TDM 01: Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It

[dcparadoxmods]

Welcome to the Cloverfield Project: Dimensional Nexus Recovery! The CIA has recruited you to help fix dimensional shenanigans. Your missions, should you choose to accept them, are as follows:

1. Clever Girl

The setting: a paleontological theme park that's been closed for a number of years. Your mission: retrieve a hilariously ugly golden idol that's been dropped in the middle of the park. Hopefully a dinosaur doesn't eat it before you can find it - or, you know, eat you instead.

2. The School Is Not Going 65 MPH

The setting: a stereotypical high school. Your mission: find the literal ticking time bomb that's been pulled in from the action-packed climax of someone else's story before it blows the school - and all of its occupants - sky high. Your pre-mission briefing didn't tell you exactly how much time is left on the bomb, but you're pretty sure it's less than an hour.

3. Wild Card

Feel free to come up with your own combination! What person/object/etc are you rescuing from what world? What's the situation that needs fixing?

(A note: Creating/running your own missions is highly encouraged in the game itself; sample missions are to give you examples for the test drive.)

Comments

Zenyatta | Overwatch/Legion CRAU

[orbislife]

[ 1. Zenyatta might have gotten a little distracted by the ruined gift shop in his search for the missing golden idol. He's enamored by all the trinkets scattered around by time and dinosaurs: from the faded postcards to cracked snow globes.

However, to be fair, he has been observing some of the nests created from a child's "Do it yourself" archaeology kit. Fragments of broken shell litter the old nests, and a few half deflated balls sit in there as well. A dinosaur must have mistaken them for eggs. Could the idol share the same fate?

Lowering his hovering, Zenyatta peers under a display stand to get a better look and uses the glow from one of his orbs as a light. They have to start their search somewhere, and this is as good of a place as any to start. ]

[[ 3. Hit Zen up with something. ]]

Re: Zenyatta | Overwatch/Legion CRAU

[historywhiplash]

"Any luck?" Desmond asks, voice quiet. He's not exactly keen on drawing the attention of any of the native creatures. Even if it would probably be cool to fight a raptor.

He really hopes the idol is down here instead of somewhere ridiculous.

Re: Zenyatta | Overwatch/Legion CRAU

[orbislife]

"No. There is nothing golden here," Zenyatta replies sadly. The closest thing he has seen to an idol was a tiki cup carved into a very deformed dinosaur shape. He returns to his normal hovering height speak to Desmond.

"Have you heard anything from the others?" If they could just narrow down the search even by a little, it would help. Anything would be better than combing the entire theme park piece by piece.

Re: Zenyatta | Overwatch/Legion CRAU

[historywhiplash]

Desmond shrugged, "Last I heard they were heading towards some buildings with corrals east of here."

He frowns for a moment, looking around and spotting a few security cameras. "So, probably an asshole question considering, but are you any good with computers? We might be able to get in to the security feeds and use the cameras to look or help everyone avoid t-rexes."

/chooses this icon only because it sorta matches yours

[orbislife]

Zenyatta laughs. "Other omnics may take offense, but I understand why you ask. I could take a look. However, my area of expertise involves interpersonal relations and spiritual healing rather than hacking."

The gift shop seems to be a dead end, so they might as well try to gain access to the cameras. Zenyatta looks at the cameras near and inside the shop, trying to spot any cables or wires that could point them in the direction of a terminal. "These cameras probably connect to a computer in a backroom. They would not want visitors to see the monitors. Perhaps they will also connect to areas beyond the store."

If they don't, they'll have to find a more centralized hub like a security office.

Whoo!

[historywhiplash]

That at least gets a bit of a smile out of Desmond. "We probably won't have to hack much, but getting whatever's here up and running might take two people."

He nods though, eyebrows knitting together as he shifts his eyesight to Eagle Vision, hoping he'll be able to pick out the correct wires to trace. While most of the world washes out the grey, Zenyatta is a reassuringly friendly blue in Desmond's sight.

No red in sight yet, which means they're safe for now.

"Back room might also have keys and a map. Places like this tend to have back passages or tunnels for employees." He says, voice a little slower and monotone as he concentrates.

[orbislife]

There is not much more they can do at their current location, so Zenyatta starts to scan the walls for any doors. He finds one next to a half fallen rack of dinosaur plush. Hovering over a sad and matted stegosaurus, he makes his way over, and Zenyatta wipes his hand over the thick dust covering the sign plate on the door. It says "Staff Only."

"The tunnels would give us the ability to move around quickly and safely if the wildlife has not entered them already. Hopefully this will lead us there."

He tries to turn the handle of the door, but it doesn't budge. Locked.

"Another roadblock presents itself."

Jack Spicer | Xiaolin Showdown

[evilboygenius]

[A]

"Retrieve an ugly artifact? Are they kidding? This is what I do."

Jack has been an absolutely delightful mission partner since the start. Apparently, the fact the powers that be didn't think he should be sent in here unsupervised has bruised his pride.

Dinosaur themepark islands are also, generally, super hot and muggy and gross, too. Mr. My-aesthetic-is-all-black-and-I'm-too-stubborn-and-teenaged-to-change is having a good time.

"I'm not even sure why they thought they had to send you along. I could do this with one arm tied behind my back!"

Jack tucks one of his arms behind his back as he forges ahead, talking over his shoulder.

He forges straight into a tree limb.

"Ow!"

[B]

They're up a very, very large tree, and it's raining. Several velociraptors are circling at the bottom. The dinosaurs make occasional worrisome forays up onto the lower branches, testing their jumps. They get just a little further each time before they fall, hissing and snapping, back to the mud below.

"So this is going great," Jack snarls. It's a pretty literal description, he activated the Monkey Staff in order to get himself up here and there are more teeth involved than usual. It sure would be nice if his helicopter backpack worked, but that run in with the pteranodon earlier? Not fortunate. Knowing he's going to have to fix it later hasn't improved his mood.

Jack's scowling down at the raptors, watching them, and trying to come up with some smart answer to this that doesn't involve trying to fight dinosaurs. Trying to fight dinosaurs would definitely be the sub-optimal plan right now.

A

[windsrising]

Honest-to-goodness dinosaurs aren't really the sort of thing that the Doctor has had a lot of experience with. Various and sundry sorts of lizards, yes, a number of them alien. But genuine dinosaurs not so much, and even knowing what he does about the approximate course of human history the idea that someone would try to create not just a theme park dedicated to dinosaurs but find a way to include genuine dinosaurs is a little surprising. Especially when he knows that time travel isn't supposed to be a thing humanity is capable of, as of this era in their history.

(Assuming things line up with the version of history he's familiar with, but to be fair, he has yet to see anything that would suggest otherwise.)

"For 'supervisory purposes' as I recall. Among other things."

Not that he sounds particularly thrilled either, but it's not the first time he's had to deal with a stubborn teenager whose wardrobe tended at least some amount of black.

Meanwhile, despite the fact that he's also wearing something distinctly unsuited to the weather (a leather greatcoat that looks like it might better be suited to approximately the WWI era) the Doctor doesn't address the weather at all. Or look at all bothered by the temperature, really. Instead, there's a moment of pause and then he speaks up again, this time with a faint note of amusement in his voice.

"Besides, I have it on good authority that I have a not inconsiderable amount of experience in knowing when to run."

[evilboygenius]

Jack spits out a leaf and runs a hand through his hair to make it ruffle in the correct way.

"Yeah, well they don't have to keep rubbing my face in it."

He agreed to help, right? That should totally push aside all reservations and suspicion! He's being good at great reputational expense for this team, jeeze.

As for running...

"Ha! You and me both, buddy."

Obviously, this should be a cinch.

They're coming up on some buildings now, which is at least more promising than trees. They're stained with rain and choked with plantlife, the forest already rising to reclaim this ground.

It's spooky how it doesn't take much time in a place like this for things to start looking ancient.

[windsrising]

"Well, no," the Doctor answers with a shrug. "They probably don't. But if they're anything like the government officials I've had the misfortune to know, that isn't really going to stop them either."

He also won't deny that he had been curious, about the mission. Enough to be more than willing to come along. But that's not anything that's ever really been new, either. His curiosity has seen him through several centuries already, and will likely see him through several more besides until time finally comes to claim her due. But until then he means to simply keep on the way he has been.

"And there, see? We're shoo-ins for this sort of thing already."

There's an easy grin to go with the words as well, some small-spark of not-yet-forgotten optimism shining through. Whether or not Jack agrees is another question entirely, but to be fair, it's not really one that the Doctor means to actually address. Or not of his own volition at the very least. Instead, he turns his attention towards the buildings, dilapidated though they might be.

"That looks like a promising start."

A

[predatoryn]

It's anyone's guess if Ryn understands any of Jack's comments as they search. She seems to be paying more attention to their surroundings, moving her head subtly as they walk forward, or turning it left and right, up and down. She's alert, and even though she's small and slim, she doesn't seem scared.

If anything, it looks like she's hunting.

So much so that she doesn't even laugh when he hits the tree, instead just watching him as he straightens himself out.

"Quiet," she says, and hisses at him, baring her teeth. "They hear, and they come. They kill. ...they try."

She's not going down without a bloody fight, that's for sure.

Remus Lupin | Harry Potter

[signsthatidentify]

1

Remus would do just about anything to get rid of his lycanthropy, but he has to admit it - the heightened senses are rather helpful when trying to avoid becoming a dinosaur snack. Having his wand with him isn't half bad either. Being able to place protective charms around himself to deter any particularly hungry dinosaurs is convenient, as is being able to knock back the few that managed to notice him anyway.

It's a damn shame his attempt at accio hilariously ugly golden idol proved pointless though.


2

Sneaking around schools is something Remus happens to have rather a lot of practice with. The only difference is that this time he isn't a student of said school, doesn't have James' invisibility cloak, and hasn't made a magical map to show where inside everybody is. He's planning on claiming to be a substitute teacher new to the district should anyone bother asking what he's doing, but he's hoping if he walks around with enough purpose that won't be an issue.

1

[orbislife]

That summoning spell would have proved very handy and invaluable if it had worked. Zenyatta hovers toward Remus, barely disturbing the grass beneath him. Hopefully the gentle whirring of his cooling fans will make up for his lack of footsteps. He would hate to startle someone when there are so many threats around. Very large threats.

"The entrance souvenir stores have been searched. The idol is not there." That leaves going into the actual dinosaur habitats to search, and Zenyatta had hoped the search party could avoid entering those areas.

[signsthatidentify]

Many people might raise an eyebrow at a robot? thing? talking to them, but then again there are people who would have a hard time believing a wizard werewolf exists, yet here we are. So when Remus hears the mechanical whirring approach he calmly turns and nods in greeting. “Of course not, that would make things all to easy, and where’s the fun in that.” He says it flatly and sarcastically.

[orbislife]

"It may be less fun, but it would allow more to keep their limbs." Zenyatta hums in thought, head slightly tilted. Then he straightens upright.

"Luckily, I have extras." An arm made of golden light sprouts from his back, and he gives himself a fist bump. "And I am not known for taking the easy path."

[signsthatidentify]

Remus blinks in surprise at the new arm, then smiles. “Well, I unfortunately only have the standard amount, so if —“

He stops, his ears picking up the sound of something walking in the distance. He ducks down and motions for his companion to be quiet as well. Not that either of them were being particularly loud, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Remus should’ve been paying more attention. If he hadn’t been joking around he might have noticed the sound sooner, giving them additional warning. He can’t see anything yet, but he’s hoping whatever is coming towards them is an herbivore. That might be just wishful thinking on his part, however.

I'll leave it to you to choose which kind of dino is coming. I'm cool with either

[orbislife]

The humor that Zenyatta had drops, and he tunes his senses outwards. He can't feel the rumbling of footsteps since he is in the air, but his microphones can pick up the sounds. There is also a shift in the energy around them, which is the most telling for him.

"I sense something nearby," he says in a hushed tone. "We could try hiding over there."

He pointed to the shade of a large tree with generous foliage surrounding it. At the very least, Zenyatta intends to go there because his metallic body reflects the sun and may catch attention.

[lechiennoir]

Sirius is normally all for fighting dinosaurs. Or at least he would have been, a few years ago. Here and now, with no wand and precious little useful wandless magic, he's feeling a little more apprehensive. He is at the very least still good at sneaking. Maybe a bit less so when he suddenly sees old friends, and can't stop a gasp from escaping.

"Moony?" It's a bit tentative, he's unarmed. Unfortunately, it may also catch the attention of some curious dinosaurs.

[signsthatidentify]

It’s been a long time since he’s been called that, and it stings.

Anyone who once used that nickname is either dead or in prison for their murders, and that certainly isn’t the voice of a ghost. In an instant he turns, wand aimed at his once-friend.

“Sirius.” His voice is quiet and calm, but his eyes are cold. “Never thought I would have to see you again.”

[lechiennoir]

He's not sure what he expected, here. Forgiveness? Understanding? How could Remus know; when they'd purposely left him out of the loop? He raises his hands, keeping his eyes carefully on the other young man.

'Have' to see him. As if Remus hated him. Maybe he did, with all that he knew had gone on. Perhaps he should have done a long time ago, a small, self-loathing voice deep inside offers.

"I'm as surprised as you are," he offers, with a slight twist to his mouth. "Before anything else, though: let's get this done so neither of us get eaten by who knows what foul creatures before I have a chance to say anything."

[signsthatidentify]

“Wouldn’t be much of a loss,” he responds, not taking his eyes off Sirius. A very strong part of him wants to attack Sirius right here and now, to kill him just like he killed Peter, but he unfortunately has a job to be doing. Not to mention any attack might draw the attention of a particularly hungry dinosaur, though that might be doing the multiverse a favor. One less murderer and one less monster.

“Why?” He knows he needs to shut up, to walk away and keep looking for this damn idol, but he has spent the past months wondering in anger how his Padfoot could have done something like this. He wants to hear it before Sirius dies, whether by dinosaur, Remus, or something else altogether.

[lechiennoir]

"Sure it would. The world would have an excess of old man sweaters with no one to fill them." Now is not the time for jokes, however. He recognizes that look in Remus' eyes, a quiet fury he's seen only a few times before. It usually doesn't end well for the person receiving the look.

"I didn't," is what he says, quiet and full of all the self-loathing that's been eating at him the last two years. Prison gives one a lot of time to think. "I wouldn't, you know that, Remus. We switched secret keepers. Didn't tell anyone, it was just-- you know how it was. I convinced James to do it; thought maybe Peter was less of a target."

[signsthatidentify]

At that last sentence Remus shoots a spell out from his wand, flicking it away so the spell would just graze Sirius’ cheek rather than hitting him full on. He’s not sure why he did that.

“How convenient then,” he says in a voice someone unfamiliar with him might mistake for conversational, “that he isn’t around anymore to back up what you’re saying.”

Little Peter who hardly even wanted to be part of all this mess, who they’d all grown up with, who had always looked up to James... He was gone now. They all were, because of Sirius. Remus has been trying to wrap his mind around how it could have happened ever since the night he found out. Nothing in his life has really made any sense these past months.

[lechiennoir]

“Convenient for him, yes,” Sirius replies lightly, though it’s full of an undercurrent of pure hatred, the sort which may sound uncannily like his mother. He doesn’t shy away from the spell, figuring he deserves what he gets at this point. “If he was, I’d kill him like I bloody meant to two years ago.” There it is, though not outright stated. Remus probably wants the full story, however, and so he continues.

“I found them, Moony. Popped over to check on Wormtail and he wasn’t there, no signs of a struggle; so I got worried and went to Godric’s hollow.” He takes a shaky breath. “He’d already been there. Hagrid came to get Harry, I went and tracked down Peter to give him what he deserved; but he changed before I could.”

[signsthatidentify]

“They found his finger, Sirius. I don’t recall that ever happening when he changed before.” Unless he did that on purpose to frame Padfoot, a quiet voice says in the back of his head. As much as it doesn’t mean ale sense for Peter to have been the spy, it also makes no sense for it to have been Sirius. And Remus has always been fairly decent at spotting whenever Sirius is lying... though if he was the spy then maybe he’s better at it than Remus ever thought.

He hesitates before finally lowering his wand. It isn’t like Sirius has one anyway he could do anything with if he wanted. “Why should I believe you?”

[lechiennoir]

“Why would I want them dead, Remus?” His voice is a little rough, shoulders shaking. “He cut his damn pinky off, I saw him do it. I wouldn’t kill them, you know I wouldn’t. They took me in. Lils and James were like my brother and sister. So were you, once. Would you want to find them dead; to be haunted by it every single night?”

[signsthatidentify]

“Of course not,” he snaps back, then sighs and runs a hand through his hair. “It doesn’t make any sense for you to have done it, but it also makes no sense for it to have been Peter.” Except that Sirius’ story does fill in some of the confusing holes in the official story. But he has had two years to come up with an explanation...

Remus catches movement out of the corner of his eye and reflexively shoots a hurried ’stupefy!’ over Sirius’ shoulder at a rather small dinosaur that had been about to jump on him. “Shit,” he mutters, noticing for the first time that there seems to be rather a lot of the little things around suddenly. “I think we should probably leave. Quickly.”

[lechiennoir]

“Right, there’s a job to be doing.” Sirius just looks tired for a moment, rather like Remus does after the full moon. “Don’t suppose you could accio the damn thing while Padfoot acts as a distraction? I haven’t got my wand.” For obvious reasons.

“I told you already, we switched secret keepers. On Dumbledore’s advice.”

2

[windsrising]

For all that schools aren't usually involved, the Doctor has a... not inconsiderable amount of experience in wandering into places he really shouldn't be and coming out at least relatively unscathed. Perhaps not unnoticed but he can usually manage unharmed. Admittedly, most of those don't also involve a bomb that's going to be going off at some point in the next hour, but he's nothing if not adaptable.

And he absolutely means to do everything in his power to make sure that the bomb doesn't end up going off.

"I'm going to assume that someone would have run into what we're looking for already if it were out in the open, so we can likely rule out any of the commonly traversed areas. Or at least, the parts of same that someone would be looking at."

Though they might need to check the undersides of desks also.

btw I LOVE EIGHT AAAHHHH <3 <3

[signsthatidentify]

He nods. “The problem is that we’ve no way of knowing if it’s even in a place that is accessible.” Even as they are talking, Remus is sliding over to a nearby janitorial closet, muttering a quick alohomora, and quickly scanning the shelves for anything suspicious. “If it is inside a wall, or a small vent, it’ll be that much harder to find.”

He's *great* and I love him /chinhands

[windsrising]

"Well, no," the Doctor answers with a shrug, not even so much as batting an eye as Remus breaks into the janitorial closet. His own method for doing so would have been a little different, perhaps, but given that they're meant to be saving people's lives, he's not going to complain at a spot of breaking and entering.

Especially not when they already have, technically, simply by being on the school grounds.

"If we knew more about the sort of... device" he's not going to say the word 'bomb' in a crowded school, when just anyone can hear "we're looking for, I might at least be able to scan for something of that approximate level of technology, but that really works best if it's something that's out of place, temporally speaking."

A pause, and then he continues, double-checking that there's nothing on the ceiling or stuck to the undersides of the shelves.

"Hopefully we aren't going to have to look through each locker individually."

Partly because it'd be time spent that they might not have, but also because it'd be a lot harder to explain, if someone came across them in the process.

I love him and his companions and the audios and the books and and and I HAVE A LOT OF FEELINGS

[signsthatidentify]

“I take it you have a lot of experience with things being out of place temporally?” The concept isn’t completely foreign to Remus. The Wizarding world has time traveling abilities, but it’s something that is so (rightfully) regulated Remus doesn’t really have any experience himself. It’s not like the ministry is about to trust a werewolf with a time turner, even if he had a legitimate use for one.

At the comment about the lockers he groans, looking back at the Doctor for a moment as he closes the closet door. “Don’t even joke about that, we would be here all day if it turns out that’s the case.” A brief pause before he adds, “and I’m fairly certain we haven’t got all day.”

*Same*. I mostly stick to the audios, but even then I just... *feelings forever*

[windsrising]

"I do." There's a nod to go with the words, just before the Doctor continues on. "One of the side effects of being a time traveler. And you'd be surprised how often things tend to just sort of... get pulled along if someone isn't being careful with their Vortex trails. And that's not even counting things that end up getting left behind."

This all comes out without even so much as a pause on his end. Or for that matter, him seeming to be at all inclined to consider the fact that Remus hasn't got any real idea of what he's talking about. On the other hand, it does lend some credence to the fact that this is something that he deals with a lot.

"You're probably right though. We'll be lucky to have more than an hour or two at the most."

Plus there's the fact that they don't really know what the bomb actually looks like, just in case things weren't already complicated enough.

[please note I am rusty! ;3; I haven't played Kino (and Hermes) in a good few years]

[restlesswings]

1.

"Wow," was the single, deadpan comment from the human in the tattered travelling coat, watching the glittering, golden atrocity.
"They were right," chimed her more talkative partner, the motorcycle she was riding.
"So they were, Hermes."
"Hey, Kino!"
"Yes, Hermes?"
"In all our travels, I think that's the ugliest thing we've ever seen!"
Kino refrained from commenting, because she could think of a great deal of uglier sights seen on her travels than the unfortunate-looking, toothy idol, but still, she only peered at it through binoculars, before scanning the surrounding area.
Although they've gotten past most of the obstacles this strange "theme park" hell-bent on killing them put up with relative ease, sustaining only minor damage (a tear in Kino's coat, over metal plating, and her pants torn to ribbons— and some chipped paint on Hermes, which he absolutely kicked up a fuss over), the way their goal simply sat there in the clearing...

"It's too easy, isn't it?" Hermes enquired.
"Yeah... I think so, Hermes."

She wouldn't head out there before readying her gun, the woodsman (her pistol). The flute (her rifle) was out of ammo and the cannon only had one shot left, so she had to be very careful. Her knives, while abundant, weren't very effective against such tough hide and so many teeth.