Hyperplex: Battle Part Two

Shortly after the Dragons began infiltrating the Museum the building came under attack from a LEGACY tactical team. A furious three-way battle erupted.

The Ashen Tradition deployed their psycho-theurgic toxins, transforming infected LEGACY soldiers into ravenous human-beast hybrids that turned on each other.

LEGACY operatives fired swarms of nano-enhanced smart-rounds that used echolocation-sensors and micro-fluid architecture to course-correct in mid-flight and track their targets.

Aqua, safe in the armour of her Mech, alternated pulses of autonic energy to disrupt the AT toxin fields and quantum-chaff to destabilize the trajectories of the LEGACY munitions.

Goner fired bursts of energy from his upgraded arm and Angst evoked designer combat-spirits from Liminal Space.

And Mags jumped into the middle of it all, punching and throwing and kicking.

From the shadows, Frank scanned the minds of the Tradition Mages and the LEGACY Agents, infiltrating their psychic defences like a ninja or occasionally smashing through their conditioning like a tank.

He learned that the source of intel that had tipped off the Ultraviolet Lodge to the Tradition's portal was someone they had pegged for a System operative. Which suggested that the Tradition were in sync with Counter... Except that more hidden thoughts revealed that the Tradition had been pointed to the Hyperplex by another operative who also seemed to be serving System. And that same operative appeared to be the one who leaked the Tradition's plan to LEGACY.

Was one of the leaks actually a Counter agent? Or had the System set all of this up as a trap for the Dragons? Or did they want the Dragons to reach the Hyperplex?

The Battle for the Hyperplex Part One: E.S.P.ionage

The intel indicated that the Ashen Tradition was seeking a powerful relic called The Hyperplex.

Collateral information referenced the Hyperplex in contradictory fashion; sometimes it was described as a Staff, others a Chalice, sometimes a Sword and, of course, a Disc. Max had lots of ideas about what the Hyperplex could be, what it might mean, how it might relate to the other Plexes they were learning about; he was the idea guy, after all. 

The rest of the team knew that ideas were important but sometimes not as important as taking action. So Max hunkered down to try and figure things out and the other Dragons went to work.

Angst learned from a contact in the Ultraviolet Lodge that the Tradition had a large-scale portal operation running in a secret sub-basement of the local Museum. 

Frank conducted some psychic eavesdropping on people entering and exiting the Museum; he confirmed that the portal was indeed active but could not determine where it led to. 

Goner was able to hack the Museum's security and Angst was able to counter the protective wards that the Tradition had set up. 

They had put the call out to Aqua and to Maggie, anticipating that things would likely get hostile once they made a move on the portal. 

When the team gathered, after a few minutes of warm reunion, they prepared to enter the Museum...

"Kaze Wo Kirutabi Kimochi Yokutte" [version.Upgrade]

The Sidhe had dispatched a Sluagh hit-squad after Max. He didn't know if that meant the Unseelie Court had ties to the System or if it was just another unlucky roll of the dice. He did know that if the whispering swarm of sharp-edged shadows caught up to him he would at best be captured, more likely changed...

They had managed to herd him to the bridge over the river that split the village. He knew they'd catch up to him if he tried to run across. He couldn't risk jumping in the water; the elemental transition would only make him more liminal and more vulnerable to the faeries' magic. Sometimes he still regretted giving up Joy and Pain. A last stand at the bridge would at least make a good story.

Suddenly a light flared in the night sky and something large and heavy crashed into the approaching Sluagh like a meteor. Some of the creatures were crushed, others disintegrated in a wave of energy that washed off the massive object. The remaining fey assassins began to take cover.

Max grinned as he watched the object rise and unfold from the crater it had made: a fifteen foot tall mecha. He had been trying to be stealthy but the villagers would be awake now with a tale to tell (a better one than my last stand).

The surviving Sluagh started to rally, hissing and shimmering, when the panels on the bulky forearms of the robot warrior slid open and dozens of micro-warheads launched like a swarm of furious fireflies. They swirled and buzzed until they locked on their targets, their trajectories becoming lethally straight. The creatures became ash upon impact.

The panels on the back of the mech unfolded and Aqua climbed out. She perched herself on the robot's shoulder. She was wearing cool goggles. She smiled.

"Bishop helped me build it out of the wreckage of the subway car. Re-purposed 'The They' technology. I based the design off of those Golems from that Citadel videogame you always used to play. So there's a full-suite of offensive and defensive armaments and yeah, it can can still travel between dimensions.

"Sometimes you need more than just gauntlets and only a brand new outfit will do."

Max grinned. "I missed you."

C2IP Update.2

The ground shook again, dislodging more rubble from the bombed-out buildings. Shadows swept across the ground from the light of the flares in the night sky, voices hollow and fuzzy with static calling out over malfunctioning sound-systems, repeating emergency protocol directions that were very 'too-little-too-late'. Mick strolled down the centre of the cracked and scorched street as if all the lights and noise were a massive party; this wasn't his first apocalypse. In a lot of ways he felt at home in disaster zones; they were somehow more honest. 

His contacts were less brazen, with good reason Mick figured, given that of the ever-increasing number of factions in what appeared to be a cold-war-turned-hot-turning-nova most likely had capture or kill orders out on them. They signalled to him with a pre-arranged series of flashlight blinks from the shadows of a ruined hotel lobby.

"Okay," Mick said, hunkered down behind the front desk. "First off, no I haven't gotten any leads on who the double-agent is. I don't doubt your intel, especially given the source, but there are so many variables in play right now...

"Second, Goner's rejoined Max, Frank and Angst, so they're active again as a cell. Plus they've gotten a lead on Mags - sounds like she's changed too.

"As for Suki, it looks like she's actually shifted along the Chronoplex - that's what we're calling it now, right? She seems to be in a much older version of herself. I know, it's not the first-time Suki's age has altered. No idea if or how she's going to intersect with the others.

"The Diner crew... Things are still different with them too... Like they're on a different frequency from the other Dragons? I dunno, I feel like something's brewing there.

"Max has got his spirit guides in play, the bird and the talking cat. Still nothing from Aqua. Oh, but get this - I found this weird urban legend about this strange warrior-monk type-guy who wanders the globe, actually walking, no planes or buses. He's this dirty bearded vagabond, stops briefly to debate about things like Confucianism or Norse Mythology. Sometimes does a bit of intervening on a street-level if there's some injustice happening, and ain't there always? There's versions of the tale where he seeks out a vision at holy places, the hidden Temple of the Sky on Everest, the sacred glass monolith at the centre of the Sahara Desert, the keystone of the Great Wall of China that contains the last essence of the demon Hrarchuta who sacrificed his immortality to save his love, the angelic Yuriti... It's great stuff; I wish I'd written it. But it's got to be our boy Akimoto, right?

"And lastly, just so I'm keeping track, so far there's the Chronoplex, the Paraplex, and the Ultraplex? Now, how about you share with me: do we know yet what exactly has kicked off this whole mess between the System and Counter-System?"

The contacts exchanged glances.

Suddenly a swarm of sirens began wailing outside and the thunder of helicopters erupted overhead. Mick sighed. "I get it, 'to be continued'."

The Irreducibility of Explication

"Max! Focus!" the voice shouted.

He blinked and tried to follow the order. He was lost in a memory or a series of memories about a time he was driving around looking for something to eat and just feeling absolutely completely emotionally and mentally fucked up. Of course he had the thought that maybe he still was driving around and that this was another delusion. If he had ever had any delusions; maybe everything that he had thought happened had actually happened?

The voice was sounding frustrated, or maybe it was a different voice? Joining in? "We need to understand more about your actions in the Ultraplex. We need to know about what happened on World: Prefalta."

A file folder appeared on the table in front of Max with symbols on it that Max couldn't decipher.

What's the Ultraplex?

"Go ahead," the (first?) voice said. Max flipped open the folder and scanned the documents inside.

[Prefalta Excerpt]

"Specifically," they continued, "why did you order Aqua to intervene in this scenario? What criteria were met that required this action to be taken? Why did you select Aqua from the roster of Dragons who were available? What was the desired outcome of the intervention?"

Max suddenly had this strong sense that he was immersed in a tutorial for some type of advanced videogame, that the answers he selected to the questions being asked would set his preferences for the gameplay to follow... But there was also a very real chance that the videogame idea was just a psychological defense mechanism allowing him to minimize his responsibility in the incident they were discussing.

"The most important question is, perhaps- " the voices said.

Max couldn't really remember ever giving Aqua any orders... He hadn't even seen Aqua since... 

"- why did you choose to intervene in this incident and not any of these?"

Nineteen more file folders landed on the table in a rough stack.

Max felt nauseous.

C2IP Update.1

Mick opened the locker and removed the satchel, headed to the nearest washroom. The intercom rattled off train arrival and departure notifications in a bland, synthetic voice. A security drone hummed over the swarm of commuters. Mick had taken two capsules of Glamour before arriving at the station and run some invisibility mantras - he'd be cloaked from any surveillance for about an hour. Unless the Sidhe showed up, which meant things were fucked anyway. 

Hunkered in a stall, Mick unzipped the satchel. There was a hardcover book, one of the sourcebooks for the Aeon Triumph Gun Messiahs RPG. A pencil and a piece of paper. Mick used the book as a firm surface to write on, scrawling notes quickly with the pencil on the paper.

Four System operations identified.
Two Counter-System activities being monitored, plus one potential.

Pretty George might be dead.

Max has made contact with Dexter, Wraith and Callan - still not sure if they've joined the System or have been recruited by Counter. No contact with Darius (he's been running on a parallel stream ever since the Millennium Incident I think, which Max doesn't know much about, either because he wasn't there or can't remember).

Max is still working closely with Angst and Frank. 

Goner's gone dark. Suki seems to be missing.

Aqua disappeared with the remains of the Subway car.

I've got some rumours on Akimoto to follow-up on.

The name Summer keeps coming up...?

No confirmed contact with Maggie.

No clues yet to which one is the double-agent.

Any idea what the fuck exactly is going on?

Mick folded the paper once and tucked it inside the book. He noticed the page he had randomly opened to: the description and stats for one of the Vatars that players could summon once they reached level 13 as a Gun Messiah. 'The Void'. 

He shivered. Then sneered. Mick was not the superstitious type.

version.Little

 Aki

 Angst

 Aqua

 Cal

 Dar

 Dex

 Frankie

 Goner

 Mags

 Max

 Sook

 Wraith

> And for more version.Little check out The Metaplex Mall Incident in Issue 23 of Protodimension.

Neo Static: The Permutation Particles Polka - Epilogue

1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

3 And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.


His eyes flickered open and he could see the clear blue sky above him. He felt a little woozy and he sat up as a cool, late spring breeze caressed his skin. He let out a big breath and glanced around the park.

"Well, look who it is," Aqua stated as she approached.

"C'mon Max," Suki said. "We're heading to Kelly's to meet up with the gang and get some grub."

"You girls okay?" Max asked of them as Aqua helped him up.

"Yeah," Aqua said. "I had this strange dream this morning though..."

"Tell me over breakfast," Max said as they began to walk across the park.

"Yo Max," Suki said. "I think you forgot something."

Max looked back and saw the pack of smokes on the grass; he walked back and picked them up and looked at them. It was a brand new pack, unopened. He looked up at the skyline and back at the girls and to the surprise of the girls he crushed the pack in his hands.

"Well, now," Aqua said. "I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks."

They headed to the gateway and Max tossed the cigarette pack into a garbage bin.

"Today is a new day," Max said. "Breakfast is on me!"




fini

Neo Static: The Permutation Particles Polka - End

Aqua was in the middle of the tunnels; she was cut up and badly bruised but she kept swinging. It wasn't long before Suki was with her and she let her know that the job was done.

Darius, Twofeathers and Suki ran through the complex as Ul'ran zombies clambered after them. Wanting them to join the party.

Frank looked at the countdown on his chronometer. Only 18 more seconds to go before they were all aligned.

Angst, Ruffo and Angelissa sat at a table sipping tea as others walked past.

Max hovered off the floor, his fingers moving about seeing the data-streams of timelines before him and shaking his head 'no', dropping a few strings and gathering more and shaking his head 'no'.

Dan picked up the dice once again as everyone around the table waited for what was going to happen. It all resulted in this dice roll. It was all or nothing on this one.

"It's about time you joined the fight," Aqua shot at Suki.

"Sure thing, girlfriend," Suki said. "You think what I was doing was a picnic?"

"Yeah," Aqua replied. She took out a huge beastie with a punch, sending it sprawling back into its buddies. "Now, let's see if we can hold them off!"

"Madness," Twofeathers replied. No matter what corner they turned or what room they entered it seemed that the Ul'ran were already there. "This is madness."

"You don't know the half of it, sister," Suki said. She was rubbing her elbow; her arm was sore after dispensing a lot of charges with the Godhammer. She hoped Max was correct with whatever he was doing since it seemed like it was going to be the end.

Darius took out his cross necklace and gave it a kiss for luck. Twofeathers did a double-take at him and then she let out a chuckle.

Frank checked the shotgun and was about to join Suki and Aqua in the tunnels.

"There's nothing you can do there," Max said to him.

"What?" Frank looked at him. "You're kidding right?"

"Frank, when have I ever misled you?" Max asked.

"The question is when haven't you misled me," Frank said. His impulse was to go and help the kids out in a overwhelming battle. But he trusted Max to the very end of his life.

"Can I get you ladies anything else?" the waiter asked.

Angst nodded and flashed him a smile and the waiter turned a little shade of red.

"Mom," Angelissa said.

"I'm not your mother," Angst said to her, "Well, I... I could be your mother... Wait... I am your mother?"

"What are we doing waiting here?" Ruffo asked. She had a sound of agitation in her voice. She didn't know where they were and what they were doing but it was nice just to sit and catch their breath for a little while. "What are we suppose to be waiting for?"

"You will know when you see it," Angst said. She leaned over and gave Angelissa a kiss on the cheek, letting her know full well that she would be the mother she would never know.

Max's fingers were moving across like he was playing a huge harp. That's when he noticed blood on the tips of his fingers.

"Now you know how Bryan Adams felt," Maggie whispered.

Max noticed that his fingertips had thin slices like papercuts but it wasn't stinging at all.

"... and that's when you notice the cuts on Max's fingertips, each finger that he's been weaving with has left tiny droplets of his blood in it..." Tim said.

Dan's mouth dropped and everyone around the table looked up and he added, "You mean?"

"Yep," Tim stated with a sly smile. "Exactly. Now make your roll and let's just see how well the code was written."

Dan shook the dice in his hands and let them drop onto the table. They did their dance: the negative dice landed on a 1 (which was good to see) and the positive dice landed on a 6 and this meant he rolled it again and added it to the total.

Dan picked up the die to roll, Tim turned his attention to Peyton.

Aqua had taken a critical wound to the neck. Blood was pumping out due to her adrenaline being pushed to the limits, but she cracked a smile since she was going out on her own terms. She grabbed the huge beast in front of her and with all her might snapped its neck like a twig, letting out a primeval scream of victory before she staggered back.

A wall of beasties swarmed toward her.

"Nooo!" Suki screamed and that's when her face changed from a tween to a woman of rage. Mustering every ounce of strength she had she took the Godhammer in her hands and snapped it in two. "She you losers in hell!"

The explosion ripped through the tunnel.

"What is it?" Darius asked of Suki. She stood still for a second and let out a gasp.

"I don't know," she replied honestly. "It just .... I don't want this to sound corny... but I felt like something bad happened."

There was the sound of an implosion echoing off in the distance. A ripple and a wave of energy began washing through the area.

"Sweet," Twofeathers said. "Now what!"

Frank let the shotgun drop to the floor and he hung his head in shame. "Was this all for naught?"

The waiter placed another round of ice tea in front of the ladies, and they all smiled and raised their glasses in a toast.

"Ha! I win," Morganfokker whispered. "You lose, like the failure that you are!"

"Would it kill you to know that this was the game plan all along?" Maggie said with a knowing smile. "A sleight of hand so simple that you'd not be paying attention to what the other hand was doing."

"What?" Morganfokker said. "No, it can't be."

Max let the strings go from his bloody fingertips and let out a sigh of relief.

"Game. Set. And Match, Morganfokker!"

It was a sound like someone receiving a call on their cellphone, a little ding that seem to echo about the realms. Max hovered off the ground, light shining around him like beams from multiple lighthouses as cracks began to appear across his body. The ultimate sacrifice, he turned to the apparition of Morganfokker and lifted up a hand and simply waved at him, like he was waving to a friend who was moving away... and that's when Max seemed to implode on himself... creating a black hole sucking in the streams, data, and other realities with him.

Before everything went dark...

Neo Static: The Permutation Particles Polka IX

Long way from home
Welcome to the Pleasuredome

Suki slipped the flash drive into the slot. Her fingers danced over the keypad like a spider crawling across hot pavement. Aqua activated her gloves as she heard the sound of ripping and space and time began to fold down the passageway.

"Max was right," Aqua muttered. "It wasn't too long before they'd be onto us!"

"You do what you are paid to do, Aqua," Suki said. "I just need to finish coding and I will join ya."

"I got this," Aqua said as she made her way up the passageway.

Shooting stars never stop even when they reach the top
Shooting stars never stop even when they reach the top

Beads of sweat ran down from Frank's forehead as he closed the laptop.

"Done," he said to Max.

Max let a few strings go while grabbing a few more and moving them about his fingers like someone weaving a tapestry would do. Max could see the results unfolding in the infinite as his fingers were working, creating a better possibility.

There goes a supernova what a pushover-yeah
There goes a supernova what a pushover

Angst, Angelissa and Ruffo were rushing through the complex. Ruffo had thought it was her base of operations but it wasn't actually her base. It looked like everyone there was going about their business and paying no heed to her as she ran through the corridors with two cheerleaders.

It looked like they were late going to the prom. Ruffo was trying to fathom what was going on and how what they were doing was related to her own homeworld being invaded by an alien race, and how that seemed to be of no significance at all.

"Is this always like this?" Ruffo asked.

"And then some," replied Angst.

We're a long way from home
Welcome to the Pleasuredome

Suki, Twofeathers and Darius where in the middle of a huge battle with 13 foot tall mechanical robots. There was a dozen of them still left while a huge pile of scrap metal was scattered about. Suki's Godhammer made it very easy but it was still a nuisance, like mosquitoes at a summer camp as you try to enjoy the campfire.

"GOT IT!" Darius shouted. He threw the item into a rucksack and then lifted his weapon.

"It's about freakin' time!" Twofeathers said. She was tired of being swatted around.

"SUKI, WE ARE LEAVIN'," Darius shouted.

"Awww." Suki seemed saddened by the fact that she had to break from battle. "Just one more?"

Neo Static: The Permutation Particles Polka IV

Frank's fingers danced over the keyboard; he was coding as fast as his brain would let him. The laptop that Max had given him was way beyond the years that it should be from. But he didn't question where he had gotten it or how; he knew that didn't matter when you finally looked at the whole situation at hand. He keyed the mic.

"Aqua," he said. "You girls are in position?"

"Oh hell yeah," Aqua replied. She was knee-deep in water in a tunnel beneath a facility in some remote city. The transmission seemed to be coming from a billion light years away; there was heavy static and Frank's baritone voice was coming in tinny. It also didn't help matters that Suki, who was at a juncture box, was listening to a techno-trance track as loud as can be. "We're ready to kick the tires and start the fire, Old Man."

Suki gave Aqua the thumbs up.

Aqua didn't know where they were at the moment, just that Max had brought them here and told them to be here when the signal was given. She had given up trying to fathom just how many realities they were away from the prime. Or if there was even a prime and they were just part of an ongoing simulation.

"I'm sending you the code now," Frank stated.

"Got it," Aqua replied. She took the flash drive from her wrist device and handed it to Suki. "Here ya go, j-pop!"

"Thanks, Rhonda Rousey," Suki replied.

Neo Static: The Permutation Particles Polka I

"... now you understand what must be done," Max said to them all. He had turned to the three-dimensional projection of Suki and Aqua hovering before them. "Time is of the essence, though the essence of time is not up for question. Comprehend?"

Aqua nodded as if she understood. She banged the battle gauntlets she was wearing together to activate them.

Suki just shrugged, lifting her hands in a 'comme ci, comme ca' motion. Her 13 year old brain was still trying to wrap around the fact of seeing herself, or another version of her, in the room with Max while he was giving them their task to do. And she was still trying to figure out if this Max was the Max.

"You got it, dude," she finally said. Then the holographic projection disappeared.

Max turned to the others he had gathered; a cup of coffee materialized before him and he took a sip of the elixir.

Suki glanced up at Max and smiled; same old Max. Then she looked at the others in the room where they had gathered:

Darius and his sidekick, Twofeathers, resting on his shoulders.

A much older version of Frank, his hair grey and his face clean shaven standing with what she had first thought was a version of Angst but turned out to be her daughter, Angelissa. Suki presumed the various strings in the plex intertwined and changed and off-shoot to various other alternatives which were endless and constantly changing like waves on a beach. 

And standing beside them was the Angst that she knew and loved but it wasn't her Angst, or maybe it was but it was not too easy to tell these days.

And then there was the Suki and Aqua which Max had contacted, wanting them to...

"You sure you are up to this, Suki?" Max asked her.

"You got it, dude," she told him.

Neo Static: What May Be, What Might Be, What It Is IX

"So what you gonna do?" Suki asked Aqua. "Do you wanna go or not?"

Aqua sat in the booth and picked at the plate of fries in front of her. She didn't know what she wanted to do with the spare time that she had; she was used to being on the go, one minute battling a gazillion robots, the next battling giant mutant wasps in some secret lair of some mad scientist. Now the biggest decision of the moment was whether to go to an Anime Convention uptown or to just rest her bones. Suki wanted to go ever since she saw the signs and she didn't want to go alone, and she had been hounding Aqua for the better part of an hour now.

"Please," Suki said, pouring on the charm. "Pretty, pretty, pretty please."

"Okay doke," Aqua said. "But if we are going to do this, let's do this right. We need to pick up some cosplay outfits!"

"Done," replied an excited Suki. "I checked MapsApp for some shops and there just happens to be one around the corner! 'Mally's Manga Mall'. They have a whole slew of styles from The Reverend..."

As the girls got out of the booth they saw Max hovering there before them.

"Max?" Suki said. "What's the deal?"

"I can't take you with me but I do need you girls to do a big favour for me. I need someone I can trust for this task," he said. "You ladies are my ace up the sleeve. Everything depends on it."

"Sure thing, Boss," Aqua replied. She was leery, seeing that the Max before her was Max but not the Max that left with Goner, Frank and Pretty George to see Clipboard Jones at a club for some items. "What's the task?"

Max took something out of his pocket and held it open-handed before the girls.

"甘いイエス·キリスト" Suki said.

Neo Static: What May Be, What Might Be, What It Is VIII

They were sitting around a campfire, relaxing and taking it easy. It seemed like months since they had had a break in the action, that's for sure.

Max and Maggie were lying by the fire, Maggie enjoying the summer breeze as Max sipped coffee from one of those old tin can coffee mugs they had picked up at a flea market a few days back.

Angst sat cross-legged on a blanket field-stripping the Uzis, which made Frank shake his head and chuckle. Here they were on a beach in North Carolina admiring the summer evening.

Goner was picking stones and seeing how far he could toss them into the water; well, after what had happened in North Africa with the grenade he could use a little practice on throwing.

Aqua and Suki sat on a log reading Manga and both were fan-girling on how different and vastly improved the series The Reverend was in this version of Earth.

Akimoto sat away from the group, sitting on a rock and meditating as usual.

All was quiet and peaceful for the moment, a time to catch one's breath and enjoy the scenery for a change of pace.

"You there yet?" Maggie asked of Max.

"Huh," Max replied.

"Nope, not yet," Maggie stated and she turned to kiss him.

"What brought that on?" he said, as if she needed a reason to.

"Just saying hello to an old friend," she replied. Then she saw the sparkle in his eyes, as if an ancient door was opening, letting light into a room that was completely dark.

"Dammit," Angst said as she looked around the blanket.

"What?" Frank inquired.

"Nevermind," she replied. "I think I left it in the car."

"Want me to get it?" he asked.

"No, I'll do it," she said, getting up. "Besides, I think I have a kink in my leg to work out."

"Well, considering you've been doing that for a while now it would kink up," Frank joked.

Angst stood and headed for the car.

Max had glanced over and then he looked back at Maggie and she just smiled and nodded. "You see it now, don't you."

Angst headed to where the vehicles were parked and she heard a noise and looked to see Max, hovering off the ground.

"What the hell, Max," she said. "You scared the bejesus out of me."

"Angst, you're needed," Max said to her.

"Well, no guff," she chided.

"Take my hand and we'll go," he said as he reached out. "You'll only be gone from here a fraction of a micro-second."

Interesting Persons

"And now the character that always reminded me of the Professor is actually undercover as a professor... Oh, and their new base of operations is a subway!" Angst said.

"That's cool," Goner said. 

"No," Suki frowned. "It means reality is ripping us off."

Angst smirked.

Aqua said, "I think it's more synchronicites, like Max talks about. It was like watching all the stuff with Sam and Dean and Castiel and Crowley and how much it was like when we learned about the version of Maggie that's Magriel and Lucy and all that stuff."

Frank's voice came in over the comm, "Tangos incoming. Keep it down or you're going to get our show cancelled."

The Persistence of Presence

"It's been going on six days straight," Summer sighed.

A gust of wind made the steady downpour bend to a 45 degree angle, then it returned to falling straight down.

Aqua watched water drip from the brim of her cowboy hat. 

Summer shivered. "Isn't there something we could do? Maybe that's why we are here, to figure out how to make it stop? Isn't that how this works?"

Aqua watched the crowds of miserable people scurrying in the heavy rain. She said, "I think I saw an umbrella store a few blocks from here, yesterday. Based on the signs in the window it looked like they had raised their prices a few days back. Bet they don't have much of a security system..."

Aqua winked and Summer smiled.

v.Thespian

It's almost time for the Annual Morningstar Festival of One-Act Plays and the Jones Heights community theatre troupe Noo Media Productions needs a hit. For the last five years they have come in last in the competition, while popular (and well-funded) groups like Legacy Stage or The Angus Mode Players take home the trophies. It's all supposed to be a fun, friendly contest, but it's theatre and that means a lot of feelings and a lot of egos are involved...

So how are NMP looking this year? Well, the Board decided to bring in a first-time Director, Mallory Magrielle. And she decided to mount a production of a notoriously difficult play called 'Maxed to the Third Power'. Will great risk bring great reward? Except that the Set Designer Miguel Rogen and the Costume Designer Charlotte Stang are constantly arguing over what period the story is set in, while the Director refuses to weigh in because she feels that "conflict is essential to the creation of great art". Which has left Suki Fujimoria, the Stage Manager, over-worked and highly stressed - and Suki is known for her temper. No one has seen the Musical Director (and local DJ) Vlad Tiamook in over week; apparently he is furiously remixing the entire soundtrack to a create a "meta-temporal vibe" that will fit with whichever setting wins out, Rogen's or Stang's.

As for the cast... Ms. Magrielle gave the Lead Female role to Jones Heights' only (semi)famous citizen, Marnie Waters, who had a (semi)successful stint as a pop diva. Pandering or a subtle critique of celebrity? And instead of giving the Lead Male role to the long-standing, well-respected, troupe mainstay Frank Thamin - who thought the part could be his Prospero, but will instead be playing the Narrator - Ms. Magrielle cast THREE unknowns. That's right, she's having one character played by three different actors! How exactly Marshal Montgomery, Simon Light and Mick Scribe will split up the dialogue and action remains a closely-guarded secret.

Will opening night bring triumph or tragedy? Rave reviews or farcical folly?

Defrag: Nexus Force

Previously...


They stuffed their pockets with batteries and headed out. It was matter of walking and listening; they let Aqua carry the stereo. Their path zig-zagged as the faint voice appeared and disappeared in the static, like a shadow in a blizzard. Goner and Max had reconned most of the town in the two days since they had arrived here in the motel by the highway, so they kept up a good pace. By evening they had passed beyond the city limits, tracking the flickering signal along a country road. Enough moonlight that they didn't need to break out the flashlights yet. 

Max had been in a gunfight, took a bullet, came to in the shower of the motel room (with a new scar on his abdomen). Goner had been sleeping in a hotel with Frank and Max before waking up in the new room (he was worried about Frank). Aqua had stepped through the subway doors into the room (seconds after Akimoto, but where was he?); these kind of sudden shifts were pretty common on the subway so Aqua had taken it in stride. Dexter had been reluctantly practicing a meditation exercise with Callan; he hadn't recognized Goner or Aqua and was pretty sure that he was in some form of deep trance, his body still in half-lotus on the floor of Callan's apartment. 

It was morning before the signal cleared up enough that they could make out the voice. It was repeating a recorded warning about a radiation leak, insisting that everyone turn back. 

“Doesn't explain why there's no people,” Aqua said. 

“Unless they-” Goner started. 

“There'd be corpses,” Dexter interjected. He looked at Max and sighed; Dex had seen a lot of strange things in his days but things always got that much weirder when Cube showed up. “Alright, let's keep going.” He shook his head. 

Max grinned.

v.Cyber Aqua

Pretty's favourite bruiser, Aqua is the perfect Meta for when a building needs broken into, or out of, because Aqua can actually punch through walls. The Arcanium-alloy gauntlets that she has grafted onto her hands are powered by Hyper-Gravity micro-batteries and are outfitted with contact-activated Nova Burst generators as well as short-range counter-security EMP emitters. Aqua's designer Hermes Cortex runs Resilience immune boosts, Throne pain-regulation stimuli, and comes with an echolocation field that translates environmental data into dance music, which may explain her somewhat unique freestyle fighting technique.

v.Hollywood

Max (Kiefer Sutherland - early 30s)

Maggie (Yvonne Strahovski - early 30s)

Aqua (Dakota Fanning - late teens)

Dexter (D.B. Woodside - late 30s)

Frank (Demian Bichir - late 40s)

Callan (Chia-Hui Liu - 30s)

Angst (Keira Knightley - early 20s)

Suki (Fuka Koshiba - early teens)

Wraith (Maggie Q - 30s)

Goner (Michael Pena - early 20s)

Darius (Shawn Ashmore - late teens)

Akimoto (Vladimir Kulich - early 40s)