Exiles in Elseworlds

"Whatcha doin'?" The small gargoyle boy is standing just behind her elbow. He cranes his neck to try and see her notebook.

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When did they add a small boy to the roster?
She blinks, then blinks again, but manages a smile. Given the way people have shown up and all with this crew, best to roll with it.
"Trying to figure out what some bad guys are doing. I have a lot of little bits of information that I'm trying to put into something useful. Hi, I'm Sarah... you are?"

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"Irving." He tries standing on his toes, then looks at her arm. His eyes get wider. "You're the one I wasn't s'posed to pester. They said you weren't feelin' good. How'd you hurt your arm?"

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She's never been around children. All the kids on Battleworld were within a couple years of each other. Even so, she does her best to not put him off, and tries to keep up with the questions and comments.
"Oh, that's ok. I was resting... doing a little better now. A really bad man hurt my arm and chest. The burns on my face are my fault... but they'll heal."

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"Didja get too close to the stove? Mama said I wasn't s'posed to do that 'cause I'd get burned, and I asked her how come I could get burned if I'm a chip off the ol' rock. That's what Papa always says. But Mama said I wasn't s'posed to and Papa said I had to listen to Mama." He rocks back on his heels. "Do you like Buzz Starman?"

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A shake of her head. "No, I don't think a stove could hurt me... I stay away from them mostly because I'm a terrible cook."
Then she commits the cardinal sin. "I'm sorry, I've never heard of Buzz Starman."

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Irving takes a step back, shock written all over his gray face. "You haven't?" Then he comes to a sudden realization, and says, very generously, "That's okay. You're a girl. Girls don't gotta know Buzz Starman." He hesitates for a moment, groping for the next thing to say, then blurts out, "I betcha like that Tulip show. Suzy likes that, and she's a girl."

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Just then, Morph returns, practically bursting in the door and singing the Buzz Starman theme song. He's carrying several bundles, as well.

"Hey, there, Irv! I got some stuff for ya. Sarah, how's the busted wing?"

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Instantly Irving races over to see him. "Lemme see! Lemme see!"

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Sarah looks dumbfounded at the response. Tulip show? Buzz Starman?
For once, and only once to date, she's really happy to see Morph.

"Doing better, trying not to push it. So... Irving... where'd you pick him up?" she asks, trying to get back on track, then realizing she left him hanging, and searches for a response to the kid, feeling like somehow she shouldn't be ignoring him.
"Uhm... I never... really watched TV. Buzz Starman or the Tulip Show."
Not that it matters, since he seems to find Morph much more interesting... for the best.

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Morph grins, and pulls out the clothes, first. Always gotta save the best for last, with kids. At least there's a set of Buzz Starman pajamas.

"I picked you up some stuff to wear.."

Then he set out another bag - of toys, including a replica of the one he found a piece of on Irving's lawn.

".. and a few things to play with, I suppose."

He looks up to Sarah. "Old Irv here was hanging out on a roof, where his parents told him to hide if there was trouble. We left'em a good message, and brought him here where it's comfier."

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Ok, now she's confused. They're taking in mutant kids hanging around now?
"His parents? Something I should know?"

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Irving immediately seizes the official Buzz Starman spaceship with real working lights and starts zooming around the hotel suite. With the toy held aloft in one hand, he begins to act out an epic space battle, complete with "pow! pow!" noises.

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Morph chuckles.

"And here I figured he'd go for the clothes.."

He looks back to Sarah.

"His dad was friends with a guy named Gorgon, of the Inhuman family. Trouble happened, and his folks are missing."

There's an odd, intentional emphasis on the last word.

"I'm doing detective work to find'em."

"Oh, I almost forgot. I found this for you, Irv."

He sets the Buzz Starman nightlight on the table nearby.

"May need a new bulb, but we'll get it working."

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Sarah nods. "Gorgon of the Inhumans, right. Crystal's... let's see, how did that whole royal family thing work? Black Bolt is married to Medusa, who's Crystal's older sister... well, never mind." A pause as she considers this.

"Though most of the Inhumans are, erm, missing. When Crystal married Quicksilver, Pietro here, I'd guess, the Lensherr's took over their media empire. But then if you're tracking friends of Gorgon's, bet you already knew all that."

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"--to all who would disturb the peace of the galaxy!" Irving proclaims, striking his best heroic pose. "Huh?" Returning from his epic space battle, he trots over, spaceship still in hand, and looks at the nightlight on the table. "Golly," he whispers. He snuffles, rubs the back of his free hand across his eyes, then suddenly hugs Morph. "Thank you," he whispers. "I'm gonna go put it in my room now."

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He watches Irv scoot off to another room.

"That poor kid.. he was living on a roof, by himself, for about a year."

Morph shakes his head, sadly.

"Yeah, the Inhumans here were a crime family, and Crystal's the sole survivor, having married into the Lensherrs, reputedly another crime family. Crystal's powers match the M.O. of the murders of most of the rest of her original family, and Peter Parker."

He lowers his voice a little.

"Irv's dad was the Gray Gargoyle, apparently a bodyguard type for the Inhumans here, and when things went south, they hit him. Can't account for his mother, yet.."

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Ok, this explains a lot. "Wow... he did great to get by that long. Hope we can make some arrangements for him before we leave."

She sighs, then gets back on track. "I know Peter was roughed up bad before he died too. Crystal would have had to have had some help. I know the Lensherrs took over the Inhumans empire... now they're looking to merge with the Summers high tech conglomerate, and a lot of folks aren't very happy about it."

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"It looks like Crystal was using Gorgon for some of the heavy lifting in the thug department towards the end, so there's your beating. Probably whacked Gorgon when she was done, to keep things nice and clean. The bastard had it coming, helping her beat on Irv's dad, who seems like he was a personal friend."

"There are still some missing pieces in the Inhumans thing - Gargoyle's body, for one, and while that might mean he's still around and kicking, I'm not optimistic. The house is a wreck."

Morph rubs his chin thoughtfully.

"What I need to figure out is Crystal's motive. I figure she inherits, but.. that's a long way to go for an inheritance. Is she crazy? Did something set her off?"

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She ponders this. "Could be the Lensherrs made her an offer she couldn't refuse. Or she was in love with Pietro... real Romeo and Juliet stuff there. I'm familiar with the Gargoyle, but I don't think he has any signature Mjolnir can track or anything. Do you know who his mother was? Or for that matter, do we know what Peter was pursuing when he was killed?"

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"Near as I can figure, his Mom wasn't a super. I've got a name, but I'm trying to track down a photo. Peter.. he was investigating the Inhuman mob. Specifically, he was interested in the Gargoyle's disappearance. Irv bumped into him a few days after the attack on his parents."

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More pondering over that. "Hmmm, no photo albums or anything? Interesting though... if he was investigating the Inhumans specifically, that it would be Crystal and Gorgon that would kill him. That would suggest that she turned on her family earlier. Or had something to lose from people finding out who killed the other Inhumans."

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"Gargoyle's house was stripped when I got there. some of the evidence may be in police custody.. which actually gives me a damn fine idea of where to go next."

"And yeah, I say she had something to lose, since all signs point to her as the killer."

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She nods. "Of the other Inhumans? That's definitely interesting. Care to catch me up on whatever else you know? I'm not sure if this is related to our overall mission... but it might be. I'm pretty sure this is all tied up in the Summers and Lensherrs.... but regardless, I'd like to do what I can for this world's Peter."

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"Our Spidey ran into Irving while out on patrol, and found out that Peter had talked to him. Spidey took me out there, and I talked with Irv, and learned that the basic timeline was this : bad folks attacked his house, his dad told him to run to this certain rooftop 'safe place' till his parents came for him, and he's been up there since. A few days after the attack, Peter showed up and was interested in what happened to Irving's parents."

Morph sighs, and continues more quietly.

"Then Peter stopped showing up. We know why. And the fact Irving's been up there on that roof for this long suggests his parents might be dead, captive, or incapacitated."

"I got Irving's old address, and checked out the house, which was mostly stripped bare. Of course, the police had been over it, and so had Parker. I found a roll of film tucked away in a gob of webbing. That, I took to one of Pete's colleagues at the Bugle, Ben Urich. I posed at Peter's cousin, Ben Reilly - if we get any messages for Reilly, by the way, they're for me - and got a little more general info from him, and we developed the photos."

"The only thing extra the photos got for us was a nice big hoofprint - possibly Gorgon's - that might relate to the attack."

"In the less-scientific department, Roxy had some mystical visions of some kind, kept flashing back to stuff that had happened in the house. Gargoyle was attacked by some big, hulking guy - might be Gorgon - and someone was wielding fire."

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More consideration. "Big, hulking guy could be Gorgon... does she have a description? And flame... let's see, Pyro, Rusty, Sunfire, Sunpyre... hmm. Or one of the Grey girls... or Crystal, of course."

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"Sunpyre? That's a new one on me. No, the description she was getting of the fire-wielder in this case was a guy, red hair with a white streak. Real pyromaniac, too - seemed to be getting his jollies by burning."

"Rusty Collins is the closest I can think of, but I haven't tried putting on his face to ask Roxy yet."

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Another nod, trying to go through her mutant history. "Could be. Ok, so the guy part cuts out a lot of the options. If we can find out who that was, we might have something more to go on. You also said you had an idea involving the police?"

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"I think I'll sneak in to see what evidence they recovered at the Gargoyle's house. Shouldn't be too difficult to get in and out.."

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"Good plan. And true enough. I think I've had enough out and about. I'll keep an eye on the munchkin, and fill the others in as they come through, and see what they have as well."

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Morph sets the other parcels on the table.

"One more thing. Thanks to knowing Peter's favorite spots around town, I checked out a few - and found caches he probably kept for emergency purposes. We've got some prepaid cellphones here, first aid kits, cash, flashlights, and miscellaneous."

"I used a little of the money to sit on a poker game, and got enough extra to buy Irving some fun stuff. Aside from the clothes and toys, there're some crayons in the bag, and Buzz Spaceman coloring books."

"I'm taking one of his spare cameras and some film, along with a spare pair of webshooters and fluid cartridges. I'm also going to pick up a tape recorder and some batteries. Might come in handy.."

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