I13DT: Plenty Accusations

[Aria Nyx]

She catches it and slips it back. "I would if I had it left in me, kiddo."

Once everyone is up on the bridge she closes the hatch, which causes a panel to slide open with a red lever reading 'Emergency Release'. "Please make sure to keep all extremities inside the compartment at all times." she says before pulling the lever.

[Narrator]

Explosions came from below the bridge as explosive bolts fired, and the bridge began to rapidly surface.

[Samantha McManus]

"...well then, seems we might be floating in the North Sea for awhile until an extraction arrives."

[Miranda Weaver]

"Wonderful," Miranda muttered, pulling her knees up to her chest.

[Aria Nyx]

"Anybody got a deck of cards on them?" she awkwardly tries to lighten the mood, knowing full well it's not going to work.

"Anybody? No? Okay, so there's probably some questions..." she relents after a moment of stares.

[Samantha McManus]

"It seems you and Miranda already talked, aye?"

[Aria Nyx]

"Little bit. So yeah, I'm not her little sister, I'm her. Or at least a version of her. These Black Air dicks don't exist where I'm from as far as I know."

[John Hino]

"A 'version' of her?" John asked.

[Aria Nyx]

"At some point this timeline took a different turn than the one I'm from and stranded me here. This thing can compensate for it a little but if timelines drift too far apart the quantum phase gets unstable. I tried to fix it and... I messed up. I gave these guys my DNA because actually, you know, existing is kind of important and I thought it'd steer things back towards my timeline. I didn't know they'd do this..." she says, avoiding to look at Miranda.

[Samantha McManus]

"...you were worried that you wouldn't happen," she says skeptically.

[Miranda Weaver]

Miranda gets up then, grabbing the goggles off one of the guards, because what self-respecting minion doesn't have goggles. She slips them down over her eyes, finally covering up the damage again. Then she just goes back to sitting and staring.

[Aria Nyx]

"Even if it wouldn't quite be me I thought she deserved to exist. And I already knew she wouldn't happen the way I did because... I don't know why but I know my own dang birthday and I can do basic math and nobody was looking particularly pregnant or likely to go for it. This ain't exactly a situation in which that happens accidentally."

[Samantha McManus]

"Not a lot of faith in your parents, aye?"

[Aria Nyx]

Aria throws her arms up and rolls her eyes. Or at least her body language suggest that's what she would be doing if she had eyes. "That's not what I said at all! I hung around, I waited, everything just drifted further and further out of synch."

[Will Stanton]

"You couldn't have asked for our help?"

[Aria Nyx]

"Ah yes, Uncle Will, would you please talk my parents, one of which you seem to be halfway terrified of for some reason, into procreating?"

[John Hino]

John found himself staring at the device on Aria's arm, pondering its capabilities.

Quantum Singularity Generator? Awfully small to have such power...

[Narrator]

The piece seems to be made up of at least two cobbled together things, one of which is a wrist-mounted computer screen that says 'Hino Industries' on it.

[John Hino]

John blinked and raised a brow, smiling to himself.

I must have one hell of an R&D division.

[Miranda Weaver]

Finally, Miranda spoke, "So you let a shadowy government organization take your DNA in hopes that they would, with the best of intentions, help you to exist." She stood up and stalked towards Aria, "And while we're talking about consequences, let's just recount what they'd intended to do with me if 'Uncle Will' and the X-Men hadn't rescued me. They were going to wire me into a sphere, using my optic nerves as the connecting point all in some bid to get their own precognitive and telepathic intel. And they were going to keep me alive for this... in this sphere." By this point, she stopped in front of Aria, "You've had far more time with Mom. I would think you would have learned something about the consequences of *fucking with things*!" With that she swung a hard right hook at Aria's face.

[Aria Nyx]

Whether she sees it coming or not, she takes the punch right on the jaw and goes down. Propping herself up on one arm she gingerly touches her hurting jaw with the other hand.

"I deserved that..." she just says, head hanging down. "I'm sorry for what I did, you didn't deserve this. I need to get home, but had I known what they were planning I would have found another way. I didn't know..."

[Miranda Weaver]

"Isis help me if I ever become so selfish that I take any road, no matter how dark, to ensure my own existence."

[Aria Nyx]

"This isn't just about me. I have a responsibility to the people back home, they entrusted me to keep something safe and I need to bring it back to them..." she meekly defends herself.

[Samantha McManus]

"And I hope you get home, but at this point I think it's safe to say that her future isn't it."

[Aria Nyx]

"It doesn't have to be. Just close enough..." she says, her voice kind of breaking up. "I know it's not worth much now, but I am sorry."

[Will Stanton]

Will's eyes darted between the three McManuses, observing how this all played out.

[Samantha McManus]

"Aria... when you arrived you gave me something that I didn't even know I wanted yet. You gave me a daughter."

"When Miranda was rescued, I had that and then some. It occurred to me that I might not just have a daughter, but children."

"You never had to be all alone."

[Aria Nyx]

"I didn't want to let you and Mom down. You try being the daughter of a goddess and a precog. Everyone always expects me to know what to do and to do the right thing and then they hand me this and tell me to keep it safe. And it takes me about 5 minutes to fuck it up. It's hard to admit that they misplaced their trust so badly." she says, slipping off her bracer.

[Miranda Weaver]

"I am trying to be that," Miranda said. "And even I've already learned that I can't let them define *me*, no matter how much I love them."

[Will Stanton]

Will stepped in after a moment.

"Aria, you screwed up. I think what precognitives need to learn, sometimes, is that they're not infallible. It happens. You made a horrible decision. That doesn't mean you're worthless or untrustworthy. Sometimes, you just need...a little faith."

[Aria Nyx]

Aria just quietly stares at the floor.

"No amount of faith is gonna fix this now though..." she finally says after a while.

[Miranda Weaver]

Miranda had been hands on hips, but she loosened her stance and reached down to offer her hand to Aria, "Then you're not paying attention, 'little sister'. Faith can make all the difference. Faith in those around you. Especially family."

[Aria Nyx]

"Pretty sure I'm supposed to be the mature one..." she forces a smile through her sniffling, taking the offered hand.

[Samantha McManus]

"Your mum's not perfect either," she says as Aria is helped up, reaching out to put her arms around both of them.

"But no matter what you've done, no matter how you came to me, you're both mine. That's never going to change."

[Miranda Weaver]

"Good to know," Miranda said with a smile. "Let's see about getting home."

[Ryan Gabriel]

Ryan, meanwhile, was monitoring the panels, figuring that there was no way he was getting in the way of the family squabble, whatever his thoughts.

[Narrator]

They were rising, and fast--they'd be breaching the surface in a minute.

[John Hino]

"I hate to interrupt family business," John said, "But... why, exactly, were you given the device? It's obviously a custom job and... well at least I really hope its one-of-a-kind."

[Stephanie Kaltiera]

Steph joined Ryan at the console in letting the family hash out their differences without getting involved.

"Have I ever mentioned how much I hate time travel?" she whispered to Ryan with a bit of a smirk.

[Ryan Gabriel]

"I think we don't hate it as much as the people actually doing it," Ryan whispered, smirking back at her.