Planning

[time_dancer]

Val's room is something like a mix between a New York warehouse studio and a high tech lab. Instruments glow and beep along one wall and the windows (or are the flat screen monitors?) show the New York skyline in the early evening of Autumn. Over the center wall is a large portrait of the Fantastic Four family; Reed, Susan, Johnny, Ben, Alicia, Val, Franklin, and Jennifer figure prominately. On an opposite wall another family portrait shows a happy Susan with a seemingly equally happy Victor von Doom (in armor), an older Franklin (teen aged) and Val. Over by the lab area there is a dry erase board with the words "Save Johnny" written very large.

There is a round table in the center of the room with enough chairs for everyone. Food and drink (digital variations are present) are on a side table next to plates and cups. Floating above the table is a 3D holo-map showing a flat asteroid about the size of a couple football stadiums with several smaller asteroids floating about it. There is a red light blinking just off the center of the large rock island.

"So here's the landscape. Aunt Jen, you've had more experience with the Negative Zone. Would you mind explaining its nature for us?" Val asks once everyone is settled. All traces of her usual cheery self are gone, today Val is all business. At the head of the table there are also a few floating screens showing several different species of the insectoids and some stills of the character of N-Zone space.

Comments

[aaaaaaaagh_sky]

"Oh sure," Ellen says. "Green okay? The stuff that Reilly's Rangers gave me's more likely to fit you. It used to belong to their quartermaster, and he was about your size."

[itwasjustified]

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind if it was tie-dye, as long as it gets the job done."

If the armor fits and offers a measure of protection in the field, Raylan figures he's won the lottery.

[biggerstingers]

"And I think I'll stick with my regular outfit, unless there's something as light that will take my wings handy," says Janet, "Mobility and shooting more for me I think."

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"Jan, I think you can serve as a distraction if your stingers can't penetrate and kill the bugs. You can harry and distract them from focusing on us. That would help tremendously.

"Ben mentioned gravity. That was going to be my next point - it'll take a few minutes to figure out how to move in the Negative Zone for those that haven't been there. Be careful - a small movement goes a long way. And as far as armor goes for our handsome lawman, if nothing else works, I can go back home and get something from Hank. He built a power containment suit for Jack of Hearts; I'm sure he can rustle up the reverse in no time at all and he's got plenty of experience with where we're headed."

She smiles a Raylan.

"The most important thing to remember is that some threats will be obvious and slow moving as they make their way towards us, and other beasts will spring up faster than light. We have to be careful. There is, mind you, a human-built prison in the Negative Zone that was used to imprison people during a Civil War on my world. So I think there's still an established human presence, but the farther we stay away from them the better.

"Next: one very, very important point. Val, are we coming out anywhere near the gravitational vortex?"

[will_scarlett]

"Aye, so we'll need a moment to understand 'ow to move an aye, 'eard o'that prison. Were goin' to take Kate there one time, I fought in one o'those battles, 'orrible war,"

The people of this universe are some of the ones he respects a lot but when things get bad there, they get horrible.

[time_dancer]

"I'm planning on bringing us in here," Val says pointing to an outcropping of rocks that could almost be called hills if they weren't on an asteroid. "This way we'll have some cover and can do a site recon."

She turns to Jen with a slight shudder. "Oh no, we'll be far away from the vortex."

[a1enzo]

"The vortex?"

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"The vortex is the center of the place we're going to. Once you enter it, you experience intense gravity - enough to rip weaker life forms apart - and you can get catapulted onto one of the other planets in the Negative Zone. Or anywhere else in the Negative Zone dimension. Reed Richards has maps, but as long as we steer clear, we'll be okay."

She hopes. Besides, she's not on speaking terms quite yet with Reed.

[a1enzo]

"But gravity's weaker everywhere else? The vortex sucks it all up?"

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"Yes. Nothing you know about physics applies in the Negative Zone. Gravity works one place, and doesn't in another. The vortex also doubles as a multidimensional train to other planets, asteroids, etc. within the Zone itself. It's been fairly well mapped. The important thing is to stay away from it, but Val sounds like she has that covered, thank god."

[a1enzo]

"Would jetpacks help? The kind we use in jetball?"

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"For flying, maybe. For getting away from the vortex, no, kiddo, they won't. Or are you asking if we should all have jetpacks?"

[a1enzo]

"I was thinking more for steering when the gravity's off. See, the jetpacks kind of have two parts, the lift is like all our other vehicles and that doesn't usually work in matter worlds, but the rest is air jets for moving around once you're in the air. Would that be any use?"

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

Jen's not an expert of jetpacks, but she's used them a time or two. When you can jump a mile at a time, flying becomes irrelevant.

"I assume they would be of use, Enzo. Try it and see."

[a1enzo]

"Okay. I've got my own. Anyone else wants one, we can get them from Bar, but make sure they're matter before taking them out of Milliways."

[gammagammahey.livejournal.com]

"Hmmm. I have no idea how a jetpack will work in the Negative Zone."

She taps a finger against her lips.

"Your sister will kill me if anything happens to you. I'll kill you if anything happens to you. The most important thing to remember is that what's in the Negative Zone is fast, hungry for blood, and can come from any direction. I'm tempted to forbid you from coming but I know that it's useless."

She sighs, then smiles. "Besides, now I get to see a Guardian cadet in action. Or did you graduate?"

[a1enzo]

Enzo grimaces when Jen mentions his sister.

The upcoming battle is actually a source of less anxiety for him than, well, Dot finding out. About any of this. They say it's better to beg forgiveness than ask permission, but in this case 'better' is simply defined as 'a non-zero chance'.

He forces a smile, though. "Nah, not for two more years."

[time_dancer]

Val had been listening with half an ear while she discuses the schematic of the alien guns Ellen had.

"A jetpack is an interesting idea," Val muses while making a promise to herself to make sure everyone gets back no matter what it takes. In her panic and worry for Johnny's fate she hadn't considered the lives of these people. Enzo and Jen's talk brought that point home quite acutely. "It might make you a target though if you're the only one in the air. Does it work with your force field?"

[a1enzo]

That last question hadn't even occurred to him. "Haven't tried them together yet. I'll have to test it first. But what I'm saying is, it won't lift me in the air. But if the gravity's screwy and I'm already in the air, it might help me move."

[time_dancer]

"Oh sorry," Val says blushing a bit. "That's what I get for only listening with half an ear. Are the controls easy to learn?"

[a1enzo]

"Sure, it's just leaning, really."