Session 27

Session took place on the 13th of October 2023.

Notes were taken by Alyssa.

## Recap - 2319F

In the same vein that all good stories begin, this one opens with teammates arguing the semantics of working for someone alleged to snuff out whole universes while sipping juice. All faces of the discussion have valid points ranging from 'How could we justify this' to 'Do we want Ricky as an enemy' and even 'Ricky does so much for us' to 'He's the Last White Mage.' Every person is valid in their stances, however, they all acknowledge that maybe they really should just address the Last White Mage himself. Respawn is appointed that mission moments before there comes banging at the door. A door that had not been there before.

Following her instinct, Furtim answers the door only to find a sweaty, clammy friend panicking on the other side. Rowan utters just a few words that will shift the meaning of the entire evening. He tells them in no uncertain terms that he is dying. Every possibility is turning black and they will all die in just 6 hours. Then, as if he is only just taking in the room as a whole for the first time, those wild eyes catch sight of Polychrome.

Once proud, Rowan falls to his knees with a cry of "My Authority!" As soon as his forehead touches the ground, he bursts into a cloud of smoke and disappears. Rowan is replaced by a single fist-sized gem.

Information fills her mind even as Furtim is begging her to do something to save her friend. Polychrome gathers the gem in a bubble, walking it over to a nearby table. She just knows that he's an Onyx, part of the Black Spectrum of Gems. He's one of them. One of the gems, only he's not shattered. Vaguely, she can hear Respawn mutter to Furtim that her friend turned into a rock and Polychrome can almost swear she hears a reply.

"He Rocks."

The group gathers around Onyx, trying to figure out what has happened. Suggestions range from a defense mechanism to possibly regenerating. A touch from Polychrome does nothing to awaken the Gem and Furtim is quick to pick up her friend, something protective in her stance as she denies Project H the chance to Divine a Truth about Rowan. It is at this moment that the gem heats and darkness starts to leak from it as if he is a Pokemon evolving. Back on the ground, the gem is replaced by Rowan. No, not Rowan, but Rowan.

Conversation burst forth and the shiny alien decides rather Rowan-ishly to be as vague as he can be. After all, that's part of the fun. He offers the information that Polychrome is a host for the gem in her arm, and that she is being used as a meat sleeve for that gem's regeneration. He also owns up to the fact that his is a genocidal race that roamed the cosmos devouring everything in their path, but that was ages and ages ago. A time that few, if any, remember.

Gems change.

He's quick to bring the Renegades back to the real topic at hand. The total annihilation of the world and he offers very few hints. He has, however, created a fail-safe out of the goodness of his heart. The new one, not the old one.

The Envoy of Destiny, Theresa, is the most likely to know what will happen and that this would be caused by a single murder. A single death to end all the lives in their galaxy. Theresa, in her infinite wisdom, merely tells Julie that all is going as it should be and that, if the world would end, it would end with a whimper.

Read = Bing Bong, Fuck Yo Life

It is at this point that the team splits like the many pieces of the Scooby Doo Gang. Kid-Ink takes Project H to the House of Mystery. Polychrome takes Rowan to Gotham in an attempt to contact Batman. Respawn and Furtim decide to engage Ricky. They also grab Robin on their way through, taking care not to explain anything to the lovely little bird.

Ricky is quick to confirm that The Envoy of Destiny is the best suggestion he has outside of asking a detective. Respawn looks over Furtim's head, who looks directly into the eyes of one Robin. His eyes squint like Batman's before he declares himself the detective they need and leads the way.

As the three siblings-but-not-siblings go on their way, another relative but not relative is driving as fast as he can to a bat-signal in Gotham's sky. Polychrome is quick to inform Elder Bats about the situation at hand and, surprisingly, he takes her at her word. He relays her words to his comms and takes both Gems with him.

Meanwhile, in the House of Mystery, Kid-Ink and Project H are separated by a brief difference in opinion and more magic than either is prepared for. A long corridor leads Project H to a small, old kitchen with one woman standing in the middle of it all. There is an unhinged tint to her lips as she smiles at Project H, introducing herself as Pandora, and deflects most questions that come her way. Rather, she answers them in the most literal sense she can manage.

She merely smiles at the demon child and insists that she is looking at everything too closely and that she needs to take a step back. Together, they step back and back and out of the house, back into a yard, and over a fence. Pandora, in her knowledge of all things, offers the younger woman a pair of sunglasses as the world is-

Murder after murder is prevented by the siblings and, yet, none of them is the correct one. Robin is at his wit's end, though you would hardly know it by looking at him. It is only as the final moments tick down that the Blood Son does the only thing he can think of-

Furtim and Respawn, linked hand in hand, use her teleport ability to go to the one person they would wish to see as it all comes to an end. Their hearts are full of failure as they come across Rick Flag, above the body of a dying woman. Flames lick out from between his fingers as he meets their gazes. The look of a father who could not save his children on his-

The Justice League members surround Polychrome and Rowan, pulling their weight into finding a way to save the world. Batman's words are cut off as Robin's arms wrap around his middle and a burst of light draws all others' attention. The Watch Tower has a spectacular view as the force of an exploding-

In the same vein that all good stories begin, this one opens with a flurry of texts from a panicking technician and a promised meeting in the Renecave. Three different points of view crash together and muddle like the murky water of a flash flood. They had all died. They had failed. They are alive again and the day is the same. Allies are called in from all sides and from under every rock they can manage.

The Renecave has never seen so much life in its short existence. Jericho, Miss Martian, and Respawn come together to form a drawing of the woman Rick Flag had stood over. Polychrome reaches out to Red Robin in order to reach out to Batman. He takes her call despite the early hours and gives the young heroine a code in case the loop is repeated.

Project H takes the time to leave the team in order to question Pandora in her kitchen in the House of Mystery. That same almost crazed note is still in her smile as she turns to the half-demon, something knowing in her tone as she confirms that this is not the first time. She confirms that the world should have already ended, that somewhere, somehow, someone had looked at the way the world ended and simply said, “No thanks.”

A quirky twist of fate. A funny little tickle of luck. A feather-like touch of good fortune.

Pandora gestures for Project H to follow her in walking back and taking a look at the bigger picture. Meanwhile, Jericho has completed his drawing in the Renecave. Hair has fallen over her face in the piece of art, but still, her vague features tug at their minds. She is so familiar. As they all try to place the familiar face, someone dares to question how they are still alive. So wrapped up in their cause, few had dared to take the time to figure out why. To understand.

“Rowan.” His name falls like a pebble into a pond and all eyes turn to the man in question, reborn a second time on this Friday. With a grin that is equal parts Rowan and Rowan, the Gem grins and admits to this. And chaos breaks out anew. Andromeda is brought to the cave, and her Friday plans are crashed. Furtim and Jericho share details and juice on the couch. Miss Martian alerts the Justice League and Polychrome runs the police sketch Mona Lisa through Atlas’s database. The beautiful, wonderful Ai confirms that the artwork is of one Evelyn Knight. Andromeda finally admits that, when she dies, she goes completely nova.

The murder they need to prevent is hers. Respawn looks to Furtim and merely says that they need Rick Flag, handing her a neck gaiter. The teleporter takes the gaiter, covering her lower face before flickering away and into the back of a military helicopter. Through the onslaught of fear, she delivers Rick Flag to the Renecave where Respawn is quick to disable the on-edge military mode he is in.

Project H is still walking with Pandora, up and over a fence and across a cornfield. Despite knowing the answer, she questions why the Renegade is not with her team and is instead with her. As Julie admits that she has questions she would rather hear answers for and the hope that the world will reset, Rick Flag is filled in by Furtim and is asked for his part in this all. As he confirms that his mission must have failed, the walking dead woman tries to avoid Polychrome with a look of guilt, her phone in her hand.

The older heroine of Halcyon asks for a moment alone, a place to think and Polychrome is all to happy to allow her into her room. She brings Rowan along. The Gem is quick to tell Polychrome that she is “displaying body parts like fairy lights” in her room like a serial killer. They both don’t notice that Andromeda, the end of the world, has escaped.

Pandora is still walking backward with Julie as she dances around the truths she wants. Until she breaks her promise; breaks the promise her team had made to the Last White Mage and forgoes the team’s agreed plan to simply speak with Ricky first and foremost. The unbalanced hue of her expression smooths out for the first time, and she makes no promise she will not remember tomorrow. That a promise broken is still a promise broken.

The holder of all knowledge explains in her own way that Ricky did not destroy a universe, he merely cut the connection; cutaway something dark that put the rest at risk. After all, what is a world without Ricky?

Just a world.

Pandora hands the half-demon a pair of glasses-

Panic bleeds through their joined has as the scraps of the Renegades arrive in the very crater that had taken and given so much to Polychrome. Andromeda, beloved mentor and walking end of the world, lies broken and dying on the ground. Rick Flag falls to her side, gloved hands burning and he struggles to hold in the flames that make up her life force. He only has to buy his children time. A few moments to find the answer.

Respawn finds the place where the shot was taken, an understanding of the weapon that dealt the fatal blow, and a simple shard of mirror. Polychrome realizes the one hint above all else they need is in the phone of her mentor. A single text from a number is preserved and unused.

`**From: Brandon**`

`"Go to the end of the beginning. Don’t tell anyone. I’m waiting for you.”`

Polychrome holds her dying mentor, her adored sister in her arms-

Respawn and Furtim watch with their father as a sun explodes in their eyes-

> “Like God taking a photograph.” - Pandora
>
>

In the same vein that all good stories begin, this one opens with four teammates murmuring over cheap coffee, breakfast food, and text messages. They had died again. In the way that one performs an action they have performed multiple times already, Rowan is called into the room and regenerates. Furtim pulls Rick and Polychrome finds Andromeda. Worn down and quieter, the team relays the information to their three elders.

Rick Flag is the one who connects the dots first. The mirror is a hint to The Mirror, a semi-famous serial killer who hunts and kills people in the way they were meant to die. A twisted non-meta-human who believes he is doing what is right. Respawn brings Robin into the pile, determined to find all the information they can piece together on this opponent before they jump in to capture the guy.

Project H decides to let her team go without her support in order to stay with Andromeda and Rowan. She steals a moment to say, “It's not just death. It's a rebirth. Beautiful. Not everybody gets that chance." Together, Rick Flag, Polychrome, Respawn, and Furtim take down the one man who had caused the end of the world twice over.

In a quiet moment, Andromeda pulled Polychrome aside. Evelyn tells Polychrome, “It’s time. I’m going on my own. I do not know if I will be back, but I cannot be here. Not when things like this happen.” She takes a small breath, smiling at her little Vee. “You and the team look over Halcyon for me, okay? When you look up and see a new star, I might be there.”

Tears escape both as Vee hugs her sister one more time and she holds her person for just a moment longer. Evelyn Knight steps back, her body transforming into its purest star form before she takes to the skies and disappears… for now.

In the same vein that all good stories begin, this one opens with-