Issue 1 Downtime

Renko flexed his gauntlet encased hands as he contemplated what he was about to do. The X-Men uniform he was wearing being something that had been somewhat unexpected.

It's simple just have to keep it stable at the same approximate time they saw Professor Weaver's clone walk through. Nothing to it.

"Nothing to it at all," Renko said with a half-smile.

"You gonna be OK?" Will asked

He looked a little different than normal, spikier and whatnot, as he tried to 'disguise' himself.

"Yeah, just a bit of nerves," Renko said, "Not exactly used to lives depending on me."

"Don't think of it that way. All you're doing is rewinding time--that's the kinda stuff you do all the time, right? Just like that," Will said, trying to be helpful.

Bobby was there, wearing his normal wetsuit-uniform for X Men outings,but he also had a set of dark, normal clothes on over top. they were not sure what to expect, and they might need to blend in.

"Easy, man- just like torquing an engine bolt."

Renko chuckled softly flexing his hands again his gauntlets letting off a soft orange light. He had per Stephanie's suggestion made the design more compact giving him hands that were a bit barer, though he was wearing gloves at that exact moment.

"More or less," Renko said, "More or less."

Isabel stood off to one side, not saying much. She was just along for the ride, anyway.

Sara was standing next to Will. She had no clue how she should disguise herself so she had just opted for regular clothes over her uniform.

Nick was there too, also wearing his regular clothes over his uniform.

John too, with bits of his refurbished Wundagore armor over his uniform for a vaguely Mad Max look.

Gideon stood off to the side of the group and like the others was wearing normal clothes over his uniform.

"Man, I hope the Captain makes it. We might need her raw power.." Bobby muttered, flexing his hands nervously.

"I hope we don't need help." Isabel said.

Captain Britain was, unfortunately, not subtle in her appearance, given the nature of being Captain Britain. She came to land near the others, and looked awkwardly at all the civilian outfits.

"Well, maybe everyone wears that in the next universe over," Brass said, chuckling nervously.

"Let's hope there's no Evil Captain Britain on the other side," John said. He was worried enough about what an evil version of himself might be capable of.

"Oh come on now, John. This isn't Star Trek."

"Yeah. You guys might still get lucky..."

"No time like the present," Renko said to himself before turning towards the group.

"I'm going to open the portal, so get ready. I don't know what will try to come through into our universe," Renko said in a serious tone for quite possibly the first time ever, "Once I open it move quickly. I'll be the last one through, which will seal the portal behind us."

Hopefully this is going to work

Renko then turned back around and his gauntlets began to glow almost eye-searingly brightly. Renko closed his eyes hands out in front of him. The portal started to form slowly like somebody was tearing open one of the seams of reality. Small things around the portal changed slowly, bits of dirt disappeared, chunks of gravel moved back to their original places.

John took a deep breath.

Here we go again.

Up on the second floor fire escape, bear waited with balls in hand, ready to smack anything that came through.

"Why does this feel so familiar?" she mumbles to Will as she keeps her eyes on the portal.

The portal grew larger slowly as Renko tried to pin point the exact moment it would be most stable. It was close to full size when it contracted sharply almost resealing itself little strikes of orange lightning ground against things nearby. With a grunt, a curse, and gauntlets glowing nearly white the portal began to reopen again though a bit slower this time as he worked more carefully.

The group didn't have to wait too much longer though, and they soon had a full-sized glowing cross-dimensional tunnel. The portal seemed to waver briefly around the edges before becoming considerably sharper as Renko found the exact best moment.

"It's stable now," Renko smiled.

"Time to get this show on the road then," Nick said confidently.

"This is not going to end well." Isabel said nervously.

Bobby took a deep breath, and jumped through.

"Well, let's go get our head-mistress back then!" Sara tries to stay optimistic.

John jumped through after Bobby.

"Allons-y!"

"Time to rock," Nick grinned as he flew in.

[Let the eye rolling commence]

Gideon groaned softly at Nick's line but followed him into the portal.

Bar gave the obligatory groan, waiting for the others to make it through.

And Isabel brought up the rear.

Stephanie flashed Renko a subtle smile of encouragement as she waited for Melody to step through the portal in front of her.

"I'll see you on the other side," she said quietly.