How many boards do they have to go through before they get to Part LICC?

L.I.C.C.: The Lost Episode, Part Two

After much dreary waiting, the crew of the Spidership III finally found themselves on a new mission. An appearance by q confirmed everyone's worst suspicions... that the period between LICC 1 and LICC 2, the infamous "Lost Episode of the LICC," had been left lost for too long. Now occupying the bodies of several of their fans (the Arcola, IL chapter, to be precise), the heroes have returned to the past to right the wrongs and rescue their past selves from Dr. Negative's clutches.

And for those of you who can't seem to keep straight (or care) who's who...
Captain Tacoman........Jacob McGruder (15)
Commander Milkshake........Timmy McGurk (9)
Adon........Adam Morden (15)
Frangelica........Moira "Garf" Garfield (18)
Jadlad........Shirley Wolfe, a licensed pilot
Butrfli........Lydia McGurk, a licensed pilot
Quantum Man........Honest Fred, used shuttle dealer
Josh Rikard........Bruce Garner (15)
Enesku........Kate McRonald
Ansh........the dog
Tammy........Flora McDougal (9)
Scott Free........Reed Martin (30)
Kiehart and Rocket Ranger........ are still in the future doing weapons upgrades, since they came to the League well after "the Lost Episode"

These twelve possessed geeks (actually, 11 possessed geeks and one possessed dog) have sworn to rescue the Heroes by any means necessary, and are marshalling all available skills. Lydia, Moira, and Jacob are going to solicit help from the real Frangelica and Subway Man, who were not originally involved the Prof. Negative adventure. The others, led by Timmy and Adam, have armed themselves with the contents of Timmy's garage (and some heavy-duty supplements rush-ordered from CyberTek), and are planning to organize an army of geeks to raid Negative's asteroid base, where even as they speak, the real Captain Tacoman and Ansh are heading for trouble.

on the phone to Reed, who is manning communications at Timmy's house
Yeah, we're here. Lydia has parked in the economy lot of the New York Metropolitan Spaceport, and we're waiting for the PATH train to the city. We'll probably look for Subway Man first and find Frangelica by association. We'll let you know when we find anything. Right. OK. Call us before you leave the planet, all right?

To Jacob and Lydia
OK, now the fun part begins. Frangelica can gain access to the main Urban Defense League headquarters, but "Moira Garfield" isn't going to be able to pass the first checkpoint. Does anyone have a better idea of how to find Subway Man than riding the subway until someone tries to mug us?

Asteroid Base

Meanwhile, on the Spidership II, Colanator is ready to prepare to take off if anything happens. However, Total Audience Mayhem points a blaster pistol at him.

Not so fast! I was created by anomalies here, and I may cease to exist if I leave. You're keeping us right here, Liquid Metal.

Kids' Crew

Enesku now has a cooking-pot helmet, a belt with various eating utensils attached, a shield, and a makeshift cape. These look even more bizarre on the form of Kate McRonald than they would on Enesku.

Right... any suggestions of what else I should equip myself with for when we rescue the LICC from Professor Negative?

Hey... anyone know where Comet Lad is? I wonder if he possessed himself.

Tacoman/Jacob scratches his head and thinks
Well, since we're a small group of kids, plot logic would dictate that we somehow find a way to sneak in, get access, and contact Subway Man...
Or, we could attempt to let someone mug us...We don't have that much money on us, do we?
He aims the camera he's carrying at himself
I'm sorry if you happen to get hurt or mugged in this part of the adventure. We have to find heroes, and getting mugged might be the only way to get it done.

>How many boards do they have to go through before they get to Part LICC?>

The short answer is that we will have to wait until the Imperial Roman Senate changes the roman number system. Since the Roman Empire and Roman numerals are obsolite. It will never happen.

The long answer is that the letters in Roman can only be aranged in a certain manner. So LICC is not a correct number, but CCIL is okay (CCIL is LICC backwards.) Part CCIL is Part 249, and we should get to it on November 9, 2005. (At 50 boards a year it will take 5 years, starting from 2000, to reach 250 or so.)

Bellow are a list of all of the valid Roman numerals from LICC

CLCI 151 November 5, 2003
CCIL 249 November 9, 2005
CCLI 251 November 12, 2005

These are only estimates, your milage may vary, and the above estimates do not accout for acts of God, Congress, or Muslim terrorists.

Boo! Hiss!

stone Ccabe

Please disperse, or we will shoot you with pork fat laden weapons. (Rescue Ccabe)

Suddenly, the US Special Forces are overrun by a horde of Emeril Lagasse clones, all screaming "PORK FAT RULES, BABY!!" The Special Forces fire, but the clones catch all the ammo in their mouths and...eat it!!!

Anyone who can join us should try and meet us here as soon as possible. The more people we can get, the better.

Kiehart steps onto the bridge. Ranger is seated in the Captain's chair. "Quincy, you have any ideas how we can get our people back, or should we just sit here and hope everything will work out? With Enesku with them I'd say their odds aren't all that good."

Rocket Ranger looks at Kiehart....

Well, Jason, the way I see it, I don't think there's much we can do. We'll just have to wait and see. Unless you want to risk doing the old "time warp by flying past the sun" trick. And I'm not sure that Colanator would approve. I know I wouldn't if I were in command.

He pauses, then walks over to a large monitor, pulls some kind of disk out of a compartment in his belt, and slips the disk into an opening under the monitor.

This will help us pass the time. Sit back and enjoy...The Best of Iron Chef!

But then American Ally Japan sends in the Iron Chefs, with Julia Child. The Emeril Clones fall to Chen's blades, Sakai's good looks, and Morimoto's Neo-Japanese Cusine. The Clones are rightfully in fear of Julia. Everyone escapes on the ceremonial junk of the Iron Chef and Kaga's Yacht.

TWEEEEEEEEE!

Penalty! Penalty! Non-fictional character on the field! Penalty shot awarded to Decent Readers!

Come on, people. The Politics Discussion Board is back up thataway. Some of us post here because we don't *like* being innundated by the news at every waking moment. Can we keep life in the year 3001, please?

Kiehart sighs. "Great. Well, if Butrfli could go back, I guess I could give it a try. I should try to bring Enesku back here before she cocks up the mission."

before she cocks up the mission

Yeah! They used a British phrase! They said cocked-up!

Hey... if the LICC members who were transported in time possess other people's bodies, shouldn't their own bodies be lying around on the Spidership?

Asteroid Base, Spidership II

Hold it! (Total Audience Mayhem turns around to see Alivegeham pointing a phaser at him) I will keep you under surveilance. Colanator has no intention of leaving right now, and I'm sure when the time comes he will be happy to consider any comments you might have to make.

The Kid's Crew

Adam stepped out from around the corner.

I have finished the holograms. What do you t-t-t-t-t-t

From the other room came a loud "Thwack!" Adam flickered for a moment.

...think?

Adam vanished, and the real Adam stepped out from around the corner.

There seem to be a few bugs. That, and we only have enough power to run two holograms at once.

Kids Crew
Jacon turns to Moira
Know of any hiding places we could scurry into? Or would the security be too tight?

Asteroid Base
having been captured, Tacoman and Ansh are scanned, dearmed, and have their equipment removed. They are then thrown into the same cell block, and indeed the same cells, that the rest of the team is in
Brock?

Right here, Captain. This is not a good situation. Some how we're in a better prison than Negative had last time, no one's powers work in here. This isn't good at all.

"3001"
(Working in a Jefferies Tube)
Cid to the bridge, explain to me why we can't go back in time and kill Negative before the end of the First Mission?

Kiehart slaps himself on the forehead. "Of course! Why didn't I think of that?"

AUTHOR'S NOTE: Actually id di think of it, but decided not to suggest it so as to not to offend Negative's author.

Dupree reaches toward his wrist and appears to scratch it, briefly pressing it like it had buttons. Nothing special happens
Hmm... My uniform doesn't seem to be active...but for some reason, my disguise is still working...

Well...

I can get us in, but I wouldn't be able to stop us from being arrested as "wannabes", and we don't want to damage these bodies, so we probably don't want to try breaking in. Our main weakness right now is that we're geeks-- it's one small step from geeks to annoying wannabes, and as such we have no credibility.

What we need to do is make ourselves obnoxious enough to get noticed without actually causing a genuine threat to anything.

Takes a long hard look at the flashlight she got from Timmy's garage.
Bat-signal, anyone?

Asteroid Base

Aarh! I be a shackled by that scurvy cur Negative! He be askin' for a one-way passage to Davey Jones' locker! AARH! I'LL GET YE, NEGATIVE!

Somehow I doubt that.

(A hologram of Negative shimmers into life in a corner of the cell.)

Good to see you again, Captain Tacoman. In my self-imposed imprisonment in the depths of space I have had much time to consider how I could recoup my losses from the last time we met. Let me just say I intend to collect.

Let me congratulate you on reaching my base. This time, neither your powers nor your technology will help you.

(Every piece of technology the heroes own, weaponry, armor, or equipment, turns to dust.)

That is not to say I am not a reasonable man. I can see that some of you might wish status and power beyond what the Terran government might give you. I will give you 24 hours to think it over. Once that is done, I have quite a few interesting ideas on what to do with you, dear friends. Good night.

(The hologram disappears)

Kids Crew
Jacob:A real bat-signal or just general attention-getter?
Asteroid Base
Tacoman: Well, ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the worst situations I think we've ever been in. Search your cells for anything useful... of course, Negative might have removed things from here that might be use, but that's no reason not to try.

And I AM monitoring you, Captain. I've learned from my mistakes. Any attempt to escape will be dealt with, QUICKLY.

What's the difference?

Meatloaf! I got meatloaf here. Get it while it's hot. Get it while it's still a loaf and not the mystery meat in tomorrow's chili!

Kid's Crew
Jacob: Not much. What have you got in mind?

Kids Crew

Jadlad/Shirley rejoins the rest of the group.

Well, I was able to get in touch with my sister Alison. I think she believed me. But I can't be sure. :\

More LICC fans began to trickle into the room, responding to the crew's cry for help. Although most of them were also geeks, there were a few normal people in the group as well.

I've been sending them into the other room to watch old tapes of us while we wait. Anyone have any ideas what we are going to do with them when the battle begins?

Cannon fodder?

(Shocked at this comment the Kids Crew turn to look at the speaker. He appears to be a 'normal' person in his late teens. Although he's wearing a shirt that says, 'Vice-President Absurd... It just sounds right' and a hat that says, 'Vote Absurd' on it.)

I'm Mr. Insensitive. Cousin of Mr. Obvious & Vice-President Elect Absurd.

1st Timelord: Status?

2nd Timelord: The threads that bind Space & Time have unravelled in the year 3001. The causes seem to relate to a combination of the Nevesytrof sorcerors nearly eliminating the LICC Universe, and Professor Negative's artificial realities in November of 3000. Also the Queue seem to have discovered some external forces at work in disrupting our universe.
The Time stream is so far unaffected. We are unable to read anything in Eternity*
There are currently 47 objects that are existing in the Time/Space Continuum, including the Spidermobile III, Mr. Absurd, a K-NIT 47 cameraman, Zelgar the indestructable, the Ultimate Nullifier, Mr. A... well, that's not right.

* Eternity is the absence of Time.
Or in relation to the LICC Universe Space without Time.
The Time stream refers to Time without Space.
The Space/Time Continuum refers to what we normally think of as a blending of the Time Stream & Eternity (Time + Space = Reality;-)

The Asteroid Base

Adon's voice echoed through the cell.

Captain, are you all right?

Captain Tacoman: "So far, where are you?"

I have been trapped by Egads in some sort of temporal bubble. I can only cause the barrier to weaken to the point where I can speak through, but it is taking a lot of my energy to do it. What is going on over there?

Quickly, Captain Tacoman told Adon what is going down, until Professor Negative's voice interrupted them.

Professor Negative: "It would appear that Adon is still alive. No matter. He will never escape from his prison."

The Kid's Crew

Adam snapped back to reality.

I don't know how this happened, but I just witnessed a conversation between myself and Captain Tacoman. We only have twenty four hours before we're executed.

Kid's Crew
In the subway, Jacob's phone rings
Hello... Oh. Hi Adon. What? WHAT? 24 hours? Then we have to work fast. How's the recruting coming? Getting people from all over, huh? Good. Keep up the good work. Jacob out.
Jacob turns to his companions
Bad news people. I just got a call from Adam/Adon. Somehow he witnessed a conversation between the Tacoman and Adon on Negative's base. We appearently have twenty fours hours before the LICC is executed.

Kids' crew
Enesku's cellular telephone rings. It plays the tune of the LICC Theme Song
*un-naturally high voice* Hi, Enesku here! How may I bring you pleasure?
gabbled voices
*uhv* Uh-huh.
more gabbled voices
*uhv* Uh-huh. Right, Sure. You know the way?
more gabbled voices
*uhv* good. See ya!
closes communication
*normal voice* That's the Nevada Fans of LICC coming over here.

Enesku notices Mr Insensitive
Hey, I like your syle. Do you have a girlfriend?

Oh... yeah... you're seeing me as Kate McRonald. The thing is, I can use my real name, because no-one knows who Enesku is. But I really look much more attractive than this! Honest!

Boy am I glad it's not a literal 24 hours, I wouldn't have enough time to run to the bathroom since K-NIT strangely became commerical-free...

This commercial-free episode of the League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions II is brought to you by Dr. Dontens Adult diapers. They are not just for people with bladder control problems anymore. Now you can continue watching TV without missing a second of your favorite program.

Unfortunately while most K-NIT viewers had no problem with the ultracompressed Blipvert sending a commercial to their brain in less than a second, all viewers wearing red shirts promptly exploded

Kids' Crew 3000

(Looks down at Enesku in Kate's body)

Surrrrrrrrre, Kate. Just keep telling yourself that.

So what does N.S.Q. stand for? Non-Sense Queen?

Anyway, some of these LICC fans would be willing to be redshirts to help out LICC..., or even believe a bunch of fans who may be pretending to be possesed by LICC.

So who's in charge?

Arrrr! I be the Kids' Crow! Where are them bad movies?

(A young woman in a beehive and mini-skirt walks on the bridge. Curiously, she has earings, and lifeless blue eyes)

Hi! Crewobject Twenty Eight Bustline reporting for duty. I was sent to bring drinks up here, on the grounds this plot is starting to move slowly. Coffie, Tea, Milk, Redshirt formula?

Asteroid Base
On the Spidership II, Colanator, who's still under the watchful eye of TAM, looks through the ship's records and recent logs for any new information. He comes upon a message that Tacoman recorded just before he left.
Colanator, listen carefully. If the rest of the LICC is captured, it's up to you to get help. Either try to get the ship away from here, or send a general distress call and hope people receive and answer it. If you do send the distress call, send with it all recent data on the base, including how to avoid the time pockets. Good luck. Tacoman over and out.

Kid's Crew
Lydia looks at the flashlight and then rummages through her purse. She comes up with a few small sheets of paper and a pair of scissors
Ok. WHat kind of pattern do you need? I can cut a picture of a subway car, Frangelica's head, the logo of the Urban League...

It's not NSQ, it's Enesku!! E-N-E-S-K-U! And it doesn't stand for Non-Sense Queen, it stands for... Enesku!

Who's in charge? That would be Timmy McGlurk.

Asteroid Base-Spidermobile II

Computer: "Warning. Intruders attempting entry into ship through docking arm."

Helm, 129 by 256 warp 2 engage.

The Spidermobile warps away from the Asteroid Base, ripping the docking tunnel away. Many of Negative's heavily-armed henchmen go spinning off into the void.

Back on the bridge, Colanator watches as the asteroid belt quickly recedes from view.

I will be back, my friends.

Spidermobile II

Blast it! It's no use. The encryption is just too complex on the rest of these files! Hmm. Maybe I better give them to Colanator.

Jadlad gets up from the Pseudoscience station and gives the files to Colanator.

Other than several notes about us on them I was able to get into, I can't hack my way into the rest of Negatives files that I brought back with me. He seems to know much more about us than he should. In my opinion sir.*


*Just some history fulfilling itself. See the last paragraph of my Jadlad Jadlad and Jadlad post on "League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions 2, Part I".

Colanator, what are you doing??!! If we get far enough away from the asteroid base, I will cease to be! Give me the controls!

Wait... I have an idea...

3001, Spidermobile III

(Vice-President Absurd floating in the non-existence that is currently the LICC Universe, comes up to the Spidermobile and knocks on the hatch. He is then beamed to the Bridge. Where he is greeted by questions from some stunned members of the crew.)

"How did you survive?"

You never heard of 'I think therefore I am'?

"Is Mr. Obvious out there too?"

My brother doesn't have my flexible grasp of reality.

(Mr. Absurd looks around the Bridge)

The Spidermobile III looks nice.

(He wanders over to the Psuedoscience console where a blueshirt sits.)

Do you mind if I sit there?

"uh, no, sir. Be my guest."

(He swivels the chair to see the rest of the Bridge and asks)

Who's in charge & what caused the universe to wink out?

(The situation is explained to him. He activates a scanner on his console)

The Time Stream still seems to be intact. Any reason why we can't go back in time to help stop Professor Negative?

1. Well, we did get a view of a destroyed Spidermobile. It might have been an alternate reality, but what if it was the Spidermobile III instead of II?

2. Oh, I remember that. I was triplicated, so that there was three of me running around.

3. That was very confusing. We didn't know which you was you. I'm glad we don't have that lookalike problem now.

(On the Spidership 3 viewscreen)
We can't go back in time. We are in another dimention. Shifting like that isn't that hard, changing our temporal coordinates may be extremely hard, as we aren't supposed to exist as far as time is concerned. Unless we can solve the parodox created in our timeline we can't return to it. We are stuck in the Star Trek/Dragon Ball universe until the parodox is fixed. So either we can wait here, wait until the XDCA comes to arrest us (Everyone laughts) or until the problem is fixed. Or wait until Frieza of Borg appears on the Gaydar. Heh heh, XDCA, why don't they use time travel.

CID, CID, YOUR'RE CID, NOT MATT. CID!

Asteroid Base
Tacoman: Let's hope Colanator got my messages. He's going to need all the help he can muster to get us out of here.
Anybody want to play word games?

Spidership III

Quincy (Not Rocket Ranger; he's not wearing armor) walks onto the bridge, with a PADD in hand....

I've just been in my lab, running some equations. I ran them through the Probability Computer, and here are the results....

If we go back in time to try and stop Professor Negative, there is a 100% chance that we will change the timeline...of course. However, there is a 79.867% chance that the changes would be for the worse, and thats if we did succeed in stopping Negative.

If we don't go back in time, there is a 56.31% chance that the members already sent back by Q will succeed....but only if they can find someone from that time period who is willing to help them. Without help....lets just say that they're screwed!

Just then a blueshirt accidently presses a button as he leans on the Psuedoscience station and a big clown hand comes down from the ceiling and smacks Quincy silly.

there is a 100% chance that we will change the timeline

Well, since in the normal timeline the universe has CEASED TO EXIST!!! I say we take the chance.

Does Jet LI have anything to do with this board?

Kids' crew... sorta

In front of Lydia, Moira and Jacob a stars-and-strips flag rolls down. They all salute, regardless of their place of origin (in Lydia's case), knowing what's going to happen. They are not disappointed, as The Great Emancipator (not affilited with Abraham Lincoln) steps out from behind the flag, which rolls up, and TGE himself salutes.

"I hear I am needed. The question is, who are you exactly?"

Kid's Crew
Jacob steps foward and speaks
Greetings, sir. I have a tale that will amaze and interest you. Ok.. How do I explain this? My name is Jackson Tacoman, leader of the League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions. I know it sounds strange, but let me explain. A year from now, the universe we inhabit will collapse due to a massive paradox. This paradox involves the League being in the universe without appearently escaping the clutches of one Professor Negative. Members of the Q Continuium charged the LICC to rescue itself from Negative, but placed us in the bodies of those from this time period. Unfortunatly, the bodies chosen were a LICC fan club. So, we have split into several task groups in order to solve the problem. One group is at the club headquarters getting the support of other fan clubs so that we can invade Professor Negative's asteroid base, while my group is seeking help from heroes. We are currently seeking the Urban League, and more specifically Frangelica and Subway Man.
I'm sorry. I havn't introduced the rest of my group.
Jacob points to Moira
This is Moira Garfield, who is currently housing the mind of Frangelica herself, and this Pointing at Lydia is Butrfli, a member of my crew from another dimension and mother of my children in the future.
And since you are here, may I ask if we can get support from you?

Kids Crew
The house's transport chime rings again, and a crate appears on the transport delivery pad. Jadlad/Shirley goes to see what it is. There's a note attached.

Jad (Or should I call you Shirley? :P ),

Taking a chance that what you told me is the truth.
Unable to help you in person right now. Hope this stuff helps. Don't tell mom and dad where I got it.

Love sis

Jadlad/Shirley opens up the crate, looks inside and smiles. Jadlad/Shirley walks back to the main group after taking some of the stuff with him/her. He/she is now wearing slightly ill fitting armor with the identifying marks scorched off and it is painted grey, green and black. He/she joins the rest of the Kids Crew.

What do you think?.

There's several other goodies in there we can all use as well.

Have any more groups agreed to help?

Spidermobile III

Artsy, who is still not used to all these temporal/dimentional screwups, is dealing with it by painting memory-portraits of the crew: a form of art she created recently, in which each portrait has multiple layers and is, in essence, a complete glimpse of the person for as long as the artist has known or known of them. Quito is playing nearby, occasionally helping Artsy out by adding her own mental images to the mix.

Just as she finishes her best picture yet, one of the Observer, Artsy finds herself wishing desperately that she had been able to go back in time with the others to free their past selves from Negative's grasp...if only there was something she could do!

Suddenly, in a flash of bright light, Artsy disappears....

The door opened, and Adam led in another group of LICC fans to help free our heroes.

The new recruits are here, Ca-... Jacob. I think that this is just about everyone we're going to get.

Jacob's phone rings again. He answers it.
Hello? All the recrutes that are avalible? good... some good news on this end too... We found the Great Emancipator, and are now trying to get his help. Good luck on your end.
Great Emancipator, would you like to talk to the rest of my crew so you can see I'm telling the truth?

Kids Crew

A shuttle lands in front of the house.

OK, guys, I was able to get a shuttle. Don't wreck it too badly, or else somebody's going to have to pay for it.

All right, folks, let's get to work. We'll make it a ship worthy of the LICC!

Yes, I would. The League of Intergalactic Cosmic Champions, you say? I have often heard of you but never yet met any of your forces. I will come with you and assist you in your task.

looking around the shuttle
All right. I want a horn here, here and here. And I want them to all play pop songs. And a built in video game over here, oh, and here will be a gun, and here will be another gun, and here will be a CD player.

Look, kid, I have to return this to the lot when I'm done. No fancy mods like that.

Kiehart paces the bridge, anxiously. Suddenly he gets an idea. "Quincy, given the right set of circumstances do you think you could help me convince a certain group of 12 to lend aid to our friends in the past?" Quincy frowns. "What are youe talking about?" Kiehart smiles. "Adon is one of the ones in trouble. I'm going to talk to the Conclave. You can help me convince them to send more Wanderers to help!"

Fred, when we return it we will be taken back to our own time, no-one will blame us for tampering with it. If our host bodies get blamed, we'll be out of them by the time, so there's no harm done.

Yes, but we're superheroes. We're not supposed to shift any blame. We're supposed to accept responsibility for our actions. If you don't want to do that, maybe you shouldn't be in the LICC.

Hey... how about we disapparate here, and reapparate in your "headquarters"? It's quicker than traveling, you just need to tell me where they are.

Spidership III

After listening to Kiehart's idea, Quincy looks at Kiehart as if thinks he is out of his mind.

Let me get this straight....you want to get the other Wanderers involved in this?! And you want my help?

He pauses and thinks about it for several seconds.

Bad idea.

Sounds good, Emancipator.
One request, though... Maybe you could contact the Urban League and ask them for their help?

Adam dials Jacob's phone number.

Everyone's as ready as they're going to get on this end. I'm sending our troops over.

If we get a chance, can we stop by the Spidership on the way to Negative's base? I can pick up my old Combat Suit. It may come in handy. Of course, I will have to adjust the seat.

Adam, Stay right there! It looks like we may get the help of at least the Great Emancipator! Hopefully he can lead us to the rest of the Urban League.
As for stopping by the Spidership, if we happen to come across it, we'll try to get aboard and explain the situation.

"Why exactly is it a bad idea Quincy?"

One of the fans, a girl about 4'6" with her hair cropped short and wearing cat's-eye glasses, shoves through the crowd to Adam.

"Are you really members of the LICC?" she asks breathlessly. "I heard you say we were going to stop by the Spidership?"

Adam nods. The girl flings her arms around him, then quickly backs off as he doesn't seem to appreciate the gesture. "It's--I mean--I'm Artsy. Man, I thought I'd never find you guys." She wrinkles her nose in confusion and the glasses slide down. Annoyed, she pushes them back up. "Which one are you, anyway?"

He is Adon, and I am Enesku! Hey, Artsy, you're here, that's cool!

Its nice to see you, Artsy. I'm glad you managed to join our little temporal party.

Adam addresses the crowd.

All right, everyone. It's time to go. The shuttle that will take us to Professor Negative's base should be ready to go.

Adam leads the group of LICC superfans out the door towards the waiting shuttle.

Mother of my children? Current flame? Who does this Tacoman think he is? That girl should dump his ass!

I'm not actually part of the Urban League, and I don't even know if they are available. Anyway, when you have me on your side, who else do you need?

Hmm.. Well, we have seen you in action in the future.. and you do pretty good work.
I think we're ready to go.
Lydia: Hold on. I want to see if I can do magic first.
Jacob: Be my guest.
Lydia holds out a hand and begins to chant. A fireball emerges from the outstretched hand, flys outward, and incenerates a vending machine in its path
Well, that seems to work. I wonder...
Lydia picks up a empty can, places her hand on it and begins to chant again. She then throws the can at a random target, which then freezes.
Well, that settles it.. not only can this body perform magic, I seem to be able to put spells on an object and use the object to transfer and use the spell...
Jacob: Fine, fine. Can we go now?
Lydia: Oh, sure. Here's the address we need to go.
Lydia hands the Great Emancipator the club headquarters.

Correction: Identification with the address of the club headquarters

"Right. Then away we go!"

All the three heroes can see is a large American flag unfurling before them until it obscures their vision of anything else. A few short seconds later, it rises again, and they're back at their club's meeting place, where everyone is ready to go.

"There. I don't think I could take you all to Negative's base this way, we'll need to use a craft."

Jacob explains about the shuttle they have.

"Then what are we waiting for??"

Hey Timmy!
Hearing his name, Timmy McGurk pushes his way through the crowd.
Commander, this is the Great Emancipator. We couldn't find our way to the Urban League's headquarters, but he showed up in time.
Great Emancipator, this is Timmy McGurk, currently housing the mind and spirit of my first officer, Steve Milkshake.
Jacob looks around at the milling crowd
Looks like you did a good job. Now, how are we going to get everybody into the shuttle?
Jacob peeks into the shuttle and shakes his head. He then rummages among the stuff lying around. He finds a small panel, attaches it to the shuttle controls, and presses a button on it. The shuttle shimmers briefly, and Jacob peeks inside the shuttle again. There now appears to be more room inside the shuttle then appears from the outside
Just be glad there was a portable TARDIS room generator thingy... It's the same device we put in the original Spidership so we could get the maximum amount of room. Now we can store the equipment and the people. And when we're done, we can just take off the panel.

Good idea, Captain. Now, is everyone ready?

I am!

I am. Gosh, look at these kids! How are we going to organize them?

And has anyone seen some art supplies lying around?

Jacob looks around again
Hmm.. organization will be a slight problem, but one we can work out on the way there. As for art equipment, I have no idea. Timmy?
Jacob presses a few buttons on the new panel and the shuttle doors open, revealing vast storage space
Ok. Load the stuff on board. Once that's done, I'll find some space for our troops.

Artsy, you may want to check the crate my sister sent. It's the blue and grey one. Looks like she filled it with all sorts of stuff. You might get lucky and find some art supplies in there.

Captain, I've been taking care of organizing the recruits while everyone else has been busy doing other things.

Jadlad/Shirley turns towards the recruits.
Everyone line up in rows of five as I call your name.

After a few missteps the recruits are in order.

That's all of them Captain.

"Great, uh, Shirley?" Artsy heads for the blue and grey box. After some digging she uncovers a small satchel filled with painting supplies. "That's more like it!"

Then let's get with it!

Spidership III

{Quincy looks at Kiehart.}

I think its a bad idea, because I don't trust the Conclave as far as I could throw the spidership...with OR without armor!

3001, Spidermobile III

Typical. I leave the universe for a little while & when I come back I find you've destroyed it.

(standing on the bridge is Soyburger Patricia, looking a bit bruised, battered & charred. One arm in a sling and parts of her costume tattered and patched. As the others try to explain what happened, Patricia says)

Yes, I know. I met The Queue before returning. They explained what happened. Apparently Professor Negative had some artificial reality generators projecting on temporal lines back in 3000. Here in 3001 another universe has been projecting energy which has been interacting with that which has created an artificial unreality. However the AR generators in 3000 must be destroyed before The Queue can create a barrier to block further transmissions.

(Quito runs up and hugs Patricia)

Hello, Quito.

It's just a scratch. You should see my opponents.

Mr. Absurd: Can you send us back in time?

(Patricia hesitated, not wanting to admit a weakness)

No. (pause) Time travel is not my strong point.

Possibly... (she glanced at Quito, then shook her head) No. We'll just have to...

(she looked at Quito again) It's dangerous! (Quito responded telepathically) Are you sure?! (Quito nodded. Patricia looked up in exasperation.) Very well.

(For several seconds everything appeared in a montage of negative images, flashing colors, images from other times, and then back to normal, except that there were suddenly other people on the ship.)

We are now back in the year 3000. We occupy the same space as the Spidermobile II, but are out of phase. We can see them, but they can't see us. The Spidermobile II will keep Negative from detecting our presence until we want him to.

Rocket Ranger, Colanator, Cid. You should probably examine the Spidermobile II for any surveilance devices that Negative might have aboard. If we make contact with the crew of the Spidermobile II we don't want Nagative to find out about it.

Kid's Crew
Jacob stands in front of the recuits and looks them over
Hmmm....yes.. TImmy, could you come here a minute?
Timmy approaches and stands besides Jacob, who whispers to Timmy
Steve, interesting group we've got. Did you explain to them what our mission will be?
Meanwhile, Lydia wanders over to Shirley and asks
Ok.. We're both licenced pilots. Who gets to pilot the shuttle? Or will it be more a pilot/copilot thing?

Rocket Ranger (Quincy armored up as soon as Soyburger Patricia appeared) looks around....

Hmmmm.....I seem to recall reading in the databanks that Professor Negative preferred to use a particular type of circuitry in most of his devices. Let me adjust my helmet's sensors to detect that type of circuitry.

He pauses for several seconds, appearing to be doing nothing, at least to the untrained eye. Eventually he moves again, and sweeps the room with a glance.

Nothing yet. Maybe if I adjust the scanning spectrum a bit....

He pauses, then sweeps the room again.

My God! There are surveillance devices all over the bridge!! There's no way that LICC could have made a move onboard the spidership II without Negative knowing what was going on!

He looks at the others.

You know what this means, don't you? It means we add "Invasion of Privacy" to the list of crimes Professor Negative committed.

He pulls two PADDs out of a compartment in his armor, types something on them, and hands them to Cid and Colanator.

Check for this frequency range and this type of circuitry. Let me know if you find anything.

whines almost as loudly as the engines
Ohhhhh... I think this body gets motion-sick...

What was I going to say... Jacob, can I take a detachment of fans to a secure location when we arrive? It would make Negative underestimate us and think that we have less people than we do. Reinforcements and stuff like...

One sec.

goes into a corner and barfs into somebody's "Beam Me Up, Heliotrope" mug

Computer, replicate some motion sickness medicine.
The replicator goes through its gyrations, and a small hypospray full of liquid appears
Here. This should help.
Jacob uses the hypospray on Moira
Now, as for your idea... sounds like a good idea. When we arrive, we'll look for a little used cargo bay or docking port...
By the way, we probably have to navigate the waves of time coming from the base, so we have to be careful.

Adam was working on a laptop while inside the shuttle.

I'm attempting to log into the Spidership's computer and download the data that we used to navigate around all the distortions around Negative's base. Ah! There we go.

Computer: "Enter password"

Adam cleared his throat and spoke in Adon's voice

This is Commander Adon of the Wishy Washy Washing Machine Company from Walla Walla Washington.

Computer: "Password Accepted."

Adam's voice returned to normal.

There. Downloading the files.

Kid's Crew
Well, since Shirley only has a learners permit. I'd better just stay in the copilot's seat where I am now.

All right, everyone. ETA to Negative's base is 2 hours, 47 minutes. This will be very difficult, make sure you are prepared.

;oQ@KFH}iehart frowns at quincy. 'oQ@KFH}ine 2kfh]8'll go by myself. wish me luck.m
0'

Right.
Jacob wanders into the storage bay and rummages through the stuff that was brought. He comes up with something interesting
Hey, it's a variation of the Tacoman armor... without a lot of the stuff I've added, but it should work well...
Jacob dons the armor, presses a few buttons, and the armor shrinks to his dimensions
Hmm.. holofield...a couple of basic weapons...stealth mode...
Ok people, time to suit up. Find armor that appeals to you and put it on!

Somewhen
Adon heard someone talking in his head. "Finally, we're on our way."

Who said that?

"You can hear me?"

Yes.

"This is an interesting development. I have heard you for some time. I guess that since we are getting closer to the center of the time distortions, our link is getting stronger."

Who are you.

"I cannot say. But rest assured, we will do all that we can to save you. Just sit tight."

OK. It's not like I have much else to do around here.

"I know."

What?

"Never mind. I can't wait to meet you in person."

Kids Crew
Adam walked up to Jacob.

There seems to be a new twist to this story. I have a link with Adon. This time's Adon.

Hmm.. This is an interesting twist.
Ok.. Tell him what's going on and see if he can help us in any way.

Asteroid Base
Meanwhile, in their cells, Tacoman and crew are discussing whatever comes to mind
...my favorite memory of the LICC? Got to be the time we ended up in the 64th century. The way the desision whether to help or not was made has got to be the proudest I've even been of you guys.

Kids Crew
Adon will be of little help to us. He is currently trapped outside of time by Egads. I can talk to him, and he can talk to me. But unless we manage to free him, there's really nothing that he can do.

We're going to put our heads together and try and figure out how to free him.

Adam dropped into a trance-like state.

Asteroid Base

I've not been a-servin' with ye fer over long, Cap'n, but I... shiver me timbers, I be a-runnin' outta reppertwarr, by the powers! I guess I can just start speaking like myself now. As I was saying, my fave to read about was the Quest for the Holy Nail. I kinda liked being inside Colanator, didn't do nearly as much as I'd want to, though. *sigh* So... anyone wanna play "Guess what I'm thinking about"?

*Rawwk!* Boost power to the annular confinement beam!

Spidership II, not III, but II

walks up to a replicator

One Tamagotchi.

looks around, no-one is looking anywhere near him

I can't stand this any longer, someone pay attention to me! I'm Total Audience Mayhem, I'm Total Audience Mayhem, lookatmelookatmelookatme... aaaaaaaaahhhhh!

he crumbles down into bits, a brush sweeps him into a shovel, and tips his remains into a waste disposal unit

Asteroid Base
Tacoman: Probably better then a game of "I Spy"
You're thinking... about a way to get out of here... a large meal when and if we escape...maybe a nice vacation if we escape...
You know what I've been thinking? If we manage to escape, I might write a book about the LICC... you know, stuff about our missions, our bios, that sort of thing...
Kids Crew
Jacob: I hate to ask this, but "Are we there yet?"

Kids Crew
No. Not yet. But, I've got an idea on how to pass the time.

Jadlad/Shirley walks over to the shuttles replicator and replicates a guitar and accidently bangs it on a few of the recruits heads as he/she walks back.

:-0 Sorry about that.

After making sure they're okay Jadlad/Shirley and some of the recruits all start singing folk songs about the LICC.

Spidermobile III

I think we can disable Negative's AR generators by breaking their kamshafts with a sax.

(pushes some buttons. There's an explosion and when the smoke clears Mr. Absurd is sitting there charred and smoking like a cartoon character)

Looks like Jadlad reconfigured some of the Psuedoscience controls.

Wouldn't a sax create a russeling sound?

Kid's Crew
Lydia: Jacob and Timmy report to the cockpit.
Within seconds, the doors open, and Timmy and Jacob pour out
Jacob: What's going on?
Lydia: The sensors picked up both Negative's base and the Spidership II. I'm going to need those readings of the time waves around Negative's base. Also, do you want me to contact the Spidership?
Jacob looks at Timmy
Well, Commander, what do you think?

Adam walks up with the laptop computer.

I already have the info on the hazards getting to the base. Excuse me for a second.

He plugged the computer into the shuttle's navigation system and typed a few keys. Instantly, the time waves appeared on the screen in an easy to view format.

There we go.

Yes, but remember, Negative has a very advanced communication system. We need to compress our message, encrypt it with one of the newer secure protocols, and squirt it on an extra-fast subspace band. If we can do that, it should escape Neggie's notice. Do we have the equipment for that?

I'll go to the the storage locker on deck 47 to check.

--Gets eaten by a giant lizard smoking a cigar--

Jacob pulls out a Cybertec catalog
I don't know, but we will in a minute.
Jacob leafs through the catalog, finds the communication system, and orders it. After a few minutes of waiting, a wormhole opens and a large crate emerges from it. The assembled (and dislocated) heroes open the crate and discover a large square box.
Ok... Looks like all we need to do is press the button, and it does the rest..

The shuttle approaches the Chronos Facility. Lydia McGurk reports that they are nearing Neagtive's base.

Kid's Crew

Jadlad/Shirley puts the guitar down.

Okay everyone. Start getting ready. If any of you don't have any weapons or armor. Get them. NOW!

I would like to have "fishmail" armor like I used to, but there's none here.

Artsy pats her satchel of supplies. "This body doesn't have very good reflexes," she comments, "but it'll do. I'm ready!"

Spidership III

Rocket Ranger looks at a viewscreen showing the results of the scan of Spidership II

Well over 70% of the ship was bugged by Negative. Does anyone know if any non-crew techs ever worked on the ship performing upgrades or repairs at some point?

I'm going to try and communicate with the Spidership...
Jacob presses the button on their new box. A panel opens, revealing a small communication station. He touches a few buttons, and soon he is ready to speak
Jacob McGruder to the Spidership, come in Spidership. We have heard about your problems with the captured superheros and are here to help.
Jacob hits the pause button and turns to Timmy
Do you think I should tell them what's been going on with us?

Who is this? We have no problem with captured superheroes. Unless they are flypeople superheroes, but once we've captured them in our web we have no problem.

No. Just say we're a relief force from Earth.

Right.
Jacob unpauses the recorder
We are a relief force from Earth, come to help as I said before. We ask that you allow us aboard the famed Spidership to see what we can help with. Jacob McGruder out.
Now, let's see what they have to say.

Asteroid Base

Rikard lies on the floor of the cell staring up at the ceiling, with his arms back behind his head, thinking.
You know, I didn't think it would end this way. I thought I'd become a Master, or get into a really good duel with some bad guy, or get my own ship, or even find someb-, never mind. Anyway, you're thinking about why your flawless and perfect pirate/miner Jimlad disguise failed to trick a genius like Negative.

Kid's Crew

Regina: You know, I can't believe you took me to this dumb spaceport in this dumb city Bruce. I thought we were going to have fun!
Bruce looked over at the San Francisco Spaceport and then back at Regina.
Bruce: First of all, I didn't take you here, you decided to tag along. Second of all, I'm not Bruce remember? I'm Josh Rikard and, ah! I shouldn't even be telling you this. You shouldn't be involved. You and every other LICC fan up there could get hurt or killed or...
Regina: Let's just go find this ship you were talking about.
Bruce: Oh, right.

Since he knew everything that Rikard knew about the spaceport, getting his old A-Wing wouldn't prove to be too much of a challenge, he hoped. He was lucky he hadn't put the ship onto the Spidermobile. The two kids walked past the check-in area and came to a customer terminal. Bruce entered the username and password and soon reserved a personal flight for him and Rikard in the fighter.

Regina: That's it?
Bruce: Huh? Oh, yeah. I just used a few of my- um, Rikard's old codes and we should be able to get there without being bothered. A little sneaking around and we should be able to get there.

The two head toward the small personal hangar that the A-Wing is stored in. At the door, Bruce punches in a code.
Computer Voice: Password?
Bruce: Mercedes
Computer Voice: Accepted
Bruce turns back to Regina.
Bruce: Well, this looks like the end of-
Suddenly, she pushes him against the wall and kisses him. Unfortunately for Rikard, he's only 15, and at that moment, acts like it. Then his 26-year-old senses kick in and he pushes her away.
Bruce: Why?
Reggie: This is the last time I may ever see him, you, whatever- the last time I ever get the chance. If we don't make it-
Bruce: We? There is no we. I'm going, your staying, that's final.
At that point, three security personnel turn the corner. Bruce grabs Reg and pulls her through the door into the hangar. He can just make out the voice on their communicators.
Comm: We think there may be a security breach on this level. Report anything suspicios.
Regina: You can't leave me now, unless you want me to get arrested do you?
Bruce: Better than you dying, he thinks. She was starting to remind him of Enesku. That thought gave him a slight headache. Fine, let's go.
10 minutes later, Rikard's A-Wing leaves Earth's atmosphere.

Without a reply, the Spidermobile II drops out of warp just off the shuttle's bow. A signal finally reaches the erstwhile crew.

"The LICC ship Spidermobile II is at your disposal. Please come aboard and we may discuss a rescue mission."

Lydia, if you please?
Lydia approaches the Spidermobile's shuttlebay, letting the tractor beams take the shuttle in. While Colanator waits in the bay, the group inside the shuttle make last minute plans
Ok.. At first we tell them who are bodily hosts are and why we're here, and if we need to take a physical, we'll tell them who we are in mind. Does that sound reasonable?

Asteroid Base

(The thick Plotonium door to the heroes' cell creeps open. A familiar shadow falls on the dismayed League members. Negative points one finger at Insane, then points at Rikard, then points at Ansh. Robotic guards sweep in and seize the three, carrying them away. Negative turns to the remaining group, repressed laughter causing his face to twitch.)

"Yes. Fine specimens for my experiments on the effect of unstable temporal fields on living tissue. Young subjects will last so much longer than older ones, but do not expect them to be so young...IF...they return. Plus they would be no use if they joined my organization. What is your decision, friends?"

Asteroid Base
NOOO!
Tacoman rushes towards Negative, fists at the ready, but Negative's gurards fire their weapons at him. He flys backwards, but luckily, the weapons are set to a very light stun. Tacoman points a finger at Negative and says
You'll pay for this, Negative! I don't know when or how, but you'll pay big time!

Kids's Crew
Jacob is the first to step out of the shuttle
Hello. Hey, you're Colanator! Ok.. Here's the deal. My friends and I, for some reason, got a message that the LICC was in trouble. We figured that we couldn't let that stand, so we organized a rescue mission. We contacted a number of other fan clubs, who are in the shuttle with us. We have also contacted the Great Emancipator and have his help, too.

While the crew was talking to Colanator, Adam crept around the shuttle and up to a control panel in the wall. He quickly entered in a command and started to quietly make his way to his Combat-Suit.

The suit's hatch opened, and a boom extended from near the top of the hatchway. A cable with a loop on the end dropped to the floor of the hanger. Unfortunately, Colanator noticed the movement.

Colanator: "Excuse me, but you are not allowed to operate that machine."

I know, and I'm sorry. But time is quickly growing short. I promise I will return it as soon as I can.

Before Colanator could reply, Adam put his foot in the loop, and the cable retracted back to the platform. He stepped off of the loop and into the cockpit. The boom retracted and the hatch closed behind him.

The sound of generators firing up filled the hanger bay as the suit's eyes lit up, and the head looked around. Inside the cockpit, Adam had strapped himself in.

Good, everything seems to be working. A quick systems check and I'm on my way.

The suit shifted it's weight a few times, then a buzzer in the cockpit sounded. Colanator ordered the hanger doors closed. Adam muttered under his breath, transformed the suit into plane mode and flew towards the closing doors. He rolled the plane onto it's side and barely fit going through, with less than an inch of clearance on either side of the wings. The suit roared out of the hanger and once clear of the ship, opened the engines up to full throttle, quickly clearing the spidership's range.

And incoming signal sounded over the hanger's speaker system.

I do apologize for having to borrow the suit like this. Please do not hold it against the rest of the group as they were acting completely without any knowledge of what I was about to do. Jacob McGruder will be able to explain what is going on. Once again, I apologize.

And with that, the signal cut off.

Asteroid Base

Unhand me, you clanking cacophony of cogs!

He wrestles at the iron grasp of the robotic captor, then realises what is best to do

Josh! The two of us shall use... THE FORCE! Only that can free us!

Thinking to himself "When we get out of this I'm building a new lightsaber."

Asteroid Base

But what about ME! I don't have the Force!

Ensign Insane and Lieutenant Rikard stop struggling and concentrate. Finally, the hands of the robotic guards start to move involuntarily. The two jedi-in-training seize their chance and break free. They start to fight their mechanical captors.

Oh drat. Almost forgot. Thank goodness for my ingeniousness. Command Center, activate the ysalamiri field.

(Insane and Rikard suddenly feel the Force leave them.)

Your resistance will simply make your fate more painful. Guards, restrain them and take them to Temporal Laboratory A-2. I'll want to get started...right away. Command Center, post extra guards around the test subject room.

(The heroes hear Negative's mocking laughter fade as he withdraws, down the corridor.)

And out of nowhere a fist lances out and hits Negative right in the jaw. The outline of aportal beocmes clear to his lackeys, and out steps Jason Kiehart. "Gotta love those Wanderers." Negative rubds his jaw and shouts for his guards to rush this intruder. Kiehart smiles and whips out his gun and sword. "Bring it."