Side Scenes of Tomorrow (Redux)

[Quellian-dyrae]

Zero Tolerance Policy

Amy caught up with Damian shortly after the big victory dinner (knocking on his door or finding him in the gym or whatever). "Um. Hey. I, um, well, I mean," she said, getting off to a great start. "Um. I just...I thought I...you know. Owed you an explanation, I guess. For earlier, I mean. With the like...mind magic...stuff," she kinda unconsciously brushed her hair back as she said it.

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

While Suzie was arguing with the police officer:

~You cannot tell me that this does not concern you!~

~Patty was a beast yo. It makes total sense that Suzie would be concerned that a normal facility might not be able to hold him.~

~She is explicitly saying she wants to study him!~

~Well, to be fair, a certain amount of investigation into his exact capabilities would probably be required to determine the best means of containing him.~

When Suzie made her final dramatic declaration:

~Mark my words. She actually said mark my words while making an ominous and vaguely science-like declaration! Now, while I fully admit that I may not always be the most cognizant of mortal science, I have lived in Tomorrow City for just as long as the three of you! Even I know that on the scale of Mad Science Warnings the phrase "Mark my words" followed by an ominous and vaguely science-like declaration ranks somewhat above "I'll show them! I'll show them all!" but still just barely below "They called me mad! MAD!"~

~I mean...it sounds like a reasonable compromise. The police do what they need to do, and in the meantime Suzie builds a proper facility for containing it long-term.~

Literally every time one of the siblings walked by Suzie working on the holding cells:

~How can this possibly not bother you!?~

~[EXCUSES!]~

When the cells were finished and they saw the sign:

~The first! The first of the crab-people! That is a clear statement of intent to imprison an indeterminate number of crab-people, who have not done anything wrong as of this point in time!
Somebody has to stop this!~

~I mean...okay, maybe it's a little prejudiced to assume that there will be other crab people who are just as bad, but really I mean holding facilities are generally built before you actually have prisoners to fill them with. In case you eventually do so you're prepared and the security's been tested and all.~

~And she might just mean the first of the crab-people that have been proven to exist, rather than the first of the crab-people who she plans to put in a prison cell.~

~Yeah I don't think we should read too much into it. I mean, Suzie's not exactly the most precise and calculating in her wording, after all...~

~:smallconfused::smallsigh::smallfurious:~

~...Okay, look. If it will make you feel better, I'll talk to her. But I'm sure there's a perfectly reasonable explanation.~

~We will see.~

Later:

Caleb stepped a little tentatively into the lab. Amy came in here every so often, just quietly watching whatever Trevor or Suzie were building. Amy had a certain scholarly interest in science, and found their work fascinating, even if she didn't have half a clue what they were doing or why it actually worked. (The fact that both of them worked so fast didn't exactly help her follow along any). But Caleb pretty much hadn't been in here since they first toured the place. It almost felt like he was invading an off-limits area, or something.

"Hey Suzie? Can we talk for a minute? Trinity's got some...concerns about the whole crab people thing."

The Pack is Back (If you're interested, Zelphas.)

Nadia spotted Trevor with his shiny new backpack (and oddly disgruntled expression) not long after he left the lab. He had, she reflected, been kinda quiet since returning to the surface. Not that Trevor was exactly Mr. Chatterbox the Chattypants at the best of times, but still. "Hey hey!" she said as she bounced on over. "New tech? Gotta say, I'm digging the new no-longer-covered-in-rust motif. So? Let's see it! Ooh, any cool upgrades?"

Amy might have led with more of an "is everything alright?" style approach, but while Nadia wouldn't dismiss it outright...well, she had her own style.

[metakirb]

Sure, just give me a minute to... oh crap!

When Caleb had walked in Suzie was in the middle of testing the latest piece of weaponry that had sprung to her mind. It seemed like one of the ones that had stuck with her, though it wasn't completely finished yet, as evidenced by the large floating sword that shot past Caleb as Suzie spoke.

Sorry about that, Mental linked weaponry isn't easy to use in conversation.

She pulled the Visor off her head and hopped out of what appeared to be large armoured boots, balancing on the tip of blades themselves.

What's up? Trinity wants something to do with the crab man?

[Llyarden]

Damian had indeed, after the celebration dinner (which he had attended with his usual all-but-boundless appetite), gone back up to his room. He was slowly getting more comfortable with the others, but he still generally could be found in the gym only at unlikely times of the day when he didn't expect to be interrupted/observed. Besides, it was probably not a good idea to do any exercise right after a heavy meal (not that Damian had particularly cared about the limits of physiology for years, but it was still a smart habit to get into).

His room, incidentally, was kinda a mess despite the best efforts of the robo-spiders. Most of the bedsheets and such were no longer actually on the bed and were just kinda all over the place, there were a couple of empty pizza boxes on the bedside table with a half-empty bottle of something probably 'borrowed' from Eliza's bar downstairs stacked on top of it, and the mattress looked like it had had a massive bite taken out of it. (Nightmares suck when you change shape reflexively in response to threats.) Probably the only reason it didn't have dirty clothes everywhere was because Damian's attire consisted of a self-cleaning nanite suit.

Damian looked kinda surprised at Amy visiting, though, and his bemused expression got even more bemused as she spoke. He was quiet for a little while before he replied. "Yeah...no." His tone was a lot warmer than the words might have suggested, and he kinda chuckled slightly. "Pretty sure I'm the one that owes you an explanation."

[Zelphas]

Trevor blinks in surprise as Nadia approaches him, then sighs and presses the button on his backpack. In a flash, he is once again in the familiar ramshackle powersuit, though once again it is remarkably free of rust and polished to a dull shine. "No new upgrades," he says shortly, shrugging his shoulders slightly. "It's pretty much... exactly like it was before."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

Caleb managed, probably due to having lived with Nadia for the better part of a decade, to more-or-less no-sell the flying sword, just kinda casting a bemused look at it as it embedded in the wall behind him and vibrated a bit. Well, fortunately the beach house was self-repairing now!

He looked back to Suzie. "No worries. And, well, not quite. He's just..."

~Trying to nip a fledgling genocide in the bud?~ Angels can snark. You heard it here first.

"...A little uncertain as to why he's receiving so much of your attention," Caleb translated with master-class diplomacy.

~Oh is that what I said? Well okay then, good to know,~ Trinity grumbled mentally, following up with something indeterminate that may or may not have included something about the problems with being a discorporate entity and alcohol.

"He just...doesn't particularly seem like an A-list threat, compared to some of the things we've been up against.
So, you know, we were curious."

Zero Tolerance Policy

Amy seemed slightly taken aback at that answer, but gave a little shrug. "I, I mean I kinda...had a guess," she said. "You've, um, experienced something like that yourself?" she asked, and the sympathy in her gaze and in her voice was clear. "Back when you were...I mean...I don't really know the whole story," she admitted. "I know you knocked Nadia through a wall," she added, her lips wavering a bit as she tried to suppress the urge to smile. (At the time she and Caleb had been really scared, but looking back it was kinda funny).

The Pack Is Back

"Well but it's shinier now though! So that's fun!" Nadia's enthusiasm would not be quelled!

"...Sooo are you good? I mean not to pry but you seem kinda down for a guy who just saved the entire city and then built a suit of homemade powered armor in like an hour," she observed with a grin.

[Zelphas]

Trevor stops himself from sighing again, returning his armor back into backpack form in another flash of light. "Just today, this armor got ripped apart, rusted, and blown up. Before that, it was melted by acid, crushed, burned away..." unconsciously, Trevor rubs his right arm, "and exploded. Again. And yet when I rebuilt it, it ended up exactly the same as it was before. If you asked Suzie, she'd be able to build each of us an array of power suits based on our abilities and...and color coded for each day of the week for an entire month, each one unique, each one useful. I... can make this junk suit that falls apart as soon as an enemy looks at it."

[Quellian-dyrae]

The Pack is Back

Nadia was quiet for a few moments, clearly considering what to say.

...

...

...Okay, actually, judging by the look on her face, she...miiiight have been fantasizing about the Defenders of Tomorrow going out in Daily Custom Color-Coded Power Armor for an entire month.

After several seconds she blinked out of it. "Sorry! What were we talking about...? Right! Your suit!"

"I...look, okay, I mean, I can admit it, I and Caleb and probably especially Amy might maybe feel just a little more comfortable if your suit was just a tiny bit more durable," she held her index finger and thumb like a quarter-inch apart for emphasis. "Not that it isn't badass, mind. Totally is. You've got the Badass Giant Hammer Fist. And the Deadly Glowy Seeky Bomber Things. And the Boom Box O' Actually A Doom Box." Nadia Springs, ladies and gentlemen. Science. Genius. "But...yeah, in terms of sheer physical toughness, we've had our doubts on occasion. I'll cop to that." You can't really credibly pretend otherwise after you've jumped in front of a guy a few times. "But...I mean, look, I don't know the science stuff. Amy's got a way better head for that stuff than I do and she can't even fathom what all you and Suzie do. Being totally honest, I sometimes feel like our flipping angel magic operates under more internally-consistent rules than some of the science that gets tossed around this city. So, total layperson here."

"But that being said, just working with you guys these past few weeks and seeing the stuff you've built, it's been my observation that...I mean, you're right, Suzie's power, or genius, I'm not sure if it's natural or not, but yeah, it lets her create pretty much anything she wants."

"But yours lets you create exactly what you need."

"Like, today was the perfect example. We needed to go under water. And in minutes, you whipped up a batch of oxygen...filter...generator...mask...thingies! That's what we needed most at that moment. And it's like, it turned out that it would be more convenient with like the underwater suits, and Suzie just happened to have those, but not with air tanks, I guess because it's like, she doesn't need to build air tanks you can just buy those at least when there's not a giant storm ensuring half the city's closed. So...maybe if she didn't have those suits, you'd have just built them too, or something? I dunno. All I know is, when we needed something most, you were there to make sure we had it."

"Eliza chose both you and Suzie for this team, and I'm pretty sure that's the reason why. The two of you cover each other's gaps. Suzie's the one we expect to always have some crazy tool that'll work fine for any job we find ourselves doing. But you're the one we count on to have the right tool for the job we have to do."

"So I guess...I think maybe the suit might be like that too? I mean, yeah, it's gotten pretty beaten up. But it can fall apart a hundred times for all I care. As long as the guy inside it comes out okay," she poked him firmly in the forehead for emphasis, "then it's doing exactly what it needs to do."

[Llyarden]

"Yeah," Damian said quietly. "I, uh...to be honest, there's a hell of a lot I don't remember. But yeah. You remember in Riordan's...telepathy thing...how there was that monster that showed up with me, like how Trinity showed up with you guys? That was...what I got turned into. And...yeah, I knocked Nadia through a wall at some point, apparently. And hurt a whole bunch of other people."

"But it wasn't me. That was the point I was trying to make back on the ship. I could feel the drugs in my system forcing me to do ---- I didn't want to. I could even fight them, kinda." He shook his head slightly. "Just...not enough."

"But...point is, I had tried to fight it, because I'd known it wasn't me. If I hadn't had that, if I'd been made to think I enjoyed doing that ---- and only realised once it was over what I'd done..." He kinda trailed off with a shrug.

"I know you'd never force anyone to do something like that, even if you could. But that ain't the point. For all we know, to those...Lemurians, I think you guys said they were...betraying Mother Hydra would've been just as unthinkable as what I was forced to do is to people like us."

[metakirb]

Well sure, the first one didn’t. He’s obviously just the first scout.

She moved past him, attempting to pull the blade out of the wall.

Gotta hand it to Mechanus, her designs might be creepy, but the tech is great. Reverse engineering the blades on that ballerina bot has paid off biiiiig time. Where were we? Oh yeah. Crab man. Somebody has to be prepared. I mean have you seen the kind of crazy stuff the ocean kicks out? There’s stuff down there that doesn’t die with time! These guys get natural armoured carapaces and natural weapons. I just intend to be prepared for when they get tired of living in the water.

She put the blade down next to the boots and hopped over to the nearest monitors.

Speaking of creepy undying horrors... I wanted to run something by Trinity actually.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Zero Tolerance Policy

"I can't imagine what that must have been like," Amy said softly. "I mean...I don't...I don't think my power would make them think they're enjoying it. At least not...I mean, what Caleb was suggesting it's more...it supercharges their compassion. Their conscience. I guess it...makes them feel like we do when we know there's someone suffering? When they know they can do something to prevent it? I guess maybe afterwards they could regret it but...I don't know. I don't...I don't want to imagine anyone whose morality is so twisted that they could regret helping people who are suffering the way we would regret making someone suffer."

"I mean, it's still an abdication of free will, so it's not something we like to do either way. But...I'll admit, I never thought it could really...hurt someone. Not at that level. Going all the way, yeah...that...that could really mess someone up, even with good intentions." There were some powers Amy prayed she would never have to use.

She was quiet for a moment, before asking tentatively, "How, um...I mean, you don't have to answer but...how did it...happen?"

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

~...There. See? A perfectly rational explanation.~

~You think believing that the oceans will disgorge a hostile army of sentient sea creatures bent on conquering the land is perfectly reasonable?~

~Well, I'll admit I'd give the idea more credence today than I would have last week, but no. That's a little out there.
But, given that belief, preparing weaponry suited to the situation and attempting to gather information about what potential forces they might field? Perfectly reasonable.~

~And torturing a hapless crab-man to do it?~

~Suzie never said anything about torturing anybody. She just wants to study him. Probably make some sort of biological scanner or something. Knowing her it'll take two minutes.~

~You don't need a personal prison facility to conduct a two-minute non-invasive scan!~

~Look, I'll ask her what exactly she plans to do with him, but I'm sure it's nothing untoward.~

But even as Caleb opened his mouth to ask just that, Suzie hit them with a subject change so hard that even Trinity's angelic mind was sent reeling.

~...Did she just call me a creepy undying horror?~

~...I'm pretty sure she wants to ask you about a creepy undying horror.~

~Are you Caleb? Are you really?~

~I have faith?~

~Hmm. Fascinating.~

"Sure thng, shoot," Caleb said.

[metakirb]

Does this thing look familiar at all? Or know anything about it at all?

The monitor spun around to reveal a zoomed in satellite photo. A cracked landscape, collapsed house, three figures and what could only be described as a wound within the photo itself.

I’ve been trying to work out what Pending Objective was up to. The official records of their trip on an Astonishing Industry jet were never revealed. So I did some digging, found the jet they used, hacked the co-ordinates out of it and cross referenced them with the times they were gone. I don’t know what that thing is, but it scares me. Like more than the encroaching crab hordes.

[Llyarden]

Damian glanced back at Amy with narrowed eyes, but he relaxed after a moment. If it was anyone else asking (with the possible exception of Riordan, but the faerie knew what had happened to Damian anyway) he'd have probably told them to go away. Probably in less polite terms. But it was Amy. Somehow it was impossible to dislike her. "It, uh...on summer vacation, me and a few friends got this offer to take part in trials of a new drug meant to help metas control their powers. It all seemed legit, and...I mean, it's never really been a problem for me - I've had my powers since I was a kid - but I knew people who had real issues controlling their powers. So we figured, y'know, helping people and getting paid to do it at the same time...what's not to like?"

He gave a bitter, mirthless chuckle. "Turned out the ----- running it was a wanted villain - 'Dr Zero.' Somehow she hadn't mentioned that bit on the pamphlets. And...yeah, turned out the drugs did the whole 'power control' thing real well. Just it wasn't the metahuman who got control over their powers."

"And then..." He shrugged, skipping over three years of brutal experiments without any acknowledgement beyond a brief, momentary tenseness and a faint suggestion of his form rippling as he controlled his instinctive reaction to the memories. "Eventually I got sent out to go on a 'field test' and managed to adapt to the drugs enough that I wasn't just a puppet any more. Didn't quite work the way I'd hoped, which is where the whole 'knocking Nadia through a wall' thing came from, but it worked. That's why I owe Eliza, why I agreed to do this. She gave me my freedom back."

[Zelphas]

Trevor fixes Nadia with a steady look as she talks. His steady glare is spoiled somewhat as Nadia pokes him in the forehead; he reels back slightly, blinking in surprise. He looks away, any attempt at intensity gone. "Yeah... sure. I guess," he half-mumbles, unconsciously rubbing his right arm. "Hey, you know Miss Mechanus? How she's gotta be, um... around our age, but she's... like, stuck as a kid? I--nevermind, it doesn't make any sense..." he trails off, still looking away.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

Generally speaking, Trinity allowed the triplets to speak for him. Occasionally he would lend them his voice, usually to add weight to some dramatic declaration they were all making together. But even that was just another way of supporting their actions and choices. Trinity adhered generally to a policy of minimal personal intervention. He advised. He empowered. He shielded. But it was the Springs siblings taking action and making choices; he just provided them with the power, and occasionally the knowledge, to allow their choices to have impact on a larger scale. There were a few reasons for this, not least that he didn't especially want to explicitly confirm his existence. He wanted to leave open to interpretation the possibility that he might not be an actual angel. That he could be something else (his personal favorite alternate explanation was that he was a manifestation of the psychic gestalt of their own minds, although he could admit the "imaginary friend" possibility was amusing). After all, he was an Angel of Faith, and Faith could never truly flourish where there was no uncertainty. ...And, well, more importantly, if he was absolutely confirmed as an angel, mortals would jump to all sorts of conclusions that that fact was not, in truth, evidence in support of. Paradoxically, by keeping his true nature subject to doubt, he was actually reducing more confusion than he was causing.

All of which were good and valid reasons to stay behind the scenes. And none of which, evidently, mattered nearly as much as whatever was in that picture.

Caleb's eyes suddenly blazed with a star-bright radiance. It wasn't the normal moonlight silver his powers typically presented as, but a piercing white. An unearthly white. It was difficult to describe, but...scientifically, the color white just means all the colors of light are being seen together. This was not that. This was white light that was not made up of any other colors. If this light bounced off some other object and passed into a human's eye, it did not matter what color that object normally was - its color would be white.

And when Caleb spoke, the voice was not his. It was that same rich baritone that the triplets had shouted with back in the temple. "That is something that should not - that for all practical purposes does not - exist. When and where was this picture taken, Suzie?" the angel demanded. Evidently Trinity, too, no longer considered the crabs a matter of concern.

Zero Tolerance Policy

When he first briefly narrowed his eyes, Amy immediately opened her mouth to backpedal. What she was going to say she hadn't quite settled on. "Nevermind" or "I'm sorry" or maybe just some awkward stammering (let's be honest it was probably that one). But Damian continued before she could.

And there was...a lot to take in there. She had deceived them, experimented on them, stolen control of their powers, forced them to... Amy didn't know what to say. She doubted Damian either wanted or needed her pity. But really, as she processed the story, two words in particular stood out.

"Summer vacation...?" she asked a bit slowly, almost like she was sounding out the words.

And Amy's features grew...kinda still. And hard. Amy's face wasn't quite as expressive as Nadia's, and anger sometimes might have seemed a completely foreign expression on it. But there was no question that she was holding back a building fury...and holding it back only barely. "You were kids?" she asked in a flat, hot voice.

The Pack is Back

Nadia's expression kinda comically deflated. She would be honest. As the Angel of Hope, that wasn't the level of enthusiasm she normally expected in response to one of her pep talks.

"...It's possible I did not place sufficient emphasis on the badassery of the Badass Giant Hammer Fist. Because, see, you've got this giant fist, and you can punch people with it and it hits them like a giant hammer, and it is badass!"

...

With a little sigh, Nadia took a more serious tone. Still not anywhere approaching, like, somber or anything. Frankly it was still open for debate whether Nadia was actually capable of speaking below a threshold of "chipper". But at least no longer quite so enthusiastically cheerful. "Hey! Come on man, talk to me. What's got you down?"

[Llyarden]

Amy's anger...seemed to more confuse Damian than anything else, and he opened his mouth once or twice trying to find something to say and not really succeeding. "Yeah," he answered eventually, with a faint shrug. "We were seventeen. So...four years ago, now."

He paused for a moment or two. "Jeez," he muttered, more to himself than Amy. "It seems longer."

[metakirb]

Okay whoa that's new...

Suzie backed up a little in surprise.

The timestamp and co-ordinates are in the corner. So... I'm talking to actual Trinity right now? Like, You're actually an angel kind of angel? Anyway, we don't need to worry about that thing.

She trailed her fingers across the monitor, scrolling through several images taken of the three members of Pending Objective taking on whatever this creature was and, eventually, defeating it.

That's it dealt with, right?

[Zelphas]

Trevor's face flickers into a smile, just for a moment, at Nadia's unrelenting cheer. "Don't worry. The Megaton Punch... uh, it won't be going away."

Turning a little more away from her, Trevor rubs the back of his neck, trying to find the right words for a long moment. "Can you... can you imagine what it was like for her, growing up? And I don't, um, I don't really mean dealing with Miss Mighty and all that; I mean in the years after her age... stopped, or froze, or whatever. Watching everyone she knows growing up, learning, doing new things, while she... doesn't. Even if, uh, even if her powers keep her in the mindset of a child, she's smart enough to realize that, and... can you imagine what that's like? I can't, not really, but I know what it would do, sort of."

Trevor turns back to look at Nadia fully, embarrassment warring with resolve on his face. "I, uh... I don't really know your past, I guess, and so I could be way off, but judging by how you are now I'm guessing you've never really had... trouble, making friends. Even before, or without, um, your powers, you were probably kinda popular, and with your powers, even more so. Powers without control, though... powers that make you obviously different than the others, in a way that's... or that can seem less, or worse..." he shakes his head, a self-deprecating smirk flickering over his face for a moment. "I sound like a high schooler--I'm--what I'm trying to say is, that's... that can have some bad effects on you, as a kid. The amount of times I came home to the little workshop my parents set up for me and found out ten minutes later that I'd built--" Trevor looks away, clearing his throat in embarrassment. "Learned most of what I actually know about machines taking apart the ones that I couldn't smash..."

He turns back again. "The point is, she's stuck that way, in that place. Me building... this again, the exact same way, was a reminder of that, and how my power works. I don't, um, I don't build we need. I build what I want to, when I can think of it. Building my suit again the exact same way means that I lack either the desire to improve it... or the imagination." Another self-deprecating smile flickers across his face as he shakes his head again. "That was, uh, quite the tangent, wasn't it? I guess that was kind of long-winded and pointless..."

[Quellian-dyrae]

Zero Tolerance Policy

Yeah, if he had been an adult Amy would have been more...horrified, probably. But...the Springs siblings were social workers. You don't mess with kids. "Is she...I mean, was she ever caught? Oh my God are the rest of your friends okay?"

Since Dr. Zero is another PC's Complication, I just default figure they haven't heard of her with Well Informed. I mean granted she's probably got enough Cipher to tank it anyway but whatever.

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

"Yes," Trinity answered somewhat impatiently as he checked the timestamp, which, although Suzie may not be aware of it, was itself a sign of just how serious he was taking this. Trinity had never given even his hosts that straight an answer to that question. The best they had ever gotten was "'Angel' is the most accurate word you have for describing what I am. That may or may not be because it is literally what I am."

When Suzie played the full video and tried to reassure him, he just responded with a mirthless laugh. "Dealt with? No. No it absolutely not been dealt with. Do not mistake me, those children are extraordinarily brave for fighting that thing, and the world owes them a debt of gratitude. But they did not destroy it. They merely..." Trinity cased around a moment, and then stepped outside of the room, out of sight around the doorway. He reached out around the doorjamb, sticking only a single finger - not even, really, just a single knuckle of a single finger - into the room. And then he slammed the door shut hard, yanking his finger back when the door closed on it to allow it to shut.

Trinity opened the door and walked back in. "I am sorry, Suzie, but I cannot tell you more about this creature. It would not be wise for you to know it. Mortal science and its Methods have achieved many wondrous things. But it is not true fact that all knowledge is harmless, and only the purpose it is put to determines if it is good or ill. And this knowledge is by far more dangerous than that of your nuclear weapons. Others have sought to learn about this creature, and in doing so only given it an opportunity to work its will through them."

"I cannot compel your will," Trinity said, and it sounded as though it was a fact that he regretted. "But I implore you heed my advice. Do not seek to study this creature, nor to understand its works. If you find any evidence of it, destroy it immediately, and show it to no one. And if you are unfortunate enough to learn it," the angel warned finally, in a voice that brought to mind symbols above doorways and the deaths of eldest children, "Do not say its name!"

The unearthly radiance faded from Caleb's eyes. He stood kinda stock still for a moment, something of blank look on his face. And then like a computer taken out of sleep mode, he suddenly blinked and animated again. "Mmph!" he grunted, looking at his finger (which was turning an ugly shade of purplish-green) with both some pain and...confusion. He shook it a bit to try and get the pain to go away. "Ow. Sorry. What were we talking about?"

He did not appear to have any memory of the time in which Trinity had taken control of his body, nor of the fact that it had happened at all.

The Pack is Back

Nadia listened sympathetically. It slowly began to dawn on her that this...strange and indeed nearly impossible as it may seem...it was just barely possible that this might be something that could not be fixed by a single pep talk.

Crazy, I know.

She gave a kinda agreeing hand shrug when Trevor speculated that she had probably been popular growing up, although if he were paying attention, he might have noticed a hint - just a hint! - on deeply-buried pain flicker in her eyes. Truth was, yeah, he was dead on. She had made friends easily growing up. And lots of them. It hadn't stopped them all from eventually leaving her.

But whatever. That was a long time ago and this wasn't about her!

Nadia wasn't entirely sure what to say there. Like, she kinda defaulted to a viewpoint of "Dude, you've got superpowers. If they come with downsides they come with downsides they're still freakin' superpowers!" But even if that were kinda her gut reaction, she was still cognizant of the fact that superpowered downsides weren't necessarily the sort of things you could just write off with impunity. Especially when, as Trevor seemed to be alluding to, those downsides had played a role in shaping who you were during your formative years. Not everyone was lucky enough to have an angel in their heads.

So instead of trying to just talk up his powers and act like he didn't have problems when he demonstrably did, she responded, "It wasn't pointless. And as far as long-winded it's like let something something literally anybody else cast the first stone. I mean, I think I get what you're saying. More-or-less, anyway. It's like, like I said, the stuff you do seems just kinda nonsensically awesome to me, so I'm...maybe not entirely clear on the specifics, but...well, whatever. Look, point is, you're my teammate. And you're my friend. So, if you want to talk, or if there's anything I can do to help, I mean...here I am, you know? And, like, doubly so if I can help by just like rattling off ideas for crazy superweapons you could add to the suit until one of them sparks your powers and just causes it to exist two minutes later. That would be awesome."

[Llyarden]

"No." Damian answered both questions with that single word. "I reckon she used me as a smokescreen to get away. By the time anyone actually believed me she was long gone. And she's tracked me down and tried to grab me a couple times, so I'm guessing she's still out there."

"I've been trying to look for them. You know, when I'm not dropping a temple on my head by mistake and stuff. But...I'm not exactly Sherlock Holmes."

The levity in his words did nothing whatsoever to hide the pain in his eyes.

[metakirb]

Suzie listened to Trinity with an almost uncharacteristic silence, simply nodding along. When he was done and it was clear that she was talking to Caleb she quickly minimised the footage on the monitor.

Crab People?

She smiled, trying to play it off like he just lost focus for a moment, though it was obvious she had something on her mind.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Zero Tolerance Policy

...You couldn't really say that Amy's face fell at Damian's answer, since it hadn't really be "up" to begin with. But she did look down at the floor for a few seconds. That was...

"We're...not really investigators either," Amy admitted. She kinda wished she were more like her siblings, then. Caleb and Nadia wouldn't have cared how difficult it seemed. They would have had something more encouraging to say, because however hard it might be, Caleb would have been certain that with enough effort, they could do it. And Nadia would have rejected the very idea that it was anything other than inevitable. Amy, though, didn't see her way clear to offer promises of results she could not see a way towards.

But that did not make her any less willing to try. "But...if there's anything we can do...if there's any way I can help...please tell me." There was...actually something of a plea in her voice. That was less an offer to help, than a request to let her. Because that's just how Amy's mind worked.

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

"Right. Right," Caleb said, kinda shaking his head a bit as if to clear some mental cobwebs from it.

~You were going to ask her what she planned to do with the crab man once she had him in her custody.~

~Right. Man, where did my brain just go?~

That question, rhetorical though it was, Trinity did not answer. The triplets were aware that it was in his power to possess their bodies, and that he did have some capacity to filter their memories and senses. The former was something he had promised not to do lightly, and preferred not to do at all. The latter, he had sworn to only do to protect their minds from supernatural harm.

Keeping even the vaguest trace of the slightest hint of the knowledge of that creature from their minds absolutely counted.

"So...what's the plan exactly? I mean, you've built the cells, so if the police do release the crab-man into your custody...you, what, scan him or something?"

[metakirb]

Yeah, something like that. Make a translator, interrogate it, scan it's biology. That kinda stuff.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb nodded, the answer seeming to be precisely what he expected. "Gotcha," he said.

~There, are you satisfied? Like I said, her plans are perfectly rational.~

~:smallconfused:~

~Like I said, her plans are perfectly SuzieRationalTM.~

~I suppose, though I do think it might still be wise for one of you to be present if and when it happens.~

~Well, I'm convinced and there's no way that's going to hold Nadia's attention. But feel free to ask Amy.~

~Indeed.~

[metakirb]

So... Is he happy with that? I wanna get this suit ready to go for when the students arrive.

She moved away from the monitor, back over to the blade and boots.

Hey, what colour do you think would suit me?

[Quellian-dyrae]

Trinity's Feeling Crabby

"He's being a little stubborn, but he's fine," Caleb said in a bit of a wry deadpan.

The second question caught him a little off guard. To be fair, fashion (or did this count as costume design? Well either way) was more Nadia's bailiwick than his own. (Caleb wasn't strictly lacking in fashion sense, but to be fair it wasn't like "managing to look good in a well-tailored suit" was exactly a difficult task.) Also just in the general sense Caleb did still think costumes were kinda childish and gimmicky, but to be fair it's not gimmicky if it serves a practical purpose. That all said, he did have access to a good chunk of Nadia's own knowledge and at the end of the day his sisters asked his opinion often enough that he considered himself sufficiently proficient to offer one.

"Depends on what you're going for. Red would match your hair and is a pretty classic hero color. It may be a bit much for the primary color of an ensemble, but maybe as more of an accent color complementing a more metallic base color. A light silver and red would probably go well together and present a tech hero theme, and play up a bit of 'shining knight' to offset the 'wow that's a lot of blades' factor, and wouldn't be quite as gaudy as gold. Or you could go with a more gunmetal black if you want to amp up the intimidation factor, although to be fair that's definitely a less iconically heroic color scheme and might provoke a more negative response from civilians."

[metakirb]

Silver and Red, huh? I like it. And it matches with your wings.

She smiles cheerfully as she starts rummaging through a nearby cupboard.

Thanks for the colour choice. You should really come by the lab more often. Promise I won't throw any swords at you next time.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb gave a little grin. "Deal," he said. "You should come out of the lab more often," he returned in kind. (Honestly the triplets did sometimes worry a little about just how much time Suzie and Trevor were in there. Although at least Trevor had his...excursions, or treasure hunts, or whatever they were when he went out and came back with some fancy looking device that they were pretty sure was not native to this planet. Granted, the three of them probably would have been more concerned if they didn't have each other for company.) "Amy's got her video game systems set up in the living room," he added, in case that would prove incentivizing.

[metakirb]

I’ll think about it next time i’m Between projects.

She emerged from the cupboard with silver paint and dye.

Perfect.

[Quellian-dyrae]

Caleb gave just a little chuckle. He would take it. "Alright then, I'll let you get back to it. Later, Suzie," he said, before heading out of the lab.

[metakirb]

See you later Caleb.

She smiled for a moment, then, once she was sure Caleb wasn't coming back, she brought the footage back up on the monitor.

Eschaton, huh...

[Zelphas]

Always Tomorrow, Never Today


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEI2zet48Uc

Tomorrow City. It's supposed to be the city of the future, the city of bright lights and brighter people, where everything is getting better day after day. And if you're one of those brighter people, living up in the spotlights and neon signs of the town, it might really be like that. I wouldn't know myself.

Every bright light casts a shadow. And plenty of nasty things like to live in the shadows of the world's brightest lights.

The name's Trevor Gilliam. Most people call me Slapdash. When I was younger, my family thought I'd be one of those brighter lights in the city, but it turn's out my shine's a little... defective. And they can't have broken lights in the city of the future, so I live in the shadows instead, using my flickering bulb to root out the other nasties and expose their dark deeds.

I'm a private detective. The pay's terrible, the clients are worse, and I make far more enemies than friends, but it's something I can do. Something that needs doing. And every once in a while, you come across a case that makes it all seem worthwhile.

I could tell right away that this wasn't going to be one of those cases.

The way the case got to me was pretty standard: crying widow, middle of the day, lost wedding ring that she wants tracked down. She says that her former husband's death was an accident, but I've been through this kind of case too many times--it's never an accident. Anyways, I'll skip ahead to the interesting bits. After meeting with the widow and promising to take the case even though she couldn't pay me right away (they never can), I made my way from the seedy side street where my office is located to a slightly-less-seedy street closer to the big lights of the seedy, off to meet another light that shone a little too differently to be placed up there with the brighter people of Tomorrow City. On the way, I called a few of my other associates and filled them in on the newest case; I'd worked with them all before. I had a feeling in my gut that this one was going to be a headache, and I've learned to trust my gut.

"So, uh," I said, turning to face the group in Suzie Foreman's basement home-slash-laboratory after finally talking my way into getting the doorman to let me inside, "How's... how's everyone been?"

Feel free to do what you like with this, everyone! I just thought it would be fun to write out, since it was still stuck in my head.

[Quellian-dyrae]

I was in my office/suite, Room 3 of the 33rd floor of the Heave, Inc. headquarters. As I always was at this time of day. Or pretty much any time of day, really. The Stalker was still out there, and security had to be maintained.

It had been so long since I had ventured into the outside world. You'd think it wouldn't bother me. As a high-ranking Heave executive, pretty much anything one could ask for was at my fingertips. Fine foods and drinks. An endless array of entertainment. Company, camaraderie, and friendship were all readily available among the company's many employees. The building had countless amenities and spectacular views. And on top of it all, I knew I was doing good work, even if few would ever really know of it. From the outside, it would not be unfair to say I lived in Paradise.

I had everything anyone could want, except the freedom to do what I wanted. People don't realize how much that matters.

My name? Well, that I think must remain my secret. Even among the Heave employees, that information is tightly classified. The Stalker has many connections, maybe even as many as I do. For a while I was just known as "the guy in Three on Thirty-Three". That proved...less than convenient to say. These days, those people who know I exist tend to call me Trinity.

Now, I may not have been able to engage with the outside world, down below the thirty-third floor, but that didn't mean I couldn't influence it. Like I mentioned, I have my share of contacts, people from all walks of life throughout Tomorrow City. They kept an eye on things for me, and in turn I kept an eye on them. Through a network of cameras and comms, I could pull information from a variety of people and places throughout the city, and feed it back to others who could use it.

Sometimes I liked to call them my Angels. What can I say, I felt a certain affinity with Charlie.

Right now, my attention was focused on three different perspectives of a particular meeting in a particular basement. Three of my best contacts had been invited there. No big surprise; one way or another, my network of information had proven occasionally useful to Mr. Gilliam's investigations, and though he might or might not have been entirely aware of it, my proxies had hired his services a few times before. As wide as my network reached, sometimes you could only get the answers you needed with a more hands-on investigation. There was more connecting these three than me; while they may have been raised - and lived - in very different places in society, the triplets still felt strongly the bonds of family between them.

Caleb was the first to arrive. The clean-cut young man was dressed in a smart grey suit and bowler hat, and greeted the others in attendance with firm handshakes. The young detective was a rising star in the Tomorrow City PD. The people who raised him, the notorious Marlone crime family, had been thrilled when he earned his position on the force - until he had used his new position and his years of knowledge of their operations to help the police bring them down in one fell swoop. He was my eyes and ears on both sides of the law.

Amy arrived shortly thereafter, with little smiles and tiny waves of greeting, her simple pink blouse and skirt still covered by her white labcoat. Amy was a doctor at a local hospital, putting the cutting-edge medical science of Tomorrow City to work helping those in need. But when not on call at the hospital, she also volunteered at free clinics throughout the city. She had a wealth of contacts in the medical community, and also significant connections among the less privileged members of the city's underclass.

Finally, fashionably late as always, came Nadia. Dressed to kill in a shimmering sky blue cocktail dress lightly adorned with sparkling jewelry, with her face and hair all done up, it seemed like she was coming from some high-society party or event of some kind (or possibly planning to go to one after this meeting (or actually, knowing Nadia, probably both)). She swept in with big smiles, friendly hugs, and cheek-to-cheek kisses for everyone. An actress and socialite, Nadia moved through the halls of high society like a fish through the sea. She was my first source for any important rumors and gossip from those lofty heights.

"Can't complain."

"I'm good, thanks. How have you been?"

"Oh, man, everything has been great! Rufina Sheenan was throwing a party two days ago and you would not believe..."