Justice League: The New Wave (IC)

[ChasNicollette]

The Blackbird and The Woman in The Moons.

“Agreed, but you will you at least try not to get in the middle of the fight? Not get surrounded by so many enemy that you can’t get free?” Karan pleaded, using the infamous ‘puppydog’ look that got her what she wanted, usually candied sweets, and extra desserts.

Rose was-- Rose had been through a lot of crap in her life before everything had gone sideways and she'd turned into a psychokinetic metamorphic powerhouse with everyone's voices in her head. And it wasn't like Karan had been the first woman she'd ever been attracted to.

But those eyes, by H'ronmeer, whoever he was, those eyes were the sort of limpid pools people who couldn't write good wrote romance novels about. They did things to Rose's insides that she couldn't easily unshapeshift.

Still, she was a-- she was a freakin' Justice Leaguer, as bizarre as that still sounded in her head. She couldn't back down on this.

"I do think I'm better for support than direct attacks, but I will go where I am needed," she managed to reply before--

For good measure she leaned in and kissed Rose’s neck.

Warmth rippled out from that contact and spiraled out through all her katras and chakras and for a moment all language was alien to her.

Perhaps happily, before she went completely weak-kneed, Raven came to Rose's rescue.

Float/gliding over to Kara and Rose’s moment, Raven softly coughed. Hoping to get their attention before they started kissing, or dancing. “I hate to intrude on this.. moment, but I need a word with you.” She said looking at Rose.

Rose cleared her throat, steadied herself, tried not to listen to her pulse racing in her pointed ears, awkwardly rubbed her upper arm. "Uh, yeah, I'm-- I'm listening."

“When you scream.. it’s not just vocal. Now I can block out most screaming, but your.. level is more akin to a nuclear warning siren going off inches from my skull. And that hurts. Makes it hard to do what I need to do.” Sighing Raven rubbed her temples. “I can buffer the pain, make it so you don’t feel it. Bullet will still do damage to muscle, bone, cartilage, but it won’t hurt. If you still had any wounds I could help heal those as well, but you aren’t so that’s a moot point.”

"Yeah, uh," Rose winced. "Sorry about that. I guess I didn't realize-- I'm new to being psychic, I didn't realize I was psi-kicking up psychic collateral damage. If you could help, that would... that would be great. I can actually repair myself pretty quickly when my powers aren't being blunted by fire. Which-- if you're buffering me against the fire-phobia, that-- that could really save my bacon and make certain-- protective girlfriends-- feel better about me going into battle."

“It won’t last forever. Think of it as a dam. It will slow the flow, restrict the pain. Unless you decide to play with a hurricane. Then it will come crumbling down and the dam will burst.”

“Your choice.”

Rose agreed rapidly. "Yes. Yes please."

"Whatever you can do, I'd be grateful."

The creepiest part about Raven was the way she talked. Drawn and deadpan. Like she was talking about socks, or knitting. Almost like she was in the zombie apocalypse and was half-dead herself. Even though she was dressed more like a vampire-slave-princess. Or a stripper.

Perhaps surprisingly, Raven's demeanor didn't bother Rose in the least.

She had lived with a funny assortment of people for a little while as she'd been looking for her brother Jed. A couple literally named Ken and Barbie, of all things, a dashing round erudite fellow named Gilbert-- she missed him--

--Hal had turned out to be a real bitch when he'd made it big on the talk show circuit in his drag-queen persona, but he wasn't all bad--

--but Raven really reminded Rose of Chantal and Zelda, the spider-women. Like Raven really was, incarnate, the sort of creature to which Chantal and Zelda had dedicated their shut-in, eerie, lace-and-veil wearing Victoriana fetish lives. (Oh, poor Zelda.)

As off-putting as Raven might be to your average baseline human-on-the-street, Rose was cool with her. Didn't even bat an eye at that monotone creature of darkness routine. Didn't even occur to her.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Unbricking the Wall.

Ruby had withdrawn from the crowd somewhat, trying to get her shit together.

Her phone was bleating at her, pulsing the notification light a deep red, and whenever she tried to unlock it a bright red exclamation point glared at her, like she'd done a bad bad thing. Violated the warranty.

Service unavailable, the phone told her, bitterly.

"No joking, mate."

Contact authorized service technician, it suggested, whoever that might be.

She tried pressing different buttons on the sides, tried to do a hard reset. Even tried taking the battery off of the back. But the Dial's umbrage persisted.

Using Clockwork to forestall the timeout function had really screwed something up.

As things went down... as Lisa Snart bonded with Kiz in a way few mortals, if any, could comprehend... as The Rider dragged Beast Boy literally to Hell and back... as Raven offered to shield Martian Manhuntress against the primal fear of fire that plagued all Martians, Green or Pale...

...Ruby wracked her brain, mighty as it could be when it wanted, for some kind of idea.

As much as she feared for her soul, using this thing, racking up some kind of interdimensional spiritual-assault charges, she would be damn near useless in this fight without it. She could throw a punch, a few of the Robins and Kaldur had taught her that much... but she wasn't necessarily on the epic level that some of those Badass Normals like Wildcat were at. She needed powers. She needed to Dial, God help her.

As she sat there, thinking, she remembered... once upon a time, she had Dialed a Hero called Control+Alt+Delete who had had, among other things, the power to reset the powers of foes who used alien artifacts.

Could she... do something similar here?

She tried Dialing the letters on the keypad. Reset?

7. 3. 7. 3. 8?

Nothing.

...Ctrl Alt Delete?

2. 8. 7. 5. 2. 5. 8. 3. 3. 5. 3. 8. 3?

Okay... that did... something.

The phone buzzed in her hand like she was getting an Amber Alert text or one of those Emergency Broadcast weather-warnings.

And then it went dark.

And then it lit up again, the screen glowing a flat dark blue for a long minute before scrawling past more of those mysterious alien characters she'd decoded on the original rotary configuration of The H-Dial, these going by like streams of Matrix Code, too fast for her to decode all at once in her head.

And then the words blazed at her: Factory reset complete. Restoring from backups. This may take a few minutes.

"Well," Ruby mumbled to herself.

"That's... good?"

 

[Varshanka]

Rose agreed rapidly. "Yes. Yes please."

"Whatever you can do, I'd be grateful."

Already regretting her decision to help, Raven reached out and rested her fingers on Rose’s pale white skin. Skin so pale and so beautiful looking that even Raven was attracted. And she wasn’t attracted to anyone.

Except the depressing goth crowd. A shiver shook her insides as she reached out psychically “My mind to your mind, our thoughts are one.” It was corny and stolen, but it helped to focus, it helped the psychic ‘melding’.

Drifting inside this mind was new, and very unusual. Rose wasn’t human. Not even remotely, and that was going to change how she did this.

****

In the physical realm it took moments, but in the psychic realm it took days. Days to build the walls, to reinforce what she did. To fix the potential fissures. All of that without looking to see what was inside. Without looking to see that Rose was. Cause Raven didn’t want to know.

Knowing meant she might have to take action against Rose. And she didn’t want to do that.

But firefighters never built a fire damn without getting burned. Not usually anyways. And today wasn’t Raven’s lucking day.

White psi-fire engulfed Raven’s physical form as she staggered back. Releasing Rose’s face with twitching fingers. “So.. much.. inside you..”

Dark clothes paled to grey softening to white, as cold dark eyes turned whiter than white. Drifting up and back from the Martian Mistress Raven shivered, nearly shaking with rage. And then her clothes and eyes returned to normal.

“I will never do that again.” Raven whispered as the gem in her forehead glowed.

 

[Varshanka]

Renegade to everyone

Taking her time the Renegade walked. Strolling up on the group she watched as they performed premating rituals. The temptation to shoot all of them was hard to resist. But now was not the time.

If this group was humanities last hope, then there was no Hope for Humanity.

“To many emotions. To much caring. You need to disconnect. Disassociate.” Sighing she lifted her rifle and looked around. “Who or what are we killing next?”

 

[kizkiz]

I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar. (Tag Chas)

Kiz's lips twitched. His hand dragged through the air fighting an invisible current to reach his mouth. He took a breath in and then exhaled one quick puff of air. The eternal, infinite absence of everything that Lisa had scrawled her most intimate self upon fluttered and took off, pulled back along those unseen currents to resume its orbital course around the black hole at the heart of Kiz's anima. The vacuum pressure of the Void upon Creation yanked out more of the Void from the many hidden cracks in the fabric of this plane's reality.

Intimacy was not always tender, and neither was what he'd invited Lisa to do. The infinite nature of arcana was difficult for most to grasp, the nature of this particular source compounded that difficulty beyond the reach of infinity. There was no margin for error. You walked the path. Those that never made a misstep got to keep moving forward. Those that made even the smallest of missteps, plummeted eternally to eventually become nothing along the endless event horizon of a supermassive black hole.

"Okay," Kiz said, placing a butterfly kiss along Lisa's tendril in his other hand. "Now, withdraw the folded space inside of my back pocket. You will not unfold it," He paused, wheezing and spat something black and malicious upon the ground. "That's impossible. You will just manipulate where the many fractures in Creation are relative to it and us."

Kiz had tried giving warnings to acolytes in the past. He cared for her and all the rest that had come before her, but knowing did not translate to understanding. The blind could not understand sight until they could see no matter how long you describe the sound, touch, and smell of something. So Kiz didn't offer a warning or further advice. He took one last memory of Lisa as she was and waited to see what she would become.

This was the smallest sip, and one Lisa couldn't take on her own. But it was a taste of something beyond what she was and yet what she was on the path to become one way or the other.

"Don't fight it, Lisa. Be what you are." He coughed a few times, swallowing back against the rawness in his throat. "Glide."

 

[Zet_Cross]

G.R.I.D lands near everyone and walks over. "Well what now?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Baby Needs a New Pair of Hai Janpu Būtsu. (Hotline)

G.R.I.D lands near everyone and walks over. "Well what now?"

Ruby glanced up at G.R.I.D.

"I think we're just mustering for the last big push, and I--"

Her phone buzzed in her hand, interrupting her, and she glanced down at it.

Reset complete.

Calibrating with Exchange Directories.

Downloading updates.

Initializing service.

Please make test call to complete process.

The keypad lit up. Ruby blinked.

"Uh, hold on, I have to take this."

4. 3. 7. 6.

H-E-R-O.

SssshhCLICK!

"I am... G.R.I.D.!"

In the shattering crackling light of the Dial's power, she became... an armored, arm-cannoned extraterrestrial hybrid...

...identical to the one that had just jogged up, purple shoulders and all.

"Wait, what?"

"It's so awkward when two people show up to a party with the same outfit on. One of us is gonna hafta change."

 

[ChasNicollette]

If there was a problem yo I'll solve it.

“To many emotions. To much caring. You need to disconnect. Disassociate.” Sighing she lifted her rifle and looked around. “Who or what are we killing next?”

"You sound more like a Rogue than a Leaguer," Captain Cold quirked an eyebrow.

"You guys are recruiting from a good pool these days."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Letting the Cables Sleep. (Rose/M'gann)

A shiver shook her insides as she reached out psychically “My mind to your mind, our thoughts are one.” It was corny and stolen, but it helped to focus, it helped the psychic ‘melding’.

Rose didn't know enough about Star Trek to know if there was a call-and-answer with the mind-meld mantra-- her book had been on 1950s TV shows, not 1960s ones --but at least she grokked the reference. She smiled softly, closed her red red eyes...

...and then their auras intersected.

Drifting inside this mind was new, and very unusual. Rose wasn’t human. Not even remotely, and that was going to change how she did this.

Rose was remotely human! She had one fully human parent! And one... partly human parent.

...but kind of a lot had happened since then.

Kind of a lot was happening now.

In the physical realm it took moments, but in the psychic realm it took days. Days to build the walls, to reinforce what she did. To fix the potential fissures. All of that without looking to see what was inside. Without looking to see that Rose was. Cause Raven didn’t want to know.

Time passed on the astral level the way time passes in dreams, relativistic time dilating inside seconds. And while Dream, in a way, was Rose's natural habitat... like Raven's efforts to guard herself, M'gann was quietly protecting Rose's sanity by filtering out the full extent of Rose's... endlessness.

White psi-fire engulfed Raven’s physical form as she staggered back. Releasing Rose’s face with twitching fingers. “So.. much.. inside you..”

Rose staggered, putting her hand on her forehead. "D'you... d'you mean my... paracortical voice? Yeah, I just met her today, she seems nice?"

"Oh, okay, oh... my head is... that really feels different. Like there was this anxious screaming in the background forever like the opposite of white noise and now it's just this... sigh of relief?"

Dark clothes paled to grey softening to white, as cold dark eyes turned whiter than white. Drifting up and back from the Martian Mistress Raven shivered, nearly shaking with rage. And then her clothes and eyes returned to normal.

“I will never do that again.” Raven whispered as the gem in her forehead glowed.

Rose's eyes widened in astonishment... that was... horrifying. And there was something... something about seeing dark robes wreathed in flame... something familiar? "Oh. Oh, God. Well. Thank you. I'm-- I'm sorry. Thank you so much. I won't-- I won't ask. But I'm grateful."

 

[Aussie_Wolf]

Connor had been sitting on a piece of rubble quietly in the background as more people joined the party and others had their say. He was disappointed when the Rider took off and he glanced off in the direction she had ridden and sighed. Well no use crying over spilled milk. Maybe he could patch things up later.

He put the finishing touches to a improvised sling and wrapped it around his wrist. Then he began to search the rubble for stones. A rather simple task most people would have thought, but it was actually a little harder than it sounded.

Not just any old piece of rubble could be used. It needed to be first of the right size to fit in the sling, then not too jagged edge or it wouldn't fly straight. However with this amount of rubble he had soon filled up a pouch with a decent amount of ammo and knew he would easily be able to find more wherever he went. They might not be able to do the same amount of damage as his arrows, but a well placed stone to a temple would still knock out or kill a person.

He then sat back and observed the little group. Renegade seemed to have changed and he wondered if anyone else had noticed. In fact if they weren't wearing the same clothes and carrying the same weapons he would be tempted to ask who they were. There was a vague resemblance but other than that...

Even Wildcat looked changed. It was more subtle with her but it was there. Still it didn't matter to him. What did was that they get on with the job at hand. "So we going to go kick the final lot's butts or stand around talking all night?"

 

[Varshanka]

Cold Fire and a Renegade

"You sound more like a Rogue than a Leaguer," Captain Cold quirked an eyebrow. "You guys are recruiting from a good pool these days."

"I don't recruit. I kill. Plain and simple. I aim and something, or someone, dies." Renegade replied, with a rather cold tone. "My understanding is you like jewels and to cover things in ice, your friend likes to burn things. A hothead and an angry attitude. Both are emotional."

"From my perspective. Once you realize it doesn't matter, you'll stop caring. Then it's just a matter of removing things you don't like."

 

[Varshanka]

A Bird and a Flower

Rose's eyes widened in astonishment... that was... horrifying. And there was something... something about seeing dark robes wreathed in flame... something familiar? "Oh. Oh, God. Well. Thank you. I'm-- I'm sorry. Thank you so much. I won't-- I won't ask. But I'm grateful."

"You won't ask. but someday you'll have great need. And I will do what must be done." Looking even more depressed than usual, Raven turned and drifted away. 'And I'll help. Even if it kills me.' She didn't really think it. but it was her mindset. Her purpose in life. Help others, even if it someday meant her own life.

 

[LuckyVic]

Nightwing

After getting the sensor data from GRID, Nightwing headed out. There had been something that had been bothering him since they had arrived and he needed verification. He went to the nearest location of the ninja’s that he could find. It was a calculated risk since he could have gotten himself trapped between those things with powers, but he got lucky. He encountered and defeated a few of them before they had a chance to report him. When he was done, he removed their masks.

Sometime later he returned to where the others had staged themselves. He dropped the body of the uncovered ninja in front of the group. “I think we’re dealing with clones.” He told them. He didn’t wait for them to ask anything. “There was something familiar about how each of them fought, and it was far more than they had the same teacher. Every fighter is unique, they take what they’ve learned from their teacher and make it their own. But these all fight the same way. It was as if they were the same person, and that’s because in a way they are.” he stated.

 

[Zet_Cross]

"I am... G.R.I.D.!"

In the shattering crackling light of the Dial's power, she became... an armored, arm-cannoned extraterrestrial hybrid...

...identical to the one that had just jogged up, purple shoulders and all.

"Wait, what?"

"It's so awkward when two people show up to a party with the same outfit on. One of us is gonna hafta change."

GRID just stood, a bit dumbfounded.

Unable to analyze energy emissions. Unable to access information referencing 'The Exchange'. This is a first for me.

Hearing Lysl snapped him back to focus. "Your telling me." Addressing his 'doppelganger', "So this is what you do? Copy other metas?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Doorway Darkened.

"Okay," Kiz said, placing a butterfly kiss along Lisa's tendril in his other hand. "Now, withdraw the folded space inside of my back pocket. You will not unfold it," He paused, wheezing and spat something black and malicious upon the ground. "That's impossible. You will just manipulate where the many fractures in Creation are relative to it and us."

"Next," Lisa squinted at him, though she couldn't help ghostly goosebumps at the flicker-touch on that tendril. "You're going to tell me 'there is no spoon.'"

Then she slipped a tendril in and around and-- found it, folded up like a wallet, easiest pocket she'd ever picked.

But even touching it was-- was like rolling thunder-- watching a storm on the horizon and feeling the static of its lightning dance havok on her skin.

"Don't fight it, Lisa. Be what you are." He coughed a few times, swallowing back against the rawness in his throat. "Glide."

It's an interesting thought experiment. Every tabletop gamer worth their salt knows what happens when you put a portable hole into a bag of holding. And what happens if you put a bag of holding into a portable hole.

Lisa Snart was a floating dimensional rift, only existing partly on this plane of existence and stretched between others-- not to mention stretched between the living and the dead.

And in the dimensional fold that Kiz just handed her existed what amounted to a trunk of holding.

Perhaps this combination was not as catastrophic as an astral singularity sucking everything nearby inside... a literal psychospiritual answer to the black hole around which orbited Kiz' Anima Banner.

But it was not without anomalies.

One did not traipse in the valleys of darkness between universes, one did not swim in The Bleed, one did not unwind Hypertime... without consequences.

She unfolded the page. Without unfolding it, of course, but-- for the purposes of perception in realtime and realspace, she unfolded it. And again, and again, she lost track of how many times but it was... like unto a dozen? Give or... take?

But each fold sent shivers through her dimensionally transcendental molecular structure... like there was something unfolding inside of her, too... perhaps unfolding, perhaps collapsing...

...a chill seeped into the golden tendrils of her near-touchless ghost-flesh and the lids of her eyes grew so heavy she could barely lift them...

...one by one by one her tendrils thudded audibly into the ground beneath...

...her golden glow darkened into shadow...

Then there were folds in the center that formed sides in both corners. More unfolding formed higher walls shin high. Then she reached into the center and pulled from the middle to lift up the top of the box.

Except the box wasn't paper anymore it was a sturdy, black walnut.

And at that, at the construction of the box, The Glider gasped, and wheezed, and hugged herself, and managed to lurch back to some semblance of consciousness.

Except that The Glider wasn't Golden anymore.

As though dipping her fingers into the ink of The Void had suffused her form with the stuff...

...she was now an Ebon Glider.

http://static7.comicvine.com/uploads/original/6/64770/1820219-lilith4.jpg​

 

[ChasNicollette]

Big Hai Janpu Būtsu to Fill. (Hotline)

GRID just stood, a bit dumbfounded.

Unable to analyze energy emissions. Unable to access information referencing 'The Exchange'. This is a first for me.

Hearing Lysl snapped him back to focus. "Your telling me." Addressing his 'doppelganger', "So this is what you do? Copy other metas?"

"Well. That's one extant hypothesis," Ruby!G.R.I.D. admitted, Ruby's own natural intelligence piggybacking on that of Milton Fine's enhanced brain. "Another is that I temporarily siphon the icon-- power signature-- and neuropsychic net-- 'soul'-- of heroic metahumans and graft it onto myself, a form of interdimensional assault I find reprehensible but under the circumstances unavoidable-- except--"

Ruby!G.R.I.D. tilted his armored head. "Except I've never Dialed a Hero that was literally right next to me before. Maybe it was because it was recalibrating, it adapted an ectype close to hand as part of the 'test call.' And... you haven't lost any of your powers, have you?"

Ruby!G.R.I.D. reached up and snapped the fingers of his non-cannon hand in front of Milton!G.R.I.D.'s Scan Visor, here and there, as though checking HUD tracking. "Are you experiencing any neuropsychic displacement or cognitive latency indicative of astral telepresence?"

"The process seems not dissimilar to quantum mirroring, but is perhaps more akin to hyperspaciotemporal bilocation," a voice intoned in Ruby!G.R.I.D.'s head.

Sometimes the adjustment into a new ectype, a new Dial, was smoother than others. Again perhaps because of the recalibration process, Ruby was taking longer to completely synch with this Dial-- as a result Ruby!G.R.I.D. was absolutely not expecting to have to share this brain with the engrammatic A.I. copy of Lysl Dox.

"Ah! Who said that?" Ruby!G.R.I.D. flinched.

 

[ChasNicollette]

There's a fine line between Mind-Meld and Mind-Melt. (Rose/M'gann)

"You won't ask. but someday you'll have great need. And I will do what must be done." Looking even more depressed than usual, Raven turned and drifted away. 'And I'll help. Even if it kills me.' She didn't really think it. but it was her mindset. Her purpose in life. Help others, even if it someday meant her own life.

Rose watched Raven turn and float off, and while she didn't actually hear the thought about Raven sacrificing herself to keep Rose's brain from spontaneously combusting... the empath left quite a shadow in her wake.

Is this what happened when she counted on other people to be strong for her instead of being strong herself?

Her heart ached in her chest, and she covered her eyes with one pallid hand, and she leaned heavily against Karan.

"What even am I doing here? What even is my life?"

"We need to beat these guys before I completely lose my mind."

 

[ChasNicollette]

But If It Had To Perish Twice...

"I don't recruit. I kill. Plain and simple. I aim and something, or someone, dies." Renegade replied, with a rather cold tone. "My understanding is you like jewels and to cover things in ice, your friend likes to burn things. A hothead and an angry attitude. Both are emotional."

"From my perspective. Once you realize it doesn't matter, you'll stop caring. Then it's just a matter of removing things you don't like."

"Emotional, me, yeah," Heatwave rumbled. "I'm one emotion, running hot, all the time, this insatiable hunger-- hunger on a molecular level. But Snart? My partner doesn't have an emotional bone in his body. All he's got left is his code. His cold, cold code."

"Everything's relative," Cold admitted. "I put my code in place so I don't go so far off the reservation I lose sight of the objective. So I don't sink so far into the ice that I lose the script. Apparently, this 'Renegade' doesn't have any such compunction. ...interesting."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Time and Tide.

Even Wildcat looked changed. It was more subtle with her but it was there. Still it didn't matter to him. What did was that they get on with the job at hand. "So we going to go kick the final lot's butts or stand around talking all night?"

"Is it night?" Aquaman wondered, the weary weight of the watery world on his shoulders. "Even with my attunement to the tides and the phases of the moon, I cannot tell how much time has passed since we have entered this place. But yes. We must make our final preparations and move out swiftly, before the enemy can swarm out to meet us from their current fallback position. Even so, it would mean another session of wholesale killing; can our souls stand another such bout?"

But then Nightwing returned, unexpectedly-- in that way all Bats had of reappearing before anyone had known they were gone.

He dropped the body of the uncovered ninja in front of the group. “I think we’re dealing with clones.” He told them. He didn’t wait for them to ask anything. “There was something familiar about how each of them fought, and it was far more than they had the same teacher. Every fighter is unique, they take what they’ve learned from their teacher and make it their own. But these all fight the same way. It was as if they were the same person, and that’s because in a way they are.” he stated.

Kaldur sank to a crouch, gazing at the face of the Blackadder with a frown.

"Clones? Can such a thing be possible? Our own friend Superboy is proof the technology exists, but on such a scale? The Bestowed were not clones, they displayed gender dimorphism and racial diversity-- independence and individuality despite their demonic hive-mind... but perhaps it is harder to genetically duplicate mystical potential than it is to manufacture cannon-fodder foot soldiers... and you say their combat skills are identical? Could they be programmed? More brainwashing than sentience? ...dare I ask if philosophically they even count as human?"

 

[Zet_Cross]

"Ah! Who said that?" Ruby!G.R.I.D. flinched.

Milton started sweating bullets the moment she said that, because it means that it was more than just the armor that was copied. "That...oh...that..would be my on-board AI. Yes my AI."

Oh yes, very smooth there Milton. I think she bought it.

Sarcasm was unexpected coming from Lysl.

 

[kizkiz]

Taking the first of the last steps (Tag Chas and Aussie)

Kiz watched the change manifest. The Void took things and never gave them back. Lisa skirted the edge of oblivion, moving pieces of nothingness around through high dimensional space in complex geometries with grace. Most of her remained after she was done. Enough that Kiz didn't feel the loss was unacceptable. She would go on.

He nodded. "You have done enough. Given enough. It is done." He squeezed her pitch black tendril. "Not better but more intimate than sex." A faint smile floated a top the cold lines his face was etched out of. He wanted to say more but a flurry of coughs erupted from his mouth instead. When they'd passed the moment was gone.

Kiz staggered a few steps and dropped to his knees before the chest. Then he put his head against the clasp of the chest's lid. He lifted he head and the chest opened.

"Archer," Kiz said looking at where Conner foraged in the refuse of the battle. "Lisa has given so you may receive. There should be some arrows in here. Stop playing in the dirt and see if you find anything to fit your needs. It's always best for the seeker to look." At least now the boy would continue to be useful during the end game.

Kiz took a deep breath, and the bout of coughing subsided. His fingers slid along the ground and converged. Another breath and in the space between moments, when Creation rested and the nothingness ruled, Kiz pulled forth the Lasher. The tattoo on his right hand faded, losing its intricate detail and vivid colors. Three writhing, saw toothed tentacles burrowed through the asphalt. The haft was gnarled like arthritic bone. The end was knotted, dragon scale in an angry, bulbous mound. Both hands held the haft of the Lasher. He became an immobile as a mountain even as his body shook like man about to succumb to a hyperthermic chill. He had strength now, more than he needed to move even as the Lasher masked the terrible weakness of Kiz's body.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Maru Mari Quite Contrary. (Hotline)

Milton started sweating bullets the moment she said that, because it means that it was more than just the armor that was copied. "That...oh...that..would be my on-board AI. Yes my AI."

This is essentially correct, Ruby!Lysl agreed. It is both more complicated and far simpler than that, but the explanation suffices.

Even a Dial-based facsimile of Lysl was smart enough not to give away all the real Milton's secrets. Ruby would only remember fragments of Milton's memories once the ectype faded, dream the occasional dream of his life, but there was no point in feeding into that more than was efficient.

"Uh, right," Ruby!G.R.I.D. mumbled. "Whoever she is, your Cortana app sounds like a smokeshow. Caught me off guard."

He shook his head head as though to clear it, acclimating, synchronizing. "But seriously. You seem... you seem all there. I'm not draining you in any way? Body, mind, spirit? Shit, what if I'm leeching power off of an alternate version of you from some other parallel universe--"

Your concern is invalid, Ruby-slash-Milton, Ruby!Lysl interrupted him. Utilizing the Scan Visor, I can verify using the original Genetrix Retrieval Interactive Designate as a comparative baseline that your molecular vibratory resonance is an exact match for his; zero hypertemporal differential.

"Oh," Ruby!G.R.I.D. blinked. "Cool."

And then he looked at Milton!G.R.I.D.: "Okay. So. Yeah, it looks like I copy other metas."

He hesitated. And laughed a broken, incredulous laugh, shaking his head, the weight of a lot of worlds lifting off the burdened shoulders of his Varia plating, he bent over with his hands on his knees as the sheer relief of this revelation washed over him. "I don't... I don't... rip them off. I just copy. Oh, thank Christ."

 

[kizkiz]

Kiz didn't sway. Moving against one's will was impossible with the Lasher Staff. He could be killed, pulverized or vaporized, but he wouldn't be compelled to move by any such actions. So Kiz reclaimed a measure of dignity. His head swiveled ever so slightly towards the pair of technic men, one the copy of the other.

[quote="Ruby!G.R.I.D.] He hesitated. And laughed a broken, incredulous laugh, shaking his head, the weight of a lot of worlds lifting off the burdened shoulders of his Varia plating, he bent over with his hands on his knees as the sheer relief of this revelation washed over him. "I don't... I don't... rip them off. I just copy. Oh, thank Christ." [/quote]

Kiz frowned. If she was willing to sully herself, he wasn't above using her or letting her be of use. Her definition of rape and his definition of it sat across from each other on opposite sides of a vast canyon. From what he cold tell the other technic knight hadn't given consent, but perhaps he had. Then the thought slipped away as he turned back to watch Lisa cope with herself. Power, growth, and all that came with required a distillation. Useless water evaporating so that what remained had room for even more of the important parts to take its place.

 

[Varshanka]

Goth Bitch must die!

"What even am I doing here? What even is my life?"

"You are here fighting the good fight. Saving lives, and families." Karan replied, holding the girl that held her heart.

"We need to beat these guys before I completely lose my mind."

"We'll do more than beat. We'll exterminate them. Bury them so deep that they won't, that they can't ever try this shit again. Then you and I are getting some ice cream, and hot chocolate, and fudge bits and a fire place."

She wanted to slap that Raven haired moody bitch. Rose was always happy, until now. Until that goth chick had touched her face and made her moody. "Should I go kneecap her?" She asked, only half joking, trying to get Rose to smile.

 

[Varshanka]

From teh Dhadows The Rider speaks..

...dare I ask if philosophically they even count as human?"

"Souless," she whispered from the shadows. "Faceless Ones. Halfman. Kno'man. Golem."

Shifting she slid from shadow to light. It was slower, but quieter, moving on foot. Sometimes slower was better. "There is no murder in killing these things, no sin on the soul." Looking over at Heatwave she sighed, her eyes glowing. "You're still fucked.."

Chains slipped from the sleeves of her leather jacket, fingers playing with them as her lips silently moved. Almost like she was praying a Rosary. But she was A Demon, and demons didn't pray.

"They are massing, so it won't be long before they have enough numbers to retaliate. And once that happens the previous encounter will be.. a cake walk. So buck up, and do the dirty deeds that must be done."

Looking over to Robin Hood she slowly exhaled. He was going to die. He was Mortal. All Mortals died. But at least he was fighting on the side of Light. Not that could be said for her. Not anymore. Now she just fought wherever and whenever she was Called.