Forsythe

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: Fairgrounds
Equipment / items: N/A
Powers / skills: N/A

---

Vicky raised an eyebrow at the outburst of giggles. How was that funny...? Nevermind, roll with it. She thought, briefly thinking of consulting urban dictionary before deciding that perhaps ignorance was bliss. She looked at the direction of the tubing setup at the invitation, and then at the Mighty Marvels, wondering whether she was done tearing the legs off of these ants.

Alas, the sensors in her hand servos were starting to scream about overheating - They were designed for sustained use of a single Mk I generator. The six Mk IIs she put on her hands had double the output, and the heat was building up. She needed a cooldown, and the radiant heat was starting to melt all of the snow clinging to her.

"Maybe in a bit, not dressed up for the occasion. This sludge is starting to melt so I better bugger off and loose these layers before I turn into a walking wet t-shirt contest." she frowned at the thought, dusting the snow off as best as she could and putting her jacket back on, buttoning up. She gave both teams a two fingered salute, picked up her bag and headed towards Stark Hall.

On her way up the stairs, she grumbled about being put even higher up than her last room. Small miracle that this quarter she intended to sink into her research rather than tinkering, which could be done in the room rather than the workshop. Otherwise, Vicky would have seriously considered flying up and down using the window.

A quick change into more winter appropriate outfit later, she was back at the fairgrounds. The pull of just plastering her research notes all over the walls and sinking back to it was strong, but she did want to check out the clubs, since Vision's idea of a sci-fi club turned out to be a joke.

The magic club looked like just an extracurricular class in magic. A class Victoria did not sign up for on purpose. She was tackling magic as a physics problem, and she did not want mysticism to poison her research.

In the end she signed up for gymnastics again. Her new core would need a bunch of instances to optimize her locomotion algorithms, as those developed by the former Ultron core were not compatible. There was someone nearby going on a rant about a hockey team, and Vicky wanted to avoid making eye contact, but a name was dropped that registered, and her eyes went to the person.

From afar, Marlena Evans looked quite unremarkable. Which was good! Unremarkable meant that likely there would be no drama. Then again, Ed looked unremarkable to me too, right until he wasn't. Tori thought as she walked over, giving Marlena, the blonde she seemed to hang out with and the dwarf that was feeding them paperwork a wave. "Hi. Apologies for butting in, but I overheard your name. I'm Victoria van Dyne, looks like we'll be roommates this quarter." she introduced herself, offering a hand.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: Fairgrounds
Equipment / items: Multifield generators
Powers / skills: Physics

---

The shittalking level was kind of pathetic, but Vicky guessed it matched the intensity level of a snowball fight. Still, she oughta respond. Maybe with deescalation? "Oi! Be nice, it's my first time." She thought for a second about what she just said. "With these tools, anyway." she tried clarifying.

Gideon was being of no use to anyone alive, as per, and Vicky perhaps picked a bit too big of a bite for a first test before she properly calibrated her control algorithms. With one of the Unity Squaddies up and running away to do their thing - Oh the irony - she should pick up her slack.

Risking peeking above the wall to improve her hit chances by using the Mk 2 eyeballs, she willed the generators on her hands to turn back whatever the Mighty marvels tossed back to senders. She had enough generators to do three at a time, albeit only at third power - enough for snowballs, for sure. Hitting was a bigger issue.

As such, she grinned as she realized she could both add a little something extra to the defense and jab at the Unity squad. She was helping them in the snowball battle, so she could help the Mighty Marvels with the trashtalk. "Goons? Guess what? Not only am I metal AF, sustain myself on harvested energy, can fly, now I can also do this." she chuckled as her eyes glew red and she attempted to intercept whatever she missed with the repulsors using laser sight. "I'm just short of bird calls and large scale weather manipulation of being your whole team! I Think I'll learn the rest before I graduate."

As she busied herself with the battle, she pinged Sabine back. "In the evening. Somewhere without eyes and ears - Stark hall roof? - This request is as private as it gets, I don't want witnesses. Well, Leah I trust enough."

Roll requests

Vicky attempts to use remote repulsor fields to return the Mighty Marvels' snowballs (3 at a time) back to sender. Calling physics skill to control the field.

She is also attempting to intercept incoming snowballs with eye lasers.

MFG allocation

Equipped: 6 (Left hand) + 6 (Right hand) + 2 (Eyes)
Not equipped: 1 (Backpack)

Use:
4: Weak remote repulsor push
4: Weak remote repulsor push
4: Weak remote repulsor push
2: Red spectrum laser, projectile interception

Digimon: Recompilation

---

Location: The Gateway

---

Well, clearly, this was a mistake. Dominimon thought as much when he came here, but the annoying ball of leather and nag was right in one thing. Nothing else was enough, and this was literally the last resort. For good reason, apparently. The damned gateway barely worked as it was, as more of the Digidestined arrived in variously wretched states. Another of the digimon looked like it was on the verge of collapse. Fortunately, it stabilized on its own - Dominimon certainly couldn't prevent another one's data from disappearing thsi soon after the last one. Though the purple lizard thing that came out of it could hardly be called coherent.

The humans did not look much better. One arrived believing herself to be under influence and not in possession of her own faculties. Another one selfishly - and vulgarly - cried out about her own reputation. Next a prancing phony muttered something about incompetence - clearly he has not seen himself in the mirror lately, and one demanded explanation that he just promised to give, not apparently able to keep up. And this lot was supposed to help.

Still, there were some promises. One of the males cared for the others first thing on his mind. For some reason that annoyed Dominimon, like he has seen that type of person before somewhere, but he couldn't argue that it was a mindset he would expect a Digidestined to have. The Jellymon and one of the humans seemed to at least have a neutral attitude for now, and so was the former Cutemon's partner. The one identifying himself with a military rank even tried to speak some sense to the others, thank Yggdrasil.

The little wisp in a helmet was curious. Dominimon has never seen something like that before. It amazed him that this broken world was still capable of giving birth to entirely new things. Perhaps the situation was not as hopeless as he thought yet?

Oh. and then there was her.

He looked down at the ball of snark that seemed to have finished degenerating form a spider like form. A memory surfaced into his mind. "Are you that Arukenimon reject from the boonies which even the corruption does not want to touch? Yes, the situation is rather dire, as I just said. However, we are on the same page in one thing, old hag. Clearly whatever system thought you could be of any help is not working properly."

He then straightened up, looking over the group. "Like I promised, I will explain what you need to know, though there is much to tell, and I believe showing would be better than telling. So, if you please?" He pointed to the entrance theatrically.

Then, he finally answered the first question someone posed that was relevant to the task at hand, as his gaze shifted to Yuki. "That is a spirit totem. When one of our kin dies, they normally move on to a primary village, where they are reborn. However, sometimes, events may prevent this cycle from completing for a while. In this case, I believe this unlucky fellow was supposed to be your partner, and does not wish to move on until you see your task through, one way or the other. It is said that some of you are able to use these spirits to evolve into a form in between. Not quite your kind. Not quite ours."

"I believe more like you are in your ranks, seeing as you outnumber the locals brought here. To the others, the legend of the Digidestined claims that selected Digimon will be partnered up with otherworlders who have the power to grant them fast digivolution to face the threats that plague this world. A Digivice is a symbol of such Digidestined: A Physical manifestation of your bond. I am certain if you search for it, you will find it on you."

Digimon: Recompilation

---

William S. Harris

Location: Gateway

---

The steady beep of the heartrate monitor was the only thing Bill heard for several days now. This week has been the worst one so far. Normally, he had trouble walking down the hallway before breaking down in a fit of agonizing coughs and wheezes. This week, he couldn't get himself even to the shitter, being reduced to less dignified method of taking care of that. As per usual, his daughter didn't check up on him.

Then it hit. A flash of light. For a moment, Bill thought that the Ruskis have finally sent the nukes. Who in their right mind would drop a nuke on Reading though? Even though the ugly shithole had it coming for decades... he managed to think, before being rattled out of the bed.

Weird. What should have followed the flash of light was the thermal shock incinerating his body and leaving a shadow on the wall, not the shockwave.

Then he slammed into the ground.

Took one breath.

And his eyes opened in surprise, laying eyes on the stone room he found himself in. No pain.

He got up. No pain in the knees either.

In fact, he didn't feel this good in decades. Some of the... kids? That seemed to be around seemed ready to throw up, but he for one wanted to scale a damn mountain, just because seemingly, once more, he could.

Running his hand through his hair, he noticed the short cut and finally looked at his hands.

Young. In uniform. What?

Someone finally spoke up and that was when Bill realized that not all of the people around were actually kids, let alone humans. The angelic figure clearly disproved his initial thesis that he died, because there was no way he was going to heaven. Bill was certain he already had a parking spot reserved in hell, right next to the Devil himself.

The other people and... critters... in the room seemed to be in various states of shock, denial or 'offense taken'. Bill took this in stride. "Way I see it," his voice picked up. Huh. Still his old man voice. "Either this is a hallucination for one or more of us, and nothing we do here matters, or, Mr. Dominimon over there is saying facts, and there is a world that actually needs our help. One that form the name, may just be somewhat tied to ours, and in failing perhaps wreak havoc on our own. Or have you not spared a moment of thought to just where a 'digital world' may be operating? Either way, does any of you pups have something to lose by humoring him?"

He walked forward to stand in front of the angel. "Colonel William Samuel Harris, retired. I will hear you out."

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: Fairgrounds
Equipment / items: Multifield generators
Powers / skills: Physics

---

The incoming barrage was enough, or perhaps it was a call from one of the few voices whose authority she recognized. The illusion collapsed. At first Victoria was confused, staring at nothing in particular as her mind caught up. And then it all came flooding back.

"Hello, niece! I must say, it was very kind of you to take care of my newest shell, but your services are no longer required."

"You're doing great work."

"...You're a robot, Vicky. You know the family history."

STAY OUT OF MY HEAD!

She felt the panic hit her, and she started backing up. If she retained a sliver more of control, what would she have done? And even worse, despite all the precautions she took, every back door shut, still, still someone took over her mind again. She felt the tremors that were absent since C.A.G.E. return to her hands, and she tripped over her own feet, falling on her back into the snow.

Maybe it was the fall, maybe it was the cold, but it knocked some sense back into her as she stared up at the sky. She closed her eyes and took a breath.

Allright. Not as okay as I thought I was. Obviously. She thought, but remembered just what the illusion made her see. The details may have been my imagination, but the overarching principle is still there. There's a group of actors dictating which timelines go on and which die. So long as that exists... Incidents like this one don't matter, because my life was lined up long ago and how I get to where I'm going makes no difference. she huffed, letting the winter air cool her hardware.

Still, she preferred Sabine's brand of using mind powers. While Victoria encouraged using one's gifts, there was the addendum of 'for the pragmatic greater good'. This? This was done to her for shits and giggles. That won't do. If nothing I can do can keep my mind safe... then I need an external anchor. Something that I can somehow recognize as a signal that what I see is not real. And something hidden well enough that someone forcing themselves into my mind won't find it and use it against me. So probably no spinning tops.

A possible solution to her conundrum then announced herself. Loudly.

Victoria's gaze ticked over to where Sabine and Leah's shrilling voices were coming from, and what they were saying. She then got up, looking at Andy with a teasing smirk: "Something I missed?"

She then made her way back behind the snow wall, starting to pack together the mother of all snowballs. As she did and the drama quieted down, she sent over a single thought to Sabine: "When you have the time, I have a big favor to ask of you."

Meanwhile, there was a siren that deserved retribution. Vicky's snowball has reached a good foot in diameter before she was satisfied. Time to see how well she could control the repulsor fields in a more real time fashion.

Roll requests

Vicky attempts to use vectored repulsor field to launch a massive, guided snowball at Xénia, aiming at center-mass. Calling physics skill to control the field.

MFG allocation

Equipped: 6 (Left hand) + 6 (Right hand) + 2 (Eyes)
Not equipped: 1 (Backpack)

Use:
Full set: Remote, dynamic vectored repulsor field

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: F̴̞͘ä̴̱i̶͚͆r̷̭̀ ̷̫̏g̵͓͊ŗ̶̾o̵͜͠u̷̢̽n̸̬̄d̸̙͗s̶̙͐ ̴̣̇>̴̮͊ ̴̘̂Ŭ̴͈n̷̘͛ķ̷̋n̸͉̚ò̵͍w̷̰͗ṉ̵̉
Equipment / items: Multi-field generators
Powers / skills: Unarmored hand to hand combat
Mood music: Oomph! - Labyrinth

---

In the brief moment Victoria heard the siren's song, it failed to register. If her core was still an independent system, perhaps Ultron would have flagged the inconsistency in her behavior and snap her out of the illusion.

But Ultron wasn't there anymore, and Xènia opened a Pandora's box.

What Victoria desired the most was for her choices to be her own.

The code that bound her to Admin's will was gone. Arcade was reformed and doing time. Ultron was purged from her system. So the illusion coalesced into the only thing Victoria was still aware of pulling her strings.

One moment she was in the snow field, and in another the field was all but forgotten, as the world shifted and a new reality set in.

She was inside of a black void, containing nothing but a bridge leading to what she could, in the loosest of terms, describe as some kind of machine. A machine that seemed to weave together some sort of energy. And standing in front of it...

Nemo?

A memory of something the man said came to the forefront of her mind: How the TVA dictates the timeline, and what events are permitted to happen.

She understood where she was. Damned if she remembered how she got there, but it didn't matter - She would never have another chance like this! Her skin migrated the generators from her left hand to her shoulder blades, setting into the familiar position. Her fists clenched so hard they turned white, and if Sabine wasn't wearing her ring, she'd be flooded by Victoria's feelings of hatred and rage.

This was the last leash still put on her. Right in front of her! Charge! Break the machine! Exterminate those self righteous bastards! her mind - and the siren's song - commanded.

An enraged bellow split the air at the snow field: "I'm not your puppet, time fuckers! I write my own story!"

Boosters firing, hand crackling with an electric discharge, Vicky leapt to break the machine, and turn Nemo into a mortadella mist cloud if he stood in her way...

...right at where Xènia stood.

MFG allocation

Equipped: 3x2 (Shoulders) + 6 (Right hand) + 2 (Eyes)
Not equipped: 1 (Backpack)

Use:
6: Repulsor boosters
6: High power electric discharge
2: Unused

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: Fair grounds
Equipment / items: Multi-field generators
Powers / skills: Physics
Outfit: Biz suit

---

Well this was different. But it would most certainly do as a field for some testing though! She glanced at Arséne. "Howaboots you tell him yourself? I think he'd appreciate that." her gaze then ticked to Abby, who ate a fat bowl of sh- snow. Victoria mentally cringed as she remembered the qualifiers where she force fed Abby a repulsor beam instead. Not her finest moment in life, but it was educational. She was fairly certain that was where her hate for the concept of the CoC grew large enough to eventually reject it altogether. Fortunately, she didn't have to deal with that again at least until the semester after this one.

Plus, the whole school by now knew what Victoria really was, so that situation shouldn't come up again, unless someone really was out to rid the world of her. Grinning, she took a running leap and landed on the Unity Squad's side, sliding behind a snow wall cover. "You look like you could use a snack. Feel free to take a bite, just leave enough juice for me." she winked at Abby as she took her bag and jacket off, stowing them behind the wall and rolling her sleeves up. Then she reached into her bag, and when her arms came out, her hands were covered in MFGs, six a piece, sitting around her palms in positions reminiscent of the infinity gauntlet.

"Let's see how you improved during the last quarter, hm?" she posted a small challenge, the generators lighting up, alongside the two in her eyes. Focus, control, conviction, resolve. A true Ace lacks none of these attributes. Nothing can deter you from the task at hand except your own fears. This is your sky. Victoria recited in her mind and eyeballed a nearby pile of snowballs. She wanted to start testing lesser degree of control, before ramping up. Thus she reached out with her hands, her processor sending instructions to the generators to envelop the pile in a vectored repulsor field and move it over the Mighty Marvels' position, where she intended to drop it on them and make the spirits of the Bomber Mafia proud.

Roll requests

Vicky attempts to use vectored repulsor field to drop a load of snowballs over the Mighty Marvels. Individual balls are not guided. Calling physics skill to control the field.

MFG allocation

Equipped: 6 (Left hand) + 6 (Right hand) + 2 (Eyes)
Not equipped: 1 (Backpack)

Use:
Full set: Remote, dynamic vectored repulsor field

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: Carnival grounds
Equipment: Multi-field generators
Outfit: Be honest, did you expect something else?

---

During the break, Victoria was a girl possessed. As soon as she made it home, she pestered Hope to help her with refactoring her core code. It was high time for Ultron to be a thing of the past. Issuing the delete command felt highly satisfying. No more annoying voice in her head. No more ticking timebomb. The upgrade to her MFGs was a nice, unexpected bonus, and she couldn't wait to freak her friends out with the fact that among other things the new configuration could do, she now had frickin' laser eyes.

That was not the obsession though, no. Like she told Danni before leaving, she was on the trail to discovering something new. She wouldn't go as far as to call it a unified theory of physics and magic, but it was a good start to getting there. The road to success was paved with old tomes and obscure research though, so Vicky has shut herself in her room most of the time, ignoring what she could of Christmas - to the family's complaints - and covering the walls with notes and papers and scribbles that looked like equations and computer code written in thaumaturgical symbols and runes.

She thought she had it. The theoretical models said it should work. Except it didn't. She was missing some piece of understanding of the whole that would make everything snap together. But what? At this point she didn't even know where to look. The only thing she could think of that could be wrong is her major assumption that the particle carrying magic power was a boson, but... No, a fermion made no sense.

She was still twisting her processor over it now as she walked to the school grounds. What she wanted to do was to head to her dorm or workshop, pull out her binder, redecorate the walls again with her notes and then sit in the middle, staring at it all until she thought of something to try and fix her models. Alas, what she had to do instead was to fight the worst enemy od all:

Red tape.

Why did she have to hand in a form to drop her 'superhero name'? That should just be a SuperLink status update or something. Likewise, dorm assignments should have been an e-mail, not a visit to a stall!

Not that her SuperLink had any updates, as she took meticulous care to not have much social media presence. Her steam account was probably the one that got the most mileage out of all of them, followed by LinkedIn.

Something that actually came up over the break from Sabine. Victoria has waved the concerns off. She was preparing for a job where she would voluntarily throw herself into life threatening situations on a regular basis. Some potential death threats and other cyberbully crap did not faze her. She appreciated the care though.

After spending 10 minutes (!) dealing with the place that sends you mad, she picked up her schedule and checked her room assignment. 604. One up and one to the side of her earlier 502. At least the view out the window should be similar. "Marlena Who?" she grunted to herself, a cursory internet search revealing... Nothing much. Well, a mystery to solve later. Checking out the neighbors, she hoped the walls were insulated.

She nearly rebooted to safe mode when she saw the name next to the time travel and animal related classes. Neither of which she was taking, so at least she could probably avoid her weirdo grandpa a great deal.

Sighing, she headed to the sword ighting stand. A grimace made it to her face as she remembered the last semester's absolute debacle. But this time, she wasn't coming to compete or have fun, but to practice. There was an absolutely insane idea she wanted to try now that her improved MFG set allowed her a greater degree of control over the repulsor fields she could create. Spotting a few familiar faces in the area, she waved at them: "S'up?"

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: The court of two sisters
Equipment: Multi-field generators
Skills: N/A

---

As the evening progressed, Vicky found her head bobbing side to side with the rhythm of the music despite herself. As more people took advantage of her field, she decided to leave it up, despite the joke having run its course. Or, well, she would have, had there not been an Ultron in her head nagging her about sensible real world stuff, like the conservation of energy.

WARNING! Power at 5% capacity. Seek recharge immediately.

Oh, fine! I suppose it would ruin the evening if I keeled over... she rolled her eyes at the voice in her head, and did the most logical thing an android would do: She shoved off of the table, causing the chair she was on to slide to the wall. And then, without any pretense of acting like a normal person, stuck her fingers into the nearby power socket to recharge. Show must go on.

Avengers Academy: X of Swords ⚔️

Victoria van Dyne

---

Location: The court of two sisters
Equipment: Multi-field generators
Skills: N/A

---

The way Cassie talked about grabbing her followed by sticking her tongue out at her gave Victoria a brief flashback of XCOM's vipers. And Cassandra would be thinking about making use of her powers to force Vicky to the dance floor - Vicky was using hers to stay away from it, and they were sisters. Of course she would. "Cassandra Lang, if you grab me with an oversized tongue, it won't be a dance battle on your hand, it will just be a battle." she said with a shudder. That'd never clean off of the suit.

She was content to just sit and watch as more people made use of her shenanigans. Did she feel like a piece of furniture at this party? Yes. Did she mind? No. She was used to being in the background, and helping the rest have their fun was fun for her.

That thought made Vicky think about where she belonged in this ecosystem. She now knew she was more or less free to pick her own path. Her own mission. With the scene in front of her, the decision seemed simple. She would work to protect those in need, as was her original purpose, yes. Unlike the original scope of the ASTRA project though, she wouldn't limit her actions to just one subspecies of human, or humans altogether. The original mission would have her sacrifice her classmates if that resulted in a net gain of human lives saved. Victoria could not do that. Not anymore.

As her eyes ticked from Cassie, to the newly arrived Hope and Scott, to Leah, Sabine, Danni, Dorian and others, the mission statement collapsed to individual names like a wave function when observed. She was built to grow to care about humans. Anonymous, statistical. Now that she was looking around her, it looked like that idea might have been flawed from the start, too. Because that didn't come without the ability to care about some of them more than others. So yeah, above all else, I will do my damned best to take care of the people that matter to me. I already failed once. she winced as she remembered that day. Blasting Andy out of existence. Stepping in front of April as the biggest mistake of her life tried to end her too. It didn't leave her trembling as it did weeks before, but that day would never go away. She was beaten, thoroughly and absolutely, in her own native environment.

But before I can do that, I'll need to patch a few security issues. with that, she leaned back against the chair, observing the dance floor, while delving to her code documentation in the background, annotating what she needed to patch over the winter break.