the hound dogs are already on my trail

[awarlock]

Date & Time: Backdated Sept 18th.
Location: Adam's apartment, Initiative Hold
Characters: Adam Warlock, Gamora, Peter Quill.
Summary: Consider a trigger happy human, a schizophrenic quantum magician and a green an' mean (part) machine breaking into the Hold for intel. Murphy's law is in effect.
Warnings: None for now. Will add if anything comes up.


[He sent the word out a minute ago. Converge on his location: Unit 605. That's s short walk for Pete. A longer one for Gamora. So, he waits, stares at the door and leans back against the opposite wall. This is a simple mission. They go in, they come out with information. He'd think it's Reconnaissance 101, if he's ever stepped inside an educational institution.

He's hoping this recon mission can can remain just that. Simple, in and out.

But between resting for this venture, he's been plagued by some intuitive sense of something is happening and he can't stop it. Adam took walks out into the city. He got a feel of the city and went back to his apartment. It's cold, decaying, it didn't help ease the foreboding.

There's no question that something is going to go wrong. The problem is it could be exactly what he's thinking or it could mean something else is coming. So without solid reasoning, he can't and doesn't do anything about it.

So Adam stares at the door and waits for Peter and Gamora to arrive.]

Comments

[toldyouso]

[If it were Gamora's apartment, Pete would knock, because he knows how quickly she can have a knife at someone's throat, and while she is good enough to recognize him and refrain from killing him, there's no guarantee she would.

But this is Adam's apartment, so Pete just lets himself in.]

I have a bad feeling about this.

[Pete always has a bad feeling about everything, so this is hardly news.]

[gamora]

[ Gamora also doesn't knock, but only because she couldn't care less about politeness or manners. She's right behind Peter in arrival time, sword strapped on her back and fully armed.

They did say non-fatal, but Gamora figures it's probably easier to come prepared considering their track record. ]

Did you plan on having something valuable to add to the conversation, Quill, or are you simply going to state the obvious?

[awarlock]

[Great.]

I'll admit, I have a bad feeling about this too.

[He leads them to his room. Don't worry, it's spotless since he rarely uses it. Once they're all inside, he elaborates.]

But there's nothing they can do to us that won't be worst than our fates. [Well, he gives Peter a blank look before continuing.] For Peter and me, at least.

[toldyouso]

[Pete ignores Gamora because that's more or less a friendly greeting by her standards.]

Thanks, Adam. Good pep talk.

[He leans one shoulder against the wall and folds his arms.]

Can't give much of a mission briefing, since the whole point of this exercise is to get the intel I'd put in a briefing. They seem to need us more than we need them, which is a point in our favor.

[gamora]

So expect dismemberment instead of death.

[ A shrug, and she unceremoniously sits on the edge of Adam's bed. Since Pete took the nonchalant wall-leaning pose. ]

If we've got the shot to go home, are we taking it? How different can teleportation technology be from universe to universe anyway?

[ That answer better be a yes, by the way. ]

[awarlock]

We'll have our answers when we see it. There's no point in talking about it any more than we have. The constraints still stand. I don't need to remind anyone here that we might need their help. Avoid fatalities.

[Gamora's first question throws him off. Only for a minute where he actually considered the possibility of saving himself and stalling for more time and another chance at life. It really lasts a minute, then he looks to Peter and Gamora again as he prepares for teleportation.]

Are we ready?

[toldyouso]

[Pete gives Adam his time, shooting Gamora a look. He knows what Adam's thinking, because he's thinking something very similar himself. They're both doomed men at home.]

Nothing's going to start making more sense if we just stand around.

[gamora]

[ Ignoring that look, because from where she stands they're both dead - what difference does it make? Blah blah enjoy it while it lasts, flark her. ]

Ready.

[awarlock]

[As usual, it's his hands that glows bright blue first. The first sign of teleportation pops up in a symbol on the ground, his hands moves and shifts the symbols to his requirements.

He knows Gamora's been through this, there's little to no worries there. But Peter is entirely too human, and he's not quite himself. For that, he focuses more and locks in the pattern.

A white flash later.

Flawless execution. Adam doesn't bother to check back to see if they're missing a limb or not. He contemplates on how much energy he has left after that instead. Outwardly, his back is straight and he is focused on the room they all came through when they first arrived to this universe.]

The Teleportation Room.

[The floor they stand makes a horrific sound as it cracks and throws them off balance. Good news is, it didn't cave in on them and dropped them into an abyss. Bad news: it made a racket that no one who was in this building could miss.]

I--

[Good job, Adam]

[toldyouso]

[It's not a Guardians of the Galaxy mission if something doesn't go wrong. At least it went wrong early--that breaks the tension.]

Well, they know we're here. Let's get a look at the equipment before things get ugly.

[Pete would point, but his hands are too full of guns, so he jerks his chin at the machines instead.]

[gamora]

On it.

[ She moves towards one bank of computers, but not before giving Adam a look that hovers around 'what the flark were you doing' and 'you are an idiot'. So no different than normal. ]

Controls look basic enough - but there's nothing over here that indicates settings.

[awarlock]

[Well, they can take care of the technology sector. He's not worried about that too much. He's more focused on what just happened. It's an issues that blurs between excess energy used and a misdirection of it.

That's disturbing.

Adam follows behind them, his hands glow and flicker on and off - testing phase.]

Look for anything that's not part of the standard teleportation device.