Log:Apostate's Redemption, Scene 4

Apostate's Redemption 2018/12/18 	 Amelia Apostate Grimm Jak Magus Moonshadow Timewarp Sinmore

4

Days earlier, a team of otherworld SG Delta agents, led by Topaz, came to the world known to our heroes, in pursuit of two 'fugitives'. The two men in question were Jesse 'Desperado' Fortune (a bounty hunter), and an other-world version of Connor Duran (the hero known as Radical). The latter goes by Apostate, though no one has heard that name, as of yet.

The heroes encountered the two fugitives in the middle of a fight with each other. The end result of that fight was that Apostate managed to crush a house with a singularity, before being knocked into that same singularity by Tali. Instead of being killed, he was transported...

In the meantime, the heroes spoke with Desperado and let him go before Topaz and Company arrived. Topaz and her agents returned to their home dimension, and the heroes considered a way to deal with the damage to the dimensional barriers that Apostate seemed to be causing...

Radical's abilities are also dimension based, and as it seemed that he might have some insight into his other-world self, he was enlisted to create a sort of 'dimensional tracking device' to find out where Apostate went. It took him a few days, but he managed to create just such a device. The downside is...that it ties up his dimensional harness to keep it running, effectively making him unable to participate in the coming conflict...

Right before the heroes decided to follow Apostate's trail, however, it was revealed they were being spied upon by Revenant, the former leader of the other-world SGG team that Topaz had deposed. In exchange for getting back to his home dimension, he has agreed to help guard Radical while the latter is unable to fight and the other heroes find a way to deal with Apostate.

The heroes then used the tracking device and some movement across dimensions to end up here: Apostate's Sanctum. It's a series of floating rocks in a void, like a series of rooms. Given the nature of Apostate's abilities, moving from room to room is as easy for him as walking.

The room that Apostate was in has just rotated into view about 60m away. There are a couple of other rooms between where the heroes are and their target, though the orientations of those don't match the one the heroes are on.

Apostate doesn't actually have his mask on. While it's difficult to make out distinct details at this range, it's quite clear that he's a version of Connor. From where the heroes are, he's perhaps 65m away? He's currently working on some kind of device, about the size of a pressure cooker. He has a wrench in hand, and he's working on turning a bolt.

Jak steps forward, his eyes locked on Apostate as he waves the others towards him. He is dead quiet, but leaves his hands extended behind him so others can grab on so he can make the leap between here and there. He will teleport the team to a position behind Apostate so as to stay out of his line of sight.

Timewarp asks Radical quietly, "Is your face protected at all when you're not wearing a mask?"

Moonshadow takes Jak's hand, and Tali's.

Radical shakes his head and says quietly, "No. But...it's hard to say what he's like, exactly. It's possible that he has say...bionic enhancements?"

Timewarp nods. But Plan A is still a punch in the face. :)

Dialydd lightly grabs Jak on the forearm.

Timewarp gets ready to move as soon as she hits the other asteroid!

Revenant positions himself in front of Radical, just in case Apostate happens to notice them. He mentions to the former mage, "I'm an energy being of my word. You'll be safe."

Timewarp takes hold of Moonshadow's wrist.

Once everyone is on board, he teleports the whole crew to Asteroid Apostate in the distance- aiming for a location that is just out of perspective for their target so the flash of their arrival doesn't give them away.

He keeps his breathing in check despite the strain of taking so many people on a jump to a place just outside his normal range.

Once on the other side, he'll unholster his weapon slowly but let the others take the lead for now.

No longer on official Starguard business, Grimm wears a black moto jacket and tank top with charcoal grey skinny jeans and black Doc Martens. She decides to let Jak do the teleporation lifting so she can focus on helping deal with Apostate.

Sinmore may or may not have been hiding herself at the back of the group. Once the team reaches its "proper" insertion point, Sinmore grows to her maximum height and her skin turns stony while her hair turns to flame as well. It's tough out there for high mass heroines. For the moment, the giantess stays quiet and ready for the others to give a go sign.

Jak crosses the distance with his teleport...only to find that he's short of the asteroid in question. A good 10m short. That...shouldn't have happened. But the distance felt longer than it initially appeared. The heroes are floating without anything under their feet, but thankfully invisible.

Timewarp hangs onto Moonshadow's wrist tightly! Floating in space she's pretty much a sitting duck.

Apostate stops what he's doing and looks up, like he's noticed something. "There's that dimensional shift again. What's going on?" He looks up doesn't seem to notice the group...but he does spot Radical and Revenant. "That...is indeed interesting. Hmm." He then pulls his mask on.

Jak has to steel himself to keep him from gasping and giving he & his team away. He clenches his jaw instead.

Luckily for him, his Outrider Rig autoactivates and he is in no immediate danger from falling- but he is worreid about the others.

That took it out of him too, he isn't going to be able to make that jump again for at least 24 seconds- he needs to catch his breath.

Sinmore blinks as she realizes that she's simply expanding into the void. The giantess flails for a few moments before she shrinks back to a more contained size, her rocky flesh receding into normal skin while her fiery hair snuffs out.

"Maybe someone throw me back at Radical and what's-his-face? I'm not exactly any good free-floating," hisses Sinmore.

Timewarp says, "Yeah - me too!"

Dialydd murmurs softly, "Can anyone fly?"

Timewarp says, "Like an ostrich."

"I can- but not very fast- especially with everyone." Jak says, trying to figure out what to do now.

Moonshadow says, "I can fly also, but pulling everyone would likely be slow - or too fast."

The room that Apostate is in in clearly a workshop. He has a number of various physics-related devices around the room. There's a platform of some kind, the device he's working on, a headset with wires attached to it, a rolling toolbox, and a large couch to lounge on. Additionally, there's a table with some notes on it. Handwritten notes on paper, of all things.

Grimm floats, completely at ease. "Do I have to open a portal for us?" she whispers quietly. With Apostate noticing Radical and Revenant, she considers reaching out with a mental illusion.

Dialydd looks at the distance from where the team is to the 'room'. "Physics. Fire away from the direction you wish to move. Movement towards the, cha, room?"

"Yes, please," replies Sinmore to Grimm.

Amelia drops the mass invisibility spell and hurriedly casts another spell. She summons a host of 'helpful servants' and commands them to 'tidy up' the area by putting all the loose floating objects onto the surface. Unfortunately the servants, trying to be helpful, also wash everyone's clothes and wash the characters themselves, comb hair, etc..

Apostate is...surprised, but notices the group hovering close by. "What in the world?"

Timewarp waits till her feet touch the ground!

"Screw it. I'm not going to go out like this- just floating in a void." Jak says angrilly. He doesn't like failing, but he hears the others talking and making a secondary plan. It makes his blood boil but if there is no other way he'll do it himself and teleport them back to where they started.

That is until (or when) Moonshdow starts pulling and flying away. Jak adds the force applied by his Zenithh accelerators to add to their forward movement.

Holding tight onto Jak, Laurel flies toward the asteroid.

Sinmore offers a concerned sound when she finds a mass of magical servants hauling her toward Apostate's room. The concern intensifies as her scalemail and chainmail gets cleaned and polished quite intensely under the the servants' best efforts even as she's hauled through open space.

A shadow tendril seeps from the black field surrounding Grimm, along with a pair of black feathered translucent wings made of shadow. The long tendril winds around Sinmore like a snake, pulling her along with Grimm as she flies towards Apostate.

Gravity kicks in for Grimm and Sinmore as they manage to get to the asteroid. It's like being on Earth. That same level of gravity, despite the smaller mass of the rock.

Grimm gets Sinmore onto stable-ish ground. "Alright, your turn."

Dialydd keeps a grip on Jak's forearm with his six-fingered hand as the group flies, en masse, towards Apostate. From an outsider's perspective, well, save for those who can sense magic or mnetal powers, the robed figure just seems to be looking at Apostate. To those who can 'see', transulucent golden-silver sand sarts to swirl around Apostate but fails to fully materialize.

Timewarp worries that the devices might be of some danger, so she decides to tackle those as soon as gravity holds her down. She grabs some tools from the toolbox, taking time to look over the paper notes in passing, and goes to disassemble the platform, since that looks completed, unlike the device under construction.

Timewarp is just too distracted to notice what's on the notes. Though it's something about...dimensional something or other. The platform starts to come apart after a bit of her work, as well. Apostate looks over, "Hey! The time platform is dangerous! Stop messing with that!"

Timewarp blinks, pausing with screwdriver in hand. "Time platform? Huh! Maybe I should be making notes...."

Timewarp thinks. o O (Ok. Good thing I did this. I really don't like the idea of this guy with time travel!)

Timewarp continues to disassemble the time platform!

The platform comes apart a bit more. It's likely no longer functional at this point, but still partially structurally sound.

Timewarp thinks. o O (This thing is solidly built!)

Jak lands with the team in tow before saying aloud, "Sorry about that guys... this place is... 'weird'." He sounds terribly ashamed, but like a light switch he gets back to business- unholstering his Thunderbolt and spinning it on his finger as he lifts it. Grabbing the handle with practiced ease, Jak levels his sights on Apostate- teleporting again, this time to a position that still prevents friendly fire but will cause Apostate the need to defend himself on two fronts.

He's seen Apostate do that against his double and everyone here when they first encountered him so he isn't confident flanking will necessarily be too effective. Still, its as good a plan as any considering him going for Radical & Revenant originally. He's jsut trying to keep his attention off his duplicate. He double checks nothing important is behind him and adjusts his position as necessary.

Apostate sees Jak's shot coming, and raises a hand, causing a small portal to appear. The blast goes off harmlessly into the void. "You would attack Apostate in his own domain? How many of you lot are there?"

Moonshadow calls down the Blue Moon upon Apostate

Apostate sees the attack coming, and avoids it, even if he's unsure of what it would do.

Magus says "Bullocks" as his spell fizzles.

Grimm only squints at Apostate in thought at his questions. Anyone sensitive to mental abilities will sense the power amassing between Grimm and towards Apostate as she tries to cloud his mind. She attempts to make him see people move to where they aren't, and to conceal the presences of those who haven't revealed themselves. With the addition of an illusion of Desperado appearing a few meters behind Apostate (opposite the heroes) to call him out.

Apostate hears Desperado behind him, and he realizes he's surrounded. "Grr...fine..."

Amelia says, "I realise it's kind of late in the day to be asking this question, but apart from ripping holes in the barriers between dimensions - that really has to stop - is this guy actually a villain type?" And at this time she holds her options open.

Dialydd watches the fight develop as he runs a hand along the bracer on his arm. As a golden-silver haze forms around him, the alien youth once again tries to affect Apostate. From an outsider's perspective, well, save for those who can sense magic or mnetal powers, the robed figure just seems to be looking at Apostate. To those who can 'see', transulucent golden-silver sand starts to swirl around Apostate but fails to fully materialize...again. Dialydd mutters a rather pithy curse in Guild Standard.

Jak say to Apostate, "We'll follow you anywhere you go- blowing holes in reality the way you are. Someone as smart as you should know better- unless you want reality to fall down around everywhere. So yeah- we're here to take you down. Hard if necessary."

Sinmore grows to gargantuan size once more now that she's on solid ground. "Remind me never to ride Air Jak interdimensionally ever again." she says. Luckily, Jak is too busy talking smack to hear the barb.

As Sinmore gets larger her long hair errupts into flame- literally becoming the elemental force while retaining its shape and form.

Her armor chinks as she moves- suddenly charging at Apostate head-on.

Sinmore closes the gap quickly with her long, muscular legs but as she takes the swing she misses. She clearly needs more brawling training from Solomon.

Apostate manages to avoid Sinmore's attack pretty easily. "You want to stop my revenge, do you?"

Timewarp wants to make absolutely sure this time platform is well and truly wrecked! (And a quick look suggests the others are keeping Apostate busy, anyway.) She keep taking it apart, piece by piece. And chucks the most vital- and expensive-looking bits into the void for good measure.

The platform falls completely apart into pieces...and Apostate might be angry about it, if he didn't have other things immediately on his mind.

Timewarp smiles to herself. Hopefully it'll take months to rebuild, even if he can!