Log:The Dead Star Passes

Riftgate - Fist of God 2010/03/05 	 Jade Imaginary Girl Lightray Spirit Silver Spider Katana 1

Terminal

This ultra-modern airport terminal is reminiscent of a four-fingered hand in design. Upon entering, the first thing you see are the check-in counters, where luggage is checked, boarding passes are received and security personnel run all bags through the scanners.

Once through the initial checkpoints, you are corralled into the main area of the terminal. In here, the large tinted skylight roof brightens the shopping promenade. Here, the duty-free gift shops, tourist stands and other shops line the expansive curved corridor. From here, moving walkways whisk you to one of the four gate terminals.

Each gate terminal contains 20 hookup gates and waiting areas with food shops, news shops, and multimedia hookups for those with portable computers. It's a very comfortable place to wait until you board the air or space craft.

Meeting

Out on the runway behind Jennifer, visible through the terminal windows, and drawing interested glances from passengers, are two black military gunship helos, a transport helo, and a MAMBA tunneller. Also out there are a squad of Marines equipped and armed, a MAMBA five team likewise equipped and armed, Naga, and Black Mamba.

Jennifer has contacted various heroes and asked them to meet her at this location. Jennifer and Jessica are wearing military BDU's and carrying combat helmets in their hands. "Thank you for coming." Jennifer says as the heroes gather around. "I'm going to hand this meeting over to Jade in a moment as she is the person who devised the basic plan. I wish you luck but I won't be with you. My organisation have known of two Fist of God bases for a while. We're going, with MAMBA's assistance, to strike at those bases to preempt any response by them on this dimension."

Katana walks up to the meeting place with his hands in his pockets. He lets out quite a large sigh, then clenches his fist in front of him. His eyes burn with determination, and his heart feels like a machine gun. He says to himself "This is it."

Dorian blinks at the mention of MAMBA's help in the matter.

Out on the runway Black Mamba sees the unmistakable glow of Spirit and gives his friend a wave.

Lightray glances out the window at the mention of MAMBA, but he then turns his attention to Jade.

Dorian waves to Black Mamba, and then looks back to Jennifer. "Is MAMBA hitting one, and we're hitting the other? How are things being split up?"

Imaginary Girl's there, having responded to the twins' summons. "No problem!", she says, from where she's standing. She's wearing something that's not usually part of her costume: a necklace. It consists of a silver chain from which a golden heart-shaped bauble dangles... right where it drags the eyes down to her cleavage, of course. After having announced that it'll be no problem for her to help, she purses her lips and asks, clearly as an after-thought, "Who's Mamba?"

Katana glances over to Imaginary Girl, noticing the necklace. He can't help but smile. He shakes his head, and quickly looks away, blushing a bit. Is smile doesn't fade from his face, however...

Dorian looks to Imaginary Girl, "MAMBA is effectively the franchise villain group. You can spend some huge amount of money to basically become a supervillain. They set up shop for you in a city, with support. Agents, vehicles, etc. There are exceptions to the rule, of course...and some of them are better than others. I'm friends with Black Mamba out there. He's a very honorable, decent guy. Naga...I fought against once, but don't know personally."

Dorian says, "Part of what you pay for is a mutagen...which combines your DNA with a reptile's, making you strong and tough."

Jessica speaks, "MAMBA is hitting the underground base. That tunneller of theirs is perfect for the job. And I have to say they were willing to co-operate when contacted. I'll be going with the marines to an island off the coast where the other base is located. Jade is going to lead a group through to the other Earth and attempt to divert the dead star that is heading for that world. You're all free to go with whichever group you wish, but I personally hope you'll go with Jade. The premptive strikes won't matter if the main mission isn't successful."

Jade's eyes flicker about the scene taking in the details of the assembled forces.

"We're working with /bad guys/ to take out other bad guys?", Imaginary Girl asks (though her tone of voice makes it sound rhetorical), sounding surprised and confused all at once, her hands resting on her hips. "Uhm... what's the main mission? The star that's gonna hit the planet?", she then asks of Jessica, in a non-rhetorical-sounding tone of voice.

Jennifer nods as does Jessica, "Yes. And with that I'll hand the meeting over to Jade. I expect you'll be heading off to TransMat. But I wanted you to meet up here so you can see what else is being done to help make your part of this operation, the important part after all, go as smoothly as possible.

Katana looks up to the clouds, listening, of course... but mainly letting his mind wander. He looks back down to the group as Imaginary Girl speaks. "The mission... is to drive away the Dead Star from the other Earth." His smile quickly fades.

Jade says, "Our-mission-is-one-of-mercy saving-a-whole-world but-the-Fist-of-God-are-religious-fanatics-and-will-be-trying-to-stop-us. What-I'm-hoping-you-will-do-is-to-protect-my-team-while-we-stop-the-collision."

Lightray looks over at Imaginary Girl, a gentle smile on his lips. He nods to her then turns his attention back to Jade.

Dorian blinks. "Yeah, I think I missed that part. Jade...do you need anyone in space to do this? At least a couple of us can get into orbit."

Katana notices Lightray's gesture, and pouts a little. Even under such stress, he still has the heart of a child...

Katana waves to Jennifer... "Bye, Jen." He sounds very sad as he says this...

Jade says, "No-we-can-do-it-from-the-surface-of-their-Earth I'll-explain-the-plan."

"I'll go with Jade", Imaginary Girl says, with a nod of her head signifying that her decision's made. "Anything I can do to help stop that star from hurting people other than punching bad guys, though?", she wonders, directing those words to Jade. "I can fly in space all on my own, after all." When Jade mentions doing it from the planet's surface, she nods and tilts her head a little to one side, attentive - clearly listening and waiting for more.

Jade turns and addresses a girl who has been standing by, in Chinese: she's dressed in a simple black costume with a mask. The girl steps forward a bit shyly.

Jade says, "This-is-Geoforce. She-has-a-remarkable-mutant-power: to-alter-the-direction-in-which-an-object-falls. The-plan-is-to-boost-this-power-by-many-orders-of-magnitude so-she-can-divert-the-burnt-out-star-itself!"

Katana nods and waves to Geoforce. "Hey, I guess we'll be partners for this mission." He forces a weak smile.

Dorian nods slowly. "How are you going to boost her power?"

Lightray blinks, then murmurs, "That would be a truly prodigous feat. We are fortunate that Geoforce is available to us." He bows slightly to the young woman.

Jade says, "The-amplification-will-be-the-responsibility-of-my-team and-of-Katana-here. The-rest-of-the-team-will-meet-us-at-Transmat-Research."

"Wow. But... what if that doesn't work?", Imaginary Girl asks, simply. Then, she purses her lips and taps the toes of one foot, clearly pondering something. "But... uhm... once the star's close enough to the planet, wouldn't the planet itself be falling into the star, not the other way around?", she asks. "Isn't that how gravity would work?"

Katana stands up slowly. "Yeah... but trust me when I say that we'll have the force to seperate the two."

Dorian nods, "It doesn't answer my question, though."

[To Dorian] Jade says, "A-team-of-the-world's-top-scientists-have-been-working-on-that-problem no-time-to-explain-but-in-briefly-it's-several-remarkable-amplifiers-in-series. Katana-here-is-one-of-them."

Katana looks to Dorian. "Jade, may I explain?"

Jade says, "Go-ahead-Katana."

Dorian nods. "I was looking for a quick version, not the journal article."

[To Imaginary Girl] Jade says, "When-two-bodies-attract-they-fall-toward-each-other the-significant-point-is-that-her-powers-work-relative-to-her-own-point-of-perception."

"Oh", says Imaginary Girl, though from the look on her face, she's not entirely sure about any of what she heard. "Okay", she goes on. "Long as you know it'll work, let's do it."

Katana points to his chest. "I'm not completely human. I was the Chinese Element of Metal. I was incarnated as a human, but I still have elemental energy in my body. When I'm electrocuted, my inert energies explode out of me, amplifying the electricity intensely. So we're basically using me as the world's greatest battery."

[To Imaginary Girl] Jade says, "And-if-it-doesn't-work-then-their-world-is-doomed but-at-least-we-tried. Evacuation-is-ongoing-too-but-only-of-a-fraction-of-the-population."

Dorian nods. "Alright...fair enough. And if it doesn't work...well, we'll improvise." He motions to Imaginary Girl, "IG and I can try to deflect it if all else fails."

"It hasta work, then!", Imaginary Girl says, pouting a little. "What's plan B in case it doesn't work?", she then wonders aloud.

Dorian smiles. "Let's hope it doesn't come to that."

Jade says, "It-works-very-well-on-paper. I-just-hope-the-last-link-in-the-chain-makes-it-in-time. But-for-now-we-need-to-get-to-Transmat!"

Lightray murmurs, "So the rest of us are to provide security for the amplification process? As the Fist of God will likely try to stop it from occuring?"

Katana nods, and walks towards the Transmat.

[To Lightray] Jade says, "That's correct."

Spirit changes from his Dorian form to his energy one...and raises a hand to the window, causing words to form on the glass in pure light. They're oriented toward the people out on the tarmac. 'Good Luck'

Katana looks back to the others. "Coming, everyone?"

"How much time do we have before that star's too close to do anything about it?", Imaginary Girl wonders as her feet come up off the floor, so that she's hovering in preparation to fly off towards Transmat.

At TransMat Research

Jade says, "I'll-introduce-you-to-the-team...."

"Well, yeah... I couldn't just leave it there, could I?", Imaginary Girl says to Katana. "You wouldn't take it back...", she adds, pouting.

Katana looks to her and says "Well, sorry. But you won't have to wear it long anyway..." He looks away.

Lightray smiles gently and murmurs softly to Imaginary Girl. "Asima, have you thanked Katana for his gift?"

A lot of techs are busying themselves with equipment, but it's to a rather more illustrious set of people Jade is referring. "This is Genie of les Champions du Quebec..." she points to a man in a battlesuit in the style of the Quebec flag....

Katana bows to him, showing respect.

Spirit nods. "Good to see you again."

Imaginary Girl looks confused at what Katana says, and is about to say something else to him when Lightray speaks to her. Turning to Lightray, she says, "But... I didn't want it! He just wouldn't take it back when I told him I couldn't accept it - but I couldn't just leave it there, either, that would've been rude... and just plain wrong." Then Jade starts making introductions, smiling brightly as she waves to each new person to whom she's being intro'd.

Jade says, "This is Jasmine, a doppel me - this is Malcolm Dace, and a doppel of his. This is Nils-1050 (just call him Nils)... and this is Timmy (don't let his age fool you, he's a genius)."

Malcolm smirks at being so graciously introduced by Jade.

Lightray turns his attention back to the matter at hand. He nods in turn to each person introduced.

Jade says, "And with any luck...."

Jade looks at her watch.

Katana bows to each one of them, but falls on his butt at IG's outburst. He quickly picks himself up, and looks down, pretty embarressed...

A purple-edged black rent appears in space and a man appears in a crackle of energy sensible to anyone.

Jade says, "And-this-is-Godling. He's-the-last-link-in-our-amplification-chain. Godling-I-can't-say-how-glad-I-am-you-could-make-it!"

Spirit nods as people are introduced, "Alright...so, we need to get to the other world, and set up shop, right?"

Lightray reaches up and rubs his temples as the person emerges from the rent. He frowns slighlty as he lowers his hand.

Godling nods to Jade. "I'll do my part," he says, trying to sound the part of the hero.

Katana brushes off his behind from where he fell. He looks up to Godling and says "Hello, sir. We'll be working together..."

[To Spirit] Jade says, "Right, we've got the Riftgate all set up to go.... the trouble is we'll be far from civilisation and can count on just about anyone be meet being hostile."

Godling nods. "Pleased to meet you." He offers his hand to Katana.

Katana shakes hands with Godling, and smiles. "It will be an honor to serve with you."

Spirit nods. "Alright...well, perhaps we should get moving. Time is of the essence."

"How much time?", Imaginary Girl asks, looking over at Jade for an answer.

Jade says, "There's-one-more-issue...."

Jade says, "Once-we-get-to-the-other-side-we're-going-to-have-to-get-us-and-all-the-equipment-to-London-where-the-power-plant-is: that's-the-starting-point-of-our-chain."

Jade nods and starts waving equipment toward the gate even as she speaks.

Katana freezes up, and gulps. "T-to LONDON!?"

Jade says, "It-shouldn't-be-a-problem-we-have-Imaginary-Girl-with-us! Just-be-careful-with-the-equipment-or-we're-back-to-square-one!"

Spirit raises a brow. "Uh...yeah."

"If it's all packed up for transport, shouldn't be a problem", Imiaginary Girl says. "But... how much /time/ do we have before the big splat?", she asks, again.

Jasmine, Genie and one of the Malcolm are huddled still talking about technical issues.

Katana thinks. o O (Great, I almost threw up on the way to America... this is going to be so lame...)

Jade says, "Oh-the-planet-would-be-uninhabitable-before-the-actual-impact."

Imaginary Girl pouts. "I gotta know when 'zero hour' is, for the planet to be saved so that the people wouldn't die... 'cause if this don't work", she says, gesturing at Geoforce (OOC: did i remember her name right?), "I'm gonna hafta be Plan B."

Jade says, "I'm-afraid-we're-long-past-Plan-B Imaginary-Girl."

Lightray murmurs softly to Imaginary Girl. "Let us deal with one problem at a time before taking on additional burdens, Asima. We will save all that we can as we can." He smiles gently. "We will succeed."

"Long as I've got time to build up some speed out in space, I've got a chance to just knock that thing out of the way by slamming into it", Imaginary Girl says, simply, crossing her arms. "If it's far enough away, it won't take much of a knock to make it miss, after all, right? If I hit it hard enough, it might, like, explode or something, too... and that'd keep it from splatting the world, right?"

Katana walks over to Lightray, and whispers to him. "Hi... you're, uh... you're Imaginary Girl's boyfriend, right?"

Jade leads the heroes into the gate room, where the equipment is already all set to go.

Imaginary Girl looked like she was going to go on, but Katana's words make her stop speaking, mouth hanging open, cheeks flushing deeply in surprised embarassment!

Jon Masters himself is overseeing the rift gate operation. "Jade, everyone, good luck." he says.

Jade smiles to Jon Masters. "This-could-be-the-greatest-good-we-ever-do-with-the-gate."

Lightray smiles easily at Katana, but shakes his head. "No, I am not, Katana. I am far too old for her." He then adds after a beat. "I am, essentially, her foster father. A pleasure to meet you. Ah, it appears its time to go."

Jon nods. "Have you got everything you need?"

Katana clears his throat, and says "Oh, ok then... Well, I want you to know that I like her. But I'm not going to be here, so... Take care of her. She's really special." With this, Katana smiles to the both of them. It is a real smile, yet still somehow feels bittersweet.

Spirit heads toward the gate. "Come on."

Imaginary Girl closes her mouth, hands falling to her hips as she pouts, still blushing. "I /have/ a boyfriend!", she says to Katana, then floats up off the ground and flies on towards and into the gate...

Jade says, "Well-the-military-test-results-for-questonite-would-have-been-handy-but-given-even-you-couldn't-get-that-out-of-them still-I'm-confident-it-will-hold."

Jade lets the more powerful heroes pass through first to make the "beachhead".

Katana laughs a little, and says very quietly "Doesn't mean I like you any less..." With this, he breathes heavily, and says "Here we go!" He jumps and does a flip through the gate.

Lightray looks back oer his shoulder as Solace enters the room. He nods to the gentleman as sunlight forms around his body like armor, then heads through the gate.

Godling nods and strolls through the gate.

Jade passes through, with Geoforce, who is feeling more than a little overwhelmed.

Ruins of Colonial Bay City

This is the TransMat building, burnt out, roofless, and being assaulted by ash polluted rain of fierce intensity

Katana gulps. "Judgement Day..." He shakes his head violently. "No time to waste! Where do you want me?"

Jade takes in the scene as she steps through. Geoforce looks positively frightened, explanation or not.

Many seconds after the light of a metoerite impact illuminates the western sky a thunderous deafening rumbling explosion is heard.

Jade says, "London we-all-need-to-get-to-London all-this-gear-too."

Imaginary Girl flies up into the air about two stories up, looking all about. She floats back down, then, to ask of Jade, "Where's all this stuff I need to carry?"

Jade says, "And-as-quickly-as-possible-short-of-breaking-anything."

Lightray looks around as he rises slightly into the air wings of sunlight effortlessly lifting him. He turns slwoly to observe the surrounding area.

From her vantage point Imaginary Girlcan see the city is in ruins.

Jade indicates the various bit of gear her team have brought through.

"I can take a couple of people to London," Godling offers.

"If you want me to take everyone there, and that stuff, I need something to carry us all in...", Imaginary Girl says. "I'll go find something!", she announces, darting up into the air, to go in seach of a cargo container or a semi-trailer or something of the sort, large enough to carry everyone and their gear inside it.

Most of the heroes can can see from stains on the walls of the ruined buildings that the city has been flooded repeatedly, and there's a high-tide indication at about twelve meters above ground level.

"I can help there, Imaginary Girl," says Godling.

"Considerable-tide," remarks Jade casually.

Lightray nods gently. "The seas are being pulled from their beds it seems. Even if the dead star is moved away this world will take centuries to recover." His tone is leaden with sadness.

Imaginary Girl 'skids' to a stop in the air overhead, then drifts back down. "How?", she asks of Godling.

Godling sets about blasting chunks of the ruins of the city - gradually transforming and welding them into a strong and reasonably streamlined container, big enough to hold everyone.

While in the air Imaginary Girl spotted a number of people at the ruined Sports Stadium as well as a small fishing boat stuck in the side of the Stadium wall.

Spirit just watches for the moment...staying wary, and looking for any hostiles that might appear.

The winds are gale force or above, the rain an almost solid downpour of water polluted with ash and dirt. Nobody is likely to be out in this no matter how mad.

Imaginary Girl watches Godling doing his thing, grinning. "Awesome!", she says, after it's done, actually applauding. Making 'move along' gestures with her hands, she says, "Everyone in! And I mean everyone... unless you're /sure/ you can keep up with me when I get going!"

In the distance to the south the sky lights with another meteorite impact.

Imaginary Girl then turns to Jade. "I saw a buncha people, when I flew up a bit ago... over at the stadium. There's a boat stuck in the side of the stadium, too. Should I go over and see if they need help, before I take us all to London?", she asks.

Katana stands around, looking more determined than ever before. A nice change of pace from his depressed mood he has carried with him all day. He stares at the Dead Star, then notices IG's remark. "Right..." He jumps and flips into the container, and sits with his knees up to his chest, wait for the time to come...

Lightray reaches up and rubs his temples from time to time as Godling creates the container. He gets into the container when it is done, running a hand lightly over the interior as he does.

Spirit climbs in as well. "I know I can't keep up...I'm not that fast a flier."

Jade says, "I'd-say-yes-but-we-need-you is-there-time-to-go-back-once-we-get-there? we-re-trying-to-save-the-whole-planet..."

Lightray takes a seat not far from Katana. After a few moments, he murmurs softly to him, "Have you considered that you will not be destroyed by this? That this is not the time? Attitude makes a great deal of difference for survival after all."

Imaginary Girl pouts. "If they're in trouble /now/, we can bring 'em here to send 'em to our Earth, where they'll be safe", she says to Jade while people climb into the constructed container.

Jade and the technical team get it too, as does Godling - more because he knows he's likely to be noticed than anything.

Jade says, "Good-point-bbut-be-sure-it's-not-a-trap!"

"Can anyone read minds? We can get close enough to find out that way?", Imaginary Girl asks of the team at large.

At the words of Lightray, Katana's eyes widen. He looks to his right, and asks "Does it make enough difference... to save everyone? Including me?" He doesn't seem to be talking philisophically, he is truly questioning Lightray.

Spirit says, "I'm not sure we have the time. If we have enough time to fly over there, and deal with it...sure. If not, we need to deal with the major immediate problem."

Spirit points upward to emphasize that.

[To Katana] Jade says, "I've-no-intention-of-letting-you-die...."

Lightray nods slightly as he closes his eyes. After a moment, he says, "Yes, it can. Striving, fighting to hold on your own life in order to save others. Yes, I have seen it happen."

[To Imaginary Girl] Jade says, "There-will-be-people-in-peril-like-that-all-over-the-world-and-the-faster-we-do-this-the-more-will-live. I'm-sorry but-it's-true."

Imaginary Girl frowns, but then nods at Spirit's words, glancing skyward. "Yeah... there's trouble for /everyone/ on this world...", she says after a moment, though she looks unhappy about it. "Getting us all to London faster helps more people...", she says, reaching down to heft up the big container full of people and things, once all are within.

Spirit says, "IG...you're needed to help move this platform. You need to go to London. There's no question. But we could perhaps give up someone to check it out. I'm willing to check it out. I could probably catch up to you folks in London. After a bit."

Katana stays silent for a moment, a look of awe on his stunned face. He begins to laugh through tears at the people around him, wanting him to live. "Wow... so this is what it's like to have people care for you..." He lowers his head. "I... I don't know if it's possible for me to survive... but I'll... keep a positive attitude!" His smile beams, and seems to brighten the apocolyptic setting around them.

Jade sighs, knowing that hard choices like this aren't easy on heroes like Imaginary Girl. She talks quwtly to Geoforce to reassure her.

Genie waits for the flight in silence, annoyed at not having enough intelligene on this world to make a proper choice of equipment.

While Imaginary Girl is flying over the Atlantic Ocean she spots a large ship on the waters far beneath her, a monster of a vessel at least a mile in length.

Lightray murmurs to Katana. "Good. That is the the most important step." His breathing slows as he rests his eyes until it is all but imperceptible.

Katana nods, with an intense grin on his face. "Metal Armor!" He dons his trademark battle armor, and clenches his fists. "This... is where we save EVERYONE!" He's done a complete 360 in attitude, from despair to excitement. He keeps his eyes glued to the Dead Star, with a grin on his face, as if he challenges it to take his life.

"Hang on", Imaginary Girl says as she hefts the big container up over her head in a quick, single jerk... then shifts it around to lay it on her shoulders as she lifts up off the ground, stretching her arms out to find purchase and handholds. "Okay... I'm going up. Someone who can make things warm might wanna be ready to do that", she adds. "The fastest way to London's gonna be across the north pole, or close to it!" With that said, she starts lifting her load up off the ground and into the air... straight up, and quickly, so as to get it up out of sight (and range) sooner rather than later. Later, over her Safeguard comm, she says, <>... but she keeps flying, trying to make best time possible to London, without flying /too/ fast (or too high) for her cargo and its passengers.

Spirit detects a lot of radio traffic from the boat, all low frequency over the horizon stuff... except for the targeting radar which is locking the group up.

Geoforce hangs on nervously, not so used to flying when it's not under her own control.

Spirit keeps focused on the ship below them, watching it for the time being. "They may fire upon us. If they do...just keep moving. I should be able to deflect incoming fire."

Lightray says in a quiet, but carrying voice. "Is the ship a Hand of Ash vessel?"

Katana suddenly turns and yells "WHAT!?" He looks over the edge to take a look.

Spirit tilts his head. "They're sending us a transmission. Sounds like....they're looking for a clearance code. Otherwise, they're going to fire upon us."

Lightray smiles very slightly. "I imagine it would be something from Revelations. It would fit their...pathology." His breathing stills again.

Katana grits his teeth... "I should have known. They're after me AGAIN!" Katana stretches out both arms, saying "Steel Blades!" His arms create swords, and he yells "TRY IT! I'll not let you ruin this mission!"

"What's going on?!" says Geoforce (in heavily accented English).

Spirit looks to Katana, "Umm...might be careful with those. They're way down there, after all."

Katana gives an insane grin. "Not for long. I'm gonna take them out..." He looks insane enough to do it...

Small flares of light come from the large vessel beneath as it fires at the 'unidentified aircraft'. But Imaginary Girl's flight speed is faster than the missiles and they get left well behind before the missiles explode in unmistakable nuclear detonations.

Spirit stares...almost unbelieving. "They fired nuclear weapons at us?"

Jade says, "They're-fanatics."

Imaginary Girl isn't gonna look back... just keep flying.

Jade says, "And-desperate."

Katana looks back at the explosions. "Tch! That's it!" He mounts a leg on the edge of the craft, preparing to jump!

"Es-tu fou?" Genie yanks Katana back in, or tries.

Lightray opens his eyes after the flash of light. "I am certain they can justify it as using the light of Creation to strike down the unrighteous." He then shouts over at Katana. "Katana! We need you with us! Get back here!"

Between the craziness, flash blindness, and the yelling and pulling, Katana loses his balance, falling off the craft!

Spirit shakes his head as the light washes over him, and reaches out a hand to try to grab Katana...but with a beam of light that lashes out to attempt to wrap around the hot-headed blind hero's body.

"I'll get him," says Godling.

Spirit's solid light band wraps around Katana, gripping him. Spirit then reels in the metal hero, and sets him down in the flying vessel...and lets the light construct drop. "Calm down. And remain seated."

Katana is still blind. "Wha-? Did... did I FALL!?" He obviously didn't intend to fall... at least not in that way.

Godling places safefy bars over the exit to make sure there are no more accidents.

The remainder of the trip goes fairly peacefully. When you approach the coast of Britain, those with knowledge of the geology will see the damage that has been done, with areas flooded, the land pot-holed by impact craters.

Katana blushes, actually causing his silver armor to turn goldish. "Uh... sorry, everyone. I lost my balance, I guess..."

Spirit looks at Katana, "The explosion blinded you, didn't it? I think you're going to have to be patient...I'm not sure any of us can heal it. Unless Lightray can?"

Jade watches the landscape, finding the damage as interesting as it is horrible.

Over the Safeguard Comm, Imaginary Girl asks, "Hey, Jade, where exactly's this place at", as she descends, dropping speed as she nears the London area.

Jade gives Imaginary Girl directions, from memory and working out what landmarks ought still to be present.

Lightray murmurs gently. "I can try." He kneels down next to Katana and puts his hands over Katana's eyes. As sunlight glows from beneath his hands, he murmurs, "We will see if this helps, son."

Bristol is simply not there. A crater several miles wide is in its location, the bottom of the crater red with lava.

Lightray manages to cure Katana's blindness but exhausts himself temporarily doing so.

Soon, at the speed Imaginary Girl is flying, London comes into sight. The capital is heavily damaged but there are signs of roads having been cleared.

Katana blinks, and bows to lightray.

Jade looks out, trying to locate the power plant visually.

"I see London. I don't see France. Please, /never/ show me Riot's underpants!", calls Imaginary Girl through the Safeguard comm.

Silver Spider flies along with the others, clutching her stomach a little bit. "This is kind of like chewing air..." She winces. "I'm not used to flying without a plane under me." She winces a little bit. o O (Oh, god, please, just a few minutes more. I can throw up after we land.)

Spirit looks down below at the landscape...and says, "I think I see something...hold on." He starts to build up energy in his hands, intending to loose a blast down toward the ground.

Jade says, "There-that-loop-in-the-Thames - the-plant-stands-under-the-Millenoum-Dome which-was-there....."

Spirit says in a slightly stilted manner..."Must...kill...Spider." He then pivots, and unleashes the stored up energy at Silver Spider with both hands.

Silver Spider blinks...a momentary shift her mask as her eyes turn. "WHAT?" She gasps as the blast fires past her, her form moving like liquid as the roar rips past her. "You've GOT to be kidding!"

Spirit's blast tears past Silver Spider, missing. His facial expression is...well, impossible to read.

Silver Spider blinks. "Oh, my god, I knew travelling to another dimension was a bad idea. This is why I always have smelling salts..." She winces as the wind whips in. "Land us! I can't figure out what's going on in a bubble in the air!"

Jade lashes out and tries to trip Spirit up to give others a better chance of doing something about him.

When there's a blast and the whole 'vehicle' shifts from it, Imaginary Girl, still playing the role of rocket engine, calls up, "Hey! Are we being shot at again?! Where from? I didn't see anything!"

Katana yells to Imaginary Girl "Don't worry! Just a slight disturbance up here!"

Jade knocks Spirit's legs out from under him.

Spirit hits the floor of the 'vehicle', landing with a thump.

Silver Spider reorients herself on the ceiling to make it safer for everyone else. "Someone else figure out why he's trying to kill us, I'll make sure no one gets sucked out the side..." She winces in the rush of air and turns her webbing towards the hole, firing to plug it up...

Katana throws out his arms, palms out and facing Spirit. He yells out "Steel Chains!" As he says this, steel chains shoot out of his palms, ready to wrap around Spirit's body.

Katana chains up Spirit, hopefully preventing any further outbursts...

Jade slaps Spirit about the face. "You're-under-mind-control - snap-out-of-it!" while trying to evaluate his condition.

Spirit tilts his head, and looks around. "Why am I on the floor? And in chains? Did I miss something?"

Katana hmms... "Slap him again, just to make sure I can unchain him." He smiles.

Silver Spider blinks and looks down at Spirit. "You just tried to roast me like a three dollar lunch in a two dollar cafeteria."

Katana stretches out his arm, and the chains melt away.

Spirit watches Silver Spider for a moment. "I think I know why. Zimm did something when I went to speak to him in prison. I don't know what. But I keep hearing his voice in my head."

Multiple interceptor rockets start to fire upwards from the ground around the Dome building.

There are bursting explosions in the air as their proximity fuses are triggered.

Jade thinks. o O (Oh, Zimm. Good. I don't want to have to kill Malcolm till after we've done this.)

Silver Spider blinks. "Zimm? You've got to be joking! I put him in jail years ago? He mind controlled you to come get me from jail?" Her eyeslits blink. "We can fix all that when we get back. Like...after the rockets stop firing!"

Spirit slowly gets to his feet. "I'll try to deflect them away from us."

Then a light appears over the Dome. Not the instant brilliance of a nuclear blast but a point of light as bright as the sun growing to be a few dozen feet across. Even at the tens of miles distance you are from it you feel intense heat. Secondary explosions blossom on the ground as tanks, gun and rocket emplacements ignite. The Dome falls in like a delated balloon as everything in a mile radius bursts into brief flames and is consumed, stone melting, steel flowing like water. The heat source only continues for a few seconds but for that time the Dome and its surroundings are exposed to solar temperatures.

Silver Spider blinks. "Uh...did we just fail?"

Katana screams! "Ah, god! I don't want to fall again!" He runs to the edge, and stretches his arms out. "Steel Barrage!" He attempts to shoot down some rockets before they hit!

Jade says, "Damn-did-they-know-what-we-were-up-to?"

"Uhm... guys", Imaginary girl says over the Safeguard Comm, "I think our destination just got... melted..." She starts angling her flight away from the dome now, too, keeping her speed up as she starts to circle while others more 'in the know' decide what to do.

Silver Spider turns to Jade and says "You know, it's possible that they just detected the large energy burst coming from Spirit trying to blow me up, and fired a bunch of rockets in the direction of the eight million joules of energy."

Jade says, "We've-got-to-get-in-there-fast-and-start-thing-up before-their-ground-troops-have-a-chance-to-close-and-stop-us."

Katana looks down at the Power Plant, realizing that it's about to be stormed.

Imaginary Girl dives down towards what's left of the dome. "How're we going to get /in/ if it's all melted, now?", she asks.

Jade says, "It's-designed-to-be-able-to-withstand-such-things."

"Well.. yeah.. .but how do we get to it with a lake of molten steel and stone all on top of it?", Imaginary Girl counters.

Silver Spider looks over to Jade. "It's highly radioactive out there. This is a nuclear wasteland." She says. "This place is probably so full of hard rads that I'm going to be in big trouble if I go out there. We need to pop the security system, secure ourselves, and get out from the inside if we can. Can anyone freeze stuff?" She stops. "Hey. We can dig up from underneath."

-- to be continued --