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Multifaceted
Freedom Five Unity and an island of clones
Permalink Mark Unread

Tachyon - aka Dr. Meredith Stinson - has a new toy. It's supposed to be a portal to other universes, but it's been hella finicky. Even Tachyon's legendary enthusiasm is starting to fizzle; she's been working on it for weeks of regular time, which is who-knows-how-long for the speedster in high gear.

Devra can tell her mentor's frustrated by how she keeps forgetting to talk in normal people speed. Her lectures keep starting out as a high-pitched buzz. 

Devra's sure she could help with the thing, if Dr. Stinson would let her anywhere near it. It's not like she would blow it up or anything, she's learned after the last four - well, five - accidents. And the Omni-Drone Incident. And...anyway the point is she could help and Stint's not letting her. Boring

So of course she does the logical thing, and sneaks in to steal a peek. Peeking ensues. 

...

!!!

It's so fabulous. And complex. She can feel the internal parts with her mind, from the tiniest of microchips to the largest capacitor bank. It's a fascinating work of art. She just has to get a closer look. 

Her technosense gives her the best feedback from inside the ring. She can almost get a picture of what it's supposed to do, but it seems a little...off. Inefficient, or just not quite right, like a stained glass window with a piece missing. It wouldn't hurt to try a few tweaks, would it? And Dr. Stinson would be so impressed when Devra got it working right. Maybe the Stingy Stint would finally let Devra have a go at the cool shit. 

Fiddle. 

Fiddle fiddle. 

ZAP. 

Permalink Mark Unread

She zapped to a beach somewhere, with the portal toppled to one side. Which is not a good sign.

Speaking of good sign, if her technosense can range that far... she will notice a distinct lack of any signal of any kind. There is just her, the machine, sand, and the sound of waves.

Plus that bunch of reflective things in the distance, barely visible through the threes but likely dome shaped.

Permalink Mark Unread

Ooooohhh, she is in it so deep this time. 

Devra's technosense only extends a few feet away for everything except her creations. A glance around confirms that she's not going to be harvesting much of anything to fix the portal from her immediate environs. She's pretty sure it's not supposed to portal itself, too, and her sense of how screwed she is rises alarmingly. This might be worse than the Drone Incident. Devra shudders. 

A quick glance at the shoreline lets her estimate the high-tide mark. She takes inventory of her available tools and materials. One cell phone (no signal), one pair of goggles, a belt buckle, and a small handful of tools about the size and usefulness of a small knife and an Allen wrench. She doesn't dare disassemble the portal for parts, lest she never get it back together again. And she doesn't have nearly enough scrap to assemble a sizable golem. She squares her shoulders and sets to hauling the defunct machine above the waterline. 

It's friggin' heavy.

Devra, however, is stubborn. A couple hours and a puddle of sweat later, she has fashioned a small set of wooden rollers from the nearby trees, and wrangled the multi-billion-dollar ring of hardware a few precious feet up the beach, where it will hopefully not end up submerged in salt water. She can't do anything about the salt air, but it'll do for now. Puffing with exertion, Devra sets off towards the shiny domes. 

On reflection, she should probably have gone this way first. Eh, whatevs. Building stuff holds the panic at bay. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The day was going mostly normal. Which is to say, that they had some small amount of bickering between people. Then the loud probably-not-a-thunder which prompted him to make a head count by getting everyone together and accounted for.

The problem that it got the bickering people together in the same space and apparently that was enough to spark a pointless discussion. It eventually quieted down, but with the sort of bitterness in the air where he didn't feel confident to get everyone back at work. So Henry just decide to sit down and teach crystal magic to himself.

Permalink Mark Unread

Henry also finds that frustrating and nudges the Henry better versed in magic to teach him some.

Permalink Mark Unread

Their matching Gabes will just be over here diligently piecing together some better shoes and not commenting on today's drama out loud. Or how hilarious it is that the two Camillas are so displeased with each other. It's funny how some people can't get a long with themselves. Or just share a Samson if that is the reason why they are bickering.

There are four Henry and Gabe each, and for the Gabes that is a pretty chill state of affairs. It's funny how the other copies have so much drama.

Permalink Mark Unread

Unity will eventually notice - as the village get closer - that the constructions appear to be made out of crude-looking crystal formations. Sometimes encasing stone or plant matter, almost woven by it.

Permalink Mark Unread

The Henries spot Unity's approach and stand up alarmed.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oh, people, thank the aeons. The shinies are disappointing, though. She can't work well with nonmetallics. Well, maybe they have helpful powers. 

That's odd. A bunch of them look alike. Maybe quadruplets? And...more quadruplets? The heck? Anyway, Devra waves to the People. "Sup!" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sup!?"

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"Who are you?" Both Henries say at same time. Looking her up and down. 

"I mean. Hello. But seriously, who are you?"

Permalink Mark Unread

The Henries see a young woman, just about average height, in a tank top and jeans. Light olive skin with a few grease stains and sweat; black hair streaked with pink beneath a bandanna and a pair of goggles, with a small toolbox at her belt. 

"I'm Devra Caspit! Unity, if you heard of me, though you probably haven't since this is probably a totally different world! Who are you?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

The older Henry (Not that she will be able to tell) takes point. 

"We are castaways from the colony ship 'Crystalsky'. If that means anything. What do you mean different world?"

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"Dr. Stinson was building a portal! That goes between worlds! It wasn't working. I fixed it and then broke it again. It got me here. You got any metal? I'm good with metal." She gestures at her toolbelt; a small saw rises unsupported and twirls around her outstretched hand. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Since people were already pretty close it doesn't take much to gather back the crowd. Even at first glance, it's easy to notice more multiples.

"We can make metal, uh, do you want to come inside the central dome and sit while we mutually explain each other."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure! I'm exhausted." She begins trouncing towards what she guesses is the central dome. "Why are there, like, six of you?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

She is right about which dome is the central dome, It's at least three stores tall made out of a hexagonal lattice with white edges and black crystal.

"That is one thing we wanted to explain. Our local magic can do things with crystals, like duplication."

They pass through the dome's arced doorway into a wide communal space with a U-shaped mezzanine above them. There is a large glowing crystal in the middle. Big enough to justify the building's size. The air is cool and more light fixtures in the walls provide further illumination. There are also murals on the walls and floor. Mostly abstract geometric patterns.

Everyone is following them inside. Henry offers a chair for her to sit, right next to a green-glowing crystal lamp and some bookshelves.

Permalink Mark Unread

Oooo, pretty. 

"Oooo, pretty!" Devra sits in the indicated chair and gazes wide-eyed at her surroundings. "Did you say duplication? Like Proletariat? Wait, you wouldn't know who he is. You can duplicate people? That's wicked cool. The best I can do is my bots." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Most people here don't find their situation wicked cool, but no one voices it out loud.

"Yes. It's one of our magic applications. We can absorb something with crystal and make copies with the pattern. When our ship was crashing landing we got emergence crystallized to survive the crash-"

"400% survival rate," A Samson says and his Camilla slaps him in the back of the head.

"The crystal was supposed to just replicate us once." Henry says in the tone of someone who wants to ignore that distraction. "As you can see, it didn't stop. We haven't managed to figure out how to stop, or how to make contact back home. So we have been... surviving here."

Permalink Mark Unread

"It's still going? How often does it replicate? Can I feed it parts? What's the biggest thing it can replicate? How is it powered?" She stares at it intently. "If I can get the portal going you can come to our world! What do I call you?" she adds belatedly. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I am a Henry Oswald, Sorry did I introduce ourselves? And yes, it's still going on, but that crystal only duplicate us. We use our own crystals to duplicate things," he demonstrates by making a dark crystal spike growing out of the palm of his hand. There is no technical size limit, but you need to crystallize the entire thing first. It's powered by ambient magic, lifeforce and light. What is your world like?"

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"I bet we are going to want to go, the standard here is having more than six kinds of people in it. I am a Gabe Valetine." He stands behind Henry and rubs his shoulders. "Henries and Gabes are pairs."

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The floating saw continues to orbit Unity like a small sharp planet while she absorbs this. "Good to meet you! When you say colony ship, do you mean spaceship? My planet's most advanced civilizations are just barely spaceworthy but we've met aliens with more tech and we're working on copying them. Some people on my planet can learn magic but not many and in different ways. Superpowers are more common, like my telekinesis and technosense or Dr. Stinson's speed. There's a super strong immortal guy, an alien with weather control, Proletariat makes copies of himself, and so on. Some people use their powers or tech to try to kill people and do other nefarious stuff, and heroes use their powers to stop them." She grins absently. "I'm gonna be a hero." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Could you repeat all that, but... slower," Samson says.

"Uh... I catch all what you said, but that is a lot to process. I did mean a spaceship. Though one based on crystal magic and not easy to copy with our means. Are you saying your world has a different source of... powers that are not magic? What is your planet called? Our was Coeur in our language."

Permalink Mark Unread

There's no time for repeating things! There's so much to learn! Also, Samson should probably not meet Dr. Stinson. 

"Yep, powers are a different thing than magic. At least that's what the magic people say. We call our planet Earth. Can you copy this?" She holds out her cell phone. 

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Henry looks at it without touching it. "How fragile and complex it is? When something is simple we can... take shortcuts with the duplication, but..." He looks up.

Another Henry steps forward. "I should be able to duplicate it with no problem."

Permalink Mark Unread

A girl also takes the moment to step forward. "Does your world have other names? I am a Vera."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, it's complicated, do you have cell phones? It's a small computer with a lot of features. If complexity is a factor it'd still be a huge help if you can copy scrap metal and fuel and stuff. I wanna see how that works."

"In other languages sure, but I don't know them and they all just sort of mean the same thing," she tells Vera. 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I recall Earth being a name for Coeur. But I don't know if it means it's a similar world. It can be just a translation problem," she points at the green crystal.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Computer... it makes calculations? Complexity is a factor. It's easier to copy a rock than wood, it's harder to copy a healthy animal than just flesh. Though part of the later problem is keeping something alive when it's not getting blood circulating properly in its system."

"If you have something with the complexity partway between your cell phone - which we don't have - and wood that you don't mind losing that might be better to demonstrate."

Permalink Mark Unread

To Vera, "I could draw on a globe maybe, compare landmasses? Also, neat, translation crystal."

To Henry, "You have spaceships but no computers? Wow." She holds up the phone and unlocks it with her technosense (it's a little custom gig that only she can operate) and shows a video of a cat batting at a toy. "It makes calculations really fast. And it turns out that 'fast calculations' translates to a heck of a lot of things, including lighting up tiny little lightbulbs in a pattern to make moving pictures. I really don't want to lose it, but if you can make more I can disassemble them and use the parts for all sorts of things." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Everyone is a bit enthralled by the video to talk. Then finally Henry says. "Oh, our spaceships are powered by crystals. Yours are powered by computers? And the name of worlds is probably just a coincidence."

"Unless your world also have large parts of it covered by crystal."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Well, computers need power to run - electrical power, like tame lightning -" she's a little smug about this, "and spaceships have fuel and generators that make it. The computers are for navigating and environmental controls and orbital mechanics and stuff like that. Gosh, do you do orbital mechanics by hand...?

"We don't have large crystal landmasses unless you count Antarctica, which is covered in ice." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Ah, I think the right combination of crystals can handle all that? You definitely need some that boost your perception to navigate at all. But I don't think anyone here knows the particulars of how that worked. Mostly what I know is that you need a special kind of empowered crystal that lets you travel fast enough and safely which only a few people could make." He looks around for anyone that can contribute to this particular topic.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

"I think space stations needed to fine tune their orbits once in a while?" Vera offers. "And I wasn't counting ice. Uh, do you think you could find a way back to your world?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"I bet I could if you dupe enough stuff for me to fix the portal! It's busted right now but not that busted. It sounds like your crystal powers are really versatile. If there's one that enhances perception I'd love to introduce it to my technosense and see if they make nice. Aside from translation and duplication, what else can your crystals do? Do different people make crystals with different effects?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Each person can learn how to produce their own kind of crystal with its own effect, or replicate one of such kind of crystals. Mine do anti-magic. Gabes do physical shielding. Camillas do the translation. But the others have yet to figure out what they can do, but one of the Vera is nearly there."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Something related to emotions, I think," says a Vera who wasn't the one that was talking previously.

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"Anyway, we can duplicate things for your portal. Might need to have us focused on learning how to duplicate very complex things, but it sounds doable... in a scale of months?"

"The portal's complexity is the main issue here."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Anti-magic. Huh. Shielding has interesting applications...you have a complexity limit? I can break things down, if that helps? I can get a long way with just scrap metal and spare parts, as long as all the material's there. You won't have to duplicate a whole portal." Though that would be really cool and no she needs to stay focused. Still, infinite spare parts. Eeeeeeeeee. (She's maybe slightly bouncing with excitement). 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Yeah, we have a complexity limit, but it's mostly something you have to learn. If we can do parts that is even better and less mentally taxing."

"Generally, mostly non-magic and non-living stuff is easy to experiment with. You can just reverse the crystal absorption just fine. But your thing is unfamiliar and apparently comes with tamed lightning inside, which sounds like the impulses brains have..." says the other Henry.

Permalink Mark Unread

"Do you have anything that you need immediately at the moment?"

Permalink Mark Unread

"Water'd be nice," Devra says, suddenly remembering to be thirsty. "And maybe something to eat? I forget, sometimes, when I'm working." Which is most of the time. "Ultimately I'll need a place to crash and, uh, maybe wash? But that's not urgent, I'm good for a few more hours of picking stuff apart before I pass out. To sleep," she adds, lest this last bit be taken too literally. "Long as you've got someplace I can work." 

Permalink Mark Unread

Since she offered, Vera will fetch water and food. "I will be back in a minute."

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"What sort of sleeping accommodations and work place you need?"

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"Uhhhh...a bed would be nice but I'm not picky? If you've been stuck here for however long you might have limited resources. I've slept on a mat in the garage before, I'll manage. Work's more important, I need someplace relatively weatherproof so my stuff doesn't rust. Ooooh, that reminds me, the portal's back on the shoreline. I dragged it up out of the high tide line but it's super heavy and hard to move, but the sooner we get it clear of salt air the better." She may as well resign herself to picking the thing apart and putting it back together. Maybe she can do it piecemeal and rely on her technosense to tell her when she puts something back wrong. "I can control small bits of metal with my mind but I can't, like, cut things, so any kind of tools you have for cleaning, greasing, cutting, sticking things to other things - those would help. And, it's not urgent but I'd really like to see you duplicate some of my tools or scrap metal, the first time, it sounds fascinating and I kinda want to see if my technosense can tell what's happening." 

Permalink Mark Unread

"We should have enough, or be able to cannibalize parts of something for a mat or bed."

"Huh does it need to... breathe air at all or something?" It might dawn on her how utterly disparate their technology is to hers. "We could encase it on crystal or something softer until we manage to bring closer to the settlement." The other Henry says.

"We could have your workshop grown around where it landed too. How big a workplace we are talking about? We might need to make you new tools to work with metal. Anything harder than wood we just use the crystals to reshape them with."

Permalink Mark Unread

"Breathe? The portal? No, it's just metal and circuits, but, uh...okay, you know how most metal starts to flake and discolor over time if you leave it out long enough? That's called corrosion, and it's bad for machinery and really bad for computers and other devices with a lot of tiny sensitive parts. Water makes things corrode faster, and salt water even faster than that. Salt spray can deposit bits of salt in hard-to-reach places, which then attract water from the air and corrode important parts. 

"Encasing the portal in crystal might be safe but we should test it on something smaller first, in case it messes with the sensitive parts. The portal should be fine as long as we can get it away from the sea, and I'll probably want it available so I can poke at it for a few days. Putting a workshop there would help, but I'd really rather be away from the salt spray entirely. I need something like a square twenty feet on a side at minimum -" she looks around at the domes "-or a dome twenty feet in diameter, I guess. More space is better but it at least needs to fit the portal and sundry other parts, maybe with the ability to add on part storage later. 

"How do you reshape things with crystals? Is that another magic power? Are the crystals hard enough to cut things like wood, stone, metal...?" She can't TK these crystals, she checked, but maybe she can make something cool like a diamond-tipped drill. 

Permalink Mark Unread

The Henries (even the ones that are not directly talking to her) nod in understanding. "Usually, when that happens we can just absorb and replace the corroded parts. You can be selective about how you absorb things with crystal or how you duplicate them. Get a large chunk of metal, absorb all the parts you don't need and have a tool that way. Or grow bits of metal in the shape of a tool."

"It's a standard application of crystal shaping. Depending on the size of the thing we might want to grow a soft but sturdy surface under it and a tarp over it-"

"The crystals are also hard enough to cut things," Samson says, apparently being very proud of himself over this contribution/interruption.

"And we can empty a dome of that side for you. No problem."

Permalink Mark Unread

Vera returns with the water and food. The silverware is easy to identify as a spork and a knife. The food is cheese, vegetable, some kind of cracker, all in identical slices. "Hopefully this will do for a snack? We should go start lunch preparation after wrapping this up."

Permalink Mark Unread

Devra munches and slurps absently, still thinking. "Thanksh!" She swallows and continues, "Might have trouble doing that to salvage the portal if complexity limit's a thing. But as long as you can make parts, I got us covered! When do you wanna move the portal?" 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Maybe after lunch? For now, you show us where it is for preliminary precautions. And we build a place for you. Does that sound good?"

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"Sounds good!" 

Unity polishes off the snacks and leads the way to the portal. It's a ten-foot-diameter circle of metal and gleaming parts, several panels removed, revealing intricate exposed circuitry where - ahem - someone had been testing it. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Eventually they decide to use an existing dome to work for Unity's dormitory, and start growing a second domed annexed to it. Her workshop.

They then break for lunch and afterwards go to rescue the portal machinery, which is looked at curiously. A Henry stops a Samson to poke the thing absently in case it's dangerous.

As a group, they grow a crystal bed under the circle, which later evolves into a cart to move the thing to Unity's workshop.

Permalink Mark Unread

Unity observes with fascination, and levitates a few stray parts onto the cart. 

Do they all have to be in physical contact with the crystal? Are they different colors? Who's leading the growth party? How do they grow crystal wheels

She bounces with excitement. This is gonna be great

Permalink Mark Unread

The crystals are different colors, but the same color for each kind of clone "template". Henry's are always black-gray, and Gabe's are always black with a colorful sheen. Camilla's are bright green.

You can reabsorb a crystal you are connected to. You grow wheels by growing the crystal into the right shape then retracting until the wheel is "cut" loose from the rest of the structure. And they require physical contact with a continuous section of crystal to manipulate it directly. Once the wheels are loose they can't manipulate it unless they reconnect it.

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Once the portal's moved, Unity cheerfully helps set up the workshop (part directing, part levitating small metal objects) and provides a steady supply of tools and parts to copy. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Does she mind if one Henry hangs around to ask about her work? He is curious how it all works. And can supply tools and parts.

Permalink Mark Unread

Not at all! It's fairly boring at first, mostly just objects levitating themselves into place. Unity's being careful with her tools until they're copied. 

Then the copies start arriving, and the spectacle begins. 

Small devices telekinetically rip themselves into component parts, which zip over to Unity's workbench for close examination, dissection, and reassembly. Unity uses a handheld crystal saw at first, then, after assembling a metal frame for it, graduates to controlling it with pure telekinesis. Similar approaches hold for crystal scoring knives and other implements. She requisitions more and more supplies as she starts hitting her stride, and broadens from "something sharp and hard, and as much scrap metal as you can give me" to requests like "three hundred times as much of this paste, but don't touch it, it burns" and "glass lenses like this one, can you make it larger?" and "can you clone liquids? Don't let this one near a flame." In a few days she's assembled a small blowtorch and a soldering iron and is using them to speed up the dissection and reassembly steps. 

She may be showing off a little. 

A week in, her workshop is a flurry of flying parts and sparks. None of the flying parts endanger Unity or her audience, but Henry may get his eyebrows singed by the occasional explosion. "Lab safety" is not Unity's strongest suit. 

The portal sits in a far corner of the workshop, on a large frame, well clear of Unity's local metallic blizzard. The frame and the portal start to expand as Unity removes parts from it and fastens them to the edges of the frame; it starts to look like the portal is flying apart very very slowly. Unity calls it an "exploded view," which may not be the most reassuring phrase ever. 

A second frame, and second portal, begin to assemble as well. 

Unity must be reminded to eat or sleep occasionally. 

Permalink Mark Unread

They can replicate liquids, and even gases, but it's much harder. If there is a way to freeze or partially solidify something it will be much easier to create more of it. Everything else is doable, unless the paste burns crystal or something and the lenses are trickier but doable.

As soon mentions of sparks and flammable materials are made, the Henries collective ask and try to figure out themselves standards for lab safety. They also make sure she is eating properly, in part by getting her to eat with the others and in part by having the night watch making sure Unity is not up too late.

The Henry is a bit put out that his eyebrows got singed. But hair can regrow like anything else.

Permalink Mark Unread

She tries a couple ways of freezing liquid fuel. After her third try shatters and then combusts, she desists. The hard way it is. 

Availability of fuel constrains her efforts somewhat. She has to get creative with some of the cutting - making part templates, then sending them to be copied, mostly. 

Unity is amenable to lab safety precautions! She complains, but she does enact them. She just doesn't seem likely to devote time and effort to planning them, by default. In her defense, stuff like "personal protective equipment" are less concerning when you can put metal through a bandsaw from ten paces away. When paying attention, she's also eerily precise, never slipping up or applying the wrong amount of force. 

In rare moments of downtime, Unity chats with clones about island and pre-island life. 

Three weeks in, the new portal is starting to look mostly complete. Unity starts asking for MORE POWER. 

Permalink Mark Unread

Once they figure out liquid fuel it's easy enough to make more of it. Just hard to get a hold the first time around.

The Henry regrows his eyebrows, with a bit of crystal magic help. Which makes them look artificial and weird. Like someone had them plucked very precisely. Or a badly done hair implant. He appreciates the precautions, however.

Pre-island: Most of them signed up to colonize a planet, maybe this planet, but their ship was stuck in interstellar space for a while. Which is more survivable when you have this kind of magic, but far from ideal for a prospering society. Then someone finally was able to produce a crystal that could make the ship move again. None of the clones here is sure why it crashed landed, but emergency messages told them to go to the "lifeboat" crystals. So they did that. And then they started waking up here. An unknown amount of time later (it could be centuries later for all they know).

Island: The early days were harsh, and they were pretty sure some early generation of clones died, but once they managed to get crystal production go into a calorie positive direction it got much better. Just weird. The world is definitely terraformed: the animals all look like hybrids of recognizable animals and the plants have a high rate of edible-to-not. A lot of their time is spent trying to build infra-structure that matches their population growth and figuring out how to explore the rest of the world. They managed to make their way to some other islands nearby, but there is no sign of other people.

They can give her MORE POWER (assuming safety precautions).

Permalink Mark Unread

Huh. Weird story. The idea of FTL travel using crystals isn't completely new to her - Unity's world has a lot of weirdness in it - but she still finds it fascinating and asks a lot of technical questions. 

The new portal is now humming loudly, though not visibly active. Unity announces it'll be ready in a day. Who's going with? 

Permalink Mark Unread

They try their best to answer her question and also make some of their own.

 

Is the portal safe? And does she mind teaching some basic key-phrases in her language? A Henry and a Gabe will go for their first trip if it's safe enough.

 

Permalink Mark Unread

"Sure it's safe! I got here, didn't I? Don't know why you need key phrases if you have translation, but..." Unity provides haphazard English tutoring. 

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"We don't know how being in another world will affect our magic. And we can technically be separated from our crystals."

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"Oh, huh. Okay." English tutoring: is. She's not especially good at English tutoring, but basic phrases can be communicated. 

 

After further telekinetic fiddling: "Alright! This should probably work. Stand here, please." 

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They do as instructed. "What exactly will happen if it does work?"

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"We'll all pop over to Dr. Stinson's lab. Several loud alarms will go off and a red blur will show up and zip around, verify we're not a mutant monster invasion platoon, then introduce herself. She'll ask about five hundred questions in the first minute, then remember normal-people-speed and only talk normal-people-too-fast. When you finally manage to get a word in edgewise and explain your crystals, she'll be delighted and fascinated and want to know how they work. With luck she'll be too excited by your tech to yell at me for fixing her warpgate." 

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"Okay, that sounds reasonable. Uh... do the honors?"

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"Let the button-pushing commence!" 

Unity makes an entirely unnecessary sweeping gesture, telekinetically depressing a button on the side of the machine as she does. It glows and whirrs. The surroundings begin to fade into a blank, staticky whiteness. 

Then...

bwee

bweebwee

BWEEBWEEBWEEBWEE -

Permalink Mark Unread

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Surroundings fade into existence once more. They're in a combination laboratory / machine shop, with many elements recognizably similar to Unity's hastily-constructed workshop, and many more entirely unrecognizable features. There is one feature, however, that is entirely too recognizable. The giant sparking wheel of the warpgate surrounds the travelers. It appears to have come along for the ride. Most of it, anyway. 

Klaxons blare from somewhere, and red lights flash. 

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"...Oh good, it worked!" 

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He holds Gabe's hand and wordlessly asks him to stay still and quiet. "Yes, it did. Do you think anything exploded on our end?"

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"Oh probably not, everything's...uh...here." She looks forlornly at the spark-spitting warp gate. "Darn it, that was supposed to stay behind."

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Right on schedule, a door hisses open and a red blur whizzes through. It performs several circuits of the lab in a fraction of a second, then skids to a halt in front of the traveling trio. The blur resolves into an athletic woman in a green jacket, white shirt, and dark pants, her arms folded, her auburn hair framing a distinct frown. Red jolts of electricity travel down her body to the ground, bright but diminishing in intensity. 

"Devra. Explain." 

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"I fixed your warp gate!"

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"Before or after breaking it?" 

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"...maybe sorta both. I met new people though! From another universe!"

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"So I see. We will talk about this later." She turns slightly to look at Henry and Gabe. "Hello. I'm Dr. Meredith Stinson. I apologize sincerely for Devra. Welcome to...ah...this universe. I trust your visit was voluntary?" 

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"It was. She landed near us and we have been helping her rebuild the device for the past while."

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"Brave of you," Dr. Stinson observes wryly. "What's your story? As a researcher, I admit I'd be fascinated to learn all I can about your home universe." In the pauses between her sentences, Dr. Stinson flickers and the alarms stop. 

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"We come from a world where crystals can do a lot of magical things, including absorbing things and then replicate them. We landed somewhere unknown, and now we are stuck on an island that spits out clones of us and others every so often."

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"And trying your explosive ring thing to go to a new world was more interesting than looking at the sea for another day."

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"Ooooh, magical crystals I'mgoingtowantoinvestigatethose..." Flicker. She's got a tablet and a fancy-looking pen-shaped object now. Her hands blur as she takes notes, small jolts of lightning accompanying the movement. 

"It's not supposed to explode," she confides, with a wry glance at Unity. "I hope no one got hurt?"

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"We wouldn't know if it exploded and hurt anyone on that side, but we prepared for the eventuality by having the others being away and with shields up. It didn't hurt anyone when it arrived either."

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"Shields? Is that another crystal effect?" She flickers some more, zips of lightning appearing around the warp gate as it slowly ceases sparking on its own. 

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"It wasn't that dangerous..."

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"People can learn to make their own individual crystal with a magical effect of its own. Gabe's is shields. Mine is anti-magic. There are other effects. Like the translation one I am using to talk to you. But we don't have a lot of diversity given our small population."

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"It gets kinda same-y given all the clones."

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Dr. Stinson has more questions. Even after Unity fills in some of the gaps. 

Could people from her world learn to make crystals? What determines the effect they get? Do superpowers count as magic? 

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They don't know, but Henry doesn't think there is any danger in trying to figure out if a local can learn their magic. The cause for individuals' empowered crystals effects is the topic of philosophic debate and speculation that usually doesn't go anywhere, but highly accepted to be somewhat influenced by the mind behind it, with some people going as far as thinking it's a mark of character or an expression of one's desires. They haven't tested superpowers and anti-magic in case it was unsafe and left Unity stranded or hurt. But Henry is open to test it.

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"Our superpowers sometimes say something about us, but not in any coherent way. My powers just say 'I was experimenting with time particles and got lucky.' I sure would have desired speed, though, it's convenient." 

"I got mine when I was eight," Unity adds. 

Tachyon and Unity both want to experiment with antimagic and superpowers. They start with a small mouse-shaped mechanical golem in case it turns out to be irreversible. They also want to learn magic, very very much. Tachyon periodically vanishes to continue her cleanup of the warp gate. 

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He is more than willing to teach people magic, but - at the risk of making their relationship too transactional - could they figure out arrangements regarding how Henry and Gabe will support themselves and get the others from their home world first? Learning magic is something that takes months to years to master. But he can walk them through the basics in a few hours.

 

Henry will poke the mouse golem with an anti-magic shard.

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The mouse golem is unaffected. Unity looks torn between pride and disappointment. 

"Oh yes, of course, I'm sorry for getting carried away, you're just so interesting. Do you use money? I can arrange to pay you ridiculous amounts of money, being the inventor of half of modern gadgetry has its perks. You can get a lot of things here with ridiculous amounts of money, it turns out. In the meantime we can find you a nice hotel or something while we fix the portal! Or you can stay here, we have some spare housing but it's kind of cramped. I can feed you and such no problem." Being a speedster also has its perks; one flicker later, Tachyon is waving a screen in front of Henry and Gabe with a map of the local area, hotels conveniently marked as teardrop shapes. 

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Henry blinks, and decides against telling her to slow down. "Uh, whatever is safest? And we do have currency where we are from, yes."

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"Safest, but not boring." Gabe gives Henry a nudge. "And yeah, money sounds very nice. Don't be shy to be generous about it."

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"Shy is not one of my faults." Dr. Stinson winks. "For 'safe but not boring' I recommend the nearby Treetop by Stilton, it's got a great view and there hasn't been a villain attack in months." She proffers a couple of shiny red cards, obtained from basically nowhere (flicker) to Henry and Gabe. "Here's your generosity, sirs. I've set you up a credit account which should be good for anything short of buying a private jet. If you need a private jet for some reason, let me know. We can figure out the details later. Devra, want to show our new guinea pigs around town?" 

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"I sure do!" 

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"Tough nails. I'm giving the job to someone who doesn't sneak into my lab and break my warp gates." 

She pauses a moment to savor the look of utter dismay on Devra's face. 

"Eh, just kidding. If the new arrivals want a tour guide, you're already acquainted." Ignoring Devra's sigh of relief, Dr. Stinson continues, "So, Gabe, Henry, what do you want to do next? Food, tour, magical experimentation, plans for unstucking your islanders once we get the gate working again, some combination of the above...?"

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"Some combination of the above. If bringing the islanders here will take less than a few days, we can wait for the tour."

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"It's not like we can help with anything until they get here. And we could, scout around, but with, like, you know, less island and more interesting stuff to do."

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"Fair? But we can do some magic experiments as long we have time to figure out lodging before it's too late in the day?"

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"I'm a scientist, not a miracle worker. Some of these parts shipped from Japan. It'll be a while, I'm afraid. A week maybe." Devra winces. "We can still make plans, though! And you can absolutely help with things. Test crystal magic, answer questions, make arrangements for the other islanders so they have a place to stay...how many of you are there, anyway? And can you give me the overview on crystal magic?" Flicker. Clipboard! 

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"Twenty five total, including the two of us here. And there is the crystal, which..." he gives an estimate of its size of a small bus and weighting a few tons. "We will want to test if it's safe to bring. If it's not, we will want help to properly establish a colony there."

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"Mes and Henries are pretty content with having multiple others around, but I bet some copies will scatter to the wind the first opportunity. I am willing to bet the Camillas will stop being civil to each other the moment it's clear that they have a way out."

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"Yes. And I am entirely willing to give an overview of crystal magic. Some of which I already explained to Unity. And a week is okay, if there is a way to send a message back sooner that would be better, but I don't think anyone is despairing over there so don't worry about it. We can test if your portals react weird to large quantities of our crystals in the interim. And get... at least a dozen rooms, ideally fifteen."

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"I'll shoot a text over to Nightmist." (Flicker) "If anyone knows how to send a message to an alternate universe through the aether, it's her. She's the one who gave me the idea for the portal, in fact. She'd probably be interested in your crystals too, come to think." 

Tachyon will listen closely during the crystal magic overview, keeping up easily with clipboard notes (using a special low-friction pen!) and only flickering a few times. 

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"I am glad that in a world of so many wonders, we can still be relevant."

Henry is clearly from a world without technological advancements, but he is fairly knowledgeable about magic and what his world kind of science that his magic makes it easy to know. Crystal absorption is very akin to destructive uploading. The crystal "eats" matter and stores it's as information. One can unmake the process with various levels of control, simple materials being easier to replicate, and living things are harder, and magic is even harder than living things. One can absorb two things and figure out how to merge then, or absorb a material originally in one shape and regrow it in a different shape. Both being the key fundamentals of using crystals to build things.

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Tachyon writes a lot more than Henry speaks, getting an excited gleam in her eye. Ideas, perhaps? 

Limits on how many things a crystal can store? Is the default an exact replica? "Unmaking" is causing the crystal to "forget" the information? 

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Limits of crystal information is measured by volume, and it's pretty trivial to get a ratio of one to a hundred, and much harder to pass one to ten thousand. At least with non-living things. The default is a replica, how exact depends on how diligent the person absorbing the object was. There are common short-cuts that will do if you are trying to copy, for example, a plate because you just need the outer shape to match and the specific microscopic impurities are not going to be usefully affect how use it will be. The same thing can't be said if you were trying to replicate an animal, unless you want to risk the animal to end up brain-dead or injured. Unmaking was meant to be "reverse the absorption": taking a stored object and create a new instance. But you can erase information from a crystal, yes.

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Gabe also gives the example that they have food crystals with only a "slice" of food which can they can replicate over and over in a tube of food. It looks weird, but feeds the same.

He has been hanging around and helping Henry demonstrate the magic, but he is spending a good portion of the overview amusing himself with crystal sculptures.

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"Now you have me picturing a giant cylinder of pure pizza and I'm not sure whether that sounds delicious or disgusting." 

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Tachyon blurs around the sculptures occasionally, sometimes pausing in admiration for an entire second. 

"Fascinating! If complexity is a factor, then the lowest-hanging fruit is probably generating rare minerals or pure alloys. Hang on, let me fetch something." She disappears for a whole eight seconds, then returns, faintly sparking, with a box of parts. "These are some simple but hard-to-manufacture parts that I would use in the portal. Want to make a few spares?" Gabe and Henry may recognize a few from Unity's prior work. 

"And these - " she holds up a tray of small glass cylinders filled with shiny minerals - "are rare metals that can be made into useful catalysts or parts. Rhodium, palladium, titanium, iridium, platinum, gold..." She points them out. "Full disclosure, they are also worth a heap of money. So if you ever want to go your own way and want oodles of cash, you can sell that one or that one" - she points to the gold and platinum - "to a jeweler to get you started. A lot of companies would pay through the nose for the other ones but that's a harder deal to arrange. Be careful, though, as there are definitely villains who would kidnap you and keep you somewhere making gold for them. Even here, not many people can outright fabricate matter." 

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"Anything to help. I would want you to be very careful in case your technology disagrees with crystal creations but, if it helps getting our people sooner."

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"I guess one of me could become a jeweler," Gabe muses taking the gold and platinum to replicate.

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"Fear not, I'll run every test we have and then some. The exact shape matters on these machined parts" she identifies them, "but less so on these, and not at all on the pure metals, at least for this test." 

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Gabe creates exact copies of the pure metal samples, then stars playing a bit, by creating increasingly more complex geometrical shapes. Including a "ring" that looks like the original gold sample has been stretched out into a circular shape.

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Tachyon observes with fascinated concentration, occasionally asking about the limits of the copying. Could he increase the proportion of a specific component of an alloy? Create something in a different phase or state of crystallization? 

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It's possible to change the proportions of components of a given allows, but often it's easier to start with the different components as separate parts, then fiddle with them until you have a sample to your liking. Separating the elements of an absorbed material is possible, just hard. Not that dissimilar from trying to separate different grains by color. Henry is not sure about the second question. You can absorb and create at the same time, so you could absorb half of an object and start creating that half while the absorbing process is unfinished. It's mentally harder to juggle, like performing two different tasks with each hand.

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She clarifies: absorb ice and output water? Absorb graphite and output diamond? That sort of thing. (This may include an impromptu chemistry lesson). 

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Oh, yes. Ice to water being far easier. He was aware that you could derive diamond from carbon sources, but the inner working were unknown to him. He isn't sure his society figured it out that far.

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This can be remedied with sufficient learning material! Which Tachyon would be delighted to provide! Their crystal-magic is extremely convenient for rare materials. 

Hmmm, what about local-brand-magic amulets? She has one that does weakly microscopic vision, a gift from a wizard; is it copyable? 

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They can manipulate their own magic. Including copying it, but it's something of an advanced technique. Henry isn't sure that he can do it with the local magic, and wouldn't want to do it with something she would dearly miss. But as long she understands the amulet might be magically ruined, Henry is happy (and also curious) to experiment. Does the local magic tend to be dangerous if disrupted?

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It's at least moderately replaceable; Tachyon ponders for an entire half-second before agreeing to a potentially-destructive test. 

What Henry is calling "local magic" is actually something like thirty distinct schools, several of which are barely understood except for their existence and at least one of which can invite a literal apocalypse. But this particular amulet should be safe; it was made by a magician whose artifacts tend to favor finesse over raw power. There's not much to explode. 

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Henry eyes the amulet and after considering this creates a thin crystal shield around it just in case the thing does explode. Then he absorbs the object, much more slowly than the other objects.

"I am trying to feel the sense of the magic, which is why I am going at this pace." He says after a minute. "Not really sensing anything different about the object." He reports.

After a while he has completely crystallized the object, and after another while he starts making a copy.

It turns outs to be non-magical.

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Drat. Well, at least it didn't explode. Oh well. To make Tachyon feel better, here is how carbon becomes carbon fiber! Here are some other excellent materials that are hard to replicate! Here is what they can be used in! 

Here is a sandwich! Who's hungry? Fish gotta swim, speedy scientists gotta eat. 

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They are ravenous. Using magic works quite an appetite 

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Superspeed: handy for setting tables. Unfortunately it doesn't make things cook faster, so the resulting smorgasbord is mostly cold food. But there may be some things here that Henry and Gabe have not seen before. Summer sausage! Potato salad! Fruit salad! Regular salad! Pigs-in-a-blanket! Twelve different kinds of crackers and half again as many cheeses! Fruit punch! Chips and dip! Ice cream!

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Oooh, they are delighted. Pigs-in-a-blanket is a hit. So is fruit punch. They seem to be familiar with the various kinds of food in general terms, but the local varieties are new. Henry and Gabe eat like a single organism, sharing food between each other and feeding each other.

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"Aw, that's adorable. Is the food sharing, like, a cultural thing?"

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OmnomnomnomnomNOMNOMMMMMM...

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"Ah. Not really, the pairs of us just have an unhealthy lack boundaries."

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"Does that predate your island adventure?" 

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"Yeah, we grew up together."

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"Is that unusual here?"

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"Not really? The food thingy is the sort of thing that siblings or spouses might do. It's not super common in public, though, because people are prudes." 

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"We can tone it down in public."

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Gabe gives the most exaggerated pout.

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"Or at least, I can."

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"I reiterate: adorable." 

 

 

Eventually, all have imbibed enough sustenance. (Although the occasional cracker still mysteriously vanishes with a spark). 

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Back to magical-science experiments?

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Magic science! Impromptu metallurgy lesson! Brief detour to Spain to acquire some saffron! (Superspeed: the greatest)

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Henry is delighted about metallurgy, he is curious what exactly they want from saffron.

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It's another ridiculously rare and expensive thing that they can sell. Also, it's a moderately complex organic molecule. Two birds, one experiment! 

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"Hey, you could make ethically-sourced proteins! Put the Magic Burger people out of business." 

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"Yes, and three hours later Big Meat has spawned the first Anti-Eldritch Sustenance Only League, complaining of the evils of magically-altered foodstuffs." 

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"I think they got the jump on us there, boss. I saw an article on Gibber the other day saying someone sued Doctor Potato because conjured seeds aren't FDA-approved." 

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"What? But it's molecularly identical - ugh, never mind." 

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"If I understood as much as I think I did, that sounds like a scarcity-driven dynamic that a society without our magic would generate. I shouldn't be surprised."

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"Did you always have magic or did someone figure it out someday? I bet the first crystal users caught a bunch of flak from all sorts of people with monopolies on making things." 

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More importantly, though, can they replicate saffron? (for science!) 

In the spare seconds between conversations and while waiting for extrusion results, Tachyon is setting up some kind of apparatus in the corner of the lab. It looks like a clear sealed box with some kind of rubberized bottom and a bunch of wires and cylinders, at the end of a long row of tubes and boxes. 

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"I think so? I don't remember hearing a period of history where crystal magic wasn't a thing, and it seems to have always been there. Maybe some story or another about how hermits didn't have any access to it."

He in fact can replicate saffron. Soon they will have a small saffron fortune on their table. Regarding Tachyon's machine, he asks. "What is that supposed to do?"

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"Particle acceleration! In layman's terms, it slams really tiny things into each other really fast to make other tiny things which are hard to get otherwise. It's my main area of study and it's how I gave myself super-speed. Short version, I found a particle that messes with time and it gave me superpowers." 

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"I thought you locked yourself in the accelerator by accident and miraculously survived the resulting bombardment." 

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"Quiet, you. Anyway, Henry, I don't actually expect you to be able to notice them, let alone catch and duplicate them, but it'd be very interesting if you could. Some particles are incredibly hard to stabilize and your magic could help with that." 

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"Huh... are the particles solid? I can duplicate sand, but it's a bit harder than solid rock. And if you have enough of it."

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"The particles are so tiny that 'solid' is not really a coherent concept anymore, because 'solid' is just one way of arranging large groups of particles." Cue another impromptu lesson, this time about molecules and states of matter. 

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Henry finds it all fascinating, though he really doubts he will be able to use crystal magic to duplicate specific particles that way. He theorizes it's the kind of thing that's simply limited by human senses.

He is willing to try.

(It predictably doesn't work.)

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This particular experiment takes several hours, between the equipment setup, the sealing and vacuum procedures, and sundry follow-ups. The results are disappointing, but it was worth a try anyway! 

 

Between that and a few other tests, it is beginning to get late. 

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Gabe finds all these new machines novel enough to be entertained for a bit, but he is so thankful by the time it's over. There is so much amusement one can do by playing around with crystal-assisted sculpting.

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But...the science! 

Oh well. Dr. Stinson has results to analyze. She deputizes Devra to show Henry and Gabe where they can stay. (She still recommends Treetop, for the view). 

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Meanwhile, Devra has dug a small insect-shaped object out of the depths of storage. "Cool cool. Before we go, think you could do one more test? I wanna know if you can duplicate Bee Bot!" 

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"Let me handle it then, Henry looks tired."

So, what is this Bee Bot?

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It is cute, that is what. (According to Unity, at least). 

It appears to be a palm-sized metallic hornet, silver and pink and yellow. 

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It's indeed cute and Gabe starts covering it with pale-green crystal. It almost looks like an insect trapped in Amber, then the entire thing is a solid chunk of crystal.

Gabe recreates the thing. "This was complicated, but didn't feel weird." Gabe says handing the first Bee Bot copy while working on a second one.

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Unity stares at the copy in concentration for a second. It buzzes up and flies around her head in circles. Unity pumps her fist in the air and does a startlingly good impression of a nefarious cackle. 

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"Oh, no, what have you done." Dr. Stinson rolls her eyes. "No legion of mechanical exploding bugs in the lab, Unity. Take it outside." 

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"Awwww. But he's gonna save me so much tiiiiiime!"

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"Why do you even need more of those." 

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"They're cute and they carry stuff!" Seeing the look on Dr. Stinson's face, she adds, "Ummmm...for science?" 

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"Well, it was nice to confirm you can replicate mechanical golems," Dr. Stinson remarks to Gabe. "We were never sure if they were fully nonmagical in nature, we think Unity's own animation powers are at least partly magical but apparently the golem bodies aren't." 

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Devra's bot does a backflip. She grins. 

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"When you said exploding, did you mean that the bodies are non-magically explosive?"

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"Only a little bit!" 

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"They're explosive enough," mutters Dr. Stinson. "Outside, Devra." 

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"Aw." 

She and her Bee Bot clone head for the door. 

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"I guess that is our cue to leave for the night? Are we to come back tomorrow?"

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"If you like! I'll be here. Call if you need anything - oh Devra could you show them cell phones - " she zips off and returns with a couple of ruggedized smartphones. 

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"Sure thing boss!" 

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"You're too kind." Henry says accepting the smartphones, despite not knowing how to use them. "And I would love to do more experiments."

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Devra will explain smartphones on the way out. Do they want a hotel, or would they rather stay on the premises? 

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Whatever is safest or convenient.

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Or rather, whatever is most comfortable.

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The lab is both safe and convenient, being owned by superheroes, but significantly less comfortable than a really nice hotel room. What's it gonna be?

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The lab. They can have a nice hotel room once there is more of them around and they have managed to spend one night without incident.

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Lab it is! Devra shows them to a small apartment-like setup with a small kitchenette and a decently-stocked but still small pantry. It's tight, but extremely clean. "Washer and dryer are down the hall," she explains cheerily. "Oh right, I should explain those..." She gives Laundry 101. "You guys want one room or two? We've got the space, don't worry." 

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"Just one, we sleep together. And the small space is fine. At least while it's just the two of us."

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"Should we do the laundry right now? I guess it will be easier if we duplicated clean clothes if you don't have any to spare."

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"We don't really keep spare clothes on hand unless you like lab coats, goggles, and rubber gloves. I've got some spares in case of lab...um...accidents, but I doubt they'd fit you. Probably best to duplicate yours if you can. That is too cool, by the way." 

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"It's convenient. But I think it's better if we get straight to bed and do that tomorrow once we are better rested. Or after seeing the local fashion," their current attire is passable to get into a store or walk around.

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"Eh, you look fine," says the person wearing perpetually oil-stained coveralls. "See you in the morning?" 

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"See ya! Knock before coming," he says putting an arm around a blushing Henry.

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Awww. Unity waves and departs. Time to locate An Actual Bed! And a shower, maybe! 

 

 

 

A slightly extended sleeping period thereafter, Unity knocks on Henry and Gabe's door. 

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They soon answer, they are even dressed. Gabe yawns. "Hey, there."

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"Good morning!" The stains on Unity's coveralls have been downgraded from "recent and thorough" to "permanent and sparse", so presumably she did in fact find time for laundry last night. "Science Boss thinks I should take you for breakfast and shopping downtown, maybe find you a nicer hotel, whaddaya say?" 

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"Sounds good. Is it now a good time then?"

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"Sure! Dunno about you but I'm starved. Breakfast first?" 

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"Yes, please! Can't go shopping on an empty stomach."

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"Great! There's a kickass omelette shop called Sunnyside a bit of a walk from the lab. Their hash browns are delish.

Unity stops by a storeroom marked with three layers of warning signs, and emerges with a pair of Bee Bots in tow. They buzz contentedly about her head as she leads Henry and Gabe outside, where they can get their first glimpse of the Megalopolis skyline. The lab is located on a slight hill overlooking the city, and the view from this side is impressive. Notable features include: gleaming skyscrapers, loud and zooming ten-lane freeway traffic, and a giant F-shaped tower. 

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The visitors are very impressed. They ask a few questions about how many people live in the city, and how long it has been around, and so on.

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Also, about the F-shaped building. What's up with that?

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Megalopolis is home to about 10 million people, Unity explains. "They keep moving here even with all the everything, so there must be something to like. I'm not sure how long it's been here, but, like, centuries? It wasn't always this big, though." 

And the F building: "Oh, that's Freedom Tower! Sort of a live-in operations center for the Freedom Five, that's Dr. Stinson's hero group. She's Tachyon when she's working with them."

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They're dully impressed. "Are the Freedom Five important? I am not sure you mentioned them to me."

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"Oh, they're superheroes! Legacy, Bunker, Absolute Zero, Wraith, and Tachyon. They protect the city 'n' stuff. Ooo, there's the Waffle Top building, see the hexagonal girders?" 

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"We do. How can the five of them protect the whole town? Are they as fast as Tachyon?"

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"Maybe they have apprentices like Unity here." They look Waffle-Top-wards.

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"Legacy's pretty fast and he can fly! Plus he has, like, eagle vision or something. They don't take on the small stuff though, usually. Just like, if a superpowered criminal tries to rob a bank, or a giant robot starts trashing the interstate. That sort of thing." Unity skips a bit as she says this, pleased at meriting the "apprentice" designation. 

The "Waffle Top" is an impressive display of architecture; a skyscraper crowned with an angled plane supported by relatively few girders in a hexagonal pattern. It's vaguely waffle or honeycomb shaped, but if one has never seen a waffle it is hard to gauge the resemblance. 

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They are not in fact familiarized with waffles. Or honeycombs for that matter, while the island had bees, they never got around to harvesting them for honey.

However, they are still impressed by the architecture. Is the entire thing a waffle-based restaurant?

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The rest of the building comes into view as they descend into the city. It is, in fact, a fairly otherwise unimpressive office building. A sign below the hexagons reads MEGACORP. 

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What is the Mega that the megacorp is about?

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"It was founded in Megalopolis? I think it might have been the same guy they named the city after, actually, they changed the name when one of the early industrialists funded a bunch of city projects, like, a century ago. He had some kind of math powers and went by Megonomy, I think? Or maybe it was Megamark..." Unity is briefly distracted trying to recall her middle school history class. Mr. Hill had managed to make even a history of superpowers sound dull. Ms. Long had been better...

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"Math powers, that sounds like the lamest possible powers ever."

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"Well, he got this city and a company named after him, so he put them to good use."

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"Yeah he made a bunch of money. Here's the place!" Devra points to a cluster of restaurants across the street. One has the name Sunnyside in cheery yellow letters across the front. 

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They follow along and let her order food for them.

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They can have a breakfast sampler plate! Eggs, bacon, toast, little breakfast sausages, an English muffin, and waffles. Small waffles, but still. Devra cheerfully identifies the foodstuffs and condiments, then tucks into an English muffin smothered in butter and jam. 

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They take experimental bites.

Henry actually swears with his mouth still full.

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They start stuffing themselves. How does food gets this good?

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Devra is pleased they like it. "Uh, lots of butter and, like, a squillion years of trial and error? Wait 'till you have pizza, pizza is the best." 

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"Oooh, food science." Henry says.

Now that he has taken one, two or six bites, Henry has regained some self-control. He starts crystallizing some food samples. If having crystals extruding out of your body is poor table manners, he is completely unaware of the fact.

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Unity's buzzing Bee Bots may also draw some attention. Their table gets some weird looks, and after a few minutes one flustered quartet of teenagers shuffles over to ask for autographs. 

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Henry is confused by this and asks what is the purpose of an autograph? Is this a custom here? Should they ask for the teens' autographs to be polite?

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"Oh, they think you're a superhero so they want you to write your name on something," Devra whispers. "It doesn't hurt anything, it's just something people like asking popular people to do. So you can go, see, I met this cool person, here's proof! If you wanna be a superhero though you should use your superhero name, which I guess you don't have yet so it doesn't really matter, identities are kind of open secrets anyway." 

She may have forgotten to whisper at some point in this breathless exposition. Teenagers gawk. 

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"Being a super-hero sounds like, too public for me to decide without the other mes around?"

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"Could we like... I don't know, instead of writing the usual style, just use our magic to turn some of what they signed on to some other material? It shows that they met us, without our names being involved."

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"I dunno, probably - hey, you guys want cool magic signatures of your own instead?" 

Teenagers respond with confused blinking and one enthusiastic nod. 

"Okay!" bubbles Devra. "Let's do that then!"

She scrawls unity <3 on a proffered scrap of paper and invites the teens to add their own, then hands the result to Gabe. 

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Gabe extends a crystal from his index finger and creates a small but elaborate spiral fractal pattern in dark crystal. It shimmers in multiple colors if you tilt the right way.

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Henry does the same, his pattern is a less elaborate pattern in square-fractals. It's a dark, lustrous metal that sparkles a dark silver.

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The shiny magical gemstones enjoy much admiration. 

"Dang, that's pretty, now I want one," laughs Devra as the teens depart. 

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"Anything specific you have in mind?"

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"Ever seen an oxidized bismuth crystal?" Devra will cheerfully walk them through the process of searching the Internet for pictures on their new phones. 

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"I have! Still pretty." 

He starts working on a bismuth like pattern though with a bit of "purposeful chaos" into and the pieces interlock with each other in a chain-like fashion.

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It is breathtaking and Devra adores it. "Thank you!!!" 

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"For once, geometry was useful!"

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Henry rolls his eyes. "Are people going to assume we are super-heroes just because of our powers?"

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"Uh...yes. Sorry about that. Better than them thinking you're supervillains, at least!"

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"No need to apologize? It's just weird. Do you guys have people with super-powers that are not super-heroes? Or supervillains?"

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"Oh sure, they just don't make as much of a splash. People tend to get roped into stuff, you know? Like, when your hometown comes under attack by aliens and you can bench press a bulldozer, it's kinda hard not to get involved." 

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"Oh, I guess that makes sense. I am sure we will figure out what we are going to do here."

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"Can we even have secret identities? There is, like, a lot of us going around with the same faces."

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"Making rare stuff and selling it will pretty much get you whatever you want, honestly. It seems like the multiple faces thing would actually work in your favor, though. You dress up in a costume and rescue another Gabe from a supervillain, and boom, instant alibi. I guess that breaks down when people figure out there are a bunch of you, though." 

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"Also, we don't know things like 'autographs'. But I could see some islanders going for it. I will have to think about it."

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"Keeping a secret identity sounds like too much work."

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"Most of us don't bother, but some people don't like getting swarmed by adoring fans or mobs of papparazzi whenever they go out and are willing to go the extra mile for some anonymity." 

Devra falls silent for a bit, intent on bacon. 

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"Do you have bad experiences with it...?"

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"Nagh." Devra manages a heroic swallow and continues, "Not really. 'm not enough of a big shot yet for the real crazy to start. It's mostly just been people wanting to get close to Dr. S." 

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"Ah, yeah. That makes sense." He chews on some whipped-covered waffle. "Do you recommend the super-hero life?"

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"Ish friggin aweshum!" Gulp. "I wanna be one of the Freedom Five. They're all, like, my heroes, only, literally instead of figuratively? Or both? I dunno. It's great though. Fight baddies, save the world!" Devra pauses. "You'd have to get pretty clever since your magic isn't all flashy-fighty, but that's no big deal. Wraith doesn't even have any powers, 'cept being totally loaded, and she does fine. Same with Bunker, and maybe Zero, even though he's kind of a jerk." 

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"Maybe we can't move loads of metal like you do, but we could make fancy armor and a well, made crystal can be really good at stabbing." He creates a miniature spear, which he uses to stab... a piece of syrup covered strawberry pancake.

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"Heh, I am not sure how good we are in a fight. At least against something that isn't, like, a fish or bird we are trying to shoot out of the sky."

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"It's a bird! It's a pancake! It's...not a joke you'd recognize, sorry." Devra drowns her awkward in maple syrup. 

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Henry slices a piece of pancake into the rough approximation of a bird.

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Gabe covers its head with maple syrup before taking a bite.

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At this rate, soon there will be no more pancake. 

 

Only slightly less disastrous is the thunderous noise and sudden darkening of the sky outside. 

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Gabe looks at the signs of a storm coming. "Does the weather usually changes dramatically like this?"

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"Heck yeah!" Unity blurts. "I mean...uh oh. No. It does not. Probably a supervillain attack. Which is, uh, bad."

 

Unity's Bee Bots dart forward, one knocking over a jar of syrup in its haste. The bots arrange themselves to hover between their table and the door. Panicked screams and shattering glass can be faintly heard over the thunder. Wide-eyed Sunnyside breakfasters duck for cover in their booths, a few frantically mashing phone screens. 

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"Uh... We probably don't have time to create a barricade, but maybe we could try? Or maybe we should be a distraction while everyone evacuates?"

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"I dunno," Unity shouts over the din, "that didn't really sound blockable! But we can do distractions! Think you could make some more Bee Bots?" A pair of the bots in question zoom to hover within reach of Henry and Gabe. 

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"Make some cover, Gabe." Henry snatches the Bee Bots and starts the crystal-cloning process.

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Gabe silently does that, raising a shielding barrier around them. And working on expanding it for wider cover. He is also keeping an eye out in case they are going to need to bolt.

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Unity turns her attention to a set of empty tables and stools nearby, each held up by a single metal rod. The bolts anchoring them to the floor glow purple and unscrew themselves, and the metal begins twisting into a skeletal humanoid shape. A handful of the Bee Bots disintegrate midair, their parts zooming into the newly-formed golem. The rest of the palm-sized bots join the small swarm near the door. 

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Sounds of destruction intensify, and an intent listener might pick out recurring beats above the din, as if of giant footsteps. The building shudders, and outside, shattered glass falls on the concrete like rain. 

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By that point Henry has gotten the hang of duplicating the Bee Bots enough to send them Unity's way.

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Unity adds the replicated bots to her swarm. More disintegrate into parts that latch onto the body of the new bot. Layers of scavenged metal wrap around it protectively, making it look vaguely like a metallic mummy.

The building shakes again; a chunk of ceiling drops onto a table, and a wall visibly cracks. 

"Evacuation is looking good right about now!" urges Unity. "My bots will distract whatever it is - think you can get these people out?" 

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"Now sounds like a good time to get them out!" Gabe says, eyeing the chunk on the table.

Do people look agreeable to being evacuated?

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Many are watching the proceedings in various states of awestruck or paralyzed with fear. Getting their attention would be easy. Convincing them to move might have mixed results. 

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"Look! I understand. I am really good-looking! But you need to make yourself look away and run!"

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Their eyes flick from Gabe and Henry to Unity. 

"We're with the Freedom Five! Do what he says and get out of here!" adds Unity. "Go, Stealth Bot, go!" 

The mechanical mummy dashes out the door, followed by a small buzzing swarm. 

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Something dark hits the ground outside, narrowly missing Stealth Bot. The pavement cracks under the impact, and a wash of fear passes through the building. Objectively, the temperature doesn't go up, but the feeling is enough to make most people break out in a cold sweat. 

More impacts strike a bit farther away. It sounds like the hastily-assembled bot is doing its job, for now. 

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Henry covers themselves with a field of anti-magic in case it's some kind of power. But he is mostly focusing on supplying more bee bots.

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"You!" Gabe says to the nearest table, "I will give you cover to make a run. Lose the chance, and you will have to wait me to make my way back to your table, got it? Okay." He pauses until there is a moment and says, "Go!"

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The feeling of oppressive fear, which had been subtly building since the first sounds of combat, immediately retreats from Henry's mind. 

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The family Gabe is addressing nod in wide-eyed terror and make a dash for the exit. Unity turns away from her constructions to focus intently on the outside for a moment, and a few well-timed Bee Bot explosions distract whatever-it-is from going after the civilians. One by one, Henry's duplicated bots zoom out to replace the detonating ones. 

Gabe is able to get a few more groups of civilians out this way, amid rumbling crashes that shake the ground beneath them. As the last of the restaurant's patrons have been evacuated, a panting staff member emerges from the kitchen entrance, stammering that the rear of the building has collapsed. 

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The actions of the Sunnyside patrons have not gone unnoticed. The sky outside darkens further, and two tall figures in gold masks and armor step through the door, sand swirling at their feet. 

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"Uh oh. Goldymooks." 

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The two of them have been doing their best to reinforce their little nook of protection while heavily multitasking. There is now a cover with a honeycomb pattern around them.

"What can they do?"

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"No clue! But that spear thingy looks stabby and I bet that armor isn't for show. Most folks who bother with melee weapons can shrug off gunfire so I'm guessing they're pretty durable, too." Unity winces, suddenly. "...and whatever's outside just pancaked my Stealth Bot." A handful more Bee Bots swarm protectively around their defensive barrier as the golden warriors begin marching across the tile floor. A couple of Bee Bots dive-bomb them, exploding like miniature grenades; they stagger backward but recover quickly, shielded from the impact by a suspiciously convenient patch of sand. 

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That is suspiciously convenient (for the Goldymooks) ..."The sand, might channel a power?" He tells Gabe while offering dart-shaped anti-magic shards.

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Okay, sure will try to hit them with some improvised darts. He only aims some at the sand. Hitting the actual enemy, ought to be more useful, right?

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The aim of the first dart proves relatively moot, as a wave of sand shifts to block it. The sand promptly falls to the ground in an unmoving heap, and the guards attempt to rush Gabe. The remaining darts bounce off their armor, but not uselessly; the shimmering golden glow dims, and the next volley of Bee Bots drops the pair with explosive ease. 

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"We're clear! Run for it!" Matching action to words, Unity makes a dash for the door. A small swarm of the remaining Bee Bots trail after her like little striped comets. 

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Oh, that is useful! Henry doubles the mass of his anti-magic crystal, but moves when Unity tells them to.

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Gabe provides cover and runs after the two.

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Outside is chaos. A towering figure stands a stone's throw from the building, swatting at several costumed figures like gnats. As Henry and Gabe escape the building, the big one knocks a blue-and-white-clad man into a building just as something in what looks to be glowing armor encases its left leg in ice. On a nearby rooftop, an armored humanoid shape fires bullets and grenades into the monster's body. One red streak, trailing a corona of lightning, looks familiar - Dr. Stinson produced the same effect when she flickered from place to place at super-speed. A haze of some dark energy seems to be preventing anyone from getting close. 

The ruined remains of Stealth Bot lie in a smoking crater nearby, surrounded by a dark haze. 

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"Unity... do you have a plan of attack? My anti-magic seems to work against them. So does Gabe shield."

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Rest in pieces, sweet Stealth Bot.

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"My bots can carry - no, wait, I'm kinda magic too. I bet Wraith or Tachyon would know. Ooo! My phone has the Freedom Five emergency - " she fumbles in her pockets, " - and I scrapped it to make Stealth Bot. Crap. You guys got spare phones right?" 

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With one massive blow, the giant shatters the ice binding its leg. It then raises a hand, and a ray of coruscating shadow lances towards the roof. The blue one throws up a wall of ice at the last moment, but the hit still blasts him and the armored humanoid backward. 

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Gabe throws the phone to her. Then he starts covering his forearm with crystals to create a more mobile barrier.

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"If it affects the heroes too. I would need to be there to activate or deactivate it. Or we would need to rig something to throw it, that fair."

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"I think it's just me - " she trails off as she fumbles the phone and nearly drops it. "Gotcha! Come on, boss, did you load up...yes! For Emergencies! Come on, pick up..." 

There is an extremely tense pause, during which the blue-and-white flying man makes another dive at the monster, narrowly avoiding another shadow ray and a falling chunk of building. Then, "Tachy! This is Unity, we're nearby and have antimagic, what do?" 

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There's a sort of fzzzzap noise, and then, "Whaddayagotforme?" says Tachyon from right next to Gabe. A faint smell of ozone fills the air. 

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With a start, Henry holds up the black crystal spear he was making. "Anti-magic spear, that negated the mooks' magic. But it might affect you guys too. But I can activate it or deactivate it while touching it."

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"I can do that too. We have, like, my shields." He raises his arm, which looks covered by black gem studs in a very bold fashion statement.

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"Lemmetry - " Tachyon takes the spear. "Still fast! Now for - look out!"

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Spotting an opportunity to squash the very annoying red streak, the monster launches another shadow ray directly at the group. It slams into Gabe's shield with incredible force, but the aftereffects wash harmlessly around the antimagic auras Henry and Gabe are radiating. The whole area darkens, and seems to squirm around them, except for within the antimagic radius. 

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Tachyon zips off towards the battle, cutting a swath through the shadows with the crystal spear. In moments, she's at the creature's feet, stabbing the crystal into its shins. It stumbles and lets out an earsplitting roar. 

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As a reflex, Henry starts sprouting spikes of onyx crystal. Some go through his clothes and some... are apparently bleeding? Except the blood is a gray crystal.

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"Dude!"

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Unity, who has just started trying to turn a car into another humanoid robot, looks up with concern. "What is that?" 

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Meanwhile, Tachyon passes the antimagic spike to the flying man, who proceeds to do his level best do jam it into the monster's eye. It manages to fend him off, but it's on the defensive now. 

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"Using crystal magic on reflex," Henry says, pulling a spike from a shoulder, "more painful and lesser quality." He starts the process of pulling another spike. Luckily, none appeared out of his face.

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Gabe helps. "And to think you are the one giving mes lectures about never doing this."

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In a fit of desperate inspiration, the giant seizes a room-sized chunk of skyscraper and hurls it, not at the flying man, but the group of people currently making antimagic crystals. The hero notices and quickly refocuses, trying to catch up to the projectile, but he's just... a bit... too... slow...

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Several things happen in quick succession: Unity's half-formed bot throws itself in front of the group. From the rooftop, someone launches a canister that shatters at their feet, engulfing them in a wave of rapidly-expanding foam. And several tons of rebar-reinforced concrete slam into the collected defense of shield, bot, and foam. 

Miraculously, no one dies. 

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Gabe was about to shout for them to run. "Well, that was close."

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"We could get better cover? We are not frontline fighters."

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Unity spits out a mouthful of foam. "Ow. It, uh, might not matter in a moment..." she points monsterward. "Get 'im, Legacy!"

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The blue-and-white hero, Legacy, turns around to make another run at the giant...

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...while another figure, previously hidden in the shadows, launches a grappling hook at its legs...

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...which Tachyon catches and wraps several turns for good measure...

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...and a blast of ice encases the monster's arms before they can rise to block...

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...as Legacy dodges another blast of shadow and hurls the spear into the creature's chest. 

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Cracks of light spreading from the point of impact, the creature topples to the ground and begins to dissolve into shadowy mist. 

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"Yay? Are we, like, safe?" Gabe says trying to get some gunk off, his shields don't really help much at the task.

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Henry just "cuts" the foam by turning some into a thin layer of crystal.

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"Yessss!" Unity cheers as the creature disipates. "Teamwork! Go Legacy!" It takes her a moment to register Gabe's question. Then, "I, uh, think so? It looks like the heroes are still chasing someone..." Indeed, the costumed ones have begun fanning out in what looks like a search pattern near the site of the fall. "...but there's no more giant monster destroying the city. If you can make some more material I can make some bots to help with the cleanup and stuff." She notices Henry's ragged, crystal-studded appearance. "Are you gonna be okay, man?" 

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"I will, it looks worse than it actually is."

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"But please do make fun of his rookie mistake. I am sure will."

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"I purposefully keep crystals away from anything vital. And to answer your request. We can make more bots."

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"Oooookay then. Gimme stuff and I'll bot up." She separates out some materials to feed the duplication crystals. "Four parts this to one part this and three of this, give or take..." She uses the materials to animate several more bots with various tools attached. One has a comically-large sensor array on its head, another is ten feet tall with multiple arms, and another looks like a large dinosaur. Unity sends them out to start clearing debris and locating trapped civilians. The dinosaur appears to be using its mouth like a shovel. 

"That was so cool. We actually fought with the Freedom Five! I mean, I've worked with them before, but, like, little stuff, you know? But we just took down a real supervillain! Well, we helped anyway. You were great!" Unity beams at Gabe and Henry while she pauses for breath. There is a crash nearby as one of her bots drops a cinderblock. "Oops. Right. Cleanup." 

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Henry isn't as enthusiastic, but he is glad that they have done (and are doing) something good. The spikes are still distracting. He gestures for Gabe to offer help in a totally wordless way.

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"If you need to handle a person under the debris, let us know. Is this a typical day of work for the Five?"

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"Hmmm? Oh yeah, they stop big bads all the time! Well, okay, maybe not all the time, but they took down Ambuscade the other week and it didn't even make the national news. Kind of a disappointment, really, I mean, come on, the guy booby-trapped an ice cream truck. Who does that? I could've stopped it if they called me, y'know. Oh well, at least we got to help with this one!" 

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Meanwhile, as the dust settles, multiple vehicles covered in flashing lights pull up to continue various disaster-response tasks. If they are put off by the concrete-munching dinosaur, they don't show it. Mostly they keep their distance. 

Then a different vehicle appears, as if magnetically drawn to the carnage. It stops in the blocked-off street nearby. A pair of decidedly non-uniformed individuals step out hurriedly and look around. They spot Henry, Gabe, and Unity, making an immediate beeline for the trio. One carries a small metallic wand in her hand, and the other hoists a large machine of some sort on his shoulder. Henry is closest to the road at the moment, so the woman with the stubby wand hurries over to him. "Hello! I'm June Crescent with the Daily Globe, can I ask you a few questions about today's fight?" She flashes white teeth and holds the stubby wand uncomfortably close to Henry's face. 

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"Yes?" He stares at the stubby wand thing. "May I ask what is this thing?"

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Unity jogs over. "That's a microphone! It records stuff. June's a reporter for the local news. They, uh, follow big events and then write about them so people can find out what happened later! Usually. Sometimes they make stuff up 'cos it's more interesting, but that's on slow days." 

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June cocks an eyebrow. 

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"Oh I didn't mean you specifically! You wrote that piece on Zero, right? It was pretty good. I thought you were kinda mean to Tachyon though. She can't be everywhere, ya know." 

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June turns back to Henry. "You seem...new...to Megalopolis. What brings you to our fair city? Are you working with the Freedom Five?" 

The young man with the large apparatus on his shoulder points it at Henry, tweaking some knobs on the side. 

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"Uh," Henry is so unsure how to respond in a way that doesn't sound bad. "We are... considering moving in here," he says without a lot of certainty, but it was the quickest thing he could say that didn't involve Unity accidentally going to another world. "We are not working with the Freedom Five. I mean, we are doing some science experiments with Tachyon, but we are not working with the rest of them."

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"Oh? What are you experimenting on? Is it related to your crystal powers?" 

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"Yes, it is related. Mostly, trying out what we kind of things we could copy."

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"There was one that took them hours, just to make super tiny things. And then nothing happened because, the tiny things are too tiny." Gabe says with a smirk. He is playing with a crystal formation in his hands.

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"Your powers let you duplicate objects?" June inquires. "Do you have a cape name yet?" 

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"Duplicate and sculpting." Gabe shows what he was working on, a crystalline miniature of the reporter and the cameraman, too small for details, but obvious representing them both.

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"And we don't have cape names yet." Henry isn't sure they will be 'capes' either way.

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"What should we call you, then?" asks June. 

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Henry looks over at Unity, planning to ask about naming conventions.

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"Oh, how about something like Onyx and Obsidian? Are those names taken? Those two handsome men is good enough if they are."

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"I don't believe those are taken, no! Are you Onyx, or Obsidian?" June goes on in this vein for some time, asking about their powers, their homes, their opinions of the Five, their experiments with nano-manufacturing with Tachyon...

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In between making and directing cleanup bots, Unity chimes in occasionally. June seems far more interested in the newly-christened Onyx and Obsidian than the cheerful bot-maker, though. 

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Henry takes the name Onyx. Gabe takes Obsidian. Henry still doesn't know if they should talk about Unity's accident that brought her there, so they deflect questions about their homes and origins. They explain their shared ability to use crystals to create and manipulate matter. And how Henry can create antimagic crystals and Gabe creates shielding crystals. They don't understand most of the technology behind Tachyon's experiments, but Henry is glad to be working in that field.

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June tries to poke around the origin a few times, but gives up after several deflections. Eventually she moves on to get comments from bystanders, including a few people that owe their safety to the new superheroes. 

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"You'll see yourself on the news tomorrow," Unity comments, with a wide but brittle smile. "New capes are always a big deal. I bet the forums go wild over you, too." 

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"Hopefully we made a good first impression?" Henry says, turning into a question half-way through. "I was afraid if we told all details, it might look bad for you and Tachyon."

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"Oh, you did fine," Unity waves a hand airily. "And we're not doing anything bad either, but I appreciate you keeping a lid on the finer stuff. If we tell everybody what we're working on, villains like Mr. Shadow Giant over there might find out and prepare for it, so we don't share everything with the press. I just wish for once they'd - "

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Unity is interrupted by the arrival of a red-and-white blur, which resolves into Tachyon in a form-fitting suit. The suit's material looks tough and flexible, but there's some signs of abrasion and wear, and Tachyon herself bears a few bandaged cuts and scrapes. 

"Heyguysthanksabunchforyourhelp-"

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"Ease up, Tachy," Unity interrupts, shooting Henry and Gabe a long-suffering grin. 

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"Right. Sorry. You guys did great, I didn't even know you'd be in the area but I don't think we could have done it without you. At least not without a much harder fight. We think we've gotten everyone out of immediate danger. Wraith's working with the first response teams and Legacy's doing flyovers just in case the scans missed anyone trapped or injured, but do you want to meet the rest of the team?" 

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"Oooh, that sounds great!"

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"Sure... Hopefully, they won't mind that we are not exactly looking our best?" He has mostly cleaned himself up by now. And is also treating this as something akin to meeting new employers, even if they don't know if the cape thing will stick.

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"Eh, we're all a little rank after a fight. They'll understand." She leads the way to where two armored humanoid figures are resting in the lee of a demolished building. "Bunker, Absolute Zero - meet Henry and Gabe." 

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"They're Onyx and Obsidian now! Great names, huh?"

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"These are the visitors you mentioned?" Bunker's voice echoes oddly from a speaker at the "mouth" of his twelve-foot-tall suit. "Welcome to town, and thanks for the help." 

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"They're just a couple of kids," grumbles Absolute Zero, a smaller man in black armor with a glowing blue visor and palms. 

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"We are glad to be at service," Henry says deferentially.

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"Your town is much more interesting than where we are from," Gabe comments cheerfully. "Nice costume," he says of the glowing visor and palms.

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"It's not mine," replies Zero, a little sourly. 

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"Lighten up, Zero," Bunker booms. His suit turns slightly toward Gabe. "What my colleague means is, his suit is a loan from the government in exchange for his help fighting threats like the one you just helped us take down. Technically I'm government-funded too, but as a soldier rather than a...civilian contractor." 

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"Contractor, my ass. The pay's terrible. At least it beats being stuck in an icebox 24/7." 

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"I thought your island was plenty interesting," Unity tells Gabe loyally. 

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"You're free to live there. I will stick with the place with the fancy buildings, food and costumes."

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"Should I be offering to make a spare?" He ponders on the vague direction of Zero.

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"You can do that?" Zero exclaims, for once not affecting boredom. 

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"Not legally," Bunker retorts. "Government owns the IP, remember? I wouldn't recommend getting into a spat with Uncle Sam over military technology. The results would not be pretty." 

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"They said the same thing when I asked," Tachyon grumbles. "Stingy bureaucrats." 

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"The military has legitimate concerns about replicating sensitive technology -" 

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"Come on, guys, we just beat up a giant spook! Can we get a little team spirit?" 

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"Woo." Zero waves a finger in a half-hearted circle. 

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"Unity has a point, Absolute Zero," says a new voice. Another costumed fighter, the flying man earlier identified as Legacy, descends into the group's midst. "Everyone did a great job today. All the civilians are accounted for, and we've caught the woman responsible for summoning that thing. You should be proud." He turns to Henry and Gabe. "Tachyon filled me in over comms. Welcome to Megalopolis, Onyx and Obsidian. We're all glad for your help. Without it, there'd be a lot more damage and casualties from this fight." 

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"...Thank you?" Henry says, finding the praise a bit, much at this point. "Uh, it's a lovely place. We are glad we could help. And uh, sorry, Absolute Zero. But I would like not to break the local laws."

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"That's just peachy," grumbles Zero. 

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"Let us know if you'd like a lift back to HQ. Reporters and fans can get a little overexcited after a big fight. This place'll be swarmed soon." 

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"We were meant to go out shopping. But I am not sure if that plan is still viable?" He turns that into a question at the last minute.

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"We totally could. You might want to, uh, clean up first." Unity eyes Henry's crystal-encrusted form. "We could pass for normal folks if we get rid of the crystals. Otherwise we'll probably get mobbed." 

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"Oh, I was absolutely going to clean up before doing anything. I was just not sure if we are our plans are cancelled or not."

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"The shopping mall might be a pancake now. Lemme check the damage reports." Unity fiddles with her phone. "...it looks like the monster flattened Spacy's and the nearby shops, but there's a shopping center open on 6th and Siegel. We're good!" 

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"Tachyon was able to evacuate the civilians beforehand," Legacy adds. "There's a lot of structural damage, but no major injuries." 

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"All in a minute's work." Tachyon winks. 

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"Okay. I think I can get presentable without detouring back to the laboratory. Uh, is the structural damage anything we should help with?"

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"The city has response crews that handle damage like this. Emergency assessments are in progress and reconstruction will be going on for weeks, if not months, even with some powered support. If your own powers lend themselves particularly well to large-scale construction and you want to help, we can let 'em know you're available, but from Tachyon's report it sounds like your replications are better for smaller projects."