"Let's bury this thing," Danny nodded to Wade. He reached again for his pistol. "I forgot to mention, I have a strict 'no zombie' rule when it comes to these team-ups."

Realizing Funnybone might actually fit the description, he quickly added, "Present company excluded."

Sue had come over to look by this point, and put a hand to her open mouth once she caught sight.  At first, she thought it the remains of some poor soul who'd been incinerated in the blast.   But, the bones weren't charred.  And then it moved...

Somehow, it was more macabre than Funnybone.  Who at least had being wreathed in hellfire as a means to explain being animate.

Just when she thought she was sort of acclimating - something else to test the limits of her stretched sanity.

She laughed anxiously at Wade's and Danny's banter.  Thinking they must be crazy to be cracking jokes, and she more so to laugh at it.   Naturalist, biologist, time-lost flower child --  she was out of her depth.

"Maybe - maybe worse than a zombie!  Haven't you seen horror movies about the undead?  They start as skeletons, and then -- " 

She turned and called:  "Timebroker!  Who the hell is this-?"
This message was last edited by the player at 17:34, Sun 03 Oct 2021.

Sally opened her mouth to rebuke the Timebroker’s cavalier attitude toward their plight. However, her friends went off to investigate the crash. “We’re not done, Mister!” She pointed at the Timebroker to emphasize her vow. Then, Sally walked off to join the rest of the “Exiles”.

Sidling up alongside Sue, Sally gasped at what she saw. A skeleton rising from the crater. Unlike Wade, this one didn’t crack jokes or burn with hellfire. This skeleton just looked burnt up from a catastrophic entry into their atmosphere. She gripped Sue’s hand as she stared at the skeleton, somehow horrified and fascinated at the same time.

“Can you…understand us? Are…are you okay…?” Sally felt foolish even asking, but the strange newcomer managed to get to his—or her—feet despite such a traumatic arrival. She’d heard of a mysterious mutant up North who could regenerate from injuries that would annihilate other people. What if this was someone similar?
This message was last edited by the player at 17:53, Sun 03 Oct 2021.

Sue glanced to Sally, recognizing that compassion was the heartfelt and right response here.   She tried to regain her composure, and muster her own.   She nodded, saying:

"Once we get back to normative reality, we can make bandages.   Lots...and lots.. of bandages?"   

Sally nodded slowly. “Yeah, you’re right, of course. But the creep who brought us all here can’t even be bothered to give us shelter, or even chairs to sit on. When will he send us somewhere we can make bandage? What if he sends us on a mission with even less time to prepare…?”
This message was last edited by the player at 20:23, Sun 03 Oct 2021.

Sue turned and gave a narrow eyed look at the creep in question.

Yes...surely, they'd be hurled into a mission at any moment...it was par for the course, at this point...

The skeletal form, hearing voices called down to them from above, slowly turned hollowed out eye-sockets towards those gathered above.
The dust was still settling.

It nodded.  It was a slow nod.

Then, as those gather above watched, insects ... thousands of insects ... from all about the skeleton in the crater, and even beyond it, began buzzing all over the skeleton, as though like flies to a corpse.

The humming in the air in all directions increased, to audible (and annoying?) levels.

3.3% of timelines must involve trying to punch the Timebroker in that smug  face when he says shit like this.  Or dying before before this is all done.

Gwen nods towards Funnybone as he passes.  She suspects that it's Rocket and the old man crashing into the desert behind them.  She knows from last time that nothing can hurt them in this stupid desert so as long as someone else is dealing with it, it's fine.

Only one person from Gwen's timeline has been to other ones and Captain America doesn't like to talk about the years she was lost.  "I knew almost nothing about other dimensions until yesterday and I am not sorry if my caring about the people important to me annoys you or isn't fucking optimal.  I made a difference in that last world because of my connection with that mirror where Gwen died instead of Peter."  She takes a breath.  That jump had touched on a lot of really personal stuff for her.  Was being thrown off a bridge by a supervillain a worse fate than turning into a mindless lizard?  Nevermind that fear of a partner being attacked was part of why she didn't date much.

"I can fight better if I'm not worried about what's happening at home and if you can't see that you don't know as much as you think you do."

She looks over towards the crash site for a second, then back at Timebroker.  "Wait... who's that?  Where are our other two teammates?"

"You seeing this?" Danny grimaced. Whatever clear shot he had at the zombie was just obscured by a crowd of insects that had appeared from nowhere. "Zombies and bugs... Great, just what we needed to really round out our little vacation here."

“Wait,” Sally said softly, holding out her hand toward Danny and Wade. “It…He…hasn’t done anything except stand up and gather a hive. Bugs are yucky, but they’re not inherently evil.” Sally stared, the Science student and budding Mystic in her wondering at what they were all witnessing. She addressed the strange being. “Can you talk…?”

As she awaited a reply, she hollered back at Spider-Women. “GWENNY! You might wanna see this!”

"This is me waiting," Funnybone said, still dripping hellfire. "Attacking would involve screaming and dying and other fun stuff like that."

Among her studies in biology, entomology had never been a favorite.   She wasn't afraid of bugs, per se.   If she had been, that foray into the N-zone alongside the Aegis and the Defenders, to face the hordes of Lady Dread, bride of Annihilus, would have forced her to purge it.

Still, it was hard for her to feel any enthusiasm for this.  Impossible not to think of her experience in the N-zone, and several B-grade horror flicks to boot.

Once Sally called back to Gwen, she did as well and added:

"Too bad your friends don't share the diet of most arachnids!   If they did and could build webs, this would be good eatin' right here!" 

Growing impatient, Funnybone reached out and snatched a bee from the air in front of him. He looked at it buzzing in his fleshless palm and demanded, "Who are you? Where are you from? Where is the rebel base?!"

The skeletal figure in the crate stood looking around, while insect from ... miles around? ... flooded into the hole around him.

Between the dust still in the air, and the swarms of (almost every type of) insect, it was hard to see the figure within.
But those who could would notice it seeming to 'fill out'.

And soon enough, climbing out of the crater was a living, cohesive swarm of insects.
It stopped at the lip of the crater, and turned to those gathered.

"Who am I?  Who are you?  And where are we?" its voice seemed to be the orchestrated buzz and hum of a thousand tiny creatures, rather than a voice in the traditional sense.
There was no discernible mouth.
It's 'body' (for whatever that constituted) was a million minute creatures, swarming and crawling over one another in a constantly seething mass:  though it held a vaguely humanoid shape.

As it looked apon them, it thought maybe some of them looked somewhat familiar, but ... not.

The Desert is not miles in diameter. Swarm is more keenly aware of this than the others, but the Desert itself is not much larger than the range of visibility, and its topography is irrational-- moving away from the center (where you are) eventually leads to moving back towards the center from the same direction you left.

Swarm consists of every single insect in the Desert.

"I'll just allow the rest of you to sort yourselves out. Good luck next Mission, gang, the Multiverse is counting on you!"

And then the Timebroker had never existed at all.
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:39, Tue 05 Oct 2021.

Nonplussed by this new arrival, Sue wasn't sure where or how to begin.

They had all died coming in -- but what of this entity?  Plainly it was alive -- collectively speaking.   But, in a very different way than any single organism.   She turned toward Funnybone.  Saying softly, "C'mon - be nice! Let him go. None are free, unless all are free, and all that!" meaning the captive bee.

"It's...complicated," she said to the new arrival. "But let's ask the expert, and learn who you are first, since you don't seem to know.   Tallus, who is this being?  And what are they, exactly?"

The Tallus chirrups: "The indicated being is designated as eXiles Operative: Fritz von Meyer, codenamed Swarm. They have successfully completed zero missions and have been extracted from zero unsuccessful missions. They are a composite being consisting of numerous Earth-local subsentient species. Does the Bearer require a specific listing?"
This message was last edited by the GM at 00:35, Wed 06 Oct 2021.

"I know who I am", he considered, then realised, "It was a response to her demand of my identity".

Then, after a moment's thought, "This world is ... small.
I can normally sense for ... miles.   Every insect within that range.
Here:  I can sense very insect of this world ... and this world is small.

I ask again, where are we?"
This message was last edited by the player at 00:41, Wed 06 Oct 2021.

She had not expected a human name. Human skeletal structure notwithstanding. It was no little chilling to hear one...

"It's small because it's not a world," she answered.  "More of a funny little break room, where we hang out inbetween missions. And make no mistake, you are here to be a part of those missions."     

God, what process or situation turned a human being into this?  she could only wonder.  And could think of no kind or polite way to ask.
This message was last edited by the player at 00:54, Wed 06 Oct 2021.

It listened to her, then nods.   "Yes,  I can see that now".

Then, as an answer to her unasked question, "I am a product of my own nature" as it began to walk casually around, looking at this 'break room'.   It needed flowers.

It turned on Unseen, "Who are you?   Who are you to demand such of me?"
He seemed genuinely intrigued, rather than antagonistic.

The blonde girl in the vaguely Spider-themed costume stops talking to the person that's not there.  Maybe it seems familiar, maybe it doesn't.

She walks over to the others.  "We can't eat anything in this stupid desert anyway, remember?"

She addresses Swarm  "The cosmic entity that just left is the one that can really answer your questions.  He took us all from our worlds, and wants us to fix timelines in order to get home."
This message was last edited by the player at 02:52, Wed 06 Oct 2021.

The insectoid human looked around, then up, as though looking for the 'the cosmic entity' of which this Gwen spoke.
He knew of the Spider-folk, in their various persona.  And he knew of their ... enemy-allies.

A million tiny eyes looked her up and down for a long time, before the mass seemed to nod.

"We have been ... forced into servitude", it buzzed.    "Summoned and bound", it considered, "... caged here till required", as it looked around at its not-so-gilded cage.

Then, to the Spidery-woman, "We can ... eat ... each other".

"Yeah, we're all stuck doing whatever Timebroker wants.  We had two more with us, they weren't there at the end of the mission and we don't know what happened to them."

She makes a face.  "Let's um... let's not do that.  We'll get you something to eat when we get to someplace that exists."

The world vanishes in a flash of light.