Current Events > Teen Titans CYOA: Romance Resurrected Part 19

(+) Yeah! (+)

well since CE is CE, I'll just have to repost the last update.

B

You and Raven gather up books you have and sit in Raven's room as you read.

"So what're we looking for?" Raven asks.

"Because the missing metahuman's main power is his Midas Touch," you say, "we're looking for a way to undo that with Alchemy but restore the golden item into what it was before."

"Other than just our own Alchemy?" she asks back.

"This is in case he touches something more than just inanimate objects and inorganic material," you say. "He got close enough to Robin, Starfire and Beast Boy to tag their clothing and communicators. I think they got lucky that he didn't turn their skin into gold."

"Oh, good point," she says. "Restoration Magic won't do it, either, since gold is inorganic."

You and Raven flip through various texts on Alchemy, but there's not anything promising. You already know that Alchemy is a simple "element A to element B" transformation, and obviously you could turn B back into A if you knew both elements, but nothing about actually going backwards and undoing it.

"Wait..." you mutter. "Going backwards?"

"Hmm?" Raven responds.

"What if the key to it is going backwards?" you say. "Rewinding time on the object so that what Aurum does to it is undone without Alchemy."

"That could work," Raven says. "Because then it isn't really undone, it's more like it never happened. Oh, but manipulating time with magic is really high level stuff."

"Well, you have time magic," you say.

"I have time pausing magic," Raven corrects you. "And even then, that's really tricky to pull off. That time in the duel, that was because of the pressure in the fight."

"You felt more pressure fighting one of my suitors than in that battle the other day?"

"Don't make that big of a deal out of it..." Raven pouts.

"Well, anyway," you say, "we need something to make rewinding time much easier."

"Hmm..." you and Raven both say as you think.

"What if you used technology combined with magic?" Raven asks. "Just like what your grandfather did?"

"Oh, of course," you say. "That's brilliant. We could make it a hand-held device."

A) Have it be a button
B) Have it be a dial

there was at least one serious post of B from Xethuminra

A

A.

B

bump cuz we're technically tied. should probably @Xethuminra

I picked the dial

I will change my answer to A, button

A

"We could make it something with a button," you continue. "We just aim the device at the object in question, press the button, and it rewinds the object's temporal state back. And we press it again to make it stop, so that we don't go backwards too far and end up with complications like an arm being younger than the rest of the body or something."

"Yeah, that should work," she says. "Though, it kinda sounds like a remote control. Y'know, for like a television."

"Hmm, yes, that's true," you say. "And that is a rather efficient design for what we need."

"So, we'd basically just be making what Control Freak's made over a hundred times."

"Oh. I suppose that's true. Well, I suppose we could take inspiration from his device. How can we get one?"

"There's one in the archive," Raven says. "We can probably take a quick look at it."

"Well alright," you say.

You and Raven exit her room and go to the elevator. You ride down a couple floors and enter a room with a lot of items on display, like a museum. Raven leads the way and you walk up to a glass case with the monster faced remote control inside.

Raven lifts the glass case with magic and hands you the remote. You look it over and see it's rather simple, with just one big button, and some lights on it.

"We won't need the monster face on ours," you say. "But everything else seems like good design. Not too bulky, but how does his do all these things if it has just one button?"

"No idea," Raven says.

A) Pull it apart
B) Ask Control Freak

B.

B

B.

B

"Maybe we can ask Control Freak about it?" you say.

Raven makes a sound of digust somewhere between "ew" and "ugh."

"Are you sure we have to?" she asks.

"Well it's not like we can just rip this open," you say. "This device manipulates reality."

"I know that," Raven says. "I just don't think anything good will come of talking to that chubby dork."

"Well that 'chubby dork' already figured out a way to do what we're hoping to do, so we might as well go to him from help."

A) Go now
B) Go tomorrow
C) Talk with the other Titans first

C

C

C

"We can talk with the others first," you add. "I wouldn't leave them in the dark about this."

You and Raven call the others and hold a meeting in the living room. You explain the plan of making a time rewind remote.

"You wanna ask Control Freak how his freaky remote controls work?" Beast Boy asks.

"Yes," you say, "because it'll save us a lot of time trying to come up with something from scratch."

"You know he'll want something in return for this," Robin says.

"Good point," you say. "But I think we can cover for that."

"We should go see him as quickly as possible, then," Cyborg says. "Aurum could be plotting a jailbreak for his friends right now."

"Right," you say.

A) Bring Cyborg along
B) Bring Beast Boy along
C) Bring Robin along
D) Just go as you and Raven

A.

A

A

"Cyborg, you should join us in the visit," you say. "You're most likely to understand the technical aspects Control Freak will explain, perhaps you'd like to join us in our visit."

"Sure thing," Cyborg says. "Let me fuel up the T-Car and we'll get going."

You, Cyborg and Raven head down to the garage, he plugs the car in and the electricity charges it up. Raven rides shotgun with Cyborg while you follow behind on Shadowfax. You go to a different prison and check in.

"Control Freak, huh?" the guard at the front desk says. "Gotta solve a case about Explosive Iron Rangers or something?"

"I don't think that's his area of expertise," Raven says.

The three of you continue on into the visitation area.

"Prisoner 52577, entering," someone says.

A door opens and guards bring Control Freak in, cuffed and wearing a beige mask that covers his nose and mouth.

"Nice Silence of the Lambs look," you say as you point out the mask.

"Thanks," he says. "But what're you even here for?"

"We need to understand how your remotes work," Cyborg says.

"Is that old fart using my stuff again?" Control Freak barks.

"No, Mad Mod's been locked up a long time," Raven says. "We're trying to develop a device that can counter certain powers, and your remote control makes for a good frame of reference."

"We really only need to create a rewind function," you say.

"Wow, time manipulation?" Control Freak says. "Not even my remote does that."

"It doesn't?" you say.

"Thinking about it," Raven says, "yeah, he never did rewind anything that happened."

"Huh," Cyborg says. "That's true. He brought things to life, brought us into a TV dimension, and edited things to create crossovers of shows, but none of that was rewinding or even pausing time."

You sigh, seeing you perhaps jumped the gun.

"Although..." Control Freak says. "Taking the next step is intriguing. But-"

"You'll want something for helping us," you and the Titans all say together.

"Well, it is a classic criminal trope," Control Freak says with a smirk. "And I have a pretty simple demand."

"Anything involving Starfire is off the table," Raven says.

"Why, Raven, I am offended," Control Freak says. "I am not so vulgar as to demand something so superficial. My request is more practical. The prison's television provider is pitiful! I need you to get them to upgrade this place to at least Singlewave TV."

"Seriously?" you say.

"This place only gets 80 channels, and over half of them are local!" Control Freak shouts. "Local TV sucks! Why do you think we invented cable?!"

"Alright, calm down," Cyborg says. "Singlewave's a good provider, but I don't know if the city will want to pay that one."

"I'm sure I can help with that," you say.

"I want the Platinum package," Control Freak says. "All 500 channels, with the On Demand and DVR functions, allowing up to seven channels to be recorded at once while still allowing you to watch any channel you want."

A) Agreed
B) Haggle him down

A.

A.

(Not the same message)

A)

A

A

"Done," you say. "I'll pay for only one year of service, then it's on the city to foot the bill."

"For now, let's talk the schematics," Cyborg says. "Knowing the basics of the controller will help us get started on ours."

"Alright," Control Freak says.

You give Control Freak some paper and a pencil. He sketches out the remote control's basic shape twice, and one becomes the outside with the large button and lights.

"The one button does everything because of a psychic link the controller has with the wielder," Control Freak says.

"Really?" you ask.

"No," Control Freak laughs. "It's the square panel at the top. It's an LCD touch pad that allows you to designate a few options. Of course, you're only going to be using one function, so you might not need this."

"We could keep it as a display for when we're pointing it at a target," Raven says. "It could show us what we're using it on so we don't accidentally rewind the wrong object."

"A scanner mashed next to a transmitter seems a bit complex for an already complex device," you say.

"Yeah, that's probably too much," Control Freak says. "Not even Warp Trek imagined a device that could scan and heal all in one."

Control Freak sketches the wiring that's inside the controller. It's pretty clear what connects where, but the mysterious part is what connects button to transmitter diode at the front. He draws it as a spiral inside a square.

"This will be the real important part," Control Freak explains. "This is the reality engine that makes it all work. It took me years to develop it, but the key component is the cosmospatial micro-turbine utilizing zero-point energy and quantum electrodynamics."

"Wow, really?" Cyborg says. "How'd you get past the uncertainty principle?"

"Do you understand any of that?" Raven asks you quietly as the science jargon continues.

"Part for part, yes," you say. "Not all together like that."

"Wow..." Cyborg says as Control Freak finishes writing math symbols and equations. "This perfectly accounts for Brownian Motion and the wave-particle duality. We'll definitely need that part for our rewind function."

"You might also need to think about quantum entanglement and the cosmological constant," Control Freak says.

"Right, right," Cyborg says while he scans the paper. "This will probably take a lot of trial and error, too."

"Well, I'm always here," Control Freak says. "As long as the cable's working, I'll be willing to help."

Calls are made and a cable guy arrives to get to work, and you and the Titans return to the parking lot.

A) Have Cyborg explain the science
B) Just leave it all to Cyborg

A.

A.

Control Freak is really smart?

A

A

"Um, Cyborg," you say. "Could you explain the science?"

"Sure," he says. "What part?"

"Um, all of it?" Raven says.

"Oh," he says. "Well, 'cosmospatial' relates to cosmology, such as the cosmological constant Control Freak mentioned. Einstein's cosmological constant lambda is in his field equations of general relativity, and it's been interpreted as the energy density of space, or vacuum energy, that arises in quantum mechanics."

"Okay," you say, still not quite sure. "And zero-point energy?"

"Zero-point energy is the lowest possible energy that a quantum mechanical system may have. Quantum systems constantly fluctuate in their lowest energy state, as described by the Heisenberg uncertainty principle. That means even at absolute zero, atoms and molecules retain some vibrational motion."

"Okay, that one I'm understanding a bit better," Raven says. "It takes advantage of the energy always inside an object, no matter what the conditions are."

"Quantum electrodynamics essentially describes how light and matter interact," Cyborg continues.

"And Brownian Motion?" you ask.

"That's the random motion of particles suspended in a medium, like liquids or gases," Cyborg says. "Then there's the wave-particle duality, in which every particle behaves as a particle but also as a wave. So putting those together, Control Freak's remote can account for the random motion of particles in the environment. I think it's what allows him to properly target an inanimate object to bring it to life."

"Then you were right earlier," you say. "We might need that to help designate the gold in an item that Aurum transmutates."

A) Start on designs
B) Start on the components

B.

A.

B

B

"We can get started on the components today," you say as you hop on Shadowfax.

"Yeah," Cyborg says, "I'll start rummaging through motherboards and circuitry, and we'll focus on creating that turbine."

You all ride back into town and then to the tower.

"You guys can look through the spare parts down here in the garage," Cyborg says. "I'm sure we've got a fanblade and some axles to make into the turbine itself."

Cyborg goes to the elevator while you look in a bin of spare parts. You see pipes and tubes, and some springs and coils. You move on from this bin to another.

"Can't we just cheat it with some magic?" Raven asks. "Like how your grandfather does with a lot of your company's products."

"Then how would you promose we do that?" you counter. "What items could we possibly supplement for this cosmospatial micro-turbine? My grandfather modified what he still had a scientific understanding of. I can barely wrap my head around the word 'cosmospatial.'"

"How about just at least using Alchemy and size-changing spells to craft parts for the prototype?" she counters back.

"Well... That actually might work. I'm just not sure what the size of these parts should be."

"You can always scale it down later, right?" Raven says. "That's how technology works these days, going from big and bulky phones and computers to small, handheld ones. Though, thinking about it, Control Freak started small and super-sized his remote in order to break the barrier between this and the TV dimension..."

"Oh, here's something," you say as continue in the bins. "We can use a servo for rotating the fan blade."

You set that aside and continue searching. Cyborg returns with a bin full of motherboards. He also has a laser diode, and he attaches that to one end of a rectangular motherboard. He tests it, and it seems to be emitting infrared just fine.

"Do you think this fan blade from this tiny desk fan will work?" Raven asks as she brings said tiny desk fan over.

A) Yes
B) No

B

A

B

bump, been busy today

COIN TOSS

A

"Yes, I think so," you say. "Just needs some Alchemy to make the plastic into metal."

Raven pulls the fan blade off the fan's axle, and you use an Alchemy tag to transform it. Cyborg takes care of affixing the newly metal fan blade to the servo. Cyborg tests the servo's capacity, and it seems a bit slow.

"I'll work on juicing this up," he says. "If possible, make a housing for the turbine to contain the reaction."

"Right," you say. "It'll be a bit big but as Raven said, we can scale down after proof of concept."

You and Raven rummage around for metal paneling that can work for a cube. You use the desk fan's dimensions for reference, since there needs to be room for the blades.

Raven finds a rectangle with the right width, so you measure off a segment so that you have a square. The rest is then subdivided to be the side walls. The walls are fused together and to the square with some soldering.

"Okay, so wait," Raven says. "A turbine is supposed to work with a fluid or something, right?"

"Right," you say.

"Then what fluid is going into this thing?" Raven asks.

"Well, it doesn't necessarily need a fluid," you say. "That would mean it needs constant refilling."

"Then how does this work at all?" Raven asks. "Control Freak's remote doesn't take in any fluid or even air."

You and Cyborg stop and think.

"Aw man he totally tricked us!" Cyborg blurts out.

"The overweight weasel!" you shout.

A) Storm back to the prison
B) Just crack open and copy his remote

A.

His remote is probably booby trapped or set to destruct if opened.

I mean magnets are just as easy...

A.

a

bump, been busy again

A

A

As quickly as you can, you, Cyborg and Raven travel back to the prison and get another visit with Control Freak.

"Back so soon?" he smirks, no longer wearing the Hannibal mask.

"Your schematics don't line up with the math," Cyborg says.

"You swindled us," you say.

"Duh," Control Freak says. "I'm the villain! Why would I just give you my invention's secrets?"

"Then we're taking back the cable package," Raven says.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Control Freak says. "A lot of my friends here have already grown really attached to what's available."

"You have friends here?" you say in disbelief.

"I do now that I got them Singlewave," Control Freak says.

You and the Titans grumble and groan.

"Well, they're not going to be your friends since you just cost them Singlewave," Cyborg say.

"Yeah, right!" Control Freak says. "They'll just blame you Titans for going back on the deal."

"Then how about you give us the real blueprints?" Raven says as she grabs him by his prison jumpsuit.

"Whoa!" he says. "Settle down, okay?"

"Then are you going to be honest with us?" you say. "We're still going to take the cable away, no matter who the other prisoners get upset with."

"Alright, alright," he says. "It's electromagnetic, obviously. I thought you guys were smart."

"But then what about the energy source?" Cyborg asks.

"Self-sustaining, with some inspiration from regenerative brakes in hybrid cars."

"And how do we know you're telling the truth this time?" you ask.

"I can sense it," Raven says. "That, and fear."

Raven shoves Control Freak back into his seat.

"What's your problem?" Control Freak says.

"None of your business," she says.

"Now draw the real schematics," you say.

"Or else what?" he says. "Your only threat is the cable."

A) Follow through with it
B) Have Control Freak put in isolation

B.

B

B

B

sorry, guys, I've been dealing with this really bad cough and it's really messed me up. I'll get this tomorrow.