The weston branch of the Department of Parahuman affairs.

In the basement labs of the DPA, while the various scientists employed by the department of parahuman affairs were hard at work, three heavily armed individuals burst into the labs. Like a well oiled machine they quickly took control of the lab the scientists huddled in a corner praying or peeing. One man with a variety of guns literally floating around him watched the hostages. A tall lanky man with a bandanna watched the door as  a woman with a shaved head looked through the files.

"The womans downloading some files onto a flash drive. More russian. Looks like they're wrapping up soon we might want to move before they decide they don't need hostages.

  Meg set him down outside the gravity wall, and said "I'll head inside.  I can be very quiet when I must.  Don't worry.  Let me know if anything changes."  She dashed through the gravity wall, and he saw her crush the getaway car's engine with a wave of her hand as she dashed inside.

"I'm coming with you, just in case. Who knows what powers the other two got." He told her  his tone leaving no room for argument. He followed after her drawing his pistol as he went.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 19:01, Thu 06 Dec 2012.

As Meg crushed the engine the woman inside leapt out the window an uzi in one hand a radio in the other. The woman held the radio to her mouth saying something in Russian.

>>>>>>>>From Dragon and Tiger>>>>>>>>

Dragon Fist soon swooped over the scene as things were beginning to play out. Perching on top of a rooftop, he waited for the opportunity to act as the woman emerged with the uzi in her hand.

As the woman was aiming her uzi at the heroes an ethereal winged horse with an armored knight atop it swooped down bashing her in the face with his ethereal shielld knocking her to the ground. He spun on the horse turning to face his fellow heroes. "Hello Dragon Fist."

Dragon Fist swooped down, landing in front of the knightly hero.

"Greetings. I see you've been keeping up the good fight," he replied.

Suddenly out of the door came three heavily armed induviduals followed by five captive scientists. The hostages hands were bound and they each had a cockec pistol behind their Head. The woman with the shaved head spoke in a thick Russian accent "Here is what is happening. Any move on your part and my associzte will pull the triggers with his telekinesis. That inclydes any use of your 'powers'. I'm sure he could shoot at least one before you freed them. Or you let us walk away and we'll let them go."

  Meg smiled, and said "Looks like we have some more help!  Pleasure to meet another hero."

"Easy everyone...easy.." Dragon Fist said as the bald woman made her threat. Something in her tone told him she was deadly serious.

"So whats it going to be heroes? Are we going to walk or do these men have to die?"

Dragon Fist hated being helpless like this. There was nothing preventing the woman from carrying out the threat even if they did walk away with what they wanted. But they couldn't take that chance.

"Stand down...." he said to the other heroes.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:59, Mon 17 Dec 2012.

  Meg nodded, her arms folded across her chest.

"We'll be going now" They pushed the men to their knees the guns staying behind their heads as they took their comrade and ran. Meg senses them get into a vehicle and head north as the guns clatter to the ground. More than one scientists has relieved themself, in their pants.

  Meg's eyes began to glow as she 'powered up', extending her awareness more fully as the scientists were released.  She said softly "I'm tracking them now.  Heading north."

The mystic Crusader stepped off his mount which vanished and stepped over to the scientists breaking their bonds.

Dragon Fist assisted the mystic crusader in unbinding the scientists.

As the last of the scientists was freed and they scurried into the building with a quick thanks to get back to work (or change their pants). Knight Errant turned to Dragon Fist. " I wanted to talk to you Dragon Fist. Word is your letting The Legacy die witn Mirage. You can't do that. This city, hell the world, needs The Legacy."

Dragon Fist looked at the knightly hero. A brief moment of silence went by before he answered.

"At this present time, there isn't a Legacy. One member is retired, two are dead, and one has been absent for some time. I'm all that's left. I'm not saying that the Legacy can't be rebuilt with different members. I'm saying that at this moment, there isn't a Legacy. Perhaps....that is something you can help with...as a foundation for a new Legacy."

  Meg smiled slightly, and said softly "I like that idea."

"I will definitely help with that. As much as I can." The Knight replied with a smile.

"Good," Dragon Fist replied, nodding. It seemed that the Knight had the heart and soul of the knight's armor he wore. "It will be interesting rebuilding the Legacy from the ground up, but I believe it can be done."

"First things first...we need to get after those guys. Now that the scientists are safe, we can pursue them in kind. Meg, pick up their trail if you would please. Maybe call in the other available Defenders.."

  Meg nodded, and said "Calling now.  Ozzy and Clarissa are out with the Order, but I think we can get a couple others."  {{You guys.  Got a long john party at the DPA building, about to move tracking some hostile folks who speak bad English.}}

Things soon turned a bit colder as Icepick could be seen in his icy-form, riding on an ice slide.

"OK guys....where's the fire?"

The crew had traveled to a warehouse near the docks.

  Meg said "They're in a warehouse near the docks.  Let me snag Harvey, and we can all head there.  He can cast ahead and see if they sense us coming."

Mr. Witness jogged up. "No Need I'm right here. I think they know we're coming guys. They're setting up defensive positions and putting MORE guns on."

  Meg frowned, and said "That's not good."

  "Guns don't always stop everyone.  Like me."  Andy faded into view, from total invisibility to a smoky figure, to his bronze-skinned self, in black leather jeans and motorcycle boots.  Shirtless, and with his long black fingernails.  Sunglasses hid his eyes, but Harvey could sense he was no ordinary man.

Dragon Fist nodded at Andy as he arrived.

"Good to have you, Andy. We need a plan to take out their exterior defenses. That way we can assault their domain proper."

  He smiled, and said "Just reminding you that you have an advantage."

"Good to know," Dragon Fist said. "Much as I loathe putting you in harm's way, Andy, you do have a point. If you can take out their outer defenses and maybe do a little reconnaisance as to what we might be dealing with inside, that would really help us out."

  Andy snorted, and said "I can do worse.  Just . . . you'll have to guard my shell and ignore the fact that I won't be breathing or responsive."

Dragon Fist nodded at that, then turned to the others.

"All right....let's do this....Andy, take out their exterior defenses as best as you can. See if you can do any possible recon and let us know what else we might be dealing with. Knight Errant...Meg....we're the backup...we'll work with Icepick when he arrives."

  Andy nodded, and then moved ahead, vanishing ahead of them.

Dragon Fist rose into the air, following Andy (or his chi-signature) at a distance, heading towards their destination.

  His chi-signature was the only thing Dragon-Fist could see, and he could see Andy pick a spot on a rooftop, and his body appear, then his chi-signature lifted off from his body, and moved closer.

Dragon Fist soared towards the rooftop and waited while Andy worked his magic.

  Andy slid himself into the body of one of the fellows guarding the place, reading his mind and possessing him.  Taking control, he checked over his weaponry, then smiled as he shoved the door open and thew the switch to turn off the alarms.

Dragon Fist nodded, gesturing the small force that was with him forward as they made their way now to the alarmless complex.

>>>>>>>>To The Tzarina's Complex>>>>>>>

Dane opened the door to Weston's Department of Paranormal affairs, and walked in. He moved exceptionally quietly, even when he did not intend it; years of training and a natural proclivity to move through crowds without leaving any sign of his presence were significant assets to his chosen profession.

Yet now he sought a different life. Treaties put in place when the first parahuman manifested frowned on using supers in combat, and being a proud registrant, that life was closed to him.

To the desk assistant, he said, "Excuse me, ma'am. My name is Dane Sinclair. Would Director Sharp be available? I'd like to discuss enlis... er, joining your group.

The woman looked up from her computer when Dane approached. She was small in stature, with blonde hair she kept in a ponytail and glasses. "And what is your name sir?" She asked politely and proffesionally with just the right amount of warmth to seem friendly without seeming TOO friendly.

She reached into a drawer and pulled out a clipboard with some papers and a pen attached. "I'll also need you to fill these out." If Dane looked at them the papers looked like a standard government application with a few added sections. A checkbox for if you possess powers, a section for the type of abilities, known limits, how they were acquired.

Dane nodded. There was nothing so constant in the army as paperwork.

Name: "Dane McCalister Sinclair"
Address: (supplied)
Phone and Email: (supplied)
Qualifications: Master Sargeant, United States Army, Retired. 5th Special Forces Group, attached to 82nd Airborne out of Fort Bragg. Extensive combat training, including small arms, heavy weapons, demolitions, hand to hand, military tactics, and counterinsurgency.
Commendations: Silver Star, Purple Heart (2), Congressional Medal of Honor.
Education: BA, History, UMass
Checked for Powers: (Checked)
Powers: Flight, Strength, Toughness, Speed.
Known Limits: Unknown. I haven't found anything I can't lift. I can fly from New York to Paris in about two hours, and faster in space.
How Your Powers Were Acquired: Military background. Multiple tours in Afghanistan. Came under heavy fire, sustained casualties, powers appeared. Terminated enemy. Further details are classified.

Once he had answered the questions to the limit of what he felt he could discuss in a non-classified setting, he handed the clipboard back to the woman behind the desk.

"There. And if you have the security clearance, the details of the incident I cited are filed under 'Operation: Lost Innocence'."

The woman nodded and took the papers. "I will pass the information along to Director Sharpe so he can look into it. If you'll take a seat over there, I will let him know you are waiting for him."

In reply to Justice (msg # 47):

Dane nodded politely, and sat down to wait.

After about 30 minutes of waiting a well groomed, handsome man in an expensive suit came out of the elevator and began making his way towards Dane. He smiled charmingly as he reached the seats, inquiring in a cultured British accent. "Sergeant Sinclair? Ethan Sharpe" He extended his hand, still flashing that charming smile. "I hear you're looking for a job."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 49):

Dane smiled and shook Ethan's hand. "Director Sharpe. Good to meet you."

After withdrawing his hand, he said, "Actually, no. I don't need a job, sir. I want to contribute. After "Operation: Lost Innocence" concluded, I was mustered out with full benefits and given retirement as if I had spent my full twenty years in, plus the monthly stipend for the Medal of Honor. So I can live modestly and never have to work another day in my life. Plus, people still start up Go Fund Me pages for me all the time... unasked, of course, which I simply donate to charity. No, sir, what I'm looking for is a purpose. I have had the best training the United States' military can offer, plus the powers, and it seems that sitting on my ass and not helping when I've been given more than my fair share of ability to do so would be a waste."
This message was last edited by the player at 16:53, Wed 28 June 2017.

The man chuckled. "I'm afraid one must go with the other, I can't use you without employing you, red tape is the cost of going public I'm afraid. I can bring you on as an 'active consultant', the new term we had to come up with for a consultant that gets involved in the action, but I'd still be forced to compensate you. Though I'll admit I give my salary to charity as well, with my investments and the treasure I amassed during my time as a pirate I'm rather set on currency for at least the next four centuries."

Ethan flashed a charming smile and gestured for Dane to follow him. "But if you'll follow me up to my office we can hammer out any specifics. Do you have any questions or concerns on our way up?" Ethan led the way to the elevator, stepping inside and pressing the button once Dane had joined him.

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 51):

Dane nodded. "A few. First, in your opinion, is this job a good fit for a military man, or is there something else you might recommend? Second, as a registered parahuman, how much latitude would I have in the pursuit of my duties? Let's start with those two."

"Well that depends, it's possible since you're already registered to just go down to Weston PD and give your name and contact information to the SCU. They'll call you if they need a hand, and as long as you don't cause excessive property damage, try to be the next Hunter, or generally make a nuisance of yourself, you'll be free to go the vigilante route."

"There's also another position I could offer you, as long as you don't mind going back into covert ops."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 53):

Dane's expression did not change much, but his bearing experienced something that could be described as, 'perking up.'

"I was planning on speaking to the WPD anyway about that, but... I'm listening."

The elevator dinged and Ethan led the way into his office. "I head an off books task force with the Department 12, the branch of the millitary that runs Strike Team Alpha and the Think-Tank*, we call it Strike Team Beta but the members are just as likely to work individually as they are to as a unit." The Immortal Spymaster explained as he sat behind his desk.


"Strike Team Beta operates in secret, performing black ops involving powered individuals, bleeding edge tech, dark magic, and the like. Everything is completely off book and the actions of any agent will be denied if captured."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 55):

Dane smiled. "Yes, sir, I would be MOST interested in that. If you'll have me."

The Immortal Spy smiled. "Excellent. Then lets get you acquainted with the support team and the base of operations." Ethan stood from his chair and tapped his ear. "Door to Safehouse 17." After a few seconds a glowing blue portal roughly the size and shape of a door appeared in the center of the room. Teleportation technology was a fairly recent advancement and required a large central machine to produce the 'doors' which in turn took a massive amount of power. Which was why it was mainly used by the military and most frequently the divisions that dealt with powered threats. "Now if you'll follow me." Ethan said to Dane then stepped through the portal

>>To Safehouse 17>>

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 57):

Dane followed silently.

==> to Safehouse 17

OOC: do we continue in this thread, or will you set up a separate thread?

The portal deposited the two of them into Ethan's lavishly decorated office. One couldn't help but wonder which was older, the antique furniture and art pieces, or the man that owned them. Almost immediately the intercom on the desk buzzed. "Director Sharpe, the two agents you requested have just arrived." EThan leaned over and pressed the button. "Excellent, send them right up." "Yes sir."

"So what did I miss in the last several months?" she hesitated with slight stutterng but only quiet enough so only Ethan could hear her.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:40, Fri 14 July 2017.

"Business as usual for the most part, no major crises." Ethan sat at his desk indicating for Lina to take a seat, then pressing a few buttons on his holo-watch*. "Now you'll recall I said that only one individual had ever gotten anywhere close to what we saw in that lab, a para-genius who went by the moniker of "The Builder", I've just sent you his file. The two agents on their way up are two of his former victims, and members of our covert branch. I want you to describe what you saw in there, and they'll let us know if it matches with his M.O. "


* essentially a smartwatch supercomputer with holographic interface.

"Okay, I'll do my best to describe what I saw." Lina assured the director as she sat down in the seat before him. The experience still left a bad taste in her mouth but knowing that someone had "possibly" cloned her and created a para with her DNA was unnerving.

Lina went over the report. A flash back of when she eavesdropped on the group she and Carl were spying out the dark and dismal place serving as the Firestorm Cult's former base of operations. One of them was bragging about "boom headshotting" a former colleague in custody a while back. They believed he was collateral damage. Lina gasped softly to herself as she read the last paragraph of The Builder's bio.

  The door slid open, and a young woman of Asian descent entered, her long black hair pinned back with two butterfly clips.  She had hold of a young man's hand, his hair was a sandy blond, cropped relatively short, with a matching goatee.  He moved with a watchful, protective step, and his eyes were alert and downright dangerous if he felt threatened.  The Asian woman, who moved toward Lina and Ethan without error, but her dark eyes seemed to glide right past them both into infinity beyond.  She said softly, her voice far older than her body "Ethan, we are here.  I pray your suspicions are untrue, but I will do my best to assure us all that if he is not gone, we make him so."

  Jack, also known as Rebound, said "Honestly, Ethan, I think this is a bit of jumping at shadows.  I know we've had our mistaken corpses before, but I think we can be pretty sure we got the right man when we watched him die last time.  Erinyes made the right choice about whom to heal that time."

Ethan smiled as Penny and Jack entered. "Glad you could make it. And I can only hope it's a false alarm, but you can never be too careful with someone like him."  Ethan turned to Lina. "Lina, these are Agents Jack and Penny Pride, also known as Rebound and Seer, from our covert branch. Jack, Penny, this is Agent Lina Anomaly. Lina, please describe to them everything you can recall about the lab itself, it's setup, the equipment present any details you can recall, they'll see how it lines up to what they remember about the Builders lab. Hopefully we'll put our fears to rest, and then we can talk about your next assignment."
This message was last updated by the player at 05:52, Sun 16 July 2017.

"Yes, nice to meet the both of you." Lina started with a greeting. "From what I remember, aside from it bieng dark and dismal, it had like a ritualistic type atmosphere. Gave me bad vibes bieng in the area. Yet the human sized test tubes and array of computers made it seem more awkward. In one of them was lady but I couldn't tell who she was at first until..."

Lina paused to compose herself from the grief. She cleared her throat. "That's when everything went south. Like they knew we were there. What I didn't understand was how they could because they didn't really have a tight security. So either they were tipped off or had paras in places I couldn't sense mentally. That's if that lady who recently awakened from that tube wasn't their first success. When Carl and I were scouting out the place, a group of people in an office area were talking about plans to carry on 'his' work but this one guy was talking about him really disrespectful. He had an idea from a recently acquired 'asset' but his superior was slow about assigning a team to research and develop it. If this 'superior' was the Builder, I think that maybe his death was an inside job. A conflict of interest, nonetheless. If so, I don't know why the Builder wouldn't want to explore the possibilities with that 'asset'. From what I got from his so called subordinate, the Builder was skiddish about having his team work on this 'unknown in origin'... substance. From what I've read in his file, he would've jumped on an opportunity like this in a heatbeat. Maybe something about this thing 'spooked' him? Or did he have other priorities? That I can only find out through time itself."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:18, Sun 16 July 2017.

  Penny listened, and said quietly "Perhaps a student or a protege, but not HIM.  There isn't enough pure sadism in your description to make me inclined to think it is the Builder again.  I have never seen his particular brand of cruelty in anyone else, and what you are describing doesn't sound like him.  He was very big on security.  He didn't want his 'toys' getting away."  She was gazing out, into space, and the haunted look on her face spoke volumes on what she wasn't saying.  The power of her grip on Jack's hand said more, the white of her knuckles standing out clearly against her normal skintone.  Calm as she sounded, there was a great deal of emotion and feeling there.  And not one trace of it escaped her psionically, her mental shields were so good, it was like she was psychically invisible.

"If it was a student or protege, I escaped as the only survivor. That may not be enough testimony but seldom did Carl and I run into a situation like that." Lina said weakly. She paused again to compose herself. A teardrop fell from both her eyes. Lina wiped them before adding, "The vibe of the enviroment changed when their so called "Patient Zero" woke up. My partner's death was her fault. I don't know what direction they are planning on taking this new "group" but I do believe they have stepped up their security if they're in the same spot. Also, what Carl and I saw was only a fraction of the area. It was huge. There were plenty of "locked" rooms. I couldn't get near them because of the security. They were guarding the lab and those rooms, not the outskirts. Maybe the reason why there wasn't was because they were trying to capture those who may have journeyed to close, like lead them into a trap? It smelled like one for sure! IMO, the setup looked confusing. Normally, tight security means guards everywhere, right? Why only have one layer of it? We got in easily but not out. On the mental front, Some of the guards on the inside detail knew there was an outer layer of security but they all doubled up on the inside minutes before Carl and I arrived. That had me to believe that someone or something was getting out of hand or another event occured that needed more of them. Those on the inside had heavily shielded minds with some kind of tech or psychic defense. I couldn't fully know what was behind those locked doors except that percieved "something" was an evil taking place. Whatever was blocking me from digging deeper into their minds didn't want me to know what was going on in that area. Not even the ones in the lab knew. Their minds were clean beyond knowing that their current subject, Patient Zero, needed a host. The head honcho's mind was the only one in that bunch that was heavily shielded. He was constantly going to and fro the restricted area and the lab."
This message was last edited by the player at 23:07, Sun 16 July 2017.

  Seer nodded, and said simply "Given that, definitely not Him."  She tilted her head slightly, toward Ethan, and said "Did you ever find out more about his 'little student'?  I remember him referencing them, but I never personally got near a student.  Not that he was likely to share me.  It is possible that any proteges he had might have picked up his passion for trying to figure out how parahumans work, like we're all some sort of lab animals to be dissected and analyzed.  You recall that there was clear evidence of someone giving other normal, or formerly normal, humans powers in that last lab."  What she didn't say, leaving unsaid for Ethan to choose or not, was clear to Ethan and Jack both.

"Nothing more than some spent casings, but any student of the builder would likely have some form of mental enhancement and thinker class paras can be very good at covering their tracks, it's just most of the time they don't want to." Ethan leaned forward, clasping his hands atop his desk. "I cannot stress the potential for danger this has. The government abandoned all super soldier experiments after the first dozen or so attempts resulted in 1 or 2 successes per experiment, if that. And the fact that there is a para with hyper-intelligence that can manage to stay in the shadows only exacerbates the situation. I'm assigning the three of you to look into this, I need this taken care of quickly and quietly."

While they were talking she ran through her mind all the time that the "nightmare" took over. Yet she could only remember the death and destruction she woke up in around her or heard about in her apt setup by the DPA. Then it dawned on her. What if the Anomaly finally found where their "child" was in the multiverse? Seeing that she defected, they probably chose a third party to resurrect their "doomsday weapon" but seeing that it lacked a host. They were a highly advanced technological race so recreating what they put in Lina would be a walk in the park.

"I uhh..." Lina began. Her voice was shaky. She cleared her throat and continued. "Have a theory, I don't know if it could be true or not. I hope it's not but the reason why that hyper-intelligent para got as far as it did was because the builder's protege had help from someone from another dimension. I'm talking about the not so benevolent race that raised me. I don't want to bring up the past of when I stuck with that godforsaken monster in my conscious but if I ignore this possibilty, it'll prove detrimental. What I only know is that IF that hyper-intelligent para is my alter ego in a different body, this world... no universe is in danger. I know why the Anomaly did what they did to me. _{frikn meglomaniacs...}. They probably knew where I was the whole time and followed me here. They just stayed in the shadows until now. Since from their point of view I've 'defected', their original plan of universal conquest doesn't involve me anymore. So their answer to 'dealing with' a defector is to destroy it with their doomsday weapon. That bieng the Nightmare Anomaly."

  Penny said quietly "Ethan . . . you know I can find things, but I need something to go on.  People, more than things, but sometimes things.  Right now it's too vague to do that .
 . . "

"I'm aware Seer, and I doubt the Nightmare is involved, our world is better protected from extra-dimensional invasion than most. Of course there is an easy way to find out." Ethan checked the time briefly before speaking into the open air. "Lin, when you have a moment I need to ask you about your dimensional wards." He didn't touch his watch or earpiece, so he obviously wasn't on any sort of call, but merely talking out loud to someone not in the room.

  His office door swung open as a woman answered him "Indeed, you must have something work related and worrisome to actually ask, you old Pirate."  The woman entering the room was tiny, a petite Chinese woman of indeterminate age, although she looked pretty young, really.  She had a commanding presence though, that made one want to sit up straight and present one's best.  Her midnight emerald eyes were bright with intelligence, and the jeans and hand-embroidered silk shirt were clearly of excellent make.  She had a big bag of some sort, clearly having been shopping at the Chinese Market very recently, and her ebon hair was piled atop her head in an elaborate style and pinned with real jade haircombs in green, white, and red jade.  Her height of five foot two was almost an afterthought, given her commanding and very much larger presence.

Ethan chuckled. The intelligence director leaned back in his chair, some of his proffesional manner dropping. "Of course, I'm a pirate. We don't ask unless necessary. And who are you to call me old? I'm a quarter your age!" He let out another chuckle before turning more serious. "Lin we need to know if you've detected a dimensional incursion in the past 4-8 months, and if they fit the description Agent Anomaly here will provide." Ethan turned to Lina. "Lina this is Lin Kattalakis, The Dragon's Mistress, and the most powerful sorceress on the planet. Please tell her what we're looking for, in as much detail as possible, and don't limit yourself to the standard five senses. Energy emmisions, mental or spiritual presence, anything that can be used to identify her on a mystical or scientific scale.

"Please to meet you!" She greeted. "The Anomaly are a race who come from an alternate reality of Thestias in the Gemini system on the Pollux star side. I don't know what dimension this is but from what I was told, in mine, Thestias is a blue gas giant. In the dimension the Anomaly come from, Thestias is the size of Jupiter but inhabitable like Earth. They're a technologically advanced raced who've combined technology with the cosmic substance Dark Matter. With it, they've invented DPF, known as Diamond Power Forging. In layman's terms, diamond minerals combined with Dark Matter and advanced tech can do the same things you do but with a different medium. Other discoveries besides that were Dark Matter Infused Super Soldier Experiments. I was the first. Nightmare was a distant second.

If they somehow achieved dimensional travel, we would be looking for a Dark Matter Signature, more cosmic and advanced tech than mystical. If they haven't done any traveling lately, you probably won't detect anything. Then again, if they've been doing this for a while and knew the portal could be traceble, the process could be refined to having a faster risidual signature decay rate. The latter in turn making it harder to trace. Keep in mind also, a year here is a century there. And I spent what seemed like over 20 in that dimension. So, if the Anomaly had that long to perfect their Dimensional Travel Tech, in... let's say... 5 or 6 Earth years, that's at least 500 in their dimension. But that's if they did the refining on their Thestias. If they did it all here, then it's just a min of 5 years, no more than 6. Based on the latter, the DMS should light up on your scanners like a diamondlight... erm... neonlight! *giggles*"

On the subject of age when the other two brought it up, Lina thought to herself, "To be honest, compared to me, you're children. Still, I chose to look young."
This message was last edited by the player at 14:36, Fri 28 July 2017.

  Lin gave Ethan an amused smile, and said "A quarter would be overly generous to grant you, Ethan.  But as to your Anomaly, miss Lina, there have been no dimensional incursions of that degree or in those regions within the last five hundred years.  I would know, I've been watching for longer than that.  My job is to guard this dimension from incursions  that could threaten it.  Generally, if I do my job, which I do a very good job of it, you never have need to know I exist.  Ethan and I are old friends, which is why he knows me both personally and professionally."

Lina thought about what she said for a moment. Then she wondered allowed, "Maybe there was some who followed me here around the same time I arrived. If they did, it must have been between opening the portal from my world to yours. If it didn't close right away like I believed or if I wasn't "myself" during that time the portal was opened, then we have a breach. My signature is purely cosmic. Check for that type of signature. My signature is different from DiamondTech because it's not as bleh... Cosmic Energy is FAR richer. Compared to spices, DT is a red pepper, Cosmic Energy is a ghost.

But here's a wild guess. Dimensional Travel may be new to them but Time Travel isn't. If anything, they copied what I could already do from a blood sample but with technology or emulated my time traveling feats with their inventions. If they knew Gate Keepers like you existed within the last 500 or so years or more on this Earth, they could've setup camp before you came to be. If not, had a VERY precise way of hiding their entries if it's on a level Gate Keepers of this world have yet to reach. Don't get me wrong, I have confidence in that you've protected this realm. We have to explore the possibilty that someone may have been watching the Gate Keepers to avoid detection. If these ones have ran into this world's Gate Keepers in your life time or before, creating a system of invisibility would become a TOP priority from the first failed invasion."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:04, Sat 29 July 2017.

  Lin shrugged, and said "They would find that even if they were here before me, that messing with my home dimension is a very bad idea.  And in my lifetime, I am sure I would have noticed them messing around if they were here.  I am very good at what I do, and unless I have need of revealing myself, most never know I exist, much less what I do, unless I have to kill them or they meet me in a professional circumstance."  Clearly, there was more to it, but she was not going to just tell someone everything the first time she met them.  And Lina was meeting her for the first time.

Lina sensed the non verbal cues Lin gave. Doesn't take a telepath to know she was holding back information. For someone who's lived that long should know about several threats either vanquished or retreated from this dimension. If the Anomaly was at the top of that list, it wouldn't be likely that they would stop after one failed mission. If they couldn't beat a foe in the immediate, because of how advanced the Anomaly were, Lina believed they could've traveled so far back in the past that the current guardians existed. If they kept on encountering resistence, the process would be repeated until the Anomaly recieved none. What if the society was too primitive? Hmmm... Lina was stomped on that one. Then again, the Anomaly was all about messing up stuff. For several years, they did just that to her. Lina felt this rage inside of her but hid it. It was a sense of distaste that the Anomaly left in the girl's mind.

"They must be this bold thinking they can mess with this dimension then." She stammed. Lina folded her arms. She closed her eyes and exhaled. After opening her eyes, she continued, "Even bolder to make a girl share a conscious with a doomsday weapon against her wishes. If they've been here before, it should've been subtle things throughout history. On that I remember vaguely some punk on Thestias bragged about messing with the weather system with a series of underwater pyramids in an area known as the Bermuda Triangle. I don't know what Earth they did that on."

Lina paused for a moment. Remembering every mission that went south because of some unknown trigger that made the Nightmare show herself. Lina may not know Lin but it's hard to believe Nightmare didn't. Maybe there were secrets Lin didn't want to tell Lina in this initial meeting. Granted, if this Earth believed Lina wasn't redeemable, she wouldn't be in the DPA right now and probably wouldn't be alive today either. Lina smirked at believing it was primarily Lin that showed her mercy. If Lin was in on the Nightmare's defeat and was there when they removed the Nightmare from Lina's mind, it probably was Lin's suggestion that the extraction to take place and Ethan used his resources to make it happen. That bit didn't surprise Lina at all.

"Back to the detection, the only thing I can say is that if you find a Cosmic signature similar to mine, then I'll know that its them. Even temporal signatures could be in the mix. That's if the trace is recent. How far can your detection go back or do we need to go back in time to sense their presence?"
This message was last edited by the player at 04:19, Sun 30 July 2017.

"Regardless I am assigning the three of you to look into this. Follow the facts and see where they lead, whether that be to The Anomaly, the Builder's apprentice, or some new threat. Now if you'll excuse me, I have another appointment to get to." Ethan summoned another door and stepped through it, leaving the four in his office.

>>To Safehouse 17>>

  Lin said gently to Lina "If they were here, I would know.  They are not.  But being aware of a potential threat permits me to take actions to prevent it from becoming an issue in the future."  She glanced at her sleeve, where one of the Dragons on it had moved, and then said "With that in mind, I do have a couple other things to do yet, so I can't hang around here, but I will keep my senses sharp.  It gets easier with more practice for those like me."  Giving them all a nod, she strolled back out of the office and off to elsewhere.

----------->> Apokryphos Cafe

Lina pondered over what Lin told her. She still didn't quite believe it. Of all the times she blanked out and the Nightmare took over, there wasn't one time where it could happen that the latter reached out to her alien masters?

"I call bullcrap." Lina thought to herself. While Lin's motives seemed pure, it did seem like she was hiding something. "There's a clear and present danger here and the Nightmare was the beginning. If someone did give the Nightmare a host body and the DPA doesn't want to let me in on the specifics lest it would cause me to worry or something else, I'm not going to roll over and let this be a dead end. It's not like this Earth is the only one that has done something like this before. This Earth's Lin seems to hide more than what she leads on in the others but still the non-verbal coms are just as easy to decipher. All of them were laxed about the Anomaly's arrival by telling Lina something similar to what this Lin just did. In the end, it took a dance with death to make the other Lins be serious about this major threat to their dimension. Yet I'm done telling people about their alternate world's self. They miss the purpose on why I did. So if they don't wanna know, I'm not going to volunteer. People be on that anti-social shennanigans nowadays when you try to help them. I experienced seeing over 99 Lin deaths... But I just wanna save one! If all of them act like this, why should I bother helping them? Graah..."

Lina sat there deep in thought before the other two still there after Lin left.

"There's more to it. I can't leave this as a dead end. There is a potential threat, like Lin said but I feel the severity of it is bieng overlooked. I know for a fact that this isn't the only Earth the Anomaly has tried to conquer but this is the first one the Nightmare was defeated. And if the Anomaly are still the meglomaniacs I once knew, the Nightmare isn't their only ace in the hole."

"It's as if almost every world I've visited got their own version of secrecy. IMO and based on my experience, the latter seems like to be nonchalantness and carefree. If they only knew all the once inhabited worlds who had a similar attitude, they wouldn't be acting like this. Then again, I hate to say it but this Earth is the most "feeble-minded" I've every visited." She thought to herself after a hopeless sigh.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:04, Sun 20 Aug 2017.

  Penny tilted her head, and said "Nobody said this was a dead end.  We're all supposed to investigate this more.  We are just saying that at this time, nobody sees a familiar pattern, and it does not match any currently known behavioral profiles to be able to be positively identified yet."

"I agree. And based on what I tried to explain to Lin about the Anomaly's "signature", in hindsight, the Nightmare would've told them to change their signature to avoid detection from any and all people like Lin and sad to say, she isn't the only one I knew with her skillset. So me trying to give an obsolete key to someone who can sense dimensional disturbances doesn't help much." Lina explained. She looked a bit dejected from what now could've been the case. If the Anomaly has encountered people like Lin before (which infact they probably have), they would've masked their entries so that any version Lin or similar "gatekeeper" couldn't detect them. "On your note about behavior profile matches, if the Anomaly has changed their tactics, then Lin wouldn't be able to detect them no matter what I told her. The only thing we can do is try to find out where they'll try to be next."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:23, Sun 20 Aug 2017.

"Theorizing now is pointless. The fact is we don't have enough information to come to any conclusions yet. At this point it could be anyone either already known or a new player no ones heard about. So we go out and we get some facts, we search and we watch and we listen. We learn what we can, then we worry about who these bastards are after find them and take them down hard." Jack spoke up, till then content to sit and listen. "And I trust Lin when she says she knows what she's talking about, her and the director aren't just good at their jobs, they were born for them."
This message was last edited by the GM at 03:59, Mon 21 Aug 2017.

"Born for them?" Lina ran over what Rebound said over in her mind, almost mockingly. "And the Nightmare was born to be a herald to prepare a world for an Anomaly invasion. If they only knew how many Lins and Danes died in the other dimensions trying to stop one... Eh... Nope... I'm keeping that to myself. They wanna think their the bees knees, go right ahead. Won't help them in the end since no one on this Earth wants to know what I experienced in other realities now."

"Where do you suggest we start? Lina asked.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:18, Mon 21 Aug 2017.

  Penny said simply "We start by checking out that lab."

Okay, we'll do that then. Gather what we need, notify Ethan where we're going and head on out." Lina answered surely. "I can teleport us there to a safe distance from the lab."

  Penny nodded, and said "I think Ethan expects us to begin at the lab and pursue leads we find, and fill him in when we find any lead.  Do you need any special equipment?"

Lina shook her head but hid a grin in her lips as she said, "We may need mom's camera to record but other than that, nothining unless you have anything to add."

----------->> illegal Lab
This message was last edited by the player at 15:26, Sat 16 Sept 2017.

  With the question of gear settled, they snagged what they needed and headed for the doors, intending to begin investigating this lab for clues.  They really did need to know who was experimenting on paras again.

----------->> illegal Lab