Comics by Shaenon II

[Jane Narbon]

As I'm sitting in my lab, waiting for Claire and trying to figure out what's going on with wireless communications, the security system notified me that someone was attempting to break into the front door by picking the lock. I brought up an external monitor view, which showed Claire on my doorstep, fiddling around in the lock with a hairpin. This was going to be interesting...

Claire was fiddling around with her hairpin, when the lock gave a *click*. "It worked?" she asked. "Wow! It worked! I can't believe it!"

She went to open the door, and stopped. Not by choice-- instead, because the security system, following its preprogrammed default response, had commanded the handle (which, like a lot of things around me, was more than it appeared) to exude a powerful paralyzant. I stepped over to the door and pulled it open, leaving Claire standing there, statuesque.

"Hi, Claire," I said, unable to resist grinning a bit. "I should probably mention that a shot of my antidote blend is the standard first step for new henchwomen working for me, so just stay there and I'll get it ready."

Then, I went in search of the autoinjector.

Once Claire had been unfrozen, I gave her a tour of the lab. "It's a little cramped," I said, "but hopefully I'll be able to expand in a bit. You can put your stuff over in the storage room."

Claire scurried off to put... a cooler? ...in the room. When she got back, I finished her orientation by telling her the information she might need to know as my henchman, everything from the Rules, to covert body language signals, to what to do if she ever fell in the vat with the mutant goldfish.

"...and finally, I don't have any particular dress code per se. No, you don't have to wear high heels, though if you want to, I've invented a dampener system that makes it easy as walking in sneakers. Ummm... what else? Oh yes. Don't push the big orange button, the one that says 'Do Not Push'. There's a trapdoor right in front of the console, and that button triggers it.

Any questions?"

[SoItBegins]

I sized up the duelist. Going to go cowboy on me, was he? Well, I didn't need the full power of Prime for this. I told Prime.core to lock the Vault, just in case, then closed the link.

Now, a weapon... my mind fell on the air itself. The air, thanks to this jamming effect, had been supersaturated with electromagnetic energy. Now, if I could convert that.... perfect.

I raised my hand, pulling electricity out of thin air, the makings of a lightning bolt arcing around my hand. Then fired. The cowboy fired back, shooting charged projectiles and sonic bursts. I speeded up my time sense to dodge them.

Soon, the air was thick with electricity going one way, and projectiles the other...

[Desius]

~Des
"Well," Des said sheepishly, "I know I'm latent. But I have no idea what any specialties I would have should I go mad."
"Sorry." Des shrugged. "Eric was the only one who look closer into what might happen if I go Mad, Gam-dee and Double never had the urge. They trusted that I wouldn't go mad."
"Gam-dee? "Double?" Xerx asked, eyebrow raised.
"Me pa's." shrugged Des, glad at the topic change, "Gamma and Delta Tinker. Didn't Fredric tell you I'm related?"
"No. Well, yes, but he left that part out." Xerox mock growled and both Des and Fredric laughed. He didn't want to lie to Xerox, and something about how he carried himself spoke to Des. Still, he wasn't going to volunteer his past. It was dead, buried. Like his brothers.
Des smiled sadly as Fredric and Xerox passed insults back and forth. He hadn't thought of them since... Well they weren't brothers by blood but that, except in how their had mixed on the training room floor under the watchful eyes of Fath- That didn't matter.They were family, perhaps his first, and they were gone.
And then the world exploded, Des as Xerox tackled Fredric before he could move, both men responding by instinct.
"What the hell was that!?" Xerox cried as the explosion rocked the ground, fire billowing as a cloud of debris rose into the air. The shock waved passed over them, flipping cars and shattering glass, but no one was severly hurt.
Des looked at the cloud rising, and his eyes widened.
"Chic!" chocked Des.
"That was home!"

~Desecration.
Desecration, pulled open the phone booth door and stepped inside. The broken glass crunched under his feet as he dialed the remote system that would bounce his calls through the network.
"What is it?" The voice of the Arm cackled at him.
"The lair is totaled, she triggered the SD." Desecration smiled and look down the street. "Secondary targets aquired. engage?" He licked his lips.

[Professor Zobot]

-The Arm and Desecration-

The Arm's voice rippled with static as it replied to Desecration. "Granted, but I will remind you to exercise caution. With Chicgeek out of the equation, Mistral will be instructed to switch targets. Do not get caught in the path of her tornado when it happens. And remember that the secondary targets were made secondary for a reason. There is still insufficient data on their capacities at this time. Do not allow them to interfere with the other target zones."

The storm grew in intensity, winds threatening to break the branches of trees. All around the city, rain and lightning pelted down from the sky. Yet towards the center of the city itself, the skies were nearly clear, creating a mildly pleasant eye around the area where Mister and Tinker had taken tea. Outside the city, however, something was beginning. The winds around a small forested region grew stronger and faster, swirling and twirling, as a funnel cloud began to form, touching down to the ground. And a good, safe distance away, a young girl named Mistral smiled pleasantly. Her experiment had been a success.

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

-Calvin-

Calvin gasped and rolled behind a bush, narrowly dodging another bolt of lighting. "Shucks. Mighty foolish a'me, thinking you couldn't adapt so quickly." He pushed himself up and fired another shot at SiB, narrowly missing him with a kinetically enhanced shot. "Of course, it ain't completely you, is it? That fan-cee compy in your head does some of the think'n, don't it?"

SiB responded with a lightning bolt through the bush, blasting Calvin in the leg and sending him flying back. With the plating in his left leg sparking, Calvin pushed himself up to his feet and winced. "'s outdated though, you know?" He started firing shot after shot at SiB. "Hasn't been enough to stop the Narbon filly, I hear. An' weren't it infected with a virus one time?"

SiB paused. How did he know about that?

"But I heard none a'them guys that did it were Mad... so what y'all should be asking yourself is this: where'd they get a virus tough enuff ta infect your hardware?"

[Claire]

Something that paralyzes through the skin? I can't believe I've never seen anyone else use that! Of course, with most of them it was a toss up as to whether they would push the self-destruct button the first time the alarm went off, and they were usually the ones setting the alarm off by accident...

Maybe it's not that surprising.

"Do you want me to do the cooking? If so, what kind of food do you eat?" Some people like the weirdest things. People at college tried to get me to eat weird little Styrofoam cups with powder in them- Ramen, I think- but they were too dry to be tasty in my opinion. On the other hand, they all freaked out when I tried to season the soup with arsenic, even though it's so tasty. I don't want to mess up my job on the first day!

"Oh, and I don't usually wear high heels- that was my Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter outfit. I didn't get a chance to change. This is my usual outfit." I gesture to my coat, jeans, and boots. "It's more durable, and the coat has lots of pockets. Pockets are important."

"I don't think you'll need me to play MSBD-" she made such a great daughter for 'Count Von Doom!' "-but we could do the variation where the 'Mad Scientist' is actually harmless, and his daughter is the real mastermind. You'd just have to turn me into a guy. How often do heroes show up?"

[chicgeek]

Mecha is growing with a speed remenisent of an old nature documentary. The ones where they compress a slow growth cycle into one fast forwarded burst. Hydrolic pipe-roots established themseves in an expanding circle, vines appearing above them seconds later.
This is what he was originally designed for. As weapon and defense. Not life as a houseplant. Although he knows he has to thank that phase of his life for his rise to sentience,
Vines cover the surrounding tress, then fill in the gaps between like spider webs. Anyone watching is reminded of sleeping beauty's castle. Coffepot is still safely coiled away, burbling franticly.
Chic-mom is running towards town.
He can't help her anymore.
Cooly, he extends tendrils to the remnants of the base. Sifting, sorting the debris, stacking it by type. He'll salvage anything he can, clear away the rest so rebuilding can begin. As he unearths the blasted remains of the robot arms, he rips them into shreds with casual strenght.
This feels...right. Oh, he'll keep a part of himself inside, after they rebuild.
Can't miss poker night.

Chic runs. There's the hatch, climb down. The tunnel's held. No more Zephyr-but the motorcycle she keeps parked here.
Soon she's speeding silently towards town. She'll get to a land phone, and call as many of the others as she can. And hunt for her family.

[Wallycaine]

An explosion rocked the sky. Anyone paying attention within several miles knew that it had come from the area recently occupied by Chicgeek's lab. Since this is a rather important place to certain people, it is rather unfortunate that one of them was underground, currently working on another problem.

Wally paced back and forth, looking at the map. He'd plotted out various elements, and was busy connecting the threads. "Beetlebrox, run a probability simulation concerning the location of Jane's lab from the locations here. How soon can you get an answer?"

>Within the next nine to ten hours. The movements are chaotic and unpredictable, as should be expected from a Mad-<

"Yes, yes, I know. Just get started. The sooner we get this over with, the better."

A robotic arm flew into the room. "Umm, dude, you could have just asked us. We've been programmed with the address since, like, this morning dude."

Wally spun around. "And let me guess. You didn't tell me because I didn't ask? Did you ever consider that I might have been testing your initiative, and that you failed by about two hours and three mutterings."

"Like, really dude? You aren't going to get angry, are you?"

"No, I'm not. You're the lieutenant in charge of these morons. Now, give Beetlebrox the info, and get the rest of you all ready."

As the robot arm flew out of the room, Beetlebrox talked privately with Wally. >Are you half as ready as you appear to be?<

"No. I'm about to go take on one of the more powerful people in this city. She's just become best friends with my girlfriend, and I'm still not sure on who's behalf I'm doing this. Of course I'm nervous. I want to run screaming out of here with my tail between my legs before everything goes hoggely buggoly."

>But you can't?<

"I won't. I promised, and up until the inevitable betrayal, I'll keep that promise. I may do it my way, but I'll do it." Wally walks over to a rather new door, and opens it. "Ok, playtime's over. We're moving out."

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox swore, eyes gleaming.
"Dammit! That Code 34 was a distraction! Alright, I hope you two have a little more mazel than you seem, because you're with me- And I'm on Duty now." he said firmly, taking out a short rod and flicking a switch, unfolding it into a long, heavy-looking baton- he figured he needed more punch than a net.

Cracked his neck, nodding- somewhere in his mind, he felt like he had hit a switch, lighting up a small glowing sort of spiderweb. Whatever it was, it invigorated him, shaking the last of his exhaustion away.

"We need to go where the explosion was- Chic might be in danger." insisted Desius, almost ready to charge off.
Xerox tapped him reprimandingly on the forehead, halting him.

"Not so fast, schlimazel. You wanna charge into a Fire without any equipment? What are you, a schmo? That explosion was close to my apartment. We go there first, and pick up some gear." he said firmly.

"But-" Desius started, cut off by Xerox quickly.

"No Buts, kid! That was an order!" he snapped.
Desius nodded, stunned. Where had he...?

Xerox nodded, satisfied.
"Fredric, you might want to find your Pappy. Knowing him, if things are getting Bad, he's somewhere in the worst of it and he'll need you to keep him from shooting himself in the foot."

"Good Idea. Good luck, you two- Stay safe. okay?" said Fredric, before turning and making his running leap into the air.

[chicgeek]

Chic sees a phone booth, but drives past-no change, and she doesn't want to waste time fiddling with rewiring it. She dashes into the first open business and runs to the counter.
"Phone. Now."
Wordlessly the man at the counter hands it over. Chic looks at him, and at the people waiting for their dry cleaning.
"A-HEM! This is a *private* call." Wisely, they scatter to the sidewalk. Even more wisely, no one touches the motorcycle.
Andrew first. She gets the machine, and leaves a rapid message, giving him as much info as possible before the tape beeps. He can understand rapid speech.
Then Jane. "We're sorry, this number has been disconnected or is no longer in service at this time..."
Not good.
Now, Wally. She would have called him first, but he'd told her he'd be out today.
The machine picks up. "Beetlebrox? It's Chic, take the call, it's important."
When it doesn't pick up, she hangs up and redials. Time to talk to the answering machine. "Blew the lab. Evil clone or twin of Des, sound powers, five robot arms attacked, from some mad called Mistral. In town, looking for others. I'm okay-for god's sake watch yourself! Beetle, if you're listening, get a hold of Wa-"
Beep.
That'll have to do. She strides back to the cycle, scans the sky, listens. Car alarms are going off, sirens-the old lab did go with a bang, didn't it? Still, not too bad. Looks like mostly a lot of broken glass. Okay, the most mayhem seems to be coming from that way. So go there first.
Glass crunches under her eerily silent machine. Good thing it can't get flats.

[Desius]

~Desecration
Fredric leaped. Right into the waiting arms of a Madman.
Desecration clothslined Fredric in mid-air, the former rabbit flipping as Desecration pulled him back to the ground. The concret buckled as they landed, Fredric skidding along the concrete like a stone to land at his friends feet.
Descration stood up, running his hand through his long hair, a few wisps floating across his had as he started to adjust his gloves walking towards the trio.
"Tsk, tsk. We shouldn't be interrupting our peoples events. It's a tad rude you know."
Des and Xerox helped Fredric to his feet. "You bloody git!" Fredric coughed, rubbing his throat. "...what the bloody..." he muttered taking a closer look at Desecration.
Xerox's eye twitched. "Do you know what I'm going to have to fill out concerning whatever you are. Alternate universe, clone, evil twin, it doesn't matter, Do you know how long that takes to fill out?"
"No." Smiled Desecration. "Don't care."

~Mister
"I must stress to you just how... unusual this situation is. I do not normally find myself conversing with Madmen."
Mister paused and gave one of his slight smiles, "Or at least, the SRMD kind."
"Nevertheless, I choose those who have never had a choice, and give them one. I give them a chance to leave their fear behind and learn the truth. Some kill the men or women that ruined them, never asking anything deeper. Some choose to forgive, also refusing to step deeper. And then there are some, like your new friend, Brad, who choose to see how deep the rabbit hole goes and find the truth. What they choose then, whether to take vengeance or not, is not the point. They change the world by knowing."
"And Doctor Tinker, this brings us to you. You alone out of all the mads I've ever studied, met, or removed, have not had a choice. Everything, from your birth to your studies, from the moment you lost to madness, to your work at M, all driven by outside factors. Guilt, Fear, and family choked you. Instead of Madness freeing you from these chains, they only bound you tighter. I must admit, I too, was part of these chains, though you knew me not. Now, you will have a choice. Will you cast aside the past, your family, friends, all to be free, or will you choose freedom another way. This is your choice, Doctor, and you alone will face the consquences."
Mister paused, closing his eyes for a moment. "Have you ever wondered why so many normal people ignore your world Doctor? I have often pondered that, but I am no scientist, no researcher, no philosopher, and it ever eludes me. So I change the world, one person at the time and show the the truth. Tragedy opens peoples eyes, Doctor Tinker, and everything we do has consequences."
Mister opened his eyes then, hold Tinker with a stare. Neither judging or forgiving, they held him. "And speaking of consequences, Doctor Tinker," Mister slowly reached down and lifted a second case unto the table. It clicked as Mister opened it briefly before he slid a scroll across the table. "How is your Japanese?"
"This scroll tells of the sheath demon of Okinawa." he spoke, unfurling the scroll so Andrew could see the story within. "Does it sound familar? I imagine you know it quite well. Almost by heart."
"I had people at the convention, Doctor Tinker." Mister spoke, voice hard suddenly, "They saw, as entire worlds saw," Mister spat, rolling up the scroll. "They saw you create, and weave the demon out of whole cloth. Writing a page into history, a fiction that you made real. And to this world, it is real."
"This scroll has been apart of a private collection for over a hundred years. We have the documented proof of this. It was taught as an example of traditional folklore for over twenty years now. Books have been written concerning this story."
"I have been to the shrine at Okinawa. I have visited this shrine for years now, as I have enjoyed the idea of a swords value being nothing more than the sheath that carried it. I have relics from this shrine, a momento I recieved when I was just a child."
"And you made it all up last month."
"Needless to say, Doctor Tinker, I was forced to rethink many things concerning you."
"So let me present my second choice to you."
"Coincidence. How far can you strech it?" Mister pondered. "A demon lives with you now, that just happens to be from a part of the world you've studied, from a culture you know, with a literary tradition you've followed, and the traits that you've desired. Like your 'son', he fulfills some need in you, some drive."
"But where else have we seen strange amounts of coincidence? Hm.. nothing comes to mind- Ah!" Mister leaned forward, the sun slipping behind the clouds as a storm brewed, shadowing his face. Beedy eyes drill into him over a skeletal grin.
"There is one thing that does stick in my craw." Mister grinned harder, "Strange how it just so happens that the people around you, right at the moment you were so alone, just happened to be family."
"Tell me Doctor Tinker, did you write little Mr. Raize and poor Mrs Smythe out of thin air as well? Or perhaps you changed their past to fit yours. Or perhaps not. Perhaps you did not write Mr' Raizes tragic past and lock your father into the spiral that eventually killed him. Perhaps you didn't write Mrs. Smythe's abusive childhood, driving her mad from the lonely urge to be loved. Perhaps it is all just coincidence, nothing more sinister then luck or fate."
"I don't have the privledge not knowing Doctor Tinker." Mister locked the case, and swung it towards Andrew.
"In here is irrefutable proof, Doctor."
"In this case is proof on whether or not you Changed your family. Whether or not you wrote them into your life. At first we didn't have an idea what to look for. Mister Sayasuke was a godsend in that regard. He gave us a baseline on what to look for. And once we knew it was easy. We have since catalouged every occasion you've ever used your precious notebook. There are some things in this world that cannot be undone, cannot be overwritten. You can learn whether or not you alone are the destroyer of your family. "
"But this comes with strings attached. Take this case, and I leave. Trust me, Doctor Tinker, you will not be able to stop me without one of us dying. Your choice will be made. You will give up this chance to know what killed your father."
"Which leads us to your next choice."

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox sighed, rubbing his forehead slightly. This sort of thing always gave him a headache.
he launched himself at the guy, utilizing a whirling round of seemingly random blows. Each one was easily blocked and dodged- but hitting him wasn't the point. This was just evaluation.

"Heh. I would have expected better." said Desecration, smirking smugly.

"For good reason, nebbish." said Xeox casualy, the wighted stick connecting solidly with the side of the madmans head.

He turned his head to the other two.
"Well, thet's not going to change much here. Fredric? Any maverick thoughts you can think of, use 'em. Desius? You prob'ly need a weapon, am I right?"

"Yeah. Gun if you have one."

"Take it- I never use it. Things make me feel sick. Bad memories." he said, casually tossing him a sleek black handgun from an inside pocket.

Fredric summoned The Gibson easily, strapping it on and moving his fingers into position, mind moving a mile per minute.

[Wallycaine]

Beetlebrox is in a quandry. The landline has just received a message from Miss Chic. It is imperative that Wally get this message, but their "employer's" are jamming the frequencies necessary for communication. Now, times to look for a more esoteric solutions.

Wally and Lagos were walking along, when the ground beneath them bucked upwards. The only thing beneath them should be... "Arms! Take him up on ahead. I'll catch up before we get there." Then, to Lagos as they backed up, "The only things beneath us should be the missiles. Beetle would only activate them if he needed to defend the base or tell us something, and if something will get through twenty arm drones, then he needs to tell us something." Even as he spoke, mini missile clusters exploded in programed patterns in the sky. It took twelve seconds to record, then a few minutes of reviewing before the binary code was discovered, and a final review to confirm the message. It was rather simple, but they didn't have unlimited missiles, after all.

>CHIC ATTACKED BY ARMS SHE'S OK LAB HAS BEEN DESTROYED CONTACTING OTHERS<

Wally considered. He was bound by his choices, but the one who started those choices... she wasn't fettered at all. "Lagos, change of plans. You know what he's said, so go help Chic. Don't work directly against the arms if you can help it, but if you have to, let me know."

"Let me guess, so you can tell them all about how awful your henchman are. Why, your rabbit just defected to the other side. Really, it's amazing."

"Exactly. Now, go, or I won't have time to catch up with the arms. Good luck."

"You too. Have fun storming the castle!"

[chicgeek]

A maddened Chic guns her motorcycle directly at Desecration like an avenging valkyrie, but swerves at the last minute to avoiding hitting Xerox. She manages to lash out with an enhanced arm as she passes. Expertly bringing the cycle out of it's spin, she pulls up beside the others.. A stunned madman slowly lifts a hand to the four furrows dripping blood down his cheek.
"Chic!" Des yells.
"Get away from my family, you cheap carbon copy!" she shrieks. Xerox smiles mirthlessly-nice to hear someone else being called that for a change.
Hmm, this one's been on his list for sometime-another mad blowing off the paperwork. Wait a minute, 'get away from my family'? Just how much paperwork is he going to have to fill out today?
"Hi, Des," Chic says casually. "The cookies are ruined. And he has a sonic boom fingersnap."
Chic abruptly switches gears again, and growls evily at the madman, drawing a lightning gun with each hand.

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox glances between Chic and Desius, raising one green eyebrow.
"Saint Mary Mother of God, what kinda freakin' lottery did Andrew win in the family department lately?" he muttered, shaking his head.

"Hi! You must be Andrews Boss, Xerox. The hair's a give away." said Chic, not breaking her stance.

"yeah. And your Chic Geek- you never filled your 28-K report and you never got a Lair Permit. And don;t even get me started on the Tinker Paperwork."

"Viktor, actually."

".. right. Of course. fan-freakin' tastic."

[chicgeek]

"Later, okay? I'll fill out your forms."
Chic fires both blasters point blank at Des's double, delaying his recovery a moment longer. A thought hits her-she holsters them.
"Pin him down-he can't snap those fingers if I break them," Chic says, in a eerily calm, very quiet voice.
"What! Are you insane-no, don't answer that-of course you are." Xerox sputters.
Whispering-" I barely got away from him before. He's powerful, and I'm *not* letting him hurt my family."
Desecration rises to his feet, as the diminuetive mad springs at him bare handed. It's almost amusing-is she going to scratch him again? Pull his hair? Stomp her little foot?
Chic grabs for his hand...

[Desius]

"Get away from me you little c**t!" Desecration screamed stepping back smartly and snapping his fingers.
The sonic boom echoed, buffeting Chic with sound waves again, halting her forward movement.
"Crap." muttered Desecration, springing back to get some room, seeng Fredric pick himself up and ready himself to pounce. His goody half steadied his aim, the pistol braced against the undercarriage of an overturned car. The government agent sauntered over to Chic and made sure she was all right, while Chic glared at him. Two full blown Mads, A government agent, and a trained killer even if he has a broken arm and cracked ribs versus himself, great as he was, but with no backup. The odds were definitly not in his favor.
Time to listen to Poppa.
"He's going to bolt!" Fredric cried out suddenly, the odds suddenly pointing to one conclusion.
"Too late bunny boy!" Desecration cried. He slammed his hands together, the clap generating an even greater boom. He knew it was mostly for show, if might only deafen them, but it definitely would knock them back. Cars flipped, and tumbled, lamp posts ripped themselves from the ground, glass shards rained from the epicenter.
Desecration ran to the nearest building, smacking the wall with his fist. It rippled like a wave and cracks shot out from under his fist as it crumpled and fell.
"You'll never save Tinker!" he shouted back as he dissappeared while the heroes picked themselves up. "You'll never make it to the college stadium in time!"
His laughter echoed back as he fled.

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox was the first to pick himself up, cursing rather inventively as he helped Chic to her feet.
"God damn son of a- Nggg! Freaking cut scene battles. I hate that." he muttered, grabbing Desius and pulling him up.

"Fredric? Fredric?" called Desius, looking around in a panic.

"LoUd noIsE makE huRtY noIseS." said Fredric weakly, dragging himself to his feet. He shook his head, attempting to dismiss the ringing in his ears.

"Oh, poor Fredric- your sensitive ears got a bad knock, huh?" said chic sympathetically, brushing him off.

"yeah.. but that's not important right now!! That goon said somthin' about Da!" said Fredric, eyes flaring.

Desius nodded, face grim.
"At the Collage Stadium, I believe."

"Sounds like a trap." said Xerox matter-of-factly, re-folding his staff.

"We're still going." said Desius.

"Well, of *course*. Because even if Andrew *isn't* there, there will be someone we can beat until they tell us where he IS."

[chicgeek]

"Well! The mouth on him! I should break his hands slowly," Chic sniffs.
She grabs Fredric by the arm before he can take off. "Wait!"
""But Da! I gotta-"
Chic shakes him a little. "There's two colleges in town, remember?"
"oh...yeah..."
"Listen, let me get to a phone and call Minerva. She and Farnsworth are right by one of them. And she's flown that auto-gyro through worse than this.She can check out Redding."
"Allright, you do that-now lemme go!" Fredric shrugs himself free.
Chic sighes. No telling what, if anything, they'll find at the stadium-but they can't take the chance he's bluffing.
"Des, Fredric and I can fly-if Xerox can drive a motorcycle, can you hang on?"
"Sheesh, Chic, give me some credit! And I don't need two arms to drive." He sighes in exasperation. She'd hug him if not for those cracked ribs.
"And did I just hear you right? You want to send a librarian to the rescue?"
She answers over her shoulder while she's running. "Yep."
A scary Mad Librarian. And her jager gladiator assistant-but Xerox doesn't need to know that. If he doesn't already...
"Oy vey."

Chic dashes into the first standing building-an office supply store this time.
"Phone. Now."
Xerox doesn't even have to show his badge.

[Professor_Tinker]

Xerox took the time to let Chic show him the works of the motorcycle- like hell he was letting a kid with a broken arm drive.

"..okay, I think I get it. Beautiful design, may I add. My field is more straight software/electronics." he said admiringly, nodding slightly to himself.

"Yeah? Are you latenent, by any chance?" asked Chic, fiddling with the controlls to the lightning guns.

"Mm-hmm. I take Medication for it- light doses of the Cure. It won't work forever, but at least I might be ready for it." he said offhandedly, glancing to the side- Fredric and Desius were talking about something.

"Hmm, that makes sense. I mean, why you're in M. You must have it in the family."

"Well.. yes but no. I was adopted- I don't know my biological parents. And everything below age ten or so is a blur. At first I just got shanghaied out of a desk clerk job at the CIA for the paperwork, but then the Big Boss caught me at the shooting range- got promoted before I could even argue."

[chicgeek]

One short but informative phone call later-
Minerva calls her assistant. "Mr.Farnsworth! We're needed!"
"Been watching late night Avengers reruns again?"
"Oh, hush. And we'd best go armed."
If there's naught going on at the Redding stadium, they'll zip right over to Andrew's college. It's the most likely candidate at that, but best not to take that for granted.

Chic hands out post its and pens to everyone. "I don't remember you buying those," Des says dryly.
"Hush-Xerox could've commandeered them, as is his right as a federal agent. When we get separated-I won't say if, it'll happen-we need a way to alert each other, call for help."
"Paper airplanes, Chic?"
"Oh, hush." Chic pulls 3 clockwork sparrows out of her pockets. "Push that button, they'll return to me. No time to tweak them."
That gets a grin out of Fredric. "Homing pidgeons-we're getting high tech,here."
"Some of my best stuff's been disabled, with even the unknown radio frequencies blocked. But the clockwork and lightning still work. Don't knock it, nephew."
Xerox murmurs to her-"Nephew?"
" Andrew, Des and I are cousins, Fredric likes to call me Aunt." She lowers her voice. "Watch out for Des, okay?"
Briskly-"Ready to go?"

[Jane Narbon]

"No, we don't get too many heroes around here," I said, "but occasionally we do get the odd... gullible one." My face went into its default evil grin. "Well--" began Claire. Then the lab was rocked by a giant explosion...

[Professor_Tinker]

Fredric nodded, as did Xerox.
"Sure, but you reminded me- fredric, you got your badge? Use it. It *should* give you Clearance 10+ up." he reminded Fredric.

"Clearance ten?" asked Chic, giving her 'nephew' an odd glance.
"Good enough ta' let me look up th' order t' assassinate JFK. Xerox has Clearance 25- good enough ta talk t' 'Him'." said Fredric, taing his badge out and fixing it on his coat.

He wrapped his arms firmly around Chic, giving Xerox a cheeky grin as he got on the Bike.

"Race ya, Key Lime." he said, clearly bolstering his own nerves.

"Sure thing, Foo-Foo."

Desius groaned as he got on behind Xerox, holding on as best as he could.
"You know, *I'm* supposed to be the bad role model." he groused, watching Fredric take off.

"I was here first." said Xerox, calmly starting the motorcycle, and effectively ending the conversation as he burned rubber.

He diddn't want to say anything, but he was worried. Really, really worried. Andrew.. he'd known the kid for so long now, it seemed. And he was great, a real sparky, sweet guy- but sometimes? He was dumb as a bag of rocks. Or even worse... he always worried that some Big Bad would find the right buttons to push, and he was going to find him trying to walk off of a cliff.
How could someone so smart be so goddamn insecure!? Hadn't he saved the world? Didn't he make amazing things?

Why wasn't it ever enough for him? Who was he comparing himself to? It was like someone had told him he wasn't good enough, and he'd never gotten it out of his head.

[Desius]

~Mister

"Your family is a tragedy, Doctor Tinker." Mister continued, sliding the case off to the side. The ground shook momentarily, as if in fright of the words pouring from the man's mouth. "Through no fault of your own, when the world smiles, you bleed. When you thrive, the world bleeds. If you did write your cousins into this, know that you've doomed them to this curse. But, I am going to give you a choice here as well." Mister looked at his watch. "A tragedy is occuring, now, one that directly affects you. You can break this cycle, stop this Tinker Curse. Save those closest to you."
"Know this. Someone you know and love will die today."
"I can give you a name. A location. a Chance to save that person."
"After I give you that name, that location, we are done here. You will have given up both the chance to know what killed your father, and whether or not you created your family and lead them into this spiral of destruction. You will have broken that spiral."
"For now, at least."
"But this merry roulette isn't over with yet Doctor Tinker."
Mister pulled a photo out, and slid it across the table. Andrew blanched, going white at the photo. His father falling, a man grappled in his arms, the man, with a gun, pressing it against Eric's temple. Mister slid the next photo, the flash of the gun. The next photo, a blur as the two left the world behind. Then a final photo of that man. His eyes haunted Andrew, the smile sinister yet content as if he had told a joke and the world was the punchline.
"Your father, Eric, is the only Madman I respect, Doctor Tinker. He knew the consequences and damned them. He choose what he knew was right. And I envy the strength he had. I know he has come back, though I know not the details. I know he cannot stay. And I know that with everything, there is a consequence."
"Two men left this world Doctor Tinker. I was there that night. Two men left this world." Mister squeezed the bridge of his nose, bitterness and hatred seeping into his next words. "And two men have returned."
"This photo was taken less than eight hours ago."
"You father's worst foe has come home."
Mister looked deep into Andrew's eyes. "It is only a matter of time before he starts again. Before he creates another Desius, another..."
Mister paused momentarily, as if at some joke.
"...another child killer. Before he creates that part of his plan you never knew," MIster continued, eyes steady, "that Eric only knew by the destructive aftermath left behind. The Children's Crusade was only the tip of the iceberg. The corruption goes so much deeper."
"Will you come with me?"
"He has escaped my web, and though I hunt him, he knows me well. You can catch him where I have failed. I can give you the vengeance that you've always wanted."
"But you know the price that demands. You will become the thing you hate, in order to save your family."
Mister sighed then, and reached into his coat. He slid out his pistol, worn and ancient, but well maintaned and cared for. It gave a small clink as he placed it on the table and turned it with the hilt towards Andrew.
"Your final choice, and one I do not begrudge you."
"You have in your grasp one of the men who hurt you, tormented you, and forced you into the life you know. You have a chance to end it, now. You have your vengeance in your hand. I am unarmed, and I will not flinch. I remind you any action you take will be excused by the law. I ask for no mercy, nor do I repent my own misdeeds. I have done what needed to be done. What happens next is up to you."
Mister leaned back.
His throat ached from talking.
The time had come.

[Claire]

The explosion rocks the lair. That was a really big one. I wish I could've seen it. But maybe...

"Mistress, can we go see if there are going to be any more explosions? Please?" I wonder if Mister Fredric finally decided to blow something up. I'd really like to see that. Although, really, it's probably one of the other Mads- there are so many of them! "If a friend caused it, maybe we can help, and if an enemy caused it, they disturbed you, right?"

I haven't seen a good explosion in ages. I look at her hopefully.

[Wallycaine]

Outside Jane's lab, twenty one Wallace Caine's stood on her lawn. Even as they continued to pour laser fire and missles into the structure, one stepped forward and motioned for a cease fire. There was some hesitation.

"Um, dude, we don't have to listen-"

"You will listen to me. You will listen, or otherwise I will rip you into componet pieces and then use them to beat the others into submission. Do I look like who you're ordered to obey?"

"Yeah, but, like-"

"No. No if's, and's or but's. I'm leading this assalut, and you'll listen to me when I tell you to stop."

This Wally pounded up to the front door, and knocked. "I wish to duel you, Jane Narbon. Do you accept my challenge, or do you wish to continue with the indiscrimate fire?"

[chicgeek]

Chic murmurs to Fredric. "I have clockwork wings, you know..."
He holds on to her. "Yah, an' we're flyin' into a storm. An you haven't been flyin' yer whole life, like me. "N face it, Auntie, yer kind of puny, ain't ya?"
"Watch it, nephew-if we weren't flying, I'd thwap you for that," Chic mock scolds him.
"Heh. Like I'd feel it."
The banter's a good distraction.
"Almost there-maybe you want to switch to human ears?"


Minerva and Farnsworth arrive at the Redding stadium.
"No sign of anything untoward."
"Yes, but we'd best take the time to search and be sure."
"Minerva, it'll mean we may arrive too late if it's the other local."
"Do we have a choice?"
"...No, I suppose not. But no foolish splitting up-especially with the deplorable lack of communication."
"Wouldn't dream of it."

Chimera-
She frowns, worried. She's got the info Em wanted, but now her land line's out of order. And she doesn't have anyone else's phone number. Em was waiting for this call-what happened?
The job she's on will have to be put off a bit. Annoying, but doable.
Jess starts making travel arrangements. She won't arrive until sometime the next day,at the earliest, but that can't be helped.
"Nerd girl's gonna owe me for this one...."

[Claire]

An official challenge of a duel to Mistress! I guess the explosions will have to wait. It's a pity, but still. A duel! That can only lead to one thing- the opponent's defeat and a death trap! I hope she uses one with spiky walls, or maybe a nice timed explosive. I can't believe all this is happening on my first day!

"Never mind- Mistress, what do you need, and where can I find it?" I have to show I'm a good henchwoman in these sorts of situations. She doesn't seem like she'd be adverse to me ...helping... a bit in her duel, either. I hope it involves explosives.

[Professor_Tinker]

Andrew was silent for a moment.
He picked up the scroll on the table, reading it easily.
"It really is a beautiful story. Sad, though- his friend was only a human, so he had to die someday. I prefer happy endings, myself. " he said softly, rolling the scroll back up and setting it back on the table.

"Do you know that the Town his shrine was in was destroyed in World War Two? Not anymore. Not since Ever|A few months ago. The bomb that would have destroyed- Big Sister, it was called- was destroyed. The Second Hiroshima- gone, just like that. All that was found was the casing, cut neatly in half. A miracle." As he spoke, he took out The Notebook, setting it down. It was so old now... a raggedy old notebook.

With one sudden, clean movement, he ripped it in half. And again. And again. Until all that was left was a small pile of shredded paper and a metal spiral.

"Damn you to Hell- and know that I mean that in the most literal sense. And Damn you *again* for implying that I Wrote my cousins" he said suddenly, bitter, restrained fury creeping into his voice. The coffee cup in his hand shattered, something he seemed unaware of. oblivious to.

"If this was my world to change, I wouldn't be here right now. But who knows? Maybe what you have so smugly suggested is the truth. Maybe I AM the great destructive death-god that destroys all I touch. I'll never know! That's for sure." he said, laughing suddenly- sort of manically.
He picked up the weapon, looking at it bemusedly.

"Already loaded. Good. Funny, I don't like guns, but i have to appreciate the workmanship. I prefer swords, myself. Purely an aesthetic thing." he said placidly- kindly, almost, like a Teacher. However, he did not point it at Mister.
He placed the gun to his own right hand's palm, holding it in his left.

"I will not kill you. I will not help you. Roulette, ey? Well, the ball just leaped off the table and rolled down the street." And with that, he pulled the trigger, blowing a hole into his hand.

He set the gun back down on the Table, smile a little weaker. It was clear he was in a lot of pain.
"I choose the chance to save one person- give me the name, and the place. I'm not a killer... and now that you've wrecked my confidence in Writing, that may be all I have left."

[SoItBegins]

At the mention of the Virus that had shut down my brain, I send the part of Prime in me to Lockdown mode. Prime'll accept no inputs of any kind, except DIRECTLY from my cerebral cortex. I may be paranoid, but... back to the business at hand.

"The Virus?" I said. "I never did find out where it came from, though I am sure it wasn't from the Martians. Considering the defenses that were in place back then, I guessed it was a virus created by another AI. Or maybe that Chase guy."

Talking distracted me from dodging, and I was hurled backwards as a charged shot plowed into my shoulder. Gray goo swiftly converged on the wound. It was time to finish things. Forming some of my nanobots into a ball, I imbued it with the instruction to convert any large masses of metal (and textiles, for good measure) within range to more nanobots. Then I wound up and hurled the ball at the man's armor. A direct hit. The ball splashed, spreading out into a layer of moving gray, like the Encased Man in a circus sideshow.

Ready to dodge anything coming at me, I waited for something to happen.

[Jane Narbon]

I shut down the laser fire, then2 turn to Claire. "What's the security scan say?"

She looks at the monitors. "Well, it's having trouble, but it says that at least half are robots."

I think for a second. "Ok. Go to the closet and retrieve the gray harness-- no, the other one-- and make sure its battery pack is charged. I'll also need the sonic blast gun (that's the third from the left on the top rack), the lighning bracelet (silver, in the far corner) and a shield vest."

While Claire's getting the stuff, I find the jetpack and check that it's in working order. I also find the prototype I was working on.

Once everything's arranged before me, it's time to get ready. I put on the harness first, checking that it won't show with my shirt over it, and wire the control unit so I can easily trigger it with a nondescript movement. The bracelet goes on my wrist, the gun on my belt, the prototype in a pocket, the vest and jetpack over top of it all. I just have to pick the odd 'surprise' or two, let Claire know what to do, then... I'm ready.

Time to have a little fun.

~~~~~~~~~

As Wallycaine and friends waited outside JN's lair, the door opened, and an incensed Narbon came hurrying out. She went directly up to the lead Wally and slapped him in the face.

"You complete, total, eternal IDIOT!" she said, hands on her hips. "Didn't you hear the explosion? That was ChicGeek's lab! Your girlfriend! She came here for help! She's still here! And you just have to come and try to blow the place up, don't you?! IDIOT!!"

Wallycaine appeared non-plussed. I waited for a reaction. It looked like this one was definitely a robot-- not only would the real Wally have reacted to my little white lie, the slap patch in my hand would have lived up to its name. Time to change tack.

As "Wally" remained silent, I let my expression change from anger to astonishment, and slowly to determination. "Oh... my... you're serious, aren't you?" I said. "Well then... I guess we'll have to duel."

I stick out my hand. "It's customary to shake hands before a duel, right?"

Hopefully this robot won't know about what happened to Professor Tinker in my duel with him. Sure enough, he falls for it. He takes my hand...

...and I grab on with my other, pulling him off his feet, with the prototype-- a kinetic enchancer-- supercharging my movements. "Wally" gets slammed into my lair's wall, with enough force to bend a steel girder. The wall doesn't budge.

Unfortunately for me, it seems his body is stronger than steel, as he gets back up and advances on me...