[STORY THREAD] Manifest Destiny

[Nina]

Dr Klatta nodded, "Now that we know our languages are the same we can send a drone to your universe and tell them you are both okay."

 

Wheelchair Hawke looked thoughtful, "Yes we could even transfer them here, it might make thing, easier and safer. Klatta can set that up for you.

 

As for Titans army, it consists of an even dozen more or less human monstrosities that are on the level equating to what you would consider a mid their Nova. Titan has destroyed any Aberrant that displayed any non-humanoid mutations. She is a bit bigoted that way. They are spread out across the globe each one acting as overlord of their own personal kingdom of human slaves. 

 

Individually we can defeat any one of them but they are capable of gathering too rapidly for us to counter. Titan controls the transmat facility and can either use it herself to go to a battle or send any of them to a battle. Thats why we are stuck and need you Apex to fight her while we take out the other Aberrant's once and for all."

[Shameless]

Ryan stopped to consider that.  "So we bring over our allies, then arrange it so Apex can fight your Apex.   Deezy and I go in and gain control of or shut down the transmat facility, and hold the line while you engage her Lieutenants.   Sean and I can both help your forces move around, and Brigit can certainly help Apex handle her couterpart."

"Assuming everyone comes over willingly."  He looked over to Grace, and nodded.

[Exile_Jeane]

"And if they don't or can't in a reasonable timeframe, we do it with just you and me and everything these people have saved up for their big push so we can go back to *our* people and look them in the eye," Grace added with quiet certitude, barely resisting the urge to add a pithy 'I've faced worse odds' in light of this Earth's grim situation. Like it or not, they were blessed with power, doubly blessed with power unhindered by obvious mutating degeneration and madness, and Grace's sense of duty wouldn't let her turn away from this fight. Not without trying.

 

She pushed back and stood up, both hands on the table, a grim smile on her face as her eyes flitted between two natives, eufiber flashing into it's bodyhugging 'combat configuration' for emphasis.

 

"And I still want to see any debriefs, footage, journals you have from her. Her will if she was enough like me to have one, going out there again and again risking her mind and body against your monsters," she concluded with a chuckle, "Williams like to make sure details like that are tied up neatly like that. Unless I miss my guess, she'll be stronger, tougher, than me so I need to try and hit her where she might be less invulnerable, her head and her heart, with my words."

 

The blonde juggernaut liked to think Bridgette would be proud of her taking some of her 'watch the tapes' couching comments to heart and acting on it. Grace wanted to be sure she'd be able to come home and tell Bridgette the story herself.  

[Nina]

Dr. Klatta studied Grace for several moments, then with a slight sigh and shrug, “It will take several hours to set up to bring the rest of your team over. I’d like Mr Hawke to record a message in writing that we can send to them, so they don’t panic. I can get you the information on Titan and a place you can study it in private.”

 

Grace sat down at a small desk in a small room Dr Klatta had shown her too. The chair was strictly utilitarian and the desk even more so. The room would have been a spacious broom closet on her Earth.

 

On the desk was a large flat box that was apparently a laptop in this universe. It looked like what a 1950’s version of a portable computer might have looked like in a speculative fiction movie from that era. She opened it up and saw a very strange keypad, like the kind court reporters use, and two dials, one to scroll vertical and one to scroll horizontal. The screen was black and white only, no color. Also on the table were a half dozen cassette tapes of some sort, each labeled numerically 1-6. Grace found a cover on the side of the computer and opened it and saw that the cassette was supposed to go in there.

 

Grace slid the first cassette into the machine and had access to her doppelganger’s history from birth through to this worlds version of the storm.

 

It was…different. For one thing, her parents here were better people. Not so self-absorbed and worried about status. This worlds Grace had the same privileged up-bringing, but it was tempered by truly supportive, good, and loving parents.  Grace herself was, at least from these documents, a well-balanced child who grew up to be a young adult with a drive to excel. According to these files she never suffered the pitfalls of someone driven by her parents to be one thing when she didn’t want to be that thing. She was for all intents and purposes a poster child for the All-American Way.

 

Surprisingly none of that changed after the Event. This worlds Grace was wonder woman and superman all rolled up in one. She never showed despair and never lost hope. She fought those who fell to madness and pushed herself as she did in everything. She had to be better to defeat the evil… but the evil snuck in and poisoned her, and she became evils champion in this place and time.

 

While Apex studied her target, Ryan accompanied Dr Klatta to the main control room.  There, aside from a dozen technicians was a young woman who looked to be in her early Twenties, Temple Faire.

 

Dr Klatta led Ryan to where the young woman stood supervising a technician. She looked much more integrated and stylish than the Temple he was used to and of course older. This woman was obviously in her early to mid-twenties and his Temple was only eighteen or so.

 

“This is Dr Temple Faire, our head psychologist, don’t let her age fool you, she has one of the sharpest minds here. Dr Faire, this is Ryan Hawke from the Other Earth.”

Their temple looked at Ryan and looked at his legs pointedly, “So I see. We are all set up for a fast transmission, timing will be tricky though.” Faire turns to Ryan, “Audio files and really any sort of digital media can’t survive Transposing, so we will need a written message for your associates. It needs to be brief and should have something included that will identify you as genuine.” She pulls a notebook off the desk and hands it to Ryan along with a pen.

[Shameless]

Ryan stood for a moment and looked at this world's Temple, and actually smiled. "Alright I'll work up something."
 

He took the offered notebook and pin, and thought for a moment.
 

"Deezy, it's Ryan.  Grace and I are here, safe, in an alternate universe.  They'll be sending us back once we help them with a local problem.   If you and any of the others want to come help, you'd be welcome, and certainly make this go much faster.   To prove it's me, I'll ask only this.   Have you checked on Ix and Cu since we left them?"   There were not many who could possibly know those names, certainly no one here.
 

He hoped that would be enough  as  he handed it back to Dr. Faire. "Deezy will know what I'm asking."  He said confidently.

[Nina]

On Earth...

 

While Deezy was off in her own world in her Head Bridget and Sean met with the field commander and gave him the run down on what they knew so far.

 

As they conferred a sudden high-pitched whine alerted everyone and then down in the center of the lake/crater a small wormhole opened and before Sean could react, deposited a three-foot spherical capsule. The possibility of a bomb was high, and the soldiers immediately began a rapid withdrawal, Sean flew to Deezy and took her a safe distance away, while Bridget went into the crater.

 

Bridget approached the sphere cautiously and at about five feet away the spere sensing her split open to reveal to sheets of thin metal about he size of a sheet of paper from a legal pad. On the sheets,  words, in English, were etched into the metal.

 

The first one read,

 

"Deezy, it's Ryan.  Grace and I are here, safe, in an alternate universe.  They'll be sending us back once we help them with a local problem.   If you and any of the others want to come help, you'd be welcome, and certainly make this go much faster.   To prove it's me, I'll ask only this.   Have you checked on Ix and Cu since we left them?"   There were not many who could possibly know those names, certainly no one here.

 

The second,

 

This is Dr Klatta we are under severe time constraints. Mr Ryan believes you could be of aid in the endeavor we are about to embark upon. If you wish to join us follow these instructions.

 

Shortly a robot like the one Apex fought will come through to your world. This machine will not attack but will deposit three devices that look like large golden eggs.

Each of you three, Deezy Klatta, Centerpoint, and Dauntless, that wish to join us should touch one and only one of the devices. This will initiate what we call the transposition which will bring you to our world. The process is not painful but looks a bit terrifying. If no one activates the devices within five of your minutes after they are deposited, they will disintegrate so as not to become a danger to an accidental transpositioning.

 

Your aid will be greatly appreciated.

 

Bridget read them twice and not touching them called Sean down and told her to bring Deezy. When they were all together and had read the messages, Bridget moved close to Sean and took her hand.

 

“This could be a trap.” She said looking thoughtful.

[Exile_Jeane]

Grace wondered at how many fishing attempts the people of this world had done to find her and how many if any had gone wrong, how many robots and probes sent screaming into the multiverse without return. As far as she could tell, Other Grace had had it easier in regard to her family, healthier, warmer, and then the catastrophic ongoing nature of this world's storm forced her into permanent crisis mode. And the... degenerative nature of powers her forced her to fight former ally after former ally after former ally, the dwindling pool of gifted putting ever more weight on her shoulders over time, forced into the spotlight as a powerhouse in the eyes of the human population at large 24/7.

 

And it seemed like it was 24/7, blessed with ability to get by without sleep they both seemingly were. Grace had people in her life to remind her to rest, shed the invisible load of stress that waited on the other side of her mental resilence, people to talk to to sort and shift the burdens imposed by herself and others.

 

Other Grace, 'Titan' if she was going to psych herself up into killing a funhouse version of herself, was, on some level, doing the best she could to win the fight in as few blows as possible. Grace did that math every time she had to back up Sean and Bridget. Where? Who? How hard? She, they, didn't have a broad toolkit to solve problems outside of hitting the problem or threatening to hit the problem, so 'Titan' had just decided to shift the equation so that instead of solving x for y, she was solving y for x. End the war by solving the human problem instead of the monster problem. Twisted but... The blonde juggernaut could see the logic, the relief of such a radical choice.

 

'Titan' was definitely going to hate her just for existing, her comparative innocence, judging by what she'd read. Calling her by their given name alone was going to draw lightning on herself like she hadn't seen since Enkidna, she was willing to bet. If there wasn't some kind of cult-like superstion around it, she'd eat her eufiber.

 

She grunted and pushed away from from the laptop, triggering the combead in her ear, "Ryan? You finished with the message so we can grab a bite to eat, maybe spar a little to kill time while we wait?"

[Shameless]

Ryan nodded, his message sent, and he got instructions on how to get to the Mess hall, and arrange for a place for the two of them to spar while they waited to hear back from the other side.   The mess hall was mostly empty, indeed, on such short notice, they actually didn't have anything prepared, but they did have MRE's.   Ryan shrugged, grabbing two at random, heading for the table where Grace was waiting.  He set them on the table and nodded.  "Meatloaf and rice, or Chicken and Mashed potatoes.   Take your pick, I'll eat the other."   

He seemed very calm despite what had happened, and what they were going to have to face.

"How'd your research on this world's version of you go?"

[Nina]

Other earth…

 

Apex and Ryan sparred while they waited for their friends from their earth.

 

In the labs and Transposing chambers, the technicians under the watchful eye of Dr Klatta worked vigorously to finish the machine.

 

Upstairs Hawke sat in his chair and watched over it all on his view screens. He wasn’t alone Dr Faire, the psychologist was with him.

 

The door to Hawkes sanctum opened and the General rushed in. “We have a problem.”

 

Hawke spun  his chair, “What is it?”

 

“Early warning sensors are detecting multiple Trans Mat bridges forming.”

 

“Where?”

 

“Here, on the surface. We are under attack.”

 

Hawke couldn’t believe it, “How in the nine hells…”

 

“It doesn’t matter, Ryan, the enemy is here. That means they know.”

 

“Sound the alarm!”

 

Spoiler

Apex and Ryan hear the alarms

 

[Shameless]

Ryan's eyes narrowed at the sirens.   He wasn't sure, but he'd heard similar alarms before during drills, and this didn't feel like a drill.  "The enemy is here.  Grace are you good to go?"  They'd been sparring, and admittedly he wasn't going to win that fight, short of simply outlasting her assault if it came to  a purely physical contest.   Still, he knew where his strengths were.   Their sparring hadn't wasted any power, just relieved abit of stress.   

He had hoped the others would get here, but with what had happened, maybe bringing them over had sent some sort of traceable signal and that was how they'd been found after going undetected.

With a nod from Grace, they took off on foot through the base, Heading to find this world's Ryan to come up with a very quick rough plan.

[Exile_Jeane]

The sight of soldiers taking up position in a hallway on their left after exiting an elevator made Grace pause. At the end of the hallway, littered with a mixture of improvised and welded-down barracades, was a blast door to dwarf anything she'd ever seen with her own eyes. The fact these soldiers were gathering here meant it was probably a very important door, and that tipped it in her mind.

 

"You go ahead, Ryan. I'll see about making a good first impression," she said with a nod, "Portal me if you find she's here."

 

The blonde juggernaut peeled off without waiting for another word from her ally, hoping that none of her oh-so-carefully-buried concern for this fight had made it to her face. Under the layers and layers of inhuman self-control, she *was* concerned, not just for the fight, but for ensuring she did nothing to further tarnish the good her other self, her primary target, had done in the face of this creeping horror that had eventually broken her. The differences, both and before and after the storm, were there, but this Grace was her sister, seeing this resolved was a duty and Williams Did Not Shirk their duties.

 

She spared a thought for Sean and Bridget and Kamui, putting their faces up and away in a safe place reminding her of the other big Why of winning this fight.

 

Grace, Eufiber shifting once more into its attention-drawing combat configuration, noted the reaction of the soldiers she passed. The younger ones flushed with naked fear, gaze burning on her figure as she passed, seeing an eniemy in their ranks given permission to exist by the mysterious will of their higher ups. The older ones, uniforms marked with the rank insignia of NCOs, had a more nuanced reaction, flicking between the fear at her presence and relief at having her there. She didn't have time to think about the why of it, the divide between those who had only lived to fight Stormers and those who had survived the chaos of Stormers going from ally to eniemy one by one by one until only monsters remained. 

 

Not knowing these men, Grace simply nodded and ducked behind the foremost barracade, waiting for the storm, grey eyes locked on the great Fall Out-esque barrier between herself and the monsters gathering outside.

[Nina]

There was a cold chill of fear among the soldiers as they waited for the enemy. They knew it was hopeless there weren’t enough of them at the base and they didn’t have any of the heavy weapons they would have relied upon in their own assault. All they had were rifles some grenade launchers and Apex. There was fear but they were steady.

Several of the officers and non-coms were looking at portable tablets watching the cctv feed from the surface. The base was built into a mountainous region much like Cheyenne Mountain back on Grace’s earth, but unlike that base this one was hidden the entrance camouflaged and buried under tons of rock. It was literally under the mountain. 

 

One of the sergeants showed his fortitude and approached Grace with one of the tablets. Together they watched.

 

The sky outside was a miasma of color as multiple warp effects were bending the gravity and magnetic fields of the earth. From the openings the warps created, came bridges of bright metal five meters wide that extended down curving to the ground and on those bridge marched hundreds of Grey Lumpy Humanoid beings that looked like clay men, each carrying a long handled axe/hammer of some sort. And there out of several smaller warps floated the last of the Monsters. Some looked like normal men or women, and some were caricatures of what was once a human being and then some had no resemblance to humans at all.

 

In the control room the two Ryans and Doctors Klatta and Faire watched the same images on larger screens. “Their going to outnumber us ten to one…” Klatta whispered the fear evident in her voice and on her face.

 

Hawke looked at Ryan, “Those are Titans shock Troops, mindless things not really alive too stupid to use guns but they are strong and tough and it doesn’t take much skill to swing those Hammer-axes. We don’t have a lot of time can you bring our men from their bases to here using your powers?”

[Asarasa]

On 6/14/2023 at 10:48 AM, Nina said:

“This could be a trap.”

"It very well could be," Sean agreed with a murmur as she entwined her fingers with Brigit's and leaned against her broad, solid form. Sean's silken soprano was never anything less than sultry, but now it had an extra velvety quality that caressed, suggested. "But if we want to help Grace and Ryan, the only way is to step into it."

Sean felt... odd. She hadn't even felt this strange when she'd woken up as a super beautiful, super-powered woman. Part of her transformation came with altered brain chemistry that granted her an inhuman self-composure. It had stopped her from going mad from her complete chrysalis, had even enabled her to embrace the change. Since then, her libido had drastically increased, she was always aroused to some degree, but with her self-possession, it hadn't been an issue for her. Without it, she suspected a human would barely be able to function. She had never felt the distance between what she was and regular humans as she did at this moment.

She could feel the attention drawn her way, even in the midst of the devastation. She basked in it. Her eyes turned languorously on one of the soldiers. Even from this distance, she could the glint of his wedding ring, the scent of a woman on him who spent a lot of time in his company, his wife. Sean gave him the faintest of smiles and he stopped as though paralyzed. She could hear the hammering of his heart, could taste his arousal and desire in the air. She could practically see his thoughts through his glassy eyes. When his shift was over, he was going to fuck his wife, but he would only be thinking of Sean Cassidy. Her smile deepened. The soldier's heart literally skipped a beat. She could beckon him with a finger and take him right here, with Brigit watching or joining,  if she so wanted...

She was getting distracted. She could feel a light breeze blow across her chest and only now realized at some point, she had shifted her eufiber suit so that the black circle in the center of her chest had turned into window, revealing the inner slopes of truly magnificent breasts. She needed to do something, but the longer she stayed her, the more likely Sean would do something... untoward

To anyone else, Centerpoint seemed in complete control, her overt sensuality just a part of her. But Brigit knew her better. Her heightened senses could feel Sean almost vibrating with undefined need, she could feel the flush heat radiating off Sean's flawless, golden skin. Sean had always been implausibly gorgeous and sexy as a woman, idealized measurements slightly exaggerated, seemingly with tastefully applied filters but in real life granting her a perfection beyond human that caused instant but natural admiration, desire, lust, and envy.

 

But Brigit could see the subtle changes in Sean. Her luminous lavender eyes were now an intense, even brighter purple. Her rose-gold hair now had a mirror-like sheen as it felt in glorious, glistening waves to her knees. Other changes, an inch in here, an inch out there, legs an inch longer. Implausible pulchritude was now edging solidly into the uncanny valley. Where the emotions she once evoked naturally, she now demanded them and cared not for preferences or natural inclinations.

"As powerful as we are individually, we're even more so together, Brigit," Sean said, stepping around to face Bright, hands on her deliciously thick shoulders, trying to put the unenhanced humans securing the scene of her mind so they wouldn't work her up even more. But she knew they were there. She could smell them. She could hear them, even their sub-vocal and subconscious words and sounds.

 

"I... I need to go, need to do something. I'm going." She glanced over at Deezy. "How about you, Deezy? Trap or no, Grace and Ryan probably need our help and I don't how to get... wherever they are. And I don't think we have time for you to figure it out either."

Edited July 10, 2023 by Asarasa

[Shameless]

While Grace prepared inside the base to face the oncoming Horde, Ryan was going to head to his counterpart, but instead he changed course.  There wasn't time with an army nearly on their doorstep.  The only consolation was that none of their forces were outside.  As it was a blast bunker it would be shielded and He knew this idea, this attack was all or nothing.   If it worked, the army would be gone.  If not, then it probably wouldn't matter, because no one would be alive to care.
 

"Hawke, I need a picture of outside.  Seal the base in full lockdown, I have something I can do to even the odds."
 

"Ryan what are you planning?"
 

"I'm going to use the greatest natural power source I can to wipe that army from the map."
 

"That's too dangerous!"
 

"I don't see another choice that will let you preserve your forces for what comes after."
 

He then keyed his private line to Grace.   "I have to ask you to never speak of what you're going to see me do to anyone, Grace.   It will mean the end of my life, of everything we've all worked for."  There was a certain gravity to Ryan's voice, that he was absolutely serious, and fully believed what he was saying.

"You have my word."   She answered him quietly.
 

Once everything was sealed, Ryan opened a one way gate to the outside, which closed behind him.
 

The Sun was overhead, and he could see the gathered horde.  There was no need for words, but he spoke anyway, even as he began gathering and concentrating the energies flowing within him.   His brain quickly set about computing various equations, how large the gate would need to be, how it should move, what angle was needed to handle the army, and not simply blow a chunk of the planet away.   It was a level of mathematics he'd never thought of doing as a youth, but here he was doing it.

As he gathered power the army seemed very nonplussed by him, still advancing.   Lambent arcs of violet-black energy began to corruscate across his body.   His eyes began to flicker, this wasn't easy, perhaps the most difficult thing he'd done, even harder than going to Mars.   His eyes shone with brilliant quantum energies, still the monsters knew no fear, a single nova wasn't enough to halt their advance.
 

"I'm not suited to fighting one on one, but like this, against an army, I can do this."   Above him, the sky seemed to rip as a truly massive gate opened.   Through it shone the surface of the sun, effectively creating an almost blinding second sun above them.  He raised his hand, and snapped his fingers.  "Vanish."   It wasn't known that he could actually make his portals so that the environment on either side could effect the other, but that fact was on full display here and now.  The portal's end point was in the Corona of the sun, and he'd already fortified his own body for what was to come.
 

Tongues of Impossibly hot flame shot for from the portal, much like a fusion powered flamethrower on a grand scale, and the portal moved as he willed it, sweeping across the field in a matter of seconds, before Ryan sealed this side of it, ending the conflagration only seconds after it had begun.

Slowly the massive portal closed, in reverse of how it had opened, until the rent in the sky closed upon itself, and he allowed himself to smile.   The air itself was still hot, and no normal human would survive out here for awhile at least.   The ground was completely vitrified, and ash wafted through the air. He could never have done that at home, or with any sort of civilian presence, but desperate times called for desperate measures.   If that was the bulk of the army, then it was worth it, They could send their forces to attack the other underlings, as Titan would come here now.  There was at least one nova present who could threaten her.  She'd know that now.
 

Ryan raised his hand and offered a thumbs up, even as he remained acutely aware of his surroundings, for any incoming gate.   "I've set the table for you Grace, all you need to do is take Titan down."   He was fairly certain no one heard him, but he was still human enough for the words to give him a sense of satisfaction.  He'd done his part, and he had total faith she would do hers.

[SalmonMax]

"I... I need to go, need to do something. I'm going." She glanced over at Deezy. "How about you, Deezy? Trap or no, Grace and Ryan probably need our help and I don't how to get... wherever they are. And I don't think we have time for you to figure it out either."

 

"Hm? Oh, of course I'm coming! Wouldn't miss it!"

 

She paused then, waiting for the messenger to appear, bearing its cargo. When it arrived she moved over towards the devices, and their towering errandboy.

 

Deezy leaned down to get a better look at the 'eggs,' frowning to herself as she took it apart and weighed each atom in her mind. Machines had 'tells,' for those who knew what to look for. There were many ways to accomplish the same task, many configurations of parts, wires, instruments...all of them equally viable. In the end, a great deal of a finished design was an aesthetic choice by the designer. And this seemed...familiar to her. Not in the specific technologies being used, but in the broad strokes of its design and construction.

 

"Plenty of time for that," she murmured. "In fact, it looks like I already have. Sort of. This should be interesting at least. The only way out is through."

 

She reached down at put a hand on the egg.

Edited July 14, 2023 by SalmonMax

[Nina]

1 minute ago, SalmonMax said:

She reached down at put a hand on the egg.

And at that exact moment shit hit the fan.

 

Deezy's hand was millimeters away from actually touching the surface of the egg when it sudden began to crinkle and collapse rapidly. Sensing the build up of Quantum Energy Bridget lept to Deezy wrapped her in a tight hug and spun her back to the egg.

 

 

The blast of energy did more damage to the area than the original blast that sent the laser to demolish the home of Bridget, Sean and Grace. Fully half a mile surrounding the lake bed was scoured clean of everything. The only living things left were the three nova's and even they had been hurled hundreds of feet from the center of the blast but while stunned they were relatively unhurt.

 

The three women lifted themselves from the shattered land and looked back at where they had been thrown from and beheld a sight that both fascinated and horrified.

 

 

The other Earth...

 

Grace stepped from Ryan's small portal and found herself standing in what could only be described as hell on earth. The ground where she stood was cracked and broken and desolate as the moonscape. And this only from the heat as the beams of pure solar fusion that had swept the enemy away had not even come close to it. Where that beam had touch the ground was still bubbling and slowly cooling to weird shapes of atomic glass. In the sky the warp bridge had collapse and the Gifted monsters had been reduced to ash. All but one.

 

Grace approached the creature cautiously. She had been drawn to it's moans and gasps of pain. She stayed clear of the still molten ground and came up ready for anything. Except for what she found.

 

It had been humanoid, but was now half trapped in a cool bubble of the atomic glass, only its upper torso with its appendages burned away free in the air. its skin was like the ground burned black and melted, Grace could not tell whether it was male or female.

 

As if sensing Grace's presence one eye opened and the moan sensed but the breathing was still horrifyingly labored. The eye moved raking Grace taking in what she looked like who she resembled. And it laughed.

 

"You are from the other side. You think you have won. you have already lost. This world is dying... dead. But yours is alive vital ripe for conquest..." then with a rattle it died.

 

On Earth...

Directly over the place of the blast was a huge roiling sphere off energy  and from its center emerged two dozen beings some human and some as if from a night mare and the were led by a Titan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Exile_Jeane]

Other Earth

 

Standing there, underlit by the dimming light of the hellish atomic battlefield, hair swirling in the wind of an atmosphere dealing with a quite-literally-stellar infusion of energy, Grace's expression barely shifted. Storm grey eyes narrowed, and she grunted, regretting not having anything more precise at hand. As the charred once-human's words rolled through her head, she moved in a single, sharp motion, driving a fist downward and through the ruined features. If the nova had been powerful enough to survive... all this... She didn't want to risk it getting back up again, and shaking the steaming gore and boneshards off her hand, double tapping Enchidna's monsters had been required more then once.

 

The blonde juggernaut looked up at Ryan, tone carefully nuetral, "I assume you caught what they said? Got enough juice left in the tank to get us inside and see how full of shit he was?" 

[Shameless]

Other Earth

Ryan nodded, both in agreement, and at her making sure the thing that had been a nova was dead,  before opening a gate to where Hawke was, allowing Grace to precede him, and giving Hawke a view of the hellscape outside as he followed,   "The army is gone, you're safe for now."     

He scowled.   "They know about our world."   His eyes narrowed and the scowl intensified.  " The last of them to die let slip, or chose to gloat.   Said this world is dying, but ours isn't, that our home was ripe for conquest."  

"What are the chances they found a way to send someone over to our world as well?"   He was agitated, but his voice was oddly even, a seriousness that went beyond emotion.  

Edited July 15, 2023 by Shameless

[Nina]

Other Earth...

 

Both Hawke and Dr Klatta had a look of horror at the pronouncement but the Dr Klatta shook her head.

 

"No, they don't have any way except the Transmat system and for that to be able to pierce the dimensional barriers they would need tremendous source of power. I'm talking Solar levels...of... power..." As dr Klatta's voice fade the look of horror returns to her face but now it's directed at Ryan.

[Shameless]

Other World

Ryan frowned.  "They couldn't possibly have known what I was going to do, how I would attack.  Literally NO ONE has ever seen that I can potentially do that."

He thought about it for a moment.   He genuinely hadn't expected to play into a trap, not with an attack like that which even he hadn't been too sure he'd be capable of as he'd done it.   They hadn't been there long enough for them to have learned it since he arrived.  "So they couldn't have been watching us, if they planned so well as to know me enough to have foreseen that, then they must have someone on the inside feeding them information, one way or another."   He could think of several novas who could conceal their presence, and he didn't rule out a normal person doing it for a myriad of reasons too.

"Damn."   

He looked to Hawke.  "We've got to go home."  There was an urgency in his tone, not panic, but concern.  If a significant amount of energy was channeled through the portal, there would be incredible destruction, and it was his responsibility.   

 

[Asarasa]

Earth Prime

Sean levitated upright, dust and dirt sloughing off her fantastic figure, leaving her once more clean and pristine, though she still felt a deep soreness, despite the protective event horizon sheathing her form. Her eyes blazed with a dark purple incandescence, filling with growing stars of blue-white quantum fire, and her long, glistening mane of hair lifted and flowed behind her from the heat still radiating from the blasted ground. There was sympathy behind her impassive regard for the lost lives as she glared at the intruders.

 

Sean fully and unabashedly embraced her new life, enjoying and indulging all that came with being a super-powered superbabe. While she did indeed love Brigit, she wasn't the only one Sean had slept with, and whether it was from her preternatural composure and self-confidence or pure self-indulgence, she didn't seem capable of regret, shame, or embarrassment anymore.

 

Only twice before had something cut straight through her inhuman self-control, a man and a woman, both novas. Her sense of smell was superior to any dog's, and she wasn't sure if it was pheromones or something else, but their scent had drove her wild, the only thing on her mind desire and need to fuck. And they had. There had been nothing loving about the acts, it had been pure, animal lust, and it had been glorious. Even if the man was otherwise a bore. A normal human's heart would likely have given out.

But for the first time, Sean was hating what she was, was fearing it.

 

Her eyes were riveted on the... creature leading the invaders. It had Grace's face, but it wasn't Grace. She still felt fey... an otherness from straining her powers today, and she felt that otherness being reflected back at her from the invaders and the creature with Grace's face a thousandfold.

Sean had slept with a variety of women and men, but she definitely had a preference. She liked muscles. Big, hard, sculpted, powerful muscles. She'd been with several men who fulfilled her ideal criteria - including the one who's scent penetrated her composure, even if he was an idiot and asshole and she couldn't stand him otherwise. But of women, she'd never been with one who came close to matching Brigit. In her eyes, no woman was as beautiful and sexy.

 

The creature with Grace's face had to stand ten feet tall, had to mass well over a thousand pounds of obscene, over-developed muscle. Sean found her disgusting, repugnant, terrifying, and despite herself, she felt perverse desire rising. To be embraced by arms bigger around than her chest, to feel one of those huge hands entirely encircling her waspish waist, that immense weight pressing down on her as they--

Sean felt ill - she'd forgotten what being sick felt like since her transformation - and yet, she wanted it still, implacable, unwanted desire rising still.

Brigit could hear Sean's increasing heartrate, the rapid breaths escaping her parted lips. The faint flush to her tanned cheeks. Yet her hands were fisted at her sides, sharp, almond nails cutting into her palms, tendons standing out stark and tight in her neck. Brigit had never seen Sean's body language ever being so at odds.

"I don't know if this is actually a trap, or something went wrong on the other side, but we have to stop them, slow them down at least, and hope Grace and Ryan can get back to us."

Sean sounded calm, confident, sensual, like usual, but only Brigit's enhanced senses let her hear the tiniest trace of a tremor in her honey sweet, honey rich voice.

 

Sean pried her eyes from the delicious monster to peer at the roiling sphere of energy. There didn't appear to anymore figures coming out of it. She didn't sense any gravitic anomalies from it. If it was a portal or wormhole, it wasn't like any she was familiar with. She certainly didn't have a clue how to close it.

"I'll try to disrupt them, then set up a gravity lens for you, Brigit. I think these guys are playing for keeps. Deezy, now would be an excellent time to pull a fabulous trick from your bag of tricks."

Eyes now a coruscating mix of burning purple and actinic blue, Sean twisted gravity around the sphere of energy and two hundred feet or more out, enfolding the invaders in its influence.

 

Spoiler

Using Gravity Control (Environmental Anima) to add +5 Complication to those effected in the area, as Sean makes gravity go completely wonky.

 

[SalmonMax]

"We're still years away from this kind of runaway manifestation here," Deezy blurted. "I have a few pots in the fire, but they're not... Uh...hang on, keep 'em busy for a minute, I need to...with the thing..."

 

She dug her phone out of her pocket and waved a hand impatiently at Aberrant Grace, as if shooing away a pesky cat that was sniffing at her. On the open ground between her and where the portal had opened, the towering bulk of a giant robot appeared out of nowhere; a carbon copy of the robots that had been here before. Pressed as she was, Deezy didn't really have time for substantial redesigns or upgrades. She was hoping that it, plus the other allies present, would keep these invaders busy for long enough.

 

With her thumb she dialed a phone number even as she created a giant alien war machine out of ambient particles from scratch. As it lumbered forward, the phone rang.

 

When it picked up she said, "Hi, is this Temple? This is Deezy, out investigating the big explosion you probably saw on the news. I'm texting geoposition to you, but I think we're going to need backup from you and your friends. We've got endgame mutated novas from a parallel timeline popping in over here, and my countermeasures are not prepared yet. We're improvising out here and I'm hoping you guys can bump the table to nudge the numbers back in our direction."

 

Spoiler

Note that I rolled 3 successes + Intellect Scale to create the robot using information from when she scanned them before. If that's not enough, I'll alter this post to reflect that.

 

Edited July 19, 2023 by SalmonMax

[Nina]

Dr Klatta sta staring at Ryan and nodding at nothing then she spun and started scribbling on a note pad and punching buttons on the control panel before her. 

 

The screens started playing back what the cameras caught of the decimation Ryan had wrought on the surface of their planet. Some screens showed pure data. Klatta adjust the camera views zooming the pictures in on the Transmat Bridges.

 

“They knew. They knew exactly what you were going to do. Look at the bridges,” she pointed at the coruscating rings and froze the pictures. “These inner rings are some sort of vacuum according to the numbers, designed to absorb vast amounts of energy and funnel it back to something.”

 

She manipulated the controls and brought up what was an obvious satellite image. “This is live.” It showed an island chain somewhere in the south Pacific. Above one of the Islands was a huge Transmat Bridge pulsing with energy like a miniature sun. “That’s the portal to your world. The energy they absorbed was astronomical. The bridge will remain open until the power bleeds off.”

 

Bridget didn’t wait without a word she blasted toward the Monstrous Grace at full speed her eyes sending ravening beams of Quantum energy through Sean’s Lens to rake the Enemy Nova’s. Where the beam touched there was chaos as some resisted and some were wounded and two were instantly vaporized.. Bridget held nothing back.

 

The enemy Grace lept at Dauntless and met the Nova with a fist almost half the size of the smaller woman’s torso. The impact was thunderous!

 

Bridget absorbed as much of the kinetic energy as she could but her own immense power was not up to the task. For a moment it was as if she were back in the ring getting her ass kicked. The second blow snapped her head back and threatened to snap her neck.

 

The two massive blows sent Bridget tumbling away like a baseball hit by a major league batter. Dauntless flew back over a mile before slamming into the ground leaving a furrow almost a hundred yards long.

 

She struggled to pick herself up. She felt broken bones in her chest and face. From only two blows.

 

Temple immediately sent out a mental call to all the world’s good Novas and her own kind. They were needed, the world was in grave danger! “I’m calling all the Novas and all the Psions.. Don’t risk yourselves needlessly it will take time to gather them.”

 

The Robots created by Deezy engaged the Aberrants but were quickly overcome by the enemy who had plenty of experience fight and defeating the very same types of machines used against them on their world.

 

As Centerpoint manipulated Gravity suddenly the ground reared up below her and sharp spikes of earth rocketed toward her like arrows shot from a hundred bows!

 

[Shameless]

Ryan scowled.  "They have some form of precog, and they're a good one, or a powerful telepath. "  when Dr. Klatta looked at him.  "Even I didn't truly know what I was going to do, how I was going to handle that,  until I was actually out there.  I only knew it would  push the limits of my abilities to get them all at once and preserve your forces so you can continue the strategy Ryan outlined earlier."
 

He looked to Grace, then to the doctor.  "Are your forces going to be able to manage the assault now, while their focus is on our world?  Grace and I have to go home, We have to stop them."
 

He frowned.  "We need a way to shut things down on this end, so they can't just flee back here, or come and go as they please.   Something that takes into account all that energy, and a means to safely disperse it without doing more damage."

[Nina]

Klatta shook her head, "That isn't a problem. It is one way only." She looked up. They aren't coming back"