01; Hellraiser Returns [Voice]

[hellrisen02]

This song and dance again. Never thought I'd...

[The man's voice (deeper, calmer) trails off. There's a long pause, then a raspy chuckle.]

Alrighty. In order'a business...

First, a multiple choice quiz: A, New York City. B, The City. C, The Hive. You only get to pick one, so choose wisely.

Second... hey, brat. Master Blaster? --Aurora Princess. Simba. Any'a you here? [Pause, then tentatively,] You... Alphabet soup gang? Yeah, right. How about you, Cats? Boom-Boom? Spidey-Mama?

[It could be worse, all things considered. A fresh slate meant he could keep his identity under wraps longer. And that, he'd long learned, was invaluable enough.]

[Besides, the government already had his number. Figuratively, if not literally. There's a long pause as he considers all this, then thoughtfully mumbles,] Aaah, it's not worth hiding, is it. Iron Bot was a goner. I know that. But the chessmaster in the Porter- what'd you guys figure out about her?

Well, as for anyone else... If "Shinigami" rings a bell? Long time no chat.

Comments

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[pummelgranite]

[ Well something in that word salad catches her attention. ]

Chessmaster . . . you mean the fate.

[Voice]

[hellrisen02]

Fate, huh? Sounds like she was more than your average self-aware AI after all.

[A pause, as he considers this. Could be a nano-hologram if the nanotech here was advanced enough, with what they'd just put in him.] She come from someone's homeworld, that we know, or native? To here.

[Voice]

[pummelgranite]

No idea.

[liverletdie]

The HIVE is an old name. They got blown to smithereens years before we all got shot over here.

[ Showing his age. ]

[Voice]

[hellrisen02]

Someone finally did it in, huh? Was it that crazy ass Nazi again, or the Porter AI? Or some other nutcases bouncing around.

[The government is lower on his list of possible suspects; after all, when he last was there, they could still barely get in contact with any kind of federal or even state government. Everyone in The City still too cagey to talk about it. A whole different ballpark from this place.]

...But you know, huh. [There's a grin in his voice.] How many years, exactly? They tell me it's 2017 AD here- what year was it when the HIVE got done in?

[Oh, Tony. If you think you're showing your age, wait 'til Duo shows his.]

[Voice]

[liverletdie]

Combination, resulting in it being completely wiped off by a bombing run perpetuated by the government.

[ But there's a thought, a tip of his head, calculation. ] It's been... six years, or so. I mean, we've been here for three. It's honestly ancient history at this point. Besides, they were small potatoes compared to Vulcanus, which you would have missed entirely.

Not that either matters, now. They're not here. Not even the porter is, or so I've been able to tell.

[ But that is a skeptic's tone, right there. He refuses to believe that she's gone. ]

[incogneto]

Are you speaking in some sort of code?

[Voice]

[hellrisen02]

If you wanna look at it that way, be my guest.

But it's only a code if you get it, right?

Re: [Voice]

[incogneto]

It's still a code even if you don't get it.

What's the question about?

Voice

[dun_moch]

Alphabet... soup gang?

[The Count makes a 'hm' noise deep in his chest. The only reason he's responding to this stream of apparent nonsense is the mention of the Porter, and the 'City' he has heard of.]

I am afraid that I recognize almost none of those names. Although I can say that 'New York City' is a major metropolis in the country we have been abducted to.

Voice

[hellrisen02]

Yeah, them and their trendy one-letter codenames! Well, you'd know 'em if you met 'em.

[Those guys weren't exactly subtle, once you noticed them. Which was probably the opposite of what they were supposed to be, but hey, that never bothered Duo. Probably because he was to blame for a lot of it. Oops.]

If New York is here, The City isn't. At least, that's what I've been able to gather... So you come from somewhere with no New York, huh? And where would that be?

Voice

[dun_moch]

Ah, codenames. Now those, I am more familiar with.

I am from a Galaxy where this planet does not even exist, in fact. I have been to a great many worlds in my time, and had never heard of 'Earth' until I was brought here.

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[23wishes]

Sorry. It sounds like you haven't been here in a very long time. The only people I ever heard talk about The City were Kanaya and... maybe Shinji once? It's been years since then.

[She's sympathetic. Some of her friends just went home recently, too. Though, even years later like this... maybe there's more hope than she thought.]

[Voice]

[hellrisen02]

Shinji and Kanaya, huh...? [There's the slightest tone of disappointment in his voice- nope, nobody he recognizes. But then again, it does seem like it's been a while, and people didn't always stick around a long time in The City.] Yeah, must be even after my time. Jesus.

Oh, but I guess 'here' isn't exactly the best way to put it, in that case. What'd they say about The City? If you remember anything.

voice;

[23wishes]

Not a lot. Just that they were there a long time. Lachesis used to talk to people sometimes? Now she doesn't do anything. People aren't sure she's even in there, in the Porter. Or that it's not all of her? I don't know...

[It's all confusing to her. Guess you just had to be here.]

voice;

[heliophilic]

B.

What do I win?

voice;

[hellrisen02]

How's about more questions!

Like how long it's been since you were home, wherever you came from.

--The real reward is the people you met along the way, by the by. Just so you're not left anticipating something better.

[heliophilic]

I've always wanted questions to call my very own.

And to answer my very special question: Me in particular, just over a year. The Midnighter before me lasted about 6 months, and from what I've heard there were a couple more Midnighter's before that.

We appear to be a popular bunch.

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[earnedmystripes]

You're from the City?

[He'd heard that was destroyed years ago, and the only survivors were dragged along by Lachesis a few months before others started coming in. Does that mean the universe is still in existence somewhere, frozen in time like their own worlds? That's a nice thought to hold onto, at least; he usually tries to avoid thinking about the fate of that universe, or of the other version of himself that apparently lived there.]

I don't think anyone from there's come here in years.

[voice]

[hellrisen02]

From is a real... strong way of putting it.

[After all, there was about thirty years inbetween then and now, and that was just from his point of view. And hey, he wasn't even from a Earth, not to mention that one. But he could understand what this guy probably meant.]

Not Ported directly, if that's what you're asking. I'd been there, yeah. I guess it depends how consistent the dating system is between here and there if I was gonna say how long it's been from the point of view here, though.

How long, you don't mind my asking? [Consistent information was good information.]

[earnedmystripes]

It's been about, uh...three years?

[He scratches at his beard, thinking.]

I heard the universe the City was in got destroyed and Lachesis brought along the people she wanted to save to this one, shortly before people from other worlds started showing up. You'd wanna talk to Kanaya or Tony Stark about that stuff, though.

[A pause, and then curiosity compels him to ask:]

...So you went home, before you came here? [That's something he doesn't think he's heard of from the former City residents, either.]

Was it the same in the City as it is here, where you didn't remember it while you were home, until you came back?

voice

[musclemothers]

Are you having a seizure? Spidey-Mama? What the hell do any of these words even mean?

[ Rusty's voice is, like his words, altogether unpleasant and rather nasal in tone, just the sort of guy to pick fights over the internet because he has nothing better to do. Which he doesn't. ]

voice

[hellrisen02]

[That's perfectly fine, because the last time this happened, Duo spent a good half his time annoying The City network. Computer-inclined teenage boy meeting the internet memes of 2008: went about as badly as you'd think.]

[Which means he takes it all in stride!]

If you knew him, you'd know! Guy swore he'd web me to the back of a speeding taxi, never made good on it. What kinda upstanding guy doesn't follow through with a threat like that, huh?

Take it you're on the newer side of these happy little multiverse adventures?

voice.

[glowsferatu]

You must be a very old one. I've been an imPort for six years, and the Hive was already long gone by the time I arrived.

voice.

[hellrisen02]

Jesus, don't go making me feel ancient or nothing. I get enough of that already from the kid. 'The old one', now there's a superheroin' alias.

[chuckle]

Yeaaah, I heard it met its match in the form of tactical nukes. Not much doesn't. Though I'm more surprised it wasn't one of us imPorts that did it- plenty of people capable of about the same amount of damage... 'zilla and his junior, for one.

So, to whom do I owe the trip down memory lane? --I got a guess, mind you- only a couple people that've been mentioned to me, being as old, and I already accounted for the one I know.