Snipe Hunt

[Narrator]

The three caballeros stretched out down and in, entering Will's mindscape -- a normal afternoon for Sam, a rare but not unheard of situation for Robin, and a new experience for the Tosh Trio. Perhaps a bit disorientating.


The three (five? Seven?) of them stood on the edge of a cliff; the very edge of Will's mindscape. It was probably best not to jump off; there didn't seem to be anything down below as far as the eye could see; it faded into fog way, way down below. Maybe more dark subconcious stuff lay that way, or maybe it was just a path to get lost in the Astral forever. Not exactly a thrilling time, one way or the other.

Ahead of them, a few burnt and scorched trees and grasses were all that remained of the vast forest that had surrounded Will's mind in the past; the realm of Badb. The earth beneath them was scorched and twisted; it would take a mighty effort for anything to grow here again.

Ahead of them lay a small, European-style town -- cobblestones, twisty streets and the like. The main street had cracked down the center, patched up a little awkwardly with chocolate and gummy patches to fill in the holes, but life was apparently returning somewhat to normal 'round here. The marketplace had re-opened for business, and the smell of roasted meats and sweet confections were flitting through the air; occasional music joining in.

Beyond THAT, and looming over the town proper, was a large golden statue of Sam -- or, rather, Sam's counterpart. The gold had flaked off in a couple places, revealing the chocolate underneath, and it was a little melted and worse for wear, but it was still standing tall, overlooking the town. It stood in a courtyard, behind which was an enormous factory, brightly-colored and whimsical smoke coming out of multiple chimneys. If the town was just getting back on it's feet, the factory was working overtime.



That was all strange enough, for sure, but as the trio would raise their view just that much further, to the sky, that's where the real weird shit began.

Because floating above them, upside down, where clouds and air should have been, was the other Will's mindscape. A overgrown and vibrant forest stretched down and around, with the sounds of wild animals echoing through the air. It was alive and bustling, savage and forceful in and of itself; it's natural and chaotic energy contrasting with the more mechanical and artificial factory it loomed over; smoke from the factory mingling with steam rising from the forest itself.

In front of the forest, and directly over the small town itself was... a second small town, looking in many ways to be the mirror image of the first. It's cracks and fractures were left to overgrow with wilderness, but it was far from feral -- it, too, seemed to have a market and musicians, albeit of a different sort than the land down below.


It was all very Inception, I grant you.

[Robin Stanton]

"This is just disorienting..." Robin wobbles, quite literally, on the edge of the cliff.

[Samantha McManus]

"No, this makes sense. It's the third part that's broken. The bit that goes between."

The flock fans out from Sam, and first she tries to feel out the ragged edge of the pushover's mindscape, positioning birds at key points.

[Narrator]

The 'ragged edge', as it were, was a cleaner cut than it appeared at first glance. It was, after all, originally separated by another telepath, albeit one who had a raging anger boner at times. It had gone pretty much straight down the middle of the town in a very Gordian Knot-sort of situation, explaining why the repairs were running down the center of main street; as if it had been a faultline at the center of a massive earthquake.

That means that some of these buildings, on the other side of main street, had been built after the split -- it had begun growing back outward and repairing itself, slowly but surely, as the pushover had begun to make a person of himself after the split. They had, after all, been different people for some time now; it's not surprising that there was some overgrowth; repairwork that didn't have an exact duplicate on the other side. If left to their own devices for long enough, the two might become entirely different people, after all.


The people milling about the town looked a lot like people that the three caballeros knew -- some pretty direct copies, other remixes and blends of familiar faces. They did seem to be generally pleased when they looked up and saw bits of the flock, and Sam would notice a significant number of the stores and homes had raven-themed imagery worked in to their decor. One of the merchants even tried to offer one of the birds a bit of roasted sweetmeets as it perched above his stall.

Sam would also detect a maddeningly familiar presence coming from the general direction of the factory.

[Samantha McManus]

For the time being, Sam positions birds along Main Street itself, in structures she can be reasonably certain predate the split.

Then, she sends another portion of the flock to try to map out where their counterparts are in the Upside-Down.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Is it... safe to split up?" Tosh asked uncertainly.

Bruce paused just before he would have thrown Ennio into the inverted forest.

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm what's linking everyone up. Anything that would hit you would hit me first."

[Narrator]

Most of the fault points Sam could find were in roughly the same place in the other town. The bits on the one side of the fissure were pretty much analogous on a one-to-one basis; the gazebo, the school, the fountain, etcetera were all in the same places, only upside-down and backwards.

Here, too, rebuilding had gone on beyond the faultline as The Boy had become more of his own person after the split. Whereas the Pushover's construction had mostly been of wood and straw, open and only tenuously stable, the boy's extra construction was made of stone and brick -- study, durable, defensible, and not as welcoming.

The reaction to the flock here was not quite the same. Oh, there was still plenty of raven iconography, but the pictures in the other town were bright, cartoony and colorful. Here, they were more totemic, realistic and dark, with hard edges. One could debate on and on about whether or not the feeling here was actively hostile, but the ravens would not be fattened up on sweetmeet and treats if they hung around here for too long; that's for certain. It would be easy to imagine the flock getting fat and docile if they spent too much time in Pushover Town. Here, on the other hand, the merchant's doppleganger was attempting to sneak up on one of the ravens, skewer in hand, an open fire behind him ready to go.


Oh, and there was a different sort of monument here in town. A jagged eruption of sugar crystals stood, just radiating Miriam's careful handiwork. Embedded deep inside, and still visible through the prisms of the sugar candy, was someone who looked an awful lot like Miriam herself, except with a crazed and furious expression that Sam hadn't seen on her version before. She sat upon a "throne"; perched like a queen atop a couple of Wills chained together and contorted into awkward positions. She was still apparently conscious, if immobilized, glaring at the flock as they flitted around.

To top things off, Sam would also get the distinct impression that she was being watched from the woods beyond.

[Samantha McManus]

"No surprise who got which of the trio. Also no surprise who's missing," Sam muses.

Reshuffling the flock on each side of the break, Sam purposefully perches them on objects that resonate with the feeling of the missing X-Man Will.

Then, the perching birds seem to blur as it becomes hard to focus on them. When sight clears again they're instead threads of gossamer reaching up into the sky towards their counterparts in the upside-down as Sam uses herself as a medium to try and link the scattered parts of the missing third of Will.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Into the frontier then," Ennio quipped before Bruce threw him like a hairy baseball.

"I'll go check out the factory," Tosh said. He headed off with his shark knight

[Narrator]

"No surprise who got which of the trio. Also no surprise who's missing," Sam muses.

Reshuffling the flock on each side of the break, Sam purposefully perches them on objects that resonate with the feeling of the missing X-Man Will.

Then, the perching birds seem to blur as it becomes hard to focus on them. When sight clears again they're instead threads of gossamer reaching up into the sky towards their counterparts in the upside-down as Sam uses herself as a medium to try and link the scattered parts of the missing third of Will.

Linking the two entire mindscapes like this was likely a challenge too far, unless Sam wanted to weave herself into the very fabric of the mindscapes as connective tissue. That sounded rather permanent and uncomfortable, and besides, she had a class in the morning she couldn't miss. Actually combining the two sides into one would likely take the cooperation -- or at least, begrudging acknowledgement -- from both sides.

Piecing together an X-Man, though? That wasn't out of the realm of possibilities at all, and well within Sam's theoretical mental powers. You know, probably.

Now. The important thing to remember about mindscapes, no matter how real they look, is that they're all symbolic and whatnot. The town might have been the realm of the X-Man, but it was also very much the same part of Will's head as the X-Man. The remains of the damaged part of Will had been put to good use -- it had been mixed in with the mortar of the Upside-Down, helping to keep the new construction stable and upright. It had been re-purposed by the citizens of the lower town, too -- several of the racks of meat, and quite a bit of one of the more fragrant stews, also brimmed with the essence of the missing third of Will.

Removing them and linking them together would cause a bit of a ruckus, but it was likely worth it, as Sam began to drag the bits and pieces of the X-Man to her.

[Robin Stanton]

Watching Sam do her thing, even if it was a different Sam, Robin figures she has the general gist of it under control. But pulling bits and pieces out of the two towns might be prone to upsetting things, especially in the upside down village of Grumpy Dad. Stretching out high above she tries to grab on to one of the roofs to pull herself into the town hanging in the sky.

[Samantha McManus]

For her part, Sam still feels she needs a mediator between the other two as she can't be expected to just live in Will's head until they get along. In spite of the disruption it may cause, she proceeds with pulling the missing persona's pieces together as best she can.

[Narrator]

Sam's efforts did not go unnoticed. This is not super-surprising, as taking the mortar out from a building caused some damage, and stealing food from the other marketplace caused a commotion. Several of the policeman-like Wills started in her direction as Sam continued to gather bits and pieces together, picking up their pace as Sam called to her, her X-Man.

The mortar and food shifted as Sam pulled them towards her, into more a more undefined and uniform lump of clay. It was smaller than perhaps she expected/hoped for, but the damage to this part of Will's mind might have really done a number on the X-Man.

[Samantha McManus]

Sam frowns as she circles around the lump, and sends the flock to do what it does best...

...stealing food.

She makes sure to take equally from each half of the town where she can, bringing tasty bits back to pile on the clay.

[Narrator]

In pushover town, this went quite well, all things considered. The main problem the flock had there were people upset that they weren't waiting in line -- cutting is not something we do, McManus; we live in a society.


Up here, however, theft and thievery were looked down upon, and the Flock would face substantial pushback. Several of the birds were outright attacked by the merchants trying to protect their wares -- solid blows, as it was both the ravens and the shopkeeps were, after all, mental projections.

Sam's actions also caused the police to hurry up.

"You! Stop, immediately!" the one closest to her called. "What on Earth do you think you're doing?"

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm reversing an act of vandalism, and attempting to get a government official back in good health," Sam says matter-of-factly.

[Narrator]

"Committing multiple acts of vandalism, more like. Destruction of property, theft, creating a public nuisance ...I must insist that you stop what you're doing immediately, and return to a more organized and peaceful function," the cop said, hitting his hand with an old fashioned billy club.

[Samantha McManus]

"I think you'll find that this here is a government official of this town, who has been done grievous injury. By preventing me from coming to his aid, you are in fact acting as a subversive element against the orderly functions of his office."

As Sam talks, she starts wrapping the clay up in colorful ribbons composed of the memories she has of Will on missions, wearing the uniform, and so forth. From the point that they diverge, she's more than willing to use memories of The Boy as well.

[Narrator]

Sam's arts-and-crafts were working quite nicely, actually. The extensive ribbonwork was helping the clay keep a vaguely humanoid form, and it was looking more and more accurate by the moment.

"Yeah, yeah, tell it to the judge. You're resisting an officer of the crown, and will have to pay the appropriate penalties."

With no further preamble, he attempted to bring his club down hard across the back of Sam's head.

[Samantha McManus]

Between having to evade the blows of the two cities, Sam isn't quite able to anticipate police brutality in time. Thus, she does go down fairly hard, like the police probably hoped.

What they perhaps didn't expect was that she got back up. Seething, and perhaps reminding them of the nearby statue, albeit in a far less friendly mien.

"That. Was. Just. Rude."

[Narrator]

The officer took a step back. "Do...do not make this worse upon yourself! Come along quietly, and you w...will be treated accordingly!"

He pulled a tazer from his belt and pointed it in Sam's general direction, making it spark unnecessarily (and, frankly, unrealistically, but this was a mindscape, after all).

[Samantha McManus]

"You're the one that clubbed me unprovoked!"

"Tell me, do they teach any of you what happens if you try to pick a fight with the Morrigan?"

[Narrator]

"There is no Morrigan here," the cop said, but with a degree of uncertainty in his voice. "And you will not intimidate us!" he added, intimidated.

He reached for his belt, pressing a small red button. Nothing seemed to happen.

[Samantha McManus]

"Oh, we are having some words about your training when this is all done."

Sam bends over to the person-shaped clay and finally ties the colorful ribbons in a nice bow.

[Narrator]

The clay took a small, shuddering breath. It was very wheezy, and didn't sound particularly healthy, but it was alive. Alive, I say! Alive! Mwa-ha-ha.


From the distance, sirens could be heard, approaching their location.

[Samantha McManus]

"Tell you what," she says as she gathers the poor wheezing thing in her arms.

"If you want to take me in?"

She leaps, wings spreading from her back as she makes for the Upside Down.

"Build. A. Bridge."

[Will Stanton]

The Morrigan took to the air, away from the befuddled and frightened cop.

Backup had arrived -- the sirens were literally a squad of other Wills with sirens strapped to their heads, rather than active policecars or something of that nature, but there were a lot of them -- but they couldn't immediately catch a flying Morrigan. They ran around in a circles, crashing into each other occasionally, as they started planning their next move.

"S...Samantha? No..." the X-Man weakly coughed out.

[Samantha McManus]

"It's me, aye." She says as she gently touches down on a rooftop.

"I don't know if they're smart enough to actually build the damned bridge, but it was worth a try."

[Will Stanton]

"It's good to...to see You again, or something close to it," he said with a slight grin, before wincing again. "Nnngh..."


"They're not going to be able to do much, I'm afraid. They're rudderless without me. At least, on anything of this scale..."

He tried to sit up in Sam's arms, but sucked in air as he tried to move. He coughed, a bit of blood coming out. "Ah, fucking hell, but breathing again hurts. Highly...highly overrated, wouldn't you say?" he tried to joke.

[Samantha McManus]

"I got as much of you as I could find and pull loose on short notice. If you direct me, I can help you find more of yourself."

She looks over the rooftops to a ruckus elsewhere in town.

"...then again, your daughter seems to have gotten in Stantonesque levels of trouble already."

[Will Stanton]

"She's something else, isn't she?" the boy laughed, and then winced at the pain that caused.

"She has to be careful. She's not like you -- not only isn't she a telepath, but she's also far more malleable. Spend too long in here, and she'll just become a part of it. After a fashion..."

"More of myself? Everything here is myself. The roof we're sitting on; the air we breathe. It's all me. It's all us.

But...we're incomplete, aren't we? Those two are at it again..."

[Samantha McManus]

"Your town's broken in two, and you were baked into pies and pavement."

"So aye, the other two don't have a tiebreaker. What do you need to grow stronger? We're probably going to have to alternate between halves to keep them from catching us until you're better."

[Will Stanton]

"We've had the pie conversation bef...wait, no, that was the other one. Too many birds in my belfry," the X-Man said with a thin, pained laugh.

"It's not that I'm a tiebreaker per se. I've got my own baggage hanging around too, I'm assured by experts and boffins. It's a very delicate balance that somehow seems to workout when we're all together. But me and the wild one? Together, we'd be violent and efficient. Me and the pushover? Together, we'd be servile and selfless. It takes the three of us to bake the Will that people care for. As much as we all hate it, mind you. Unlike them, though, I recognize our duty to be together, as inelegant as the combination may be.


The ideal way to grow stronger would just be time, but it sounds like we don't have a lot of it. So, I'll take a shoulder to lean on until I can get back on my feet alone. Something to drink wouldn't go amiss, either -- something strong, if you can find it.

In the end, though, a transfusion would do the trick fastest of all -- serving your needs, as well as my own."

[Samantha McManus]

"Looks like this is the side of town for strong drink," she muses, jumping from rooftop to rooftop with Will cradled.

"A transfusion of what, though?"

[Will Stanton]

"Something whole and intact. Some healthy essence. Some healthy clay.

I mean, you would do -- you could infuse me, and that would keep me strong. But that's not what you would want; I would imagine. That wouldn't make me the Will you're trying to restore; that would make me at least in part Samantha McManus. Part of the Flock. I could live with that; I could more than live with that, but I don't think that's quite what you're aiming for.

No, the other two are probably the better option, if the more complicated. We must...we must take me to them, or bring them here, and get them to bridge this gap. They won't want to. They've had a taste of freedom, and who wouldn't want that? But we must...convince them. Or force them. Or trick them. Or whatever it takes. But a little bit of the wild one, and a little bit of the pushover, will help me back on my feet with the fewest long-term side effects."

[Samantha McManus]

"I found out I'm not keeping you, aye?"

"I'm just... minding you for a couple of decades as a favor to your goddess..."

She jumps down from the rooftop in front of a rowdy pub.

"I think we've broken causality enough, lately."

[Will Stanton]

"A word from advice, from my wife's wife.

Don't always assume you know what the future brings, even when you've already seen it. Time flows in mysterious ways. It doubles back on itself, bumbling and stumbling along. And if you let the future control you, you can't control the future."

He smiled at the pub Sam chose.

"Mmm. THIS is a good choice."

[Samantha McManus]

"In this case, all I'm letting it dictate is that I've got to take good care of you so you have a chance to go home with your daughter."

She swaggers into the pub. When in Rome, eh?

"ALRIGHT, WHO'S FEELING ADVENTUROUS?" She shouts to the occupants.

[Narrator]

A roar of approval as Sam walked in!

The bar was fairly filled, and fairly active. A band was on stage, playing a fairly heavy version of some folk metal. Tables were filled with people playing cards, holding arm wrestling contests, doing that thing with the knife and the hands and all that. A few people were punching each other in the back, in an area that seemed to be cordoned off for just such a purpose, courtesy of the management.

Sam was slid a pint of...well, something, as she walked in, and she had the attention of a decent chunk of the bar as she swaggered her way through the door.