The Drone, the Crossroads, and the Evil Warlord from Another Dimension

[Hyp3rB14d3]

Two weeks had passed, without so much as a hint of suspicious activity from the other dimension.  Then, rather abruptly, the Crossroads briefly opened.  It remained open for all of two minutes before it closed again.  Enough time for a swarm of drones to rocket in, scan the area, then flee back to their dimension before the Crossroads collapsed again.

As for the cat, it had remained comatose the entire two weeks.  However, its magical power had recovered completely.  Every once in a while, it would momentarily display brainwaves corresponding with a waking animal.  However, those would quickly fade and the cat would resume sleeping without having actually opened its eyes.

[Hawkye]

At that time Hawkye was sitting in his lab. The cat was securely unconscious in a place that was designed for powerful villains, and things had been more or less uneventful.

"Hey Speedy," said Hawkye, opening a comm channel, "I'm sure you saw that forced opening at the Crossroads. Since what just happened is completely impossible, I wondered if you had an explanation."

[Speedy]

"A correct theory, I assume. Remember when I said they're probably keeping the link open as long as they can? That's pretty much the only way. I'm pretty much done building the fail-safe to keep them out. If anything.. they wont be able to send drones anymore once I flip the switch."

Not exactly one to wait for an attack from some empire, Speedy had constructed several methods to keep their dimension out- for one, Crossroads would be rejecting those with their dimension's signature. The drones and the cat gave him enough to build on, let alone the scans he made of their world.

The second is matching the drones' datawaves. If Speedy enabled the system, all of the drones would just go limp the moment they'd enter the pocket dimension, were they not already rejected earlier.

The last would be Speedy's security systems, even if the rejection would fail for whatever reason, there are DOZENS of systems forcing anyone else out- would they even be strong enough to venture beyond that, they would be scanned.. and immediately eliminated with any possible weakness.

"If anything though.. while I only have to enable my defenses now and get the Crossroads back up, I feel that we might still need another line of defense. You got an idea?"

[Hyp3rB14d3]

[OOC]Ack.  Thought it was Hawkye's turn to post.  Sorry.[/OOC]

The cat snorted, and its brainwaves briefly fluctuated to a waking state.

The frequency of these semi-awakenings was increasing, seeming to correlate how much magical energy the cat had.  When it had first arrived, it had just burned itself out, and had nothing left.  Following every semi-awakening, the unconscious state the cat had returned to had slightly more brain activity than before, and the time between the awakenings was less.

Like the other times, the cat's brainwaves dropped down after a few seconds, and the cat was once again motionless.

[Hawkye]

"Building a defense shouldn't be too hard. Heck, I could even build a field that makes any being with evil intent feel like they're being tickled mercilessly."

Hawkye can't help but grin at the thought.

"By the way, our 'friend' is recouperating, slowly but surely. He's going to be surprised when he wakes up, I'll tell you that much."

[Hyp3rB14d3]

The cat's brainwaves fluctuate again, but this time fail to reach conscious level.  <200 Galatean rotations ago, a being was born,> mumbles the cat in Lynian.

[Speedy]

"Problem there is, how would it recognize 'evil intent'? Call me nuts, but if someone thinks conquering the universe is for the good of all people, is there really any ill intent? Sure, in the end it's evil, but if said person doesn't recognize it as such.." Speedy listens to Hawkye's comment about the cat-creature..

"I dunno. I still say we end him. He certainly tried to do that to us. Though my own cat lover's heart aches at the idea.. Is there no way we can control his abilities? As long as he's like this, I see no problem in keeping him around."

[Hyp3rB14d3]

<For 100 rotations it stalked that world as a lowly perfect being.  Then its tail split, and I awoke,> the cat continues.  Its brainwaves are still reading as not fully conscious, but its magical power accumulation rate has started slowly increasing.

[Hawkye]

Hawkye smirks.

"To paraphrase Vielli from Burn:Cycle, 'he's in my world now and in no position to make any demands.' Even if he figured out where he was by some miracle, it wouldn't change his impotence. Also, trust me. I've got crap salvaged from universes based on the D&D principle. They can literally 'Sense Evil.' The part about them shooting laser beams was my idea, though. It ain't foolproof, but it isn't meant to be. You asked for a second line of defense and here it is."

[Hyp3rB14d3]

<For ten decades, I ate, fought, killed, played, and slept as I wanted.  I was free, and I was happy.  Then I was leashed.>  As the cat speaks, its brainwaves fluctuate again.

[Hyp3rB14d3]

<One day I will break this leash.  But for now, I must bear it.>  The cat's brainwaves fluctuate, shifting to an obviously awakened state.  As it does so, its magical energy increases significantly.  Standing up, the cat yowls loudly, then begins to speak.  "I know you are watching me, so listen up.  In two weeks' time, they will follow me here.  You have until then to prepare."  Slay my master.  Break my leash.  Let me once again be free to unleash my wrath as I see fit.  With that, the cat lies down and returns to sleep, its magical energy dropping slightly as it does so.