Mutants and Masterminds: A Song in Time of Revolution - Prologue: Winds

[The Fine Balance]

Wind wherein seas and stars are shaken

Shall shake them, and they shall not waken;

None that has lain down shall arise;

The stones are sealed across their places;

One shadow is shed on all their faces,

One blindness cast on all their eyes.

In the morning the city woke. The wind started blowing.

Swansea was a Modern Marvel, a Triumph, a Social Experiment (well, not really) that had come into full fruition. It was a city where crime had been all but elimited. The reason for this was simple, obvious, and very strange: Swansea had more metas than any city in Washington state; hell, in the world! Why?

If anybody knew, he, she, it, they, hit, ey, e, or we are not telling, and it seemed that nobody did. Those metas spoken to could really give no rational explanation for their presence in the city. When had anything about metas ever been rational?

Is there something in particular they wanted? Sure, but most of the time it was a personal sort of thing that would not appeal to metakind as a whole. Ones geriatric relatives, while doubtless worth a king's ransom to you, are not a big draw to crime-fighting superheros and other related wannabes.

Was there something very agreeable about the city from a meta point of view? Well, it did have some of the laxest power-related laws in all of the increasingly-less-centrist United States, but that could be an effect of the high meta population as much as a cause.

Did they feel some strange calling to the city? No. No, they didn't. And the issue remained an intriguing but ultimately frustrating mystery.

And so on August 12, 2008, in the city of Swansea, at about five o'clock in the morning, something very amazing happened. Or a series of very amazing somethings amazingly happened around something like five o'clock. Or something.

The first thing was this: at precisely 4:59 a.m. twelve glowing squares appeared directly over the Alms Building, the headquarters of a semi-prominent charity, hovered for 26 seconds and then disappeared in a flash of light and an audible buzz. This was not without precedent, of course; strange unidentified lights in the sky were a pretty well-documented phenomenon with all sorts of explanations of varying believability. What made this different was that the squares appeared about twenty feet above the roof and actually warped the glass windows of the building and blackened the roof with the intense heat. Later radiation tests revealed an unhealthy number of gamma rays having been shed. Creepy.

The media had all sorts of fun with it, of course, as fast as they were able, and by about 6:00 they were offering many elaborate, unconvincing explanations. This was pretty clearly Fortean phenomenon.

And that was just the beginning.

From 5:00 to 5:10 it rained fish. Goldfish, to be precise. Silver ones. They didn't seem to mind, and thoughtfully did not splatter on anyone. A few hours later they vanished.

From 5:00 to 5:05 geometry stopped working for a small family of carnivorous mutant fungi in the subway, but nobody really noticed until several days later, when an outbreak of allergy-causing shadows on the walls resulted in a purge of all fungi and bacteria by the local vitakinetic and computer nerd, Symbiosysop.

From 5:15 to 5:45 the sun turned a very unbecoming shade of puke green.

From 5:20 onward the city's boundaries curved in on each other...the rest of the good ol' US of A seemed to vanish. Travel through one end of the city and you end up at the other end of the city. Pretty inconvenient.

And from 5:30 to the rest of the day people were rather concerned.

[Vixen]

Around noontime, Roxanne was eating her lunch and listening to the news, as it recounted the day's weirdness. Around the time that she heard that the city had been closed off from the rest of the world, she made a decision.

She took a bus out to the city limits, to observe the strange phenomena for herself, and to see if she had any way of... interacting with it, for lack of a better term. She could sometimes smell a strange scent in the air when weirdness abounded, especially weirdness caused by her own hand. If the scent was there, then... well, she'd figure something out.

[Abel Cross]

It was about eleven thirty and Abel had just sat down to eat lunch on the roof of the school with a handful of other student council reps when one of them checked the news on her phone. "Did you guys hear about all the strange stuff that happened this morning? Twelve blocks of light above the Alms building, and then it rained goldfish that vanished. And since then it seems that the boundaries of the twon are all curved in some sort of weird loop. You go in onside and end up on the other."

Abel smiled and replied. "No I hadn't. TI didn't have time for the news this morning."

"That's because you stay out too late at night Abel." The chiding voice belonged to Student Council president Ellissa Fournet. "Well yes I do madame president, but I fail to see what bearing that has on the situation."

"When you're late for first period because you overslept it looks bad on the council."

He waved her off and smiled. "I'll do better." He looked over to Michael Rich, one of the younger members on the council. Your family lives out of the southside city limits don't they? If you want I can go check on them. I only have one more class today, and I can be back before sixth period starts."

"You'd do that for me?" Michael was kinda shocked. It was a long drive.

"No worries Mike. I needed to go run an errand on the southside today anyway, so it's on the way for me."

"Thanks man I owe ya one."

It was simple moments of charity like this, that had truly endeared Abel to the school's students, male and female. He was good-looking, charming and generally easy-going. He was fast to make friends, and totally trustworthy. You couldn't help but feel better when around him.

That was how he wanted it.

Elissa smiled at her vice president, always willing to go the extra mile for those he called friend. She'd always admired him, much as all the other girls at school, but she couldn't afford to ever show him in front of everyone.

They all sat and talked about class for the remainder of lunch and class resumed as normal. Elissa caught him as he was leaving towards the parking lot. "Be careful Abel. I can't replace you if this is some insane metahuman thing going on."

It wasn't exactly what she wanted to say, but it would have to do. He smiled and nodded. "I'll leave if things get weird. Don't worry, somebody has to keep you on your toes, and I rather enjoy it." Inwardly he smiled at her true feelings. Everyone was drawn to him because he was handsome or he had found a use for them, but Elissa was different. He'd never used his powers on her. She naturally liked him and he found that admirable, and certainly flattering.

He took the drive to the southside of town and picked up the comics he'd promise to bring to his siblings. He came to the city limits and peered into the distinctly weird curving of the city limits. Instinctively he tried to call Mike's house which was also outside of town, but got nothing.

"Damn, that's moderately annoying."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan awoke late, 10:30 am, and picked his way across the room to the TV. The small studio aparment was affordable and his neighbors where all empty lofts and studios so there were no noise issues apart from the ones he created. The place looked like a bomb had gone off, trash and dirty luandry and more scattered about everywhere. Ryan jabbed the TV power button and wandered toward the "kitchen" for something to consume, drink or eat it didn't much matter to his rumblign stomache.

...closed off within a dimensional warp pocket from the rest of the world. Authorities ask that you do not try to leave the city as it will not work and only result in traffic and delays for all...

Ryan put down the OJ and looked at the TV. The city is cut off from the outside world? We'll see about that! Ryan put the OJ back in the fridge and located his sneakers and a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He dressed quickly then moved to the center of the room. Ok, here ... we ... go! Ryan concentrated on spacetime, reaching out to the very fabric of the universe he tried to grab hold of the place were his parents lived. He sought to warp spacetime bewteen the two locations until he was able to pass from one to the other without crossing the intervening space. To no one in particular he gave a dramatic countdown, because it amused him. "Teleportation in three ... two ... one..."

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia was busy typing. It seemed that was all she'd done all day today. When the stories started to come in, she'd started to cover them. The moment one story was submitted, another needed to be written. She was thrilled about the challenge, about having to type so fast and so well. But her wrists were starting to hurt. Gonna give yourself carpal tunnel, girl, she moaned to herself, rubbing her wrists carefully.

Her cell phone lay next to her computer, its fake-chrome exterior offering a temptation. After the first two concerned calls, she and Daniel had agreed to only call if there was an emergency, but that had been hours ago. He's at work... what if something is wrong but he couldn't call? Is that too clingy?

"Oh, come on, Olivia," she moaned and turned back to her laptop. After a second, she realized it was twenty after five and it was almost dinner. "We need to coordinate dinner!" she enthused to herself as the perfect excuse. Smiling, she called him.

As it rang, her eyes caught the news on her TV. Phone still pressed to her ear, Olivia turned up the volume, watching in horror as the city was besieged.

[SalmonMax]

Daniel swore and pounded his fist on the steering wheel of his...well, his mom's...battered old Oldsmobile. It was an ungainly box of a car, but built to last even if it was on its last legs. The traffic in town was going crazy though...everyone wanting to visit everyone else and await The End, or try to get out, or...God only knew what.

When his cellphone rang he grabbed it and held to his ear. It was just as the cars started moving of course.

"Livia!" he said with alarm. Was it an emergency? Shit! "Are you okay? I'm driving over there right now."

As if to punctuate that, the car ahead of him and a lane over decided that his lane was moving faster, and tried to swerve into his safety cushion. Daniel leaned on his horn and blurted, "Shit!"

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"The city... it's... are you seeing... no, you're driving. God, Daniel, I was just calling about dinner, but... the city is getting shut off." She sounded a touch hysterical. Swallowing, she forced herself to calm down. "It's... a spatial effect - people find themselves looping around. This is... bad, Daniel, I don't... I'll be waiting for you at the door, to let you in." When she'd first moved in, she'd enjoyed the security procedures, but as she'd gained confidence, they'd just become a nuisuice.

Grabbing her keys, she hustled downstairs to wait by the door. As she traveled down the last few steps, she felt a tingle from the ever-present gold choker around her neck. That tingle became a dull ache as the necklace began to burn. Wincing, Olivia ignored it and waited for Daniel.

[SalmonMax]

"Yeah, I know, they...yeah okay, I'll be there soon!" Daniel assured her as he had to jam on the brakes again. Damnit, he'd been hoping to avoid this kind of crap when he'd left for the day early. Unfortunately it seemed like half the city had the same idea.

Finally he saw Olivia's building rising up. Three more intersections, but it was taking two or even three cycles to get through each one. Cars would try to get across, and have to stop in mid-intersection when the line hit the next red light over. People were IDIOTS!

Finally he did an end-run around a truck; a highly illegal move that earned him some honks and shouted swears, but it got him through a red light and into a clear corridor that led straight to the parking lot.

There she was, waiting just behind the glass door and looking anxiously out. Seeing her unlocked invisible steel bands around his heart and lungs. She was all right. He was all right. They were going to be all right.

Daniel pulled into a visitor parking space right across from the door, then ran over as Olivia let him in. His first act was to wrap her in his arms. Talk about what was happening, and dinner, and all of that could wait. She'd been so upset over the phone...and he'd been so concerned...that this was the way he wanted to start.

After a moment passed, and he felt a bit more on top of things, he said, "So...how about those dinner plans?"

[Velocity]

Valerie concentrated on the second hand of the stopwatch. It was an odd feeling almost like getting high. The world around her slowed down until she could actually run around the block before another second passed. Only thinking about it thrilled her and when she was excited the world seemed to move even slower around her. Daniel is going to freak out when he finds out how fast I really am. Outrunning a car feels like taking a comfortable, slow stroll.

As if her becoming a metahuman wasn't the coolest thing ever the city was turning into a live disco. Flashy lights everywhere in all different shapes and colors. Valerie smiled to herself and pumped up the volume on her walkman - then she started to run.

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Ryan Jackson

Ryan put down the OJ and looked at the TV. The city is cut off from the outside world? We'll see about that! Ryan put the OJ back in the fridge and located his sneakers and a clean pair of shorts and a t-shirt. He dressed quickly then moved to the center of the room. Ok, here ... we ... go! Ryan concentrated on spacetime, reaching out to the very fabric of the universe he tried to grab hold of the place were his parents lived. He sought to warp spacetime bewteen the two locations until he was able to pass from one to the other without crossing the intervening space. To no one in particular he gave a dramatic countdown, because it amused him. "Teleportation in three ... two ... one..."

It was rather like trying to force ones body through a very small tube at very high speeds. For a moment he could feel the pressure around him, and could almost see his parents' house, and then with a slingshot-like backlash and screeching crack, he appeared four feet above the roof, immediately falling to the ground. Oops.

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Vixen

She took a bus out to the city limits, to observe the strange phenomena for herself, and to see if she had any way of... interacting with it, for lack of a better term. She could sometimes smell a strange scent in the air when weirdness abounded, especially weirdness caused by her own hand. If the scent was there, then... well, she'd figure something out.

It was easily the strangest thing she had ever seen. Standing there, at the edge of the anomaly...she could see a bent, warped version of the other side of the city, as though through a cracked mirror or the surface of a lake where a stone had just been thrown. The creepiest part was that though the mirror-city moved more or less like she supposed the other side of the city was moving...it was dead silent. The shapes moving in the warped reflection made no sound whatsoever, and no scent touched her nose. This was...something else.

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan hit the roof and rolled ... mostly. "Ok, maybe they were right," he commented to nobody but himself. Let's see if I can pop back to the apt safely. A moment of concentration and Ryan tries again, this time seeking to bridge the distance back down into his locked apartment. If this doesn't work I'll have to call a locksmith ...

[Yamabushi]

Sung was waiting for his first class of the day, listening to the radio. When the news break came on and explained that the city was sealed off from the outside world, Sung had a feeling that the news may spark lawlessness throughout the city. But until then, he had classes to teach. His students began arriving in dribs and drabs. The discussion was on the sun's color and the squares that appeared above downtown. After a few minutes, Sung steps out in his red gi with his belt tied in the classic Karate knot.

He claps his hands a couple of times to get everyone's attention, "Everyone, please focus. I'm sure the events of today are on your minds, so let us meditate first to cleanse them of distracting thoughts. Please take a seat, close your eyes, and focus on the image of a candle flame. breathe in, hold for 5 seconds, and release. Again... keep the image in your head. And breathe in. Focus on the flame. And release. Open your eyes. Get up slowly. Let us begin with simple Katas. Remember to keep the feeling of focus from the meditation going. And Begin." With that command, the class jumps into action. Soon there are bodies flying through the air, spinning on the ground, and almost dancing as the class begins their katas. The room is filled with grunts and groans as the students are occasionally corrected by Sung with swift weak punches and kicks. When the class is over, Sung congratulates his students, and quietly enters the back room of the dojo, where he has a small closet. Inside the closet, is Sung's street clothes and a small bag containing another outfit. That outfit is traditional buddhist robes, with a large scarf and head covering. It is the uniform of the hero known as Yamabushi. When his changing is complete, he heads out the front door, changing the sign on the door to Closed and locking it. He then climbs into his black Dodge aries and starts it up. He begins heading for the edge of town to see this phenomena for himself.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

Olivia waited anxiously, her knuckles pale as she gripped the push bar on the door. When she saw Daniel's car shoot into the parking lot, she almost felt dizzy with relief. She pushed the bar as he found a spot, and held it for him as he hurried over. Then he was inside, and she was able to touch him, to put her arms around him, and know that hope hadn't made her delerious. She leaned into him as she clasped him tight, feeling his sweet, familiar comfort.

Everything was better, just because he was here.

"So...how about those dinner plans?"

The mundane question in the midst of madness tore a laugh from her. "I have Top Ramen," she giggled, even knowing it wasn't funny. "I don't think we want to leave." She paused and frowned. "Is your mom and Valerie alright? My family's ok - Mom and Dad are home, and my brother is away, visiting his birth mom. Do... is Valerie out in this?"

She didn't need to explain her concern for his little sister. She was always wild and a little fearless. It was good to be confident and sure, but Olivia privately worried that Valerie didn't know when she was being fearless and when she was acting without common sense.

[SalmonMax]

"I...don't know," Daniel admitted. Unwillingly he let Olivia go. "Mom's probably at home, but Val...shit. Hang on a second."

He pulls his cellphone from his back pocket and dials home.

"Hey! Mom! Daniel. Yeah, I'm fine! No no, the manager closed up early when all this...yeah, I was watching it at the store. Look, mom, I'm at Olivia's, I'm all right, but do you know where...what? No, I was just going to ask you."

He took a deep breath.

"Okay, I'll try to reach her. I'll call you the second I hear anything. You call me too, okay? If you hear, or when she comes...yeah. Yeah ok. I love you too. Bye."

Daniel gives Olivia a worried, harried look. "She's not home. Mom doesn't know where she is. Didn't answer her cell...she might not have it, but she doesn't always pick up for mom. I'm gonna try it."

He dials again...and waits to see if Valerie answers.

[The Fine Balance]

Originally Posted By: Ryan Jackson

Ryan hit the roof and rolled ... mostly. "Ok, maybe they were right," he commented to nobody but himself. Let's see if I can pop back to the apt safely. A moment of concentration and Ryan tries again, this time seeking to bridge the distance back down into his locked apartment. If this doesn't work I'll have to call a locksmith ...

This worked just as it was meant to. He appeared back in his apartment with no problems.

[Velocity]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Daniel gives Olivia a worried, harried look. "She's not home. Mom doesn't know where she is. Didn't answer her cell...she might not have it, but she doesn't always pick up for mom. I'm gonna try it."

He dials again...and waits to see if Valerie answers.

Valerie had just picked up speed when she felt her celular vibrating in her backpack. She was tempted to ignore it and just keep on running, the sight of the city was too spectacular and it seemed as if everyone was freaking out. No one really cared or paid attention to what she was doing. Checking the screen she saw it was Daniel and immediately stopped. "This better be important, Daniel.", she said to herself and answered the call.

"What's up? I'm having a blast and you are slowing me down."

[Ryan Jackson]

Ryan heaved a sigh of relief, Yeah that would have sucked. OK, lets check out this space fold up close. Ryan grabbed his map of the city and located a spot near to the spatial fold that he could teleport too with minimal risk being seen. Yeah, the rooftop ought to do fine. With a moments pause he once more folded himself through space. Arriving on a short building at the edge of the city he made use of his parkour training to clamber down the building to the ground level and headed toward the anomaly for a look-see.

[SalmonMax]

Daniel scowled into his phone.

"No," he said with mock apology. "Nothing too important! Just the city's in chaos and no one can get out and mom and I don't know if you're alive or dead. Oh, and the sun has apparently turned green. But other than all THAT, no, nothing too important. Sorry to bother you. Anyway, I'm at Olivia's place. You need to either head home or come here. It's not safe to be running around out there right now."

[Velocity]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Daniel scowled into his phone.

"No," he said with mock apology. "Nothing too important! Just the city's in chaos and no one can get out and mom and I don't know if you're alive or dead. Oh, and the sun has apparently turned green. But other than all THAT, no, nothing too important. Sorry to bother you. Anyway, I'm at Olivia's place. You need to either head home or come here. It's not safe to be running around out there right now."

"Yeah, I saw that. Isn't that the coolest thing ever? Green is my favourite color! So why is it that you always assume I'm dead and I won't go to mom, forget about that!", Valerie answered a bit angry at the end.

"I'll be there in a minute!", she hung up and made it virtually in less than a minute to Olivia's place. Smiling confidently and without even breaking a sweat she gave her brother a small kiss on his cheek and beamed happily at Olivia. "So what are we gonna do? Isn't this absolutely fantastic?", she pointed at the flashy colors and the green sun.

[SalmonMax]

Daniel closes his phone with a long-suffering sigh and says to Olivia, "She's okay. She's going to come over here. I know, I'm sorry, but it was that or let her run around by herself..."

He gets that far before Valerie is outside at the door, knocking on the glass and cupping her face to look in at them. The raised eyebrow he gives Olivia as she goes to let Val in says, 'Wasn't expecting her that fast.'

"Yeah," he answers the teen wearily. "Fantastic. Listen, Olivia and me are..." Daniel looks at Olivia and shrugs. "...I don't know what we're doing now. Getting to a restaurant might be thorny for a bit longer. What do you think, Livia?"

[Vixen]

Roxanne stares at the spatial warp, running a hand nervously through her white hair. I don't have a clue. Slowly she sat down on the bench.

Okay. Just observe. Just observe. It stops at the city boundaries so possibly it's a created thing. Made by someone. So I need to figure out who made it and why, if that's the case... and if it's not created then there has to be a reason it's stopping in such a specific spot -

Roxanne stands. "Oh hell." She looks up. "I could always..."

Do the impossible.

"Yeah." Roxanne sets her shoulders. She walked into an alleyway, took care to make sure no one was observing her... and changed.

Her head changed shape, her ears growing pointy and furry and migrating up her head. Her nose and jaw elongated and her teeth sharpened. Her body grew fur, and she sprouted a trio of foxlike tails. Her clothing changed shape as well, into a red and gold oriental dress.

She looked up, and left the Earth behind, traveling upwards slowly. She wasn't that fast when flying, but she could be patient. And once she was high enough she could figure out if the anomaly stretched over top of the city as well, or just what awaited her up there.

As she flew, she tried not to think of all the laws of the universe she was violating. She was on shaky ground already.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"I have Top Ramen," Olivia offered again. "And I think it have a can of tuna. We can make it last!"

You cannot stay here.

Olivia blinked but didn't respond. Her fingers reached up and brushed lightly over the necklace, feeling the links of the gold choker around her neck. "So, who wants noodles and fish?"

You swore an oath. To protect. Your people need you.

"My house is open to you," she added, her voice strained.

[Velocity]

Originally Posted By: Olivia

"My house is open to you," she added, her voice strained.

Valerie looked at Olivia and furrowed her brows as she registered her strained voice, "Listen, if you don't want me around then just tell me right away. Why did you call me in the first place anyways?", she was about to turn and leave obviously angered by something Olivia said.

[SalmonMax]

Daniel reached out to catch Valerie's wrist.

"Wait just a second. It's been a crazy day, okay? She's had a hard time. It's not that we don't want you around. I wouldn't have asked you over if we didn't want you around."

He grins a lopsided grin and reaches over to ruffle Valerie's undtidy red mop of hair.

"Cut us some slack. We're old and crabby, and slow to adjust to weirdness like this."

Then Daniel glances at Olivia and notices her expression. "Valerie, give me a second with Livia, alright?"

He leads Olivia away from Val and says in a low voice, "Are you okay with this? I'm really sorry to blow our plans for two tonight, but under the circumstances...I don't know what else to do."

[Velocity]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Daniel reached out to catch Valerie's wrist.

"Wait just a second. It's been a crazy day, okay? She's had a hard time. It's not that we don't want you around. I wouldn't have asked you over if we didn't want you around."

He grins a lopsided grin and reaches over to ruffle Valerie's undtidy red mop of hair.

"Cut us some slack. We're old and crabby, and slow to adjust to weirdness like this."

Then Daniel glances at Olivia and notices her expression. "Valerie, give me a second with Livia, alright?"

Valerie sighed and nodded, “Of course, Daniel.”, but she crossed her arms defiantly nonetheless expecting Olivia to apologise.

Impatiently she waited for the two love doves to finish whatever they were having issues with and blowed some strands of hair out of her face. Daniel was too worried about everything but then again, that was what she admired about him.

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

"It's nothing to do with Valerie being here," Olivia said. "I am rattled and tired and... and a little scared." She pulled herself to him again, hugging him fiercely. She was scared of something happening to him, or her family; she was just helplessly waiting for the end.

But she thought of what the necklace had said and knew that she could do something. Then she realized that she was giving credence to something a hunk of jewelry had told her telepathically. I don't care what the tests say... I've lost my mind! It figures she'd find a good man like Daniel only to lose him because she went crazy.

Standing back, she said, "Here, take my keys and take Valerie upstairs. We're going to need more food and supplies, so I'm going to walk down to the store and get some things before they're gone." Oh, god, that was the lamest excuse in the Book of Lamest Excuses Ever, but she'd never been good at subterfuge. "You need to take care of Valerie."

[SalmonMax]

Daniel hesitates at that, torn between his duty...and yes, desire...to protect his sister, and his concern for Olivia. But the difference is clear. Valerie's a kid, and he's responsible for her. Olivia is a grownup, and he's got no right to tell her what to do.

Still.

"Look," he says with a wry, pained smile, "I know you can take care of yourself, but...just tell me you'll be careful. The Viking in my head is screaming that I should go instead, or I should go with you. I know you're right, and Val needs me, but...just tell me you'll be careful out in that, and call if you need help. Just to shut him up, okay?"

[Velocity]

(In response to Max - I mixed up where everyone was. My post is obsolete)

[SalmonMax]

(er...what? I thought Valerie was over waiting for Daniel to finish talking to Olivia? Did she sneak up on us?)

[z-Olivia Jenings-Izumi]

God, I have the best boyfriend in the world, Olivia sighed as she looked up into Daniel's eyes. "Ok, I'll be careful, and I'll be back as soon as I can."

Reaching up, she grabbed the lapels of his jacket and gave him a kiss - chaste because Valerie was right there. It was equal parts 'thanks for being awesome' and 'see you later.' "You and Valerie should be able to find everything you need for now in the kitchen." She paused and gave him another kiss. "Be right back."

She left before she lost her nerve. She hated lying to Daniel, but if she could fix this voice-from-the-necklace thing before he found out, he'd never had to worry about her being crazy. Like she was worrying about being crazy; she'd spare him if she could.

Once outside and around the corner, she said, "Ok. So you want me to protect my people... well, I'm here. I'm ready to get this done with. Do your thing."

The world lurched and Olivia yelped. Only something was wrong with her voice. It was strange and deep and male. Gasping, she looked at her hands - they were large, rough and much darker than her normal color. "Oh, god..." she whimpered in a soft baritone. "What have I done?"

You have the capabilities to protect your people now. You didn't before.

"What a sexist load of bull!" Olivia snarled. The sound she made startled her. It was a very impressive voice. "I didn't agree to a sex change! We're don-"

All you have to do is fix the problem, and you'll be done.

"I can't stay like this until we fix it... alright, we'll compromise," Olivia said. "I'll take a look at stuff, think about and whenever I don't have to be... this, you'll leave me as myself, ok? Otherwise, I won't cooperate with you."

There was a moment of silence. Very well. Now, will you do your duty?

Grumbling, Olivia started walking down the street. She was dressed in a white loin cloth, she noted, as well as some nifty gold armor. And she had a-

She shied away from the thought, in part because she could feel it, and that was bad enough. If felt like a giant worm had wiggled-

Clapping a hand to her mouth, she tried not to throw up. No more thinking about the thing flopping between her legs. It was better to ignore it.

Head down, she walked on.

[SalmonMax]

Olivia's chaste little kisses were cruel teases for Daniel, but ones he gladly accepted. Olivia was gorgeous, smart, funny and talented. If she wanted to kiss him at all, he wasn't going to discourage it. Quite the contrary.

He manages to avoid just grabbing her and making out with her, largely by quickly forcing his attention to Val the moment she was walking away. He held up the keys Olivia just gave him and waves his arm towards himself.

"Come on Valerie, lets go see what we can whip up in the kitchen."

[Velocity]

Valerie watched Olivia leave and hesitated for a moment. Something was... off but she couldn't quite place a finger on it. When Daniel mentioned food her stomach responded with a low grumble before she could say anything. Smiling and almost giggling she nodded to Daniel and said, "Thats just what I need. This body needs calories to burn."

Within a blink of an eye she stood next to him and waited eagerly to get inside. Ever since she became Meta Valerie was barely recognisable, both in behaviour and physical appearance but she seemed to like the changes a lot.

[SalmonMax]

Hearing Valerie speak in such disassociated terms about her own body gives Daniel an inward wince, but he doesn't let it show. He'd have to talk with her about what was going on with her. He'd avoided it thus far, because he wasn't sure what to say...and he had his own secrets to hide. But it was obvious that Valerie needed some direction, and he wasn't sure who else could even hope to relate to her.

The ride in the elevator gave him plenty of time to think. To try to keep Val from focusing on the boring trip up, he asks her, "So how was school?"

Smooth, Blake. Lets start a conversation by invoking the only thing she DOESN'T like to talk about.

[Velocity]

"School?", Valerie blew a strand of her out of her face and said, "I told Mr. Karp to fuck off and leave me alone with his stupid algebra and then I left. I'm Meta now, I don't need school, I've got more important stuff to do - like saving the world or something.", she frowned before she added, "You know how much I hate school, why do you keep bothering me with that? What must I do for you to notice that I've changed?! Mom is ignoring that I went Meta - but she ignored me before too, so that's no news. But I thought you was different...", her voice trailed off a bit at the end, sounding very disappointed.

[SalmonMax]

"Valerie," Daniel said, actually hunkering down a bit so their eyes were on the same level, "I am not ignoring you. I know you've changed, and I know you're excited about it...believe me I understand all that. I'm just concerned because..."

He grimaced a little, trying to come up with a way to say this without hitting Valerie's potent 'shielding' against any opinions contrary to her own. The ding of the elevator interrupted his thinking, and he stood up to lead her out.

"Okay, let me put it like this," he said as they walked down the corridor to Olivia's door. "Look at comic books. That's what you're talking about right? You basically want to be a superhero? But look at them, Val. Spiderman's a college kid. Batman's the best detective in the world. Okay, even the Flash, right? Super speed, like you. But Wally West was a brilliant chemist when he had the accident that transformed him into the Flash. Are you seeing what I'm saying here?"

They got to Olivia's door, and Daniel turned to face his sister again. "All the great heroes use their heads AND their powers. Being able to move really fast won't help you if you don't know what to do. If there's a nuclear bomb going off in fifteen seconds you might be able to take it apart and disarm it in five...but only if you know how. The things you learn in school absolutely -will- help you no matter what you decide to do with your life. So when you say there's more important things than school, that worries me. Even superheroes have to be educated."

He opened up the door and motioned inside with his head. "Just think about it, alright?"

[Velocity]

Valerie listened to her brother and knew he was right but thinking about that horrible place made her sick in the stomach. She hated when he was right and he didn't know that the constant teasing and setbacks at school triggered her change. She never told him that her classmates chased her regularly after school and called her names - especially ever since someone found out that her dad was in jail. She never wanted to go back to that place again but talking to her mother or Daniel about it was close to impossible. She felt too embarressed about it.

She tried to protest a few times but couldn't find the right words, instead she punched him halfseriously on his arm and furrowed her brows angrily. "You've got no idea how much I hate that place, Daniel.", she wanted to say more but stopped there, still unable to tell him the truth for her dislike.

[SalmonMax]

Daniel sighed and nodded as he went into the kitchen, rubbing his arm. "I guess I don't, kiddo," he replied affectionately.

"Tellyawhat...lets do some food making here, and if you feel like it you can tell me all about it. It wasn't that long ago I was in school too." He glanced at his sister and realized something else. Maybe it was "girl stuff?"

"Or...would you rather talk to Olivia about it?"

[Velocity]

„Stop calling me that!“, she said in a more playful tone. Valerie dropped her rucksack and helped Daniel in the kitchen. At home she would’ve protested sometimes just because. But Daniel, for Daniel she would even go back to school if he only started to respect her more than just being his little sister.

“I don’t want to bother your girlfriend with this. I think she already hates me enough, no need to make it worse.”, she jumped easily on the work space of the kitchen and took an apple taking a huge bite out of it. With her mouth half full she continued, “Whaddaya wanna know? That even now after I changed people hate me and call me a freak? A Mutant?”, she shrugged as if it didn’t bother her but he could tell that she wasn’t happy at all. But instead of falling into self pity it just fuelled her anger and rebellious nature.

[SalmonMax]

Dan grinned and leaned back against the counter next to where she sat.

"If it helps any, kids called me that and I didn't even get any super powers out of the deal. I'd say you're way ahead of me. And Olivia doesn't hate you, Val. Seriously. I know you're thinking she just puts up with you because of me, but I can tell you that's not how it is. Like today, before I'd even gotten a chance to call mom and check in, she was already asking me if you were okay."

He reaches over and pats Valerie's knee, then goes to the fridge to see what's inside.