ic And Crackerjacks (IC)

[Avorez]

Titan looked around and noticed that, surprise! Cobalt Templar was gone. Titan grumbled his heavy feet plodding along slowly, Wasn’t this guy a prominent scientist or professor in this timeline? What is someone like that doing here? Titan shook off the feeling and continued onwards, ripping the front door off of its hinges and carrying it with him. Like a normal person. He then turned and waved at Riff, turning back and walking into the house, having to sort of side-step and duck into the house being a metal giant and all.

 

As he made his way through the house, he happened upon Cobalt Templar and the mad scientist from earlier. He really didn't say anything, just kind of stood in the background like a big metal roadblock, or a lamp, carrying a door. Titan examined the door, and really didn't notice anything special about it in particular. Still think he should call himself the King of Clocks...or Time King! I should do this professionally. Really, I should.

[Darksider42]

Huh, for a big guy hes quite sneaky. Riff though the moment he opened his eyes and found that Cobalt Templar was curiously absent. Words left him as he saw Titan rip the door from its hinges and walked right inside. Somehow he got the feeling this was his first day. Signing and rubbing the temples of his head, the Genius Guitarist floated along after the Man of Metal.

 

As he entered, Riff started to observe his surroundings. He tried his best to note what the hell their mad scientist had written. He was curious as to how this mans plans went horribly, horribly wrong.

[Avenger Assembled]

Litwack started at Cobalt Templar's approach, but didn't look too surprised to see the heroes there. "Ah! You...well, of course it would be you." With a tired sigh, Litwack rose to his feet, his face still streaked with tears, and laid his hands against blank spots on the chalkboard near his seat for a moment. "We who wanted to end the greatest crime of all simply became the greatest criminals ourselves." Litwack turned and faced the heroes steadily. "Gentlemen, I stand before you the sole survivor of the group of geniuses that sought to build a machine to travel back in time and kill ADOLF HITLER!" He smacked one hand into another, and looking over his shoulder Riff realized he was looking at plans for a time machine - a machine whose parts he could see scattered all around them even now!

 

"It was all so simple, simply a matter of the right matter correspondences so that Hitler could be eliminated without the birth of a new timeline! But what did we make? A horrorshow!" He kicked the history textbook at his feet for emphasis. "Six million dead in Britain alone when the Bombs fell. Worse on the Continent! And millions more put into bondage and the grave, right here in America!" He turned and embraced Cobalt Templar, weeping again against his chest. "We killed the world even as we sought to save it!" 

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar was unmoved by the man's tears. He slowly pried him away from his body.

 

"Okay, but that doesn't explain the dozens of other things in the timeline that just don't add up. "Remove Hitler" doesn't do all the other things we see in this world. Trust me, I've been to a world where Hitler had his neck snapped in the mid-30s. It wasn't like this."

 

He didn't add that it was actually worse, because that wouldn't help.

 

"This isn't just you removing Adolf Hitler before Nazi Germany gained momentum and power. There are so many other changes that either you traveled to multiple places, or your time machine was so whacked-out you tore holes in time or something. Plus, who were the folks you strapped into the machine? Where did they go? What do they have to do with this?"

[Avenger Assembled]

"Brave souls who traveled back to 1923 to cut the head from the snake. Intervene at the time of the Beerhall Putsch and destroy all the Reich's would-be leadership in a single masterstroke. Do you know how many more horrors there were in waiting in those terrible days?" demanded Litwack with urgent grief. "Himmler's pagan sacrifices, Drexler's cyborg monstrosities, and so many more! The only solution was to strike them all down. Who can say what happened in those intervening years?" he asked, circling the room, still in great grief. "They must have gone to ground, as they planned, and died when the conquest of Germany at the hands of that Soviet monster ended in nuclear holocaust and flame deluge! I do not know where the Centurion went," he admitted in his ravings, "perhaps he was never born at all, or never came to our planet...or perhaps he died beneath an atomic jackboot!"

[Avorez]

Titan raised an eyebrow as he heard Litwack speak, “Cyborg monstrosities? Seriously? Since when did the Nazis have cyborgs?†Titan scratched his head with the detached door, looking at Litwack and then to Cobalt Templar, finally at Riff, “Well…we could use his help to get back to 1923 and maybe we can stop them from doing this.â€

 

Though, it didn’t take very much for Titan to lean over, his blank white eyes boring into Litwack, “But if you are lying to us, I will smash you with this door. You understand, Litwack?†The metal man was clearly bluffing. It really didn’t sound too convincing. He seemed to be…off his game today.

[Darksider42]

"Damn." Was really all Riff could say as he heard the doctor explain his side of the story. He turned to face the doctor as he went on. Though as he did, Warren started to frown. Something was off from how the doctor was acting. He wasn't sure but-

 

That trail of thought ended abruptly. "Wait..." Riff tilted his head. There was a faint buzzing sound heard at the edge of his hearing. One that he was certain he could have sworn he heard back during his concerts... Holoprojector?! "Had a feeling this was all too good to be true!" Riff suddenly said as he unslung his guitar, strummed a powercord and sent the note directly at the source of the sound.

[Avenger Assembled]

Riff's mighty note struck what at first seemed to be thin air - but then the air, the walls, the floors, and even Litwack himself suddenly cracked and flew to pieces like so much shattered stained glass! An instant later, the heroes were standing inside a black-walled room painted with high-tech gadgetry along the walls, now shattered like a dropped rock candy with silvery pieces scattered like broken glass. And they weren't alone! Dressed in a black trenchcoat over a bronze and purple costume, the same woman Riff had seen in the parking lot looked startled for a moment before she gave them a confident glare. "Well well well, so the heroes have seen through my techno-trap! What a shame. Perhaps a new experiment is needed. After all, once I've fooled you once, how do you know you're not being fooled all over again?" 

 

She winked - and as she did so, the nameless teleporter who'd been transporting so many people during this adventure appeared behind her, snatched her up, and disappeared! 

[Avorez]

Titan frowned and looked around the room, still holding the door like it was nobody's business, "So...what exactly do we do now?" Titan propped himself up on the door, the door creaking and bending under his weight as he did so, "I suggest we smash the jumper with a dumpster. I am...more than a little bit done with the whole jumping from district to district like madmen." Titan came up off of the door, the cracks remaining but the door returned back to a somewhat natural state.

 

Thusly, Titan stretched and sighed, letting the door fall to the ground, "We might as well start looking around the city, or maybe look around this general area for clues and such. Any ideas?"

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar took a step back as the cracks started...and then had to just stand there and blink several times as things rushed to...the two people leaving?

 

"Wat."

 

He shook his head for a moment as Titan spoke, crossing his blue-clad arms over his chest with his own frown.

 

"I don't think time travel ever happened. Good catch on the whole thing there, Riff. Hate to say it, but they had me fooled. But I don't think we ever moved through time. I think it was one giant simulation. But...why?"

 

With that question, the Liberty Leaguer began a thorough search of the room, including for any doors out of the immediate space. Perhaps if he sussed out where they actually were he'd have a better shot at figuring out what to do next...

[Avenger Assembled]

Cobalt Templar found an exit easily enough - or DID he? The alley outside was trash-strewn, but part of their history, as far as they could determine from the discarded newspaper in the corner. The sky overhead was dark with the colors of early evening, as if they hadn't been gone long - and come to think of it, they hadn't spent that long in the simulation. Or had they? Looking around, Riff was able to identify the (now-smashed) parts of a high-end holographic system scattered all around them, the kind that might have been easily available to wealthy supervillains like the Psions...but even this didn't look to be sophisticated enough to produce everything they'd encountered inside the illusion. 

 

Meanwhile, Titan found his cellphone ringing - his contact back at the base. "Titan, check in! Where have you been?" 

[Darksider42]

Riff sifted through the remains of the holoprojector, seeking some hint as to who did it. "Well if we have been had, I'm now more worried about what they were actually doing while pulling the smoke and mirrors show on us." Riff replied to Cobalt Templar. "They are rich though. These things don't come cheap. Those guys have a ton of cash. Maybe the Psions? Not sure..." He double checked some scrap electronics inside, recognizing a few parts from before. "...Strange, these are not good enough or possess the capabilities to pull off some of the things we saw. Something is still not very right in this picture man."

 

Warren raised an eyebrow at Titan. "I don't think you'll get the chance to show them the door right now man. You also might wanna answer that." He signed as he tried to put everything together. "Where could they have gone?" He asked himself repeatedly as he tried to extend his hearing out, perhaps catch something that might pinpoint where their mystery criminals teleported to..

Edited August 22, 2014 by Darksider42

[Avorez]

Titan furrowed his brow, or at least made something that looked like a metallic furrowing of the brow. “I don’t trust anything I can’t smash easily.†He grumbled as he began to lean on the door once more, buckling under his weight once more. Titan heard his phone begin to ring and sighed, noticing the number was labeled ‘Lonely Point Joint Base’. He opened up his phone and answered, “Hello?â€

 

“Titan, check in! Where have you been?â€

 

He raised an eyebrow and looked to the others, holding the phone away from his face, “It’s the military base.†He then brought the phone back to his face, beginning to speak, “This is the Captain, I…am not exactly sure where I am. From what I can tell you currently, I am in a holographic simulation run by enemy forces.†He looked to the others, “I am not alone.â€

[Avenger Assembled]

As far as the heroes could tell, they were alone in the smashed remains of the illusion so deftly taken down by Riff's application of sonic powers. A search of the warehouse did reveal what appeared to be the control room of the warehouse where they had been 'held' - there was a high-end sound and light control panel here, but again there wasn't enough to produce everything they'd seen. By looking at the live monitors, and cameras as well, they could make some conclusions about their captors - who had evidently watched them through a one-way mirror located at the side of this very control room!

 

They'd certainly been watched the whole time, and filmed as well - the footage for the latter having been taken by their captors when they made their hasty exit. But what purpose had it all served? Without a more intense search of the discarded computers and folders in the control room (which had once been the warehouse office), there was no way to tell; only battered hard drives and dusty filing cabinets pushed against the wall seemed to offer any clues. 

 

"Do you need backup, Titan?" inquired his base contact. 

[Avorez]

Titan flipped through the files, reading and reading as he did so. He stayed on the line, flipping through the files, coming across the name ‘Joshua Psion’ repeated over and over again, as well as the…inventive pictures of a girl who has experienced more than a few things in her life. Titan raised an eyebrow, and flipped through some of the other old records, sighing before he spoke, “There is a distinct possibility that we might…â€

 

Titan snatched up the newer stuff and laid it down next to the computer beside Riff, motioning over to Cobalt Templar, mouthing ‘Take a look at this’ as he went back to his phone call, “Drudge up anything you can find about the Psions, I need basic stuff ASAP. Tactics, weaknesses, anything AEGIS has, call me back and let me know ASAP.â€

 

He clicked ‘End Call’ on his phone and slipped it back into his pocket, approaching the others, “It would seem that the girl has some issues. At least, that’s what I can discern from this.â€

[Darksider42]

Riff booted up one of the computers. If there was any information on what these people were doing, it was likely on these machines. He was a bit surprised by how lax the security was. Looks like they were not exactly tech savvy.  Sorting through the files, the guitarist found what he was looking for.

 

"Looks like we were being played as lab rats guys. We just took part of something called Operation Rorschach. Basically we would be "Teleported" back to Berlin, 1933 and be placed in a would you kill Hitler experiment, along with his right hand men and their families moral dilemma. All copies of our were gonna be sold or kept as research into something." Riff exposition while reading through the files. "All this was being done by the Psions. Looks like the girl we ran into was Aura. Her powers seem to lie in illusions which helps explain a few things." Riff finally finished as he stepped away from the screen and turned back to the rest of the trio. 

 

"Didn't find anything on where they went. At least we got some answers" He continued with a small shrug.

[KnightDisciple]

Cobalt Templar sat back a few moments as Titan and Riff worked to try and gather some clues and information, both about the setup in the warehouse and the situation in general. 

 

"Any clues about another hideout for them, Riff? I'm glade we busted up their little game here, but it seems like they have enough right now to just try again.

 

Honestly, if we cant' find much trace, I'm not sure what else we can really do right now. They've got at least one person who can teleport, and I don't know about you guys but I don't really have the means at my disposal to track that. We might just have to give some statements and head home."

[Avenger Assembled]

Eventually there didn't seem to be much more the heroes could do and they went their separate ways, exchanging contact information as was the usual style of superheroes. There was something hauntingly familiar about Titan the more Cobalt Templar looked at him, but it was nothing he could exactly put a finger on - and after all those endless years in another dimension, there were many strangers who wore the faces of old friends all around him. With new technology in Riff's pocket and quite a story for Titan to tell his military handlers, it looked to have been an interesting - albeit very strange, afternoon after that softball game. 

 

- 

 

Meanwhile, in the Rocky Mountains, Jump Psion looked over his research with some satisfaction. He hadn't really expected the heroes to see through his experiment, which made things all the more interesting - even now that Aura was doing penance for once again failing to bring back her sister. So far the heroes of Freedom were continuing to surprise him - but he was sure he'd figure them out sooner or later. After all, he had family to rescue. All of them.