2116/Getting Ready for Prime Time

Getting Ready for Prime Time
Date of Scene:	29 November 2024
Location:	Obsidian Tower
Synopsis:	Horde Prime shows up at Takashi's office with a bot and a new project. But once the door is closed the truth, and Double Trouble come out. They know they need allies to take down the real Horde Prime. But can they convince Takashi that He is really a threat at all?
Cast of Characters:	Double Trouble, Takashi Agera

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Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble had already intended to track down Takashi. They knew they needed him to help them keep making more horde bots. They knew that, if anybody could figure it out, it would be him. So, it was very convenient when Horde Prime was told to recruit Agera for that very purpose. They knew He was going to need the help until His armada could arrive.

But they needed to be careful about who saw Him. They were waiting for the right moment to debut Him to anyone who might know Him. But they needed to be prepared, and they were pretty sure that if they brought Takashi into the know about their true purpose, he could be a good ally.

Which is how Horde Prime ended up walking into the department with one of His bots skittering behind him at a time He knew Takashi was in his office alone. Right up to the door He knew to approach, knocking on the door firmly as the bot came to a stop right behind him, it's bright red eye pointed right at the door from behind Horde Prime's shoulder.

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi got up from the work he was doing - his device on the desk in parts - and slowly moved to the door. Maybe putting the bot on his shoulder was a good idea, since otherwise Horde Prime is a hell of a sight. But the bot's presence is just enough for Takashi to slowly open his door. "Who and what are you?" he asks, looking at the pale-white... person? thing? with green eyes standing in front of him. After a moment it's clear Takashi's interest is a little bit more on the bot than the person anyways. "This had better not be something that could have been an email - I'm in the middle of some delicate, important work for Testarossa-sama." he notes. Which is true, sort of. If he can get his device fully ready, the Jewel Seeds should be closer in reach.

Double Trouble has posed:
"Who do you think gave me your name, Agera-san?" Horde Prime said politely as he put his hand up on the open door and pushed it open farther, barging right in. The bot skittered in right behind Him, it's legs having to fold just so for it to fit through the doorway. "This is your priority now."

The strange, alien being looked around the office. "I need you to help me build an army, Agera-san. I am stuck here with just a small handful of these inferior bots. I was told you were the expert in technology like mine," He said. It was true. Although it was said a bit distastefully. Really more a commentary on how the bots were barely magical at all.

He spun around and regarded Takashi with all four of his green eyes. "I've been made to understand that the opposition will just destroy what I have. So, I need your help."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    This just actually makes Takashi a little bit more suspicious, for one primary reason - Robots aren't Jewel Seeds, and Precia has been one track minded to an extreme since he transferred here.

    "Mmm. And yet no email, no meeting with her?" Takashi asks. The creature in his presence is wierd, and the bots are appealing, but Obsidian as a culture breeds backstabbing, idea theft, and the requisite caution - this is a company that has 'avoiding assassination in the workplace' training, after all. "I'm an expert on all technology, though. Doesn't mean the ability to replicate it exists on our world." he notes, thinking about Devices in particular there, but also a certain chip and AI.

    "If you need an army, you could always head down to Inhuman Resources like the rest of us. I got an army from them just last week." Not that it was the most effective army, in terms of cost or success, but it did count.

    "And... I'm going to repeat my question, exactly who are you, walking into my lab like this? Because at this point you're about to leave via the window. I work for Precia Testarossa directly, I'm not some small fry that's going to let a random four eyed near-skeleton order me around."

Double Trouble has posed:
"I think that if you check your inbox, you will find that you have unread messages," the creepy alien said, sounding so sure of himself. He had been told there would be an email. But it was only sent right before he came over. It was entirely plausible Takashi had not yet seen it.

"I am Horde Prime," the figure said. "I command a vast armada of space vessels with an almost endless supply of bots and equipment far superior to these contraptions my defective little brother created," he said gesturing to the bot. "But when I was dragged through the portal that brought so many other Etherians here, I just got the junk that was around me."

He turns to regard Takashi. "I am also the new Director of Horde Enterprises. Precia said that she could spare some of your cycles to help me get up and running. She said she expected you'd be eager to take this bot apart." He gestures to the bot and then looks back at Takashi. "Shut the door and come have a look."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    This guy was Horde Prime?! The one who had Glimmer so afraid, the one who had conquered planets? He looked like someone had stretched plaster of paris over a research skeleton then gone crazy adding features. Takashi didn't feel the pressure he felt around Beryl, around Precia, around the ones who had that power... but maybe he was running 'stealth', or maybe Takashi's efforts on his own end had made him less affected; he hadn't been around Precia for a while...

    All of this meant Takashi was thinking through things and looking quizzically, which might have been unfairly mistaken for him being speechless. "Well then." he says, finally. "I suppose that's that." If anything was going to come of it negatively, he'd figure it out and then blast this person through the window. As intended.

    Horde Prime probably intended Takashi to get up and close the door in some sort of subservient act, but instead Takashi waved his hand and it closed on his own. Magitech was awesome. Takashi started to say something else, but at some point thought better of it. And moderated his tone. Slightly. "Let me have a look then, Director." he managed to say mostly properly. "Of course, I'll do what's needed to provide help."

Double Trouble has posed:
Horde Prime gestured and the bot skittered forward to meet Takashi. Now that the door was closed, however, it was time for the truth to come out. But it had to be dramatic, because of course it did.

"These are my little brother's creations," Horde Prime said, and then as soon as the bot was between Him and Takashi, the strange green-eyed alien melted into a familiar black blob of potential that reformed into none other than Double Trouble. "So I don't know the first thing about them."

Double Trouble leapt up to perch on top of the bot with their hands next to their feet and their tail extended behind them to balance. "Takashi. Horde Prime--the real one--is on his way. He's coming for all of them. But once he gets here he's gonna try to take Earth. It took Catra and Adora getting over themselves and admitting they loved each other to stop him last time. We are screwed."

They take a deep breath and smile. "But He sent me these bots and told me to prepare Earth for His arrival. I want you to help me make ... something ... that fights like these bots, that I can send out into the field so that people can be ready when he gets here."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi had sort of resigned himself to doing whatever it took to get Horde Prime out of his office for now, and figured an email about this project slowing down his Jewel Seed seeking research would get him out of his hair... so to say that plan was crushed when Horde Prime turned back into Double Trouble is... an understatement.

    More than Horde Prime's presence, the transformation gets him to emit a 'GAH!' and jump back, hands up.

    "Oh, that explains so much and brings in so many more questions." the teenage scientist states when he moves to a more calm, standing position.

    "Okay. You'll forgive me, but the last two 'an apocalypse is coming so everyone panic' moments for this planet got dealt with by a ragtag group of girls and guys who can't even use dark energy." he says, looking over the bot. "And what, you want me to make more of these to train them? That... seems like a waste of energy. To be honest."

    "Look, you and Glimmer have trauma from what you went through around Prime Beef there, but do you really think he is worse than Beryl? Worse than Walpurgisnacht? Worse than my boss and the rest of the Board? And I don't know if you noticed but conventional weapons do about nothing to henshin auras. I could fight an army myself, probably while eating a bento."

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble looks right down at Takashi, making unblinking eye contact. "Yes," they say. "He's worse."

They leap down off the bot and gesture back toward it. "The bots are a distraction. A tactic to overwhelm and occupy. To draw out heroes. To make opportunities," they say. "But His are vastly superior to these contraptions. Hordak was making do. But these are what he sent me."

"No, his real power is in a different piece of his tech. Mind control tech. He draws out the heroes, and all he needs is to land one hit to place a chip," Double Trouble says, and then shifts, the inky black blob taking on the shape of Sailor Moon--she saved the world from Beryl after all. "And those very heroes," she says before her eyes blaze bright green. The same green as Horde Prime, her voice eerily hers but also His, "Turn into villains."

They shift again, taking on the form of Puella Red, with a big rocket launcher on her shoulder. "And all of the weapons that were fighting those other threats," she says, before her eyes go green and her voice distorts, "Are part of the threat themselves."

They shifted back into Horde Prime. "Horde Prime sees all. Horde prime knows all," He said, in His most smug and literally holier than thou tone. "All fall before the Divine Light."

Another shift and the chameleon is once again themself. "The only reason you are even asking this question is that the Universe is big and Earth is in a corner of it that's very far away from the vast swaths He has already conquered. He is relentless and he has resources beyond your imagination. Yes, he is a bigger threat than all of them."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    Takashi tilts his head, but to his credit he at least listens clearly. And is impressed at Double Trouble's little show. So the first thing he says? "You know, DT, your talents are *terribly* under-utilized." he says, plainly.

    "Now, a few things. One, I think I'm familiar with those chips. I think one of them found its way into my research. Which also brings to mind the question of how exactly it got over here too..." he says, bringing his palm out and using a little bit of Dark Energy to create a (visual, only) replica of the chip he'd recieved. "But if that's the real threat - if the bots are just distraction - maybe we should be training the heroes to go after the chips, not the bots." he notes, clasping his hands behind his back. "Too bad I was so focused on figuring out how to counter it, that I only disassembled it to understand how it works, not to figure out how to replicate it..." he says, looking over his shoulder. "On the upside, I can disrupt them. Well, probably. Maybe. I've not exactly got another one to test the theory with, but it should be fine in practice."

    "Next point... are you sure Horde Prime is even in a distant corner of this universe? I don't have any reason to believe your world is say, just very very far away from ours; I think you're actually dimensionally disjoined, after all. Which means it's going to be a lot more than just settling in for a long trip to get over here. All of you have changed in some way, right? He's probably not immune. There's no telling the horde prime that tries to get over here is the one that shows up on the other side. Maybe he ends up like She-Ra's horse." he says, making a 'tiny size' motion with his hand.

    "How did he contact with you? How does he know that here is even... here? What's the situation back where he's at?"

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble knows how to work their audience, and they know this audience likes the sound of his own voice. So naturally they let the conversation flow to Takashi and listens as the teen lays out his bullet pointed monologue.

"I've been giving this all a lot of thought lately. Since I re-met Adora. Since Horde Prime's strangely alluring yet hideous face showed up in my TV and these bots appeared in my dorm room," Double Trouble says. "The portal messed with all of us the first time around. I'm still not clear on how I got here remembering all of what came after and Adora and Catra don't. But if that portal is what brought us over, then it's no surprise we got changed on our way here."

"We all got here through magic means, and at that time, Etheria was in a different dimension. Despondos. But Horde Prime didn't show up until Etheria got taken out of Despondos. All I know is He is sure he can get here, and He does not generally overestimate his capabilities like that," Double Trouble goes on to explain.

They walk back to lean against the robot, patting it with their hand. "We can argue tactics, but I pitched the Board on devising a magical improvement to these bots that Inhuman Resources can produce on demand, and they recommended you for the job. The only person I can think of more qualified to do this is still in Etheria."

Takashi Agera has posed:
    "Well, if you have the board aligned, I'm pretty sure saying no would be hazardous to my health anyways." he says, bluntly. "Did you speak to them as Double Trouble, or as Horde Prime?" he asks, genuinely curious. "I've only been before the Board once, myself. An... experience." he says.

    "As to your more qualified person... If they're back in Etheria, they're not as qualified as I am to do it here." he says. "The way energy, magic, everything flows in this world, that's my field of expertise, as much as anybody can possibly understand it."

    "...anyways. I'm fine with doing what the Board's asked... but I'm not comfortable with leaving this all in the hands of the sparkles. They lost to Beryl once and I don't like fifty percent chances for the planet." he continues. "...Don't ask how I know that, it's a headache, just trust me, they're one for two not one for one." he adds.

    "Anyways. You're the great thespian, the actor, AND the point of contact for otherworldly tyrants who yell through the TV, apparently. If you can figure out anything about how he intends to get here, or when, or any information, I want it. Because the greatest victory is that which requires no battle... if we can solve for him without risking it or requiring anybody to fight it, that's better. You gather info, I process it, and we might be able to deal with this before anybody knows about it?"

Double Trouble has posed:
Double Trouble smirked at that first question. They felt so seen. So understood. "Double Trouble works for Human Resources. They are not the director of the newest division at Obsidian. Two people know that He is me, and one of them is my girlfriend. I hope you understand how much trust I'm placing in you."

They push off from the bot and start to walk toward the door, their body effortlessly shifting into Horde Prime enroute. "Meanwhile, I have an entire division to build. I will keep you informed of new developments," he says, as he places his hand on the door. Then he looks back at Takashi with all four eyes. It's so creepy. "Don't be so foolish as to think you can stop Him from coming. It is recklessly optimistic to think you can solve this without a fight. It's only a matter of time."