Log:The Guard is Here

2015/01/18 Forge Grimm 1

Grimm is sitting at a comfy booth for four, even though it's just her. Because there's plenty of tables still free at the diner, and the 4-person booth allows her to lean her back against the wall, stretch her legs out along the bench in lazy recline, while still being able to munch on the chili cheese fries plate she has at her table, and the neapolitan milk shake is easy in reach. She's reading up a college text on norse mythology while lazily reaching for another cheese fry with exacting precision, despite not even looking at the table.

Malcolm wanders into the diner at approximately this point, clad in Starguard fatigues and a decidedly non-military leather jacket. He strolls toward the counter, completely unaware of Grimm's presence in the eatery because, c'mon, he doesn't have Detect Gabrielle Grimm.

(yet)

Pausing as he surveys the service counter for an ideal seat, Malcolm presents a very open target. Surely no one would think to take advantage of this position of his!

Grimm's extrordinary senses tend to alert her of everything. She's doing her best to block out the restroom side of the restaurant while she eats, while reading, and eating. Often her powers are a curse. But they also have the side-benefit of offering a Detect Malcolm without even lifting her head from the book.

So of course she lifts her head from her book. And curls her lips into a grin as she notes the uniform. And such a very open target. Of course she can't resist. She sets her book down quietly and then clouds the minds of all around her, simply vanishing from sight.

Moments later, Malcolm feels a quick pinch on his posterior. It is a privelege she is secretly claiming as the newly titled girlfriend.

Malcolm makes a noise - it sounds vaguely like he said, "YERP!" - when his butt gets pinched. He straightens and twists around, wide-eyed. Grimm can just tell Malcolm is about to tell someone something ridiculous. She can practically feel Malcolm about to say something absurd.

Yet Malcolm calms down immediately when he sees who is actually interrupting him from getting the attention of the waitress behind the counter. There are burgers and fries for him to order! Malcolm offers sly smile and reaches out to pull Grimm into a bear hug.

"Hey, beautiful. No fair ninja'ing me."

"Hey, Handsome. All's fair in love and war? Even ninjas?" Gabrielle chuckles against Malcolm's chest as she hugs him back tightly. "Nice to see you again so soon. You got me addicted to this place. I'm enjoying some of those chili cheese fries if you want to share."

"I dunno... I don't know nothin' 'bout no love 'n' war ninjas," comments Malcolm in his best "dumb Bronx mobster" accent. He releases Grimm from the hug and plants a kiss on her cheek, straightening up soon thereafter as he considers the thought of (just) chili cheese fries for dinner. "Mm. Hm. Those'll go good with a PB 'n' banana sandwich," he eventually opines.

Just chili fries is a college student's idea of dinner. But Malcolm is a grown man, and that requires an additional PBB.

"Mmhmm, didn't see a thing, huh?" Gabrielle sounds unconvinced of Malcolm the Mobster's innocence. After the kiss on the cheek, her fingers do a little walk up his uniform. "So are you on duty and just on break, or...?" she lets him fill in the blanks.

"I dint see nothin', coppa!"

Malcolm laughs a little bit and tilts his head as the waitress finally arrives to take his order. The tall man orders a King Special - PB & Banana, side of bacon - along with a side salad and a Big Glug of Pepsi. Looking back to Grimm just in time for her fingers to go walking up his "uniform", Malcolm flushes faintly as he regards her for a few moments.

"Just, ah, just got off shift. What're you doin' down here, Gabrielle?"

Grimm smirks mischieviously as Malcolm flushes. At the down here comment, she mockingly huffs and plants her hands on her hips. "Hey, I'm always down here. Some of us can't be as tall as all the amazonian heroines out there," she teases about her height. "Actually, I needed food, and I wanted to read up stuff for school. Classes started up again. And after the cheese fries last night, I had a craving for more," she jerks a thumb towards her table and the heaping platter of cheese fries with only a small dent made in them. "C'mon and join me. Take a load off. You can tell me about your day."

"I... I meant since we're south-ish of campus..." Malcolm looks momentarily confused until it dawns on him that Grimm's joking. He sighs and shakes his head, smirking slightly as he plants a hand on her shoulder, squeezing lightly. "And now you're craving another hit of chili cheese fries, not standing at the counter... Away from your fries. I understand," replies Malcolm, smirking playfully as he gestures for Grimm to lead the way back to the booth.

Grimm chuckles lightly. "It's a short trip for me. In fact, most trips are pretty quick for me. One perk of being cursed," she says lightly with a wink. At least there are perks! She tries to look innocent as she says, "I do admit, I've gotten addicted and need another fix. Hey, don't look at me like that. I learned it from watching you!" The mock accusations aren't all that serious as Gabrielle grins and leads the way back to her booth and slides onto the bench.

Malcolm slides into the booth a moment after Grimm, laughing a little bit as he shakes his head at her accusations. The tall man runs a hand over his head quickly, cocking his head slightly to one side to regard Grimm thoughtfully. "So what class are you studying for?"

"215 Mythology course. Scandanavian Mythology, starting with viking lore. Pretty fun. Everyone loves vikings, right?" Grimm comments as she reaches for a fry and pops it into her mouth. "Oh! So, uhhh. I ran into your friend Porter last night...he was in here just as you left," she brings up with some trepidation.

Malcolm nods a bit, listening intently. He shrugs a little bit and smiles, "I guess. They are kinda original gangsta," he comments. Tipping his head to one side, Malcolm smiles cheerily at the mention of Porter. "Yeah? How's the ol' Portman doing? He didn't spill anything on you, did he?"

"Totes. They're really interesting. I love reading the old stories," Gabrielle says as she inserts another fry. At the mention of Porter spilling something on her, she gets a flashback to her unfortunate accident with him. "Er, no, no he didn't. Mostly he was talking about all the troubles with his relationships. Plural. It was kinda weird, but I listened and I think I helped."

"Yeah, I can't imagine how he juggles three serious relationships like that - or the relationships that come with some of those relationships - but I guess that's one of the ways luck as a super power comes in handy," replies Malcolm, bobbing his head a little bit, "I mean, it sure hasn't done him any favors in the rest of his day-to-day. Between the accidents, the misunderstandings, and the changes in wardrobe... Guy must flinch rolling out of bed in the morning."

Pause.

"Yeah? Nice. I'm glad you could help Portman out, Gabrielle."

"He has luck powers? Oh..." Gabrielle looks...guilty. And worried. "Speaking of misunderstandings and accidents. Umm, you know...how I said I lost control of my powers, and someone got really hurt...? Well, I...I--"

As Gabrielle tries to confess her accident with Porter, Malcolm's radio begins to buzz with chatter about a meta robbery in progress. Agent Imenez is on the line, "--Le Sauteur just turned westbound on 9th Avenue into the Artist Quarter, responding units--" and just like that, a man dressed in a purple spandex outfit with yellow accents and a large sack over his shoulder lands in the street by their window, and goes leaping away, some hundred dollar bills fluttering in his wake as he flees.

"Well yeah... More or less. I think a couple of vils have suggested he's tagged by Fate or something, but all I've ever seen is him on the good or the bad side of Lady Luck, y'know?"

Malcolm collects a couple of fries, popping them in his mouth as Gabrielle's expression changes. He quirks an eyebrow, looking at Grimm with concern as he notes the guilt and worry on her features. And then the radio tucked into his jacket's interior pocket starts chirping and buzzing with static. The tall man frowns slightly, starting to look toward his jacket just as Le Sauteur leaps past the window.

"Wh-... Seriously?"

Looking back at Grimm, Malcolm offers a helpless expression. He slaps down a few bills to cover the dinner he's not going to get to eat even as he starts to stand from the booth itself. "You coming, Gabrielle?" inquires Malcolm over his shoulder as he pulls out his headset to settle it into place.

Grimm tucks her book into her messenger back and slips it over her shoulder. "Of course!" she grins as she slides out of her booth. Chili fries are pretty important, but not as important as JUSTICE! "You know I've got your back." Gabrielle Grimm, student slash hero, reporting for duty.

Malcolm grins at Grimm and takes off running, straight out the door and into the street. Somewhere between the frame where he's approaching the door and the frame where he's sailing out of the opened door, Malcolm's donned his Colossus' Flesh and become the more recognizeable Forge. Turning in the direction that Le Sauteur lept, Forge calls, "LE SAUTEUR! FREEZE!"

Grimm jogs behind Malcolm as he goes on the chase. In the camera cut, Grimm still looks student like.

Down the street about twenty meters away, Le Sauteur lands and looks over his shoulder with the sack of loot still held tight. "Hauh hauh, not a chance, mon ami!" he says with a nasally french laugh, and leaps again.

Forge may have been using the time between getting out on the street and Le Sauteur haughtily laughing in his general direction to do things. Just as Le Sauteur starts to leap again, there is a dull *WHUD* and an all too familiar *SPROING* as Forge's Spring Legs release all of their tension in a single go. Launching forward on a long arc, Forge's cables start extending from his back and shoulders as he sails after the felonious Frenchman.

"You can stop or I can make you stop."

"Another sauteur, eh? Well, there can be only ONE Le Sauteur in this city!" It's a leap off! "You are welcome to try!" Le Sauteur continues to leap, gaining speed as he goes, undaunted by Malcolm's threat. He zigs and zags in his leaping, rebounding off of walls and awnings as he goes.

Now that she's trailing behind, Gabrielle sprouts a pair of dark energy wings that look feathered, but without all the fine details. With a flap and a jump, she flies after the pair to try and catch up.

Fortunately for Le Sauteur, Forge is having an off-night when it comes to how his brain is working. The metal man SPROINGs along in Le Sauteur's wake, eyes narrowed as he tries to formulate a plan, to turn the terrain he should know so well to his advantage, to, well, come up with a solid plan. It just doesn't happen and, in fact, Forge feels certain he's become lost in the streets of his new hometown.

Of course, there is a downside for Le Sauteur. Forge is hitting his marks dead on, reflexes and Spring Legs firing on all cylinders. The metal man rebounds off of billboards, awnings, plywood sheathing, and even uses one of those giant martini glass things as a sort of ramp to launch himself after Le Sauteur switches direction using a lower billboard.

Alas that Forge cannot take advantage of his dope stunts this time around.

Maybe channeling Brooklyn mobsters made Forge think too much of his old hometown to remember the terrain of this one. Le Sauteur is also a visitor to the fine streets of Colonial Bay, so at least Forge and Le Sauteur are on equal footing.

Gabrielle is at least very impressed as she merely takes the straight path, flying a few meters above street level. With a few beats of her wings, she speeds up to make up for the lost distance.

As they all race, all three begin to converge. As Malcolm starts coming down down from a leap, Le Sauteur comes up at level with Gabrielle. Just in front of them, a portal filled with corruscating purplish energy opens up. A woman half flies, half tumbles, through it. She has reddish skin and long hair with facial line markings above her eyes. She's dressed in a black bodysuit with gold boots, belt, and helmet, with technological gauntlets on her hands.

With her attention set on Le Sauteur, Gabrielle is the first person to crash into the alien woman. Followed by Le Sauter. Both bounce off of the formidable alien and end up sprawled on the ground below mere feet apart. Gabrielle growns a bit with a murmured, "Owww..."

The Alien woman rights herself after the impact and remains floating above, looking around at suddenly unfamiliar surroundings.

Forge bounces and flips his way along, nimbly ricocheting off of everything in his path until, abruptly, he watches Le Sauteur and Grimm effectively intersect in the air below him. Offering a largely incoherent shout, Forge flips in the air to adjust his position as he starts to descend toward the growing crash site involving alien, conspicuous Frenchpot, and girlfriend. Somewhere along the way, Forge grapples a flag pole and swings around it several times to absorb momentum and straighten his angle of descent before releasing from the pole.

The metal man slams into the ground nearby, tucking neatly into a series of shoulder rolls before he pops up on his feet. Forge peers at the alien, hands on hips, as he tries to figure out who she is. If she's familiar at all, Forge can't seem to quite place her. Rolling his shoulders, Forge intones, "Greetings. I'm Forge, with Starguard. Who can I thank for helping apprehend Le Sauteur?"

The woman is unfamiliar looking, as is her species. She still looks like she's orienting herself to her new surroundings. Her bearing is tall and authoritative. She peers down at Gabrielle and Le Sauteur as cash flutters down on the pair of them. "How dare you assault one of the Tel'narian Guard? By the power of the Republic and the authority of the Tel'narian Guard, I sentence you to Duress for eternity." With a clenched fist, she points her gauntlet at the fallen pair. Strange energies shimmer around it, and then arround them.

Le Sauteur rolls over into his belly and starts trying to make wild grabs for the cash that's fallen out of his loot sack. Gabrielle starts to sit up, rubbing her head. "Hey, what're you talking about--"

The pair suddenly flash like a photographic negative and then vanish, leaving behind the pile of cash, the loot sack, and a few wisps of smoke. The woman then looks to Forge. "I do not recognize the authority of Starguard. I am Tayina Mathet u-Vareeta Hoki of the Tel'narian Guard," she states flatly.

One can practically see the multitude of exclaimation points erupting into existence over Forge's head when Grimm and Le Sauteur both vanish in a puff of photonegativity and smoke. Both of his hands clench into fists for long seconds before Forge forces air slowly out of his pursed lips as he stares Tayina Mathet down.

"Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaah. I'm going to need those two back. On the quadruple, Miss Tayina Mathet u-Vareeta Hoki of the Tel'narian Guard. One's a criminal who was being brought to justice and the other was my girlfriend who was helping to apprehend that Frenchpot."

Guardsman Hoki looks at Malcolm as if he just asked her to grow a second head. Which is not a property of her species, before anyone asks. "Anyone who attacks a member of the Guard receives the maximum sentence in Duress. There are no exceptions to the Code of Supreme Justice."

Deep breath in.

Slow breath out.

Forge may be reciting those words in his head like a mantra as he cycles breathes several times at Guardsman Hoki's response. He flexes his hands into fists and relaxes them again, eyes studying the alien woman before him for long moments.

"What, exactly, is your business here, Miss Tayina Mathet u-Vareeta Hoki of the Tel'narian Guard? I can't imagine you came just to abduct a pair of humans."

Guardsman Hoki reaches up and taps a device attached to her ear, much like a com. A holo-visor calls up and starts scrolling statistics. "I followed a criminal named Shamareeth through a portal after a five-year investigation. I was not about to allow him to escape yet again." She looks around and frowns. "But there is no sign of his presence here," she sounds quite frustrated.

Forge narrows his eyes as he regards Hoki intently. He bites his tongue for a second, diverting from the snarky tone he was about to employ. Instead, Forge coldly intones, "For clarity, did you spend five years investigating the portal or did Shamarockband escape through a portal after you spent five years investigating him and his misdeeds?"

It's important to be precise when you deal with people like this.

Guardsman Hoki's eyes narrow in return as she studies Malcolm beyond the stats on her holo-visor. "The later," she states coldly, her feathers ruffled. Strange, since whatever species she is, there are no feathers visible. Maybe it's under the uniform? One can never tell with aliens.

"Maybe Shamrock Shake deceived you? Is it possible he only made it appear that he lept through the portal, thus getting you off of his trail and stuck somewhere else?" intones Forge. The metal man folds his arms behind his back, watching Hoki intently as he awaits an answer. Or a trip to The Duress.

"Not an impossible theory," Guardsman Hoki sounds like she is considering Malcolm's suggestion. "I assumed he attempted to flee the justice of the Tel'narian Guard after his taunts of escaping us forever."

"And what better way than to send you off on a wild goose chase in some other sector of space-time? Whilst he spends his ill-gotten gains in secret luxury with the Guard's attention focused elsewhere," suggests Forge. He continues to watch Hoki patiently, eyes still slightly narrowed as he regards her.

Guardsman Hoki continues to consider Forge's theories as she hovers. "It would be an effective distraction," she admits. She frowns thoughtfully. "It shall require more investigation." Her head turns skyward to gaze at the stars and gather coordinates. Her body starts to move in kind as she begins to fly upwards, Forge apparently forgotten or dismissed.

Oh look, there goes Miss- Wait just one moment here!

A metal cable erupts out of Forge's shoulder to race out across the intervening space toward Hoki. Forge attempts to coil his tendril about her ankle since she's just over 3 meters - not yet 4 meters - away from Forge, based on the Pythagorean Theorem. He plants his hands on his hips and clears his throat before grouchily commenting, "I hate to delay your investigation, Guardsman, but I still need you to return my criminal and my girlfriend."

Guardsman Hoki jerks to a stop and looks down at Forge, then to her ankle. And then back to Forge. "You are interfering with my investigation?" she inquires sternly. "You need not worry; Your criminal has been sentenced already. Your girlfriend has been found guilty of assaulting a member of the Tel'narian Guard. The penalty for such is eternal exile or death."

"I am /TRYING/ very hard /NOT/ to interfere with your investigation, Guardsman. I really am, but you are sorely trying my patience," replies Forge. He folds his arms across his chest now, setting a stern look upon Hoki as he icily states, "How would you feel if I caught /YOUR/ criminal and refused to turn him over to you? How would you feel if I even arrested one of your civilians and, again, refused to turn them over to you because they bumped into me in the course of my investigation through no actual fault of their own?"

"If you caught one of our criminals, or civilians commiting a crime, you would be in your right to carry out judgement and execution," Guardsman Hoki responds. "So long as they received due punishment for their crimes. I merely did my duty as a humble crimefighter and assisted you in sentencing your criminals," she states it as if she did Forge a favor.

"You sentenced a criminal and someone who was trying to apprehend said criminal when you just appeared in their path," is Forge's flat response. He arches one metal eyebrow in a posture that could well be described as The People's Eyebrow as he regards Hoki.

"You'll notice I haven't summarily sentenced you to death for getting in the way of me performing my duties. In fact, I was going to thank you for helping out until you translocated two people to "The Duress" without even asking if that was permissible under local law. Not that you care since you're a crimefighter from somewhere else that doesn't recognize the local planetary law enforcement. Very classy for a peace officer."

Okay, so Forge may be exaggerating Starguard's role a little bit. Hoki seems like she's trying to go home, so it's not like she's going to go asking to find out that UEMS is actually the planetary law enforcement service, not Starguard. Let's be fair here, she teleported two people to somewhere ominiously known only as 'The Duress', which may or may not involve summary death sentences.

"The Code of Supreme Justice supersedes all local laws," Guardsman Hoki explains with the patience of one teaching a child. "Starguard is not a recognized organization in my files. What planet is this? Which system?"

"Welcome to Earth, Sol System," grates Forge. He is getting tired of being patonized, it's practically etched into his metal flesh. The metal man continues to look stern at Hoki. "I'm really trying to be polite, Guardsman Hoki, I really am. I hope you appreciate that. But we are talking at cross-purposes here. /YOU/ don't recognize me as a legitimate authority figure, I don't recognize your Code of Supreme Justice as a legitimate legal system."

The Rock is unknown to citizens of the Andromeda Galaxy, so Guardsman Hoki has no idea how to read the alien expression. She remains coldly patient. "If you are disatisfied with my sentencing or have a jurisdiction complaint, you may file it with the High Council of the Tel'narian Guard on Debrel. You may also file an appeal for your girlfriend's exile." Red tape. Even interstellar justice agencies have them.

"Well that's handy," comes Forge's flat comment. "Looks like we're going to be a veritable Buddy Cop Movie until I cut through all of that red tape."

With just a hint of swagger, Forge starts walking toward Hoki, a possibly unsettling smile spread across his metal features. Planting his hands on his hips, Forge looks up at Hoki whilst a second and third cable erupt from his metal flesh - one at his shoulder, one from the dead center of his chest. Forge cheerily inquires, "So, Guardsman, do you mind if I play Mel Gibson?"

"What is this buddy cop movie? Who is Mel Gibson?" Guardsman Hoki asks, culturally unaware of what Malcolm is referring to. Maybe it's the smile, that eerie smile, or the additional tentacles like the one holding her ankle, but a nebulous looking starry field of energy surrounds her.

"It's a genre of movie - audiovisual entertainment? - predicated on the premise of two crimefighters with wildly divergent personalities working together to solve crimes despite their vast interpersonal differences. Stoic and loud mouth. Madman and calm, methodical thinker. That sort of thing. Mel Gibson played one of the main characters in one of the best known series in the genre."

Forge's cables wave upward, threatening to wind themselves about Guardsman Hoki, but not yet joining their compatriot in violating her personal space thus. The metal man is having much too much fun unsettling the Guardsman.

"So, back to my point, you're clearly going to have to /BRING/ me with you back to your headquarters so I can file all of this paperwork. You know, since you're unwilling or unable to process my repeated, strongly worded appeals by yourself. In the meantime, you can teach me, the strange Earthman, of your Supreme Code of Tyran- I mean Justice while we fight crime and have wacky team bonding adventures."

Guardsman Hoki sighs. "I am not returning to my headquarters until I've conducted a thorough investigation to ensure Shamareeth is not on Uurrth," she proclaims. "You should arrange your own transportation with your Starguard. It would be faster than having a ship come pick you up, besides."

Forge utters a long suffering groan as he drives his face into the palm of one of his hands. There is an ugly, meaty impact that sounds like metal-on-metal violence. Dragging his metal hand down his face with abject exasperation, the metal man growls, "We don't /HAVE/ transportation to entirely different galaxies. Good lord, woman, would you just work with me here and either give me an appeals process I can actually interact with, return my collar and my girlfriend, or damned well teleport me into this Duress so I can bust them out myself?!"

"Your planet has an agency called Starguard, and yet you are so primative that you can't even travel to neighboring galaxies?" Guardsman Hoki sounds appauled. And yet, sympathetic. "There is no escape from Duress. It is the ultimate prison dimension, so busting them out would seem," she pauses to laugh at the absurdity of his suggestion, "impossible." Seem and is are not the same thing. Who knows? Maybe the impossible is possible.

"But since you are obviously attached to your girlfriend, and you are a fellow crimefighter, I will arrange transport so you can make an appeal with the court. I will even submit a report to support your claims. And with some luck, the High Council will absolve her of her crimes and tell the Keepers to stop imposing tortures upon her as she lives out her life in Duress. I'm afraid your other criminal will not be so fortunate." If the news weren't so depressingly pessimistic, it sound sound as if Guardsman Hoki sympathized with Forge. She taps her right hand on a badge just below her left collarbone. "Guardsman Hoki to High Guard Talreen. Arrange pickup at beacon location on Uurrth in the Sol System," she says into her badge com.

"We're working on it," is Forge's defensive reply to Hoki's appalled commentary, "There are other factors in play, beyond mere technical and scientific limitations."

Refolding his arms across his chest, Forge sets his gaze sternly upon Guardsman Hoki once more. He has to refocus here, Grimm and Le Sauteur are MIA in some kind of hyper-prison... Or Hell... And he must navigate some kind of bureaucratic nonsense to rescue them.

"So how long do you suppose it'll take for your people to show up?"

Gazing skyward again, Guardsman Hoki responds, "The name seems presumptuous if you cannot truly guard the stars or other systems. If your planet joined The Republic, it may be considered for Uplifting." She remains silent for a while.

And then she frowns.

She taps her badge again. "Guardsman Hoki to High Guard Talreen. Arrange pickup at beacon location on Uurrth in the Sol System. Acknowledge." She waits. Her brow ridge raises after some delay in waiting. "Guardsman Hoki to High Guard Talreen requesting pickup. Acknowledge," she repeats with some urgency. Still, it's just her talking.

Looking down to Malcolm, Guardsman Hoki states with some discomfort, "It would appear I am out of range of the Tel'narian Guard's communications network. You will have to find your own transport. And I must continue my investigation."

That brings a smile to Forge's lips. He plants his hands on his hips and offers forth a playful little laugh. Forge gently tugs at Hoki's ankle with that cable he's wrapped around it as he gazes sky-/Hoki-ward.

"Sorry, we're already trying to earn entry into our local galactic community. I'm sure you understand, but we don't really want to get a reputation for being... Community Property."

Pause.

Forge quirks an eyebrow at Hoki's comment about being out of range. He rolls his eyes and lets out a long, long sigh.

"Gosh. You don't get service to the Andromeda Galaxy from all the way out here on this arm of the Milky Way? That's weird, I could've sworn we were supposed to get free intergalactic communications as part of our telecomm package. You'll probably want to get in contact with customer service right away."

"I'm sure the Republic is superior to whatever local galactic community you are trying to join," she says with some pride. And a lot of ego. The tug reminds her that she is still being held by Forge. Hoki gestures to the tendril tied there. "Is this some sort of greeting your people do? Because I think it is time that you kept your appendages to yourself." Curt, but not overly aggressive.

"I will have to find other means to send out my message and boost my signal. But I don't have time to waste on that. I must go."

"That is your opinion, Guardsman," replies Forge, "And you're entitled to it. One of the many glories of living on Earth."

Forge pauses a moment, looking from Hoki to his cable and back again.

"No, this is definitely not a local greeting. This is me trying, very patiently, to inform you that I /CANNOT/ let you just go galavanting around the planet in search of Shamalamadingdong when you have this penchant for teleporting people to some unknown prison planet? Universe? Dimension? Whatever "The Duress" is, you seem to like sending people there for ridiculous things like bumping into you by accident because you portal'd into existence in the middle of a perfectly legal criminal arrest."

"Duress is an alternate dimension where all criminals are sent to suffer for their crimes," Guardsman Hoki corrects Malcolm's misconceptions. "And I was working within my duties. A Guardsman is authorized render judgement, to execute the guilty, or sentence them to Duress."

With narrowed eyes, Guardsman Hoki intones gravely, "And if you intend to hold me here, I will find you guilty of obstructing a member of the Tel'narian Guard." At least this time, she gave a warning?

"In your home galaxy, perhaps," replies Forge. He sounds and looks wholly unconvinced by now, there is a chance Hoki has blown her chance at getting local cooperation. Forge raises an eyebrow as he regards the Guardsman, still tethered to him by a lone metal cable. "If you strike me down now, I shall become more powerful than you could ever imagine."

"I must protect your world from the criminal Shamareeth, no matter what galaxy this is." Guardsman Hoki has tired of trying to explain things to the primative metal creature. She proclaims solemnly, "Forge of Starguard: I find you guilty of obstructing a member of the Tel'narian Guard from their sworn duty. By the power of the Republic and the authority of the Tel'narian Guard, I sentence you to Duress for eternity."

Oh boy. That sounds familiar. Her gauntlet begins to glow a nebulous purple...

"I'm afraid I can't let you do that, Dave," replies Forge. The metal man abruptly applies true strength to that tendril of metal wrapped about Hoki's ankle. He attempts to drive the Tel'narian Guardsman to the ground as a means of interrupting her attempts to banish him from this dimension, arms already reaching out in preparation for phase two. Oh god, is she going to hate phase two.

Forge already has Hoki in his grasp, so it's simply a matter of strength and leverage to *WHIP* throw the Guardsman into the ground. She likely lands with little fanfare, bouncing once off of the pavement whilst Forge moves just a hair's breadth to compensate for transferred momentum as much as it helps him further throw off her aim. He just hopes her aim's far enough off that he has time for phase 2 of Operation: Rising Darkness.

Guardsman Hoki does indeed bounce off of the pavement, her aim thrown off and blasting off harmlessly into the sky before the gauntlet powers down.

Forge glances up to make sure there's no passing traffic about to get swallowed by that purple light. He promptly lurches forward and drops downward to straddle Hoki as he grabs at both of her gauntlets. The metal man attempts to plant one gauntlet and then the other on Hoki's body as he leans over her, trying to keep her held in place as he growls, "You can either bring them back or I can arrest you, put you in lock-up, and figure out how to use these things to bring them back. Those are your choices, Guardsman."

"I told you, I cannot bring them back. These are not built for that purpose," Guardsman Hoki announces as she jerks her gauntlets away from him. She tries to push with her feet to scoot out from under Malcolm.

Guardsman Hoki's hand begins to glow with a starry field of nebulous energy, different from her gauntlet. She raises it up to try and fire off a blast at Forge to knock him away from her. "I could not bring them back even if I wished it!"

Star-field fields of unknown energy? No thank you, ma'am, thinks Forge. The metal man waits until Hoki's hand comes up to aim at him before he simply bends over backward in a display of his superhuman agility and reflexes. Hoki's blast sizzles past his belly to slam into a parked and blessedly empty car.

Forge straightens up a moment later and narrows his eyes. He looks markedly displeased as he looks the Guardsman in the eye. No words come out of Forge's sassy sass mouth for the moment. Instead, he simply whips his hands out again, aiming to ensnare Hoki's gauntlets in his grasp.

Guardsman Hoki stares in dismay at the civilian vehicle blasted beyond her target, as Forge's hand clamps down on her gauntlets.

"Go on," growls Forge, "Send us to the Duress."

Guardsman Hoki's eyes flicker from the vehicle to Forge in confusion at the sudden change in request. That is what she was trying to do in the first place. "I'm glad to see you are surrendering before any further damage occurs," she pronounces. Sentence was already passed, so she forgoes the mandated speech from before as her silver gauntlets begin to power up, the oval shaped, facetless blue gem near the top glowing eerily as dimensional forces begin to pool.

She releases a beam of energy that surrounds Forge. With Forge still gripping her gauntlets tightly, what she doesn't realize as she looks into his eyes is that she, too, is enveloped in the same energy.

And then everything goes wibbly wobbly. There's a sensation of being stretched thin, and then snapped back into place as the hue of everything around them changes to oranges, reds, and browns. The sky, orange and red hued. The ground? Brown and barren of vegetation, with cold metal structures, craggy mountains, metal men in space suit armor towering some nine-feet in height gathered nearby, and then men and women of ever species and gender watching the metal men and trying to keep their distance. They all look cowed or terrified. There are screams and sounds of suffering from within the metal buildings that can be heard through the slit-like windows. It's reminescent of alien hell.

Also of note, there's black shadowy walls that lie in broken pieces around where Forge and Hoki end up as they try to orient themselves.

Hoki probably doesn't see the broad, terrible smile on Forge's face until it's much too late. She may not be able to see the energy surrounding her too, but he can. Buddy cop movie it is, Forge decides inwardly about a hundreth of a second before everything goes wrong.

Forge has to force himself back to his hands and knees after the warp from dimension to dimension. It hits like that living statue guy. And it leaves him twice as a punch drunk when he staggers upright a few seconds after getting to his hands knees. Shaking his head a few times as he staggers this way and that, Forge gets a pretty good sense of his surroundings from fleeting, peripheral glimpses.

"... Huh. I was wrong. This is twice as awful as I thought it would be..."

Guardsman Hoki does only register that terrible, terrible smile until it's too late. Never has she seen someone eager to go to Duress before. Perhaps his race's survival instincts are not that strong. And then, WOMP!

She was at least fortunate to already be on the ground when she got whammied along with Forge, but she wasn't expecting to be taken along for the ride either. While before she was propped up partially to blast Forge, now she is sprawled on her side from the awful teleporting sensation.

Twice as awful, thrice as fun, right? It looks like a meta battle just happened here. Two of the metal men lay broken on the ground (and prove to be hollow machines). Another one stands above and looks damaged, but operable. Two of the metal men (The armored guards, not Forge) are walking towards the building where all the torturing screams are coming from. One is dragging an unconscious and dirtied Gabrielle by her feet as the rest of her drags along the ground. The other is dragging Le Sauteur by his feet as well. Both look like they've had a rough and tumble time.

And now with the new arrival of Forge and Hoki, the damage guard is turning its attention towards them.

"What did you expect?" Guardsman Hoki retorts with a groan as she starts to push herself up into a seated position. "This is where the wicked are punished for their crimes."

"Grass. Maybe some cacti. More features to the vast and unforgiving plane upon which we stand," replies Forge. He pauses a moment, looking thoughtful. "Maybe it's a plain?"

Verbally debating himself over what homonym to use seems as useful as anything else. Forge hasn't yet spotted Grimm and Le Sauteur getting dragged toward the building whence all the screaming radiates. He has noticed the ruined solid shadows scattered about and is just starting to put the pieces together with regard to a metahuman battle when his attention shifts back toward Hoki again.

"Your Theocratic Punitorium have a central processing building? Or is everything in the Screamatorium there?"

"I have to admit...I have never been here nor do I know how things are handled here," Guardsman Hoki says as she stands up and dusts off her uniform. "All I know is that the Keepers are here to inflict pain as punishment on the guilty, and that there is no escape from Duress." Her tone has lost that superiority complex she was flaunting about earlier as the direness of the situation sinks in. "It's not just the Keepers you have to watch out for. Inmates fight amongst themselves, often with lethal outcomes."

"Do I look like I get hurt easily?" replies Forge. He turns around at this point, back to Hoki, and looks toward the Screamatorium. It seems like a logical starting place. Plus there's a damaged Keeper over in that direction. Mayhaps Gabrielle went thataway.

Guardsman Hoki tilts her head left, then right. "I don't know your species' durability. Your camoflage leaves something to be desired." Of course. She just thinks Forge is shiny. Perhaps the metal is mistaken for the colorful plumage displays of his species?

The path is mostly clear to the damaged Keeper and the Keepers dragging off their reluctant upstart prisoners. Gabrielle and Le Sauteur's bodies leave vague drag marks in the dust and dirt. Other inmates look on, some in sympathy, some relieved it's not them, and others just smirking at what lies ahead for them.

"Oh, I'm not an exemplar of my species, Guardsman," replies Forge. His gaze flickers hither, thither, and even yon. More pieces to the puzzle form up in his brain, a map of the area forming as Forge's gaze follows the drag marks to... The top... Of Gabrielle's... Head.

"They're cavemanning her," flatly observes Forge.


 * WHUD* *SPROING*

Hoki may have to hightail it to catch up with Forge, he just used every last ounce of Spring Leg in him. The metal man is hurtling along a ballistic arc for a spot some fifty-four meters closer to the Screamatorium and Gabrielle.

"What is this cavemanning?" she asks. Guardsman Hoki looks around as the inmates start to notice her uniform. Those are a lot of angry, dirty looks she's getting. The inmates start to gather in force to approach her. It's then that Hoki decides Malcolm was right all along about the buddy cop movie. She takes to the sky and follows after him in flight, but she isn't as fast as he is.

Forge's leap brings him right up to the caveman Keepers as they walk along the bumpy, rocky ground. They have some dings and scratches in them, but are very operational. Which is more than can be said for Gabrielle and Le Sauteur. Their clothing has paired singe marks in places. Two sizeable scorch marks, always in pairs. Le Sauteur's goggles are smashed and sit askew on his face. Gabrielle has a growing bump with an accompanying gash on her forehead above her left eye.

Forge lands in a crouch, his springs immediately sinking back into the smooth metal flesh covering his legs. Straightening up takes a second or two as Forge sizes up the metal Keepers in front of him. Breathing in long, slow, controlled motions, Forge tries to reign in his temper.

"Let go of them. Point me to the exit."

The Keeper holding Gabrielle's feet halts and turns its armored head towards Forge. While it has no mouth, it orders in booming monotone, "There is no exit. Return to the yard, inmate." It looks ahead and starts walking again.

"I'm not an inmate," growls Forge. He steps forward, both hands reaching out for the Keeper's body. A moment later, all eight of his cables erupt out of his torso to snake toward the Keeper's body. If he can find any purchase at all, Forge's metal limbs all start trying to meld his metal flesh to the Keeper's. They can't fool Forge, he saw the hollow bodies.

The Keeper is slow moving and not expecting another inmate to be foolish enough to attack. But as Malcolm wraps his cables around it, it lets go of Gabrielle, unceremoniously dumping her on the ground. "Inmate, you will lay on the ground with your hands behind your head so you may be taken for rehabilitation, or prepare to be subdued," it warns.

There is an ominous creak coming from the Keeper's body as Forge's metal flesh slowly melds with that of the Keeper's form. He deeks to keep in position with the robot, hands pressed into its body. Forge curls his fingers and starts to pull in opposite directions with his hands.

Every inch of Forge's body flashes, his polished steel exterior cycling through different shades of metal-tones. With every passing moment, Forge's body becomes more and more like the metal of the Keeper. It may or may not sense something wrong with its superstructure as fissures start to form in its surface as Forge starts to apply pressure to every point of contact.

"GET! BENT!"

Forge roars those two words as he abruptly peels the back and flanks of the Keeper wide open. Metal creaks and groans in horrific protest, but it cannot resist the clarion call of what appears to be its natural extension - Forge's limbs. He calmly, mechanically warps the Keeper's body around itself, hemming its arms in with its own outer skin before his grip fluidly slides around to force its head over into the opening atop this rolled can of steel.

The Keeper cannot sense pain, but as Forge starts to apply pressure everywhere, it starts registering the alerts of damage to its structure. Too late to stop. "Inmate, ceeeaaaarrrreeaaaaak!!" Its call for Forge to cease activities is cut off as its body screeches and twists about like a tin can under Forge's iron grip.

Guardsman Hoki finally catches up with Forge, pulling up to hover in the air nearby. "You...just destroyed that Keeper," she breathes out in surprise, having severely underestimated him and his people.

Forge wrenches his hands and cables out of the ruined robot's body. His body returns to its usual brushed steel coloration. The metal man turns his head toward the other intact Keeper and rumbles out, "Exit. /NOW/."

Hoki's surprise may or may not register in Forge's head. Forge is honestly a little busy trying not to think about everything that makes him mad about this situation. Or, y'know, his adventure in Zu where he learned this "trick" with bending metal apart by fusing with it, however temporarily.

The second Keeper, the one carrying Le Sauteur, turns and looks at Malcolm, then at the other destroyed Keeper. "There is no escape from Duress," it announces as its eyes begin to fizzle with orange energy. A pair of glowing hot eyebeams streak towards Malcolm. "Assaulting a Keeper will result in pain."

The eye beams strike Forge's torso. Guardsman Hoki hovers uncertainly, looking between Forge and the Keeper as she tries to decide what to do. "I told you, Forge of Starguard. There is no escape from this dimension. There is no exit. No leaving." She seems pretty certain of this. The Keepers seem to insist on this, too.

It takes a few seconds for Forge to fully appreciate what is happening. He looks down as the entire front side of his torso starts to turn a deep cherry red that radiates both heat and light under the continued heat vision assault. Liquid metal runs hither and thither in thick, streaky rivulets as Forge just takes the assault.

Forge's hands curl into fists and his jaw sets as he grits his teeth to hold in the scream of pain that threatens to escape his throat and mouth. He instead lets out a tortured groan of agony as he abruptly jukes right, ducks low, and charges headlong at the Keeper. Metal flows down his forearms to extend out of his fists in the form of batons. Liquid metal streams off of his body as Forge tries to flow around the Keeper, driving batons into its form with terrific force.

Three ringing clangs batter the Keeper and send it stumbling to the ground. It slowly rises to its feet as its eyes charge up. Another blast surges towards Forge.

"You're only making it worse for yourself!" Guardsman Hoki warns. "More will come soon at this rate." She actually sounds concerned for Forge. And maybe herself by association. Inmates are still on the approach, but it's taking them longer to cover the distance. Some have stopped at Forge's display of power.

"You know, Guardsman, I think you're right," comments Forge through gritted teeth. The heat beams are spraying wildly across his crossed arms at this point as he's driven backward and downward by the sheer force being imparted upon his body. Most of Forge's body is glowing cherry red now, but at least it's not melting like before.

Forge abruptly dives into a forward roll. He sprays cables upward at the Keeper, attempting to entangle its torso in metal as Forge once again attempts to fuse his Colossus' Flesh with the Keeper's superstructure. Breathing heavily, Forge eventually gets around to pressing his hands against the Keeper as well.

Reluctantly, Guardsman Hoki raises a hand and it begins to glow with glittering shifting colors of space. A cloudly beam blooms and pushes towards the Keeper. It doesn't seem to have much visible effect on it, but it does get the Keeper's attention. It turns its burning gaze towards Guardsman Hoki.

Guardsman Hoki crosses her arms in front of her as she gets blasted by the Keeper and grunts. But she remains hovering in place and doesn't seem too badly hurt, even as smoke rises off of her arms.

Forge jukes with the second Keeper as it turns to attack Hoki. He presses his attack, metal body flashing and twisting as he continues to pour power into synchronizing himself with the Keeper's metal form. The better for him to sunder it from this electronically mortal coil.

This time around, Forge's cables come more into play, bending and twisting the Keeper around itself time and again. Eventually it simply topples over, too torqued to walk any longer. Forge quite impolitely boots it in the "skull" for its trouble afterward, grumbling as he finally plants his cables against the ground and suspends himself for a few moments of well-deserved rest.

Guardsman Hoki alights upon the ground and keeps an eye out for additional Keepers. The semi-damaged Keeper has moved to deal with the rowdy inmates calling out death threats at the Guardsman. Well, calling, squeaking, trilling, and whatever other noises their races make. Many languages are incomprehensible, but the meaning is still understood. Hoki sighs irritably and shoots a look at Forge. "Was this your grand plan? Drag me here with you so you could futily fight an entire prison dimension?" she scowls.

"Owowow," Le Sauteur has woken up and attempted to stand, but hobbles and sits down again, his ankle sprained from the fight with the Keepers.

Gabrielle groans once and turns her head, eyes still closed as she starts to slowly rouse.

"Be fair here," replies Forge to Hoki, "You didn't leave me a whole lot of recourse, did you?"

"It's not my fault that your primative planet was incapable of interstellar travel so what you could appeal my decision," Guardsman Hoki says crossly. While not being fair whatsoever, even though it's completely true. "The Supreme Code must be enforced for everyone equally."

"Le Forge! Merci, arrest me and get me out of here!" Le Sauteur begs as he manages to limp his way towards the arguing pair.

Meanwhile, Hoki's bickering and Le Sauteur's begging finally causes Gabrielle to wake up with a splitting headache. Between the punch to the face that was probably nothing compared to what Forge experienced not too long ago, and the several bumps on the back of her head from being dragged over rocks, it's no wonder. She props herself up on an elbow while tenderly holding her forehead.

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone wants out, I get it, Le Sauteur," comments Forge. He narrows his eyes at Hoki, but doesn't actually get around to insulting her, her lineage, or the donkeys he strongly speculates must have been involved in her procreation. Grimm is waking up and Forge drops in alongside her, gently gripping her with both hands.

"Gabrielle? Are you okay?"

Grimm blinks away the stars she's seeing, her eyes suddenly focusing on Forge. She is, to say the least, elated to see him. She flings her arms around him, which causes a sharp inhale of pain. "Mal! She got you too!" she laments as she clings to him. "Don't worry. I'll be fine. You're here."

Guardsman Hoki taps her foot twice. "-She- is also right here, thanks to your friend," she grumps.

"And you won't be fine. Your brilliant companion merely doomed us to share your fate, trapped here forever." Guardsman Hoki, ever the optimist.

Forge's head swivels to fix his steely eyes on Hoki. In a flat, dispassionate tone, Forge states, "I'm getting too old for this $#!&."

Guardsman Hoki observes Malcolm carefully. "You seem firm for one who is elderly."

Gabrielle looks back and forth between Guardsman Hoki and Malcolm. "W-what does she mean, trapped here? Can't we...I dunno...call the rest of Starguard to come to the rescue, or whoever her people are?" Something else clicks with what Hoki said, and Gabrielle looks at Malcolm with creeping suspicion. "What'd you do...?"

"No, that's supposed to be your line," complains Forge at Hoki. He rolls his eyes in Grimm's general direction, thumb-jerking at the Guardsman as if to say 'This chick, amirite?'. Gently Forge tries to help Grimm to her feet whilst he casts a glance toward Le Sauteur, just to make sure he's still alive and/or not yet being hijacked by stealthy Keepers.

"We're in an alternate dimension, Gabrielle. And we're apparently out of contact range for her people. Assuming Miss Tayina Mathet u-Vareeta Hoki wasn't just blowing more smoke in my face to keep me from getting you and Saucier over there back from this hellhole."

Le Sauteur is not very leapy anymore as he stands with most of his weight on one foot, hopping a little to keep balance. He looks like he's very happy to see Monsieur Gibbs.

Guardsman Hoki scowls slightly. "If you're trying to say in your strange way that it was a ploy to stop you from coming here, you're incorrect. I told you the facts very directly. My gauntlets only work one way. There is no escape from Duress. That fact still remains true even now that you've trapped us here."

Gabrielle smiles conspiringly with Forge as he helps her up to her feet. Clearly she agrees Guardsman Hoki is clearly not crash. She's a little wobbly at first, but his assistance steadies her.

"I just need...a moment," Gabrielle says as she lightly rests her hand over the gash on her head, listening to Forge's explanation. She begins to emit a dark field around her injuries. The cut and swelling seal up and go down. The burns marks from the eyeblasts begin to heal. Her eyebrows raise slightly as he explains the situation. You'd think she'd be a bit afraid at hearing they were in another dimension, but she actually seems...relieved? Calmed? Maybe it's because it's Forge explaining it.

Then Gabrielle glances at Hoki's explanation. Finally, she looks back to Forge. "You mean...Miss Tayina...something something...told you this was a one-way ticket, and you came anyway?"

Forge looks over at Hoki and cocks his head to one side. "You also thought you could transport me here with me pinning you down and not get dragged along in my wake."

The metal man gently holds Gabrielle on her feet as she works her shadow magic to heal herself. He seems relieved when she seems to steady after her wounds reduce in scale and severity. Forge gives Grimm a distinctly quizzical look at her question.

"Well. Yeah. Why wouldn't I?"

"Well, because...risk of being stuck forever in some strange place?" Gabrielle almost stammers and sounds like she's about to scold Forge for taking such a risk, because she thinks that reason alone might've been a good reason not to.

But then, something occurs to Gabrielle. Mainly, that Forge already knew the risks before coming. She blushes quite considerably as she suddenly beams up at Malcolm as she's struck speechly for a few moments. She lowers her hand from her head, looking good as new, if not dusty from her trip through the dirt. "My hero..." she murmurs in awe.

"Hardly a hero. We won't be able to fight off the Keepers forever. We'll soon be overwhelmed by their forces," Gaurdsman Hoki tries to break up the romantic moment. Within the screamatorium, there's the sound of dozens of metal clanking footsteps marching in unison.

Gabrielle ignores the marching and Guardsman Hoki's negativity. She just grins and Forge and jerks a thumb in Hoki's direction, as if responding to his earlier gesture with, 'Yeah, seriously, this chick'. "Very much a hero. The best there is," she says in total confidence. "And we're going home."

Not coming after Grimm (and to lesser extent Le Sauteur) is a thing that may not ever compute for Forge. He shifts his gaze toward Hoki and rolls his eyes again at her negativity. Straightening up, Forge comments, "Well then I guess we have two choices. We can keep talking or we can get down to the business of making those gauntlets of yours perform a return trip."

Guardsman Hoki glances over her gauntlets, rotating them as she examines them. "They were standard issue. I have no idea how these work."

The Mistress of Tenebration grins a little mischieviously to herself. "Well, now. I thought I got sent to some planet far far away. But since you said this was a dimension, I -should- be able to get us back to our home dimension." Gabrielle has many tricks up her sleeves. Some that she doesn't even know about.

"Well I know that you can whuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh-teh?"

It takes a full seven seconds for Forge's head to finish swivelling back toward Grimm and to finish dragging out that last word. He looks absolutely baffled by her statement. Forge works his metal-coated mouth for a few moments before he finally manages to make noise again.

"You can dimension-hop?"

Forge glances over at Le Sauteur and comments, "Looks like she's the real Mistress of Jumping, huh, Sauteur?"

Grimm looks sheepishly embarrassed as Forge seems to break at her mentioning that. "Something like that. Well. Exactly that," she admits. Did she fail to mentiont hat before? Well, it's not like it came up before. "It was one of the first things I learned when I got my powers and got whisked away to another plane. Finding my way home. Took me a while to figure that one out, too." She clears her throat and quickly segways, "Anyway, hold hands, and let me take a moment to try and focus on home."

Le Sauteur starts off with a sour look as Gabrielle is deemed the true Mistress of Jumping. Eventually he purses his lips, shrugs, and nods. "Ah, oui. If she can get us home, then, viva la maitresse de sauteur!" he says in agreement with Malcolm's statement, hobbling over to the pair. "If you do not mind, Monsieur Forge, I would prefer to hold the lady's hand for this."

Guardsman Hoki watches as she stands off from the group, unconvinced that this will work.

"Who wouldn't, mon ami?" Forge grins and shrugs, taking Grimm's other hand. His steely gaze shifts toward Hoki and an eyebrow quirks upward. "You coming along, Guardsman? Or would you rather spend eternity being tortured in your prison dimension?"

Guardsman Hoki is shocked by Forge's offer. "I...I'm coming along," she announces gratefully. She steps forward and takes Le Sauteur's hand.

And Le Sauteur takes Grimm's free hand. "Merci, merci, Monsieur Forge."

Meanwhile, Grimm has closed her eyes and is trying to concentrate. Behind her, the Screamatorium's massive blast door slides up, and rows and rows of Keepers begin to march out towards the four of them. The first row's eyes begin to light up.

"Ahh, pardon, Maitresse, but could you go, oom, un peu plus vite?" Le Sauteur makes his nervous request as he looks at the approaching Keepers.

Gabrielle doesn't seem to hear him as she's still meditating and blocking out what distractions she can. Shadow energy begins to stretch out from her and envelope the other three. Then her eyes fly open, and they're pitch black and seem to see nothing. The energy builds and everything begins to look darken. The roar of the Keeper's blasts can be heard, and become muted as darkness descends. Forge and Le Sauteur can feel Gabrielle's hands tighten their grip and jerk.

When the lights come on, they're....not exactly home. In that they're not in a city, but a tropical jungle with giant trees and huge ferns. And Gabrielle's slumped forward and gripping into Forge and Le Sauteur's hands as smoke rises off her back from an eyebeam blast. "Ow...crap..." she mutters, then looks around at their surroundings. Guardsman Hoki's shoulder has a blast mark as well.

"Well...at least I got us out of there...?" Gabrielle says sheepishly.

"... Welcome to the jungle," mutters Forge as he looks around slowly. He vaguely hopes they just teleported into the botanical gardens, but suspects he is not that lucky. Gently squeezing Grimm's hand, Forge assures, "You did good, Gabrielle. The three of you should rest up a little bit. I'll scout around, see what I can see of our surroundings."

Grimm nods softly. "Sorry, Forge. Guess getting blasted broke my concentration. With a bit of rest, we can try again." She squeezes his hand back and sits down, trying to regain some of her energy. Le Sauteur carefully sits himself down as well. Maybe it's a sprained ankle, or a broken foot, but he's in no condition to hop around anymore. Guardsman Hoki holds her shoulder and leans against a tree.

The small clearing they're in is surrounding by trees. But the jungle is a parkour paradise.

"No worries, Gabrielle. You guys just try to stay alive, yeah? No taunting predators or killer vines," intones Forge, casting a side long glance at Hoki before adding, "And no sentencing things to the Duress."

Glancing around a few moments to determine something, Forge finally looks upward. His fingers wrap around a metal handle that just sort of bubbles into existence in the palm of his hand. A moment later, Forge is snapping a metal whip upward to wrap it around a tree branch. The metal man swings off to scout around the area in style.

Grimm chuckles and nods to Forge. "We'll be good," she promises.

Even Guardsman Hoki agrees. "No sentencing."

Hopefully Forge didn't just jinx things by vocalizing potential dangers. The forest canopy is pretty high up, but provides the best view of the area for scouting. This is definitely not the botanical gardens of Buckingham Gardens Park. The jungle is nestled in a valley with tall hills. They're on the upward slope of one side of the valley. The center looks more swampy, with a lake in the middle, and a few others scattered closer to where he left the others.

He can definitely hear a bunch of the wild life. Strange clicking bugs in the background. Suddenly, he spies a flock of lizard-like creatures with membraned wings flying overhead, similar to pterodactyls. So definitely not Colonial Bay. Downhill from the camp, the trees ruffle and sway with movement.

"... Why am I in Jurassic Park?"

Forge knows he's going to regret this, but he is compelled to investigate movement. The metal man sets to swinging again, using his metal whip to the best effect he can. Hopefully he's not too noisy in his approach to investigate what possible threats may be in the vicinity of the encampment.

Stealth is on Forge's side and he comes up behind the creature. Whatever he's moving towards is unaware of his approach. Probably because it's so. Damn. Large. And Forge is teeny tiny by comparison. Like small enough to fit into that giant lizard thing's maw. It snuffles at the ground on all fours, trying to root around at something.

And then it starts to rise up.

And up.

All the way onto its hind legs. It looks very much like a tyrannosaurus rex. On steroids. And beefier arms with a thumb like claw and three fingers. T-rexes would envy that this thing has arms that aren't completely useless. Although proportionally, they're still small. It's skin is mottled greens, with a lighter underbelly.

And then it begins to lumber in the general direction of 'camp'.

"That... Is a hell of a lot of dinosaur," comments Forge, largely under his breath, as he stares at the vast dinosaur-like creature rising from the jungle floor to stand upon its (hind???) legs. Forge waits, only semi-patiently, for the thing to get into range of him. Just as it's starting to pass him by, Forge lunges out into open air toward the saurian's shoulder.

By and large, Forge is hoping and praying that this thing is moving within normal leaping range of where he landed with his Stealth Swinging. Once Forge is in position, be that on the thing's shoulders or hurtling toward the ground underneath it, Forge unleashes his mighty metal whip in an effort to wrap the steel lash about its neck and secure himself a proper riding position upon its back.

With any luck, Legolas won't be coming by to shoot arrows through both rider and dinosaur's head.

Malcolm manages to swing down, lash the whip around its neck, swing up and land on its back with his own set of built in dino-reins! All before the saurus realizes what's going on.

"... Stew down in accounting is never going to believe this," comments Forge as he realizes he is standing on a dinosaur's neck, lashed into place with a metal whip. He looks down at his perch, then forward at the rear of the dinosaur's head. "... Uh..."

Forge decides that he should have thought this through a little more before he enacted this plan.

"Who's a good dinosaur?! WHO'S A GOOD DINOSAUR?! IS IT YOU?! IS IT YOU?! ARE YOU A GOOD DINOSAUR?!"

Well, when in Creationist Rome...

The devil dinosaur tries to crane its head to see what little creature has jumped onto it. And soon it tries to become a bucking broncosaurus as it attempts to throw Forge off.

Everyone back at the camp can probably hear Forge screaming over the bucking broncosaurus underneath him. Well, actually they probably hear only the infrasound from the damned thing pounding the ground with its feet and hands and possibly even its body.

"YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWW! RIDE 'EM METAL COWBOY! WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Forge grapples his reigns hard as he bounces, flips, swings, and generally does every last thing in his power to keep from being launched into the jungle. Biometal creaks and groans ominously around Forge as it continues to heal up over those significant Heat Beam wounds, the metal man's body pushing itself to the limit as he goes sailing wildly off one side of the dinosaur. Pulling tight on the reigns, Forge pulls himself in tight against the beast's muzzle and runs along the underside of that cavernous maw before leaping off and swinging his way back around onto the top of its head.

Landing with a crash atop the prehistoric(?) monster's noggin, Forge straightens as quickly as he can, wrenching the reigns tight to try to bring the mighty mammoth* to heel.


 * - Devilsaurus is not, in fact, an actual mammoth. It is merely referred to as 'mammoth' for both alliterative and size category description purposes.

The massive bucking broncosaurus gets winded after struggling against Forge. Some people break in horses. Forge breaks in freaking mega dinosaurs! After he crashes hard on its head and pulls on the reigns, the great beast seems to finally tire, its head head dipping down as it pants and ceases struggling. Forge has managed to tire it out.

Quick cut back to camp, Gabrielle sits bolt upright from her resting spot at the metal cowboy call and thunderous foot stomps in the distance. "What the heck was that?" she asks with several notes of worry.

"Who's a good dinosaur?! Who's a good dinosaur?! Is it you?! Is it you?!"

Forge never had a dog as a kid. This probably translates into why he's having such a hard time coming up with something to say to this massive cretacious creature. A little winded himself, Forge eventually settles on just snapping the reigns as he tries to get Jumbo headed in some direction. Baby steps here seem the better part of Dino Riding - Forge still isn't 100% sure he has a real clue of what he's doing beyond not dying on the beast's back after all.

The devilsaurus don't know, man. What if he never finds out who's a good boy? Who among us can truly be said to be good? What is goodness?

The philosophy of what it means to be good is lost on devilsaurus. So when Forge snaps the reigns, it just starts lumbering in the direction it's facing. Which is still the direction of the camp.

Forge is relatively okay with lumbering toward camp, so long as "lumbering" is a sedate pace that does not involve blowing apart trees and trampling people underfoot. The metal man rides atop the devilsaurus' shoulders, eyes keenly scanning for signs of other life.

Just in case.

While paying attention to the brush, Forge spots large herbavore-like dinosaur the size of a small horse. It would make a tasty snack for Mr. Devilsaurus and would probably make it go rampaging after it, if not for Forge spotting it first so he can steer his leathery steed away from the tempting snack.

There are much smaller creatures as well. Insects the size of rodents and birds. They fly about or skitter around beneath the thundering footsteps of the Devilsaur. The mount moves at a decent speed, crushing small plants, snapping vines, and breaking tree branches as it goes through the jungle.

The trees start to thin out as he gets closer to the clearing where he left the others.

"Hey guys, guess what I found," calls Forge over the din of trundling devilsaur. Vaguely Forge hopes he and Devilsaur aren't about to be impaled by shadows or banished back to the Duress.

That would probably be bad.

First they see Forge towering high up. And then they see the dinosaur he road in on.

"Sacredieu!" Le Sauteur swears as he hobbles into a shaky standing position. Gabrielle and Guardsman Hoki both stair up in surprise. Guardsman Hoki more because she thinks they're going to be attack. Gabrielle because Forge is riding a bloody dinosaur.

"You didn't...yep...yep, you did," Gabrielle responds in shock.

Denny the Devilsaur starts noticing ths scrambling small and potentially yummy creatures in the clearing. He lowers his head in a pouncing posture, his long tail swaying behind him as he prepares to charge.

"/NO!/ Bad dinosaur," roars Forge. He hauls back on his impromptu reins - which he just realized he's been misspelling all night - and tries to right Denny the Devilsaurus before there can be charging and/or nomming.

Denny the Devilsaurus' jaw hangs open as it prepares to charge, only to get it snapped up along with his head as Forge pulls tight on the reins. Heavy metal versus dino muscle. It's quiet the epic struggle before the dino's instincts and tenacity win out.

It shakes its massive head and surges forward in a charge, its slavering maw opening up as he runs into the clearing, threatening to eat...Grimm!!

Who was still sitting down and recharging as the Dinorider rode up. Gabrielle looks up with wide eyes. First dragons, now dinosaurs. She gets a flashback to when she saw a giant dragon first sailing her way. This is decidedly worse because it's filled with teeth.

Apparently, Grimm isn't all that good with training Devilsaurs either. "W-whoa, good boy! Heel! Sto--"

CHOMP!

Denny's jaws are big enough to gobble up Gabrielle whole, and she disappears as she flinches while scrambling to get up to her feet.

Denny the Devilsaur has been a very bad boy. Le Sauteur looks positively dismayed. "Maitresse!" Even Guardsman Hoki looks shocked, her fists begins to charge up with nebulous energy to wield against the naughty dinosaur.

Denny the Devilsaurus manages to buck Forge off of his back, sending the metal man hurtling wildly around the side of Denny's monstrously huge body, dangling underneath Denny's throat as the Devilsaurus' maw engulfs Grimm whole. There may be a few seconds where Forge forgets that Grimm is capable of desolidifying.

Or teleporting.

Or, well, any of several different ways of escaping her imprisonment in the dinosaur's digestive tract.

Still dangling beneath Denny, Forge starts to rock himself back and forth on his metal whip. Building up speed, Forge releases his line with one hand, the better to generate his sledgehammer. Drawing in a deep breath, Forge looses a mighty roar of, "COUGH HER UP, LEATHERHEAD!"

A moment later, Forge completes a sharp, upward arc on his line and attempts to SLAM his sledgehammer dead in Denny's belly hard enough to force the beast to upchuck its Grimm lunch.

Denny is about to have a very bad day. Forge's sledgehammer punches into his stomach, sending Denny topplingly up and over onto his back with a disgusting horking sound. He crashed into several trees, knocking them down and squirming before rolling onto its side with a sickening belch.

Still not very fast on the draw with her powers, Grimm forgets sometimes that she has powers to escape certain doom. IF she's able to react fast enough. Thankfully, panic took over, and without realizing it, she turned into a shadow of her former self.

Gabrielle is still where she was when the devilsaurus chomped down on her. Only now she's squatting and covering her head, recoiled in horror with her eyes squinted shut. Eventually, she opens one eye. Then the other. And her head perks up to look around at the fallen Devilsaur. "Oh...oh, thank freaking GOD," she sighs out in relief, looking wobbly and plopping down on her butt.

Forge is not exceptionally lucky about this. He's tethered to Denny the Devilsaurus' neck as he effectively uppercuts the monstrous beast clear off of the ground and across the clearing. Several seconds - perhaps as long as a minute - after Denny finally comes to rest on its side, Forge drags himself out from under the beleaguered creature.

"... That... That didn't quite work as planned," comments a mildly shell-shocked Forge as he hobbles across the clearing, whip and sledgehammer dragging heavily through the dirt behind him.

Gabrielle didn't get to see what the plan was, and the Devilsaur is no longer trying to eat her, so she figures the plan was successful. She scrambles to her feet and runs over to the equally beleaguered Forge and throws her arms around him to hug him...only she falls through him instead, because she forgot she was still a shadow.

"W-whoops!" She stumbles to a stop, closes her eyes to focus and becomes solid, then makes a u-turn to hug Forge from behind in a weak tackle. "Forge! Are you okay??"

Guardsman Hoki takes to the sky, her body glowing with nebulous energy as she floats over towards Devilsaur in case it gets back up. Denny, for the most part, has an epic tummy ache that has ruined his appetite.

Le Sauteur applauds, limping over. "Bien frappe, Monsieur Forge. You have defeated le monstre."

Grimm topples through Forge. Forge looks vaguely disquieted for a few moments before he's gently tackled from behind, slumping forward a little bit. Several of his tendril-like cables burst from his chest to support this slumping and additional, albeit ordinarily inconsequential weight.

"Yeah. I'll be good. Just need to take a breather - didn't expect Jumbo to go flying quite like that."

Two more cables extend from Forge's sides to wrap around Grimm in a gentle hug. He glances over at Le Sauteur and offers a tired smile, "It's no thang, Sauteur, m'man."

Denny the Devilsaur makes a groaning grunting sound as its left rear leg twitches. He rolls back onto his stomach slowly, head pointed away from the group. Guardsman Hoki's hands begin to charge with energy as she prepares for the beast to attack again. But with his appetite ruined and an awfully upset tummy, the devilsaur merely lumbers away at a crawling pace, back into the jungle, weaving and stumbling its way elsewhere to recover.

"Oh! Sorry!" Gabrielle squeaks as Forge begins to slump. Her feet lift off of the ground as she floats, taking her weight off of Forge, but still hugging him as his cables wrap around her in a return hug. "Sure, take it easy. I think I about have my strength back for another try. Tayina will keep a lookout for us. Won't you, Tay?"

Maybe Grimm and Guardsman Hoki made friends while Forge was scouting? Because Guardsman Hoki nods and says, "I will guard the perimeter." She floats a bit higher to get a birds eye view.

Le Sauteur grins at Forge as he reaches the hugging couple. "Ah, oui, what is it they say? The bigger they are?" Then comments to Gabrielle, "So, Maitresse de Saut, do you think you can send us home soon?"

Gabrielle nods, resting a cheek against Forge's back. "I think so. If we aren't going to get ambushed while trying again, I may be able to get us to the right place finally."

It takes Forge a few moments to parse the concept of Hoki being called "Tay". He looks over his shoulder at Grimm, then up at Hoki, then over at Sauteur. "I missed some hardcore team bonding, didn't I?"

Something else dawns on Forge as he suddenly looks up toward Hoki again. "Hey, uh, Guardsman! Don't go too high, the pterodactyls'll spot you!"

Gently, Forge reaches back with one hand to caress the cheek Grimm hasn't buried in his metal back. On the plus side, Forge's biometallic membrane is roughly body temperature. There's no real telling if that's normal or just a consequence of the Jurassic Park environment.

"Ehhh, les dames were talking, and Maitresse Grimm insisted that the lady's name was too long," Le Sauteur explains as he sits down again to take the weight off his injured ankle.

Guardsman Hoki looks down at Forge, nods dutifully, and floats down lower to just below the tree canopy. "I will keep an eye out. Thank you for the warning."

"Whoa, pterodactyls, too? Thanks for scouting to keep us safe," Gabrielle gives Forge another squeeze, closing her eyes and smiling as he caresses her cheek. Then she releases him and floats around to land beside him, leaving one hand to rub his back. "You ready to try another jump home?"

"Yes. I'm just hoping we don't have to start settings right things that once went wrong... Hoping that the next leap will be the leap home," intones Forge. He lets out a long sigh and a little smile, straightening up by slow measures. What? Forge has had a very busy day!

Grimm looks apologetic at Forge. "I'll really try hard to focus and get us home in one," she offers up a smile. Then she looks up at Guardsman Hoki. "Hey, Tay! We're getting ready to try again. Come on back!"

Guardsman Hoki does a quick loop to check once more than the coast is clear before soaring down and landing by the group. "We should be safe for now. Whenever you're ready."

Le Sauteur winces and stands up again, hopping a bit after putting too much weight on his injury. He merely looks at Forge and quips, "Oh boy."

Forge takes Grimm's hand almost before she's done summoning Hoki. He smiles warmly at her, glancing over at Le Sauteur's vocalizations. Offering a sympathy wince, Forge mostly stands by for transportation. "Just take your time and relax, Gabrielle. I've got faith in you."

Grimm positively beams up at Forge after his vote of confidence, giving his hand a squeeze. "Alright...I...I can do this," she tries to talk herself up. She holds her free hand out to Le Sauter and grabs his hand, and then Le Sauteur takes ahold of Guardsman Hoki's hand.

Gabrielle falls silent and closes her eyes, trying to focus and concentrate. Fortunately, nothing else tries to attack them while she's trying to visualized the place they actually want to be at. A field of darkness spreads from Gabrielle down the chain of held hands until everyone's surrounding. And then, darkness swallows up the unlikely crew.

When the darkness dispels, they're standing on a familiar street at night. It's not where it all began. Just a few blocks over in Old Town. A few people walking on the street get startled by their sudden appearance.

Forge opens his eyes when he senses light. He looks left. He looks right. There's even a look toward the night sky. Giving Grimm's hand a firm squeeze, Forge gently comments, "I do believe you've done it, Gabrielle."

Grimm's eyes fly open and she looks around. "I...did it?" she replies as if not really being sure. But the shops all look in order. "I did it!" she cheers and lets go of Le Sauteur's hand, but holds on to Forge's. "We're home!"