Break time is over.

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

They agreed on when and where to meet, when the time came. Hopefully, they're all meeting now, and he's prepared for the headache that he'll get from being harangued for being late.

It's been good, these last couple months, to just get away from those annoying people and come to terms with the utter nastiness of that vampire world. He's gotten a tan, beneath the costume, thankful he hasn't shared his identity with anyone yet. Once the costume was off, they couldn't follow him.

It's some form of dread he feels, in reminding himself that he's stuck tumbling through time playing go-fetch for a little fat guy in a bow tie. He's busied himself by scouting their location - the light switch they have to flip looks like a surprisingly easy task. Security is minimal - probably some mad scientist moron taking advantage of a place that calls itself "Paradise" - ungodly egocentric, as they still have combustion engines.

The food, thoug... good god, everything tastes so much better. Everything tastes.

It's only an hour or so, now, until the switch needs to be flipped. Best get re-acquainted with the crew.

Comments

[proteus-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Halt! Who goes there?"

An unusually pale Beefeater confronts the wayward Spider-Man.

"Oh, it's you, Brainy Smurf. What kept you?"

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Right. This.

"Reluctance," he answers, honestly. "Has everyone heeded the call?"

[tj-nocturne.livejournal.com]

"I don't think any of us want to be stuck here. I mean, it's nice, but it ain't home," says TJ as she approaches. "So I'm pretty sure we'll all be here. I figure, the sooner we get all the errands-from-hell over with, the sooner we can get ourselves back to where we came from."

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sarah isn't too far behind TJ. She doesn't really want to keep working for the little guy, but she isn't about to let her world cease to be either - lots at stake for her. "Absolutely." she agrees, looking quite a bit less shell-shocked than when she arrived in this world.

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Spidey has had a lot of time to think on this.

Their job is to fix broken timelines. Of which there could be an infinite number.

He sincerely doubts there's a finite list that they'll have to stop before they can go home.

Indentured servitude. But playing along feels like the only way to get any more light shed on their shared situation.

"Everybody coping with their respective mental trauma?"

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, reminding her that her state on leaving the last world wasn't exactly subtle helps. But she knows her job, and knows she's the biggest gun this team has. She lacks the stealth capabilities, the versatility, the cunning, the guile and the experience of near everyone else... but there's just times you need someone around who can kick open an aircraft carrier.

"Ready when you are."

[proteus-maximus.livejournal.com]

"Mental trauma? Pleeease. Listening to Captain Britain talk about the Cross-Time Caper was mental trauma. This? This is easy."

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

"Good to hear. You're handling any an all vampire problems yourself from here on out, then. Me, I nearly flipped out in a grocery store when I saw a box of dry cereal with a 'Chocula' on it."

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

An overweight, plain-faced cop built square as a brick pulls out a pack of cigarettes. For someone so heavy, she sits with her spine unusually straight.

She tosses Spider Man a set of edible gummy fangs.

"I'm packed. When do we flip the switch?"

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

He catches the fangs and sighs. He's got his own, thanks. Not that he enjoys biting people.

Still, he rolls the mask up enough to toss them into his mouth - not showing them the fangs. They've always been the ace up his sleeve.

"In about forty minutes, by my count," now that he actually looks at his watch. "I've also got comm units for all of us, so we can shock off and do our own things and still keep in contact if something goes down. We'll need to occasionally get batteries, but that's because we haven't jumped to a place with quality tech yet."

[proteus-maximus.livejournal.com]

And then there's a large pink bunny beating a marching-style bass drum, pacing back and forth.

"You mean there's something that outlasts the Energizer?"

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Spidey just stares at Morph, then looks to everybody else. "I assume, as usual, the rest of you get that and I'm left to assume that's funny?"

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

Mystique gives Morph a sympathetic shrug. "We try, but his vacuum like sense of humor just keeps going and going and going..."

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

That's when Lyla pipes up.

"There's currently nobody on the premises," she says, in that cheerful Marilyn Monroe voice. "No one's scheduled to be there for another seven hours. The plants are in good health, and some reserach suggests talking to them helps them grow."

[discodazzles.livejournal.com]

Alison glances sharply at Spidey. "Why do you have Breathless Mahoney coming out of your little speaker box?"

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

What the heck was that look TJ was just giving him - did she get over his snotty comments back in -

Wait, what?

"Who's breathless? That's Lyla, my holoagent. Not quite the expansive database she had at my apartment, but she's really handy to have around. She doesn't have lungs, though, so she doesn't breathe."

No clue.

[discodazzles.livejournal.com]

"Breathless Mahoney. Sorta like Marilyn Monroe but without the morals." She leans over next to him and puts on her best Marilyn voice, that little breathless almost whisper, singing. "Happy birthday, Mister President." She tries to put an arm around his shoulder to lean in close, giving extra poutiness as she finishes up. "Happy birthday to you."

Then she looks to the two shapeshifters. "Tell me someone knows what I'm talking about so they can help a gal out."

[house-of-mystiq.livejournal.com]

Mystique shifts into JFK. The former president lights two cigarettes, holding one out to her. "Come sit in my lap and we can demonstrate."

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Wow... it's been a long time since he's been... flirted with.

"I believe she's chosen a lap already, thank you."

Things... can go wrong when he's flirted with. He's been good ever since... well... stealing a girlfriend from his brother while he was already involved himself, but... since then, he's been pretty good. Didn't sleep with Xina when she threw herself at him again... didn't sleep with Kasey, who was psychotic about him, despite dating Gabri...

He doesn't have to be good anymore. Technically. His fiancee, who was probably a few inches from dumping him anyway, is now dead and...

Somebody, anybody, distract me.

[tj-nocturne.livejournal.com]

TJ looks between her grandmother-as-JFK and Dazzler. "I really could have gone my entire life without seeing this," she comments. "Happily, too."

She has the feeling this will not be the last time she has this feeling.

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

"Hey!" Spidey finally says, in the interest of not dwelling on how messed up he is. "Let's all hike it over to the greenhouse, all right? We'll go flip a switch and then zap back into hell."

That... somehow doesn't help.

[discodazzles.livejournal.com]

"Oh and how can a girl resist that sort of offer?!" Alison says, shaking her head at Spidey.

She moves to take the cigarette from Mystique. "I have an idea. When we get to the next world, I'll be Breathless and you can be Marilyn. We'll get him loosened up yet." She gives Spidey another bold look. "And if we don't, at least we'll have fun trying."

Then she heads off in the direction of the infamous switch, just waiting for something big and ugly to jump out of the trees and try to kill them all. Not that anyone would know that looking at her. She's humming happily to herself as she sashays that direction.

[proteus-maximus.livejournal.com]

Morph leans over to Spider-Man and indicates Dazzler with a wave of his hand. "I like her. She's.. energetic."

[spidey2099.livejournal.com]

Out of the side of his mouth, he responds quietly.

"She's probably easy, too. Go for it."

A quip. Edged in bitter, but still a quip. Maybe he will loosen up.

[rogue-starsr.livejournal.com]

Sarah briefly watches the exchange, then turns away, focusing more on keeping track of the time. Best to just stay out of these things.