Log:Crosstime Apocalypse, Scene 4

Crosstime Apocalypse 2014/01/30 	 Forge Hardcase Silverback Pendragon

5

Champions Mush - Thursday, January 30, 2014, 6:43 PM

Locke Industrial Park

''Once this was a site of heavy industry, when the nearby shoreline was endless wharves; then it was all but abandoned when that industry failed and the industrialist Locke was all but forgotten. Now Locke Business Park has come to be known as the technology center of town. With its manufacturing companies, as well as retail businesses, it draws people from all over Colonial Bay to purchase the latest in high tech. And unlike in the old days, the streets are clean and bright.''

Following the defeat of the White Ape and the release of Hardcase, Porter has to leave, so Malcolm waits with the pair while Malcolm's friends at Starguard arrive. Hardcase is malnourished. but looks more worried than relieved.

Hardcase says, "Hey. I know the police want descriptions and everything, but I have some trouble waiting for me in New York and I was thinking maybe I could give *you* whatever they wanted to know and get out of here."

Rummaging around in his pockets, Malcolm looks up to study Hardcase's expression. With a quirk of an eyebrow and a slight smile, Malcolm offers a shrug, "Crazier things have happened. Though I'd imagine if you were expecting trouble, you'd want to stay here for longer. Maybe get a few meals in you. I told my guys to bring MREs for you," replies the tall man.

Hardcase says, "Nah. MRE's followed by jail time is not my idea of fun."

"And you'd be going to j- You know what, nah, never mind. You've had a rough enough month," answers Malcolm. He shakes his head a little bit and runs a hand over his head. "If you give me some info that I can actually use, I guess I can say you got one over on me. This time. Sound fair?"

Hardcase grins, "Hey, around me, more improbable things have happened... daily." She looks to the Ape which is still sleeping off its beating. "Shall we get the mind control device off his head before he wakes up?"

"So it is a mind control device," comments the tall man. He nods and moves toward the Ape, pulling a few tools from his pockets as he goes. "I take it your pudgy captor was talkative around you?"

Hardcase says, "No, they just didn't care to hide what they were doing."

"They? I thought you said it was just some pudgy, brown-haired scientist-alike?" Malcolm casts a thoughtful glance at Hardcase as he stoops to start inspecting the mind control device affixed to the Ape's noggin. He tips his head a little bit, splitting his attention between her and the device.

Hardcase says, "Brown haired scientist, red haired lady who took care of things like money and food. Blonde haired guy who just sort of wandered through and hung out."

"Hm. That's interesting. I don't suppose you got names to go with those descriptions?" inquires Malcolm. The tall man starts probing the device for signs that it's been anchored to the Ape's skull somehow and, more importantly, trapped.

The device is neither, but appears to have been installed before the gorilla grew to its present size: it is partially imbedded in its skin.

The tall man winces as he notes how the device is secured in place. Malcolm screws up his face a little bit as he very delicately uses what he's got at hand to pry the device free of the Ape's skin and coax it up and over the primate's head. Quickly, Malcolm mops up any blood with a few clean rags that just happen to be hanging out in one of his jacket pockets, making an impromptu bandage for the poor simian.

Even unconscious, the simian sighs as if a great pain has been removed.

Setting his tools down, Malcolm spins the mind control device around in his fingers. "So. Hardcase. You going to tell me if you have names for these people or what?" Malcolm glances over his shoulder as he returns to simply gripping the device, considering it in the back of his mind as he looks around.

Hardcase a malnourished androgynous dark-skinned person with short blue hair, ragged clothes and combat boots is sitting outside a damaged building with an unconscious ten foot tall white gorilla and a more-conscious Malcolm.

Hardcase says, "Frank, Wayne, and ... I know this sounds odd, but I think the girl's name was Guy."

Well, not one to patrol really, Pendragon doesn't just run around looking for trouble. Trouble seems to find her all on its own most times. However, this evening she noticed something -odd-.. an aura that was lingering in the air. So she summoned the armor and sword and began following it. Rooftop to rooftop is easy when you can teleport and don't need to worry about the weight of the chainmail armor as you try to make a jump like that. So it is that she followed the trail of the aura to this area.. but then lost it. Poof, mist appears on the nearest rooftop and then clears up and the armored swordswoman is there, peering left and right as she attempts to find whatever it is that had her attention.

"Hm. Interesting to know," comments Malcolm. He nods a little bit, apparently having a deep internal discussion with himself as he grips the mind control device in his hands. Looking from Hardcase back to the Ape, Malcolm inquires, "What sort of stuff did they talk about, beyond the day-to-day concerns of survival? They mention any plans or anything?"

Hardcase says, "Not really. They knew each other real well, and fell into a sort of a pattern without a lot of discussion, but it wasn't like a close knit team. I don't think they really liked each other all that much. Frank was the worst. In several weeks, the guy never smiled or had any inflection in his voice. It was like he was pretending to be a robot or something.

Just then, the white gorilla begins to stir, slowly fighting its way back to consciousness.

"He's gonna be pissed when he wakes up," Hardcase mutters with a smirk. "I don't think he has any human friends."

"Someone care to explain the giant ape?" asks Pendragon as she walks out of the gap between two buildings. A small trail of mist drifting along in her wake as she moves. Her hands rest on her hips and she eyes the two of you, raising a brow under that crown's band.

Hardcase says, "Mad scientist. He escaped."

"Maybe we can, uh, maybe we can be the first," offers Malcolm, apparently assuming Hardcase means the gorilla doesn't have any human friends. He stands up, stretching a little bit this way and that to pop the kinks out of his back. "Huh? Oh, uh. He's also not a Monkey Island gorilla, so... Y'know. Fair warning."

Hardcase says, "What's a Monkey Island Gorilla?"

"It's a gorilla from Monkey Island?" offers Malcolm, casting a sidelong look at Hardcase. Looking back at the Ape, Malcolm adds, "Y'know. Sentient monkeys?"

"On a guess, I'd say a Gorilla from Monkey Island." remarks Pendragon, shaking her head as she steps over and crouches beside the rousing ape. "Seriously, has anyone called for a pickup from like... Starguard or whatnot?" she inquires.

Hardcase says, "Would saying, 'you can't do this to me, I have rights' make him a Monkey Island gorilla?"

"Yes. We were waiting for them to arrive," replies Malcolm. He runs a hand over his head and shifts over a little bit to put himself between Hardcase and the Ape. "That would change my understanding of the situation here, yes."

"Well, you said Mad Scientist. Did he turn himself into an ape, or is he like, a mutant ape who got super smart?" asks Pendragon as she stands back up and folds arms over her chest. "If you called for a pickup, they seem to be taking their time."

"Our primate friend here was enslaved by a Mad Scientist. Damn near killed Porter and me. Then we had to disconnect Hardcase here from some kind of probability power-sucking, "improbability event"-creating device. It's been a rough night," responds Malcolm as he interposes himself between Hardcase and the Ape.

"So this was not the scientist. It was being controlled by said scientist. But the way you speak, it sounds as if this Gorilla is of at least human level intellect, is that the case?" asks Pendragon, eyes flickering towards the device. "Pray tell, where did you get -that-?" she asks, gesturing to the item in Malcolm's hand. "There is an eerie aura of magic about it.."

The ten-foot tall white gorilla groans and rolls over onto his hands and knees. "Oh, my head," it grumbles in a bass voice. "My voice? Oh God, look at my hands!"

"Well, that answers -that- question at least." remarks Pendragon. "Are you alright, other than being... different right now?"

"If she's right, then ye-" starts Malcolm, only to get cut off by the gorilla. He tips his head to look back at the gorilla on the ground, then back at Hardcase, "You sure you don't want an MRE? I think you've earned some food."

Looking back at Pendragon, Malcolm arches an eyebrow. He looks speculatively at the device in his hands and then back at the swordswoman. "I finally managed to get it off of him a little bit before you showed up and he started coming around... Magic? That's troubling."

Silverback says to Pendragon as it fingers an impromptu bandage on its forehead, "My head feels like it was in a vice. How long have I been missing? Is my family okay?"

"To the first question, about three weeks," Hardcase replies. "To the second ..." she shrugs.

Silverback says, "What did you filthy humans do to me?"

"I got this mind control rig off of you and bandaged you up since it was partially embedded in your head," replies Malcolm in as calm and genial a tone as he can manage. The tall man gestures to the device in his hands and then offers a little smile to the White Ape. "I'm Malcolm Gibbs, with Starguard. If you can give me more information about your family, I'll send someone to go check on them right away."

Hardcase says, "That's my cue to leave. Thanks for the probation."

Looking from Hardcase, to Malcolm, and then to the ape, Pendragon just shrugs her shoulders, "Honestly, I just arrived on the scene, but... Mister Gibbs here is a reputable and upstanding person. . . For a filthy human that is." she adds, arms folded over her breastplate.

Silverback seems to be growing more frantic instead of calmer. It winces as if its head still hurts and says, "I need to see a mirror." After a few heartbeats, it adds, "Please."

"I suppose a window might work but... don't panic." says Pendragon as she slowly draws her sword. It's polished to a mirror like shine at least. "This is the best that -I- can do for you." she offers, holding the blade out so that the reflection can be seen in it.

"Sure. There's probably a mirror in the uh," Malcolm cuts himself off as Pendragon offers her shiny, shiny sword. He gestures with one hand, "Or there's that. Sorry I don't have a mirror handy."

There's a good chance Malcolm is pointedly not watching Hardcase make her escape. It's easier to say he just didn't notice her make her escape that way, one expects.

Silverback tries to look at himself in the sword's mirror shine, moving back and forth to see his face one slice at a time. "I ... I used to be handsome," he says dejectedly as he raises his fingers to confirm what his eyes tell him.

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help you," offers Malcolm in a quiet, apologetic voice. He actually looks kind of saddened that his medical skills have proven insufficient. Rubbing the back of his neck, Malcolm offers, "Maybe when we get this all sorted, I can get Doc Reynard to see if he can't help you out? Between being a surgeon and a magician, he's gotta be able to help, right?"

"I dunno. I'd say you still look handsome, but I am not sure how you think you are supposed to look." suggests Pendragon. She holds the sword still until the guy's done, and then sheathes it slowly as well.

Silverback says, "Promise me you will get the people who did this."

"That is definitely my plan," answers Malcolm, the tall man regarding the gorilla seriously. He offers a hand to the gorilla and adds, "Anything you can tell us about what you remember before waking up here could be valuable. I've got some names and general descriptions, but anything else you can tell me would be greatly appreciated."

"Things like.. where you might be from, who might've done this so it's easier to find them and make sure they don't do it to anyone else." suggests Pendragon. "But now that I've seen the aura on that device, I might be able to recognize it again in the future, so if we see anything similar...." she shrugs.

Silverback says, "Well, I was captured by a red-haired human. She beat me up and shot me with a tranquilizer dart. As I was passing out, I asked her why she didn't use the dart gun first and she replied, 'where's the fun in that?' When I woke up, I was strapped down to a table next to that man that just left. That was a man, right?"

Malcolm makes an uneasy face at the question and wobbles a hand. The tall man shifts his weight to and fro, regarding Silverback thoughtfully for a few moments. "Did they mention anything about their plans to you? Or say anything odd that you can recall?"

Silverback says, "Anyway, this yellow haired man asked why they couldn't 'do it' while I was unconscious - my yelling was disrupting his artwork - and the brown haired man with the strap-on glasses replied that the procedure required that I be fully conscious. He put some kind of band on my head and that's the last thing I remember until I woke up looking like some kind of freak."

"What did you look like before?" asks Pendragon, "And do you have any idea -where- you were taken? Or for that matter, where you are now?"

"Hm. That's surprisingly helpful," comments Malcolm, one hand coming up to cup his chin as he falls silent. The tall man looks thoughtful as he ponders something.

Silverback stands up a bit unsteadily. He looks around a bit and says, "I was at least a foot or two shorter. My eyes were black, not blue and my head and face were even, not all warped like they are now. ... and my hair was black except for on my back, of course."

Nodding a bit, Malcolm seems like he can picture Silverback before his "transformation". The tall man rubs his chin, thoughtfully staring into near space some more.

At this point, Starguard people do show up and take both the improbability machine and Silverback away before calling the regular police to turn the rest of the case over to them.

Silverback says as he is leaving, "Oh, one more thing: did you guys recover that suitcase size device with the timer that the brown-haired guy was always resetting?"

"... Nnnnno. It wasn't here when we, uh, got into the lab proper," replies Malcolm. "Anything you can tell me about it beyond that?"

Silverback says, "It had a timer that counted down. It had a five minute warning. He reset it by sticking his hand in it and a beam played across his hand. When he reset it, the timer started over again."