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.
