halt in front of the sub. "Well, well! Looks like the gang's all here. Anyone want to come on board and get the nickle tour?"

[KnightDisciple]

"A parrot's just silly. Besides, we're under the sea."

Gabriel had taken a seat in the conference room, clearly enjoying the chance to sit down. He gave Jack a deadpan face.

"You need a talking lobster and a fake peg leg. Then you can put that singing voice of yours to work. Though you'd need a beard."

Before anyone asked what he meant, there was a slight glow, and suddenly Gabriel was sitting in front of them in jeans and a red t-shirt. He gave them all level looks.

"No point hiding my face by now. It'll be disguised soon enough anyways; after all, when your alternate self was a highly popular government attache to the Pope, it tends to make the news when you're a filthy traitor to the glorious utopia of Mastermind. Anyways."

He glanced at Goggles and tilted his head a bit.

"I'd be up for a tour in a couple minutes. Want to relax for a moment though; I had to do a lot of footwork to gather up what scraps I could about the Interceptors we'll likely be facing. But lecture time can come later; I still need to make the PowerPoint and handouts."

Again, it was impossible to tell if he was bluffing, joking, or being deadly serious.