Chapter Three: The Salvation of Paradise

[Enchantress]

Victoria kept walking along and said nothing out loud. However, the thoughts she projected spoke volumes for her.
"I'm doing what I can here. But it's kind of hard to concentrate on picking people's minds for information and listening to everyone around me give me ideas on how to do it." this thought resounded to the group following her. She smiled politely to the villagers they passed, nodding her head in acknowledgement.
She turned around for a moment and looked back at Paige and Franki.
"Get on my nerves? Never. Remember, I put up with Kyle Gibney AND Pete Wisdom. " she smirked and turned back around, continuing her quest to find out who exactly this Kya was, and where exactly they where.

[The Truth]

Why were several of the others walking off? And where did that little bright one go? And why were only a few of them still in his general area? And what were they even supposed to be doing here in the first place?

The cloak turned in place so it appeared to be facing what felt like the two females and one male who had yet to begin moving away from it. No one had actually said much about what was going on making it difficult to decipher the tasks at hand. There he was. And there. And there too.... Incredible. It had never felt anythimg move that fast before, though it did in turn explain why the boy glowed so fiercely. Somewhat at least.

But why were they there? Where was there? Where is here? That was the question. Where were they? Was the location important? Who were these people around them and why were they so few in number? He could feel them speaking but the sentances made no sense. What were they talking about? Why? Why had they been sent here? Had that question already been asked? Answered?

It glided silently along the ground, drifting closer to the two stationary females. The other two were still in transit somewhere. Were they to be followed? Or was the cloak supposed to remain with this second group? There he was again. Damn that kid was fast. It was actually incredibly hard to keep track of him. But it could at least keep track of itself perhaps. It felt as though they were on earth, which meant it should be able to access the earth's dark dimension. It could tell him where he was. How far he's been moved.

Within the folds of itself, the cloak began to extend a part of itself downwards into it's own shadow and into the dark dimenion, hoping to catch a glimpse of where in the world it might be. It had to be quick, subtle. The longer it dwelled there the more energy it would consume, but it had to know.....something.

[SLVRSR4]

As Danny walked with Victoria and Abbey towards the Village, he couldn't help but admire the new threads that Strange had given him. He had a uniform on that slightly resembled a common villager. His pants were not overly tight or baggy. They were brown and about the same fit as a comfortable pair of sweatpants. Over the top of them were a pair of knee length boots. These boots will work fine for now, but if we get into any kind of violent situation, I'll have to ditch them for the sake of my mobility, perhaps I might be able to find some more appropriate footwear somewhere in the village. He had on a shirt that looked like the now infamous 'puffy pirate shirt' from that episode of Seinfeld he had seen once. Over the top of the shirt he had on a brown leather vest. Over the left breast of the vest there was a crest. It bore the mark of the dragon that had become his heritage. It wasn't until a few minutes into inspecting his attire that he realized that his mask was gone. At first it startled him, but then he realized that it didn't really matter in a situation such as this, anyway. Overall, he slightly resembled Orlando Bloom from that pirate movie. "So, Victoria, have we gotten any information of any importance yet?"

[The Mighty Thor]

Purposefully, the Watch made their way down the cobblestone paths. All the while the townsfolk peered at the newfound strangers, wondering who they were and what they were doing in their village. Of coarse the natives were not alone in their curiosity. The reality hopping heroes were intent on finding their charge and getting their task done and finished as soon as possible, and as was often the case, Victoria Essex led the charge with Abbey, Iron Fist and Alex Elder at her side. Slowly, the pale skinned telepath reached out to the minds around her and began to listen for anything useful. Some of the people that moved past the heroes looked at them with concern, but Victoria knew the truth. It was more than just concern that plagued their minds; it was downright fear. But not all of the villagers had fear on their minds. Most disregarded the Watch’s presence completely, ambivalent to their arrival in the antiquated village. The majority of the people simply went about their business with nothing more on their minds than the day’s mundane tasks. Victoria did her best to skim over as many minds as she could, hoping to pick up as much as possible. Not one of the townsfolk had the name Kya on their mind and as far as she could tell they were somewhere in what used to be the United States on Earth, somewhere in what to Victoria would be the near future. But before she could get much further, an amazingly painful surge raced through her brain. Without a choice, she cut the ties to the minds around her and fell to her knees in blinding pain. And in the back of her mind, behind the protective psychic walls, the Phoenix cackled with a most ominous intent.

Keeping to form, the kid flash Barry West accelerated to near top speed and took a survey of the town, completing his task in the blink of an eye. It took the young speedster no time to find that the town comprised about three thousand people, the natives seemed to want for nothing, they used a barter system with no evidence of money to be found and that not one of them appeared to hold a regular job. It was like no place that Barry had ever seen.

Unsure of how to proceed, Franki, Husk and Logan remained behind to do some of their own investigating. Nearby, the cloak stood ever quietly, hoping to gain some information on its present situation. Being a disembodied shroud incapable of external communication definitely had its disadvantages. With no where else to turn, it folded in on itself, looking to the Earth’s dark dimension for answers. With the slightest touch, the cloak confirmed that it was on earth once again. It was not far from where it once called home. The shadows that clung to each and every member of the town’s population sung out to it, telling its own tale, letting it know how many of them there were. But as it hesitated for a mere moment, the cloak could see something in the inky blackness that enveloped it. In the shadows of this nether realm, there was something . . . someone, looking back.

[The Truth]

What....? Who.....? But how? Had it truely seen and felt what it thought it had? How could anything be in there? Like that? Had it seen him? Felt him? The only one he'd ever known to be able to exist in the dark dimension for any extended period of time was Tandy, and she was worlds away at this point.

But then what had he seen? Who had he seen? Had some vampire somehow gotten trapped? It had no life energy to drain away and thus might not be affected, but....... Should it tell the others? What would it tell them? How could it possibly explain? How did he even know it was worth mentioning? Was...whoever...that was hostile? Benign? Would that someone attack? How would they attack? How could they attack?

It had already withdrawn from the folds of itself in much haste and now stood uncertain. What would it do? What could it do? What should it do? If it was a threat, then they should be forwarned. But if it wasn't it might just distract them from thier goal. Should it go back and find out one way or the other? Did it have enough left to? Yes?

No.

No. It had to tell them, let them know, help them become aware. But how? By wrapping itself around on if it's companions and feeding the information directly to them? No. Such an action would be intrusive. Dirt. The ground here was not paved like it was back in New York. Perhaps a stick could be found and letters traced? But it had no eyes with which to see what it wrote. It began to billow slowly as it became slightly frustrated, giving off the impression of being caught in a light breeze.

It could have just wrapped itself around Jennifer if it were home, or even around Strange's apprentice if it had been in the doctor's care. She was nice. And pretty, if not a bit uncertain of herself. But did it not question itself now just as she often did? Yes? No? Yes. Yes it was, though it could afford to no longer. It had to let them know. Within the confines of itself it twisted and pulled and stretched, forming what appeared to be a gloved hand which slowly emerged from the shadowy veil near what would have been it's waistline.

Continuing to cautiously extend this part of itself, it circled around in front of those left standing near it, turning as it did so in order to keep the now outstreched hand towards them at all times. It could only hope that one of them would take it within their own and give him the contact it needed to relay it's message. It truely did not want to force itself upon another. Not after what had happened last time.

[Enchantress]

Victoria’s eyes darted back and forth across the street at the villagers as she gleaned information from their minds.
“Their scared...very scared.” she whispered to her companions as they moved along down the street.
Without the mention of the Kya in any of their minds, she had begun to lose hope until she found one useful nugget of information.
“We’re in the US...and this is the future..somewhat...” she relayed this and again, continued to covertly to get the information they sought.
And then it hit...with the force of ten of the headaches she used to get before the blood transfusion, something seared within her mind and she broke her mental link with everyone. Collapsing to her knees, she bit down on her lip to keep from crying out in pain. Then she heard the laughter.
“Poor child of Darkness...” the Phoenix hissed and cackled at her.
Bringing her hands up to her temples, she quickly dashed away a few tears of pain from her eyes and whispered “shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up” over and over again.
Catching her breath, she began to concentrate, to push past the pain that had invaded her mind and finally caused the Phoenix to open itself up again. But then she realized one critical thing... no one was here. No Hank, No Tessa....no one who understood what she was going through, no one who knew this sort of thing had happened before. Pushing herself up off the street, she shook out her cloak and took a deep breath.
“Sorry...something tried...” she began until she felt a slight wetness to her face, reaching up she knew what it was and sighed. Wiping away a slight trickle of blood from her nose, she took another breath.
“Something is out in the psychic plane...waiting.” she said as she tried to shake off what had just happened. But this one incident, had shaken her to her core. She hadn’t had a nosebleed since Atlantis...a headache either. Now, all of a sudden...here, in this place...she tried to wrap her scientific mind around it, but the answers all evaded her at the moment.
“Anyway...” she rubbed her temple slightly, pushing past the buzz of pain that lingered there momentarily. “No sign of who we are looking for...I’m afraid I hit a wall there. But these people, they aren’t just afraid, they’re terrorfied...” she looked around for a moment at the bustling village before turning back to Alex, Abbey and Iron Fist.
“Something is very wrong here...and I mean VERY wrong.”

[Harley]

"Youcansaythatagain." Barry said as he stopped his superfast movement in front of Victoria "Talk about wrong, there's about three thousand deadbeats walkin' around. This place is seriously creeping me out... they don't have any kind of money and they all look kinda lifeless." A shiver ran down his spine as he spoke, this was something he had never seen before, and you get to see a lot of things a superhero's son, but this? Not in a million worlds. "So let's go beat up the bad guy and get out, because I'm really not liking it here."

[Nova]

Abbey immediately felt for Victoria. She wantesd to reach out to her, but she was unaware of how she would be received.

Are you all right Victoria? Is there anything you need me to do?

Abbey put that at the fore front of her thought hoping she would pick up on it. Abbey looked at the faces of the townspeople around them and she caught a glimmer of fear in their eyes. As a reflex she began to reach for the gun at her hip, but immediately changed her mind. Not here, not yet, she thought to herself.

"I agree. There is something not right here, but I can't seem to put my finger on it. It reminds me of a culture that is under the rule of a tyrannical leader. I could be wrong, but these people probably live in fear everyday of some unseen force. I wonder if there's anyone in this reality that welcomes strangers, and is willing to give us a hand?"

Abbey took another look around. She had hoped that her knowledge would come in handy, but so far she was unable to gleen any knowledge into this society.

[Local Hero]

Wandering along in this strange new place, Alex could not help be reminded of a replica medieval village he had once visited on a school field trip. Sure the place looked pastoral and very olde worlde, but there had been something about the buildings and the tailoring of the clothes that had been a little off, like someone trying too hard. Alex got the same feeling as he looked around the settlment.

He was shaken from his thoughts as he almost tripped over Victoria as she collapsed in front of him. A quick glance to all sides told him they hadn't been attacked. Not physically at least. "Are you ok?" he asked as she stood looking even more pale than she previously had, although if asked Alex would have doubted that was possible. A trickle of blood ran from her nose, drawing Alex' attention. Behind his makeshift mask, his breath caught a little in his throat as the scent of warm fresh blood reached him. "One Two Three..." Alex counted off in his head as he deliberately slowed his breathing and tried to retain control. He still found it especially difficult when out in the sunlight to keep the vampiric instincts at bay. He looked around momentarily as Barry flashed back into view, talking a mile a minute as per usual.

When he looked back, Victoria had wiped the blood away and seemed more in control once more. Despite the obvious scare it seemed to Alex that Victoria regained her composure quickly, as though this was not an entirely new occurrence. Although the information she was providing did little to ease his own feelings of unease. "The future? Well I must admit this is a new one for me. So when does Al appear and tell us what we have to do in order to make the next leap?"

He looked back up the path, trying to see if his other new team mates were following but they were out of sight even to his eyes. "I wonder if the others are having any more luck? Barry did you head back that way on your travels?"

[Spiderbob]

Logan surveyed his surroundings, finding them to hold several similarities places he had traveled to before, but most of all, the town once again brought to surface the image of the Jean Grey. It was twice now that thoughts of her had crossed his mind, and for him, it was two too many.
A small smirk crept upon his face as he watched some of the others attire change to blend with that of the populous while his remained the same.
"It's nice to recieve some hospitality from the doctor, even if it is just a small gesture of keeping my chosen wardrobe."
He continued to look around at the town and the people immersed with in it, noting the fear in their eyes.
"Good. Fear will keep them at bay, make them easier to persuade into answering questions."
His gaze turned to Victoria and the others as they walked off to do their own investigating. While he did not like the idea of leaving Victoria out of his sight, the benifit of being able to work alone outweighed that loss. Ignoring the others that had stayed behind as well, Logan scanned the mass of bodies before him, looking for one who might contain significant knowledge of their whereabouts. If this Kya was as big of a threat to this society as Strange said, then most likely it was the people in power that were attempting to silence her. Therefore, if he found the residing place of such people, such as a temple or palace, then he'd be one step closer to finding Kya.
His eyes finally locked on one man that just walked by, choosing him as the person who would answer his questions. Logan called out to him as he walked towards him.
"You there, how do I find who's in charge?"
Logan's hands rested at his side, his poise was calm and relaxed, but such an appearance was misleading. In a moment's notice he was ready to use his telekenisis to stop the man should he try and run, or if he should try and attack him instead.

[Enchantress]

"Yeah, I'm ok...just...took me off guard, that's all." Victoria answered Abbey at about the time Barry came speeding up.
"Quit drawing attention to yourself!" she admonished him before reaching up to check and see if her nose had quit bleeding. Which it had indeed. Having an accelerated healing factor was always a good thing. Glancing around once more, she let out of bit of a chuckle before answering Alex.
"If we have to go back in time to stop someone's brother from going to Vietnam, then I'm out." in reference to his "AL" line. She shook her head again, getting rid of what little buzz of pain was left.
"Let me see how they are doing..." she said as the mental message went out to Paige.
"Haven't killed them yet, have you? Any luck?"

[SLVRSR4]

"I'm very happy to see that you're okay, Victoria. Unfortunately, I might have some very disturbing information to share with you all. I have no idea who this Kya is, but I might have an idea as to where we are. Victoria already said that we are in the United States, but I have a hunch as to the specifics of what we're dealing with. I've seen a society such as this in my reality. Some of you might have as well. It seems very much like a country in my world that is called Latveria. It is ruled by an extremely powerful Mage known as Dr. Doom. His people live in constant fear of him, and do what they can to retain a low profile. He makes sure that their needs are taken care of, but punishes most severely if they were to even speak out against him. I pray to J'un Kai that I am wrong, but I thought it would be best if I shared this with you." Despite the new fear that rested in Danny Rand, he let out a small chuckle when he heard Alex's Quantum Leap joke. It relieved the stress temporarily. "If it is Doom that we're dealing with, then we might need some help. What do you think the possibilities of this reality having a Dr. Strange? We might be able to seek counsel with him."

[Tessa]

Franki was still trying to determine how they should go about their search, when she noticed the The Cloak circling in front the group with what resembled a hand outstretched to the three. There must be something it wanted, her assumption would be contact of some form; feeling drawn to accept the hand she reached her own out and grasped on.

She knew that if Batman were here she would have heard an earful about unpredictable situations, and how not to put yourself in danger; but this being was part of the team and without speech it must have another way to communicate…she was merely experimenting to see if her assumption was correct, Franki doubted that The Cloak wanted to put any of them in danger so she felt perfectly safe in accepting the offered hand.

“Genius, pure genius.” Franki muttered under her breath as Logan called out to a passerby, “Just make yourself a spectacle. Why don’t you put a sign above your head that says ‘Not from around here’, and see where that lands you?” She was attempting to remain inconspicuous, and part of that was acting as if she belonged, and anybody that belonged would know who was in charge of this community; if there was in fact somebody that was in charge.

[Spiderbob]

A frustrated sigh escaped his lips as the woman rebuked him for his actions.
"I know what I'm doing."
Logan shot back, his back facing her and his eyes locked on the man. He wasn't going to argue with the woman. Simply judging from her remark, he pinned her as the type that would require a large amount of explaining and convincing to keep her from bickering about every move he made. It was time he did not have time to use. Besides, like he said, he knew what he was doing.
He saw the look the community gave them, the look of fear. Such a look meant that the town already labeled them as a group that did not belong or was out of place, so trying to conceal that fact was pointless. Questioning the bystander was the most direct route to finding these people's leaders, which was his best chance of finding Kya. And if the man could not provide the adequate information he required, then the spectacle that he was creating might draw attention from those leaders, causing them to send authoritive figures that, after some 'convincing', would be able to answer his questions.
Not wavering from his current course of action, Logan ignored the woman behind him and waited for a response.

[Enchantress]

Victoria wondered silently in the back of her mind if she was the only one who thought "Cloak" was a little odd. She shrugged it off as she called out to Paige, yet Iron Fist interrupted her thoughts.
"I've dealt with Doom myself. In more than one way...As far as finding Stephen Strange. Last time we tried that, he was dead. I'm not against finding the Sorceror Supreme in this reality. But you must understand, you never know WHO that could be." Victoria looked up the street to see Logan calling out to one of the townspeople.
"God, he's going to blow our cover...idiot." she muttered and shook her head before turning her attention back to the group with her.
"Your idea does have merit, Iron Fist. But I do want to caution you all once again. If you run into someone you knew in your reality, realize they very well could be polar opposites here. I've only known 2 people who have ever been the same no matter where I go...Deadpool and my father. But with a name like Mr. Sinister, you don't honestly think he'd be running a daycare center...now do you?" Victoria laughed softly, trying to put the others at ease. "Trust me, the apple fell far from the tree...very far....hell, it fell across the state from the tree!"
Tugging at the hood of her cloak, she looked around the streets for a moment and took it all in.
"I hate to split up even more, but I don't think we're going to find our answers standing around the streets here. We need to keep under radar." She closed her eyes for a moment and sighed. "I wish Hank were here...this almost reminds me of Atlantis..." she said, more to herself than anyone else.
"So, what say you all? I can only get so much information through my telepathy...and honestly I don't want to try it again right now."

[Nova]

Abbey thought fo a minute about what Victoria was saying.

"We are going to have to come up with a story. If we split up, people are going to wonder who we are, what we're doing, and why they should help us. It would be beneficial if we all got a story straight before we start questioning these strangers. What kind of story we come up with is beyond me, but if it sounds convincing enough, and we sound confident, people will believe anything. Anyone got any ideas?

Abbey looked across the faces of the group hoping that she hadn't overstepped her bounds.

[The Truth]

The Cloak couldn't help but emotionally cringe as contact was made. Telepathy was an ability that was quite difficult to control, but since it so rarely got the opportunity to use it having such control was seldom an issue. However, because it did so rarely use it, that same control was also greatly lacking. Once contact was made and a connection established it could filter things rather easily. But in that first second....

Flashes raced back and forth across it's "psyche" into, and out of, itself. Images, sounds, feelings, smells, sensations, smells..... How long had it been since it had smelled anything? What was that aroma that had crossed the barrier of this young woman's mind? Had she found it pleasant? Did it make her ill? Did she even remember the scent or was it something subconcious that had been tapped into?

No. Now was not the time for these questions, though the hunger for their answers birthed a thirst in him he knew he must someday quench. But that would have to be another day. For as it felt her mind it slowly began to remember what words were. How they were formed. How it could form them. The Cloak itself thought in feelings, spaces, wants, needs, fears, dreams......questions. Thinking in words again always took some getting used to.

"Eyes....."

It managed to say to Franki, though it knew that without context such a word meant nothing. And to many things. Words were not it's strong suit. Even in life communication had been through expression. Tandy could read his eyes and know what he was thinking. Expressions. Emotions. Feelings....

It knew feelings all to well. It knew the feeling of danger, of freedom, of fear, of love. But what it had felt then..... That was what he needed her to feel. That would be the quickest, and perhaps best, way to get her to understand.

It was a feeling of uncertainty. Of slight confusion. Of something being out of place. It was the feeling one got when they were being watched.

It felt like going home....and knowing someone else was there. Someone....who didn't belong.

But as it poured these feeling out of itself and into her, the cloak neglected to attend to its filtering duties. True, its telepathic abilites were far to weak to pry past the surface, even with great effort, but it could skim the surface easily. Pick up little snippets of thought here and there. And as it tried to help Franki understand, a new question arose to fuel its thirst.

Who.....was Kya?

[Tessa]

Franki was caught off guard by the contact, she hadn’t expected the onslaught that The Cloak seemed to be sending towards her; with only one discernable word in the flood created by the contact she struggled to piece it together.
“So there were eyes?” She thought to herself, sorting out feelings of confusion, uncertainty, and something being very out of place. Somehow she knew that those feelings in particular were connected to the word eyes; was somebody watching them that didn’t belong in this reality either? Was it near? Was it even corporeal? Those were the questions that were now floating around in her head.

Focusing her mind she attempted to send a question backed to the entity, though she had no talent when it came to this. Too many questions were already floating around in her brain; she doubted that Cloak would get the one intended.
‘What is it?” Franki attempted to send back to it, as she looked to the rest of the group.
“ I think we might have a lead, Cloak here is telling me that there a pair of eyes watching. I don’t know if they’re corporeal eyes, or an being that is watching over this entire reality; what I can surmise from all the stuff he’s sending my way is that it doesn’t belong.” Franki looked at Paige, knowing the girl was a veteran at these things, “Could you get a hold of Victoria? Tell her what Cloak’s told me.”

[Solace]

Paige had been silent for a little while, gathering her thoughts and getting used to her surroundings. Giggling softly at Victoria’s earlier comment about putting up with Kyle and Pete she wondered if maybe she should point out that Pete was easily to handle if you just knew how to deal with him. Paige listened to the banter between Franki and Logan, wondering if on every team there had to be one person who wanted to play by their own rules, if so it looked like Logan would be that person. "Haven’t killed mine yet either, though Logan’s just a lovely ray of sunshine." Paige paused for a moment in her line of thought before adding. "We aren’t making much headway with the investigatin’ Logan’s got it in his head that shouting to the townsfolk will get him answers." Paige sighed softly wishing she hadn’t been thrown into this mission as a veteran. Because it seemed no matter how many times they made themselves believe there wasn’t a leader it seemed as if that role had fallen on the veterans shoulders.

Though it seemed that while Paige had been caught up in her mental rant about Logan and his oddities, Franki had chosen to make physical contact with the entity that was Cloak and somehow he had sent a message to her. “Okay, firstly ah’m not going t’ proclaim how utterly weird it is that Cloaky there was able t’ speak t’ yuh.” Paige shivered as a chill ran up her spine, she might have pushed aside the scared teenager role that had haunted her all through the first two missions but that still didn’t mean that these sort of things didn’t freak her out. “Ah’ll get a hold of ‘Toria.” She added, mentally noting that hopefully Victoria would know what to do. "Seems like Cloak thinks we’re being watched by some being, are yuh guys getting that feelin’ at all?"

[The Truth]

What was it? What is it? How does one describe it? Could it even be described? How could he tell her something he didn't know? And who was this Kya person he'd felt her think about earlier? Could that have been Kya? Was Kya a person? A place? A word used to describe something?

"Don't know....." It answered back to her question. Feeling her reaction to the initial contact nearly mirror it's own it began to keep watch of what passed between the two of them. To many thoughts at once would surely overwhelm him, and to many feelings at once might not sit well with her either.

Would she know? How could she know? Why wouldn't she know? Was it possible that she didn't know....but could figure it out? Would Strange know if he saw it? Of course he would. That old wizard seemed to know just about everything when it came to matters such as these. But how could they get in contact with him? And why hadn't he come along? If they were to help him, shouldn't he be there? At least an avatar? An apprentice? An assistant? Someone?

And how could he help her see what he had seen? He could push the images into her mind, but that would be intrusive. The feelings it had felt had already been shared, but now she felt nearly as confused as he was. Should he take her there? Let her see? Would she let him? Would she want to see? Would it even be safe for him? For her? For the two of them? But if she saw she could tell the others better than he could. Couldn't she? A few seconds. They could go for a few seconds couldn't they? She wouldn't suffer the effects of the dark dimension. Not if he was with her. Not if he kept the effects from her.

But then he would have to go back. He couldn't just send her, he'd have to take her. Join her. Join with her. Would she allow that? Would she know what that meant?

Externally it hesitated, still billowing softly as it held her hand. The scene may have appeared odd to the casual passer-by, but breaking and reforging the connection every few moments would have been far worse than being thought of as strange.

How could he even ask her? Why on earth would she agree? Who was Victoria? Did she know Kya? Did she know what Kya was? Did she know where Kya was? And what had that aroma been? Could he really just wrap himself around some stranger? What if she wasn't trustworthy? What if none of the others trusted her? Would he become untrustworthy? Was there any way to know? Was there any way to know if anyone trusted her now? Strange trusted her. Why else would she be here? He would have never allowed her here if he didn't trust her. So Strange trusted her. That was good enough.

"Join....me?"

[Harley]

Barry had zoned out a bit, not paying much more attention to things. He had been utterly consumed into what this world was like, and he really didn't like it. Suddenly he snapped back to reality and responded to Alex's query "No... no, I didn't go back there." He kept looking around a bit bedazzled, not even noticing Logan's rather non-subtle way of blowing their cover, nor Victoria's scowling at him. He hadn't done much of a job at keeping their cover either.

[Local Hero]

Alex looked around again. "Damned Sun." he thought to himself as he concentrated back the way they came, now making out the forms of the rest of the team. "It just makes everything so much harder." Behind his scarf he grimaced, mouthing a few silent curses. "With any luck it will be dark soon and I can relax."

"Well if there is no information office to hand, I am sure there must be a town hall or something. Even paradise must have taxes and tax collectors." He shrugged under his heavy coat and looked around at those closest to him. "Maybe we do just need to draw a bit of attention. Get someone who knows something to come to us?"

[Enchantress]

"You have no idea. Paige...I have something I have to tell you...The Phoenix is well...something just happened. I was scanning for information when something out on the psychic plane attacked me. I got one killer headache and a nosebleed the likes I haven't seen since Atlantis. Something is going on. The Phoenix finally opened it's mouth to me as well. There's something out there, and I KNOW we are being watched. Just try to keep a low profile. I haven't told the others anything, no use in scaring the hell out of them. But to be honest, it did scare the hell out of me. Something is very wrong here."
Victoria paused for a moment before relaying the information Cloak had given Franki to the others in her party. At Abbey's query, she glanced around again at the villagers, until Alex spoke up.
"Like I said, standing around here isn't getting us any information. Go see what you can find out. If anyone asks where you are from, just reply with "not around here." Don't give out any information if you can get by with it. I guess I'll make another try at seeing what information if any I can pick up from these people. There has to be some mayor or something..." she paused as a thought it her.
"I wonder where Hank McCoy is in this reality. Would my link work with him somewhat? It's an interesting idea...but Green and I share a link that's deeper...but maybe, just maybe somewhere I can get something...WADE! I should scan around for Wade. If anyone knows anything, it would be DP."
"I've got a few ideas I'm going to try. I'll let you know what I come up with. Just keep a low cover and remember, I'm just a thought away."
Turning away from them, she walked quickly down the street. Making sure her hood was pulled up over her hair, she ducked down an alley and leaned against a wall.
"Hank....Wade....someone?" she called out on the psychic plane, hoping she could latch on to someone she knew in this reality, and snatch information from their mind.

[Nova]

Not wanting to waste a minute, Abby pulled her satchel over her shoulder and began walking head long into town. She had decided that she would pop into a little shop and ask some questions. Hopefully she'd be able to pick up some useful information. She wandered down the street a little further looking for an elderly shop keeper. From past experience she knew that the elderly were more likely to give information out.

After just a few minutes she found the perfect place, a book store. If anything there might be something written about the town's history or it's people. She stepped inside the door very cautiously, surveying the area. There were books stacked neatly on shelves that went all the way up to the ceiling. It was amazing, and Abbey felt totally in her element. Ever since she was a child, she had loved to read books and learn about things. With all of the traveling, she never had many friends, so the books were her friends.

She stepped to the back wall which held many large, old looking books. She picked up a heavy book with a faded green cover. It was dusty and the pages were yellowed and brittle with age. She took it and sat down at a table close by and opened the book ever so slowly. She didn't want to rip a single page.

[edited by GM]

[Tessa]

Franki took a moment to comprehend what Cloak had asked, then responded, “Is that safe?” Franki couldn’t quite ascertain how she was to join the entity, “And how?” She wondered if Cloak could understand her questions, or if it was a completely foreign thing to it…it must be able to understand a little, it had answer her first question.

The young woman looked at Victoria, then watched as the group seemed to be dispersing; she would look out of place if she continued to stand here when everybody else left…but she didn’t want to agree to Cloak’s question until she knew that she would go unharmed from joining with the entity/being.