Question Smoke and Mirrors

May 25th 2007

Ooo, a Jadis story, this is going to be fun. Jadis and Kate helping out Misty with her math homework, yeah, I had issues with that stuff too. Yikes! Misty in that bad of a mood and getting a headache from all the math, I wonder if she has a learning disorder or is it something else. MadSkillz certainly has a unique look. And she has a boyfriend, Smoke Test, wonder what their powers are.

Ah, troublemakers, and yet Smoke Test is usually the quieter of the two, wonder what has MadSkillz so worried he is up to. Both gadgeteers and troublemakers, uh oh.

Well, Smoke Test was a gadgeteer with a rather interesting knack in that he could find the thing in any mechanism or system that would cause it to fail. He could be a great systems diagnostician- or saboteur. Calling Madskillz a gadgeteer was a lot more iffy; she was called a gadgeteer mostly because she applied her gift to technology, and she sort of insisted on the label.

Very interesting couple. Rack has three steady girlfriends, whoa.

Madskillz draws on the information of everyone around her with telepathy and applies it to her projects using ESP, dang, impressive. A blocked PDP, no wonder powers testing can take so much, so many variables to account for. Smokey a blocked PDP as well, good grief, how often does this happen?

“Smokey hasn’t widened his scope of his knack has he? You didn’t unlock his block or anything?” The LAST thing that I need is the Second Coming of Loophole. That girl worries me more than ten MCO agents, and she’s only gotten worse since she turned into an Exemplar. She hasn’t given me any trouble since that ‘Wicked’ thing, but that doesn’t mean anything in the long run. One Loophole is all I can stand, I don’t need TWO. That is, unless I can sic them on each other.

Good grief, Jadis, Lanie isn't that much of a troublemaker. Though an accurate description of Jobe. New about who Jadis has helped travel around Whateley. Jadis, misleading like that about any promise made instead of just Sorcerer's Contracts might come back to bite you in the butt.

Aww, Smokey is trans and wants to be a girl and Madskillz is freaking out a little about it. Picking all that up from him telepathically, oh boy, when he learns you told Jadis about this.

“Him being T? Nothing. I’m down with that. I don’t understand it, but I’m down with it, ‘cause it’s Smokey. But…” she put on that ‘Lucy Ricardo ‘splainin’ something to Rickie’ look, “…I think that Smokey’s gonna try and fix himself somehow.”

“’Fix himself’? How?”

“How do you think?”

“He’s going to try and steal Spark’s Exemplar State Inducer? I thought that Carson showing everyone Migraine’s ‘after’ pictures showed what a BAD idea that was!”

Shit and Smokey would do it, a transsexual desperate enough with a potential answer even if it is highly risky, they need to go to Carson about this and now!

And it is even worse, trying to use a devise that old which most likely killed its creator, that is beyond desperate, that is suicidal. Hijack his plan! Madskillz, what are you thinking? Star Trek-style "teleportation", that is potential nightmare fuel when it goes wrong. At least a hundred of these bases with this system linking them, *cringes at the thought of what might have happened to their original user*

This is Smokey's plan, oh brother, did he borrow this from a bad science fiction movie plot? Fubar would be brought in to read Smokey and the ruse would be blown in an instant. Why does it feel like Madskillz's and Smokey's bad plans are going to collide and make this whole situation a lot worse?

And Madskillz wants Jadis to come up with the thing to turn Smokey into a girl, this just got even more complicated. *hits head on head from reading Madskillz's excuse for not going to the professionals about this whole thing* Hehe, nice I Love Lucy reference.

DUPRAEVE.

Okay, how does Madskillz know about him?

Secret meeting with Sahar and Zenith, this should be informative. Okay, mental note, do not mess with Sahar in any way she can use her connections against you. Carson knows about this and large parts of the scheme are her idea, dang, never underestimate her when a student's welfare is at stake. Good, Bellows is on board too, we'll need him.

Madskillz’ idea of getting the idea across to Smoke Test (and anyone else paying attention) that using Devisor tech on yourself is DUMB going on suicidal, is a good one, and Smokey has more or less volunteered for it.

Yeah, only the most desperate, arrogant, or foolhardy would use Devisor tech on themself.

'Mimic Suit' does sound like a good start to this plan, an interesting concept as well, plus the overpattern theory, this Escher devisor was ahead of his time. Eep, those suits sound dangerous, surprised Carson even let Escher do testing with the potential risks.

“Which while not exactly gentle,” I pointed out, “could very well save his life. I did some reading up on the subject- hey, I hang out with Trevor Goodkind; I like to know what I’m dealing with- and teenage transgenders have a nasty proclivity toward self-destructive behavior, including self-mutilation. If Madskillz is right, and Smokey’s trying to reverse-engineer Sinewave’s Mimicry Inducer so he can Mimic his way into being… oh, say, you or Majestic or Gloriana, or any of the other glamour-pusses on campus, we could very well be saving him from being buried in a bucket.

Nice to know Jadis has read up on the subject.

Zenith has a very good point, giving a transsexual a taste of life as the physical gender they know they are and riping it away would be traumatic. Look what happened with Jade, if not for her Regen-5 she would have died from self-mutilation. Using these two was Carson's idea, guess with their history in this sort of thing experience is needed.

“Nope! Somehow, Smokey and Maddy managed to find one of DuPraeve’s hideouts, including research materials, gadgets, maps, psyche profiles, surveillance tapes, disguises, and a shit-ton of blackmail.” And I knew that I had them. Last year, Nick Dupree was the Mastermind of the Masterminds, back when they were an actual threat. He’d spent four years at Whateley, getting away with murder (well, maybe not murder- that we know of), and laughing at everyone. He was always one step ahead of everyone, including Carson, and while he made no secret as to exactly what he was, nobody could prove jack, he was that slick. The only one who was even in his league was Freya, the Alpha of the Alphas, and even they had a ‘don’t fuck with me, and I won’t fuck with you’ truce. Then Sahar pulled her Magnum Opus of treachery. She managed to get in with both the Mastermind and the Spy Kidz, telling each that she was their mole in the other. And from there, it gets very, very convoluted, but basically it winds up with Slick Nick walking straight into a trap that caught him with his pants around his ankles, no excuses or anyone to blame it on, and Carson standing there with a big smile on her face.

That is why Maddy mentioned DuPraeve, I was wondering about that. Carson going along with all this because Smokey helped find DuPraeve's hideout and files, figures she had a reason for being so nice. Hey, don't blame the daughter of a supervillain for covering her ass on this, too many people think she is like what they believe her father is like and want to take her down.

“Truly spoken like someone who doesn’t have to periodically shake out her underwear drawer for electronic bugs,” I groused. “Like I said, he was gathering information on me; I want that information. If it’s just lying around, someone might get stupid ideas.”

Okay, that goes beyond spying to harassment. Sahar volunteering to be the template, intriguing.

“Some,” Sahar admitted. “More that it’s the right thing to do, and I really do need to work on that. My reflex is still to go for the weak spot. Besides, you did ‘Big Sister’ duty when Reach first changed over. And, if Smoke Test looks like you, then there will be three of you. You’ll all gang up on me. I need someone on my side.”

Bwahaha, nice to see Sahar and Zenith being a cute couple still.

She brought Reach, Spark, some of the other Spy Kids, Mal, and others from the Workshop, Jadis sure can gather people fast. Horrorshow, Runestrong, and the other Losers, what was Jadis thinking bringing them in. Oh, good reasons to bring them in. Though I can see why Maddy is a bit embarrassed, Horrorshow is sweet on her, underestimated him. Zenith using that for the signal to go, wonder if she grew up watching Thunderbirds as a young boy before manifesting.

Oh good, no blackmail from DuPraive's documents. No wonder they need so many, figuring out the teleport system would take months or more, hoping one of them ends up in DuPraive's lab is faster. Have to give it to the paranoid ass, security to shut down everything to keep your foes out of your hidden hideouts is clever. Ace needs to learn just because you are a child of a supervillain doesn't make you one as well. Okay...paranoid sounds too simple for what DuPraive has, this much security is nuts even for Whateley.

Okay, can't stand DuPraive but you have to respect how sophisticated his overall security for his lair is. This sounds like it going to take the whole day, if not longer, to find the lair. And the Losers are nuts to what to be "teleported" Star Trek-style like that more than once.

SMOKE TEST/ MADSKILLZ

Ace, you arrogant little..., you pushing the Spy Kids and your leadership are what got your club suspended in the first place, so be quiet.

“It means,” Maddy snarled right back, “that when you waltz into a project where two people have already done 85% of the WORK, you’re SUPPOSED to at least mention those two people, instead of just rubber-stamping it an ‘Intelligence Cadets Project’, when those two people aren’t even members of your stupid little weenie CLUB!”

“We saved your LIVES!”

“It must be nice to think that.”

And more reasons not to like Ace and his attitude, stealing credit for other people's work like that is one of my pet peeves.

“This is rightfully an Intelligence Cadets Corps operation,” Ace insisted.

“NO,” Jadis corrected him, “there IS NO Intelligence Cadets Corps at the moment, remember? Besides, rightfully, this is a Security operation, and they’re letting us run this under supervision. And by ‘us’, I mean ME.”

Ace, you need to drop the attitude or the rest of the Spy Kids, barring the girl who's in love with you, might just vote you out as leader and out of the club completely. Stormwolf's template, please let that be part of the plan and not encoded in one of the suits. What a minute, Zoe is a level 6 Exemplar, I thought Zenith was only a level 5 last I recall.

Heh, I thought that is what happened to Escher, disappeared after stepping into one of his teleportation projects. Maddy looks like a 15-year-old boy in her 'Mimic Suit', and poor Smokey looking like that while around others and in that suit. Ace, Rez, and A-Plus trying to mess with these things because they think they know better, ugh. And they blame Ace for Maddy being in Stormwolf form and Smokey in the Zenith form, hehe, nice to have such an easy fall-guy.

Back in the booths with the helmets on this time, Zenith saying she will reconfigure the settings, let's watch. And both come out looking like Zenith, Smokey is stuck for 40 hours at least, all according to plan. Boy, when Reach wants to be intimidating she sure can be with ease. Ooo, Jenny has improved on her fullerene suits. Jadis calling Ms. Hartford, guessing this is the next step of the plan.

Ah, so Zenith is level Five Exemplar, clears that up from earlier. Maddy trying to convince Smokey the kinds of things they can do with Exemplar 5 bodies. #143, seesh, talk about paranoid and prepared. Dang, Maddy coping a feel of her new boobs, trying to encourage Smokey to but he isn't interested. Then why did she pick up those kinds of thoughts from him, what is going on?

A backlog of half-finished projects, I drive myself nuts if I don't finish something I start before moving onto the next thing, no idea how others can do that. Well, the code works for the pad, and dang, what Maddy pulled off with Zenith's Exemplar 5 physical abilities. The decontamination chamber for the Chem Lab, DuPraeve must have thought it could contain or even potentially get killed any would-be intruders to his lab.

Onboard electronics for Smokey's suit are fried, he is down, crap! Please say this plan just didn't go off the rails and get a non-transsexual stuck in the wrong body. At least Smokey is breathing, but why is Reach saying what the? Oh wait, the template for Smokey was to be Sahar, not Zenith. Guessing he somehow changed turning the teleport.

SHE-BEAST

Oh crap, it sounds like things aren't going according to plan anymore and Madskillz is upset and furious.

“Ah found him on the floor of the corridor. No sign of any obvious injuries, but he’s still unconscious. They can’t dew a sonogram or any of the usual scans because of that suit, so they’re entubin’ him and sendin’ a probe down to scan his internal organs from the inside. We only been here fer five minutes, so thet’s all’s Ah kin say.”

Oh crap is an understatement. And Smokey's headset was corrupted, this wasn't part of the plan, did something in the area left by DuPraeve do this?

Smoke Test was attacked, this wasn't just a teleport gone wrong, whoever did this might be working for DuPraeve.

Some day, I’m going to look back at these days nostalgically, and remember with pride how I used to get people to cooperate through sheer reason; God, I am SO looking forward to that.

Heh, I guess Jadis knows what adults in the 'real world' can be like. Reach and Zenith both checked the area before and after the attack, no traps, what is going on?

This isn't a simple attack, hhm. What a minute, what are Horrorshow's powers? Completely female inside and out now, this wasn't part of the plan at all. Jadis has a very good point, leaving the rest of the Spy Kids out of this and they will come to their own conclusions. Kew was tracking her despite the Spy Kids being suspended, they never learn. Maddy thinks Jadis has security playing along, that Jadis blasted Smokey, nope.

“Look, Maddy, my plan was for Smokey to *ahem!* ‘accidentally’ get stuck in that suit, and start floating hints that his DNA was reacting to the over-pattern and stuff like that. After a while, I’d do a few things to his face to make it look like it was starting to conform to the rest of his physique, and then sic Nephandus on him. Hey, if that didn’t scare him back into pants, nothing would.”

Okay, having Nephandus hit on you is the perfect test for if Smokey is trans or not. My main suspect right now for who jumped Smokey is Horrorshow, so he can have Maddy all to himself in his twisted logic.

SMOKE TEST

Waking up like this, Smokey sure is going to be in shock once he sees a mirror or tries to move. And he doesn't need glasses, first sign to him things aren't normal. At least Smokey got Nurse Lipton, Dr. Gutierrez, and Delarose to show up fast.

I dug back to the last thing that I remembered clearly- which was suddenly having the body of my dreams (I didn’t tell Delarose that ‘of my dreams’ part), and then step by (curiously clear) step, I led up to watching Maddy disappear, and then…

Ah, so trans but trying not to show it due to being embarrassed to admit it to Maddy. What the H! He doesn't recall anything after Maddy disappeared, who did this and how? Jadis handling things and Delarose hands Smokey a mirror, big reveal time.

Not just a girl, but an Exemplar-class cutie, with an apple-shaped face, delicate features, the cutest turned-up nose, full lips, big round cornflower-blue eyes, the whole ‘Oh yeah, I want THAT’ package. The lone sour note in my personal ‘Hallelujah Chorus’ was the mess of butter-yellow blonde hair that was tangled around my head.

Uh, been a while but isn't that how Zenith looks, or is this at least somewhat different?

“Which is ridiculous, but we’re talking about, a devise here, so all bets are off. BUT, if that was the case, then you’d be a near-perfect copy of Zenith, whose ‘overpattern’ –or whatever- we were using for a template. But you don’t look like Zenith. Yeah, you’ve got the bod, but the face? Okay, there are a few similarities, but she’s a lot stronger in the jaw, she has a longer nose, her cheekbones aren’t as wide, and all in all, your features are more delicate than hers. So, the question is: WHY? There’s another factor going on here that we haven’t fit into this equation. Any ideas, Smokey?”

Question asked and answered, just what is going on? They cut the suit off Smokey, Maddy reveals she knows and Smokey freaks out about it, good grief, learn to trust your friends. At least Smokey knows better than to use Devisor stuff on themself.

“Why would you be so interested in stabilizing Protein Antagonism?”

“Because, there is a raft of Gene Therapy applications that could help GSD mutants, but in order to work, they have to put too much chemical strain on the DNA, effectively causing low-level Protein Antagonism in the patient. But if we can develop a Protein Antagonism counteragent, then those Gene Therapy methods might work better. And…” I had to make it come out better. “And, I think that something’s wrong with me.”

Very good reason for doing that branch of research. A form to spell out all the aches and pains, I hope Smokey isn't a hypochondriac.

“Just what I was trying to avoid,” I snarled. “Okay, but I want you to SIT on Ace, when he starts making Inspector Javert noises.”

Okay, now I want to see a drawing of Delarose sitting on Ace who is grumpy about it. Yikes, Maddy's power when described the way Jadis does makes it sounds like a headache to deal with. Maddy sure is curious about Reach and Spark's relationship, I'm guessing it is because she is wondering how to deal with her relationship with Smokey now that Smokey is a girl.

Testing out teleport stations and finally at #177 get to the lab only for Maddy and then Jadis to be knocked by what seems to be a psychic attack. Cramp all over your body, DuPraeve or whoever else might have created such a devise is sadistic. Crap, whatever happened it changed Jadis's appearance.

The girl in the reflection had my hair, complete with devil-forelocks, but NOT my face. Instead of my- well, let’s not go there- she had one of those perfect delicate faces with great cheekbones, pouting lips, tiny little nose, big sloe eyes, your basic ‘don’t hate me because I’m beautiful’ package.

Jadis has been given Poise's face and body, why would someone do this?

Whoever is behind this took archive-type boxes with them and had around 10 minutes to do so in, this mystery keeps going deeper. Hologram covering a drop pit, nasty little trap. DuPraeve needs to be caught, along with Freya, those two together are a bigger threat than I previously realized. Jadis wants to leave so they can't say she tampered with the evidence, the transport pod says it should be right there with them in the lab yet nothing, and now Reach and Jadis is trapped with no way out. The perfect cliffhanger to leave us on, I hope we don't have to wait long for the next part, eager for more.

SMOKE TEST

I wonder why the left Smokey in that machine for so long, what could have distracted them? Crap! What has happened to Maddy? Jadis and Reach are still trapped and Maddy looks like Smokey now, whoever is behind all this has a lot to answer for. Smokey so concerned for Maddy, yet wondering how her hair is better than theirs, good grief.

Okay, Ace, A-Plus, and the rest of the Spy Kids need to be reigned in now by Delarose, acting like they have a right to question Smokey in this manner is way over the line. Why didn't Delarose break up this interrogation by a group that is currently suspended? This group of paranoids, automatically going after Smokey with all these questions, I want to Gibbs Smack the lot of them. A half-hour of this before Zenith and Sahar comes to the rescue, I hope the Spy Kids get punished for this stunt.

“That’s not how it works, and you know it, Ace,” Sahar said reprovingly. “And even if it DID, the Cadets are officially on suspension. She-Beast brought you into this with the hopes that you might have learned something; I’m personally saddened that you haven’t.” That led to a lot of angry yapping as Zenith called Delarose, while Sahar handed me a bathrobe to cover the paper gown (I don’t know why people are always saying that she’s such a bitch; she’s always been nice to me).

About time and yay! Jadis and Reach free from the trap, with Ace assuming she is Poise, how long until that little number wears off?

Uh oh, this thing is what hit Smokey and Maddy, so it mixed Poise and Zenith's looks from the sounds of it.

“DuPraeve had this 3-story drop-pit set right next to the teleporter, which struck her as a lotta effort for a pretty feeble trap. She figured that it was a cover for DuPraeve’s exit, in case anyone ever cornered him in his own lair. He’d make some play and make out like he got caught in his own trap or somethin’ like that. There was a trap door at the bottom of the pit that could only be found and opened with telekinesis.” She-Beast smirked and flexed a set of dark PK claws.

No wonder DuPraeve was so hard to catch, plans well ahead for almost any contingency.

“There’s no point, just answering your question. And now, Smokey? I think that Maddy needs a friendly face. That means that you stay HERE, Ace. Take the opportunity to bone up on respecting Civil Rights during an investigation, remember that you’re NOT a recognized club just at the moment, and maybe review the Whateley Canon of Ethics for Psychics.” She shot Interface a cold glare as she shepherded me out of the room.

When you have Jadis lecturing you about following the law you need to listen already. At least Maddy got to keep her voice. Maddy wants to make it permanent and is acting hyper, is that normal for her? Oh, so from Smokey's answer she is normally worse, ADHD is a hell of a thing to deal with.

Maddy sure isn't shy, even more so now than when they first got the Mimic Suits activated. Good chance for Smokey and Maddy in keeping those forms for the rest of their lives, of course, Maddy is excited.

“The Bad News is that the rest of your lives may be measured in months, if not weeks, and at the end of those months, you will be suffering from a prolonged case of Protein Antagonism that will, if you’re very lucky, cause a fatal seizure or systemic collapse.”

*eyes bug out* Smokey's project is vital to their very survival now!

Gutierrez being so blunt to get the point across to Maddy, heh. Figures this kind of thing is DuPraeve's real trap, sick scum. And now the perp with the teleport module is needed, just who would be sick enough to use this trap besides DuPraeve? Ack! Jadis isn't off the hook either, Smokey's Protein Antagonism project needs more people working on it than before to finish it quickly.

Okay, reading all that explanation by Jadis about the Mimicry Inducer made me physically cringe, the idea of such a thing loose would make most Sy Fy movies look tame in comparison. Someone stole Sinewave's Mimicry Inducer from the Ultra-Secure Locker at the Workshop, how is that possible? The reasons for why this isn't DuPraeve have me hating DuPraeve even more now, the kind of mad scientist who sees others as only test subjects is a monster. *facepalms* The description which Jadis just gave sounds like Horrorshow, doesn't it?

So the perp used the Mimicry Inducer as a weapon of opportunity since no other options were available, someone came into the lair alongside Smokey and Maddy, meant to use it on Maddy and not Smokey, yup, sounding more and more like Horrorshow is behind all of this. Oh crud, the Whitman girls reacted badly to Bova getting the Drow treatment from Jobe, I just knew it.

The frozen look of realization melted into a look of sick horror. “Good call,” Maddy croaked. “That reminds me: Mrs. Savage still expects a formal letter of apology to Bova from me.”

Okay, just how badly did the blow up on poor Bova?

Zenith and Sahar here with clothes and now shipping Smokey and Maddy off to Poe to keep them secret for now, oh boy, I feel a potential headache coming. Yes, almost everyone in Poe is good at keeping secrets. Maddy! This isn't a fashion show, get dressed, and go. Hehehe, I love Mrs. Horton's response to all this. Smokey's real name is Travis McRae, see why they prefer Smokey. And Smokey outs Maddy as a lesbian, obvious to those who pay attention to her from the way he describes it.

Poor Smokey, thinking Mrs. Horton would harm her for being a transsexual. Taking the oath and learning the secret of Poe, at least the enchantments on Poe will keep Maddy's reaction to finding out Bugs if a lesbian from being heard by half the campus. Tracy, cute name. Once again I wish more adults were like Mrs. Horton, so understanding and patient. Oh, it isn't just the Poe kids you can call on for backup, the Bully Busters are still around, pretty sure the Outcasts won't stand for such crap happening when they near.

Maddy, no, no drow serum just to get a shopping trip out of Jobe. Reach, you have a good idea, but mentioning a Gadgeteer or Devisor cares more about their tools and gear over clothes is a good way to upset them, especially your girlfriend. Ack! All the tools and gear from two Workshop students in the same dorm room sounds like a nightmare and disaster waiting to happen. Sharing tools, eep.

Ooo, new roomie for Marty for now. And darn it, so Electrode is the best option of the 3, only 3 changelings available. Guess Tracy and Maddy are just going to have to work things out. Ouch, both of them had a Devisor moment, in the cafeteria, and having eaten without even realizing it, thank goodness for Reach. Reach having to get Tracy out of her shell, aww. Anyone who's ever been in a food fight knows how distracting thrown food can be, great addition by Harley.

Bannockburn having to deal with Hela's moods, yikes. And she is like the Hela of Norse myth, eep. Bannockburn sounds like a bit of a headache for a roommate, wearing a kilt when you are a BIG guy, seesh. And he hangs with G-Force and Stalwart, shares their loves of Shakespeare, interesting group. Ugh, Banny checking out Reach like that, he is one of those guys who oogles any attractive girl.

Good idea for Tracy not to let Banny know who she really is, he might come onto her stronger, if that 'Scot's accent' is his idea for flirting I would run at this point. Good excuses for not bringing it up in front of G-Force at least. Oh crap! With how Spark and Maddy are acting the girls from Whitman might have made death threats, this shit needs to stop.

Smokey trying to make sense of all that, he might need a computer with some chaos theory to work it all out. Hey, everybody has something they get obsessed over, I know I do. Hehe, love the advice Sahar gives to Maddy, knows just how to get her to cooperate. *facepalms* Why did it have to Vamp doing the welcoming at the stairs.

As Vamp walked up ahead of us and out of earshot, I whispered to Zenith, “She didn’t say anything at all lewd or suggestive- so why do I feel like I just got propositioned? How does she do that?”

Zenith sighed, “Practice, practice, practice…”

Vamp has just learned how to do that more effectively with experience, great.

Oh no, not Roommate Roulette! Inkblot seems interesting. Brandiment, just how many Exemplar girls are in the Workshop now? Brandiment sure jumps to conclusions quickly, though figuring out it was Smokey that fast, what level Exemplar is she? Brando seems a bit hyper and prone to not paying attention to what others are saying if she isn't interested. *sigh* Brando needs to learn not to do this stuff to new girls who aren't used to their body or situation yet. And flirting with Tracy like that in front of Maddy, oh brother.

“MADDY… FIRST we get our stuff from our old rooms. THEN we find either the stolen teleporter or the Mimicry Inducer, whichever comes first. THEN, we stabilize ourselves so they don’t have to use buckets at our funerals. Then and ONLY then do we start on any new projects!”

Someone has to keep Maddy focused if they are going to survive this whole mess. Hehe, letting the guys in Emerson help them, love how Sahar puts it. Even at Whateley six girls as hot as this group showing up at Emerson, I'm surprised some idiot isn't trying to film them. *winces at the thought of reading G-Force's mind*

The Emerson boys' oral tradition about the other cottages is funny. *blinks* When Hela gets manic even her spooks can be shocked by what she can do, yikes. Still, wouldn't mind her being around for moving day in that state. Darn it! Maddy makes up with Bova, has a nice chat with Tweak, but no, Spectral just has to ruin it. And the fear about others wanting to use the device already coming true, poor 'Angelique'. Not Pucelle! Anyone got a sock to stuff in her mouth?

Bova calms things down, thank you, only for G-Force to open his big mouth, and figure out who Tracy is, idiot. And yeow! Banny might need to go to Doyle for that. Poor kids, even if Tracy had told the truth earlier would G-Force not have slipped up in another way to start the riot which happened? The world will never know. Hydroflux, wait until you experience it, Tracy.

THIRTY MINUTES LATER

All Hail Hydroflux!

Heh, Hydroflux is going to make a fortune when she markets this plumbing.

Brando just shook her head heavily. “Do. NOT. Mess. With. Jade.”

Underestimate Jade at your peril. Having to wear discards so Brando is going to get some of the girls in the cottage loan them some, nice. Cass Addington aka Troika, cool, a duplicator with 2 identical copies. Tuppence, a warper who can shrink to the size of a tuppence, nice play on words for the codename. And she can grow to 12 meters tall too, dang.

“These three,” Brando, indicated the last of them, including the bald one, “are the Electro-charge sisters. They’re all energizers and best buds. Kim’s the one whose clothes you’ll be bumming; the other two are just along for the show.”

Tammy aka Ghostly, ghostly powers, almost like Danny Phantom, interesting.

Rigs, or Rigger, is a gadgeteer with a passion for- get this- the complexities and nuances of broadcast code. She can do totally insane things with drones and RC stuff. I hear that the NSA is drooling to get her under contract.

Now there is an interesting focus for a gadgeteer.

Marlene aka Diamond, a lot of interesting powers with this group. Lisa aka the Artful Dodger, ooo, from the Gen 2 The Nefarious Three story, wondering when we would see her younger self.

“That means that Smokey is aces at finding the points in a system- mechanical, electronic, whatever- where a failure is most likely to happen,” Maddy used her default lecture on the subject. “Weaknesses, stress points, imbalances, whatever.”

I wonder if Tracy can use this to target pressure points and other weaknesses in living beings.

Even when explaining things you have to be a perv, Vamp. Dodger, don't make things uncomfortable for Tracy and Maddy with comments like that. Whoa, Maddy, and Tracy took their relationship to a whole new level. Ouch! Loves Maddy like a sister, not excited by her, oh boy. Too close of buddies to be anything more, at least Maddy is far from upset about it, seems nothing keeps her down for long.

8 Devisor Specials, how much caffeine is in all that? And Bannock blabbed about who Tracy really is in Emerson, so Horrorshow and Runestrong show up asking if she is really Smokey. And they don't know how Smokey ended up a girl, so came to her for answers.

When I told them about Sinewave’s Mimicry Inducer, Brian’s (that’s what he’s called when he’s not being all Horrorshow) face went slack, his eyes went wide and he croaked, “They can DO that?”

“It’s a Devise,” I pointed out. “A very high-level, very twitchy, very Black Shelf devise that they kept around because it would be too dangerous to not have it around. If it wasn’t for that JIC factor, they would’ve junked it years ago.”

Either Horrorshow is a really good actor or he isn't the perp we are after.

Nice acting on Tracy's part, make them thing she doesn't like this and when she gets stabilized and stuck this way keep on acting and adjust over time. Why, oh why, does Horrorshow think magic is the answer to all this. Mixing Devisor-tech results with magic is risky at best. Horrorshow is a manifestor and creates that kind of stuff, someone needs to get him to grow up a little.

And Horrorshow seems to think magic is an easy answer to a potentially complex problem, bother.

“He’s been weird ever since he heard about Smokey. I think that he thinks that Smokey got hit because someone was targeting you, Madskillz.” Then he noticed that Maddy had snuck out. “Anyway, despite himself, Horror’s got a good idea. Well, for Horrorshow, anyway. If Technology doesn’t do the trick, Smokey, talk to someone in the Mystic Arts program. It’s way beyond me, but that doesn’t mean that there might not be someone who could handle it. Al-Feyez has a bee in his fez that there’s some kind of link between enchantment and devises, so he’d probably be willing to take a stab at it.”

Okay, that moves it back to being Horrorshow as the prime suspect for me, acting guilty Smokey got hit, thinks it is because someone was targetting Maddy, yet none of that information has been released yet so how would he know they were together at the time of the attack?

JADIS

Hehe, love Jadis introducing herself to everyone who doesn't know yet because of the change, classic. I'm guessing no one is going to get Jadis's $10k reward. Wheeling the pylons around on dollies is going to make for obvious targets though. Smart move with the tags, not sure Kew wouldn't lie to get back at Jadis though. Nice capture teams plus good intimidation on Jadis's part reminding everyone to behave and not cry wolf.

REACH

Bwahaha, love Maddy's response to Horrorshow, so much snark. Someone, please hit OMAG for that comment. Reach sure knows a lot about how Horrorshow chose that codename. And even Reach doesn't know why Horrorshow likes Maddy, the world may never know.

Why do I suspect Horrorshow wishing to keep an eye on Maddy and Smokey so they don't stumble upon something he doesn't want them to.

And hope that there weren’t no Beholders or Displacer Beasts or Owlbears.

You only think I’m jokin’.

Okay, I didn't think even Jobe was crazy enough to create things like those so who would be?

Animatronic bunny plushies, I love Bugs's designs. Jenny, no creeping out the boy/girlfriend, spider legs. *shudders* Belphegor with one of his floating chairs again, but who is the girl swiping things right out of his chair from him? Artful Dodger and it sounds like Belfatso stole the teleport stabilizer while he was looking for stuff to swipe and claim he made himself again. Great, just a mock-up, nothing useful here, and sounds like another trap laid out for anyone looking for the real thing.

*facepalms* Dodger, no aggressive flirting in front of the person's girlfriend. And another creation, this one stolen from Jenny by Belfatso, he needs to be reigned in already. Rats, Belpho may be many things, but he is good at escaping.

ICC Rule #16 is: ‘Always assume that any unknown advanced technology is dangerous, unstable, trapped or all three until the device has been examined by a Workshop supervisor’. “Jenny!” I said, “Don’t. The rule is we leave examining things like this to the instructors.”

Sensible rule indeed, even a decoy could be boobytrapped.

Smokey and Maddy dealing with one of the Bad Seeds, I wonder who? Though Nephandus does seem arrogant and foolhardy enough to go into an off-limits area like this. Whoa! Who makes drones that size that are like half-insect/half-machine? The appearance sounds like something out of a horror movie. Another set of different drones mixing it up with the first, what the heck is going on here?

*eyes bug out* The guy in the biomechanical power armor is Horrorshow and that isn't Ace, do we have a shapeshifter involved or something else? Crud, the dino-drones are Nephandus' work, at least Runestrong knows the dangers of messing with them. OMAG just had to make more copies of himself for the dino-drones to attack, Runestrong doesn't know how to deal with demon's yet as he is a sophomore.

Jenny gets Nephy's cane, but Runestrong gets hit hard taking a blast for Reach, I hope he will be okay. One threat ended, but the bug-drones seem the bigger threat, who made those? Yikes! Horrorshow down in two shots, just how strong of blasters do these drones have? Hhm ground suddenly slippery and the bogus 'Ace' can move on it fine.

No tracks, no signs, no clues, nuthin’. Except for a latex mask that I vaguely recognized as Ace- just before the mask melted into nothing in my hands.

Okay, I'm seriously in the dark right now as Horrorshow is no longer a suspect for me and the tech this perp just used isn't familiar.

Runestrong another victim of the Mimicry Inducer, just great. Transformed and still ready to keep working, Runestrong has a pro attitude for his age. What the h! Even the real creeps like Bloodwolf know not to mess with the Kitchen, what kind of psycho plants a 'mysterious ticking package' there? Render and Crimson pulling this right now, ugh, idiots. Favors to let them pass, these two are going to be seeing Mrs. Carson very soon for this stunt.

Crimson negotiating with Jadis over the phone while Holdout shows up. But this is not Holdout, idiot knows nothing about the Spy Kids. Drones again, a familiar drone and the Mimicry Inducer cuts through Runestrong's shield, good grief. At least Render and Crimson help out taking down the drone, even if the creep escapes again.

Ray turned to Crimson and said snidely, “”THIS is why I run my operations OFF-CAMPUS.”

Smart boy.

Ace, A-Plus, and Techno-Devil mixing it up with a swarm of Bug-drones, eep. The Losers charging into the fray and Bugs with her bunny bots, talk about hectic. Unbreakable's power is perfect for the shielding tank role, give him some gadgets or devises for attack and I would back off. Darn it! Mimicry Inducer goes right through PK fields as well. Techno-Devil seems to i.d. the target, Charger, Buzz, and Sapper go on the attack, I wonder why Buzz's bursts of vibration did more to the drones.

What happened to Techno-Devil and his crew, not sure I trust Ace's assessment of what Mal might have pulled. Mal! How could you do this to your sister? Trying to take off with the only means to stabilize her and others to save their lives like this, I thought better of him until this stunt. And a fake OMAG tries to steal the gadget while everyone is confused, but the real OMAG is onto them.

Great, more bug-bots, how many does this creep have? Slide needs training not to panic and lose control over his power, twice now it has messed up his allies. Why did Bugs' bunny-bots turn on them? Teleporter not a decoy, Jadis pissed at Mal, and I love Jadis' reason for letting the Spy Kids hand Mal and Sapper over to Delarose.

A call to go to the area where Jobe's lab is, I would avoid it at all costs too. Render and Crimson are there and the bug-bots are swarming the place, just great. Crud, that wasn't Render and they just got played completely, all a distraction for whatever the perp is really up to as they waste time chatting with Jobe and the drow girls.

Imitating Stalwart while facing off against some of the Masterminds, the bug-bots can spray a corrosive now which destroyed Sahar and Zenith's outfits, this just keeps getting worse. Time to get out the anime mallet for OMAG and the other still male Losers. Ooo, I like Reach's method better. Jobe, you need to learn how not to talk so creepily like that.

I should have known, something which just churns out those bug-drones automatically makes sense.

“It wasn’t a 3-D printer,” Zenith said like something was nagging at her. “Maybe an injected plastic molder forming carapaces around electronic internals… nnnoooo… that doesn’t work either,” she chewed at a fingernail. “But how were the internals assembled? And where were the components brought in?” She shook her head. “Looking back and visualizing it, it made no sense. It had everything but a whistle that went ‘toot-toot!’”

Seesh, sounds like a devise.

“And those are drums of injection plastic resins, and that looks like one of the PK energy synthesizers that I use for my fullerene matrix attunements.”

They are using tech which Jenny used to make her suits, this is very bad.

For someone on the magic-track Runestrong sure figured out the drones quickly, multiple compilers and recyclers as well, ingenious and scary. Dynamaxx, She-Bot, and Slapdash dealing with the Masterminds there, She-Bot fending off Heartbreaker and Jello from banker boxes, Dynamaxx and Slashdash unfortunately affected by Heartbreaker's power. Ouch, Jello is that delicate despite her Exemplar nature, I hope she is exempt from combat finals because not everyone would care like Reach. Ooo, never mess with Reach in that way or Jenny will mess you up.

SMOKE TEST

TNT and the Furies pulling the same stunt Crimson and Render did, what is it, idiots break the rules day? The threat of Team Kimba, plus Nitro on probation and be handed over to the MCO is expelled from Whateley, yet Alecto thinks it doesn't matter as long as they beat them up quickly enough, talk about overconfident. OMAG's clones trashed quickly once again, TK better back off of Maddy and Smokey right now.

Sahar did inform them of the rules they are breaking, these fools just never learn. Dang, Sahar has taken to her training from Chaka well. TK trying that trick on Sahar, a PDP, was foolish at best. TK beat up with his cane, priceless, Tisiphone trying to blast Sahar for taking down a threat, she still needs to learn to reign in that temper of hers. Antipersonnel gas, Maddy figuring something out, what appears to be Horrorshow knocking Maddy out with a hand stunner. The floor slipping out from under them again right then, Horrorshow supposedly in the infirmary still, I'm starting to think this isn't the work of one individual anymore. Great, Alecto is cocky when the odds are in her favor.

Reach

So Reach shows up right as Maddy and Smokey are taking on TNT and the Furies, now this is more details for what is an epic beatdown on these jerks.

“I’m not a Psychic Arts instructor,” Sahar said carefully, “but from what I saw and felt, I’d say that you two… merged. A kind of gestalt or limited mass mind, where your minds and personalities fused together, your psychic powers meshed together for greater effect. You two have been doing this on a lower, cruder level-”

Why is Jadis yelling to get them to the Ops Center now, what is going on, did we miss something because I thought Maddy was taken by a Horrorshow-look-a-like.

Just what does this Situation Center represent, what is Jadis tracking? Don't tell me something else is going on, like teleport clones.

“And that’s what I’m doing: playing Gō. I’m pushing Mr. X around the Workshop, getting him to teleport, and eliminating his options, one at a time. I know where the teleporter is, and the Mimicry Inducer, and three cashes of records. I’m forcing him to make hard decisions, so he’s not paying attention to the tactical situation in the Workshop.”

Ouch, no wonder it is so hard to follow right now. Oh, so this is after the abduction attempt so Maddy was rescued. Jadis wants Mr. X to attack the command center in an attempt to take Maddy, Smokey, or both as hostages, dangerous gambit.

So, much of this mess could have been avoided if graduating students didn't leave their tech hidden and lying around for future students to find. *sigh* Darn it! Mimicry Inducer wearing off on Jadis right now and Ace trying to take control again, this kid needs a harsh lesson already. What about Slide has gotten Smokey all rilled up? Wait, don't tell me DuPraeve disguised himself somehow as Slide and is using his TK for his slippery field effect?

The storage area for junk to be shredded down makes sense as a place to get materials to construct all those drones. Maddy and Smokey fighting once again gestalt mode, too bad those bugs have the perfect set-up to stonewall them from any of their goals beyond smashing bug-drones. Reach with aid from Jenny gets the teleporter, yay! Mimicry Inducer is gotten and thanks to Maddy and Smokey the fake 'Ace' is stopped from tricking them. Mr. X is gone and the complier is toast, rats.

[/b]JADIS[/b]

Yay! Maddy and Smokey are stabilized, that threat is over. DuPraeve built 5 bases including one under Mrs. Carson's house, he was beyond cocky. Mimicry Inducer locked up tight, good news. Mal and others getting detention cleaning up the mess the compilers and bug-drones left, good, they deserve it.

Smokey getting to do the wrap-up on this whole mystery, she's earned it, but who is Mr. X? Spelling out everything we learned throughout the story, plus some new details like the capacitive rheostat. Using PK in a precise way to complete a circuit, no wonder no one caught on until now. Did all this, including the theft of boxes, the attack on Jadis, with drones, I want to know who Mr. X is.

Now Ace listing all the details they know about Mr. X. Bug Bot Bandit, hehehe, perfect. Doesn't like the Losers and the drones were designed to mess with their powers, hhm.

My personal theory is that the ‘perfect girlfriend’ angle isn’t what he’s going for. For some reason, Mr. X wanted to merge Madskillz glitch ‘Database’ technique or some other aspect of her PDP trait with the Exemplar state. What that would do? I have no idea. But we can assume that if he told Madskillz about it openly, she’d refuse, and if he foisted it off on her covertly, that she would hold it against him. Possibly violently. What he’ll do now that Madskillz is stable in an Exemplar state? I lack facts.

Okay, didn't even think of that angle, Mr. X is a bigger mystery to me now more than ever before. Poor Runestrong and Unbreakable, having to worry about Poise being upset over 'knockoffs'.

SMOKE TEST

Still don't know how or why Mr. X , did what he did.

“Maddy? Yeah, that’s great, but when we’re… y’know… all Gestalt and crap… we’re not really US. You’re not Maddy and I’m not Smokey. We’re… this third person. Okay, I’m not as anxious as I usually am… but is that worth losing Who I am? Did I just lose a bit of anxiety… or a bit of ME? I’m not that happy with the thought of not being, y’know, me, and becoming a part of… that third girl. Who I don’t really know. And I may not like…”

I was scared that was the case as well, glad to see Maddy agree with Smokey on this after her initial excitement. Maddy makes sense as well, what if the Gestalt state was part of Mr. X's plan all along, no way to tell. Horrorshow did right by them, visiting him in the infirmary is only right. Not like he could be in two places at once, manifest a second self as Mr. X, and attack himself for the perfect alibi, is it?

Maddy is jumping into the sexual pool in the deep end, at least Smokey realizes she needs to take things at her own pace. Helping Brandiment with getting her rig set up in her new room, plus pretty sure Smokey was flirting a little there with her. Cute.

At first, this seemed like it was going to be a Jadis-focused story, I'm glad it was so much more. Jadis helping out Maddy with her scheme to help out Smokey, getting so many others involved to the point we get to see Sahar, Zenith, and many other favorites reappear, plus new characters beyond Maddy and Smokey, and flesh out ones we have only heard of in passing before like the Losers. I loved the initial scheme and hoped for the best when it started, then things went off the rails when Mr. X became involved.

We knew DuPraeve was bad from how others talked about him, but this paranoid, scheming, and ruthless with his traps, I hope some justice comes for his blackmail and other victims eventually. This whole mystery, everything going on, was well crafted, sometimes a little hard to keep things straight, but all good mysteries do that. I'm happy that Maddy and Smokey got their dreams to come true, for an m-t-f transsexual we can only dream of things like this in the real world.

I'm glad we got an explanation for how the scheme was done at least in part, the full how and why Mr. X did all this, plus who Mr. X is, I hope will be answered in future stories. Plus you have to wonder who is working security for the tunnels with so many students like Crimson and Render, TNT and the Furies, the Masterminds, and more all sneaking into off-limits tunnels like this and messing with an official investigation. Something seemed off with that. Plus I'm still left wondering if more than one person was behind the whole Mr. X scheme. I can't wait for future stories with Maddy, Smokey, Jadis, and everyone else.