Keiko raises her hand shyly.

"Um. I didn't see it happen, exactly. And the 'time machine' isn't in here. And...just for the record, I don't want to take Nadine to Bahrain, especially without asking her first."

She looks at the others. "Did any of you even think about talking to her before deciding what to do?"

In her room, Ronnie began to laugh. This was typical behavior for the kind of people she suspected these guys to be, and then there was Keiko. It was always amusing to see the big grunting types barge along with their plan until the contenious people had to remind them to be humane.

Of course, that meant that the "sacrifice one to save millions" speech was coming right up...

"Guys ... and Ladies, what is our goal here? I don't think its about blowing up Bahrain."

Synner shakes his head,
"I think someone needs to state our overall goal so everyone knows what we are risking our lives for. Then we can discuss why we are planning to break into Bahrain and what force is necessary."

Sean grunted.

"Primary goal: Prevent Manhattan's destruction, at all costs."

"Secondary goal: Hurt Proteus as bad as we can in the process."

He frowned and went on, "One verses millions blah, blah, blah. Does that really need to be spelled out here? Are you people so bound by your consciouses that you really care about the life of one person? Well, let me remind you all that the one person is already dead and it wasn't us that killed her, it was Proteus when they created their super weapon. So what the corpse is still walking around and breathing? Mega-egghead Netwon over there," He looks to Netwon and gives a slight smile to say that this is not an insult, "has tried unsuccessfully to figure out a way to prevent this so many times now that he has nearly fucked up reality itself. The way I understand it, and Netwon or Keiko can correct me if I'm wrong, but this is our last chance. We don't get it right this time there will be no next time. So, we have a walking breathing corpse that is only waiting to die even if she doesn't know it. We have an evil organization that is bent on the destruction of Novas, namely us. Said organization created a weapon that in the last timeline killed around five million people. If this is a democracy, then I vote to shove that walking corpse right down Proteus' throat and let them choke on little miss megatons. I'll do my crying for the single sole innocent victim, aka, the dead woman, after our asses and the asses of every man woman and child in Manhattan are saved."

Sean winds down but he is obviously frustrated that people are even considering letting their consciences get in the way of doing the right thing as he sees it.

"Of COURSE I care about a person!" Keiko shoots back. "What I don't get is why you're coming at this from a point of view where we have to choose between her or New York. Why not just put her somewhere where she won't hurt anyone else if we fail? Are we even sure she dies? I don't know exactly what happens. YOU guys are the ones that lived through it already. So you tell me. Does Nadine die? And if not, then isn't her life worth trying to save...especially if we can remove the danger to New York really easily?"

Sean nodded, "Actually she didn't die last time. She woke up in the crater unharmed but naked with no memory of it at all. But the weapon thing that destroyed NY was inside her. So really we wouldn't even be harming her by sending her in. As for taking her somewhere, yes, we could. Anywhere, but the weapon will find her no matter where she is and merge with her. Personally, I'd like that to happen in Bahrain in Proteus' secret facility. Let them be destroyed by their own weapon."

"Well I think it's her risk, and it's her life, and she should have a say in this," Keiko says stubbornly. "We need to explain all this to her, and what the options are."

"Hold up! You are saying that the so-called superweapon is some kind of free roaming agent that is catalyzed by this woman? Have you been able to determine what it is about her specifically that makes her it's target? What happens if she dies? Will it seek out another host? And let's say hypothetically we go through with this plan and stick her in Bahrain...what then? Maybe it takes out the facility, but if I heard you right just now then it means that the weapon still exists, has just been "armed," and likely whatever countermeasures Proteus had to keep it in check were just vaporized...Maybe this isn't such a good idea after all. It may be just me being the ignorant new guy in the room but it seems to me like what we are sorely lacking for here is information..."

With the degree to which the newcomer has brought himself up to speed based on the rapid fire conversation it would seem he is sporting more than a small degree of quantum-enhanced cognitive ability.

Listening to the intense discussion, Nosferatu realized that the situation was far more complicated than it had initially seemed. They did need information, and Newton seemed to have most of it. Synapse seemed to know what was going on as well.

"It seems our host has most of the information." Nosferatu finally said. "I suggest we ask him what sort of things he had tried before, so we don't repeat the same mistakes."

"I would also like to check with Synapse. He seems to know alot as well."

Nosferatu leans into Keiko and whispers. "She killed my friend and a fellow Terat, simply for being close to her. You can have the honors of telling her things she doesn't want to hear."

Cherub nods and says,

"Last time we dealt with her she was deep, Deep, DEEP into denial. I'm a baseline. Why is this happening to me. That sort of thing."

"Oh, and was it Proteus or the Directive that created her?"

"And right, what is it about her? We don't know 'why her', and we don't know what will happen if she dies. It might die. Or it might just pick someone else, if so odds favor that someone else being in a big city."

Keiko frowns, now completely confused.

"Wait, we're talking about two different things, right? There's Nadine, the woman Newton kidnapped to bring here, and who's passed out, and there's this 'singularity' thing, which is the superweapon, right?"

Callum stands by impassively watching the argument mount. Finally he speaks, his voice almost deviod of emotion. "I don't recall that we all agreed that our objective was to hurt Proteus as much as we could. I disagree completely with that idea in fact. It's Nadine's life, or at least the continuance of her normal life, that is at stake here. She should be the one to decide. Using her as a weapon would make us no better than they who created this thing. I don't know about you but I'm better than that."

Still proccessing information incredibly quickly, Jacob adds, "And yet, in each temporal iteration of events, the parasite has sought out the same host. There has to be a reason why..."

He stands up from leaning on the wall.

"Newton is it? What can you tell us about our mystery woman? I assume you have already used your tricorders on her..." This last bit he adds in an attempt to keep some ammount of humor, and therefore perspective, in the situation. Life after all, was still worth celebrating...

Cherub responds innocently, "And if she claims, again, that she's just a baseline, this isn't her problem, and she wants to go back to New York? Aren't those millions of soon to be dead people at stake here too?"

More seriously Cherub says, "Stop thinking of her as an innocent baseline. She won't remember killing Grey or attacking the rest of us, or killing all those people in New York... but the rest of us should learn from it."

Cherub says, "Right now they're separate with one seeking the other. Then they'll merge and go nuclear-ish. After that they'll be like Bruce Banner and the Hulk. Different personalities, different abilities, but on some level they're the same person."

"Grey was *not* the weakest nova I've seen but she killed her like snapping a twig... and that was after turning off most of our powers. Even knowing what is to come we're in serious danger here."

"Maybe," Keiko retorts, "She did it because she was -afraid- of you! And who could blame her if this is how you approached her? She hasn't done -anything- yet. And it sounds to me like the singularity is the one that does it, anyway. How do you know Nadine has anything to do with it? She might even BE a baseline!"

She takes a breath to keep going...then changes her mind.

"This is stupid. I'm not going to argue about what she might or might not say, or do. We have five days. We can spare a little time to let her wake up, and then we'll KNOW what she says. We can go from there."

Cherub replies heatedly,

"Keiko, you weren't there. Grey never threatened her and she wasn't a threatening person. She just got in the way and was stepped on like a bug."

Cherub visibly relaxes and decides to let it drop,

"Fine. I agree, we can spare the time to talk to her and it might be useful. For the record, I found Nadine to be a nice person and she hits the radar as a civilian. She probably isn't at fault for any of this."

Newton sighed as he raised his voice to add his thoughts to the round.
"It turned out that I was wrong about certain things - especially about time. Time seems to be more like an Escher painting and less like a clearly structured topic.", he turned to access the computer terminal he was standing next to and continued his speech, "Nadine is pure baseline - no hint of even being a latent Nova. I was always assuming that she was some kind of Nova - maybe the next logical evolutionary step.", Newton shook his head.

"But there must be something that I'm missing. There must be a reason why the Singularity is searching for her, why it wants to merge with her. That's the part I'm absolute clear about - the Singularity is trying to merge with her - and only with her. If it just needed a host it could take anyone who crossed its path. I suppose we need to find out what the Singularity is in order to find the missing piece. We still got 5 days before ground zero, I think we should use that time to find out as much as possible about this Proteus Weapon."

---------

In the meantime Bastion regained his composure and immediately sped off to join the others when he saw Ronnie disappearing into her quarters. The woman had be giving him the creeps ever since she joined the gang but she was 'clean' if he trusted Newton and Roussaeu. Still there was something that bothered him about her. He slowly walked to her quarters and waited a minute before he knocked on the door, "Hey Ronnie, you there? I think we have a problem."

Ronnie turned the feed down and kicked her feet off her bed. "Ya, Bastion, gimme a sec." She grabbed her guns and opened the door. "What's wrong? What problem?"

"Okay Sean, we've saved Manhattan. What gives us the resources to take on and take out Proteus? Seriously, what is the Singularity, who, or what created it, and how can we stop it from evaporating when it finds Nadine?"

"What's going to stop it from wasting us and removing us from the timeline if/when it finds us here with Nadine?"

"I'm just saying: Saving the world is nice and all, but I would like to appreciate the endeavor, you know?"

"Right now there's talk of detonating Nadine like she's some kind of bomb, when we don't even know that's how it works. You know what she did in New York ... once. Something differently bad could happen this time."

Synner stops and thinks about what's been said one more time.

"Newton, what if Nadine is important as a Temporal point in Time/Space and not important as a biological componant?"

Bastion looked at her hesitating for a moment, "Legion just disappeared... and I think he is not coming back. He said he remembered everything and doesn't want to undo what happened to us. I don't know if we can do this without him. He was the one who could manipulate Spatial forces. I hope that new girl knows better, else we may have a bigger problem than we had before this last jump.", he looked a bit confused because of all the time jumping thing. His memory was clearer than before but yet he emerged more confused out of it then when they started their journey.

Jacob responds to Newton,

"I assume you are thorough enough to have done complete genetic testing of her, so if she is truly an unremarkable baseline that leaves that trail on a dead end. On the other hand, and not to sound too callous, but if she dies before the parasite can merge with her, then it can't go boom."

At Synner's comment he raises an unremarkable eyebrow. "Intersting...she could be some kind of psychic anchor for the anomaly. Has anyone considered that perhaps the anomoly wasn't *created* by Proteus? What if they just found it? Proteus was created to control novas and keep baselines safe and in charge...blowing up major American cities isn't a part of their MO. They like the shadows. If this thing got out then it is likely beyond their control...maybe never was. Has anyone considered an extra terestrial origin for the Singularity?"

Somewhere along the way, Keiko's slipped a little flip notebook out of her pocket and is scribbling frantically in tiny letters along the small lined yellow pages.

"So you're a supporter of extraterrestrial eruption theory?" she asks Frag, glancing up at him momentarily. "What was your name again? And spell it, please."

Jacob chuckled.

"Sorry babe. I don't do interviews."

Keiko sighs and gives Frag a vexed look.

"Okay, but you're a top Proteus agent, right? You all are? Can I use your codenames?"

Cherub asks,

"Keiko? What makes you think we're all Proteus?"

"Who me? You have the wrong idea. I'm retired...used to do covert-ops for Langley."

Jacob looks amused at her vexation. She really was a cute little creature. Probably not into his particular kinks but you could never be sure with asians...

"You know, " he seems to reconsider for a moment. "I'm not technically allowed to discuss alot of the missions I went on. But if you were willing to guarantee my anonymity, I might be persuaded to do a private interview..." he says suggestively. While his outward appearance is unremarkable, his eyes shine with intelligence and a confidence that says he could make her life very interesting indeed....

"Well, you...some of you seem to..." Keiko scowls as she tries to answer Cherub's question. "I'm really -asking- if you're Proteus. But I guess you'd know more if you were. So...who ARE you with?"

She gives Frag a curious look. You could almost see her thoughts bubbling, is he trying to come onto me?

"If it's actually an interview you want, maybe," Keiko says carefully. "Of course, it would have to be completely professional, so theres no conflict of interest."

He still has that twinkle in his eye. "I think you're the one that wants an interview..." he says. "You're just going to have to make it worth my while to give you one." He teases her a bit. "Of course I promise to make it worth your while if you do..."

"As for who we all work for, I just gave the surface summary a few minutes ago. A diverse group indeed, and I confess that it has me second guesing as well. I'm not one to believe in coincidence. Sean...we've been friends for a long time. You trusted me enough to bring me here. Do you trust me enough to tell me who you're really working for? I can already tell this isn't the DeVries assignmnet that you first mentioned so don't bother trying to sell me. I want the truth..."

"Why do you keep insisting we are Proteus?" A pained look of frustration spreads across his face. "I will tell you this one more time. I am a Terat!" He wanted to drain the blood from the rest of her body, as her brain already seemed to lack it.

Learning that Frag was an elite, who did contract work for the highest bidding zip, also added to his frustration. Don't they understand.

Sean grimaced. "Believe what you want but the simple truth is that I AM an Elite and I was hired to kill that guy over there." He points to Newton and grins. To Newton he says, "Don't worry, I won't be killing you. Like I said, I pick my contracts and reject those I don't like." Looking back to Frag and Keiko, "As for who hired me, well, I am afraid that's confidential. I never reveal that and it is not pertinent to this discussion."

Jacob nods at his freinds answer. Respect for the anonymity of a client was paramount and he trusted Sean's judgement about his assignments.

"And what of you "Cherub?" His inflection is mildly mocking but only in that knowing way that comes from also having submitted to some baseline's corporate marketing sensibilites. "Are you secretly an assassin? Knowing the Proteus agenda behind Utopia, it wouldn't surprise me if your Team Tomorrow act is all an elaborate front..."

"Okay, okay, calm down," Keiko urges, scribbling more notes. "Repeating questions is just part of...the whole...how it works. You look for things that change. It's not personal...I'm just doing my job."

She looks up from the pad at Cherub.

Cherub says,

"OK, first of all, every nova with Utopia isn't with Team Tomorrow. This specifically includes me. They don't want me, I don't want them. Think of me as Corbin's younger brother. Some people are truly driven to do what is best for mankind at the expense of their own personal lives... and others are undisciplined, unreliable, and use the PR they get from Utopia to fuel their sex lives."

"I patch up other novas when they get banged up. The Project also has me doing medical research, serving as backup for the same, and working on getting a medical degree. And yes, I'm well paid. To be honest I'm happy with my lifestyle."

"And no, I'm not with Proteus. Look... you already know we're in the middle of multiple temporal paradoxes. Current events were caused by future events, and were also caused by events that retroactively didn't happen. Everyone who has been touched by Nadine or Newton has been swept into this mess. Including yourself."

"Maybe rather than believing that all unusual things here are Proteus, you could assume most or all of them are related to Time Travel? You're caught up in this, does that make *you* Proteus? Or are you another nova swept up in Time Travel? Try looking for what's here rather than what you'd like to see."

Ronnie walked back into the room, Bastion on her heels. She went straight to Newton's side and leaned close to the leader of this circus. "Newton, Legion appears to have vamoosed," she said to him, pitching her voice low enough for everyone to realize she was talking only to him. She didn't bother trying to speak too softly for anyone to here; in this bunch, the only thing quiet enough was telepathy. Everyone here would know what she'd said, because everyone in here would eavesdrop on their mother to complete their mission. Except maybe Keiko. Maybe.

The look on Newton's face confirmed how serious this was. The way Ronnie understood this, Legion had been necessary to the temporal resets. Without him, the option of risking another jump had been lost. "Bastion doesn't think he's coming back," Ronnie added. "What do you want us to do?"

"Legion disappeared?!", Newton stared at Ronnie and Bastion but his voice remained monotonous as ever.
"We have to find him! We need him to make this happen. This is not good... did he say anything before he left?"

Bastion nodded and answered, "He said something about remembering everything and that he was starting to enjoy his powers. He doesn't want to... undo what happened to us. He seemed pretty pissed off, I must say. I feel like I'm missing something."

Newton watched Bastion explain the situation and even though his face was almost impossible to read you all have the feeling that he was hiding something.

"I'm sorry about your friend," Keiko offers with timid commiseration. "Maybe he'll change his mind?"

"Anyway...I'm just thinking that we have some time to deal with Nadine and the singularity. Before we decide to break into a super-prison, is there anything else we could do to find out about it? I could ask Sophie what she knows. Maybe check LexisNexus..."

She shrugs.

Payton steps forward and says to Newton's crew,

"Ummm ... I don't mean to belittle your loss, but who might Legion go to in order to stop us in our goal?"

"Seriously, with the majority of the world arrayed against us already, how much more damage could he do? How much knowledge about our make up and mission does he have?"

Synner is being sarcastic, really. Legion could really do some harm here, if he cared to, and not just by his absence. Almost as an afterthought he adds another question to the mix.
"What did Legion do for the team anyway?"

„Legion wasn’t just a warper, he could manipulate spatial forces. He gave me the initial idea to try time travelling. Without him I think this wouldn’t have been possible.”, Newton looked to the floor and hesitated before he continued.

“I… had to erase his memory. You see, Legion was a criminal, a homeless drug addict before he erupted. He would’ve never stayed with us… he was powertripping from the beginning. I asked Vanessa to erase his memory and make him think he was part of our team. Something must’ve reversed that when Ms Daniels made the jump for us.”

"So what should we do about it?" Nosferatu asked, as concern bubbled to the surface. "I would think that he's too dangerous to let roam among the general populace."

"Afterall, he is a criminal and a drug user who thrives off his power." A vampire too lives for the power and feeds to keep it. His mind rationalized that he was different than someone like Bastion.

Cherub says,

"Will he try to stop us? For that matter, we're done with the temporal editing, right? So do we really need him?"