1964-03-24 - The Last Quiz Show
Summary: The Planners go to Disneyland to try to stop Mojo
Related: If there are no related logs, put 'None', — please don't leave blank!
Theme Song: None
tommy domino billy cable ava nico hope lorna mojo 


STAY TUNED
Episode V: The Last Quiz Show

The last time we saw our heroes, TOMMY had been speedsternapped by MOJO with the help of a friendly telepath and taken to Papua New Guinea, where LORNA, BILLY, and TEDDY were hunted by Warwolves and came face-to-fist with none other than THE ABSORBING MAN.

After the battle was cut short, the Planners were down one magnetokinetic but plus one riot once again. Meanwhile, AVA and DOMINO interrogated one of Mojo's henchmen about the malevolent menace's intentions and abilities.

Recently, DOMINO, HOPE, and CABLE investigated W-ILD where Mojo himself made a challenge hidden behind an announcement: the mustard-colored mogul himself would be live, on location, in Disneyland! Would it be a chance to rescue their missing friends, or is it just the start of a trip further down the rabbit hole? For these answers and more…

Stay Tuned.

*

So, there's now *two* people that need rescuing, and when what is apparently a super annoying dude (paraphrasing Mojo's description from Doctor Strange) sends you an invitation while holding hostages, there's really only so much preparing you can do. But since he has a swanky new apartment and no one is hiding out in it, he offers to his brother and friends (and soon to be friends?) that they should meet there to prepare to answer the challenge of the slug man. "Disneyland? I can totally do Disneyland. The last one through remember to close the door. That'll close the wormhole immediately." he explains to those gathered, both those he knows, and those he doesn't. He's a little smug about this: wormholes-as-doors has finally solved his 'they dont close' problem. He wanders over to the nearest doorway, and lays a hand on it, "The happiest place on earth." He has a flash of a grin over his shoulder, "Thehappiestplaceonearth!" And a deep breath as will and thought reach across the cosmos and squeeze reality together, "THEHAPPIESTPLACEONEARTH" And …. nothing happens. Nothing obvious, at least. BUt he pants a little bit, and pulls open the door, and blinks. "Oh man, I'm sorry about this." He winces, and waves at folks, and steps through the door… into a stall. To the right is a toilet that… is not flushed. To the left is the stall door, so he pushes it open and steps out, and there's this father and son over there washing hands and blinking. They thought they were alone. "Uhh, Hi." He's not going to try to explain a … lot … of people fitting in a single stall or explain what was going in there.

*

This time, it's war. Thus far, Ava has always been undercover, understated, the consummate spy. But this…yellow blob has declared war on her and her people, and if you're going to war, then you need a uniform.

In Ava's case, it looks like a fencing jacket, though it's been pieced, tailored, and reinforced to something more appropriately armored and close-fitting. Across the chest is a simple symbol that might be mistaken for an equilateral cross, but is in fact a pair of hourglasses crossed over each other, one vertical and one horizontal. Given Mojo's fondness for filming things, she's added a white balaclava that hides most of her features and that distinctive red hair. The hilts of her collapsible foils hang from her belt, while her pistols are tucked at the small of her back.

She peeks through the doorway when Billy builds the portal, the flicker of amusement in her features hidden by that balaclava. "Well," she murmurs. "When you really need to go, I imagine this would be a very happy place."

*

Nico could have 'ported the group, and being from a relatively wealthy LA area family, she's been to Disneyland before. But really, she's happy to save the spell for the sort of day when she really, really needs to go someplace fun, and hopefully when her parents aren't searching for her. Best to let somebody else handle the transportation spells — mom is far too attuned to the Staff of One, and this way, at least, she won't sense the origin of the spells. Assuming she's not looking for them.

The Staff of One is already out, clutched in Nico's hands as she tumbles out of the stall behind Billy. "Hi, guys!" she announces to the man and his son at the sinks. "Sorry. We were looking for the line for the Swiss Family Treehouse!" She rushes for the exit — leaving people completely confused is often the best policy, in her opinion.

*

Honestly, Cable's wanted to meet this Billy fellow. Once he's here and the wormhole door is created after that peculiar incantation, there's a flare as the elder Summers' mechanical eye begins scanning the area. "Professor, compare?" Apparently the confirmation causes a mild frown. "That's a reality tear, if I've ever seen one. You've been setting off alarms like nobody's business, you realize?" He's somewhat touchy in the whole 'dimensional and reality' meddling thing, but that's precisely why he's here. From what he understands, Billy has a very good set of tutors, but that doesn't mean he trusts them as far as he can throw the Blob. He's at least decked out in his standard attire, a full bodysuit with some basic armor attached to key point. It's less durable than he is, so is mostly for intimidation factor. On his back is a sleek plasma rifle, looking absurdly futuristic by any account, and a holstered pistol at his hip. Primarily blue, no attempt to conceal himself follows. Inwardly, he feels an uncharacteristic wariness. He has been doing research on Mojo based on Hope's information, and little indicates that a direct combative initiative is going to be successful. Omniversal reality-grating entities are new to him, and he's had a literal infinite number of lives to draw experience from, all in all. He takes point before Hope and Domino, pressing open the stall. "You saw nothing. …you know, Hope. Make sure they saw nothing. It's better that way." His own psionics are too derailed to manage such in a short or non-shrieking amount of time, but it should be easy to manage drawing from his incredible latent power.

*

Secret CIA-sanctioned laboratory bunkers. Hell. New York City. None of it could prepare a lady for what's coming next.

"What in the flipping hell am I doing here."

The question is nothing more than muttered rhetoric as a certain albino's world changes to that of an entirely unsanitary bathroom stall, complete with a lot of other people and very little room to move around in. "Seriously. What..the hell..am I doing here." With Ava's comment (and what the heck happened to -her- for that matter?) Dom frowns and ducks her head, trying to block out the smell that accompanies their portal room. "There ain't nothing happy about this place, babe."

With subtlety not within the group's current vocabulary she's made no effort to hide the fact that she's a walking armory, right down to the Ithaca shotgun which had been slung over her shoulder.

*Chk-CHAK!*

"And I thought the ladies' room was vile," she mutters while stepping past the father and son with shotgun in hand.

*

Certain people will show up looking awesome, wearing three hundred leather pouches and carrying a very large gun softly. They announce themselves as something to reckon with just by breathing. Some by nature look incredibly cagey, thanks to bleach bone skin and black-stained tattoos. A couple dozen rounds and well-loved weapons warn lesser predators, don't even bother. Or, you know, they get cool staffs and reality warping powers.

And the 616? It abhors a redhead. Hope ends up crossing her arms over a t-shirt featuring a cartoon flame chasing after crying marshmellows, panicked graham crackers, and a frantic chocolate bar. She may even end up with a very pointed hennin tufted in silken gauze that reaches too far, the archetypical conical princess hat, just to affect mesmerizing sulky teenager look. Because the happiest place on Earth is known to be the most miserable place ever for anyone between fourteen and twenty-five, barring brain-addled Californians suffering from premature dementia. There might be a uniform under there, but mostly she looks like a tourist escapee from the Matterhorn. And because she exists to make Cable thoroughly reassess if the current state of existence deserves to exist. She doesn't stick like a burr to anyone in particular but brings Nico into the welcome circle with a wave.

"Yes, Nay-nay," she confirms with a roll of her eyes, reaching out to touch the metal wall with a lace-gloved hand. "Apologies in advance everyone. Seals are off, I'm feeling kinda nice today."

*

As for Tommy, the speedster that time threw into the past is donned… well… as normal. Leather jacket, t-shirt and jeans. His costume? It's stilll somewhere in the future. He hasn't bothered to seek out a new one just yet; going back to Hero Time is still pretty new to him, afterall.

But when they land in the stall? The platinum-haired teen's head whips around to Billy in an instant. "Do I /really/ want to know why this is the happiest place on Earth, Billy? Is this where you and Teddy…" And then there's a bit of a manic laugh, and a blur of motion that takes him out of the bathroom in a moment. He'll wait outside for the rest to gather. At least he managed to pull the door shut behind them, right? Right.

Meanwhile, the PA system comes to life. "Attention, boys and girls! Your LIVE taping of Wildways Fun House is about to begin in five minutes! Please make your way to the Enchanted Tiki Room at this time! Thanks, and have a Mojoriffic day!"

*

"Alarms?" Billy looks back at Cable with an arch brow, and a shrug, "Its a wormhole. TWo places in spacetime are temporarily pressed together so you can move from one place to another without going through the space between. Also known as an Einstein-rosen bridge." He's a bit of a science nerd. "What alarms? I don't leave any open. Okay so I couldn't figure out how to make them close prematurely before but always kept an eye on them until they closed, but the doors solve that problem. Really its just an extended application of something I can do myself a lot easier. If I could figure out how to translocate more then myself then I wouldn't need the wormhole, but I haven't figured that out." He's waiting by the stall for everyone to come through, and his babble likely just confuses the heck out of the bystanders. But he has to make sure the door really is closed. When he sees Tommy does indeed close the door, he flashes him a grin, until that comment, at which point he glares, "My aim was just off a little bit, this *is* Disneyland. I didn't specify where, and since that was the bathroom door…" He shrugs, defensively. Stepping out last, he frowns at the PA, "Enchanted. Tiki. Room. I wonder if I can turn the slug guy into an actual slug. Or, I wonder if I can conjure a lot of salt to drop on his head and if it'll make him melt." He sighs, long-sufferingly.

*

When Cable orders a mind wipe, Ava's eyes narrow as she gives the big man a long, suspicious look. "Who is this again?" she asks Hope, not even bothering to hide it from Cable. The trust is weak in this one. She's not wasting time, though. She actually managed to acquire a map of the park before the left, and as they file out of the bathroom, she pulls it out to mark their location and where they should be headed. "That way," she nods toward the path.

*

"Not melt," Nico puts in. "Salt makes slugs dry out. The Enchanted Tiki Room's in Adventureland. Same as the Swiss Family Treehouse." She cocks her thumb at Ava. "What she said." And heads off in that direction."
"

*

Oh, Billy did NOT just try to get into science-talk with Mr. Hundreds-Of-Years-Science-Advanced! "Wormholes are theoretically possible. Just like white holes, alongside black holes. Doesn't mean that there's supposed to be tiny ones on Earth whenever it's convenient. Don't worry, just means I'll likely ignore the breach that has aliens pour out of it…" Of course, when Ava questions Hope about who he is, there's just this really hearty snort. "Nobody important." Well, Cable does admit that he rather wanted to appear somewhere without the need to walk past a number of civilians. Reaching into one of his countless tactical pouches, he comes out with a surprisingly long cloak. It's quite thin, but once whirled around covers up his weapons, although doing little to offset his sheer size. Yet after a few moments, one might take in the fact it's festively colored, with a giant Donald Duck on the back. "I was afraid of this. But I've come prepared to help us blend in." He then turns to Domino and Hope. To his daughter, he pulls out a balloon. Currently empty, but he quickly fills it with a snippet of helium until it's showing a 'I <3 DADDY AS MUCH AS DISNEYLAND!' motto and floats. Makes it hand it to her. Domino, she's going to get the giant Mickey Mouse ear tiara. He's quite insistent. Only then does he stride out, trying to remain as subtle as he can while following the procession towards Mojo's announced area.

*

"-Mojoriffic,- is this guy for real?" Domino asks the group with a look crossed somewhere between confusion and horror. "At least we know we've got the right place." Then to Billy, "Yeah, because there's nothing about that which sounds hazardous. Maybe you can splice the timeline some while you're at it, we really didn't need fifty-ni..ne…"

Suddenly, there she stands. In the men's room. With a riot gun. And a Mickey Mouse tiara.

Thank the gods cellphones haven't been invented yet.

"Cable. What. The fuck."

*

Where there is Cable, there is a will and a way. A way that involves clutching a balloon along with her princess hennin, t-shirt, and an expression of mock murder. "You should see how he tried to blend in among farmers. One time he wore the cowbell and clanked his fist against it, shouting 'Dinner, you ingrates' the whole way through town," she mutters to Domino, but the sotto voce volume is audible to nearly everyone. For Ava's sake, she points to the silvery foil on a chain.

The balloon floats over her head, as innocent as it gets, and she ties the string to her wrist to avoid anyone yelling at her. Her expression distrusts this business of the PA, and she squeezes after everyone else. Deadpan, mordant humour is the situation of the day. "Enchanted tikis sound great. Is anyone else excited? Can I get drunk on fermented pineapple juice?"

*

Hope, that is.

*

As our heroes approach their destination, they might spot people walking that way here and there; whether they're /also/ going for the 'show', or the Tiki Room itself, it's hard to say. When Mojo's involved, the answer could be just about anything.

The Enchanted Tiki Room itself looks… well, not that enchanted at all. There's animatronic birds hanging in cages from the ceiling, empty seats surrounding a big pillar in the center of the room. Curiously, while the group /saw/ other people going in… when they themselves go in? There's nobody /else/ around.

"You probably /could,/ Hope." Tommy quips, "They make a ton of boozy fruit juices." Pause. "I think." To be truthful, he hasn't spent /much/ time in bars since coming back to the past… and usually gets his booze in Germany. The words on the labels there don't make much sense to him, but the contents? The contents are good.

"Either way… I guess we've gotta wait for the show to start, right? Might as well get comfortable." With that said, he flops down into one of the empty chairs.

*

Billy has a long look for Cable, squinting, "Well, however it is you're monitoring them, if they're door shaped and go from one place on earth to another place on earth, they're mine. If they're coming from somewhere else in the cosmos, they're not mine. I can't do wormholes to other dimensions or planets. Besides, dude." He gives another long-suffering sigh, "I already have a set of magic-parents who lecture me on the proper and ethical usages of not-magic. That guy kidnapped my magic-aunt! You want to take a *plane*? Walk? I don't makes wormholes for convenience, I make wormholes to get us places to save people." Hmph. He turns his attention to Domino as he heads that way, "Oh hey, I don't mess with time. That's dangerous. You'd probably end up creating alternate, forking realities and might accidentally annul universes. Besides, despite the fact that 1964 sucks, I wouldn't fix the timeline if I could." Pause, "Nice tiara." He can't help but grin his biggest, dimpled grin. But once they arrive at the tiki place, Billy looks… somewhat unimpressed. But, he gives a shrug and follows Tommy's lead and goes to plop himself down, his expression a little wary.

*

"Gotta be twenty-one to drink in California," Nico notes, still hugging the staff to her chest. "Sorry, guys. And Disney's gonna be stricter about that kinda thing than a lot of places." She slips over toward a particular animatronic bird, a parrot in red, white and blue. "Bon jour, Pierre! Comment allez vous?" She doesn't know all that much French, but she knows enough to greet the bird. Even if she has no expectation of response. It was a joke with her friends when they'd come here.

*

"This is hell." Leave it to the Russian to be uncomfortable with the happiest place on Earth. Although maybe it's the company. Or the lack of someone to shoot or stab in order to get their friends back. Probably the last one.

Ava doesn't look inclined to settle in once they reach the tiki room, instead starting to do a perimeter sweep of her own, keeping an eye out for anything that looks like cameras or non-Disney trickery.

*

"My information isn't that detailed. Only if an event happens, a rough area, the general nature, the duration, and it's strength." he murmurs back towards Billy. He honestly didn't expect so much proverbial traffic from Graymalkin's scanners in 1960's Earth. Color him surprised. Although he almost looks impressed by the follow-up statement on the nature of messing with time. "Maybe you aren't as dumb as you look." And of course… There's an eyeroll from Cable at Hope's little story, but he neither confirms nor denies it. It has to be too ridiculous to be true, right? "I've told you this a hundred times. I don't care when or how much you get drunk." he states back towards Hope, his attention still on high alert for any civilian that's acting strangely. But they all are, because this herd of 'heroes' is absolutely ridiculous and drawing all sorts of attention. On the plus side, at least his outfits make it clear they are visitors here. That can only help. Tommy is getting a bit of an eyeball, for some reason. Suspicion. He's not sure why, but his intuition has never been wrong. Passing through the doorway, the sudden change in location causes him to pause. Again he activates his eye, assessing the areas, but he can't detect actual modifications to reality or magic. Unsettling. With a grunt, he moves backwards and settles in the back row, both legs lifting to rest on the seat before him with arms crossed. Towards Ava, "Settle down. Dollars to donuts, this'll be psychological. And you're the powder keg here." Absolutely nothing could bother Cable! NOTHING!!

*

Domino nonchalantly tips her tiara at Billy by nudging one of the comical mouse ears with a shotgun barrel. "Rock it if you got it."

It's pretty eerie suddenly being removed from all of the other people here but after opening a wormhole straight into the facilities Domino's not quite so put off by the sudden lack of a crowd. Rather, she's more put off by Tommy's plan.

"That's it, you want us all to sit around and wait for the Fat Man to make the first move? You're the fastest one here, tell me you've already run a full recon of the building and surrounding territory…" Looking back, and up, to the slightly incognito Cable now taking a seat, she presses "You aren't buyin' this, right? You can't seriously be buying this. And what the heck got into her?" Whitey suddenly points at the French-speaking Nico. Ava's got the right idea though, to which Dom quickly points at the disappearing Russian and looks meaningfully at the others, complete 'what the heck, people?!' with hand-gestures. Then she turns to scout around, herself.

*

"You," Hope points at Ava, "I like. You," a point to Nico, "are giving me horrible facts and destroying my dreams, reinforcing her suggestions. An idle flick of her unencumbered hand points to a questionable bird not named Pierre. Hortense, then, to separate it from Pierre. "Those birds won't tell on us if we mix up a pinot margarita over bricks of ice. So, dear silver, I think I will raid the bar." She flicks the satiny sheer tail of the pointed princess cone from her shoulders, fighting it out of her face almost as often as her hair, most times. Though it conceals those flaming locks, giving a tiny measure of privacy. Flailing about and smacking it aside will be part and parcel of every movement. "Are there any songs we have to sing? I have never been here before and I do not want to be the one left mouthing the lyrics while the rest of you are participating in some cool chorus."

She steadfastly ignores Cable's assertions, and drops down between the twins and the Japanese girl. "Come on, sit down, let's wait for the show to begin. There has to be something dramatic to cue it up, otherwise the audience gets really bored and wanders off to find fizzy drinks or French fries." A sigh follows. "Or booze. Seriously, a shaken mc-spinny-thingy with an olive would be amazing. Trust me. I can put an orange in it to make you happy, auntie." She grins at Domino. See? Boring!"

*

"You dream of pouring salt on slugs to make them melt?" Nico asks Hope with a raised brow. "Hope, honey, you've got problems."

*

'Auntie.' Yes, this is absolutely the right time for Neena to be stepping away from Princess Hope. "I hate when she does that," Dom darkly mutters to herself.

*

Billy turns a frown at Cable, looking actually offended, "Don't make me turn you into a toad." he warns, his eyes narrowing slightly. "Psychological? Mojo doesn't seem to do psychological. He seems to want us to fight people." But he looks over to Nico, "Point is, salt and slugs is a bad combination. I'm trying to make a plan. Options." He pauses, then nods to Domino, "The thing with this guy is, I think, we'll never quite be able to make the first move. NOt unless someone knows how to jump dimensions and get the jump on him: he'll set the stage and then we'll try to make the best of it and rescue our people. But since he seems able to pop in and out of dimensions easily, not to mention conjuring *tanks* into our dimension with no notice or preparation, there's just no… planning for him. You gotta just… run with it. Tommy's the best at just running with it."

*

It just took everyone coming /inside./ While there wasn't any immediate indication of something being /wrong,/ as soon as the last member of the assault team crosses the door? A glowing yellow forcefield pops up in front of it, on the outside but visible from inside with the door not closed behind them. A moment later? There's a disembodied voice that begins to speak:

"Ladies and Gentlemen, for your own safety, please keep your arms, legs, and other appendages in the chairs at all time. Or don't. We don't really care. Enjoy the riiiiIIIiiiiIiide~"

…not quite the normal safety warning, but it's proceeded by the room starting to spin. Or, for the more observant? It's the /floor/ that's spinning, with everyone and everything on it. The group might even notice that the birds hanging above is getting further, and further… and it's happening rather quickly. The Tiki Room, apparantly, has been converted from a cheery show to a fast-spinning ride!

Several feet pass in relative darkness before a new light source is revealed from the ground. As the platform descends further, the group is introduced to… what's pretty clearly the set of a gameshow, with campy, upbeat music playing in the background. There's a board with several numbered slots on one far wall of the room just below words that pronounce it 'BITTER FEUD'. On the opposite side of the room, an audience full of people — if the group paid attention to faces, they'll recognize people who'd gone into the tiki room /before/ them. Except they're smiling. And clapping or cheering. Clearly, they're in on it. Or they think they are. One side of the room is blank, the other has a table lined with seven chairs, and seven microphones set up in front of those chairs. Perhaps more interesting, in the center of the studio where the bland pillar was… the descent has revealed something underneath. A prison, of sorts. Clear, and occupied. By who? You'll see in a second.

"Congratulations, lucky viewers! You're just in time for the premiere episode of W-ILD's newest hit, Bitter Feud! Contestants, TAKE YOUR SEATS!" …and if they don't move immediately in that direction? "OR ELSE!"

*

Lorna Dane, or rather, Polaris, costume included seemed to be in the pillar. Her brown hair had been lightened with highlighs that some costumer thought would be fantastic, slices of lime green too bright to have even been her natural hue. Even more over, she's dressed in an something rather odd compard her usual more practical leather and armor based outfit that her father had mostly constructed.

No, this was a creation of the same costume design team. A tiara like headband pushed her hair back and glinted bright gold, which matched the ribboned heels that laced up her calves. The rest of the outfit was green. Leggings, and a loose fitting top with sweeping sleeves and cut outs on the sides. All pinned with a tiny skull at the neck.

"Let me out of here!" She banged on the glass, clearly annoyed and throwing whatever magnetic powers she had at it. Though nothing seemed to get through lights did flicker around her.

*

Cable arrives from RP Nexus.

*

Cable has arrived.

*

"We have to shut down his portals," Ava notes from one corner of the bar, inspecting the area. "Nico or Billy, if you have a spell that can do it, once we have him and our people, that's what we-" And then the room is spinning a force field.

Like she said, this is hell.

"There is something deeply wrong with American television," she mutters as the lights come up on the game show.

*

As a necessary aside, Hope mutters to the Soviet spy, "Wait until you see what Japan comes up with. This looks positively boring."

You better have heard that, Mojo.

*

"Sometimes you act. Sometimes you react." is all Cable really offers to Domino, continuing to simply watch. Although the idea of being a toad is curious to Cable. What would happen to his techno-organic virus? Would it shrink, too, or would he instantly die? He's probably losing the point of the threat with his personal hypotheticals. "Right." Cable agrees with Billy. "React." But then the room is beginning to spin, and he blinks, momentarily disoriented. But his eyes close, and he focuses his telekinetics on stabilizing the fluids in his ears and head, preventing the majority of issues with the mere act of going around. At the least, his body will stop thinking it's been poisoned. He's standing now, although when the demand comes, he just sighs. Marching over to the table, he settles heavily in one, cracking his neck to the side. Bitter Feud? The sooner this is started, the sooner they can find a hole to shatter open and turn things on this Mojo bastard…

*

It's the perfect thought to be left to linger in Dom's mind while wandering off on her own: There's just no planning for him. She's not buying any of this, herself. Not until the floor separates from the rest of the room and makes with the spinning. She's quick to lash out and grab the back of a chair for stability, the noise helpfully drowning out some of the more colorful expressions of language to come out of her today. Just run with it, indeed!

Confusion is the order of the day. Neena still isn't treating the situation as the threat which it is. It's..just too weird, too -bizarre.- Threats are scientists coming at her with needles full of god only knows what. For her the biggest threat here is Ava, the Russkie lady! (Dom still hasn't turned her back on Ava, either.) A game show can't even compare!

With the threatening voice demanding that seats be taken she's pondering adding one or two more birds into the proverbial coop by way of raised fingers right up until Lorna yells out. The battle of pride versus her offer to help this crew favors the selfish, she isn't taking a seat just yet. "He's got the whole room rigged… How could he have done this? More of that 'wormhole' bull?"

*

On the BITTER FEUD, now starring seven contestants and one of them with a mouse ear crown, the other with a prettiest of princesses crown and no alcohol. Twenty-one be damned, any veteran of En-Sabah-Nur deserves whatever she pleases. Alas, she does not have time to grab Hortense the Irish animatronic bird or much else of anything before coming to a spiralling landing, and for all she can muster her usual snark, that means nothing. She can probably do that under heavy bombardment, too.

Landing in her seat, she tosses the ribboned tail over her shoulder rather than sit on it. That seat is square in the middle unless someone ousts her, and she casually crosses her legs, poking at the mike with a fingertip. Is that thing on?

Her telepathic voice strikes against all seven participants, barring any interference. ** I'm tracking a dozen Lornas. Incoming coordinates. Audience looks mundane or unregistered. **

*

Billy sort of… stares, as they find themselves in a game show. "I really hate this guy. See what I mean?" He gestures around, but is speaking to Domino, "There's just no planning for this twirp." He eyes Lorna in her greenness, blinks, and lifts a hand, "We'll get you out of there, Lorna! If I have to … I don't know but I'll do *something* drastic!" After a moment of hesitation, he decides to play along… for now, muttering, "I don't see an opening yet, 'or else' will probably get Lorna hurt." And then he heads over to take a seat. He adds to Domino, "Mojo doesn't play by the same rules as everyone else. He's an interdimensional menace, apparently, and has a *lot* of magic." The voice speaking into his mind has him blinking, "What the—?" But then he figures out who it is, and shrugs. Hope is weird. But he sits there in his chair and glares.

*

Nico stares as the room spirals downward and away from Pierre. It takes her a moment to catch up when the room stops spinning, and they're here in front of a live studio audience with a sign referencing a show from twelve years in the future. "Ava," she says, "I can probably do whatever you'd have wanted… but for the moment I think I need to sit down." She does so.

*

Ava doesn't quite pick up on all of Hope's words, brows furrowing slightly behind her mask as she tries to piece it together from the words she did get. Was there an 's' on the end of Lorna? As in more than one? This is some sort of shell game, then. While the last thing she wants to do is to play along, she reluctantly moves toward a seat at the end of the row, watching everything with a wary eye.

*

"And your host, television's own, Aaaaaaaaadaaaaaaaaaaaaaam Weeeeeeeeeeeeessssssssssssssssst!"

Cue the thirty-something, up-and-coming actor stepping through the crowd in order to greet the assorted heroes (or heroes-for-a-day, as the case may be). Hearty-handshakes attempted with the men, cheek-smooches with the women. Because, well. That's how this is supposed to work.

And yes, Hope, the mic is on. Tommy, who's plopped down in a seat next to Hope (and one that keeps her between him and Cable), grimaces a bit at the voice in his head — the last time he felt /that/… but that's a voice he recognizes quite easily, at least. This fact causes him to relax a bit, at least.

"Or else means or else!" demands the voice from the speakers, the annoyance giving a good hint at just who might be /behind/ that voice… and 'proof' of that 'or else'? The prison in the middle has it's ceiling collapse, with a raucous cheer from the audience as the occupant is smashed beneath… an identical-looking prison. With an identical-looking occupant.

West glances uncomfortably back towards the prison, before deciding to focus on the first person in line. "I think the guy talking is pretty serious, 'cause it looks like twins just became a sole survivor." Gulp. Then, switching over to a 'game show' voice, he adds to the first person in line. "Ahem. We surveyed one hundred people and collected the top responses; now it's your turn. Name something a father might teach his kids to do."

*

"If you /win/ our little contest," the voice over the loudspeaker starts, "Your prize is what you see in the center of the stage." Lorna. "If you /fail,/ well… I think that's pretty obvious. Don't you?"

There's five answers on the board. Will /this/ bunch get them right?

*

Another glance is given towards Tommy, as if still pondering something about the young man. His attention returns to more important matters, however. Such as this absurd gameshow. No particular reaction to Hope. She's been using his powers by proxy for quite awhile, given his own limitations. Crushing a faux Lorna is definitely unpleasant, although there's still eleven more. That doesn't make it less criminal, but it does make it less irrevocable. Leaning forward, he taps the microphone. "How to kill a man."

*

*BZZZZZZZZZ*

West gives Hope a rather startled looking expression, before shaking his head. "I'm afraid that's our first strike. You get three, otherwise you lose." …and he's moving over to the next in line.

*

Before Lorna No. one's demise, she was attempted to get her friend's attention for something, as they called out to her. Whatever it was, ended abruptly and with a quick terrorized scream.

Lorna No. two at least, the not squished one, appeared and then sank down to the bottom of her prison curling up, and taken to blowing her breath against the glass. Attempting to write backwards was difficult under the best circumstances, but seeing as it was life or death possibly on the line, she seems intent on getting it right. Scrawling something that vaguely looked like: 'Strange?'

Then of course she was pausing, listening for the answers to the game-show like question, biting her lower lip as her green eyes wide with certain fear.

*

Psychic intrusion! Hope's intentions may be all sound and just but hearing a voice, any voice at all, which is not Domino's own has her visibly flinching and gritting her teeth. In another instant she's shooting a glare in Hope's direction, trying to push a thought of her own right back to the telepath. 'Warn me first!' Oh, and there's more than one Lorna. Are they going to have to pick one at random and hope for the best?

As soon as the show's host steps into play and starts passing around the various greetings to the new contestants he'll find a shotgun pointed at his face before he can plant one of those cheek kisses on the albino. "Keep walking, Fancy-Pants."

Her attitude disappears really quickly when the first Lorna gets pasted by ..another Lorna, complete with a whole new flinch and a hissed curse. She'll just..quietly take her seat now, and cast a lengthy stare at Hope when she answers first. Which is worse, that she's playing along, that her response is morbid as hell, or that her response is almost the same thing that Neena would have said?

She -really- hates it when she can't solve problems by blowing things up. "How to hunt..?"

*

"Do we have, How! To! Huuuuunt?"

…the fourth of five 'answer' slot of the board opens up, with the words 'HOW TO HUNT/FISH' and the number '13' after it.

"Good answer, miss! Onto the little redhead, one hundred people surveyed, four answers remaining. Name something a father might teach his kids to do."

*

The game that might never catch on finds Hope staring blankly into the abyss, especially since her finely tuned and delicate grasp over telepathy goes tearing into brilliant shadows. What she witnesses is up to her, though the first one going to a crushed end brings a momentary white-out of noise. The fact that presence just evaporated from her brain, and all those following the first incarnation of the brunette staggers her brain. It hurts. And hurt is something she responds altogether too well with. Her thoughts closely coalesce into a vivid dance that it's better no one can see or feel.

"Sports," she replies boredly, bouncing the balloon, as if she has a thousand better things to do right now.

*

"The grumpy little lady says sports, do we have spooooorts?"

DING! The first answer slot opens up, revealing 'PLAY SPORTS' and the number '29'.

"That was the number one answer, great job. Onto you, young man. Something a father would teach his kids." he addresses… oh God. It's Tommy.

*

"Oh my God, he just killed Lorna!" Tommy exclaims in surprise, shaking his fist at the ceiling. "You bastard!" …then he realizes that there's another Lorna there. The same one? It's hard to tell. And he eyes what's written on the glass. Strange? What does Strange have to do with…

"Son, are you there?" West asks, seeming to startle Tommy to life. "We need an answer, you're running out of time. Something a father would teach his kids to do."

"Oh, yeah, yeah." The answer in his head was 'Lie', but Lorna's message? That changes it. … then the voice in his head changes it again. "Women, duh. They teach us how to screw!" he guesses.

*

Cue the silenced, gasping stare. "Uh…. huh…. do we have… um… 'the naughty'?" West gulps out, turning to look at the board.

*BZZZZZZZZZZ*

*

Billy facepalms. Literally, at Tommy's answer. "How to ride a bike." Billy's answer is easy and automatic, without any kind of hesitation. He seems quite confident in this answer, at least. But then a hand reaches up to cover his mic, and he murmurs softly to himself, "My mind to your mind, your mind to my mind. Mymindtoyourmind, yourmindtomymind. Mymindtoyourmind,yourmindtomymind." In which he attempts to set up a little remote Spokery with Lorna2. ~Canyouhearme?~ he tries to *think* at Lorna2. Of course, the slug may have taken precautions.

*

"Thank you for being normal, son." West tells Billy, seeming relieved. "Do we have RIDE A BIKE!?"

DING! Answer number two is revealed to be ride a bike, with 28 people agreeing. Nico's the next one up, it seems!

*

Nico's dad mostly left her education to her mother, but at the same time she was a normal kid up until her parents decided to murder somebody when they didn't know she was watching. She keeps the staff pulled close to her chest and is about to say something, then flicks her eyes over toward Hope. Good enough. "Dads teach their kids to mow the lawn," says the Japanese teen — who wonders how this show could ever get network play.

Her dad never let her help with the yard work. She feels a little let down.

*

"Do we have… mow the lawn!"

*DING!* There's answer number five, agreed on by six people.

"Great answer, little miss! Just two left, but only one strike left." Last in the line is Ava; West approaches, gives her a hopeful look, and speaks. "One hundred people surveyed. Something that a father would teach his kids."

*

Ava didn't exactly have a normal childhood. First the Red Room, then SHIELD custody, then living on the street. But between the Red Room's training for infiltration and SHIELD's attempts at Americanizing the girl, she at least knows what is expected of these things.

It just looks a little odd coming from the armed and armored young woman whose face is hidden behind a white balaclava.

"How to drive," she answers.

*

West looks pleased by this answer; maybe it was his own, also? An arm points towards the board. "Let's get these kids on the road, show me driving!"

*DING!* Answer number three is revealed to be 'DRIVE', with 24 people agreeing. Cue confetti and balloons dropping from the ceiling, and the prison sliding open. Of course, those paying attention might realize that without whatever material separated Lorna from the others, there's also going to be nothing supporting the 'new' ceiling of the cell in about three… two…

*

Squinting towards Lorna, Cable can easily read her message with his special eyes. "Yes, this is strange." he agrees, although well aware she's talking about the mystical doctor. And then his attention turns towards Tommy once more. "Screwing, huh…?" Something in his voice is rather dangerous. Billy offers a more reasonable answer. Ugh; if only Cable could try to read the minds of the crowd in mass with any ease, he could get some ideas. But there's no guarantee that they have any say in matters. He still tries to detect what a few are pondering, all the same. Are they genuinely normal people, or brainwashed in some capacity? The very moment the door slides open, Cable raises his hand. Telekinetic blue aura shifts to grasp Lorna and haul her forward, the motion beginning likely before the door even finishes opening… Tommy is likely the only one with his level of reactions, given it's cybernetic, but he doesn't have the benefit of telekinesis to make the retrieval instant!

*

"Took the words right out of my mouth, Big Guy," Domino asides to Cable without having any idea there's someone who goes by that name. It's even more strange when the Speedster voices his answer, prompting the albino to facepalm in perfect synchroneity with Billy. Yet, SOMEhow, they manage to gather enough correct answers to free one of the Lornas! With a catch. One doesn't accurately ricochet bullets without knowing a little about the laws of physics.

It's a good thing they happen to have a telekinetic and a speedster on the team, huh?

While she can't do anything more useful than throw a chair (which fortunately she does not,) she's still standing in a heartbeat. "How do we know if it's the real one?" she asks to whomever might happen to answer her.

There's a suspicious sidelong glance passed Ava's way on the sly, too.

*

A shift hardens empty space into nothing, the atoms zinging through a gaseous void forced into a multifaceted barrier honeycombed with countless triangles upon triangles to shore up its architectural integrity. When one free runs almost every damn building under fifteen stories in New York, you come to know a thing or two about the finer points of architectural design. Jagged spikes repeat the eclipsing process in floating, multipoint balls waiting to detonate in the remaining chambers, strung together by very fine, thin cobweb filaments that might be sustained to flex and bend in a forgiving net if forced to suddenly absorb or deflect weight.

Hope rests her chin on her palm and stares up at the balloon floating over her head, waiting for Mr. West to get on with the next thing. "We got the real prize, yippee-dippy-doo." She blows out a breath that sends ripples upper the shimmery hennin. "Seriously, B? Paella for lunch. Like, a really tasty one."

*

Billy looks immediately relieved when they rescue Lorna— he isn't immediately clear there were multiples, so its not entirely clear to him they maybe didn't get the real one. But he promptly rises, and looks around, "Okay, is this over? Did we win this round? Will he ever stop kidnapping more of us?! Its starting to get on my nerves. I think I'm going to stop *cooperating* and you know what? No, I'm not even gonna tell you what I'm gonna do." But the look on his face says he has an idea. But then he blinks at Hope, "Oh, paella would be wonderful. Want to go to Spain or do you know a place in NYC that has a good one? I haven't found a favorite yet…" And he told Cable he didn't wormhole for convienence. Paella is not 'convienent', its the meaning of life.

*

"We won the round, anyway," says Nico, "but I somehow don't think this is all over." She glances out at the applauding audience. "I also don't want to know what happens if we fail to win a round."

*

Ava stares at Hope and Billy for a moment as they talk about paella. This is not the time for paella. "Name the top five things I would like to do to that yellow…" The words that she mutters in Russian are definitely not suitable for live television. Granted, the top five things she'd like to do to Mojo probably aren't suitable for live television either.

*

Before the goo starts to drain from the melting Lornas further up in the prison tube, there's a bright flash of light and the set changes. This time, we're treated to three loveseats evenly spaced out. Domino is in one, Hope in the second, and the third? The third houses Nico /and/ Ava. West is found by a podium, wearing a new suit and with cue cards raining down above him — and there's a new prison, too. This one? Houses a sleeping Seth. Or is it Seth? It's hard to say.

Meanwhile, Cable, Billy, and Tommy are held elsewhere.

"Uh… huh…" starts Adam West, looking over the cue cards. "…apparantly we're playing a new game, now, and this one is called… 'Trouble In Paradise'. I'm going to ask each of you ladies questions about your partners, and when they come back out, they have to try and match what you said."

Wait, partners? Well, in front of each loveseat is a scoreboard. Above that scoreboard are name cards.

'NATHAN & NEENA'

'THOMAS & HOPE'

'WILLIAM & AVA … & NICO'

The last loveseat, already housing two girls? Gets an odd look from the host. "Uh…huh. Well, your partners will be brought back out in a moment, but to win this game and your… prize…" A wary look towards Seth in the 'cage'. "You have to total at LEAST a hundred points. Each matching answer will be worth twenty, and the winning team? Will get a special, top-secret prize."

Cue the audience 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing.

*

"Wellll, it looks like I'm waaaaaay over-dressed for this party," Domino mutters while brushing the mousey tiara off of her head and carelessly shaking her hair out. "Next time I'm packin' light."

Then again..maybe not. As the setting and game changes she's left with that nauseous feeling of outside forces mucking about with her head, causing her to pinch the bridge of her nose. When she next looks up..it's the signs which she sees.

One in particular.

'Nathan & Neena.'

In a heartbeat she's out of her seat and snapping the shotgun straight at the sign, touching off the shot with a thunderous *BOOM!* Her aim is true. Hopefully heavy buckshot is enough to pulverize the sign. Regardless, she's got another shell racked into the tube and her voice amped up way beyond authoritative levels.

"Alright you creepy sonuvabitch, quit fucking around and get your fat ass out here!"

Someone may have struck a nerve.

*

For long, long moments, Cable just sits where he is. "What?" he simply asks. His eyes are on the 'Thomas and Hope' one, in particular. Although the gunshot from Domino makes him wince, grinding a knuckle into his ear. "Really… I mean, it's not THAT bad, I think…" Mumble, mumble. Maybe this is just an attempt by Mojo to mess with people's heads. He's PRETTY sure he's not got a thing with Domino here. Maybe. His memory's really kinda fuzzy…

*

Good days: you win the game.

Bad days: your dad and aunt are partnered. Right on, Mojo, making things uncomfortably creepy. Hope crosses her legs and continues to look at her balloon, bouncing it around with the vapid quality of a very, very dumb blonde. Except she's not, being a princess and all.

"Does that mean you two share the prize?" she errantly wonders aloud of Nico and Ava. Pray neither one hits her over the head, though with that pointed hat which deserves another mention, maybe they can all have a game of competitive horseshoes. Or ringette. Boop boop, balloon. Boop boop, balloon. Boop bounce, bounce, bounce, bounce. The audience most likely is not rooting for her, which is not an entirely bad thing.

*

Ava casts a sidelong glance toward Nico, then back toward the board, piecing it all together before she snorts. Was that…was that a laugh? "Because it would be the most unimaginable thing if either of us did not have a male counterpart," she rolls her eyes to Nico, crossing her arms over her chest and falling against the back of the couch.

*

Nico casts a rueful smile at Ava. "I met the guy tonight," she says. "So I think it may be time for the Staff to do its job." She doesn't do anything particularly flashy when casting the spell, just murmurs the words to make it work. "*All About Billy.*" There's not even a visible effect — but she might be the world expert on Billy Kaplan now. Maybe. At least she should be able to get through this Dating Game parody.

Not that she has a clue what the Dating Game is.

*

Domino's gunshot makes West jump, but there's no obvious reaction from the audience — or appearance from Mojo in result. He knows he's in control here, it seems.

"We sent your partners backstage, and we're going to need answers for these questions. If your partner was asked who they would want to cook their last meal, you, their mother, or the chef from their favorite restaurant, who would they pick?"

Silence for responses, followed by.. "Next question, complete this sentence…" Pause. "…we can't say this on television, can we?"

"JUST DO IT OR SQUISH!!" demands the voice over the loudspeaker.

"…the cow says 'moo', the duck says 'quack. My partner during sex says… /blank./" The poor host. He's not comfortable with this. But he's aware that he could result in somebody getting squished too, so, he continues.

Then another bit of silence for answers, and… "Alright, the last question… I like surprises." Pause. "No, no I don't! But what's the last time you surprised your partner with a…" Cough, and the poor guy's blushing. "…/special/ surprise."

*

Billy isn't sure where it is that he got teleported to, but he looks between Cable and his brother and his expression is None Too Pleased. He makes with rolling up of his sleeves and then rubbing his hands together, "I am officially tired of playing games. I am thinking very hard of taking this 'reality manipulation' out for a spin snd showing this slug man that *I* am boss if I set my mind to it." Pause, "I just can't think of quite what I should do. Turn the lights out? I'm pretty sure his show doesn't work without electronics. What do you say? Blackout? Or, let's see, I don't know. Hrm."

*

"There's a lot of Lorna's left. I guess. Chances are he'd kill the rest." Cable states, drumming fingers on his bicep as he looks between Billy and Tommy. "I'm not sure what the point of this is. Is he some kind of emotional vampire? Who gets sustenance from people suffering? I can't imagine any other reason his stupid shows exist." On the idea of drawing him out, there's not a lot of ideas from the mutant. "I think… if you really wanted to get him here." He leans close to Billy. "You'd try to take over his show. Steal the mic. Make it yours."

*

"Got a thing for Hope's aunt, huh?" Tommy quips, glancing over towards Cable. Yes, he still remembers that. Yes, it amuses him terribly. While the three of them are segregated? Might as well spread that particular nickname around for Domino. Then, a look back to Billy. "I won't tell the Doc if you don't." the speedster offers, flashing a grin. "I guess it'll just be a matter of who's got the stronger magic fingers. 'cause I don't think it's /all/ tech with the yellow guy. I've never seen tech flatten people. Uh. Non-permanently." Then, back towards Cable. "…big guy might have a point. Go off-script, he might come out yelling cut." Pause. "He might just flatten the hostages, too, though."

*

For Domino..there is no way to answer any of these questions. What she knows of the man named Cable is very limited. Most of her life was spent inside of a reinforced subterranean bunker, and the few people whom had gotten 'close' to her are not the sorts of people she had good relations with.

Thus, when pressed into this kind of situation, she runs with the only thing that comes to mind.

She rushes Adam West.

Then she locks an arm around his neck and holds a gun to his head.

"For a guy who hosts a lot of television you sure don't play a lot. I'm not playing anymore, either. Cage-boy comes with us and we all go home or this show's getting cut -real- short."

It's probably not poor Adam she's telling all of this to. The creature behind the curtain is getting on her last nerves. She didn't sign up for this mess! She signed up to -destroy- something. Something big and rank and calling himself 'Mojo.'

*

For a moment the bored princess looks incredibly, utterly driven to contemplating lives lesser mysteries. How many people in the country die by suicide by margarine? If a pawlonia falls in a boiling vat like the La Brea tarpits, will someone mistake it for an evil ent and write horrible travel novels about it?

Hope looks up when Domino rushes Adam, and she blinks. "He isn't to… you know… Is this the part where we throw confetti?"

*

Well. Adam clearly did not expect that. Arm around his neck, gun to his head, he does the only thing a celebrity would in this situation — puts his hands up. "I… I… don't think that's answer to the question, miss."

Then? The prison above the unconscious Seth drops. There's a disgusting splattering sound, and another Seth in his former copy's place. The crowd cheers. West cringes, instead.

*

"He doesn't care about the host." Ava stays where she is, arms still crossed over her chest. "He doesn't care about the prizes, either. For all we know, he could have a thousand to crush. Or he could crush the real one. They're all nothing but entertainment to him."

She tilts her head, looking over to Hope. "Tell Billy to take over the feed. Classical music."

*

After the questions are asked, Nico leans over to whisper to Ava just before Domino rushes the game show host. For her part, Nico knows the answers, so she gives them: "His mom, 'Kiss me', and I think he's pretty surprised I'm his partner! And by the way," she adds brightly, pointing her staff at the Seth currently in danger. "*Safety!*" she declares, with the intent of sending this one out of harm's way.

*

"You know what." Billy frowns a little bit, "That's an idea, dude." he agrees to Cable, "But the problem is the hostages. We got Lorna, but not Seth. If I go off-script what might he do, but really, why the heck am I even bothering to pretend like he can set the rules? I'm Billy freaking Kaplan, my very existance here is against the rules and everything I do is rewriting the rules according to how I want them." As he speaks, his confidence grows. He holds his hands out and closes his eyes, "Before when he had Tommy I didn't try to match Billyness to Mojoness because he had flattened Tommy and I had no idea how to put him back, but Seth is just in a jail. And darn it but *teleporting* is the one thing I'm *really good at*." He takes a deep breath and … pauses, his head tilting to the side, blinking, "Huh, that's an idea." He suddenly grins. "Change the channel." He seems almost giddy. As he concentrates, the very fabric of reality trembles: its not natural to force reality into another shape, not unless you're god, and Billy is not one of those. (Yet) "Change. The. Channel." He reaches his hand out in a grasping gesture, a powerful warping sensation bending around him…

"CHANGE THE CHANNEL!"

Billy would drop a mic now but he doesn't have a mic. Of course, if he manages to force reality into a new configuration or not in defiance of Mojo's will is another question all together…

*

Nico's spell has… zero effect. Is the Staff of One blocked, or is something else going on?

*

This may not be poor Seth's lucky day, because where Domino's been spending the last few months within the ranks of the Brotherhood the idea's been reinforced that sometimes there are casualties when pursuing the end goal. Lorna's safe, they've managed to free her of this mess at least. Seeing one of the Seths get splatted may get the crowd going all the more…

It just causes her to thumb back the hammer on her pistol with a satisfying little *Click.*

"Got any better ideas, Russkie?" she challenges Ava with a note of bitterness present in her words. Then going back to the room at large, "For your sake I hope you've got as many clones of this jerk. Now, why don't you come out and say hello to your adoring fans, huh? I bet they'd just -loooove- to see the mastermind behind all of this entertainment. Come on, Mojo! Let's show the audience how it's done!"

*

Hope has partially disconnected.

*

What is the ONE thing that you don't do to a being that relies on an adoring public being provided entertainment?

Change the channel.

Across the Mojoverse, denizens of the omni-dimensional world start to scream at their television sets as the classical music feed interrupts the broadcast. Ratings start to slip.

…and that, indeed, was the one thing that was going to summon forth the Spineless One himself, appearing with a flash of light in front of the audience. Billy, also, appears in a flash of light about five feet /above/ the loveseat Nico and Ava are on. Gravity may handle the rest.

"Alright, kids. I TRIED to be NICE. I was going to make you all FAMOUS, and what kind of gratitude do you show me? NONE!" Mojo screeches, before waving his arms around — with another flash of light? The studio suddenly gets crowded. Those metallic wolves? They're back, three on either side of the stage. Along with at least a couple dozen alien/other-dimensional creatures, armed with rather large weapons — some melee, like polearms and axes, others…. well. They look like energy weapons, frankly.

"Cancel them!" Mojo commands. "CANCEL ALL OF THEM!"

*

Hope has partially disconnected.

*

"Is there one where you are less…panicked?" Ava peers at Domino, quirking a brow. "I feel like that is probably a better plan." Apparently Ava missed out on the part of training that was about how to calm people down, or else she'd recognize that she's probably doing the opposite.

Luckily, the plan works before she has to back up that comment. Less luckily, she's right below a sudden Billy-storm. More luckily, as soon as Mojo appears, she's already pushing off the couch, drawing one of those pistols to fire a blast of electric energy at the yellow blob.

*

This was most decisively the real Seth. While most wouldn't know one slender, alcohol addled and smoke-stained cretin from the next, only the real Seth would so casually peel himself up off the couch he had laid down to take a nap on, look out at the mayhem that was now spreading from crowd to stage with the cheerful notes of classical symphony cords understating it, and reach first for a cigarette and next for a light. Only when he had taken his first drag did he stand up, the viscera and sludge from formerly squashed clone sucking at his heels as he took a few steps around the edges of the prison and swore. Though there was no way to know exactly what expletives he picked, they were numerous and displeased.

Then he's banging on the glass, trying to get SOMEONE'S attention, pointing to the forlorn figure unconscious in the center of all this chaos that was Lorna and gesticulating as if the cigarette in his hand was an air traffic control stick. Sure, he might end up squished, but it kind of seemed like most of this party was to get one specific mutant to safety, and weighing his personal interests in the matter, he was intent on reminding them of that.

*

There's a look of consternation on Nico's face when Seth DOESN'T disappear. She looks down at the staff in her hands, raises her left hand and whacks it a couple of times on the golden circle at the upper end. Like one might do to a TV that's got a bad signal.

Speaking of…

"Of course there would be wolves." Pause. "Sort of wolves," she amends. She pulls herself off the couch a bit more slowly than Ava. "Should have sent the host to safety instead," she mutters to herself as she holds the Staff aloft and rises into the air, hopefully out of wolf range. But those guns… the guns are still a problem for her, so she swings the staff in a wide arc and announces, "*Jam!*"

*

If there's one thing Billy is good at, its flying. Ever since that time he fell off his roof and missed the ground, he's been a natural at flying: sometimes he flies without even really thinking about it, when distracted with his hoodoo. So its on pure instinct that he falls no more then a foot before he's wrapping himself in bands of force and slows his descent to settle just behind the ladies, spreading his hands out and pushing out in every direction with the full force of his TK, trying to make a bubble of protection around the three of them. "Okay so that worked better then I expected. He is, apparently, not a fan of classical music. Hope, great idea. Uhh." He looks around a moment and sees how royally outnumbered they are and winces, "Someone break Seth free and grab Lorna and then we run away real fast?" he adds as a suggestion. He pauses, "Wait, I'm probably the one best suited to that, aren't I…?" So upon hearing Nico's spell thing? He lets the momentary shield drop and flings out a couple tons worth of force at the glass holding Seth. Which might not be the most fun thing for Seth even if it works.

*

The bored princess act starts to drop about the moment the silvery, satiny ephemeral tail of Hope's pointed princess crown starts to lift in the air of its own accord. A pretty banner to mark her by as she rests her chin in her palm and rolls her eyes. All the excitement in the world developed by state-of-the-art technology and brilliant, enslaved minds, and the redhead would rather be reading a book or eating potato chips. Right up until Billy falls out of nowhere and a flash capitalizes on the audience's shocked responses.

Her emerald-green eyes lift when the yellow, glistening slug announces himself in a toddler's loud nasal whine. Of course he does.

She twiddles her fingers in a dismissive wave. "Yawn. You're banal. Boring. Uninspiring. A dismal, forgettable sequel."

She rolls out of her seat, lifted up off the ground by a static crackle of energy vibrating the atoms around her. Hands quake, microtremors affecting her corded arms. Chattering teeth mark the rictus grin of strained facial features.

A devilish redheaded laugh follows. "Signal failure!"

*

The full force of borrowed telekinesis and telepathy wedded together in a deliriously sinful romp available on demand for those 21 and over. Newlywed that, affirmed slimy bachelor. The hardening bubble rolls around Mojo, sealing into a globe full of black and white speckles, snow of an interrupted blitz. Noise distortions and doubled back sight mark the assault.

*

A groan pulled from Lorna as she slowly comes to, still dressed in the Mojo costume and looking out of sorts as she dragged herself up to sit. Her head pounding, and blinking hard against the overhead lights that stung her eyes. "Wha-?" She sat up slowly, groggy as if she'd just been asleep for ages untold rather than a few minutes.

Her gaze landed on the metallic looking wovles that surrounded them, then slowly, brows furrowed she glanced around her. Realization dawning ever so slowly that they were not in an ideal situation. Her senses buzzed with background noises, metal objects and just too much of everything and she groaned again, pressing her hands against her eyes.

It took her several long moments to lift her head up again and this time, her gaze landed on Seth. Within a heartbeat she was up and moving toward his prison. "Seth!"

*

"Not currently," Domino flatly replies to Ava. This tone changes a moment later to a stunned "Oh, jeezus."

This..did not go according to her plans. While Mojo -did- make an appearance, she isn't quite ready for the reality of their most peculiar 'host.' Should she ever start to get over the horrific sight of the screwy yellow slug there's a bunch more armed baddies to think about, too. Suddenly this has turned into a game of 'Who to Shoot First?'

She leans in a little closer to the back of the gameshow host's ear, eyes wide as she gently asks "Got any stunt doubles I should know about?"

Point to Ava. She may be a Red but she shoots at the big guy first. Great! Now Dom can find some much needed cover! Mister West gets roughly shoved forward with a "Get down!" as she draws a second pistol and starts unloading rounds at anything even remotely appearing threatening that isn't on her side.

Then Nico throws down a wildcard. With the albino's luck it's not uncommon for weapons to simply not operate for a number of reasons. Adding in the girl's spell almost turns this drama into a comedy. Not a single gun pointed Dom's way fires. One of them even backfires, blowing up in the owner's hands!

*

Ava's years of training come in handy at a time like this - she's able to get her shot off before the mass of minions come in which would have otherwise blocked it! The electricity slams into Mojo and sends flesh rippling and the blob himself reeling in pain. Like, it's a /lot/ of flesh that ripples. People really didn't want to see that, but for all that blubber he doesn't seem to have any innate protections against electricity!

Then Nico casts her spell. The last time the Staff was used, it didn't work (or didn't seem to!). Jam, however? Weaponry can jam in a /lot/ of ways. So can the servos on an omnidimensional being's mobility device. The way they do? …literally, grape jam starts /pouring/ from every vent on the assembled weapons. One quick-reacting alien has the foresight to aim up and try to fire at Nico — only to have it explode in fire and /more/ grape jam, splattering all over his comrades. This happens a number of times before they realize that, y'know what? Those weapons are useless now. Except for that one guy who decides his gun now makes a better rock then gun, and /chucks/ it towards Nico.

Six enemies eliminated. 6 Warwolves, 18 Alien Commandos remaining.

The guns aren't the only thing affected, however, as more jam starts to flow out of Mojo's chair — pooling very quickly around the media master's 'legs' and making mobility… very, very difficult.

…until he's enveloped in a bubble of telekinetic force and cut off telepathically. /This/ does not help him. However, it also cuts the outside off from him, for better or for worse.

Billy's force-crush successfully /does/ shatter the 'glass' surrounding Seth — which has the effect of bringing the ceiling down from above him. If he doesn't want to be crushed, he'd better get out of there fast! …especially since Billy's attack had the chain reaction of crushing the glass around /all/ of the cells. Oh, this is going to be messy.

Adam West shudders against Domino, "N-not since Gunsmoke!" …before being shoved forward and landing in the ground, getting grape jam all over his nice suit. LOOK WHAT YOU DID, DOMINO!

The rest of the commandos charge forward on the group — swinging various weapons and fists (multitudes of fists, in some cases.) at our heroes — the ones with the longer weapons are going after the fliers, of course. The war wolves, meanwhile, charge out into the audience.

Mojo did say cancel /all of them./

*

The concussive force of the glass shattering may have been ill-received on any other day. As it was, the secondary effect was that Seth was flung backwards and out of the podium's portions coming together with a little 'huff' of air, like jaws closing just on his pant leg. Blue eyes blinked for a moment before he took a staggering, crab-walk backwards to get free of the wave of glass and pieces and parts that belonged to clones still encapsulated in the multitude of prisons. The cacophonous din drowned out Lorna's scream, and he took shakily to his feet while looking about for something, anything.

Seth settled on the legs of a chair, and swung the director's stool in a vicious upswing that seemed outside his scrawny capabilities, wading into the fray without hesitation. Call him many things, but a coward was not one of them. As the horror show played out, he was enveloped into the chaos with a smile on his lips and a devilish glint in his eyes - like a dog finally let off its chain.

*

Ava still has her un up when Hope's shield envelopes Mojo, which gives her a moment to turn it on the warwolves next. Great thing about Ava's gun: there's really nothing about it to jam. It's a focus for her abilities, not anything with a real, mechanical purpose. "Stay with Cable and Domino, keep them safe, exfil if needed," she calls back to Nico. "I'm on Billy. We get our people, we get out of here."

*

That wasn't -quite- what Nico intended — but she'll take it. Unless they're allergic to grapes, those guns aren't going to hurt anybody now — and she's heard that grapes make dogs sick, so maybe the Warwolves will lick it up and start upchu… nope, they're attacking the audience. Yay.

The gun thrown at her narrowly misses as Nico glides toward the audience, dredging her mind for a spell that will save them. "We've got more problems than just our people," she calls back toward Ava and the others. "We've got a whole audience of innocents! *Wolfsbane!*" It's worth a shot, right? Please, Staff of One, keep these people safe!

*

Lorna didn't particularly get a chance to do much against the suddenly shattering glass prison where Seth trudged free amongst clone slime. Her hands flew up to protect her face, close as she had been several shards of glass managed to bite into her skin, gaining a pained whimper and ow. At least the costume had some form of gauntlets that protected her forearms from damage. But it didn't seem to slow her down for long, as she hurried toward her friend, and if she came up to his side with a wobble or two, there was at least a grin on her face.

Then she was throwing her hands out, shakily trying to fling out her powers at the various multitude of enemies, trying to push back at whatever metal they had on them and just shove them backwards. Her control was flimsy at best given the scenario they'd been thrust into and if the ceiling too started to shaky… well it wasn't in anyone's imagination.

*

Well, Seth isn't dead, so that's something. The last glass Billy ran into around Mojo was a lot stronger so he threw everything at it, but now since everyone's free, he looks around, hesitating, "Do people who watch a show wherein someone gets crushed to death count as 'innocent'?" he wonders, but alas, others seem to think so, and so he flings a hand out and sends a lightning bolt surging through the air to the nearest wolfmonsterthing. "Lorna! Seth! This way. Escape is going to be somewhere over here! You know, when we're done cleaning up like… you know, bad guys."

*

Hope continues to float above her seat, swishing her fingers as though conducting a full orchestra. She doesn't have particularly much awareness for her surroundings except where immediately endangered and a wolf is going to have to jump particularly high to reach the girl. Dust and stray objects float around her, and flickering sparks join the white noise peppered liberally in black dusk, a globe spinning retrograde slowly at first, then faster and faster. It knocks askew on an angle similar to at least one of the planets, wombling around before gaining a steadier axis. The equator shrinks slightly as she brings her thumbs together on a playful swoop, drawing a staccato line and around again. Ozone plays off the atmospheric static spun around the globe, another decided crackle zipping over it.

The benefit of that augmented telekinesis is that it deflects metal away from her as a side benefit. "Niiiico, grab me when it's time to go!"

*

Adam West is fortunate enough to outlive his expensive suit, for the moment. He's just going to have to deal! "Sorry, gotta jam!"

..Seriously. Why does it smell like grape jelly and ozone all of a sudden?

The answer comes to Domino as quickly as her boot falls upon a purple puddle upon the ground, swiftly sending Lady Luck flat onto her back. The chain reaction starts before her keester meets the floor, narrowly avoiding one melee attack while her other foot snaps upward and kicks out the leg on another guy charging her way. Once she connects with the ground a stray bullet snaps out of one of her guns and clips the light fixtures overhead, sending a pile of broken glass and scaffolding raining down onto the two guys beside her mere seconds later.

"Keep -US- safe?!" Dom yells back in disbelief at Ava while turning to shoot one of the downed guys straight in the head. Attack of opportunity for the win! She's just getting upright when another guy comes sliding past and cartwheels right over her with limbs flailing in the air just before getting flicked aside from a levitating piece of debris, thanks to Hope.

*

While Mojo didn't have any protections against the electrical zaps, the war wolves themselves don't seem /quite/ so disturbed by Ava's attacks… at least not until one of them turns and charges towards /her/ instead!

…and that Staff of One? It's clearly working overtime tonight. It knows how to follow the caster's intent quite well, and what's the one thing that's most effective against Warwolves? Melting them. Which is why there's very quickly six puddles of what appears to be liquid metal on the floor of the game show set. It's going to take time to pull them back together, but that's valuable time that the audience needs — only a handful got clawed by the beasts.

Lorna, meanwhile? Pretty effective against the assorted foes, as they hadn't /quite/ counted on fighting the mistress of magnetism today, so metal weapons were on tap. There's still just as many foes, but they've been disarmed!

On the plus side, this /also/ means that the fliers are now out of reach.

Also, it's worth noting? That Cable who Ava suggested Domino keep safe… hasn't rejoined the group. Neither has the other twin. However, she and Seth have managed to best a good handful of the commandos, and Billy zzzzaps one more into a crispy critter! Remaining commandos: 12.

As for Hope? While her effects had contained Mojo for the moment… that simply gave him enough time to change the channel /back./ Which meant that across the Mojoverse, countless denizens were tuning /back/ in to witness the mayhem. And they were cheering. The glove of telekinetic energy is assaulted by powerful magic, as Mojo laughs manically.

"You're ALL going to be cancelled! LIVE! But not for long!" comes that voice stolen from Gilbert Gottfried.

*

Seth has participated in many a bar fight, and while most of those did not involve space invaders, mutants, metal wolves and commandos - he is certainly holding his own. It also helps that anytime a blow does hit him, the force ripples into his person, skin stretching around the impact, his body twisting to place Lorna behind him in the melee as she materializes from the fray.

"Shouldn't you be lying down or something? I'm not exactly a doctor but-" pause-thwack-thud as another commando falls beneath the wrathful vengeance of a stool

"-I hear straining yourself after being unconscious isn't recommended."

Pausing in his banter as he hears his name, he looks over the shoulders of the fray, nodding a blood spattered chin towards Billy,

"Friend, I assume?"

*

When the wolf headed her way melts, Ava stops short to get a better look at their situation. Mojo is out of her reach. They're short members of their party, which means it's a bad time to try to run. But there are still commandos who are likely to cause trouble. Tucking the gun back into the small of her back, she turns to run toward the group of them, diving in with a flurry of hand to hand.

*

"Ah hell," Nico says. Four spells. That's not so bad, but then the Staff decides it's time to return to her body. They were, admittedly, two pretty damn good spells — but she's falling from the air and into splattered silver goo that was once Warwolves. Ick.

"Somebody remind me I need to bring a hatpin to these things," says the usually gothy girl. She's looking rather futuristic now — metal-coated goth. She sets about summoning the staff once more, hiding among the seats while she chews at the inside of her cheek.

*

Lorna was breathing somewhat fast, exertion a hard thing to add to her frazzled nerves of almost being crushed to death earlier. Never mind wading around clone goo. Still, she put up a good front of sticking close to Seth, ducking behind him and shoving whatever came their way back, or throwing it up toward the ceiling, the walls or some where else. She didn't particularly care so long as whatever it was that came their way, didn't stay that way.

As Seth bantered she shot him a shaky smile, "Nephew actually. That's Billy. I told you about him. Tommy is his brother." She murmured, trying to make her way toward said group.

Her gaze falling toward the melted metal with interest. Her hands spreading out as she tried to tug it her way instead, anything was better than the get up that Mojo had put her in, and metal was metal..

*

The electrified globe melts back into neon bars that rise and turn translucent in a heartbeat. "Incoming producer mad about his ratings! Lorna, throw the metal pool script at him. You got this, girl, his lines suck. " Hope calls out to the others in a warning, audible over the fairly resistant noise. When she rips away the veil surrounding Mojo, it's more the effect of a towel falling off a very ugly man at the nudist beach. Smart time for everyone to avert their eyes and collectively groan, "Eww."

The interruption gives her a moment to fire off a warning on a telepathic wavelength to Billy and Nico: Flip the station. He's coming out and we're all on his projection thingy, I think!

Her earlier examination as the bored contestant number two finally amounts to something useful, though. As she crosses her arms in front of her, she summons barriers and honeycombed balls lightning quick to ring the stage in patchwork fuzz and telekinetic filaments that render the view opaque. Nothing like cutting off the audience from anything interesting, especially when the scribbled bolts of lightning running through those telekinetic bands might be convinced to read 'Apocalypse Pending… Flip to Channel 4!' once or twice.

Dad isn't the only one with a sick sense of humour.

*

"Nephew. Mostly." Billy gestures to Lorna to indicate who he is the nephew of, flashing her a quick grin when she says about the same thing, "We're here to rescue you! And her! Aaand…" With everyone else taking out lots of bad guys at once, he rather thinks just doing one at a time is inefficient, so he takes a deep breath— then blinks, as he hears Hope in his mind again. There's a quick nod, "Silent night!" He doesn't strictly have to use a different spell for similar effects, but he does so out of a sense of *style*. "Silentnight!" He presses the full force of his will onto reality, "SILENTNIGHT!" The intent, this time, is to introduce the watchers to not classical music, but unseasonable christmas jingles.

*

The studio is in pure chaos, which doesn't help combat focus. The upside is that the enemy has been most effectively disarmed! As they say, it's like shooting fish in a barrel.

And Neena's got herself one appropriately large gun to do the shooting with.

Every spent hull to be flung out of the shotgun becomes swept away in the swirling telekinetic vortex as the armed albino gives each of the baddies a personal tour of Buckshot Town. "Welcome to the happiest place on Earth, motherf—"

*BLAM!*

Oh..oh god, is that..Christmas music..?

"Is there -any reason- why we're still here?!" Dom yells out to the others. "And where the hell did Cable go??"

*

There's bodies falling everywhere, and to Mojo's suprise? Most of them happen to be from his side of the battle. This is not pleasing to him.

Worse yet…? The channel is changing /again./ And the denizens of the Mojoverse do NOT approve.

Feeling his powers already starting to wane, again, Mojo reacts as he should. Arms start flailing around again, and baleful eyes take in the assorted group. "Humans. HUMANS! Why do I EVER cast you filthy spine-having abominations?!" Mojo yell-ponders, before a flash of light envelopes the room once again.

This time, when the light fades away… it's still pretty bright. But that's not studio lights this time, this time it's the light of the sun; the group of heroes, PLUS Cable and Tommy, Adam West, /and/ the studio audience are back on the surface, outside the Enchanted Tiki Room.

It takes a moment for people to realize what's going on… before they /again/ start cheering. But this time? They're cheering for the heroes who just saved them (mostly) without injury. There's a handful who are going to need paramedics, though.

*

Seth smirks as he pivots to take a blow intended for Lorna, his stool weapon shuddering under the impact and finally breaking in his hands. Apparently it wasn't designed to be used as a bludgeoning weapon. Smoothly he shifted his focus to one of the four legs and swung it without pause - improvising without hesitation. There were perks to being raised in the gutters.

The stage lit up in a kaleidoscope of color splintering out from the telekinetic filament, casting everything in a sickly light that made every motion surreal. Sweat was wiped from his brow as he ruefully grinned and muttered something about a family reunion and maybe choosing a beach next time. As if on cue, Mojo's screams are swallowed up by sunlight and Seth is left staggering in the midst of the heroes and cheering, still holding a stool leg and smeared in blood that is most obviously not his own. Swaying for a moment, he reaches up to run his fingers through sweat soaked hair and looks quietly over at Lorna, obviously a bit out of his element now that there was nobody to beat to death. The smile was fading and he cleared his throat, dropping the makeshift weapon and shoving his hands in his pockets.

*

Ava is just charging up another bolt of electricity for Mojo when he yields the field, leaving her standing…in the sunlight. In Disneyland. Somehow, this might be worse than the fake game show. Especially since there are people cheering. Thank goodness for that balaclava so that no one can see the awkward, perplexed look on her face.

*

The inside of Nico's cheek starts to bleed just as Mojo is having his latest temper tantrum. They're still in Mojoverse as she starts to speak — not a conscious choice, admittedly. "*When blood is shed let the Staff of One emerge!*"

By the time they finish speaking, as the staff is bursting free of her chest, they're back in Disneyland. Some kid in the crowd starts crying about the monster coming out of the dark girl or something to that effect.

"Oh," she says, looking both dismayed and annoyed. "Timing," she sats to the Staff. "Guys, we need to go home right now unless we want another epic battle. Maybe."

*

Lorna was at least, growing somewhat more stable on her feet as time went on. Enough to ready what metal she'd snagged to fling it at Mojo when Hope called for her to do so. Having metal legs really weren't the best thing to have when fighting a magnokinetic. Her hands clenched, metal screamed and…

She found herself staggering as the light flashed and blinded her. The metal no longer with her was lost to her senses and the metal that came with her? It clattered to the ground in shock as she gaped at the crowd cheering them like actual heros. Still in that horrible green get-up Lorna blushed red and promptly made to try to duck behind Seth's person in front of her.

"Oh my gosh."

*

"Stop it. Seriously, stop it. You're totally missing the mouse and the duck dancing over there." Hope's tone of voice does not imply she likes the attention of a crowd. Far from it. She whips her arm out to indicate where the cheering, happy people should go and look, rather than staring at all of them.

That's the most they are getting out of her, though, because in the twinkling of an eye? She's gone.

*

"No, there's not gonna be another epic battle, I don't think there's good ratings for christmas jingles in march. But, we should get out of here, if only so Lorna can get a different outfit." Billy eyes her a long moment, "That's very…green." He glances around, "I need a door." And over there, he finds a utility closet door, so he heads for that, laying a hand against it, "Home sweet home, homesweethome, homesweethome." He groans as he does it: he's done four spells today, that's a lot! He sways a bit, not quite falling over, and then tugs open the door cautiously, and looks relieved, as his apartment is on the other side, not a closet. "Over here!"

*

"That's -mutant- to you, Ugly!"

Apparently asking why they were all still there was the right question to ask at the right time. In a literal flash everyone is outside and back on the surface. Including Domino and the bad guy she's got by the throat with a stupid large weapon jammed into the poor guy's maw. "What—?"

Both the pale lady and her opponent stand near perfectly still, sloooowly looking around at the change of scenery.

"I think we're done here…" she mutters to a cautious nod in agreement from the other guy. She removes the gun and lowers her arms, just for a second. In the next the guy's collapsing to the ground, knocked out cold. Riot guns also make great nightsticks!

However, a new problem has now presented itself.

"And this..is not in line with keeping a low profile…" comes muttered beneath her breath as she stares back at all of the cheering people. Not good. So very, -very- not good.

This is so not good that she's actually shifting her way closer to Hope. There's a look of genuine concern about her. "Hey..I could really use— … Frig."

Billy calling out for an exit brings an immediate sense of relief and change of direction from her, though the damage here has already been done. There are way too many witnesses. Way, waaaay too many witnesses.

This is gonna be a problem.

*

"Goingafterherdontforgetthebigguy!" Tommy chirps at high speed, before the blink of an eye means he, too, is no longer in sight. He's got a girlfriend to go fetch before she misses the ride home.

Meanwhile, after having given the heroes their proper welcome…. well, the assorted people move to help one another get to somewhere they can recover — whether it means calling paramedics (or reporters), carrying wounded people to chairs so that they can sit, and other things like that. Besides. They only get so many vacation days a year, and this is Disneyland! They've got better things to do. What have you done for them LATELY, heroes?

…like, in the last ten seconds? Because this is America. The truth of the moment matters more than the truth of the past!

*

Seth quietly peels off what is left of his button up shirt, tossing it over Lorna's shoulders without much ceremony, leaving his own slender frame in a white undershirt and tight-waisted jeans. Guiding the woman towards the door her nephew had just opened, he steadied Billy with a curious look of mild concern before nodding his gratitude and slipping through the portal. When they arrive on the other side, he collapses gratefully onto the nearest couch and succinctly summarizes his gratitude with a grumbled,

"Thank fuck that's over."

*

Ava is all too eager to go through the door back to New York, though she does at least wait to guard the rear - since she had the foresight to mask up, at least no one's going to recognize her. Hell, they probably won't even recognize the emblem on her chest. Sometimes it's worth it to be obscure.

*

"Yes, well, my parents live about fifteen miles that way," Nico says, pointing, "and the Staff was inside my mom for about twenty-five years before it was in me, so… oh." Billy's already summoning them a way back to New York. Nico's quite happy to rush on through. Somebody else can deal with memory modification.

*

Back in the apartment there's one more soul who doesn't settle in to relax. As soon as they're all back, Domino's out the door (and thankfully there's a -hallway- behind this one!) No goodbyes are offered nor any indication that she's ghosting on the crew. Bug-out time!

*

Domino leaves, heading towards RP Nexus [O].

*

Domino has left.

*

Lorna makes a grateful sound as Seth takes off the shirt and wraps her up in it, hurriedly following behind Billy as he makes the portal out to the apartment in New York. She was shaking faintly by the time they exited and left Disneyland behind her expression pinched. "I'm going to be in so much trouble with Miss Frost." She bit her lower lip.

"How long was I gone? Oh my gosh, I'll have failed my classes for the Spring semester!Oh no, no no.." She groaned, clapping her hands against her features as she flopped back on the sofa beside Seth.

*

Somewhere far away and high in a fake mountain, no telling how she got up there, Hope crosses her arms over her chest and glares at the not happiest place on earth. Convincing her to come down might take an act of God, or speedster with food, considering she's shivering fairly uncontrollably from her high perch. Do not ask what it takes Tommy to convince her to come down, given that she says flat out, "I don't want to. Tasmania. How about Tasmania? I hear they have trees and doughnuts and devils."

*

Once Billy is sure someone closed the door, he heads to the nearest couch, and finds it occupied. He pauses, and flops on the other one then, looking exhausted, "My head hurts like whoa." he begins, "But is everyone alive? Okay? Need any healing? Wait did you say the staff is IN YOU?" The way he says that has three layers of innuendo and grossed outness all braided together, "I absolutely hate the slug man but at least now we know how to deal with him. The more of us he kidnaps, the more we start broadcasting, I don't know. Next time it'll be a Three Stooges movie. No, that's funny. Some silent film, I'll have to look up what." He eyes Lorna a moment, "I'm sure you can get an 'i got kidnapped by an interdimensional menace' excuse written out."

*

She's not the only one on that fake mountain; though he didn't get up there /quite/ as easily as the experienced freerunner. His ascent was /greatly/ assisted by bursts of speed vs. gravity here and there.

"We could. Hide away there for a while. I'm not so sure they have donuts, though. Pretty sure it's just trees and devils. They probably have, like, fruits and stuff on the trees. But no ice cream." Pause. "Have I shown you ice cream, yet? C'mon, Hope, let's go get some ice cream. It'll be delicious and you'll thank me later. Promise." Another pause. "You know, Billy or Nico could probably make it /rain/ ice cream. Man. Now I'm hungry. But I'm not leaving here without you." he declares, sticking his tongue out at the redhead.

*

"I'm fine," Ava says simply, pulling off the balaclava now that they're safely away from cameras and interdimensional theater. "What happened to Hope and Tommy and her father?" she asks as she looks around, brows furrowing. "Did anyone see where they went?"

*

"You missed the part where it came out of my chest, then?" Nico asks Billy drily. "At the moment it's right here, but when it's not in use, or it needs to recharge, I reabsorb it." She looks toward Ava, then. "Tommy went to find Hope. Hope wasn't dealing well with the crowd, I think. And I haven't seen her dad since the yellow slug man decided you and I were Billy's girlfriends."

*

Seth adapts his usual scowl now that the threat of death has passed briefly. Then again, tomorrow was a new day. He wasn't going to savor it too long. As the couch sighed to accommodate Lorna beside him, he shifted his weight to permit companionable space and glanced to her nephew with a wave of his hand.

"She can't use that excuse because she shouldn't have gotten mixed up in all of it to begin with."

His blue eyes narrowed in a sideways glare that softened only a bit as he muttered,

"Not that I'm ungrateful but ya'll should be dead three times over. Especially you."

He emphasized Lorna with a flick of one of his dirtied fingers before muttering,

"I gotta use your shower."

Unceremoniously he excused himself to do exactly that. Make yourself at home, why don't you Seth?

*

Suddenly, the TV in Billy's apartment comes to life. The screen itself? Static. But there's words. Words and a very familiar voice.

"You think you've won, but your battle's just only BEGUN. I WILL find you, ALL of you, and I will CANCEL YOU." declares the voice. Then the TV goes dark once again.

*

"Yeah, that whole girlfriend thing was weird. I mean don't get me wrong, you're cool, Ava, and no, I totally was distracted Nico, but you ladies aren't my type." Billy is a little bit bewildered by that turn of event, then he shrugs at Seth, "Bah, no slug man can stand against—" The slug man appears on TV, at least his voice, and Billy scowls. "I might have to get rid of that now. Teddy's not gonna be happy."

*

Lorna offers Billy an apologetic look as he realizes the couch was taken up. A wince following as Seth chided her over having gotten tangled up in the Mojo mess and dragging her family and friends along for the ride. "I doubt Miss Frost will approve of my being on television as a mutant. You know that whole keeping it hush hush thing? Also I took off two weeks before when my tata hid me with your dad Billy. So I've missed a looot for this semester and—"

She breaks off between the combination of Seth getting up and Mojo's voice echoing in the room. She jumps and shrieks promptly, all of the metal in the room lurching with her movement and fear as she stared, aghast at the tv. Which, very promptly is crushed inwards into a ball of without much thought from her.

A wince, and she turns red. "Sorry Billy.."

*

"Trees and devils and fruit is fine. And those black and white tuxedo birds. They probably aren't evil," hisses Hope under her breath. "Do I have to? It's no good being around anyone right now. Everything is so loud and I think I'm going to pass out, and it's not going to be around them or Dad, so just…" The redhead trails off, probably aware the ricochet tangents her lack of logic is taking her. She gives another risky shake of her head. "Just show me where the ice cream is, then we can get back. After a nap. Don't have it to keep up."

Which is true, as she makes it about three steps after Tommy before keeling over.

*

Hope leaves, heading towards RP Nexus [O].

*

Hope has left.

*

Seth leaves, heading towards RP Nexus [O].

*

Seth has left.

*

Ava pushes a hand through her hair, grimacing at the crackle from the television. "I should go and check in at work," she says quietly, unzipping her jacket and reaching for the oversized coat she usually wears instead to cover it up. "Lorna, I am glad that you are back safe. Please do not hug me, though." An odd statement. Probably a clone thing. On that note, though, she slips out of the apartment.

*

Nico utters a dramatic sigh. "People always miss me at my most amazing," she huffs, for all that she knows she did good work today. Beyond the staff coming out of her.

And then people are leaving. And the only person left is Billy. The guy, who, you know, she knows way too much about.

It's like thirty years too early to say this, but 'AWK-warrrrrd.'

"I should probably head out too," she says, a little more hastily than she perhaps intended. "I've got to make sure my roommate hasn't eaten all of my Oreos." Because that's what (possibly) Xiang loves more than anything. Really. Oreos.

Okay, she's pretty sure Xiang (possibly) has never eaten an Oreo in her life, but it's an excuse, okay? Jeez! Let a girl tell her little white lies!

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