Jingle all the way

It feels like we've been asleep weeks. Well, in a way, we have. 'Dispersal of pent up energy whilst in stasis until safe levels are reached' and all that.

As you may have guessed, Clarence was right, and we've been very busy.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the base,

Not a hero was sleeping, as Tempest did pace.

Equipment was stacked by the front door with care,
In hopes that adventure soon would be there.

While children were nestled all snug in their beds,
And visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads,
The team were alert, and they heard a quick tap,
As a figure came in, seeming in such a flap.

When outside the base there arose such a clatter,
The team went to look to see what was the matter.
Away to the window they ran like a flash,
Straight past their guest, who was wearing a sash.

As they looked at the moonlight on the new-fallen snow
The guest coughed politely 'Um hi there. Hello.'
When they were done looking, they turned back to hear,
From the shimmering portal, and the herd of reindeer.

'I was looking for Dragon, we need him, and quick,
To return to his role as our jolly St Nick.
Our current is missing, and now Dragon is too,
But we've heard about Jingle, perhaps he will do?'

"Now Tempest! now, Healthbar! now, Broadcast and Jingle!
On, Centaur! On, Lily! Doolittle and Tingle!
To the top of the world! to the top of it all!
Now Come with me! Come with me! Come with me all!"

Onto reindeer they leapt, and away they did fly,

Through the shimmering portal, and into the sky.

They saw a large fortress, towards it they flew,

With Ragnarok, Tildy, and Diffys 1 & 2.

And then, in a twinkling, they were in a Lab,

With portals, and an arch, and it did look fab.

'You see, Santa spreads feeling of cheer all around,

Down the chimney "St Nicholas" heartwards is bound.'

'Santa used to wear fur, and one travelled by foot,

There was one with a Sleigh, and one moved via soot.

Only those three have made the world trip and back,

Your Dragon was one, he even carried the sack!'

The archway, it twinkled! The portals seemed...merry?

They lit up like roses, with holly, and berry!

A sashed man walked up and gave us a short bow,

'Ah Jingle, thank goodness! The arch is ready now.'

Jingle stood in the arch, and gritted his teeth,

And Christmas spread from him, through Tinsel and wreath.

The team gathered round him 'Go! Give it some welly!'

He shook, and he laughed, and the room went like jelly!

VHS then split up, and, each with an elf,

And they each took a portal, including myself!

A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,

And Jingle shone out, his light banishing dread.

We spoke not a word, but went straight to our work,

And soaked up the power, then felt a small jerk.

And using his finger he guided our glows,

Through the portals we went, our energy rose!

We were spread round the globe, our elves gave a whistle,

And away the joy flew like the down of a thistle.

As the world filled with love, Jingle called to the night,

"Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good-night!"





Well, not quite how I'd have put it Clarence, but that was beautiful, and pretty accurate.

So yeah, Clarence has woken up, and Jingle got his first taste of what being Santa involves these days. He wasn't strong enough to do it alone, so we helped as Clarence described, and soaked up all that power put us in some sort of 'Joy-Coma' sort of Stasis until our bodies had recovered. No, I don't really understand either. I still have no idea exactly what happened, but apparently Christmas is when the world is given a nice big boost of love and joyfulness, and that's Santas job. That's his 'gift' to us, and we do the rest, out of our love for each other. Nice huh? So, in away, everyone is a little bit Santa. I love that.

Well, 'Saving Christmas' went so well, let's see if we can get our friends back!

It's a dangerous life

So, we'd just got everything ready for our rescue mission to the volcano, and were about to set off, and were just waiting for Jingle and Diffy. Diffy came down first, struggling to zip up his rucksack.
'Diffy, you will NOT need that many toblerones.'
'How jyou know? I mite dooo. Anyways it Chrismas. And they's yummy.'
'Well one, we're going to a VOLCANO, chocolate may not be the best choice, and two-'
I saw the look he was giving me 'Fine, bring the toblerones'
'Igonna. I not fink of it being hot tho. Can you freeze em if they goes all melty?'
'Uh, if we're not running for our lives at the time, then yeah.'
Jingle came down then, tucking a tree decoration into his pocket. 'Sorry, I've been practising this thing with Chestnuts, and I think I've got the hang of it.'
'Sounds good. Right, are we all ready to go?'

'NOOOOOOOO!'

A booming voice filled the base, and a huge wind picked up, almost knocking us over. Thunder and Lightning began to rage outside, and the door blew off it's hinges. A shadow appeared in the doorway, looming over us. As it moved closer, the light inside the base revealed it to actually be a fairly short man, maybe around 30, who scuttled nervously inside, looking round at all of us, and panting.

'Sorry....ran here....didn't want to miss you......not too late.....good......hi....'
'Um, hi? Sorry, who are you?'
'Oh yeah.....call me.....Clarence......got something to show you......need your help....don't go, please.'
'Right. Well, Hey Clarence, nice to meet you, but we're about to set off on something REALLY important, so maybe we can leave you in the capable hands of some of our new recruits (Sorry readers, I haven't introduced you yet. This will happen soon) who are looking after the base while we're away, and we can-'
'NO! I need you all to stay. You need to be here at Christmas.'
'Well, with any luck we will be, we've got a quick in-and-out route planned, this should just be a sort of smash-and-grab situation, so hopefully-'
'NO! It will take weeks, and if you aren't here at Christmas, well, it doesn't bear thinking about! But of course I can't STOP thinking about it, and I can already see the whole thing, and oh, please don't go!'
'um...but, we wanted to get them home for Christmas....'
'No! Too late! Please, believe me!'
Everything went.....wobbly, and bright, and we saw......things. Darkness, and storms, and a world consumed by grief. And the noise! Crying children. sobs and wailing filled the night. It was a world without hope, full of lost souls drowning in their own misery and woe.

The vision faded, and we found tears in our eyes. 'Please, stay, you have to be here.'
I nodded, sniffing. 'What do you need us to do?'
'Just be here, and offer help when it's needed. You have to fill a void left by someone you all know. One of his followers will come here, and you have to be waiting. I-'
Clarence clutched his head, groaning. 'Argh, if only I was fully trained at this, I could resist better...so many possible futures....so many pasts....you guys are really something aren't you?'
Jingle ran forward to help, pocketed ornaments ringing and tinkling as he went. Clarence frowned. 'Great, I bet that was Cas. I better get mine soon. Don't...' he swayed a little. 'Don't let me down....V...H....-'
He never made it to S. He collapsed, and has been comatose ever since. That was a week ago, and there's been nothing from him OR this mysterious 'follower' we're meant to help.

What do we do?

Preparations

Sorry about last time, the situastion got away from me a bit and some automatic protocols were activated, so the post ended rather suddenly.

You'll be glad to know we're all alive. There were quite a lot of electricity burns, scars, cuts etc, but Healthbar patched us all up.
You'll have gathered, I hope, that I worked out what the 'bugs' really were. They were just that. Computer bugs. Somehow, the Techorator's Technology warping abilities allowed him to bring them to life. Once I realized that, only one idea came to mind. I just hoped it would work.

I blasted a force bubble at the bug that was trying to eat me, sending it reeling backwards. I scrambled to my feet, wincing as I used my left arm. Holding onto the counter for support, I faced the front of the shop. 'Open the door.'

Doolittle left her Tiger to finish off the bug they'd been attacking, and looked at me like I was crazy. She may have been right. 'What?!'

'OPEN. The DOOR.'
She saw the look on my face. If we were getting out of this, we had to fight. And if we weren't getting out of this, we'd go down fighting. Dragging herself to the door, she reached up for the handle and pulled. It swung open. The bugsseemed confused, and swarmed forwards, creating a pile up, which slowly poured into the shop.

'Hey....bugs..got a little security system....I think you might.....be familiar with.....Firewall!!!!!'

I sent a wave of flames at them, as many fireballs as I could muster, each one finding a target. Clickety screams filled the air as the bugs turned black, fizzing away pixel by pixel. Within seconds the shop was clear, and the fire was streaming out of the door, destroying every bug it found. And it found them all.

As soon as I was sure, I let my concentration slip. 'I think I need to shut down now.'

And then I fainted.



Onto the big news. I think I've found the right volcano. The one the fates were using. The one where equinoxes go when they 'die'.

So we're getting everything ready.

I'm working on a few gadgets that I should be able to use without the techorator interfering, Healthbar's soaking up every speck of sunlight (and Moonlight) she can, Tingle's searching through the book of drawings Precog left us for any hints/advice, the Diffys are working on combined effort 'supercharged' illusions (FDiffy knows about them, he learnt some pretty cool stuff in those years that will never be), and Tildy's looking into getting some otherwoldly help, hopefully from some of the people trapped in that room. We're not sure how that works, because, well, we don't know how dead the people in that room are. She can astral project into people's dreams though, so we're hoping she make contact one way or the other. Lily wants to help out, and we're thrilled to have her, so she's practising all kinds of fancy molecular stuff on some boulders in our training cavern. By the time we go she'll be able to turn that volcano inside out if needed!

Which is good, because our other great shifter/warper of sorts, Blackmage, has gone missing. Well, he's called to say he's fine, but we don't know where he is. Apparently there was some emergency at a farm he knows, something to do with superpowers and horses. Makes very little sense to me, but it was important to him so he whizzed off as soon as he heard. He ran off halfway through the Doctor Who 50th special! Poor guy, he missed the best bit.

Best of luck dude, wherever you are. As for the rest of us, look out Fates. We're coming to your Volcano, and we're getting our friends back.

SOLAR will rise again.

Bugs

There are insects swarming the base. Literally covering it. We can't see out of the windows or open the door, they're swarming us so thickly. Big, dark, weird looking ones with wings, and loads of legs, and sort of blue sparks of light rippling over their bodies. But that's not even the weirdest thing. Doolittle can't understand them. She can understand the language of EVERY creature and culture on the planet, but she can't talk to these bugs, or understand them. She says she just gets this weird 'weeeeeb' tone in her ears when she tries, and some sort of static. She can't even hear them buzzing. Nobody else can, but it's driving me and Hana mad. What the hell is going on? Are these bugs only after me or something? All our electronics are going into meltdown, everything seems to be wrong with them at once, the base's defenses are glitching out of control, and we have no idea what to do. Rag's having to wear a containment suit, after seeing what happened with the wasp we're terrified what might happen if one of these touchs him. Tildy tried asking for some otherworldly help, but the ghosts who came to help made no impression on these things at all.

Oh God, the vents! I put the base on lockdown, but with all our tech going haywire, some of them have got in through the vents! and the shutters over the windows are trying to open!

Lightning isn't working! They like it! OHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGODOHGOD What the hell do we- Ow! Arhh, it scratches! 

Maelstrom, don't!

Dammit! He tried to whirlpool them. One got sucked it, started, I dunno, fritzing, and there was an explosion. Maelstrom's out cold, and the bug's getting up, although it seems to be having a fit. Can't anything destroy these things!

Bwoah! I'm on the ground, holding one away from my face with Precog's Cricket Bat. It's wings, there's something on them. I mean, they're blurry because it's buzzing them, but it's like the movement is forming some sort of, what is that? A pixel picture?

Ow, another scratch. If I could just concentrate for a second.....my head....figure something out.....where's Tingle.....Ow....

The image....black and white?.............some sort of creature?.....a...bear.......why does this bug....ow....have a picture....arhhhg........of a.....miserable......bear?.....my head......scratches......bleeding......

THE BEAR! SAD PANDA! ONLY ME AND HANA CAN HEAR THEM! ELECTRONICS GOING HAYWIRE. REACT BADLY TO WATER. LIKE ELECTRICITY.

BUGS.

Oh god....they must be......but they can't be! How did he........he must have.

Techorator, I don't know.......how you did this......but I will end it......and I will find you....and when I do-

Contact with Technopath mind lost.
Tempest emergency program 159 in effect. Autoblog of last known data to main server.

Progress Report

We think we've found the Volcano the Fates had us in. Hopefully, SOLAR should be in that big room of 'specials' in those Aura crystal things.

Speaking of which, great news! You remember how we couldn't get in to them, or break it open, or anything? Well we didn't have Ragnarok with us back then! He used HIS power on it, his hand turned into the same sort of crystal, and the whole thing surrounding Omni just shattered! So she's back! Much as we'd have liked to have her stay here with us to help us find SOLAR and Precog, we understood when she said she had to go and look for any sign of survivors of Techpower since that whole.....business. Also, her power is seriously fritzy, she tried to have a vision to help us, but got mostly static. She caught a glimpse of something though, and managed to mutter 'Oh! The Eye....he's there....he will....lead..' and then she passed out. So she's on a strictly 'no visions' plan until she reaches Cleo in America.

So I got her a plane ticket and she's off, and very happy to be alive, if that is what she is. I mean, she's clearly not dead, but she DID die, but instead of BEING dead, she was in some sort of suspended animation in that volcano, so who the hell knows what's going on. She's back, and that's what matters, and we know how to get other people back.

Now, we have preparations to make, we don't want to go in until we're sure we're ready.

Stay safe.

The Haunting of (s)Hell House

On the 15th of september, Greenpeace supporters marched through london in a huge parade, led by Aurora, a giant puppet polar bear, to protest shell drilling in the arctic. A few of us went along to join in. It was lucky we did.

The parade was about half way to Shell House cheering and singing and waving flags, when Aurora started acting up. One foot dragged, one veered sideways, and her short, crowd-rousing roars became an unending terrifying bellow. One of the operators leapt out of the hatch at the side, and ran, screaming, away down the street. Two more tumbled out of the rear door, fighting wildly. Panic started to spread through the parade, and Aurora began to sway alarmingly.

Me, Freezeframe, Ragnarok, Tildy, FDiffy, Diffy and Healthbar sprang into action at once, as a strange, slightly woozy feeling fell over our minds like a blanket. I sent some fireworks into the air to distract the crowd, helped by the Diffys, who set off for the edge of the pavement together to try and calm down and contain the crowd.
'Freezeframe! Do you think you can handle Aurora?! I need to go after whoever's causing this!'
'Uh, I can try!'
'You've done normal puppets!'
'She's the size of a bus and takes 15 people to operate!'
'Just try will you?!'
'My head feels odd..'
'Mine too, it must be the Psychic. Fight it!'
She closed her eyes, holding one hand out towards Aurora, and holding the other out like a conductor, or a puppeteer. She took a deep breath, and the hand reaching towards Aurora flinched. The huge bear froze, and Freezeframe opened her eyes. They were giving off a faint glow. Frowning with concentration, she began to move her conducting hand and, very slowly, Aurora began to move again. I clicked my fingers at the speakers-on-a-bike as I ran past, and the music got louder, drawing a bit of attention. Some people turned, glassy-eyed, to look, and began to shake their heads, looking confused.
'Urgh, where's Broadcast when we need him? He could have this crowd happy and dancing within seconds!'
I sensed Hana sending off a quick text as I made a brief knotting motion with my hands. A small light on each of my shoes lit up, and I felt the hum as the compact technology I'd crammed into the heels started up. 'I was wondering when I'd get a chance to try these out.'
'Tildy!' I called out as she ran past, grabbing a toddler that was about to wander out into the unclear side of the road. 'You picking anything up? This has to be a psychic, affecting everyone's minds like this.'
Pulling the boy to safety, she paused, holding a finger in front of her face. She closed her eyes, and turned slowly, until she was facing Aurora, and brought her finger down, pointing ahead, to Aurora's right. 'That way. Brown hair, stubble, black shirt with some sort of badge on, maybe security. He's giving off a pretty big buzz, but I think this many people is hard for him.'
'Ah, Clairvoyance. I will NEVER get tired of you just finding people like that, saves so much time. Thanks cuz.'
I started running, keeping an eye out. I spotted him lurking by a car, brow furrowed with effort. Ducking out of the way of a frenzied pedestrian, I failed to notice one of Aurora's puppeteers on my left, who tackled me. I staggered, by managed to spin with the force, sending him reeling away from me. 'I will NOT fight them. He wants to turn this into a riot, and I'm not going to help him.'
Around Aurora, the crowd was too thick, and I had to slow down. I kept watching the black shirted man, but he turned and saw me, and a look of panic flashed across his face. He fled, shouldering people out of the way, heading for the clearer roads ahead.
'Ok new shoes, let's see if I was wasting my time.'
Since my powers took a hit during the 'reset', the Forcefield Express has been a bit....unreliable, so I have been looking into other ways to use my powers to get around quickly.
I sent a wave of ice ahead of me, curving gently to rise up above the crowd. I leapt on, just as short, wide ski-like blades slid from my shoes. Summoning an air current to whoosh me along, I flailed as I tried to find my balance on the winding ice road. 'Come on, you can do this, you've watched Frozone do it....Whoaoaoah...Oh god I've made this thing like Rainbow road, I can't aim like this.....OK, whoah, there we go. Wheeee!'
The ice road was already melting, snowing down on the people (and Polar Bear) below. This helped distract some of the less manic people, but things weren't calming down.

I looked below and ahead, spotting the Psychic as he shoved a man aside in order to run down a side street. I slid round the corner after him, mentally connecting to my phone as it started to ring.
'Jump?!'
'I brought Broadcast, Hana said it was an emergency. Where'd you want us?'
'YES! Thank you, you guys rock! Broadcast needs to do some serious crowd control, try and drown out whatever that guy's putting in their heads. Maybe something jolly, get the parade back on track? Can you just keep people safe, make sure anyone in danger of falling in the river or stumbling into the traffic, well, doesn't?'
'We're on it.'
'Thanks!'
I hung up and skated round another corner after the Psychic. He was fleeing back to base. Back to his employers. Back to the people who had payed him to ruin the parade, because they were scared.

Shell House loomed as I raced after him, big and smooth and faceless. Snow was falling all around us now, and it clung to the Psychic, wrapping him like a snowman, his head free, wriggling desperately to get free. The fuzzy feeling in my head faded a little as I came to a stop on a column of ice across the road from Shell House.
'H-h-h-how...' the Psychic shivered.
'Yeah, you're not the first Psychic we've met, and you won't be the last. We've got pretty good at resisting it. Actually, I think someone gave us a mind block from stuff like this...Evan....no...hmm...'
I was jolted from my thoughts by Tildy, who was flying towards me surrounded by a faint shimmer of green light. She smiled 'The parade's on it's way, Broadcast's made everyone hurry up.
'Good, they should be here. This is why they're marching.'
People were wandering out Shell House, looking scared and awed at the wintery landscape.
Jump called again. 'I have an AMAZING idea. Can you get everyone out of the building?'
'Can do.'
I flicked a finger at the building and the Fire Alarm went off, causing everyone else to flood out.
The parade rounded the corner, led by Freezeframe, who was riding on Aurora's back, guiding her expertly ahead of the mass cheering people.

'Hey! You there!'
I looked down to see one of the suited men nervously peering up at me, shaking a finger. 'Leave now, you hear me? You have no right to be here. I demand that you go.'
'Right? Trust me dude, you do NOT want to throw stones about who does or doesn't have a right to be places. You know what I'm talking about right? Big white place, full of Polar Bears, isn't yours? Ring any bells? We're in a public street, so shut up.'
I felt Hana send another text as the parade arrived. Two canadian women had joined Freezeframe, and were shouting about their ancient homeland, that is was NOT for sale, and that Shell could NEVER convince them to leave. A look passed over Tildy's face, and she beamed.

There was a sudden 'Shcloop' sound, and gasps from the crowd.

Shell House was full of oil. Black Liquid pressed up against the windows, filling several floors. Laughing, I turned to see Jump, trudging towards my pillar, peeling of a very grubby boiler suit. She looked up at me. 'What? They wanted oil, now they have it.'
Clouds were sending sheets of rain down on the building, a thick layer of falling water surrounding it.
'Hey Shell!' I cayelled. 'You want to drill for ice? Allow me to suggest an alternative location.'
I sent a blast of freezing wind, and the water solidified, encasing Shell House in a block of ice about a foot thick.
'Have fun guys! And stay the hell out of the Arctic.'
The Psychic was starting to get free, but Healthbar surrounded his head in her black fog, removiing the fuzzy feeling from our heads completely, while the suits from Shell were looking angry. 'What?! How did you....How DARE you! You think you can stop us? We will drill wherever the hell we like!'
'Oh really?'
Everyone turned to look at Tildy, who was floating in the air, her green light spreading out behind her as misty forms started to take shape.
'Thousands of people came here today to ask you to stop, but if you still won't listen, I have a few more supporters that might...persuade you.'
The figures behind her had come into focus. There was a large number of people wearing thick, robe like clothes, similar to the women with Freezeframe, several Polar Bears, a couple of Arctic Foxes, and a family of Arctic Rabbits.
'These are the ancestors of the people whose land you want to buy. They have been watching over it for centuries, protecting it, keeping it and their descendants safe. That includes protecting them from you. And these are the native creatures who have died because of your actions. They'd all like a word with you.'
The wave of ghosts swept forwards, washing over the suited people, filling them with terror as consequences, visions and warnings flooded through their minds.
Tildy tilted her head, and looked thrilled. 'Oh, and a latecomer! Do join us!'
A ghostly old woman shuffled past Tildy, waving her walking stick angrily. She reached the Psychic, and started whacking him on the head with it. 'Walter! THIS is what you're doing?! How could you?! Does your father know about this? I bet he doesn't, he'd never allow it! The Shame! I have NEVER been so disappointed in you!'
All he could do was gasp and tremble as she continued to rant and smack.

This lasted for several minutes, the parade cheering the whole time, until evryone from shell was cowering in terror, and the Psychic was weeping and snivelling. The parade organisers rounded up with a few short talks, the women from highest Canada sang a lovely song, and the parade broke up, with everyone cheerily heading off in their own little groups.

It was a good day.

Ghost in the Machine

Sorry there's been a long break in posting, I haven't been able to!
I can't use my Technopathy. Well, not on computers anyway. I can still build machines and things, and understand technology instantly, but I can't do anything online. He's watching.

I can only do this because Micah is keeping him busy for a while. He's keeping him distracted with a 'digital avatar', which is fighting with him. I'm going to get him to teach me how he did that, particularly without it getting taken over straight away, it would be very useful.

So, there was this guy. A complete maniac, had a similar sort of technopathy to me, except he sort of brought tech to life, and warped it. When I interact with a machine, I sort of go into it, or mentally interact at machine level. What he did was bring the machine to our level, bring things out of the machine instead of going in, sort of. I still don't quite understand it, but you get the idea.

Anyway, there he was, calling himself 'The Techorator' (I know, I laughed too. Apparently he's going to 'redesign the planet!' Haha.) and his hands are sparking, and little machine-y cables and bits of circuitboard are growing on his arms, while he laughs maniacally and monologs about his master plan, with a big clock ticking away behind him, when Doom shoots him. Just like that. In the head. He makes a gurgly-scream sound, and topples off the gantry, getting tangled in some cables as he falls, and ending up landing in the lava pit he'd been using as a generator (How he was smart enough to set that up, but dumb enough to put a gantry over open lava, I don't know.) He exploded, his stuff exploded, me and Maelstrom protect and whirl everyone out of there, and we thought that was that.

Nope.

He's done a Hana. He uploaded himself. He's alive, and living on the internet. All tech around us is going nuts. He can take over almost anything, like a tech ghost. A toaster tried to kill Doolittle earlier.

I'll post again when I can, but what he'll do next, I have no clue.

Good luck everyone.