Aberrant: Dead Rising - Check Ups and Reviews [Fic] (Complete)

[Courier]

This occurs between 11g: Schrodinger's Zed/Chapter 11f: House Call [Mature] and 12c/12d

James walked towards Myf’s clinic with a spring in his step and with some trepidation. Other than finding Adam, Hawaii had been a disappointment. Vegas had been better and much worse. They’d killed the super zombie. They'd also mostly failed to rescue the normals. Pretty much all the adults had been infected, he’d ducked the duty on watching them die. And… the link he shared with Violet had given him and embarrassing amount of feedback during clean up.

He'd gone home after that, and then V's link had flared out of control. He'd been mindless with lust, like Violet had rolled his mind again. He’d spend the night having sex with his ladies, thankfully whatever had happened extended to them and it’d been consensual.

This morning he’d gone to Violet’s to confront her, and found her gone. She apparently had left with another super yesterday. Which meant she probably hadn’t been responsible for his situation, which in turn meant his problems had a different source.

Either his powers were changing, or the compound had a new super. One obvious choice and if true he wasn't sure if he was delighted or terrified.

[SalmonMax]

Most of the people in the clinic were from Vegas, with only the infectees being limited to quarantine area. Myfwany had worked hard to clear the others as quickly as possible. When James came in she was taking inventory of supplies in between checking on the few bedridden patients.

"Hello, James," she said courteously as she counted boxes in a cabinet and made a note on her clipboard. It was only after she was finished that she turned her head to look at him. "What can I do for you?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly as she focused intently on him. "Something about Violet?"

[Courier]

James shook his head ruefully and said, "Good guess, but probably not. Ah... I know your powers let you see other people's powers right? Life force, that sort of thing?"

James didn't way for Myfwany's reply before barging into his real question, "So, ah, how long do you think before you can check if they're a super?"

James had a thought and added seriously, "Oh, and as long as I'm here, sex too. Will your powers tell you about sex?"

[SalmonMax]

"You mean about an unborn baby's powers and sex," Myf clarified with a benign smirk. "I hope."

She put her clipboard down and gestured towards her office over in the corner. Once they were inside and the door closed, she said, "Sex is easy enough, I think. Powers...that I have no way to know. I've never had a chance to examine the unborn fetus of parents with super abilities."

"If I had to make an educated guess though, I'd say probably no sooner than before the central nervous systems is relatively well formed. At least ten weeks, and probably more like twelve."

"And even then, I'm fairly sure that I won't have any idea what specific powers the baby has. All I'll be able to see is if it has the 'energy' that's associated with powers."

[Courier]

James nodded and there was a pause while James did some mental calculations. Thinking out loud he said, "And you doc's start counting two weeks before conception. So... two weeks, maybe four."

More seriously he added, "But if the kid is already actively using powers, you'd be able to tell that, right? So I'm guessing you'd tell me if you'd seen anything so far?"

[SalmonMax]

Now Myfwany lifted an eyebrow.

"James, have a seat. Are you really worried about an unborn baby using powers? One only eight weeks old? The nervous system is still developing at that stage, still forming links. There's no real brain yet...nothing to control or manifest the power into anything concrete."

She waited for a moment, then gently prodded, "Who's the mother?"

[Courier]

James replied a little disbelievingly, "Wait a moment. You don't know? How can you not know Nashwa is pregnant? Haven't you been seeing her? Didn't you prescribed pregnancy vitamins?"

James was starting to be irate. Medical care for this sort of thing was seriously important.

[SalmonMax]

"I've seen Nashwa exactly once, shortly after she and Pat came to the Refuge," Myfwany replied. "No one said anything about her being pregnant, and since I haven't yet developed the power to read minds I do still need people to expend at least a minimal amount of effort to communicate before I can tell what their situation is."

"Now calm down, James. Something's obviously bothering you, but I can't help if you don't talk to me. What's going on thats got you so wound up?"

[Courier]

James waved a hand in frustration. He was annoyed but not with Myf, and largely this was him trying to control people and he should know better.

With forced good humor he said, "I thought you heard about this 6 weeks ago. Given you're the best medical type here, or maybe even anywhere, I thought we agreed she'd see you. This is important and... never mind. If that's not your illegible signature I've been seeing it's certainly someone's and I'll talk to Nashwa."

James reviewed what he'd been assuming Myf knew and said, "OK, first things first. 6 weeks ago V used her fertility power on Nashwa. Bang. Nashwa's pregnant, I'm the father. Someone had her send me after some pregnancy vitamins but that's a different issue."

James watched Myf's reaction then continued, "V got into my head during our relationship. Sometimes I can just feel what she's up to. Sometimes that's annoying, sometimes it's fun, sometimes it's embarrassing. But right after the fight in Vegas I felt seriously strong feedback and that's got a kind of range I don't associate with Violet. Then last night with me here and much closer, the effect was much stronger. Even not in the room she rolled me and everyone I touched."

James added, "Problem is, she's gone. She wasn't on base last night. So if she didn't do it, who did? It started with Nashwa and me, and I was wondering if the kid has a piece of V's power."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany listens to James' explanation, filing several interesting points away for later. When he's done she pauses to think for a moment before responding.

"Well, given the fairly recent pregnancy, I think it's more likely your 'link' with Violet experienced a momentary spike in power than it is that the unborn baby is somehow influencing you from inside the womb. However there should be an easy way to tell. Bring Nashwa in. I'd like to have a look at her anyway."

Her tone changed abruptly, got softer...more careful. "James, what can you tell me about the 'ritual' Violet did? Was it the same as the one that 'accidentally' impregnated her?"

[Courier]

For a moment James' mask slipped and he went absolutely still. He thought, Well, well, well. That's seriously out of character for you. Six weeks ago you showed a deep aversion to even the concept of magic.

After the moment passed James replied easily, "Yes and no. They decided the first time was a screw up and they skipped a lot with the second. No Rabbit and not out doors. I didn't see it myself, put V and Me in the same room and we start taking each others' clothes off. V and Nashwa went off together and I had sex with her later."

James added, "But seriously, why do you care?"

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany tapped her bottom lip, thinking.

"The reversion to ritualism concerns me. Humanity has a pretty dark past where superstition trumped reason. I'd hate to see how that plays out when backed up by superhuman powers. Violet is especially worrisome. She's very...impressionable, but her powers give her a means to gain 'followers' quickly if she ever chose to use them that way."

She shook her head. "But that's neither here nor there right now. Sorry about that. All right, so I need to take a look at Nashwa. And I'd like to take a look at you too, James...see if I can 'see' this link of yours, and determine if it's having any effects on you. If so, and you want me to, I may be able to break it."

[Courier]

James replied to Myf almost absently, "Well, I'm here now, so 'see' away. I think firing up psychic surgery or whatever is premature just yet."

Shoot I feel stupid. Super-duper enhanced senses telling me everything, and even with the whole picture right there, it never occurred to me to connect the dots. I even heard the rumor and STILL didn't connect the dots. As long as Myf wasn't interested in Violet then there couldn't be anything to it?

James thought a moment and remarked, "You're not even questioning it. I want children. I have four healthy women. Rumor says I'm with all of them every day. Here I come in and say it was magic, and you, you don't suggest it could have happened all natural like."

[SalmonMax]

"Do I need to say it?" Myfwany asks, curiously. "Of course it could be natural. In fact, that's the assumption I'm going to make until facts contradict it."

She smiles faintly and lifts a quizzical eyebrow. "What assumptions are you making?"

There's no hint she's using her power to see his 'aura' or 'energy' or whatever it is she does. No glow, or change in color, or visible sign that the world of light and dark has given way to a plane of dazzling, dizzying colors that describe things no human eye will ever know. Hidden mysteries, just starting to be explored.

(OOC - Using Quantum Attunement on Jimmy boy!)

[Courier]

James stood quietly letting Myf work undisturbed. His energies lacked the intensity that Myfwany had come to associate with the more reality distorting powers, by that standard James was weak.

But only by that standard; thickly active energy streams crisscrossed James. Three streams were huge. The second biggest was something Myfwany associated with enhanced strength. The largest had branches knotting inside his heart and lungs before returning to his pool. Like the snake which consumed its own tail, the active streams began and ended in James energy pool. The pool itself was full, quiet, calm, and showed no evidence of growing or shrinking. James at ‘rest’ could juggle cars and bounce bullets.

Myfwany looked closer at some of the ‘minor’ and ‘unactive’ lines. A thick ribbon knotted in James’ nose before doubling back and linking into to the pool. He had an enhanced sense(s?) which was active all the time. His main line had hundreds of trivial lines extending into every part of his body, none of them looped. Self healing?

Myfwany ordered, “James, activate your blade.”

James obediently summoned his blackly burning blade, and Myfwany saw its energy line also looped back in James’ pool. As she expected from watching the path, the pool itself remained still and calm.

After getting used to watching James’ pattern at work, two anomalies stood out. Where the blob had attacked him a few strands were dead or corrupt zombie black. Myfwany judged they were neither growing nor shrinking. They were alone, didn’t tie into any of the larger lines, and were the only sign of corruption.

The other anomaly was a trace of Violet’s energy signature on his genitals.

[SalmonMax]

After looking intently at James for a moment, Myfwany got up and walked around him. "Turn to the left," she instructed. As he did, she watched and nodded.

"Interesting."

"All right. I think I see what you mean by a 'link.' There's a kind of...stream of power leaving your head and stretching off in this direction." She waved her hand in midair. "It attenuates though, so I can't see more than a few feet of it. Still, given what you've said, it's probably 'connected' to Violet at the other side. There's a...for want of a better word, a 'pattern' that looks a lot like what I've observed on Violet before too."

She frowned slightly. "As well as those dark marks, the 'bruises' from the monster at Paradise. All these these 'imprints' on the aura your power makes seem longer-lasting than I'd thought they'd be."

With a shrug Myf gets down to the prognosis. "I don't see any evidence of an unknown power interfering with you. Violet maybe. That's it though."

[Courier]

James nodded. It being V's issue was something he could believe.

Since Myf was apparently done, James said evenly, "You know, other than the Paradise women, there's a lot of sex going on. People are bored, and stressed, and we're on a war footing. Birth control is fairly hard to come by too. I'm supplying the red tent to help with that."

James lightened his tone, "Enhanced senses are pretty nifty don't you think? I've always envied yours. I totally missed what was going on at Norman. I smell real good, that's less exotic. We're lucky dogs can't talk. What someone had for breakfast, whether they're afraid or attracted, who they had sex with last night, it's just obvious."

James continued more seriously, "Judging menstrual cycles is harder. Blood is obvious, but although I can smell changes I didn't know what they meant. Fortunately there are books on this stuff. The thing is, I keep thinking I've got it down, but none of the gals catch. Odd, but there's some chance to this."

James waited a heartbeat then said, "Or maybe there isn't. From V, I know what a freshly pregnant woman smells like, and there don't seem to be many around. Kristin. Violet. And now Nashwa. I'd been assuming it was abortion and birth control, but that's not it, is it?"

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany shakes her head. "No it's not. And I hope you understand why no one's been making any public statements about it. Among everything else I'm trying to do, investigating the cause and possible cure for it is something I'm making a high priority. The more answers I can give when it goes public, the more in control people will feel, and the more manageable the consequences."

[Courier]

James looked like Myf had just told him he had terminal cancer. He swallowed hard and thought, Shoot. That I-know-everything bluff worked way better than I'd thought. The rumors are TRUE????

James said weakly, "How far... no. It's like the grain. Other than Nashwa..." James continued the obvious thought, "...all non-super women are sterile."

Crap. And I let V walk away.

Crap. When this gets out people are going to gun for Nashwa. They'll assume she's a weak super and want to... follow Kristin and Horn's example.

And...

And if I want any other children then I'd better make sure V is ok and around.

James looked at Myf and decided she might need the warning, "Doc... when this gets out, all super women will need bodyguards." Including you.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany smiled humorlessly. "I've already worked out the ramifications, believe me. And I'm not completely sure how widespread it is yet. It may be that a super-man..." she nodded at James "...can impregnate a normal woman. Paradise was a wakeup call though, and more recently our battle in Vegas. Whatever forces are conspiring against the human race aren't sitting around idly. It's high time the rest of us followed suit."

She paused, realizing she'd said more than she intended to.

"Keep this under your hat. It'll explode eventually, but we need all the time we can get before that happens. Hopefully I'll have something concrete by then, to cushion the blow."

[Courier]

James frowned and Myf could see the gears turning in his head. James held his right hand as if he were holding his blade.

If someone puts a hand on Nashwa, or any of mine, I'll put them in a box. Which would get the whole family exiled.

No, wait, I'll have Fox exile them first. Then I'll go after them.

James smiled grimly and said, "So you see it. The pattern continues. You should add Norman to that list, the effect was still there last I checked. Any idea what we're dealing with?"

James paused and asked, "And... the curse on the grain, if you make it grow, is that it? Does the next generation grow normally?" Will my children be able to have children?

[SalmonMax]

"We'll have to see," Myf replied. "And before you ask, I don't think I can help with people the way I did with the crops. My power to influence plants and animals doesn't extend to human beings."

"As for why it's happening...I'm not sure. It doesn't seem to be the result of a super power, though it might be indirectly caused by that. Unraveling that mystery is definitely topping my list though, along with working out what zombieism really is and stopping it."

[Courier]

Looking at horrors in the future, James remarked grimly "Norman was the world but focused on a city."

Realizing what he was doing he said more matter of factly, "Sorry Doc. I'm projecting. This is... grim. And I agree, there's an intelligence in there somewhere. Pat and Nashwa aren't supers. Either they did something accidently, or something let them take credit for it's work to confuse us. Like sabotaging the Manhattan project."

James smiled without humor and added, "Watch your back Doc. And thanks for talking to me." And good gods I need to watch V's back. And the girls. This raises the stakes a lot... but fundamentally it doesn't change anything.

Dummy. Yeah it does. You care a lot less about V carrying Dan's kids now don't you?

[SalmonMax]

Myf gave James a somewhat mystified look. "Sabotaging the Manhattan project? Credit for its work? James...I know a parahuman woman can be impregnated by a normal man. It's just as possible that a parahuman man can impregnate a normal female. To be frank, you represent the only 'mixed couple' I know of in that regard. Paradise, as far as I know, didn't have any parahumans except victims."

She shrugged. "You're welcome."

[Courier]

James said, "Sorry, thanks Doc."

James thought, If someone a lot smarter than you don't understand you then the problem is probably on your side. Which raises the question, 'what else am I missing?'

That there's still hope the girls and I are fertile without V. And while I'm hoping, maybe Santa Claus will fly in and save us.

And...

James said carefully, "Ah... Doc? I get the feeling you're getting ready to leave? Are we going on another mission?"

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany sighed. She hadn't wanted to get into this before talking to Fox, but she was a lousy liar. So she told the truth.

"No, this is personal. Just me. And the details will have to wait until I've talked to Morgan. There's still some things that are up in the air until then. But I won't leave the Refuge without some kind of medical aid, don't worry."

[Courier]

James went still again, then carefully asked, "Ah, any idea how long you'll be gone?"

[SalmonMax]

"No," she replied. "But if everything works the way I want it to, I'll still be semi-available. I just won't be here all the time like now."

She regarded James with resigned curiosity. "And I don't know exactly when I'll be leaving either, so please keep it to yourself for now. Was there something you wanted me for that you've been putting off?"

[Courier]

James half shrugged and replied, "Not putting off, planning ahead. Child birth is rough, dying is a possibility. Having you around makes the possible impossible."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany nods. "I won't be abandoning the Refuge, James. With Fox on hand, I can be back here at a moment's notice from just about anywhere, if need be."

"Is there anything else then? I hate to sound rushed, but I'm parceling out my days in five minute increments right now." She smiles. "I'm due to check in at the quarantine zone soon."

[Courier]

James nodded and said, "Thanks again Doc. I'll go now."

Letting you reshape my world once today is more than enough.

I'll kill people over V and the girls before this is over. Other people are going to see Nashwa and wonder if she's a weak super. V just became the golden apple saying 'for the strongest'.

James walked away and struggled wrap his head around the new reality.