Stopwatch (IC)

[KnightDisciple]

"We've been breached and compromised. Someone is impersonating my voice."

 

The Baron's eyes were like chips of ice as he looked directly into the guard's own gaze. When he spoke next it was in Swedish, for just a bit more security.

 

<Guard Bernhard, Confirmation Code: Alpha-Alpha Seven Bravo Mike Mike 5. Situation Epsilon Orange, just like you trained for. We're spreading the sitrep word of mouth. Doctor Ridderwall is heading to Room 20. I would suggest you head in that direction. Now. Fenris is en route to assist Velocity in taking care of the threat; I will be providing support from the nearest situation room. Tune your personal radio to Band 5, but be aware those might be compromised. If possible get word to the town police we've got an Epsilon Orange, and they'll be able to take care of things from that point on. We'll get it all sorted.>

 

He turned back to Velocity, one hand idly tapping at the keyboard next to the security monitors. Characters started to flow over the screen.

 

"I'm going to do my best to get the door unlocked from here, but I will probably need to use the Situation Room nearby; it has priority access over local security desks. If that doesn't work, you and Fenris have my full permission to break the door down. Try not to wreck the whole lab, though. Some of those tools are expensive."

[Thevshi]

Velocity continued with her short bursts of speed and then waiting as the Baron continued "leading" her down the hallway.  She did not say anything in response to his request to not go through any of the walls, understanding his concern about his various experiments.  She had only intended to go through the wall, or door, of the room the stopwatch was in.  But, while she was feeling somewhat impatient, she was also somewhat concerned about what she might find in the room when they got there, and also a bit nervous about seeing her Robert again.

 

“Hmm, I've heard of him."  She replied when the Baron mentioned Fenris.

 

The Baron then sent off a security guard they encountered and the pair reached the door and the Baron started to try to unlock it.  The speedster sat to one side, her impatience starting to grow a she waited to see if he could get it open.  "I will do my best."  She replied when he asked she try to not wreck the entire lab.

[Supercape]

GM

 

For all the effort that had gone into blacking out the laboratory, and killing the internal communications, the door opened remarkably easy. It was true to say that the Baron, with his intricate knowledge of the system and skill with all things technological, could have bypassed whatever lock had been put in place, but - although it required a modicum of work - he could not shake the feeling that it was a little bit too easy, even for him. 

 

Inside the stopwatch laboratory, all seemed quiet. Two technicians were reading out some rather spurious and tedious data. 

 

The stopwatch, centre stage, was no longer there - and nor was Lord Harrow...

[Thevshi]

The moment the door to the lab began the slide open, Velocity was in motion, slipping into the lab when the door was just wide enough to accommodate her slim build.  Once inside the lab, she moved off to one side from the door quickly and quickly noted that the stopwatch was not immediately visible, nor was Robert.

Oh no, this is not good.  The speedster thought to herself as she began to rapidly scan more of the room for some sign of what might have happened.  It was then that she spotted Robert, a blur of motion himself that was almost too quick for even her to spot.

 

Moving over near him, she faced him her hands out to either side in a non-threatening manner.  "Lord Harrow.  I am Velocity from the Freedom League.  I have reason to believe that stopwatch is a threat.  Could you please put it down so we can discuss this?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

"Velocity are you?" said Harrow, moving at a speed even faster than Velocity. He paused - a second or two for Velocitie's perception, a nano second in real time. 

 

He gazed at the stopwatch. 

 

"It's incredible isn't it?" he explained, gazing at the seemingly innocuous device. 

 

"Time seems to bend to my will when I held it. And, wouldn't you know, it had a picture of...Megan...in it...." he said, giving a knowing smile at Velocity. 

 

"I missed that chance, didn't I. Somehow, I feel this was given to me for a reason. So I could be with you?" he mused. 

 

The speed of the conversation was so rapid that anyone else would not be able to hear the microsecond blip of sound - unless they had an extraordinary recording device available. 

 

"I sense that is the reason. Something...pulls me to you" he said, with love, and sinister love, in his voice. 

 

As he spoke the stopwatch swung in a circle, and a distortion flew from it. It was hard to describe exactly how the distortion felt, or looked, but time seemed to slow to a standstill as it wafted in a lazy, slow, but somehow instant manner, towards Velocity, passing a hairs breath from her...

[KnightDisciple]

It didn't take more than a moment for Velocity to move out of the Baron's effective range of vision due to her speed, something that caused his eyes to narrow just a bit. He didn't like not having a full picture of what was going on. In the middle of one of his company's buildings...

 

He marched with purpose into the lab, gesturing for the two technicians to leave.

 

<Situation Epsilon Orange. Confirmation Code: Alpha-Alpha Seven Bravo Mike Mike 5. Move out with Guard Bernhard. Now, please, people.>

 

With those few crisp sentences in Swedish, the Baron turned from the room and exited with purpose. He moved off down the side hall he had earlier indicated to Velocity, and indeed he was quickly in the totally-empty situation room. But he didn't intend to sit by while something like this was going on in his own "house". He closed his eyes for but a moment, and all cameras and sensors in the room shut off, as well as in the hall leading back to the lab. Best not to give anyone nosy too easy of a time looking into matters...

[Thevshi]

Velocity felt sinking feeling in her stomach as Robert spoke, apparently having gained some way of knowing she was Velocity, as the older Robert had hinted the stopwatch allowed.  "Robert…I was the one who messed things up.  You had every reason to end our relationship."  She replied, trying to get through to him.  "This stopwatch is dangerous, you need to…" 

 

But then she was dodging some..time distortion that stopwatch had sent out at her, either on its own or at Robert's command, though Velocity could not quite tell which.  What she heard in his voice as he mentioned being pulled to her both tugged at feelings she thought she had gotten past and made her afraid of what the stopwatch might be doing to Robert at the same time.

 

Briefly noting that the Baron had called his lab techs out of the room and then left himself, the speedster kept her gaze focused on Robert.  Whether he was doing all this of his own will, or something was controlling him, she did not have much choice right now as she needed to get the stopwatch away from him.  "I…I'm sorry Robert, I don't want to hurt you, I never wanted to hurt you, but you leave me no choice."

 

With that, she sped over near him, her right hand shooting out at hypersonic speeds.  A loud *CRACK* echoed in the room, as her hand broke the sound barrier, but her attack missed the blurring figure of her former lover by a good bit.  The speedster had already moved past him, coming to a halt behind him on the other side of the room, a feeling of doubt making her wonder if she could really allow herself to strike him.

[Supercape]

GM

 

"But you did hurt me, nonetheless!" retorted Robert, as he moved at a speed faster than even Velocity. 

 

"Perhaps not out of spite, or cruelty, I concede. You thought perhaps a woman of your abilities beneath me? Perhaps I was too slow. Long I wondered why you left, but now, this simple watch revealed it too me. You were to busy being a superhero to bother with love. I wasn't good enough for you. Love was not good enough for you. Yes, I believe it was love, even if just the first warm glow of it, bright and not yet tempered with time..."

 

"But this!" he exclaimed, showing her the watch for one brief moment. "Changes thing's does it not? Now, we can be together....one way or another!" he said, smiling at her with what she could only imagine was genuine love. 

 

"Together forever! Now, let us bloom!" he said, as another distortion smacked into Velocity. 

 

He frowned as the super speed of Velocity fought against the stasis of time that he had launched at her. 

 

"No...no...." he muttered to himself. 

 

And with that, he flew away in a blink of an eye...

[KnightDisciple]

Magnus closed his eyes for a brief moment, breathing to calm himself. He'd done this a couple of times before, but it was still an odd sensation. 

 

With a flicker of thought, his body, up to his neck, was clad in a form-fitting interface suit. A moment of motion had his hands grasping his phone and palmtop in their "holsters". He spoke the command unlock phrase.

 

"Tjut, Fenris."

 

And in a flash of light and a rush of air, it was not Baron Magnus Katastrof standing in the situation room, but the armored hero Fenris. In the blink of an eye, he was gone, flashing into existence further down the hall. He flashed into sight briefly a couple more times, before finally coming to a halt inside the lab. His eyes landed on Velocity after a moment.

 

"Where's Harrow and the watch?"

[Thevshi]

Robert’s accusations hit Velocity hard, perhaps not physically, but in many ways harder than if he had struck her so.  "NO!  It wasn't like that!"  She began to cry out.  "I did lo…"  And then the speedster was hit by the stasis of time he had launched at her.  The young woman could feel the attack trying to slow her down, stop her altogether.  But somehow she resisted it, her power struggling against the effect.

And then Robert was gone, moving far faster than Velocity ever had, or at least appearing to.

 

For a brief moment, the speedster looked at the empty space where he had just been.  Wondering where he could have gone, her mind racing through possibilities.  Can he move across water like I can?  Or is he stuck to places he can get to by land?  If so, where would he go?  Some place associated with us?  That could mean that chalet in Switzerland we visited, or Nice, or Paris.  Or someplace else?  Where did he mention having fond memories of visiting when he was young?

 

But then the speedster was interrupted in her thoughts by the sudden appearance of the armored wolf-like figure of Fenris.

 

Any thought of pursuing Robert right now faded, as Velocity let out a small sigh.  "He's gone, faster than I can go.  Probably.  He took the watch with him."  She replied.  "We need to find a way to try to track him, find out where he has gone."

[KnightDisciple]

"Certainly faster than I could manage without blowing out half my suit's systems, I'd wager. As for tracking him..."

 

He gestured around the lab.

 

"Probably we could rig something up here. The problem is, the Baron told me their equipment wasn't picking up much from the Watch. Certainly not at the levels we could track it across-"

 

His posture shifted, and the metallic maw grinned a bit as he snapped his fingers (an odd sound when they're coated in a metallic armor alloy). 

 

"The Inspector! Doctor Lind, she said the government was picking something up at this lab. That's why the Baron was here in the first place and why I was placed on alert. Perhaps she can shed some light on the subject, and with her in-bound equipment help us track him."

 

He started heading for the door, not using his teleport system for the moment, pausing to turn back toward Velocity.

 

"That is, if you're comfortable asking for her aide; it seems the most expedient method."

 

Internally, Magnus's mind was racing through possible ways to track the Watch, but the sudden shift in scale was problematic. Getting someone else's equipment that was already tuned for greater distance was the best path. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity frowned slightly as she looked around the lab and Fenris indicated that the equipment there had not really been picking up much from the stopwatch before.  When the armored hero mentioned the inspector, Doctor Lind, the speedster shrugged.  "I will defer to you and the Baron when it comes to the science, not really my strong point.  Though, given what I saw when I got in here, if we're lucky, that watch might be kicking off a lot more of..some kind of energy that can be tracked right now."

 

"I do not think that Ro…Harrow is quite in his right mind at the moment, and that the stopwatch has a lot to do with that."

 

As Fenris started walking towards the door, the speedster hesitated.  "Sitting around waiting is not something I am particularly good at I am afraid.  I have a couple of ideas where Harrow might have gone, so I might got check those while you and the Baron and this Doctor Lind try to rig something up.  Do you have a means that we can stay in communication even if I am out on European mainland?"

Edited March 29, 2013 by Thevshi

[Supercape]

GM

 

Meanwhile...

 

Robert Harrow strolled out of the Katastrov institute at a sedate paste. The rest of the world seemed frozen. On closest examination by him, he could see the very faintest of movements - like fly wings slowly beating as he moved up close to them. 

 

I can't dally too long...Megan is...fast. Not fast enough to catch me. But fast enough to be on my trail...

 

He looked at the horizon and the low sun. 

 

I never was much of a walker. But so be it..

 

He was cold, colder than he would have liked. He would need better clothing. He would need food too - easy enough to steal both. And sleep, of course...even with clothing he would need shelter in the snowfalls of Sweden. 

 

Where too? I need to,....ah! yes! it was many years ago, but maybe with the right equipment...I think I remember where I...yes! I do!

[KnightDisciple]

"I have less frame of reference, but it does seem the watch is influencing his behavior. Which is part of my worry. Right now he's...well, he's focused on you. But that might change with little notice."

 

Fenris seemed to contemplate her statement about not "waiting around" for a few moments, before giving a slow nod. 

 

"That's fair enough. We have a few communicators around here that you can take."

 

He walked to the security desk outside the labe and dug around for a moment before extracting one and handing it to her.

 

"This should serve well enough, though if you get far enough away it may take time to reach back to us here. I will find the Inspector and help her and the Baron coordinate the search from here."

 

With a final nod, Fenris disappeared in a flash of light and rush of air down the hall. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity followed along with Fenris as he made his way out of the lab to get her a communicator. "No, I don’t think Harrow's focus is going to shift from me, at least not for very long." She replied. "Right now I am not sure how much I can trust what I have been told, but I believe we have a significant temporal incursion on our hands."

 

"If your able to get some sort of long range means of scanning for him and the watch, I can suggest a couple of areas to focus the search on the mainland. One is Paris, France, where I will be heading first, should only take me a couple minutes to get there. Two others are Nice, France and Verbier, Switzerland. If nothing turns up in those locations or other places on the mainland, then you might need to expand your search to England, naturally, and possibly Ibiza and maybe even the Maldives."

 

Taking the communicator, she gave him a small smile. "Thanks, I'll be in touch. Good luck." And with that, she was off in a blur just as the armored hero disappeared from view as well. A few seconds later she was out of the building and began accelerating to high-hypersonic speeds as she in the general direction of France, given she was able to run across water to get there.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Thevshi

[Supercape]

GM

 

Sweden...

 

Doctor Lind greeted Fenris with a frown. 

 

"Fenris...is it?" she remarked. "I try to keep up with important figures" she explained "and of course there is an certain local appeal, given the Nordic myths" she smiled. 

 

"I hope you are not as unkindly as the son of Loki" she said, a laugh mixed with the faintness of anxiety. 

 

She already had a half-formed notion of what was going on, thanks to her insistence on answers from those staff that had accompanied her - although they were not fully aware either. 

 

"If you could explain exactly what has gone on here?" she asked, as helpfully and diplomatically as she was able. "You can understand my anxieties...abnormal readings, then a series of alarms - or cancelled alarms - I have lost track somewhat. I know my authority is somewhat limited here, for the moment, but I would be much obliged if you could give me a thorough explanation..."

[Supercape]

GM

 

Paris, France...and Nice, France...

 

Even at full speed, Velocity could not quickly cover the entire city. But directing her attention at the spots she could remember, those she spent with Lord Harrow, were unremarkable apart from the normal smell of world class cuisine that wafted from the kitchens and restaurants of the city. 

 

Verbier, Switzerland...

 

..however, was a different proposition. Up in the small town, Veocity could remember the holiday they had spent here, the hotels they had stayed in, the food they had eaten, the snow they had skied down. 

 

The hotel, a five star establishment called Aube Blanche* had been exceptional even for the high standards of the regime. In the ledger, just signed, the name of Harrow, and their old room, 17. 

[KnightDisciple]

GM

 

Sweden...

 

Doctor Lind greeted Fenris with a frown. 

 

"Fenris...is it?" she remarked. "I try to keep up with important figures" she explained "and of course there is an certain local appeal, given the Nordic myths" she smiled. 

 

"I hope you are not as unkindly as the son of Loki" she said, a laugh mixed with the faintness of anxiety.

 

The armored man smirked, and Doctor Lind knew this because the mouth full of metal teeth smirked with its pilot.

"Only to those who would harm the innocent or threaten society."

 

She already had a half-formed notion of what was going on, thanks to her insistence on answers from those staff that had accompanied her - although they were not fully aware either. 

 

"If you could explain exactly what has gone on here?" she asked, as helpfully and diplomatically as she was able. "You can understand my anxieties...abnormal readings, then a series of alarms - or cancelled alarms - I have lost track somewhat. I know my authority is somewhat limited here, for the moment, but I would be much obliged if you could give me a thorough explanation..."

 

Magnus managed to keep his suit from narrowing its eyes at the not-so-subtle threat to both of him, as well as his company.

 

"Your "abnormal readings" are why I'm here. It's a bit curious, you see, because as I've taken to understand from the Baron, this laboratory was barely able to pick up any sort of reading on the watch-like artifact. You were with him when he was heading toward the lab where it was stored, yes? Yes, of course you were. So you know exactly what the Baron and these fine people knew, up until the moment he sounded the alarm and an imposter-likely one Lord Harrow under the influence of the artifact-impersonated him through one method or another. 

 

At this point we are, effectively, facing a nascent supervillain of some sort. Lord Harrow escaped with the watch. The superheroine Velocity is maintaining direct pursuit, and we're establishing a satellite communications link now. The Baron is in the situation room nearest the lab, and is working to correct any system issues from there. He requests the status on the government's apparently-superior sensory equipment. You know, the equipment that picked up signs of the watch from many kilometers away, despite the trouble this highly-advanced laboratory had getting much of anything to show up from the watch. And we know it can't be our own equipment; any signals from that are well-documented with the government. 

 

So right now we've got a speed-based villain on the loose, and apparently you're the only person with access to equipment that might be able to track him. Do you wish to aid in stopping him, Doctor Lind, or will we have to clean up this mess ourselves?"

 

His tone was never anything but impeccably polite, but it was clear Fenris was not impressed by the supposed authority of this Doctor, and found her demands for "explanation" suspicious, when all was said and done.

 

Wolves can be a bit territorial, after all. 

[Thevshi]

It had only taken Velocity a few minutes to reach Paris.  Once there, the yellow clad speedster had focused on places where she had gone with Robert, greatly narrowing the places she would be searching.  Checking those locations took about a minute or so, but turned up nothing out of the ordinary.  However, for the young woman, being back at those places stirred up memories, much like her stop in the Maldives had during her New Year's Eve trip around the world.  Memories she had spent a good bit of the last ten months getting past.

 

Those memories, and the feelings still associated with them, were complicated by Velocity's current feelings towards Kyle, and to a smaller degree Siphon, not to mention what she had been told by the older Robert Harrow.  Why of all the ex-boyfriends that could come back to haunt me did it have to be Robert?  The young woman thought to herself as she left Paris and continued on to Nice.

 

It took much less than a minute to reach Nice, and about that long to search the places she had visited there with Robert, which were considerably fewer than they had visited in Paris.  Once again finding nothing out of the ordinary, she speedster continued on towards Verbier, Switzerland.

 

Again, the trip to the mountain resort was quite short, and Velocity had a narrow list of places to investigate.  A quick pass through the lobby of the Aube Blanche allowed her to speed read the hotel’s ledger, showing her that Robert had apparently just checked in to the room they had shared during their trip there.

 

Coming to a halt a short distance from the hotel, the young superheroine looked back at the structure as she let out a small sigh.  Yeah, that figures.  She though as she once again felt memories returning from her visit here only a little over a year ago. 

 

"This is Velocity, I believe I have found Harrow in Verbier."  She said into the communicator Fenris had provided her.  "I am investigating the Aube Blanche here."

 

With that she was off again in a burst of speed, vibrating her body's molecules as she passed through the walls of the hotel and then the door to room 17.

 

"Robert!"  She called out as she stopped just past the door.  "Are you ready to talk yet?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Doctor Lind frowned, her demeanour cooling somewhat. 

 

"Diplomacy and tact isn't your strong point, I see. Well, if you are going to throw away that courtesy, so shall I, sir, so shall I. I have had my patience tested already by the Baron"

 

She looked deeply disturbed by what Fenris had said. 

 

She jabbed a finger at his chest piece. 

 

"Don't think I fall for one minute with your intimidatory insinuations! You or the Baron. It is not I who needed to defend my actions, but rather you, for threatening national security. A supervillain born in your laboratory? obstructing the law? energy readings of deep concern, and now apparently loose? Ha!"

 

"I'm reporting this straight to the top, and then we go in and tear this place apart with a toothpick to see what happens, sir!" she said, voice all steel and complete confidence. 

 

"I have no idea where this watch is, but we will try to clean up your mess. Right now, you can tell me exactly where this Velocity is, and don't lie to me. We expect you to do your utmost to recapture this watch, but so will we!" she said, full of brimstone. 

 

"And don't palm me off with any half price lackey either!" she added, for good measure. 

[Supercape]

GM

 

Switzerland...

 

Robert was barely visible. He had been in the room only minutes before Velocity arrived, but had scoured the room with a fine toothcombe several times over. Velocity could see, in the corner of a room, a small bag full of scientific equipment. 

 

He spun around as Velocity entered. 

 

"That's a neat trick!" he replied, clutching the stopwatch in a firm grip. 

 

"I knew you were fast, but it seems you have more than one string to your bow. No matter. I am faster" he noted with an air of confidence that had grown. 

 

"I am touched you thought so much of me that you would follow me. I wonder why?" he mused, looking at his stopwatch briefly. 

 

"This thing almost sings to me, my dear. I have the strongest feeling we should be together. Perhaps, perhaps I have always thought that, but it was drowned under a sea of bitterness when you left me. It was short, was it not, our love? short but so sweet. And I would have that sweetness again. Yes, I have the strongest feeling about us!" he said, full of wistfulness. 

[Thevshi]

Velocity frowned slightly as she recognized some of the equipment that Robert had in the bag in the room, but quickly focused back on the young nobleman himself.  Reaching up, she pulled off her mask, goggles and wig, letting her long blonde hair fall out as she looked at Robert as Megan, and not Velocity.

 

"Robert, I never left you!"  She replied.  "You broke up with me after I was inexplicably gone for two days.  I admit, I handle things rather badly, both before that, and most certain when you found me back at my apartment after I had gotten back.  As I stated back in the lab in Sweden, you had every right to dump me."

 

"I..I did love you Robert.  As short as our time together might have seen to you, it was long for me.  One of my longest relationships ever, to be honest, and certainly the deepest.  Or at least to me."  Megan added.  "I am sorry I kept this secret from you," she gestured slightly at her costume, "but it is something I had been keeping as a secret for almost three years before we met that first time on Ibiza.  A year ago, I was struggling with trying to decide if the time was right to tell you."

 

"But please listen to me Robert, that watch is dangerous.  I think it is influencing you.  You need to stop listening to it, put it down for a moment and listen to what I have to say."

[KnightDisciple]

GM

 

Doctor Lind frowned, her demeanour cooling somewhat. 

 

"Diplomacy and tact isn't your strong point, I see. Well, if you are going to throw away that courtesy, so shall I, sir, so shall I. I have had my patience tested already by the Baron"

 

She looked deeply disturbed by what Fenris had said. 

 

She jabbed a finger at his chest piece. 

 

"Don't think I fall for one minute with your intimidatory insinuations! You or the Baron. It is not I who needed to defend my actions, but rather you, for threatening national security. A supervillain born in your laboratory? obstructing the law? energy readings of deep concern, and now apparently loose? Ha!"

 

"I'm reporting this straight to the top, and then we go in and tear this place apart with a toothpick to see what happens, sir!" she said, voice all steel and complete confidence. 

 

"I have no idea where this watch is, but we will try to clean up your mess. Right now, you can tell me exactly where this Velocity is, and don't lie to me. We expect you to do your utmost to recapture this watch, but so will we!" she said, full of brimstone. 

 

"And don't palm me off with any half price lackey either!" she added, for good measure. 

 

"You are purposefully misinterpreting my words, the situation, and the intent of the Baron, myself, and the staff here.

 

I did not say we helped birth him. But it appears that the strange artifact, which was brought to this company for analysis, has properties we didn't yet discover.

Properties that this facility, which, I might add, is thoroughly shielded and reinforced, not to mention equipped with top-of-the-line equipment, barely was able to pick up. Energies that barely registered here but that you picked up long distances away, hence why I was stating we needed you and your equipment to help us work on locating Lord Harrow and the watch.

We never "threatened national security", this facility was merely performing science. Science is not always understood, that's the point of the process.

 

Was it not made clear that Harrow was not, and is not, affiliated with the Katastrof Family, this company, or indeed this entire country? Because I'm sure it's a matter of open public record where Harrow has been before. Just like his visit to the Baron yesterday is recorded. And every single one of the tests run in the last day is recorded. And all results from the tests. We are obstructing nothing. I was simply wondering how it was you picked up readings this facility did not.

 

As for tearing this place apart, I'm sure the lawyers will sort out just what you can and cannot "tear apart".

 

As for helping capture the Watch, that was why I was asking about the sensitive equipment that should be arriving at this site any minute via helicopter; at least, that's what the Baron stated the rought timetable was."

 

Before she could respond, he held one hand up to his ear and the other up in a "silence" gesture. He was receiving Velocity's communication, and gave a short, succicnt reply.

 

"Understood. I will begin making my way there, but it will be a non-zero amount of time for me to make it there. Contact further if you change locations."

 

He lowered both his hands and somehow managed to look smug with his canine face as he spoke to Lind again.

 

"Velocity has located Harrow in Verbier, Switzerland. I somehow doubt your authority extends quite that far. Now, did you still need me here, or will I be allowed to go back up a member of the Freedom League against a potential threat?"

[Supercape]

GM

 

Sweden...

 

"Exactly where in Verbier!" demanded an unphased Dr. Lind, bringing up a notebook. 

 

"And then, please don't let me stop you" she said, offering some semblance of diplomacy.

 

 GM

 

Switzerland...

 

Robert Harrow looked down at his stopwatch, contemplating Megan's words.

 

"Influencing me. Perhaps. It is a matter of words and their meaning. Revealing the truth, you might say. Opening my eyes. That is influence is it not? Is influence always bad? or wrong?" he countered. 

 

"Given its power to open my eyes, I would have them opened further. I can almost feel the veil of time split asunder. It is not the power I crave, it is the clarity..."

 

"Whatever happened to us? Perhaps it no longer matters. Perhaps it is only for us to steer the ship of our lives back on course. Can you not sense what might be? Our child?"

 

He gestured towards his bag. 

 

"These days, of course, I...we...would not even need to do things the conventional way. Your DNA, and mine, will make do..."

[Thevshi]

Megan felt heart sink slightly as Robert talked about what the watch was allowing him to understand, and about their possible child.  "What happened to us Robert was I had prior responsibilities I should have told you about but foolishly did not.  The Freedom League requested I assist some UNISON agents in an operation in Eastern Europe, something that was only supposed to take a couple of hours.  Things did not go as planned and that turned into a couple of days."

 

"When you came to my apartment after I got back, I should have told you.  But..I was tired, I had almost been killed, and even had lost my powers for a short time, so I was not thinking very clearly that morning and I let the chance slip away."

 

As he gestured towards the bag of medical equipment and confirmed what Megan had been suspecting, the young woman gave him slightly affronted look.  "Really Robert?  Where is the fun in that?"  She stated, not quite able to help herself from trying to alleviate some of the tension.

 

Her expression quickly turned serious again.  "Robert, please listen, our son is the very reason this watch is dangerous.  I don't fully understand how or why, but its only purpose seems to be bringing him into existence.  And he can destroy everything, rending both space and time."

 

"Do you really want to potentially be responsible for the destruction of everything, everywhere?"