fluxscape | Things go boom in the night

Things go boom in the night - OTA

Who: Agatha and anyone who wants to investigate the explosion
Where: Agatha's creepy castle on the hill.
What: Something exploded in the middle of the night. Nice and loud, lots of smoke.
When: about 3 am.
Warnings: Mad science, possible violence/violence mentions, possible body horror mentions.

Agatha had been working on trying to figure out how to install the Castle into, well, the Castle. Which would have been easier if the small clank that contained the Castle's personality wasn't actively trying to help. She had turned at a crucial moment to tell the small - a little larger than her hand, smaller than her head - machine that NO, she was not going to install an exploding spiked portcullis when she made the fateful discovery that the Castle was only requesting it... because it had already tried to install one itself and the thing had jammed....

Hence the explosion at the front of the Castle.

Agatha backed up, down the road a bit, coughing. Soot cling to her hair, her dress, and her work apron. She pulled her goggles up off of her glasses, leaving them the only clean part of her. Until she reached up to adjust them and left a fingerprint on the lens. She turned to glare at the small clank, unaware anyone was coming to investigate...

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Finally, something exciting! And not something minor like a mugging, either. No no, May was on her way to investigate an explosion at a castle. That had to be interesting, right?

At least it had better be, she didn't get all dressed up in her Spider-Girliest duds to check out something boring. Also, if someone had a boring explosion at a castle then they deserved to have their castle taken away from them.

Dropping from her web-line just a ways outside of the castle she saw a young woman pacing around. From the black soot on her the woman had been very near the explosion at the time.

"So, any idea what went on here?" she asked. "Is anyone hurt or still inside?"

She shook her head and ran a hand through her hair. "Apparently my Castle tried to repair itself, failed, told me to do it, and didn't tell me it had started the repair in the first place. As soon as I am done with the urge to strangle the Castle, I'll get back to work."

The outfit the other wore was a little odd, but given some of the things she'd seen and worn, it didn't even warrant a mention, really.

"Sorry if it woke you."

That was... so disappointing. May had been expecting an opportunity to help people but it seemed like everything was well in hand. Which was good it was just super boring.

“Oh, that sucks. I was hoping for something a little more exciting,” May admitted, scratching her head through her mask. “I mean... sentient castle and all that is VERY cool i was just hoping for something to do.”

"If you want, I could always use help," she said with a smile. "At least... help of a somewhat less homicidal nature than the Castle and the Beast."

"Non-homicidal help is my specialty!" May said, perking up a bit. She wasn't a science whiz like her dad or into magic or WHATEVER made the house sentient but she could lift heavy things and hit the high spots. ANYTHING to feel at least someone useful.

"I'm Spider-Girl by the way."

Okay. She wasn't going to ask about the name. She wasn't. It wasn't that people hadn't called themselves similar at home. They had. Just usually someone calling themselves spider anything back home would either have extra legs, extra eyes, or, you know. a hoard of robotic or mutated spiders following them around doing their bidding.

Well maybe she had just recently Broken Through and hadn't built them yet. That brightened up Agatha's expression. Female Sparks were rare, and she loved making friends with other bright young women.

"I'm Agatha," she said with a warm smile. She held off using her last name, which... might be silly given she was standing in the actual shadow of Castle Heterodyne WEARING a Heterodyne sigil, and had said this was her castle. If the person was going to recognize who she was from her name, they already would have. But... old habits died hard.

Except that she wasn't allowed to keep her last name back. Not here. A small palm sized... thing... came out of the entry way. It cleared a throat it didn't have. Loudly.

"No.." Agatha said to it, sounding tired.

"Do it," the small machine insisted.

Agatha sighed, mouthed the word "sorry" to Spider-girl, then stood straight, rolling her eyes before proclaiming in a booming voice, "I am the - "

The small device cut her off. "ALL of it, my Lady."

"There are no people of Mechanicsburg here... We're not in... Oh all right. I cannot believe I am even arguing with you!" She threw her hands in the air, frustrated, then shook her head. "Sorry," she said to Spider-girl. She took a deep breath and began again. "People of Mechanicsburg! The Castle is MINE! I am the Heterodyne!" For all she thought it was ridiculous, she was now standing tall and proud, voice pitched to carry but not so loud as to deafen the person before her.

"Go on, the whole thing, just as we practiced," the small device encouraged.

Managing not to sigh this time, Agatha added "Tremble before me!"

"Oh very nicely done, there you go. Would make me weep if I could," the device said. "How about we celebrate by killing..."

"No killing," Agatha said sharply to it.

"But it is traditional."

"I'm not. Now if you haven't scared my new friend off, she is gong to help me fix you. Or I could drop you down into a pit and have some peace and quiet until you climb back up. Am I understood?"

"Yes, mistress!" he said, snapping out a salute.

She sighed and turned to Spider-girl, if she was even still there. "Sorry about that."

“Oh well done,” May said, clapping in approval. Yeah it totally sounded like a supervillain spiel but it was a well done supervillain spiel all the same. Mentally she made a note to make sure that she kept a close eye on Agatha. She seemed against killing, which was good, but the little thing hadn’t seemed against it so... less good.

“Uh, just... what is a heterodyne?” She asked, tilting her head to the side as she tried to parse the word out. Hetero meant different but she wasn’t sure about the rest.

She rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. "My family, on my father's side. A very old line, old family, nearly everyone was a Saprk so far. And until my father and uncle, the Heterodynes are known for being some of the worst of the worst. They built the Castle," she nodded to the large building behind her, then to the small talkative machine beside her. "You'll probably meet the Beast at some point too. He's now small and more or less harmless, but when we found him in the crypts, he was a large city eating train. My father and his brother worked to try and change things. They were heroes. Honest to science heroes. But..." she shook her head and sighed, rubbing her face. "They're gone. Me... I'm not a villian or a hero. I don't want to be. I'm just... me. Agatha Heterodyne."

"You'll make a fine villian. Don't sell yourself short. I can teach you all you need to know, shall we fire up the scream machine? Maybe your new friend can be encouraged to... make a contribution...?"

"Go. Inside." she said to the Castle, through her teeth. "Or so help me I won't make any Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers."

The small clank hesitated, as if trying to figure out if she was serious, then huffed and went inside, muttering under its breath about how they better be particularly impressive Fun-Sized Mobile Agony and Death Dispensers...

"Sorry," Agatha said again.

Tony had woken up with a start. He looked around the familiar bedroom confused for a minute before seeing the smoke. It was still dark, almost too dark to see it. However, he was up and commanding his suit to activate in a matter of seconds. He opened one of the windows and blasted into the air and toward the castle.

What the hell happened here? He flew closer and with FRIDAY's help, determined where the heat source/ person was. He flew down closer to land near the soot-covered girl.

"Are you alright?" He asked.

She had been scowling at the smoke, and turned when he spoke. She opened her mouth to speak, but it just stayed there for a moment as her green eyes grew huge behind her glasses. "Wow..." she finally said.

Was he a clank? Was it armor? Was he it or in it, that was the question. Or was it both? What ever it was, the tech was glorious and she might have forgotten the question, and the explosion that prompted it.

She was just staring with unfiltered awe.

It took him a moment to figure out what she was doing and then he smirked. He shamelessly posed. "Magnificent isn't it?"

The hood fell back to reveal his face and the broad, arrogant smile underneath. "I'm Iron Man and I'm here to keep this city and all of its people safe. What exactly were you doing? I heard an explosion."

"Iron Man, huh?" The tech impressed her. The name... less so. But she was still studying the armor. "Is it part of you, or separate? If it is armor, it is certainly more elegant, not to mention subtle, than mine. Tarvek and I are going to remake it of course," her voice broke a bit on the name Tarvek, but she kept on as if it hadn't.

The name was cool, don't be a hater.

"In a lot of ways, it's a part of me, but it is something I put on," he explained. He was less obsessively attached to it than he used to be, but it would forever be a part of him.

"You have a suit of armor as well? Can I see it?"

"It's not here. It is in my Castle back home. Which this somehow is... and isn't," she said.

A small squarish thing with what looked like flutes coming out of its top marched out to stand angrily at her foot.

"This pathetic shell is HARDLY me! If it were I could smash this fool so that you could examine the technology at your leisure."

Agatha flicked a glance down. "Adding no smashing to the list. Wait, wasn't that already on the list? No smashing, no killing, no anything else I have ever said no to without explicit direct permission first, and permission given when I am in the Madness Place does NOT count. Are we clear?"

The squarish body slumped. "Yes, Mistress."

She sighed and rubbed her head and looked to Tony. "Sorry about that. The armor, as I was saying doesn't seem to be here, and remaking it hasn't been my highest priority."

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Things go boom in the night - OTA

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Not sure why my icon went to default last post. Sorry.

No worries, mine does that too sometimes. Idk why

Re: No worries, mine does that too sometimes. Idk why