Mary Sue's eyes widened as she found whe self traveling backwards in time. This was something that she knew little about, her mom had managed to do it ones though? She'd have to ask for more information later. She was moderately afraid of tripping over a rock and destroying the fabric of time itself, but this was so far out of her wheelhouse that she really just tried not think about it. Zari had this on lock, a technopath with thirty minutes to spare could probably make a flashlight into a musical instrument after all, they were safe and she knew it.
As people awake from their stupor though, she wasn't one of the ones quick to violence. She'd had a little more time to process after all, and she knew killing Arcade would be easy, just, at the same time, pointless. Setting aside the fact that murdering a fellow classmate was a surefire way to get kicked out of the upcoming tournament, if not the school all together, he simply didn't deserve to die; the Arcade that almost killed them was, categorically, not this Arcade. They were never really in any danger, and though she knew that he would have killed them if given the chance, he still deserved a chance to get better and learn from this experience.
After a brief struggle with the Framework's firmware, the real world returned to view through the haze of the Framework tank gunk. Victoria didn't know how, the game just... ended. But she did not care. Swinging her legs and jumping out of the tank before it even drained, she landed in front of it with a squelching sound, as the deceleration caused the gunk to fly off of her. She was seeing red as she instructed her skin nanites to shake the rest of the garbage off. To hell with secrecy.
Others beaten her to the punch (literally in some cases), and Victoria was almost thinking she would not have to do anything when Dorian did Dorian things.
"He deserves WHAT?!"
Her teeth ground against each other. These people are insane. How can someone be so stupidly naive?! she thought bitterly, "He's bamboozled all of us for two plus years and you think cooling his heels for a while is going to make him rethink any of it? What's it going to take to open your bloody eyes? Him making me kill another one of you?" If Victoria had tear ducts, tears would be streaming down her face. It did however look like she may have to step over D&Ds corpses to get to the scumbag that was the true target of her rage. Drawing a breath to cool her spooled up power core, she relaxed her stance. Being stupid wasn't a crime. Besides, they can't be next to him forever. Ed will get what's coming to him, even if she has to wait.
Her rage finally somewhat abating, her eyes returned to their neutral green color. "FIne. Have it your way. Play stupid games, win stupid prizes. Just don't expect me to come pull your hides out of the fire. Heroism is overrated." Turning on her heel, she stomped away, wondering if someone else would get to Edward before her in the end.
Enough. Enough of pretending to sleep, enough of this contest, enough of this 'Shieldmaiden' bullshit. I was made to keep these people in check and deal with them permanently if necessary. It's in my name! Time to start acting like it! she thought, heading straight for the workshop. She had modifications to do and magic to learn.
As she neared the dorms though, she slowed down and to her fright, caught her hands shaking and herself being unable to stop them. The memories of Andy taking her blast would not leave her alone. Pivoting before the staircase to the basement, she instead turned off and headed to find the school's counsellor instead.
Location: The Gym Fit of the Day: Gym Outfit Skills: Memory Manipulation
It all happened quickly. In one instance she was a spirit holding out for Dorian, waiting for the inevitable end and the next she was back in the gym with the others. Sabine checked herself out. She had her body back. She fought off the urge to run to Leah and April and take them in her arms and shower them with love.
No there was someone who needed her attention more.
Arcade stood there, cowering. It was pathetic. "Not so touch without your technology huh?" Sabine was in her villain era. She thought about all the ways she could make him suffer. Should she turn his brain into mush so he would need to be bedridden and eat his food through a straw? Should she set his mind on fire so it felt like it was burning and there was no way to put it out?
So many tantalizing options. Sabine strode forward, ready to unleash hell when Dorian stepped up. Sweet Dorian. She wanted to punch his stupid, sweet face. Hell, even Leah took a step back. That said something.
Though it seemed like the others either listened or wanted their own revenge and Sabine could hardly blame them. Once there was a break she stepped forward. "My turn."
Sabine closed her eyes and sent her consciousness into Arcade's, shifting through the neurons to get to her destination: Memories.
One such memory caught her attention. It was arcade as a young boy and, presumably, his father. Arcade's father held a belt in his hand, held high. As it was brought down Sabine could feel the ripple with each hit. This was where it changed for Arcade. Sabine didn't want to erase this. Trauma needed to be dealt with. Instead she altered Arcade's viewpoint of the memory. Rather than the shift to villainy, it would be a shift to good. To fight for others so no one felt like he did as a child.
Once satisfied, she exited and opened her eyes. "I can't stop anyone else from hurting him, but he's changed. We should allow him to show it."
Ah Time Travel. Something many consider to be convoluted and difficult, but to her was just another walk in the park. Though she had never actually tried to alter something that had happened with it before. So this entire situation was a bit unorthodox. Zari typically used the watch to travel between this reality and her home one more often, the time travel aspect had come later because of the Norns prophecy. It had been a fun challenge, but she was glad in this instance that she had it with her always anyway.
It had taken long to free everyone, not now that she knew what was going to happen and they could take things a little bit slower. Be more stealthy instead of bolting up the stairs like they had before. That had gone horribly wrong. So using her powers to get into the system before all had gone haywire was simple enough, and releasing everyone before he even knew what was going on.
Though she noticed a different problem now.
"...You know, might not have thought this fully through... Like great we stopped the really horrible alternative but well... We're here. But we're also still in the basement and there are two Mary Sues here right now... I've never done this sort of thing before it's kind of weird potential repercussions still..." she said directly to Andy. That definitely was going to be a problem. But now more onto the issue of Arcade, though others seemed to think that they shouldn't beat him to a pulp. She personally didn't care one way or the other. If he tried any more tech stuff she'd be able to take them out. Though hearing Dorian's comment about turning Usagi in, Zari laughed a little bit, "Yeah, Usagi isn't going to be a problem, she kind of got crushed like a tin can. Or will be if she hasn't already? It's confusing."
Zelda Flynn
Location: Skills: N/A
Zelda was glad to get out of that insane trap and game. No one had died, thankfully, but still, there had been incredibly close calls to keep from trying to kill everyone. Personally she was all for trying to beat Arcade up for what he did. How could anyone let that sort of thing go? He tried to commit murder! Everyone was saying leave him alone, well think about it this way, attempted murder was a serious charge that he could be arrested for, but the issue was she wasn't sure if she actually trusted that he'd actually stay behind bars for that one for long.
"You can't actually think to just let him walk away to just be arrested or something do you?" Zelda asked, her voice still a little on the quiet side, but it was obvious she was insanely annoyed with that thought. "If people like him actually stayed behind bars for long then there wouldn't really need to be a whole lot of heroes or heroes in training don't you think? Sometimes villains do get a change of heart, but most of them don't really change. At all." Yeah, she was annoyed with them at that point for even just wanting to leave him alone.
??? - Tue. November 23rd, 2038 - Margaret Carter Institute
Mary Sue - Trick - Her backpack was stolen in the library! She'll have to replace her laptop/books/etc.
Vicky - Trick - Through a misunderstanding with a teacher (Usagi) Vicky has detention for the entire month of November
Sabine - Trick - someone hacked Sabine’s socials and put up some disgusting, bigoted content pretending to be her
Andy - Treat - Magneto sends her a gift, it’s a pair of vambraces that fit her perfectly, they’re made out of an unknown material and can deflect bullets and the like
Zari - Treat - On Halloween morning, Zari also gets a present from her family. It’s an enchanted tool belt. Whatever tool she needs if she reaches for it, it’s there
Leah - Trick - After the Monster Mash when Leah returns to her room, there is a postcard on the wall from Oslo. Written on it is her birth name. Nothing else.
Dorian - Treat - On Halloween day, Dorian’s father sends him a ~spooky~ gift. It’s a mini dinosaur! And by mini I mean like 6 inches tall. But it’s alive!
Percy raised an eyebrow at his sister's suggestion - she didn't need to ask him about that, his own jumps were much more limited in range than hers were. She could easily get Arcade to the mild of a wilderness - it would take Percy a few hours and several hundred jumps before he'd get Arcade anywhere close. His spatial jumps weren't his strength. The temporal ones were. His eyes flickered over to Dorian. The fact that they had a difference of opinion here was obvious to Percy.
Dorian believed in rehabilitation, in the justice system. Percy didn't. "Возможно, это будет слишком любезно по отношению к нему. Это дает ему шанс выжить," he murmured to his sister, speaking in Russian so as to limit who else could hear, who else could understand. His gaze then settled on Arcade, Danni's arm wrapped around him with blazing fire. If Percy was fast enough, he could grab some kind of weapon, make the jump, and end it all. Death was what Arcade deserved.
But then Dorian would see him as a monster - and that stayed his hand. For now.
If Arcade died later, well, what Dorian didn't know couldn't hurt him.
Not that Arcade was in great shape - he was covered in blisters from Leah's fire, his nose broken from Mads' punch to the face, and Danni was actively threatening him with more fire. He hadn't been in this much pain in a long time - pain that he had vowed to never experience again. And it was more than just the physical, he felt as someone groped around in his mind and then... Then something changed. A profound sadness filled him, a mounting horror, a tidal wave of...
... of understanding ...
... of empathy ...
... of remorse.
"What... What have I do?" Arcade - no, Ed - sobbed. "I'm so sorry I - I didn't mean to - I... Please, you have to forgive me!" he begged.
April shifted uncomfortably, a lump in her throat. Leah had run from the room, and April couldn't help but want to follow out after her - and at the same time, she was rooted into place, unable to turn her gaze away. Sabine had done something to Arcade's mind and here he was, crying and remorseful. Just one small moment and suddenly he was changed. But that wasn't what was causing her hands to shake, what made her lungs feel tighter and tighter in her chest, as her body constricted around her like a prison.
No, it was what Zelda said. And the vision from the Monster Mash played out in her mind again, of herself wearing Magneto's helmet, of the heritage in her blood threatening to overtake her - of the fact that villains didn't usually change, that redemption or atonement was a fantasy...
Would that be her one day in that chair, the victim of a psychic lobotomy?
Her ears were ringing, her head swollen like it was filled with cotton - spots danced in her eyes, and no matter what she did, April couldn't quite catch her breath. The anxiety only grew more and more, a perfect storm fueled by trauma and exhaustion, as April grabbed at her chest with shaking hands. "I-I-I...I can't...breathe..." April wheezed.
@Bluesky44@Natsu@Kirah: Zari would remember, from one of her time travel study courses, that when dealing with duplicates and changes to recent events in time, it's important to close the loop. If she doesn't send a Zari, Mary Sue, and Andy back in time, the entire timeline thread risks unraveling before it can be tightly bound into place.
While the duplicate Zari and Andy are downstairs in the basement, the duplicate Mary Sue is present. Both of these Mary Sues will begin to feel incredibly sick and nauseous, and a bit gassy as well.
@Forsythe: It's late at night and right before a holiday break, so the school guidance counselor isn't on campus at all - most of the staff don't live at the academy, instead commuting during the day. However, from outside the glass windows, she'll see a quinjet rapidly descending outside of the school's gym - with the Avengers logo on the front.
@Blizz: Leah will also be able to see this quinjet land from her vantage point as she leaves the Framework room.
Russian: Возможно, это будет слишком любезно по отношению к нему. Это дает ему шанс выжить. = That might be too kind to him. It gives him a chance to survive.
Leah kept walking, and walking and walking to ignore that twisting feeling in her chest. It was like walls falling in on her, rooms getting smaller. There were days when death didn’t scare here in the slightest, when she could look monsters in the eye and cut them down with one swipe of a sword. And then there were the days where her fragile confidence proved to be paper thin, and Leah never had the words to explain why that was the case. Not to herself, not to anyone else. It was like she couldn’t think straight, some notion of fear that didn’t make any logical sense just clouded her mind. And she found, every now and then, that the only way to ignore that blackened feeling was to pretend it wasn’t real.
So she got to the roof, and just stared out into the dark. It was close to midnight by now, as far as she could remember. Most of Margaret Carter was sound asleep, while Leah and the others apparently got saved from death.
We died. We died, and Zari saved us.
Her ribs were [i]vibrating[/i{ in her chest, just thinking about it. She wanted to bury Arcade beneath a mile of stone and gravel, where he’d never harm someone again. She wanted to make him experience the terror he had inflicted on them before Zari fucked with time itself just to bail them out.
And she fucking knew, deep down, that he wasn’t sorry for what he did. Dad was never sorry, and he always had people at his mercy. Dorian didn’t know what the fuck he was talking about, there was no questioning that. But it wasn’t fair to him.
Leah was stirred from her thoughts by the sound of a jet landing near the school. It was hard to tell from the roof, but it sounded like a quinjet. Leah could take a guess what they were doing here. So she leapt off the side of the building and used the superhuman muscles in her hands to easily climb down. If she went back inside, Arcade wouldn’t leave.
She jogged down the sidewalks and got to the landing pad. And there stood the Avengers. Well, some of them. Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, She-Hulk, fucking Shang-Chi, to name a few. Did they hear about this? It was the only logical reason for them showing up this late in force like this.
”We’re alive. No one’s dead,” she told them, sound a touch hollow now that she had a moment to think. ”They’ve got him cornered. He’s not going anywhere.”
Location: Avenger's Academy, Framework Room. Current Outfit: Workout Fit Skills: N/A Grimoire: N/A
Madalyne contemplated on putting a curse on Ed or something as she gently rubbed her knuckles slightly she was pretty sure that she broke Ed's nose from when she punched him in the face. Whatever Sabine did to Ed he seemed to now have some remorse for what he tried to do to them all and kill them in the Framework. She wasn't sure how long whatever Sabine had done to him would last whether it was a permanent thing or not. Or if Ed would end up becoming a villain all on his own either way it was Dorian's idea to spare him and try to rehabilitate him.
Her eyes then turned to April seeing her friend's hand on her chest hearing her wheezing and that she couldn't breathe Madalyne quickly went over towards April gently resting a hand on her best friend's shoulder while turning to face her. "Hey April, take a few deep breaths and look at me. It's going to be alright, it's okay and we are all safe now." Madalyne said trying to help April calm down and relax, hoping that it'll work.
Diana Novikova
Location: Avenger's Academy, Framework Room. Current Outfit: Workout Fit Skills: N/A
Diana just glared at Arcade as well as Dorian and Danni, after Sabine did her Jedi mind trick on Arcade or whatever she did to him and she stepped away Diana made her way over towards Dorian and gently pushed him towards Arcade and Danni. "Well guess what like Mads said he's fully your responsibility now you'll make sure that he stays on the straight and narrow from now on." Diana said she turned to Arcade asking how he could repent for what he had tried to do to them. "You will turn yourself in, and good old Dorian here will make sure he works on your case or whatever." Diana told Arcade before whispering into Dorian's ear. "If he goes bad i'm teleporting and dropping you both into a volcano." Diana said before ruffling his hair and headed back to her brother.
"Что ж, теперь ответственность за него лежит на Дориане, если Аркада снова выйдет из строя, я пригрозил телепортировать их в вулкан." Diana whispered to her brother, she would definitely go through with the threat if Arcade ever did go bad again for whatever reason. "C'mon lil bro lets get out of here." Diana said motioning for Percy to follow her whether or not Percy wanted to join her it was up to him really as Diana headed out of the gym. As Diana left the gym she would notice a Quinjet with the Avenger's Team logo on the underside of it just as it landed and Leah making her way over towards it.
Diana made her way over to see who it was that was coming off of it seeing that it was Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, Shang-Chi, She-Hulk, Captain Marvel, Ant Man and both of her mothers coming off. "Hi mom and momma!" Diana said as she made her way towards Maria otherwise known as Mockingjay and Dominika also known as Quartz and gave them both a tight hug. "Hey there sweetie." Maria said as she hugged her daughter as she looked over at Leah. "What happened?" Maria asked looking over at Leah.
Russian: "Что ж, теперь ответственность за него лежит на Дориане, если Аркада снова выйдет из строя, я пригрозил телепортировать их в вулкан." English: "Well he's Dorian's responsibility now, if Arcade goes bad again I threatened to teleport them into a volcano."
Location: The Gym Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive)
Andy did not agree that Ed deserved a second chance. She had seen what could happen if someone was left unchecked. Maybe Sabine had fixed it so Ed wouldn't do wrong again. He seemed to be regretting it. She wasn't sure how Sabine had done that. How easy was it to just pull a part of someone out of them?
Could she do that to Selene?
April was upset. Andy would have tried to comfort her, but two things stayed her hand. One, she wasn't that close with April to feel comfortable touching her, and second, she didn't trust her touch. Andy hadn't touched many people since leaving her own time. Mads seemed to take that into hand though. Andy nodded mostly to herself. She didn't want to leave Ed alone yet. Not until she was certain what was going to happen. The others had started to disperse.
They also needed to figure out what to do about the downstairs copies, or in Mary Sue's case in the room with them. For now she turned her attention to Zari. "Will the copies of us disappear? Or do we have to do something about this?" She wasn't certain about this since Zari hadn't been born yet in her time, and going to the future hadn't caused any copies to be made.
Danni blinked as Arcade suddenly changed his tune. How did Beanie know Cadie would wanna go on the straight and narrow so fast? It confused him for a second but he smacked himself in the head. Obviously, she read his mind. He felt a little bad, scaring him so badly. The fire must of really got to him; it was just supposed to be for the drama, but this was for the best he supposed. Danni shook his hand u til the fire sputtered out and he beamed.
“Well, all's well, t'at ends well! We just gotta figure out ‘ow ta turn ‘im in wit’ all t’e adults doin’ silly stuff like expectin’ us ta be in bed after curfew! Anyone gotta number we can call?” Danni asked the group as Diana spoke with Dee. He wasn't certain what was going on there but her need to kill ‘Cadie really just gave him the ick. “Cadie, if ya really wanna be a better person, you do gotta turn yourself in but don't worry! We can be pen pals while you're in jail so you won't be lonely!” Danni offered, ready to continue chattering at their not-prisoner but his attention snapped to April.
He skidded to his knees next to her. “You can breat- Wait, idea! Beanie, Beanie! Make her breath!” Danni waved Sabine over. “Or like, calm ‘er down enough ta let ‘er breath! T'is is a real bad place ta ‘ave t'e water burst.”
Location: The Gym Fit of the Day: Gym Outfit Skills: N/A
Things sort of fizzled out after she had altered Arcade's memory. The dude was a blubbering mess. She didn't feel bad, after all he had tried to kill them. Well, he actually did. So no she didn't feel bad in the slightest. In fact, she hoped he felt bad for a while an used that for good.
What she hadn't expected was April to look at the situation and begin to freak out. Sabine knew a little, their time spent on the beach together opening up some of the wounds long hidden, but Sabine couldn't quite understand. Was it her fault? Did she somehow trigger April into having a panic attack? Danni urged her to help, but Sabine wasn't in the habit of using her abilities on those she cared for without their consent. "I'm not going to make her breathe Danni. I don't do that without permission." And she figured April wouldn't allow her anyway.
So Sabine did the next best thing she could think of. She sat down next to April, took her hands in her own, and leaned on her. "I'm here, however long you need me. Squeeze my hand if you need to, but take some deep breaths. Don't feel the need to fight back if they come up short, I just want you to breathe. Sit here with me for a bit. We'll get through this."
Trying to figure out a solution to the current problem was not exactly simple. Zari was sitting there sort of combing through her memories of what was talked about in class about it. Though time travel wasn't an exact science or anything like that, and loops like this were weird and a bit convoluted with regards to how everything was supposed to go. Andy's question was an interesting one, and mostly one she could answer. "No, they wouldn't just disappear..." she responded, looking at the other Mary Sue in front of them.
That's when the solution hit her.
"Selvfølgelig!" she said instantly, before she started messing with her watch to program it again. "All we have to do is close the loop. So a version of you, me and Mary Sue need to be sent back in time to the point where we popped back up in this timeline. Otherwise it could cause everything to unravel and potentially go very very badly. And considering the future and timeline we avoided, I think it best to not unravel time or destroy it or mess with anymore than we need too. So we just need to round up the duplicates and send them back."
Zelda Flynn
Location: Skills: N/A
Zelda felt a little bad that her sister was having a panic attack or something like that, she wasn't a hundred percent certain what had even caused it. A small part of her wondered if it had to do with what she had said with regards to Arcade, but she wasn't entirely sure. She didn't go over to her sister since there were already several people and crowding her was probably going to make things work. They still had to deal with Arcade, and the fact that they were all out of their dorms in the middle of the night for whatever reason. Honestly there wasn't much they could do to potentially explain this to any of the adults.
That was going to definitely be a big problem. And currently no one seemed to have any sort of explanation of how they were going to explain all of this to the teachers or adults. Actually she was pretty certain they were all going to get in big trouble, and a part of her had the small thought that they were all going to get kicked out of the school or something. Considering they all basically just took out someone who just tried to kill them while doing something they very much shouldn't have been doing in the first place. Yup, they were all very much screwed in this sort of situation.
In hindsight, Vicky should have thought of this. The school didn'T bother to check its staff for being psychotic robotic puppets of miscreant students, why would they leave a counsellor on site, let alone in the middle of the night on a holiday? She reached into her pocket, fished out her phone and shot them an e-mail, requesting a session at their earliest convenience.
There was a noise form the outside, and checking the window, she saw the quinjet descend. She spotted LEah below, thinking that might be jsut the person she could talk to, a gaggle of Adults spilled out form the plane, putting a hold on that. A bunch of Avengers was not something she wanted to deal with right now. And when they stopped coming out with nary a Chi Mai in sight, she deflated again.
She wanted to crawl into the darkest corner she could find and brood. Or perhaps be forgotten forever. Looking at the phone in her hand, she pulled up the chat and tapped Leah's avatar, starting to type and erase. What could she even say? What could anyone do for her here? She got played like a piano, and nearly gifted herself to Ed as a weapon, and fortune knows what else.
NUTS'N'BOLTS & EARTHBENDER CHAT ---------------------------------------------- 00:05:31 Nuts'n'Bolts unsent a message 00:06:45 Nuts'n'Bolts unsent a message 00:08:23 Nuts'n'Bolts unsent a message 00:08:31 Nuts'n'Bolts: ...Do you still remember what I told you? About how to put me down hard if it's necessary? 00:08:42 Nuts'n'Bolts: ...I killed Andy...
Madalyne waltzed up towards them, tension clear in her face and on her shoulders. Dorian hadn't expected the punch, but it came all the same. He was in shock, unsure of how to take that as he began to wonder just how ‘heroic’ some of these students truly were. To hit a defenseless person, villain or not, was uncalled for. Her words stung him just as much as he figured that punch had stung Arcade's cheek. Resonating with the thoughts he was already having about the entire situation. It made him nervous for whatever was about to happen next. Dorian could take some of his classmates if it really came down to it, but he was greatly outnumbered and sorely didn't want to damage any bridges that he had been building over the year.
It was his luck that Danni had come to his rescue, if even a bit threatening without meaning to to Arcade, but helpful all the same. But with Danni at his side, Dorian felt more at ease, mote confident in his ability to hold strong and defend Ed if need be. More so if April joined, but she stood frozen in place for now. He wanted to call her over, ask her to help them stand strong, The Triumphant Trio, The Three Musketeers, The Triumvirates. But before he could, the silence that had been building was broken by a screech. Vicky clearly wasn't happy with the decision, saying something about having killed someone, yet everyone was here and alive. Had something happened within the game? Any further pulls on that string would be immediately halted as he heard her last sentence. Heroism is overated. Did she truly think that the answer to all this was more villainy?
He'd have turned to say something to her, to try and talk to her to see where her head was at, but he didn't dare take his eyes off of Arcade. The room was still too tense to leave him be. Even that small of a distraction was enough for Sabine to close the distance on them slightly before she just stopped and closed her eyes. Dorian's hands gripped into a fist, sweat beginning to form on his temples as he feared the worst. His parents had warned them both about telepathy and mentalists. The Kingstons had been plagued by them for years, every imaginable way from torture to removing autonomy to creating fully new persona's withing them. He was waiting for the shoe to drop, when Sabine soon opened her eyes, the edge still there but a softness hiding behind it. Contentment? She claimed Arcade had changed, perhaps she saw it inside of him with her powers and chose to voice it for those who didn't believe. That's what Dorian chose to believe. That would have to be his truth, because the alternative was unspeakable.
Zari's comment served as a distraction, welcome change of thought from what Sabine may have done. Though he didn't understand a word she said. It was confusing as hell and he wasn't sure of the state of Usagi now. Had something occurred while they were in the tanks? He wanted to ask, to press for more information. But Zelda's soft voice cut through in the empty room. How could she say that? Her family tree was full of Villains who had a change of heart. She of all people should know that. Her own grandfather used to run a group called The Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, a gang of mutants and miscreants that went around causing harm. If one of the greatest villains in X-men history could change, surely someone who was just starting on the path could.
But there was no point in arguing now. No point in saying anything towards Zelda or anyone. Too much was happening too fast. Zari was speaking nonsense while fiddling with her watch, several others began to leave, Ed was having a breakdown, and April, his best friend, was having a panic attack. Dorian didn't know what to do. What triggered it? He couldn't leave Ed alone, not with the others who still looked at him with hateful eyes, but he wanted to be by April's side, to help her, yet so many were already there and too many crowding her could make things worse. He was stuck, torn between duty and friendship, and he had no idea how to answer this quam. So ignoring the threats his boyfriends sister had just said to him, he gripped Ed's hand and tried to drag him with him towards April, just enough to let her know that he was there. ”April, talk to me, what's ‘appenin? What's goin’ t'rough your mind?”
Waves of nausea crashed over both of the Mary Sue's as the laws of time themselves wracked their way through her very being. Why the consequences of being a time criminal seemed to impart stomach issues was something she had no understanding off, but both of her did what she could to avoid eye contact with her double. "If that's the case," Ms. Sullivan began, hating the sound of her own voice in her ears, "Maybe I should go collect bonus Andy and Zari, while you two keep an eye on her?" Mary Sue suggested, "Or would we be affected by this... time sickness regardless?"
Bonus Mary Sue wasn't doing much better either, and was incredibly confused by the situation in front of her. Her dad had, perhaps in one of his more delirious moments warned her about skrulls before, and their penchant for copying other people, but she didn't think that was what was going on here. Did they say they were time travelers? Future versions of her and her friends? "Hey, if there's anything I can do" She forced out, staggering back a bit, "Please feel free to let me know." Her eyes bulged a bit, borderline incapacitated from the sickness she was experiencing.
??? - Tue. November 23rd, 2038 - Margaret Carter Institute
Mary Sue - Trick - Her backpack was stolen in the library! She'll have to replace her laptop/books/etc.
Vicky - Trick - Through a misunderstanding with a teacher (Usagi) Vicky has detention for the entire month of November
Sabine - Trick - someone hacked Sabine’s socials and put up some disgusting, bigoted content pretending to be her
Andy - Treat - Magneto sends her a gift, it’s a pair of vambraces that fit her perfectly, they’re made out of an unknown material and can deflect bullets and the like
Zari - Treat - On Halloween morning, Zari also gets a present from her family. It’s an enchanted tool belt. Whatever tool she needs if she reaches for it, it’s there
Leah - Trick - After the Monster Mash when Leah returns to her room, there is a postcard on the wall from Oslo. Written on it is her birth name. Nothing else.
Dorian - Treat - On Halloween day, Dorian’s father sends him a ~spooky~ gift. It’s a mini dinosaur! And by mini I mean like 6 inches tall. But it’s alive!
Percy hesitated for a moment, as his sister told him to come on out of the room with her. Arcade may have been subdued, a sobbing mess as he seemingly understood the severity of his actions for the first time, but that wasn't guaranteed to last. If Percy turned his back on Arcade and left the space, if Arcade hurt his friends, hurt Dorian... He'd never forgive himself. He'd rather be a martyr than a survivor. "I'm going to stay here - just in case," Percy said, nodding at his sister as Diana left the small room containing the Framework and its miscellaneous equipment.
However, it wasn't necessarily Arcade that was making Percy nervous - or not the only thing. It was pretty clear to him that April was losing it, lost in the midst of a panic attack. For ordinary people, panic attacks were one thing - for those with superpowers, they were an entirely other problem. He looked at the tanks and saw them trembling, the water inside sloshing around like a storm. Spiderweb cracks were forming in the glass, and he tensed his muscles, ready to grab Dorian and teleport them out of the room the second glass started to shatter and fly.
"Maybe more of you should touch her and tell her to calm down," Percy muttered.
Unfortunately, nothing anyone did was getting through to April. Her chest was tight and she kept trying to breathe, but it was more like choking on air. She was distantly of the people in the room with her, who they were - but more aware of the touches on her body, of the faces swimming around her, of the words that hit her brain with the sound of nails dragged against a chalkboard. It was all louder and louder by the moment, the slightest brush of skin felt like electrocution. Her brain was swimming, repeating the words her sister had said over and over again, replaying the images from Nimue's haunted house.
She tried to breathe.
She really did try.
But it was all too much all too much all too fucking much......
And it exploded out of her.
The tanks shattered, glass flying, water coursing towards her - towards everyone around her.
The time traveling Mary Sue would get a gash on the shoulder from a shard of glass, the non-time traveling Mary Sue would have a shard sink into her stomach. Mads would get a nasty gash on her leg, the blood quickly soaking through her clothes. Dorian would be thrown back and away from Arcade, hitting his head against the wall, blood oozing from the impact site. Percy was a second too slow to get to Dorian, only managing to flicker away from a shard of glass that would have gone into his eye - instead, he was just thoroughly soaked with water, as was Danni, Zari, Andy, Arcade, and Sabine.
More and more water was swirling around April, around the entire room really, where she was the eye of the storm.
NOTE: next update, the West Coast Avengers enter this room
Russian: Возможно, это будет слишком любезно по отношению к нему. Это дает ему шанс выжить. = That might be too kind to him. It gives him a chance to survive.
The full (current) roster of the West Coast Avengers was present: (Old Man) Hawkeye, She-Hulk, Shang Chi, Scarlet Witch, Captain Marvel, Ant Man, Mockingjay, and Quartz. While Mockingjay and Quartz stepped aside to talk with Leah, Captain Marvel and Scarlet Witch took to the sky, quickly canvasing the school. The Scarlet Witch was casting spells as she flew, the purpose of which would elude Leah. The rest continued on in, weapons at the ready despite Leah giving the all clear - there was every possibility that Arcade had put more traps in store.
"We got an anonymous tip that there's an active supervillain situation on campus," Quartz said. Her silver hair was held back in braids, and she wore ruby glasses, keeping her gaze a mystery. She gave her kid a hug, before turning her attention to Leah again. "What information can you tell us?" The Avengers all had comms, so anything Leah could say, Quartz and Mockingjay could relay.
"And where is your brother?" she then added, looking at her daughter.
@Forsythe: Vicky will receive a text from Ant Man (Scott Lang) in a group chat with Cassie asking for the girls to get to safety immediately, that the Avengers are on campus with a situation called in by one of the faculty.
What didn't happen? "Somebody in our classes went rogue, and tried to kill us all," Leah said, with all the gentleness of a hammer. "His plan failed, and he's lost. There's nothing he can do to protect himself now, unless he's got a bomb under the school." Leah wouldn't exactly put it past Ed to have a backup plan like that in case he failed. The little fucking bastard might have actually killed them, Leah apparently could have fuckingdied in there without saving anyone despite-
Her phone went off.
He pulled it from her pocket and looked down at a rather distressing text from Vicky. Of course he'd know that. Of course he'd have some way of getting to her. Why wouldn't he? Leah hammered away at her phone's keyboard quick enough that she could've shattered the glass if she typed any quicker.
Earthbender: You breat he one damn word of that to anyone other tha nme until we talk about it and i just MIGHT put you down. Nto your fault but don t f ucking say anything about it.
Her ribs were shifting back and forth in her chest, it felt like pins and needles everywhere. But Leah didn't have a chance to think about that before something else caught her attention... The sound of a glassy explosion in the distance of the building. The sound of rushing water. There was only one reason something like that could be happening so loudly, and Leah just stepped away from it because she held back.
"...APRIL!" She slid her phone into her pocket, turned around and beelined back towards the Framework. The convenient thing about having more muscle in one leg than most people had in their whole bodies was that Leah didn't need to be Quicksilver to move. She barrelled through the front door with her shoulder, and practically flew up the stairs as she followed the sounds of the disaster. The thick double doors were kicked in, and Leah saw the source of it.
April's powers were going nuts and destroyed the tanks. Looking around, the others were injured by it and the watery gunk just wasn't stopping. It was like a fucking cyclone, protecting her girlfriend from a threat that was dealt with. Leah used to have these problems a lot once. Every little thing she felt threatened the split the ground or rumble buildings, so she learned by force to beat the feelings down. She felt worried, but the problem had to be fixed before she could help April.
Maybe...
She started forward, and pulled the concrete floor up into barriers. Water crashed against rock and sprayed everywhere just long enough for Leah to slip inside and grab April by the hands, just before cracking under the force of the torrent. Glass and bits of rock whipped around her and tore through her clothes, but she endured it for April's sake.
"April! Listen to me!" She shouted over the noise, holding her girlfriend close. "Maybe we could have died in there, but we didn't! Zari saved us! We survived, we won! We're all still here, and we're not going anywhere!"
Leah didn't actually understand the fucked up little emotions people felt when fear and irrational thought overtook them, so all she could do was try and get through. So she put her arms all the way around April and refused to let go. She'd stay there in the middle of the storm no matter how long it took to ground the girl who meant so much to her. Even if the water swallowed them both up, Leah knew, deep down, that April would never willing hurt her.
"I'm here with you, okay?! Whatever it takes, you're not doing this alone!"
Location: The Gym Skills: Enhanced Reflexes (Passive)
Andy was able to dodge shards of glass and other debris. But she was still soaked. However, the two Mary Sue's got hit hard. She wondered if her own copy down below in the basement was hearing these noises and wondering what was happening. By now they had probably killed Usagi and would be heading up the stairs.
"Zari, get one of the Mary Sue's I'll get the other and we have to get to our past selves and close the loop. We can't deal with both of these issues." She yelled over the din of Leah and April.
"Come on," Andy said to the lesser injured of the two Mary Sues. She didn't want to have to touch her if she could avoid it, but she was ready to help her if necessary. It helped that they were both in their framework outfits still and that covered a significant amount of their skin so she hoped she could avoid skin-to-skin contact. With Mary Sue, Andy started to move to the edge of the room farther away from the swirling water and debris that marked where April was.
Location: Avenger's Academy, Framework Room. Current Outfit: Workout Fit Skills: N/A
Mockingjay listened to Leah as she started to bring them all up to speed, it seemed that the kids had gotten things under control, however that still didn't sit well with her. She took a step to the side and relayed what Leah had said to the other Avengers who all had fanned out to investigate. Diana turned to her other mother Quartz asking her where Percy was right now. "He's inside with some of the others who had secured Arcade."
Diana answered her mom when she started to hear what sounded like a lot of glass shattering and rushing water as well to. Something was happening, as Leah suddenly turned around and made her way back inside the gym. Without much hesitation Diana quickly followed behind Leah and over towards the gym once again, with Mockingjay following shortly behind her daughter. When Diana entered the Framework room, it looked like a hurricane was happening quiet literally in the Framework room with water everywhere.
Madalyne Crane
Location: Avenger's Academy, Framework Room. Current Outfit: Workout Fit Skills: Defensive Magic Grimoire: Shield
Madalyne turned to hear some of the Framework tanks starting to shake very violently as the liquid within them started to swirl and thrash around rather violently. Then she started to hear some of the glass cracking as it started to spiderweb over the surface, she knew that her best friend April was inadvertently causing it. She knew that April was having a really bad panic attack, as everyone else started to surround her to try and calm April down.
Madalyne took a step back slightly just in time to hear the glass shattering, water quickly started to fill the entire room, as glass shards hit some people. Madalyne winced as she felt a sharp pain going through one of her legs, she looked down seeing a nasty gash had appeared and blood started to go down her pant leg. Madalyne quickly held out her hands and started to try and form a shield barrier around them all to prevent anymore injuries to happen. However water was still slowly starting to get through while Leah came in to try and comfort April.
Location: The Gym Fit of the Day: Gym Outfit Skills: Memory Manipulation
Things went from bad to worse as April, darling April, went beserk mode and sent a cyclone inside, launching a few and drenching the rest. Whatever was going on with her was more intense than anything Sabine had seen before. There was only one thing to do and Sabine hated that she had to do it.
She stood up and closed her eyes, sending her mind into April's. If she could poke around just a bit to see what caused this chaos, she could perhaps get through to April and calm her down some. As Sabine picked through the memories she noticed two were highlighted, more intense than the others, almost like they were blocking out any other memory April had. In one, Sabine saw Zelda and what she said regarding Arcade. Sabine didn't fully understand why April was hyperfocused on it. Sabine disagreed with Zelda, but could also see her point.
Sabine then went to the other memory and things started to make more sense.
It was back at the Halloween spooky maze. Sabine only remembered what she saw but now she saw it through April's eyes. April looking at a helmet. Upon closer inspection, Sabine noticed it was Magnetos's. And not only that, but April was wearing it, as if confirming her acceptance of the heritage she had, the blood in her veins. And all of that swirled into a mixture of intense fear and worry.
Not only that, but Sabine was able to put two and two together. April saw Sabine literally shift Arcade's mind. A villain changing in an instant, regret on his face. Combined with April's worry over her becoming a villain herself due to her family, of course she would be scared. Woulld Sabine have to shift April's mind in the future?
Sabine unleashed herself out of April's mind. She knew she had to join Leah and bring April back down. Leah had paved the way somewhat so Sabine tried to climb through the swirling waters only to be blasted back, slamming against the computer set up. She groaned in pain, but stood up. She tried again, barely getting through until she reached April and Leah.
Sabine looked into April's eyes as best she could. She needed to see her so she knew the words that followed were meant.
"April, I get it. I get it now and I am sorry I didn't see it before. You're scared. You're worried about your family and the heritage you share and you saw me alter Arcade's memory to make him regret what he did and that worried you. We are not our family. They may give us life, but that life is ours to take and change and shift into what we want. Their influence may exist, but that is why we fight back. That is why we find each other and form our own family. You are not your family in the same way I am not mine and Leah is not her's. I am sorry for scaring you but I need you to come back to us. We'll get through this and all things coming together."
Vicky's phone pinged with a message from Scott. She read through it, frowning. They brought an Avenger team out for Ed? That doesn't track... We're not still in a simulation, are we? Damn it, why is there never a spinning top around when you need one. she thought before tapping out the response:
Victoria: If you're here for Edward Arca, a) in the gym and pretty much handled, b) cops oughta be enough for THAT. Unless there's someone else here? And did you just really ask me to hide when there's a potential Supe to be handled? You do know why I was built, right?
A rather discomforing thought popped into her head. No, surely their luck can't be so rotten for Leah's dad to make an appearance now of all times.
Speaking of, she read Leah's message and a feeling of 'well... Fuck' took over her.
Nuts'N'Bolts changed her name to Nuts'n'Dolts
Nuts'n'Dolts: Eeh... That ship may have sailed, wrecked and sunk to the bottom of the ocean ;o.o I kinda already yelled at Dorian that I might have killed one of us in there and I think Andy will remember something like being obliterated so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nuts'N'Dolts: I should probably go hide outside a technopatic sphere of influence of angry asgardian girlfriends. I'll be in a karaoke club figuring out a way for androids to get drunk and what to do with my life if I can't outhack a single egotistical nerd. If someone asks for me tell them to go f* themselves plox.
- Map coordinates attached -
Pocketing her phone, Vicky swung by the dorm to pick up a fresh set of clothes and the powerglove if the night town decided to fuck around and headed out. Maybe singing her mind out would help, and it could hardly make her feel any worse.
