Log:Imaginary Friends, Scene 7

Imaginary Friends 2009/01/13 	 Imaginary Girl Lorelei Regan Yolanda 7

Imaginary Girl lands outside the coffee shop not long after having flown away. Pulling the door open, she walks back into the place, still looking 'down', as before. "... sorry I flew away", she says, quietly.

Regan nods. "Well look after yourself. We don't have enough genuine heroes."

Silver Spider winks to Imaginary Girl. "No problem." She says and turns to look at Regan. "I gotta go..." She says. "I've got some things to take care of, and hopefully, I'm not too late to fix them." She says. "PDA me if any of you have any questions about science."

Regan says, "That's ok, it happens, this has to be confusing and distressing."

Regan nods firmly. "Will do."

Silver Spider winks an eyeslit to Regan and dashes for the door. "Look out, workforce, here I come!" She shouts as she whisks through the door and extends a webline, leaping into the open sky.

Lorelei says, "Take care!"

Lorelei thinks. o O (Funny how little my path has crossed with Silver Spider's.....)

Imaginary Girl steps out of Spidey's way as she leaves. "Lorelei... have you seen Yolanda? I ... really need to talk with her!", she says, a little glimmer of hope in her eyes as she asks.

Regan watches Silver Spider depart before turning her attention back to IG and Lorelei.

Regan says, "Have you tested Lorelei with your friend?"

Lorelei says, "Um - not for a few days I'm afraid...."

Yolanda walks into the coffee shop, slipping her PDA into her pocket as she comes inside. "Imaginary Girl," she says, with a bit of relief in her voice. "I'm glad I've finally caught up with you."

Lorelei says, "Speak of the devil! Hey, Yolanda."

Regan's brows lift slightly as Yolanda appears, as if talking about her summons her. "Would everyone care to join me at my table?"

"Yolanda!", Imaginary Girl says, actually finally looking happy. She even 'rushes' at the woman to hug on her. "I've been looking everywhere for you!", she says, reaching into her cleavage to pull out a cellphone, a gaudy, colorful thing that looks like a child's toy - and that, other than Imaginary Girl herself, only Yolanda (and possibly, pending Spider's call on it, also Lorelei) is able to actually see. "I found Wumbles' phone at the institute, and I talked to him. He said /lots/ of stuff. Wierd stuff and stuff that made me think hard before I figured out some other stuff!", she says.

Yolanda walks over to the table with the others. She gets right to the point. "You've heard about the kidnapping?" she asks, mainly of Imaginary Girl. "Wa..!" She's caught off guard by Imaginary Girl's hug wincing slightly at her exuberance of the embrace.

Yolanda nods. "I've got some news too."

Regan's eyes flicker back and forth with the exchanges, her expression neutral as she suddenly becomes the only person in the conversation who CAN'T see the phone

"Cell phone...?" Yolanda says softly, looking at the device.

"Good! Good! Lemme tell you what I found out", Imaginary Girl says, sitting down at the table she's been invited to share. "Thanks", she says to Regan, still waving the 'imaginary cellphone' in the air. "Wumbles can't see Doris... she's the doctor's secretary, remember? He said she's as imaginary to him as he is to most people, and wondered how that could be unless Doris doesn't have /any/ imagination at all..."

Lorelei says, "THat's an odd phone...."

Yolanda joins the others at the table. She nods to IG, listening. "Go on."

Imaginary Girl nods. "He said something about that we should look really, really close at the institute, too... how it's made, what it's made from, the people there. Oh... and Ingersoll's hiding stuff from us. I'm /sure/ of it. According to what Wumbles said, he knows about how I was made and everything, something about a global burst of psychic energy, and he didn't tell us any of that. He also knew Wumbles had been there, and he didn't tell us that, either. I don't trust the doctor!", she says, putting her hands on her hips as she says the last. "He's hiding stuff from us that might help us stop all this!"

Yolanda nods. "There are some parts of Ingersoll's treatment of the kids that I wanted to have him clear up. I really want to talk to him, but there's also the matter of finding Lisa."

"Oh! He gave me a clue how to find where he has Lisa! It's gotta be a trap... but... I don't know what the clue means!", Imaginary Girl says, blushing. "He said he has her 'Where automation makes its name, that's where Lisa cries with shame.'... and he's trying to make /her/ kill Georgie!", she says, closing her eyes as she spits out the quotation, clearly having worked hard to keep it in mind.

"Oh... and something Spider said, earlier... she said she was able to feel wind moving around, or something like that, when Kismet saw Wumbles... I think Wumbles is, like, solid - or at least mostly so. If there's smoke or rain or something... maybe other people besides us could see where he's at, even if still can't see him?", Imaginary Girl suggests, too.

Lorelei says, "Who's Georgie? Automation - one of the industrial zones, maybe?"

"Georgie is Lisa's imaginary friend.. he's a really good dancer!", Imaginary Girl says to Lorelei.

"'Where automation makes it's name...'," Yolanda repeats thoughfully. "Do you remember hearing anything in the background of the phone call, Imaginary Girl?"

Imaginary Girl looks over at Lorelei, her expression getting sad. "I... I could hear Lisa crying... and telling him that she hates him. I heard him telling her to 'pull the trigger' while he was feeding her cookies."

Yolanda says, "Imaginary Girl... may I see the phone for a moment? I'd like to examine it."

Lorelei says, "Makes its name... that sounds like it should mean something too. But I can't think what."

Imaginary Girl, as if she'd forgotten she had the thing in her hand, looks at it first, then offers it over to Yolanda.

Lorelei says, "All I can think of is a factory that makes signs, or something. But... Hm."

Yolanda begins to examine the device. First she looks for things that she would expect on a normal cell phone, like a phone book and call logs. Then she inspects it for anything that might catche her attention.

The cell phone has only one phone number. "Mr. Wumbles." It has no call logs.

The cell phone has a little strip on the back. It has some letters and numbers that don't really make sense, as if whoever imagined it really didn't know anything about barcodes, cellphones, or how they work.

"Hey... waitaminit... Wumbles knew about people named Shakespeare, Proust, and Cervantes... that's not the science-stuff he coulda got from reading the doctor's notes, and Toby couldn't have known that stuff, could he? He's just a little boy...", Imaginary Girl tosses out all of a sudden.

Lorelei says, "I don't know - can he read minds? Can he read other things? I'm afraid I don't know enough about what's going on to be very helpful....."

Yolanda says, "I don't know. The other friends... they also seemed to have a bit more knowledge about the world than their children ought to have. Maybe he's been to a library...?"

Regan says, "Does that mean he's been reading?"

Yolanda says, "Before I forget, I have some news to share as well..."

Yolanda says, "There's a homeless shelter, not thirty blocks from the Institute. All of the people who would normally be found hanging outside of the shelter are missing."

"Oh, yeah... Wumbles said he was 'practicing' on homeless people... something about needing a buncha tries to get the bungee cords righit", Imaginary Girl says, sadly.

Lorelei says, "Practicing =- practicing what? Kidnapping? Killing?"

"Killing", Imaginary Girl says, nodding her head.

Yolanda's eyes narrow. "A library..." She looks to Imaginary Girl and sounds out a theory: "Mr. Wumbles is bright, but he doesn't know a lot about the real world. A library would seem like a perfect place for him to go. To bulid knowledge about the world he so desperately wants to become a part of. Libraries can be quiet, they can have isolated sections, where Wumbles would be free to operate. What libraries are close to the Institute?"

"Uhm... I dunno... maybe there's one /at/ the Institute?", Imaginary Girl suggests.

Yolanda looks to Lorelei and Regan: "I'm not sure how much you've heard, but I'll try to sumarize the situation for you:"

Regan says, "There's Colonial Bay library and the library at the university, and of course each department would have smaller libraries dedicated tro their specialities."

Yolanda says, "There were a number of children at a mental health facility known as the Roanoke Institute where they were being 'cured' of having imaginary friends by Dr. Ingersoll. It so happens that their friends are real -- simply invisible to most people. Psychics can see them. Imaginary Girl can too, and apparently you can too, Lorelei. One of the friends is Mr. Wumbles, a rabbit in a top hat who is psychotic and fixated on Imaginary Girl and becoming more real like her. Wumbles has killed one of the friends of the Institute kids, using surgical tools and bungee cords...""

"and he killed homeless people, too", Imaginary Girl adds.

Yolanda says, "He's kidnapped another Institute child and her friend. There's a ritualistic nature to his brutality, as though he gets some real or perceived benefit from slaying the other friends. We think he plans to get all of the other friends and do the same thing: torture and execute them in front of their children."

Regan says, "Well, if he terrorises the institute kids enough they will make him more real won't they?"

Regan says, "But won't he be at least a little localised?"

Imaginary Girl looks at Yolanda. "He wants to be real. He can only do that by getting enough psychic energy, he told me. That's why he's killing the other friends, so that the kids who made them will give /him/ that psychic energy instead. Just me talking to him as if he was real - he said /that/ made him more real."

Lorelei says, "Hang on - there's something ritualistic about the way he's going about this - and didn't you say, Imaginary Girl, that he's having somebody kill someone else? If I understood that correctly?"

Yolanda says, "A lot of serial killers, when they start out, they begin close to home. A controlled, familiar environment. Let me see if I can get Officer Raymond on the phone."

Imaginary Girl nods. "Yeah... I heard him telling Lisa to 'pull the trigger' to kill Georgie", she says to Lorelei.

Lorelei says, "It suggests that its not just the killing that matters, it's how it's done. At least in his mind. Which may be pretty much that same thing as in reality anyway, if he's a psychic being."

The phone rings, and rings. "Officer Raymond's Phone." The voice says. "It's for you, honey."

Officer Raymond grabs the phone. "Hey..." She says. "I'm almost out the door. What do you need?"

Yolanda speaks to Raymond on her PDA: "I'm wondering if you've had any news on the missing homeless from the shelter by the Institute. I'm fairly certain that it's related to Mr. Wumbles and the kidnapping."

"Jesus..." She says quietly. "All of them?" She mutters. "Are you saying he's killed thirty two people?" She appears to be stepping outside from the creak of the door. "You cannot let this go to the press. There will be a citywide panic if people find out that this imaginary bunny has killed 32 citizens, even if they're homeless citizens. There could even be riots.'

"I think Doctor Ingersoll knew about it... he's /definitely/ hiding stuff from all of us, like the notes about me that he has", Imaginary Girl says, nodding her head as if that'll be more convincing.

Lorelei says, "Have you seen these notes?"

Imaginary Girl shakes her head. "No, but I /know/ he's hiding stuff from us. He totally didn't tell me Wumbles had put that book on the shelf in Toby's room, even though he /knew/ it was there - I could tell by his eyes!", she says, pointing at her own eyes with both hands, for emphasis.

"Send me everything that you have on the missing people." Yolanda says. "Have the other children been moved into protective custody?"

Lorelei says, "Um - what book?"

"That one the guy was signing at the mall, I think. The one about how to be a villain?", Imaginary Girl says, after a moment's thought.

"Absolutely." Officer Carter says. "Once a crime that wasn't a misdemeanor was committed, we were able to act with absolute authority. With what you've got, I've got enough authority to assemble a task force and move on this."

Regan says, "Yes, I remeber that guy."

"Thanks, Officer Raymond." Yolanda says. "We're going to check out Dr. Ingersoll. We think that there's something shady about him. In any case, don't share any information with him, please."

"We'll be sure not to." Carter says.

"Are we gonna go save Lisa?", Imaginary Girl asks, once Yolanda's hung up the phone. "Now that we have an idea where to find her?"

Regan says, "Well I think that's certainly the plan."

Lorelei nods. "We just need to locate the right library!"

Regan says, "I guess we can find the library quickly by calling them up and see if they've had any problems with books going missing"

"We may have a lead on the McGillicuddy child. Wish us luck.... Goodbye." Yolanda says before hanging up. "Yes, I think that's the priority."

"But... he can't be at any regular library. They'd notice what he's doing. They'd hear Lisa screaming, right? ... oh wait, he has that gizmo that makes things quiet... but, still, wouldn't people see stuff?", Imaginary Girls offers up for consideration.

The Battle
Later, at the CBSU Library

The main hall of the library is a vast marble-floored, high vaulted room that soars five stories upward. The seal of the University is inlaid in the floor and a breath-taking fresco depicting the history of Colonial Bay adorns the ceiling. Warm lights illuminate the area aided by natural light reflected down from above via a series of shafts. All the trim is in oak and brass and marble, lending an air of antiquity to an otherwise modern building. There is a combination Reference/Information desk to the right of the main entrance. To the left of the entrance are an automated information kiosk and a modest brass plaque. The main hall is circled by five stories of vaulted rooms that look down into the central area. The ceiling of each room is supported by graceful pillars and contains a research area. Elevators or stairs provide easy access to the upper floors and to the basement level. The basement level contains the University Archives, the staff offices, presentation rooms, and private study rooms. All of the materials available from the library are accessible electronically, so the few remaining print items are stored in the University Archives.

The library appears to be fairly busy today, with students settled into kiosks and the sun streaming in through windows. It's a little cooler here than it is on the rest of Campus, and there's a student at the helpdesk right in front. There's a vague sense of unease for everyone who could see the cellphone. Something is happening, right now.

(Yolanda) You hear a gunshot, a sharp BANG that echoes in your ear, from somewhere below the bottom floor.

(Imaginary Girl) You hear a whining moan and then a loud BANG that drives right up into your eardrums.

Imaginary Girl suddenly looks down at the floor. "He's... under us?", she says, looking confused - she doesn't know how this sort of building's laid out, after all.

"Gunshot," Yolanda says. "Sounds like it came from the basement."

Imaginary Girl ponders Yolanda's words, then shakes her head. "Uhm.. it was deeper than that? I think?", she says.

Regan glances to and fro, her lips slightly pursed and apparently oblivious to the noise. She glances in IG's direction. "The library will have stacks in the basement for old periodicals, papers and magazines and the like.

Lorelei heads down into the depths of the building - if she can find someone who will be able to open doors to staff-only areas on the way she asks them too, otherwise she'll leave it to Imaginary Girl's strength to make us a entrance.

Yolanda walks up to the front desk quickly. "How do I get to the basement? It's urgent." She thinks a moment and then asks, "Or is there a maintenance space beneath the basement?"

Imaginary Girl helps try to talk library staff into providing entrance as needed, asking to be lent the keys, rather than ask someone to come along. She even suggests that the library be evacuated, immediately, for the safety of everyone in the building. She'll only resort to busting down walls and doors if the staff refused - there's more important stuff at stake than a few doors and walls, after all.

The student looks up. "Uhh...urgent, pull the fire alarm, get everyone out of here, and go down the stairwell to your left." He says. "Hey, you're superheroes. Go right ahead. Hey, Imaginary Girl! I'm a big fan!' He grins widely. There's clearly a picture of you on an "Imaginary Girl" fansite that he's looking at on his cellphone. And the picture doesn't have any clothing!

Lorelei says, "DOn't pull the alarm - it will tell him we're here, or at least put him on guard...."

Imaginary Girl blushes at the picture on the cellphone. "Uhm... that's not a picture of me, you know...", she points out to him, though she doesn't go into details on why she's sure of that. "And, yeah... don't pull the fire alarm... the bad guy might get away", she says, agreeing with Lorelei on that.

The door is easily opened. The basement is filled with easy to follow wailing sounds, coming from behind a heavy, locked door marked "Air Conditioning." A dull grinding sound fills the air, echoing with the sound of powering and cooling the library's many computer systems. There's a faint coppery smell, the smell of blood, inching out from under the door.

Lorelei feels slightly sick at the sight of the blood. "We have to act now!" she whispers.

Imaginary Girl flits to the door, flying along the floor instead of running... and, punching her fists into the wall on either side of the door, simply rips it free of its place and out of the way. "Lisa!", she calls out as she pulls the door out of the way.

Yolanda nods and follows along behind the heroes.

It is nothing but carnage and sadness. Lisa sits in a direct line with the door, tied down in a seat with bunjee cords. Her wrist is taped up with a .45 automatic, her finger bandaged to the trigger. Geoffrey the Giraffe hangs from more bunjee cords, missing two legs and an arm, not far from the wall. The legs, the arm, and a strange looking piece of flesh are stacked in front of Lisa like cordwood. Written on the wall, in his own blood, a single red tipped finger, are Geoffrey's last words. "Kill me...oh, please...kill me. Can't dance...can't sing...kill me..." A large pool of blood drips from under the giraffe, and standing with his arms folded, a machete in his right hand, is a large rabbit, wearing a top hat and waistcoat. He carries a pocket watch, and adjusts his stance in his spats. "You must be Imaginary Girl." The rabbit says. "Please allow me to introduce myself. I am Mr. Wumbles." The voice is smooth and rough at the same time, like water lapping at the edges of a beach. He smiles through his buck rabbit teeth, and his eyes redden a little bit.

Lisa sobs, tied up in her chair. "You didn't fall for it..." She whimpers softly. "Thank you, Imaginary Girl..."

Mr. Wumbles sighs. "The book didn't teach me everything, I'm afraid. I'll simply have to find other ways to take advantage of your compassion."

Lisa lets out a little choke. "He made me do it." She whuffles. "He made me do it...oh, god...Geoffrey's dead...he made me do it..."

"My God..." is all Yolanda can say.

Lorelei freezes for a moment - she's seen some pretty horrible things in her time but nothing like this....

Imaginary Girl lets the door drop, taking a moment to register all that she sees and hear... then her eyes narrow and she balls her fists together. She doesn't speak. Instead, she opens her mouth and a cry of rage escapes her... and she darts into the room right at Wumbles, aiming for a flying tackle!

There is a horrid crunch as Imaginary Girl plows into Mr. Wumbles, and she crumples up against him. Wumbles does not move. "NNGGH..." He grunts huskily as his rabbitlike legs absorb the impact. "You are very impressive." His eyes sparkle with a merry light. "But not as impressive as I had hoped."

Yolanda says aside to Lorelei. "Get Lisa out of here... I'll do my best to try and slow him down." She activates her force field by clicking the button on her belt. She narrows her eyes in concentration and focuses her mind on Mister Wumbles.

The psychic shock hits Wumbles and he shakes his head. "NGNGH..." He spits up a little bit of yellowish fluid, which splatters on the ground. "Bile!" He shouts excitedly. "You made me choke up bile!" It seems thrilling to him. He turns to look at Imaginary Girl and takes a deep breath. "And now you've delivered Imaginary Girl to me, as well. How timely."

Lorelei had other things in mind but on Yolanda's instruction hurries over to Lisa and removes her restraints. "Run!" she whispers to the girl, making sure that she is between Lisa and Mr Wumbles.

Mr. Wumbles chuckles and leaps into the center of the room. "There's so much psychic energy here..." He smiles. "I do believe I could become real right now." He chortles, like it's something he's always wanted. "Attacked by an entire GROUP of mentalists and Imaginary Girl. This couldn't have worked better if I had actually PLANNED IT!" He springs forward, landing in the center of the room, and inhales sharply, and then breathes inward. He hits the floor with a heavy thud. He's certainly louder than you all imagined he might be.

There's a sickening thud. "Oh, my god..." Wumbles howls. "I'm REAL! I did it! I'm real! And I didn't have to kill any more of them! Thank you, Imaginary Girl!" He cackles evilly. "You've saved me! Now I can kill real people! Now I can crush that stupid worm Toby, and that manipulative swine Ingersoll. On the other hand, since Toby no longer controls me..." He cackles evilly. "I'm free to do what I want."

Lisa runs screaming out the door. "Nooo...Geoffreeeee..." She wails, howling out into the hall and wiping her eyes.

Lorelei turns to face Mr Wumbles. "Reality isn't exactly a picnic you know. There are those who whould much rather be living in a fiction indeed - no wonder with this sort of thing in reality. And oh - I'm not a mentalist."

Imaginary Girl hears Lisa's scream, and glances back, then looks back at Wumbles. She reaches out and grabs one of his arms, twisting it around behind him as she wraps the other around his body, getting as good a grip as she can. "Yolanda... tell the school I says I'm sorry for this....!", she says as she struggles to keep her hold. "I'm gonna treat you like exploding armor, Wumbles...", she says to the murderous rabbit.

Wumbles grunts as Imaginary Girl grapples him. "This...is unexpected..." he says, his rabbit muscles tensing. "I should be...far stronger than you..." His teeth bite down on his lip as Imaginary Girl locks her arms around him.

Yolanda is silent as she continues to focus on Wumbles, locked in a struggle of wills.

Wumbles makes a HKKKT noise as the blast smashes into him, and then he writhes in Imaginary Girl's grip. "You know..." He says. "I'm going to have to make you both sorry you did that..." He bleeds a little bit from his greyish rabbit nose. "It's so nice to bleed, really. You can't imagine."

Lorelei makes sure the rabbit can see her and does what she usually does when facing a dangerous foe: she leads off with the her best 'stunning pose'.

Wumbles wrenches free of Imaginary Girl's grip, and reaches out for her with a rabbitlike hand. "You're very powerful psychics..." He says. "Unfortunately, very powerful psychics tend to be fragile, and I have the best psychic weapon in the world within easy reach..." He chortles and reaches out for Imaginary Girl.

Wumbles hand closes around Imaginary Girl, and HEAVES her at Yolanda with all of his might, giving a whuffing grunt to get the heroine away from him.

There's a massive crunch as the floor under Imaginary Girl is crushed by the force of Wumbles attack. The wall makes a dull cracking wrench and reveals some pulpy old wires that look like they haven't been connected to anything in a century.

Lorelei makes sure the rabbit can see her and does what she usually does when facing a dangerous foe: she leads off with the her best 'stunning pose'.

Wumbles staggers. "This is outrageous." He whuffs. "Bringing an entire army of psychics to fight me, the great Mr. Wumbles. Soon I'll climb high mountains! Build secret bases! Conquer the world! Oh, I so love the sound of that!" He clasps his hands together even though he's woozy. "Conquer the world!"

Lorelei says, "I'm *not* a psychic!"

Imaginary Girl gathers herself off the ground, making another sound like an angry roar as she launches herself at Wumbles all over again, leading with her fist!

Wumbles rocks back a little bit under the force of the blow, and Imaginary Girl collides with him again. "Hah." He says, his voice thrilled. "I'm nigh indestructible. Toby made me, but he couldn't control me. I wonder what will happen to those other children, and their Imaginary Friends, hmmm? When I'm done with you, Imaginary Girl, I suppose they'll be like dessert, or even worse, the after dinner mints." He tilts his head for a minute. "Oh, yes. Army of psychics. Of course."

Mr. Wumbles leaps for Yolanda, Machete out. "I can't wait to see how this works on a nonanemic target..." He coos throatily, and draws the blade back, swinging down at Yolanda with the force of his mighty swing. His feet crash into the earth near the door, and he's standing right near Lorelei also, the vicious breath tainted with sweat.

Yolanda's eyes widen as Wumble leaps for her. She at once regains her poise and tries to concentrate on squeezing his mind again.

Wumbles grunts as he comes in. "God!" he purrs. "It's a feast for me! I shall survive all things! I am the greatest evil to ever touch this world! You shall serve me as living food slaves!" He howls. "Too delicious to kill. A shame that I will have to seek that pleasure elsewhere!"

The machete slices down towards Yolanda, the furry, blood-spattered rabbit driving down with the force of several tons of muscle, the ground crunching under his feet. He turns to Lorelei and says "I would say "You shall be my bride, but, you know...you're not a rabbit, and I skipped that chapter."

Yolanda's force field protects her from the edge of the blade, but not from the sheer force of Wumble's attack. She drops to the ground, unconscious.

Lorelei cries out, "Yolanda!" and rolls past the blade-wielding rabbit go get to Yolanda and carry her out of the room to relative safety.

Wumbles cackles as he watches Lorelei run. "Yes! Run, foolish child! Carry her with you! I will find you! You will serve as meals for me while I conquer the world! Oh, god, I love saying that! I love saying "Conquer the world!"' He emits a quiet little roar. "So much imagination! So many possibilities!"

Imaginary Girl flies up at Wumbles' back. "I'm not DONE with you yet!", she says to him, all but spitting the words as she puts everything she has into a punch!

"Whhfff? Imaginary Girl?" Wumbles falls down. His rabbit face smashes into the ground hard. "That was...impressive. I'm starting to believe you might actually be a match for me." He chuckles. "Now all that's left is to kill Toby and Doctor Ingersoll, and my plans to conquer the world shall begin. It's so much better than being just a simple killing machine, don't you agree? But I can't be a world conquering villain unless I get rid of Toby."

Lorelei thinks. o O (This Toby still has some power over him...,)

Wumbles springs to his feet and draws back the machete, swinging it hard at Imaginary Girl as the legendary heroine faces him in the moment of her rage. "I have to admit, I'm surprised you didn't realize Ingersoll kept two sets of notes sooner. Breaking into that Institute will be much harder now that I'm real, and Ingersoll's nothing like what you imagine. Especially considering what he built that Solarium for. It was a plan worthy...of me!"

The Machete bites deep into Imaginary Girl and Wumbles smiles. "Not used to bleeding, are you?" He says eagerly. "You're my only friend, Imaginary Girl, now that we're real together. It's like you're special, and I'm special too." He whuffs tiredly. It looks like he's running out of steam.

Lorelei keepas running, carrying Yolanda, while calling for backup on both Safeguard and New Blood comms. She has no idea how tough Mr Wumbles is but getting people with some physical powers here seems like a good idea!

Imaginary Girl, her costume torn open in a bloody, ragged gash along her side where the machete bit into her, flying up and through the ceiling into the room above, wherever it may be. "Why don't we take this fight outside, Wumbles?", she calls down. "Or are you a chicken instead of a rabbit?"

Wumbles looks at Imaginary Girl as she rockets up through the hole, and looks at Lorelei running down the hall. "Oh, how dreadful..." He says, checking his pocket watch. "I'm coming for you, Toby. Oh, yes, all the times you pulled off my arms, and ripped off my head and put me back together...the time you peed on me. Your imaginary friend..." He chuckles. "We'll see who's real now, Toby. Oh, yes...yes we will....."