Ceasefire - The Way Out

[mockmods]

[And then you wake up.]

[The room is dimly lit and made of pitted, industrial metals. You sit up abruptly on- some sort of padded table or cart? There’s a caged structure of metal piping surrounding you like a low barrier, but it’s open on top. You might similarly have a moment of panic about the straps holding you down or the electrodes on your head, but they’re just velcro and lightly tacked on, respectively, and in no significant way prevent you from sitting bolt upright and getting onto your feet. A series of twenty one such tables ring the room at even intervals. All but one has an occupant.]

[However long it takes you to notice, there a twenty of you again. Patches, the Trusty, and Yaiba, the Legendary Bassist, are back among your number. Penny, unfortunately, seems to be missing. Whatever you were wearing to the trial, or at the time of your death, you are back in the clothing you wore when you initially arrived. If anyone checks, CAREFULLY PLEASE, they will find that any powers they may have been missing are back.]

[The room is lit well enough, and there are computer banks and monitors around all the walls, which look to have been monitoring your vitals until just this second. Wires and tubes lead from each table to the center of the room, where a low pool is filled with a thick, milky-looking liquid that looks incredibly disinviting to touch.]

[A door rests on each side of the room, a glowing hand-sized pad beside each.]

[Welcome back, Participants.]

[Now, what do you do?]

((One clarification - any active powers that require some kind of power source or connection from your home worlds will either be not active or severely weakened.))

Comments

[nerd_lord]

HIIIIIIIIII! I'M UPSY, YOUR LIFTING FRIEND!

[Creepy metal box has one volume: loud.]

[But in the meantime, some kind of panel opens up on top of Upsy and a skinny, humanoid figure pulls itself out, facing the still smouldering explosion.]

....MY LAB! AGAIN! WHY DOES THIS KEEP HAPPENING?!

[deathroadtocanada]

[ ! ]

Are you Miller?

[nerd_lord]

IT'S BEEN ABANDONED FOR YEARS, HOW- oh.

[Yeah, he's noticing you all, finally.]

Yes..? Are you the people who found that stone of farspeech?

[deathroadtocanada]

...I-I don't know what that is. But, we were just trapped in your lab for a couple of weeks.

[nerd_lord]

...Little glowing crystal, let you talk to me? And- wait, trapped-

...Can you start from the beginning?

[deathroadtocanada]

The beginning...?

We were brought here by a toy of some kind, called Hodgepodge? He wanted us to stay and be part of this "test". We had to join teams and... and there was a motive made where one of us had to murder and get away with it to escape.

[It's a Lot to take in, she knows.]

Apparently, it was all to learn about the multiverse.

[eudaimonikos]

.....I'm going to go out on a limb here and say it's because you're either a psychopath, or a complete idiot. If this was your lab.

[nerd_lord]

It CRASHED over two years ago, there shouldn't have been anything FUNCTIONAL ENOUGH to do this! What the hell is going on?

[eudaimonikos]

Your psychotic Learning Pal robot tried to kill us! Actually did kill those two - [Waving towards Yaiba and Patches]. We thought he killed you too, there was definitely a torched human in there.

[nerd_lord]

Learning- Hodgepodge?! But- he shouldn't have been- ...oooooooh, that explains too much.

[why does this keep happening]

[eudaimonikos]

Yeah.

[Michael looks from Miller to the horrible screaming thing he arrived in, and back.]

Please stop building robots.

[windowsexplorer]

Your lab?

[She points a... telescope at him?

Also she's grown blue glowing lines running along her limbs that also go up onto her clothes and the telescope, because she can't be normal I guess.]

[nerd_lord]

My FAMILY'S lab, yes, it USED to be.

[...and wow you actually look sort of dangerous.]

[windowsexplorer]

[She is! Though she does have a voice in the back of her mind shouting DO NOT HARM THE HUMAN so she probably won't actually, uh, fire? the telescope?]

So is all this your--

[but oh now more is happening]

[nerd_lord]

[Yeah, just. Ducking back down inside Upsy with a really undignified shriek.]

I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING THIS TIME, I'M JUST TRYING TO FIGURE OUT WHAT'S GOING ON!

[heynow_itsachalkstar]

[And a tiny, bespectacled figure pops out next to the taller one, worming his way free and jumping down the to ground.]

Hello sirs and ma'ams! You're the people from another world, right?

[windowsexplorer]

[--AAAH YOU'RE SMALL]

Yes!

[Glancing between the two.]

Are you the ones I was talking to earlier?

[heynow_itsachalkstar]

Yes! All the extra-planar activity was picked up weeks ago, we've been trying to pinpoint its origins for weeks. When you contacted Mister Miller, it was a really lucky break!

[And. Striding over and extending a tiny academic hand. You seem trustworthy.]

Angus McDonald, boy detective.

[scratchitti]

...what the...

[heynow_itsachalkstar]

Hello, sir!

[scratchitti]

-!!!

[WTF IS THIS THING- Neku, the one person probably least capable in a fight among them when not dead... goes up and kicks the bot as hard as he can in the shins]

[maxout]

...Your lab, huh?

[Hello, let's direct his aggression ooooover here instead.]

I've got about half a mind to fry you right now.

[nerd_lord]

[Just. Kind of. Hiding in Upsy's cockpit.]

What happened to you people?!

[maxout]

We've had a rough few weeks and I could really use someone to take this aggression out on!

And hiding in the metal box when I'm threatening to electrocute you probably isn't gonna help you any.

[nerd_lord]

IT'S ENCLOSED, IT'LL ACT AS A FARADAY CAGE.

SOUNDS LIKE YOUR MOOD COULD USE A... LIFT, FRIEND! HOO HOO! THAT'S ELEVATOR HUMOR.