[Plot] Wearing the Face That She Keeps in a Jar by the Door

[Robin Stanton]

"Not to worry, I have the perfect solution!" Robin announces and turns into a pink blob that springs itself onto the harness before seeping into it's latticed cage. And immediately begins moving on it's own, opening and closing along with Robin's voice emanating from it. "Maybe being held still would be less stressful than being locked in, yeah?"

[Narrator]

Jacques blinked, and then considered for a moment. "If that would make Her Highness more comfortable, than that may well work, though I will admit that I fail to see much of a difference in this case. You will have to remain perfectly stationary under intense heat, however. Are you capable of doing that? Her Highness is made out of stern stuff, and I would hate to see someone harmed out of a desire to be helpful."

[Robin Stanton]

"I'm as tough as the cage I'm animating! And what's a little heat to calm her nerves."

[Katarina Karkov]

"Very well. But you must remain absolutely still throughout the process. I cannot stress that enough. That means no randomly opening and closing, no letting Her Highness scratch an itch, and no jostling as we go through a very delicate process. And be respectful of the royal person!"

"It will be fine, Jacques. Robin is trying to help, and I appreciate it," Katarina smiled, as she lay down. "I believe the Stantons are a little odd, but their hearts are in the right place. When they have hearts, at any rate."

Jacques nodded, and proceeded to strap Katarina down to the bench, sliding Robin in place over her head, and adjusting the cage to tighten. Katarina tried to nod, and found she could not.

"Well then. I suppose there is no time like the present," she said, just a tad nervously, as her body shifted and hardened into gold.

Jacques slid the bench closer to the furnace.

[Robin Stanton]

"You got this!" Robin encourages her, though she sounds a little muffled from talking without making the cage move. "Pretend the immobilizing enclosure is just a reaffirming squeeze."

[Katarina Karkov]

"It is a wonder the X-Men aren't called for more cheerleading efforts elsewhere," Katarina deadpanned.


"Please, no talking for the next while," Jacques said, as he pulled a welder's mask over his face, and ignited a blowtorch. "Precision is very important..."

[Robin Stanton]

"Hey, ho, don't you know. The facial scar has got to go!" Robin chants in the cadence of a cheerleader.

[Narrator]

"I said no talking, Jacques said, muffled by the mask, as he leaned in and began carefully applying the torch to Katarina's face.

Katarina's hands curled up into fists, but she did her best to try to keep herself still -- it was psychological, not physical pain, but this wasn't exactly something she had had experience with beforehand. She couldn't even bite her lip, so concerned she was at the delicate work being done. You try to hold yourself still when someone is applying a torch to your eye!

[Robin Stanton]

Robin, to her credit, manages to hold perfectly still and shut up for once. More out of concern than fear but she can tell Katarina's struggling.

[Narrator]

Jacques leaned in closer, turning the heat up. The divot in Katarina's face was softening, for sure, and bits around the edges were beginning to drip down into the socket entirely, obscuring the fine detail as it went.

"You're doing just fine. You may lose your vision soon; that is understandable and expected, Your Highness. One can not make an omelet, no?"

[Robin Stanton]

"But she's going to get it back, right?" the restraining apparatus asks, somewhat muffled. The heat's not on her directly, but it's still pretty dang warm when she's 'close to the surface' of the cage.

[Narrator]

"Once we re-sculpt her eyes, yes. Even though they are technically non-functional, the human brain works in mysterious ways, does it not?" Jacques said, turning up the heat.

[Robin Stanton]

"Makes perfect sense to me. Wait hang on. Eyes plural? The damage is only on one side, yeah?"

[Katarina Karkov]

"The damage, yes, but it is not our intent to have an obvious patch job on one side of the princess' face, yes? While we shall focus the brunt of the reconstruction here, we will have to blend it in smoothly elsewhere around her Royal Visage. Do not worry. I brought along plenty of Symkarian Gold to ensure a full and complete reconstruction, should it become necessary."

Jacques started swinging the torch in wider angles, getting further and further outside the initial wound itself. He also began sliding the bench a little bit further forward, towards the furnace.

Katarina's fists clenched again. "Jacques, be careful!" she protested.

"Do not move, Your Highness, or the damage may become more severe. You must trust me, you know."

[Robin Stanton]

"You just... oof that's hot... You just say the word if you want out, your Royalness."

[Katarina Karkov]

Jacques didn't bother to correct Robin this time on the proper address to a person of importance.

"Jacques, I think it would be good if we paused a moment..." Katarina said, her voice warbling. Fear? Or her nasal cavities beginning to be filled with liquid gold? You be the judge.

"That would be impertinent; we can't let everything cool down now, can we? Where would we be at that point? There's no turning back now..." Jacques said.

[Robin Stanton]

"If she says we're stopping then we're stopping. You can re-melt her face later." Robin says, though being this close to a furnace she's hesitant to vacate the head-cage and get burned to a crisp before she has a chance to turn into something heat-resistant.

[Katarina Karkov]

"No, I don't believe we will. The damage was more extensive than we thought; upon further inspection. Perhaps the mask that Doom had her wear exacerbated things, or perhaps His Majesty understated the nature of the damage to attempt to, if you excuse the pun, save face."

Jacques lowered the blowtorch, giving Katarina and Robin a momentary reprieve. The right side of Katarina's face, where the damage initially was, was a mess. Parts of her temple, forehead, and nose had softened and melted, pooling into the indentation and covering her eye. Several rivulets of molten gold dripped down onto the bench, sizzling as they hit the cooler steel.

"Jacques, this has gone quite enough," Katarina said, clearly panicking some and trying to move out of her restraints, which mostly caused a little more gold to splash from the small amount of movement she was allowed. "You shall release me immediately! When my father hears about this..."

Katarina was silenced as Jacques pointed the blowtorch at her mouth, stopping her first with the sudden surprise and heat, and then with by melting them together after a couple seconds.

"I'm afraid that's not possible, your highness. Cooling you down in this state could have untold side effects. No, I think we must simply push further, wouldn't you say? Do not worry. This is for the best for Symkaria," Jacques said, as he bent over to push the bench towards the open, beckoning furnace.

Katarina tried to struggle against her restraints, but Jacques' straps were tougher than they originally appeared...

[Samantha McManus]

The sound of two sets of feet descending the stairs with some urgency can be heard.

[Robin Stanton]

This had clearly gone too far and was about to go further. The head-cage snaps open and in the same movement dispenses a stream of pink that starts browning and blackening from the heat almost immediately. Robin hurries to shift herself into the first heat-resistant thing that comes to mind and hits the ground as a pile of silvery thermal suit, bits of it inexplicably singed from where her protoplasmic form had blackened already. The empty sleeve of the suit reaches out to wind itself around Faque-Jaques ankle.

[Narrator]

Jacques said something in Symkarian -- probably not something nice and calm, at that -- as he tried to shake the living thermal suit off. He leaned back against the bench to try to gain some leverage, simultaneously pushing it forward so that Katarina's head would have been in the furnace, if she had not been able to lift her head up slightly now that Robin wasn't restraining her anymore. It was still a fairly intense source of direct heat, and she was still strapped to the bench.

This would be the scene when Sam and, uh, Jacques came bursting in -- a sculptor stamping on a burned thermal suit and yelling in a strange Eastern European language, with a princess with her head stuck in an industrial furnace. Just another day at Xaviers University.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam reaches out with her mind and tries to clamp down on the imposter's to make him take a few large steps back from the furnace.

[Robin Stanton]

With Sam bursting through the door Robin tries to reach the leg of the empty fire-suit towards the bench Katarina is still strapped to to wrap it around a strut or something and yank it away from the furnace.

[Narrator]

Sam reaches out with her mind and tries to clamp down on the imposter's to make him take a few large steps back from the furnace.

Sam can immediately tell that this is no artist -- or, at least, it's an artist with an impressive amount of training, as it's not as easy to grab his mind as it would be for some random civilian. It's more of a nudge and a shove in the right direction, rather than a clampdown.

The practical effect of which is that the imposter does, in fact, take a few steps back from the furnace and Katarina, dragging the fire-suit with him -- but he's also able to turn around and try to close the distance between himself and Sam, leading with a forearm.

With Sam bursting through the door Robin tries to reach the leg of the empty fire-suit towards the bench Katarina is still strapped to to wrap it around a strut or something and yank it away from the furnace.

Robin was being dragged away somewhat by 'Jacques' being forced to step away from the furnace. In addition, gold be heavy, yo, and pulling the entire bench with an empty suit is probably not something that's going to work. That being said, she was able to wrap around one of the legs of the bench and serve as a sort of tether, if she wanted. But if she wanted to move the thing, she would need to something with a little more oomph in it.

[Robin Stanton]

Stupid gold being too dense for deflated noodle arms.

She flexes her metaphorical shifting-muscle and the suit flops upright as it turns back into a person. Albeit on with some angry red burns on one arm and shoulder. But regardless of it she grabs the side of the bench. Muscles flex and twists into existence underneath her skin to give her the strength to move the bench. Preferably right into the impostors legs with all the momentum of a moving gold statue.

[Samantha McManus]

"Oh, it's like that, is it? Come and have a go, then."

Sam tries to deflect his arms, lunging in to give the imposter a fairly savage headbutt.

[Narrator]

She flexes her metaphorical shifting-muscle and the suit flops upright as it turns back into a person. Albeit on with some angry red burns on one arm and shoulder. But regardless of it she grabs the side of the bench. Muscles flex and twists into existence underneath her skin to give her the strength to move the bench. Preferably right into the impostors legs with all the momentum of a moving gold statue.

Robin, now with Added Muscles, is more than strong enough to move the bench, and the struggling melting girl, out of the furnace. Her time in the fires had clearly done a number on Katarina; her hair had melted down over much of her eyes, ears, and nose, and just the general head shape was wrong, melting from the top down as Katarina had tried to keep as much of herself as possible outside of the flames. She was, however, still struggling against her restraints, which had to be at least some positive sign.

Robin pushed the bench forward with her might, leaving a trail of dripping molten gold along the floor as she slid it towards Fake Jacques...

"Oh, it's like that, is it? Come and have a go, then."

Sam tries to deflect his arms, lunging in to give the imposter a fairly savage headbutt.

The imposter had more strength than Sam might have originally given him credit for, but not enough to allow him to score more than a glancing blow. And anyway, a glancing blow to the face is nothing when the target is preparing to smash their own face into the sternum of the attacker!

Sam's headbutt connected with a satisfying smash and a resounding *crunch*, sending the imposter stumbling back, right into the way of the sliding bench. That took his legs out from under him, causing him to land harshly on Katarina for a moment before rolling off onto the floor.

Gathering himself on the floor, the imposter began to swell up, muscles inflating as the man himself started to shift and twist, shedding the false Jacques disguise into something a tad more physically menacing, if in a disadvantageous position from being on the floor.

[Robin Stanton]

"Sorry!" Robin whinges at having used Katarina as an unceremonious ram and goes about undoing her restraints while Not-Jacque is getting into fighting shape.

[Narrator]

Katarina made no sign of having heard Robin, and flailed a little bit, grasping at Robin's arm as she was able to loosen some of the bands.

Jacques -- the real Jacques, that is -- had made his way over, trying to skirt away from the fight itself -- and was cutting away at some of Katarina's other restraints with a jeweled dagger he had produced from...somewhere, I guess?




That left Sam one-on-one with the imposter, who was slowly rising to his feet.

[Samantha McManus]

"I wouldn't, if I were you," Sam says as she hefts the blowtorch up.

[Narrator]

The 'imposter' looked at Sam and at the blowtorch, and Sam could see the wheels spinning in his head.

He stood up ramrod straight and raised his hands in the air in surrender, looking into the middle distance ahead.

[Robin Stanton]

"What the hell, man?" Robin says as she cradles her burned arm against her chest, only letting go to give the surrendered impostor an angry shove to his shoulder. "Who even are you?"

[Samantha McManus]

"Can you fix her?" She asks sidelong to the real sculptor, keeping an eye on the impostor.

[Narrator]

Robin's shove was less than effective, as the man stayed ramrod-still.

"King Chameleon. And I formally request contact with the Symkarian embassy."

Well, that was similar to someone still lying in the secure wing of the medical center.

[Jacques Ciseleur]

"Can you fix her?" She asks sidelong to the real sculptor, keeping an eye on the impostor.

Jacques held Katarina's hand, as she still struggled and squirmed.

"I...

If I can't, I am not sure who can," he said, with a serious nod. "It will take some time, and be a more...involved process than I had anticipated, but she appears to be stable, if understandably frightened."

"I shall do my utmost."

[Robin Stanton]

Robin turns her head towards Sam and Jacques. "She can't talk and I don't know how much she can see or hear right now, so could you telepathically check in on her? Just so she knows she's okay and doesn't freak out or try shifting back to flesh and bone?"

Her head snaps back to King Chameleon. "And you." she says, giving his shoulder another jab with her finger. "You're the worst of the worst! Abusing your shapeshifting like that to what? Kill her? Scar her even worse? You're not getting a ding-dang thing except a nice sit in a cell for now."

[Samantha McManus]

"You're on international incident duties," she says, holding out the blowtorch handle to Robin's uninjured hand as she makes her way over to Katarina.

[Robin Stanton]

"Aye-aye." she mock-salutes and takes the blow-torch. She feels confident she could probably handle this guy with her bare hands if need be but she technically doesn't know his full powers and he seemed cowed by the torch so why mess with what works.

[Narrator]

Her head snaps back to King Chameleon. "And you." she says, giving his shoulder another jab with her finger. "You're the worst of the worst! Abusing your shapeshifting like that to what? Kill her? Scar her even worse? You're not getting a ding-dang thing except a nice sit in a cell for now."

"I formally request contact with the Symkarian Embassy, for extradition to my homeland" the Chameleon repeated. "Unless you plan on keeping a foreign national indefinitely in your 'holding cells'."

[Jacques Ciseleur]

"You're on international incident duties," she says, holding out the blowtorch handle to Robin's uninjured hand as she makes her way over to Katarina.

Sam could feel waves of panic coming off of Katarina. She was not attempting to shift back to flesh, somewhat sensibly, but she was not having a good time right now!

Jacques held her hand, and was tracing things in her palm as he looked at her. "Be careful, gospođica; do not get burned. She needs to cool off some before it's safe for me to inspect the extent of the damage."