Exiles in Elseworlds

Dr. Samson is regarding the Ultron robots closely.

"I don't know if I've mentioned to you how creepy the design on these things are, Hank..."

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flight-alpha.livejournal.com

Box's head shifts slightly.

"I rather like it, actually."

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"Shut your cakeholes, all o' you," comes the annoyed response from Wolverine.

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Raven holds a cigarette in front of the Ultron robots. "Any fire in these things? I could use a light."

It's been a long, crappy day. Nothing worse than having your ass stomped by something you don't know how to stop.

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She's quickly got a lit match in front of her face.

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She takes a long draw, finishing the cigarette in one long drag. Her posture relaxes as the ash falls to the floor. She pulls out a second cigarette. One hand relaxes casually on his hip.

"Good afternoon, Prime Minister." She gives Banner a respectful bow. "Can you offer us any insights into stopping the thing that calls itself The Maestro?"

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spidey2099.livejournal.com

Spider-Man limps in, supporting Dazzler until he can get her to a chair. They both had their bells rung.

He slumps down against the wall next to her. The pain has to stop eventually.

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"Prime Minister?"

A beat.

"Are you serious?"

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wwii-hero.livejournal.com

"They're from alternate timelines," Patriot replies, sighing. "Looks like they were sent here to stop this from occurring in the first place."

He turns to Mystique. "Maestro is the dark side of the Hulk. During Secret Wars, when the Beyonder split Banner and the Hulk apart, he gave the Maestro mind a moderate amount of strength -- more powerful than the Thing, for example -- but his primary threat was his mind. He's been defeatable, however. Now... it seems like he's as strong as the Mindless Hulk ever was."

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"Force of habit." She shrugs. "You learn to be diplomatic in Australia when negotiations can deteriorate into Prime Minister Smash."

She gives Banner a long, hard look. In her opinion, Australia's better off without him. She takes another slow, leisurely drag on her cigarette. The Secret Wars are news to her. Bad news, from the sound of it.

"Any ideas why the Maestro is killing people like Doom, T'Challa, and Richards? Doesn't like the competition, eats their brains with chocolate sauce, old grudges to settle?

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"Might have somethin' to do with the band of mutants he keeps around. Promisin' protection. All they gotta do in exchange is be his slaves."

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"Your world sucks donkey balls."

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"You're more right than you think, Logan," he says, not without more than a hint of contempt for the man.

"We traced how and where the Hulk's energy was drawn after Arizona. The methodology suggests he's figured a way to amplify and control Anna's power. The equipment our recon satellites revealed would prove it."

A stinkeye towards Mystique.

"And 'slavery' is overstating it. Most of them seem to like it."

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"When the options are jail and death, sure. Pat your better half on the back there, Banner."

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She pinches the bridge of her nose. "So you're telling me the Maestro not only has insane amounts of personal power, but also has an army of loyal mutants at his disposal?"

The dark look towards Wolverine reiterates her opinion of his world.

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"Spare me, Logan. You're such a mutant crusader you've abandoned your own cause altogether."

Mystique is as annoying as she ever was.

"It's not an army. It's a platoon at best. Stop bitching. Those idiots will be the easy part."

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"Enlighten us, asshole." It's refreshing not to have to treat Banner like a politician. "What's the hard part?"

The hand casually left on Wolverine's hip slides up his waist. Raven raises her eyebrows. "Logan?"

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His lip curls into a snarl, but that's the only reaction he gives to Banner's baiting.

"The hard part is gonna be for the poor saps who have to go up agaisnt the big green bastard, while the rest of us are sneakin' around to disable whatever gizmo he's usin' to juice up Anna."

A beat.

"That's why he's nabbin' brainiacs, ain't it? He's tryin' to absorb their knowledge."

There's another snarl.

"Fuck."

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She holds up a hand.

"Anna? Someone behind the Secret Wars, or something else?"

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discodazzles.livejournal.com

"And hey!" Alison pipes up from her chair, finally gathering some coherence. "What's so secret about these wars?"

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wwii-hero.livejournal.com

"We called them the Secret Wars because it's easier than calling it the 'Wars in Another Dimension We Were Pulled to so some Omnipotent Being Could Have Action Figures For Awhile,'" Patriot explains. "Anna's a mutant raised by our world's version of you, Mystique. But after the Sentinel Revolt, when Xavier, Magneto, you, the X-Men, and nearly every other outed mutant was slaughtered... she joined up with Maestro. The hatred of mutants was just too much... even a promise of sanctuary at the Avenger's Mansion wasn't enough."

He frowns, clearly saddened by the memory. "I'm just glad Logan didn't join his band."

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She shakes her head.

"I'm sorry I asked. Got any aspirin?"

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She stares at him, unblinking.

Gradually, something in her face crumples. She braces one arm against a wall and stares into the grain. Her entire body goes completely immobile for half a minute.

When she straightens again, she takes out another cigarette.

"So I'm dead here. Good to know." She breaks off the filter and eats it. Her voice is flat, emotionless. "We can use that against her."

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"Same old opportunist you always were, huh?" is Banner's detached response. "Good. We'll need that when you go up against her."

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Raven punches Banner in the face.

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Banner drops like a sack of potatoes, and his glasses go skittering across the floor.

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Logan's eyes actually widen.

Then there's that smirk.

"Hottest thing I've seen all year."

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She stares at Banner, her face still expressionless. Then she bends over and gently picks up his glasses, carefully putting them back on his face.

"Watch your mouth."

Still squatting, she leans an arm on Wolverine's leg for support. "If that's the hottest thing you've seen all year, we really need to find some time alone."

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The hand on his calf moves up to his knee.

"I can make it move faster."

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"You have to forgive Bruce," Samson pipes up. "He can be a little brusque. But he's devoted his life to trying to clean up this mess that the Beyonder caused, when most other men would have shrugged off the responsibility and left it for other people to handle."

Leonard steps over to make sure Bruce isn't dead. The man's got a slight frame. There's always the chance that the next punch will be the one that breaks something.

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Morph's been processing the information going back and forth here. "So their version of Rogue is going to brain-drain three of the world's greatest minds - into the Maestro?"

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Bruce struggles to his feet, with the help of Leonard.

"Looks that way."

His head is still ringing.

"Don't think he'll stop at three. Gotta figure out..." Ngh. "His next target..."

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Morph rolls his eyes.

"Well, let's see - duh. You or Tony Stark, if you guys still have one, I expect."

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"Hardly. Stark's thrown in with Walker's Avengers, and anyone on that squad, I don't give a lot of credence to their intellectual capacity. And trust me, Maestro wants nothing to do with me."

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proteus-maximus.livejournal.com

"The Mad Thinker, maybe? The High Evolutionary?"

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high-pockets.livejournal.com

"The High Evolutionary was killed by Garokk down in the Savage Land three years ago," Dr. Pym pipes up, as the screen in front of him starts to triangulate the last known whereabouts of the Mad Thinker.

"The other guy is a possibility though. He's been underground somewhere in South Dakota... and Maestro's got connections. He might be easy to dig up."

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"Well, you guys have an active Thor here... he and I can both trace energy signatures, though I'm not very good at it. Get us close enough, we might be able to track him down... and maybe accomplish something against him, if he's not ambushing us."

Yeah, because Sarah and her slowly-healing injuries just can't wait to get back into battle with the Hulk... right.

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spidey2099.livejournal.com

Sarah looks awful.

"Hey, you guys are doctors, aren't you? Can't some of you people see what you can do about patching up our Crusader here?"

Spider-Man stands up again, looking still a bit wobbly.

"This is what we'll do. The big guns, the guys that can actually take a hit from this green son of a bitch without splattering - head him off at the pass wherever this Thinker guy is. The rest of us wimps will try our luck dealing with the mutant gang wherever this 'machine' of his is. Sound keen?"

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Sarah glances at Spider-Man, managing a small smile. "I'll be fine, I heal quick, and they did a good job setting my shoulder. Long as he doesn't get the drop on us again. Besides... army of mutants, going into the lair of someone who can take out Richards and Doom... I think we have the easier job. You guys are going to have your work cut out for you."

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