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Mutants & Masterminds: Heroes United - Chapter 4: Forgotten Things


Justin OOC

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"I hope not. Because if we did, just by breathing the air we probably killed enough organisms to change the course of history." Magnum Opus regarded the town. "Do you all think it's a good idea to say hello? If this is the past, we don't speak the language, so it may cause more problems than it solves."

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Izzy nodded firmly. "Right then, sounds like we should be heading back."

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She then turned back to the senator.

,,

"Are we free to leave, Mr. MaCallen? Do we have to sign any sort of privacy agreement or the like?"

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"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you won't find 'dragons' going back in time," Fulcrum pointed out sourly, pouting a little that Andery didn't play along.

,,

"Anyway, the only things we can do is wait for the brains back home to work something out, or go ask the locals. I'm not really the 'wait and see' type."

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She looked over at Gabriel and Jael and Andery. "What do you say? Lets go mess up history!"

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Magus regarded Ryujin and Paladin with a grave look.  "There has been a transferal of power. I believe the recipient is simply flexing their new, magical muscles.  I don't sense any evil or malice in this but there does seem to be a certain lack of regard for consequences," he waved a hand back at the manifestation.  "Perhaps we should wait for the rest of the group to get back from wherever they went before I explain further."

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Senator MaCallen nodded.  "Very well, but be aware, we are watching intently.  We will continue investigating how best we can, and if we come across something that might be of aid, we'll share, in good faith."   It was implied that the heroes would be expected to do the same.  "I choose to trust you all, this once, in hopes that you can continue to be worthy of it."  

 

It was high speech, but at the same time, there was no lie in his eyes or tone.   An Honest politician, so they did actually exist.

 

He nodded and the Agents rose, clearly they'd been dismissed,  and soon were shown back outside, and while certain areas were still blacked out as it were, Gatekeeper found he could utilize his powers, and that the commlinks now worked fully again, outside the warehouse.

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Rachael saw her comlink's connection return and show it was back on the network. She had Mr. Focht have a back-up over at her lab in case communications at the main headquarters were knocked out.

She closed her helmet after pulling her cowl and goggles over her head and face, and nodded to the team that was with her as she stepped outside. "We're back out. We might have a plan, but I was wondering if there was any breakthroughs over there... might drastically change what we might do." She said. "Gatekeeper will be porting us over in a moment. But if there is anything that needs saying now might be a good time to start the conversation while we're en-route."

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"Hello?  am I using this thing correctly?  Can you hear me?"  Magus fiddled with the communication device while Paladin nodded to him that it was indeed on and working.  "I believe I have deduced, at least in part, the cause of the disturbance.  More importantly I know how to rejoin you with your missing team.  I will explain further when you are here."

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.  More importantly I know how to rejoin you with your missing team.  I will explain further when you are here."

 

Even as he finished his sentence a warp-gate opened in front of him to show he rest of the group exiting a nondescript building. 

 

"Don't wait for us, lay that explanation on out."  Gatekeeper said enthusiastically as he ushered the last of the party through.

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Izzy was very happy to be back on more familiar soil; nothing like dealing with annoying cloak-and-dagger types to make you want to hit things.

 

"Hullo Magus. If you have some sort of concrete action we can perform, I for one would be very appreciative!"

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When Doc stepped through she walked over to Magus, eyebrow quirked. "Okay... you got answers, good. What is it then? Time is getting shorter by the minute from what the spooks told us. And knowing government types such impatience usually means armed troops trying to get into whatever that smoke is... and most likely failing that they'll bomb it into the ground."

Crossing her arms expectantly she looked over to Gatekeeper and Slither. "I'm with these two on this. Lay it out."

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Andery came to a decision.  "Alright, Jael, Gabriel, return to the tower.  I want you to keep watch over it.  We still have people within, even if they're unconscious, and there's beasts about, so let's keep everyone safe.  Fulcrum, Danielle and I will continue on."

 

The two powerhouses nodded obediently and returned to the tower, leaving the more mixed group to continue on to the town they'd found.  Andery led thm through the outskirts, and what was most amazing was how similar to city from back home it was.   the buildings looked different, but the layout was similar.  

 

The humans they met, for that certainly was what inhabited the city, gave them no more than a passing look.  Their costumes no more ostentatious than some of the outfits worn.  The language sounded familiar, there were words that were close, and it was quickly picked up that Latin had some roots in it.  With her background in Law, Danielle was able to get the barest gist of things.  It seemed this was a frontier town, near the Eastern Wildlife refuge, an area of low industrialization. 

Andery was fascinated.  "Industrialization... If this is the past, it means everything we know is wrong about our world, about us."

 

---------

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Fulcrum shook her head as she looked around. What struck her was how modern it looked. The buildings were a bit funny-shaped...angular rather than the plain boxes of the world she knew, but without the ornamentation she associated with 'hobbity' villages from Netflix. And there was a road, even if there weren't any cars...and it was made from some kind of smooth slate-grey stone in an unbroken sheet.

 

How did that even WORK? Wouldn't it crack and split apart every time the seasons changed? And any little crack would mean the whole thing would have to be replaced, instead of just prying out the square that had broken.

 

There were streetlamps, or things that looked like streetlamps; tall posts with some kind of weird bluish crystal on top. She couldn't tell if they were glowing in the daylight though.

 

She didn't see much landscaping, though. No intentional hedges or flower beds. Some of the trees were in straight enough lines that they'd probably been planted that way, but not a whole lot.

 

On top of all that, there were the people. They were dressed in wildly colorful garb, for the most part, and were wandering around in couples and in families, gawping at the trees and other people and buildings. Fulcrum recognized them immediately, from across time and space and the barriers of reality itself.

 

They were tourists.

 

Loud clothes. Loud voices. Constant excitement over ordinary things. There didn't seem to be cameras in this place, but Fulcrum was absolutely sure some of these people had brought painters along to capture the important moments as they happened.

 

"This isn't the past," she said to Andery. "Can't be. Latin was the Romans, right? And they weren't THAT long ago. You still see their old buildings all over the place in Europe, and none of them looked anything like this. This is more like...our time, but like, if the Romans had never all died out."

 

She laughed and put her fists on her hips, and expended the only Latin her college years had managed to get through her skull.

 

"Veni vidi vici."

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"Let's hope we're not here as conquerors, then." Magnum Opus stuck to keeping her feet on the ground, resisting the urge to fly up for a quick overview. It'd be a very fast way for people to get entirely the wrong impression of her - that she was goddess or demon, when she was neither.

 

"I don't know if parallel realities exist, of course. But if they did: this might just be one."

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Magus nodded as the others stepped through Gatekeeper’s portal. “Excellent, we can begin now.” He said.  “First of all, I only have a general awareness of what is behind this.  It would take far more time and ability than I have to divine, in clear terms, the nature of all the participants,” Magus turned and regarded the smoke-filled void before them, his head cocked slightly to the side.

 

“I do not believe there is malicious intent involved here. What has happened is a transfer of power.  Someone or something holding a great deal of power has transferred it to another recipient.  That person, whoever it is, is flexing their new magical muscles,” He turned and looked back at the others. “This is a situation I am intimately familiar with.  So I believe what we have here is a dimensional placeholder.  The building and everything in it has been sent elsewhere, but nothing from that other place has come here so instead, we get this,” he waved a hand back at the non-building.

 

Magus gestured towards Gatekeeper “I believe if we combine his teleportation powers with my magic we can open a gateway to wherever the building went.  Once it’s open I have a spell that can create bubble that will protect all those within from nearly any environmental conditions.”

 

“Questions?”

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Rachael un-crossed her arms. "I was partially right. Whatever sort of magic that was used had to replace what was taken with some sort of material. Hmm... perhaps we should think of how we can speak to whoever is doing this and convince them they need to stop stealing our people and property for starters. There's no guarantee they can speak our language. Remind me after this crisis is over to come up with some sort of universal translator... Oh! Good call on the environment bubble! If whatever is on the other side isn't save for people to be in though, we may have lost our team... well those that require earth-like conditions to survive."

"It may be a possibility some of them are already dead. We have to be prepared for that fact."

 

She sighed. "I just hope if the intelligence behind this is indeed not malevolent, they also know the fact we require certain conditions to live..."

"So guys... we put Magus' plan in action?"

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The thought that her fellow teammates might already be dead on the other side of whatever the hell they we're dealing with made Izzy a bit sick to her stomach, but if this was indeed the case there would be time for mourning later. She nodded firmly.

 

"Let's get this over with, then."

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Rachael nodded. "Oh and magus, if things get a bit harsher over there on the other side, note I can spend some time in a hostile environment, focus on the others. Then again if everything is peachy over there then the whole question is moot. I'm actually placing my hopes on that."

 

She smiled, seeing Slither's apprehension. "I wouldn't worry... Maybe we'll pop up at some extra-dimensional resort. Stranger things have happened. We've fought a stone and lava army, and we've probably had strange things happen to us when we became superhuman, so... I think we should accept the fact that normal now is a completely unreachable baseline."

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It was at this point that Lester appeared, and Jaiver walked over to join them.   "IWhatever we're going to do should be done fast.  Your plan will work Magus but i suggest an alteration, as a safety net.   We need three parts to this.  A physical gateway made of the same material as what's missing, The same sort pf eldritch Magic that's powering the Event itself, and The capability to travel without distance."

 

Paladin nodded in his armor.  "I can construct a gateway structure, easy enough, and I trust Magus and Gatekeeper can do the rest."  

 

Lester nodded.  "You will have to remain here, Paladin to keep the gateway open and protect the site until the others return, i too will remain, to help with media control.   Is anyone else going to stay behind?"

 

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Andery looked at the two women and shrugged.  "I really don't know at this point.  I'm up for any reasonable suggestion on how to proceed.  Just keep in mind we have next to no information and are essentially alone on what might as well be an alien world, without support, and hundreds of people unconscious in my office building some miles away with only our two colleagues to protect them."

(last chance for anyone to sit out, otherwise we get you all together again.)

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"Negative." Rachael said. "If anyone is needed to go over there and take care of the injured it would be me. It's part of my training. Hopefully the Tower if we find it, has all the medical equipment we need still in it. Unless people are already doing triage."

"Afterward we'll have to task our expedition with finding the rest of the team. To be honest our primary concern after stabilizing the injured on site should be evacuation."

 

She looked to everyone else. "I hope this won't be a expedition of 1."

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Izzy shook her head. "No, I'm going to go through as well; my skill set is pretty broad, so I'm sure I'll find something useful to do on the other side."

 

She took a deep breath and looked to the others.

 

"So, do we have to hold hands or something as we go through?"

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Magnum Opus nodded. "Do you think something with agency brought us here, then? Something deliberately did it? If so, we may want to actually do something about it. I think Jael and Gabriel can keep a good enough eye on the others, but just in case..." She raised her voice. "Hey Gabriel, if you can hear this, remember to signal us somehow if you run into anything that needs our help or attention. We'll come running. I'll keep an eye on the building." She then checked comms to see if they were working.

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"Actually this would be something like Gatekeeper's gate, just in stead we are crossing the boundary that separates one universe from another. That and it seems we have to build a physical anchor to said gate... that will be interesting."

Rachael straightened out her suit. Knowing full well she was in unknown territory. Her scientific knowledge has yet to figure out how to bridge the gap between universes to allow trans-universal travel. This was novel, and a bit scary as well. "So, would Magus be stuck staying here or would he be able to come along as well?"

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"Doesn't look like any of THESE guys did it," Fulcrum observed. "But they might know who did, if there's like...wizards or aliens or super powered guys around."

 

She shrugged and waved at some random person walking past.

 

"Hey...hi. I'm Fulcrum." She patted her chest and repeated, "Fulcrum. I'm from a land...far away. Hell you can probably see it from here."

 

Fulcrum looked back around for the towering structure of the Focht Tower, which would certainly dwarf any of the trees around it.

 

"Anyway, I need to see..." Fulcrum tapped her eyes now. "See, right? See someone who has powers...or is in charge or..."

 

She sighed. "You're not getting any of this, are you?"

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The native Fulcrum went up to gave her a perplexed look, and continued walking, after a confused shrug.  

 

Andery sighed.  "Ahh well, we cannot do much more here today.  "Let's return the tower, we may have luck restoring some of the systems.  There are some means, if we can get power, to find out more regarding our surroundings."  With that he began heading back to the tower, leading the heroes back, without incident.

 

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

 

In New York, The physical gate was constructed, the Senator contacted, and in a rare moment of tripartite synchronicity, Paladin, Gatekeeper, and Magus all utilized their abilities in just such a way to open a temporary gateway to the  Tower.  Just as Andery and the rest arrived in the clearing surrounding the Tower, the portal tore open space/time with a magical flair, and The group from New York emerged into the clearing, the portal closing behind Magus, who'd gone through last.

 

There was however no time for reunions, as there came a a sudden roaring, and looking up the gathered metahumans saw three large objects hurtling towards them, corona of fire surrounding them even as they slowed, and came to remain in the air, with no obvious signs of engines.   Then fissures opened in each of them  the first looked like and was revealed to be a bay for small craft, as each disgorged a dozen smaller craft, all looking almost fishlike in shape, but with no wings, and with no visible engines,  four of them were larger, and soon revealed themselves to be transports as they landed in the clearing and began disgorging what could only be soldiers, as soon 200 soldiers had their weapons trained on the metahumans in a matter of seconds.  

 

The second opening on the ships began to glow with an actinic blue light, the same the soldiers' weapons shone with, but eight feet across.

 

Their speech was unintelligible, but the intention was clearly not... 
 

(Reactions please, no one is shooting, just taking up positions.)

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"Lovely, from one disaster into another." Rachael thought. No sooner as she and the team set foot right where it seemed the tower was, what looked to her like the guard for wherever they were had showed up.

She raised her hands up, hoping they understood that she wasn't a hostile. She highly doubted they understood their language, but it was worth a try if they had access to their universe and knew what English was. "We're not hostile. You can lower your weapons. Please."

 

Her tone was flat, not tipping any emotion for now, keeping it logical.

She didn't move from her position, making sure any sway of her body wasn't to provoke a negative response.

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"Aww...shit" Keeper muttered under his breath once these new invaders had them surrounded.  They looked to be holding weapons on par with stuff you'd see in sci-fi movies, so he wasn't sure he could redirect everything they might fire at him.  He was also somewhat winded from the ordeal of sheering through the dimensional wall to get here.  Being as still as possible he started to recover his energy in case he needed to slip out of spacetime and avoid being disintegrated...

 

[spoilertag: OOC:] Readying an action to trigger Dimension Shift and phase into intangibility at the first sign of violence [/spoilertag]

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"Shitshitshitbuggerfuckfuckfuck..." This whispered mantra issued from Izzy's lips as her eyes rapidly flickered from one set of potential foes to another; she stood at the ready, prepared to fade out and head for cover, any cover, in case the 'aliens' intentions proved to be hostile.

 

She held her hands out at her sides in what she hoped would not be read as a threatening position, and waited for any response to the good Doctor's words.

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She looked over to the others before looking back at the unknown life forms. "We weren't sent here to fight." Rachael said, keeping her hands up she used a low-voice verbal command to open her helmet. She pulled back the cowl and goggles of her suit. "The tower here was ours and something or someone stole it from our world. We're here to investigate why, and find a way to return it."

 

She kept calm. Turning back to her team. "These are alien extra-dimensional life forms, we should try our best not to engage them with hostility lest we trigger a extra-dimensional war." She whispered. "I want everyone to stay calm."

Now there was a look of some concern as she turned back to the aliens. "Can you understand me?"

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"Okay, so...alternate universe Romans they aren't," Fulcrum said dryly as the ranks took position around them. "Pretty good response time though. Maybe we can set up a sort of exchange program with NYPD. We can teach them how to scale their use of force to the situation, and they can teach us how to hustle a bit."

 

She had her hands on her hips, as if preparing to give them a lecture, and while she was trying to keep things light verbally anyone who knew her would be able to see the tension in her movements, and how she kept moving her eyes around...trying to see everything at once. If she could see it, she could affect it.

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