11405/The Last Titan: New Kronos 2

The Last Titan: New Kronos 2
Date of Scene:	30 May 2022
Location:	Alpha Draconis
Synopsis:	The Titans who didn't go on the Tereshkova mission find themselves dragged into it anyway. First they find themselves on New Kronos -- the REAL new Kronos. Then they find themselves helping out their team-mates on the planet below. Much is revealed, though it may take some discussion and thinking to figure out exactly what.
Cast of Characters:	Colette O'Connail, Kaida Connolly, Kate Bishop, Irie West, Gar Logan, Madison Evans

---

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    The mission is underway. Taking GIRL's ship, a group of Titans have set off into space. Target: Alpha Draconis. According to Troia, the strange new replacement Troia who has been inhabiting the Throne Room of New Kronos that has replaced the tower's main room about fifty percent of the time, this is where New Kronos can be found. The mission is to find out whether it is indeed all as she claims.

    For the rest of the Titans, it's life as normal at the tower. Not that life is ever entirely normal at the tower, especially lately with all the dimensional disruption that has taken place. People have found it easier and easier to get to the version of the main room they want to arrive at, though nobody is entirely clear why. Sure there are times when a door goes the wrong way, or a corridor loops back on itself, but after a few weeks of this, everyone has got fairly used to it, and it's just not that much trouble any more.

    Barely an inconvenience.

    Until, that is, a short while after the departure of the Alpha Draconis mission, perhaps about the time the ship is due to arrive in that system, when all hell breaks loose at the tower.

    The first, most obvious sign that something is wrong, is when the view out of every single window changes in an instant, to show the same stars and landscape of a shattered moon that had previously been visible from the throne room of New Kronos. But there's more -- the dimensional warping is far fiercer. Doors can lead into the same room they exit from, making it possible to see yourself leaving through one door as you arrive through another. Corridors twist and corkscrew in directions that the brain can't quite process. The elevators are so confused that the buttons are no longer even showing numbers any more.

    There's no escape. The roof and the lobby might as well not exist any more. The windows are blocked by force-fields, fortunate as they are not rated for vacuum. In fact the Titans remaining at the tower soon find that any path taken leads them inexorably towards the main room, wherever they are trying to go.

    But which main room? The normal one? The Throne room where Troia is regularly to be found?

    Neither. As the Titans arrive there one by one, they find themselves somewhere entirely new. A room impossibly vaster than the main room, or even the throne room. A hundred feet wide, a hundred tall, and so long the far end cannot even be seen. Huge columns, perhaps ten feet in circumference, fill the room at twenty foot intervals, and stretch high into the darkness above. The source of light here is not apparent, but the entire chamber is filled with a soft, yellowish light. There is no sound but for the sounds the Titans themselves make as they come in, echoing endlessly into the distance.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    "What?" Kaida blinks as she hears herself leaving a room that she is entering. She squints at the disappearing Kaida, staring after her for a moment before she rushes off to another room only to end up in the training room. She blinks and leaves only to end up in the hallway of the Men's dorms only to end up in the basement only to end up in Meeting Rooms only to then end up in the labs. She twitches and gets dizzy a moment before catching herself.

    "Umm...what?" And then she turns and leaves only to end up in a much larger and vaster room. Columns, stretching ceiling, stretching almost giant hallway. She twitches again befoer shaking her head as she looks around. Her tail twitches, her nose twitches, and her ears shiver.

    "The Mines of Moria?" She asks of no one in particular as she looks around before shaking her head again.

    "So...much magic and that noise." She whines a little as she shifts her ears around, hands rubbing her cheeks.

    "Who's chanting and where and why and this is crazy!" She doesn't exactly yell as much as she declares and it appears, she's not having a lot of fun due to sensory input.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate has very choice words as the whole world jitters and goes on the fritz. She just stares at the large window in her room and instead of seeing distant Metropolis she sees the starscape of New Kronos. "$!@$@# !@@# !@#$$" she mutters to herself before leaning back from the homework she was doing and rubbing the bridge of her nose like she is suddenly getting a fierce headache. "I have finals this week!" she finally yells at the uncaring world, which is the whole reason she didn't go on the expedition in the first place. Truly a not even supposed to be here today moment.

    Resigned she snags her bow and gear, suiting up, checking everything over, and then as she moves to leave her room she flicks on her comms, teasing her link to the computer and then over the general intercomm. "We seem to be experiencing spatial anomalous bullshit. Stay calm and try to regroup in the lobby."

    A short time after that fails Kate entirely she sighs and flicks on the comms again. "Or the main room, seems we have to deal with this one way or another." which is how she finally just gives up and heads towards what she expects to be the throne room, wonderbow in hand.

    "Okay... this isn't what I expected." as she steps in behind Kaida and looks around slowly. Then she looks down to the mouse titan. "What chanting?"

Irie West has posed:
    Iris and Madison were goofing off in Iris' room when all of a sudden the view outside just /shifts/ in a disconcerting way. Iris was in the middle of modeling some of her new clothes to Madison, to get her opinion on them when this happened.

    "This is not good," she says looking out the window. "We should find the others." Iris blurs, doing a quick change into a new costume. She's got a red black and yellow jumpsuit with a lightning motif that runs up her legs, and a lightning bolt that runs down her sternum. Over this she has the leather jacket that Donna got her for her birthday. Red gloves are on her hands, and to complete the look, she has stylish red goggles.

    "What do you think?" she says, grinning. "The new, improved, 'adult' Kid Flash. Though I don't really feel like a kid anymore. I guess that make me the fastest woman alive, now. Anyway, let's go find the others."

    She steps out her door and finds herself in the Training Room, only to see Kaida disappearing out of the doors. "Kaida, wait!" she calls out, and then suddenly stops, looking rather dizzy and holding her head with a hand. "Maddie? Do you feel that? It's ... I don't know how to describe it. Kind of a topsy turvy feeling. It's... space is warped. I mean... that's /obvious/ but I can /feel/ it."

    She shakes her head, trying to clear it. "This is all wrong. She hurries after Kaida and opens the door and finds herself in the elevator. Looking at the buttons she squints and presses the button marked eth. She has no idea what it means but when she presses it the door closes and they move /diagonally/. The door dings open and they come out in the same place as the others. "What the heck?"

Gar Logan has posed:
"What. A. Dork." Gar is shaking his head at an image on his phone. Sent to him by Vorpal, it's all too close to Tork from Space Trek. That's /his/ look!

Gar was not part of the crew for various reasons. Apprehensive about what happened the other main time a number of Titans ended up lost in space? Yeah, probably. But, there isn't much to be done about it.

Trouble is, none of the doors are working properly. "Oh, come on. Really?" By the time he gets close to a window, there's a sort of lurch of sensation he feels, causing him to mutter, "That's never good." Eventually, after no less than two dozen redirections thanks to the faulty doorways, including a few where he's stopped to watch himself coming and going - kind of like when you set the two portals up just so in the video game - one lets him out into the main room that no longer is.

Stopping, the costumed Titan plants his hands at his hips. "I don't think we're in Metropolis any more. Man, this place got big." Now, others are gathering as well. "Soooo..."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "I dunno. What if we just-" Madison is commenting - when suddenly things are... wrong. "Whoa," she remarks, looking out the window. "WHOA!" The disappointment she'd felt at not being able to go to outerspace is instantly erased as she runs to the window to peer out - while Irie is changing her clothes. "This is - wow! How come we can see the garden domes from here all of the sudden?" she asks, her head cocking as she hears the voice over the intercoms. "Guess it's not just us, at least."
    As Irie starts for the door, she hurries in her friend's wake, shaking her head at her friend's question. "I just feel like... normal, I guess. You'd think I'd be able to sense //something// in the Force," she complains, letting out an exagerated sigh.
    Emerging into the 'Mines of Moria' she lets out a gasp - and immediately runs into the room, circling one of the columns, and staring up towards the distant ceiling. "Should this even //fit// in the Tower?!" she asks - before running further into the room. She cups her hands to her mouth, shouting out loudly, "HELLO! Anybody there?! TROIA! HELLOOOOOooooOOO!"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    It certainly shouldn't fit in the tower. You could fit the tower in this room -- perhaps upright, depending on how high that ceiling actually is, but certainly lying down. The wall at the far end must be at least a mile away. 'Mines of Moria' isn't that bad a description, though it's more brightly and warmly lit than those mines. The place feels vast and ancient -- yet it doesn't feel oppressive.

    The chanting that Kaida can hear seems persistent, but it's not really grating. There was a similar sort of sound when the angels were around, but that was more of a buzzing, almost insect-like, and insistent. This is a warmer sound, and after a while it starts to feel almost comforting. There's something slightly energizing about it to the mouse-Titan.

    To Irie's relief, once she's actually in the huge chamber, the sense of spacetime being warped seems to dampen down. It's still there, in the background, but it feels to her more like she's actually /somewhere/ rather than being /everywhere/, which is a relief.

    Kate, momentarily, has a feeling of a presence close to her, as if something just moved behind her back and came around her. A feeling of being watched. For just a moment she feels a faint tugging at her bow, as if someone had reached out and touched it before withdrawing their hand.

    There is a brief, soft, sound of laughter in the air. To Gar, it sounds as if it's very close to him, pealing out just behind his left ear, before it goes.

    Slowly the lights grow dim, but before they become fully dark, a line of lights in the floor light up, oddly reminiscent of the floor lights that guide visitors towards the elevators in the lobby at Titans Tower. They seem to lead off into the distance, forwards and to the right, curving away to the side wall perhaps a third of the way down the length of the chamber.

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    Frowns at the constant feeling of magic, she shakes her head a little. She's still not entirely used to being able to sense it. She looks around at the others as they arrive and she stares at Madison with a frown before shaking her head.

    "So, like, first rule of being in an unknown place is to not yell out your location." Kaida sighs and then starts to notice the changes in their location. She looks up at the others before looking ahead.

    "Well, they know we're here now." And with that, she starts scampering off in the direction of the lights, her hand resting at the hilt of her blade despite feeling somewhat more comfortable as time goes on.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate tightens her grip on her bow and shifts her stance, glancing around with a frown at the feeling of a presence and that tug. "We are definitely not alone." she notes softly to her teammates. She lifts her free hand and taps the side of those purple glasses, activating some of the tech, looking at IR bands for a moment then just letting them do their subtle enhancements.

    "Looks like whomever is doing this though is lighting us a path. Try to stay together please." she nods to Kaida and Gar then looks to Irie and Maddy. "No idea what we are dealing with... other than magic.. probably Greek related." she sounds a touch resigned but starts to walk down the lit path.

Irie West has posed:
    "Okay. That's better," Iris sighs with relief as that weird twisting and turning that's in her head lightens up. She winces at Mads shouting, and nudges her with an elbow. "Shh! We don't know what might be here." Teenaged Irie might not have exercised such caution, but adult Iris certainly does.

    She blinks when the lights grow dark and the floor lights go on. "Well," she says. "I guess we go that way." She follows the others along the trail, eyes peering about the darkness. She looks ready to fight should they come across anything nasty.

Gar Logan has posed:
Beast Boy starts in on some greetings. "Hey, guys. Guess we've got a big problem here, don't we? We'd better..wait, who's laughing?" He immediately turns left, but there's nothing there, nobody on the team in that direction, and it's gone as soon as it's noticed. "Know what? I'm pretty sure that's part of someone messing with us, and I'm gonna guess this is all tied to this Troia stuff, so how about we go find who it is and smack them around a bit?"

Like the others, he's noticed the potential path forward in this oversized room. It's as good a place to start as any, and he takes to wing in order to survey matters from above, choosing a parrot for now. "Of course this could always be a trap, but I guess we'll find out when we get there."

Madison Evans has posed:
    "But like - we're on New Kronos, yeah? And New Kronos is where Troia lives - and she's nice. And... it hasn't been at all dangerous. Do you think we'll get to go to one of the domed gardens like I've been wanting to do for wee-" This of course is exactly when the lights dim, and the path lights up. "-ks. YES!" Immediately, the teen is running along the path shown to them, an eager smile on her lips.
    "I wasn't laughing!" she supplies needlessly - as she tries to run off ahead. As if Irie couldn't easily head her off. Maybe she's counting on it?

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    There doesn't even seem to be a debate; everyone seems down with following the lighted path. Why not? There doesn't seem to be much of anything else to do here, other than turn back, and who would want to do that? Adventure awaits.

    The echoes of the footsteps of the Titans -- and their chatter, be it sarky or cheery depending on the individual Titan, is the only noise that can be heard by any except Kaida. To her ears that faint chant-like sound is ever-present but easy enough to ignore. There are no drums in the deep, and nobody for Gar to smack around.

    Kate's observation that it's likely to be Greek-related seems to fit with the place. Those that have been to Themyscira recognize a family resemblance in the style of the architecture, if not the scale of it, though this particular room is rather plain of decorations compared to the typical building on Themyscira. When the group follows the arc of lights a few hundred yards through the room and to the side wall where a doorway is found, that changes.

    Through the doorway that faces the team is what can best be described as an oversized balcony. Semi-circular and perhaps fifty feet in radius, it is open to the stars -- though there is no difficulty breathing here, and the temperature remains pleasant. Stepping out onto the balcony reveals the giant room they had been in to be just one small part of a vastly, impossibly larger building, stretching miles to either side, and far above and below them.

    There is a stone balustrade at the edge of the balcony, and from that it's possible to see a sight both familiar from the window of the Throne Room, and different. The entire structure is built on the inner core of a crescent-shaped broken moon, and most of that inner surface is built upon. The buildings themselves make little sense. They are simply /too/ big, and too close together, a jumble of architecture that makes the entire thing more like some huge and elaborate piece of sculpture than anywhere intended for inhabitation.

    There are domes, scattered among the buildings, but Madison may be disappointed to see that there is no sign of greenery in them. Perhaps there had been, some time in the past. In some of the nearer domes she can see vast broken panes.

    The place seems empty, lifeless. Like an idea of city rather than anywhere that was ever meant for life.

    In the middle of the balcony, a small metal sphere floats just above the ground, glowing with a faint purple light. A message, written in English letters, hangs in the air in front of it, oddly at about Kaida's eye level. The message reads 'Your friends will need this.'

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    "It's dangerous to go alone, take this." Kaida says to no one in particular as she looks at the words in front of her and then at the floating orb. She spots it first, mainly because she isn't able to see what all the others see. For her, the balcony is a larger place and with a much lesser view till she gets to the edge. The orb and the message are far more obvious a choice.

    "Hey!" She points at the orb and looks around, "Someone grab that thing. We're gonna need it. Also, if it sprouts three blades and starts struggling for your forehead, destroy it. You don't wanna know what happens next." She shakes her head grimly before leaping over to be able to see the view and look around, kneeling down and letting out a hmm.

    "Someone wants us here. This wasn't an accident."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate murmurs to Gar "Well.. yes it is a trap maybe.. maybe not. We definitely have very few other options because something with more magic than us decided to pull us here for some sort of reason." this is all muttered when they are following the path of lights.

    "Also yeah I think we are on New Kronos... or something like it. Not sure how we could even tell for sure.... the greek like I said is a give away." this too Madison.

    Coming out onto the balcony there she pauses and then frowns "Oh... I don't like this...." then glances at the message. "Don't like this at all... fuck... do we even have a way to get this potential bomb to the team at this point...?"

    "Wait.. blades... what?" towards Kaida now.

Irie West has posed:
    Iris follows the others until they find themselves on the balcony, whose view steals her breath away. "I've never seen anything like this," she says, surveying the buildings. "I just don't understand why somebody would build something so /big/. There comes a point where it stops being functional, really."

    She nods at Kaida. "Yeah, it seems like it. But who, though?" She shakes her head. "I thought Troia was the only thing left here, assuming we're on New Kronos."

    When asked to pick up the orb, she reaches down and plucks it from its stand. She weighs it in her hand and hums in thought. "Hmm. Feels weird. Solid, though."

Gar Logan has posed:
"New Kronos, old Kronos, Kratos, whatever. Let's just keep..oh, would you look at that," Beast Boy says as they move on and get a grand view of everything before them. "That's, uh, some really interesting architecture. It's like someone started building in the Sims and just pushed a bunch of giant buildings together that don't make any sense to be that close."

Gar glances toward the orb as Kaida reads it and Iris ends up being the one to grab it, and he comments after a second, "Phantasm. Classic horror. Then there's Hellraiser. 'We have such sights to show you,'" he says in a perfect imitation of the famous Pinhead line. All while still a parrot, which is kind of fitting in the end.

Landing again as himself, he wonders, "Where are we supposed to go from here? All this stuff out there, and it's completely dead." The inner core of the broken moon? That's a bit much to consider right now.

Madison Evans has posed:
    Madison goes to the edge of the balcony looking down, and around them, with obvious dismay on her features. "What- ...what happened to all the gardens?" she asks quietly. "And where is Troia? Is there- are we folded in time, AND space? Is the Troia we've been seeing from the past, and now we're here in the present, and- and between then and now something's happened and-" Distress is starting to leak into the teen's voice as she considers this possibility. What if the Troia they met is already gone and dead by 2022? And if so- what does that mean for the Titans' //Donna//?
    "TROIA?!" she tries calling again. "Where are you! Why aren't you answering us?!"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Troia is not here." The voice can be heard on the breeze, drifting into the distance. "She has never been here. Your friends should not have come. They have been attacked by an ancient, malfunctioning defense system. Their ship is damaged. The orb will allow you to aid them. Take it, go, and do not return until it is time."

    The voice falls silent, and a beam of brilliant blue light stabs down from far above, illuminating a circular pool of radiance on the floor.

    Somewhere behind, from the great room where the Titans had entered initially, a set of footsteps can be heard approaching, echoing in the great open space. A woman in a saffron robe steps out from the shadows, and leans casually against the door frame. A woman Gar, Kate and Kaida have seen before. She had been there at the gates of Themyscira at the end of the battle against the Centaurs, dealing with King Ixion. Gar had seen her before then too, at the gate of Iron in Tartarus.

    Hekate.

    "They're not very communicative, I'm afraid," she says. "Generally they prefer to be left alone. Honestly I'm surprised they would go even this far. Well met, Kaida. And the rest of you."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    A grin is given to Gar and she tapes the side of her nose before looking to Kate and then she blinks as the voices come. She starts looking around, carefully trying to figure out the source of it until she blinks as another voice speaks up. Her hand clenches her blade hilt. Her eyes staring carefully at the new arrival. She stares carefully at the woman and sniffs the air a little. Is it really her or a version of her or are they all versions of the same? She's something of an odd duck as it were.

    "Hekate." Kaida states softly as she looks at the woman. She still isn't sure that this woman was ever wholly on their side or if she was only ever on her own. Kaida has met several gods and 'gods' and is realizing that they are all far more human than they could ever admit.

    "Well met. I'd ask who they are but I doubt we have time for a proper explanation." She leaps down and starts toward the light, "You know, you have an interesting habit of showing up at interesting places." Kaida states softly as she watches the woman. With that, Kaida idly pulls her blade and puts it casually into the light, pulling it out to look at it before stepping inside while keeping an eye on the one with three faces.

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate cocks her head to one side then the other now as she studies the ... well tries to look for the voice on the breeze or where it is coming from. Even though that is probably as pointless as she figures it is. "Ugn." then coughs. "Sorry." her inside voice slipped out now. "Great... okay... " because honestly it wasn't very helpful that the orb will help but not how.

    She looks at the pool of radiance and seems to be gauging how much it might be a portal that will take them too their friends in distress.

    Which is when Hekate shows up. "Oh." is all Kate says for a moment but her whole demeanor shifts to be much more respectful. All the usual sass and a whole lot of the way she carries herself. The swagger. That is missing suddenly as her full posture shifts towards the arrival. "Goddess." she says giving a very respectful nod of her head, though she doesn't completely take her eyes off Hekate in the process. "Did you... or did they draw us here?" a vague glance around this place because she is dying to figure out why Hecate is involved in this.

    Though to be fair, Hecate is the daughter of two Titans.

Irie West has posed:
    Iris looks at the orb in her hands thoughtfully. "Go where?" she asks the voice. "Use it how?" These are all very good questions. When the column of blue light shines down on the floor she turns to the others? "Step in, you think?"

    When Hekate arrive she turns and narrows her eyes suspiciously. "Who are they?" she asks. "Who are /you/?" But then Kaida answers with their name, and Kate answers with what they are. "Goddess?" she asks, surprised. Her knowledge of the Greek pantheon isn't quite up to the others. She turns to face Hekate fully and bows her head. "I... uh... apologize."

Gar Logan has posed:
"Yeah, well, there's a lot of stuff we shouldn't do that we do," Beast Boy says, wherever that voice may be. He takes an instinctive, involuntary step back as the beam of light lances out ahead of them to display the glowing pool, and before much else can be made of that he turns along with the others, to face...Hekate.

Any surprise in his expression turns toward wary suspicion. There had been some aid, or what appeared to be aid, and she helped Raven out of Tartarus. Yet, her motives are not known to them. For the moment, he holds his tongue - thankfully, not literally. Instead, his arms cross. "Long time, no see, Hekate," he rhymes. Couldn't quite help it.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Okay. What the actual- umm... goodness is going on here?" Did some of you think Madison was about to actually cuss? HA! The teen looks around in confusion, searching for the source of the voice. "Of course Troia was here! She said- she was from here. That she was, um, the last Titan- none of this makes sense!" Her eyes go to Irie next as she gives her a pointed, 'Come //on//' look. Can Irie seriously give them no more hints?
    Then abruptly, Hekate is there - and she's being called a //Goddess.// "Wait. An actual Goddess? That's like - a real thing?" With no seeming reverence, the teen goes to walk full circle around the God - or at least, as much as she can, with her leaning against a door jam. Then she leans her head back out to look around the Goddess towards the Titans. "Okay. Well. If our friends are in trouble we should hurry right? But hurry to... where? Do we step into the light?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "There's time enough for some explanation I suppose," Hekate replies, one arm giving an airy wave. "'They' are the Titans. No, not you lot. The original Titans.". Her eyebrow arches slightly and her lips curl up in an amused expression. "The real ones, The Twelve. It is they who drew you here. Honestly I'm surprised they were paying that much attention."

    As Kaida enters the beam of light, she feels a tingling across her skin. Nothing uncomfortable, but a definite awareness that it's not just a beam of light. It doesn't seem to actually do anything though -- yet.

    Hekate watches Madison's circling, that amused expression not leaving her features. "Yes, a real thing. And not the first you have met, Madison Evans. Why so surprised?"

    She gives a nod of her head to Iris. "I do not require mortals to bow and scrape, your apology is not required. But thank you. And look at /you/. I've never seen a mortal so thoroughly infused with... what do you call it? Ah yes, the speed force. Troia does pick such interesting people to care about.

    "To answer your questions, yes. If you all step into the light, it will take you to your friends. As for the orb... well I don't know. That's nothing to do with me. But I'd imagine it'll just work if you put it where it's needed. And no, Troia has never been here. She has only dreamed of here. Until recently she did not know it was here that she dreamed of, but she dreamed of it often nonetheless. A sad dream. Have you really not figured it out yet? Oh well. The Titans will not aid you in that matter. They can't. But I'm sure it will... work itself out. And then she will know things she did not know before, and some of the Titans will be glad of that. Others... not so much."

Kaida Connolly has posed:
    A frown when she feels the tingle but nothing happens. Kaida sorta pokes at the ground with her toe a little and shakes her head. She sighs and then looks over toward Hekate as she speaks. She blinks several times before looking around again. She scratches her head.

    "Aren't they all locked up or something?" She sighs and shakes her head again before looking again to Hekate and putting tiny hands on her hips before shrugging. She gestures toward the others and then shakes her head.

    "We should be going. We obviously are needed to save our friends and she's only going to speak in riddles. I'm sure she has some kind of wish to not fully interfere or the like. Perhaps it's a rule or perhaps she just likes to watch people dance to a tune. All the same, everyone should make their way into the light as we got business."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "They are imprisoned but that doesn't mean they are powerless."

    Kate listens very closely, mostly so she can try to relay all that Hecate is choosing to say to them on to the others later. Not wanting to miss anything important that could help Troia later.

    "Why are you here helping Goddess, or merely sating a curiousity?" she does move to join Kaida in the beam of light though. Not wanting to put her friends, but okay she can't not ask a potential confrontational question.

    She is still Kate.

Irie West has posed:
    Iris chuckles and rubs the back of her head with her free hand as Hekate notices her particular situation. "Heh. Yeah. Me and my brother, both. It's... a thing." She scowls, and tries not to think about her particular predicament at having these 'growth spurts' that leave her physically older.

    She lets out a sigh, and shakes her head. "It's odd," she says to nobody in particular. "I know how this /ends/ and how this /begins/ but everything in the middle.." She holds up the orb and just shrugs. "Dunno about that."

    She shakes her head and looks over at Maddie. "C'mon. Let's go step into the teleporter." Sure, that's Star Trek, and not Star Wars, but still science fiction. She walks over to the column of light and stands in it, standing next to Kate and Kaida.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan watches Hekate with skepticism in his features. To say he trusts her would be a lie, but to say he doesn't believe her at all would not be accurate either. "All I care about is making this right and dealing with whatever's causing this, so if we go there and use that," he indicates the well of light and the orb Iris' got, "then that's what we'll do. We'll deal with whatever happens."

Appears that's all he has to say to her in this regard, and he moves to the glowing pool. The less attention she pays to him, perhaps the better.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Wait. ... I HAVE?!" Madison gasps excitedly. "When?!" She bounces up onto her toes - then looks between Hekate, and Irie, and back to Hekat- "Oooo! Ooo! Wait! If you're a //Goddess// then you can- Can you- I mean- Can you fix it so Irie doesn't age anymore?! I mean- I mean, not so she stops aging at all. Make her age like normal. Stop her from like- skipping forward real fast, all of the sudden! Can't you? Please?" She looks back to Irie - a question in her eyes. It was okay for her to ask that, right? Before her gaze goes to Hekate again.
    While she was talking, she moves - well, practically //bounces// - around the woman, putting herself near but just outside the column of light while she waits for an answer to her very important question.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    "Helping? Me? Of course not" Hekate replies to Kate with a musical laugh. "No. I'm just watching out of curiosity. Far be it from me to be the one who reveals the truth about Troia. Oh, did I say there was a truth about Troia? Ignore that. Though it's hardly a secret any more, and I don't imagine Zeus really cares one way or another now that you lot turned up. I mean, calling yourselves the Titans. I /do/ hope one day you understand just how embarrassing that choice has been to Olympus and New Kronos. The look on their faces, you should have seen it."

    Hekate really is a strange goddess. Last time Gar met her, she was pretending to think that the Titans were the /same/ as the deity-Titans.

    "They are not 'locked up', Kaida. They were freed by Zeus thousands of years ago. There was a treaty. Agreements about future behavior, things like how they are not allowed to have any more Titan-children, a promise which caused a certain amount of trouble recently. And that they had to leave Earth. They make their home here now, and make tedious plans concerning the people who live on the planet below that will not come to fruition for many centuries if at all."

    Maddie finds herself suddenly gripped by an invisible force. It's not painful, but it's quite irresistible. The force stops her bouncing, and guides her, gently, towards the pool of light. The conclusion is perfectly obvious: Hekate is an /incredibly/ powerful Jedi.

    "I could," Hekate replies to Madison thoughtfully. She glances briefly in Iris' direction. "I can do... well, most things. But there is a difference between /could/ and /should/. I could give you a lightsaber too, but aren't you meant to do that yourself? Sometimes things are better done yourself. Now... go. Go help your friends, before the people who live here decide you have outlived your welcome."

Kate Bishop has posed:
    "Ah. That is pretty much what I imagined." she nods at the answers given. "Also... wish I could have seen those faces." a touch of bemusement.

    She watches Madison get jedi pushed into the circle and then braces herself for the teleport."

    When the dust clears from the blinding light she looks slowly around and then looks to the others. The entire oncoming army of aliens in the distance. Not good. The ship down over yonder on the alien planet with their fellow Titans. Better. "So. Do you think the alien army over there..." glancing at the aliens with spears, bows, and tanks being dragged by ox-like beasts. "Is coming to attack the city our friends are by... or?" she seems unsure. "I definitely don't think we should fight an army.... maybe we should just get to the ship and plug the globe in quick and get the fuck off this planet."

Irie West has posed:
    Once they're all standing on the column of light there's a slight feeling of weightlessness and a *VWOUMP* noise as they're teleported outside. There's a ruined city nearby and a group of aliens clustered around the crew of the Terashkova. The ship itself has landed a bit away and doesn't seem the worse for wear.

    "Um..." Iris says, looking in another direction. "I see an army," she says. "I... don't think they're friendly." Indeed, there's an entire army of the same aliens that are talking to the crew, but they're armed with spears and bows and the occasional thing that looks like a gun. And tanks. Which are pulled by oxen-type animals, which is odd because most tanks are usually able to pull themselves.

    As they get closer to the crew it's obvious that they aren't... quite the same. For one, they're glowing. For another, there's a multitude of Natashas, enough to field an entire baseball team. For a third Nadia is doing her best Attack of the 50 ft. Woman and Cait has enormous wings that is glowing as bright as she is. Lastly there's Cyborg who's doing his own disco dance floor routine, and Terry who is... an unspeakable horror of tentacles and fur.

    Irie looks between them and the army and back to them. "Um..." she says uncertainly. "Let's go meet the others since they're being all... weirdy like. Maybe the orb can help. C'mon!" Not wanting to stay in this spot she start jogging at a pace where the others can keep up towards their friends.

Gar Logan has posed:
"Oh boy, this is not great," Gar laments under his breath, but enough for the others to hear as they..relocate. Before them: the ship, the crew in a very odd state, aliens around them, and many more on the way. "Why are there always huge armies when Hekate is around?"

He keeps with them, then he begins to stare, then he gapes. "What in the world happened to them?" Especially Vorpal, who he is, safe to say, more than a little concerned about. Nadia's done the 'big and tall' thing before, Cyborg is already quite shiny under normal circumstances, and he doesn't know enough about Natasha.

Beast Boy mutters, "I could set the army on fire." Just like Milton Waddams said, only to fit the situation. He could, too, if he became a dragon. For now, he just keeps up.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "Oh come ON!" Madison protests as her request is denied - and she's forced into the teleporter. "THERE AREN'T EVEN TELEPORTERS IN STAR WARS!" Madison shouts to the heavens, before she looks around her and goes, "...shoot. Do you think they heard me? My, umm, bad."
    Like the others, she starts to jog towards the ship - perhaps that's their only way out of here, now? "Look. If my mom asks - I didn't go into outerspace on purpose. Okay?" she informs the others - then she adds towards Irie, "Do you think you could borrow Kaida's sword, and speed over there, and cut all the harnesses on their oxen? I don't like the look of their tanks. And even if this isn't our planet - should we just let them like... kill each other?"

Colette O'Connail has posed:
    The Titans jog their way closer. It's hard to make out exactly what's going on, but there's a lot of noise coming from the defensive lines. The oncoming army is between the Titans and the ship so exactly what is causing the noise is hard to make out, but it seems to have disturbed the invading army, which draws itself up into a line along the brow of a gentle hill.

    One thing still clearly visible though is Nadia, still standing fifty foot tall, stamping her foot. When Nadia's that tall, it's not a sign of petulance, it's a threat.

    As the Titans approach, they're coming to a point they are going to have to make a decision. They haven't been spotted, as far as they can tell, by either side. They could probably sneak around and join their friends at the Terashkova without being intercepted by the army, but that would be a slightly longer way around. They could try to come in behind the army, or approach them from the side. A straight line would take them right through the flank of the army though.

    Then all hell breaks loose. A vast figure seems to rise out of nothingness, a column of shadow that spreads out across the far horizon, forming into a demonic shape. A voice echoes across the plain, booming words the Titans are just too distant to make out clearly. It's only the last few words of the bellowed voice the Titans can make out as they close in: 'The Titans command the breaking of strife an enmity Or else none shall find, when seeking The remains of what you used to be!

    The oncoming army starts to fire wildly at the shadow figure, but it's obvious that they don't have the range to hit it. They look distinctly nervous, but nobody is breaking and fleeing yet -- these seem to be well-trained soldiers. The line holds.

     The ground shakes. At first it seems like it must be the results of the stamp, but it comes a little later, a slow rumbling that builds up into six crashing BOOMS. Each of the six tank-like vehicles shakes, but there's no visible explosion from the radar dish-like protuberances the Titans can now see on the front of the vehicles where they might expect a barrel. There's no visible projectiles in flight. But seconds later, at several points in the defensive lines, there's an impact.

    At the feet of giant Nadia, the ground erupts in a great shower of stone and dirt. Two sizeable sections of wall are torn away and blasted backwards as if some giant hand had simply punched them. The Tereshkova rocks wildly, but stands. Two more areas of ground are ripped up and hurled skywards, but to no apparent effect.

Gar Logan has posed:
"So, uh, what's the plan?" Beast Boy asks, but this is interrupted by the shadowy figure that takes shape, in the form of something that doesn't look very friendly at all. A few of the words reach them, and he squints. "The remains of what we used to be? Okay, I don't really like the sound of that, and..hey!" The army goes into action, and some of those sudden booms from the tanks strike way too close for comfort where their friends are! "Not cool!" he blurts, and in that moment he decides. "All right, time to get Game of Thrones on these fools. Anyone who wants a ride, hop on!"

What they're asked to hop on becomes clear, as Gar grows, and grows, and grows. He turns scaly, winged, with an elongated body, ridged horns and spikes here and there, and massive wings. Yes, boys and girls, a dragon. With a snort that sends out a large puff of smoke, it becomes apparent he's got the power of fire as well.

Once things are squared away, he takes to the sky with a bellowing roar, quickly gaining speed to make a pass of a tank. The noise overhead draws immediate attention from both army and ox-like things, and he sends a ball of molten fiyah toward one of those tanks, along the left side. "Flame on!"

Kate Bishop has posed:
    Kate stares at the shadowy figure and then nods slowly. "Well crap."

    Gar's plan though gets a grin and she will scramble onto the dragon really quickly and situates herself so she can use her hands free with the bow and her arrows. The key is not falling off Gar and falling to her doom afterall.

    "We definitely need to do this more often." she pulls an anti-alien armor arrow from previous trips and then takes aim and launches it down into one of the tanks with the dishes as she does her part to thin the enemy armor.

Irie West has posed:
    "Mads! Here!" Iris shouts, and hands over the orb. "Invisideliver it to the crew! I'm gonna see if I can't take out a tank." Before she can zoom off, Gar turns into a dragon and her eyes turn into saucers and one could swear that there are little sparkly stars in her eyes. "Oh. My. GOD. EEEEEEEEEEEEE! A dragon!"

    With that she shakes herself to get her head in the game and zips off at Speed Force pace up to the right tank and slows down a bit to figure out how to deal with it. Well, first she zips to where they've got the oxen tied to it, and unhitches them. If she could push them out of the way that'd be great, but at least she rendered the tank immobile now.

    She zooms around the tank trying to figure out its layout and where the driver and gunner would be, until she finds a likely spot. She vibrates herself just right to let her phase through solid matter and low and behold, she was right. She found the cabin where the driver and gunner are.

    First she grabs the gunner and vibrates him so he's phasing too. Unfortunately, this also means that he's in the speed force so he's going speed force speeds now. It cries in surprise as Iris grabs him by the shirt and with a little aikido, yeets him out of the tank, returning him to real time.

    The driver gets the same treatment and faster than it can think it finds itself tumbling out of the tank. Iris, then, gets into the tank proper and makes sure that all the hatches are sealed so nobody can get in.

    "There," she says, dusting her hands off as she emerges from the tank. "That's that. Then she zooms over to where the crew is. It has only been a couple of seconds since she raced in, that's the power of the Speed Force.

Madison Evans has posed:
    "HOLY- I can ride a dragon?!" Of course that's where Madison's attention is focused - just as the orb gets shoved into her hands. "...Oh." Focus Mads. Focus. "Okay. "I'll go, umm - around the right side there-," she points, "And run for the other Titans. I should be able to run pretty fast, too!" Not as fast as Irie, of course - but fast.
    Just as she's preparing to race off- she finds herself with a pint-sized passenger, ready to keep the 'Guest Titan' safe on this strange alien planet. Madison grins with excitement and declares, "ADVENTURE!" (yes, she's been watching She-ra) before she abruptly blinks out of sight, only a little mouse-like head visible, for those who know to look for it.
    She then concentrates on using her innate gift 'the Force' to speed her movements - as she runs as fast as she can towards the Titans, the orb clutched in her hands.

Colette O'Connail has posed:
Will our Heroes succeed? Will the crew of the Tereshkova survive? To find out what happens next, turn to page https://heroesassemble.mushhaven.com/index.php?title=11316/The_Last_Titan:New_Kronos or https://heroesassemble.mushhaven.com/scene/scene.php?id=11316 for the exciting climax to our story!