Comics by Shaenon II

Kunda and Kylin looked at each other, and burst out laughing.
After a few minutes, Kunda sat up, wiping a tear from her eye. The Beard Trick! Classic!
She pulled a small electric shaver from her pocket and set to work. Good thing this was just in passing, or it could have been the kind that keeps coming back immediately after you shave it.
"Why do you have a shaver on you anyway?" asked Kylin.
"Remember that incident with the free mints? Oh, wait, before your time. Kept one on me whenever I visit this dimension set ever since."
"Okay, okay. Now do me."
"But you look so distuiguished!"
"Kuuunda! Besides, you got rid of yours."
"It didn't match my hair colour."
Kylin rolled his eyes. Don't ask me how.
Kunda pouted.
"Fine, then."

-Meanwhile, in the same time period as the bunch of Mads time-traveling, but in a different region of the world...-

"You, ah, wanted to see me, General Spearcarrier?"

"Yes, Sargent. Come in. Take a seat."

"Sir, if this is about the-"

"Take a seat, boy! Shucks, are you a Sargent or are you a baby chick? You peep like the latter, but your uniform says otherwise!"

"Ah, thank you, Sir."

"Bradshaw... as you may have heard over and over again, during the last engagement you saw in World War 2 before it ended, your squad got squished under the feet of a giant walking tank. Do you remember what you did then?"

"Err... I used an experimental incendiary weapon to remove the obstruction, sir."

"And then..."

The young lad named Bradshaw was a twig. He stood about 6 feet 3 inches tall and didn't look a pound over 150. He tended to trip over anything jutting out of the ground in front of him and how he had made Sargent in the United States army was anyone's guess. But he tried to look professional as he spoke.

"Sir! I gathered up my living comrades, helped those who couldn't stand, and bandaged them up, sir! We then proceeded to move behind enemy lines to bring our fallen back and get them the care they needed, sir!"

"You were awarded a medal of uncommon valor for that, solider, weren't you?"

"Sir! Yes I was, uh, sir! But what does that have to do with now, sir!"

"Did I give you permission to speak, boy?"

"Sir! No, sir! I must not have spoken, sir!"

At this, the general began to smirk. The smirk grew into a large smile, which turned into outright laughter. "Whoo, boy. At last I see a bit of sass! At ease, Sargent. I've just been trying to see if you were the man I thought you were. And you may be..." He turned his swivel-chair to stare out a window. "Sargent Bradshaw... you were on the front lines in this war. What did you think of the engagements you saw?"

"Well, it would have been a lot less dangerous if it weren't for all the Mad Science on the front lines... I mean, we were fighting *clanks* with eight arms that fired 8 guns at a time, sir! Granted, they had no idea how to reload, so when they were out of ammo in a clip they were pussycats, but still..."

"Ah... we're in agreement, then. See, boy, I've got a small spark of an idea in my head, and it's telling me that something ought to be done to tighten the reins on all those techies laughing manically out there. Keep 'em from bring about one'a them arm-e-geddons, ya'follow?"

"Yes, General Spearcarrier. But what does this have to do with me?"

"Sargent Bradshaw, I want to tell you about a little project I've been working on, all hushhush-like. I was usin' em to keep an eye on the Krauts and Japs, but now that the war's over, I think it's time to expand the idea a little..." He folded his arms and stared at Bradshaw's eyes. "Boy, let me tell you about a little group I call Interpol..."

-Mechanicsburg-

Dot wandered a curved line through the city, in the carefree manner that only a very young girl in the comforting enclosure of a small, trustworthy town can achieve. It could be posited that she was afforded more comfort in this manner vis a vis being one of the three heirs of Heterodyne that the town, if not *revolved* around, then definitely remained in orbit to. However, this would be quite inaccurate- all children in mechanicsburg tended to wander a little freely. And the reason was quite clear: anyone foolish enough to harm a child in the city was clearly so insensible that the townsfolk, jagerkinder, heterodyne, castle, resident Mad Scientists, and indeed the very *ducks* would feel totally justified in being very creative so as to get the punishment *through* such a thick skull.

Horace had been thrown a little head first into managing on the go, and to his own shock more then anyone elses he was proving pretty *good* at working a crisis. The trick so far was keeping people busy.

Tension with the townsfolk and standing army was being handled with a search for the culprits- the sewers and depths of the castle, surrounding countryside, and local transport had plenty of hiding places.

And to this end he had sent Dot out to get some pastries, totally unaware of the chaotic force tailing her... later, he would reflect on this, and realize with some surprise he probably would have sent her out anyways. Since no one got hurt, and it *had* kept everyone busy.

-On the Pier-

Dr. Beards movements through the waves had sent little ripples through the strange material- 'Secondary' Xerox watched them with curiosity, while Andro sketched. he;d started learning how to draw a little- had begun making his own little simple children's books, for Laitu. And because he was foucusing with a sour expression on the soft pencil lines, only Secondary was there to see a small bit of what the mind was forced to call 'seafoam' break away from the surf born on the slow, solid ripples, and run into one of Ravels handkercheifs.

He was also the only person to see it hop around uncertainly, an unformed little bundle of oddness, hide in the grass from Demothesis, vanish into the 'surf', and reappear pushing a slightly worn teddybear to shore. However, he took care to gently nudge Andro towards the the little ameobic shape when it shyly hopped onto Demo as he slept, curling on top of his forehead. Some things were too cute not to share.

The little thing was new, and a little uncertain. But a shape floated to mind from the peson he was sitting on, and it seemed easy enough to maintain. It contained it;s self up into a rounded shape, and opened slightly cartoonish, wide eyes.

"Ah."

A form settled on, the little piece of strange oceans settled into place, shining te black of a slightly disappointing purplish green.

Cutename, who had been checking on one of the level adjusters, nearly passed out from trying to hold in a squeal.

-Mechanicsburg Past-

Florian blinked a little, smiling- it was hard to make out hsi expression under the fluffy tangle of ire engine red curls- glasses and smile were about what you got if you didnt look carefuly. The lined of the face were there- and even some of the build. You could see where his shoulders would fill out, and he'd stop being all elbows and legs. But as it was... the word 'weedy' sprang to mind quite of it's own accord- regardless of ones inner attempts to be nicer about it then that.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miz Em. I am sure hyu will- he likes this kind of thing." he shrugged a little, with a sort of embarrassed smile indicated that him even being there to see it occurring was sort of rare.

He looked around, curiously, at the others there- Xerox caught on and saluted lazily, trying not to stare a little. Heh. So... what, fifteen or so? Still taller then he had any right to be.

"Sorry for not introducing myself. Names Mortimer Snerd." he said calmly, the fake name slipping out smooth as butter. He;d used it before on Missions with Andrew, which was probably why the brunette was swallowing an annoyed look- turning it into a smile.

"And I;m Charlie Macarthy. Pleasure to meet you, young sir." blast Xerox and his weird code names. Still better then Gomer Pyle and Officer Mayberry. He turned away from his grandfather, who's faint look of suspicion turned to concern- he had spotted Rando. He got up and walked over, gently tapping his shoulder.

"Excuse me... but is your little one hungry? We can all go inside- mein parents wouldn't mind. Shes awfully small... hullo, leedles." for the first time he pushed his hair out of his face, looking down with a familiar smile at the tiny little figure.

"Huh? Oh, probably... her name is Tea. Shes very new..."

"Ho, hy ken see dot... ah! Leedle shy, huh~ Aww, I;m sorry to scare you..." he had transformed suddenly, lighting up as teal hid a little.

Andrew had turned his attention to the boy, eyes widening a little. They were on a mission, he ad discovered his grandfather had a brother he'd never heard of... but some things were important, dammit.
"Of course- good heavens, are you alright? I can help you find him..."

~Teal~

"Peep?" She peeked out from behind Dadee's hand at the Person. He was Colors...

She hugged Dadee's hand tightly, looking up at Person. Dadee would protect her, but Person seemed nice... "Peep."


~Boy~

The boy looked at the ground, crossing his arms over each other and trying to hide the scratches. "I'm ok... I just wanted to know if you knew my Dad... I don't know when he's coming to get me..." When Florian moved, he moved as well, keeping Andrew between the two of them, although he didn't seem aware of it. "I j-just want to go home..."

"... and you know the best thing I love about this town?"
"No, what?" said a preoccupied Kunda.
"Don't need to wear a hologram. Everyone's all like, oh hey, a talking robot dog, a totally uninteresting sight."
"Uh huh." Kunda had just gotten to 15000 ft in Doodlejump, and was hoping to beat her previous score. Kylin notices this.
"And everyone is either a florist or a cake, and they eat nothing but tar."
"Sure." The little doodle falls off the page. "Wait, what?"
"You're not listening."
"No, I am, honest! You were saying.... um... blahfwah fwahble blahblah, or something like that."
"If you wanted me to stop, you could have just asked."
"No, no, your background drone was in fact quite relaxing."
Kylin chose to ignore this. It's the kind of thing they could argue about for hours.
"You know, though, I actually wouldn't be surprise to find a tar-eating florist in this town."
At that point, Kunda's phone rang. Kylin sniggered at the Kim Possible theme.
"Hello? Oh, Hi Sarah!" She turned to Kylin. "It's Sarah."
"I can hear her, you know," Kylin replied, but Kunda was already talking.
"How are you and the others? Everything alright?" There was the sound of a reply.
"Oh, uh, um... Artistic license? No? It does look good." The voice on the other end emphasized.
"Well, it's all because of... Oh no! I can barely hear you! Youre -swicsh- breaking up!"
The voice tried to ask a question and was cut off.
"-sswwixxxh- sorry! -weeeEEEEEn- can't hear -schwisshshshshshshhhhh- (as an aside) Quick, make some good staticy noises, Kylin -scwarble- call -sweeEEshinssshh- later!" Kunda also blew into the phone because that also made good noises.
" -shwishhch- Wait, hang on, did it work? Did you find anything? No? Oh, well. -Swirschswsh- Bye! -swishhhhhhhhn-"
And then hung up.

William

william smiled at the young Florian with a nod as he stuck towards the back of the group with Fredric. "Liam sah, pleasure t'meetcha." William slipped into a thick British accent in short order as he greeted the teen. World War two era huh? He always did like looking at old models of the clanks used back then. maybe he'd get to see one or two up close and still functioning.

The Progressors

A man dressed in concealing robes slipped down the back allies of Mechanicsburg, careful to look like one of the harmless cloaked figures and not one of the dangerous ones, an important distinction in this town. The former meant you were ignored, not for lack of details but because you were a dime a dozen, the later got one shot or experimented on relatively quickly. The man reached an empty back alley and threw the cloak around his shoulders, revealing a complex and ornate outfit covered in pouches and sheaths holding a vast array of strange weapons. He quickly scaled the wall of a building and began loping along the rooftops of the large city, looking for the temporal disturbance. It was only luck he'd noticed it, that and a strange kind of sight he possessed. There was a certain "Shine" to people and things from outside the norm and so when there was a flash towards the south he knew there was someone/thing from somewhen that wasn't now.

Eventually he caught sight of a... catgirl? being held by some strange looking individuals. The catgirl was definitly shiny. So he settled in on the roof across the way and watched.

A hundred years in the future

A young man sat on a table with a strange visor as he explored his-

"oh will you give that nonsense a rest?!"
Foigran

The demented murderer strolled down the back alleys of Mechanicsburg trying to ignore the narrative from many years into his future, finding it annoying that the writer would steal from another source so blatently, even if he wasn't aware of the content itself because it hadn't been created y-

"yes they get it! I shouldn't know you're stealing ideas from video games and yet I do. Insert spooky noise here. Idiot."

-David, Wally, and the Bureaucat-

"Geeze, I do not remember which way we came from." David looked around, walking with Wally as the kitty sauntered between them. He looked down at the kitty. "Who are you, anyway?"

The cat looked up at him. "I'm the Bureaucat."

David scowled. "I don't mean that... you could be the Cheshire cat for all we know."

At this Bureaucat puffed himself up and frowned. "Certainly not! The Cheshire Cat is a no good layabout, I'm afraid. Content to live in Dr. Tinker's house without doing any work." he patted his chest with a paw. "*I* an a genetically engineered feline designed to fill out paperwork twice as efficiently as any human." he glowed with pride.

David looked at him blankly. "...so all you do is write stuff?"

The Bureaucat glared at him. "In the base, uneducated sense, I suppose that is accurate."

David rolled his eyes. "Ok, ok. Whatever. So where's everyone else, anyway?"

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

-Drezebel-

If life had a soundtrack, the Jaws theme would be playing as Lady Drezebel snuck up behind Dot, as silently as a mad artist holding brushes could be.

Wally chuckled as he watched David and Bureaucat interact. "Well, I don't know exactly where they are, but I'm pretty sure we left them back that way somewhere?" Heading back towards where he'd left the group, he shrugged. "Besides, if they're not there, we can just meet up with them somewhere obvious. Like, the castle or something."

As they were walking along, Wally turned towards Bureaucat. "So... seems to me you've likely got a few interesting stories, don't you? Like... how did you end up here? I mean, it's okay if you don't want to say, time travel and all, but it seemed like a good idea to ask."

"Sooo.... The trail's gone cold. Despite your not-so-subtle attempt to add a triangulation point."
"Yup." Kunda was lounging back on her chair, which had only two legs on the ground.
"And we have nothing to do, since that was why we came here."
"Yup."
Kylin looked around at the shops lining the streets. "And we have no money since you gave your super duper good-in-any-dimension infinite credit card to Damien."
"I think I have some gold. Somewhere."
"You know where?"
"No."
"See?"
There was silence, interrupted only by the sound of a chair falling backwards.

"Wanna go find that crazy art lady?"
"Sure, why not."

Mechanicsburg, past-
Jess grins to see Eustace kick Andrew lightly in the shins, when he introduces himself as Yakov. And to see Prim do the same thing to Andrew when he trots out his own silly adventuring name.
Chic smiles at little Teal. Aw, she's so cute! "Maybe we should go inside, can't let the little sweetie be hungry after all." It's all she can do to resist giving her ears a skritch!

PresentRolf nods to PastRolf. "Allright, Hy heff to get going. Needs to get de coffee, und get beck to the others before more uf them start vandering avay. Hy do vant to bring Thorn beck..vhere is he, hennyvay?"
PastRolf grins. When did he become such a worrywart? "Hyu should get movink, before someone valks in, und sees me talkink to meinself. Und he's around. Hy'll see if Hy can get him to go beck to de haus mit me-if nodding else, tellink him dot his leedle brudder hes had adventurers drop in should do it. Und vot are hyu going to use to buy de coffee mit?" PastRolf digs out his billfold. "Hyu owe me for this."
PresentRolf rolls his eyes. Was he always such a smartass? "Ya, ya, Hy vill make a note to pay meinself back."

PresentRolf makes his way to the Senchals Place, and places an order for some Spark Engine brew. In the biggest to go size he can easily carry. He looks around, sniffing the breeze. Claire's used to time and dimension travel, and David's a hero. Which means he'll come out of things all right, but will get into some ridiculous trouble first. But Wally's keeping an eye on David. And Wally made it through 6 years of dimension hopping. Mechanicsburg from his own universe's past shouldn't be a problem.
Now, where would he go if he was Claire? Gingerbread. Assuming she didn't run into any shinies. Rolf lopes back to the others, making sure he passes the gingerbread shops that are on the way.
No Claire. But his nose picks up another familiar scent....
Rolf speeds up. Claire will have to look out for herself. Maybe if he's fast enough-
A large hand grabs his collar from behind, and Rolf finds himself hoisted up into the air.
"Urk!" He uses his free hand to pry the fingers off his throat, but he's good and caught. "<Let go! I'm on an errand and->"
His attempt at fast talking is choked off before it can begin. Two hands turn him around to face a familiar glare.
<Vhere?> Boris growls.
Rolf sighs, or would if he could breathe. He did hug Ravel, back on the Pier....

Present Mechanicsburg-
Boris, Stephan, and Heinrich are slogging through the tunnels. Stephan is making notes as they go-the last time they sent a team to map them, the architect came back crying and screaming about blueberry waffles. Heinrich pauses to hold the light by a particularly interesting piece of graffeti. "Hey, vot's a fulminating jubjub-" Boris growls, and drags Heinrich away. "Hyu can read later. Ve heff a job to do." Senses keyed up, Boris strides ahead, staying just within the light. Stephan exchanges a knowing glance with Heinrich. Hopefully there'll be a monster or something soon, so Boris can blow off some steam.

Elsewhere, Penny is having a good time, temporarily distracted from worrying about the others. She has two hamster cages of mimmoths back in her hotel room, Quail hung around to go shopping with her, and she gets to play with a moat monster do community service. She can't wait!

Ariel slowly approached young Dr. Viktor. What to do? With the fact that they had traveled back in time, all sorts of possibility lay open to her.
Hmm. Perhaps something simple to start.

"Mr. Florian?" Ariel said, giving a slight bow. "My name's Ariel. I'm a 'clank', as I believe is the current terminology, and I have a message for you. It will have relevance in the future."

She cleared her throat.
"The message is," she said, "There is no spoon."

What events might this message cause? What relevance could it have to the young Dr. Viktor?
Ariel had no idea (and doubted much would happen in any case)— but she was going to send him a large, shiny spoon if everyone ever got back to the present.

-That Crazy Art Lady-

(Recommended musical accompaniment)

Drezebel was sneaking up on Dot as she walked the streets of Mechanicsburg. The Pants of Heterodyne (Specifically, Eustace Heterodyne's pants, which she had for the past 10 years of her life been trying to emancipate from him as a bizarre trophy of sorts) worn on her head as some sort of hat, a fine camel-hair brush in her right hand and an easel with fresh oil-based paints in her left. A manic grin had grown across her face

For anyone watching, it would have been quite a sight to watch her tip-toeing up towards a dimunitative little Heterodyne girl, trying her best not to cackle. Normally cackling would have occurred, but Drezebel was quite familiar with the reputation of the youngest Heterodyne, and knew that stealth was her ally in spilling mischief all over Dot's face.

And then, quite abruptly, she POUNCED!

Drezebel tackled Dot, painting furiously, attempting to sketch the beginnings of a beard along her prey's face while pinning her down, when suddenly a trio of bony, gnarled hands reached from the darkness of a nearby open door and grabbed the mad artist, dragging her into the shadows.

...and leaving Dot with the whispy, spectral, almost ghostlike sketch-of-a-beard hanging from her face, both ghostlike and translucent yet at the same time feeling real.

Drezebel, on the other hand, didn't watch as the door behind her was slammed shut and a deadbolt slid in place, because she was too busy prodding eyes with the butt of her paintbrush and bapping her captors with her easel. This lasted for about a few moments until she realized exactly who had grabbed her. "Wait... three gnarled old hags? It couldn't be... I THOUGHT I smelled Macbeth's untimely doom around here. It smells of cloves and garlic, by the way. Bluh." She wiped some dust off her artist's smock and scowled. "Come on! I was SOO close to having bearded one of the most notorious figures in Mechanicsburg! What the frig are the Lefay's Three Witches doing here, anyway?"

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

-Bureaucat-

Bureaucat looked up at Wally as he flattened the fur on his tail, which until now had basically been standing on end as a base state. "I really ought not to tell you much." He sighed, fussing with his collar, around which an odd, oversized plastic sphere with a dialpad had been affixed. "I have no desire to change the future, and yet, I believe some of the damage is already done. " He looked over at David. "Mr. Caine, it really does start with Mr. Toboz and his actions."

David blinked. "Wait, me?"

Bureaucat shook his head. "No, Mr. Toboz."

David looked at him. "I've never even met you before!"

Bureaucat glared back at him. "I did not say this is your doing! I mean the David Toboz I know."

David raised an eyebrow, glaring back. "Yeah, but I didn't do anything."

Bureaucat glared. "I MEAN that another you is the source of my misfortune, not you yourself!"

David scowled. "Am not! I'm a good guy! I don't bring misfortunte on people! Unless you were being evil. WERE you being evil?"

Bureaucat looked angry. "Certainly not!"

David put his hands on his hips. "Then there's no way that I did anything bad to you. I don't act like that. Unless.... do you mean nZobot? The evil me from the negative-universe?"

Bureaucat looked confused. "...Who? Mew. It doens't really matter. The reason I'm here is because I was accompanying Mr. Toboz here to reclaim something taken from him through time-"

David scowled. "That's not true! No one's stolen anything from me! ...that I know of? Yet? I'm sorta confused."

Bureaucat put his front paws over his eyes and twitched his tail. "...let's start over, shall we?"

Xerox glanced over the situation. Well, the little- Teal, was it?- was a pretty new little Creation, and probably fragile as a baby chick. But Claire had gone and run off, let alone that list they still needed filling. Which meant the castle... and Ravel seemed twitchy about something. He cross examined the last thought there, and the odd, constrained way Ravel was standing still, but staring out over the crowds...

It was, to him, a little familiar. Searching, frantically staring... praying that the familiar gait and face could appear. He'd done it for years. And *then*... he looked over at the scratched up boy- Andrew'd probably cut his own leg off easier then not help a kid looking like that. And there were other facts to consider, crunching down into solids... not numbers, he;d never be so crass as to consider the feelings and motivations round him *numbers*. The divide by zero errors aside. But there were integers to consider

"...Actually, that's a good idear. Tell ya whut- we need to get a list 'a parts, and some of them we can probably get in th' shops. I got a hed for mechanics, so I can probably spot what we need. After the little'ns done for, we can meet up, say, in Het'rdyne Castle's courtyard? See what we'll still need, n' all." on one hand, he really *had* had an accent most of his life, reduced these days to a faint tonality, and thus using it wasn't hard. On the other, he just *really* enjoyed picking on Andrew a little sometimes.

What he didn't expect was a list shoved in his hand, and Ravel giving him a enthusiastic nod.
"Here. These- pictures in the margins. We have two, three hours- plenty uff time. If somethink goes Wahooni shaped, send hup a fl- expl- *blue* signal. Hy'll watch for it." he paused to salute to Florian, and bolted. And a man who had spent a decent military career while being crippled with a smart mouth *knew* how to bolt. He yanked his hat down low on his head- one more Jager with a shako wouldn't go noticed...

Oh, he shouldn't be doing this, he should be *focusing*. Maybe if he got everything, and then still had *time*... but fate had gone and landed the exact group of people whos futures he'd give up a lot to see their futures go unharmed.

But, dammit, sometimes a man just *snapped* and- and someone speaking Russian wasn't being *quite* quiet enough for him to catch a specific word juncture he knew in a few tongues...

Namely: 'Kitty Girl'.

...sometimes a man just snapped, sure. But *all* of the time, you did the job in front of you. He turned on a dime, bouncing off a wall to make it up onto a rooftop. Boris would understand. He landed like the wrath of gods- not quite the universe exploding sort of a upset Eldrich thing, but Hera likely would have been impressed, were she watching.

Comrade X raised an eyebrow, and gestured, impassively, with his cigar.

"<You see, Rada? Like clockwork. And *this* is why you can;t take her in the pet-carrier. Tell you what, you can pick out a nice jager to take home, instead.>"

In the meantime, Florian besmusedly shows Rando inside- shyly inviting anyone who needed a quick sit down to join them. He knew, he opined timidly, that just a brief rest was rare on Adventures.

As soon as he was out of hearing range (and, Xerox noted with amusement, gently tucking a hankie around Teal to keep her warm), Xerox looked at Jess.

"Alright, I got the list. Who wants to head out to look for the stuff?"

Andrew had buisied himself with a box of bandaids, and after a little guilty scribbling in his book, a sandwich of Edible Convenience. You couldn't do them often, but it did seem to slip in under the basic probabilities. Sandwich and bandaids were applied to the child liberaly.

"Whats your name?" he asked, already sensing a certain... sureness, of what it would be.

~Teal~

Hankie! It was warm. "Peep!"


~Rada~

She looked at the sudden jaeger, then at Arky, then down at the catperson. "<But Arky... what if we just don't tell him? She fits really really well...>" Rada sat on top of her extra-large pet carrier, her large winter boots swinging back and forth. The catperson wasn't even be cramped...


~Claire~

"Hi, Master!" This is embarrassing... I'm kinda stuck. I hope he's not mad. I didn't MEAN to get stuck but there was a piece of GINGERBREAD and then the door was shut and I don't know how to open it...


~Boy~

He shuffled uncomfortably as Andrew bandaged his arms, but nevertheless wolfed down the sandwich as soon as it was handed to him, trying to avoid getting his gloves too messy.

"Umm... my name's James..."


~Jennifer~

Was busy playing with Pogome, and giving him little bits of anger and sadness and raisins to see what he liked.

Jane looked at Xerox. "I'm game," she said. She didn't know what sort of trials they'd have to go through to find the things, but it was probably a good idea to find them as fast as possible... when time travel was involved.
"So," JN said, "what sort of parts are on the list?"

Kunda sauntered down the street, following the scent trail. The sharp note of paint made it very easy. Periodicly she would stop at a junction, inhale deeply through her nose, and set off down one of the roads. Kylin knew very well that she didn't strictly need to this, and was just doing it to annoy him.
"Yeah, yeah, big scent tracker, I get it, now stop rubbing it in. Show off."
"I have every right to show off," said Kunda indignantly, but with a hint of mischief. "Cities are the hardest place to track scents in."
Kylin subsided into grumbling.
Besides, Kunda thought, the irritated bearded people everywhere she's been help make it even easier...

Chic smiles. "Eh, I think I'll hang around with Yakov." Eustace may yet need to be bapped on the head. Besides, how often do you get a chance to meet your grandfather as a kid?
Jess nods. Looks like most of the gang is headed to town. Perhaps she should stay here...

PresentRolf chokes out an 'Urk', signaling defeat. Boris sets him down, and loosens his grip.
"<Hy'm vaiting. Vell? >"
"<All right. I'll take you where I left him-but we are only here for a little while....he's still working on getting back. And now he has a few of us stuck with him. Come on, then. I was going to let the me from now fill you in, but since you're here....>"

-That Crazy Art Lady-

Drezebel glared at 3 witches. "Ok. So what is this all about? Is it doom? Am I doomed?"

The first witch raised her arms. "Katharine Drezebel! Ye be a Daughter of Le Fay!"

Drezebel rolled her eyes. "Yes, yes yes... we all know about the secret society, can we hurry this up a bit? I still have people to-"

The second witch raised her arms. "Katharine Drezebel! The one who freed the Pink from the Page!"

Drezebel sighed. "You... really are gonna draw this out, aren't you. You're not just gonna say what you mean."

The third witch raised her arms. "Katharine Drezebel! That which shares your blood carries a great burden!"

Drezebel rolled her eyes. "Ok, now you're just drawing it out to annoy me."

The first witch sighed. "You know, you could have a BIT more respect for the ancient traditions, young lass."

Drezebel folded her arms. "Not when it's fairly obvious that you're blowing smoke up my rear end. Everyone knows your prophecies only come true when people take them seriously."

The second witch scowled. "That is a gross misunderstanding, young lady!"

Drezebel stuck out her tongue. "Nuh-uh."

The third witch snarled. "You ought to check your facts before you make those statements, young maiden."

Drezebel glared. "First of all, you broke the pattern you guys had by calling me a maiden instead of another l-word. Second of all, I know you're trying to tease me, because I'm so far from "maiden" that the light from Maiden would take 5 light years to reach me. I haven't been a maiden since long before I married my husband, I don't see how I could spontaneously become one now. Third of all, the one bit of prophecy that you actually gave me is blantantly impossible. I don't have anyone who "shares my blood." My grandparents died before I was born, on BOTH my mom and my dad's sides, my mom was eaten by roving Blackulas when I was 12, and my dad was did in by angry weasel demons on the fateful day just before I went Mad. That's part of why I went mad in the first place! So there's absolutely no way that anyone could share my blo-"

She suddenly realized that every one of the three witches were taking great pains to avoid looking at her. Drezebel put her hands on her hips. "What are you hiding?"

The three women all turned in unison and pointed at her stomach.

A light flipped on in Drezebel's head.

PresentRolf is being frogmarched along, giving Boris a exceedingly condensed version of events along the way.
"-un so de odders-
Boris's face is impassive. Is he filing the information away or is it just so much background noise?
"-don' know vhy he asked for coffee. Hennyvay, Hy left him un most uf-"
Boris breathes deeply as he walks, eyes flickering, processing the surroundings.
"-demmit! Hyu needs to talk to de odder me, Hy can't stay! Boris-"
Boris halts, jerking Rolf to a sudden stop. Ears twitch, then a sharp nod. "So." And Rolf finds himself being dragged down a cross street. The diminuative jaeger growls a little as he has to do a little running step to keep up with Boris's much longer stride.
And the two emerge from an alley just in time to see an avenging Ravel descend like thunder. Boris takes in the scene at a glance. Ravel is glowering at the impassive man wearing a bearskin, and a fluffy girl seated upon a carrier, with another girl trapped within. No, not another girl, the cat girl.
Boris nods again, once, sharply. "<Rolf? Sort this out.>"
Rolf grits his teeth, straightening his collar as he walks towards the stranger. He casually rips the door off the cat carrier with one hand, pulling Claire out with the other. He looks up at the stranger, and glowers.
"Leave. Now."
The stranger is standing as solid as a mountain, and the fluffy girl is...pouting? Rolf squares his shoulders. 'Sort this out.' Oy, vey. Grinning, he cracks his knuckles.
Boris walks, does not run, to Ravel. And stops. There is a pause that can be measured in fractions of a second and yet takes an eternity.
"<Ya, I know.">
Ravel is seized, gripped hard enough to leave bruises, and thoroughly, extravagantly, dipped. A quick moment or an eternity later-
"<Now we give Rolf a hand. So, you made friends with the catgirl?>"

Commrade X glanced from Boris, to Ravel. It was a long, calculating glance, and calmer then any man being born down on by angry Jagers on their home turf had *any* right to be. he tapped the ash off of his stogie, looking up at the sky- looking back down with an idle, lazy grin and his hands spread out wide.

"Oh! Am being sorry. German not being well. Was participating with, how is saying, stray pet collectink. For purpose of being put in nice new homes." it was a dumb whopper of a lie, and everything about his posture suggested he knew it. But there was no weapons in his hand- and he grabbed the back of Radas shirt to drag her back with him, stepping back towards the wall.

Ravels breath had caught in his throat as Boris walked up to him, swallowing- shaking a little with nerves. What could he *say*? How could he try to explain? He'd been ready to wait the long way around, would have been happy to spend all that time with him... but then it all...

The fraction of a second seemed to go on forever, until suddenly Boris speaks, and it all goes warm and relief, and then just altogether *warm*. He nodded a little dazedly, looking up at him with a silly grin.

"Hnn? Oh... <Shes my henchman. Since I vos leedle... long story.>"

Eustace looked around inside, fascinated as the future Dr .Viktor led them inside. It seemed like it was a busy house- a little bit untidy, and messy, in a coats across chairs and hat over a statue sort of manner. It was... lived in. There were shelves of books, and someone had pinned a huge number of opera playbills to a corkboard outside the kitchen, where Rando was bid to sit and some babyfood rummaged, fed to Teal in little testing spoonfuls- to see how she liked 'mushed triffid and bacon'.

Eustace, meanwhile, stopped dead- and tugged on Chics arm... looking up at the wall.

It was a magnificent portrait, clearly done by someone with great skill. A tall, red haire dgentleman wearing class Pez Nez on a chain was seated next to- yes, Mamma Gikka, no mistaking. But her hair was down to tumble softly over her shoulder, in a long brassy dress- hand in hand with the red haired man. In her arms was a small child, peering up at the painter through fluffy, dark red hair, clutching a soft toy (which, though purple and apparently made by an absent minded sewer who did a lot of cats a rabbits, was very well loved).

And standing by them, with a hand on young Florians shoulder, was a tall young boy- must have been in his teens already. A slightly weedy tallness was already melting up into boar shoulders, the crest of Sturmovaus proudly clipped to his breast. He looked out into the world with a confident sort of smile... which was a little unnerving, seeing as his eyes were the same cherry red as his Mama's, hair a sort of brassy red color down to his shoulders... and somehow, there was in fact, a smar of engine oil on his cheek.

"...So thats him..."

Outside andrews face shifted, and he repressed a sigh. Oh... *heck*.

"Really? James... Umbra?" he asked, taking a stab... vaugly glad Claire wasn;t there as he stood up again.

Pogome was too buisy having a raisin to comment on any of this, which was more then enough for him.

Wally chuckled. "Yes, lets start over... These types of things get real confusing if you don't set things straight first." Shaking his head, he knelt down to get on Bureaucat's level. "Maybe if you have another nickname for him? Or you could call him Future Tobaz, to keep David from getting confused?"

Bureaucat looked up slightly, and lifted a paw off of one eye. "...Do you deal with this type of thing a lot, then?"

Wally shrugged. "I've got a bit... though usually it was Alpha and Beta Wally, not Past and Future. One time we got all the way up to Omnicron, but that was a weird dimension to begin with."

-Bureaucat and David-

Bureaucat looked at Wally. "Ah. That must have been quite the pain, Mr. Caine." He looked around. "Anyway, Mr. Toboz.. of the future, mind you, needed a way to chase after a thief who had used timetravel to escape with his possession. So he went to M." He stretched and licked a paw. "Based off of some future adventure, M did in fact have access to a confiscated time machine. And Mr. Toboz was on a list of people it was ok to allow the use of it with, provided there was proper supervision around." He scowled. "So there was nothing preventing Mr. Toboz from being able to fill out form X7-EZ2000: Streamlined Procedure for Emergency Requisition and Employment of Highly Dangerous Contraband Under Extremely Mitigating Circumstances." He looked it Wally. "It's only 36 pages long, mind. And it uses *CARBON* paper! The proper form to use is about 84 pages, each one unique, and-"

David stuck his tongue out. "Get to the point!"

Bureaucat sighed. "Hmmph. Well... after he filled out the form and I approved it, someone qualified had to be assigned to be his supervisor for this little trip. But... er..."

David raised an eyebrow. Wally watched Bureaucat as he fidgeted nervously. David frowned. "Come on, spit it out!"

Bureaucat whimpered. "Well... there wasn't anyone IN M other than myself and Mr. Toboz. I had just woke up from a catnap, and we couldn't find anyone at all. Even the people in the Hacker cave were absent." His ears drooped. "I don't know what became of them all. And Mr. Toboz from the future didn't see anyone on the way in. I know M- er, the Commander was out, but SOMEONE should have been there..." His tail thrashed. "And Mr. Toboz...er, the one from the future, was so focused on getting his ring back, we didn't really have time to investigate." He moped. "I barely had time to get the proper equipment ready."

David folded his arms. "Weird... hey, what's that ball around your neck?" He pointed at it. "Is that some sort of bell? It doesn't jingle."

Bureaucat hissed. "I'm not some common housecat, Mr. Toboz!" He scowled, looking indignant. "Hmmph. This happens to be a Time Capsule. As a result of timey-whimy nonsense like the affair you happen to be embroiled in right now, M has developed countermeasures for if their ages get stranded in time." He puffed up with pride. "This time capsule has a security lock on it. You can store a message inside and lock it, and it's nearly indestructible. Once 100 years or more have passed, it will begin emitting an emergency distress signal. That way someone can discover it and ideally bring it back to M, where a special device will be employed to open it and a rescue team can be sent to anywhen where our people are stuck. Not even most mad scientists could crack the locked capsule open once it's sealed! Quite ingenious, really."

David folded his arms. "So, just 100 years?"

Bureaucat nodded. "Quite."

"Wouldn't it make more sense to have a variable time?" David raised an eyebrow.

Bureaucat gave him a deadpan glare. "Mad. Scientists."

David nodded. "Ah. Right." He looked around. "Man, where is everyone? Wally, we should check the castle. It's probably where they went."

Bureaucat's eyes widened in horror. "Absolutely NOT! That place is a death trap among death traps!"

David sighed. "Oh calm down. We can handle it!" He grinned.

"Ah, yes... Mad science usually is a bit wonky anyways. So... you're the supervisor for this trip of Future Toboz's? So why'd he leave you behind?" Getting up, he started walking alongside David again. "Besides, you've got a pair of heroes with you! What have you got to worry about from a few death traps?"

--Fifteen minutes later--

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

Wally scooped up the screaming Bureaucat and swung to the other side of the spiked pit, as a large axe cut through the air where they'd just been standing. After landing, he tried to adjust Bureaucat's claws, so they at least weren't digging into his flesh. At that moment, of course, the ceiling opened up, and sucked both of them into the air.

A few minutes later, a soaked Wally and Bureaucat climbed up, and flopped next to where David was standing. "So, found yourself a decent safespot, eh?"

"Oh, yes! The flames from over there don't quite reach here, and that rolling stone is stuck on it's moss. I'm pretty sure we're alright here, at least until that arrow trap reloads."

"Well, that's good... Did you know how hard it is to punch out a walrus? It's really really hard."

"Well, at least we don't have to worry about it getting worse right now, eh?" Bureaucat panted out.

As Wally facepalmed, the pit below them choose that exact moment to open up.

-Drezebel and Three Witches-

There was now a very tasteful Edvard Munch-inspired picture of a young lady screaming painted on the wall of the building they were in. It hadn't been there four minutes ago.

She wasn't taking it well.

Drezebel tugged on her hair. "I CAN'T be pregnant! I'm absolutely irresponsible and I can't cook well enough to make canned soup! Oh, and there's also the porn."

The witches cackled. The first one made a sweep with her arm. "Katharine Drezebel... three children shall you bare..."

The second one stepped forward and made the same sweep. "Katharine Drezebel... three-"

Drezebel's eyes went wide. "Richard knocks me up THREE times? What. the. hell. Does he just have super sperm or something?!? I mean, I knew he was into the use of Martial arts to perfect the body, but I never expected that Tensile Strength of The Bamboo Field had taught him the Kata of the Fertile Loins!"

The third witch desperately tried to block out that mental image. "...wait, who is Tensile Strength?"

Drezebel looked at her. "Oh. That's a character for a fanfic I'm illustrating right now on commission. He's an Exalted character for some nerd-girl in Xyon's RPG. But that's besides the point! I mean, seriously. How ridiculously is it that Richard's arrow manages to hit the target three times in a row? I mean-"

The first witch crossed her arms. "Can we quit talking about your husband's fecundity?!?"

Drezebel considered the notion for a moment. "MMm..... no. And another thing-"

What followed was a discussion not meant for mortal ears. We will spare you the horror it would inflict upon you.

Shame Kunda and Kylin aren't so spared. They're right behind the door.

Kunda is grinning. Kylin just looks like he'd rather not be here right now, thank you very much.

"Personally, I think that one's a bit unlikely... what do you think, Kylin?"
"Why are we even here?"
"I want to ask her something."
"Is that something worth listening to... this?"
"For me, yes. For you, ehh, probably not."
"... I'm just gonna shut down my auditory sensors now."
"You do that."

Kunda shrugs, turns, and presses her ear back up against the door.

-Drezebel and Three Witches-

"-which bursts forth into torrents of seeds!" Drezebel finally paused for a moment to take a panicked breath.

The first witch snarled. "That is IT!"

The second witch stomped a foot. "We have had it!"

The third witch folded her arms. "You even make talking about DANDELIONS sound perverse! Torrents of seeds indeed!"

The first witch grumbled. "We'll be leaving now."

The second witch turned. "We don't even remember what we were supposed to be prophesying!"

The third witch stuck out her tongue. "Good luck figuring it out when the fate of the world or whatever hangs in the balance!"

And the three witches stormed out the door, grumbling and fiddling with their pointy hats all the way, narrowly missing hitting the two evesdroppers along the way.

Drezebel watched them go. "Ah, cool. My strategy for avoiding inconvenient foreshadowing worked!" She looked around. "Now let's see... where was I? Oh yes. Panicking."

As Kunda and Kylin watched the three crones leave, a screaming, a flailing Drezebel brandishing art supplies descended upon them, attempting to draw skimpy underwear over the top of whatever they were currently wearing as a form of stress relief. THE HORROR!

Kunda looks down.
"Can I have this in black?"
Never pass up free clothes is something she learned early on in her student days... whatever they make look like, they're still better than being naked.

Kylin, meanwhile, is busy ripping his to shreds.

-David, Wally and Bureaucat-

David's eyes were wide as they fell. "Dang. Punching out a Walrus? A real one? Some people get all the luck!"

Bureaucat was screaming. David realized it was probably because the floor of the pit was approaching, and it was lined with jagged metal spikes. For the first time David actually looked down. "And a spike pit! Dang, this castle has everything! I think it honestly might be able to kill us!" The tone of voice he was taking didn't have a drop of fear it it. Rather, it sounded almost impressed. "This place is perhaps one of the most amazing death traps I've ever seen. And it's not even fully functional!"

Bureaucat was clinging to Wally's third arm and mumbling to himself. "Spikes! Floor! Spikes! Floor!"

David sighed as the spikes began to ominiously draw closer. "Wow, this is a long drop. The fall would probably kill us even if the spikes didn't. Hey Wally, do you still have another calming pie for the kitten over there?"

Wally shook his head. "Nope. We used the last one up with that maze and the minotaur clank."

David nodded. "Oh yeah. The clank who clipped me in the shoulder with the battleaxe! I still need to bandage that up." He winced, remembering the pain. "Well, we should probably stop falling to our doom now, right?" He raised his robot arm up towards the ceiling. "Good thing I've got a rocket arm you made me. Hm, what button was the rocket mode again?" He pressed a bright red button on the wrist-console, quickly grabbing Wally with him.

And at that point, the hand of his robot arm detached, connected to the arm by a long diamond filament cable flying up and embedding its fingers into the ceiling. With a jerking noise, the cable began to wind itself back up, slowly pulling Wally, David, and Bureaucat away from imminent falling danger.

David's eyes went as wide as dinner plates. "That's not the rocket mode! IT'S A GRAPPLING CLAW TOO?"

Wally nodded. "It is also a rocket launcher, a super soaker, a three-language translating device, and a Claire-distraction launcher."

Little did both of them know that at the top of the pit trap, the Death Dogs were gathering...

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

-Lady Drezebel, in the Present-

She blinked. "Oh, you wantblack? Sure." She dabbed a brush into an ink bottle she was carrying and painted across the underwear, filling it with the color of midnight, of ravens, of noir. It was not just a shade of black, but rather, an embodiment of it. Then she looked over at them. "Anyother requests?" she asked, smiling nicely but with a glint in her eyes.

Kunda was momentarily stunned.
"Wow... that's just... wow. I am keeping these."
She shook her head and got back on topic.
"Actually, I just tracked you down to see if you had a pot of paint and a brush I could borrow. I want to paint a big X somewhere."
Kylin looked at her. "That's IT?"
"Well, yeah. Why what did you think I was gonna do?"
This time, Kylin was the one stunned.

Present Xyon and Mechanicsburg-

Mecha is bored, and wishing Lagos or Sparky was around. Not even an intruder to devour. Sigh...
So, like any other bored young life form, he starts cruising the internet, starting with Mechanicsburg. Might as well check out where Mom is. Mads, blah blah, royalty, blah, history, exports, bo-ring! The clank page is mildly interesting. Climate, tourism, another yawn. Historical sites, bla-wait, what's this? A sentient castle?
"Oh my gosh...." Chic's attack grove goes from the tourist sites to history to wikipedia to youtube videos. If he had a jaw, it'd be hanging open. He's like the towering bramble thicket that surrounds sleeping beauty's castle. Oh, he helped build the lab, he grows components, he's the security system, and he gets to help mom in the lab.
But this! It's a castle, it's a garrison, and a palace, with traps! Heck, the whole building is one ginormous, ever changing, deadly trap. Deeply impressed, he starts avidly making notes for improvements.
The entire structure gives a shudder, metal leaves rustling in shock, making the Tesla pidgeons frantic. The fortress is only part of it? The Castle is Mechanicsburg? His mind reels with the possibility. If he extended his roots...
A white florists box, with a red usb cable tied in a bow around it, is teleported to the guard shack outside the castle. Inside are copper gearflowers, with glowing led centers, lush and tropical, gathered in the most delicate of vines, all grown from a variety of precious metals.
With a note, words engraved on a simple sheet of metal. "A simple token of esteem, for the most magnificent creation ever."
Pity the poor jaeger charged with delivering it.
Mecha hums. Maybe, just maybe, it will email him. They could talk traps!

Farnsworth is sightseeing with Nemo. Many of the places Nemo remembers from his time as a library there have changed or vanished, but the little cafes and bars seem to remain. Oh, he's having a nice enough time. Nemo's enjoying touring his old haunts, and having someone to point them out to. After all, it's a homecoming for Nemo, and it's not like there's anything the can do...is there? He flashes back to a green haired lady, and the steel in her voice.
Farnsworth adjusts his pince-nez, and takes a sip of his tea, keeping his voice casual. "You know, perhaps we should pop in at Gitka's, briefly? As long as we're out and about."

Penny is walking to the Castle, new purchases in tow. Rex discretely plotting their path, keeping her away from the lunch wagons. Just in case.

The Past-

Elizaveta comes around the corner just in time to see some horrid jaeger pull the door off dear Rada's cat carrier! The diminuative russian scowls, glaring from behind huge round glasses. Should she throw an explosive, or just shoot him? Wait, Arky's doing his play dumb act. She'll just hang back...for now.
PastBoris gives the russian a Look. One that says, 'you're not fooling anyone, but I don't have time for this nonsense.' Voice deceptively calm, Boris nods. "Next time...no, there vill be no next time, ya? Now, shoo. Hy heff real vork to do." Collecting PresentRolf, Ravel, and Claire, the quartet walks off.

Chic studies the painting for a long moment, then turns back to the others. Florian is like a different person, taking care of Teal. More animated, less shy.
"Florian? As long as we're waiting for the others to come back, we might as well be comfortable." She pours him a cup of tea and smiles, trying to look as un-intimidating as she can. "If you don't mind me asking...what do you want to do when you're older?" Hey, fate-or the time machine-has tossed them here. And how often do you get to talk to your grandfather as a kid?