"Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating..." (Part 4: The Best-Laid Plans)

[cityship]

At some time during the night, while some were still sleeping, and some were awake and wandering around the hotel common rooms--a massive explosion rocked the hotel the group was staying in.

Simultaneously, perhaps by lucky chance, or perhaps on purpose, a number of the group was mysteriously teleported away. Specifically, the ones missing were: Fate, Jr., Kang, Superboy, Zouichi, Howard, The Doctor, Lash, Nightwing, Zetta, Dr. Henderson, Rory, Ruffnut, and Sakura.

The problem was that the group likely wouldn't be able to tell from the vaporized common rooms and bedrooms that those particular individuals hadn't been in them when the explosion hit.

[ooc: All subthreads are open.]

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Reaction Thread

[cityship]

There were now massive holes in the walls and floors of the hotel they were staying at and it was likely that a few of them had some minor injuries that needed some basic first aid.

They also might notice some of their number were missing.

[ooc: Subthreading here. The hotel just got partly blown up! Some of their own might have been exploded, for all they know! Reactions!]

Re: Reaction Thread

[not-edd.livejournal.com]

Zedd had been (restlessly) relaxing in his room when the hotel exploded, throwing him out of bed and gladly burying him in rubble. A few moments later, Zedd burst through the rubble and got to his feet, growling.

"What... what in the nine hells HAPPENED?!" he roared. In no mood for pleasantries, Zedd used his staff to blast his door off and marched out. "What's going on here!?"

Re: Reaction Thread

[level12headache]

Querl's personal forcefield had automatically activated. He was completely unscathed, yet when he left his room his green skin had gone paler and his eyes were wide.

"Everyone sound off! Any injuries?" Or fatalities...

[starlightace]

This couldn't be happening.

The moment the explosion had rocked the hotel, Nanoha had all but leaped out of bed - disaster response was part of what she did on a regular basis in the TSAB, and even if she hated this world and its customs and prejudices as much as she was capable of hating anything, there were people here who needed saving. But something felt wrong; she couldn't feel Fate as she normally could when they were near each other - even with the telepathy blocker in place, there'd been that omnipresent magical presence in the back of her mind, familiar and comforting.

It was gone, and she didn't want to think about what that meant.

But no, it had to be something else. Maybe her head was still clouded from the shockwave, and she just couldn't sense it? Maybe Fate had already flown off to help the others? That'd be so like her... but for just this once, Nanoha decided to be selfish - and she flew through the hallways as fast as she could, trying to find the room where her beloved had gone to sleep that night.

Only to open a door onto a charred wasteland that stretched down the length of a hallway and even up and down several stories. A quick glance at the barely-legible floor number told her she hadn't been mistaken, but no-- this couldn't-- there wasn't anything here, so-- where was Fate...?

The world lost its color.

Her face felt funny - it was tingling - as her mind wrestled with the sheer impossibility of what had happened here. Fate had been staying here, but there was nothing here now, and... and no, this just couldn't be possible. Fate had to have been somewhere, somehow, in the middle of the night, because to think otherwise meant acknowledging that-- and they were going to be married and grow old together, and--

It wasn't until the pain in her kneecaps registered in her mind that Nanoha realized that her legs had given out beneath her. Her heart was hurting in a way she didn't know things could hurt, and her eyes were burning though she shed no tears. This could not be possible.

Something red was glowing in her chest - the jewel that she always wore as a pendant.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath could feel the anger and despair coming off of Nanoha. She wasn't looking for it - Nanoha was just sending them off like a beacon. It had only taken her a few minutes to strap into her armor and then assess the situation - there had been some sort of attack on their hotel and it was possible there were crew casualties. Her brow furrowed - why was Nonha-?

Ah, yes. Hadn't she been involved with Fate? Loss... Ildraniath knew loss. And surprisingly that elicited the barest feeling of sympathy from the Eldar. She settled an armored hand on Nanoha's shoulder.

"Takimachi. Are you hurt?"

The last thing they needed was a psyker turning even more of the place into rubble.

Re: Reaction Thread

[hi_there_aliens]

Daniel, in the end, had gone to the Doctor's room to discuss the briefing further. He didn't see how anyone could sleep in a time like this, but you never knew: some people could sleep right in the middle of a war waging over head, the whole 'sleeping like the dead' thing, so this was probably a cakewalk for some. Luckily for him, the Doctor was awake. Daniel's hours were weird, always had been, and if the Doctor hadn't been awake, he'd have found something to do. He was, after all, a man who made insomnia an occasional hobby. If not an occupation.

They'd gotten deep into a discussion about Davin when Daniel left to get his notes from his room. The archaeologist only got halfway there when the explosions hit. The blast that rocked the building was sudden and deafening, knocking him to the ground. The breath whooshed out of him. Daniel curled up, covering his head as several chunks of rock came flying past. Several pieces scraped past his head, scoring the side of his temple before he could fully cover. The building shuddered but thankfully, didn't collapse around him. Daniel looked up.

He'd been in enough fire fights to no longer lose his bearings, which was enough to get over the initial shock of an explosion going off nearby. One of the perks of being part of the SGC's first contact team. See the universe, meet great people, get your ass shot off or caught in an explosion, sign me up! Ears ringing, Daniel lurched to his feet, and without thinking, ran back the way he came. Dread settled in his stomach as he booked it. The explosion felt like it had come from where the Doctor had been. Daniel ran even faster, scrambling over debris.

The room was blown out when he got there. Daniel arrived just in time to see part of the wall fall away. Wind whipped in through the exposed permanents of walls, fires crackling, a few things sparking here and there. God. It looked like someone had thrown together as much C4 as they could and set it off, which is probably exactly what happened. Daniel skidded to a halt. Everything was telling him that if anyone was in here, they were dead. Nothing could survive the blast. Nothing.

Carefully, Daniel stepped into the room, boots crunching on the debris and ash. "Doctor! Are you there?!" he called out. The chances of him answering weren't that good, but he had to try. If the man hadn't been burned to a crisp, he could be seriously injured, if not already unconscious. These seconds could make the difference between life and death. He began to search around, picking through the rubble.

There was a subdued crunching sound underfoot when he stepped around a chair. Daniel looked down. He lifted a boot. It was that device the Doctor always had on him, the one he insisted was some sort of "screwdriver". It looked like it'd seen better days. It was heavily scorched, the metal twisted and warped, and the crystal exposed, as if it had gone through a fire and a blender. Daniel didn't have a clue what it did. All he knew was that it made whirring noises and could serve as a flashlight, and that it didn't actually seem to screw anything. The one thing he did know for sure was that the Doctor never left home without it. And even if it was fried, Daniel didn't think he'd want it left behind.

Daniel bent, and pocketing it, resumed his search.

Bilbo Bilbo Bilbo Baggins, Bravest Little Soldier of Them All

[cityship]

Upon teleporting, the Stacy crew members would lose consciousness, then regain it to find themselves bound by what looked like vines of energy coming from a socket in the floor. All powers would be nullified. This was something like the technology the Galileans used on the clones to restrain them.

They were in a place that looked like it was actually underground. Clearly the clone underground took that a little literally. They were in a badly lit room, and standing guard over them was a tall woman, branded with a clone mark. She was Asian and well-built, and carried herself not with the bearing of a ragtag revolutionary, but that of a trained soldier.

In fact, in regards to that soldier thing, she had a very, very nasty-looking gun pointed at the group, and looked like she knew how to use it.

[Posting order: Bilbo, Sam Henderson, Rory, Ruffnut, Sakura, Signum, Bilbo, etc.]

[cityship]

Bilbo was impassive, standing at the "front" of the room the crew members found themselves in. She waited, patient and unmoving, for all of them to rouse before she bothered to speak. Even after that, she waited a little longer. Letting them collect themselves, find their bearings, center themselves before she began speaking.

Of course, her gun didn't help things all that much. Not if they were as rightly fearful of the potential implications, paired with Bilbo's own unmoving state. The gun never wavered, held as a kind of focal point for the people they'd brought in.

Bilbo wondered if this gamble would pay off, let alone when so strangely within seconds of the actual disaster that struck the hotel. Bilbo didn't believe in coincidence. As much as they might know of the Council, this hadn't been expected. Not so soon. Negotiations must have been going worse than they believed.

"Good morning," she said, pushing her own feelings on the matter to the back of her mind. Right now she was the unmovable force, unforgiving and unswayed by anything these people might say. Moses had the right to judge them. Her job was to hold them, and hold them she would. "We apologize for the headaches. The devices we use for teleportation aren't known for smooth transitions."

Time for introductions. "I am Bilbo Baggins of the Clone Liberation Front. While I regret the need for restraints, I ask that you bear with them until I'm given leave to let you free. We want to talk," she said simply, "We hope you'll be open to hearing what we have to say. If not, then it's regrettable, and we'll see you returned unharmed to your fellow crew members." She held off on mentioning what they knew of the explosion those fellow crew members had currently just lived through. No fatalities that they knew of.

[needs-release.livejournal.com]

Sam shook his head after he woke up. For reasons he couldn't quite place, he felt a bit drained. He tugged at the restraints a bit, but he couldn't break them. Not that he was terribly worried about the woman holding the gun. He could take more than a few bullets in the time it would take to get across the room and remove that gun from the equation.

But since that failed, he looked up at her, listening to her introduction. "I'd share the introduction, but I'm sure you already know who we are." While he spoke, he tried to reach out to Fletcher, but it was as though there was no connection whatsoever. Well, wasn't this just a pretty little picture?

Harriet

[cityship]

As soon as Howard and Z arrived, they'd find themselves wrapped in vines of energy that sapped the strength from them, and dragged them to their knees.

"Harriet, I know these two are the ones you talked into things, but before you say a word, we have to restrain them all," said Edith, now out of her disguise, bright eyes giving the girl a piercing gaze. "Until Moses clears them. Guy's orders."

The unconscious forms of the clones, purposefully knocked out by the teleportation process when they were 'ported from the hotel, were dragged into the room by clones and secured the same way, with the energy vines attached to the socket in the floor. They would find themselves waking almost immediately after.

[Posting order: Harriet, Howard, Zouichi, Fate, Jr., Kang, Superboy, Harriet, etc.]

Re: Harriet

[cityship]

"Understood." She muttered.

Unhappily so, but understood. They wanted them to work with them, not hate them. It seemed like tying them up was counterproductive. But she understood the caution, even if she didn't entirely like it.

"Hello, my name is Harriet, I'm sorry about this. We mean you no harm, I can assure you. We only want to talk. The precautions are only because...well, many of you have powers, and we are few. As soon as our leader allows for it, you will be untied." She swept her gaze quietly over the group, smiling warmly. "You are with friends, and you are safe. Please do not be alarmed." She glanced nervously at Howard and Zouichi, feeling dishonest. They had been willing to come with her and she had helped lead them into this.

"I'm sorry to both of you, I hope you are not harmed."

Re: Harriet

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"What the hell are you doing, girl? This is a real lousy way to tell us you don't mean any harm."

Well, if you wanted to really ruin Howard's day, Harriet, you just accomplished it. See, now he's tied up on the floor, trying very hard not to cry and shake from the whole 'what the hell is happening?' vibe of the last half minute, and it's not even an especially comfy floor.

Not to mention what the hell, is Zouichi a secret drug mule? Kidnapping synthetic humans and company seems to be coming into vogue. "Zou? Are you okay?"

Oh, and there appear to be others there, as well, getting dragged in. Howard can make out the forms of Kang and Superboy and thinks he can see Jr. and Fate a little further down the line. Unlike Howard and Zouichi, they seem to have been knocked unconscious. "What did you do to them? Are they alright?"

He'd tell himself he wished he'd stayed at the hotel, except since he just saw that go up like an illegal firework, he figures maybe being immobilized and bewildered on the floor is a slightly better alternative.

Guy Fawkes

[cityship]

Upon teleporting, the Stacy crew members would lose consciousness (if they were capable), then regain it to find themselves bound by what looked like vines of energy coming from a socket in the floor. In Zetta's case, he likely would've been trapped immediately right after teleportation. All powers would be nullified. This was something like the technology the Galileans used on the clones to restrain them.

They were in a place that looked like it was actually underground. Clearly the clone underground took that a little literally. They were in a badly lit room, and standing guard over them was a young man, branded with a clone mark. He was blonde and angry-looking, and somewhat twitchy, but considering he was holding a nasty-looking energy weapon of some sort in his hands, that twitchiness was likely not a good thing.

[Posting Order: Guy Fawkes, Nightwing, The Doctor, Lash, Zetta, Guy, Nightwing, etc.]

[cityship]

"You wanted to get in contact with the CLF, you got your chance. I'm gonna be honest; I don't trust any of you yet to not backstab us. We've had others pretend to be on our side and screw us over before."

Guy liked getting straight to the point.

"Name's Guy Fawkes. You'll be untied when Moses says it's okay, but until then, let's just talk. What are your plans regarding us?"

[goddamnwingman]

In all honesty, Dick had woken up in worse situations. At least here, nobody was cackling over him and there wasn't any gloating going on.

Of course, judging by the energy vines, it wouldn't be as easy to break out of as most of those had been, either.

Dick tested the bonds first, then allowed himself to relax and look over the twitchy guy. "That's an interesting name," he said evenly. "Though perhaps not the best history behind it in my own world.

"I'm Dick Grayson. Lt. Commander of the Transmigration 9." No reason to keep that much information back, after all. He wanted to be as honest as possible. "At the moment, my main concern has been getting my people out of this situation without anybody else getting hurt. Other than that, I wanted to know more about what was happening here on the planet, see if there wasn't a way to bring the conflict to an end peacefully." A moment, then he sighed. "Of course, even if we tried that, we wouldn't be able to stay long enough to see it through. The ship's not going to wait that long."

Group 1 - To the Clonebanks - With Councilman Kanner Drayan [Ishfe]

[cityship]

The next day, the Councilors have made themselves available to help provide information and their services to the crew who survived the attack. Kanner leads one group to the clonebanks, to familiarize them with what there is to be seen there, and field all related questions.

[Posting order: Kanner, Brainiac 5, Daniel, Ildraniath, Lex, Kanner, etc. If your character wouldn't say anything for their post, either let the next person know to go instead, or post with something like "Brainiac 5 stood there and simply listened."]

[cityship]

Kanner greeted them all near the entrance.

"Good morning," he said politely, inclining his head to those who stood with him. "From what I understand, groups of your crew are going with Councilor Bal Valad or one of our guardsmen in search of information relating to those who went missing at the time of last night's attack. You have my condolences and wishes for good news in their speedy recovery."

He seemed tired, but through that, sincere. That somewhat befuddled air he had around him, as if he wasn't entirely grounded in the here and now, felt almost stronger than the day prior. For lack of better words, it looked as if he'd worked the prior night through. Little wonder why.

"I have reports," he started, then sighed. "Reports from the initial forensic evidence gathered. Most of it's speculative, if the only deaths we were able to confirm were for a young couple unrelated to your crew." He sounded calm, a hint of something in the set of his shoulders, but hard to read. "We should have more by midday, and what leads we've followed will be discussed with your fellow crewmembers. I suggest keeping lines of communication open with them on whatever technology you have available. Should you wish to be supplied with communication devices, I'm happy to oblige."

That being out of the way, he continued on. "For now, I've been asked by my fellow Councilors to escort you to the Clonebank as well as accommodate questions and requests on your behalf as much as we possibly can. If you'd follow me..."

There was a nice vehicle waiting outside.

[level12headache]

Querl was silent as he followed the Councilor. He paid attention to everything Kanner had said but at the same time he was busy with a dozen mental calculations. He hadn't the patience to exchange pleasantries, that would be a job for the others.

Group 2 - Your Local Law Enforcement - With Counciman Bal Valad [Pixle]

[cityship]

The next day, the Councilors have made themselves available to help provide information and their services to the crew who survived the attack. Bal has taken a group to speak with the local law enforcement to look into the source of the night's attack, as well as investigate leads into possible kidnappings of the missing crew.

[Posting order: Bal, Hit Girl, Ter'thelas, Will, Zedd, Jalith, Bal, etc. If your character wouldn't say anything for their post, either let the next person know to go instead, or post with something like "Chase stood there and simply listened."]

[cityship]

The police force was abuzz, both from the Coucilor's impromptu visit with her guests and the entire force working full time to track down both the Clone Liberation Front and teams sent out to analyze the debris at the hotel. Each clue was important.

Baal's face could be best first being passive then frowning as she was given papers and notes about the operation, nodding once or twice. Holoscreens displaying various note and pictures of the hotel, the rooms, and their missing members.

"Damn these bastards," they heard someone utter on the far left to his partner. "Along with all those delegates considered dead and MIA, we just found the remains of a couple on their honeymoon. burned beyond recognition. Get Charlie to Team Bravo, we're going to need a DNA trace to identify them."

Baal walked back towards the group, looking disturbed by this news. "I've just talked with the Deputy Commissioner. He is allowing all of you to look around and see if you can help with the investigation."

[hit-girl-mindy.livejournal.com]

"Help how?" Hit girl asked, hands still around the viking helmet, face visibly scratched and her arms bruised . "We know as much as you guys do, all that happened is that we got hit by the blast, we came to, and find our crew members gone. We were thinking the worst, but then we figured these guys were kidnapped."

What she wanted to do, right now, was be told exactly where the CLF were holding her friends. She would need help, but she figured that wasn't something she'd have trouble with, not when some of these people were connected to each other. Alls he needed to know was that, and then she would blast her way into there, take Lash and Overlord Zetta and Ruffnut, and then go to town on these bastards.

But that was the irritation talking, and he knew it. So she had to play it cool for now, find out what these stooges knew, despite the fact that now she wouldn't care if this planet burned. Branding people, kidnapping others: who the hell did they think they were, shoving their messes into their laps like they had nothing fucking better to do?

And another thing: allowing them? What, did they think they had to get their permission? Of COURSE they would be looking around!

Group 3 - Hitting the Streets - With Guardsman Jeff [TC]

[cityship]

The next day, the Councilors have made themselves available to help provide information and their services to the crew who survived the attack. Jeff works as one of the realie guardsmen for the Council, and has volunteered to take a few of their guests down to street level to suss out clues on their own.

[Posting order: Jeff, Dustin, Hana, McNinja, Nanoha, Tana, Jeff, etc. If your character wouldn't say anything for their post, either let the next person know to go instead, or post with something like "Dustin stood there and simply listened."]

[cityship]

For Jeff, this was his chance. An assignment to prove himself worthy of higher rank. All he needed to do was escort more of the off-worlders and help them find (and hopefully destroy) the terrorists.

At least the punk kid was among the list of the dead. He could take some comfort in that.

Hopefully his companions would be more reasonable.

He stood at attention, waiting for the group he had been told to escort.

[closed]

[cityship]

Kanner waited while the group the CLF had pulled out of the Hotel discussed options with the people who'd been left there. He wondered how many were aware of the time difference, considering how long they'd been out. Safe, but put under stress from the machines that had saved them.

Odd side effect, really.

He stayed largely out of the way, stepping forward at last when he found the person he was looking for in a moment with his communicator not occupying his attention. With a bow of his head, Kanner smiled -- half-heartedly, morbidly amused -- at Kang. "Councilor," he said, no hint of amusement in his tone. "If I may have a moment of your time."

[governorkang]

Kang may have agreed to go ahead with assisting the CLF, but that didn't mean that he particularly liked any of them, or even trusted them. Kanner, especially. He'd been keeping a careful eye on the man, watching for any sign that he was anything but truthful; humans, in his experience, that wanted him and/or his kind to ally with them, had largely ended up as backstabbers.

He was still pissed about the branding, as well.

"Let me make something clear, first. If you're going to apologize further and try to make up for earlier, I don't want to hear it. Don't expect any apologies from me, either." He crossed his arms over his chest, tail lashing once behind him.