An hour to midnight

[Lady Jenn]

"Another traveler from across the multiverse," Fizz said, pointing at Jack. "Luckily we can't blame his clumsiness on anything here."

Jack sighed. "Okay, I probably deserved that one. I did find something though," he said, sitting on one of the other stools and producing a photo. It was a photo of a paramedic and what looked like a doctor having a conversation outside the side door of the hospital.

"And this matters...why?" Kate asked, looking between Jack and the photo.

"Because I took this at three in the morning," he replied. "And at least one of the people in this photo was reported missing four months ago, just after the scar in the sky started glowing brighter."

[Golden Spider]

Clara looked between Jack, the photo and everyone else, trying to keep track and follow everything "So that means that they were possessed or mind controlled or replaced or whatever by these things?" Clara looked down at her coffee again. "right well this seems like like a big conversation to have over just coffee. everyone like eggs?" Clara got up and walked around the kitchen, poking around to find where everything is. but quickly with some assistance she got a simple breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast up and running

[Lady Jenn]

"It could be any of those," Nikita said with a sigh. "Unfortunately one thing our enemy is very good at is not leaving an obvious trail to follow."

There was an appreciate hum from Fizz as she tasted Clara's breakfast. "Oh, this is lovely, thank you Clara." She ducked under a playful swipe from Nikita. "Honestly Nik, I love your food, it's just nice to have a bit of variety every once in a while." She turned to Clara. "How about you ask us any questions you have? I can appreciate this is a bit much to try and get your head around."

[Golden Spider]

Clara waved her hand at the compliment "Thank you, but it's nothing special just some eggs and toast" Once everyone had a plate she made one for herself and the kitchen was quiet for a moment as they all dug in, and Clara tried to gather her thoughts as well. "Honestly it's so big that I don't even know where to begin, How does traveling the multiverse work? are there really infinite worlds as is hypothesized? why do these things want to invade do badly? How do we stop them, and how do we know who is who?"

[Lady Jenn]

Nikita and Fizz shared a look before Nikita spoke. "I wish I could give better news but...the last two questions we don't have any kind of knowledge about. Jack and Kate will know more about the other two questions."

"There are at least twenty universes we're aware of," Jack said. "Although we've yet to actually receive any contact from four of them, whether our enemy have attacked already or they just don't possess a way to contact us..." He shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine. As for how I got here, my universe had a...A transport pod is the only way to describe what I used, but some sort of disaster on a previous attempt meant they had me sedated for the trip."

"Mine gave it the sexy name of 'transdimensional gateway'," Kate said. "But let's call them what they were: wormholes. Wormholes that, as best I understand, no-one could explain the origins of."

[Golden Spider]

Clara looked between all of them slightly incredulously. "so you mean that we don't know who they are, how to find them, what they want, or how to beat them?" Clara stood up abruptly at this point and started pacing the kitchen "Do you even have a plan? or know where to start in the first place?" Clara stopped and just stood there facing the wall for a couple minutes. Everything they had told her was so larger than life, and they were just as lost and confused as she was, it was hard not to feel the panic. "what am I doing here?" she whispered to herself

[Lady Jenn]

Nikita sighed. "Fizz, show her the message."

"Nikita, that's not-"

Nikita stopped her. "No, she's right, we should show her everything we have. And that message is why this all started." Fizz disappeared, returning with a small holo-projector. "We've never been able to trace the origin of this message, and it appears that universes received this at different times." She pressed a button on its side, and although there was no visual the voice was clear...and strangely faimilar.

The wraiths have burned the darkness away. They will not stop here. Your multiverse will die if you don't joi-

It was a stunned Kate who finally spoke. "That...that sounded like me. That's not possible, surely?"

[Golden Spider]

Clara turned around to face everyone. "great so that's another question that we have no answer to I assume? Some sort of Alternate-Universe Kate duplicate or something probably. What is the rest of the message? Join? join what?" Clara continued to pace. "In the end though what does that change, we still have no plan and no idea what we are really up against"

[Lady Jenn]

"We might have a place to start," Jack, who had been scrolling on his phone, said. "I'd been trying to see if there was any more information I could rustle up to help us, and I came across...this."

Kate took the phone from him, letting out a laugh. "Now that's curious. Someone claims to have been...'borrowing' technology from another universe. I'm guessing he's not one of yours?" Nikita shook her head. "Well, he's in Los Angeles, and..." She froze. "We may really need to take a look, anyone else noticing his eyes?"

She put the phone in the middle of the group. On it was a slightly messy looking young man wearing a band t-shirt...and with a very noticeable purple tinge to his eyes.

[Golden Spider]

Clara stopped pacing and rejoined the group at the table. "Okay, well that makes me feel a bit better now that we seem to have a slight plan beginning. LA is a ways away though, is it safe to take a flight? They're looking for Kate and I right? but we may be the best people to convince this guy instead of some random mysterious super spies, no offense. And well, I'm a librarian, I can't fight or whatever if we get into danger"

[Lady Jenn]

"I can train you to fight if you want," Kate said, squeezing her hand before glaring at Jack as he tried to stifle a giggle. "That wasn't an innuendo, I may not be a specialist, but I know enough to at least make sure Clara can defend herself if needed."

"Luckily I have a friend who can give you two a flight over there," Fizz said. "And he's an old CIA contact of mine so he's used to doing me favours without asking too many questions. I could call him now if you wanted, especially if we've got less time than we thought."

Kate looked at Clara. "What do you think?"

[Golden Spider]

Clara nodded "Then it sounds like a plan, and I would love some fighting pointers, If I'm gonna be a part of this I need to be able to handle myself. Should we start now while Fizz makes the arrangements?"

A couple minutes later, after Clara had changed into some spare clothes she found in one of the bedrooms that looked a little more flexible and more suited for exercise than her current, rumpled clothes that she was still wearing from when she first ran into Kate, electing to forgo a shower at the moment in the idea that she would just take one after they were finished, she stood on a grassy patch of the long backyard to the farmhouse. "so how do we start?"

[Lady Jenn]

Kate had a quiet word with Nikita before following Clara outside. Although she hadn't changed clothes she had stripped down to her undershirt and tied her top around her waist.

"I promise this isn't some kind of distraction tactic," she said with a chuckle. "Now, why don't we start by you showing me what you're capable of. Attack me," she said, spreading her arms wide to show she had no hidden weapons or anything else. "I promise you can't seriously harm me, and if you were about to I'd call a timeout anyway." She couldn't help finding herself admiring Clara's body, she had to remind herself to concentrate on the training rather than getting too distracted.

[Golden Spider]

Clara bit her lower lip as she stood before Kate “if you’re sure” she said before examining Kate in detail, looking for any openings or weaknesses. She hadn’t had much or well any kind of self defensive or combat experience, at least nothing beyond watching tv and movies. And maybe the odd one off self defense class years ago that just basically amounted to “run if you can, knee ‘em in the junk if you can’t and then run.” But one thing that Clara was was intelligent and the only obvious weakness or opening she could see was the obvious one, The gunshot wound, so before she could let her thoughts dissuade her she trusted what Kate had said about not being able to actually hurt her, and threw a wild punch towards the stomach wound

[Lady Jenn]

Kate acted for a few moments as if she hadn't even seen Clara move, staying perfectly still until the punch was inches away from her, at which point she caught it with one hand, using the other to spin her so that Clara's back was pressed up against her. "That's a smart idea, unfortunately it's still tender enough I'm not leaving it wide open."

She stole a quick kiss before releasing Clara again. "How you pull this off depends on what you want. I'm trained to kill someone without a weapon but...I'm going to guess that's a few too many steps for how you want to be trained." This last comment she said more reassuringly than out of criticism, wanting to help Clara relax a little.

[Golden Spider]

Clara knew that it was a slim chance that she would ever have hit, but still the pace that she went from throwing the punch to feeling Kate’s body pressed up against her back, to being kissed and then released with a push back to their own personal spaces still threw her for a loop. Probably for a good thing as she wasn’t able to focus on it for longer then a second before she shook her head and squared up again. “Uh yeah i would prefer not to kill people, maybe just knock them out?” She said suddenly feeling overwhelmed again by the fact she was standing getting combat training and talking nonchalantly about killing people when a day ago she was just an ordinary person living an ordinary life. But that too was squashed away to focus on learning all that Kate could teach before they had to catch their flight

[Lady Jenn]

Kate thought deeply, trying to avoid giving advice that sounded so simple that Clara might think her patronising. She stepped close to Clara, resisting the urge to take her hand. "If you grab someone by the wrist, pull their arm behind them and elbow them in the back they're likely to at the very least fall to their knees."

She was about to give into the urge to kiss Clara again when there was a shout from Fizz. "The plane's waiting for us if you guys are ready to go."

Kate sighed. "We'll have to continue this later. We have..." She reached out and touched Clara's hand. "I feel like we have a few things to talk about."

[Golden Spider]

Clara nodded thinking through, trying to visualize what Kate had told her, but before they could actually put it into practice or do anything else Fizz came along to tell them everything was ready. "Can I get a shower real quick? Haven't had one since before work yesterday" She was only half sure of her math, it was early evening when she ran into Kate, probably around 8 or 9 when the ambulance arrived, midnight or so when she fell asleep in Kates's room, and after that everything was a blur, was it only 2 or 3 am when they fell asleep on the floor last night. or was it closer to 4 or 5 after they had spent all that time talking? But regardless the fact that she needed a shower was undeniable, not that she smelled, at least she didn't think she did, but she could feel the physical weight of the last undetermined number of hours of grime on her.

After promising to make it quick, Clara went off to take a shower, and before too long once again found herself in Fizz's car, heading towards the airplane and Los Angelos

[Lady Jenn]

As Fizz drove them Kate reached out, stroking Clara's hand softly. "It feels like a stupid question but...how are you feeling right now?" she asked. "I realize I've been dealing with this most of my life and you've had this all thrown at you in less than 24 hours."

"Before I forget," Fizz said as they stopped at a set of traffic lights, "hopefully you guys won't have a problem while you're there, but in case you do take this." She handed Kate a business card marked Lena McCartney. "She's an...old friend, she has connections that any official agency would turn their nose up at, but right now I don't think we can afford to be too picky."

Kate raised an eyebrow. "So...she's your ex-girlfriend?" The blush that spread across Fizz's face at the question made Kate laugh. "Sorry, that's a bit too personal."

"It's fine," Fizz said with a sigh. "It was an amicable break-up anyway so I promise she won't slam the door in your face if you mention my name."

[Golden Spider]

Clara snorted with laughter "No kidding, I feel like I'm completely out of my depth. There's nothing special about me, I'm not some kind of super sexy alternate-universe hopping badass like the rest of you, I'm just the librarian who happened to come across a woman on the side of the road with a gunshot wound and my own morals decided I couldn't just leave you there, and now I'm here." Clara sighed and leaned her head against Kate's shoulder, wanting the physical closeness. "i- I'm scared Kate." she said quietly to her, almost as a whisper "this is so big, and I have no idea why you haven't just wiped my memories or whatever and sent me home, surely I'm nothing more then a liability"

[Lady Jenn]

"I'll keep you safe," Kate said, squeezing Clara's hand. "I know considering the state you found me in you might not believe it, but I can make quite a good bodyguard when it's needed."

"I should say we don't have the power to mind-wipe people," Fizz said with a snort of her own. "Believe me, there are a few people I would've loved to do that to, but we can't." They pulled up at an airfield, where a private jet was waiting, a kindly older man with greying hair waiting outside. "That's Marcus, you two need anything just ask him, he's quite possibly the nicest man I've ever met."

[Golden Spider]

Clara shook her head at Kates words "That's not what I.." but was cut off when Fizz spoke up "Wait so you can travel the multiverse but you can't wipe minds?" But again before the conversation to continue they had pulled up to the airstrip. Clara gave a friendly smile to Marcus "Hello Marcus, nice to meet you, thank you for helping us out here."

Soon after the Introductions were made they were led up to the cabin of the plane. to say it was a shock was an understatement, Clara wasn't sure exactly what she had expected but it certainly wasn't an A-class flight. Being as small stature as Clara is she usually got along fine with getting the cheapest seat she could find, which also meant the least leg room, which while was possible it certainly wasn't comfortable. "This is... wow. I've never actually seen a plane like this except in the movies."

[Lady Jenn]

"You can think my rich uncle," Marcus called out, before laughing. "That's not even a joke, my uncle owned a whole fleet of planes...for some reason...Most of them were too old to be useful, but this plane was useful and I had a pilot's license that wasn't doing a lot otherwise."

Kate cuddled up to Clara a little. "If you've got any questions or concerns please tell me. I'm sorry I've not asked you how you're doing enough, I'm sure the others would probably be more concerned if they weren't so rushed off their feet."

[Golden Spider]

Clara smiled at Marcus again "Well thank you for doing this anyways, I understand it was probably rather abrupt and sudden Fizz calling you."

A couple of moments later Clara and Kate were cuddling on one of the plane seats, Plane seats so big you can cuddle! Clara chuckled humorlessly again at Kate's words. "All I've got is questions and concerns, so many that I can't really even voice them. It's all crazy, especially well.." she paused, her cheeks going slightly red "Us... I'm going along with all of this because I trust you and I don't really even know why." She watched Marcus for a moment as he did all his pre-flight checks through the cockpit and cabin. "No offense, but I've only known you for slightly over 24 hours? but I feel like I can trust you with my life."

[Lady Jenn]

Marcus chuckled. "Honestly, I'm semi-retired. At this point if Fizz hadn't called me I'd be sat at home playing a video game or reading one of the books I own for about the thirtieth time, I appreciate the distraction."

"I know what you mean," Kate said, offering a reassuring smile. "Hell, look at what I did: I woke up in the middle of a road I didn't recognise, with a gunshot wound, and just assumed the first person I bumped into was safe, I could've got myself killed then." She laughed. "I was going to say you can come rescue me anytime, but I'd hope I won't need rescuing again for a while...if ever."