Garrison Kane (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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xp_logs2022-04-04 10:54 am
xp_dominion) wrote in xp_logs2022-04-04 10:54 am
REALITY1: Proof of Concept - Log 4
A group tests outs the equipment and discovers something... unexpected.
The basement of the chapel didn't look anything like it had just a day ago. The equipment may have been jury-rigged and the power sources haphazardly plugged in, but there was a range of working monitoring and computing stacks working around a circular array in the middle of which a matrix of energy crackled.
Beside the portal like station was a portable clothes rack, with what looked like X-Men practice leathers hanging in a neat row. Kane was already wearing one, the difference between that and the normal was a gauntlet-like smart interface on his left arm.
"Hey, thanks for coming.. This is going to sound weird, but you're here today to help save a universe, Not our universe, but a universe."
Meggan wouldn’t have missed this. She found this entire concept as fascinating as it could be terrifying, given everything that was happening. She had promptly found a suit that fit her, and was listening with rapt attention.
"And we do it with this new... thingie?" Pixie was examining the new tech around them, her all-black eyes wide with excitement.
"This like...Stargate?" Matt asked. "Or more Sliders? But I am not here for any Quantum Leap bullshit," he asked, already drifting towards the leathers to see if there was one with his name on it. These are not questions or TV shows he ever thought would apply to his life, but then, welcome to Xavier's. This was his life.
"Hope we don't break reality." Kitty muttered, reaching out for a uniform. Again, that is. Did it matter what name she grabbed? Wouldn't that confuse people in whatever universe they dropped into? Then again... She grinned, but started looking for her own name. No need to make more trouble.
Molly's attention lingered on the gauntlet while the others talked. She tilted her head. "Wait--what universe? Are we using Liv? Cool! Wait--How do we know it needs to be saved? Please tell me it involves space. I want to go to space so bad. "
Alani hadn't known what to expect, with the chapel after the incident with Topaz or being summoned, but this wasn't it. She nodded along rather blankly as everyone spoke their peace, before chiming in. "A universe needs saving either way, I reckon. What, uh, what's with the iGauntlet, though?"
"This is the Goober. I didn't name it." He said, holding it up and turning it over. "It's got a smart computer... thing. Why am I explaining tech? It allows us once we port into another dimension to access basic functionality - GPS, wireless, etc - and the big honking button pulls us out when we press it." Kane said. "Clint, you want to jump in here?"
"Ergo, you break it, you're stuck in the other universe," Clint mumbled around the pen he had in his mouth. "So don't break it." He fiddled with a few different knobs and dials on the array in front of him, double checking their power was steady. "We should be good for the initial jump and the Chapel has backup generators as a redundancy in case hopping through a wormhole has some kind of unexpected backlash that fries our power systems. Mostly, though, the monster surge protectors should keep that from happening. And protect... all the other equipment. There's like three breakers set up, we should be fine."
He'd really rather they were doing this with something not alive, but well. Needs must. Or something like that, anyway. "I'll stay here, make sure all the thingamabobs are doing the things they should be doing. Your suits are all outfitted with comms, too, so you can keep track of one another and I can ultimately keep track of all of you."
"We rigged everything to our basic training leathers, so there's some protection built in as well. Ladies can change in the other room. Last chance to back out. If not, see you all back here in ten."
***
Standing on the platform they'd rigged was a little unnerving, being surrounded by electronics. Kane has assumed there would be some kind of big portal thing they walked through, only to be gently explained 'that wasn't how science works' at least twice. Instead, they stood in a loose group as Clint worked on the system. There was an increasing buzzing sound, the odd crackle, whiff of ozone, and the sense of the air getting heavier around them. But it seemed like the system wasn't doing anything until, like a flipped switch everything happened.
The world momentarily went white, with a feeling of being stretched instantly and impossibly long and then... nothing. They stood on a neatly clipped lawn, not far from a drive leading up to a large, slightly familiar and at the same time entirely different mansion. Kane let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
"I guess we're here... wherever here is."
The reply to his comment came in the form of a sneeze from Molly. "Aw man, not again," she muttered. Whenever she and Sif would travel to the other realms she always got a little sniffly. Her attention turned to the giant house in front of them.
"We could knock? Maybe someone's home?"
"'s that it?" Alani mumbled, surprised and confused as it dawned on her that she was now in a different dimension. The urge to get off the grass was only stopped by Molly's question. "I'd knock on a door, but if this place is like ours, then what're the odds that we triggered something in the security by blipping in?"
"Not to mention - who knows what we can set off by taking the wrong action? Or any action? Do you think there's any chance of some sort of butterfly effect?" Kitty remained where she was, though she was flickering in and out of phase. At least if she was incorporeal, she wasn't as likely to set off some sort of chain reaction... or was she?
"Well, we're here to save....a universe," Matt pointed out reasonably, "I assume this one."
"According to the computer..." Kane checked the computer as Kitty's programs found a satellite signal and cracked it to provide them GPS and other functions. "1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center. This is the mansion in this reality. Signal for the fracture is in the back property. I guess we could-" His words were cut off as an explosion hit the front lawn and massive purple and grey robots screamed in from the sky. They were huge, 40 foot versions of what looked a bit like the Sentinels that the X-Men had just crushed in their world. They all ducked, fortunately still in cover, as the robots swarmed the mansion. Suddenly, a scarlet bolt of energy smashed into one of the robots, and from the mansion, a squad of mutants in brightly coloured outfits came out to battle the threat. "Storm, we need them on the ground."
"Of course, Cyclops." The black woman soared into the sky and raised her hands. A lightning storm hit the swarm, shorting flight systems and forcing them to land.
"OK, I think those are... the X-Men?" Kane said dumbly.
"If we don't help them, the Sentinels will win," Pixie piped up from her cover, her tone urgent. "But how shall we do that without revealing ourselves more than we have to?" She couldn't go incorporeal like Kitty. Maybe if her presence caused too much drama among the X-Men of this universe, she could escape in a cloud of dust and confusion.
Meggan half wondered if the Kurt of this world was around, and if he knew her, before she snapped back to the major situation at hand. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a situation of running into the doubles of each other, and causing some sort of fracture in reality itself worse than a butterfly effect could ever be. Just how altered was the situation here? How many things were different?
Yes, something had to be done, and quickly. They couldn’t just stand here and watch these people get hurt. From where she was positioned, Meggan nodded in agreement with Pixie. “Even if we can only contribute in a small way, couldn’t we still help from the sidelines in all the confusion?”
"So who's long range?" Alani had dropped maybe an inch into the earth at the explosion, hands clenched firmly at her sides as she recollected herself. Her eyes were darting from member to member of this universe's X-Men as the giant robots attacked. At least they seemed to be grounded now, but even then. "Or has a better plan than my 'somehow go for the legs'?"
"Anything can be long range if I throw it hard enough," Molly said idly, the wheels in her mind turning. "But if we're deciding the plan is 'don't be seen' then we should probably go for stealth. Besides, these guys are creepy but I dunno if they're the cause of the distortion. Hawkeye, are you getting any wonky readings in that direction?"
"Nope," Clint answered. "The anomaly seems to have occurred naturally, at least given these readings. Same as ours. Those guys are original to the universe you're in -- you guys have slightly different levels of alpha and beta radiation than everything else I'm picking up there so far."
Matt had automatically moved towards Alani to protect her, knowing how she felt about violence and also, her inexperience with it in situations like this. "I can get in close," he stated, "but my powers aren't exactly Sentinel-destroying. We need fire power. Or....Molly, can you throw Kitty? And Kitty, you disrupt as many as you can while intangible. I can try to sneak Alani closer to get their ankles? Use the chaos to hide ourselves."
"No." Kane said, surprising those who had never deployed with him in charge of an X-Men team before. "We need to isolate the anomaly first. But you're right, we can't just leave them to get hurt at the same time. Matt, Molly, Kitty, you're coming with me. If we don't clear the anomaly, everyone dies in this dimension. Pixie, take Alani and Meggan. Keep an eye on this. If they get the upper hand on the X-Men, get involved, but try and stay out of sight if you can."
The basement of the chapel didn't look anything like it had just a day ago. The equipment may have been jury-rigged and the power sources haphazardly plugged in, but there was a range of working monitoring and computing stacks working around a circular array in the middle of which a matrix of energy crackled.
Beside the portal like station was a portable clothes rack, with what looked like X-Men practice leathers hanging in a neat row. Kane was already wearing one, the difference between that and the normal was a gauntlet-like smart interface on his left arm.
"Hey, thanks for coming.. This is going to sound weird, but you're here today to help save a universe, Not our universe, but a universe."
Meggan wouldn’t have missed this. She found this entire concept as fascinating as it could be terrifying, given everything that was happening. She had promptly found a suit that fit her, and was listening with rapt attention.
"And we do it with this new... thingie?" Pixie was examining the new tech around them, her all-black eyes wide with excitement.
"This like...Stargate?" Matt asked. "Or more Sliders? But I am not here for any Quantum Leap bullshit," he asked, already drifting towards the leathers to see if there was one with his name on it. These are not questions or TV shows he ever thought would apply to his life, but then, welcome to Xavier's. This was his life.
"Hope we don't break reality." Kitty muttered, reaching out for a uniform. Again, that is. Did it matter what name she grabbed? Wouldn't that confuse people in whatever universe they dropped into? Then again... She grinned, but started looking for her own name. No need to make more trouble.
Molly's attention lingered on the gauntlet while the others talked. She tilted her head. "Wait--what universe? Are we using Liv? Cool! Wait--How do we know it needs to be saved? Please tell me it involves space. I want to go to space so bad. "
Alani hadn't known what to expect, with the chapel after the incident with Topaz or being summoned, but this wasn't it. She nodded along rather blankly as everyone spoke their peace, before chiming in. "A universe needs saving either way, I reckon. What, uh, what's with the iGauntlet, though?"
"This is the Goober. I didn't name it." He said, holding it up and turning it over. "It's got a smart computer... thing. Why am I explaining tech? It allows us once we port into another dimension to access basic functionality - GPS, wireless, etc - and the big honking button pulls us out when we press it." Kane said. "Clint, you want to jump in here?"
"Ergo, you break it, you're stuck in the other universe," Clint mumbled around the pen he had in his mouth. "So don't break it." He fiddled with a few different knobs and dials on the array in front of him, double checking their power was steady. "We should be good for the initial jump and the Chapel has backup generators as a redundancy in case hopping through a wormhole has some kind of unexpected backlash that fries our power systems. Mostly, though, the monster surge protectors should keep that from happening. And protect... all the other equipment. There's like three breakers set up, we should be fine."
He'd really rather they were doing this with something not alive, but well. Needs must. Or something like that, anyway. "I'll stay here, make sure all the thingamabobs are doing the things they should be doing. Your suits are all outfitted with comms, too, so you can keep track of one another and I can ultimately keep track of all of you."
"We rigged everything to our basic training leathers, so there's some protection built in as well. Ladies can change in the other room. Last chance to back out. If not, see you all back here in ten."
***
Standing on the platform they'd rigged was a little unnerving, being surrounded by electronics. Kane has assumed there would be some kind of big portal thing they walked through, only to be gently explained 'that wasn't how science works' at least twice. Instead, they stood in a loose group as Clint worked on the system. There was an increasing buzzing sound, the odd crackle, whiff of ozone, and the sense of the air getting heavier around them. But it seemed like the system wasn't doing anything until, like a flipped switch everything happened.
The world momentarily went white, with a feeling of being stretched instantly and impossibly long and then... nothing. They stood on a neatly clipped lawn, not far from a drive leading up to a large, slightly familiar and at the same time entirely different mansion. Kane let out a breath he didn't realize he'd been holding.
"I guess we're here... wherever here is."
The reply to his comment came in the form of a sneeze from Molly. "Aw man, not again," she muttered. Whenever she and Sif would travel to the other realms she always got a little sniffly. Her attention turned to the giant house in front of them.
"We could knock? Maybe someone's home?"
"'s that it?" Alani mumbled, surprised and confused as it dawned on her that she was now in a different dimension. The urge to get off the grass was only stopped by Molly's question. "I'd knock on a door, but if this place is like ours, then what're the odds that we triggered something in the security by blipping in?"
"Not to mention - who knows what we can set off by taking the wrong action? Or any action? Do you think there's any chance of some sort of butterfly effect?" Kitty remained where she was, though she was flickering in and out of phase. At least if she was incorporeal, she wasn't as likely to set off some sort of chain reaction... or was she?
"Well, we're here to save....a universe," Matt pointed out reasonably, "I assume this one."
"According to the computer..." Kane checked the computer as Kitty's programs found a satellite signal and cracked it to provide them GPS and other functions. "1407 Graymalkin Lane, Salem Center. This is the mansion in this reality. Signal for the fracture is in the back property. I guess we could-" His words were cut off as an explosion hit the front lawn and massive purple and grey robots screamed in from the sky. They were huge, 40 foot versions of what looked a bit like the Sentinels that the X-Men had just crushed in their world. They all ducked, fortunately still in cover, as the robots swarmed the mansion. Suddenly, a scarlet bolt of energy smashed into one of the robots, and from the mansion, a squad of mutants in brightly coloured outfits came out to battle the threat. "Storm, we need them on the ground."
"Of course, Cyclops." The black woman soared into the sky and raised her hands. A lightning storm hit the swarm, shorting flight systems and forcing them to land.
"OK, I think those are... the X-Men?" Kane said dumbly.
"If we don't help them, the Sentinels will win," Pixie piped up from her cover, her tone urgent. "But how shall we do that without revealing ourselves more than we have to?" She couldn't go incorporeal like Kitty. Maybe if her presence caused too much drama among the X-Men of this universe, she could escape in a cloud of dust and confusion.
Meggan half wondered if the Kurt of this world was around, and if he knew her, before she snapped back to the major situation at hand. Hopefully there wouldn’t be a situation of running into the doubles of each other, and causing some sort of fracture in reality itself worse than a butterfly effect could ever be. Just how altered was the situation here? How many things were different?
Yes, something had to be done, and quickly. They couldn’t just stand here and watch these people get hurt. From where she was positioned, Meggan nodded in agreement with Pixie. “Even if we can only contribute in a small way, couldn’t we still help from the sidelines in all the confusion?”
"So who's long range?" Alani had dropped maybe an inch into the earth at the explosion, hands clenched firmly at her sides as she recollected herself. Her eyes were darting from member to member of this universe's X-Men as the giant robots attacked. At least they seemed to be grounded now, but even then. "Or has a better plan than my 'somehow go for the legs'?"
"Anything can be long range if I throw it hard enough," Molly said idly, the wheels in her mind turning. "But if we're deciding the plan is 'don't be seen' then we should probably go for stealth. Besides, these guys are creepy but I dunno if they're the cause of the distortion. Hawkeye, are you getting any wonky readings in that direction?"
"Nope," Clint answered. "The anomaly seems to have occurred naturally, at least given these readings. Same as ours. Those guys are original to the universe you're in -- you guys have slightly different levels of alpha and beta radiation than everything else I'm picking up there so far."
Matt had automatically moved towards Alani to protect her, knowing how she felt about violence and also, her inexperience with it in situations like this. "I can get in close," he stated, "but my powers aren't exactly Sentinel-destroying. We need fire power. Or....Molly, can you throw Kitty? And Kitty, you disrupt as many as you can while intangible. I can try to sneak Alani closer to get their ankles? Use the chaos to hide ourselves."
"No." Kane said, surprising those who had never deployed with him in charge of an X-Men team before. "We need to isolate the anomaly first. But you're right, we can't just leave them to get hurt at the same time. Matt, Molly, Kitty, you're coming with me. If we don't clear the anomaly, everyone dies in this dimension. Pixie, take Alani and Meggan. Keep an eye on this. If they get the upper hand on the X-Men, get involved, but try and stay out of sight if you can."