Bliss Addresses World Problems, because She is being Ironic (Entrance thread to the Arc)

"If I ask for a new idea, I don't want a dumb idea someone else just said." Light cascaded through a paneled window coursing across the entire wall overlooking the flow of traffic along overpasses wrapping through the cityscape of Los Angeles. Even for a late afternoon meeting Bliss looked unusually perturbed with her board members. Funded with a generous start up from a source Bliss kept secret, but controlled entirely, she created a software company specializing in establishing applicable mediums in physics. To make it more fitting Bliss named the company MetaBliss, but while she normally thought high enough of herself to make the right decisions, on this day her enterprise came to enough of a standstill to make Bliss actually worry about the issue at hand. "You guys find new ways to suck everyday."

"What if we go back to the issue you came up with to-"

"I know what I came up with." Bliss flushed out the jacket of her pant suit to ventilate herself. With the air conditioner set so high she couldn't figure out why she seemed to sweat so much, maybe it attributed to her agitation or maybe it came from it. "Why don't you come up with something, Mr. I got a 3.7 from Brown and have been coasting on the fact that I'm Asian for six years."

"If the bits are the problem why don't we have a press conference to announce the arrival of the..." The slightly pudgy man with a crinkled brow looked used to dealing with his boss, but still didn't appreciate anything she put him through.

"Look up what you're talking about, then kill yourself. You are to this meeting what George Lucas is to Star Wars."

"But, he made Star Wars..." He said in a sheepish, confused manner.

"Get out." Bliss pointed sharply to the door. "You know what." Bliss fanned her jacket. "I'll get out. You come up with something to move this along."

In the past few weeks her company ran into a few snags along the way. Compounding the physical limitations within a a series of scripts to try and turn a finite number into an infinite loop eluded Bliss. Her work staff could only work so hard and they could only pick up the crumbs of the trail Bliss left behind. With a need for efficiency and close-knit information she limited her engineering team to seven people. Young and aspiring along with experience and enlightened, Bliss provided them with the necessary push in the direction they needed and found the energy she needed from others. Treatment towards this team looked nothing like the treatment she bestowed upon her board of accountants and other business professionals she left to control the finances and litigious nature of the industry.

One by one she found and hired her engineers either from prestigious universities, marvels of a career, or infamy through hacking. With the promise of an endeavoring job and the challenge of a paradox bordering on impossibility, she found a way better than money and incentives to get her colleagues to agree to work with her.

Siddharth went by Sid, but everyone called him Buddha, and came with all the tangibles she could want. MIT graduate with honors in physics, studied abroad for a year with Rhodes, went to work straight out of college for Berkley research institute, but after a falling out over finances needed to find another outlet. Bliss sprung to get him immediately, because she set up his departure from the lab to her place. A little deceit for a world of good never hurt anyone.

Kim came out of southern Canada and Bliss felt like getting out of Canada would tempt her enough to get her to leave. It took more after Bliss finally talked her into it. Kim found a way to create a modulator pathway creating a mirrorlike relay that kept code flowing in multiple directions with the same code. Only problem was it was always the same damn code. Maybe she just needed some magic, but this type of thing would come in handy and getting the girl who built it definitely worked.

Robert left the Air Force in the late nineties and kept a lab in his garage ever since. He dabbled along for over a decade with the mysteries of quantum computing and his tedious work paid off in the form of a bastardized annealing device. With no air conditioning and all the electronics someone needs to start a bonfire Bliss made sure they conducted business in the air conditioned kitchen surrounded by bills he kept saying he would pay later. They got paid, and that's all that mattered.

Alfred liked to resist the urge to place constraints on an addictive personality. Not the best guy if you want someone who knows how to stay quiet or do things without asking hundreds of questions, but that double edged sword also brought her someone who could work for long hours and see things in unique ways. After a bank with a few questionable assets tracked down his personal information, Bliss stepped into Dallas, Texas and prevented a murder while erasing his personal information and teaching him a lesson in what happens to people who openly brag about stealing on public forums.

Arycelle spelled her name in a way that made Bliss miss out on a few days of looking because of spelling errors. Once a fact checker did their job she made her way to Arizona to recruit the fifty-five year old physicist. Her other contacts lacked the liability of families, but she took the opportunity and moved three kids one state over. After a few months of work Bliss knew the effort paid off when she could say the word "hard" around her team and not get a chuckle out of Alfred.

Jandry made an effort to get in contact with Bliss, and succeeded coincidentally through a candid transcript that he refereed to as "ironic." Going against her normal rules Bliss made contact to tell him that's not how you use the word "ironic." The parameters of the hacker's duel stated after one of the participants found the others information they needed to call the other they made the call. Jandry thought he got her when he started to dial in her number when the phone went to a message from Bliss detailing all of his personal information. Two days later the young man showed up for work.

Amber made up the last of the detail. Bliss remembered her from her days as a teaching assistant at Queens. Amber tried to pass off some coding for a project that looked suspiciously familiar to Bliss. So familiar she called the freshman in and told her she liked her eye for quality work, but needed to work harder if she wanted to cheat on Bliss. The girl passed the class with a 'B' mainly because Bliss knew the girl cheated and wanted to let her know she caught a few things. When she got a contact from her old instructor she decided not to pass on the opportunity and joined up with Bliss's start up.

Enough of the day passed to empty the lab of all but Alfred and Kim, rendering it almost workable save for one person. With the headache plaguing her finding strength to put up with Fred would exhaust her, so instead she headed over to her office to get a drink. White walls remained undecorated in the space Bliss rented out of an office building. For a small company the office gave them everything they needed. The mid floor held a number of desks for accountants to do whatever they did. Each of the heads of accounting, public relations, and growth and development all stayed within their private offices most of the day doing god knows what on their phones and with their computers.

Along the wall Bliss dedicated about half of the floor space to the binary lab where her team did their magic. Bliss kept the canisters of liquid nitrogen and any other major chemicals a secret as to not void any security deposit she may want to get back. The pride and joy she created in secret a few years ago sat plugged in to a mainframe database created of Playstation 3s to cut costs. Always cutting edge and constantly coming up with new ways to do the same thing until something new came along helped her recreate the design of her Quantum Computer, something Robert fell in love with as soon as he put the thing to the test by having the computer superpose the data required to remotely access his military file. The joy of the assignment brought youth to the entire group and enlightenment.

Enlightenment could wait. Bliss needed a drink.

On the way she passed by her partner's office to drop in. She peaked her head into Ashley Ferrier's office to say hi, but found the office empty. "I'm in your office." Her voice came from Bliss's office. Bliss strode over with a slight stumble. "Are you okay."

"Yeah, my head just hurts a little." A row of bottles lined the wall in between her desk and the two chairs for any business guests she would be in the process of entertaining. "I'm going to get a drink to make it a little more bearable." Brown liquid filled the small glass half way. "Want one?"

"No, that's okay." As her brow turned away the offer she took notice of the dark substance of the drink. "Is that pure liquor?"

"Hell yeah. It's like Mad Men up in this bitch." Bliss took a drink and recoiled at the strength before taking the glass down to her waist.

"They put water in their alcohol Bliss." Whenever she said Bliss's name it always came with a tone of judgment.

"What? So, I'm not business drunk..." The lowered patience and sweating began to make more sense. "I'm just crunk?"

"Yeah." Her tongue snapped against her upper lip in an effort to expunge the rebuttal quicker. "Just sit down. I'll go over what I need to tell you."

"I'm going to finish this." Bliss took a seat in her captain chair in front of her window overlooking the cityscape. "Ain't getting soberer, might as well get drunker."

A creaking door closed and Ashley made her way back to the chair. "I was talking with Sid..."

"Who? Buddha?"

"He isn't Buddhist and hates that name..." She caught herself mid argument. "I was talking to him and he was telling me about a way to isolate the brainwaves on schizophrenics to try and communicate with other dimensions."

"I'm going to need coffee or more booze, because I'm not keeping up in this state."

"It gets a little more clear." While Ashley spoke Bliss nodded in the same manner Gwharr nodded when Bliss said science things. "He went on about how instead of multidimensional travel these existences could happen within our scope of space and we just needed to tap into these schizophrenic minds to identify star patterns to see where exactly they are."

"If you think that made it more clear you need this more than I do." Bliss held up the almost empty glass.

"Well, we had an idea to try and make this more..." She stumbled for the words. "Easily applied. So, I decided to offer up my powers as a catalyst because he isolated something in my powers that could help pin point exactly who we needed."

"How'd that happen?" Supporting her head with her hand, Bliss leaned back.

"Funny story." Ashley laughed nervously. "I..."

"You didn't break something did you? I'm not paying for this thing so you and some weird Indian guy can screw around and break stuff."

"No, but we found out his method was right. So, after the tests we began to notice something odd, but I think we should address it tomorrow."

"You're not telling me something tomorrow you could tell me now." Bliss stood up but fell back to her chair when she decided standing up took too much effort.

"Well, you're drunk, Sid's not here, and I don't think I'm really the one to tell you about what has happened." She kept a calm tone to her voice with a hint of kindness. "It's not all schizophrenics who can see into other parallel timespace, just a few and in order to locate them I've found a frequency they act on."

"You're looney now?" The arms of her chair now held her legs draped over them.

"No, and don't call them..." She got back on key with a laugh. "I can conjure up a frequency that only they can hear."

"Like a dog whistle?"

"Kind of, but it's more that just a sound, but I think Sid should tell you more tomorrow."

Bliss took a cab home after work and crashed out on her couch later as soon as her head hit the pillow. During her blacked out process a barrage of phone calls erupted across her phone. At the onset of one of the calls Bliss made an effort to grab the phone, but merely knocked the device onto the ground. Each call went to her voice mail that still delivered personal information pertaining to Jandry that everyone calling her was forced to sit and listen to.

A few hours later she came back to reality and the realization she could sleep in her bed and not in work clothes much easier than on a couch with work clothes. Still feeling the troubles of alcohol Bliss waded through her living room to the adjacent bed room and crawled into bed. She would take a late start to work tomorrow, after all the money came from her and she owned the business.

Against the willingness of her wishes to sleep late, she found herself wide awake before her clock hit 6 AM. Hugging her pillow under her chest she rested against the build up of cushion under her head. Despite her best wishes of sleep she found herself drawn to getting ready and getting to work, so like any given day she pulled herself out of bed and hit the shower. After she got to work she could finally figure out what Sid needed to tell her. Ashley gave her some details, but alcohol soaked up whatever Ashley's incompetence with science didn't dilute.

On her way out a little red light flashed from under her coffee table. She picked up her phone and hit the middle button to get the screen to show her what she missed. The little red icon in the upper corner made her remember the amount of calls she remembered not answering as she stepped out of the door and onto the pathway dividing her lawn in two. Just in time for her departure, a cab showed up to take her back since she left her car at work due to "health" issues.

As she slid in and set her briefcase down her neglected phone began to ring. Pressing her finger to the answer button, Bliss made a quick motion to tell the driver where exactly she needed to go. When the cab came to motion, Bliss placed the phone to her ear.

"Hello."

"Are you coming in today?" Ashley called early to confirm her arrival. The office didn't open for another twenty minutes and Bliss normally showed up around 10 AM when the office opened as far as she was concerned, but today felt like getting there at a normal time.

"I'm actually on my way right now."

"Good. Everyone tried calling you last night. We really need you to look at something."

"What is it?"

"I really can't explain over the phone. Once you get here you might have a better guess than the rest of us at what it is."

"I should be there in thirty minutes or so."

"I'll see you when you get in, oh and Jandry wants you to change your voicemail ASAP."

Bliss made her way expediently up the stairs and into the office space for her company. "Where is it?" Not waiting for an answer, Bliss tossed her briefcase to her secretary and made her way towards the labs in the back.

"We're hoping you can tell us." Robert met her at the front desk and walked back with her to the lab. "It looks almost like a lost strand of what Buddha is calling anti-matter is set on a collision course with us."

"Define 'us,' please."

"The anti matter could collide with matter on Earth."

"How did he detect it?"

"I detected it because it's much bigger than anything we've ever seen. It is hardly microscopic." Waiting to get a word in with Bliss before she entered the lab rested Sid.

"Does this have anything to do with Ashley and that thing yesterday?"

"Kind of. The antimatter could collide with matter of Earth and the explosion would be enough to destroy the planet." Sid opened the door to the lab and allowed Bliss and Robert to enter first before closing the door behind him and entering. "It looks like it has a trajectory and a purpose."

"It looks like a guided weapon from another dimension." Robert gave his opinion on the matter as he took his station around an observation table.

"Ideas on stopping it?" Circular lights from fixtures hanging from the ceiling focused the light on the team in the center of the room. "Ideas on who can muster up a way of firing antimatter as a..." A sudden revelation hit Bliss. "If this is antimatter, that means it is coming from the future right."

"In theory." Arychelle stood against the wall with her arms crossed and her brow staring down the situation.

"So in theory a force from the future is going to detonate a substance that reacts violently with the substance that makes up our universe and we have to stop it and get answers to where and why?" Cracking her neck with the sound of resolution. "We're going to need to put out some feelers on getting a little more man power in here." She moved over to the in line phone and called her office manager. Albert Warzworz used to go by the name Captain Wombat until a run in with Bliss and Gwharr changed his life dramatically. After keeping Gwharr as a house guest for a few weeks Albert and his wife needed to find a new house, and luckily Bliss offered him a job with good enough pay to get him a house and some new gadgets. "Wombat, put out a mass call to tell everyone not to come in because of fumigation today."

"By bogity. I completely forgot about that fumigation. Not a very good thing for your head assistant of technology to do I guess."

"There is no fumigation today. Just call them and tell them not to come in. And if business complain about me not giving them enough heads up about things tell them to go fuck themselves; you got it?"

"Well I don't think your assistant technology expert should, or even could, use such harsh..."

"Al, just make the call."

"The plan is to use these different entrance points to locate the frequency which can show us the pathway of the antimatter." A series of dots moved across a screen highlighted by lines showing traffic routes and large buildings as Kim pointed to the individual dots. "These little dots are a number of individuals we have found showing a unique brain wave." Bright yellow circles crawled across the photographic cityscape, pulsating a slowly decaying ring around Kim's slender finger.

"The brain wave picks up on something other than a usual eletromagnetic spectrum." Jandry moved next to Bliss catching her eyes when her face turned to see him under the illuminated glow. "We contracted out personal interviews with each subject through psychologists and psychiatrists and the joining variable coming back to us was schizophrenia."

"Did you buy off those psychologist, or was there a surplus of chatty Kathy shrinks who never read the Hippocratic oath?" Bliss felt her purse strings tighten at the thought of someone bypassing her authority on expenditures.

"Why buy when you can take the information off their computers for free?" Jandry reassured Bliss while letting her take some time to show a little pride that her team could work a quantum computer well enough to turn modern American psychology into their own information network. "It's not all schizo patients who exhibit this signal though. We've tracked down ten people across the world who share the signal wave."

"And we go through them to get the coordinates for these parallel worlds, and then how are we going about getting there?" When she first came in they acted as though they needed her to show them something, but for the past few hours they filled in all of the holes for her. Something big must be on the horizon.

Robert stepped forward to fill in the missing pieces across the table from Bliss. "We think these people may be able to do more than just see into those other worlds. We need you to run the math, but we think they may act as a medium to those worlds." Across the table laid a blank dry erase board the team used constantly to figure calculations while working with small devices. It kept them from needing to turn to a wall and use a board. Bliss knew in a few hours this board would go from a covered mess to the smallest formula she could come up with. One capable of somehow getting people across a brane using a unique brain signal and all the computer technology her team assembled.

"We need to put out a signal for help." Bliss stepped away from the table. Land lines required knowing who you wanted to contact as did any kind of signal based reception. The only way she could get a mass amount of people would be through a radio transmission, but the strength of those waves would quickly collapse. Her best shot would need to come from the simple act of word of mouth. A signal would originate in Los Angeles and then the message would need to find its way to those she needed to reach. "Amber, I need a radio frequency. AM waves preferably, FM is still good." The round girl made her way out of the room to dig around in the buildings inner technological reaches. "Start working on some base formulas while I get this show on the waves."

Feeling her time could go to something more productive, Jandry chimed in. "Why don't I do that while you work away at these formulas?"

"L-O-L, you are not the voice of this bitch."

After digging through a drawer of wires Robert kept around for conducting waves tests, Bliss hooked the wires into a cable relay that came standard with all office buildings. "Here goes nothing. To anyone receiving this transmission, a serious threat has arisen to the safety and stability of this world. I am calling on the assistance of any meta powered human, or whatever, within the vicinity to make contact with me immediately with MetaBliss offices. To anyone not fitting that description, I need you to siphon off enough bandwidth to relay this message to the next city in every direction verbatim. End transmission"

"Clement, I am a holding a report from 1921 in my hand. Do you know what this report says?" The icy voice of Clement Technologies' CEO rang out over the laboratory, where research assistants hurried from terminal to terminal in white coats, heads ducked and shoulders stooped. They were afraid, partly of the entire phenomenon that was occurring in the orbit of earth, but mostly because the last person who had interrupted a dressing down of Ignatius Clement had been thrown through two plates of reinforced glass before losing a limb to a live action laser test. Then their contract had been terminated for "Test Contamination; Insubordination." Ignatius was currently unphased by her, his steel grey eyes reading the rapidly updating information from their private satellites.

"It depends on the serial number of the report." He mused quietly, a finger scrolling through the pure mathematics. He did not flinch when the old report hit his chest, loose papers scattering out around his feet and to the floor below. Ignatius was far too busy whittling down the too fantastical ways of dealing with the problem. A spatially displaced gas giant might be able to annihilate most of the Antimatter before it collided with earth, but the size of a transporter would certainly have to be about as large as a city. Then there was the always hard choice of which gas giant to sacrifice.

"It says Antimatter cannot exist in quantities more then those generated and maintained by the Omega Cores. There are very sophisticated equations in here which scientists spent decades reviewing, until they agreed with you. So can you explain what is coming towards Earth at this very moment?" Clement abandoned the idea, steel eyes drifting from the holographic screen to rest upon Elizabeth's face. Her blonde hair seem slightly unkempt, mostly from the stress. The much older gentleman took a moment to appreciate just how exactly a woman who desires to be in control and often fulfills that desire so often could unravel in a situation this far beyond her scale.

"It seems to be a wave of Antimatter. When it collides with earth I suspect it will destroy not only all fauna and flora but will in fact remove any trace of this planet from the solar system." Her jaw set and Clement sighed, turning back to the screen. "Yes I did lie. Or more, omitted the truth concerning antimatter. Furthermore, I will continue not supplying you or our stockholders with Antimatter Weapons of Mass Destruction." He was going to be punished for that, but he supposed there wasn't much more she could to do him. The tiny French Polynesian island had been his prison since the Olympus fiasco, which turned out to be only moderately worth its expenditure. A few interesting new additions to Clement Technologies military portfolio. "To address your next three questions, No, I have no idea where it came from. Yes, it is most likely artificial. No, I have not found a way to stop it and mostly likely won't with a harpy baying so close." Metal screamed in shock as the table, bolted in place, nearly twisted free. A subconscious attack, rather then direct physical violence he hypothesized. She seemed as surprised as the other Doctors.

"Fix this. Or I will have you fed to it first." She stormed from the laboratory, the doors sealing and locking behind her. A collective sigh of relief ran through the room as the good doctor Clement turned away from the consistently life threatening data. He looked about the wide open room, with it's large holographic earth displayed above them. Walls were lined with computers and their screen projectors, printers, anything and everything someone gathering intelligence would need. On two of the walls were displayed large overviews of the information they had. Against the other, two staircases lead up to a large nearly indestructible door. The only way in and out of this room, another form of cell for Clement. Finally, on the last free wall a more detailed map concerning the area around the island. Any one of them could mean anything that Clement wanted. The researchers and assistants all seemed busy, but they would drop anything at a moments notice to address his needs. He didn't know one of their names and had pointblank refused to commit them to memory, if only because it would be much easier then to be civil and attached when he witnessed another of Miss Jules contract terminations. "How many governments are aware?" A moment later the figure had been supplied; most first world countries were currently being made aware. Most of Europe, North America, Chin and Japan were currently holding very secretive crisis meetings. All data about the tear in space was kept under wraps and suppressed. All for the better he supposed.

Someone handed him a computerized pad with a list of individual groups they suspected would be capable of also recognizing the danger. He ran his thumb down the list, looking for names that he could possibly supply with his own equipment-"Oh. No." Clement lowered the pad slowly and looked up at the Earth, feeling the first actual pang of dread for the day. Yes, the impeding destruction of Earth was something to afraid of. But this was simply taking doomsday a little past it's needed cruelty. The door to the lab opened with a hiss, hydraulics dragging back the magnetic seal. Jules stood easily over the lab, hand upon the railing as she lifted her small handheld computer. "You're going to L.A. Clement."

It felt like it had been a while since he was fitted into the grey jumpsuit. The gloves fitted well, as did the belt with it's collection of security automatons and his Ray Gun, weighed down at his side. Discs were also slipped into the pouch before he carefully slipped the contact lenses over his eyes, the Microcomp secreted away at the belt. A full systems diagnostic was performed as he was escorted down to the Decks of his little imagined Island Paradise. Althoria still seemed rather nice, with it's pillars and Greek inspired design. The buildings and condos were full of scientists now though, a little hide away of the worlds most gifted, collected by Clement Tech. They didn't bat an eyelid at the long since previous master of the company was escorted by four armed guards. They loaded him upon one of the islands high tech helicopters and he wasn't even given a good luck before the door was closed. Rotors beat hard and lifted the mechanical weight into the sky, before they halted suddenly. The blades smoothly slipped into the rest of the body as the wings extended slightly; the jet engines kicked in a few seconds later.

The ride was relatively smooth after they had broken the sound barrier; it would take three hours to reach L.A. at their current speed, which was not bad at all for about four thousand miles of travel.

In that time Clement had investigated MetaBliss as best as he could. Little was evident; a small building with a few offices. They were being funded well actually. A possible threat to Tech if he knew anything. Ignatius would inquire about how hard it would be to buy out Bliss' team from under her. Or at least nip the enterprise in the bud. And then he remember Jules triumphant smirk and promptly forgot the idea. He was sure she had something nasty in store. When his reasoning had passed from there he attempted to try to piece together whatever Bliss Fokukama could dream up. Over L.A. the jets slowed, the fat mechanically belly dropping slowly in the air before the blades extended and beat once more. The entire form kept descending, down and down, in ever circling arcs before it hovered gracefully above the roof of MetaBliss Offices. Clement opened the door and calmly nodded his head at the pilot before dropping down weightlessly, Antigravity belt kicking in. With just a hint of caution, he made his way to the doorway on the rooftop.

Ace yawned as he watched a man dressed in a giant panda outfit dance around a lit flame. "California is really full of loonies isn't it?" Ace spoke to the panda man "I mean hell, you are the third man in a giant animal suit that i have stopped in 3 months." Ace wasn't lying, there are some people who don't think being a crazy kleptomaniac is enough, they have to be a crazy kleptomaniac in an animal suit. Ace had gotten the tip off from Sullivan that another one of these crazy assed animal people was here, "Seriously, Are these guys the biggest threat to california? Giant animal people?" Ace had complained to Sullivan
"No, but the police can't act until they do something illegal and yo-"
"And i can, yeah yeah, So basically I get the harmless loonies and the deadly ones"
"Basically"
"Fine then Albert, Get me the batmobile!"
"We don't have a batmobile"
"I know, I was referencing"
"That was a horrible reference"
"Shut up and take me to the crazy furry"
So now Ace was casually walking around an abandoned airport hangar while he negotiated with a panda who occasionally would confer with stuffed teddy "Now would you like to make my day easier and just give in, i have places to be, sometimes i like to be a normal teenager and you and your little bonfire isn't too much for me"
"Why don't you make my day easier and walk away little hero, you cant stop Panda-Man and the glorious Teddykins" Panda-Man shot a look to the glassy eyed hand stitched teddy bear sitting on a crate next to the bonfire. Ace's face fell into his hands "My god, you are worse than the bear on steroids, at least he was entertaining, have you ever fought a giant teddy?" Panda-Man opened his out to speak but was stopped by Ace "Actually, don't say what you're about to say, i don't know what you've done to that bear of yours" Panda-man looked offended by the statement but was once again interrupted by Ace "Yeah, its kind of obvious what you do when your accomplices predominately rob pharmacies for condoms and costume stores for animal costumes." The Panda-Man started to blubber
"Bu-Bu-Bu"

Ace's phone started to ring, "One moment, i need to take this" Ace answered the phone "What is it?"
"Agent Ace, How goes the mission?"
"What the hell is it Sullivan?"
"Fine… What do you know about MetaBliss?"
"The Hell is a MetaBliss?"
"It's a company, it sent out a distress message or something earlier today." The message was played over the phone and the familiar voice of Bliss filled Ace's ears *Of course, MetaBliss is a product of Bliss, Why did i not guess that* thought Ace "Sullivan, where did this message originate?"
"At MetaBliss Hq in LA, Earlier this morning"
"Ok get me there ASAP, I owe a friend a favour, A couple actually but that's against the point, Get me there"
"A car is on its way" Sullivan responded, thinking one step ahead.

Ace hung up the phone and turned back to the panda "Now, you know what, i don't have time for you, you're barely even a criminal." Pandaman took a step back and Ace started walking away, "Yes, you run away, quell in fear of Panda-Man and The Glorious Teddykins" Panda-Man said triumphantly. Before panda could blink Ace had turned around and launched a grappling hook into the barrel of fire, "No!" Yelled Panda-man as Ace tugged on the wire, tipping the barrel and lighting teddy on fire. A car revved behind him and Ace made his escape as Panda-Man was still trying to put Teddykins out


Ace arrived at MetaBliss greeted by a smiling receptionist "Hello, welcome to MetaBliss, How can i help you?" Ace decided against his better will to use his last name instead of his first, "Ah yes, Tell Miss- Er, Bliss, that Mr Wray is here to see her"
"Mister Wray? Shouldn't it be Master Wray?"
"Just tell her it was Mr Wray"
"Ok then Mr Wray what should i say this is about?"
"Er, The Saving of the world"
"Ok then Mr Wray, I'l tell her that, just take that elevator to the lab" the receptionist said as she pointed to a nearby elevator. Ace got into the elevator and hit a button that said 'LAB' in big bold letters, Ace didn't know what to expect when he came out that elevator, he just knew it would be crazy, because of Bliss.

The Caravan pulled into LA and started looking for the Fairplex, this was gonna be one hell of a spot and Jack couldnt wait to play it. All the marks were gonna get whacked! Jack looked at the map quest sheet. "This way" He said as the truck turned right on Mckinnely Ave. Jack looked out the window at all the shops, and people."Hey Bobo, Think they got good Bud here?" Jack laughed and checked the sheet again. Bobo pulled the truck into the Fairplex parking lot and Jack Jumped out. Bobo followed suit. The parking lot was empty. Roach crew was the first ones there. "Well hell Bobo, think we got time for some beers before the Perry's show up?" Jack asked. Bob rolled his eyes and made a call on his cell Phone. Jack seen a conveinence store across the street and started walking towards it when Bobo yelled"Alright you stains, we made excellent time. set up aint till tommorow, so find yourselfs the cheapest crack motel and bunk down for the night!" Didnt have to tell Jack Twice he headed out of theparking lot and Down the street.

He passed a bar, a liqour store, a lil mom and pop shop, and a couple of dispensaries before he came upon the little run down hotel. The walls were green and the doors were red. To much contrast to want to stare at all day. Jack walked into the front office and rang the bell on the desk. The office wasnt much better with a nasty orange color on the walls, and a horrible yellow shag carpet. Jack couldnt help but think this was a horror movie waiting to happen. The little asian woman came around the corner and nodded. "Cash or credit? The womans english was perfect, many years in the states. "Cash" twenty nine dollars. Jack hands over the money and receives his key he headsback to the lot and grabs his stuff, and makes his way back to the hotel when he sees a TV in a window.

Its a News report about some Company Named MetaBliss and a distress call they put out earlier today. Jack doesnt listen any longer as he rushes back to his room and changes into his Jumpsuit, he slides his work boots on, he fastens his utility belt on and looks at his hammers, he touches the cold steel,he loved his hammers more than money. He sheaths them and heads outside and down the street. He wasnt sure if he was heading into a deathtrap,but he was gonna help anyway possible! Jack headed straight towards MetaBliss. When he finally reached his destination he was sticky and sweaty, Should of thought this through better. Jack looks at the massive building and makes his way to the front doors.

Oh what a week this had been.And why the hell was he in Los Angeles again, standing inside the hotel room looking out the sole window into the field outside?Off in the distance he thought he had seen a deer a few minutes before but he had not gotten a good enough look to be entirely sure.Still it was a rather nice looking field located in such a city as this that it was worth viewing for some time.

He looked around the room and examined the various features that were present.From the carpet's pattern of triangles that when examined properly added up to seventy-two total per square section to the barely noticeable mismatched colors of the curtains on the window.They being two separate shades of beige but it was not noticeable unless one were to take a moment to look at them.The bathroom was narrow making it difficult for one to move around it properly.That seemed quite the inconvienence that was in need of fixing.At the very least the efforts into making these rooms secure was thorough.It certainly would be difficult for somebody to break into one of these rooms.

His mind had so many thoughts racing through it that he could not seem to even focus on one so important as this in the slightest.His mind was so askew nowadays he wondered how he managed life on a day by day basis.Honestly he was starting to think that there was something seriously wrong with his brain for it to be working the way it does.He had been passing it off as just a phase that one naturally goes through during such a time of their lives but this just did not seem natural to him.He was starting to think he should at least tell someone about this rather than worry about something he didn't quite understand.Even though he had spent quite some time researching a possible reason he could not come up with a conclusive answer.

He took a moment to breath and collect his thoughts.This shouldn't be so hard to remember at all.After a short pause to relax his troubled mind he finally remembered why he was in Los Angeles.Another business trip.This time it was to the city of angels.Finally that little issue was resolved.He would not have to think about it anymore.What a relief.

After a few minutes of relentless overthinking about things like recent events, people acting like paranoid nutjobs, conspiracy talk about stuff that was completely irrelevant he decided to turn on the radio to distract himself.He was going through the various stations trying to find a good signal when the radio finally received a transmission.What a strange one it was.It was clearly a distress signal but a peculiar one indeed.Talk of something that could endanger the entire world though did not specify in anyway what that may be.Also a call out for the assistance of metahumans.He had heard that word numerous times before.In terms of its definition he would fit under its criteria thus making him so.The message mentioned for them to go to metabliss.He knew where that was.He had seen it from the plane as it was approaching and knew the way there.

After taking a moment to think he decided to go there.He wasn't sure entirely why but he felt that going there would be a good idea.He grabbed a few things and placed them in a case then got out his phone and called the local cab service to come pick him up.Sure he may be heading for trouble but it was unavoidable anyways.Might as well be ready for it this time.He stepped outside shortly after and waited for the cab to arrive.When it finally did he got in and told the driver where to take him and paid him the amount necessary to make this trip happen.He stared out the window the entire drive letting his mind wander.Upon finally arriving at the office building he thanked the driver and got out of the cab, giving a quick wave to the driver before heading in through the doors.

"I'm seeing six right now, but there could be more." Pulsating dots colored the lines of the cityscape with a fading yellow tint before Sid's finger. After preliminary scans of the city, and a cohesive underhanded infiltration of the American Psychiatric Association's database, Sid and Robert gave a preoccupied Bliss the run down on where they stood.

"Right now we can't be sure if anyone else in the city shows the signs, or how to connect with people outside of the city." Running radio signals off of targets of this magnitude felt similar to Robert, but the technology amazed him. Each wave bounced with such a precision to allow it to ping the one singular signal off of the target they needed. His love for the technology he surrounded himself with normally cut him off from the others, but the pressing issue at hand caused him to focus more. "Sid said something about, um..." Robert ran his hand across his head. "A wave sending off an anomaly."

"No, no..." Sid interjected with a cool demeanor that held back the stress he took upon himself since his meeting with Ashley yesterday. "The wave is the anomaly."

"What's the point?" A number of formulas and commands lined the dry erase table in horizontal rows. The only problem Bliss ever showed with taking in English as a child showed up when she started writing in English. For years she wrote right to left and never fully embraced the change. It showed in her formula writing and confused anyone looking over her shoulder without knowledge of her background.

"We've got company." Ashley walked back to the trio. "I told them to make their ways back here." With Bliss sending everyone home, Ashley took the normal girl's place at the receptionist desk and filed back Ace and Sean when they showed up.

"Two?" Sid said eying the only people who made their way in the room. "And not too..."

"Two will do for now." After giving Sid a notion of reprieve, Bliss turned around to see the two who Ashley brought in. "Wray?" She didn't know whether this was good or bad. It didn't really matter. "I can only tell you what I said in the message. In order to get the full story of what's happening you two need to check in with your contacts."

"We've got an address for you, and the name of the person you need to meet with." Nothing cover tor special about the post it note Ashley scribbled and handed individually to the two young men. Ace would make his way to the suburbs and Sean would take his out to the inner city to find his address. "We really don't have any way to get you out there, but if you need any travels reimbursed we can take care of any of that later..."

"Hey." Bliss cut her off. "Time's not moving backward here."

"That's not entirely true." Sid pointed out a truth.

"Can you reincarnate yourself as someone who does work?"

"Did your parents name you Bliss ironically?" The argument continued between Sid and Bliss, but Ashley maintained a smile while assisting the two young men with what she gave them.

"It seems like you're in the dark right now, but after you reach the address the people in those houses will explain everything." The office space seemed more vast with the absence of people. Ashley normally made rounds during the day to check in on the secretaries and accountants since Bliss couldn't even name most of them. "Once you get there, call the office line and the brains should be closer to what they need to know."

The doorway lead into inky blackness, the sun turning the stairwell into a never ending abyss. Clement did not hesitate to step across the threshold and close the fire door behind him, pulling it firmly until the sound it slamming echoed down into the depths. The contact lenses compensated immediately and lifted the levels of ambient light, an arrow being imposed on the air before him indicating he should go down. He muted that with a quick drag of his eyes, having already committed the floor MetaBliss had taken up as their offices. A grey gloved hand squeezed rough metal as a railing and he descended, feet echoing in the tight confines of the space. In stead of continuing his way down, however, he turned right instead of left and pushed open the first door he met. The top floor was a half empty office, a recruitment agency apparently. Neat cubicles stood in rows, with bowed heads filling them like pigeons in their coops. Someone turned and glanced at him, but Clement was not worried about being challenged. Wearing a grey jumpsuit was enough of a disguise; there were only two kinds of men that wore a jumpsuit.

Maintenance workers, or Prisoners.

He snorted softly when the head turned back and he closed the door, beginning his descent back down towards MetaBliss HQ. Wasn't that always the truth of it though? Forever a prisoner, forever a maintenance man, holding the world upon his shoulders. He moved over the last step and kept working downwards. Since the day he was born, he has been chained to science for the benefit of others. And now again he was putting himself into a dangerous situation solely for a race that wasn't even his own. If he didn't love the mathematics, the engineering, the physics both quantum and otherwise he might sit back to just watch the world burn.

However, Clement was not so jaded yet. He had arrived at the doorway to MetaBliss, but halted for a second. A gloved hand moved over the screen, finger tip lifting and dropping back against the surface. "Hmm." Finally he pushed forward, the doorway opening. The hallway beyond was empty. Ignatius moved onto the carpet slowly, his footsteps now softened. There was a photocopier, but it seemed second hand and a dying plant had been shoved into the corner. Voices were muffled by the empty space, which seemed to be imposing itself on the world. Clement slowly leant back against the wall, withdrawing a security automaton from its place on his belt. He let it slowly drift upwards and out from his clutched fingers, the red light coming to life on the front. It turned the corner separating the fire escape from the majority of the office, the top of it knocking lightly into place as it pretended to be apart of MetaBliss security.

Ignatius blinked and then briefly smiled, because there were two friendly faces he had not seen since the Gala. A young man who had helped him. Sean, if his intelligence was correct. And there was Ashley Ferrier, helping him and a younger man. Everyone else was near inconsequential. Near inconsequential, but not completely. Bliss Fokukama and her hired team seemed to be milling about. He frowned, coaxed the camera back and slipped it back into his belt. Clement took a deep breath and finally stepped out from his hiding place, shoulders squared and hair neatly arranged. His expression betrayed every single thought of turning and leaving as he took a few steps forward, his hands away from his sides and opened before Bliss.

"I have come to offer my help, Miss Fokukama. And hello, Ashley."

The ride to the lab was the longest elevator ride in his life, 8 stories never seemed so high, Ace was considering pressing the help button when the door opened to the lab. Ace stepped out onto the Lab floor, surprisingly enough it looked a lot like an office building, everything was the dull office building grey, not somewhere where you'd expect world saving research to be going on, but then again, Ace knew to never judge a book by its cover, especially dealing with superhumans. Ace heard the distinct voice of Bliss and assumed thats where he should go. Ace arrived just after the secretary, how that worked Ace didn't know, but it had happened. A man Ace didn't know made a comment about the lack of people and Ace realised Sean was next to him, Ace knew Sean form the sentinels program, he hadn't seen him since he'd almost got killed, *I guess i cant blame him for leaving* Ace thought to himself *The sentinels were the main reason he almost got killed, both times* the secretary stared talking about where they needed to go, Ace assumed he should pay attention and started nodding along to what she said. Bliss and the man Ace didn't know started an argument and the secretary told Ace and Sean what they needed to know, Handing them a piece of sticky note with a name and address on it. "Ok, i'm going to ge-" Ace was interrupted by a man in a grey jumpsuit, a grey that almost matched his eyes, Almost. *Fokukama, thats what bliss' last name was* Ace made a mental note and, after quickly assessing whether this man was a threat, which he obviously was not, coming out with the phrase 'I have come to offer my help', made his way to the elevator. *No point in wasting time,* Ace thought to himself, *That and every second i stay here panda-man is plotting his revenge* Ace got into the elevator and pressed ground, "Its going to be a long day"

John had walked right throught the front doors of the office and took a look around the building.This office was certainly a nice looking place.It reminded him highly of the office building that his father worked at but with a different design and feel to it.He supposed it was all personal taste for each individual person.The person at the desk addressed him and informed him to head upstairs.He decided to take that as is and go up there.

Across the way he saw two other people who had entered an elevator that was going to take them to one of the higher levels of the buildings.He hurried over towards it in order to catch a ride with them but was far too late to make it.Well that was indeed unfortunate.Instead he wound up having to wait for the elevator to go up monitoring where it was going up to so he would know which floor to get off at when he used it, make its way back down to the level he was currently on, all the while pressing the button repeatedly like he was obsessive compulsive or something like that.My oh my it felt like a very long wait for the elevator to come back down even though it was only a couple of minutes.When it finally arrived he entered it and pressed the button to make his way upwards.

During the ride upwards he thought about what could possibly be waiting upstairs.Various ideas and possibilities passed through his head during the time.John thought that each one seemed as wild as the previous.Perhaps he was thinking too much and should just relax since at this point in time he was going to find out anyways.When the elevator reached its destination the doors came open and he stepped out into the room.He could see some people gathered around including the fellows who had been on the elevator that he had missed.He took a second to breathe before walking forward to the people that were there.

Jack walks into MetaBliss and heads for the Elevator, the security Guard steps in front of him. Sorry do you have an appoinment? Jack smiled, "The distress call on the TV says I dont need an appointment" The Guard Frowned Are you a Meta?? "Nope Mutant! and proud of it!!!" Jack was getting Cocky he loved this little game of cat and mouse. He waited for a reaction. The Guard walked over to the receptionist and talked to her for a second then looked at Jack Whats your name son? "Jack Dunker" The Receptionist pushed a button and asked a few questions and motioned for Jack to take a seat.Jack shook his head and looked at the structure of the building. "Can this withstand high speed impact?" The Guard looked at Jack Planning something son? "Nope just a question" Jack finally sat down.

It was taking an awfully long time to get permission to go up. Jack stood up and slowly made his way towards the elevator and pushed the button. The door opened and he stepped inside before the door shut jack yelled at the Receptionist "Thank you for your hospitality and the doors shut. The woman was shocked. Jack looked at the floors and pressed the top floor button and made his way up

"Hi Dr. Cosmos." Her face illuminated at the first sight of Clement since the incident in Washington. "I was worried about you after the Washington..."

"Christ, keep your pants on." While she did not expect Clement, she felt no surprise in his arrival. "Well, this could help, and I know you want to ruin things with your brain and smart-making, but just go to the address and things will begin to make more sense."

"Um..." Sid felt nervous seeing the abrasive nature of Bliss towards Clement. "This is the real Ignatius Clement."

"I know." She dropped her head back to the desk while writing an address on a post-it.

"With how important this is we could give him more..."

"Oh, this is the most important thing now? last week you wouldn't shut up over how the ending to a videogame was the worst thing ever and now it's this?" Her hand scribbled down the address on, but continued on after the numbers came up.

"That's important in a different way." The irrelevance caught him off guard, but he found himself at odds with whether to remain on topic, or defend himself.

"It's important in a way that no one cares." Her calligraphy stayed true to the matter at hand.

"People care." His words did not.

"No one cares." The last words made their way to the note and with a flick of her wrist the point of the pen retracted.

"I can show you a website-- we're wasting time." His hands tried to make a plea for reason that Bliss took upon herself to cash.

"No we're not." Bliss held up the note with an added commentary giving Clement a little more information on what he could expect from his meeting with the medium they located in Burbanks. "It's called multitasking and scientifically speaking women are better at it."

After the passing of the note Bliss witnessed another man make his way into the back lab. It began to feel like a revolving door of elements Bliss would under any circumstances consider unsavory. Hearing the opening of the door and hearing the approach gave off enough of a signal, but Robert still felt it necessary to address the new arrival. "We've got another."

"Another headcase?" Sid walked back from the dry erase board as he viewed the black cowled individual. "Oh, kind of."

"We don't really have time to sit here and talk." Bliss grabbed a post-it she stuck to the table minutes before when she jotted down the address for Clement. A row of yellow Post-it notes outlined the perimeter of a constant formula she jotted down as a legend. "Find this address and the person matching this name and description will tell you everything."

With the departure of John it only took a few minutes for Jack to show up. By this point Bliss became almost automated in how to deal out the hand written information to newcomers. "Take this. You'll get all the information you need once you get there." Without breaking her gaze from the table, Bliss held out her hand to give him the information he needed. Or at least the information she would willingly give up.

His nerves were eased by the friendly face, his own lips curling into a dignified little smile as Ashley gave him one back. It faded slightly at the mention of Washington, the attempt to gain back lost resources that went horribly wrong. It faded even more when Bliss cheapened the moment with insinuation, his steel grey eyes lifting upwards towards the heavens as he let out a sigh. She was apparently going to send him off with a note, saying that things would make more sense once he had traveled to some address. He took a moment to examine her workspace; the large computer dominated it, with multiple wipe boards orbiting it and secured against walls. He took a moment to step around Miss Fokukama's desk and instead began decoding the information present; it was a hectic freestyle way of work, probably simply because the group were all young and brilliant. He picked out a line of calculation about p-branes, following flow into Quantum Mechanics of the Organic Brain before it doubled back in simpler terms to a Einstein-Rosen Bridge. A printout of medical records from a number of mental hospitals were strewn on a desk in front of one of the young scientists, who seemed to place her hands over it in a almost conspiratorial manner. He lapsed into reading Miss Fokukama's code easily, his eyes trailing in the other direction as the numbers took root in his mind.

So the Antimatter wasn't originating from a source within this dimension. Well, that complicated matters significantly. A Malevolent Alien Intelligence would be easier to challenge.

One of the young men spoke up quickly, glancing towards her and saying his name in a nervous tone. She brushed him off in a manner that he come to understand was just general everyday behavior. When he persisted, she insulted him directly so Clement stepped away form the boards. She held out a post it note of information, an address and superfluous information he already knew. He took an edge and sighed, addressing Sid. "Yes, see? She can ruin so many more lives then one at a time." Looking over the information, another hand dipped into his belt. He offered it to Ashley, to shake. She took his hand and did just that, but found a card in her palm the moment she drew away.

Clement Technologies
Recruitment Department
555-0101

Written on the back of the white card was what seemed to be a randomized email, a simple jumble of letters with it's own jumbled directory, in pen. Clement gave her a final smile and did not wait to depart from the room, barely paying attention to the new arrival as he returned to the stairwell. He climbed upwards in a spiral, back to the tar roof. On his way he had the quantum entangled beacon on his person request a pick up from the company. He halted however at the sound of a door opening below. Ashley's voice floated up from below, calling out for Clement, but he simply smiled sadly and continued as quietly possible. When he walked out onto the roof the sound of the beating blades echoed across the area outside. The side of the machine was open, comfortable interior and comfortable steps almost touching the stone.

He stepped into it easily and pressed the button beside the door, which closed the stairs and sealed the Hatch. The helicopter plane hybrid began to climb as the face of Ashley Ferrier appeared beyond the Plexiglas on the roof top. She lifted a hand and waved, but he was unable to reply in kind before the machine rocked forward and he was propelled over L.A. "Burbank." He said softly, leaning back in his seat and crossing his legs, fingers tapping gently on the interior.