Because Kate would love using a few trick arrows on her circuitry, or even her wind Ranger abilities. It's not selfish when an INSANE AI is holding hostage, right? She sighed, and glanced around where she was dropped from the mazes this time. Felt like she had to run through those passages for a very long time. Much too long. She hoped her friends were still awake.

Looked like it was the City at least. She hoped everybody was ok, and started to take a look.

"Anybody around?" she called as she walked past the hodge podge placed buildings, and noticing the Kohaku river in the distance.

[OOC: Bendytimed to shortly after Podpop, before Survivalist ends and before Mother Knows Best begins]

Jonas finished typing on his omnicom and published the invitation to the channel, then switched to a new window and resumed fiddling with the program he had been working on.

It was an open-ended invitation, but should something come up that needed his undivided attention (like an attack, Brainiac 5 making contact again, or Cassie wanting to do something with him) he could always edit the post with the new information.

Some of the people coming in might be surprised to discover that the head of Programming looked as though he had been programmed himself in the past. Jonas had considered giving them a heads up on that subject in the invitation, but had ultimately decided against it. If they could not cope the surprise of a synthetic person, they would likely have problems coping during a fight; and he would like to know that ahead of time so he could place them most effectively.

So he sat at his workstation and waited for his first arrival.

Who: Ax, Jonas, Paco, Jeka, OPEN
Where: On the move
Summary: Crew members released from GLaDOS’ clutches request information.
Warnings: None

Several holes opened up just inside the Hub and ejected a handful of crew members out onto the corridor floor. It took several moments for them to extricate themselves from the tangle.

“Hair. HAIR!”

“Sorry, didn’t mean to pin it down. Jonas, Ax’s back legs are tangled in your cape, can you do something about that?”

“[Tell him to stop kicking and I will try.]”

< This is not kicking. >

“[Then please squirm less. Do you see anyone?]”

“I don’t see anyone, but we’d better get this worked out before we need to run.”

“Amen, sister. Ow!”

Once on their feet again, they all pulled out their omnicoms to find out what they’d missed and to let the rest of the crew know that they were back.

“I don’t see anything about Brainy or Brenda,” Paco said, disappointed. Jeka huffed unhappily, running her thumb over her Legion ring.

“I’m going to report in to Security,” she said. “Aximili, do you want to come with me?”

< I should talk to Allenby first, I think. Tell them that I’ll be by soon. > Ax replied.

“Aaand Jonas is already tearing off to go find his girlfriend, so looks like it’s just me and myself going for food again,” Paco said as the other teenager in question vanished around a corner. “Catch you guys on the flipside, assuming we’re not about to get ambushed by tentacled space-snails or something.”

[[OOC: Say who you want to talk to in the subject line!]]

The Serenity hadn't changed much. His old cabin was even much the same on board. Fine by him, it was as comfortable as anywhere else, and twice as familiar. There was so much to explore on the larger ship however. The city was immense, though he heeded the warnings to keep alert in the places he wandered. Still places like the Temples and Religion Row were peaceful, and reassuring that bastions of faith and belief had been preserved. He wasn't sure about what happened in the Vatican. Looked like it had been through some rough times and signs of repair were clear. Some time, he wanted to see about what to grow in the gardens. Nothing better than good fresh food from the soil for the body and soul.

But right now, he wanted to take a peek in the Media Library. There was a great deal from the Earth That Was in terms of books, videos, music. Also stories from other worlds. Right now he found a herbology book to glance at. He didn't know what planet had such plants, but it was informative.

If there was one thing that made Miyako stand out amongst the second generation Chosen Children, it would be the fact that she was one of the smartest of the bunch. Keyword here: one of. There was also Ken, but she'd let that slide. Right now, she was using her smarts to do what she does best:

Tinker.

A brief search across the City had lead Miyako to discover a leftover desktop computer. However, the lack of power supply (or rather, the lack of plugs to slap the machine in) has lead Miyako to get creative and had her in Engineering to do something.

"Just what did you have in mind, Miyako-san?" Hawkmon asked, his wings crossed over his chest.

"Simple - if I can get this computer working, maybe I can start trying to build a Digi Port!" Miyako said, digging through some tools.

"Miyako-san, that's dangerous! You don't know if the Digital World survived and even if it did, this ship's too dangerous to attempt it!" Hawkmon said.

"Even so, we have to try!" Miyako replied, pulling out a strange device. "...what the heck is this?"

"...see? This is why doing this is next to impossible!" Hawkmon said. "We don't know what this stuff can do!"

"...jeez, you're such a party pooper! I'm going to do this anywayyyEEEEEEE!" Miyako yelped, the odd device shocking her. Dropping it, it took her awhile to recover, not caring that her hair just frazzled and parts of the plantsuit were damaged by the shock. "...okay, we need real tools here!"

The Southern Air Temple was pretty beautiful, architecturally speaking. With twisting spires and trees threaded into the framework of the temple itself, it looked half as if it'd grown out of the ground or been carved into it rather than that it had been built there.

The best part about it, though, was the sense of peace the place had. It was very easily the kind of thing that could draw people in and help them find calm, even if they weren't the religious type.

The day had finally arrived for her big event, and Starfire couldn't be happier---or more nervous, actually. She was certainly not an expert on the inner workings of a prom, but it couldn't be too terribly complicated, right? As long as the people could eat, dance, and talk, it should be a reasonable success.

With that in mind, her decorations sprung from her mind into the large dome all around her, transforming a grey Sensorium into a beautiful underwater world, one with clear waters and free from the possibility of a shark attack.
( Diving into a underwater wonderland... )

[[OOC: Right after this]]

Jonas fired off a message to the crew, new and old, and another specifically to the newly-released crew member apparently known as 'Punchy'. This was going to be awkward. They certainly could not turn down anyone with an interest in computers and hacking, but if Punchy was going to insist on speaking and typing in the manner he had demonstrated, Jonas was going to...

...Well, he was going to continue to feel a little embarrassed that he was capable of understanding what Punchy meant without needing a translation filter. He was pretty sure he could blame the brain-patterns he picked up from Chase Stein for that.

After responding to the post on the omnicomm Cassie spent several minutes just shaking, waiting for another response that didn't come. Then she started for her room, at first walking but then running. She was crying before she even got there and the moment she stepped in the room she slammed the door close and leaned back against it, slowly sliding down until she was huddled with her legs pressed against her body.

It was too familiar. A desperate call over the omnicomms- something she herself had done when she was trapped on the Helmacron ship. No one even knew she was there and being tortured. Just like no one had known that this person and someone else was...

It was too much. She'd tried so hard not to think about what had happened. But now she knew it was happening to someone else she couldn't- she just couldn't...

The rest of the crew assembled on the Observation Deck to meet the latest editions to their numbers. After the revelation that their worlds are gone, many of them are even more eager to see people they knew from home.

Several people are set up near the doors to provide the new people with omnicoms and comm rings. New crew-mates might see a tall man in green armor and snake girl among their number. There are also several authoritative-looking figures ready to introduce themselves.

There's a lot to tell the new people. It's going to be a lot to take in.

[ooc: Only new characters and Command Staff can start new threads for introductions, to limit the number of threads. Everyone else, just tag in and have your guys greet the newbies.]

Cassie was taking Pinky, her Kyth Grub-Mole, for a walk in the City. She watched the tiny, pink creature skittering around in front of her, periodically stopping to look back at her. Apparently she had been missed.

The last time Cassie had gone outside Medbay ended in a disaster, with her being exposed to the Melting Clock. But this time would go better. This time she wasn't sneaking out.

She'd recovered from her last surgery, which was by far the most complicated. The skin on her head and neck had been replaced. She'd had to keep immobilized for far longer than she'd wanted to make sure the blood vessels got a good flow established. And now she didn't have to crane her neck permanently to the side. She could turn her head any which way she pleased. It was liberating.

Plus when they'd replaced the skin of her head they'd taken skin that would develop longer hair follicles. No more baldness, now she had a few weeks worth of fuzz on the left side of her head. So what if it looked weird.

All in all this was not a bad day.

"Hey Pinky, how about a hug?" She bent down and scooped up the grub-mole in her arms. "There we go. Good boy."

After hearing the clock, Cassie had headed straight back to the Med bay. It had taken a while for the others to start deaging, hadn't it? And they were working on a cure anyway so- this was O.K. they all had time. They'd figure this out.

Except Cassie had less time than she thought. Maybe it was that she had been GLaDOSed recently. Maybe it was the pym particles in her system. Maybe it was all the stress her body had taken lately. Maybe a being of total control over here just felt like it. Whatever the reason, about halfway to Med bay, the effects of the Melting Clock took effect.

Cassie Lang was now 11 years old and totally confused about why she wasn't in the Baxter Building. Not to mention all the extra memories she had which... made no sense. She was 11, not 16! She hadn't been blown up. Her dad wasn't- and had never- died. The only boy she was crazy about was named Kristoff Vernard. And as much as she wanted them, she didn't have super powers.

This was totally crazy! This had to be some kind of super villain trick. That had to be it! She was fighting off the mind control. She could do this! Maybe the others were around, in their own illusions.

"Uh, dad? Kristoff? Invisible Woman? Human Torch?" She called, looking around. "Thing? Anybody?" She waited for a few moments. "I know this isn't real. You're making a huge mistake if you think you can manipulate me."

After several weeks, thinking with portals got old. Really old. But at least GLaDOS had the courtesy to drop Cassie off at med bay when it (she?) was done with her.

"You stupid freaking- do you know how hard it is to hold that gun with one hand?" Not to mention the rest of the scars. Cassie rolled her eyes and held up her left hand so she could get a good look at it now that she wasn't being forced to run around like a rat.

The color was good and everything was still in place. Looked like the skin graft had taken but better safe than sorry. She could test out moving her fingers after she got the O.K. from the doctor.

"Not bad."

It had been so long since Cassie had so much as seen an actual bed that it was hard not to close her eyes and fall asleep the moment she lay down in the Medbay. But there was still a lot to do first. For the long-term she was going to need several surgeries to fix the scars down her left side but for now the priority was to get her stabilized. So she was hooked up to an IV drip- oh, she remembered how those felt. And poked and prodded a little bit more before being left on her own.

She could rest now, but there was a lot to catch up on.

And probably a lot to explain.

The team was assembled and ready, now all that was left was to track down the Helmacron ship, which was harder than you might expect. Fortunately Brainiac 5, in spite of all his other failings, had provided them with an accurate location. Securely attached to the base of one of the untouched ships.

Now's your moment, boys and girls.

Querl had sent a message to all of the persons assigned to the exploratory team to meet him in Special Weapons. When they arrived they would find him giving a few last minute tweaks to a palm sized device. He waited until they were all assembled.

"I have constructed a device that will decrease you to approximately 1/100th of your present size. Once you have located the Helmacron ship, you must stand within 5 feet of this device. To activate it you must press here." Querl pointed out the largest button on the device. "I've even made it red so you will not be confused." Oh yes, he was being exceedingly patronizing. "The blue button activates an impenetrable force-field 5 feet in diameter in all directions. It has a limited charge but may be used multiple times. It can be activated for a total of 67 minutes so conserve its energy.

"Did I slow my speech sufficiently for your comprehension or are there any questions?"

[[Bendytimed to immediately after this.]]

Relieved that he had managed to finally managed to escape Scott Lang and leave him to mourn in peace, Jonas staggered through the corridors, desperately seeking out a private space where he could sit and not think about what he had just done.

He had needed to do it. It would have been wrong to leave Mr. Lang oblivious to his Cassie's sacrifice. That had not made it any easier to explain to the man that his daughter had died, that even if they did manage to defeat the Ohm and restore their worlds, a day could come where she would suddenly and inexplicably by their universe's knowledge cease to be.

He sat down in a hopefully-deserted area of the hallways, leaning against the wall and burying his face in his hands. After a moment, he pulled out his omnicom and sent a message to Kate, telling her that Scott Lang was awake, had been brought up to speed, and was currently in the Media Library if she wished to avoid him.

{OOC: Set right after this conversation.}

Jonas arrived in the Media Library first, from the looks of things. He had learned that Stacy did not particularly appreciate him doing too much scanning; and if Scott Lang had decided, for some reason, to shrink down and hide when he had been the one who wanted to talk...

Jonas shook his head to dismiss that particular train of thought. It was both stupid and unproductive. He moved to the nearest stall, again ignoring the broken one, and leaned against the wall next to it to wait.

Somewhere on the ship, if people cared to look, they would hear, around the corner, the sound of a panel opening, and someone being unceremoniously dumped out in the middle of the hall, followed by said person releasing a long string of curse words beneath their breath.

"...of all the!" The person got to his feet, albeit shakily, his hand going to his head as his mutterings got lower and lower.

A pause.

"Wait one minute... Where's my helmet?"

As if to answer the person, a helmet with two antennas flew out, right into his head, knocking him to the ground with a loud "Oof!"

Wanda had recently been released by GLaDOS. It had taken a while to get her bearings again, especially after witnessing Punishment (GLaDOS had been considerate enough to display it on a monitor while she was running mazes). That would need to be dealt with but right now she was more concerned with the welfare of another crew member. One she had hoped would come to his senses on his own without outside interference. Her hopes had been misplaced. Not altogether unexpected, considering his predecessor's great skill in sulking.

Wanda entered the precinct, made her way to the brig, and folded her arms. She, and others, had tried being polite. It was time to take off the gloves.

"Get out."