Exiles in Elseworlds

"Mr. Richards," Patriot offers, extending his hand. "We've all been recruited from our own dimensions to help out in other worlds. We're here to help save your Earth."

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Sarah steps in behind Patriot, nodding agreement at his declaration of their intent. "An honor to meet you, Doctor Richards. Forgive me for not shaking hands." she says genuinely, noting her arm still in a sling, though they've been able to help speed the healing process some with this world's technology.

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"Fascinating. A cross-dimensional team.. I wonder what manner of being would have the power to direct such an organization - even here, transdimensional technology is highly experimental."

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webslingah.livejournal.com

Colonel Parker clears his throat.

"I've brought along some extra security, just in case they aren't who they claim to be. They check out so far, though, Mr. President."

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Sarah glances back, nodding to Col. Parker. "You do a good job protecting the council. Let me know if there's anything else we can do to assure you of our purpose here." she says, a reminder of her earlier offer.

Then back to Dr. Richards. "I'm not certain how much we're at liberty to reveal... but we have been to a few other alternate realities, with the purpose of preventing some sort of disaster in each... this one, sadly, is no exception."

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Spidey's growing more at ease with this world. A utopia of scientific knowledge and communal experimentation. Based on logic and reason instead of naked greed.

A few deep breaths, to smell the clean air. Down to business.

"Our mission is to bring Doom to the Devourer of Worlds."

More trustworthy than he usually is, revealing the mission verbatim.

"Apparently, the prevailing wisdom involves a cosmic omnivore named Galactus."

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nuttinbeatsrock.livejournal.com

Ben grins up at his oldest friend, but despite it all, there's a strange formality to his congenial attitude. Perhaps its just the tremendous respect he has for Dr. Richards.

Or maybe it's something else.

"Dere good kids, Professor." Ben continues, crossing his arms and nodding. "Parker had th'right idea t'worry about that sorta malarky, but they seem on th'up and up in my respectable opin-" His voice cuts off as Spider-Man speaks.

They didn't say anything about Doom before, see. The General's eyes narrow and his hands grip into fists unconsciously, his hackles throughly raised by this.

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Sarah nods, trusting in Spider's gut instinct on this one. Her faith in Doctor Richards likewise putting her at ease.
"He has every right to be suspicious. If the situation were reversed, I probably would be too."
She glances to Spider-Man. "What he's saying is true though... Galactus is an incredibly ancient, unbelievably powerful being. He consumes planets for sustenance... sometimes a herald arrives first, sometimes he simply shows up in his ship... Taa II, and assembles a machine designed to break down the planet into raw energy, which he consumes. Both of my homeworlds have had to deal with him."

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Barnes nods. "On my world, Galactus was driven off multiple times by you, Dr. Richards.... or, rather, my world's version of you, along with your teammates. Grimm and the two Storms."

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"Susan..?"

Reed blinks, momentarily taken aback.

"I see. Well, let me assure you, we're aware of such a vessel approaching this star system, and even now, were are engaging in attempts to communicate. But let me take you downstairs, out of the wind, so you can meet the rest of the Council.."

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"Wait, he's already here?" Barnes hops to his feet. "You can't communicate with him. He won't be interested in communicating with you... any more than a wolf is interested in communicating with the fleas on a deer!"

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"Oh.... oh no." She hears the news, looking around quickly. "You need to get every alert you have going. He's not going to even acknowledge your existence."

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Shockin' hell.

"Now, I have no idea if the 'doom' in question refers to the name or the general foreboding concept, but we'll need to cover our bases. Where is Victor Von Doom now?"

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"Victor Von Doom? After he attempted to brutally put down the Latverian uprising, our military intervened - he's securely imprisoned. Ben and Peter were there, they can tell you all about that if you like."

He beckons them towards the elevator.

"Come along, then - the council's waiting to meet you."

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This'll be difficult, then, if it involves a criminal in this perfectly clean society.

He glances back to his team. Second-guessing himself for mentioning Doom in the first place.

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Sarah glances back, looking rather uncertain, all of a sudden. She hadn't thought of that take on the Tallus' instructions... for good reason, as far as she's concerned.
Now, with the science council's approach, she's suddenly not so sure of anything, except that this can't be good.

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uneasy-rider.livejournal.com

Roxy follows. Feeling smaller as she does so among all the eggheads.

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The grand council chamber is a massive room - decorated with all manner of constantly updated screens, centered around a large meeting table - the various chairs arrayed around it each have a computer screen placed in front of them, on the table, so council members can have constant access to instantly updated information.

"Welcome to the Council Chamber. I think I can allow my colleagues to introduce themselves - this isn't our complete roster, but we do have a quorum."

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high-pockets.livejournal.com

The first man looks up only briefly from something he's working on.

"Dr. Henry Pym."

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hulksmashed.livejournal.com

"Dr. Bruce Banner."

He's more focused on the new arrivals, looking over their diagnostic contaminant results on his own monitor.

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uranian-mind.livejournal.com

"Bob Grayson. A pleasure."

He looks up from his book.

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stark-inc.livejournal.com

A man sits before them in an expensive suit, gaze piercing, fingers steepled. "Anthony Stark."

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drbluebeast.livejournal.com

"Dr. Henry McCoy. It is quite the pleasure."

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nuttinbeatsrock.livejournal.com

Grimm takes his customary spot at Reed's right hand, standing while the others sit, his arms crossed and an angry look on his face. He hates being played the fool, and he hates when Parker's right about people.

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webslingah.livejournal.com

Colonel Parker stands, flanked by a pair of his best elite agents, just the slightest hint of a smirk on his features.

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Sarah, meanwhile, is hoping that for once, Spider's instincts are wrong, and this is still salvageable. She has a lot of faith in these people, after all. Particularly after growing up hearing about Ree'd brilliance, and his early success against Galactus. And, of course, she really hopes that she can still justify Ben Grimm's faith.

"Thank you for agreeing to meet with us. I wish it was under better circumstances. I don't know if you've been briefed, so I'll give a quick recap... our little group has been tasked with attempting to save various worlds from a variety of different threats. We're sent to realities with limited information, and sometimes varying amounts of time... in this case, we've been informed that Galactus is coming to your planet. "

She frowns, looking over those assembled. "We've been told your sensors have detected his ship, the Taa, approaching this world, which means there's very, very little time. I cannot overstate how dangerous Galactus is. He will arrive, assemble a machine which will break Earth down into raw energy, and then he will consume that energy to sustain himself. I've seen the remains of his machine on my homeworld. He is a cosmic entity of almost incalculable power... but he has been beaten in different realities, including three times in my own. The first time by our Reed Richards, with the help of three others... Susan Storm, Johnny Storm, and Ben Grimm... in my native reality, the super powered Fantastic Four. It can be done, and more importantly, must be done... he will not negotiate, he will not even acknowledge your presence unless you threaten his machine... in which case he will atomize whoever does so and go back to its assembly. We're here to help in any way we can, but you have to mobilize whatever you can to prepare to resist him."

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Reed nods.

"We have indeed detected such a vessel, on its way towards Earth."

He gestures, and one of the large screens behind him displays telemetry data.

"The implications of the existence of a being that feeds on the converted energy of entire planets are profound, but now is not the time for debate on that subject. From what you tell us, Galactus is a sentient being, capable of reason, and presumably capable of communication, should he desire to do so."

"We have been as of yet unsuccessful establishing communication with the entity. However, that doesn't mean we won't be."

"Assuming that this inbound vessel belongs to the entity of which you speak, we face a grave danger indeed - but I have to believe it is a danger we can resolve by peaceful means. The Galactus of this dimension may differ from that of your homeworld - you are, after all, from a parallel. I'd further surmise that, modesty aside, the Earth of this reality is a good deal more technologically advanced than your homeworld - Galactus may more readily recognize the signs of advanced civilization here."

"However, we're willing to listen to the specifics of your proposed plan."

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It takes a few moments for Sarah to process that... they want to keep trying to talk to Galactus? She shakes it off, trying one more time.
"The world I'm originally from possessed technology from hundreds of worlds, energy to matter converters, healing on the cellular level... a lot of which your counterpart in my reality spent a lot of time figuring out and showing others how to use... before he was killed near the end of a war. I haven't seen enough of this reality to truly compare. Likewise, a lot of the worlds Galactus has consumed at this point were those of species who have been capable of interstellar travel for centuries... Skrull worlds, Kree worlds, Shi'ar worlds... and all of them, in my reality, considered him unstoppable until the Fantastic Four defeated him by stealing a device from his worldship and threatening to use it against him. Others have found other means since... but not many. My recommendation would be to go to highest alert, determine where he's likely to land at current trajectory and evacuate it, prepare every medical team you have... and ready a team to try and infiltrate the Taa to steal the Ultimate Nullifier... it may be a different Galactus... but unless he's distinctly different from the one any of us are familiar with, he's not going to listen, or even acknowledge your existence."

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Miguel has a sudden flash to a story he heard when he was a boy... something about the leaders of a doomed planet ignoring all warnings of the threat, leaving the one man who saw the end coming to launch his infant son into space in hopes of sparing his life.

Watching Sarah speak so eloquently and beyond her years... he knows who he'd choose to save if only one of them could survive.

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If Bucky had to make the same choice, he would... even before he heard her speak. Instead, he's just impressed.

His only thought is, Steve would be so proud.

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"I appreciate your concerns, and I believe your intentions are good. However - it sounds like your asking us to break into this entity's home, steal from him, and use the stolen weapon to enforce a threat - all before we even talk to him."

Reed sighs.

"It sounds rash, frankly. We haven't gotten to where we are today by acting impulsively.."

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uranian-mind.livejournal.com

Bob nods. "Agreed. I'm sure that we can communicate easily enough with this figure. I'm sure that our intelligence will be sufficient to reach out to this being."

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She considers that for a moment. If she hadn't been born and raised in the shadow of the near-doom Galactus brought to her world, it might sound reasonable to her. She keeps her voice even, despite her desperation to find a way to make them understand... some way to prove Richards the great man she always heard of, and keep at least one Doctor Doom under lock and key.

"No sir. I'm suggesting that you continue your efforts to communicate. Make every attempt to resolve this peacefully. And if you succeed and prove me wrong, I'll be glad... believe me, you wouldn't believe how happy it would make me to be proven wrong... but meanwhile, evacuate the region where he'll land, prepare for a disaster on a level you can barely comprehend, and be ready to go after the Ultimate Nullifier... isn't it better to be prepared for the worst and be proven wrong than to hope for the best and have it go all wrong?"

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webslingah.livejournal.com

"We have sophisticated emergency protocols in place, to allow us to evacuate whatever area he's going to land in, swiftly."

Parker leans forward onto the council table, peering at Sarah.

"However, gathering the kind of information on his ship to plan a smash and grab is going to require significant probing with a wide variety of sensors. How do we know that the probes won't provoke a hostile response?"

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"Admittedly, you don't. But first, the Taa will be immune to any type of sensors you have, regardless how advanced. Indeed, if Galactus cared in the least about your response, you wouldn't have even detected his ship until it blacked out the sky over most of a hemisphere. Second, when the Fantastic Four stole the Ultimate Nullifier, it was going in blind, and yet they succeeded."
She pauses, looking for any sign of comprehension or a real sense of awareness of the danger they're in among those on the council.
"Simply put, I hope I'm wrong... desperately. But we don't get sent to realities where everything will be alright. By the fact that we've been sent here, I'm very certain this is the Galactus I'm familiar with. By all means, try and communicate... but when that fails, be prepared to send a team after the Nullifier."

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proteus-maximus.livejournal.com

"What about Uatu? On my world, the FF had a little help from the Watcher.."

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Sarah nods. "That seems to be a common theme. He was also the one who warned my parents and their teammates not to return to Earth. I have to wonder if the Watcher even exists here, at least in this sector though... maybe that's why we're here, to serve as warning in his place." she offers back, mostly to her teammates.

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