Black Rock City 2011 Guest Friendly Story

[The Meddler]

Gripping the handle with both hands, Captain Hayes chopped visciously with something that looked like an entrenching tool. There was a scream of mangled electronics, and one of the Cybermen went down. Behind him, Hoaloaka tossed one of the "converts" into two others, as gently as he could.

"This sucks, Captain," he said, watching more of the "converts" close in like zombies.

"All Specters, sound off and form up on me," Hayes called over the battlenet.

---

The man calling himself Christopher Mesler ducked and weaved through the panicked mob, then skidded to a halt as a Cyberman reared up in front of him.

"hALt. PRepaRe fOR cONveRsIOn."

Mesler's eyes narrowed, and he made a slashing gesture with his empty fist. The Cyberman squalled as it flopped to the ground in several discrete chunks. "No."

---

Overhead, there was the sound of thunder as F-22 Raptors screamed in, unleashing cannon fire and missiles at the hovering Cybership. Explosions stitched across the flanks of the massive ship as the stealth fighters banked and dove and rose like flies around an elephant. Light and heat began to scour the ground as the cybership responded to the attacks with needle-like beams of eye-hurting force.

Debris began to rain down across the crowd.

---

"Holy Hell!" Hoaloaka bellowed as a half-melted fragment of what had once been a $150 million figher splashed into the ground near him.

"It's going to get worse in a minute," Captain Hayes commented.

"Yeah? How?"

Captain Hayes mutely pointed up towards the ship. More of the dull grey spheres were beginning to fall.

---

"Christopher Mesler" had finally caught up with them - Sarah Jane Smith, and a man in an improbable orange spacesuit, and a dark-haired man in jeans and a leather jacket - near the inflatable TARDIS.

"Good evening, Ms. Smith," he said pleasantly, shouting to be heard above the roar of the aerial battle. "I thought you'd prove to be responsible for that. Now, if I may borrow your..." He spotted the sonic screwdriver held by the Inventor. "Rod and Eye. Are we giving them out as party favors? Here: give me that for a minute."

He snatched the screwdriver from the Inventor's hand, and made a few adjustments. "Hello, Cybermen!" he called out, the screwdriver making his voice roll like thunder. "Over here by the Blue Box! This is the Meddler speaking!" He reached into one pocket, and held a black marble over his head. "And this is Mondas! Come and get it!"

with a grin, he tossed the screwdriver back. "Thanks." Then he looked around with a mad little grin on his face. "So," he said casually, "Still worried that the Specters are like these things?"

[The Inventor]

The Inventor started to protest at the taking of his sonic screwdriver, but he thought better of it and said after "The Meddler" was done, "Well, what is "Mondas", this is my sonic screwdriver that I...woke up next to, and is everyone of our group here, because it looks like you all know each other from past experience. So, since only Ms. Smith knows who I am, let me introduce myself, I am The Inventor." taking a bow.

[Sarah Jane]

The only thing that could have kept her from locating her daughter(s) that instant was Christopher Mesler. There he was, angry, arrogant, and insulting. She felt her hands reaching for his throat, for on some primal level, she simply intended to strangle him.

The problem was, that he might be right. Time Lords were rarely wrong in essence, and were too arrogant to bother to lie. She needed information. She might need him, and doubted she could defeat him in hand to hand combat. This intellectual part of her mind went toe to toe battle with the part of her who ached to just choke the life out of Christopher Mesler. The result was she stood there, jaw thrust, teeth bared, body arched, hands reaching fingers flexing, and a low angry growl erupting from her in frustration and anger.

"So," he said casually, "Still worried that the Specters are like these things?"

Just let me strangle him a little bit. Said the bad Jiminy Cricket on her shoulder
No., insisted the 'good' sitting on the other side.

Sarah Jane trembled a moment in the grip of her own strength. Then she thrust her own hands purposefully down at her sides, foot stomping with the power of her resolve.

"Not yet. Give it time." One hand betrayed her shooting up to point at him before she can again thrust it down beside her. "You don't understand the scope of human greed. Chris, you would give matches to pyromaniacs to keep them happy! Who in hell do you think you are meddling with Earth!?"

She hope he thought the only Sonic tool here was the stranger who had unexpectedly dragged her and Owen from the fray.

[The Meddler]

"Not yet. Give it time." One hand betrayed her shooting up to point at him before she can again thrust it down beside her. "You don't understand the scope of human greed. Chris, you would give matches to pyromaniacs to keep them happy! Who in hell do you think you are meddling with Earth!?"

He stared at her with an odd expression - a mixture of confusion, and anger, and hurt. "I don't understand the scope of human greed?" His eyes narrowed. "I've lived among you primates for more than a century - I was one of you for thirty years! If it wasn't for me and my meddling, this planet would be a radioactive monument to the hubris of another failed atomic civilization!"

His finger stabbed back towards Camp Francis Rock. "When they found me, they were within five years of reverse engineering everything the Specters had that they hadn't already invented! 'Matches to a pyromaniac'? I gave them matches because they were banging two lumps of sub-critical plutonium together to try and make fire!"

He was shouting now. "Who in hell do I think I am, meddling with Earth? I think I'm the man that taught your ancestors the basics of agriculture, and I think I'm the man that stopped the Second Atomic War from ending human life on this planet in 1957, and I think I'm the man that kept Y'hai-nathlei from battery farming your ungrateful species in 1964!"

He stopped, glaring daggers at her. "I think," he said softly, fiercely, "that I'm the Meddler, and that this is what I do."

The ground shook to three heavy impacts as three Specters seemed to drop out of the sky. In desert camoflage armor, wearing helmets like motorcycle helmets, they were difficult to tell apart. "This is what you do?" Captain Hayes asked, a touch of humor in his voice. "Stand around a combat zone ranting at civilians?"

His voice turned serious. "We've got more of those cyber-men incoming, and I'm out of ideas - and zip ties - for restraining the... what are we calling them, now?"

"Cyber-zombies?" offered one of the Specters in a warm tenor. 'Copeland' was stenciled on his chest.

"Drones?" offered the other Specter - 'Hoaloaka' from his chest stencil.

Hayes shrugged. "People," he decided. "We're fresh out of ideas for restraining the infected people without seriously harming them." The dully-reflective helmet turned towards the Meddler. "so. Mr. Scientific Advisor." The helmet turned back towards sarah. "Ms. Knows More Than She's Telling. How about some advice, preferably before we get overrun?"

[The Inventor]

The Inventor stepped forward, since this was his specialty, and asked, "How about a magnetically-infused charge conductor? Basically, I can make some "guns" that will shoot magnet at the affected, reacting with a transmitter of sorts that imbues the ground with magnetic properties, although, it will only work on full-bots for a few minutes."

[Sarah Jane]

What Chris, no 'The Meddler', told her, absolutely stunned her. The depth and complexity of his answer to who he was was so revealiing and conflicting, she did not yet know what to think.

Sarah Jane looked from one humanoid man to the other, wondering if they were going to harm or help. She, for one could not imagine how to win this fight, and some part of her was already planning both retreat and long term entrenched battle of ages.

Whatever happened, she feared it would be one hell of a mess. She wondered if Denutus Lux had secured Patricia DeMêler, she hoped Izzy did something brilliant with his borrowed TARDIS, and figured out how to continue distributing the Inoculation. So deep in her gut she hoped both of her daughters were safe.

For just an instant through, she had to stay and listen, to try to figure out if these two were allies or enemies.

[The Meddler]

"Chris" - the Meddler, as he had named himself - seemed to deflate a little at Captain Hayes' words. The wrath and hubris drained away, replaced by a sheepish, embarrased grin.

The Inventor stepped forward and asked, "How about a magnetically-infused charge conductor? Basically, I can make some "guns" that will shoot magnet at the affected, reacting with a transmitter of sorts that imbues the ground with magnetic properties, although, it will only work on full-bots for a few minutes."

The ground shook as three more Specters landed nearby.

"That could work," the Meddler agreed. "They don't have a lot of ferro-magnetic components, but it would slow them down." He thought for a moment. "Could you build a high-powered electromagnetic pulse generator? They're hardened, but a powerful enough pulse should scramble them. And hopefully disrupt the conversion units. Maybe we could..."

"Great," interrupted Captain Hayes, cutting off what he recognized as the beginning of one of Chris Mesler's long-winded explanations. "I am utterly in love with whichever of those solutions you can build right now, and fast, with materials on hand." He looked up as the new grey orbs began to thud into the ground. "MacGuyver me up a miracle, would you?"

There were multiple loud *cracks* above the group, followed by more groundshaking impacts as three more Specters arrived. All three had their oversized .50 assault rifles in hand. "We got incoming, Captain," one of them reported.

The Meddler stared at the falling orbs, and the battle raging in the sky above. "Miss Smith," he asked, a smile beginning to stretch the corners of his mouth, "are you, by any chance, still wearing all of that frangible gold jewelery?"

[The Inventor]

"That could work," the Meddler agreed. "They don't have a lot of ferro-magnetic components, but it would slow them down." He thought for a moment. "Could you build a high-powered electromagnetic pulse generator? They're hardened, but a powerful enough pulse should scramble them. And hopefully disrupt the conversion units. Maybe we could..."

"Great," interrupted Captain Hayes, cutting off what he recognized as the beginning of one of Chris Mesler's long-winded explanations. "I am utterly in love with whichever of those solutions you can build right now, and fast, with materials on hand." He looked up as the new grey orbs began to thud into the ground. "MacGuyver me up a miracle, would you?"

"That's an even better idea I hadn't thought of that. Hmmm....well, I can use my sonic screwdriver to charge it, if I change a few settings, I'll need a lump of iron, and to get to my TARDIS, to super-charge it. You see, an electromagnetic pulse operates by the interaction of a magnetic field and an electrical field. Anything within the fields that is relatively high-tech will malfunction." The Inventor said, running around looking for some iron.

[Sarah Jane]

The Time Lords tangled into something she couldn't help with, so she turned to Owen. It was a startling joy to see his living face again. Pain was there but life as well.

"Go find my girls and look after them. Follow the trail of those video balls. Tell people to retreat on your way out, make them move. Go, my friend, and thank you." She said all in a rush, and nearly shoved him in the most likely direction. The sky battle above them was certainly enough to send 50,000 people scattering into bare desert as well. There were always the gazers though, who stood as stunned as turkeys in the rain, drowning with their mouths open and staring at the bewildering sky.

As the booming cracks made sudden, deafening report she ducked in close beside the hulk that was Jim Hayes, and added an involuntary shriek to the cacophony as the other Specters bounced in. Sarah Jane found them terrifying and had to chant a litany to her self to remember they were, apparently on her side.

"Miss Smith," The Meddler asked, turning to her, "are you, by any chance, still wearing all of that frangible gold jewelery?"

She did not trust him, not a finger width. However, he could do little damage to humans with gold, unless he chose to choke her with those heavy links. She bet that Tessa of the future had come loaded with gold as well, so Sarah Jane could spare her own. She yanked out of her coat and threw it to the sand to more easily reach the clasps of her heavy jewelry. This whole time she is boring her gaze into his, trying to figure him out. Suddenly the pieces of this puzzle were not adding up.

She is standing in Jim's shadow this moment, heart pounding at the threat, noise and chaos around them. She was depending on the Captain to try keep her in one piece. In a sort of horrible way, Sarah Jane realized she just might be the safest person on the planet by standing where she was, next to the four massive, cyber enhanced soldiers.

Her hands are quick on the clasps, loosing one long chain after another. Whatever he wanted with them, she didn't want to be wearing them when he did it.

"Why would you want to slow them down?! Isn't this what you wanted!?" Snapped at him as she undid the last clasp and held out her laden handful, eyebrows fierce with her confusion and distrust, jaw at a stubborn angle.

Stubborn because somewhere deep inside a little voice said, 'You've made a mistake'. It was why she was handing over the gold instead of socking him one in the jaw. Besides, certainly Jim would oblige if she decided such tactics were necessary.

[The Meddler]

"Why would you want to slow them down?! Isn't this what you wanted!?"

His hand faltered as he reached for the length of gold chain, and he stared at her with shock on his face. "What?"

The shock mutated, slowly transforming into anger. "You...," he said slowly, gesturing vaguely upwards with his cane. "You think I want this?"

His knuckles whitened on the black wood of the cane, and his voice raised. "You think I want these cybernetic monsters lose on this planet? The last time I saw them, they had murdered the children of my homeworld! Murdered the woman I loved! And you think I'm working with them?"

He threw the black marble at her feet. "You see that?" he snarled. "That's their homeworld. I destroyed it, three billion years ago. And I will do the same to this planet, before I will let it become a new Mondas."

The Meddler looked away, and took several deep breaths to calm himself. "Now, since I really don't want to waste the six hundred-odd years I've invested in shepherding this planet along, I'm going to stop them."

A pause. And then he turned back and met her gaze, the pupils of his eyes seeming to burn with a shifting amber light.

"Would you like to help? Or would you prefer to shout baseless accusations at me?"

[Sarah Jane]

"I don't think you wanted this, but it was going to happen, just more slowly, Meddler!" She blurted out angrily, her fingers now in a fist tight around the gold. The looming threat in the sky and the chaos around her was so great she did not know how to stop it. It had been a long time since she did not know what to do. Where was the Doctor? Where was Jack?

Something made a huge thump against the ground and shocked her out of her moment's indecision. Something in her heart broke, but she needed a Time Lord. No human could stop this. She grit her teeth as she made her fist loosen, first dropping the gold into the Meddler's outstretched hand, then covering his hand with her own, gripping it now, her eyes desperate on his. His were so inhuman, seeming to glow from within from his intensity. It felt like she was selling her soul.

"I want to help you." Once she was in she was in. This was clear in her voice. "What do I do?"

[The Meddler]

"I don't think you wanted this, but it was going to happen, just more slowly, Meddler!"

Her words were angry, accusatory. The Meddler opened his mouth to speak, but the words were lost in the thunderous *crack* *crack* *crack* of the Specter's oversized assault rifles as they began to pick off approaching Cybermen.

"Can you two not do this right now?" Captain Hayes demanded in the lull after the shots. "We're in the middle of something here, right now!"

Hoaloaka laughed. "Who is she, Chris? Your ex?" The Meddler half-turned to answer, and the Hawaiian Specter continued. "'Cause you two got some chemistry going on. I can totally see some angry make-up sex happening here."

The Meddler's eyes opened wide in shock, and he actually flushed an orange-red color at that. "Uhm... no... that is..."

"Again," Captain Hayes demanded, now glaring at Sgt. Hoaloaka, "can we not do this right now?"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm on it, Captain."

The Meddler took a deep breath, clearly trying to collect his thoughts. "Look," he managed, "we can discuss the merits of the coming First Posthuman Age, and my role in it, later. For now..."

She interrupted him by shoving a gold chain into his hand. "I want to help you." It was clear from her tone of voice that she didn't really trust him, that he was simply the lesser of two evils. "What do I do?"

It wasn't what he wanted. But he'd never expected gratitude from anyone for what he did. So he smiled. "Great. Wonderful! So what do you do? Well," he held up the length of gold chain, "you've clearly traveled in time, and you've clearly encountered Mondasian Cybermen before. So, what we're going to do, is we're going to get up to their ship, and we're going to kill them all."

"Unfortunately, my TARDIS is back at Camp Rock." He stuffed the chain into a blazer pocket and jogged towards the inflatable blue box. "So we're going to improvise, and turn that into a hot air balloon."

(OOC: In response to your question from the C-Box a few days ago, Jim Hayes isn't actually a formally drawn up character. He just happens to have a strong personality.)

[The Inventor]

After searching all over the place The Inventor had finally found a lump of iron. He returned to where his group was, and entered when "The Meddler" said, "Unfortunately, my TARDIS is back at Camp Rock. So we're going to improvise, and turn that into a hot air balloon." Then The Inventor said, "I'm back, as soon as I get this up and running I'll help you with that, or we could take my TAR-." He stopped, thinking better of it, since he wanted to help build the hot air balloon.

[Sarah Jane]

Sarah Jane's strong suit had never been a good poker face.

When the third Specter from the left mouthed off about make up sex, Sarah Jane looked She looked right at the Meddler. It had not eluded her that he was a handsome man. His hair was gray, the veins were clear on the back of his hands, and his face was lined. Well, her face had lines as well. The Meddler was upright and brilliant, well hewn. She found his pleasant eyes, then dropped her own gaze. It was just her mind's speculation, but she raked him once up and down with her eyes. Her expressive mouth gave a twitch of appreciation. Realizing what she had done, she chose to brazen it out, cocking an eyebrow at him. Let him wonder. Let him sweat.

She was going to be the last to deny her affection for the Gallifreyan race. If there had been any doubt in her that the Medder was what he claimed to be, now she was certain, for his face ruddied and he stammered as Time Lords were want to do at any hint of physical romance with a human. Sarah Jane was greatly amused to see this chink in his armor.

Then he blew her moment's cool by suggesting turning her TARDIS into a hot air balloon. She didn't have any better ideas.

"You're insane like all the rest. Let's do it." She gave the Inventor a curious glance, then started jogging toward her big inflatable TARDIS bouncer. She would leave a note there for Tessa.

[The Meddler]

"You're insane like all the rest. Let's do it."

"There's only four of us left," he said, laughing at her words, "and I can assure you that I am far more mad than they are."

The inflatable blue box towered over them, sixty feet of air-tight nylon and plastic kept rigid by huge diesel-powered blowers. Without pausing, the Meddler raced towards the closest one. Producing a wide, flat silver object, he went to work on the bolts holding the cover shut.

He was a Time Lord. As a result, it took a few seconds that he held nothing more sophisticated than an adjustable wrench.

He tossed the cover aside with a clang, and stared at the motor. "Rod and Eye," he whispered, rolling his eyes, "Improving your power infrastructure should be next on my agenda..."

He stared at the motor in disbelief for another moment, then stuck his hand into his inside breast pocket. "Miss Smith," he said, extracting a slender silver rod that faintly resembled a bubble wand, "we're going to build a Maxwell's Demon on these blowers, so we can fill the inflaTARDIS there with hot air."

He powered down the blower and set to work. "Could you start by cutting that cover up into squares, about 2 inches on a side?"

---

The forcibly-converted were in the front ranks of the advancing mob, ordered forward by the Cybermen who - although without emotions themselves - understood the value of exploiting emotions in others.

"Copeland! Dibney! Snipe the jugheads!" Captain Hayes barked over the C3 channel. "Washburn, keep tight by the man MacGyvering our miracle! Hoaloaka? You're with me."

The various Specters chorused agreement. "What are we doing, Cap?" asked Hoaloaka.

Hayes sighed and flexed his prosthetic fingers inside their negative feedback gauntlets. "Trying not to kill any of those people."

(OOC: For what it's worth, the Meddler is on his fourth incarnation here. He looks like he's in his early 30s, with auburn hair and brown eyes.)