4848/Another You: Fool Me Twice...

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Another You: Fool Me Twice...
Date of Scene: 23 January 2021
Location: Terry's Room: Themysciran Embassy
Synopsis: Terry discovers that it is always dorkest before the dawn.
Cast of Characters: Terry O'Neil, Gar Logan




Terry O'Neil has posed:
Sleep. It had been comfortable and warm. Terry awoke surrounded and wrapped up in some of the highest comfort he had ever experienced. The beds at the Embassy are more comfortable than any Terry has slept in, and it is primarily the reason why he sleeps in the morning after the team of adventurers had returned from Nadia's lab.

He blinks blearily as the late morning light streams through the room. Huddled under the covers as he is, he is tempted to fall asleep again, until a green shape comes into focus, and he quickly closes the gap between them that was caused in the inevitable drifting apart at night.

Sidling up to the figure, he wraps his arms around him from behind and places a kiss on the nape of his neck.

"Hey..." he says quietly, testing to see if he was awake or not.

Gar Logan has posed:
Overall, the time in the microverse castle was what the doctor ordered, but the doctor did not order dreaming of Vorpal in a nurse's uniform. About a month's worth of time there, over the span of a little more than a day for the rest of the world, might have led to some strange thoughts by the end of it all.

There was a lot of time spent convalescing, a lot of time talking as well. There was a need to deal with nightmares and bad memories, a need for physical therapy, a need for strengthening the body and mind. But, the arm was right again. The hand was good, and it was usable.

Whether or not Gar himself was truly whole is a question not yet answered.

There was barely enough time to marvel at the sights of the room in the embassy before sleep called, and it lasted for hours. It was good, and it was back at their proper sizes, no bad side effects noticed.

The contact causes him to stir, shifting positions a bit in place before yawning and blindly reaching out to..end up with a hand palming Terry's face. It feels around then withdraws, and a grunt of a sound follows. "Unf..this bed. Need one. Or at least the sheets. So comfy.."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Prob'ly costs more than I make in a year, maybe," Terry says of the bed, and chuckles ,adjusting his position to scoot in closer to Gar, "But I guess we can look into it. We should wake up... and do stuff..." he says, like one who is not thoroughly convinced of this. The warmth of the covers and the presence of Gar's body are definitely a siren song to him.

He worries. Of course he does, because O'Neils are worriers, and he suspects Gar is still a ways to go from healing completely. Communing telepathically with Kian is very beneficial, however, for the three of them. Given time, Terry hoped, and believed, Gar could fully recover from the scars that couldn't be seen.

A hand reaches over and caresses Gar's arm, the one made whole again.

"Of course, I can be bribed to sleep in for another hour," he says, leaning in to kiss Gar's cheek.

Gar Logan has posed:
"It's not /that/ expensive," Gar says, shifting more onto his back instead of on his side as he'd been. "Besides, percale sheets is what all the best hotels use, not sateen, because it breathes better and keeps you cooler even with a lower thread count. Don't ask me how I know that. I had a lot of time to look stuff up this last month, uh, day."

The now-good hand slides into Terry's, fingers twining together, and it feels a little..softer than the rest of his skin does, newer. After all, it is. "I'm gonna miss that hybrid form. Maybe I should sneak down to Atlantis and surprise them after all this is done," he muses, imagination starting to take him to different places. The cheek kiss is accepted, then he eyes the ceiling. "I mean, I guess we should do something at some point."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Definitely at some point," Terry echoes, "Today."

Resting his head against Gar's shoulder, he gives the green hand a squeeze. Gar had started to feel better towards the end of their confinement, but there was still some distance that Terry didn't quite know how to cross. He knew better than to push, but he was at a loss as to what was the best way to close the distance. All he could do, he figured, was to remind Gar that he was there.

"Hey... do you want to ta-"

BRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRZZ

Terry blinks. There's a buzzing sound coming from somewhere along the ground, and it takes him a couple of seconds to realize that it's his phone, vibrating inside his discarded jeans. Outside of the warmth of the bed.

"I'm sure it's not important..."

Gar Logan has posed:
"We could do breakfast in bed. Or lunch. What time is it?" Gar wonders, eyes still a little crusty from sleep as he knuckles at them with his free hand. There's an exhale of contentment from the closer proximity of Terry to him. Most of the time in the microverse lab was spent with a lack of notable intimacy, Gar just opening up a little toward the end. He had many things on his mind that left him unable to get in the right mood for much beyond being close. All in due time.

When the phone is heard, and Terry realizes what it is and tries to ignore it, Gar starts to reach over. "I think you should get it. Maybe it's someone telling us a room full of pizzas are here." A grunt, and he ends up partly atop Terry in the quest for the phone. Finally! "I'll check," he says.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Fine! Fine!" Terry laughs, and temporarily traps Gar on top of him by wrapping his arm around him. There's a mischievous look on the redhead's face, but it's only for play as he gives Gar's butt a squeee and leans over to places a light peck on Gar's lips before releasing him, "Stay in bed, I'm not gonna force my boyfriend out of his comfy cocoon to take my calls."

Sliding out from under Gar, Terry gets out of bed and, after fumbling with his jeans, extracts the phone.

"Oh..." Facetime request from Agatha O'Neil? He presses accept and plops down on one of the chairs. "Hey mom, what's u-"

The redhead's eyes widen all of a sudden and he stops speaking.

"Terry! Don'-" Agatha's voice. Suddenly muffled.
And then /Terry's/ voice, coming from the phone. "You've got one hour."

The call ends, and the redhead's eyes are wide, his expression is one of complete and total panic.

"Gar- Gar! He's got her!"

Gar Logan has posed:
"Staaaaahhhppp," Gar says after the hand over his backside. "I think we're supposed to behave in here or we might not get invited back," he stage-whispers before trying to see who's calling. Oh, Terry's Mom!

'Hi, Terry's Mom!' is what Gar wants to say, but he gives them a moment themselves...only a moment is literally all they have. A few seconds tick by, and just as he's about to finally say something, to ask, "Dude, what is it? Is she out of sugar or--" the answer comes, just not any answer he was prepared for.

"/Who's/ got her? What's going on?" He's sitting upright now, shirtless.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry is getting dressed as fast as possible. "Him, Gar. Him. My /other/ self!"

Pants are on, without bothering to get underwear. Feet go into sneakers without worrying about socks. "He's got her. She was tied to a chair, Gar... he's got my mom!"

He pulls he shirt over his head, "Sent me a GPS tag. It's clear across town and I don't have my Rabbit Holes!"

He's clearly getting into a panic. Phone goes into pants, and he grabs the keys to the rental car, "I only have an hour... there's no time to do anything else. I have to go!"

He bolts for the door, not even bothering to tie his shoes.

Gar Logan has posed:
"What? That's..oh, man. This is not good at all," Gar says, turning a more pale shade of green. Moments later comes a thump from behind Terry as Gar gets tangled up in bedsheets while trying to get out of bed, taking most of them with him as he lands. "I'm fine!" he insists, reaching for a shirt of his own.

"Uh..where is it? Can I fly you there or something? I should be there. You might need my help. Or we should get someone to help. Like, now. And..we're wasting time," he says, rapid-fire, trying to get his wits about him.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry turns back and grabs Gar's pants and underwear, heading over to him to help him with it. "They'll see us flying a mile away and then we'll lose the element of surprise. We'll grab the car. We can get there in time."

He forces himself to slow dow and help Gar with his clothes. "They can't know you're alive..." he pulls his phone out, and loooks at the GPS tag on his maps app. "Looks like some sort of old building... Gar... you are going to have to trust me..." he says quietly, "I'm going to need your help."


==================================


Terry pulls up to the parking lot across from their destination. This neighborhood has seen good times. It has also seen bad times. And the bad times were good compared to the current state of affairs. "... of course he chose the corner of Urine and Crime Spree," Terry mutters as he glances out. "Hon... you know what to do. Listen, no matter /what/ you hear, your priority is finding my mom and getting her out of there without them seeing you, okay?" he says quietly, making a show of slowly removing his seat belt. "You don't worry about me. I've got a plan."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan swats at Terry and his invasive hands. "Dude, I can dress myself. You're just gonna slow me down! I should have brought my costume." But they weren't expecting something like this so soon after returning from the microverse castle and labs. They are finding out time waits on no doppelganger.

Once in the car, he already takes a much more tiny form so he can stay hidden, because you never know. In this case it's as a ferret, down around the floorboard on the passenger side. It'd be next to impossible for anybody to spot him that way.

When the drive has been completed - he'd known they were going to a residential neighborhood - he waits for the all-clear before actually leaving the car, and he'll do it as nothing bigger than a fly. "I sure hope you know what you're doing. I'll find a way in. Just, like, give me a sign it's safe to. Like a word or something. I'll be near a window to see what the buzz is."

If nothing else, he's getting his sense of humor back, even if it's a difficult time for that.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"The word will be 'Bullpucky'. Remember: Your priority is finding my mom and getting out. Get her somewhere ASAP and then you can come back for me," Terry says quietly, "But if my plan works, I should be able to have my powers back before this is said and done." He shoots the ferret a small smile before he heads out of the car. "Don't steal the keys," he says, because of course Gar is being a ferret. Terry drops the keys under the seat and leaves the tiniest sliver of the window rolled down- too small for a human but large enough for literally millions of other creatures. In case Gar had to drive the car, for some reason.

When Terry heads inside, he is not surprised to find the door unlocked. He was expecting it, really. The bottom floor seems to be deserted, but there are different rooms, so that's not a full given. "Okay... where the fuck are you?" he calls out.

His own voice answers, further off into the building, "Come have tea with us!"

Clenching his fiests, Terry looks towards the window, and then walks in.

The voice finally leads him up into a wide room that, at one point, might have been a family room. Now, it was mostly full of garbage and discarded refuse.

And two Terry O'Neils. There is a window in this room, as well, for Gar to peek out of.

"Where /is/ she, you asshole!" Gar's Terry snarls, fists clenched.
The other one, still in Cheshire form, laughs. "That's a piss-poor attitude to have. You went from kissing me to dissing me so fast?"

Gar Logan has posed:
"Bullpucky. Got it." Gar's green fly zips off, landing on the windowsill that gives a view into the trashed room that has not one Terry, but two. But the other is in a catty form Gar had not seen before. How odd. Terry /did/ say they'd split, but Gar was having trouble believing it until seeing it with his own eyes. There'd be no reason to lie about not being able to make the rabbit holes, though.

He waits, but then finds another couple windows to inspect. Hopefully he doesn't find his own twin in one of them. Hopefully Terry's mother is safe and sound in one. Hopefully he doesn't go far enough away that he can't hear the codeword.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
On the second floor, directly above the confrontation, is another room. This room has a single occupant: Agatha O'Neil. Bound and gagged, she is at least regaining consciousness by now.

She is also very much alone.

"Shut up," Terry says audibly, "And where is your boyfriend? No doubt about to ambush me- predictable!"
"Pfff. You think I'm pathetic like /you/? I don't need him. But if you must know... he's not here. I'm more than capable of taking /you/ out. And this is my way of showing him just that."

Terry smirks, "Oh. /Showing/ him? Sounds like someone is desperate to get someone's approval."
A bristling, and then "I really don't need anyone's approval. All I need is you out of the way."
"Bullpucky!"
The Cheshire blinks. "Bull... pucky? What the fuck are you, ninety?"
The woman begins to stir, a light groan comes out of her.

Terry had given the signal- retrieval operation was go!

"So you want to fight me? Get me out of the way?"
"You heard me."
"So what are you waiting for?" Terry says, arms open to his side.
The cat grins. "Change. I want to do this the /proper/ way."

Gar Logan has posed:
And there it is. The cue. As fate would have it, this particular window leading into the room Agatha O'Neil is in had once been shot at with a BB gun, so there's a small hole to gain access through. Gar goes even smaller, making it in as an ant, then he returns to normal size, normal Gar, and as soon as her head is lifting he's there in front of her, a finger to his lips.

"Shhh. Don't say anything," he whispers. "Don't even make a sound. I'm gonna get you out of here, then I'll explain what's going on. I just need you to be quiet, or they're gonna find us and it's gonna be real bad." He's seen no sign of his other self, but it's best to operate on the assumption that one isn't far off. He'd heard the two doppelgangers had partnered up. It figures.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha starts, but is able to control herself. 'Garfield' she mouths. The floor has several holes, enough for them to be able to hear two identical voices arguing with each other. She knows that voice, and she frowns, nodding at Gar. She now knew her son was in here, obviously lured by... the other one. The one that looked like her son, but wasn't, really.

"Fine. But where's mom?"
"You'll find out. If you win."
"And if I don't?"
"Guess it won't really matter, hm?"

A pause.

"Fine. We'll do this. But not in here."
"What?"
"In the backyard. There's more space."
"Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me."
"You want to do this right, no?"
"Yeah, but /you/ don't get to decide what's right!"
"Why not? I'm also you. I get just as much of a vote."

Terry was doing his best to run a distraction by... well. Being Terry.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan keeps his voice low. "I know things don't make a lot of sense right now, but they..probably still won't after I explain everything, but let's just get you out of here first." He's still trying to process two different Terrys existing. One is more than enough.

...others have probably said the same thing about him, but most of the world doesn't know he survived the vicious attack made on him by his dupe.

Bindings are undone quickly as he hears both of /them/ talking one floor down, and he tries to step gingerly so as to not give away the fact they're upstairs. Leaving through the window could be one way to go, but maybe the building has rooftop access. "Do you know if we can go up from here?" he asks Agatha. "Just nod yes or no."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha nods, pointing up with one finger. She is about to say more, when she remembers that the other Terry was in the Vorpal form. She now knows enough about her son's powers to know that it meant enhanced hearing. With her fingers, she mimics a figure walking and going higher. Stairs. Then she points to the door, and to the right.

There's a door that creaks open, below them, and the voices now can be heard outside.

"Alright. NOW can we get started?"
"Okay. But first, we stretch."
"What"
"We stretch. It's not done right and fair if you've had all this time to stretch and I haven't."
"But I haven't stretched!"
"That's even worse. How are we supposed to know who is really the best when we're both not starting out our best?" there's a sound, and Gar knows Terry has transformed. "Okay. Basic stretches. Now."
"... am I really this fucking ridiculous?"

Gar Logan has posed:
Nodding, Gar helps Agatha to her feet and begins to lead the way to the stairs only to pause. "Wait, they did go outside. Their voices are further away." Instead of going up, he changes his mind and decides to go down. If they went to the roof, he had a plan for turning into something else, like his Akiar form, to fly Agatha back to the street, but this way is simpler. It's also less likely to draw any notice.

Enough sound gets through that the backyard banter isn't that difficult to make out, and he says under his breath at the last part, "There are times.." A moment of levity in a tense situation. "Come on, the car's out here." Of course it isn't inside. But what are they supposed to do? Wait?

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"The car?" Agatha says as they come out into the open. She then 'ahs', the rental car. As they head up to it, she asks "Are we waiting for Terry?"

Terry's words had been pretty clear: get her out. No matter what.

Sounds of fighting are now erupting from behind the house. The two cats have begun to fight!

Gar Logan has posed:
He did get her out, but the idea that Terry would be joining them might have been wishful thinking on Gar's part. "He told me to trust him, and that's what I'm gonna try to do. Everyone except the Titans still thinks I'm dead, so, uh..are you in any shape to drive, or should I chance it? The other..me..is still out there, and it's really important he doesn't find out I'm alive."

Imagine that, the one he helped rescue needing to be the one to drive the getaway car. "And, uh, they're fighting. Each other. Like, a literal catfight."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Agatha frowns, "I can drive. I'm okay... look, you call me as soon as you two are safe do you hear me? The very minute!" That's Mother Voice, alright, "Tell Terry I'm going to the hotel where we spent his birthday. He'll know which one. I'm not going to the house."

It doesn't take long for Agatha to leave, once the car is unlocked.

But back in the house, things have gotten intense. The two Vorpals are fighting on the courtyard. It's not hard to tell them apart, because of the fur coloration. What's interesting is that Maxsome seems to be getting the uer hand consistently. Gar's spent a lot of time with Terry, and he might be able to tell that Terry was pulling his punches for some reason. He's letting his doppelganger get closer and closer, consistently.

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan comes around to the other side of the car and reaches for the door...but Agatha zooms off. "Hey! I was supposed to..!" He raises a hand to wave it at her, which of course she'll probably take to be a 'goodbye, see you later, drive safe, don't run any red lights or hit any pedestrians' type of wave rather than a 'stop!' wave.

"Crap. She just ditched me!"

The hand lowers back to his side. The hotel for Terry's birthday. Well, it's something.

Gar ducks back into the house to get off the street and out of sight, moving further into the building until he has a line of sight outside without being obvious.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
The scene outside is interesting, to say the least. Manxsome is fighting very effectively with his rabbit holes, and Vorpal has several red lines of blood running across his arms from protecting himself against clawed attacks from the portals. But it becomes very clear to Gar that he's not trying to avoid the hits so much as inviting his enemy to get closer and closer.

And there, finally, the chance. Manxsome dashes through a portal to slice at Vorpal, and cuts through air- an illusion! Vorpal materializes to the side and grabs Manxsome's wrist, circling around and sending him sprawling against the wall with a solid *THUD*

The cat leaps onto his alternate self and grabs him by the wrists. Immobilized like this, there's no way the other one can Rabbit Hole without taking him along.

"And now---" Vorpal says, "You're going to give me back my powers!"
"Fuck off!" Manxsome croaks, struggling to set himself free.
"You will, you bastard!"

A knee goes up, and suddenly Manxsome's eyes go wide and he lets out a cry after being... well. Hit in the most vulnerable spot a guy can be hit in.

Vorpal looks into those eyes, and begins the incantation- "We're all m-"

Suddenly, Manxsome wrests a hand free from Vorpal, covering the Cheshire's mouth suddenly, and finsihing: "MAD HERE!"

There is suddenly a bright and overwhelming explosion of light.

When all is said and done and the light subsides, Terry O'Neil is lying on the floor, completely /human/, and Manxsome is towering over him... more monstrous than ever, very similar to how Terry looked when he lost control. He's holding the Vorpal Blade aloft. Clearly ready to strike Gar's boyfriend dead on the spot.

Here is something very interesting that happens...

The broken crystal of the window suddenly becomes very reflective, like a mirror. In this mirror, an intense little girl is staring at Gar. She looks a lttle like Nadia, only not as friendly, and her gaze is positively intense.

Where should I go?" she asks, and then the viwe changes to a magnificent feline who looks very much like Terry... but much older. The original Cheshire cat.
"That depends on where you want to end up.

And then something even more unusual happens. A Rabbit Hole opens up! This hole is directly between Manxsome and Terry, and the evil Cheshire is clearly taken aback by it, briefly. His back is turned to Gar.

The young girl in the glass now shoots a very intense look at Gar, and she disappears. The pane of glass is now merely transparent and ordinary.

Gar Logan has posed:
Trust. Terry said to trust him, but that's getting to be really difficult to wait out as Gar watches Vorpal getting his ass kicked by Manxsome. "If you've got some plan, now would be a really good time to show it," Gar says under his breath, keeping a low profile, just a peek allowed at the fight that appears mostly one-sided.

Then, chaos arrives as only chaos can, and Gar would be lying if he said he understood anything he just saw.

A bright flash. A mirror. Then..someone who looks a little like Nadia, but probably isn't actually Nadia. An older Cheshire Cat. A question. An answer. A fresh rabbit hole, and a distracted Manxsome plus sword, with a completely normal-looking Terry laid out on the ground.

The time to act is now. Quiet as he can, quick as he can, Gar slips outside through the door and charges at Manxsome, throwing a pretty damn good shoulder block into his back without a word.

Right into the rabbit hole.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Manxsome was not expecting anything like this to happen. Gar can't tell, because the look of surprise on his face is facing the wrong direction, and the Rabbit Hole closes immediately after, leaving Gar to tumble onto the ground if he doesn't stop himself after the shoulder block.

Everything is very still, and then Terry opens his eyes with a pained look.

"Well, my love... toldja you are my hero..." Terry says, with a chuckle as he sits up. "And... I just bungled that majestically. He's got all my powers now. We're gonna need to regroup..."

He pauses, and looks around. "Where's mom?"

Gar Logan has posed:
There will probably be some questions on Manxsome's end about what exactly just happened, but once he realizes he has all of the Cheshire's powers...oof.

Gar is by Terry's side, helping him up - he didn't fall, because he is graceful sometimes - but not without a worried look on his face. "He..has all your powers now. Well, that's just great," he says, voice turning flat. This is not good. In fact, it's so not good, he can't even put into words how not good it really is.

"She just drove off, and said she'd be at the hotel you'd know about," he explains, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his shorts. "So that means you don't have a car. Again."

Then he adds, "The next time you tell me to trust you with an idea, I'm going to remind you about this, right here, and I'm going to tell you no."

Terry O'Neil has posed:
"Things happen. Gar. But we're not alone. We'll get my powers back, we'll beat them, and we'll be alright." He says, after being helped up. "Okay? Look at everything we've gone through."

He glances at Gar, "And yeah, this was a setback. But I've learned things about my powers that I didn't know before. And this will change the outcome."

Gar Logan has posed:
Gar Logan grimaces, no matter what Terry has to say about it, trying to put a positive spin on things. "At least you don't look all cut up like this now. Anyway, we'll, uh, figure it out, I guess. Right now, I'm getting out of here before you know who happens to come around, and you're taking an Uber back. I can't be the one calling for it, though. Just..take it back to the embassy and use the Titans account. I'll be there."

He turns into a parrot, something that wouldn't cause suspicion by being green, and he swiftly flies off.

Terry O'Neil has posed:
Terry is speechless as Gar flies off, any words that come to mind simply feel inadeqate in the face of what felt like a rebuke. Sighing softly, he glances around the wreckage of the backyard, and begins to make his way to the house.

"Who in the world am I? A screwup. That's what," he mutters to himself, flipping through his phone and summoning the app. His optimism seems to have fallen from a high shelf and fractured in the fall, and he feels like wandering aimlessly for a couple of hours by himself to get rid of his heartbreak.

The Uber destination that he chooses is Central park- and Gar will see the charge in the Titans account, showing that Terry did flag an uber.

As he starts, though, he notices a news item, and a quick few texts to Spider-Man back and forth make him change his destionation.

"We're going to Chinatown instead," he says. Then he puts his phone away on silent, except for emergency calls.