17440/HUNGER: Non-Baryonic Shuffle

HUNGER: Non-Baryonic Shuffle
Date of Scene:	22 March 2024
Location:	The Negative Zone
Synopsis:	The Defenders travel to the Negative Zone in search of the people providing anti-matter weapons to criminals! In the process, they destroy a moon. Take that, Justice League.
Cast of Characters:	Matthew Murdock, Jessica Jones, Barbara Gordon, Elektra Natchios, Luke Cage

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Matthew Murdock has posed:
It's been an unusual morning for the eclectic mix of street-level heroes known as the Defenders and their allies. For one, they're not patrolling the streets of Manhattan, or Harlem, or Gotham, or anywhere on Earth, for that matter. They're not even on Earth. They are bound instead for a 'parallel dimension characterized by its reversed matter properties and phenomena not possible in our conventional understanding of space-time' - the Negative Zone, as Sue had helpfully appended.

At the moment, they are suspended in a strange bubble about the size of a football field. The 'Distortion Area' as Doctor Richards had explained in his briefing. An energy field that serves as an insulator. There'd been mention of 'reversing atomic structure' but it had been painfully glossed over. In simple terms, it meant a lot of nausea and more than a little unnatural anxiety. But they were here.

What waits for them is a vehicle, and while it bears the markings of the Fantastic Four it doesn't look like anything common on Earth. At least not as far as vehicles go. Instead, it looks like a bathtub with several cushioned seats and an array of controls. Daredevil is the first to step inside it, sniffing the air and frowning deeply as he does.

"So, apparently space here isn't a vacuum," he explains, "Which means we can breathe and talk ... but so can whatever else lives here. Batgirl, if you want to take the wheel? We've got our signal to follow and I guess we'll ... see what we find ... "

Jessica Jones has posed:
Staring out at this new version of reality, or perhaps unreality, Jess makes a very simple summation of life, "I wish I'd drank more before we came here." Because despite the whole 'hero' mantle thrust upon them for doing good stuff, this place is so out of her wheel house she wonders how it is the Richards family keeps up from down, left from right.

"What are we expecting to find here - some sort of illegal negative energy mining operation. Or a negative despot hoping to conquer the positive zone." A flippant hand, "I assume that's what they call our world." A huff as she gets in to the bathtub mobile.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl, wearing her lightly armored suit, that has NO cape... and is predominantly hued in all black tone, with a bit of gold here and there across edges of her utility belt, boots and the Bat symbol upon her chest, is in silent awe of the situation the group finds themselves in. She is in the process of turning in a slow circle to take it all in, her red hair tied back in a intricate French braid and extended out from behind her helmeted mask, which gives the braid the agility to sway behind her shoulders as she turns. Her eyes eventually fall upon the vehicle laid out for them, and with a half-smirk, Babs starts to walk toward it. "Saving on aesthetics for functionality?" She verbally questions as she navigates her way toward the driving section of the seating arrangement.

She holds the smirk at Jess' words, as she familiarizes herself with the vehicle's controls. "If our reality is the Positive Zone, then this place must be just about the worst place imaginable..." She grimly quips back before she has the vehicle activated. "Okay. We're ready to go. Pretty straight forward, really." She says, her gloved hands moving over the controls to feel the textile touch of them against the material of her black leather gloves.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra is perhaps still considering -why- she decided it was a good idea to come here with the rest of the Defenders to figure out what's going on. All the way out on the Negative Zone. But it's the least she can do after all the toys she acquired on their last mission. So many goodies. So she was in a generous mood as she joined up to go investigate this.

For as much as a ninja fully out of her element can be!

She is dressed in her full black armored suit which absorbs light, skin tight to her pleasing form. The woman takes a seat next to Batgirl and looks out the window to.., appreciate the view."

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"I think we can stick to calling it Earth or whatever," Daredevil answers, taking a seat at one edge of the bathtub and frowning faintly out at the stretch of nothingness, "As for what we're hoping to find, your guess is as good as mine. Doctor Richards' tests determined those weapons we picked up are coming from here. SHIELD don't think we can stop them, but if nothing else maybe we can find out what they're planning."

The Devil of Hell's Kitchen turns slightly in his seat, facing his associates in the broadest sense of the term: "It isn't like opening a window to send things to there from here. They need to be different at an atomic level. These two universes don't get along, far as I understand it. Whoever is doing it is going to a lot of trouble."

The trip in the bathtub-mobile is quick, as the physical laws of distance and time seem to function in a wholly different way here. They stream through bizarre nebulas painted in hues that don't rightly have a name on an Earth that has never seen them outside fevered imagination. The signal they've pinpointed leads to a moon in orbit of a sickly yellow gas giant, its rocky surface covered in what looks like industrial machinery churning and barking incessantly.

Looming over it is a tower of sorts, a hideous spire abiding by geometric standards that are anathema in the Positive Zone. In his seat, Daredevil shifts uncomfortably once again but says nothing. Rather, the leather of his gloves groans as he tightly squeezes the rim of the craft.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Once the tub-mobile is on its way, Batgirl's green eyes are shifting from the view outside, to the displays on the dash in front of her. "Honestly, I'm just impressed at how effective this little thing works, even if it isn't much to look at." She says, smirking softly. But it doesn't take too long before they're moving through some rather unique scenery, and it becomes challenging for Barbara to keep her eyes off of it, and on the indicator directing them where to go. "I... I've been to one alien planet, in my time helping the Justice League... But, this is like something out of a dream." She softly states, before she glances over to Elektra to her right, then to Matt seated on the other side.

"You okay over there?" She asks him. "I can't imagine this is easy for you. Your senses are... used to something pretty different. We're almost there." She notes, before glancing to the others.

"Hold tight. I'm gonna pick up the throttle. See how this thing really purrs."

A second later, and after a quick swipe of her hand upon the controls, Barbara sends the tub-mobile tripling in speed, headed toward the industrial landscape spread out before them. She's grinning, as the tub really rockets forward now! "I think we're closing in on our destination. Keep your hands inside the car until we come to a full stop, folks!"

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke is napping. Look, he hasn't been getting a lot of sleep (for none of your business reasons) and he'll nap when he can. But as they approach the sickly yellow gas giant and Barbara hits the gas...

Luke rubs his eyes and yawns, taking in a deep breath and rolling his shoulders back, looking over at the others. "We there yet?"

Jessica Jones has posed:
"That's what I was wondering. If Reed and Sue have to bend over backwards to get us here - who could possibly be mining materials from the negative zone." Jess huffs a moment, "I suppose aliens. It's usually aliens these days." Then she sees the industry of the negative zone and gawks.

"Whoa..." This implies so many things. Such as people living here. And living really badly by the looks of that. But is that positive zone standards talking? Perhaps. "I don't know how to process this."

She looks over at Matt and then explains, "Big industrial buildings on a rocky surface. It's a moon around a big yellow gas giant. I guess the colour doesn't matter so much in the explanation but it's nasty looking." In this moment she wishes she had the cool of Luke to just nap through this craziness.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"A car needs a name."

Yes, this is what Elektra contributes to this road trip as they are 'sailing' through the place, gaze on Barbara a moment as she shares those words with perhaps a smirk under her mask. Yet as they talk of being off-world her expression turns sour, as if remembering last time she did so was rather unpleasant. She looks out the window, just in time to spot that weird-shaped tower.

Hands grip the side of the car at it's sight. That just screams -wrong-.

"We process it with booze, of course." She tells Jessica with a glance over to the back. With just enough time to squint murderously at Luke.

"What's the plan, Daredevil?"

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"I don't think they'll let you keep it," Daredevil says of the tub-mobile, "But maybe they've got a spare lying around somewhere. You should ask."

Matt sits with tensed shoulders in his seat, shifting as though trying but failing to get comfortable. Finally, when talk of visiting alien worlds comes up, he chimes in: "I feel like this only counts as an alien world in the most literal sense of the word. This place is ... wrong. Or ... not wrong, but different. It doesn't feel right."

The others may be well aware how Matt perceives the world quite differently. It must be strange indeed to try and do so where laws that are nigh-immutable on Earth seem completely absent. As Jess explains the visual element to him he nods his head gratefully, but remains otherwise silent.

As the tub-mobile closes in on their destination, a pleasant-sounding chime compels them to stop near what looks to be a factory of some kind. Acrid, yellow-grey smoke is belched into the sky and what little of the ground that isn't concealed beneath rusted metal appears ashen and wasted.

Occasionally, a figure on what looks almost like a pair of shortened water skis connected by a yolk that they grip with both hands zips past above. This way and that, as though patrolling but with no order or reason to their routes.

When asked the plan, a wan sort of smile crosses Daredevil's face.

"This seems like as good a place to start looking as any. We don't need to start a fight if we don't have to. Let's stick our noses where they don't belong."

That said, he vaults over the edge of the tub and stalks across the cramped courtyard towards the factory their signal is zeroed in on. Fearlessly (that's kind of his thing) he disappears into the yawning doorway.

Should the others follow, they will find a factory that seems entirely automated and in the process of creating ... gloves? Yes, gloves. Like the lightning-hurling devices they encountered back in Manhattan. This place appears to be manufacturing them and packing them into metal crates marked with a stylized yellow axe.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke leaps over the size of the tub once they've landed, and then holds it still for the ladies. Despite them all being quite more athletic than he is. Once everyone is off, he starts walking, and when they find the gloves, he raises a brow.

He looks among them, assesses himself as the most invulnerable, and reaches for one oft he gloves. "Let's see what's here."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess does follow. She isn't sure if she should touch anything - besides the fact that her feet are touching the ground. Her limited understanding of science does extend to 'anti-matter and matter shouldn't touch or kaboom' but she is quickly realising that understanding doesn't seem to apply here.

Her eyes roam over the inventory and she grimaces. "That's a lot of weapons. At the very least may be we can shut this factory down. But I'd like to know who is behind it all-" Her eyes roam around for an office. Perhaps they have a foreman. Perhaps they have records. She wanders off from Matt and the rest to snoop for details.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
With the tub landed, Batgirl has a smirk remain upon her visible visage beneath the cover of her mask over her eyes. "My vehicles all still run on a hybrid system of gas and electric. Whatever this is using, I wouldn't mind getting a piece of it in to some of my own stuff." She says, as she rises up from her seat, and exits the vehicle, a small smile shown to Luke for his chivalry in an age where it has been stomped in to near extinction. "Positive zone, indeed." She quietly quips following the exit of the tub.

With her eyes now roaming the strange production facility, Batgirl raises up her wrist gauntlet, glancing down at it as she walks toward where Daredevil leads. "Without my drones, I'm at a bit of a loss compare to my usual operating level... It's possible I'm getting over reliant upon my machines though..."

She glances toward the others, but keeps pace with Matt, eventually passing in through the large structure's interior, with the reveal of the production equipment met by a gaze from Batgirl, as she takes it all in. "Those look familiar..." She says, noting the gloves in the distance, her eyes looking toward her companions once more, the red braid swaying gently behind her shoulders as she sweeps her eyes about.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
One hand rests on the edge of the tub-mobile and then Elektra is jumping nimbly over the side, up to her full height. Gaze goes up to the sky where that odd flying contraption is moving to and fro before she sets on moving along the others to investigate the inside of the factory. She moves quiet, eyes taking in the various automated devices with a raised brow.

"We found at least one of the factories." she prowls closer to one of the crates, picking up a pair of gloves, "These are equal to the ones those goons were using." she fits them over her own gloves because might as well test them out, right? Hopefully on the bad guys. But they seem mysteriously absent.

"I see no tracks or traces of anyone around. At least none that aren't made by these machines." she nods ahead.

"We should look further in." She whispers.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"Better to just rely on yourself," Daredevil answers Batgirl, not letting on that the fact he doesn't use a lot of gadgets is more to do with the fact that he habitually forgets the wi-fi password and relies on Daisy to keep the smart-home doodads in check.

As he walks, he draws the billy club from its holster on his thigh. He stretches out to strike it against the side of one of the machines, a dull clang filling the space. In his mind, however, he perceives the layout through his sonar-like sense of hearing. There is indeed what looks like a circular room suspended from the ceiling, acccessible by a ladder.

"Might be an office of some sort," Matt answers, pointing up towards it with the billy club still in hand, "There's a slim chance any of these computers are compatible with our equipment, but if you can get something off them we can probably make use of it."

"See what you can find," he suggests to Elektra, pointing towards one of the non-symmetrical gateways that leads to another part of the factory, "Don't go far, anyone. We might need to get out of here and a hurry and as Richards tells it, that bubble we arrived in is the only way in or out."

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke looks at the glove, turning it over and over, and then he just... _squeezes_, crushing it in his hands and looking around. He tosses it to the side and starts to follow the others. "Find me the power source for the factory. We get that, we put this place out of business."

That's Luke's specialty: getting right to the nitty gritty. He isn't the detective in the group.

Any of the detectives in the group.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess pauses and stares up at the cylindrical room suspended from the ceiling. "Who designs a factory like that - unless they expect to be under siege and need to pull up the ladder." Fat lot that'd do them against everyone here except Luke. And even then, they'd get a boost up from their allies.

She starts to climb up the ladder to see what's inside that control room. As she looks down she grimaces again at the industrialness of the weapons production. "I still don't know how it is they're getting these weapons to our world. But they're ramping up production big time. What could their gain be from this? Do we have resources they want. Heck, is an energy drink a super explosive in this world?"

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Mmm, I like a man that knows when to smash." Elektra comments when Luke speaks of destroying the power source, grinning under her mask before starting to prowl towards that gateway Daredevil points her out to. She still has time to speak over her shoulder to Matt, "It wouldn't be the first time you lost me, would it?" about someone getting stranded in this negative zone.

Yep, the day wouldn't be complete with a little Elektra jab on Matt apparently. Isn't it just tempting to leave Elektra here?

Yet the next moment she is out of sight, further into the bowels of this place, going fully quiet and clinging to the shadows, moving like a wraith through this eery place.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
It takes only a second for Batgirl to appear at Elektra's side, watching the woman slip the glove on with a cautious stare. "Careful. Those things pack quite a punch..." She warns in a hushed tone, her wrist-computer still up as she is using the onboard scanning tech to keep abreast on their surroundings. With a glance back toward Matt, Jess and Luke, Babs look onward toward where Daredevil was indicating. "There are foreign computers here too, unlike those found on Earth? God, you're going to make me fall in love with this place..." She mutters, with another green eyed glance down to her holo-graphic display humming gently against her forearm, projecting a small illuminated rundown of data for her to ever continuously observe.

Batgirl regards Jessica ascending the ladder, quietly calling up to her "Be careful." Followed by a soft shake at Elektra's smash quip toward Luke. She trails after the Ninja Assassin, the two of them having worked together quite a lot at this point, thus she knows how to keep up just fine with her on the scouting endeavor!

Matthew Murdock has posed:
As is so often the case, Matt doesn't rise to Elektra's bait. For those unaware, there's clearly something unresolved and glaring there but he puts it aside. Part of being Daredevil is compartmentalizing all the misery to deal with alone on a rooftop at some later date. To his credit, he doesn't consider leaving her behind. Not for long, anyway.

"Sorry, Batgirl, but you can't stay. I don't want to deal with your family asking me where you went."

As Luke and Elektra stalk stomp and stalk deeper into the factory, it becomes stranger and stranger. Conveyer belts of a sort jut at strange angles both above and below them as they step out onto a clattering catwalk. A massive facility manufacturing these lightning glove weapons, funneling them through to the hub near the entrance where they are packaged.

There, at the heart it far below as Luke predicted, is a humming sphere of something. Light and some kind of roiling substance that must be the source of power. Suspended in a field of some kind, held in check by what looks to be machinery built into the lowest levels of the factory.

In the office, Jessica and Batgirl find an eclectic collection of things. A computer terminal with a holographic display in yellow. A scattering of different items almost like random brick-a-brack on the desks, and several screens showing different parts of the factory including the main floor where Elektra and Luke currently find themselves.

And in the corner, easily at first, is what looks like an auburn-haired man. No strange alien features, save the blue jumpsuit with silver fittings that he wears being not the kind of fashion one would see anywhere on Earth. He stands leaning against the wall, his eyes closed. Sleeping, maybe? Though he doesn't respond to the noise they make climbing into the place.

Luke Cage has posed:
"It's a gift," Luke tells Elektra, flashing Barbara a grin and a wink. He doesn't look at Jessica because he suspects that her eyes are rolling into her head so hard they might slide down her throat.

He starts picking up bits and pieces of metal or nuts and bolts or whatever passes for it, making small, semi-spherical objects about the size of large marbles. Why?

Ammo.

He stops deep inside the factory, looking down at what he assumes is the power source of the entire place. He shakes his hand, making all those metal hemispheres jingle-jangle in his hand. He tries the comm that contacts all of them: << This thing working? I think I found the power source. I'm gonna start tryna smash it now unless someone wants to give me a reason not to. >>

Jessica Jones has posed:
"It's like everybody has holograms all of a sudden. Yet I'm stuck with a shitty old square LCD in my office," Jess says as she looks at the technology even the negative zone seems to have. Square. Her monitor is SQUARE. Nosing about in the office space she eventually decides to touch a finger to the holographic display.

Perhaps it has readouts - or even off switches. She selects the area they're in. Well, as best she can tell it's the area they're in. Nothing here is completely straight forward. "Do you ever get the impression we're just a bunch of nosey assholes who stomp in to the wrong place at the right time and punch things until the world gets a little better?"

She peers over at Batgirl. A literal grown woman wearing a bat costume to intimidate her enemies. "Hey I've always wanted to know. Do you get a lot of requests to go to furry conventions? I'd think the Bats would be high on the 'we want them on our panel' because you're, to them, a life styler..."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl bypassed the ladder, and used her own grapple gun to reach the apex of its vaulted destination. Without her cape, it is a bit of a risk to use the grapple gun, but she's a pro at it at this point, and is confident in herself. When she arrives, she re-attaches the gun to her utility belt, just as Jess inquires about her suit. A smirk touches her visible lips, as she strides in toward the computer displays. "Gotham's Furry Conventions are nothing to shake a stick at, Miss Jones." She quietly responds, as her eyes go to one of the displays, and her fingers begin to manipulate the screen. "Nobody parties harder than a bunch of people in sweaty fursona costumes..." She comments further, this time with a slightly distracted edge to her tone.

"At least try to find the plug before you result to smashing." Batgirl's voice says over the team comm network to Luke. "But, if you do, be on alert for automated defenses."

Biting her bottom lip, her eyes reading the Negative Zone computer display, she speaks again. "Found something curious. Something called an 'Ultimate Nullifier', I'm going to download the information on it, see if it pans out. If it's up here, I'll grab it outright too."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"Give it a few." Elektra suggests to Luke before he starts the Luke-Smash, arms folding together as she regards the surroundings, prowling around that power source as she looks for anything of interest down here.

"While I advocate chaos most of the time this is a time where we should stay our hand." A smirk coming to her features, "For now. Let them see what they can find." she flexes her gloved hands now, perhaps considering whether these weapons work here at all before looking further down the corridor.

Maybe there's a simple electrical plug to this thing. But that would be a positive and this is all negative.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
<< Don't call our allies furries, Jess, >> Daredevil's voice chides over the comms, still poking around somewhere in the factory on his own, << I've got a feeling if they have a whole moon dedicated to this sort of thing, one factory isn't going to slow them down much but I guess every little bit helps. >>

In the main factory level, the power source does not immediately conform to the conventions that are commonplace on Earth. There are certainly wires leading into it, but it's difficult to tell what they're providing as there also appear to be tubes and chains that dangle from it with no clear purpose. It may well be that smashing is the best solution.

While the computer Batgirl is attempting to download from is strange, it isn't hard to bridge the gaps and soon the schematics for this 'Ultimate Nullifier' are captured and stored.

It isn't until she verbally mentions the device that the man in the corner of the office, unnoticed, suddenly awakens. One arm darts out to grasp Jessica by the wrist, his eyes flashing yellow and aggressive. He shouts at her, though the language is bizarre and indecipherable. There is a hiss of static that seems to come from the air itself, and when he speaks again it is in English.

"Intruders! Don't touch that!"

Then, all at once, that chaos Elektra was pining for makes itself known. Alarm claxons begin to blare throughout the facility, echoing far into the distance to suggest they may be sounding in other buildings, too. The man lifts a hand, a flash of yellow light filling the air before something like an axe fashioned from hard light manifests in his fist. He brings it down to try and hack at Jessica, shouting all the while.

"Don't touch it! Don't! Intruders!"

Down on the factory floor, the machinery itself seems to turn on Elektra and Luke. Mounted turrets slip from jagged panels in the walls, peppering the walkway with blasts of yellow energy. The very tubes and chains dangling from the machines seem animated of their own accord, attempting to wrap about them.

Luke Cage has posed:
It doesn't matter that he has no idea if these yellow energy bursts can hurt him or not, he dashes over to where she is and takes one to the back, letting out a hard grunt ass his knees buckle slightly.

He leans over and winds up, throwing his handful of metal hemispheres straight at the power source with all his strength. If he was a shotgun, he'd be one of those really special ones designed to knock Iron Man on his ass.

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess smirks herself as Matt tells her not to call Batgirl a furry. "Alls I'm saying is Gotham has an inordinately high population of furries who commit crimes..." Can't a girl have a little fun at her friend's expense? Perhaps Matt has a point.

She is, however, beyond startled when someone grabs her wrist. She looks at the negative man and at his grip he has on her. "When he says don't touch, does he mean touch - this place is negative after all." When he brandishes a weapon however she states, "I'm going to take that as a yes."

Her other hand meets his wrist with the weapon and she grips tightly, knocking it in to the computer until he lets go. "Usually this is when I start running. But I'm not sure if the negative police would give us medals instead of locking us up." Has Jess confused negative with opposite? You bet.

She yanks the guy up and tosses him against the computer. "I think we've outstayed our unwelcome." She checks Batgirl to make sure she's good with the download. "Did you get your nullificator? Let's get out of here."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Batgirl would be chided in to oblivion for having missed the man hiding in the corner of the computer nest, were she here with her own people. But she's not here with her people, so surely nobody will fault her for that overlook! She had been drawn in by the strange computer display, and its shiny features. The 'Ultimate Nullifier' had just made her internally salivate with curiosity too, and when it began the data transfer, she watched her wrist display as it counted down...

Her eyes snapped up when Jessica was attacked, however, and it caused her to straighten up, her right hand snapping down to her belt to draw a jagged-sharp edged batarang from the side of her right hip. She raises it up in her right gloved hand, squeezing the end of it, as she waits for a good moment to throw... but recoils when Jessica seems to be ontop of it. She's unsure of what Jones is capable of, but quickly learning the answer to be roughly... 'a lot.'

When her wrist computer beeps softly, signifying the download transfer was complete, she slips the batarang away, and reaches for her grapple gun. "I'm good to go, come on." She tells the other...

A second later, and Batgirl is firing it out of the ladder hatch, the line rapidly descending down toward the ground where it snaps in to the floor, with the other end attached to the hatch above their heads. Babs motions toward Jessica with her left hand, her right on the gun. "Ever zip-lined before?" She asks, indicating Jessica to join her and hold on.

Together, they'll go on a rather pulse-pounding quick descent down the line toward the floor not too far from where Luke and Elektra are!

Get your 'Weees' ready!

Elektra Natchios has posed:
"That's your cue." Elektra says when the sound of those klaxons start being heard, just in time to pivot and spot Luke taking one for the team. Awww, she almost feels like a Defender now. There's a nod out of the ex-assassin, of respect or something else, just before she jumps to the side, impressively nimble as one of those turrets follows her with those deadly yellow beams in her direction. She rolls under the first salvo before cartwheeling and jumping in the air to dodge a pair of chains that try to wrap around her.

"This whole damn place has come alive to kill us." She hisses, feeling one of those tubes hitting her side but it's not enough to send her to the ground.

She manages to finally reach one of those turrets and slides to it's blind spot, hands taking hold of it before she lets a discharge of electricity come out it's gloves to hopefully destroy this turret!

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matter containment breach detected, chimes the impassive voice of whatever automated system controls this place, Matter containment breach detected. Annihilation cascade imminent.

<< That doesn't sound good, >> Matt calls over the comms, already moving through the factory back the way he came << I think I've found out how they're moving things across dimensions ... but we can talk about that later! >>

The entire factory is in chaos, the power source damaged by Luke's impromptu shotgun attack reels and groans. The field around it flickers, and an earth-shattering explosion tears through the lower levels of the facility. Not once, but over and over again, a chain of detonations climbing ever higher. The turrets explode when damaged, though it seems the whole place is going up with them.

"Run, run, run, run, run," Matt calls, pausing in the doorway to wave the rest of the Defenders out into the courtyard and the tub-mobile. High above, those strange ski-mounted flyers seem to be circling and sending blasts of energy down in their direction. He'll be the last in the car, hoping Batgirl learned enough about the thing to fly it under adverse conditions.

Luke Cage has posed:
Luke's super-strength is really useful for when he has to escape places. Mostly because he doesn't just smash through things like the Juggernaut when chasing bitches, but because he can run _really fucking fast_. Not Flash or even Quicksilver fast, but definitely outpace most commercial automobiles.

Luke is Usain Bolting his way through the factory, snapping Barbara up by the waist on his way past her.

"I do NOT need an angry Bat sitting at my bar asking why you didn't make it home, girl."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess looks at how much time there is and whether or not a flying fox is a fun idea right now. She decides no with a shrug to Babs - then simple steps off the platform and lands with a thud on the ground. On two feet and one hand. There is no hair flick when she rights herself though. She's not Black Widow.

'Run run run' is a language she understands very well. Foot in to the ground she launches herself and starts sprinting for that exit. As a cable whips out and wraps about her wrist she keeps running and the cable yanks, hits its length limit with the wall - the cable stretches and then snaps as she yanks it and keeps on running.

Shaking the cable free of her wrist she jumps over a random piece of weirdly placed machinery and then ducks behind another machine to avoid the yellow pewpew energy fire. A set of snaky cables ahead of her make her change direction again with another dive across a bigger machine, a roll, then she's back up on her feet and catches up with Luke. "Hey. Having Negative fun yet?"

Enough of that, she ducks back out the door and jumps in to the tub. "Go go go... Batgirl?" She cannot believe Luke is carrying Batgirl. This is happening -right now- right in front of her eyes. "Huh."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Doing the zipline solo is no new feat for Batgirl, as another feature of Jessica reveals itself. She can fall from heights without a twitch of fear! Noted inside the Bat-mind!

The descent down is quick, and ends with Batgirl doing a quick roll from shoulder to backside, before she springs up, and retracts the cable inside of her grapple gun. With others approaching, she spins around, her right hand casting out a series of silvery pellets that impact against the ground, creating a bursting wall of smoke that pours out of their insides. The hissing smoke creates a blocking screen that Luke bursts through, only to grab her up a second later! In the space where she had been, the strange sun-yellow energy blasts hit the floor, sizzling and scorching the ground.

"I downloaded as much as I could!" She speaks in to the comms, as she is carried off by the impressively shouldered bartender. "Thanks for the lift." She tells him upon arriving back at the car, whilst running around it to skip herself up and back inside.

One advantage of no cape? It doesn't get hung up on every little fucking thing around you!

"We're headed out!" She calls out, before the vehicle is reactivated again, and this time without any worry of applying the 'gas' to get them up and gaining distance from the warzone that the factory had turned in to.

"That almost felt like a trap." She says whilst piloting. "Anyone else feel trap?" She inquires, catching her breath.

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Elektra doesn't need to listen to it twice to start bolting out of the factory, separating herself from Luke on their way. Did she decide to stay? In the end it seems she simply chose to take a shortcut so she isn't arriving much later than the rest of them.

"Well, at least it seems there's one gentleman on this team." Second jab at Matt, perhaps? Will she go for strike three? Not really as she is too busy hopping onto the tub-mobile so they can get the heck out of there. With no one left behind of course. Elektra makes sure to do an headcount. Look at that, she worrying with people.

"Perhaps, though hopefully what you got from their files is legitimate." she relaxes on her seat a bit, long black hair flowing behind her as she turns her head to look to the factory that is now becoming a dot on the horizon.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
"How come you never carried me out of danger?" Matt asks from his perch on the edge of the tub-mobile, a smirk on his face as he listens to them arrive, "Are we not that kind of friends yet?"

He doesn't wait for an answer, instead jumping into the vehicle along with the rest of them as it lifts swiftly out of the courtyard.

They don't need to get very high into the air to see what is happening. Whatever was powering the factory was more volatile than it seemed, and the 'annihilation cascade' the computerized voice spoke of seems to be tearing not just through the facility but the moon as a whole. Explosions tear across the surface, towering factory edifices tumbling into vast canyons as tectonic plates groan and shift.

It's probably for the best that the whole place seemed largely automated. Even through the chaos, the Defenders can see near identical-looking men in blue and silver jumpsuits escaping on those strange flying contraptions. Below them, the moon is torn asunder by positive matter meeting negative. It's probably a good thing Reed came up with a way to convert them at an atomic level before they arrived.

"Maybe a trap," Matt agrees, ducking as a blast of yellow laser fire sizzles overhead, "Or the kind of confidence which comes with being in a completely separate dimension to your enemies. Either way, it sounds like we don't have to worry about those antimatter weapons. At least for now."

Luke Cage has posed:
"You're all just jealous," Luke says, hopping into the bathtub and making it rock a little with his landing. "I got to carry Batgirl around." He gives Matt a smug grin that the other man can probably _hear_, and then sits down in his spot again.

"We leavin'? Cuz I get a distinct feeling we ain't welcome."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess flops back on her cushion in the tub and watches the negative world end. "Damn. Did I cause that?" She's not sure. He did grab her hand and yell at her not to touch and then all heck went weird. "I think you're lucky she didn't Bat-something you Luke."

She frowns and then fishes out of her jacket a bottle of whisky. No time like the present. She unscrews the lid and takes a nice long gulp. This was too much for a Friday. Friday's are meant to be taken easy.

Barbara Gordon has posed:
Behind the driver's controls, Barbara does not focus on the crumbling world outside of their flying car. Instead, her eyes focus on their destination back toward that hundred yard wide bubble back to their home. "If these places are this fragile, I wonder how anyone gets any work done." She does say through gritted teeth whilst piloting.

A glance at the rear view holo display, and Babs smirks at Luke, then at jessica and her whiskey. "No open containers in a vehicle in motion." She says, not really meaning it, it just comes to her mind, as she was once enrolled in a Gotham City police academy!

"Here we go. Hold tight. We're going plaid." She states, her right hand twisting a silver donut-shaped wheel, before she jams the throttle forward, discovering a second tier of speed that has them going twice as fast toward their exit bubble as they topped out at when arriving! I.e. very fast!

Elektra Natchios has posed:
Reaching up to her mask she lowers it when she spots that Jessica brought whiskey. Because of course she did. Elektra extends one hand over her back, wordless, waiting for JJ to share the goods. They deserved it right?

"I don't like anything that's called Ultimate Nullifier." She points out to the rest of the team, "Somehow I don't think we are through this yet."

Glass half-empty. Clearly.

They reach that bubble that is about to send them to their dimension and Elektra holds on tight, sustaining her breath. She hates dimensional travelling.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Batgirl's judicious application of speed brings the tub-mobile out of danger in short order, and the last they see of the moon is chunks of it sheering off to be caught in the gravity of the yellow gas giant.

Up ahead, the Distortion Area - the exit and entry point to the Zone - awaits them and the flying car passes into it as though it weren't there. Once inside the bubble, the contents of it (invisible from the outside) can be seen just as they were when they left. A platform and a parking space for the flying tub.

"For once, I agree with you," Matt says to Elektra, "Batgirl, I know you're into technology but it might be worth letting Richards take a look at that before you try to build one at home. If we even have whatever it is you need to do that ... "

A pause, then a shake of his head: "No building an Ultimate Nullifier. I'm making an executive decision on that."

There's a flash of light, the nauseating and anxiety-riddled feeling of having their entire selves changed at an atomic level to suit the universe they're returning to, and they once more find themselves in the laboratory at Four Freedoms Plaza.

Not to mention that, by the clock, their day in the Negative Zone appeared to account for ... 25.7 seconds here on Earth. Reed is only just stepping down from the transporter controls when they find themselves looking up at him.

"Find what you were looking for?" asks the Super Scientist.

Luke Cage has posed:
Once they've arrived, Luke swings himself out of the tub and lands on the other side. Reed's question gets a raised brow and then he looks at the people in the tub. "I'm not sure what we were looking for, but we found some shit in there," he admits. He helps whoever wants it out of the Fantasticar.

"You got any idea what an 'ultimate nullifier' is, Richards? Cuz You about to."

Jessica Jones has posed:
Jess passes the bottle to Elektra. There's a mutual understanding there that the world is terrible and sometimes you should drink your cares away. Well, may be that's just Jess's understanding. And by sometimes really it's all the time for her.

Back in the real world she quickly steps out of the F4 weirdness machine and pats herself down. "Yep. That sucked. Not doing that again." She shudders and gives Reed a ~look~. But she needs him. They are, after all, New York. Poor Batgirl doesn't stand a chance here if it comes to an argument about who has the best baseball teams.

"We found... stuff. It was yellow and mostly all gone now probably. May be the job is done. We can pat ourselves on the back at the bar and forget all about this nonsense."

Barbara Gordon has posed:
"I'm just going to say that I have no plans to build whatever this is, after watching that place just fall apart in our wake." Batgirl responds moments after she zooms the tub-mobile in to their extraction bubble. When they blink back in to their reality, Babs lets her eyes roam around the lab, reorienting herself to where they had been apparently only seconds ago, according to a ticking clock she spies on a far wall.

With a slight exhale, Babs rises up, accepting Luke's offered hand to exit the vehicle with aid again. She shoots him another soft smile before her eyes go toward Reed.

With a nod of her head, Babs moves toward Mr. Fantastic, her eyes dropping to her wrist computer. "Ultimate... yeah... What he said." She responds, "Ready to transfer it to your database. I was betting it was some manner of an EMP device, but I'm starting to doubt my hunch on that now." She states, her head shaking side to side, causing the red French braid of hair to sway behind her back.

"Okay, transfer initiated."

Elektra Natchios has posed:
The real respect comes when Elektra doesn't hog the bottle and instead passes it around. To Babs because drinking and driving is a thing. To Luke so perhaps he shuts it with all the questions, they can all choose to have a little swig. And yes, she even passes it to Matt, letting out a dramatic little gasp when he states agreeing with Elektra.

"You agreeing with me? The world must be ending. Oh wait..." Just as that 'world' they were in blinks out of existence. She smirks, bringing her mask back up to cover her face before they meet up with Reed. What? Some people don't know Elektra is ..., Elektra, the assassin.

She slides back out of the car, her simple comment to Reed being, "Nice wheels." patting the tub-mobile on the side.

Matthew Murdock has posed:
Matt takes the bottle for a moment, sniffs it, and then shakes his head before handing it back to Elektra. They're not quite at that point, no. He climbs out of the tub-mobile, rolling his shoulders uncomfortably and trying to shake the feeling of being fundamentally altered so as to not explode upon contact with their home universe.

Meanwhile, Reed accepts the data transfer with a nod of his head. He's wearing something like glasses that only covers one eye, and the inside illuminates with data once it is received.

"I'll need to take time to look over this ... "

And so, the Defenders sojourn into the Negative Zone concludes. One evil weapon-crafting world down. A strange device in their hands so to speak. Maybe now things can get back to normal?

"Oh, by the way, jump into decontamination chamber over here," Reed tells them, suddenly drawn from his thoughts, "I need to make sure your atomic structures were completely reversed or else you might, well, explode."

Almost normal.