Jump to content

Mutants & Masterminds: The Indigo Children - [Second Phase: Beta Segment] Operation: CR-SC00


jameson (ST)

Recommended Posts

"Okay. Be careful." Rob said quietly from the corner of his mouth. "We'll bum around here a bit like we're still discussing where to go. If he's friendly, bring him with you." As he spoke, the Indigo reached out with his power, trying to get a read of the EM fields around the man Tomoe had indicated. If he was wearing a radio, or an active cellphone, or was bugged, it would be a good thing to know.

Click to reveal.. (Rob's Electromagnetic senses (second attempt, spending a HP))

What the magnetokinetic found was a little unnerving, to say the least. He almost reached out and grabbed the illusory Tomoe to stop her, remembering at the last second to keep his voice down.

"Tomoe!" he hissed, hoping she was still nearby. Thankfully, the image replied.

"What is it?"

"That guy. He's one big metallic signature. Like he's wearing steel plate under that hoodie or has a mostly metal bod. Plus he's got this huge EM reading around his centre. Weirdest thing I've ever sensed. It's drowning out anything else I might get, so I can't tell if he's carrying a radio... or a gun." Ron explained quickly in a low tone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 87
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Tomoe grinned. For a second it was her by-now familiar calling card, the sharp-toothed, yellow eyed fox's grin. Only for a second.

"He IS mostly metal," she said quietly back. "Under his skin. We think that's his power. Anyway, I'll be right back."

She resumed trotting over to him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity tried to stay as close to Rob as humanly possible and while she still was in panic mode being close to Rob made it less painful and dramatic.

"You really can help me? Are you sure... because I'm really in trouble - crime syndicate kind of trouble if you catch my drift.", god, it feels good just being close to him. Rob could see how Velocity blushed and broke eye contact the moment he looked at her. She was developing a serious crush...

The moment was interrupted by Tomoe's sudden "comeback" to live and the relaying of news which only barely reached Velocity's cognitive thoughts. She was far too absorbed with Rob... and sighed.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tomoe trotted her illusory form in a bee line toward their shadow. The man noticed her almost immediately and peeled off at a street side news vendor. He grabbed a magazine and pretended to be reading it. The illusion ignored the poor attempt to be inconspicuous and stopped in front of him. "HI!" it said.

"Umm. Yes, hello," he replied, turning away but glancing over his shoulder once to verify her appearance. "How did you see me?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Keeping one eye on the hooded man as he scanned around Rob kept chatting, his tone conversational once more as he focused his attention on Valerie. He hoped Tomoe would be able to grab mysterious-metal-guy and bring him over soon. The magnetokinetic was getting a definite itchy sensation in the back of his head, most of which he blamed on the GiBs. After all, you weren't paranoid if they really were after you.

"So, are you on the Network?" he asked her quietly, taking a moment to pretend to look for a taxi before looking at her again. "Got an ID there?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Something about his reactions nudged at Tomoe, and her real self, invisible, looked around to see if anyone seemed like they were paying an unusual amount of attention to the two of them. Her double leaned over the display of newspapers and magazines as if perusing the titles for sale.

"I'm very observant," Tomoe's double said quietly with very real smugness. "Hardly anything gets past me. And I don't forget a face. So how come you're following us all secretively? You could just come up and introduce yourself, you know."

"Is someone after you again?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally Posted By: Telluris

"So, are you on the Network?" he asked her quietly, taking a moment to pretend to look for a taxi before looking at her again. "Got an ID there?"


Velocity almost burst out in laughter at Rob's question, "Haha! Good one, I practically live in the net! My name's Velocity but recently some jerk broke my smartphone AND my netbook - cost me over a thousand bucks and all he said was 'Sorry, I can't pay you, nahnahnah'. That really sucked. What about you?", she asked innocently flashing him a flirty smile. The young speedster had a cute smile and now standing close to her he could see a few freckles spotting the bridge of her nose and cheeks.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Oh, I remember reading something about that." Rob said with a nervous laugh, rubbing the back of his neck. "The guy that caused the Pulse, right? Um... boy. Yeah, he sounded like he was kinda sorry, though. I mean, not all of us are made of money." Rob wasn't really a praying man - numerous attempts by his god-fearing stepfather to have him exorcised as a teenager had put paid to that - but right now he was praying very hard. Figures. Cute girl that can whup my ass faster than a speeding bullet and I'm the guy she wants to kick in the nuts.

"I mean, it's not like he was really going nahnahnah-" he stopped, catching the glint of mirth in Tess's eye and realising that he was drawing out the inevitable pain. "Oh, right... Yeah, I'm on the network." He looked around once more as he answered, hoping the GiBs were about to leap out and save him from an asswhupping... by giving him another asswhupping. Shitshitshit.

"So what's your ID?" Velocity asked, her eyes flickering over his face. He was so cute when he acted bashful.

"Uh... Telluris?" Rob half-asked, half-stated with a side order of half-wince.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tess kept her arm firmly on Val's, stepping into the split second of shocked silence smoothly, "And if you are in need of new electronics, I'll replace them myself. It was, after all, an accident predicated by an attack on us." Her accent took on a slightly defensive clip as she defended Rob.

She kept an eye on Tomoe's illusion, but wanted nothing more than to dash off to her home. These attacks, all the new oddness in her life - as nice as it was to have fellow Indigos around - was also tiring. All the commotion, the attacks, the new faces; Tess was glad she was on winter vacation as homework along with all this other nonesense would have been just quite too much.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax
"Is someone after you again?"

"Yes," he replied quietly, "but more than that I know what they did to me, and I know that they have been watching you and your freind Melissa." He looked around, "Come, we should walk." He reached out to grab Tomoe's arm but she managed to dance the illusion out of his reach.

"Easy, I ... I don't like to be touched," she added quickly to cover up the odd behavior. "What was it they did to you?" she bade the spectre to lean close, "Are you a mutant? Like Apex? Is that why you had metal insides and healed up?" He didn't look like an Indigo, he seemed older, too old to be one of them.

"No. You were right when you guessed that night. They put machines inside me, made me into some kind of cyborg." His fists clenched, knuckles going white, "They ruined my life. Had me declared dead."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally Posted By: Telluris

(...)
"So what's your ID?" Velocity asked, her eyes flickering over his face. He was so cute when he acted bashful.

"Uh... Telluris?" Rob half-asked, half-stated with a side order of half-wince.


„Telluris, eh? Kinda cute.“, Velocity answered smiling at him and melting away as he returned the smile innocently. Then slowly her brain connected the pieces of information and cut through her ´pink´ love-induced haze like a sharp knife.

„Waitaminute! Telluris?! That’s the exact same name... I think... of that jerk who busted my hardware! Oh man, if I get him I’m gonna squeeze his balls until his head turns red and then I’m gonna...“, she stopped herself as her thoughts turned into darker corners she preferred not to follow.

„He’ll regret it, that’s for sure. What an odd name, I never thought someone would pick that same Network-handle again, what a crazy coincedence, eh?“, she flashed him another smile and sighed. Being next to him made things appear less difficult and bad. Maybe he would help her find this other Telluris-guy?

Originally Posted By: Mordred

Tess kept her arm firmly on Val's, stepping into the split second of shocked silence smoothly, "And if you are in need of new electronics, I'll replace them myself. It was, after all, an accident predicated by an attack on us." Her accent took on a slightly defensive clip as she defended Rob.


„You would? That’d be totally awesome – who are you people? I mean... oh wait, wait, wait. I’m not going to get myself into another half-assed deal. No more shady backyard stuff for me, I’m done with this. You’re not going to force me to do bad things just to replace my broken stuff.“, Velocity couldn’t believe that someone would help her just because, without any condition or means of payback and thus take advantage of her. Her mind was definitely set on this... at least for the moment.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Are they watching right now?" Tomoe asked. "I'm with friends. I can't just go off alone. Maybe you could come with us though? But seriously why would anyone watch ME? Or Melissa for that matter? Is it because we helped you? We didn't even do anything!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally Posted By: Velocity

"Waitaminute! Telluris?! That’s the exact same name... I think... of that jerk who busted my hardware! Oh man, if I get him I’m gonna squeeze his balls until his head turns red and then I’m gonna...“, she stopped herself as her thoughts turned into darker corners she preferred not to follow.

"He’ll regret it, that’s for sure. What an odd name, I never thought someone would pick that same Network-handle again, what a crazy coincedence, eh?"


Rob's eyes stopped their constant scanning for potential threats and fixed on Velocity's face as he digested her words, his own handsome features slowly becoming a still-life in the theme of 'You have gotta be kidding' as he realised that the penny not only hadn't dropped - it had bounced back out of the 'clue' vending machine and hit him between the eyes. Concern (that this problem wouldn't go away) warred with relief (that it wasn't an issue right now) and the conflicting emotions of amusement (that the chick seemed to be dumber than a box of rocks) and guilt (that it was to his advantage). He opened his mouth, shut it again, then opened it once more to speak when he realised that the girl was getting the wrong idea about the help Tess was offering.

Originally Posted By: Velocity

"You would? That’d be totally awesome – who are you people? I mean... oh wait, wait, wait. I’m not going to get myself into another half-assed deal. No more shady backyard stuff for me, I’m done with this. You’re not going to force me to do bad things just to replace my broken stuff."


"No, no!" Rob said, something almost like relief in his voice at this distraction from the soon-to-be-nutsqueezed jerk Telluris. He waved his hands placatingly. "It's nothing like that, uh, Velocity. We help others like us. It was Tess's idea. We won't be asking you to do stuff in return: that's not how we roll. We're like the Indigo support network. Only thing we'll be asking is don't go telling everyone else about it, okay?"
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity slowed down, an unimaginable feat actually but she actually had to slow down to formulate her next question. She looked at Rob’s handsome face and almost forgot what she wanted to ask. „Ahm... you guys are Indigos? Wow... I never met any except for the Network.“, she blushed at him and all her angry thoughts evaporated into nothingness.

„So you guys would help me? Just like that? I mean I’m willing to earn my share – honestly this time. I guess I keep running into the wrong kind of people. My brother always told me it was a bad idea to drop out of school... I feel so dumb.“, she cursed herself the moment she revealed the part about her lack of education. Now Rob would certainly lose interest in her – who would date a dumb girl, unless she had huge tits and was blonde?

The redhead virtually deflated and slumped her shoulders forward feeling very stupid all of a sudden. She fell back to old habits, when she used to be an ugly duckling, fat and clumsy. Velocity had little experience in things concerning love and right now her heart was beating fast, as if she was running at full tilt and she felt light headed which made her steps uneasy.

„I’m hungry...“, she mumbled wrapping her arms around her belly her smile gone in something that must’ve been an extreme mood swing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax
"Are they watching right now?" Tomoe asked. "I'm with friends. I can't just go off alone. Maybe you could come with us though? But seriously why would anyone watch ME? Or Melissa for that matter? Is it because we helped you? We didn't even do anything!"

"I don't know why. I'm confident that you are being watched at this moment, but I cannot be certain, in the city like there, there are many ways to watch from afar," he pointed upwards towards the buildings that surrounded them, the mountains of steel and concrete that formed the landscape of the city. "They could even tap the traffic cameras. Big Brother has made it easier for us all to be watched." He walked along, "You and your freind may be in danger because you helped me. If so I am sorry, and I will try to help. If not, then surely we are allies with a common enemy, and I will try to help. Regardless your kindness will be repaid."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Though the visible Tomoe was fake, the look of consternation on its face was very real.

"Okay, first thing we should do is get out of sight," she decided. "Let me check with the others and make sure they're okay with you coming with us."

She walked with her double back to the others and looked around before saying, "He's telling me that I'm being watched by the same guys that wrecked his life by making him a cyborg. He says they can even watch though traffic cameras. I figure he must know more but we can't ask if we're being watched. Anyone know a safe place we can take him to wth us?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tess nearly stumbled as Valerie slowed down and disentangled herself as her mood dropped. The young American-raised-British gave Tomoe and Valerie encouraging smiles.

"I know several places, most of which have food. The Blue Note Jazz Club isn't far away and it's usually pretty noisy there on Tuesdays. We can use the back room and get something to eat while we're talking." She motioned across the park, "It's only a block or so away."

She nodded towards Tomoe, "Why don't the two of you meet us there in about ten minutes? I'll get us set up leave word that we'll be expecting you. Just ask for the Romano party."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tomoe glanced at the guy, not sure she wanted to be alone with the rogue cyborg. But then again, he seemed to be fooled by her substitution, so it was probably safe.

"Sounds good to me."

She laboriously marionetted 'herself' back to the lurking cyborg. The whole decoy copy thing was starting wear thin, hilarious as it had been at first.

"Okay, we have a plan, um...what do we call you?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity nodded tiredly at Tess while she held her belly. Tears were slowly welling up in her eyes but she didn’t cry, she only sobbed while she tried hard to swallow down the frustration. How did she get herself into this mess? Why was her live so fucked up? She held her head down, red hair falling in her face hiding the pain distorted face underneath and most importantly, her tears.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Hey." Rob looked a little chagrined as he realised how close Velocity was to tears. He gave Tess a helpless look past the redheads shoulder and hesitantly took her hand. "It's okay." he said soothingly as she looked his way. "Seriously. This is the part where things get better." I hope. "Lets get you some food, 'kay? Just walk with us, and you'll be fine."

So saying, he looped Velocity's hand through the crook of his arm and began to walk in the direction Tess had pointed, keeping the jittery Indigo between them as they headed down the sidewalk to the Blue Note. As they went he kept up light chatter, which Tess knew meant that he wasn't quite as reassured as he pretended.

"We only just had pizza back there, but I could go for something light. Pizza doesn't really count as a meal anyway unless it has pepperoni on it, right? I think that's a law, or if it isn't a law it should be. Y'know what'd be good right now? A giro. There's this place over in Brooklyn where they do awesome giros..." He chattered lightly about food all the way to the jazz club.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Lead the way then. You can call me Sam." Tomoe led Sam to the Blue Note where they met back up with Tess, Rob, and Valerie. Tess was able to get them a private room in the back without difficulty. Out in the main club a classic jazz trio was playing and interpretation of John Coltrane's "'Round Midnight". The quintet was seated comfortably and drinks and food were already being ordered by Tess. The drinks quickly came and some bread and salad soon followed as an appetizer to the various entree Tess had ordered. "Are you sure that we may speak freely here?" Sam asked, looking around the room and back out to the main part of the club & restaurant.

">
" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350">

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tess sat back and sighed, closing her eyes for a brief moment to feel out the room. "There's not electronics back here, except the cellphones we brought with us. The people that usually use this area, well, they enjoy their privacy as much as we would like to." She picked at the bread, thankful to be sitting for a while and for the excellent food she knew was coming. She also wondered how long it would take her father to inquire into her new associates and just why she needed the Blue Note room. Ah well, she knew how to deal with him.

"Sam...Tamoe says that you two have met before? May I ask how?" She pushed the bread and olive oil dip over to Valerie, motioning the high-strung young woman to eat.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity barely noticed how they entered the restaurant and Tess‘ comment about being private simply swept pass her. Instead she immediately went for the bread stuffing her mouth in a rather inpolite way to satisfy her initial craving for food. She didn’t care if the others wanted some bread, too and some of her movements were almost too fast to follow and unnaturally precise.

„Can I have some more?“, she asked through large green eyes to no one in particular. „And spaghetti, I want lots of spaghetti – Carbonara...“, the young woman blushed suddenly as she realized just how rude her behaviour was. She couldn’t bare looking at Rob who surely would ignore her after this raw display of uneducated and childish behaviour.

She hastily reached for her glass and poured herself some water which she downed in one gulp. It was hard to imagine how she would keep that lean and athletic body if she always indulged her hunger like this – Velocity’s metabolism was probably just as fast as her ability to run faster than the human eye could perceive.

After the first uneasyness has settled she looked up again, having killed the second breadbasket the waiter had brought. „Uhm... how did they get here?“, she pointed at Tomoe and Sam, obviously completely oblivious of how they joined them earlier.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Magic," Tomoe answered with a widening of her eyes and a flourish of her hands. "We're stage performers." She eyed Velocity's swiftly unburdened plate and added, "Maybe we can use you in the show."

Then, to Tess, she said, "Me and Melissa met him just before the blackout. He was stumbling through the crowd, hurt. I saw a couple of guys chasing him, so I tried to delay them a bit. Anyway, then the blackout hit and the guys ran off, and I went after him to help him, but he was pretty bad off."

"We didn't know where to take him, so we took him to Melissa's. He started coming to, and refused to go to a doctor, so I got a good look at the...like, the hole. The gunshot. And I saw he was bleeding this grey stuff, and there was metal under his skin. Not long after that he seemed to recover and wanted to go. So we let him." She shrugs.

"And that's that."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Except that he's definitely got lots of metal under his skin, and either there's a huge electromagnetic power source in his pocket or he's just pleased to see us." Rob said dryly as he passed the bread from his plate to Velocity, giving her a friendly 'Its okay' smile before turning his attention back to the conversation. His soft brown eyes were wary as he examined the strange man. "Which points to something pretty weird, and would explain why the Pulse messed him up."

"Why and how did you track us down, Sam?" he asked with a certain directness in his tone, waiting for the other man to reply.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sam sipped at his water and slowly picked at a dinner roll, dipping it tentatively in the plate of seasoned olive oil. "I didn't track you down. I tracked her down." He pointed at Tomoe. "I was worried that the people after me would try and get to me through her. Instead I found that she was already under surveillance. Though whether for her part in my escape that night or some other reason I cannot say." He looked at Rob askance, "How do you know about the implants they put in me?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I'm a metal detector." Rob said brightly as he sipped some water, eyes wide and innocent. "That's my special power, to detect metal." He ignored the nudge of a foot under the table: either Tess or Tomoe were trying to 'persuade' him not to be a smartass, but he considered himself overdue for some fun. "That's why the ladies keep me around, in fact. So they don't lose their carkeyyyyy-aaoww!" The nudge had become a sharp kick.

"Sorry about that." Tess said with calm aplomb as she smiled at Sam. "Rob is an out-of-work comedian."

"And likely to remain so." Tomoe finished sweetly. From the direction of the hunched-over Rob came a muttered "m'not!" in D Flat. He straightened up, wincing a little.

"Okay, okay. I'm an electromagnetism guy. That's my, uh, gift." He glanced sideways to see if Velocity was making any connections yet. Hopefully she was still in a state of extreme low blood-sugar - at least, that's what Rob attributed her somewhat clueless nature so far to.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity fortunately was improving and feeling better. The first craving for food was satisfied and while she still had some bread in her hand she stopped stuffing and started eating like normal people would. She smiled and giggled at the witty exchange between Rob and the girls and blushed everytime their eyes met.

Originally Posted By: Teluris

"Okay, okay. I'm an electromagnetism guy. That's my, uh, gift." He glanced sideways to see if Velocity was making any connections yet. Hopefully she was still in a state of extreme low blood-sugar - at least, that's what Rob attributed her somewhat clueless nature so far to.

A smile was still painted on her face when she suddenly stopped with a frown in her face. „Isn’t that the same thing that killed all electronics? You are that Teluris-guy from the Network?“, she asked not wanting to believe her own words. She wanted to stand up and... and smack him but instead she pointed with a finger at him wagging it angrily infront of his face.

He could see that she was struggling – part of her wanted to smack him real hard and hurt him but she liked him too much to do anything. The inner conflict caused a riot in her hormonal household and instead of venting her anger she started crying. Tears were running down her cheeks, at first silently without much physical reaction but then started sobbing covering her face with her hands and shying away from him. The EMP had caused a chain of events which led to her miserable situation. She was broke and needed money to replace her stuff – more money meant meaner jobs and she failed miserably at that... And now Jimmy wanted to see her dead.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Wait," Sam looked a little confused, or surprised. "Did you say 'gift'? You mean like some kind of super power or something? OK, pull the other one now. What's this network?" From his reaction the others could tell he hadn't been aware of either before just now, or he was a very good liar.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Rob barely had time to cautiously nod agreement with Tomoe's plan, never mind actually say he was in favor of trying it, before Velocity's finger was wagging in his face. Then he barely had time to decide how he'd like his superspeed nutpunching served before she dissolved into tears. Great. Just *great*. I'd rather take the pummeling. He considered for a second. But that's only by a narrow margin. He started to reach out towards Velocity when she shrank away from him. Ugh! This is so totally unfair. Anyone would think I killed her kitten or something. Guys? A little help here? He looked at Tess and then Tomoe, mutely pleading. Soft touch that he was, the redhead's muffled sobbing was pulling his heartstrings out through his ears.

He focused instead on Sam.

"Yeah. I have a super power." It came out a little bitterly, a little snarkily, but Rob had been hearing, reading and watching reports about the Pulse ever since the media had gotten up and running again. All the lives lost. All the damage done. And even though it wasn't strictly his fault, if it wasn't for him it couldn't have happened. And now a cute girl with puppy-eyes was crying because he was Telluris. "Like that's so hard to believe from a guy with a goddamn battery for a heart? Sheesh."

With a quick look to see if anyone was watching Rob reached out to a vacant, but set table nearby. The cutlery leapt from the cloth-covered surface silently and came to dance in the air just above their table's surface, glinting as they caught the dim light. Rob smiled tightly at the looks on the others faces and adjusted his cuffs.

"You will take care to notice, ladies and gentleman, that I have nothing up my sleeves." He gestured in the air, a curious corkscrewing motion of his fingers, and the knives, forks and spoons came together with a metallic, ringing slither, warping and melding around one another into a single shiny cylinder which compacted thinner and longer under the stare of Rob's not-so-soft anymore eyes. He let his hand rest on the table and concentrated a little more, breaking the cylinder into three equal lengths and sending them to hover, one each, before Tess, Tomoe and Valerie. He smiled wider.

"And for the finale." Another tiny burst of concentration, but only the faint tightening around Rob's eyes betrayed that fact as the shining stems of fused metal began to sprout leaves, thorns and, at the tops, petals. The transformation was fast and smooth, and a matter of moments passed before each girl had a single, silvery rose lazily turning in the air before them. Rob glanced around once more to ensure privacy before he looked across at Sam and winked.

"Not a mirror or assistant in sight."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Gee," Tomoe said dryly. "I sure hope we got away from whoever was watching us. It would really be a shame if they got the wrong idea."

She reached out and yanked the flower in front of her down onto the table with a little clonking noise.

"And even more of one if they got the right one."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"So what?" Rob demanded quietly, his good mood shifting to something darker. "So the hell what if the people who are watching us because we have powers actually see me use mine? They already know me. They've tried to kidnap me before." The silverware on their table vibrated a little, chiming in tune with Rob's voice as the long-banked fires of anger and resentment started to come through in his tone. "It was their funky doodad that caused the Pulse: I was just the drum of hi-octane laying around while they played with fireworks. And if they're watching us now, then I hope they did see that." His voice didn't raise, but the furious hiss was somehow worse than any shout. Rob didn't get angry. It was as though a fundamental law of the universe was being broken. Rage simmered in his dark eyes, something cold and old moved in his expression.

"And I hope while they watch they're thinking about their fillings, their electronics, about those vehicles and guns and toys they like to play secret agent with, and about the girders in every damn building around here. I hope they stop and consider what I might do to remain free, to be left alone and out of their stupid games! How far would they go? A little fucking empathy on their part might save some lives."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity caught up on what Rob was revealing and stopped crying although she was still wracked by the occasional sob. „So you didn’t do it on purpose? Someone... forced you to destroy all electronics? Can anyone fill me in on what was going on? Until now I thought it was some kind of freak accident or some... idiot named Telluris...“, she looked at Rob but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn’t be angry at him. She gave him an apologizing smile and nodded slowly.

„Still friends?“, she asked carefully, hoping her emotional breakdown wasn’t giving reason to break with her and leave her alone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tess rubbed her temples and tried to think. "Just a moment," she said to Vel. "Sam, you said these people put implants in you? Before that, could you tell me about your life? What you did for a living, your family, how old you are, any particular skills or talents you have, that sort of thing?"

As she spoke, she took the rose Rob had created for her and carefully tucked it away in her purse and motioned a waiter to their back area to request more silverware.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"I was a helicopter pilot for the army. There was an accident, my chopper went down. Next thing I knew I was bleeding in an alley in the dark. Tomoe and some other girl were there." Sam sipped at some water. "I didn't have much else besides that. Only child, and my folks passed away already."

He looked about to say more when the waitstaff returned with food and began to lay out dishes of pasta, meatballs, chicken piccata, and others onto the table. The smells quickly distracted even the most focused at the table. Only Sam seemed immune. He took a small amount and tried everything but seemed uninterested in the food. "I don't eat much anymore. Since they did whatever they did, I mean," he replied when asked about it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"Still friends." Rob said with a smile for Velocity as the waiters left. She was emotional, vulnerable, and cute, and Rob found it hard to remain bitter with wide green eyes peeping at him. "You've got a right to be upset. I know I was." He leaned forward a little, pitching his voice low so that Sam and Velocity could hear.

"The Pulse was my power, kicked out of control by something the Goons In Black were doing. Probably a machine, since as soon as the EMP hit the effect switched off and I had control back again." He nibbled at some garlic bread, then continued. "It scrambled avionics and communications tech, shut down anything more complicated than a hinge, and generally screwed New York up but good." There was a slight tension to Rob's voice, but he seemed calmer to Tomoe and Tess than he had been during the first few days. "I'm guessing that the Pulse scrambled you too, Sam. Seeing as you woke up in an alley after a chopper crash, and you're mostly machine from the feel of you, I'm guessing that the Pulse reset whatever gadget was controlling you between those two points in time. How long ago was the chopper accident?"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"You don't even remember running," Tomoe muses. She glances at Rob, but doesn't say what's on her mind. An EMP shouldn't short out a human brain. Was it possible Sam was a robot?

But then what about the Army helicopter pilot stuff? Why bother making a robot think it was real? Hell, was it even possible? This wasn't Blade Runner here.

She mulled these things over as she chewed her pasta and watched Sam to see what the answer to Rob's question was.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Velocity smiled at Rob super relieved that he was still on good terms with her. She didn’t want to make him feel bad and she sensed that the others were all probably in a similar situation like her. Unlike her they had a plan and some understanding of what was happening and she realized she’d better stay with them if she wanted to learn how to get out of that devil’s circle she was slowly drowning in.

She listened carefully for what the others said as she silently continued munching away her pasta. At least her hunger was gone now and with the feeling of being sated her anxiety and mood swings got under control.

„It’s ok Rob.“, she answered to his confession reaching out with one hand and placing it on his. She really liked him.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Tess ate quietly, observing her friends and their guests as they spoke. Sam was an interesting conundrum and possibly a dangerous wild card in their midst; Valerie was more confusing in mood swings, but she was an Indigo and that gave her far more leeway in Tess' mind. Sam was a helicopter pilot for the Army, making it still possible for him to be young enough, but unlikely. Rob said that he could feel metal throughout Sam, and Tomoe said that she'd seen circuitry before when he was wounded. In that case....

She took another bite of her mushroom-and-onion smothered steak and then reached out cautiously with her gift, feeling for the networks and connections that made up complex machines and computers. If he was cybernetic, she should be able to interact with that aspect of him much as she did with House.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.


×
×
  • Create New...