Feb 9 - The End of the World as we Know It.

[Robert West]

"It'll be operating out of space-time, from between universes. And why would I lie? I'm a scientist. I deal in fact, not fiction."

[Will Stanton]

"You're a mass-murderer, or trying to be, which is why I assumed you wouldn't see a problem offing a few more people," Will shrugged.

"You haven't exactly proved yourself to be trustworthy. And, since you'll be gone with no way for us to find you to check up on you if you are lying, you have no real incentive to be telling the truth."

[Robert West]

"Of course I have no problem killing more people. Your problem seems to be this idea that I want to. There's the thing: I just don't care. Does someone think about the ants they step on while they're building their house? You can take my offer or you can't. I want to get home, plain and simple. You can all live, or you can stop existing with your world, I really don't care. As for why I don't lie... why would I? What reason do I have to be afraid to tell you the truth?"

[Nick Varkan]

"Ya know..." Nick added, "You're one smug son of a bitch..."

"...but man... this burger is awesome."

[Gideon Rede]

"You also don't have any reason to tell us the truth, eh?" Gideon said.

[Janice Gilbertson]

Noting where Tomorrow had mentioned Malaika was held, Janice tried to reach out to probabilities in that direction, feeling out each one and looking for an opportunity. It was likely she couldn't cut power to the device, as Tomorrow had redundancies against redundancies and each one failing would just cause the backup to engage.

However, there was one part of the device that didn't have redundancy, which couldn't.

That's why she settled on trying to cause Malaika's restraints to fail somehow...

[Veronica Freud]

"So, wait... if most of the universes you went to are pretty much identical, how close is this one to yours?"

Veronica wiped the corners of her mouth with a napkin.

"What if there's another Doctor Tomorrow out there in the same situation? What if he's landed in your world and is doing the same thing? Can you prove your home even exists anymore?"

[Robert West]

"Oh, if he had access to my lab, this wouldn't be an issue. And of course I've checked to make sure my world is still there. It would defeat the purpose of planning for every eventuality if I didn't check for the end of my world." As he spoke, he tossed the ketchup to Nick.

[Will Stanton]

"And there's no chance of your lab existing in another universe? No chance another Doctor Tommorrow would let you use his equipment?"

[Robert West]

"Yes, yes, we could spend hours going over what I've already covered, or we can just get down to business while you still have time to save yourselves. So... on the off chance, are you going to be taking your passport out of here and heading home?"

[Will Stanton]

Will was stalling, trying to buy Janice or Gid or Cal time--he assumed they were doing something, though damned if he knew what, and the longer they were talking, the longer the universe existed.

"Well, I don't know. Do you have any assurances that we'd teleport to a world, and not to the vacuum of space?"

[Robert West]

"This is the same sort of device I've been using, powered up enough to take your whole damn school. Of course it'll land on an Earth. Unless you want to land on another planet. I could set it to Chandrilar if you want, for example."

[Will Stanton]

"And how does it, erm, work? I'll admit to not being science-inclined, but I can imagine some people would be very hesitant to put their lives in the fate of a device they have no idea about."

[Calvin Strong]

"So," Cal put in, thinking hard. "Basically, you're harnessing the holes in reality to create a localized, stable opening into a new world, and using Malaika as the link to the right world. That's... even taking into account that you seem to be able to do anything, that's a very, very delicate process. Which... I assume is why you're holding us in here with a meal instead of duking it out and risking disrupting it."

[Robert West]

"It runs on science. You wouldn't understand. Trust me, I've tried explaining it to you, and you don't get it. Now you, on the other hand," he said, turning to Cal. "If we're going to cut to the chase... yes. That's more or less exactly the case. Plus I don't have any reasons to not help you all. Some of you, after all, are quite nice to have around on most worlds. So... I take it this means that you've decided against talking them into taking the deal?"

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon ate silently trying to gain handholds in Dr. Tomorrow's mind as stealthily as possible.

[Calvin Strong]

"That's... yeah, pretty much the long and short of it. Tempting, of course, but sorry, I like it here. Plus I hate moving. So... nothing personal, y'know?" Cal shot a glance a Will.

[Robert West]

"Of course not. Everyone needs a challenge, right? Did they get the burger right?"

[Calvin Strong]

"Oh god, perfect. Do you hire out for your cooking, or is it automated? If it's automated, I totally hacked the wrong servers while I was interning."

[Will Stanton]

"I think I speak for all of us--and I do, because I'm the team leader--when I say we've given your offer a good deal of thought, and have a counter proposal."

[Calvin Strong]

Cal nodded. "It's really the best we have to offer."

[Veronica Freud]

"I understand science." Veronica pouted.

[Nick Varkan]

Nick, meanwhile, telekinetically probed for an weak point in the forcefield.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear had had quite enough of the pretense. If they needed to cause some damage, she needed a good target to aim for. And a forcefield to get through.

[Will Stanton]

"But, then, you already know our answer, don't you?"

[Robert West]

"Well, I'll admit that the fact that you're still sitting there is throwing me off a bit, but yes, it doesn't take a genius to figure it out."

[Byrna Cooper]

Letting Rob monologue, Bear once again looked for a suitable target. the device cancelling Captain Britain's powers, the forcefield generator, anything..

But in the end, she did what came most naturally. Grabbing a sticky ball, she hurled it with just enough force, she hoped, to get through Rob's shield, or at least distract him for someone else to get an opening.

"Thanks for dinner. Now, on with the show?"

[Nick Varkan]

Nick instantly moved to his feet, raising sharp dinnerware into the air and sailing it after Bear's ball.

[Robert West]

Nick would feel pressure on his mind, and the dinnerware he sent flying swerved and actually hit Bear's sticky ball, spraying the gunk all over everyone at the table. "It's been so long since I've had a chance to stretch my legs," Dr. Tomorrow said, the table vanishing as he stood up, now holding a long metal staff. "I hope you're up to giving me a good workout!"

[Will Stanton]

"Just means you're rusty," Will said, with a small ripping sound as he left some of him behind glued to a chair, and lept towards the Doc with metal blades for arms.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon let loose a quick psychic blast, and then backed away from Dr. Tomorrow while drawing his tonfa.

"I think we'll give you more than that."

[Janice Gilbertson]

Janice was startled by the dinner turning violent, and scrambled to her feet. As she'd had no success trying to focus on the machine from where she was, she looked for a door on the wall that Tomorrow had indicated, hoping to cause some havoc in the confusion.

[Robert West]

Dr. Tomorrow seemed to be well psi-shielded. Gideon could tell he was there, and had been able to sense his mind all through dinner, but when he psi-blasted, the result was feeling like he'd just taken his brain and beat it into a steel door. Or, at least, what one would assume that felt like. The villian parried Will's blades away with the staff, directing him right between Gideon and himself.

The wall Janice was focused on, now that all the dinner decorations had vanished, appeared just like the Danger Room walls did when they were powered down. There didn't appear to be any doorways or other openings on it.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear grimaced- she had formulated the sticky goo to be uncomfortable, and it certainly was that.

Taking a few moments to reach back into her bag, she attempted to get the tube of solvent spray out to remove the gunk.

"Happy to oblige, then?"

[Will Stanton]

Will smiled as the blades went away and he bumped into Gid, stopping most if not all of his momentum.

A blade shot straight out of his back towards the Doctor.

[Janice Gilbertson]

Janice muttered a fairly unladylike string of profanity, and went on to check the other walls.

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon saw spots for a moment after the rather uncomfortable encounter with Dr. Tomorrows shielding.

Lets try plan B...

He began probing Dr. Tomorrows shields looking for a crack, weakness, anything he could exploit.

[Calvin Strong]

Since Janice was busy admiring the room's decor, Cal grabbed the cannon he'd loaned her earlier. Actually, he yanked it toward himself by the cable, since he was still prying his feet loose from the gunk that Bear's sticky ball had sprayed, but he didn't let his lack of mobility hold him back as he quickly shouldered the cannon and opened fire.

[Robert West]

Dr. Tomorrow parried the blow as he dodged up, floating in the air apparently under the staff's power. "Oh, I like that trick! Now, tell me how you like this one!" A chilly, orange fog sprayed out of the staff like it was being shot from a firehose, engulfing Will. It didn't seem to have an effect until Will would try to shift again, at which point he'd find that he was frozen in exactly the shape he was in. He could move freely all of his parts that were, well, equipped for movement, but he had no malleability to stretch or otherwise deform his body.

Dr. Tomorrow's shields were, apparently, like greasepaper. When Gideon touched them, his psychic probe slid off, deflected to one of his teammates. He had a few moments to contemplate this before Dr. Tomorrow brought the staff up hurriedly to block Cal's blast. The staff seemed to absorb the power... at least that was a safe assumption for what it did, since a moment later it released the blast, this time directed from the staff toward Gideon.

Janice would note that all the walls were identically blank, with the exception of the hole in the ceiling where they'd come in.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear finally got the solvent out, spraying liberally over all those stuck.

She then took out a baseball, throwing it haphazardly before it turned in midair, heading right for the Doctor's head at high speed.