2447/Through the Looking Glass Darkly

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Through the Looking Glass Darkly
Date of Scene: 14 July 2020
Location: Hank Pym's Mobile Laboratory of a Parallel Earth
Synopsis: Our heroes brave the portal to a parallel Earth, rescue Hank from the abomination that is PymTron, and break all of his stuff on their way out!
Cast of Characters: Nadia Pym-van Dyne, Thor, Samuel Morgan, Jennifer Walters, Bobbi Morse, Vivian Vision, Janet van Dyne




Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
It has been about a week since the security of Hank Pym's mobile laboratory was overcome and the 'Butler' laid low.

Within the laboratory many strange and wondrous experiments in various stages of completion were discovered, not the least of which was a large 'stargate' like machine in the center of the room, an array of computers and cables linked up to a metal ring standing vertically. The ring's surface was studded with crystals at regular intervals and from these crystals cables back to the computers controlling some sort of energy flow, with a highly advanced generator nearby feeding the entire system.

The area was cold and dusty though like Hank had been absent for weeks. The portal however seemed to be the only place he could have gone and Nadia was somehow sure they would find him on the other side.

Thus, Nadia and Techno have spent the past week puzzling over Hank's system trying to get it working and now that they finally seem to have figured out how to switch it on with it's last known settings have called everyone back together again.

...which brings us to the present.

Thor has posed:
    As matters progressed to bring the group to zero hour and the effort to recover Hank Pym, Thor had known best to stay out of the way of those who had a talent for the devices within the lab. Just on the edge, arms folded as he held a place against the wall to stand sentinel and observe. The mighty hammer Mjolnir rested upon the floor beside his boot and his garb was that of his armored scale.
    At times he would let his attention drift and follow along with one of the scientists, then shift when another would take on an effort. What counsel he had he would keep to himself for the now, awaiting the moment when they are to depart and hopefully find their missing scientist.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
"Urgh," Nadia is not at her most articulate at the moment as she takes a break for some coffee to hopefully revive her brain. She has probably not slept much if at all in the past week, being so close, yet so far to finding her father driving her far past any sane human sleep schedule.

Once the coffee is consumed she is back to typing away on one of the computer terminal. "Okay I think I've managed to isolate the trans-dimensional macroscale occilation frequency that he used to ressonate with the dimensional barrier. We should be ready for a real test."

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It honestly wasn't necessary for the 'Butler' to punch Sam across a room and break several of his ribs to get the teenage Titan to help out with research. He'd have done that regardless, with pleasure even. But as it is, he's not exactly fit for any daring heroics, so the time he didn't spend in the gym or the danger room he spent in the lab with Nadia. Now, normally there isn't much of a challenge for a technopath to get to the bottom of a machine like this, but... of course, the Pym factor applied. Luckily Techno is an actual genius, and is assisting another genius, so between them there is actual progress. It's almost like the old days, working on something supremely esoteric with someone watching over his shoulder, except this time around the company was far more genial.

    Small talk with the Son of Odin and the mysterious daughter of Pym? It's been a week to remember.

    When it became obvious that the solution was close, and that soon they must venture through, Sam had decamped for a short while to, as he put it, 'take precautions'. And so he's back in the lab now, in full armor bar the helmet. It's a suit of power armor in matte midnight blue, with a stylised T on the right pauldron. Next time a 'Butler' appears, he's not going to be quite as fragile.

    "Then we can engage the dimensional oscillator and see if we can establish a stable trans-dimensional bridge. Remind me to make a few alterations to the Einstein-Rosen bridge theorem when this is done, they were off by a country mile."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
Jen has been busy with the search of her cousin, and hasn't really paid attention to the progress Nadia and Techno have been making. Still, she seems relieved to hear that they've made some progress and that they could use her help keeping everybody safe from whatever it is that's on the other side of the stargate.

So here she is, dressed in her purple and white She-Hulk costume, watching Nadia and co. do science. Jennifer may be smart, but she's lawyer smart, not science smart, so most of what's going on just sails over her head. She stands next to Thor, just silently following along the best she can.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi takes out a briefcase and from it, a tablet and a tiny little drone. "The real test you say? Finally." She smirks a touch. She has been helping. Insights in to the way Hank thinks and all that, though this experiment is not her forte, which is biochemistry.

She turns on the drone and it lifts up in to the air. "We'll send this little backup dwarf through and see what we can see, if anything at all. Hopefully it'll be useful." She picks up the tablet and brings up its camera and controls, walking closer to the mechanism. "If this works, someone will need to stay behind to make sure we're not trapped there too."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian seems to be busy with efforts of her own. Albeit far less high tech than anything portal related. She's methodically putting charged batteries into a series of sixteen cheap microdrones of her own, the sort you can buy in a hobby store as a relatively disposable childrens toy rather than Bobbi's fancy SHIELD tech, and making last minute checks to confirm each works properly.

"Speaking of the test... I feel as if now is the right time to volunteer to be the first of our expedition to cross through this portal. Unlike everyone else I am able to back up my memories. So in the event something goes wrong.. Well nothing would be permanently lost."

She glances around and shrugs. "Unless of course I am insured with a policy that does not cover scientific mishaps."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet doesn't know much about Pym's tech-- Hank is a genius with few peers. But she does understand the essential theory, and knows particularly how to actually operate his equipment and mitigate what danger lies within its use.

Also, she can decipher his handwriting quite easily.

"Insurance is for poor people, honey," Janet assures Viv with a distracted tone. She's in her lightweight black bodysleeve, though it's been plated for a little extra armor and there's a life support module between her shoulderblades. Just in case. "No company on Earth is going to underwrite you at a rate worth having."

She looks around, then back at Viv. "But with the braintrust here and the rest of the team a phone call away, I'm sure we can find some safer alternative to just chucking you through the hole in reality and hope you come out on the other side with your circuits in one piece."

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Under the guidance of Nadia and Techno, with the occasional non-intuitive hints from Janet one can only get from knowing the man personally, the portal is brought online. Reality itself seems to ripple and vibrate within the ring before finally starting to swirl into a glowing vortex, a theoretical wormhole bridge between parallel Earths.

"We did it!" Nadia cheers with what energy she can muster, downing another cup of coffee. "I should change, there's no telling what we might find on the other side."

Giving the pendant around her neck a solid flick, something seems to pop out of it. Where upon Nadia just seems to vanish into thin air. Though the very perceptive might manage see a very tiny Nadia, in an incredible feat of acrobatics, donning the miniturized suit of her Wasp Armor that popped out of the necklace in mid-air. Then an instant later she is back to normal size holding her helmet. Her sleep deprived brain has clearly not processed how this might go over with Janet standing /right there/.

"Okay, so we have a portal!"

Thor has posed:
    Glancing sidelong toward Jen, Thor's voice might be heard though not intended to carry too much as he informs her quietly. "Ah. The key seems to be the oscillator. Of course." The tall blond man nods solemnly as if he had uncovered one of the myriad secrets of the universe. Though likely he grabs onto that word because he's heard it the most over the last few days.
    Yet that does not stop him from giving a knowing nod, and perhaps a hint of a self-deprecating half-smile toward the gamma-irradiated lawyer before he turns his attention back upon the others as they focus on their work.
    It takes only a little longer for the scientists to key the portal to life, bringing all their efforts to fruition. It also summons an easy smile to Thor's features as he pushes off of the wall. "Excellent work." He offers, hand gesturing downward and for Mjolnir to leap into his hand with a faint thwap.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "That we do." Sam manages eventually, after wrapping his head around seeing someone change into a suit in mid-air while also at a fraction of their size. It's... an experience. But then everything in this lab has been so far. "Or at least something that looks like one. We certainly have an event horizon."

    There's a nod to Bobbi, and her drone, as well as a gesture to Vivian and her own drones. "I say it's time for our remote brethren and sistren to have a look. I'll keep a tag on their signal and ... see if it stays steady, I suppose. Not sure how far my control stretches beyond dimensions, but it'll be an interesting experiment to see if dimensions apart from one another are considered to have distance between them."

    In short? Stand back, we're doing Science!

    And a word of thanks from Thor. Yup, week is one to remember. "I think we're definitely voiding our insurance doing this. Good thing none of my equipment is insured, so, nothing to worry about."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
"Of course," replies Jen with a sagacious nod. "The oscillator." She grins when Nadia announces their success, "Hey, good job, kiddo. Let's see what's on the other side."

Sam's comment catches her attention, though. "An event horizon? Don't those things happen at the edge of black holes? Are we about to spaghettify ourselves by going through that?" Just because she's not a scientist it doesn't mean she doesn't watch sci-fi films like Interstellar.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi hmms, dressed as Mockingbird, goggles on she gets a heads up from the drone as well. "Very useful, thank you Agent Johnson." She smiles and as the portal comes to life. "Okay peeps, let's see what's on the other side of the looking glass." She directs the drone in to the portal and waits for a signal to come back.

As the drone passes through to the other side, video comes back to everyone on this side watching. Another laboratory, similar to this one. It looks darker, different experiments laid about. There is no portal array on the other side, just the portal itself glowing. The drone picks up an alarm sound about a 'dimensional breach'.

"Hooo boy, ladies and gentlemen, looks like we're going to have company when we get to the other side."

She tries to sweep the drone around to get a broader view of the laboratory but the drone hits something invisible ~clunk~ and bounces off of it. Bobbi frowns a moment, "Hold on a second. Some kind of force field?" She tries to trace it out by pushing the drone against the invisible barrier.

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision does not huff, that would be undignified, but she does pout. "You know full well I don't have any circuits," she points out. "May I ask permission to route communications for everyone? I can task a subpersonality to provide each of you with directions, important tactical information or anything else you might need. My communications array is able to reach orbit, so even if there is interference on the other side I should be able to punch through."

At least it can most places. Down here in the lab she can really just shout really loudly at Jarvis and the poor AI deals with enough trouble as it is. As a precaution against the less Earth technology minded she's brought a few spare hands free headsets usually paired with cellphones. Just in case.

"Aunt Nadia next time you need to change just ask and I will project you a holographic screen." Techno can probably already tell that Viv has split off a version of herself to pilot each drone directly. "These are not intended for initial exploration, rather I plan to provide reconnaissance using them once we have established it is safe to cross."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet takes the precaution of snapping her exosuit helmet into place. It flickers up from a yoke around her neck and encapsulates her head, fully. Despite how light her costume is, it's a good deal more durable than some people might think. "Don't overthink it, Jen," Janet tells her friend, and pats Jen's forearm reassuringly while walking forward. The socialite casts an up-and-down at Nadia's outfit; fortunately, the Perfect Polite smile she flashes likely puts any worries to rest.

"We don't know what's on the other side of the gate," Janet tells Vivian. "It might be better to keep a few hole cards handy. Make sure everyone's personal communicator is on and sync'd, okay?" she requests of the android. "And then try to mute as much of your electromagnetic presence as possible. If you have to go loud, I want anyone nasty on the other side to have no idea what just cut loose on them."

Janet keeps moving and ends up in Bobbi's space, looking over her shoulder at the display with a furrowed brow.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The drone on the other side of the portal is able to map out what seems to be a 15' by 15' by 15' cube around the portal of some solid nearly translucent material. It would seem whoever or whatever inhabits the other side has taken some precautions against further unexpected visitors. Flashing lights swath the room on the other side in red as a warning continues to blair: "ALERT! ALERT! ACTIVE DIMENSIONAL BREACH IN PROGRESS!"

When Janet snaps on her helmet, Nadia does the same seeming to draw a small bit of encouragement from that smile.

"He's there, I know it! I'm going!" And then she's just walking towards the portal. Brave or insane, it's a tough call but she seems determined to save her father and not about to wait around for whatever's on the other side to prepare for their arrival.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Thor looks to the others, "Young Pymsdottir may be brash but she has great spirit. I shall support her and shatter this wall which bars our passage!" the tall blonde Asgardian says as he summons his hammer to his hand and walks towards the portal after Nadia.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    It's odd. The drone is there, but... even though Sam can see it, and knows he's close enough to sense it... he can't. There's nothing there. But the feed he gets from the controller is all he needs to make a decision. A few moments after it's obvious that the lab on the other side has gone into defensive lockdown, he's hoisting a sealed reinforced briefcase onto the nearest table, unlocks it despite never touching it, and opens the lid.

    Out comes the handgun, the reinforced model with the enlarged trigger guard to fit his gauntlets, and two magazines of specialty ammo. The case is slammed shut upon which it locks, and then Techno is striding forwards towards the portal. Clearly Nadia is going, and he's not going to let his team mate go alone.

    "If the other lab is like this one, what's the odds there's a 'Butler' lurking in there as well? Heads on swivels."

    *THUNK* His helmet slides into place, appearing in three pieces from the suit's gorget and sealing seamlessly. The eye lenses flare alive in a warning amber. He goes through the portal with pistol ready, as if stepping through a door into a room clearing drill.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
Jennifer nods to Janet. "Right. Not thinking about it." She watches with curiosity at the drones probing of the inside of the alterna-lab she shakes her head in wonder. "This is kind of amazing, you know that?"

And then Nadia throws all caution to the wind and goes through the portal. "Wait! Nadia!" But it's too late, so She-Hulk rushes in after her, ready to do some bustin' should it come to that.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi checks the charge on her staves, checks her ICER rounds are loaded and the gun is primed. She lets out a sigh as people start rushing in. A glance is given to the machinery and then she sends a message out just in case they don't make it back in time. Someone will come turn it on if it's been turned off.

This box on the other side is going to be a problem if someone doesn't bust it open. She checks her wings and smirks, they might be able to do it,.. but, well, every one is rushing through, so she counts to five and then steps through herself.

Vivian Vision has posed:
"That's why all my drones came from a toy shop," Vivian assures. "Do not worry. I do not typically broadcast at full power. I would not wish to expose anyone to harmful levels of radiation." She looks at the portal. "Well, more than they will already be receiving." In the few moments left she picks up a clear sports drink bottle filled with what looks like cloudy cooking oil and gulps it down. There is after all no guarantee the other side will have sunlight she can charge from.

Providing no-one objects to her accessing their tech a little Viv voice will do a quick comms check. A simple military styled test with one exception. <Aunt Nadia if you rush in and get yourself hurt I will be very annoyed at you>

And then everyone is rushing in. So one of her drones takes flight to follow each member of the group while the rest hover in a swarm around her. "Please try to stay close so I can cover everyone in a holographic invisiblity screen." She glances to Janet and adds "Miss van Dyne, are they always this much trouble?"

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"No wait, Nadia--!"

Janet swears sulferously and buzzes aloft after Hank's daughter. Furthur discussion will have to wait; Nadia's plunging in headfirst, and with her wings buzzing, Janet's probably faster off the mark than almost anyone else. She zips towards the gate and dives through it with the same reckless disregard for her safety.

"I'm through!" Janet calls back, and briefly resizes in mid-air to give an 'ok' sign. Then she disappears again, buzzing around and trying to track Nadia's position.

"Nadia! Damnit, where are you? You're grounded!"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Emerging on the other side of the portal it is indeed a lab very much like Hank's, almost the same in fact, minus the 'stargate' portal rig and some of the experiments seem darker, a bit beyond the pale like what looks to be a partially disected human corpse on a table. Another table has what looks to be an attempted at advanced highly invasive cybernetic integration of a corpse. Thankfuly neither of the corpses look like Hank or anyone familiar. In fact Hank is still nowhere to be seen

Nadia is blasting away at the almost invisible wall containing them with the energy blasters in her suit's gauntlets, though while able to cut steel they seem to be having little affect on whatever this material is.

"I'm right here!" she calls to Janet and then grimaces at the declaration of being grounded, "We can't just wait for them to get ready!" the impetuousness of youth is on full display. Teenagers are all immortal right?

Thor steps up whirling his famed hammer Mjolnir by the cord, "STAND BACK!" he calls out before unleashing it upon the translucent wall with a resounding crack. He has much better luck than Nadia, as while the wall doesn't shatter outright it is left with a massive crack.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    The holographic stealth is useful. It stops the rest of the team seeing Techno come to an almost complete stop as soon as he clears the portal, as if hesitating. The eye lenses flicker and dim, before coming back at full strength as GAUSS reboots. This leaves Sam momentarily blind and deaf... but senses come flooding back in as the system restarts. Several familiar signatures, a plethora of utterly alien ones, forcing a sense of disconnection on him that is quite disconcerting, as if someone suddenly realised the world had started spinning the other way without anyone else noticing.

    "Sector clear." His pistol hunts in the pattern trained into him over years of practice, using the drill as an anchor to normality and forcing his mind back to the present. "Stand by, I'll see if I can take down an emitter." Senses reach out, questing, loaded with the knowledge of the Pym language he picked up over the past seven days, ready to do unspeakable things to unsuspecting equipment.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
She-Hulk rushes through the portal after Nadia and Janet, and stumbles on the other side, not quite expecting things to be almost exactly the same. She straightens up and looks around, taking stock in the lab and wrinkles in distaste at the corpses. "We've got a regular Frankenstein here," she quips.

When Thor's hammer puts a serious crack in the containment shield that's keeping them hemmed in, she holds out a hand. "Step back. I've got this." She steps up to the crack, winds up and *WHAM* shatters the barrier. She steps back, dusting off her hands looking rather satisfied. "There we go. Barrier down."

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Perfect timing, Bobbi counted down and as she comes through the portal, her electronics frizzle a moment and she loses power to her wings. The alien technology starts renegotiating with the processor hooked up to it as it reboots. She sees the containment barrier come smashing down thanks to She-Hulk and carefully takes a few steps to the left, drawing her ICER out.

The field hiding her is very much appreciated. She checks the wings and a green light comes back finally. "Interesting," she murmurs to herself - passing through a stargate almost lost her the ability to fly. If the people of this lab think they're going to stop this team somehow, they have another thing coming.

Vivian Vision has posed:
With everyone else rushing through Viv, at the back of the group, pauses a moment to turn the lights off on her way out. Energy efficiency is important after all! Even when you are probably using an obscene amount of power on an experimental portal to somewhere that is presumably less pleasant.

Once she's through her little drone cloud will begin scattering in every direction they can reach - at least once they recover from any post-portal wobblyness. Surveying the room, the experiments and seeking any ways out. While her communications array will start hunting for incoming signals and her assorted sensors begin checking the air for composition/pollution/poisons/etc.

"So long as you remain within..." She checks the reach on her holograms. "Two hundred foot. I can keep you from being seen externally." Her subpersonalities will also do a quick repeat of the comms checks just to make sure everything works as intended. "Enhanced senses can detect the images are not real but in that case they should still obscure us."

Tentatively she also does a quick check to make sure her phasing will work correctly. Better to find out it doesn't work now than later!

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet abruptly buzzes furiously right in Nadia's path, glaring at the girl with eyes like daggers. "You /wait/ for the heavies," she says, and it's in a whipcrack tone that is accustomed to being heeded. "At your size your suit struggles with energy discharges. If the particle emitters malfunction, your Pym field could expand uncontrolled, or collapse entirely. And that's assuming there isn't just a fast-aiming laser on a motion sensor."

She huffs out the last of her ire and buzzes a fast circle, then flies over to the others. "Game plan time. I'm scouting with the... Waspette. Nadia, whatever. Jen, you and Thor come running if there's trouble." She looks to Bobbi. "Those wings are totally you, honey. Can you cover the flanks and keep an eye on-- Techno--?" Janet points at Sam in question. "You're with, uh--" She points at Sam. "Techno, right? You can do the thing with thinking like a machine, or whatever. Let us know if you see any traps or sensors that Viv can't cover."

"Viv, you're our overwatch; call out any threats and keep the communications link up." She flashes a congratulatory smile at Vivian; seems her drones are working well.

Janet buzzes back to Nadia, hovering near her. "Okay superstar, which way?"

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The impact from She-Hulk's punch coupled with the existing structural damage from Thor's hammer sends cracks snaking through the entire cubic containment structure of the translucent barrier and the whole thing ultimately comes crashing down just as everyone finishes emerging through the breach.

Nadia lets out an eep as Janet buzzes up in front of her and stares her down with what could be construed as an 'Angry Mom Look'. Apparently there are forces in this world that can at least slow the girl down.

"O..okay." she nods listening to Janet, chastened at least for the moment.

At Janet calling her the 'Waspette' and saying they will be scouting Nadia's expression, as much as can be seen under her helmet, visibly brightens again.

Thor also seems to be in agreement as Janet takes the lead and begins giving instructions. "A sound plan Lady Van Dyne, I concur." he walks over to where She-Hulk is, "Lady Walters let us prepare for when trouble comes our way."

Nadia is about to answer Janet's last question when there is a hissing sound and a door in the far lab wall from the elevator bank hisses open. The figure stepping out is hard to see are first due to the dim lighting in that room and the pulsing red emergency lights in the main lab.

Is that Hank?! No... Ultron?! No... the figure walking into the lab seems to be an unholy fusion of the two, Ultron Pym or PymTron!

"Well, well, well, we've been expecting you. Of course it would be only a matter of time until our 'friends' came to save us." It's like a mix of Hank's voice and Ultron's, human with a robotic gravel.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    A few steps in, and Techno's left hand comes up in a gesture that probably only Bobby knows the correct meaning of, but which he hopes enough of the rest of the team have seen in movies to know that it means they really shouldn't step past him, and if at all possible try to find some kind of cover or concealment. "This place is... There's something very wrong here." Describing it might be difficult.

    "There's more technology and machinery here than I can see, and I can sense it, but... it's not... not alien. Sensed alien before. It's... other. But it might be dangerous. Hang five." And the pistol lowers, thumb flicking the safety on with an ingrained, casual gesture.

    The dampers are an issue, but then they were the same in the other lab. They can be overcome, it just takes effort, focus... reaching with all his concentration to one single signature, one single thing he cannot see, and start a direct interface, burning through the interference.

    Immediately, his pistol comes back up, hunting around, eye lenses suddenly glowing a dangerous, bright red. "Ultron. It's like the drone, but all around us. Dozens." And here he was, without a large area EMP bomb...

    When the door opens, his weapon swings to cover the amalgam, the PymTron, safety flicked off. "That's far enough, whoever or whatever you are."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
She-Hulk nods to Thor, and steps back, once again letting the sciency people do their sciency thing. Her brows knit at Techno's explanation, and furrowing further when Ultron is mentioned. "Ultron? That's bad...."

And the Pymtron appears. ".... news." She turns to face them, stepping forward so if they were to try to do anything they'd have to go through her first. "So which Hank are you? The one we know and love or the one from here?"

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi bristles. She is used to being in charge, but Janet knows her stuff and is a good leader. She nods her head to the plan and glances at Samuel. He seems to have picked up on something. "Ultron everywhere?," she asks as PymTron appears. Now she starts to imagine a world where Ultron won, where life on the surface is extinct perhaps.

Only one thing for it, she takes the dwarf up and through a vent to start exploring this facility. If their Hank is still here, he'll be the non-Ultron heat signature for sure. Better to be stealthy, slip under this robots radar than to be part of a full on fight with him. Luckily, they have She-Hulk here for that.

Of course, if this is somehow their Hank, infected..? transformed? well, that's... possibly also something they could may be fix. Though, it does make her wonder, are their nanobots everywhere right now? "Could someone check to see if we're all about to be swarmed by nanobots, because I don't want to be a robit."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian is probably the most surprised of all that those drones work. They are after all the cheapest that money can buy - intentionally so. After all it wouldn't do to reveal the Earths full technological capability to a hostile world nor would she want to threaten or alarm a peaceful world. Although given the Dr Moreau / Frankenstein overtones that last option seems perhaps a little optimistic.

"The air seems to be fine. Nothing immediately harmful I can detect and the basic laws of physics seem... Close enough from casual observation. At least close enough I believe I will have full operational status." While she talks her cheapo drones are crowding around the gap opened up by Jen & Thor, trying to sneak through as soon as they would fit. Of course this just puts them that much closer to PymTron and his dramatic entrance... At least she's not owned the drones long enough to form any lasting attachments! If any do remain functional they'll scatter in every direction trying to get as much info as possible before they fail.

"I think I understand why Humans always complain about family reunions." Synthezoids are, rather unfortunately, the creation of Ultron and while Vision did his best to outfit Viv with suitable defenses they've never really been tested before.

Still she doesn't hesitate in triggering them now, even if that does mean turning her emotional core on for the first time in months. The surge of repressed emotions strong enough that her eyes reflexively begin to glow. A sign she's moments from cutting lose with her eye mazers.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet abruptly reappears near the front of the pack; she lifts her hands in a warding gesture at PymTron, a look of shock and horror on her face. "Jesus... Hank? Is-- what happened to you?"

She hesitates, then disengages her helmet. The visor retracts to reveal her face more plainly to the cybernetic abomination. "It's me. It's Janet. Everything-- everything's going to be OK. Okay? We're just here looking for, uh... you. I mean-- the Hank Pym of our universe."

She holds her breath, daring to hope that PymTron might not be explosively hostile.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
PymTron looks at them all, of course he recognizes them, "Hello Bobbi, we've missed you." he tells her ominously.

"Vivian, dear. How is your father? It has been so long since we have seen him." PymTron seems to have no more knowledge of Nadia than the regular Hank Pym and his gaze just passes over her.

"Jennifer and Thor, as violent as ever. Do you know how difficult it was to develop that material you just destroyed?" Techno too is seemingly ignored, weapon and all.

"And Janet, lovely Janet. We have /just/ the project you will be /perfect/ for once we are done with Hank." It's creepily difficult to tell where Hank ends and Ultron begins, though they don't seem to be in conflict and they also don't seem to have anyone's best interests at heart except their own.

Nadia for her part is just staring in shock, seemingly locked in place at the horror of this thing that seems to be some unholy fusion of Ultron wearing half of her father's face. Force once the chatty exuberant teen has been rendered speechless.

Thor glares at PymTron, "Now see here Pym-faced Machine Man! This girl has come for her father and you will not stand in our way! Jennifer to arms!" and with that he sets his hammer whirling again.

"Oh you ignorant oaf." Pymtron rolls his eyes, "Do you really think we aren't prepared for you?" As he says it Pym Particles effects trigger around the lab as previously micro-sized Ultron drones begin growing up to full size. "We don't have time for this, there's science to do, worlds to conquer. Dispose of them!" he commands and turns back towards the room he first emerged from.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    First rule of evil monologue: don't. It's not the first time that Sam has seen someone give away a perfectly good strategic advantage for the purpose of venting an evil plan. Or to gloat. Or just to hear their own voice. Take, for example, the present. The team was in probably the worst position it could be in, and still trying to process the shock of what they'd seen. By the time the speech ends Sam, at least, has taken in the full tactical situation and started working on an exit strategy. Never give someone time to think when you have them exactly where you want them.

    Likewise, never interrupt your enemy when they're making a mistake. It's dollars to donuts that Hank has never heard of Techno before, and is utterly ignorant of what he's capable of. And he'd had a week to work on this one as well.

    Never let it be said that Sam is not willing to shoot someone in the back when necessary. The second the PymTron turns his back, three shots ring out in quick succession. It's the quintessential Mozambique Drill, two to the chest, one to the head, using the ammo he'd brought specifically to deal with Ultron drones.

    At the same time, a hard 'shutdown' command is sent to the Ultron signatures he can sense, spiced with the same instruction wrapped in a logical bomb set to unpack directly into the memory of the drones.

    All this while the brass of the third shot is just clearing the ejection port...

    Another sensation makes him drop to one knee, knowing full well that Vivian is behind him. This... might get messy. "Fire at will."

Jennifer Walters has posed:
She-Hulk moves fast, as soon as the Ultron drones are macronized. Much faster than one would think a Hulk could move. "Thor!" she shouts, "Help me keep these drones busy so the science types can figure out where the real.... /our/ Hank is."

She reaches out and just takes a drone into the palm of her hand, crushing her fingers into it, and holding onto it like some kind of basketball. She swings around and tosses it at another sending them both flying away in a shower of sparks.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
Bobbi guides her drone up through the vents and start looking for heat signatures. It doesn't take her long to detect one. It comes from the room PymTron just came out of. Her little dwarf zips out of the vent and circles around the room, feeding this info in to Viv's synchronised communications.

The room is filled with computers and displays centered around a central machine. A scanning machine of some kind, perhaps CAT though much more advanced. Laying on the bed, the subject of this machine is Hank, our Hank, with lasers scanning over him constantly.

"Oh shit. It's like an LMD scanner." She looks up at PymTron and then her eyes go wide as multiple Ultrons enlarge before their eyes. "Everyone, our Hank is in the room Pymtron just came from. Make a path, I'll grab him and fly through the portal while you heavy hitters keep the threat at bay." She back pedals away from the ultron nearest her and her wings spring to life. The free flowing fabric becomes mobile and glowing purple as the Thanagarian tech kicks in to action.

Vivian Vision has posed:
Vivian Vision doesn't respond to the provocation with words, although her fingers do ball up into fists as Ultron talks, but she does broadcast a message only Ultron or a synthezoid could easily decode. The message? Go divide by zero. It's very rude for a machine, just ask Siri! To bring home the point she also unleashes an overcharged burst from her solar jewel right at the point she predicts Samuels shot to the head will strike. The oil she consumed earlier acting as a foul tasting chemical power supply to suppliment her usual energy reserves.

Even as she fires her density is ramped up to sixty tons and she begins trying to stomp on any of the Ultron drones nearby.

Amazingly her tiny fleet of microdrones don't seem to have attracted any attention from Pymtron. So far beneath his notice he doesn't seem willing to waste the nanosecond it would take to disable them. One even manages to follow Bobbi's far more expensive drone in to spot Hank. And so, rather than maintain the useless holographic defense, she switches it to a big 'Hank Pym is here' arrow. Just on the off chance Bobbi's directions weren't clear enough.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
"Nadia, with me!"

Janet buzzes out of the line of the fight, trackable only to the naked eye by the bursts of green bioplasma that lance out like a toy laser. Tiny they are, but they're devastatingly effective against the microbot swarm. She makes a ... well, beeline, for the door PymTron's taking; she clears a path ahead of herself with plasma bursts to make sure she's not going to run into any high-tech bug zappers.

Voice of experience, here.

She doesn't waste breath bellowing for Hank, who might not even be conscious. She trusts Vivian's guidance enough-- but she doesn't hold back and wait for Nadia to keep up, either. Fly or fall, it seems.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
The shots from Techno's gun impact PymTron in the back and head, though the damage seems minor other than tearing his clothing and scuffing the shiny metal beneath. Vivian's optical blasts fly towards the same spot in the back of his head hammer the point home, but at the last moment are pulled into an energy receiving antenna within his cranial apparatus and absorbed. "Language Vivian!" he says turning back again for a moment, though the impacts do not seem to have hurt him much, "We thought your father taught you better than that." One hand is pointed in her direction firing a high density laser channeled plasma beam towards the young synthezoid.

As that happens four drones with more advanced looking features than the rest begin to close ranks around PymTron in a protective formation.

Janet's words seem to snap Nadia out of her shock and rapidly dwindling in size similarly to Janet she takes to the air following the older woman's lead and unleashing burst of plasma energy from her wrists, "Right behind you!" She's agile and quick, and she doesn't need to be told twice.

At Jen's shout Thor unleshes his spinning hammer through a line of drones leaving gaping holes in their chests, "A path you say Lady Van Dyne? A path you shall have!" the hammer smashes through still more drones as it makes its way back to his hand and leaping forward he slams it into the ground with a thunderous shockwave blowing the drones back in all directions from the area before the door to the room PymTron stands in front of with his four elite guards.

Techno's shutdown commands and logic bombs for their part do indeed manage to take out some of the drones helping to thin their numbers but while his ability to deal with them has greatly improved since the 'Butler' these drones seem to be of a higher calibur and it remains an uphill battle.

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Yeah, fine, expected." Honestly, Sam hadn't had much hope for the shots, but at least it got the PymTron's attention for a little while. When the lasers go overhead, he gives a quick mental check-up on Vivian before he stands and drops the magazine, going for the second and final one. Custom loaded, armor piercing fin stabilised discarding sabot. APFSDS, the gold standard, the pistol caliber anti-material round. Someone had an axe to grind with these drones...

    <<Vivian>>. It's the first time Techno has spoken directly to the synthezoid that way, directly to the machine rather than rely on the clumsy medium of air vibration. <<Sending you a package. Don't load it in. Send it out. And crank it up to eleven>>.

    First shot, to the head of one of the elite drones, aimed for the eye. The brass, engraved 'Kill Switch', ejects and tumbles to the ground. The bullet, really more of a tungsten dart designed to crack open the toughest of armor, is accompanied by a few more interesting commands designed to mess up programming and sensors.

    He's spent weeks learning to fight Brainiac drones that learned from every attack, he's got a few extra tricks of up his sleeve and a nearly endless supply of attack vectors.

    Bit irrationally angry, perhaps.

    And clearly making himself a target for the PymTron specifically.

Jennifer Walters has posed:
She-Hulk makes her way to the elite drones, swatting away the smaller, lesser drones that are in her path. She leaps at the closest one, punching one hard enough that, were it anything else, it would explode into dust. However these are made of sturdier stuff, so she just sends it careening off the walls, having but a substantial dent in it.

"Hey, you!" She shouds at PymTron. "You're gonna have to get through me to get at Viv." She's a big enough woman that takes up enough space that they're going to have to deal with her sooner rather than later.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The wings glow a brighter purple as they engage and Bobbi lifts from the ground. Her visor lights up with tactical path plotting, threats - of which there are many flashing everywhere - and her heads up navigation system. She lifts her chin a little to engage directed flight mode and starts to gets some altitude, then dips and dives through the pathway created by their super powered friends.

Tumbling in to the other room with a roll, she comes back to her feet and looks around at the machinery. She redirects her front facing camera to Samuel through Vivian so he can see too. "Eh.. screw this, brute force. Sorry Professor you can forgive me the headache later," she pulls him out of the scanning field of the machine and slings him over her shoulders, fireman style.

With a quick glance to the side to bring up power options, she doubles the power output to the wings. This'll cut her flight time in half, but hopefully she won't have to be flying for too long. "I have Hank, we should consider our exit strategy carefully, we can't let these constructs back in to our universe."

"We're going to have to isolate Hank when we get him home, in case he's been.. infected?," she's not quite sure that's a thing, but you never know. Perhaps the Ultron was just scanning him to replace him in our universe, or may be it is worse than that.

Vivian Vision has posed:
For the first few moments of the fight Vivian's emotional core drives her to fight like a very low budget She-Hulk. Trying to stomp and smash her way through Ultron drones that are roughly her equal in strength, then shifting her density to full to absorb incoming blows. Still she looks far more alive than at anyone point in the last six months. Each movement crisp, organic and displaying a certain level of intuition her previous attempt at fighting sorely lacked.

Without it she almost certainly wouldn't have been fast enough to pull one of the now full sized drones Techno had disabled up to use as a shield. The scorch of white hot metal snaps her back to a degree of concious control. Why is she punching? "You are right. He did teach me many things. Thank you for reminding me." As the next drone tries to engage her in a brawl she smiles serenely, leans forward tries to phase her head through it's chest armour. The drones almost certainly have microwave shielding in their armour but on the inside? Probably not so much.

And when she leaps back it's at a fraction of her usual density. The tiniest kick letting her leap high into the air, twirl and then come crashing down as a seventy ton cannonball on another drone. The communications subroutine devoted to Samuel doesn't pout when he finally gets in touch. Even if some people only call when they want something. Still it doesn't take much effort for her to begin broadcasting at full power. The health risks far outweighed by the more pressing concern of killer robots.

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's hard on Bobbi's tail, clearing out any pesky drones following them or harassing the winged agent. She's a crack shot with that bioplasma, leaving a little trail of explosives in Bobbi's wake with each drone that she takes down.

Janet glances back. "Keep up!" she barks at Nadia. The socialite skids to a halt, full-sized temporarily, when she finds Hank suspending in the scanning matrix. "No, Bobbi, wait-!!"

She heaves a sigh of relief when he's not visibly injured, and checks his pulse and his eyes while Bobbi's carrying him. It's awkward, but it's not the first time she's had to check someone's vitals under duress. "He's alive. Heartbeat's irregular but he's breathing. Pupils contracting." She checks around her lower back in a hidden pocket and produces a palm-sized golden disc. It's attached to the front of Hank's chest. Aside from a little glowing red light, it has no visibly apparent function. "Techno, we need these drone clouds knocked out," Janet says over the comms. "Either you do it, or Thor does, and my money's on you not taking down everyone's gear in the blast radius."

Janet zips into micro-size again, perhaps on scale with a hummingbird, and gestures at Nadia. "I'm on her right, you take her left. Don't let them get close to her!" she warns the girl, and then zips off to interdict more of the micro-drones ahead of Bobby.

Nadia Pym-van Dyne has posed:
Techno's special sabot round pierces through one of the eye sockets of one of the elite drones causing its head to snap back from the impact. Meanwhile the series of malware commands and viruses embedded in the round begin to play havoc with the thing's internals and at least for the moment it collapses, disabled. She-Hulks near unstoppable onslaught sends another of the elite drone into a wall leaving a sizable dent where it impacted. Which leaves two more and an entire field of lesser drones with more seeming to pop up from micro-size all the time. It's like cockroaches, kill one and three more seem to emerge.

Nadia has been buzzing and weaving through the drones behind Janet. She comes up short when they reach the room and Janet grows to help Bobbi deal with Hank. Hank right there in front of her eyes, she can scarely believe it. "Daddy..." she whispers, before slapping the sides of her face with both hands. Game face, there's no time for that now, not if she wants to actually get him out of here.

Reaching into one of the pockets of her suit Nadia withdraws a small rock, like so many others one might find laying on the ground, and chucks it as hard as she can at one of the elite drones guarding PymTron. While it's in flight her other hand comes up and fires one of the resizing beams she designed for her suit causing the rock to get bigger and bigger until a massive boulder is flying at the poor drone, impacting it with a loud *CRUNCH* of metal beneath rock.

"Okay!" she calls back to Janet when she receives new orders and takes up her position on Bobbi's left side ready to blast anything that gets close to her parole officer/science hero/friend? and her unconcious father that she's searched so hard for. Her face is sheer determination, right now she is Unstoppable.

After slamming the hammer down, Thor raises it aloft above his head, "Where there is Thunder, though shalt also find LIGHTNING!" his entire form crackles with electricity coalescing around the weapon and arcing out into seemingly every direction impacting drones and causing extensive damage!

Even as Thor does this Vivian unleashes the package she received from Techno, unleashes his shutdown protocal malware at a vastly higher amplitude! Combined with Thor's lightning the commands seem to shut down all of the drones... at least temporarily.

PymTron eyebrow on the human side of his face has begun twitching, this doesn't seem to be how he anticipated any of this, "Fools, you'll be overwhelmed again in but a moment! But if we must we will dispose of you ourselves!" he shouts moving to physically engage She-Hulk with a brutal punch. He's strong, really strong, enough to match her in power. Meanwhile almost independently his head turns to look straight at Techno, "I grow tired of you and your interference!" he rages as an Encephelo beam is unleashed in the young man's direction!

Samuel Morgan has posed:
    "Shutdown, incoming." Techno responds, having a grand old time outwitting an angry AI. He's not even too terribly worried when those drones start to move him higher and higher up on the priority scale, despite having far more physically dangerous opponents fighting them. Honestly, he's not even bothering to look at most of them, aware of all his allies and of the signatures around him. It's nice to see that his malware is having such good effect. Time for the Grand Finale.

    When the PymTron looks at him, Techno looks straight back, and aims his pistol elsewhere. A control panel, across the room, with a clear shot now that the drones are twitching scrapheaps. "You've got bigger problems now." The shot fires, the brass case engraved 'Ultima Ratio' tumbles free, and the dart crashes through the glass and into the circuitry, where it will shortly start overloading any and all reactors it might find, and happily duplicate itself at the end of every program cycle.

    "Might want to ch-" blinding light.

    Blink

    The eye lenses in the GAUSS suit flicker, randomly, the suit shuddering as it takes a few unsteady steps backwards. Warnings start to show on the HUD, scrolling past faster than any human eye can read them. Luckily no eyes are reading them. Sam's eyes are glowing a bright blue inside of his sealed helmet, invisible to his team, left knee buckling as the joint servo collapses.

    With a crash like an accident in a bell foundry, an impact that shakes the floor, Techno goes down, the lenses flickering twice more before going entirely dark...

    **-Target to destroy- --Arms in employ-- -Full assault, fire threat--** **-**Sensors indicate -- You will terminate -- Life systems-- **-**

            ***---***Disconnect***---***

Jennifer Walters has posed:
She-Hulk is rocked back by the punch, which is something of a feat considering how strong she is. She quickly recovers and moves to grab the cyborg. "Hey. Don't take your eyes off me." Unlike her cousin, She-Hulk isn't just brute force. She's had significant combat training and knows how to leverage her raw power in ways to match some of the strongest beings on this planet.

While PymTron is distracted, trying to blow up Techno, She-Hulk grabs him in a couple of strategic places, twists, and just sends him flying out of the room in a picture perfect aikido throw. She turns to the rest of the squad and shouts, "Quick! Let's leave while he's picking himself up off the floor!"

She's quick to take her own advice, turning heel and running. She didn't get to see Techno get hit with the beam she wasn't quite quick enough to deflect, but she sees the man is down for the count. "Crap, crap, crap!" She makes a beeline for him and scoops him up into her arms as if he weighs nothing, and hustles to jump through the portal.

Bobbi Morse has posed:
The wings spread she jumps and takes flight with Hank over her shoulders. It's not comfortable, but that's irrelevant right now. She glances over to the side menu and puts thrust to full as she tilts her head up again and locks in directed flight. She doesn't so much as rocket forth, as it's not a rocket nor a jet, but a set of gravity plates. She accelerates rapidly toward the naked singularity. Right before she gets to it, she tucks her legs up and shuts off the wings. They become loose and drop against her back as she flies through the portal with momentum.

On the other side she sees her HUD fitz out again as she expected, the wings would have made her crash anyway. She comes in running and skids with a turning stop to look back to the portal. "Come on people.. come on. Make it." Her HUD reboots and she connects back to the Triskelion, "Ops we have Hank Pym, he's unconscious and was under the care of an alternate reality Ultron of some sort. Send a quinjet setup for quarantine to the Avengers Mansion, priority 1."

Vivian Vision has posed:
Alongside the virus broadcast Vivian encodes another layer. More subtle and locked with encryption keys that, statistically speaking, only an alternate version of Viv or Vision could figure out. Inside that message is an account of everything happening in the lab, including a copy of Techno's virus and details on it's use. If there are Avengers still fighting out there in the world perhaps this message in a bottle with reach them. Perhaps not. Even if it's intercepted Ultron already knows everything enclosed so there is no real risk.

All the while the teenage synthezoid leaps and bounds like she's auditioning for a wirework role in a martial arts action film. Leading the more mundane drones on a merry dance around the room until the moment they're disabled. And once they're down? Then they become ammunition. As Viv hurls each one into whatever looks breakable, valuable or otherwise hard to replace. She even takes the occasional shot at Ultron when she's sure Jen won't get in the way.

"It's sad. You merge man and machine and yet somehow manage to be less than either. Raging against a child? Those are not the actions of the Ultron I was raised to fear." She shakes her head as she steps backwards through the portal. "I pity you."

Janet van Dyne has posed:
Janet's the last through. Bobbi, hauling Hank; Jen with Techno. Nadia chasing her unconscious father, and Vivian casting pity at the face of the man/machine hybrid.

She stops with her shoulderblades almost touching the event horizon, and gives PymTron one last look of horror and revulsion. "You are, literally, the two worst parts of my ex," she informs him/it/they. "This is the kind of therapy, you can't put a price tag on..."

She pulls an enlarging disc from the slender pockets at her lower back, sets the timer for five seconds, and then crushes the modulator for the Pym field.

"So get ****ed." She whips the enlarging disc at the far wall with a smooth underhand throw, and backs into the portal-- the last thing PymTron sees is Janet's extended hands, flipping him the bird en deuce.

From the safe side of the portal, Janet holds the gate open just long enough for everyone to hear the horrendous screams of rage and twisting metal as everything in the 'other lab' starts growing in gross disproportion to itself with an unchained, unconstrained Pym field.

Then she cuts the power and turns back to the others. "It's the only way to be sure," she deadpans, and brushes her gloves off before moving towards Bobbi, Nadia, and Hank to help get him to the medbay.