User visit: Mark Grayson

[a1enzo]

"Okay," says Enzo, leading Mark into the digimat room, "just stand over there in the target area so I can shoot you with this laser."

Comments

[1nv1nc1ble]

"You know," says Invincible, grinning. "That sounds like something a very polite supervillain might say." He gives the digimat a once-over, adding, "Looks like something I saw in a movie once...." before standing on the clearly marked target.

"You may fire when ready, Mr. Matrix."

[a1enzo]

"You probably did," Enzo agrees. "Once you're digitized, you're gonna be in here," he notes, patting the computer bank. "Press the button to output. Ready... set..."

pchooooo

[1nv1nc1ble]

The digitization happens like it always does, the grid of blue tracers breaking down Invincible and storing him in the computer. (Though he did get caught with an odd expression on his face.) And a minute later, he rematerializes on the target, fully digitized.

"I feel a little odd," Invincible says.

[a1enzo]

"You look a little... um... different."

He's seen humans digitize as binomes, or end up with rivets. This, though, is new.

[1nv1nc1ble]

It's hard to tell what expression Mark might have had on his face, but his voice (sounding a bit like an autotuned version of his normal voice) takes a partially jesting, partially worried tone, and he asks, "What? Was there a fly in the digitizer or something?"

(Hey, he's a fan of horror movies alright. It's a classic!)

[a1enzo]

"No, no, it doesn't work like that. However you turn out, it's all you. It just... doesn't always come out how you'd expect."

[1nv1nc1ble]

Mark looks down at himself. "Well, I like the suit...." He reaches up to touch his face, and his hands freeze in position.

"Oh. I see what you mean."

[a1enzo]

"Is that okay? Do you, um, want a mirror? There's one over there..."

[1nv1nc1ble]

Mark turns and faces the full-length mirror that some helpful (or possibly sadistic) soul has left in the corner of the digimat room. He stares at the reflection for a few minutes, turning his head one way and then another to get a complete look.

"From this side, it feel completely normal," he says eventually. "I guess that means this is normal. Weird, but normal."

[a1enzo]

"Hey, sprites come in all different configurations. You look fine. Just more different than usual."

Binome transformations don't count.

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Right,"says Mark. "I'll try not to think about how I am supposed to eat like this." His tone is light, so he seems okay with however it will be.

He lifts off of the floor by about six inches, and then lands again. "Powers seem unchanged," he announces. "So, now what? On to the Academy?"

[a1enzo]

Hack and Slash manage; he should be fine.

"You got it!"

They leave the room, go along the hall, down the stairs, through the barroom, out the Door, and a bunch of alarms go off.

[1nv1nc1ble]

Mark slows as he walks through the Bar. He looks around the room, expecting some sign that his vision has been changed with the digitization, but his brain is telling him that everything looks like it always has. Probably because it's been digitized too.

However, he does note that, as they step through the Door, that Enzo's home world (System, he mentally amends) somehow looks a lot more... natural than he expected. Of course, this thought is immediately overwhelmed by the screaming alarms. "Um... Enzo?"

[a1enzo]

"What the frag?" Enzo yelps. Lights are flashing as well. Additional noise comes from the other side of the door behind them—not from Milliways, but the other side of the normal door, which leads to the cafeteria. Most of the other cadets are still at dinner, and they are understandably surprised.

A few cadets already out in the hall stare at Enzo and Mark. Defensive stances are adopted, even before a voice on the loudspeakers starts bellowing. Between klaxon blares, phrases like "...in the building..." and "...NOT a drill..." and "...somebody want to explain just how the /dev/null it got..." can be heard (though that last probably wasn't supposed to be audible).

More cadets, upperclasssprites, start emerging from the cafeteria. Some of them have weapons.

"Dude," Enzo screams over the noise, "I promise, this is not normal!"

[1nv1nc1ble]

Invincible, being... well, invincible, does what he normally does in situations like this: step between oncoming hostility and less-invincible civilians. Okay, Enzo's not a civilian, but he's still more squishy than Mark, who's taken alien field artillery to the chin before and only been knocked around. Reflexively, his fists come up into a guarded position.

"I figured that," he replies, also shouting. The top edge of the visor on his face has slanted down, giving Enzo the first change in expression he's seen since the digimat. "But you should probably start talking. I really don't want to hurt your classmates."

[a1enzo]

"Right. Right! Guys! False alarm! FALSE ALARM! Stand down! He's just..."

A small camera drone, zipping along near the ceiling, stops as it gets a view of them and beeps frantically. A moment later, a vidwindow pwings open in front of them, displaying an elderly Guardian with an impressive beard.

"Cadet Matrix," he barks. "Please tell me why I should be surprised at this, because we are all dying to know!"

"Yes! Yes sir, Administrator, sir! This is my friend Mark! He's a User! He's tonight's guest! I don't know why..."

"Oh, for the love of..." The Administrator leans offscreen and does something, and the alarms stop. Still leaning offscreen, he declares and the PA system echoes: "Right, now we can all hear ourselves think. This is the Guardian Academy, unless I'm mistaken; I think we can all remain on alert without all this crashing noise. I will sound the all clear when it is."

Switching off the mike, he comes back into view, still scowling ferociously. "Right. Now, cadet, would you like to tell me why our security scanners inform me that A WEBCREATURE HAS PORTALED INTO MY CAMPUS?"

[1nv1nc1ble]

Principal Winslow, he ain't, thinks Mark, who's own school administrator prides himself on being softly spoken and prone to more quiet declarations. "Um, sir?" he says aloud, addressing the window. "I'm not sure exactly what you mean by a 'Webcreature,' but I'm just a superhero from Riverside. Enzo offered to show me the Academy and let you guys ask a few questions. I didn't mean to cause any problems."

He looks over at Enzo, the visor relaxing into what an imaginative observer might call 'confused'. "Webcreature?"

[a1enzo]

"It's a... creature. From the Web." Helpful.

Louder, he tells the Admin, "Sir, I vouch for him completely. I don't know why he's registering as a Webcreature. We digitized him just like normal. I mean, maybe he looks a little different from when he's human, but..."

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Well, maybe more than a little different," interjects Mark. "I mean, normally, I have a nose and mouth, just like other people." He spies a binome in the crowd, and hastily adds, "Er... humans."

Suddenly, something occurs to Mark. "Um, Enzo... I'm only half human. Dad's a Viltrumite, remember?"

[a1enzo]

"Oh... crash it. That's gotta be it. He's half alien, sir. That part must have translated as..."

"Yes, yes, I get the picture. Hmph. And a hero, you say? Well, Mr. Hero, if that's true I'm sure you won't mind us giving you a proper scan?"

"You may as well," Enzo murmurs. "It doesn't take long, and all you have to do is stand there."

[1nv1nc1ble]

"If it makes everyone here happy," says Mark, "scan away. Heck, do it twice. Just to make sure."

He steps out, hands at his sides in as neutral a stance as he can offer.

[a1enzo]

"Glad to hear it." The Admin looks beyond them to such of the crowd as he can see behind them. "You and you, escort them to the infirmary." The vidwindow closes as abruptly as it opened.

One cadet precedes them down the hallway, while another follows behind. "I am so sorry about this," Enzo mutters, mortified. "The Guardian Collective, not everyone in it but as a group, is kind of... fundamentally paranoid. I mean, it has to be, that's our job, but..."

[1nv1nc1ble]

"Hey, it's cool," replies Mark, lightly. "You're police. Police have to be like police. This isn't the first time I've had someone point a gun at me."

He looks around as they're escorted down the hall. "And it's certainly a different tour than you've given the other folks who've come here." He waves at a cadet, gawking as they pass. The Q&A should be interesting.

[a1enzo]

Actually, what the girl behind them (who looks at least as embarrassed about it as Enzo) is pointing at him is more like a crossbow, albeit one with a glowstick for a bolt.

They are indeed getting some excellent stares, but some cadets wave back. Others are already laughing themselves sick, and a few even cheer.

If nothing else, Mark has made the evening interesting.

[1nv1nc1ble]

Gun, crossbow, death ray... it's all pretty much the same. There's a right end and a wrong end, and as the man said, being on the wrong end means that things are going to go badly for you. (Unless you're, you know, invincible.)

"So, since we're here, you can always give me some of the tour now, if you want," he says to Enzo, looking around. "This appears to be an excellent example of a hallway, but I'm sure there's more here to see."