Comics by Shaenon II

Continued from the previous topic. If you feel you missed something, you can also go all the way back to the beginning.

We've hit 100 pages, and there's more to come! Go, the Mad Scientist Wars!

Xerox smiled, looking away and shrugging a little.
"Yeah, I'd have thought I would take more convincing too..." he admitted, looking up at teh ship. Hook, huh...

"Only I was planning on asking you to marry me when I got back today. The ring's in my office and everything." he said. Jess looked at him in shock and he shrugged.

"We'll talk later, right? And for the record the retraining order against your mom is in my office." he said, squeezing her hand again before letting go and climbing up the makeshift dock ahead of her, mostly so that she couldn't see he was blushing too.
They had to save Andrew, after all. After that... well.

Up on deck of the ship, it was mostly empty- apparently the crew was busy elsewhere. Exeot for one lone figure standing at the prow, absorbed in something he held in one hand, muttering to himself.

"Damn that boy! Codfish, he says... ha! I'll show him codfish... where in the flames of Hades is my crew?! Bah. Worthless reprobates." he muttered, suddenly shredding whatever was in his hands into so much confetti and tossing it overboard with a frustrated roar.

As Claire approached the figure, suddenly he turned and slashed in the air- missing her nose by a thread.

Captain Hook might have only as tall as Andrew, but what he lacked in height he made up for with the sort of horrible, furious aura that could light candles at 50 paces. His piercing blue eyes seemed to burn red at the very center as he stood at the dock, his entire posture primed to launch himself at someone and tear their throat out.

His hair was black, and in such tight curls it hung to his back that from a distance they looked like candles. He wore a long, heavy coat of black trimmed with cold silver, and a matching suit of red as fine as any of Charles II.
And the end of his right arm, where a hand should have been, was a long, gleaming steel hook as sharp as Damascus steel. And yet despite his fearsome visage, he was actiually rather handsome and... .. he was...
He was Andrew.

Captain hook suddenly blinked, and the red fire vanished from his eyes. He stepped back, coughing slightly.
"My apologies, young miss. I quite mistook you for someone else." he said elegantly, offering her his hand.

Thaddeus was lost in thought. Everything was getting to him. He couldn't stop looking at Sarcastic.

(I need to get away...)

(I'll just finish here and go to the wolf pack...just have to stop these thoughts.)
(I want to be distracted.)

He looked up. (Yep, more literary reference. I just hope there are no ticking crocodiles.)

-Sarcastic, David, and Elleb-

Sarcastic Female NPC hadn't quite given up on Thaddeus yet. She had tried dropping hints, but she had never been good at being subtle about these things. There was still the direct approach. "Hey... Thaddeus..." She looked up at him, paused for a moment, and then lost her nerve. "Never mind." She assuaged her inner voice of aggression by reaching over and clasping his hand lightly in hers.

David raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Umm... err... 'captain'? What aspect of Tinker are you?"

Captain Hook turned his gaze to David, raising one eyebrow.
"Aspect? Why, I am Captain James Hook." he said simply, idly wiping a speck of dust from his cruel, sharp hook hand.

"But if you really must know, then I am his potential for Evil." he admitted, shrugging slightly and ignoring another laugh from Holmes at the Dock.

-David-

"What, really?" He tried to stifle a chuckle. He hadn't expected it to look like that. "Well, look... regardless of who or what you are, Mr. Tinker, we're trying to save the entire Andrew Tinker... so if you could just do whatever Student Tinker over there said you would have to do to let us keep moving forward, it'd be helping you out too." He tilted his head and looked over at Mr. Hook passively.

Ooooooh. Evil Mister Tinker. That would explain the whole 'villain' thing. That would be great! He looked amazing when he was angry! Why can't more people do that? Why doesn't he do that more often? Bah. Heroes.

As he and Mister Toboz talk, I idly wonder about the whole Hero/Villain thing. I kind of want to see him and Fredric as Villains- but Sunshine was so sad... but then again, I don't *have* to use that one. There's also something something insanity and something something programming conflicts that it doesn't bypass... maybe? Aw, I don't remember. I probably shouldn't be messing around with stuff that isn't mine, anyway. Maybe I can just bug Fredric until he makes a death trap or world-destroying Klein bottle or something after this is finished. That would be kind of neat.

Having finished that idea- which I'll probably forget in about ten minutes, but never mind- I turn back to the conversation. "So we're looking for Prime here, I think- the guy in charge, anyway, before everything gets erased by some sort of weird audio input. You know anything useful?"

Chic surreptitiously checks the compass-is it pointing to the man, the ship, something on the ship? Hmm...
She gets the best reading she can.
Chic then ducks out from behind the others, and smiles at the Captain. "They're right, you know-saving the prime saves you, also." She pauses, curious-"I'll be blunt-does this aspect of you know me? I'm curious...."
Jess's eyes meet Xerox's, as they silently exhange ideas. This is evil Andrew-perhaps the captain wants to go down with the ship? Or doesn't mind if the ship goes under, so to speak, as long as he's the one in charge at the end? Or is mad enough not to care?
She murmurs very quietly, in Xerox's ear. "we don't want the ones likeliest to succeed being booted out to start over..." He knows she means Chic, David, and himself.
Jess casually interposes herself between the Captain and Chic, shifting to a male version of herself as she moves. Tall, slim, muscular without being too obvious about it. "Captain Hook- As a gentleman and a rascal, 'tis a pleasure to make your aqqaintance." She lounges against the rail, seemingly at ease. But her senses are awake, alert, heightened-oh, she's keeping a close eye on this avatar.
He was railing about a missing crew-and here they obligingly troop aboard....If he thinks he'll shanghai them...

Now that the compass is on the ship is seemed to be wavering- never quite pointing at the same place and even *spinning*. Somehow, it was too close to the source to point in point in a specific direction.

Hook smirked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Help? Help? Why should I? Oh, now sure destruction of Andrew Tinkers mind via the malignant forces of a destructive code sequence." he said, casually waving his hook dismissively.

"But why bother? All that awaits is a return to the status quo. A man too 'good' to be effective, but to evil to save anyone. A spineless man too scared to let anyone see him as he is except by accident! Hah!" he sneered, turning half away from the group and rending a long gash in the metal railing to vent his frustration.

"A good man, but with no honor. Willing to lie, willing to steal, willing to cheat, and fight like a street rat! Yet... a Hero. And everyone knows a *Hero* can't be anything less than the pinnacle of human decency! What is there for ME in that pathetic existence!" he snarled, voice dripping with scorn. Hook was coiling like a spring now, ready to lash out at the first available target.

"So... go on. Convince me. And hurry... I beleive your friend Student neglected to inform you just how *close* the effects of the Destruction have drawn."

Xerox snorted.
"You know, i have never been happier Andrew isn't a villain because apparently he would have been a bitch to deal with. How do we know we even need your cooperation to move on?" he snapped, subtly stepping into a tactical position to block the first blow.

Hooks eyes gleamed red, and he slowly smirked in a fashion more a baring of fangs than anything else.
"Oh, you need me. For you see, eh ship *it's self* is what you'll be needing to come away from here."

-David, Sarcastic, and Elleb-

David's eye twitched. "No." He took a step forward. "You know what? No. I'm not going to stand here and take that sort of talk from some petty pouncy pirate part of Andrew that's throwing a hissy fit because Andrew himself isn't behaving the way you'd want him to. I am not to let someone die because of your selfishness!" He took a step forward, his arm shooting out and grabbing Andrew-Hook around the neck, lifting him up and clenching tightly around him. "I am going to be quite clear: Do you know what a hero really is? A hero is a hat. A coat. Something you put on when it's needed and take it off when it's not. But underneath a hero is just another person, as good or bad as anyone else. No one wears a coat all the time. They'd get too hot or something! No hero's this shining person of all goodness you mentioned!"

His hand started clenching against Andrew-Hook's neck, as it started to crackle with lighting, circling his entire arm. It hurt, and he didn't mind. "I'm angry, confused, and I don't know how I feel about Andrew right now! But I will NOT risk his life because I'm getting held up by you." His other arm erupted in flame, as lighting struck off of his arm and peeled off into the water around the dock. "You are going to help us move forward, or so help me before Andrew dies I'll find a way to drag you out of his head into the real world and subject you to every single possible physical torture in existence." He snarled. "You will obey us. Period. DO. I. MAKE. MYSELF. CLEAR?"

Hook raised an eyebrow, eyes still glinting madly.
"No... such... thing?" he snarled, managing to speak through the slow choking.
"Funny.. that's what he.. seemed to think... *you* though.. he was. Or maybe you... just forgot to... tell him.. you thought he... was human?" his eyes flashed as he taunted him, hook slamming into David's flaming arm suddenly.

"Or do you... only when it.. serves your little speeches?"]

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" yelled Student, image suddenly wavering slightly- for a moment, it seemed as if the image of Real Andrew was projecting around him, fading in and out of sight.

"David, put him *down*! Everyone has a dark side, and hurting it only provokes it! Let alone in front of the people I least want hearing any of this!" he scolded, image solidifying for a moment.

"Aw, let him relax, Mister Toboz. He's just bitter because he almost never gets to come out and play." Much as I'd like to hurt him- I tuck my mallet away. There's no finesse in that. Bare hands are *much* better for hurting someone- but if what Student Mister Tinker says is true, we're going to have to be nice to him. It will probably irritate him enough that he'll make us go on our way just to get rid of us. I widen my eyes, looking innocent and naive. "Elleb, I think Mister Hook's just grumpy. Maybe a hug would cheer him up?"

Chic ducks back in front of Jess, and firmly plants herself in front of "Hook", hands on her hips, and eyes glinting. "Convince you?" She hisses. "All right...you say you have but small chance to come out, so why bother? Because....that small chance becomes no chance if you don't. Yes, Andrew's a hero-a devious, sneaky scalawag of a hero, who lulls the unsuspecting into thinking he's but a genial, good hearted soul. Who I've seen drive hero and villain alike to fleeing in terror when he chooses. Would he be able to do that if you weren't a part of him? Do you not see how very important you are, Captain? And whether he's liked or feared-or both-he is respected. Does that make the game worth your while?"
She draws breath, her voice softening. "And here's a bit more for you-I'm your family. Since finding you, and the rest of the crew I never knew....let's say I have a fresh view of the lot of you, an outsider's view? Big Damn Heros and Fearsome Villains alike, I've noticed this...family's important. You quickly became one of my best friends before I knew you for my cousin. And hero or villain or something inbetween, you have my loyalty. My friendship, my love, my respect-even if I'd occasionally like to give you a good shake. Student, Teacher, Hook, Holmes, and all the other personas I'll never meet. So-"
She pauses for breath. "Will you give us your aid, Captain?"
His lip twitches.
Chic glares. If he laughs at her speech, so help him, she'll smack him upside the head-whatever he is!

Captain Hook glared at the universe in general for a moment before sighing, and twisting David's arm slightly- enough to break his hold on his neck and drop down to the deck. He sat there for a minute,m fuming before standing up and dusting himself off.

"Go right for the 'family' angle, will you? Most unsportsmanlike." he grumbled, scowling.
He casually twisted his hook of with a 'click' noise, throwing it point-first into the deck and taking out a mechanical hand from his pocket- a silver version of the one Chic made for Andrew- and screwing it into place.

"Fine! You have my aide, then. I mostly just wanted to @#$! with *him* anyways." he said, stepping up to the wheel He pulled a lever, and suddenly the ship shifted. The sails unfurled, and panels slid open to reveal what looked like small *jets* along the hull.

Hook smirked, and shrugged.
"What? As if I would chase that insufferable little hero with anything *less*. I would worry about the crew, but if they aren't here yet then they may already be gone." Another set of levers sprang out, just as you could see a haze of something in the distance...

Chic grins at the jets. "I'd expect no less. What a ship! So, tell me Captain, will we do in liu of crew? What's our course?"
Jess sighes and shakes her head. They're in for it now...
She notices Ricerca fluttering nearby. "What do you think, Doc?"
"I think congratulations are in order, Butch" he murmurs, winking.
"Not that!" She tries for a glare, and fails. "Do you think we're on our way to Andrew Prime, or have we been shanghaied by a rogue persona? And okay, okay already-I won't call you Doc." She grumbles. "Is Ric acceptable to you, or do we stick with Ricerca? Just no more 'butch', if you want an invitation!"

Ricerca chuckled, floating down to Jess' shoulder. He seemed to be recovering a little, or at least maintaining consciousness.
"Ric will do, or Ricky if you must." he said, looking around.

"I think that he's legit. The sort of Evil that runs in Andrews family seems to be pretty sensible. Lets see.. his mothers side is mostly a line of ferocious warlords, and then on his father's side we have... searching database..." he paused for a minute as he connected to the M database, tracing back the familly tree.

"Apparently a line of manipulative, self-obsessed nobility. So think we're fine. What's more worrying is David. Either his connection is bad, or he;s having a breakdown. Or both."

Captain Hook scoffed, cranking a lever to start the engine warming up.
"Crew? That lot of dolts couldn't run a toaster. Mere shock troops, aside from the engineer. What *you* can do is turn that wheel over there... and if someone can unfurl the sails the rest of the way and draw the anchor we can make decent time."

As the ship began to slowly move through the starry waters, a lone figure stayed on the docks. Holmes stood still, watching the incoming dissolving. Someone had to hold it back.... It was only logical.
Andrew was slowly succumbing. But his mind could still defend it's self.

David hung at the end of the boat, by himself, his eyes shut as he tried to focus on reducing the buzzing. Making the buzzing get weaker made the lighting hurt less. His arm gradually stopped sparking as he calmed down and got a hold of himself. He turned to Ricerca. "You have NO idea." his voice had a bizarre resonance to it, which sounded like a mixture of static and the growling of wolves. He blinked and shook his head. "Look. I'm fine. This is really nothing. All that matters to me is that we get to Andrew in time... And not just to save him." he turned his head away from everyone, his bangs blocking his eyes. "I-I need to ask him something. And I need to tell him somethings too. The whole Andrew, not just one part or one bit." He slumped down against a mast, taking an opportunity to rest a bit. His chest hurt and his heart was beating way too fast. He closed his eyes.

He opened them again, and he laying on Tinker's couch. It was the first night he really remembered, that night, and the burns he'd woken up with were still healing. He'd taken his mechanical arm off for the evening and had let it rest down on the floor next to the couch. That nice man in the red coat who had called himself Tinker had gone to bed a few hours ago, but the boy couldn't sleep. It wasn't the lumbering of the GRUES as they went about their nightly business, or the infant gazebo slurping at his bare toes. It was just that it was cold in the living room, and he didn't have anything to cover up with. There was a soft flapping noise. A little fuzzy thing with wings and sharp fangs had swooped down the stairs. He'd seen it before... the nice man in the red coat had called it "Fluffy". He lifted his head, ignoring a slight complaint from his mending body, and turned to stare at it.

There was a blanket in it's mouth. It quickly dropped it over his head. "Oi. Ya looked cold, buddy."

The boy pulled the covering off of his head and looked down at it. Green, with white stripes. He pulled it over his lap and nodded. "T-thank you, Mr. Fluffy?"

The creature dived and landed on his legs, folding it's wings and looking up at him carefully. "M' name's Frederic, buddy. 'm not some cute stuffed toy." He stood up on his back legs and fussed with his ears, trying to look tough. "Y'ain't gonna freak outt'a 'bout the talkin' rabbit, are ya?"

The boy tilted his head. "What's a rabbit?"

"Good. I hate that." The fuzzy-Frederic-creature looked up at him. "I gotta favor t'ask ya, an' since m' Da helped you today, I figgur you won' say no, roit?"

The boy tilted his head. "I...guess so?"

"Roit. Now listen... Da don' zactly get many guests, yanno? Yer th' first inna... inna... inna really long time." the fuzzy-Frederic-creature sat on it's tush and folded it's front paws. The boy vaguely wondered if it knew how cute it looked. "An' I figgure he loiks you, too, on account'a the fact that you en't screamin' or tied up or nuthin'. Pretty rare, that."

The boy tilted his head, raising an eyebrow. "W-why would people scream if he d-didn't like them?"

The fuzzy-Frederic-creature shook his head. "...No reason. Now lemme get t' th' point. Da don' got too many friends. Oh sure, 'es got Prim, an' th' librarian lady, but Prim's th' same as Da, an' Minnie's gone a lotta the time. Da... 'es alone."

The boy was having trouble keeping up. The fuzzy-Frederic-creature was saying so many unfamiliar things. "W-what's a Prim? Or a Minnie? And who is the libby-rian lady?" he frowned, wishing everything wasn't so strange. "And what's... alone?"

The fuzzy-Frederic-creature snorted. "Ya know... when ya got no one else around, an' no one ta help ya or talk to ya 'n stuff. Sad-loik."

The boy closed his eyes, thinking hard and trying to wrap his head around the concept. He actually was starting to think he remembered what alone was. Alone was waking up in a tiny space as it got harder to breath. Alone was when it felt like your chest was burning inside and outside and it just wouldn't stop. Alone was not knowing what was going on or what you were, and feeling like part of your body was missing. Alone was desperately clawing at soil and rubble, not sure what you were doing or why, but wishing something around you would change and it would all be made better. Alone was the last feeble breaths of reaching surface to find nothing around you but charred gray stone... "I remember alone."

"Good." he got back down on all fours, his nose twitching as he paced forward, looking around. "Well, Da... 'es not good with people, yanno? 'e shuts 'imself away an' won't talk ta others, and when he does, 'e just scares 'em off. But 'e doesn't know any better." The little fuzzy-Frederic-creature began to pace on his stomach. "An' it hurts 'im. He thinks I dun notice, but I do. An sometimes, 'es just so sad..." the little thing looked up, locking eyes with the boy in deadly seriousness. "So I wantcha t' be there for Da, got it?"

The boy closed his eyes again. "I...I promise I won't let him be alone..." He didn't want anyone to ever have to feel like that. Like he had. Feeling alone felt worse than anything else he'd ever experienced in his admittedly short memory. "I swear it."

The fuzzy-Frederic-creature's ears perked up. "Arrrite!" he bounced a bit before settling down, looking from side to side conspiratorially. "An' one more ting... Let's keep this 'tween you an' me, roit? Da' dun need 'ta know."

David shook his head and pressed his back against the mast, his mind going back to the present. With his non-twitching hand he clutched his head and let off a quiet sound vaguely like a puppy's whimper. He was so confused and his brain hurt...

"Wheee!" Chic runs to the wheel, leaving others to draw anchor and hoist sail.
Jess rolls her eyes a little. "Someone's having fun. Hmm, getting to Neverland is second star on the right, straight on til morning....wonder if we reverse that to leave." She sighes.
Xerox-"Disappointed, sweetheart?"
She smiles sheepishly. "Eh, exploring Neverland could've been fun. Still, I wonder where we'll end up now...and with Captain Hook, no less. In here, it could be anything. The mind boggles."
Jess looks at Xerox, her usual cool facade in place-then spoils it by smiling. She can't help it, for some reason...Shrugging, she carefully places her shades in a pocket. Outside, she needs them. To be cool, and in control, and because she hates the whispers of 'freak' when they see her eyes. She can pass for human with sunglasses. But...eh, everyone in here is, well, maybe not a freak, but...different.
She puts it from her mind-it's an impulse, don't have to overanalyze it.
"Heh...wanna make a bet on how long it takes for someone to say-"
Xerox holds up his hand for quiet. "Three...two...one..."
An "Avast, yea swabs!" is heard, followed by a "Yo ho ho!" from the rigging.
Yep. Of course they couldn't resist.
Xerox-"You were saying?"
Jess-"Heh. Okay, wanna bet on if Hook will put up with that or not?"

I stare over the side of the boat, watching Mister Holmes disappear. I'm friends with Mister Tinker, so I don't want him to behave like that. But I guess I wouldn't want to be friends with Mister Holmes anyway, so maybe that works out well.

Maybe I'll go bug Student-Mister Tinker some more. I walk over and poke him. "So why didn't you get thrown out of college for all the Mad stuff you did? Did you scare everyone by turning half of them into polka-dot lobsters so they wouldn't kick you out?" Or maybe he was ok just going to classes... "Can you write these out for me in realspace?" I hold up the equations he gave me. "I'm not going to be able to remember how to derive them, but I want to keep them. Do you do this sort of thing a lot? Why doesn't anyone else put this stuff in equations? It's so much easier to understand like that. And why do these numbers drive people insane, anyway? They aren't *that* bad." I pause, looking at the paper again. "Are they? Am I missing something?" I blink. "Is this paper edible?" I bite off part of the corner. "Sorry, it just seems like it would be, somehow. And poisoned, to foil people trying to eat it. So how many fairy tales are there? They sound interesting."

Amino stands in the crow's nest, peering through a telescope and occasionally shouting out pirate slang.

Ingrid, meanwhile, walks over to Claire and Student Tinker. She had a question she needed to ask. "Excuse me, I'm terribly sorry to interrupt, but there's something I really need to know." She addresses Student Tinker. "Why is Tinker's mindscape so different from the others? I mean, Xerox's mind was filled with monsters, and I'm told so were the others. So why haven't we encountered anything like that here?"

Xerox smirked, leaning against the railing and watching as the ocean turned into the stars.
"Hey, maybe Andrew'll let us come back. Or who knows... maybe Neverland exists out there somewhere. In an infinite universe, right?" he suggested, noting that it was hard to say how fast they were going.

"And no deal- It's a given." he said, smirking slightly.

Student Tinker put his hands up, overwhelmed.
"Hold on! I can answer Claire's questions... but I don't know anything about monsters." he said, shrugging.

"But I mostly either lied my way out of getting in trouble, or was just trying to *stop* something from happening. And *maybe* I may have scared a few people... and just remind me and I'll write it out for you again."

Ricerca fluttered over to Ingrid, as Hook started yelling at Amino about dignity and composure and terrible terrible things happening to people.

"I beleive I can explain. The 'monsters' we saw in the past minds were representational of personal traumatic memories and fear. But Andrew's mind is remarkably composed- whatever bad memories he has, he has mostly made peace with them. Well, that, or he just has them repressed somewhere else."

The boat slowly left the island behind, until it seemed to be sailing in utter blackness. Slowly the sky turned a light Grey, however, and land could be spotted in the distance. A sort of small island, that seemed to be rather Grey and rainy... with a cemetery?

Chic hollers, "Wally! Take the wheel for a moment!" Once he does, she pulls out her clue compass. "Yep. Looks like that's the place. Okay, give me back the wheel."
"Aw, come on, Em. You've had it ever since we started sailing, and it looks like our voyage is almost over."
"Wally! Give me that back!" She pouts.
"Nope."
She gives him the big brown eyes. "Wally...."
He steels himself. "Still nope. Sorry, we've been together long enough I've built up an immunity." Well, a partial immunity, anyway. Mustn't...weaken....
"My turn-fair's fair." he keeps his voice firm.
She grumbles. "Oh, very well. Fine." She tosses her head and walks off, only to see Xerox and Jess smirking, lounging against the rails. Her mood shifts suddenly.
"Hey, guys! Heh-just look at you grinning. Wait...I know." Chic holds up a hand to forestall speech. "Hook! Neverland! This cool ship! C'mon, confess-you're having fun, right?" She beams.
Jess exchanges a knowing look with Xerox, then sighes. "Yeah....once again, your perceptiveness astounds me. It has been a....fun trip."
"I knew it!" Chic crows. "You two should know you can't hide behind your 'so cool spy exterior' with me! Yeah, I know this is serious, but, jeez! Who'd a thought Andrew had Captain Hook inside?"
"You know me so well." Jess's voice is amused, Xerox keeps a straight face.
"Well, duh! Especially after our road trips....heh. Xerox, you ought to make her take you on one sometime."
Jess nudges him. "Yeah, Primary. Maybe you should."
He affects boredom. "Hey, Kid-you gonna let tinhat hog the crow's nest, and the best view? Looks like we don't have much longer to sail."
"Ooh! You're right!" Chic scurries off, and leaps into the rigging.
Xerox loops an arm around Jess to feel her quivering with supressed laughter. "Clueless as always." She shakes her head. "Let her have fun-I have a feeling the next part won't be...."

It's only after I've listened to Mister Tinker's answer, ran to look over the side of the ship again, got distracted and pulled up one of the boards to see what's underneath, and attempted to juggle mallets, just narrowly missing clobbering Prim, that I realize I'm letting my stress show. I really don't have time for that right now- we have to rescue Mister Tinker, and then I can stop being worried, and then I won't have to be stressed anyway. Aggravating.

I really should have zapped myself again after Prim, but I think there wasn't time or something. Of course, if I'm an idiot and can't pay attention long enough to talk to Mister Student-Tinker, let alone navigate the mindscape, that won't help anyone either. Nerrr... paying attention is annoying.

I run over to where Mister Hook is standing. "Are we there yet? I'm bored. Where are we going? When do we get there? How fast does the boat go? How far is it? Will there be stuff there that's going to attack us? Are we there yet now?" Well, that's not quite it... but at least I'm on topic.

Captain hook put down his spyglass, eyes flickering red again as Claire badgered him with questions. His metal hand twitched slightly, as he reached into his pocket...
And pulled out what looked like a three-dimensional map mixed with a rubix cube and a Chinese box puzzle, about the size of a volley-ball.

"Here. This is a map of my dear greater self's bran. Since the mind is constantly in flux, it has to be adjusted for the current spacial coordinates. If you can figure it out, you can track the very folds of consciousness." he snapped, turning back to the approaching island.

Jess whistled, clapping sarcastically.
"Nice. I was expecting you to kill 'er." she said, raising an eyebrow.

"Bah. Curiosity is nothing to punish. And if I went ballistic every time someone annoyed me, I wouldn't have a crew." he said, twisting some odd gear on the side of his spyglass.

"Hey, that reminds me... okay, so Andrew internalizes his Evil-ness into Captain Hook. I'll buy that. But... your *crew*?" asked Xerox, taking his sunglasses off for a moment as Chic giggled away up in the rigging.

Captain Hook raised an eyebrow, waving at Wally to bring them into dock.

"What, you mean Jealousy, Pettiness, Fury, Bullying, Sneakiness, Lies, and the (admittedly shanghaied) Engineering Skills? What about them?"

"... never mind. That's all I needed to know."

The ship pulled into dock at the Grey little island, and a ramp slid down out of the ship automatically. Now that they were closer, they could make out that there was what looked like a graveyard on the island, with a faint drizzle streaming from a bank of sad, Grey clouds.
There was a small figure just visible sitting next to a gravestone...

Captain Hook sighed, crossing his arms.
"Oh, God help us... *this* place. Although at least it means we're closer to Prime..."

Oooh, a map. That could be useful. And it looks like a puzzle. Puzzles are fun! As soon as he hands it to me, I sit down on the deck, trying to figure it out. This is connected here, and this goes to this... where does this fit in? Hmmm....

I *will* get this. Just cause it's a map and thinking in more than four dimensions is difficult right now and there's stuff going on doesn't mean I can't pay attention. I just have to work at it for a while.

Puzzle!

Jess hollers up at Chic-"Yo! Get your jaeger butt down here!", then turns to Hook. "You said, '*this* place,' so, Captain, what can you tell us about it?"
She has her suspicions, but waits for him to answer, first adding-"And are you coming with us?"
Hmm, maybe they'd better make sure he does. Last thing they need is him laughing merrily as he sails off, leaving them stranded.
Chic ignores Jess. It'll take a few minutes to dock, and she's enjoying the view. She turns to Dr.Amino-"You know, there should be a parrot. Why isn't there a parrot?"

Meanwhile, back at the ranch-er, with the sitter-

Godfrey heaves a sigh of relief, as Lagos barrels in to take his place wargaming.
Miss Janitor, it is most gratifying to see you back in one piece."His avatar dissovles from the board, and reforms itself next to her.
"Where'd you get the miniatures? No, nevermind. Good idea letting him win."
Godfrey lifts an eyebrow. " 'Let?' My dear young miss, Mr.Caine programed that...creation far better than he knows. Not to mention what he's learned on his own..."He smoothly changes the subject.
"War seems quite content-which means you may safely take a breather, if you'd care to relax. Or, Miss Chic and Mr.Caine did leave a supply of, um, discards for you, if you'd like to examine them."
Outside-Sparky is getting fussed over and coddled by Mecha, now that the big bad putty tat is gone. And unnoticed, in the jungle of metal vines....
Is a pair of pants.
The ones Janitor was wearing originally, that Lagos stuck a bomb on.
The ones she swiftly discarded and forgot, after Mecha grew her a pair made from cable and wire.
It won't be ticking much longer.....

Captain hook stowed his spyglass and cranked the lever that sank the anchor, frowning.

"That, madame, is The Sad Place. Or more accurately, a sort of concentrated illustration of his regrets and sorrows. I'm not surprised to find in in our path... it's on his mind rather a lot, usually. Which makes *my* job fiendishly difficult, may I add!" he said, starting down the ramp to the dock- which was of Grey, aged wood that seemed ready to crack.

He stepped out onto the creaking wood gingerly, ready to jump if anything broke. Student followed him, sighing slightly and explaining a little.
"It's partially a memory, but it's also a place he came up with a few days before he went mad. In a poem.." he pushed his glasses up his nose, and walked up to the shore, sighing.

"There used to just be *one* gravestone."

The cemetery wasn't *that* big, but there was over a dozen headstones spread across a damp, grassy overgrown field surrounded by leafless trees. The light was grey and hard to see through the rain, but it was definitely another Andrew that was sitting next to the statue of Eric Tinker that was set over his grave.
This one looked much younger than Student, and was wearing a faded t-shirt and jeans. He was just sort of... sitting there. With his arms around his knees, and the Glasses looking too big on his small face.

-David, Sarcastic, and Elleb-

David walked off the boat and looked around. "Huh... wow. That's very... gray." he put his hands in his pockets and sighed. "I never thought that Andrew'd have something like this in his head. Does everyone have sad memory places like this?" He looked up at the sky. "This place, I wish I could just make it go so Andrew never had needed it." He sighed and folded his arms. "Andrew. I don't know if you can hear me. I'm still mad at you, but I promise that we'll save you no matter what. And you and I... well, we'll talk things out..." He looked down at the smaller Andrew standing near them. "Hey... how are you? Can you point us forward?"

People seem to be leaving the boat. I follow. Bleh, wet. I continue to examine the map. So we were here, and now we're here? Or over here? Where does this fit in? I turn it upside-down. Or is it right-side up now? Or sideways? Maybe if I tilt my head and kind of squint...

I *will* get this.