The Adventure

"What was that? Cosplaying teen?" Fei-fei takes a few steps forward, oblivious to the weapons aimed at her. "Are you blind? I'm clearly a young adult."

She continues to advance, heedless of those around her and Bulwark.

Tomo wakes up, almost knocking herself out again against the bottom of the bed as she jolts up. Rubbing the sore spot on her head, Tomo notices the nullifier not working any more.

"Mhm? Hmm. Hey, Matilda, you still there?"

Dream glances down at the glob of spit at her feet...then returns the favor, but instead of spitting on the floor, she spits directly in Rocketeer's face.

"There's the sassy, tough bitch I expected! Still, I'm a bit surprised you didn't embrace that implanted memory. In your situation, you need all the encouragement and motivation (real or imagined) that you can get!"

"But obviously we'll need to do more to return you to a nice, pliable state. Like I said, this is just a warm-up. When Garroway arrives, he'll take over...and you know how adept he is with brainwashing. I sometimes let him brainwash me just for fun! It's fan-fucking-tastic to have a past that's multiple choice!"

Raising her voice: "Pipe down, Tomo! I'll ravage your mind shortly!"

Again, Rocketeer feels Dream's telepathy hit her...but instead of stabbing pain, this time it feels more like pinpricks. Then even the pinpricks fade, until she feels...a caress? An image appears: sitting on a beach, a glorious sunset over the calm ocean, a light breeze, seagulls wheeling overhead...holding hands with...who? American Dream?! But not Dream as she appears now: a calm, smiling, loving Dream.

Rocketeer hears her voice, but she's not sure if it's the real Dream, or the one inside her mind: "I'm crazy, I admit it...and they expect me to be crazy. You ever get pigeon-holded? Sure you have. The super-intelligent, indomitable Machina, created to be nothing but a tool. But you escaped. You're remaking yourself."

"Will you...help me do the same? This could be us. Lovers watching a sunset in some far-off country, one where OmniCorp would never think to look. Bulwark has left this facility; I'm the only other super here. Between the three of us, we can break out easily. Yes, three of us...Tomo can come to. Maybe we'll even develop some sort of ménage à trois relationship?"

"What do you say, Matilda? And I apologize for spitting in your face. But they're watching me, ya know? I gotta act the part."

'These women are going to get me killed' Chillmera thinks to himself. He waits to see what the cyborgs next move will be, keeping what little element of surprise he has.

Tomo peeks the best she can through the bars.

"Ravage my...what's going on over there?"

Echo facepalmed when Fei-fei simply walked outside and revealed herself to the hulking Bulwark and his allies...but at least she was eager to fight, and her bravado seemed to confuse the cyborg for a moment.

"Well, they know someone's here now, so let's get this dismemberment started!"

She hops outside, then walks over to Fei-fei. Not wasting time, she stares intently at Bulwark; you all can't see any sort of effect hitting the cyborg, but beads of sweat appear on Echo's forehead, meaning she's doing something.

"Still as sadistic as ever, huh, Bulwark? Let's see if you've upgraded your systems, or if you're still stuck in the 20th century...."

"What the...?! Which one are you?! L4 or L5? Damn, this is my lucky day! You should've run, clone!"

But Echo's techopathy rips through his system, dropping him to a knee, clouding his vision, and causing pain to spike at random points across his armored form.

"Shit...you and your tricks...[cough]...just wait...once I reboot..."

The beach sunset scene changes. It's now cold, windy, and dark; only a sliver of moon and a few stars illuminate the blackness. The sand beneath Rocketeer feels rough, and the lapping waves are slimy. The seagulls overhead let out ghastly shrieks.

Dream's features contort, until she's once again the spiteful, manipulative jackass who first stepped into your cell.

"You really believed that fantasy? That I'd break you outta here? Talk about gullible!"

But then she scrunches up her face. Blinks rapidly. Rubs her chin.

"You're...sincere? Hmmm. Not exactly. Lots of stuff going on in your noggin. Your don't wanna be erased by OmniCorp again, of course, and you'll say anything to convince me to spring you."

"But I'll still play along. OmniCorp has been good to me, though; you gotta give me concrete reasons to help you. What can the legendary Matilda Lark give a high-level telepath who already makes a good salary, has plenty of like-minded peers, and has tons of weak minds to play with?"

Hearing no response from the next cell, Tomo takes the bedsheet in hand.

"Um, you good? Hang on, I'm coming."

Tomo rigs up a noose to hang herself and respawn outside of the cell. Standing on the toilet with noose in hand, Tomo braces herself...before slipping on the bowl and braining herself to death on the toilet tank.

Chillmera goes outside to join the others. With the big guy down for now, he rushes toward the first goon he can. Putting an extra layer of ice on his fist, he sends a hook punch, hoping it's enough to take this guy down, and convince the others to stand down.

But she does know it's a mind scrambler. Using her technopathy to stall the explosion, she kicks the grenade back at them, then triggers it. A strange shimmering wave engulfs one of the troops, and he immediately drops with a groan.

"And ya'll are supposed to be elite? OmniCorp's standards have definitely fallen...."

Bulwark has finagled his systems enough to rejoin the battle. Echo's invasive ability still lingers, like bruises or bad memories, but the monstrous machine-man is no quitter.

Gnashing his teeth, he targets Echo...then decides against it. Better to wear down the other two, and then focus on Echo once her adrenaline surge ends.

He morphs his arm into a huge battle-axe, its edges glowing blue-white, the entire thing humming like some malfunctioning electrical transformer. It looks sharp enough to slice through impregnium!

He rushes at Chillmera, eager to cut him in half! Or at least lop off a limb. He'd settle for that, if he had to....