You remember dying.

You did not die heroically.

You died ugly, helpless, and alone. You did not live up to your full potential; whatever your grand destiny was supposed to be, you did not fulfill it. Your friends and loved ones never learned why you disappeared, never had a chance to grieve for you. One day you were just gone and sooner or later, you were forgotten.

You died with unfinished business and your death left an irreparable hole in the fabric of the Multiverse.

You remember a blinding white light, and you remember falling.

At Earth standard gravity, it takes less than five minutes to fall to Earth from the International Space Station. You fell for hours, fell for days through that blinding white light. You fell for an eternity.

And then suddenly you stopped. You land, face first, in an endless expanse of white sand; it is coarse and rough and irritating, and it gets everywhere.

There is nothing here but the sand. The sky is too perfectly blue, and the sunlight is too bright and too warm but there is no Sun to produce it.

There is nothing here but you, the sand, and as your eyes adjust to the light-- each other. You are all standing approximately fifteen feet apart, arranged in an evenly spaced circle, facing the other six inhabitants of this place.

Welcome to the eXiles.

Falling.

Like the ground just washed away from underneath your feet, and left you falling through the entire Universe.

Death, then falling, then an abrupt stop.

Sally Dane landed face down and spread-eagled on a mound of white sand. “Oh...oh...Om Shanti,” Sally gasped. When her stomach finally came to a stop with the rest of her body, Sally raised her head. Desert as far as the eye could see.

Grateful that loopiness passed, Sally pushed herself onto her hands and knees. Wrinkling her nose in disgust, she brushed the sand off her face, arms, and her violet & turquoise psychedelic print mini-dress. “I must have sub-consciously protected myself with a magnetic force-field,” she muttered. “Otherwise, I’d have skinned most of my legs!”

Sally brushed the sand off said legs and stood on shaky legs. She brushed back her straight, nearly waist-length black hair behind her shoulders. Once again, she surveyed the endless sea of white sands. “I must have tripped in Death Valley again.

Heavy.”

'Ya know, I thought being caught in the greatest of all explosions would hurt more... and aren't wormholes supposed to be colorful?  Krutack! If I was caught in the explosion, how am I supposed to see how amazing it was!?!'

Rocket is not a patient person.  An eternity of falling?  The first order of business of establishing where he is failed. He went over all the math of how he'd wind up in a wormhole, but that checked out.  He tried firing a few rounds to compare velocity, but it was rather hard to track with all the empty white space making it hard to tell which direction was which.  No evidence of changing velocity by that point, so he was going whatever his max speed was.  Exercise?  Filled a gap for a while, got bored of it.  Reconfigured his gear once, twice, who knows how many times.  Tried to make sure he had enough juice to land properly whenever he did see the ground.  More sleeping then he cared to admit, all that extra time was not favorable to him.

That said, it wasn't a true eternity, as he was quite rudely interrupted from one of his naps with a sudden impact to the ground. THUMP!  The uplifted rabbit quickly stood up, and vainly attempted smacking as much sand as he can out of his gun, his jumpsuit, and finally his lengthy ears.

“Oh my god, something different!  Finally!”  Quickly surveying the landscape now in front of him, and finding nothing but an endless expanse of sand.  “and it's nothing but a krutacking, empty, GOOD FOR NOTHING DESERT!  Wormholes aren't supposed to have ground!”

Raising a frustrated paw to his face, he continued his survey around until noting just behind him, several other... life forms.  Shielding his eyes with his paws to get a better look, he couldn't help but wonder.  'Oh, great.  Wormhole costume party.  I wonder if this is based on that 'Halloween' thing Quill wouldn't shut up about.'  Each and every person there got an inquisitive glare shot their way... some twice.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 18:53, Sun 24 Jan 2021.

*Ka-BLAM!*

A gun had ended it all.    A bullet right in the back of her skull.

A bullet -- how was that for some irony?   Prepared, she could bounce bullets all day long, even while stoned.    But she had not been prepared -- had been shot  -- assassinated -- right in her bedroom.

DEATH.

Initially, the fact of it had undone her, overwhelmed her --  but then it retreated into the past, becoming bearable, and leading her to become aware of the fact that she was still aware.

That bit didn't wholly surprise her --  a biologist by education, romantically involved and then married to a coldly scientific man for the better part of four years -- she was nonetheless a confirmed spiritualist.   Free falling through the blinding white light -- it wasn't entirely at variance with what she might have expected...

But when the hell was it going to end??

And then it did.

Endless white sand and pristine, blue sky were likewise not especially surprising.

That her heart was hammering, and that she was gasping was.

She was a biologist.     And she knew damn freaking well that she was alive...or at least in some very, very close facsimile of being alive.

Susan coughed...raised her head...there were others, she realized, as she did. And someone said what sounded like the Buddhist prayer for peace; echoed in the small, sterling silver symbol that hung about her neck.  Standing shakily, she brushed sand from the bohemian-style long skirt and halter-crop top that she wore.    And thought:

'Is that a f--king rabbit wearing a hat and packing heat-? Wait, no, it *couldn't* have been...'

Reflexively, her hand went to the back of her head where she had been shot.     Mind reeling at the thought the universe might have seen fit to have her rubbed out by a rabbit...
This message was last edited by the player at 07:23, Sun 24 Jan 2021.

Unseen, you can confirm that you have neither entry nor exit wounds consistent with any kind of gunshot-- you appear to be in perfect health. Currently.

"DOOOOMF!" Wade blurts through a mouthful of sand. He'd been falling for what seemed like forever, like a graceful swan having an epileptic seizure, and landed only slightly less gracefully than that. Grumbling, he picked himself up and brushed the sand out of his face. "Ah! Pismo Beach, and all the clams we can eat."

He wasn't alone, he realized. There were women. Beautiful women. On an endless white beach. He'd had dreams like this. (Although, to be honest, they were wearing a bit much for those dreams.) He must have gone to heaven.

How the freaking rabbit fit in, he wasn't sure. He wasn't any Bugs Bunny, that was for sure. He was probably a hallucination. Wade had certainly had those before.

"I don't know about you ladies," he said, "but I could go for a bucket of tequila and a lime the size of a M.O.D.O.K. right about now."

This dream wasn't so bad with the flying, but the landing had a lot to be desired.  Gwen coughs.  "Ugh, how did the sand get through the mask."  Her eyes start to adjust to what she considers an unreasonable amount of brightness.  Is that Sue Storm?  And a rabbit? she wonders.  This dream leaves a lot to be desired.

If this is a dream, why do I have a headache?  And why am I starving?

Then the rabbit talks.  Dream becoming more normal.  There's a protocol for going through a portal and finding a talking rabbit.  Oh, and there's a dudebro?  "No thanks on the Tequila, I feel like I already got hit with the bucket."

"Let me guess, you're late?" she asks the rabbit.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:45, Sun 24 Jan 2021.

Wind whips around the folds of the Iron Fist's costume as Danny Rand plummets toward the Earth. A flurry of half-formed thoughts and images flash through his mind as he falls, his eyes closed in what ought to be death.

"The Iron Fist is a weapon, Daniel. A tool to be aimed at our enemies. Nothing more."

"You will strike down the enemies of K'un-Lun, or you will be discarded!"

"This is your purpose. Your destiny. The people in that village are demons-- now, use the dragon's power and send them all to Hell!"

NO!

His eyes snap open and he braces for impact just as the Earth rushes up to meet him. The warm, sandy beachlike Earth. Where in Shou-Lao's name is he?

"Greetings," he says to the others, spitting some sand out of his mouth. Then, catching the tail-end of a Buddhist peace mantra, he adds: "Am I late for yoga?"

"Wowgr..." he said as his foot slipped slightly, the wrestling over the control for the time-bridge was going his way. Then, everything vanished as one foot went into the bridges threshold, and everything went strange. It had been damaged in the fight. Demons weren't usually the type to stand and fight, but this one had, of course for it was a mindless one, they didn't know they had already lost.   But under the spell of Dread Dormammu they fought.

He was always impressed by the lady, not that the flaming hair wasn't a beautiful look, he'd even said so before the fight began, and these things came flooding through a different gate entirely. He'd just sighed and braced himself, while the others did what they could, Strange was holding her at bay; Hulk was knocking Mindless ones left and right. He'd bounded between fights, aiding the others as he could. Can't be a good team if they didn't work together, was something Dr. Pym had drilled into him. She was more a looker than Dormammu, but was still on the rebound after Van Dyne.

He mumbled something about not looking at her tiny behind, when his foot slipped and now he fell. Where? When? He closed his eyes for a second then turned to look, just as he landed--impressed by the view as he landed barely on his feet. Then again, that's what cat's do.

"Why...hello ladies...." and after a pause "and others," a bit confused by the myriad of people about him.  He stands back and shakes the sand of his body and runs clawed hands through his dark colored hair. He smiled with quirk to it that showed slightly elongated canine teeth. Not that his orange fur didn't give away his handsome tigrish-physique.

"When and where are we? And has anyone seen Dr. Pym? She was just right beside me..." his tail swishes behind him, and a golden cat-head medallion should make him familiar to any heroes...
This message was last edited by the player at 04:13, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

Sally looked the martial artist over with a bemused smile. “You look like you’re on time for the midnight show of One-Armed Swordsman at The Castro, man.” When Tigro spoke up, she raised eyebrows and gave a low whistle. “Now I’m seeing Tony The Tiger! Was I even in a fight with Sauron, or did Mesmero take the brown one again?”

She glanced around, giggling nervously. “Alright, Mesmero! Stop fooling around and bring me back!”

"Mesmero...?" Wasn't he some third-rate telepath with green skin and bad taste in clothes? Wade was pretty sure he was wiped out with the rest of mutantkind when the Emerald Witch did her 'Kill All Mutants' routine. If Wade hadn't been supernaturally protected from that kind of mystic crap by his own mystic crap, he'd have gone too. "Okay, my hallucinations are having hallucinations. Can we just assume for a moment that everyone here is real, and get some names to go with the faces?

"Who wants to go first? Me? Well, if you all insist, sure. I'm Wade."

Rocket rolls his eyes.  "Let me guess, first time getting flung into a wormhole?  Heck of an experience.  Usually more colorful, and involves a ship.  If you must know, I'm Rocket.  I'm assuming by the dumb glued to your collective faces that none of you have an exit, either."

He quickly reassesses himself after landing. Fur still intact and fluffy, feet and ears still big, tail still short, hands still capable of using tools, jumpsuit still lacks holes and has quite a few pockets, lack of boots/gloves as intended, gun still 2/3rds his size, coms still hidden in jumpsuit... 'what else do I still have in there?'

Rocket starts rummaging through his jumpsuit, pulling out and dropping various tools, varied bombs, random electronic scrap and wires, and a twig he carefully puts back.  He quietly mutters to himself.  "Krutack, the good stuff left behind."  He then proceeds to shake the sand out of his hat and jumpsuit, and puts all his removed gear back, dusting each item with a few shakes and pats.
This message was last edited by the player at 05:38, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

Nonplussed-?

Uh huh.  Nonplussed. That was the word.  Or maybe it just pure, unadulterated shock.  She felt like she was about on the verge of losing it...

She gazed about at the others, taking in a score of detail, none of which added up, or clarified anything, or made any sense at all...

But there was one inescapable, immutable certainty.

"I died," she said, softly but audibly.   And then louder, addressing the lot of them:  "I died.  And that means, you're all dead too!"   It sounded almost accusatory.  She grabbed her head, ran her hands through her hair.

And then one hand went over her beating heart.   "Except I'm alive." She looked down over her body, at her hands, any personal detail she could see.   "And no school of reincarnation speaks of being born into the same exact body!"    She glanced downward, started pacing, talking as much to herself as anyone:

"The Bhagavat Purana says if you've been good and pious, you'll go to the planets of the demigods - the heavenly planets. Where you'll know extreme bliss for millions of years, before rebirth on Earth.  In a subtle body - a psychic, finer body that doesn't exude excretions. Like sweat." 

She glanced down at her bare midriff.  Over which a bead of cold sweat now wended its way.

"And I'm sweating! I'm f--king sweating." She drew a deep breath -- that also betokened good ol', crude, biological life.  She ran her hands through her hair again.  Then glared at the rabbit, eyes narrowing:

"You sound like someone else I know. Knew. Did know. Whatever. Assuming everything yields to scientific rational.   Well, good luck on this one, hare-brain!"   

Finally, she addressed the man who'd asked for introductions:

"Groovy, let's break the ice, shall we? Hey, Wade! Cool to meet you! I'm Sue f--king Richards!"   
This message was last edited by the player at 14:31, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

"Spider-woman." That's what they get for now - Maybe I can keep my identity secret for more than 5 minutes this time?

The large amounts of sand that had accumulated on her suit on landing seems to have disappeared from everything except her backpack.

"I'm sorry, I don't know any of the people you're talking about.  Unless Mesmero works with Mysterio?  Sorry, I don't leave New York much.

Sue and I have met," she adds, motioning towards the other blonde woman, or the only one from these people's perspective.
What a disaster that was.  Focus on getting home as long as she doesn't try to choke you.

"Um, congrats? On getting married.  Not on dying. And I like the new hairstyle."


"So does anybody know where here is?  I'm not so sure about the dying thing."

Gwen can't be dead - dying definitely would have triggered her spider-sense.  And besides, before this she'd been in the practice space with MJ - and MJ wasn't any physical danger to her.
This message had punctuation tweaked by the player at 15:34, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

"Nuh-uh." Wade shook his head. "Everyone knows that Sue f--king Richards is made of rocks."

If she was going to claim to be one of the most famous people alive, she should probably pick someone a little less recognizable.

"And the Bunny here is Bruce F--king Banner."

“You’re Sue Richards?” Sally asked incredulously, clearly delighting in the blonde celebrity synonymous with “Wholesome” unapologetically dropping the F-Bomb. “Where I come from, Sue Richards is 100% an Establishment girl. But here you are, swearing to put Abbie Hoffman to shame!

Right on!” Sally raised her fist in the universal gesture of solidarity and “Power To The People”. Her love beads (complete with a Peace Symbol) swayed as she crossed the sand to stand beside Sue. “I don’t know when you turned on, but I’m digging this new ‘You’!”

When Sally heard what she’d said, she paused with a thoughtful smile. She pondered a wild notion, but one certainly no wilder than dying and experiencing rebirth in the desert. “Unless you aren’t the ‘Her’ I know. What if it’s like Schrödinger & Everett’s theories, like what Michael Moorcock wrote about in The Sundered Worlds? Like, we all died in other worlds and transmigrated here.”

Sally sighed with a dreamy grin on her face. Then, she brought herself back to the topic. “Oh. We were introducing ourselves. I’m Sally Dane, college dropout and devotee of The Brotherhood (although I’m gonna get the Sisters recognized soon).”
This message was last edited by the player at 23:26, Mon 27 Sept 2021.

She didn't grasp the reference Wade was making to rocks.  "Yes, well, I wish I was stoned, let me tell you!" 

Next she looked to the chick in the Spider-Man like costume, and made a vague gesture.   "I'm sorry-?   Have we met?  I don't think I recognize the voice. Spider-Man's girlfriend, or something like that?"   

And then the dark haired gal, who supplied some point of familiarity within a pool of the unfamiliar.   But she could only shake her head, bewildered, at the off-assessment of herself.  And again:

"I know I haven't met you.  None of you.   And I'm not exactly famous. Not out of costume, anyway." She let that slip.  What did it matter, in this situation?  "So...other worlds, transmigration." She bit her lip.  "You may have something there.  But I died; I know I did."  She shivered.    Then looked to Sally again, as something struck her.

"What 'The Brotherhood'? As in Magneto's Brotherhood?"  The look in her eyes was wary.
This message was last edited by the player at 15:53, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

“You’re saying that you’re just some nobody, huh?” Sally chuckled. “Wow, you must come from another dimension! The Sue Richards I know is more famous than Jane Fonda & Liz Taylor combined. Your wedding was bigger than the Beatles playing The Ed Sullivan Show!”

What a trip! Magnus occasionally spoke about the likelihood of many-worlds.” Sue’s own question hadn’t gone unnoticed. “Yeah. Well, he only goes by ‘Magneto’ at the Anti-War protests, but he’s the founder of The Brotherhood of Transcendent Mutants.”

Leaning closer, Sally muttered, “The first city we find, we can break away from the squares and score some grass.”

Rocket will shoot Wade a suspicious glare.  "I don't care if you wanna call me a fake name or use them yourselves, but I want to get out of here first.  Please tell me one of you have communication systems I can sync to?  We can talk while looking through this endless desert for that first city place or wherever.  Hopefully a space port.  I'm tired of standing in a creepily perfectly spaced circle, and would rather be productive."

Rocket will make a point of this by hopping three feet backwards.  Pulling out his coms, he'll push his intergalactic sync button and hope they aren't all from some backwater planet like the ones Quill and Drax are from.

((Sorry for the edit, really should have addressed the 'bunny' part the first time.  Shouldn't affect anything posted.))
This message was last edited by the player at 17:51, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

"I've got a cell phone," Wade said, reaching into a pocket. The phone came out in pieces. "Damn. Third one this week."

Anyone who is carrying an intact communications device of any kind can now discover that it's completely ineffective. No signal, no GPS, no available networks. Same thing with any kind of sensors-- nothing but error messages.

This includes any local or ad hoc networks, even between each other's personal devices.
This message was last edited by the GM at 17:41, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

"Girlfriend?!  Who the fuck is Spider-Man?"
 Is Jesse Drew trying to steal my gig? she wonders.  "Look, if you want to pretend that growing up on your family's reality show doesn't make you famous, that's fine.  But I thought you'd remember the time you tried to suffocate me with those force-field bubbles and take over the city."

After the rabbit talks,  Rocket.  He has a name. Gwen takes off her backpack, and starts pulling a few things out of the main compartment.
Two sets of drumsticks.  A college genetics textbook, and accompanying notebook.  A bag of Kale Chips, squished flat and apparently leaking.  A cd for "The Mary Janes". Headphones.  Smartphone, latest Oscorp model - No signal.  Spare battery.

The phone is the most useful thing in there, so she holds it up - "No signal.  Sorry Mr. Ra-" pause "Rocket."

OOC: I'm trying to play Gwen's background without any prior dimension-hopping.  It's a little difficult since she does a lot of it.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:14, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

Rocket puts a hand over his eyes to block out some light.  He looks first at Wade's destroyed phone, then Spider Woman's.  "Is that... Earth tech?  That backwater wouldn't have communication setups that that works without a relay to a network.  I had a suspicion when ya mentioned that 'Modock' thing Quill made up.  Given your conversations so far, how many of you are from that mud ball?"



((My last reply before I wait for a post or two from the slower posters as not to leave them too far behind.))

(To Polaris) She shook her head as to the large and lavish wedding. "No. My husband insisted on small and private.  A secretive sort of guy, you could say. As for ditching and scoring, I'd say that sounds cool. But, whose to say we're going to find a city? And I think -- I think we may all be in this together. For better or worse." She shook her head.

"Transcendent Mutants?  Is that his schtick, where you're from?  'Magnus' tried to recruit me.  Let's just say it didn't go down well. Are you a mutant too? Or just an activist admirer?"   

(To Spider-Woman) She laughed at what Spider-Chick suggested.  "Oh, sure! That's me -- conqueror of cities, and psycho suffocater! Reality TV, you said? Ha!  Isn't that the oxymoron. My father's a dedicated scientist, not some Hollywood hack."  But, she caught the reference that the woman had no idea who Spider-Man was.

"Okie doke, you were right on," she remarked to Sally, nodding.  "We do not come from the same realities."

Sue knelt, scooping sand into her joined hands, then letting it slowly seep through her fingers.  Noting texture, temperature, color, the sensation -- and appraising whether it seemed about like the sand with which she was familiar.

While doing, she spared a glance toward Wade, Fem Spidey, and Humanoid Hare -- the devices they were fretting over.   It couldn't help but remind her of Reed.  She doubted they had anything that would help.  But, maybe...

And then glanced toward the felinoid, the man-tiger that Sally had called 'Tony.'   (okay, it was kind of funny)

(To Tigro)"Sir," she addressed him.   "Sorry if this is too personal, but, you know," she dropped the rest of the sand, gestured around them.

"Are you perchance from a place called Attilan?"
This message was last edited by the player at 20:50, Mon 25 Jan 2021.

While the others converse amongst themselves, Iron Fist hangs back and observes their surroundings. So much of this doesn't make sense. How are any of them alive?

Not caring to share too much of himself with these strangers, he keeps his eyes on the horizon. As he scans for any sign of danger, there appears to be nothing there but sand and sky.

In reply to Unseen (msg # 24):

To Sue: "Dr. Fantastic? We've met? No, I'm not from Attilan, I was gifted with this form by the Cat People. Don't you remember? Why is she calling you Richards? Isn't that Mr. Invisible? Richards-Storm?" He says confused, "..and Spider-Woman is..well, never mind."

As he remembers her her need for a secret identity, something he'd given up. Nope. Petra was lovely but a bit too young for his tastes. But this didn't sound like Petra. 
"Maybe we need a quick run-down of who we are? I'm an Avenger, lead by Dr. Pym, Ant-Woman."
This message was last edited by the player at 01:03, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

“You’re from a sex-swapped universe? Groovy.” Suddenly, Sally wondered what life would be like if she was a man and Alex was a woman. Head tilted to the side, Sally frowned, smiled, then frowned again and shrugged. “Total head trip.”

Since the hunky Tigro shared more details about his life, and since Sue asked, Sally decided to share as openly about herself. She clasped her love beads. “Yeah, I’m a mutant—and proud of it, too. I’m not really into the superhero scene like you all, but I’m part of a Super-movement. When we take it to the streets, my handle is ‘Polaris’. Also,” she added earnestly, “Where I come from, Magneto isn’t a con man or a villain. He’s a leader for Peace and Mutant rights—hell, just human rights in general!

 You know he survived the Nazi concentration camps, right? He swore he would never let that happen again to anyone—regardless of race, creed, religion, sex, or even sexual preference. Hell, he even saved Dr. King’s life! And Bobby Kennedy! Sounds pretty copacetic, as shticks go...!”
This message was last edited by the player at 23:30, Mon 27 Sept 2021.

Gwen raises her hand at the Earth question when Rocket asks it.

To the others she says "I've uh, never heard the term Mutant used to describe a person before or heard of any of the people anyone has mentioned other than Senator King, RFK, and Schrodinger.  The Sue & Johnny Storm I know are trouble, so I guess it's good you're not her.  You look older anyway.  Sue goes by Doctor Doom where I come from.  I think you all have more superheroes than I do, I don't know what an Avenger is, unless that's like SHIELD?"

"Super-hero?" Wade nearly fell down laughing. He was nobody's idea of a hero even before he'd been bonded to a demon. He had somehow given someone a very wrong perception. "Momma Wilson didn't raise herself any super-heroes."

Momma Wilson didn't raise anything but a glass, really. A lot of glasses. But that was neither here nor there.

"And the Avengers are all dead where I come from."

“The Avengers crack skulls for The Man where I come from.”

She couldn't make sense of anything Tigro said.   She didn't know any of those people; other than there seemed to be a Richards with an invisibility power.  'Avenger' meant nothing to her.

"Yeah, well -- sounds like a great guy, alright," she said to Sally, regarding her reality's Magneto.    "Almost too good to be true. The one I knew is what psychology would deem a narcissist. Great guy as long as you're playing to his tune, feeding his bloated ego. Gets pretty vindictive when that doesn't happen. And, I just don't make a good butt-kisser.  Dr. King, huh - Captain America saved him from an assassination, just last year, where I come from.   He leads a team called The Aegis. They're kind of America's premier group of superheros, pretty plugged into the establishment.  Black Widow was unhappy with it, and now leads her own faction team, the Defenders."

"Dr. Doom?" she laughed, gave Spider-Woman an are you f--king kidding me kind of look.  "That's got to be the dumbest thing I've heard! Like something by a really bargain rate sci-fi script writer, or something."

When Sue trashed Magneto, Sally opened her mouth to protest, but she just stood there. She’d heard criticisms of the head of her commune back in her own world. Then, Sue got a taste from Spider-Woman. Her expression turned into a wry smile.

“So, in Spider-Woman’s world, you’re the narcissistic terror.” She playfully twirled her beads as she circled Sue. “In my world, you’re a simpering debutante of the superhero set who always needs to be rescued by the men in your life. You’re not tuned into either of those wavelengths, though, are you? Maybe there are other worlds where the people I know aren’t maniacal manipulators, huh?”

She’d said the last part gently. “Black Widow sounds right on, though. She’s pretty revolutionary in my world, too. Doing her thing on her own terms after she dumped the loudmouth in purple with the bow & arrows.”

She watched the bead twirling with one brow faintly raised. Thought of saying something, but bit down on it.  Considered her next words for a moment, then said:

"If I insulted someone you love and highly respect, and it's obvious I did, then I apologize.  I thought we were comparing notes here; I had a bad experience with that guy in my world, and was speaking from that experience about that guy.   In Spider-Woman's case, I was laughing at that name. Which I still think is silly.    And don't apologize for, even if I made it up."   She squinted off into the bright horizon for a moment.

"I confess, my priority here isn't making friends.  And who did what in some other reality doesn't really matter to me.  Figuring out what's going on, is what I'd really like to do." She looked off into the distance again.

"There are such things as illusions, mirages, dimensional distortions, and what have you.  Maybe this distance only looks endless." She shrugged.

"I'm going for a walk."   She picked a random direction.  Any was as good as the other.  She started walking.

When Sue left, Sally watched her walk off for a few seconds. Then, she held out her arms and reached for the ambient magnetic energy of the desert. Sally’s feet slowly rose off the sands as she levitated. She floated after Sue, hovering a few feet beside her. “Hey. I didn’t mean to make a such a heavy scene back there. What you said was based on what you know.

I get that you’re fighting the Establishment, too, in your own way. Just...while you’re asking what’s happening, don’t forget to ask why. Whatever is responsible for it probably didn’t bring us all together from these different worlds just so we could all go our own way.” Sally smiled and flashed the Peace sign. “Like the song says, Come together. Right?”

As Sally peered off into the horizon that intrigued Sue, pensiveness filled her face. “Besides, I get a strange feeling that we won’t just walk away from here...”
This message was last edited by the player at 06:17, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Unseen and Polaris walk away from the circle, talking quietly amongst themselves. They vanish almost immediately over the horizon.

A couple minutes later, they see the same group of "costumed adventurers" ahead of them, still watching in the direction they had departed.
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:08, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

After getting (mostly) ignored, Rocket groaned rolled his eyes, flipped around, sat down and got to work.  As he worked, his ears would twitch about as people conversed.  Waste of time usually, but ya never know when tidbits of into can be abused.

Started with some wire to expand the signal on his headset's radio.  Nothing.  If anything it was worse.  Simple signal relay, shoot out a distress call on loop.  Two inches from his coms and he can't pick it up.  'Odd, the physics here almost match a wormhole better then not.'  He pulls out one of his remote bombs and the detonator, places them against one another, pushes detonate twice.  Nothing.  A frantic, rapid, and even number of presses followed.  'Ok, that doesn't line up.'  He re-extends his makeshift antenna, picks up some sand, moves it around the antenna and sifts it over it while listening.  No change to the signal.  'There goes that theory.'

Rocket glances back as the two leave.  'Huh, flight.  I wonder if my jetpack still works.  Would make searching faster.'  He disassembles his scrap devices back into a more spontaneously constructible state, then runs a quick diagnostic and cleaning of his jetpack.  That's one device that MUST stay working.  Right around as he finishes his ears start twitching quite a bit.

((OOC: 90-100 seconds for dialogue in the above section I suppose.  I'm too lazy to try and fit the second part in as a second post, so I figure it would be easier to offer it as a heads up to what will be a sudden behavior shift.))

Hey!  Quiet!  Do ya guys hear that?  Rocket abruptly stands up, tilts his head a couple directions and angles.  "Where'd they go, and who the heck is approa... no..."  He'll look up into the distance ahead of him, squinting into the light as he listens to the two that left heading right back in the opposite direction.  "Krutack!  Either we are stuck together, or our wormhole is looping.  Removing the 'us' variable.  Weapons test!"

With that very short heads up, Rocket pulls his gun and starts rapidly firing in a somewhat upward angle in a variety of directions, only doing the math to avoid hitting people the first couple loops if he calculated his distance correctly.  He begins intensely staring around the air for his shots, ears upwards and alert.  His eyes hurt, but not knowing would probably hurt worse.

Rocket's mathematics hold true... for the first couple of loops. After four or five circuits at supersonic speed, the crackling blue projectiles start hailing down on the unprepared and recently deceased.

To no effect. Whether they strike the ground or a human target, the projectiles dissipate harmlessly with an alarming ZAAAP!! sound and a mildly less alarming static discharge.

Feel free to assume that they hit your or they didn't, as you prefer.

Gwen's Spider-sense says the projectiles are dangerous so she jumps into action slightly before they start coming, even though they're way too fast.  She jumps closer to the others who haven't gone off anywhere, and suddenly strands of gooey webbing start rapidly coming from her hands to form up a half-circle cocoon of reinforced webbing, just like when a bomb was set off in the club.

It should provide some protection for Wade and Tigro and Iron Fist unless they don't want it to.

08:40, Today: Spider-Woman rolled 7,1,6,4,5 using d8,d8,d8,d6,d12.  safety d8, rushing the beat d8, enh senses d8, sfx web constructs d6 +1 effect, acrobatics d12.
Total 13, effect 6 (5+1), 1 opportunity

Once it's complete, (if a little sloppy) she throws a webline to Rocket to attempt to pull him in.
This message was last edited by the player at 16:22, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

"Thanks for the cover," Wade says as Spider-Woman spins up a large web-shield, "But I think maybe it's a little unnecessary."

As if to underscore Wade's point, a crackling blue projectile landed a bit wide of the shield and fizzled, but didn't even disturb the sand.

"Rocket may have fired off some big blue balls, but they lack a certain potency."

Sue had returned the smile and peace sign to Polaris. "No worries.  I don't plan on going that far.  It should be hard to lose sight of the group on such flat terrain.   And, as to the why...I'm also thinking maybe there's somebody who can explain that.  And that maybe one of us doing something not to plan might provoke a quicker introduction."   She smiled again.

"After having my brains blown out, I think I'm feeling just a little jaded where it comes to risk." 

However...

"Well, that's a mind f--k!" she remarked to Sally, once it had become apparent they'd looped back around.

And then as Rocket began firing, and the effects of it became apparent:

"Holy SHIT!"  Instinctively, Sue manifested a force field to shield Sally, herself, and the others, though she realized Spider-Woman had beaten her to the draw.

Blue-bolts impacted upon the unseen shield, in a dazzling flurry of flashes and sparks. The logistics of arranging it, though, were a little unwieldy, with the separated locations, and she left herself partially vulnerable.

"Ahh!" she cried out when struck, anticipating much pain, but then feeling none.  Upon rejoining the group:

"Silly rabbit...tricks are for kids," she mock scolded Rocket.  "Seriously though; this only makes me more certain this is some sort of after or - between - life.  We can't be killed or harmed, since we've already croaked."   

She then spread her hands apologetically, "I mean, sorry to throw a damper on the party!  It's just what I think.  I'd be real happy to be wrong."
This message was last edited by the player at 17:06, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Sally’s laugh at Sue’s appraisal of their mind-f**king circumstances abruptly cut off when the Funny Talking Animal rained fire down on them all. Whatever any differences with the Invisible Girl she knew back home, Sally recognized the power of Susan Storm-Richards at work. The barrage bounced off a bubble of unseen force! Sue’s unselfish act was repaid with a strike that should have killed her, and that realization made Sally furious!

The mysterious Spider-Woman rapidly spun a web to protect the men, leaving Sally free to deal with the rabbit. “Hey, knock it off, Looney Toons!” Sally waved her hand with a flourish. Magnetic waves washed from the raven-haired flower child. “We’re freaked out enough without the ‘Death From Above’ routine!” Sally directed the magnetic energy toward Rocket’s gun, and attempted to yank it from the creature’s hand with a powerful magnetic pull!

OOC:

Violence d6 + Mistress of Magnetism 1d8 + Magnetic Control d10 + Tech Expert d8.

Total: 18
Effect: d8
Opportunity: 1


11:31, Today: Polaris rolled 1,8,10,5 using 1d6,1d8,1d10,1d8.  Magnetically yank gun away.




This message was last edited by the player at 06:26, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

No one was more surprised than Susan by Sally's reaction.   She intervened as quickly as she could:

"Whoa! WHOA!  Sally, it's okay, I'm okay, there's no need!  It was an honest mistake! One we learned from!"     She put a hand on the other woman's arm.

And then it struck Sue:  'She knows I'm a mutant.  She's protecting one of her own...'
This message was last edited by the player at 17:19, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

“I’m copacetic, Sue.“ Sally shrugged. The floating gun fell on the desert sand. “I’m only disarming the little guy before he hurts anyone or himself.”

"Cool."     But then she addressed Rocket:

"You could have been more cautious, though.  And, I think we'd like to know a little more about you, at this point.   You're more different than the rest of us...as in, like what planet are you from?  I think you should answer your own question.  And reassure us you're trained and licensed to be packing heat, wherever it is you come from. Not that it really matters if we're dead, but, you know."     
This message was last edited by the player at 18:11, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Iron Fist calmly sidesteps an energy ball as it rains down toward him, observing its effect-- or lack thereof-- upon the sandy ground. The others are right-- something is very wrong about all of this. Now if only they would all focus long enough to figure it out. Whatever answers await them, it appears they won't be found here-- wherever here is.

"Pardon me," he says to the group, turning to follow Unseen and Polaris as they head off on their own. Let the others follow if they like-- so long as they don't expect him to share his story too.

Tigro replies "Sex-swapped? You mean Ben Grimm is a woman where you are?" Before he's assaulted by projectiles which he leaps and tumbles around.

"This is not usual?" he growls. I've really no idea who these people may be from where they're from but, act now worry later.

"I think we're" he pauses.."testedgrrl."
This message was last edited by the player at 20:50, Tue 26 Jan 2021.

Before Rocket could even finish thinking 'Yup, Wormhole loop.' some strange sounds directed his attention behind him, where some even stranger bits of info revealed themselves.  One of them had mobile shielding capacity of some sort, and something unseen could straight up block his shots.  Nothing unfathomable yet, but he sure didn't see it coming.  What he did manage to see coming was said barrier stuff now flinging at him in a string, deciding most people would consider his actions offensive, he assumed it was a reply in kind and moved to block it.

Rocket rolled 8,10,4,3 using d10,d10,d8,d8 with rolls of 8,10,4,3.  Blocking web 'attack'.
New to system, Dice used: Violence/Combat/Gun/Enhanced Reflexes
Total: 18, Effect: d8
((As I used the 2d10 for the result, couldn't do a d10 effect die. I think I got this figured out, but lemme know if I missed something.))

The webbing smacks right into his gun, and nearly pulls knocks it out of his hands.    Rocket threw out an immediate reply.  "Former Rabbit."  His line quickly interrupted by his gun suddenly flinging in the opposite expected direction twisting against his wrist right out of his hand.  Following the direction it flung in, he finds the source. 'Spontaneous sticky super-goo and telekinetic pulls?  I'm sure glad they don't sound particularly mad with my gun out of juice. Jetpack's probably in the same boat.  Some of these people are particularly calm about all this... suspicious.'

((Correct me if I'm wrong, but triggering my 'Limit: Gear' flaw nets me a Plot Point, yes?))



"I was cautious!  You just didn't see me adjust the power output.  Didn't want to make random fragments of glass we might wind up walking through."

'Not that they'd know any better.'

"Ya know what?  I haven't seen any evidence to support that 'I'm dead' theory you (and only you) have tossed out there.  Kinda odd to offer that with no evidence.  Given the lack of places to go, you win.  I'll recap what I did that got me here, maybe then the wormhole bit will be obvious."

"Thanos had some goons chasing us down, again.  They had like 3 cruisers on us and our ship locked in a tractor beam.  Drax and Gamora busted through their front lines, gifting us nearly free reign aboard the cruiser that caught us until they could regroup.  I set some bombs strategically around the ship, including their VERY explosive ammunitions storage I stumbled upon.  I may have miscalculated just a tiinsy bit not knowing they were stupid enough to put the ship's power reactor right next to their ammo dumps.  Quill supposedly disabled the tractor beams.  We got back to our ship, and were set to escape with the aid of a well-timed explosive distraction.  Turns out it was a touch large enough to take out all three capitol ships, and maaaybe Quill should have actually disabled that tractor beam.  Unexpected resistance coupled with massive concussive force both misaligning our jump, our ship was torn apart and we were separated as the explosion caught up forcing us into a jump-induced wormhole.  It makes perfect sense.  I've tested all the wormhole physics I kow, and it checks out 95% of the time.  Now what makes you so sure you died?"

((Long story to dodge a question?  Check.  EDIT: Light adjustment on final line.  Also: TOTALLY clears up the "I'm not dead" logic.  No holes in that theory. <_< >_> <_< Edit 2: correction on the web gun pulling.))

((EDIT: Quote.))
This message was last edited by the player at 17:37, Fri 29 Jan 2021.

When Rocket puts the gun in the way of the web-line, Spider-woman drops the line.    No pulling of the weapon will come from her.  If he doesn't want to be pulled into cover, that's fine.  He has no idea what I was doing.

She doesn't want his weird dangerous equipment.  This means that there's a length of webbing attached to the gun a few seconds later when the magnetic pull kicks in and pulls it in the other direction.

Under the cover of the web-dome, she responds to Tigro.  "Gunfire are pretty usual for me.  Honestly being in the desert is the weirdest part of today."

I have no idea what testedgrrl means.  Pretend he said something that made sense.  "Oh, I've met Ben Grimm.  Finally someone I recognize.  New York Police Officer." 

To Wade she says, "I'd still rather not get zapped.  Might mess up my hair.".  Not the time to be explaining Spider-sense.  Getting zapped with a giant blue ball of energy is probably someone's superpower origin, anyway.

She calls out to the other group.  "Uh, sorry Rocket.  I was trying to pull you into cover, not steal your Giant Phaser."

Sue took it all in, made sense of what she could. Which wasn't a lot, but she kind of sort of had a picture.  After Rocket had concluded:

"I was shot in the back of the head.  I remember it just like I remember getting dressed and having breakfast this morning.   It was...a distinct sort of feeling to die.  I don't think I'll ever rid myself of the impression of it.  I wish I could.  But, hey, I'm so open to other perspectives and possibilities!   I'm a biologist by education, still new to the field, but I know my stuff.   And, physically speaking, I would swear that I'm alive.  I just...don't know how I can be. I wasn't cruising around in a cutting edge spacecraft, I was in my bedroom.   The only wormhole that applies to me is the actual hole in my skull that actual worms will crawl into. "

"I mean, assuming my cadaver is back in San Diego, in my world, and this body is like Simulacrum Sue, or something."

“Unless you’re Schrodinger’s Sue.” Sally pressed her palms together, fingertips pointing forward. Then, she pulled her hands apart, swaying outward in opposite directions. “And I’m Schrodinger's Sally, and he’s Schrodinger's Wade, and so on and so forth.”

Sally had brought that up before --  she nodded.   "Maybe.  It does make a certain amount of sense.  More than some other things.  But," she gestured about them, "where the hell are we?   To end up somewhere specific, like this...I'd think we're either the effect of some system, or else someone put us here consciously and deliberately.  We're all superheroes, of some sort, for want of a better word.  And, I don't believe much in coincidence. If this were random, then I think there'd be a plumber, a librarian, a sous chef or something; some diversity."

Danny listens to the group's individual stories of death and resurrection, quietly noting the similarities as well as the most important details. It takes some effort to filter out the technobabble and anecdotal trivia, but at least this ragtag group is more interesting to listen to than a Rand Enterprises stockbroker meeting.

He turns to Sue and Sally during a lull in the ongoing conversation. "Hey, you can fly using your powers, right? Can you give us a lay of the land? See if there's anything else out here?"

“Yeah,” Sally nodded. “I can even take a passenger or two, but that slows me down.” She looked at Tigro. “Can you see pretty far with, like, Cat-Vision?”

"We're moving out? Then it's time for one more introduction." This was where people usually started to scream, but these weren't usual people. They'd probably handle things better.

He exploded into laughter. His skin split and charred as he burst into flames. His muscles melted and flowed, leaving behind a grinning skeleton, clothed in black leather. Even without eyes, it seemed to peer directly into each of their souls.

He gestured away from the group and threw a huge ball of fire out onto the sand. It coalesced into a death's head motorcycle, with tires made of pure flame.

"I'm FUNNYBONE."

"Iron Fist," Danny nods curtly to Funnybone. "Sworn enemy of K'un-Lun. Let's be careful with those fireballs, yeah?"

A Deadpool with the powers of the Ghost Rider? Now there was a nightmare in the making. Yes, he might look different, but the Fist could easily recognize the grating laughter of Wade Wilson coming from that flaming skull.

Even marked a fugitive by the city he was sworn to protect, struck down by a demon assassin, fate had decided to bring Danny back to life just to stick him on one more crazy adventure with the Merc with the Mouth.

Just his luck.

At the last line of delivery, Spider-woman starts laughing.  She talks while still laughing to no one in particular, but Tigro is closest to catch the quieter part. "Oh man, that delivery.  The voice.  How much choreography do you think that biker Skeletor routine took?
No one will care that my suit's made of spiders now.
That was amazing."
This message was last edited by the player at 04:00, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

"I can't truly fly, just sort of fake it a little," she told Ironfist.

"As for seeing more, I don't think there's much of anything else to see.  Sally and I went out to a point where it looped us right back here.   And the land's so flat, I don't think elevation is gonna make a difference.  Though, nothing lost in trying."

Susan was prepared to begin going up.   When suddenly Funnybone did something not in the least funny.  The irony that Sue was, in realities other than her own, sibling to the Human Torch would be lost on her.   She was utterly and wholly unprepared for the Human Candle From Hell.

She let out a short, high scream (reminders of which could surely be used to make her blush later on) and reacted:

Unseen rolled 12,7,7,3 using D12,D10,D8,D6.
Godlike Durability + Safety + Outta Sight Protectoress + Force Constructs :: Total = 22 Effect die = D10 (complication for Funnybone)

UnFunnybone was abruptly contained under a dome of pure, invisible force where, Sue hoped, this nightmare apparition would be unable to get its flaming talons on any of the group.

"What the holy F--K!  That was so NOT funny!  Somebody f--king explain that, or else he f--king stays in there!"
This message was last edited by the player at 05:30, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

Whereas Sue shrieked, Sally blinked at Funnybone in disbelief. “Face melting off. Cute guy catching on fire. Talking rabbits.” She nodded slowly. “I’m back to my ‘I’m Tripping’ theory.”

Spider-Woman’s muttered, off-handed remark brought visible shudders from Sally. Looking the spider-suit over again, she actually took a step back. “And it’s definitely a bad trip, man.”
This message was last edited by the player at 06:25, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

The Timebroker exists.

In between moments, the Timebroker moves from not existing to having always been here. He's a short, unkempt man looking horrifically groomed but impeccably dressed; he looks like a cross between Wolverine and Edwin Jarvis. His personality... not so much.

He squeals like an overenthusiastic fangirl and claps his hands like a hummingbird beating its wings.

"Oh, fantastic!" he says, taking you all in. "We told the Timebroker this would work, and look at you! Your superhero instincts have already reasserted themselves and you're engaging in powered bonding displays! So adorable! Bravo!"

"Please allow us to introduce ourselves. We are the Timebroker, and we are responsible for your current state of nonexistence in this unlocation. We will explain everything shortly, but we have predicted that you will have a number of questions you wish to have answered immediately."

((Snip my post into multiple responses to events.))



"Yeesh, that trauma's gonna come back at a bad time.  I'm not sure what a Schrodinger is, but I suspect it's actually something simple and dumb.  Usually is."  'Does make me wonder about the others, but they didn't feel like piping up... not that I blame them.'



Rocket covered his nose a briefly initially, which quickly gave way to covering his ears.  Once the spectacle was over, he stopped covering them and nodded in agreement with Spider-Woman.  'It sure did look nice.'  He tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow.  "Sure it looks cool, but I missed the joke.  That looked really painful for a bad punchline.  Bike's cool, though.  Points for style."  'His stare gives me the creeps, though, major bad vibes.  Wait, did she mean literal spiders?  I'd be too afraid of wardrobe malfunction to wear that.'  Rocket will offer a quick inquisitive glance Spider-Woman's direction.

((That said, there are no raccoons here.  Gender isn't the only thing randomly twisted in our bios.  And I suspect my math may be wrong, but wouldn't it be 19 with a d10 effect?))



((Snuck in a major plot development right as I was finishing up a lengthy post.  There goes some alternate timeline material. XD  It'll come back eventually.))

"He's staying where?  We're all quite~ Before he could finish his line, the Timebroker showed his hand.

Rocket will flip around to Sue and yell out cheerfully: "See!  I told you it was gonna be something stupid!"

Turning back to the Timebroker: "So, where's the exit?  I got stuff to do."

((EDIT: Timebroker insisted I use quote tags. Doing earlier messages next.))

((EDIT 2: Quote tags... again.  Turns out every post I made with a quote in it had a correction.))
This message was last edited by the player at 17:43, Fri 29 Jan 2021.

"You're certainly right, Mister Rocket! We are going to require you to save multiple whole Universes, perhaps even the entire Multiverse... before you'll be able to address the 'stuff' that you are intending to do now."

The Timebroker is now standing on the outside of your circle, addressing you all.

"It is most unfortunate that you are all absolutely thoroughly deceased, entire intervals before 'your time' as chronological beings such as yourselves would address it. We are offerring you a unique opportunity to correct this fault... by first correcting other such faults in others' timelines."

"It's also most unfortunate that there is no exit. When you are ready, I can translate your forms into the N-dimensional time-space that requires you to repair it. Or, if you wish to decline our magnanimous offer, I can remand your soul to the tender mercies of your regularly-scheduled Afterlife providers."

He looks pointedly at Wade and winks. And tuts his tongue at everyone.

"That's not a good outcome. We believe you deserve better, and we are looking forward to the opportunity to help you get what you deserve."
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:36, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

“Look, this sounds like the kind of thing I’d spend hours talking about after dropping a tab or smoking our bong. Right now, though, I only want to know one thing” Sally fixed the “Timebroker” with an unwavering stare. Her voice soft, but urgent, she asked, ”What about Alex? Is he okay?”

The Timebroker seems to ponder that question for a long moment.

"Hmm. Nope! Within eighteen months of your disappearance, Alex Summers volunteers for Colonel Xavier's 'Weapon X' program, starts calling himself 'Havok' and generally being a pain in everyone's ass."

"Then he hooked up with his brother's ex, took over this little island called 'Genosha', and was President-for-Life for, like, five or six years before his term expired."

The Timebroker:  She'd been expecting something a little more along the lines of Warren Worthington in a Celestial's armor.    Of course, the Mad Thinker had once told her the universe had a terrific and terrible sense of humor. For whatever that was worth.

Her heart went out to Sally.  Her guy lived, but...his brother's ex?

So many, many questions...'Shit!'

In her peripheral vision, she abruptly noted there was suddenly a lot of smoke within her force field. She should let him out, but...

She put in to the Broker "Hey, I really want get him out of there...but there's going to be a lot of smoke, could you do something about that?"   

Sally’s lower lip quivered as she processed the news of her lover’s hardships. “Alex,” she mumbled, sounding even more lost than when she’d arrived. “When I disappeared...God, what he must have gone through...!”

She shook her head, eyes closed to hold back the rush of tears. It wasn’t the thought of him finding love with another woman. Sally would never dream of Alex spending the rest of his life alone. They weren’t hung up on love as possession of other people. Even before she’d disappeared, there were times they embraced the experience of “Free Love”. Despite that, she & Alex knew a love that would have endured the years.

What hurt was the thought of Alex losing his way in his grief over her. Leaving behind the principles they were willing to die defend, to lose himself in Xavier’s paramilitary unit that had snared his brother Scott. Sally blinked away the tears and composed herself. “So Alex eventually falls in love with Jean...?” Although her voice was initially tremulous, she got it together.

“He’s ‘President-For-Life’, huh? That’s a heavy gig. Does he run the country like Magnus would...or according to Xavier’s creed?”

"Nope! But don't worry, even if Mister Wilson actually needed to breathe in real-life, you're not capaable of harming each other in here. Do release the force-field, please, in case he has any questions for us."

I am assuming this happens.

Sue lifts the force-field and the smoke inside quickly disperses into the impossibly small desert's atmosphere. It smells like brimstone and you could swear you see tormented faces swirling around in it, but it doesn't burn your eyes or your lungs and quickly learn to ignore it.



"We wouldn't say he followed Xavier's ideals, exactly. He and the once-and-future Mrs. Summers discovered some alternative alternative religions in Southeast Asia. The public backlash against mutants after that was discovered..."

The Timebroker's grin is completely at odds with his words.

I had to tone this post down several times from "crossing the line twice" to hopefully not "crossing the line" at all. The point is dark timelines and "for want of a nail", not horrific character assassination. There will be plenty of time for horrific character assassination later.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:35, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

He'd tapped on the dome a few times to see if it was still there, but had chosen not to break through it (if he even could). He could tell it would be a serious bitch to try, and if there was one thing he wasn't it was serious.

When it finally winked out of existence, the others could tell that Funnybone had been singing softly to himself.

"It was a dry wind
And it swept across the desert
And it curled into the circle of birth
And the dead sand
Falling on the children
The mothers and the fathers
And the automatic earth"

He looked hard at the Timebroker.

"Yeah, I got questions," he said, cocking his flaming skull head to one side. "Let's start with the little ones: What was this about saving the multiverse?"

"Uh, I have questions." Spider-woman says to Timebroker.

"If we can't be harmed here, why did my spider-sense react to those blue energy balls?"  She does not wait for a response before asking the other questions.
"I heard Rocket's story and if something happened to his ship, why aren't those other Rabbits here?". Those were clearly rabbit names.  Unless Quill is a bird.  It must be so much easier to get past gravity when your ship is sized for rodents.
"I was with a friend just before this, and she doesn't have powers - if something snuck up on me, is she going to be ok?".

And finally, "If we're going to be here for a while, can we at least get some pizza?"

Edit: adding color for Timebroker
This message was last edited by the player at 17:05, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

"We've observed that an alarming number of universes are 'broken' and this number is growing at an alarming rate. We're going to send you to these universes, one at a time, with detailed instructions on how to repair their timelines."

"We've projected, using hypertheological N^x-dimensional chronocalculus that repairing these broken timelines will prevent a 'domino effect' that will endanger other timelines. Using deceased superheroes from these broken timelines was our idea."

The Timebroker looks entirely too proud of himself.

"As a side effect of repairing the broken timelines, you will make it possible to return to your own timelines, repair them, and resume your former lives."



The "None of you are physically here, because this place does not physically exist. Your Spider-Sense responds to Rocket's weapon because this is a simulation of reality, but that simulation doesn't allow any of its contents to be damaged. That's also why we're incapable of getting you a pizza, and why you wouldn't be capable of eating it."

We have 'pizza' at 'home' where 'home' is defined as a relatively familiar expression of N-dimensional spacetime.

The Timebroker looks somber for a moment, then grins. "And, on the bright side, your friend will be just fine when you prevent the bomb that blew you both to smithereeens!"
This message was last edited by the GM at 20:21, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

A small mob of personal questions ran riot within her head. And her heart. Contesting for primacy.  But, with an effort, she set those aside.   For now.

"Well that's a great deal," she nodded sagely, on the Broker's last assurance.  "Assuming this is all at face value, and there isn't any number of strings attached.   It almost sounds too good to be true.   Which is always suspect. But, what I'd like to know first   - is who signs your paycheck?  Do you work at the behest of someone, some cosmic council, or something?   I don't mean this to sound rude, but you don't strike me as the CEO."   
This message was last edited by the player at 15:57, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

The Timebroker looks puzzled by your question.

"We... are the Timebroker? We are the Timebroker."
This message was last edited by the GM at 16:14, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

Wow.  Sounded like an authentic 'Does Not Compute.'    She'd hung with a lot of really smart people.  Didn't count herself a dummy, exactly, but her knowledge of the sciences was far more grounded in the biological than in any sort of physics.   Outside of what some friends, or Reed, had elaborated on. He often in a condescending manner that made her not want to pay attention.

"Okay, I get that.  You don't...work with any other entities? The Celestials, for example?" she ventured.  "Just kind of do your thing, always have, always will?" 

She grasped there might be beings to whom mortal concepts like 'beginning and end' didn't apply.    Still, their might be someone above him who'd deliberately made and kept him ignorant...

"Oh, Celestials? Nope! They exist inside space-time and we exist entirely outside space-time. Very difficult to deal with, and thankfully they almost never break their own timelines directly."

"It's less... 'always have, always will' and more... like your human concept of  simultaneous but like a recursively nesting set of infinities moreso. Your brains evolved to deal with three-dimensional space and one-dimensional time; our neurological models indicate that attempting to demonstrate our nature mathematically would have a 99.27% chance of permanently preventing you from undertaking Missions."

The Timebroker looks... sad. "We are sorry for any uncertainty and/or reduced morale this unsatisfactory answer may have caused."
This message had punctuation tweaked by the GM at 19:26, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

Funnybone’s lyrical delivery fascinated Sally. The burning skull hadn’t scared her after his initial “flaming on”. His look reminded her of the Grateful Dead poster art already making the rounds in her world. Everything about Wade’s fiery persona brought to mind the heavier new sound in rock music. His spectacle distracted Sally from her irritation with the Timebroker’s smugness.

Sue, bless her, maintained her scientific approach. Sally stepped up beside the blonde biologist. “I don’t think that’s gonna get you anywhere, Sue. Evasiveness and acting mysterious are his trip...if he’s even a person, and not some projection of our collective consciousness.” She looked at the Timebroker. “You said that we’re here to repair the Multiverse. How do we accomplish that?”
This message was last edited by the player at 18:57, Wed 27 Jan 2021.

Iron Fist continues to listen in silence as the Timebroker speaks to he and his companions. Finally, he looks from Unseen to their strange new host, his expression unreadable. "I think what she's trying to say is, what's the catch?"

"We're going to send you to broken timelines. One at a time, from your limited perspective. You're going to fix each individual timeline by correcting the deviation, putting the timeline 'back on track' and preventing it from collapsing and taking 'nearby' timelines with it-- thus saving every sentient life in both the timeline you repair and those 'nearby' timelines."

The Timebroker gestures with an open hand and a golden gauntlet has suddenly always been floating above it, twirling slowly to let you see it from every angle.

"We've devised this system, called the Tallus to assist you. It will relay our instructions to you clearly and precisely so that you can complete your objectives as efficiently as possible."

"And, of course... each and every one of you will be given the opportunity to repair your own personal timelines as soon as we have repaired enough of the Multiverse to make that possible."



The Timebroker scoffs. "There's no catch, Mister Rand. You're already dead; we've already demonstrated our capacity to deliver our rewards. This is a one-hundred percent carrot operation."

"Our exhaustive psychological models on you-- all of you-- indicate that we can safely admit, without compromising long-term mission integrity, that we do not have the means to discipline your team in any fashion. Thankfully, we selected all of you on the cold mathematical assurance that discipline wouldn't be necessary."

You could've brought Em Jay with me when you plucked me out of there.  You just.  You just let her die?

The colors on Spider-woman's suit flicker from white to black in some places, going back and forth every few seconds.  Way too many tiny spiders move back and forth over the color-changing areas.

She's crying, and some of the tears are black drops that turn into spiders when they hit the ground.

The Timebroker claps his hands, once, and rubs them together. "Well! We think orientation has gone delightfully, and now that our 'questions & answers' portion has concluded, it's time to get down to business!"

"As soon as you nominate a leader to wear the Tallus, you can get your first mission briefing and start saving the Multiverse!"

“He already told us, Spider-Woman. If we play his game and restore these timelines, you’ll save your friend.” Sally sympathized with her, but the Timebroker only revealed what was convenient for him to share. “I nominate Sue. She’s the most level-headed one of us.”

"Sue? The one with the talent for hiding? Good call," Funnybone said. He looked about the group. There was the hippie, the little girl made of spiders, the guy who didn't like to talk, the Thundercat (who spoke even less), and the possibly hallucinatory blue bunny. Or him. "Yeah, seconded."

Iron Fist keeps his eyes on the Timebroker, still not sure whether to trust the strange, seemingly-omnipotent being. Danny's punched out his share of demons, mystic entities, and even a "god" (lower-case 'G'), but nothing quite like this guy. The idealist in him that he buried so long ago wants to believe the altruistic message coming from their hosts' mouth. After all, he and the other heroes are alive, when judging by their stories they should all be dead right now. Maybe it's best to go along with this plan, and see where this group ends up... for now.

He shrugs as the question of leadership is brought up. "Fine by me." Sue seems to have a good head on her shoulders, at least as far as he can tell.

Susan thought back over some of her outbursts and reactions, and was surprised.   Frankly, she was a little burned out on gizmos, after being married to Reed.  Not that he let her handle much of his precious work.  But, what the hell.  She'd once had an Ultimate Nullifier in her keeping, and lived to tell the tale.   And she was already dead, anyway.  So...

"Okay. Alright.  I feel sort of like I should give an acceptance speech, like Oscar night:  And, I'd like to thank...nope, never mind.  Let's just get this show on the road.  I need to get home.  Woodstock is next month. I've got tickets."

"I'm not done with our question time.  You left out some rather critical information important to any business getting done.  I'll recap the important points, then tell you where you messed up."

So let me recap:  We don't exist.  You'll be sending copies of us to other timelines to fix them in a way you think will stop them from messing with other timelines.  Multiple timelines, no clear number outside at least the seven we started in.  You mathematically calculated it would take a minimum of the seven of us to have favorable odds.  You can copy our minds back to before we died in a way that lets us change things.  You're a... what was Quill's earth term.  Oh, right.  You're a total superhero fanboy gushing joy at our involvement.  And the distinct leash you just offered with a supposed lack of consequences means there is a very real chance we won't all make it out of your mess.  That sounds like BIG problems you got there."

"Here's where ya went wrong:  It also sounds like a LOT of work.  And work certainly means getting paid.  A lot of pay for a lot of work, and big payouts for big jobs.  You want my help, I want an assurance I'm getting what I want.  And I don't want that tied to some hidden contract detail like if I make it back or not."

Rocket pulls a certain twig out from his jumpsuit, and holds it up to the Timebroker.

"I want you to set this right.  If you actually wanted heroes, he should be the one here."

((If people were questioning his stability before, that twig is quite the fire starter. XD  Rocket can address the whole 'leader' thing after his demand is addressed.))

((EDIT: I am super curious if any players managed to figure out what the stick is by this point.))
This message was last edited by the player at 08:12, Thu 28 Jan 2021.

“He brought his own Talking Stick. Wild!”

The Timebroker glowers at Rocket; his countenance grows woeful and he grows massively in stature without growing in size. He is not some conjuror of cheap tricks. "Your analysis is very astute, Mister Rocket, but you are mistaken. We did not actually want heroes. We wanted highly competent, highly motivated superpowered individuals who can get the job done."

The Timebroker visibly relaxes. He sighs.

"Your acumen and your paranoia were part of why we selected you for this team, Mister Rocket. This conversation was accounted for."

"There is nothing we can do about it if you die in the line of duty. We cannot intervene twice. But your timelines are broken, broken by your deaths, and if we cannot return you to them intact... we are still required to solve them by any means necessary. This is not enticement, this is multiversal necessity."



"As we already stated, we do not want the best heroes we can acquire. The best heroes, mathematically, will fail. We have calculated inerringly that Groot is more efficient as motivation than as a teammate. We made the same calculation with Mary Jane. With Alex. With Johnny. With Vanessa."

Unfortunately, the color I'd picked for the Jugg Havok wasn't the best idea.

"The only assurances we have left to offer you are that we are doing everything in our power to save your loved ones, but you-- our eXiles-- are, literally, everything in our power."

"Mathematically speaking, you're going to sort yourselves out now. You're going to do your jobs, and you're going to save the Multiverse. Our professional orientation is now concluded. The Tallus will take care of everything else you need."

Suddenly, the Timebroker was never here.
This message was last edited by the GM at 07:53, Thu 28 Jan 2021.

In reply to Polaris (msg # 53):



"That was very odd, the Timebroker? I'm pretty sure never met them before. As for being dead, I don't feel dead. But saving worlds? I'm good for that." He rumbles with a chuff at the end.

This is very odd, he thinks to himself, but in for curiosities sake is definitely  worthwhile.

"Anyway, So, anyone have any other odd things they want to share?"