Question Evil Genius

Callbacks to Gen1, and hints at what's to come there...

THX drugs... Hmm... That title is loaded with meaning... Which ones are important, and which are red herrings???

And great job fleshing out all the new personalities!

Leonardo Rivera... Any connection to Victor Rivera? Both are Water-related... Did Victor ever mention anything about siblings?? Hmm....

Soo shipping Barbara + Tyler! ... Although, maybe IncompatableOrientation...

Nice to see Barbara only giving a first impression of nastiness, and actually being really nice!

OMG, this location is soo new! And so cool! A place to put the Junior High kids who aren't mutants... Is this a new, or older facility???

Havocs, Quests, etc...

Melody Havoc... Where... Ah. Vamp Diamonds 4. K. So, she's still alive. Among other people.

Linda Havoc. Okay, so not all the Havoc kids have M-names.

Soo wondering where all these new developments go on the timeline...

Those power listings... We have a Teep, and an energy absorber. Absorbers are soo useful for combat.

When Redcoats vs. Yellowjackets was going on, I thought the Absorber would take their Energizer.

Remote base with prisoners like that, so young, a woman dressed in a stylish coat and expected but unusual, what are they doing out there in the Arctic Circle. A minefield is this a legal prison or something used by criminals, I wonder. USAF Technical Sergeant, even more curious why young men, little more than boys, are imprisoned here. All this security, all these precautions, even if the young men here are mutants what did they do to deserve being in a place like this.

Jadis Frost, she really hates it when people call her Diabolik these days. Here to see Tyler Collier, filled out paperwork for it and filed a week ago, yet this Colonel is wasting both their time with questions he knows the answers to, annoying. Calling the kid Rockhound, not a supervillain or professional criminal yet treating him like one, ugh. 'Six Week Safety' rule to get around Habeas Corpus, not convicted or arraigned yet, this is high-level corruption imo.

No internet access or communication with his family, these people are monsters. Father legally disowned Tyler, sickening. Calling this kid dangerous, just because he has powers, ignores his rights as a human being.

The meeting room was your basic prison visitation booth- designed with the Incredible Hulk in mind. The clear ‘glass’ partition between them was five 1” thick plates of an unnamed but extremely tough plastic that was designed to shatter, rather than pass the impact onto the next plate. The counter was made of Messingite™, a Fullerene compound that was made of literally billions of layers of fractal crystal carbon-based molecules each 2 feet wide, 4 feet long, and a single molecule thin. Messingite was only slightly less hard than diamond, and remarkably tougher.

Interesting material but sounds like overkill even for a PK super 7. And 3 inch thick shutters of the stuff on both sides that can drop down, dang.

On Wiz Kids, a show pandering to the American Teen market, Tyler is a short slight boy, though with the codename they are trying to stick him with sounds like manifestor or something involving creation and manipulation of rock in some way. Oh boy, Tyler is a changeling, no wonder she has an attitude and the Colonel kept this covered up.

Wait, jumped and shoved into a Mad Science thing, turned into her new form with powers and say she killed Leonardo, a castmate. This is a frame job if I've ever seen once, trying to push her into confessing is illegal. Oh, stepfather disowned her and doesn't even know what her dad is, ouch. Complete information blackout on Tyler to block the truth, like I said before, monsters.

And Jadis has information he was set up, good. Yikes, Jadis was in the same situation as Tyler, is this in the past of Gen 1 or in a future story, because I can't recall something this bad from any stories so far. A drug called Evil Genius by the media, something her father made and regrets which got out of the lab, yikes. Something seriously wrong at the Quest Foundation, curiouser and curiouser.

And Tyler is a victim of Quest Foundation's new and corrupt direction, poor kid.

“Kid, that’s what the rats-asses of the world always want you to think,” Jadis said wearily. “That if it doesn’t boil down to money, it’s not worth doing. That racism is just the way the world works. That swindling locals is just progress in action. That taking everything and leaving nothing for anyone else is just the Strong overcoming the Weak, as they always have. Ty, if we let them, the rats-asses, both the ones wearing sinister supervillain outfits and the ones wearing Armani suits, would boil the entire human race down for tallow and then complain that there wasn’t anyone to buy it.”

Ooo, I like what Jadis is planning, good to see her using her gifts well. Yikes, a Solid is so much more serious than a favor. Jadis knows how international laws work and Tyler's situation is a whole lot worse than expected, extradited to Argentina and tried for First Degree Murder, I would rather face down an upset Mrs. Carson.

Jadis hasn't even finished her Master's degree at Waterhouse in New York, so not a lawyer, I would still take her to defend me in court any day. Acting as an agent of J. Parkinson Dunmore, wondering if he was still around. Parky is really good, able to get Tyler all that and already blocking out a lawsuit for her.

This is a reform school, with how they are treating Tyler it doesn't seem like they want the kids there to reform. Yellow Silo sounds so much better and where Tyler should have been sent in the first place. Tyler hasn't seen any doctors, therapists or counselors at all, definitely being railroaded and the Colonel sounds like he is in on it. And bringing up Jobe, that girl's celebrity helps sometimes.

Jadis still hangs out with Jobe and Reach is alive, yay! And a cop, he/she is getting to live their dream. Just who is trying to railroad Tyler, what did she find out that makes her such a threat to remove. Good, didn't talk without a lawyer there. FBI agents pulling 'Good Cop', 'Bad Cop' saying the AG had enough to put her away forever already, trying to get her to cut a deal, ugh. Ward of the State and 16, good, can't wait to see Parky rip into the idiots trying to railroad this kid and frame her.

Paperwork and Tyler breaks the pen in her hand, nickname must be because of the area of study she was in, Exemplar or PK super it seems. Video conference with Parky, want to bet the Colonel will try to make trouble with the video transmission. Did THX 3 years ago once and freaked out by it, never touched the stuff again, yet someone is using it as part of the frame job. Okay, that mindstate sounds freaking terrifying, seeing people that way, very cold, *shudders*

6 different schemes thought up how to escape the place, dang. Proof Tyler couldn't have done what they are framing her for, the only way to escape is to kill people and she doesn't wish to be a killer. And these fugue states last 2-3 minutes, yikes. Jadis is smart to keep that from Tyler, knowing all those girls liked him as a guy might make her snap at this point.

Hugh Fienburg dead about 2 and a half months, yet milking it for drama and haven't told anyone, that is sick. 'Supervillain hideout' islands, interesting. Yikes, sending kids in to investigate that kind of place, that is just irresponsible. So because he bugged them, planned it all out as best he could, and things went sideways it sounds like someone blames Tyler for Hughie's death.

Wiz Kids, not a competition, sounds like a show I would love to watch. Dealing with criminals, monsters, terrorists, and supervillains, almost like creeps come looking for the ship, almost sounds like a set-up by the producers of the show to boost ratings. Most logical source of the Malice complex being Helen Chase, oh boy. Lennox wanting to 'spice' up a show, when some experiments are life-threating already, oh brother.

Sounds like it isn't Tommy Chase either, list of suspect narrowing unless it is someone Tyler never met who is working with someone on the crew. And Tyler says Logan Hogan just not that ruthless, arrrgggh! How they found the chamber, plus the welding done on it, almost sounds like someone who has only observed real scientists at work and was trying to kit-bash something together without the training or experience.

Lennox encouraging teens like that, *rolls eyes* Lennox having footage that could clear Tyler but sitting on it, either he is behind it or something seriously strange is going on. Darn, Jadis has to leave or be stuck there seven days. Whoa, going over those files, wonder what Tyler can spot that Jadis, Parky and the authorities can't. 6-week period to get used to new powers seems too short for that sort of thing. Very inspiring speech by Jadis to get Tyler acting to help save herself.

Jadis made it past the red tape tangle just in time to get onto the cargo plane. As the plane started its props for its VTOL takeoff, she looked at the stark bare base, just bits and pieces of concrete poking out of the tundra, and let out a rattling breath. “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”

I really wish to know when the incident she described happened.

Whoa, Yellow Silo library and Dr. Prado gave her access to the Orange Silo library as well on the same day, nice progress.

The Adventure of Wisteria Lodge, reading that and already time for transfer to Yellow Silo. Leslie seems like a nice lady, thorough tests at this place.

When Tyler was done, Leslie told her that she was pressing 5.5 tons, with a grip strength of between 700 and 900 pounds, and was resisting 300 lbs of force applied to an area the size of a nail-tip.

Yikes, with trouble controlling that level of strength I see why she needs physical therapy. *sigh* Tyler isn't wrong about what Leslie is saying, too many adults try to get kids to just do what they're told and ignore them being individuals.

Fine control by practicing with special chopsticks, that is torture in some places! Ouch, that second guy has it bad from the description. Ray and Jake, plus two more guys, Luke and Mike. Luke is an...interesting kid. Holly, wonder why she has oven mitts on her hands. Mike, guessing the helmet is for his protection. Barbara, the sports gear has me curious what he powers are.

Luke has a big mouth and sounds like a bigot. And Barbara freaking out over the fact Tyler is a girl and we find out the hard way she is a speedster, ouch. Tyler throwing herself into the air trying to get up, one of the rarely seem problems of someone super strong not used to their strength. Jay, Mike, and Barb all experimented on and Luke says he was abducted by a UFO, wonder if that is even close to the truth.

Holly's an Origin, oh boy, poor kid.

Holly’s bioelectrical field has been changed so that it interferes with the chemical bonds that hold most organic and mineral things together,” Leslie explained. “But for some reason, they don’t affect materials with a complex long-chain polymer bond. The effect is strongest in her hands, which is why she has to wear those special mitts. But at the same time, that suggests that there is an element of conscious control to it, so we have hopes that Holly will learn to control the effect and find out how to turn it off.” With a warm smile, Leslie went over and gave Holly a big hug.

Now that is a dangerous power to have no control over.

Luke an energy absorber who unleashes it as a pulse of hot light, yikes. Mike is a projective telepath, oh boy. And Jake, hope they get that grow under control and soon, talk about a nightmare. Ray found a Dynamorph and doesn't know how to use it, good grief.

“Stanford Benet IQ of 197; online Associates degrees in Geology, Organic and Inorganic Chemistry, Physics, Engineering and Mathematics; Bachelor’s degree from UCLA in Geology; I speak Spanish, French, German, Arabic, Russian, and Japanese- and I’m told that I sound like an idiot in all of them.”

All that before the experiment, dang.

Two-hour outdoor period, noooo! A playground, time to have fun, yet there are still bullies even here. Super-speedster, stretcher, energy blaster, size increase, and metallic skin, interesting mix from the Redcoats. Dodge-ball, the Redcoats going after the little kids first might be a given. And Tyler learning how some guys look at attractive females, good to learn now.

Catcalling Tyler and Barbara, insulting Jake and Mike and trying to goad Ray into attacking them, a bunch of thugs. Steeljacketed guy named Razor, *rolls eyes* Saying they are real men is a joke, like how Tyler handled that. At least Luke and Holly get to play like kids should.

THX kicks in for a moment, *shudders* Reading all that, the emotionless analysis of them, scary. Speedster Jojo, blaster Zap, stretcher Stretch, and the giant Hubie, sounds like trouble later on. At least the fugue-states are getting shorter and milder according to Tyler, that is a good sign, I hope. Enjoying the sky to clear her mind and simply relax and the jackass Sergeant shows up with guards in power armor to back him up, ugh.

Shackled up and brought before the Colonel, demands to know what Jadis is up to, thinks Dr. Diabolik is going to attack this place, thinks Tyler willing was transformed by him to be his Fifth Column there. This Colonel is a paranoid delusional. Tyler won't talk with attorney present in person or by teleconference, yet the Colonel says this is an Air Force base and he is the Security Commander, talk about arrogant, thinking he is above the normal laws because they are on a military base.

Calling her a freak, he should not be in charge of a place like this, a bigot with paranoid delusions like him is a threat to those they are trying to help. Solitary confinement cell, they are going down for this. Left with the restraints on and in there for hours if not a day from the sounds of it hope Parky flushes the Colonel's career down the toilet for this. Call from Parky and Tyler is told about the Colonel suffering paranoia overload. And threatened his vacation time, ooo, the Colonel better behave from now on.

Upgrade his vacation, even better reason for the Colonel to behave, first the stick, then the carrot.

[And to do him justice, the Colonel was reacting to pressure from his superiors,] Dunmore added. [Favors and threats are definitely being traded in Washington. But that has its upside.]

Washington, this thing goes all the way to Washington, just what has Tyler stumbled into.

Oh, more to do with Quest Foundation and Rivera might be more important to the issue, just what has the Quest Foundation gotten themselves into. Scapegoated, just trying to make the issue go away, talk about sick to do this to a teen just to cover their tracks. Tyler is smart to get all that from what Parky said. The scientist wanted the old showgirl/henchwoman act, oh brother.

And everything spells out 'adolescent' to Parky, 7 suspects and nothing to narrow it down yet. Hehe, Tyler reminds Parky of Jadis when they first met, very interesting.

[First of all,] Dunmore corrected her,

Dunmore waved that aside. [The thing is, you both have that same formidable intellect, the same canny focus and insight, the same remarkable reflexive analysis- and you both scare the living daylights out of me.]

Yup, that is one way to describe Jadis.

Yikes, that is a unique way of looking at Tyler and her potential, seeing the kind of supervillain she could become and what she could unleash with her genius. And seeing so much of Jadis in Tyler, how she was and how Tyler is right now. And seeing the System like that, strangely insightful. And Parky putting it in terms that Tyler will understand, smart man. Learning the same things Parky taught Jadis, Tyler is going to be a force to reckon with.

Return to the Diogenes, oh boy, that sounds like a bad idea at this point. And her step-father proves himself to be a gold-digging creep the more we find out. *grins along with Parky* They are going to leave Julian bankrupt, couldn't happen to a 'nicer' guy. Ouch, father's is a dreamer who left when the jackass Julian came in, and Parky ask why Tyler emulates him. Ugh, can't believe Jubal said that to Tyler, proved he is a creep after all. Taking power from Jubal, it can be scary to do when you have no experience doing it, hope it gets easier for Tyler.

Mrs. Cannon making excuses to keep Tyler from the computer wonder if she has been gotten to by those trying to railroad Tyler. Only a little over an hour to do things, like Mrs. Cannon was stalling for time. All those files and thinking she could spot it immediately in a THX fugue, scary to think about going into that state on purpose. Jubal trying to isolate her by making the Yellow Silo kids avoid interacting with Tyler, what a creep.

Well, this was all bound to come out one way or another, at least Tyler is able to explain her side and the truth. The same thing happens to her as Leo, yet she survives, gets superpowers and becomes a girl and they think she killed Leo, that is some messed up thinking. Mike's telepathy, even with the helmet, seems pretty strong to me. Jadis calling through the computer and everyone else is shocked Tyler is friends with her. Oh boy, they called her Diabolik.

Really wish Dr. Chase could take back control of this show and the Quest Foundation. Boy, complicated politics over that island. *eyes bug out* That much energy behind the 2004 Indian Ocean mega-tsunami, if that energy had been more focused... Secret crime syndicate named DAGGER had built a base on La Isla Maldita. Wait, a bunch of landings are sent packing, the Quest Foundation is asked to investigate, but they send the Wiz Kids instead, sounds like buried secrets which people are trying to keep buried.

Dr. Helen Chase, why am I hearing the Johnny Quest theme sound while reading about her.

“Pretty much,” Tyler said. “Anyway, she can lift somewhere between 5 and 6 tons, jump over two football field-lengths from a running start, run at over 40 MPH with bursts of 60 MPH and I once saw her take four bullets from a 9mm submachine gun at close range. It hurt her, but she didn’t go down, and she took the gun away from the asshole and beat the crap out of him.”

Sounds like she got EX level 6 physical abilities.

Ouch, Tyler upset, thinking Dr. Helen Chase believes what they said she did and wishing to contact Suzy Becker. Eric Newell AKA Ace, hhm, I wonder if Jessie and the rest of the Harrow family are still plaguing them after all these years. So that is Suzy, poor girl must be in bad shape, loses her boyfriend and then another friend is accused of killing him. Claire Bernard-Gagny, interesting areas of study. And family history, never heard of Rouen before now.

Tom Chase, son of Dr. Chase, and from the sounds of it an ego-maniac. Tyler talking about her male self that way and hearing Barbara describing him that way, oh boy. Glynis Davies, figures her call sign is Velma and she is a Cryptozoologist. Explaining Junkyard, I bet there are whole doctoral theses done trying that. Now that is one scary octopus species to think about encountering. Poor Hugh, sounds like a nice guy with a quirky sense of humor.

Linda Havoc, appropriate call sign. Seesh, with a family like that it is a wonder Linda didn't snap from the stress of trying to measure up. Ugh, so Melody is her older sister, already don't like the family. Ellsworth and Lennox encouraging the drama of Linda and Tom, ugh. That is Logan Hogan, way to live up to a stereotype. King of MacGyvering, always good to have someone with those skills around.

Those this is Leonardo, no wonder Suzy fell for him. Mid-level national hero back in Argentina, interesting. Isabelle Zheng, cute, smart and into all those subjects. Mexican spitfire, huh?

“Izzy’s a fifth generation Mexican national from Juarez, right across the border from El Paso, Texas,” Tyler explained. “She’s from a huge extended family of doctors, lawyers, teachers and like that. She picked up a lot of the local ‘don’t take crap off’a the gringos’ attitude. Oh, and she can tell good dirty jokes in 12 different languages, including Ancient Greek and Nuahtl.”

With a last name like Zheng and her description I thought she was all Asian, dang.

Ouch, all of them suspects and anything they come up with is suspect. GURD, interesting robot, can see why toys of him would sell. How the freak is that jungle possible on that island just one month out of being under the ocean? Please skip over all that, arguing and seeing teens makeout isn't needed right now. Something moving on the island that isn't part of the Wiz Kids or their TV crew, I'm smelling a conspiracy.

The Wraith Queen, Jadis has encountered this entity herself, interesting. And a mention of Stone King who might be behind the island rising.

[Both the Stone King and the Wraith Queen are a kind of psychic, with telepathic, clairvoyant and telekinetic abilities. That ‘wraith’ is the main card of the Wraith Queen. It’s really just a psychokinetic manifestation- er, that means that the Wraith Queen can move things around with the power of her mind, and she can use that power to form those things pretty much out of nothing. She can animate those things and control them from a distance and ‘see’ through their eyes. She can do a lot more, but those things are her Ace-in-the-Hole. Her husband, the Stone King, iiisss….] Jadis searched around for a telling phrase or context. [Ah! He’s like an Earth Bender]

Impressive married duo with those powers.

Sucked down into the ground, a nice trick for an earth controller villain. Luke has a sensor that detects when he is about to pulse, good to know, plus that special room. Just been formed and clear as a bell, is Stone King making that stele or is something else going on. Interesting laser/maser unit, Barbara really paid attention when watching the Wiz Kids show. Yikes, dragged down under the sand and then Dr. Chase after Tyler.

Lennox leaving out some of the footage, ignoring a court order, this guy needs to go down. Ooo, getting to Lennox's personal history on the computer, Tyler is good. Lennox furious he had no input on the deathtraps the kids were put in, calling him a slug would be insulting slugs. Lennox trying to delete that footage, more and more to answer for. So Stone King just wanted that device, tried to use the kids into figuring out how it worked with the death traps, but Tyler ruined it for him.

Everyone saved as the island sinks except for the immediate area near Tyler due to the part he took, very nice. Lennox removed one of the Zodiac ships to create more drama when they escaped, he caused Hugh's death! All that editing and changes to footage, all to cover up what he did, Lennox is looking at a long jail sentence. Bet Leonardo confronted him about it and was his first victim, what happened with Tyler he didn't expect.

*wipes brow* Good thing Jadis is guiding Tyler, copying the files to a thumb drive or disk, that was a close one. Becky Suchon being told to do all that with the computer, hopefully, she does as asked and isn't found out. Mrs. Cannon complaining about giving Tyler a new computer, dealing with her lawyer, she will wish she never spoke to the man when he is finished.

Ooo, Jadis making that subtle threat to Becky if she leaks this to anyone, still ruthless when needed. Dr. Chase offered to swim to the ship, Hugh picked up one of the Q-wing powered gliders, Tom doing the same as well as Linda, plus not listening to advice about flying as close to the water as possible. Linda Havoc colliding with Hugh due to an explosion that almost knocked them out of the sky, Tyler swimming to Hugh and got to him, already dead. If that 3rd Zodiac had just been there. Tyler crying and screaming at seeing that all happen once again, to lose her best friend like that, to relive that. Becky is right this time, Tyler needs time to mourn and rest.

Leo did it, and is still alive. The Leo body was a quick clone or other blob o' humanlike stuff made to look like a dead Leo.

Alternately, Lennox did it because he's a douchebag.

Dr. 'Oh-so-virtuous' Chase. First, for a 'Mama Bear, she doesn't seem that efficient in fighting off the vultures like Lennox, and is rather quick to condamn Tyler according to the girl herself, so I definitely think something is fishy about her façade. Theories for the troubles of the boat are both 'villains want in on that sweet bounty' and the staff using the boat for pillage ala Dr. Cambion.

She has the right sup of letters for setting up that bad trip, and what I think could be a potential reason for doing it: this so-called Malice thing is falling apart and she's desperate for guinea pigs to experiment on to find a fix before she ends up breaking down one way or another (also maybe explain the sex change. She's trying to fix herself, after all). Something consistent so far in Whateley verse (and also referenced in several Bek stories) is both that super soldiers treatments are notoriously unstable, and nanotech can be too. Mixing up the two together...

It seems more likely that the massive dosage of THX-1157 could have been intended to take the place of the original mind control sequence. Unfortunately, with that having been used as a template, the nanites are still trying to connect the dots in Tyler's skull. Or, they already have, and it's just a matter of Tyler's mental state that taps the Ms. Sociopath trigger.

The person you really have to feel sorry for is Dr. Chase, who's surely working on a way to get the nanites in her son (and the other kids) safely triggered and done with before the next adapt-or-die scenario does so on its own, with random results.

I wonder how well Logan is going to fare when his supply of Solon-5 runs out?

My thought is that Leonardo was secretly a mutant, or perhaps a high-level baseline telepath; he was using this to fake being a genius in the manner of a pseudo-Gadgeteer such as Rack (another of Bek's characters, remember). Someone found out, and was either blackmailing him, or had conspired with him to cover it up - the latter of which would point to Lennox, who would have some pointed questions as the show runner if it came to light.

The expectation was that Tyler would die, alongside the quick-clone, and that it would look like a raid by some supervillain or science villain.

When the 'Leonardo Rivera' body was found, Dr. Chase (oops, I called her "Dr. Quest" earlier, sorry; the ref is pretty obviously one you're meant to make, and it was a bit too effective) thought to test for the kind of residue left by clone degeneration, and informed the authorities in the US, but it was deemed to diplomatically sensitive to reveal unless and until the real Rivera was caught. They then gave groups like the ACLU, Evo Rocks, and Sidewinder Foundation just enough reason to think that the cover-up was aimed at protecting Tyler Collier rather than setting her up - which might even have sort of been true, at least in the eyes of some of the government factions involved - to keep them out of the way. They didn't anticipate that a) other factions would use this to put the screws to Tyler for reasons of their own, and b) no one would think to tell Ms. Frost and Atty. Dunmore about it.

But as the young men, little more than boys, in thick coats over red scrubs unloaded boxes, a woman in a stylish coat, wearing a chic hat and trim trousers alit from the VTOL. She wasn’t in a uniform or in chains or in any sort of strange life support system. She was expected, but quite unusual.

I don't know what's this place is, but I already think Jadis will be badly needed. And what sort of prison for minors exist in Artic Alaska?

The woman spent the time laying down cards in patterns and trying to see if she could tell anything.

The cards, probably legal papers... There was no point in searching the rest of her stuff, she's already lock and loaded.

“Miss Diabolik, WHY are you here?” the Colonel asked.

“My name is Frost,” she replied in a tone that said that he wasn’t scoring any points off her, “Jadis Frost. I am here to see Tyler Collier. You knew that. My statement of intent was filed a week before I stepped on the plane for Anchorage. Why are you asking me questions you already know the answers to?”

I think I'll also use the opportunity to put a 'Jadis Diab–Frost' counter. I wonder if the 'White Witch is my mother' lead she had was confirmed, or if the change of name has another reason (beyond the obvious 'Do not link me to my father' one). Also happy to see despite the Shadowmage's comments in Curse of the Dragon Queen, Jadis clearly seem to have a good enough legal standing to not have to wrestle with legalities... more than usual?

“Why do you want to see the Rockhound?”

“Tyler Collier is not a supervillain or a professional criminal, and he does not use the name ‘Rockhound’,” Jadis shot back.

“It was his handle on that ‘Wiz Kids’ reality show he was on.”

“Maybe, but your use of it implies that he’s already been convicted. To the best of my knowledge- which was updated an hour ago- the USAG’s office still hasn’t filed papers. They’re hoping to use the ‘Six Week Safety’ rule to get around Habeas Corpus. Speaking of which, Tyler Collier hasn’t even been arraigned yet, so why is he being kept in the Maximum Security silo of this scenic little hellhole?”

“So that we won’t have to move him when the charges are filed,” the Colonel said with the chill certainty of conviction.

“And why is he being denied internet access and communication with his family?”

“Because the first is Standard Operating Procedure for Silo Two,” the Colonel said standing on the firm ground of established procedure. “And the reason for the second is that they haven’t tried to contact him. My understanding is that his father has legally disowned him.” The Colonel said the last as though he approved of the father’s action.

Sensing that the Colonel was digging in his heels, Jadis dug out her smartphone and hit an ultra button. Holding up the phone, Jadis said, “Colonel, Tyler Collier has not been charged with any crimes and my visit with him has been pre-approved by both Department of Health and Human Service and the Federal Bureau of Prisons, which oversee the cases of the patients and prisoners respectively. You are in charge of security for this place. Is there a security related reason why are you preventing me from seeing Tyler Collier?”

I see she still got her A-Game sharp. And boy will she and our other lead for this little story need it. Only thing left to add are subtle Timbrook flashbacks. And I object to the 'not overtly hostile' part of the Colonel's presentation.

Jadis was subjected to yet another long wait, though given the circumstances it was inevitable. Even given the release form, getting to see a potentially dangerous (on multiple levels) prisoner- oh, I’m sorry, Resident- always took time, because even in a sturdy setting like that, there was a danger from the resident- and far more danger from the visitor’s litigious lawyer, should anything happen.

I'm not liking the implications of the level of security, or the resident/prisoner switches. Is Parky still around?

*Description before/after of Tyler*

Dang Tyler, you were in a TV Reality Show (yes, I zapped it the first time)? ... Maybe your current location is an improvement after all? Well, not sure you like the sex change either, but still...

“You were expecting someone… manlier?” the girl shot back with a snotty attitude, that under the circumstances, Jadis could appreciate.

Yes, at least the guts are intact. For now.

“Jadis Frost? Fro… You’re Jadis Diabolik?”

“No,” Jadis kept a strict rein on her temper, “Frost. I go by Frost now.”

'Jadis Diab–Frost': 2

“It’s about damn time!” Ty snorted. “I get jumped and shoved into some kind of Mad Science thing and turned into this, and then they start yelling that I killed Leonardo! The guards are giving me all kinds of ‘fess up and get it over with’ tood, my stepfather’s disowned me, Mom does whatever Julian tells her to, God alone knows where my Dad is, the only person from the ship who’s even tried to contact me is Suzy Becker, they won’t let me watch TV or go on the Internet or contact anyone or anything, and nobody will give me anything even LIKE a straight answer about what’s going on!” Then Ty’s eyes narrowed again. “And why do YOU want to help me?”

Yikes. What's this place, a MEO base? Okay, they're not 'Nacht und Nebel'ing for now, but... Also, good to note Jadis has to have her own motives kid. Keep these instincts alive.

Jadis' bullet points list.

Bunkers... We need to see how Diamonds are a Vamp's Best Friend end... And How Nacht, Misty and Gloriana's Spring Break went, and...
Back to topic, I can imagine ways 'Vulcan' and 'Evil Genius' mix, and none of them are good. And I get the impression Jadis is preparing some sort of OPA here... How good is her personal fortune exactly?

“NO,” Jadis said heavily, “Not a ‘favor’- a favor is ‘can I borrow your hedge clippers’ or ‘would you watch little Timmy for a few hours’ or ‘would you go see if my back door is locked?’ A Solid is a commitment, a blank check for one service, no matter what, no matter when, no matter where. With a Solid, you could be just ready to get married, but when I call in the marker, you drop that, get on a plane to Sierra Leone, pick up a WWI Garand rifle loaded with live ammunition and wade into the trenches for a live-fire reenactment of the Battle of the Somme, complete with trench foot and dysentery.”

Ty looked at Jadis uncertainly as the ramifications of that sank in.

Chill, Ty, Jadis is too smart to ask you anything too terribad. Besides, given the way you're treated...

“Murder. Normally, a crime committed in international waters would be the jurisdiction of the Federal Courts, but prosecuting Murders are the bailiwick of the State Courts, so the case would be remanded to the courts of whatever state the victim was a citizen of. BUT, as I said, Rivera was an Argentine citizen. You’ll be tried for Involuntary Experimentation and Civil Rights Abuses in the American Federal Courts, and then extradited to Argentina, where you’ll be tried for First Degree Murder, using the records of your previous trials in the US as a basis.”

I rest my case. You're not living this life for long anyways if things stay the same.

“I’m not,” Jadis admitted. “I haven’t even finished my Master’s degree at Waterhouse in New York; my, ah, activities keep cutting into my study schedule. Rather, I’m acting as an agent for a real lawyer, and I mean ‘real lawyer’ in every sense of the word.” She reached into a pocket and produced a business card, which she scooted through the tunnel to Ty.

“J. Parkinson Dunmore?”

First, I'd like to know what sort of univesity this Waterhouse is supposed to be (tried to Google it, without success). Second, nice to see Parky is still there. Finally Tyler... How much do you want to get in your future lawsuits with this Colonel and whoever framed you and whoever believed that set up?

“Let me guess- this is the first that you’ve heard of this,” Jadis said wryly. Tyler gave a brisk nod with a bitter scowl on her face. “Have you at least seen a therapist to get a handle on your strength?” Tyler shook her head. “Oh, Parky is gonna have a field day with that Colonel,” Jadis sighed.

And suddenly the Colonel began to ask himself for no reason how he would survive as a hobo thrown out in Alaskan winter, with dreadful thoughts of lawsuits constantly creeping in... Also, nice to see another place than Whateley supposed to be doing the 'learn your powers' deal (I don't really see the Kiddies Crusaders as anything else as bootleg sidekicks)... Not sure it tells a lot of right things about the place though.

“The thing the really pisses me off is that it’s so STUPID!” Tyler spat out. “I’m a GEOLOGIST! I’m about minerals and composition and pressure! I know that I don’t know enough about neurology to try and cobble together a Malice Upgrade forced adaptation chamber out of scavenged bits and pieces! I’m a genius, but I know my limits! I know better than to muck around with the human nervous system, let alone MY OWN!”

Kiddo, even people with knowledge specialized on biology make this sort of brainfart, just ask–

Jadis let out a derisive snicker. “Sweetheart, I know several geniuses, and most of them are absolutely brilliant in their field and chugging along at half a load in anyone else’s. I could write a book- if I could find anyone who’d publish it- about my brother Mal’s brainfarts, let alone Jobe’s-”

Case in point... I wonder where Mal is right now...

“And I’m not? Tyler, not only do I know Harley Sawyer, but I knew her before she was on NYPD’s Special Crimes unit. I’ve done some favors for her, and she’s done some favors for me. We are both on each other’s ‘good risk’ list for extending ourselves. As a matter of fact, I helped Harley solve her first case. I didn’t solve it for her; I just gave her a few informed pointers from the supervillain’s perspective.”

Dunno if Harley and Spark are still a couple, but nice to see that Harley is going well (She seems quite famous here). And the one person with brains in the Secret Squirrels got the right ideas and pointers (Rez was the other one, right? And maybe Holdout). I'd like to know how this relationship developed beyond the initial contacts in the Big Idea. Probably after the Imp Lesson, but please details.

“No,” Tyler said with a ‘what, are you nuts?’ tone. “That’s one of the first things you learn about the Legal System: ‘Shut up and Lawyer up’. Like they say on TV- ‘anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of Law’.”

“Tyler,” Jadis chuckled, “you just may be as smart as they say you are. You’d be amazed at how many allegedly intelligent people don’t get that simple rule.”

People like Jobe, by chance? What, Nephandus? Jadis said 'allegedly intelligent', and Jayarm don't really qualify even for this.

Tyler nodded and looked over the form. Jadis nodded with approval when Tyler read the entire thing through three times over, and asked a few intelligent questions about specific clauses. Then Tyler picked up the pen-

-which broke in her hand.

Well, guess moment killers are to be expected? And Jadis' preparation too. That said, beyonfd the super-strength, what else came fro that exper

“NO,” Tyler said definitively. Then there was a tense pause and she amended, “I tried it ONCE, three years ago, just to see what it was like. It performed as advertised, with the really scary levels of recall and comprehension and all that hoo-hah. But it took me to places that I really didn’t like, even when I was still tripping on it. Afterwards, I had notes for doing things that were just plain WRONG! I mean, I don’t like Julian, I’ve never made any bones about that, but what I was working out was… there are things you just don’t DO to people!” Jadis arched an inquiring eyebrow. “And NO, I never did any THX, either 1138 or 1157, after that. Period.” Tyler squirmed uncomfortably and then m. “Okay, I’iment?done a little Solon-5, but only to get me over the real high-stress spots, y’know, to avoid burnout. Your father’s products are very popular on campus.”

Okay, I see where 'Vulcan' and 'Evil Genius' come from. That shit is scary... Wait, and it's there are still these 'watered down' moments? Diabolik need to be more careful about these intelligence affecting devices/products. Is it even considered as an half-success as the Mind-Fog devices?

“Because it would require that I kill at least two people, and risk crippling two more. And, now that I know about Project Square One, my doing so would jeopardize the continued existence of the Yellow Silo program, and I get the impression that those kids NEED to be helped. And beyond that, I’d be a fugitive, and worse than that I’d become a killer. I’m not a killer, Miss D-er, Frost, and I don’t see a way out of this that doesn’t require that I kill at least one person. Or, at least, I don’t see it, because in that state, other people’s lives are not a factor. One of the schemes I’ve got has me triggering an explosion that forces a mass evacuation of the base, which I exploit to escape. Miss Frost… I don’t wanna DO that!”

Stay that way kiddo. Stay that way.

Jadis gave an amused snerk; Tyler had a solid female following on the show, and there would probably be considerable wailing and gnashing of teeth when it came out what had happened to the boy.

Heh, maybe it won't be the death of a female fanbase for him though...

Tyler absorbed that, shook her head and continued. “Anyway, La Isla Maldito, one of those sunken islands in the Lesser Antilles, just quietly rose, and the Quest Foundation was asked to look into what was going on, ‘cause the Venezuelans really wanted to know, and what the hell, it would probably make for some killer TV. We did a preliminary survey with orbital imaging and drones-” Tyler paused, visibly went over what she was going to say, waved aside several layers of technicality and exposition, and then just waved it all away. “Cutting to the chase: Supervillains, James Bond climax, we all scramble to the Zodiacs, but… Hughie got caught in the blast and he was knocked out of the air. He landed wrong in the water. We’re still not sure whether it was the broken neck or drowning that did him in.

I think I'll go with a solid 'dafuq' there. Who in the name of Crawling Chaos is mad enough to accept an idea like that? Throwing kids at these sort of situations is just plain madness. Even these Havoc loonies from DAVBF hadn't their kids around h24, so even them had limits.

“Yeah, from what I saw of your shows, you and he had some serious Laurel and Hardy going on.” Tyler gave Jadis a blank ‘Laurel and Hardy?’ look of non-comprehension. Jadis waved that aside. “But from what I saw, you and Hughie were buds! Why would anyone hold him dying against you?”

For a genius, you have glaring holes in your education, Tyler.

“I have no idea how that happens,” Tyler said with complete honesty. “It’s been like that ever since the first season, when it was ‘Diogenes Quest’. And to be honest, for the past few years, it’s like the creeps come looking for the ship!” Jadis gave Tyler an odd look at that. Tyler waved that aside and said, “To be honest, I think that both Leonardo and I were chosen either because we were the best test subjects or we were just the easiest ones to grab at the time.”

And for a cynic, you're forgetting something. With all these dust-ups, this ship got to have quite a hoard on-board at any moment, even accounting for the fact they're unloaded ASAP. So yes, they're probably actually looking for your ship. You're like a Whateley lab without pesky neutrality to protect you.

“You can blame Lennox for that,” Tyler said. “He’s always trying to ‘spice things up’ a little, despite the fact with some of the things we’re working with, that could get us killed. Him, I could see doing it. Dr. Chase? Not a chance. Dr. Chase and I have always gotten along; even if she was willing to do that to one of her kids, I can’t conceive of her doing it to me. And even if she was ruthless enough to do it, and has some reason to try and retro-engineer the complex, she’d do it under safe, legal, ethical conditions, and she wouldn’t do it on the boat! She’s just not that reckless!”

You're still looking up quite a bit like her, Ty, and my opinion a truly ethic person would just tank Lennox's antics, period. Keep mind-crushing disapointment on stand-by, Big Idea also showed someone close could unexpectedly be the culprit. And if the 'only Suzy tried to contact me' is true, she rather quickly gave up on you.

“Who do you think my supplier is? By the way, he’s a huge fan of your father’s.” Jadis made an annoyed grunt at that, and Tyler quickly got off that tangent.

*Hushed tone* Don't quote me on that, but I think the fact Jadis changed her name indicates limited approval of her father's works. But eh, you're the genius, so I guess you know better.

Linda Havoc has the recklessness and the skills

Speaking of Havocs... If Bronze if anything to judge, the 'skills' part is a lie. Or the bar is really low.

“You’re kidding,” Tyler said in a flat disbelieving voice. “The old ‘accused man proves his innocence’ trope doesn’t work, because everything that he comes up with would be considered suspect!”

For the sake of a dozen of teenagers on their way to Denver, I hope they can work some sort of exception. And you too.

No matter what they’re supposed to do, places like this are very good at breaking people, and turning them into docile, helpless cogs in the machine.

Timbrook flashbacks are definitely there.

“I am THE PULSE!” the boy said portentously, striking a superheroic pose. “Mighty defender of Justice and Rightness! And this is MITTENS! Mistress of Making things MELT! And the INCREDIBLE LUMP! And-”

I'm definitely having 'Stronghold' flashbacks here.

“WHAT?” Barbara yelped, eyes wide, the sound of heartbreak in her voice. “How? What happened?” Then suddenly Barbara burst forward at Tyler, crashing into her with at least 60 MPH of speed, bowling Ty over, and they went crashing backwards over one of the (fortunately) well-padded couches.

First case of heartbreak over this sex change. Unless she decides she likes you no matter the sex (why not? I don't remember any explicit indication of Spark was into girls in the Big Idea before the sledgehammer moment. Okay, hints were there, but still, she took the transition from 'Harlan' to 'Harley'... relatively well on that front)?

On another note, that's quite the power collection there.

So, basically, Ty ‘let the Wookie win’.

Pretty sure with the super-strength thing, you are the Wookie of this scenario, Ty.

But the Redcoats were the kinds of guys who’d take that sort of ‘suggestion’ as a challenge. And they’d never turn down any kind of challenge in front of a beautiful girl.

Here's a simple answer to this problem: Rise quickly your foot between their legs when they open their guard, and follow with a knee to the face when they drop on their own knees. ...Oh right, super strength. A mere slap?

The court was a simple layout in accordance with the American Dodgeball Association rules.

Keep training, and someday, you can go to the tournament in Vegas too. And receive advices of Lance Armstrong gleefully leaving under wraps the fact he's a doper.

Tyler snapped out of the fugue state with a start. Damn, she hated that, everything so cold and stark and laid out in a strict asset/ liability division. She was glad that she hadn’t had time to evaluate the other Yellowjackets. The fugue-states were getting shorter and milder. Tyler just hoped that they didn’t result in some sort of unwilling learned behavior.

Yup, Arctic cold. For the rest, begin to worry when you begin to run diagnostics on damage, time to deal them, and ability to inflict specific slights annahilated at random.

Without any preamble, the Colonel snapped out, “What is Jadis Diabolik up to?”

'Jadis Diab–Frost': 3. You know she would do it herself if she could.

“That Cop Show crap doesn’t fly here, this is an Air Force base, and I am the Security Commander!” the Colonel snarled, and from there, he proceeded to harangue Ty for the better part of an hour.

Two things, dude. 1 Jadis isn't Nephandus she would never do something as stupid as you're suspecting. 2, you don't need to dig that far, Parky can already do anything he want to you at any moment.

Dunmore chuckled. [Oh, I didn’t threaten the Colonel’s career; I threatened his vacation time. The Colonel has six weeks in Tampa, Florida coming up, and I’m in a position to make that not happen.]

Case very much in point. Consider yourself free, Tyler.

[And to do him justice, the Colonel was reacting to pressure from his superiors,] Dunmore added. [Favors and threats are definitely being traded in Washington. But that has its upside.]

Okay, what sort of shit on that bucket of high-tech rust warrants that level of implication?

[First of all,] Dunmore corrected her,

Dawwww, so young, and already able to legally destruct the opposition... Boy is that unsettling and scary.

[Anyone who isn’t afraid of you, Tyler Abrams Collier, is a blithering idiot!] Dunmore said dramatically. [When I saw Jadis at work that day, I said to myself, ‘What does that moron Timbrook think he’s doing, setting that little demon against the system?’ If he’d been allowed to continue his stupid, utterly indefensible, morally bankrupt scheme, he could have convinced Jadis that the system was her mortal enemy! He almost created a supervillain who would have eclipsed her father in destruction, death and sheer devastation! And you? Jadis is very smart, but you’re a Genius! And you’re a Geologist! With an interest in Vulcanism! Earthquakes, tidal waves, volcanoes, toxic geysers, sinkholes; forces that the Ancients ascribed to the works of angry GODS, could be your weapons! Dr. Diabolik raids cities; you could lay waste to entire regions, and never have to set foot on them. You could redraw the globe to suit your fancy! I look at you, and I say to myself, ‘what do these morons think they’re doing? She could wipe out Humanity!’

For a moment, I thought about Reach to give the 'Felony Warning' to the G2 crop of Squirrels (Except Wardo and Bella). Now, I think Parky should do it. And give one variant of it to the Cape Squad too.

The perfect arena for you to get your feet wet, where it won’t really mean that much. Learn from the people on the Diogenes, Tyler. Especially that ratbag Lennox. I couldn’t ask for a better instructor in the arts of wheedling and manipulation. Don’t trust the man, Dear God! Just… learn from him.

Euh, I applaud the logic, Parky, but I've got this nagging feeling the Diogenes won't be active for much more time... Maybe Whateley?

*Dunmore crunching the stepfather*

Couldn't have happened to a nicer guy. Only positive thing to say about him... At least he had nerve.

Tyler was escorted back to the Yellow Silo by Jubal, the activities director who’d impressed Ty earlier. Unfortunately, Jubal said something that both put Ty right back into the foul mood she’d been in earlier, and flushed that good impression right down the crapper. “Y’know,” he said in a very ‘I’m disappointed’ tone of voice, “you’re only making it harder on yourself. The more you hide behind that slick lawyer and play the wounded innocent, the worse off you’re going to be. And you’re just going to discredit the kids in the Yellow Silo, by tarring them by association with you.”

Wow, I can just bask in the glow of your so overwhelming compassion, fuckhead. Even if Ty was a culprit, that crap is disgusting, and just show how much these guys care about the kids in red here (okay, the ones we saw described aren't exactly moral pilars, but hang me high and dry if behaving that way helps).

Eventually Cannon gave in and let her have the laptop. But even so, Tyler only had a little over an hour before the curfew, and she only had the time to find Mr. Dunmore’s web address and request the link for the files.

And you just know absolutely nobody will pipe a word or accept even a mouthful of crow once the dust settles. It's bad enough with the Squirrels, the Capes and the Betas, why the fuck humans can't just use their brains more?

“Jubal says we can’t hang around with you anymore. Howcome?”

Jubal, I have a nice game for you. It's 'try to bust a wall open with your head'. Don't worry, you can try it until your skull burst, and I can make sure you continue to try until I fall asleep. I can also make sure each try is as fast as possible. For efficiency.

“Yeah,” Tyler let a pained look melt across her face, “the only way that we could identify him was that his clothes were right there by the chamber. A dentist was able to confirm that by one of the crowns on his teeth, and that fancy tattoo he had on his left arm. It was distorted all to hell, but it was the right pattern in the right place.”

I can see why other people on this thread think the guy might not be as dead as we think after that. That said, I dunno, it seems a little bit too obvious.

“You’re friends with Jadis Diabolik?”

[FROST,] Jadis replied with the stiff faux-friendliness of adults coping with less-than-tactful children

'Jadis Diab–Frost': 4. Nice to see she's also involving herself further like this.

“WHAT? Barbara yelped, “Hugh Fienberg’s dead? What’s going ON, over on that boat?”

“To be honest, the Law of Averages,” Tyler said as she hit the link to Lennox’s files. “You can’t go running into crazed products of Mad Science, ruthless heavily armed criminals, and headcases with super powers and not have someone get hurt. And the occasional sprain or boo-boo doesn’t count. Dr. Chase has been complaining about that ever since the Pirate Submarine incident, but it’s great for the ratings, so the Quest Foundation Board of Directors keeps Ellsworth, the Foundation Rep on the ship, in charge of the mission. Dr. Chase hates that almost as much as she hates us getting sent into high risk situations.”

Okay, by that point my nasty feeling about the ship reached 'Doc Cambion level', and I'm sure beyond 'target the hoard', the Fundation is using you for pillage. And I really think Chase is the 'Good Cop' to keep suspiscions down.

[It’s a sadly common thing with Criminal Scientists,] Jadis commented from an inset window [sometimes it seems that every yutz with too many degrees and no principles wants a super-strong cutie to be his girlfriend and bodyguard. Funny thing; they never ask the girl how she feels about it]

A low bar even Jobe managed to surpass, he wanted a volunteer.... Oh right, addiction by sex, nevermind, he's the same as all of them.

[So, Ty, how do you feel about Dr. Chase?] Jadis asked.

Would she suspect her too? (I'll say it again, 'desperatly looking for insights on that complex because it's beginning to fall apart' is a lead worth exploring.)

[Hey, not everyone in France lives in Paris,] Jadis paused. [Though you wouldn’t know it from the way Parisians act.]

Dijonnais, I'll thank Jadis for the comment (besides, living in Paris costs at least a kidney).

“It’s a little hard to really like someone whose kneejerk reflex is to steal your thunder,” Tyler said. “Practically everyone on that boat has an ego, but Tom could have a special barge to tow behind the Diogenes just to hold his.”

Eldritch has created a foolproof method for dealing with this sort. You only need a toilet seat and some adhesive.

“Aaawww…” Barb cooed consolingly. “He looks cute. And sweet. And smart. And brave…”

This ship might not be dead...

“What she means,” Barbara said, “is that that Tesla guy was the guy who invented the AC that is the kind of electricity that we mostly use, like from power sockets and like that? But he was a lot more than that, and there are all these really amazing things that people said that he invented but didn’t patent. What was worse, he had a photographic memory, so he never bothered to write down a bunch of crucial stuff. So we don’t know HOW he did all his really cool stuff. Anyway, Hugh Fienberg is- or errr... was- very amped on the idea of figuring out how Tesla’s stuff really worked, so we could build really cool stuff like the things that Tesla drew pictures of.”

Red Alert fan, are we also thinking about Tesla Coils and the likes here? If so, his death was just crimianl. Well, that's a shame anyways.

Linda has five brothers and sisters; she’s the baby of the family and the only one who doesn’t have at least two Masters degrees. YET.

This one has to be an error. I refuse to believe Melody could manage to do something like that before Jadis.

[I’ve MET her family. I know her sister Melody a lot better. She keeps trying to arrest me. Don’t get me started] Jadis finished with a low, flat warning tone.

Case in point.

“Anyway, Linda and Tom are in a near-perpetual state of competition with each other, which is natural because Linda’s just as big a glory hound as he is. Oh, and neither one’s averse to stealing the spotlight from anyone else. There’s a betting pool on the boat as to whether or not it’s some kind of weird twisted flirting/dominance ritual, and if so when one or the other will finally give in.”

Maybe locking them in the same room until they 'just duck already' could help solve the problem?

“What can I say? Parents can be cruel.”

Could be worst. They could have called him Hulk. Or be named.... What's Wolverine last name already?

[Because they can’t mass-market toy replicas of Cisco, the ship’s dog]

He couldn't compete with Sparky anyways.

[Yes, but the Stone King can see and stands Six-foot- six. And he’s nowhere near as pleasant as Toph.]

I guess Jadis at least saw the personnality part of Toph's wiki page before saying this. And it tells volumes about that guy.

He probably has video footage of him being potty trained.

And when he took his first steps, his first words...

“Thank you, Barb,” Tyler said. “You may have a future in explaining Science and Technology to people. There IS a living to be made doing that.

I can totally see that happens.

“See?” Holly said to Luke, “That’s what you can do when you do your homework.” Luke’s only response was a dignified razzberry.

The actual reason kids study science. Who needs money en you can create your own laser?

“No, he’s more of the ‘do whatever you want and ignore all complaints, but scream like a scalded cat if anyone does anything to you’ school,” Tyler riposted.

Oh, the Jobe/Nephandus one. I extend my 'bust open a wall with your head' game offer to him too. Or Eldritch's anti-Nephandus measures.

“I changed the conditions of the contest,” Tyler said, sitting back with a smug grin on her face. “That thing was what the Stone King really wanted on that island. It’s the gadget that DAGGER, that 1960s criminal spy syndicate, used to raise la Isla Maldita in the first place. Something that could do that, especially with 1960s technology, is something that he’d want BAD. But, I’m guess that when he found it, he couldn’t figure it out. Then a bunch of meddling kids and their robot come along. Meddling kids, who happen to be geniuses, including a genius Geologist. So, he puts them in death traps that involve different things about DAGGER’s technology to get out. That meant that however it worked, the Stone King couldn’t use his ‘Earth Bending’ with it. So, I set it to sink the island. BUT, the part I’m lugging around would stabilize the immediate area, making me very safe to be near.”

Ooooh, the manual had too many big words for you, and you thought having kids reading it for you would be better?

There was a moment where it was clear that Tom and Linda’s furious rivalry had gotten them into an absurd situation where neither would run while the other one was hanging tough. Tyler and Hugh found them like that. After a long shared silent ‘should we or shouldn’t we?’ moment. Tyler settled that by saying, “It’s tempting, but we’d regret it later.”

He did something like that when he had a perfect opportunity, and they're still accusing him of murder? Assholes.

“On it,” Tyler said. She furiously put over a dozen different robots on it. After a few minutes Tyler huffed, “Woof! This section has had more surgery done on it than Michael Jackson! A big chunk of the section before Hugh, Linda, Tom and I got to the beach was completely cut out, the third Zodiac was carefully removed, and a ton of minor touches, like shadows and persnickety little details, were very carefully covered up. BUT, for a guy who’s always yapping about what a perfectionist he is, Lennox got a little sloppy. He left tags for a few of those persnickety little details, so he could finish them later. And I have ‘Send To’ addies for those persnickety little details.” Tyler quickly checked them. “And I have extensive files. On the Quest Foundation database. Where I have clear access to all files,” Tyler finished with a wicked grin.

At 'best', it was the staff playing up the drama. At worst, that and getting the hoard away ala Cambion. Bastards.

[If she kicks up a fuss, just have her call Tyler’s lawyer,] Jadis said with a prim feline smirk.

Please do that. We and the kids need the entertainment.

“But, of course, they didn’t,” Tyler ground out. “There wasn’t anything fun or outrageous about playing it safe. Tom shot up as high as he possibly could, and then Linda did the same, and Hughie was doing fucking barrel rolls…”

I'm sorry I have to tell that, but... For genius kids, that move was pretty safely in the Darwin Awards zone. Don't lessen the blow though... If someone had to do the dangerous stunt, why te 'Mama Bear' couldn't do it? I mean, were they only teenagers-sized? If not, well there is the fact her odds of tnaking it would have been a bit better than theirs.

[quote“Miss Dia-er, Frost, I think this call is over for the day,” Becky said in her best ‘I’m the adult here’ voice. She ejected the disk from the R/W drive. “I’ll get this laptop to the Base Legal Officer as soon as I can. Barb? Would you go get Rachel? I don’t think that Tyler will be doing any more work today.” With a gentle firmness born of practice, Becky steered Tyler to her room. Tyler said nothing, but it was clear even to Luke that she was scourging herself with a red-hot ‘If Only’.][/quote]

Call me paranoid a last time. You better don't use the opportunity to do a quick scam.

Did not expect Suzy!

If the kids onboard the Diogenes were making stuff for people, how did they get the illegal stuff, off-boat? ... And how hard is THX-1157 to manufacture? About as easy as those stem cells?? ... Or did the THX come from off-boat?

Hmm... How good is camouflage tech? Could they mask the second Chamber? ... Or someone's using PSI to fudge things a lot?? ... Smart Kids having PSI is a common enough thing? Matilda, etc?

That ending... And a new power!

Could Tyler say that he wasn't trying to escape, 'cause he just hung in the air, before getting shot down, instead of trying to fly off?

Jubal... That data that was gonna be sent off, is worthless now that he tampered with it or whatever?? ... I was thinking he was gonna tamper with it, after Becky told him about it.

Gotta refresh on how old everyone is.

... I thought this was in the Arctic, not the Argentines... Or is it the Arctic??

----

Maybe Bryon's gonna get a break, if Tyler works on his case, and gets him into the Yellows instead of the Reds??

Tyler thinking all those things would happen when she inserts the disk into the new computer, hehe, makes my worries seem normal. Seeing the raw, unedited footage and what Lennox did to it, hope the authorities can nail him for something before this is all over. Eep, sounds like messing with Logan like that is literally playing with dynamite. Prove a negative, thinking it needs a THX user, yikes.

Forget the simple questions, interesting to see in action. *hits head on table* FBI is going with that, that is so far a stretch with the evidence it is laughable. Kludged together from bits and pieces of other projects, but no idea how the second chamber was made, hhmm. Waking up and trying to bully her into a confession, without a lawyer there for her, this recks of high-level corruption more and more. The details just aren't adding up and I still think Lennox is connected to it all, possibly trying to up the drama or in debt to a supervillain and doing things under duress.

Suzy on video conference and finding out how much Tyler has changed, those poor kids being kept in the dark about the whole ordeal she is going through. Suzy obviously doesn't know how corrupt government agents can do stuff, trying to railroad an innocent without evidence who is a minor would be par for the course. Suzy thinking Jadis is like that, just because of how her father is, just ugh. And Suzy proves how naive she is, *sigh*

Revealing Lennox tampered with evidence, how Hugh died and he is trying to cover it up, guess that hit Suzy hard. Ah, good, so no sign of Tyler having issues with the Malice Upgrade beyond the obvious, at least she will live. What the what, the 2nd chamber being the same is even weirder than if it were different. All this, almost sounds like someone who keeps track of inventory and items was involved or someone in the FBI made the 2nd chamber based on the 1st.

Dang, didn't check the nanite suites and compare them, that is evidence lost. Ugh, Jubal, that guy needs a lesson in humility. Ugh, the Redcoats coming over and one of them actually calling her that name, bunch of thugs who haven't proven otherwise so far. Razor, Jojo, and Hubie proving they are bigoted idiots as well, insults like that towards someone who was changed against her will, pathetic.

Jubal trying to manipulate Becky into putting Tyler back into the Red Silo, scumbag, they are trying to eliminate her before evidence of her innocence can be proven. Wishing I could punch Jubal in the face more and more. And thinking because Jadis is backing Tyler she is definitely guilty, arrrgggh! And Tyler was right, hates her for being a genius and sees her as a threat because of it. Jubal messes with that package and he is toast and so is the case, proven evidence tampering.

Ray on his last week there, getting control of his dynamorph, good for him. A missing piece of the puzzle and no way to figure it out with what she has access to, ouch. Suzy calls and Tyler got the footage of when they found Leo, yikes. So the stuff used to change her made on the ship, that makes it harder to trace for her, though the FBI could find out who purchased the stuff if they did their job.

So, Suzy with Linda Havoc and drones from Lennox following them when they found Leo, anyone could be a suspect still if he was missing for days. *facepalms* For a genius, Linda doesn't seem to have common sense or much of a self-preservation instinct. Texts by the numbers, so anyone who knows how he texts could have done it, still too many variables. All those things which made Suzy suspicious, for some reason Suzy crying doesn't feel right. Least likely suspect, need more evidence and clues.

Mr. Newell's body language changing like that, concern or something else. Tom touching that mess without a nylon glove, possibly contaminating evidence or just being arrogant, I wonder. So, assume a person in danger is still alive until proven otherwise. Glynis didn't find the Gunnerson key even though it was right next to her, another suspicious action. Linda's project:

"That means that they while the two things do different stuff, they have to be built the same way,” Tyler explained to Holly.

You know, it is sounding more and more like multiple individuals on the ship were involved in both incidents and covering for each other.

'Wash bag', ewww. Linda saying that, how insensitive can you be! Glynis saying she talk to him and made a kind of date, sounding more and more like Linda and Glynis worked together to me. Chamber rigged with a release hatch that works from inside, sounds like that was added to help frame Tyler and make it seem like he was behind what happened to Leo even more.

Hhhm, could what happened to Leo have been one thing and Lennox is involved with what happened to Tyler just to protect the 'Wiz Kids' show? THX-1157, all this, Lennox having access to all the show footage and knowing how everyone works, he could have used it himself and done this to Leo and Tyler. If Tyler can think up this scenario, whoever did this could have as well, so what is the point of the experiment on Leo and then on Tyler? The more we learn, the more questions we have.

Now Tyler is starting to think, see there are more potential suspects than the teen geniuses, hope she can figure it out soon. Darn, has to be one of the Wiz Kids, was hoping it was Lennox. Whoa, never seen someone zone out that much they go through PT on auto-pilot. Oh crud, the Redcoats loading and unloading the VTOL, want to bet that Jubal bribed them to destroy the package as they are loading it.

Jubal not there, taking care of business, he has tamped with the package! 4 Watchdogs there, really feel something bad is going to happen. *facepalms* Razor so dumb he actually did that, rattling an instrumentation dish. NOOOO! Jubal brided Razor to do that, to destroy the computer contents, scum. And Razor abducting Holly, Tyler goes to rescue her and they both get hit by high-caliber bullets, definitely Jubal's plot, all to get Tyler back in the Red Silo.

Crude, the Redcoats doing a jailbreak. Byron Wordsworth was set-up by his 'friends', dang, now I feel sorry for him. Razor is that stupid to think he can escape from there, breaking free of their restraints and now taking another Yellowjacket kid hostage, everyone but Zap is a bunch of thugs.

"We’re doing Jubal a big favor,” Razor said, clearly enjoying being in control of the situation.

I knew it! Jubal stealing the package, the Redcoats taking the VTOL to escape and two hostages, Jubal has just blown it big time.

Great, kicked by Hubie and goes into a THX fugue again. Oh boy, the others trying to rescue Holly and Luke would complicate things. Betting the Watchdogs follow Jubal's orders. Yikes, breaking the bones of the foot of a giant, brutal, 2 Watchdogs down as well. THX fugue Tyler is scarily effective.

Ugh, only brought Byron along to fly the VTOL and if he can't Razor might just kill him, psycho. Whoa, Byron is smart, guess he got into this situation by being too trusting of his 'friends'. Bwahahaha, taking the VTOL up to 100 feet, Byron is doing the right thing and stranding those idiots on the ground. Hope Holly and Luke will be okay.

That way of analyzing and thinking, scary each time we see Tyler go into that fugue state. Whoa, disabled the Watchdogs' weapons that quickly, matching Jojo speed for speed, Jojo down with Luke rescued and handed off to Becky, just how fast is all this happening. Tyler and Jake teaming up to take down Stretch and tying him into knots, Holly got a mitten off and Razor is in pain now, never underestimate the young.

Yikes, she melted part of him, not like he didn't earn it. Gah! Remind me to never get Holly angry, she can be vicious. Can't believe Ray got to the count of 3 before Razor laid down on the asphalt after all that pain thought he would have done it sooner. Tyler can fly, whoa, that is huge. That is something Dr. Chase can't do as far as we know. Darn it, flying up to look around and enjoy the freedom and gets jolted unconscious. Bet they are going to try and say this was all a cover for her escape attempt and she hid the fact she can fly from them.

When Tyler got up the next day, there was a fresh laptop waiting for her, and the recovery disk she’d burned. She looked at the DVD like it was Pandora’s Box, and if she inserted it into the laptop, she’d unleash a whole new raft of woes into a world that was already packed with them. Finally, she steeled herself and popped the disk in. No tears in the fabric of time and space, or insectoid invaders, or spasms of new Personal Hygiene issues that could only be solved by buying expensive chemical products appeared.

That said, wherever the true culprit was, all of this stuff happened. Just like it had when Jadis and Parky began to be involved in the case.

"Okay, now that you found what Jadis Diabolik wanted-” Holly started to ask.

"Frost,” Tyler corrected her, “she’s very touchy about that.”

I'm sure she'd thank you for doing it when she can't. And for reminding me of my count: 'Jadis Diab–Frost': 5.

Tyler sat back and looked blank for a moment. “Oh. So THIS is what Conan Doyle doing when he kept having Watson say obvious stuff to Holmes- sometimes you get so wrapped up in details and complexity that you forget about the simple questions.”

Careful there, this compliment might be true, but it is flirting with the insult in my opinion.

And the only reason that they knew that it was the Malice Upgrade that had been used was that Dr. Chase immediately recognized certain distinctive nanite chains.

Analyzing the guinea pig undercover? She remains my main suspect.

That one really stopped Tyler. “You’re right- there’s no way that anyone could bash together another chamber aboard the Diogenes. The FBI was all over the place, we were being watched like hawks, and the equipment was under strict lockdown- we couldn’t even work on our legit projects, except on computer models for weeks! So, where DID it come from?”

And I'll consider this as fueling my theory. Or at least the idea it wasn't one of the kids, who would be hard pressed to find more stuff to jury-rig under these conditions... Random but maybe not so dumb thought, could Ty's accident have been a way to attract FBI's attention to avoid them noticing the show is some sort of 'Doc Cambion 2.0' scam?

Barbara wished that she had her smartphone, so she could get a shot of Suzy ‘I’m such a Genius!’ Becker with a look of dumb blonde bewilderment on her face. Not that it stopped her from bubbling over with fangirl excitement.

As fun as the picture is, it also shows that informations don't circule really well on that ship. And I guess this surprise rules out Suzy for now (though she's getting a '''suspect''' tag out of paranoia. The only one person searching to know more about Ty on that ship. Officially.).

[You’re taking advice from Jadis Diabolik?] Suzy recoiled in disappointment tinged with disdain.

"Frost,” Tyler corrected her. “She’s kinda touchy about the ‘Diabolik’ thing.”

'Jadis Diab–Frost': 6. Again, you're correcting for her, so that's nice, but careful about not taking my job.

Little conversation about legal nicities.

'Jadis Diab–Frost': 9. Careful Ty, you're slipping too. Also, Jadis is most emphatically not dumb enough to make up things when truth serves her well enough.

Suzy slumped, looked up to heaven and gave out a long low martyred groan. [OKAY! FINE! BE that way! Look if you’re gonna play Nan-er… Detective, at least keep in touch with someone out here in what we laughingly call the Real World]

At least she's under no delusion about the mess that floating pile of scrap is.

"Oh, if you want to keep stacking boxes, you go right ahead,” Jubal said with a smirk. “It’s probably good practice, ‘cause when you get out of prison, it’ll be the only job you can get.”

Watch the tone, loser, there are many walls here, and I'd like to test their solidity. And your skull is still the first tool I'm thinking about.

Tyler paused to wonder how such a jackass could possibly get a job working with kids, let alone on a project that clearly had very high hiring standards. Then it clicked for Ty; none of the other kids that Jubal worked with were geniuses. They were average kids. Now it was all-too familiar for Tyler; she’d been coping with jealousy about her intellect all her life, from kids her own age, from kids who were older than she was and from adults. It was the older kids who really got their noses all out of joint. The same reflexes and perceptions that made Jubal good with other kids set him against her. And Jubal and Tyler were just the right ages where both the ‘Too-Smart Kid’ adult squick and the ‘Smarter Younger Kid’ jealousy factored in. Tyler just crushed the cardboard box against Jubal’s chest and walked past him, mentally consigning him to the ‘Annoying Asshole’ cubbyhole.

So, if Ty's right, he hates her for her brains? Man, is that sort of thinking small and disgusting. The wall, please.

"Y’see?” Jubal demanded of Becky, watching the Redcoats bait Tyler from a distance. “We have GOT to get that freak out of the Yellow Silo. Y’see how it’s provoking the Redcoats?”

And I mean, now. That fuckhead saw these losers asking for a punch, and he considers giving them the cold shoulder is provocation? Fuck him with a chainsaw.

"Because the Collier freak is a genius!” Jubal hissed. “If she gets Collier out from under this, then she’ll have on tap a genius who’s capable of murder, and has super-strength on top of everything else!”

"Jubal-”

"Look, like I said, Collier’s a genius! Assholes like that think that they can out-think the rest of the world. Putting that freak away could be the only thing that saves millions of lives. But like I said, that’s a slam-dunk.”

Yeah, having a higher-than average IQ totally makes you a pure psychopath out to slaugther everyone in the most mechanically efficient and terrible way. Clearly peoples with IQ higher than 120 are to be put down. Thanks for the suggestion, fuckhead (out of curiosity, who here ever had to take an IQ test and ended up with higher than average results? Because that guy think we should all die in a corner).

Oh, also: 'Jadis Diab–Frost': 13. Please watch it, Becky.

"WHAT?” Jubal yelped, “You mean, that freak is getting off, and you’re helping it?” With that, he pulled himself deeper in to his jacket and walked away in a huff.

"Jubal!” Becky called after him. “Dammit, you’re so torked off about her being a genius that you’re acting like an idiot!”

By all means, loser, do something moronic. Parky and Jadis will clean your bones in no time.

Maybe… maybe if she worked herself up, got really mad, she’d trigger a THX fugue… but that would be dangerous…

I'm not sure I like the constant references to that stuff. And speaking of theories I saw here... If that case goes 'Murder of Roger Ackroyd', I hope the culprit is a Jekyll and Hyde case. I... really don't like the idea that Tyler is 100% the culprit (I prefer things like they were with Scapegrace, where we didn't know all the cards she had).

Hoping that it was Jadis Frost or Mr. Dunmore with news that they’d found a smoking gun somewhere, she accepted the call. [Hey, Ty!] Suzy Becker chirped from the inset window, [What’s new?]

As the only person of that ship contacting him, I'm once again compelled to raise you higher on the suspect by paranoia. Don't worry, Chase is still number one for me.

[Tyler,] Suzy said with a knowing smirk, [you know how it is with anything that’s made contraband: the second that it’s made illegal, the price jumps 500%. There are a dozen effective, if not FDA-grade, ways of cloning stem cells, using any of six different base methods. Odds are that what they used on you were adipose-based adult stem cells. And I happen to know that there are three people- that I know of- on the Diogenes who crank that crap out by the half-liter, for walking around money. I’m not mentioning any names, what they’re doing is a victimless crime, and nobody even connected with the ship could ever be accused of anything shoddy. The odds are, the juice they used to change you was made on the ship]

Doc Cambion 2.0 vibes still strengthening.

[Oh, that’s one of Linda’s big glamour projects: it’s supposed to be a shark repellant system that works by confusing their electroreceptors. She was thinking that it was dark enough that she might be able to field test it]

"That’s Linda all over,” Tyler groaned, “it’s not enough to test it in a nice, safe, statistically stable lab; NO she’s gotta do it where she could get sexy underwater footage of her with a shark!”

How is Hughie the only dead on that crew from accidents? And how are the Havocs even alive with that way of thinking? Dumb luck is a very finite ressource.

[Leo] Suzy said defensively. Suzy did a classic teenage girl burn of embarrassment over being a cliché suspicious girlfriend.

Paranoia rising. I'm putting you on same spot as Leo on Suspect list, as a team with a fake death now. Especially if she waited a whole week to raise the ruckus. And you're getting real close of Doctor Chase for me.

"Suzy, why were you so worried about Leo? I mean, you were never that possessive before. And God knows, you had reason, with the way that Leo flirted with everything in a skirt.”

Needing to be leading the hunt for him, and being definitely not a suspect is raising always higher.

"Oh-Kay, that’s a reason to be worried,” Tyler granted her. “Why didn’t you talk to Dr. Chase or Mr. Newell?”

[I… didn’t want anything to be wrong with him,] Suzy said in a choked little girl voice.

And for the sake of paranoia, I'll add them as complicits with Dr. Chase as a crackpot one. Willing or not, is left to be seen.

Opening of the reservoir

And I wish welcome to Glynis on the suspect list. It just keeps growing.

Suzy’s face in the inset went hard, though tinged with regret. [Almost identical. With ONE difference: the Gunnarson hatch on your pod was rigged with a release latch- that worked from the inside]

Okay, either you're really that good of a person to give benefit of the doubt with that sort of detail, or you're now fighting it with Dr Chase as prime suspect for me. I hope the former is true.

The only sufficiently cold-blooded reason she could think of to leave Leo’s body where it could be found, was that the Renegade wanted a huge stink that could sink the show. Was one of the Wiz Kids getting squeezed by the Quest Foundation bad enough that they’d kill, just to get out from under?

Oooh, that puts a new spin on my 'Dr Chase is the culprit' theory. Maybe she wants to tank the show to protect the kids, and went 'eggs have to be broken' about it, while at the same time searching for something to help cure a degrading condition. After all, if she kicks it, who protect all the kids?

Becky cut off the banter by saying, “Where’s Jubal? Usually, he’s here making sure that you guys don’t get yourselves into even more trouble.”

"He’s taking care of business,” Razor said. “Just don’t get in our way.”

Ohohoh, he's doing something moronic about the evidences, right?

Curious herself, Becky called in to Security, who told her that someone had requested them, citing a suspicion that one of the prisoners was going to try something. “Hey Razor!” Barbara called out.

The steel-jacketed Redcoat thug put down the large crate he’d been loading and sauntered over to the Yellowjackets. “What?” he asked with a very street blend of cockiness and wariness.

"Word is one of you yoyos is going to do something stupid,” Barb jeered. “And most of you are stupid, but let’s be honest, Razor, you take the prize for aggressive stupidity.”

O. M. G. whatever it is, that could be even more moronic than I thought.

Byron Wordsworth didn’t answer to ‘Zap’ willingly. But then, ever since he’d put on that stupid bucket helmet that his friend Hector swore up and down had belonged to some supervillain, he’d had one galling piece of stupidity after another rammed down his throat. The capper had been his ‘friends’ Hector, Mongo, Riff and Riff’s girlfriend Cleo swearing under oath that he’d coerced them into committing those robberies. Like Riff hadn’t held a razor to Byron’s grandmother’s throat. Then he’d been ‘cut a break’ and sent here to get these stupid electrical blasts under control, instead of being sent to the Ohio state super-lockup. And then, in yet another show of official idiocy, they’d shoved him on a crew with Razor and his band of losers.

Wow, life really got it out for you. Friendly suggestion, burn these losers first opportunity. Also, that's why you don't burn the Redcoats like Tyler was: you never know which ones are salvageable. Also, clock the next idiot trying to sell you stuff like your 'friends'.

"We’re doing Jubal a big favor,” Razor said, clearly enjoying being in control of the situation. “Don’t worry,” he added, dragging Byron along by the harness, though never letting go of the squirming girl. “You’ll get your turn, too.”

Oh, that was SO comforting.

Razor dragged Byron and the girl out of the smoke over to where the VTOL had been warming up to take off. He nodded to Stretch, who kept the Air Force guys from closing that hatch. Jojo took out the Air Force guys as the guards were reacting to the fact that their guns wouldn’t be effective against Razor, and even if they were, Razor had meat shields. Stretch started yanking guys out of the VTOL. Then Jubal, who was wrestling with some guy over a briefcase, stopped tussling and looked gape-jawed at them. “What are you DOING?” he asked, aghast.

"Like you said, Jube,” Razor jeered with a big grin, “Seizing the day!”

Jubal. You managed to defeat all expectations about your level of moronitude, while totaly failing to achieve your objective. That's why, before Jadis and Parky have their go at you, I formally award you with this Darwin Award. No one here can doubt how deserved it is.

Why they’d opened fire on Tyler and Jake was uncertain.

And now that what I guess is an attempt to have Tyler murdered while escaping is known, I double on that Darwin Award. And schedule you for a 'Bash the Wall with your head' session soon.

"I told you that I took some FLYING LESSONS!” Actually, Byron wanted to take flying lessons, but they were very expensive. The best he’d done was some time on a Flight Simulator at the junior college near him.

Razor held a sharp-edged hand against Byron’s neck and snarled, “Then I don’t have a lot of use for you, do I?”

Byron immediately realized that Razor would kill him, just to vent his frustration. And then he’d try to fly the damn plane himself, crash it and kill everyone on the landing pad. “Okay! Jeezus, OKAY!” Byron slipped the headset on, despite the fact that any input from the air traffic controller was pointless, and settled into the pilot’s seat. And he immediately realized that he had absolutely no idea as to how to fly this thing. He thought furiously for moment.

Fuck that's even worst than I thought. If you survive this, Byron, you totally deserve to go with the Yelowjackets.

Byron made himself wait an entire 60 seconds, in case Razor did anything paranoid like turn back to check on him. Then he pulled the stick back and took the VTOL up 100 feet, and held it there.

This changed the way that the prop wash affected the smokescreen, and Razor, Jojo and Stretch found themselves out in the open without a way out. “ZAP!” Razor screamed, “I’m gonna KILL you when I get my hands on you!”

"Not that I’m complaining,” the pilot said as he got to his feet and started leveraging himself into the copilot seat. “But why did you turn on them, having gone this far?”

"Because I didn’t ‘go this far’,” Zap growled, taking the headset off and handing it to the pilot. “Like I keep telling people, I didn’t want ANY of this! I got dragged into this, just like I got dragged into court. Now get on the radio and tell the tower or whatever to not shoot us, ‘kay?”

Perfect Fuck You, Byron. You even made sure he would be left with all that ice for that burn. Very classy and cool from you.

Third Priority: Get Luke away from Stretch. Razor is significantly less likely to harm Holly if she is his only hostage.

Limits of Darth Vulcan. He's actually even ore likely to kill her out of frustration if it all happens that way.

But Barb rescued Razor by zooming up, picking up Holly, and sprinting her safely out of his reach. Or put Razor safely out of Holly’s reach. But as Razor started to get up, Ray let out a powerful electric burst that knocked him clear off his feet again. Razor tried to get up again, but Ray just said in a loud, ‘I’m tired of your shit and looking forward to kicking your ass’ voice, “STAY DOWN, ASSHOLE! You’re blown, you got no cards, and your ass is hanging out a mile! You’re perfectly grounded, and that skin of yours is a damn good conductor. So, you can either lay face down on the blacktop, or I can fry you alive inside your own skin! You got to the count of Ten to decide! One!”

And that's why lightning/electricity is my favorite element when it comes to RPG, magic and the likes... Nothing like being a One-Man Tesla Coil.

The adults had wrapped their collective heads around what had just happened, so guns were lowered. Questions were being asked. But as the THX faded away, one thing was paramount in Tyler’s mind: I can fly!

Taking careful note of where the VTOL was, just hovering there, Tyler lifted off and rose to about 500 feet up. Then she just hung there for a while, taking in the wonderful blue and reveling in the feeling of being free.

Then there was a powerful jolt, and Tyler was barely able to erect a defense on pure reflex before she hit the ground. Tyler felt the ground hit and luckily passed out immediately, before the pain could set in.

As bummer as the ending after the flying revelation was, I'm definitely taking this as proof as Dr. CHase is culprit, and trying to perfect that Malice upgrade because it's breaking down on her. I'll be generous and include the murder as a sociopathic way to murder the show and save the maximum of children of these Doc Cambion 2.0 rather than having her full coomplicit of that crap, but not more (with maybe a faked death for Leo, using him and Suzy as complicits to tank the show and help to save 'Mama Bear'). And don't worry, Ty, when that mess reaches Jadis and Parky's ears, you won't see Jubal for a long, long while. At least.

Tyler strapped to her bed, ugh, these asses are going to regret this. Okay, not sure what state of mind she'd be in when she woke up, seems reasonable now. More tests, oh goodie. Okay, I like that doctor, giving her time in a Jacuzzi. Ugh, Jubal trying to place the blame for all of it on her when it was all his fault and his scheming.

And continuing to call Tyler an 'it', I really want to see Jubal taken down. Oh good, Jubal being shut down by the Colonel when he tries to influences Tyler's testimony. Knew Jubal would try to say he was trying to escape, the Colonel knows the truth about the remote, just give them some more rope, Jubal. Ooo, Razor 'got' the remote away from Jubal, tagged Tyler and two others as threats for the Watchdogs, so they were unwitting pawns of Jubal's scheme.

Ooo goodie, Colonel knows what Jubal tried to pull with the courier. Trying to get it disallowed in court because he thinks it is a trick, Jubal has serious issues and shouldn't be working at a place like this. Jubal is just digging himself deeper and deeper with no way out, paranoid about geniuses. And the Colonel isn't buying his BS, please let Jubal be dragged off in handcuffs.

And Tyler snapping off the collar and telling Jubal why she won't put it back on, just perfect. Love Mr. Dunmore supporting Tyler removing the collar. Stem cell solution and no loss which could account for it, why didn't Tyler mention what Suzy told her about that? More files to look over, hope the autopsy reveals something which they can use.

Canceled vacation time, Jubal screwed himself over big time. Tyler explaining it like that, love seeing her snarky self out. Razor having a permanent scar from Holly, couldn't happen to a nicer guy. Ah, so that is what Mike was doing, and no need to torment Razor more. Yay! Holly has some control over her power, that is a huge step. Good not to trust that fugue state, desperate times only.

A two chain difference between Dr. Chase's nanite complex and the one they found in Leo. Yet the one in Tyler is completely identical to Dr. Chase's. That two chain difference, could it have been on purpose, Leo was murdered and Tyler was framed? Or did whoever tested it on Leo try to give a male the nanite complex without changing their physical gender and found out it would fail, meaning we should be looking for a male suspect.

Poor Leo, 4 suspects who know nanotech. *eyes bug out* Okay, that is a horrific way to die from the description. Grow to be about Dr. Chase's size, whoa. Already don't like Korman and Arcero, you don't try to get minors to sign contracts without their parents or lawyers, pure scumbag move. And Lydia Baines as well sounds like they are trying to screw kids out of any profits from their inventions and when they don't sign contracts without lawyers around to make sure they are on the up and up, they don't invite them back.

Kyle Korman sounds like a sleaze to me, Foundation's going broke probably means "I'm not letting my multi-million dollar salary a year get reduced." So the conspiracy goes deeper it seems. Suzy, Suzy, Suzy. You should stop judging Jadis by her father's reputation, plus stop calling her Diabolik. So no news on what Glynis wanted to talk to Tyler about still, rats.

Blue, very interesting power, is this the same Blue cyberpath as in G1? If so, nice to see they are still around. And working with Jadis on Tyler's defense, things are looking up. Quest Foundation is corrupt and pressure Tyler and the other Wiz Kids have been under only the tip of the iceberg, that is a scary revelation. Tom Chase, Glynis Davies, and Linda Havoc are the other ones with no alibi. Top suspects now are Tom Chase and Linda Havoc, since they have no alibi and know nanotech.

Footage of when Tyler's adaptation chamber was found, wonder what she will find. Same smell as when they found Leo, can see why they are freaking out, thought of losing another one of them that way would freak nearly anyone out. Squeezed out head first from the wash bag, weird. All those things different between the chambers and Holly points out what everyone else was missing, the insight of a child.

Glad to see Suzy realizes she should have thought of that, hope the Feds agree. Glynis is a Hoaxbuster, couldn't she fake an alibi easily enough with stage magic tricks and misdirection?

She didn’t! She built it on shore, probably in Los Angeles with bits and pieces scavenged from the Foundation’s supply depot, and brought it aboard, probably using some razzle-dazzle she read about in Houdini’s biography. The inventory that the chambers explained away were just… chucked over the side, so there wouldn’t be any embarrassing duplicates showing up.

And finally get to the big question, who could have pulled it off?

Glynis being the one who found them, acting shocked, the perfect way to deflect suspicion, should have seen it sooner. Leo's death sounding more like unintended consequences wonder if she was trying to upgrade the Malice Upgrade to use on herself. Using THX-1157 on herself, I don't doubt anyone on that stuff in a fugue state would be capable of being ruthless.

"And that’s my next point. Glynis had to get rid of me to A> explain the presence of the second adaptation chamber (why, I’m not sure), B>in case I remembered her verbal slip-up, C>to stall the blood test that was chugging down the road in her direction. By the way- I was kind’a out of it then: why did it take that long for them to order those tests?”

Things kept happening to blood samples, I would have been suspicious when that started happening. No traces of THX in Tyler's system, plus all the 'Wiz Kids' getting physicals, nice. That line by Tyler, can't believe she responded that way to Suzy, funny though with the Scooby Doo reference by Suzy.

Video override clamp, illegal key gun to open a deadbolt on a locker, plus that amalgamation of devices, Glynis trying to hide evidence of another illegal creation from the looks of it. And three young women, one of them Jadis but wonder who the brunettes are. Blue is one of them, nice takedown. And a mask which has Suzy underneath should have known with the interest she was taking in everything Tyler learned, better to protect herself.

Isobel upset at all that, she is going to be even worse when she learns about what Suzy did. All those creeps showing up at once from the Foundation, not good. Mr. Jenkins spelling it out like that, making Jadis out to be the bad guy when she is trying to clean up the Quest Foundation and help them through JeriCorp, I don't trust this guy. And Linda proves herself as annoying as her sister Melody once more. Isobel is being reasonable, Linda is being colored by how her big sister Melody has had it out for Jadis for years, sigh.

Jenkins, you think you can play at the same level as Jadis, I pity you when your world comes crashing down. *sigh* They are really underestimating Jadis, just because the documents are currently unsigned and you think you can use that against her doesn't mean she hasn't already thought of this and has over a dozen or more backup plans that come out worse for you if you try to screw with her.

Bwahahaha, this is what Jadis wanted all along, get the corruption out of the Quest Foundation and put people who actually care in charge of it. Oops, they goofed, Suzy can't sign that with murder and conspiracy charges hanging over her head. Figures Linda would be the first to sign, thinking she is sticking it to Jadis. Nice to see Blue with Jadis, trying to place the other one, another classmate of Jadis probably but having a hard time placing her.

Jenkins and Susan are still fools, Jadis knew this was the exact outcome that would happen, which she wanted to happen. Jenkins is trying to double-cross them, I knew he was scum! Kate, ah, it's Nacht, good to see her still around. And the other must be Merry, kittenish and friends of Blue. Yes! Tyler stops Jenkins little power grab with Jadis' help, love seeing a plan come together.

Dr. Leslie Campbell and Captain Rosalyn Ibarra. Jenkins calling Tyler an it as well, ugh, the same mindset as Jubal. Dr. Helen Chase signing for Tyler as her representative, just love seeing slime like Jenkins get screwed over. Arcero and the others are going to try and take hostages and destroy the paper, Jadis is going to ruin them now and see them locked up for a long time for this stunt. Even TNT in Gen 1 wouldn't pull something this stupid.

Korman trying to be the voice of reason as the goons take hostages with semi-automatics, hope they enjoy extended stays in the hospital.

"Thanks, Kate. No, Mr. Lennox, you have a LOT to worry about,” Frost said. “Besides your part in Aiding and Abetting Patent Fraud, Work-for-Hire Abuse, Misappropriation of Funds and Insider Trading, you had a direct and material part in Racketeering, specifically assisting supervillains and crime syndicates move cash, records and proscribed materials over international borders.”

And Lennox is even worse than I thought, didn't think that was possible.

Good grief, putting those kids in danger like that, I knew there was corruption with all the supervillains, etc. they encountered but this far worse than I previously believed. Good job, Bek. Ooo, no wonder Lennox tried to remove evidence connected to Hughie's death. And the document is signed, all thanks to Jadis distracting them by explaining that all, nice exposition with it fitting in the story, Bek.

Baines is an idiot, up the creek without a paddle and thinks she can just strongarm her way out of it with guns and thugs. Lennox turning state's evidence on the rest of them and moving the money from all those accounts, he sure knows how to cover his own hide. And his play just got ruined by Blue, bwahaha, not getting out of this you sleaze. Manipulated him like a puppet, classic.

Wait, Gwen, guess my Merry guess was wrong. Whoa, that is one major spell to pull off all that on six targets at once and not hit anyone else. Darn, not all down. Isobel having to beat up the guy holding her, Jadis hitting the one holding Claire with a coffee mug, Linda and Tom trying to take down two but having trouble, Dr. Chase having secured Jenkins. Hehehe, seeing her being a mother to Tom and his response.

Looking around, Kate said monotonously, “Everywhere you look, corruption, deceit, opportunism, violence, desperation and rage. Life is good.”

Nice to see Kate hasn't changed. Everything on record, good, plus the 3 men in black were MCO.

The lead man sadly shook his head and said, “NADA. As per usual. She even had us confirm that innocent civilians were at risk, and that extraordinary measures were called for, before they did anything weird.”

Kate's just spooky, hehehe, love that.

Groan, the one problem with an incident like this, the paperwork and giving statements.

As they left, Glynis said, “Jinkies! You mean it really was Old Man Jenkins all along?”

Love those Scooby Doo references. Tyler finally getting to talk to the other Wiz Kids, telling what he found out. Leo's death was his own fault, didn't see that coming. The chamber differences all make sense now.

"But there’s no way that Leo would have relied on that,” Tom said, clearly figuring it out himself. “Besides, he’d need someone to seal the hatch after him. And there were TWO pods! Suzy! Suzy helped him assemble the pods and did all the outside work while he was being upgraded. Where’s Suzy?”

Suzy trying to cover up her part in Leo's death. It was 2 separate mysteries, what happened to Hughie wasn't connected to what happened to Tyler. At least Suzy is only guilty of Grand Larceny and not being charged with Murder. And Suzy tried to frame Glynis but put Tyler in the chamber because he was an hour early, oh boy. If she had just come clean.

Logan, no trying to turn Holly into a scientific experiment to analyze her powers. Used a robot GURD to put her target in the bag, now that is just sloppy, easy way to get the wrong target. Logan, she is an 11-year-old girl who is just starting to get control over her power, stop geeking out. Should have figured out sooner, with Suzy being the one to open Tyler's chamber with the Gunnerson key, so many clues and we kept getting distracted by all the big details.

Nice breakdown of how the crime was pulled off, that Silt Monitoring Project, they should have monitored everything going on and off the ship. Leo and Suzy doing THX, oh boy. Eee, both Suzy and Leo high functioning sociopaths and plotting to do away with Lennox from the sounds of it. Afraid of being off by a 'horrible tragic accident', that would do it. Yikes, kept around the body because she loved Leo, more than a little creepy.

Tyler pointing out they are the Board of Executors now, so the show has to keep going or else. Figures, the Foundation very stable and they were scamming the kids. Korman didn't actually do anything wrong, rats. Keep him on as Chief Financial Officer, after he tried to rip them off and run, bad idea imo. *sigh* Giving themselves 10 million bonus each, they are still teens.

Dr. Chase is Tyler's new guardian, whoa. And got Jadis involved in the case in the first place, interesting. Bwahaha, Tom realizes he isn't an only child anymore, priceless. Wait, the chamber hatch designed by 3 distinct different hands, that means there is another suspect still out there! This was Jadis on her 'C' game, scary to think what her 'A' game looks like.

10 million richer, on the Quest Foundation's Board of Executors, on the next season of Wiz Kids, and completely exonerated of Leo's death. Talk about a huge shift from where she started the story at. 'Zap' in a different rig, nice to see his actions have been rewarded. A Trustee and helping keep the Redcoats in line, Byron has proven himself. And sounds like he could be out of there in just a few months, very nice. Ray and Byron chatting, while Tyler gets to fly up high and see nothing but blue skies.

This story was definitely a change of pace from other stories, but that is a great thing imo. Learning along with Tyler all that happened, how he was transformed into a she, framed for murder and set up, having to deal with corrupt officials like Jubal. Jadis and Mr. Dunmore working to help clear his name but expecting Tyler to help clear her own name, while helping clean up the corruption infesting the Quest Foundation. All the twist and turns, the clues and red herrings with too many suspects capable but no clear clues, at least if you weren't looking very closely. Love how this story ended and can't wait to see more of Tyler and the others in the future. This was a great murder mystery, Bek, had me guessing all the way to reveal, missed all those little clues which would have added up to Suzy being the one who framed Tyler. Hope we get another great mystery like this one again in the future.

Then the doctor asked how Tyler had pulled the super-speed and flight and protection factor out of her ass. Tyler realized that her THX fugue was probably a big factor there, but she wasn’t very keen on having those fugues becoming common knowledge, so she deferred to the ‘I just DID it’ excuse.

You mean that mentionning lingering secondarry effects from an illegal drug turning you into Darth Vulcan could be bad? Shocking.

"We’re in Alaska, above the Arctic Circle,” the doctor retorted. “Of course we have a Jacuzzi! We have five Jacuzzis! We have a waiting list for the Jacuzzis!” she paused and gave Tyler a fond smile. “But you earned a cut in the line, kid. When you want a soak, we’ll bump you to the head of the line.”

This place could actually be awesome. Make one these Jacuzzis yours.

Jubal was there, pointing an accusing finger at her and demanded loudly, “WHY isn’t that in SHACKLES?”

Better question, why aren't you wandering in the blizzard with only the bare minimum to cover your modesty, the only thing that you should have left to you after your little clusterduck?

"Yes, it’s just the sort of thing that it would do!” Jubal said, clearly channeling too many Lawyer TV shows. “That’s just what it’s been doing for years on that show it’s on!”

Tyler noticed Mr. Dunmore watching from a TV screen. If Mr. Dunmore was watching this, but not saying anything, then he was probably giving Jubal enough rope to hang himself. But why was Jubal involved at all? Turning to the Colonel, Tyler asked, “What do you need me for?”

Two things: Bastard, the use of 'it' only proves one thing: My suggestion about walls was right and I ask nothing better than putting it into action. Tyler? Relax and watch Parky devours this poor little loser.

"Because I COULD.” Then something clicked for Tyler. “You ‘brought me down’? You had a control for the punishment shocker in the prisoner collars?”

"YEAH,” Jubal gloated.

"If you did… then WHY didn’t you use it on the Redcoats?”

Jubal completely locked on that one, and his look of triumph wilted.

"Because he didn’t have it on him,” the Colonel said coldly. “He was seen taking the remote control from Razor’s pocket as he was being handcuffed.”

Little advice from these freaks with higher than average IQ, bucko: make sure you don't use arguments who can be returned against you. Not that I should be telling it, I mean people with an intelligence higher than a plank's get it. Tells everything about you.

"ah, That’s a Safety measure, designed for re-establishing control in confused situations,” the Colonel explained with a touch of embarrassment. “The Watchdogs can’t always be on the scene, in case the punishment collars don’t work for some reason, like the prisoner somehow removes them. In that case, knowing which prisoner is the one they have to deal with is crucial. So the control for the punishment collars also has a designator function, which identifies a certain person as the immediate threat. The Watchdog’s internal computer uses that to locate and identify threats to the pilots. When Razor got the remote control away from Jubal, he identified you and two of the boys as threats with the designator. The EMP cut the Watchdogs off from the rest of our network, and the pilots responded to what they thought was a threat to the VTOL. They did the right thing… just targeted at the wrong people.”

So, that wasn't Jubal's plan. That said, that raises the disturbing point of how fucking easy it is with the remote to have them blasting whoever prisoner you want during a break-out.

"Because it’s a TRICK!” Jubal snapped.“It’s a goddamn trick to wriggle out from under the fact that it killed some poor man testing the goddamn process that turned it into a shabby COPY of a woman! It dummied up some bullshit story that it’s trying fob off on the FBI, and you’re helping it get away with MURDER!”

"HOW?” the Colonel asked in tones that had icicles on them.

Jubal locked again, visibly thought furiously, and finally admitted, “I… don’t know… But it’s a GENIUS! It could have come up with anything! You know what geniuses are like! They think that they can get away with anything, ‘cause they’re smarter than us! So they come up with crazy things, things that nobody else would even want to think of! Like THAT!” he gestured at Tyler. “It didn’t just want to be a girl, it wanted to be a supergirl, so it could be better than the rest of us in every way. And you’re letting it get away with it!”

Well, I love the 'hate geinus rant, but–

The Colonel looked at Jubal intently, paused, mulled what he’d said over and then said, “Mr. Getty that is… the biggest crock of shit I’ve ever heard. I was told as well by the FBI that Collier here was dangerous. And I freely admit that I assumed the worst when the daughter of Doctor Diabolik showed up to talk to her. But at no time did I presume to dictate what will and will not be submitted to a Federal Circuit Court! Let alone do so in a way that encourages an escape and endangers two young children!”

Thanks, was searching for the words. And also thanks for not getting the count to rise again.

"NO,” she replied in the calm voice of ‘I’m sick and tired of your shit, and I ain’t taking it anymore’. “These things are for tracking and disciplining Prisoners. People who have been Arrested. As has been said over and over, I’m not under arrest. I may be under suspicion, but NOT arrest.” Completely dismissing Jubal, she turned to the Colonel and asked, “Do you need me for anything else?”

"Just wait until we have your statement typed up, and sign it,” the Colonel said with, maybe not respect, but at least not the naked hostility he’d shown before.

Because words aren't always enough... Also props to the Colonel for accepting this without wrangling. Opposing Parky would be suicide, but goodwill noted.

[Which is music to my ears,] Dunmore said. [The last thing the world needs is yet another power-tripper]

I reiterate a previous statement: Parky needs to give awareness speeches to the Capes and Squirrels (excluding Wardo and Bella).

[Yes, we have managed to arm-wrestle the FBI into handing over some materials regarding Mr. Rivera’s autopsy and the technical specifications of the two forced adaptation chambers. She also has a question for you regarding the Stem Cell Solution that was used in both procedures. According to the Quest Foundation’s inventory of the Diogenes, while there was significant pilferage, there was no loss that could account for the stem cell solution]

Pretty good sign for you. The more they let you see, the more you're moving away from the chopping block.

"I should be so lenient,” the Colonel said with a steely glint in his eye. “I’m going to make the punishment fit the crime. He almost cost us our lifeline, so I’m canceling his vacation days in February!”

Tyler winced at the thought of Jubal losing those precious ‘get me OUT OF HERE!’ days. And, instead of resenting losing Jubal, the other counselors would be lobbying to get his vacation days. The Colonel may not have been in Mr. Dunmore’s league, but he did play hardball.

Euh, running gag is fun, and the punishment quite savage indeed, but given what this guy did, the depths he showed he was ready to sink and the risks he created... I energically recommend beginning to search for a replacement, so you can kick this loser out in the snow the second his replacement is found and there.

"Y’mean, first you’re wetting yourself with fear, then you realize that someone’s gotta do something and you’re the only one around, then you’re screaming at yourself for being an idiot and getting yourself into danger, and then you see this very narrow tunnel-vision version of what’s going on, and then after doing the right thing over and over, you finally do the stupid thing and that works, and when it’s over, there’s this big adrenaline rush? YEAH, it’s just like that!” Tyler finished with a snarky grin. Barb just wrinkled her nose at Tyler and gave her a swat on the shoulder.

Of course, you'd get different answers from Tom and Linda. But they've got a survival instinct deficiency anyways. Really nasty disease.

"I just stood there,” Mike agreed. “With my helmet off. The reason that Razor was just standing there going ‘wuddo I do, wuddo I do?’ was that I broadcasting ‘Up Town Funk!’ straight into his brain.”

"You should have broadcast a little Taylor Swift,” Ray smirked.

"Hey, he was just a vicious steel-jacketed psychopath,” Mike shot back. “No need to be inhumane!”

One, psycho don't deserve any slack. Two... Never heard it, is Taylor Swift that bad?

"So… Leo’s body grew any way it wanted to at the moment?” Barb winced with dismay. “eeewww….”

Whoever did this was ready to die, or at least kill a guinea pig, to preserve their looks... Okay, that was a moment I began to tank the 'Chase' idea, and look for the male teenager doing it.

Then a chat request chimed. “And it’s Suzy!” Tyler opened the window. “Hey Suze!”

[Hey, Tyler! Aaannnddd… Barbara, right?] Barb nodded, not sure how to take being remembered by such an ‘A-list’ girl.

Worry, kiddo, with this regular contacts and the hits Chase's case are taking, you're steadily becoming Suspect Number One.

[Oh, Korman and Arcero are turning the screws again. They say that what with losing Hughie and Leo, and… whatever’s gonna happen with you, that they’ve cut this year’s mission short, and they’re making noises like we’ve reneged on our contracts, and we might ‘not be invited to return’, and they’re leaning on us to sign all sorts of contracts without our parents or lawyers, and like that. Tyler, I’ve heard that you managed to get a real legal shark to represent you- could you talk to him about doing something about this? We’re getting screwed here!]

So, they're throwing subtlety and long-term exploitation to the winds. Feeling the weigth of Jadis and Parky on their shoulders?

[Yeah… Korman and Arcero are stone-cold sharks… but would having Jadis Diabolik on the Board of Directors of the Foundation be any better?]

First above all: Jadis Diab–Frost: 14. And you have no idea how better off you would be. Except Linda, maybe, but screw the Havocs.

Tyler had settled into examining the schematics of the second pod, and Mike called it a night. As soon as the common room was empty, a blue cloudy mass materialized. I AM BLUE, the mass intoned.

So, it's either this Ringo guy or Paige if we're following the guesses here... Which is another way of saying 'How much access do you want to all the Fundation's database?'

Then two tables appeared on Tyler’s screen, which read:

Status at time of recorded activation of the first forced adaptation chamber

Becker, Suzy Solid Alibi/ Bernard-Gagne, Claire

Bernard-Gagne, Claire Solid Alibi/ Becker, Suzy

Chase, Tom No Alibi

Collier, Tyler Contestable Alibi/ in cabin, online

Davies, Glynis No Alibi

Havoc, Linda No Alibi

Hogan, Logan Contestable Alibi/ in Chem lab

Zhang, Isobel ‘I.Z.’ Contestable Alibi/ in cabin, online

And a report on patterns of pilferage at the Quest Foundation’s Los Angeles supply depot.

'Oh wonderful’, Tyler thought sourly to herself, ‘we’re in Agatha Christie country.’

Meaning the people with the perfect alibis are the suspect ones. Oh look, Suzy.

And the Blue mask was gone. Jadis Frost’s eccentric associate was gone as quickly and untraceable as he’d come. ‘They probably went to school together or something.’

It's little things like this that make for an awesome ensemble.

<”What are you talking about?” Suzy opened the door, sniffed and said, “Okay, it’s a little funky, but-” then her eyes popped open, a stricken look crossed her face and she leaned over, covering her mouth. “It is…” she finally said, “It’s the same smell… as when we found Leo!”>

Dunno if we're talking denial or 'denial' there.

"Tyler? If you had put yourself in there, why would you mess with that hatch by building an escape thing? Why not just get another hatch, what already had some way of you getting out? I mean, the whole thing was just thrown together anyway, why not just put a different kind of hatch on it? I mean, it’s high pressure, right? So why mess with that by welding on a latch? Why not something electronic, just push a button and you’re out? And really, WHY BOTHER? I mean, you’re super-strong, right? Why not just PUNCH your way out?”

The one thing crushing Sherlock: Common sense and basic logic.

It wasn’t until late afternoon that Suzy was able to answer Tyler’s frantic messages for a talk. [Tyler! What happened? Your Tweet was all twitter pated!]

"SUZY!” Tyler grinned into the laptop’s camera with a huge relieved smile. “I figured it out! I was making a classic mistake!”

Hold on, you're just volunteering the solution at random like th– Oooooh, that's a trap right? No other reason to just blaber it to Suzy rather, than let's say, Jadis or Parky. Both of them who would say 'zip it' unless Reasons.

"From ‘Stage Dressing’, it’s not that big a leap to ‘Stage Magic’,” Tyler pointed out. “While Tom and Linda make all the noise about being ‘All Purpose Scientists’, Glynis is all over the place, AND you don’t think of her as knowing about Engineering or Biology, but she does! And Glynis isn’t just a Ghost Hunter, she’s a Hoaxbuster! She knows ALL the tricks! Everyone’s trying to figure out how anyone could kludge together a high-tech adaptation chamber on board a ship at sea without anyone noticing anything- Simple! She didn’t! She built it on shore, probably in Los Angeles with bits and pieces scavenged from the Foundation’s supply depot, and brought it aboard, probably using some razzle-dazzle she read about in Houdini’s biography. The inventory that the chambers explained away were just… chucked over the side, so there wouldn’t be any embarrassing duplicates showing up.

"You see? The real question wasn’t ‘who had a motive’, or ‘how did they pull it off’, the question really was: ‘who could pull it off?’ And while the rest of us are scientists, with straightforward thinking minds, Glynis is really a detective, with the devious and cunning kind of mind that requires. And detectives make the most dangerous criminals, because they know all the gags, and when and why they go wrong, and how to avoid that.”

Okay, now I'm sure that's Suzy. Glynis doesn't fit the Not So Out Of Nowhere criteria, and that's too neat and prejudiced... And Suzy remain the only one with two 'Perfect Alibis' (Yes, these are written long after I first read the story. Still was my thought process).

Suze, think about it! Why would you kludge together a super-soldier process- a slightly obsolete, surpassed super-soldier process- if not to use on yourself?

Bek just had to tell us the 'why' everyone didn't see right until the reveals. Again, small things and awesome ensemble.

Tyler gave Suzy a sinister grin. “THIS is where having Jadis Diabolik on my side really comes in. Her father created THX-1157. And besides the whole sociopath thing, he dumped it because there were side effects to using it for long periods of time. This is really getting me out from under, because while I had a massive dose in my bloodstream, I don’t show any of the signs in my liver and pancreas or lower digestive tract. And NO, the Malice Upgrade wouldn’t have erased that. Though possibly Glynis didn’t know that.”

[And the FBI’s whole case is that you experimented on Leo while in a THX induced sociopathy!] Suzy bleated happily. [You’re off the hook!]

"Better,” Tyler said with that sinister smile. “Glynis is ON that hook. My lawyer’s arranging for all the Wiz Kids to have ‘end of season’ physicals, which will involve all the usual uncomfortable, awkward, embarrassing tests- plus a few more.”

Sigh... Jadis Diab–Frost: 15. You know better Tyler. And Suzy should have too, that whole thing, while probably true, just screams 'Bait!'

[Will I get to pull the rubber mask off her?]

Benefit if hindsight: that's even funnier after first read.

She pushed the gadget into the locker, and suddenly the light went on. Sitting at a table, playing cards, were three young women, two of them brunettes, and the third had snow-white hair that tufted in ‘horns’ at the front. “Well it’s ABOUT TIME you showed up,” the white-haired one said sternly. “I was losing an arm and a leg to these card sharks!”

Jadis is actually salty because she was about to take them back with interests, run for your life.

"Or Distinctive Likeness,” said that one that had materialized the ‘genie’ out of thin air. She leaned down and tugged at the captive’s cheek. A thin layer of latex pulled off, along with a nose prosthesis. The false teeth in her mouth, giving the impression of a different shape of face, slipped. And Suzy Becker, the sweetheart of the Diogenes, broke down sobbing.

Hindsight again, but first sign of Gwen. Also, told you it was giggle-worthy.

But Dr. Chase said that Larry Jenkins had been quietly on the side of the ‘Old Guard’, and was keeping that bitch Lydia ‘Baines of my Existence’ Baines on a leash. Considering what she was pulling with the Wiz Kids, Isobel shuddered to think what she trying to get away with but couldn’t. That woman had a nasty case of ‘permanently pissed off’.

After okaying Korman and Co, and when the show just reeks of Doc Cambion 2.0 from the very start? Yeah right.

That idiot Korman slipped up, and he might just take the entire Quest Foundation with him. JeriCorp offered to make a $180 Million donation, but there was a very nasty string attached: Jadis Diabolik.

First, Jadis Diab–Frost: 16. I get the feeling will keep rising. Two, nice to see Jericho is doing well (Does JeriCorp includes fashion department?). Three, if Jadis wanted something bad for this Fundation, you can bet Jericho wouldn't, so there.

"JADIS DIABOLIK?” Linda snapped with barely restrained rage, “What the HELL is SHE doing, getting involved with the Quest Foundation?” For once, Tom Chase didn’t try to top Linda, and just gave her a worried side glance.

Jadis Diab–Frost: 17. Said feeling could have been caused by a jealous bint coming from a family of s(I notice the Havocs don't seem that fresh and rosy for the law when we see them).

One whole conversation about Jadis.

Jadis Diab–Frost: 22. Welp, that's raising fast. Also Linda, try being brave once your family so numerous connectionns dry up. Might be inevitable, for some reason the name Havoc doesn't seem to lend itself well to the idea of long-term stable relationships.

"Linda has a good grasp of the situation,” Jenkins said. “And somehow Diabolik’s managed to get some of the Board of Trustees under her thumb. BUT, she’s trying to be too clever.”

"That IS her besetting flaw,” Linda purred.

Jadis Diab–Frost: 23. Also, the fact this guy was indulging Linda should have been a red flag. And Jadis isn't that sloppy. Too 'diabolik' in execution maybe, but never failure. How many crows will Linda need?

Another discussion about legalities later...

Jadis Diab–Frost: 28. And you're telling that because?

"But, looking at the list,” Jenkins flipped open the document and pointed to one page. “YOUR names are on this list; again, for form’s sake. But if you sign with Drs. Chase and Dajani and Mrs. Rice validating your signatures, you will become the Executors of the Trust, and you’ll have control over all the properties, and Korman, Arcero and Baines are screwed.”

'Form's sake'. On a Jadis document. Boy are you in for a revelation.

'How many do we need for a quorum?” Tom asked, like he’d let Linda control the conversation.

"Seven.”

"But there are only six of us!” Clare pointed out.

"Suzy Becker is on her way, and I already have her Power of Attorney from another matter concerning Mr. Rivera’s death,” Jenkins said.

First, the very fact you're the one holding final signature is iffy. Two, the babbling about Suzy just shows you're the sleazy one. Oh, and Three, Jadis Diab–Frost: 29, I never forget this. And of course Four, you have the Lucky Seven wrong.

“But there is a potential problem,” Dr. Dajani said, looking at the document. “The material fact that you’re all minors. If you fill the full quorum, it’s solid enough that Korman could contest it, but with everything that Diabolik is throwing at them, there’s no way that any sitting judge would overturn it. But the way this is set up, if you sign it and you don’t have a full quorum, then Korman can cite your inability to form a quorum as proof of incompetence, and assign himself as the Sole Executor, using the Foundation’s In Loco Parentis as a basis.”

Demonstrating One and Two. Oh, and Jadis Diab–Frost: 30.

"If I’m reading it properly, that wasn’t the idea,” Dr. Chase said. “From the way that Frost was using this, she was more interested in crowbarring the In Loco Parentis away from Korman, just to use it as a concession for another point. But Kids, the real point here is that we HAVE to have a Full Quorum for this to work. If even one of doesn’t sign, Korman takes everything. And if even one of you sign, then we’re committed.”

And that Frost was the final nail in the 'Chase' case for me. A chance nobody in the room caught this.

Round of signatures

Jadis Diab–Frost: 32. And Linda never thought her signing first was so obvious... Also, note that Jenkins doesn't sign anything.

The rest followed them to the door of the conference room. With a sense of entitlement that seemed to Isobel to be a bit much, even for a gringo, Linda just pushed through the door into the conference room. “Excuse me, but we’re in the middle of something here!” said an annoyed sounding woman with strange white hair. She was young, maybe just out of college, but she was easily dominating the room. She wore an icy blue suit with outsized white lapels and cuffs, with a matching wide-brimmed hat. She had a matching purse open on the long conference table in front of her, with piles of documents, hard text files, and a laptop beside it. Beside her was another woman, who could best be summed up as ‘dark’, despite her porcelain complexion. She regarded Linda with a heavy-lidded feline smirk of cool dismissal. She had long black hair tied up in a single braid that came down over her shoulder. Her outfit was black, of a sort where it seemed almost a puddle of shadow where she sat. On the other side of Diabolik was another young lady with short dark hair and kittenish features. She wore a pantsuit in a way that it seemed more a catsuit, along with heavy brass jewelry.

Hello again Jadis. Also, I see Kate and Gwen are there for the party. Only question is how much crow will be served.

"It doesn’t matter, Diabolik!” Linda jeered at her, tapping the Trust documents in her hand.

"Frost,” she correct Linda.

"Screwed,” Linda corrected Miss Frost, waving the papers at her.

"Oh, Linda Havoc,” Frost purred. “There’s no mistaking that Havoc family trademark grace and decorum.”

Jadis Diab–Frost: 35. Why, yes the Screwed counts double. That's my count I do whatever the duck I want, especially to correct brats. Also note Jadis' diplomacy: No mention of the Havocs' intellect.

"NO,” Jenkins said with a triumphant leer. “And, given the lack of Majority of the signatories, the role of Sole Executor therefore defaults to the primary Ensurer of the Trust. That would be ME.” His smirk became a full-fledged grin. Isobel wondered how that could work, how a single document could have that much power in this situation. But then it occurred to her that there was a LOT more going on than she knew, and she was only seeing the climax of a very complex legal conflict.

Heavens to murgatroyd, what a complete and utter surprise. He was actually a traitor. Says sarcastically a three-years old kid.

Kate stood and calmly and matter-of-factly said, “HUSH.” The boardroom went deathly still, even Baines, who would scream at the Pope.

Nice upgrade, Kate. I wonder how the stare and the smile are faring though.

Frost stood and said, “That would work, Jenkins. But there’s an eighth listed Executor candidate available.”

Cue the true Lucky Seven.

Tyler stepped forward with a confident air and said, [And I state for the record that I am ready, willing, able and downright eager to act as an Executor for the Quest Foundation. I’ve signed a Power of Attorney, designating Dr. Helen Chase as my representative, as I can’t be there in person] Jadis Frost produced a piece of paper and waved it with a puckish smirk at Jenkins.

Someone needs to take shots of Jenkins and the jackals' face. And distill their tears into a victory cocktail.

As Korman shouted, ‘What? Are You? Idiots? Doing?” five of the lesser functionaries in the room- including one of his own Yes men- pulled out semi-automatic pistols. Two of them went for Clare and Isobel, while the other three each grabbed one of the Foundation bigwigs (whose names Isobel had never had any reason to learn), and pulled them into classic hostage ‘meat-shield’ holds. Looking around at this madness with utter croggled disbelief, Korman asked, “Has everyone gone totally insane?”

Nah, just the Season Finale, Korman. They always break everything. And are a blast to watch.

"Why?” Lennox asked with a bewildering abject lack of concern, punctuated by a slurp of his Starbux coffee. “Win, Lose or Draw, my only problem is that I’m out of a job.”

Drinking Starbucks... Is there no limits to your depravation, you ducktard?

Kate stood up and pointedly said, “AHEM.” The chaos in the boardroom shut down like a slammed hand, and everyone looked at Kate and Frost with slightly spooked eyes. “Jadis?”

Ooooh, I want to see the smile... maybe once the kids are out of the room?

"I didn’t say THE most notorious,” Frost defended herself. “But honestly, didn’t it strike you kids that it was a little STRANGE that the Diogenes kept running into supervillains, criminal scientists, terrorists and all that? And they all seem to know that you’re coming, because they always have some fascinating little game they want to play, specially designed just for you. And they never stop Lennox’s drones from filming it. Why would they? They’re paying the delivery man, and getting thousands of dollars of free publicity at the same time.”

See all my 'Doc Cambion 2.0' comments... and truly one, because their scam is far more evolved.

"Please, PLEASE, tell me that you’re bluffing,” Korman sobbed. “There’s no way that we’re implicated in Leonardo Rivera’s death!”

Wow, you were Fall Guy of A to Z. Scary.

"How terrifying,” Lennox droned with abject unconcern. “WHY are you wasting our time with this?”

Hey weasels like you are supposed to scream when they're cornered. Where's the spunk coming from?

"You can, with a lot of preparation and research,” Frost said. Her smile went predatory, “Though it helps if the Chief Financial Officer of the organization in question signs off on it.” Jenkins blanched as he realized that he’d been set up from the get-go. “Why do you think I let you get your hands on that in the first place?”

There, there. It was really cute when you tried, really, but you never had a chance against Jadis.

[Excuse me?] Capt. Ibarra mentioned from next to Tyler on the monitor, [You DO realize that you’re doing all of this in the plain view of a serving US Air Force officer, who is also a lawyer AND a CPA?]

I'm sure they understand they're toast deep down, madam. It just has to catch up with their conciousness.

"You talking about the VesCorp Trust, Whitaker-Wright Commerce, Seabury-Oxley Fund, Minkow Restricted, Morrow-Smith Private, and Fidelity Fiduciary accounts?” Lennox asked, finally looking up from his laptop.

"What?” Jenkins, who’d been bucking up at Baine’s ploy, bleated and wilted.

"Not there anymore,” Lennox smirked. “I just moved it all. What did you think I was doing, all this time? Come ON! You assholes had me doing all your bagwork; didn’t it ever occur to you that I was taking notes? Didn’t it ever occur to you that I could use all that surveillance gear on YOU?”

Oh that was why. Problem with recruiting a weasel: they're genetically unable to not backstab when blood is in the waters.

"I’m rolling over on you yutzes,” Lennox said plainly. “Besides the money, I have enough photographic evidence to send every one of you to jail for Life- and it will be Life; none of you have the money for the kind of lawyers to get you out from under now. So, I’m turning State’s Evidence, handing all of my evidence over to whoever Frosty the Snowbeast over there calls, and claiming a 5% finder’s fee on the money.” Lennox finished by standing, putting his hands in his pockets, rocking on his heels and grinning snidely at Baines, who was fuming at him, but couldn’t turn her gun from Korman.

First, prop for using a derivative of Frost Second.. Wahahahahahahahahahaha.
That's adorable, you think you're a threat to Jadis? And you can pull a fast one like that under her eyes?

"We went to school with Blue,” Frost’s sleek companion said.

"All your bases are belong to us,” Frost said.

"LOL,” Kate droned. “Or is that passé already?”

Case in point. Also, the first one is eternal.

"ENOUGH OF THIS CRAP!” Baines screeched, almost shoving the barrel of her gun up Korman’s nose. “You’ve given us nothing to lose, Diabolik! So, let’s keep this simple! You let us out of here, and these losers get to live!”

Jadis Diab–Frost: 36. Girlie, you just sunk under 'supervillains mugging Dunwich' level of stupidity. Have a Darwin Award.

They gave out a group grudging ‘No’. The one on the left grunted, “At least we got a good lunch out of it.”

'Nobody prepare crow like Jadis Diab–Frost.'

"THIS,” Gwen said. Suddenly six streaks of sparks raced along the carpeting, radiating out from Gwen in the direction of the gunmen (and Ms. Baines). The streaks wrapped themselves around the gunmen, simultaneously binding them, shocking them and knocking the guns from their hands.

Go Stormy! (Ah, nostalgia).

Looking around, Kate said monotonously, “Everywhere you look, corruption, deceit, opportunism, violence, desperation and rage. Life is good.”

She's right Jadis, enjoy the scene. Besides, they need the stress relief.

The lead man sadly shook his head and said, “NADA. As per usual. She even had us confirm that innocent civilians were at risk, and that extraordinary measures were called for, before they did anything weird.”

"Hey, at least we got lunch,” his companion repeated.

This guy must really like crow... That said, it raises an interesting point about Gwen's legal standing. Grey enough she isn't worried. Kate too, but Gwen seemed to go well with Daddy...

Dr. Chase nodded to the Wiz Kids and they started to file out of the boardroom. As they left, Frost called, “Oh, and Linda? DO give your big sister Melody my best, won’t you?” She finished with a snide smile.

Frost saving her bacon, she'll never live that down... Until she remembers her sis the likely times where she ended up in that situation (she's dumb enough for that).

As they left, Glynis said, “Jinkies! You mean it really was Old Man Jenkins all along?”

And Velma was the one to tell it... Just priceless.

With relish, Tyler stated, [The person primarily responsible for the death of Leonardo Bautista Rivera y Pereya was…] she dragged it out and then, [Leonardo Bautista Rivera y Pereya.]

"LEO?” the Wiz Kids echoed in abject confusion.

[And No, he didn’t commit suicide,] Tyler said. [Rather, he committed the colossal brainfart of trying to upgrade himself with the Malice Complex, while staying the apex of man-gorgeous.]

Welp, nobody saw that one really coming, because we didn't really think about the Upgrade as an... Upgrade instead of a Weapon Murder, or at least not in his case. And guess he resisted Darth Vulcan quite well after all if he was stupid enough to die for his looks.

[Why do I even bother?] Tyler plaintively asked Holly.

Well, at least you don't have to run your throat dry explaining all of this. And for the whole processus explained, all my congratulations to Bek. Mystery as it should be written

"Sure!” Tom said, “When you think about it, Leo was almost a textbook case of a high-functioning sociopath: glib, predatory, superficial, insincere, slippery, ruthless… And he was macking on everything in skirts on the ship, even as he was stringing Suzy along. But was he a genius before he started using THX, or was that all just the drug?”

Hindsight is 20/20.

[Besides, that was just Baines making ‘booga-booga’ noises. She just lives to throw her weight around. Izzy, Arcero and his goons were dug in for the long haul, not the quick rip-off. The Foundation is actually very stable. Heck, among other scams, they were playing the market with Foundation funds, using confidential information from various projects, getting payoffs to keep patents off the market, and there’s the money they were keeping off the books from the Show from marketing and merchandizing. AND, to cap it all off, news of Korman’s ‘austerity’ measures has gotten out, and the Foundation’s fiscal rating has dropped severely. BUT Jadis Frost, using contacts in Karedonia’s Imperial Bank, managed to buy most of them for a fraction of their face value. When we get those funds back in their right accounts, the Foundation is going to be LOADED]

Hey, scams that good, you want them to last.

"Well, if that’s the case, then I suggest that we do what every Board of every prospering company does,” Logan said. Everyone gave him an ‘and that IS?’ look. “Vote ourselves huge bonuses. I think that a Million each is suitable compensation for saving the Foundation, don’t you?”

"NO, Loogie,” Glynis said severely. The other kids, both Wiz and Square One looked at her like she was crazy. “TEN Million each.”

These kids are true geniuses.

"You mean… your new guardian is Jadis Diabolik?” Tom asked with a tone that suggested a worry as to some sinister long-term scheme. If only to beat Linda to that punch.

[No. She’s your mother]

"WHAT?” Tom yelped, “MOM?”

[Yep!] Tyler grinned, [Your mother was the one who got Frost involved in this, in the first place. She knew that I was being shafted, but Arcero’s orders kept her from doing anything directly. So she got in touch with Jadis Frost, who she knew wouldn’t give a damn about Arcero’s contacts. When I get out of here, we’re gonna be spending the summer together, roomie!]

Well, first bad point for Tom finishing that count Jadis Diab–Frost: 37. Two, Cue Formal and Total Apologies to Dr. Chase, both for the accusations and deriding her abilities to help these kids.

[First thing I did, as soon as Parky had your Power of Attorney. A welding style isn’t as signifying as a handwriting, but our experts confirmed that the chambers had been assembled by three distinct different hands. With that, the FBI, who don’t like being pressured more than anyone else, gave us the leeway to get you that access]

Eh, if you had still been a suspect, no way you could look at these.

[Sneaky?] Gwen, who’d been listening in on this, laughed. [This? This was Jadis on her ‘C’ game. Just wait until you see Jadis’ ‘A’ game!]

Happy to see she toned down the drama of C-Game. Wouldn't you know? Swatting Nemesis on the nose was more useful than scamming an help for that enchantment.

"Due to my responsible actions and quick thinking during the escape attempt, I’ve been made a Trustee,” Byron said with a big smile. “And a big part of my job will be keeping THOSE losers in line,” he jerked a thumb at the Redcoats. “AND, given my time knocked off and some good words to the Parole Board, I may be out of this icebox before the snow gets too heavy.”

Happy to see him having a break. Give my regards to your 'friends' when you're set free.

Tyler left Ray and Byron chatting, and strolled over by herself. She looked up into the air. Knowing that she wasn’t under guard anymore, Tyler lifted herself up as high as she could. She looked all around her. And for the first time in far too long, all she could see was blue skies.

People, I think a rain of sand is cominng. We're all crying.