Project Freedom [IC] 23: Oddities

[ClassDunce]

Charlie: Strong Girl
HP: 1 Condition: Good

"I ... heard that you fought that person again, when she came here. I'm glad you're okay."

"Oh yeah." Charlie answered as she leaned over to look at a poster from a Musical that had been playing a few months ago. "That wasn't fun. Well I mean... She was fine everything kind of actually worked out with her but I got covered in Acid Vomit and that kind of hurt."

She looked back to Trouble, "I'd rather get blown up again to be honest. Burns hurt." She shrugged, "But hey if I was afraid of a little pain I'd be in the totally wrong profession." She smiled, "You hear a lot of stuff Ladybug, Keeping your ears to the ground is a good habit."

[Davies]

Charlie:

"But hey if I was afraid of a little pain I'd be in the totally wrong profession." She smiled, "You hear a lot of stuff Ladybug, Keeping your ears to the ground is a good habit."

"I suppose so," she agrees ... though you're not sure to which part of the statement she's agreeing. As she says it, the doors open, allowing you to enter the theatre proper. It's fairly small, roughly twelve rows of twelve seats in rising rows in front of a risen stage, with curtains drawn across it.

Zane:

Keller pulls out of the garage, and starts driving. "So what's today's agenda?" he asks. Is he actually trying to make conversation, after all of that?

Robin:
By the time you get to Timothy's Bistro,it has already occured to you that the place is likely to be packed, given that it is the weekend and the Four Fantastics are supposed to be playing there this month. (You may or may not like jazz, but a girl like you will know these things.) You're staring at the lineup to get in when there's a delicate cough behind you.

Midas, we'll call her, is wearing a classic pink blazer and skirt combination over a white blouse, with sheer white stockings and sensible shoes, carrying a purse in front of her. She's not wearing much in the way of jewelry, other than a necklace set with a stone much like that she wears in her uniformed identity, and some understated earrings. Her hair is done up it usual golden curls.

"I took the liberty of booking us a table when I saw the little 'Reservation Recommended' flag on the browser page," she says, smiling warmly. "I hope that's all right?"

[Arkrite]

Fredrick Astrovik Zane: Dr Sane
.
HP: 1 LP: 1 CND: Normal

Zane opened one eye and looked towards the driver's seat with a raised eyebrow.

Jerking him around was unusual, but not entirely out of character for Mr Keller. At least from what he'd gathered he wasn't beyond letting one know who was in charge, but he wasn't exactly one to start problems. Showing interest in what he was doing, though, was entirely out of character.

In the entire time he'd been in the Project the only time they'd shared words that were directly related to the immediate moment was when Charlie had been talking to him. And even then Keller hadn't exactly spoke to him.

With the recent events and the sudden fear that they were to be under attack by a cadre of super villains he couldn't help but wonder if maybe AEGIS and Wainwright hadn't been overly paranoid. Maybe they'd just been looking in the wrong direction.

If they'd wanted to attack Project Freedom they'd have timed it to be done immediatly after Wuxia had been freed before the alarm could be raised. If they wanted to attack AEGIS they could have done so at any time, seeing as they'd easily walked out with a super villain without anybody batting an eye.

Except it didn't make sense. What value was there in infiltrating the jail when you already had somebody on the inside? It wasn't like there was anything of value that anybody'd want. At least nothing anybody knew about.

"Well," Zane lifted his head and opened his other eye, glancing out the window, "I'm planning on finishing that scanner for the Atoms. I promised that to them ages ago, I just never really had the time to make a second one. I suppose I still don't, but I have most of it done, and what's left shouldn't take long if I reuse some prototype parts I'd created for the original. Probably not much more than an hour."

"After that, I'll start working on the teleporter. If I can mesh that with the scanner we could be looking at an emergency escape device that can activate when a person is injured," He pauses remembering a story Charlie had told him, "Or when a building is about to fall on you."

<<::Zalman:: I need a hand here. Call it paranoia, but Mr Keller isn't acting like himself at the moment. Would you be able to do a quick scry on us just to see if it's him or not?>> Zane lets out a mental sigh, <<I do believe I'm letting these people make me paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.>>

He passes along the address for Zalman's usage.

[Shock]

Robin / Songbird

"That's perfect." Robin smiled broadly. "We'd be waiting otherwise. I'm still getting used to going out again." She took Midas' arm and headed towards the front of the line. "Let's see if it's ready yet."

"It's so nice to see you again. You look good. I love that skirt."

[ClassDunce]

Charlie: Strong Girl
HP: 1 Condition: Good

Charlie’s smile widens as they stepped into the Theater, it was so small compared to the few other theaters she had seen but it was just as grand to her. She turned and smiled back at Trouble. “It’s beautiful. Thank you for bringing me here Ladybug.”

[Jalinth]

Zalman

<<::Zalman:: I need a hand here. Call it paranoia, but Mr Keller isn't acting like himself at the moment. Would you be able to do a quick scry on us just to see if it's him or not?>> Zane lets out a mental sigh, <<I do believe I'm letting these people make me paranoid, but I'd rather be safe than sorry.>>

He passes along the address for Zalman's usage.

Still wrapped up in his studies, Zalman takes a moment to respond to Zane's message. <<::Zane:: Of course.>>

Over the last week, Zalman's scrying had been extensive. It is the work of seconds to bring his arcane sight upon Zane and Keller. He studies them both, to see if any illusion or magic was to be found about them.

[Davies]

"That's perfect." Robin smiled broadly. "We'd be waiting otherwise. I'm still getting used to going out again." She took Midas' arm and headed towards the front of the line. "Let's see if it's ready yet."

"It's so nice to see you again. You look good. I love that skirt."

"Thank you, I'm aiming for simplicity for the meetings I was having this morning. Table for Kinawa plus one?" she asks when the two of you reach the weary looking concierge.

He checks his reservation book and promptly shifts his attitude to faintly supercillious. "Right this way, mesdames," he says, and leads you to a small table reasonably close to the stage where the quartet is playing the start of their current set. There's a pretty blonde woman on piano, a blond man playing saxophone with fierce passion, a burly looking man with a prominent jaw on drums, and a professorial looking type plucking the strings of a large double bass.

"Just a water, for now," Midas tells the waiter as he offers her a menu. She waits until you've ordered if you want, then leans forward in her seat to look right at you, chin resting on her hands. "All right," she says. "The last time I saw you, I was dragging Herald Mentor away from her confrontation with your Doctor Sane, and I decided not to wait for us to be asked to leave and took my Angels out of that place. We went off to fight a giant monster in Manchuria, discovered that this particular species of monster makes for some wonderful barbecue, and were largely out of the loop for what happened next. You were there. What happened?"

Zalman:

It takes you only a few moments of scrying to determine that both Zane and Keller are exactly as they appear to be. No illusion, no evidence of any mind control.

[Shock]

Robin / Songbird

"I'll have a water too."

Robin started slowly. "The portal... it was a portal to a world being sucked into the Terminus. People came out. Thousands. They were trying to get away. It was horrible." Thinking back to that time was painful. "I've never seen anything that bad. And more kept coming."

"They decided somebody had to go in to make sure everyone got away. We volunteered." Robin inhaled deeply. "I don't even know how to describe it. The gate was in a castle. It was all that was left of the world. More people were coming and we went out to help. We defeated some drones and one of Omega's generals. She was from Earth. Here. We beat her good." There was a gleam of satisfaction in Robin's eyes. "And then Omega came."

[Davies]

"And then Omega came."

"Oh," Midas says, shaking her head. "Oh. Well, clearly you escaped ... I hope that none of your people suffered too badly."

[Shock]

Robin / Songbird

"Oh," Midas says, shaking her head. "Oh. Well, clearly you escaped ... I hope that none of your people suffered too badly."

"No." Robin grinned wickedly. "Heescaped." She paused for a second, savoring the memory.

"He was coming and we needed more time, so we ambushed him. Zalman's magic let us come up from underground. He never saw us coming. Toxic melted his armor and then we hit him. I punched him right in the chest. And he went down. He had to retreat."

"We kicked his ass."

[Davies]

"He was coming and we needed more time, so we ambushed him. Zalman's magic let us come up from underground. He never saw us coming. Toxic melted his armor and then we hit him. I punched him right in the chest. And he went down. He had to retreat."

"We kicked his ass."

She stares at you, for a second, then blinks rapidly. "What?" Before you can answer, she holds up a hand to her mouth and laughs a bit. "Oh," she says. "You're joking! I'm sorry, I've never been very good at guessing when people were joking ... ridiculously easy for people to trick me, I'm afraid ..."

The waters come, and she immediately starts sipping at hers. "So, what really happened?" she asks, somewhat dazedly. "I mean, something must have ..." And then she trails off.

"You're not joking, are you?" she says after a moment. You can't read her expression.

[Shock]

Robin / Songbird

"You're not joking, are you?"

"No." Robin was smiling triumphantly. "We jumped him and he ran away. Thousands more people got away because we stopped him."

[Davies]

"We jumped him and he ran away. Thousands more people got away because we stopped him."

"You jumped him and he ran away," she repeats, dully. "You didn't have to fight your way through thousands upon thousands of drones and dozens of his generals to get at him. You had a clear shot. And you ..."

She leans forward, raises her hand to her eyes, and hisses, "Kyoko no aho! What have you cost us?" A tear trickles down from behind her hand.

[Shock]

Robin / Songbird

"Yeah, he came by himself. We got lucky." Robin frowned. This wasn't what she expected. "What's wrong?"

[Davies]

"What's wrong?"

She lowers her hand, and looks at you, clearly in anguish. "Don't you see? It could have been us, Robin. If Aya and Kyoko -- Herald Orion and Herald Mentor -- hadn't been messing around, my Angels and I would have still been in the camp when the portal opened. And we would have been the ones who volunteered for that mission, and we would have had the chance to settle the score, once and for all time. Such an opportunity might never come again! And it was lost because of the immaturity and anger of my Angels."

She groans, and puts her hand back on her face, shaking her head mournfully.