Legotron123 wrote:”I can think of at least one reason we would have to do that.” Lewis said as they walked down the street. ”If the creature in this scenario is some kind of parasite, it might have means of detecting and discouraging attempts to remove it, likely by threatening the host. If we fight it at it’s scale, it might instead view us as a competitor, which would allow us to distract it long enough to disable its means of resisting removal, and oh god, what has this universe done to me?”
Buster wrote:"I'm not answering that cause i don't want to jynx i-... nevermind."
Nocturl just laughed hysterically, floating alongside Lewis on his back as though lounging on thin air.
"Ok, that I know isn't the universe's fault. You just watch too much tokusatsu. Gives you insight into sci-fi monster tropes. Tropes, I might add, we don't know are reality or fiction here."
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Later...
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The three of them arrived at an urgent care facility that deals with non-emergency medical situations. The doctors there were able to reassure Lewis and Ruby that there were no monsters inside Ruby's brain, and that even if there was there certainly would not be any reason to send people in to fight it. Upon having Ruby's religious objections to medication explained to her, the lead doctor signed some paperwork and was able to procure four small towers about the size of an internet router each. The doctor explained that these were "jammer nodes" that could be manually set to counteract Ruby's power as long as she was inside of the area defined by the node positions. The doctor instructed Ruby to set up one node in each corner of her bedroom and to turn it on whenever she was going to go to sleep.
Finishing up, the three left the urgent care center. Nocturl decided he wanted to roam around for a bit since he didn't have to sleep, and so for the rest of the night his spirit wandered the street. Occasionally, he would make spooky moaning sounds when he felt he was being watched. Throughout the night, the ghost trolled people out for late night walks. Whether it was standing creepily in their path and vanishing when they got close, or causing porch swings to suddenly start swinging as they passed by. He did a couple passes by one of the houses when he saw a fox kit (
Corvis or
Golten) looking out of the window. Kids love spooky things, he figured. He was thoroughly enjoying every moment of the reactions he was getting, and was having a grand time the whole night until the "sun" came up.
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Welsh Halfwit wrote:Messalca and her few deputies got to the Twm and the Sheriff facepawed as the Champions explained things.
Throughout the night, Hivemind, Gadgeteer, and Archangel continued their investigation of the Twm. The more they investigated, the less Hivemind liked the situation. It seemed like there wasn't a square foot of the mountain that wasn't filled with radioactive crystals. The center of the hill was even hollowed out like a geode with the interior lined completely with the mineral. The cave system was so extensive Hivemind was surprised the entire hill hadn't just caved in and exposed the thousands of tons of crystal to the world.
There were only a few actions Hivemind could think to take, and he wasn't looking forward to bringing them up to Messalca, but he would have to. The Sheriff, assuming she slept at all, would wake to a notification about Hivemind needing to speak with her about the Champions' conclusions about the Twm.
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At some point in the morning, the communication device in Rika's apartment started ringing, with the caller ID indicating Hivemind was trying to get a hold of her. The subject listed was "New Equipment is Ready."
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SeanWolf wrote:Hawk looked at Corp and nodded in silence. There was something about Corp that rubbed him the wrong way but he couldn't quite figure out what. He then looked at Liz and replied "I look forward to working with both of you as well," before placing his paw, which now was half his and half his Other Side, on his chest and said "Prin sângele care curge în corpul nostru și cu oțelul care îmbrățișează carnea noastră, ne vom onora acordul cu tine până când doamna Lunii ne cheamă*"
*Translation - By the blood flowing through our body and the steel that embraces our flesh, we will honor your agreement with you until the Lady of the Moon calls us.
Once the meeting was over, Hivemind gave Hawk the directions on how to get back to his apartment room from there before biding him goodnight.
"Training starts at 9 in the morning. I will set a wake-up call for you." he said before the two parted ways.
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The next morning, the communicator in Hawk's room sounded like an alarm clock.
"Good morning, Champions!" the wake-up call said.
"It is currently 8:00 am. This is the wake up call and reminder to all Champions who have arranged to start training today. Please report to the training facilities on floor B1 to begin your training by 9."
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furrygamer793 wrote:"No, I'm good, I have some in my apartment." Brad replied before he left the room with Ken, walking back to his apartment
Brad would also receive the same wake up call as Hawk, as the two both are starting training today.
"Good morning, Champions!" the wake-up call said.
"It is currently 8:00 am. This is the wake up call and reminder to all Champions who have arranged to start training today. Please report to the training facilities on floor B1 to begin your training by 9."
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Welsh Halfwit wrote:"Nah," Hannabelle allowed, "this'll do, ta." She looked to Gear. "Sounds a plan, mate," she said. "Uh, meaning that the, uh, Bruttish way," she added awkwardly. "Saw it in a film."
Gear had to laugh, even if it did draw a few looks from the other moviegoers.
"Ah... In all seriousness though, I don' think I'd mind ya callin' me that whichever way ya meant it." he said. He carefully rested his arm around her shoulder and leaned a bit closer to her.
"I thank ya fer doin' this with me. It's easy to forget in this line'a work how much ya need a real friend in this world. 'Specially in these late years. Someone who's been there, ya know? Someone ta talk to." he said as the movie started winding to a close and the credits started to roll.
After the movie, Gear walked Hannabelle back to the safe house. He mused that she likely wouldn't be needing to stay in the secure facility now that the operation posing a threat to her safety had a giant monkey wrench thrown into it and Hannabelle herself had proven trustworthy. He told her he would talk to Hivemind about getting her a more long-term residence that wasn't locked down so tight. He walked her to the porch of the cabin and up to the door, then gave her a friendly hug. He figured, given her reaction to calling him "mate" he wasn't quite sure if she'd be comfortable with anything more than that. He told her he'd drop by in the morning and they'd have the day to do whatever they felt like since neither were immediately needed for work the next day. He said goodbye to her as she entered, then started heading back to his own place.
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True to his word, Gear showed up the next morning at 8:00 AM, knocked on the door to the cabin, and waited for Hannabelle to answer it.
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furrygamer793 wrote:Nat starts trailing behind Hivemind, wondering what it might be like at the house, "I wonder if I might meet other people with super speed at the track?" Nat said, not meaning to speak it out loud.
"No doubt." Hivemind said as they approached the temporary house. Sure enough, there was a running track less than a block away, and a park with a jogging trail not much further.
"People with powers tend to like using those powers. Speedsters enjoy racing each other on some of the larger tracks." He said, unlocking the door and handing Nat the keys.
"I'll stop by in the morning to check on you. Sleep well!" Hivemind said. He waved goodbye, and started off.
- - - - -
The next morning, at a little after 8:00 am, the doorbell of Nat's house rang. Hivemind stood outside of the door like he said.
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Hlaoroo wrote:"Okay... Well tha' just happened..." says Cailean, looking shocked at the box in his paws.
"Tha' was Mister C. Ah think he's a manifestation o' Digilitus." Conall explains to Hivemind. "We met him in Heaven."
"We've met... sort of." Hivemind shook his head, equal parts bemused and amused.
"Whenever he shows up, I get a slight headache. I'm learning to just roll with it. That's all you can really do when you encounter someone like that."
Welsh Halfwit wrote:"Aye, best..." Sarah paused as Mr C. put in his appearance and looked at him in puzzled amusement, "best... best we speak to t' Captain 'bout things."
Hlaoroo wrote:"Och, aye, right! Ah fergot aboot tha'!"
"Right..." Hivemind said, thinking about how the Hobomancer had said "The threat's not as bad as you think."
"What was it you needed to speak to Liz about?" he asked.
After the three explained the situation to him, Hivemind realized what the Hobomancer was saying.
"Cailean... Conall... Insignia doesn't exist anymore. I can't tell you how I know that. It would take a long time to explain. Besides, the only person we currently have who can send that message isn't available right now, and likely won't be until the morning. I recommend finding the captain and telling her about it at that time."
It took a bit of convincing, but Hivemind managed to persuade the brothers to hold off on their message until the morning.
Now it's 8:00. It's morning.
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Recon was one of the first people to wake up in the morning. She went for a jog around town, circling the town twenty times both ways and returning to her room before she realized only a minute had passed. So she went jogging again. And again, and again, and again. Once she had circled the town several hundred times and only five minutes had passed, she got bored of it and decided to wait outside of Traci's room until her speedster friend woke up.
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Outside of Kolt's window as he slept, a white bubbling portal opened up just out of view.
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Gadgeteer was walking back from the woods and into view of the motel. He was grumbling, tired, and hungry having not had dinner the previous night. He wondered if the food truck would serve him a whole boar if he asked them.