2011-06-20: Bent Out Of Shape

Players:

Robyn_icon.jpg Heather_icon.jpg

Summary: Robyn finds Heather at the Titicus Reservoir, when things take a turn for the worse.

Date: June 21, 2011.

Log Title: Bent Out Of Shape

Rating: PG-13.


Westchester - Titicus Reservoir

Surrounded by trees and plenty of green, Titicus Reservoir is a peaceful spot. There is a fence surround the water to keep people out of the watershed. Sorry but there is no swimming in the drinking water. Before the fence is a small park with picnic tables, grills, and a large grassy area for recreational activity. The park is well maintained by the state of New York so it seems clean almost all the time.


Now that Robyn's gotten confirmation that Connor's alive an okay his main thoughts have been on Heather. Not exactly in regards to defeating her parents but how to get her back and safe. He's been looking up old articles online that he can find on Mindbender and Upgrade's old antics trying to see if he can piece anything together but with little luck. This evening he finds himself at the reservoir, sitting by the water thinking about what to do next. He looks through his phone debating if he wants to call Rashmi or not just to ease his mind.

The reservoir is relatively quiet for a time, until the very person that Robyn is looking for appears before him. Well, rather she arrives in a blur of speed, carrying distorted sound behind her, as a boom crackles through the area and makes the water ripple a moment after the girl arrives. She seems rather confused, though, and barely registers that Robyn is present. "Hello?" she plays on her tape recorder, which has sustained quite a bit of damage, "Hello?"

Robyn stands up quickly and runs over to Heather to try to embrace her in a hug. "Heather!" He says with a sound of relief. "Please tell me you're okay I've been so worried about you. So has Chloe and Rashmi." He looks at Heather trying to see if there's any injuries and if she looks okay. There's obviously worry and concern written all over his face.

At the moment, Heather's outline is fuzzier, and her extra fast twitching might be shocking to the touch, but she slows down to her regular pace after a moment. She blinks a few times and says to the boy hugging her, "Robyn?" She looks around quickly and plays, "Can you see me? I can see you." She glances back and shakes her head. "I am so sorry Robyn."

Robyn keeps both hands on Heather's shoulders and looks her right in the eyes with a smile on his face. "Don't be sorry, you're here and you're okay. That's what's important. I can call the school and we can get back okay?" He says. "I'm sorry, I tried not to let anything bad happen to you but I couldn't stop it. And…and Connor's okay too so..we can work this out. You, me, Chloe, Rashmi, other Connor…"

"No, no, no, no… Robyn, you don't understand, something bad had to happen to me in order for everything to go well. I… didn't want anything bad to happen to you though," says Heather, shaking her head. "I only see you within the context of this world, and that my parents have offered me a glimpse of you…" She shakes her head and concludes, "Either you are unreal, or something bad /will/ happen to you."

"No…I'm really here Heather and if we act quickly we can maybe use this as a window to make sure nothing bad happens to either of us." Robyn says as he pulls out his cell phone. "Take my hand that way we can't be parted and I'll hit the panic button on the phone then we can stay here or run or do whatever you want so we can get you back to the school for safety. Ms. Frost can do something."

Heather reaches towards Robyn and seems to vanish, as does the phone from his grip, with wind whipping up as Mindbender himself makes the scene, and in full supervillain regalia, with a large hood and a fake magician's cloak, no less. "How touching, but I'm sorry that I have to interrupt your little moment. I saw what you did to my daughter those days ago… Tsk, tsk. Taking her body? A father should be pretty cross at that!"

Robyn's thumb is just about to hit the panic button but instead it hits nothing. "Heather!" He shouts as she vanishes and then as Mindbender appears, Robyn's face grows angry. "What did you do to her." He growls out as a purple dagger made of psychic energy forms from one of his hands. "Yeah, should be. A Father should also love his daughter not torture her." He says as he goes to try to stick him with the psychic weapon.

"I'm not sure if you understand this whole illusion game," says Mindbender, just blinking a few times at Robyn, "See, everything you see from now to the foreseeable future is fake. And sometimes it will look, feel, smell and sound real, but it will be fake. You may have extra senses, but those are fake too. So when you're stabbing me with that thing, you miiiiiiight just be stabbing my daughter." He pauses for a moment and looks towards Robyn, "And I may be learning something about the sensations that such weapons produce. Understand, kiddo?"

Robyn stops short with the dagger and it vanishes. He closes his eyes for a second and tries his best his put his mental defenses just like he's been taught. "No..see I know this is all fake and I know not to believe anything. I also have mental abilities and unlike your daughter, I do know a think or two about defending my mind." Sure he's bluffing a bit to sound stronger but he's not about to let him just take Heather. "Heather is my friend and I'm not going to let you torture her."

"Yeppers, you might know something about defending your mind, but you still totally stabbed my only daughter," says Mindbender, making a couple of stabbing motions, "Fortunately, she's not bleeding. That would be inconvenient. She has high blood pressure, you know. But she still saw /you/ stab her. Delightful trust building exercise, champ." He chuckles and waves his hand, "Now seriously, kid, I am shit-your-pants powerful." He waves his hand in a gesture for Robyn to follow him as he starts to walk off. Neither the phone nor Heather reappear. "Keep up, or I'll send you to the happiest place on Earth."

"You can't bleed from my psychic daggers. And besides…I think you're lying." Robyn says as there is a bit of fear inside of him that the stabbed Heather but he doesn't want to give the man that satisfaction. "So is Ms. Frost, and she could probably kick your ass ten ways to Sunday." He says not really sure if he should run or follow Mindbender. He's quite afraid and is trying not to show it but for the moment he just stands still, not following him.

"Yes, yes, I'm accounting for your Ms. Frost. Of course, her powers of mental control aren't quite as powerful as mine, but she's more versatile. Blah blah blah. I get it. Your hero in white is better than me," says Mindbender, walking off slowly. He looks over his shoulder and says, "It doesn't matter if I'm lying, because I've planted the seeds of doubt. And it doesn't matter if I tell you that, because they're already there!" He pauses for a moment and turns around with his hands on his hips. "If you aren't following, then I already told you what will happen. And they won't appreciate a big poutie face."

Robyn is remembering that this is like what happened when he was stuck with Selene and that same type of dread fills him as he knows he's stuck between a rock and a hard place. Folding his arms across his chest he starts to follow Mindbender. "I'm only doing this for Heather because unlike you, I actually care about her."

"You've got me there. She is a resource to be exploited, though I have to say, I'm rather proud of her. Though her history grades are poor… but I may have to take some responsibility for that," says Mindbender, stepping through some trees, and should Robyn choose to follow, onto the lawn of the Xavier's institute. "Things are getting faker, by the looks of things. Though I could just leave you here, too, and you might never know the difference. This is a place to expand your ablities, right?"

"No she isn't, she's Heather. She's a person not some resource and she's my friend." Robyn says sounding angry at the fact that she's called a resource. "Among other things. Xavier's is a home to a lot of us, including your daughter." He says as even though it's face it looks quite real to him. He has to mutter under his breath "don't believe it" several times.

"Well, of course she's Heather. She never stopped being Heather, though I forget what codename she goes by now. But everyone is just a resource to be used, kiddo. Doesn't mean you can't have fun with your resources, hm? Quite the opposite!" says Mindbender, grinning at that. He stares at the Xavier's campus and says, "Boy oh /boy/ would that be a nice HQ." He gestures Robyn over and says, "Come on. I bet you're wondering what the purpose of this is, am I right?"

"You mean besides being an asshole of a supervillain?" Robyn asks as he looks at the school and than back to Mindbender. "Yeah well the security at the school is probably enough to stop you and that horrible wife of yours. Sorry but I don't think you even measure up to a villain like Magneto."

"It's like you're trying to wound my ego or something," says Mindbender, rolling his eyes. "For the record, I think you're an asshole of a friend." He makes a stabbing motion again. "And yep, security around there is pretty ramped up. That's exactly what would make it a nice HQ!" He taps his head as if that's an obvious point. "You didn't answer my question, though."

"Okay fine. What's the whole point of this?" Robyn asks playing along with Mindbender. He dosen't argue the asshole of a friend part but he does think he failed in protecting Heather from her parents though.

"To disorient you," says Mindbender, gesturing around. "With a warped perception, it's hard to keep yourself from turning and winding. And maybe you're oriented right or wrong. So when I return you to what looks like the real world, you're going to have to ask yourself… fake or real?" He smiles and says, "You seemed eager to see the world from my daughter's eyes. Well, I just want to give you a taste. And I don't need to be powerful as Magneto or Emma Frost, kiddo. That's what I've got you for." The illusion of the supervillain goes to give Robyn a light, almost fatherly punch on the shoulder.

Robyn shifts with the light punch as he just glares at Mindbender for a bit. He didn't even think of that, figuring that once this was over he'd be able to tell real from fake. "I…I can't go up against someone like them, so…I think you have the wrong person for that. And really, you just said you're returning me to the real world so why shouldn't I believe it's real?"

"Well, I dunno, I guess I'm just messing with you," says Mindbender, shrugging, "Or… am I?" He laughs at that and says, "Sorry, that was too corny. I am. But I guess you have no idea what that means." He snaps his fingers and they find themselves back in Titicus reservoir, the damage done to the ground with Heather's feet having turned away after she seemed to take a brief moment to lie down. "So now I guess you go on home and tell your bee eff effs what a total jerk I am, and how you almost saved Heather, and how I acknoweldged that Emma Frost could mindrape me." Pause. "Or… do you?" He vanishes suddenly and leaves Robyn in the quiet area again.

Robyn watches Mindbinder vanish and then looks around. Right now he's trying to believe that he's in the real world so he shouts "Heather! If you're out there, I'm heading back to get help!" He says before cursing slightly at the lack of cell phone. He knows it's gonna be a long trip but decides to head back to Xavier's in hopes that he can warn someone.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License