[Plot] Ontological Shielding

[Ashlie Minamida]

It takes Ashlie a couple of days to compile all the data and information they have on the Titans and the underlying principles as far as they understand them. One side of the workshop has been cleared and a large holographic screen is projected onto the wall, displaying everything from images of attacks over analytics to wild speculative theories. One of the material science workbenches has been relocated here along with it's induction coil forges, small-scale accelerators for particle experiments and a host of materials ranging from ordinary metals to ones from the tail-end of the periodic table. And of course the Titan fragments of stable Neutronium as well as the remains of Conduit's gun.

She's send an email requesting their help to Will, Sam, Tosh, Natalie and Victor.

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh glanced over the assembled items as he approached.

"I take it it's time to figure out what to do about the Titan situation."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Correct. I'll save the full explanation for when everyone is here, but Will had a suggestion that might require some inter-disciplinary work to tackle."

[Will Stanton]

"Doing some real edge-of-creation stuff," Will said, striding in next.

He was in his full military blues, neatly pressed and cleaned.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Uhh, what's with the army getup?" Tosh asked," Or is this just what Will from Army World wears?"

[Will Stanton]

"If by army world you mean the US Research Corps in Antarctica, yes. But surely, this isn't the first time you've seen me in this? I wore it all the time when I was first brought here."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Oh, right, I remember now. With all that's happened, it feels like that was years ago."

[Natalie Denisov]

Natalie's face appears on a monitor. "I'm here... well, not here, but here. You know what I mean."

[Miriam Bell]

Miriam slinks in through the door and looks exceptionally unhappy to be here, sticking to the edge of the room.

[Victor Freud]

Victor was one of the last ones to show up, his hands in his coat pockets. No witty quip, just listening.

[Ashlie Minamida]

((I'll assume Sam showed up, feel free to add a post-fact arrival post if you want))


"Thank you everyone for showing up on such short notice. As you all know we've seemingly been under attack by, for lack of a better term, Titans exhibiting excessive manifestation of mutant powersets. Information on their exact nature is still sparse and anecdotal but we believe to have pieced together a decent amount from various sources and filled in the rest with educated guesses. This I want to stress, very little of what I'm about to say is unquestionably true, but it is the best we have."

She taps the large screen and brings images of the three Titans to the front along with a bunch of labels and text.

"We suspect they are outgrowth of the same power-source that Mutants have evolved to access. In the case of the Rock Titan it seems that power crystalized around an ability to change the state between minerals and biological materials, forming a chunk of extremely potent Mutant Growth Hormone which served as an anchor point to animate the bedrock around it. It was defeated by physical disruption of it's shape coupled with more... arcane methods based on Samantha's telepathy."

"The second Titan, designated Eil Mor, we only know it likely formed off-shore in the ocean. It's shape and core organ seemed to be better developed, more defined, at least by our standards and it's destruction disintegrated the larger shape entirely, suggesting it's basic physical make-up was dependent on access to it's source of power."

"The third one, currently simply the Chronos Titan, attacked from a much more oblique angle, suggesting a possible evolution in tactics. Based on your reports and what little usable security footage I was able to salvage it seemed to actively hide it's core, suggesting a rudimentary ability to adapt to the defeat of previous Titans and perhaps more importantly, there was crude communication. It also left behind debris that allowed us some insight into their physical structure." she says, indicating the piece of debris that almost looks like a broken-off hour-hand from an enormous clock.

"I strongly suspect the nature of these Titans is determined by two factors. One is it's Spark, the name that has been given to the kind of conduit specific to each Mutant that is connected to the specifics of their power. The other appears to be circumstantial. As in, the area of it's formation has an impact on it's shape. Perhaps those two factors are intertwined, the Spark seeking out a suitable environment for it's particular 'specialization'. Either way we have learned two important things. One, this is not a natural occurrence and goes against the normal behavior of these Sparks, induced by a force outside of our reality, one that possibly calls itself 'Li Ban' and is in some way connected to Samantha's Spark. This lines up with Sam's apparent ability to observe these Sparks as well as the Cailleach's claims to be able to manipulate them in some manner. Two, they are being send here with a mission which appears to be focused on Victor Freud for reasons unknown. It's possible his power has some unique access to quantum mechanics but at this point I am simply guessing."

"Now as for why I asked you here. We discovered that more Titans will be coming and that this 'Li Ban' may be improving her ability to imbue them with better, more complex capabilities. Will correctly surmised that this is not a war we can win by staying on the defensive. So our objective, should you chose to help us in this endeavor, is to open a controlled ingress into this extra-dimensional space and to find a way to safely enter it. This is a space with little to no material properties, perhaps even just a theoretical zero-dimensional plane between our reality and the pure energy source of the Sparks that so far only thoughtforms have been able to enter by approximating metaphorical spaces. And that is our one ace in the hole. We know that both the Sparks and this space in-between is highly reactive to the quantum observation effect. Or in less technical terms, it's highly adaptive based on the observer. Will was able to manifest a computer uplink that proceeded to interact with the Cailleach's perception of a deep sea environment. We can make it work certain ways simply by choosing how to engage with it."

[Natalie Denisov]

Natalie speaks up, "The Citadel is tracking an entity they've identified as 'Tir na Idir'. They've noted its presence in hundreds of dimensions via its agents, but no physical manifestation. They believe it lives in the space between dimensions. Their analysis of our information of Cailleach indicated a 19.6% pattern match to this 'Tir na Idir'. I imagine Sam's match would be similar. I can ask for resources for this project from the Citadel, but they will want to know why and... the explanation will likely incur their *direct* interest."

[Samantha McManus]

"And Cailleach is pretty afraid of something she found out there, that she says is related to us."

[Victor Freud]

"You... kinda lost me at the end there. But I'm really, really hoping that you're not saying that I'm some kinda Silver Surfer for some eldritch horror."

[Will Stanton]

"More like a mealworm," Will said, 'helpfully'. "We just don't want to leave you dangling on the hook."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That's our current model. Though said eldritch horror may have been human once, for all that's worth."

[Samantha McManus]

"Might've been me once, you mean."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"All indications point towards that being the case, yes."

[Natalie Denisov]

"And is now only 20% you, which isn't much. Still closer than anything else the Citadel has seen, but that's not that much in the grand scheme of things." There's a brief pause, "We might be able to modify some of the tech from the Citadel Transport Device as it has to manage the transport to an interdimensional space safely."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I could theoretically design some kind of quantum bubble to operate like a diving bell, but without knowing exactly what energies we could be dealing with I'd be rolling the dice."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"And that's why we have Will here, who has volunteered as a test subject for our ideas."

[Will Stanton]

"There's a large range of possibilities here, stretching everywhere from 'it's impossible' to 'easy enough to send the Blackbird through," Will nodded. "I'm a solid test subject, and not just because I'm more durable -- or expendable -- than the average X-Man. I've survived transferring across dimensional barriers before; I've been touched by more arcane forces; I'm in somewhat drawn to the Titans and was even able to open a sort of communication line with one. I really think that, together, we can work something out so we're not playing defense all of the time.

I don't know if that solution is tech based, quantum based, divine based, whathaveyou. I have some rough ideas of my own, but I'm likely more of use testing out your thoughts. Every good space mission needs a test pilot, after all."

[Victor Freud]

"... 20% of a person is, like, the legs, right?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I believe their estimates are a little more abstract than that. She might be genetically similar or identical to our Samantha and diverged in behavior like the Cailleach or a sister with a similar mutation."

[Natalie Denisov]

"How forthcoming do you want me to be with the Citadel on this? They could be as much of a hindrance as they could be a help and we won't know which they'll be until I ask."

[Samantha McManus]

"Well I don't want to be carted off by the interdimensional police for resembling an eldritch horror."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I would hope they are well aware of the distinctions between people from different realities. Tell them we're investigating protective measures against discharged inter-dimensional energies, which will necessitate minor manipulation of dimensional boundaries."

[Natalie Denisov]

"I'll make sure I'm discreet. Hopefully that's a normal enough request from an interdimensional computer network."

[Victor Freud]

Victor didn't really know what he could do to help in this situation, other than apparently being the bait. Inter-dimensions was like time travel to him; always a bad idea. And definitely way over his head.

[Will Stanton]

"Safety precautions are all well and good, but that still leaves the practical matter of how we're going to punch a hole into nothingness."

[Samantha McManus]

"We've already done it, haven't we?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"People have cast their mind into it. We're talking about a physical aperture to step through and the closest to that I'm afraid, is Conduit's gun." she says, walking over to the debris from said weapon.

"As with all West inventions, it's catastrophically reckless but scientifically sound and could, in theory, be used to open a portal. The larger problem is the outpouring of ontological energy that seems to come with breaching this space and that is what we need to be able to counteract."

[Samantha McManus]

"I'm saying Miriam opened an actual portal to the Undiscovered Country, to gaze into, and have also gaze into you."

[Will Stanton]

At the mention of Miriam, Will frowned a moment, but nodded.

[Miriam Bell]

"I just manifest things from the Astral." Miriam deflects coldly, clearly uncomfortable with this for some reason. "I sensed it's heart or 'core' and reached for it. That's it." she says though at least Sam knows that's not entirely true, her mind having provided the proverbial Abyss to be made literal.

[Samantha McManus]

"I mean, it was bloody insane and the sheer concept of it is probably contributing to that nervous twitch the headmistress is developing, but there it is."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Sounds like what we need to develop is the scalpel to Conduit's sledgehammer. I doubt telepathy or astral energy manipulation is going to be much good for opening a physical breach in the multiverse. Not that mutant abilities aren't applicable. That Hazard whackjob seemed to have made a habit of it."

[Will Stanton]

"And then we'll need protection once inside. We're talking an entirely different kind of space; a different kind of reality. That's probably not ideal for most people.

Are we talking, like, space suits? Some sort of ship? Psychic protection and a pill for seasickness?"

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Quite possibly all those things and more."

[Will Stanton]

Will hrmmed, tapping his chin with a finger.

He then went over to a desk and started idly sketching on some graph paper.