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

[Will Stanton]

"THAT'S not gonna work," Will mumbled, looking around for something in particular.

[Janice Gilbertson]

"Wait, what? I don't think it works that way!" She shouted to Ronnie.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear struggled to her feet, trying to shake off the eerie feelings the shadow touch had left with her.

"Magic.. now he builds things with magic? Ugh.."

Looking around, she eyed the tower again.

"Captain! The tower is magic, yes?"

[Janice Gilbertson]

"The tower is daft and exists in six universes at once. Apparently."

[Veronica Freud]

"Alright fine, you keep yours, I'm gonna get his. Science and magic, we'll stick to our strong suits."

Veronica ignored the shadows, the rips in space and time, even her comrades as she gave chase to Dr. Tomorrow, chasing him along the catwalk and trying to tear a chunk out from underneath him.

[Robert West]

Dr. Tomorrow, still off balance, went even more off balance as he deflected Arachnos, sending the spidery X-Man careening away to slam into the spire.

[Byrna Cooper]

"Daft is good enough for me. Think you can help me break off smallish chunks of it?"

[Will Stanton]

Will snuck up from behind and zipped in front of Doc Tommorrow's face, trying to jab him in the eye.

"Don't mind me; I'm just the distraction."

[Janice Gilbertson]

"I can try. I just don't know if they'll stay, you know, real."

[Veronica Freud]

Veronica jumped. The 50' woman jumped. It was a pretty scary sight to anyone who was even close to being under her. In mid-air she shrunk down to her normal height, the momentum from her larger body being condensed into her smaller form and letting her hurl herself farther and higher than she could have normally. She had spied her opportunity. The Doctor was preoccupied with Will and the arachnid fellow while wobbling on his feet: now was her chance.

Sailing past him at a pretty respectable speed she reached out and tried to grab the staff in his hands, hoping her speed and momentum would let her rip it from his grasp.

[Narrator]

Will didn't manage to actually gouge Tomorrow's eyes. However, throwing him off balance, he did manage to keep the good Doctor from being ready to keep Ronnie from stealing the staff... and he managed to knock his goggles off, too, while he was at it.

Arachnos bounced off the spire, landing with a sort of crunch near Nick and Cal again. "Ow..."

[Gideon Rede]

Gideon stopped using his powers on the big rift demon in time to see Dr. Tomorrow lose his staff, and goggles.

Does this mean what I think it means?

He sent out a a cautious probe at Dr. Tomorrow's defenses to see if they were still there.

[Veronica Freud]

Veronica dwindled to a smaller size as she fell to keep herself from breaking every bone in her body, clinging to the staff and riding it as it plummeted to the ground below.

[Narrator]

As Ronnie fell, she heard a quiet voice in her head. "Initiate magnetic levitation systems, Doctor?"

Gideon, unfortunately, found himself the subject of the newly freed-from-his-power giant's wrath, as it swung a fist down at him. Several smaller shadows merged into it, helping it gain back the volume that Gideon's power had shed from it.

[Veronica Freud]

"Yes!" Veronica called out. "Yes please!"

[Byrna Cooper]

Pulling out a bomb, Bear aimed for the spire, hoping to time the detonation precisely enough to blow some shrapnel off before the tower reformed- unstable-reality shrapnel.

[Will Stanton]

Will swerved away from swatting Dr. Tommorrow hands, and pretty much boogied his way out of there, semi-heading for Ronnie.

[Gideon Rede]

"Shit!" Gideon exclaimed before rolling out of the way of rather certain death. He was still clipped by the fist, which made his roll rather less controlled.

"Guess I should finish my meal, eh?" Gideon asked as he regained his feet letting loose a telepathic blast to gain some breathing room.

[Nick Varkan]

Nick grinned and took off to go for the Doctor. When he landed, he floated up the goggles.

"I think these are hers now," he said, flinging them to Ronnie.

[Veronica Freud]

Veronica's fall was stopped abruptly as the staff froze in midair. Handing by one arm she slowly returned to her normal size while floating back to the ground.

"Oh man, this is so cool" she grinned. Seeing something hurtling toward her she reached her other arm out, catching Dr. Tomorrow's goggles in her free hand.

"Thanks Nick!" She waved excitedly, putting the goggles on almost immediately. "Let's do some science!"

[Will Stanton]

"Ronnie," Will said, as he got closer, "if you can shut down those machines with that thing DO IT!"

[Byrna Cooper]

"Go Alice!"

Bear grinned, cheering her on.

[Narrator]

Ronnie's new goggles would show her the flow of energy in the room, an analysis of it, and several attack options for the staff. There wasn't, naturally, a 'turn the machine off' option.

There was, oddly, a 'new uniform' option.

[Robert West]

Dr. Tomorrow scowled, and threw up his arm with his holdout blaster on his wrist, sending a blast at Nick as he approached. "Don't play with that!" he shouted at Ronnie. "I told you I'd make you a pair of the goggles, don't break that staff!"

[Veronica Freud]

"Working on it boss!" Veronica yelled out. From all appearances she was looking at nothing, turning her head around seemingly at random as she tried to analyze the machine and the energies around it. She didn't want to accidentally finish what Dr. Tomorrow had already started after all.

And Ronnie's thumb jammed a particular button harder than any button had ever been jammed before or since.

[Nick Varkan]

Nick tried a new trick. He threw up a disruptive barrier in hopes of breaking apart the energy blast before it hit. If successful, he'd break the blaster and clock the doctor in the face.

[Veronica Freud]

The staff glowed and hummed in Ronnie's hand, enveloping her in a light so bright that only her silhouette was visable. When the light faded her black mission uniform was gone, replaced by something very different. The suit was white and red, her face entirely covered by a mask with a large red maple leaf on it. A gold-coloured beaver symbol shone large and proud upon her chest, matching the gold and red pauldron on her right shoulder. She blinked and looked down at herself, lifting her leg up a bit to look at her new boots.

"GOD DAMN I LOVE BEING A SCIENTIST!"

[Malaika Gabriel]

Hoping that Dr. Tomorrow would be distracted by the sudden appearance of Veronica's beaver, Malaika crept closer, hoping to grab Dr. Tomorrow from behind.

[Janice Gilbertson]

Captain Britain, meanwhile, had been trying to rip a large hunk off of the tower for Bear.

[Robert West]

Nick's disruptive barrier kept him from getting hit, but it didn't have any affect on Dr. Tomorrow, who switched his attention to the person behind him.

"Oh for... really, what would your dad think right now at your tactical genius?" Tomorrow said, rolling his eyes as he blasted over his shoulder at Malaika. "All right, I'm getting the hint that I'm not going anywhere, but can I remind you idiots that hitting me isn't going to stop the world from ending?"

[Narrator]

Just like before, the tower smashed apart, but at the same time remained standing, like multiple images superimposed. Ronnie, however, would notice an odd effect around Janice, compared to the energy of the spire.

[Malaika Gabriel]

"Of course not.'' Malaika said as she dodged the blast neatly "But its so emotionally satisfying" she added, before sending a blast of her own at him.

[Rick Ferguson]

Since no one else seemed to be too focused on it at the moment, Rick flew for the Shadow Giant, trying follow a pattern of tackling it and then sipping away, never staying in one place for too long if he could avoid it.

[Janice Gilbertson]

Captain Britain flew the chunk over to Bear.

"What were you planning on doing with it?"

[Robert West]

"And you wonder why I never lost at home with opposition like this," Tomorrow muttered, staggering back under the lightning assault, but still apparently partly shielded by something.

[Veronica Freud]

"I... there's no off button. I can't...." Veronica stammered, struggling to come up with a solution. They were just wasting time, any damage done to the machine here didn't matter so long as the others still stood. Her goggles revealed something when Janice used her forcefield.

"That... that might do it. Cap'n! I need yer help!" Veronica rushed toward her comrade, trying to dodge or strike any shadows that got between her and the original masked defender.

[Byrna Cooper]

Bear handled the piece of scrap metal gently.

"Well, hopefully this will be more effective against the big ugly over there," she said, pointing to the giant shadow creature.

"They seemed to be weak against any sort of chaotic discharge- a punch, a stray bolt of electricity, an explosion. And the tower seems pretty chaotic, being destroyed yet intact at the same time- I hope this piece keeps some of those properties."

[Will Stanton]

"Doctor Tomorrow, I hope you realize now you've failed," Will said, though it was doubtful he could be heard over the chaos. "I'm placing you under arrest for somewhere around 40 billion attempted murders."

[Malaika Gabriel]

"Avengers don't kill people." Malaika said, not letting up on him "I don't want to kill you."

[Robert West]

"Of course not, you're just standing there playing your violin while Rome burns," he said, still firing back at her. "But of course, let this world end, as long as you can cease existing knowing that you caught me at last!"