Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - [CoQF] Building Plans [2.1]

[Courier]

Warren sat down and half smiled tiredly at Epiphany. He said, "That's a problem, both now and in the future, this will happen again. Any chance you can put me on a separate loop?"

[LydaLynn]

"I can put you on one just with me, but you wouldn't have contact with anyone else. And it has an even more limited range. I just can't make the distances you can." Epiphany wasn't apologetic. She could do what she could do. She had never seen a reason to cry over something she couldn't do.

[Courier]

Warren thought a moment then said, "I think we gotta. I mean... your net is like, like, the family's most important asset. It just can't be down three and four times a day because I'm out and about. That'd be a real downer. We need to stand together against the world and all that." Warren sounded more tired and spacey than normal but Pip could tell he was serious.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany nodded and spun out a link to just Warren. Once it was established, "Now get some rest. You look beat. I'll bring you something to eat in a bit. We'll work on the moon base when you're back up to snuff."

[SalmonMax]

Alex nodded, unwillingly mollified by Warren's earnest words.

"It's a numbers game," she admitted. "The odds of any given solar system being just right for our kind of life are really bad. We can shave them a bit, by narrowing the search parameters. Looking at stars of the same age and spectral type as the Sun helps, but even then it's a crapshoot."

She tapped her chin. "A planet with liquid water and no life...could be radiation from the gas giant, or the presence of chemicals dissolved in the water. Or maybe it's just waiting for some vital piece of the puzzle...organic molecules that came to Earth on comets but were never delivered to this planet. Who knows? As valuable as a water world will be eventually, right now I'm more interested in those mineral moons. I'm going to rig up some sensors and a recording device for you...including sealed sample jars. Lets find out what we've got."

[Courier]

Warren sent back to Pip, Testing... Good, and thank you. I've got one Warp left and some change. That's cutting it too close. How's the other group doing?

Warren moved to a wall, sat down, and ordered his Eufiber to cover his ears and eyes. While Alex got set up he'd meditate and focus on recharging.

Before shutting down entirely he remarked, "The thing about a crap shoot is you win some of the time. We need a sub to stay in the game, but we need a safe house too."

[LydaLynn]

"They're keeping communications on a closed loop. I'm hoping they'll send if they need something. For now I'm trying not to intrude. The distraction of an unexpected communication might be more dangerous than welcome." Epiphany sighed. She had hoped the others would relay information as they were out. But she accepted that this was their first time really out and doing.

[Courier]

Hmm. When they get back let's talk to them about keeping communication up. With that last thought Warren let himself zone out as he started to meditate.

[Karren Gaunt]

And then the shit hit the fan as Cora's voice echoed over the mental link, rich in anger and joy and peripheral nightmare input from her senses of combat in a fog-shrouded village, a man and a woman dropping at the twin strikes of her barbed flesh-whip... a thunderous blow from Maia sending someone and then parts of someone through a wall... Another literally melting to unseen forces...

‘No More Motherhunters. No more Project Protesus killing us in our wombs or in our homes for the sin of existing.’

[SalmonMax]

Alex looked up from where she was spot-welding something.

"Okay, that was a little disturbing."

Cora, what are you talking about?

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany sat up sharply at Cora's words along the link. More than anything, the tone of her statement made Pip sure that the other group was fighting. Bitting off an explicative, Epiphany lets power hum through the network, not knowing what the others might need, but wanting to err on the side of caution.

Click to reveal..

Spending 3 Quantum to activate Ability Network:

This particular technique allows any in the link to share abilities with anyone else, in essence, allowing the abilities of anyone in the the network to become the abilities of the network as a whole. This is a maintenance effect, that costs the Nova with this power 3 quantum to activate, and it only allows ability use, but the number of dots may never exceed the number of dots in this power. In essence, if one person has 4 dots of academics, and the Mistress of the Psychic Network only has 3 dots in Psychic Network, only three dots can be shared

Epiphany has 5 dots of Psychic Network

[Quantum Fire]

Originally Posted By: Darrik

Darrik smiled dazzlingly at the trio, but there was clear pain in his visage. He had enough of the short time to observe the starting slaughter, for that was what it was. The others were driven by revenge and pure anger. Not a great issue at the moment fighting-wise... but this unchecked, could set a bad and brutal example for the future.

We're fighting a war with more than quantum blasts and fists..

Then he settled for the others, waiting for him. "That which you're hearing on the other side are your hunters being... dealt with. We're taking you to a safe spot, for the time being. There's plenty of food in the kitchens..."

The shadow of the mountainside roiled over them all and swallowed up the four. Darrik smoothly held the course, and they were back on the island, in the cavern's kitchen. "Like I said, have something to eat, if you need it. But just stick here for the moment, please."

At once he stepped out and threw out two mental messages. One broadcast to the working crew of siblings.

*Guys, please focus on the submarine. Seriously, we don't have time for space searching.*

Separately and privately: *Uncle Shen? Can we talk?*

As he had shifted back home, Darrik tried to find Shen.. but his mind was unavailable to the link, and as he tried, he thought, and found it confirmed that Uncle Shen was out.. that left Serenity, who when he checked, was down with the others in Alex's domain.. and the one's how had stayed here, as being available to talk to.. Serenity at least, would be willing to listen, and might have a measure of good advice.. As would Alex most likely, at least with Darrik, she wasn't jumping on ideas that left others in the dust, his intellect could keep up... and Epiphany was a smart girl, and a great listener.

Click to reveal..

OOC: Shifting Darrik to the less combat active thread for his reply, also, sense he's back at the base, it is better this way.

[Courier]

Warren let his mind drift. The echoing air caused by the wind or people moving. The sound of his fellow's hair growing and the louder sound of his own. Darrik's shifting in and out of the island. Warren let all sensory stimulation drift over him like wind driven ripples in sand.

[Karren Gaunt]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Alex looked up from where she was spot-welding something.

"Okay, that was a little disturbing."

Cora, what are you talking about?

'Sorry, Alex. Talk later. Ask Darrik after he shuttles us back,' came the reply into Alex's thoughts after a few heartbeats, ghost sensations of senses blurred to the edge of even metahuman acuteness and that same fierce joy flavoring the reply before the crack, crack, crack of a whip-like limb signaled the end of the message as clearly as a hang up tone.

[Toby Lupin]

*They're enjoying it too much, I'm afraid.*

Darrik's disgusted thoughts flickered over to the group of stay at home novas.

*In any case, I'll have to explain later. Time to fish out these fighters and get them back home. Just get started on the sub, dammit.*

[Quantum Fire]

The children were in the kitchen for a little while, grabbing some food to eat, before they began to be filled with the urge to wander, and hand in hand, the boy and girl walked though the underground corridors, curious and a bit scared... their baseline guardian following nervously, as they made the where Alex and the others were working..

[Toby Lupin]

*Alright, we're back. Before going into too much detail, we met with Rosseau, and have made an agreement to help her rescue other second gens. Of course, turns out we had to make a quick run for her, two kids and their baseline guardian being followed by a Proteus team... everyone's here, but if the three still aren't in the kitchen, well, just letting you guys know.*

Darrik sent this to everyone outside of the rescue party, including Aunt Serenity.

[SalmonMax]

Alex blew air out her nose in an annoyed grunt, but she had to admit that the island lacked a secure waiting room. It hadn't needed one before, and the others kept acting before she had time to build what was needed to contain the consequences of their actions.

Okay, we need to talk about how this is going to work, and about reasonable expectations. We cannot be bringing people here willy-nilly. There HAS to be screening and security, or else we'll be flooded with Elites, Team Tomorrow, the Teragen...or all of them at once...by next week. The submarine will take, at the LEAST, months to build and get right. I didn't expect you guys to run out and start collecting super-orphans TODAY.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a cough over from the entrance to the lab area. She looked over to see two children and a very nervous looking adult. She scowled.

Your moppets are in my lab. Someone come clean up this mess please?

She stood up and made 'shooing' gestures. "Sorry guys, this area's off limits for now. You should probably head back to the...wherever they put you when you first got here. Oh wait."

On sudden impulse she got up and jogged over towards the two kids and their caretaker, absentmindedly whisking a trio of plastic badges out of thin air and handing them over. "Wear these. They're RFID tags. They'll let the security system keep tabs on you which is good because otherwise it'll tag you as potentially hostile and...that's bad. So just wear them until I get something more permanent worked out. I'm...call me Genesis." She nearly stumbled over her 'real' name and quickly subbed in a code alternative. Just in case. Telepaths could tap into their senses without them even knowing it. They could have nanoscale cameras with burst transmitters. There were a dozen, a THOUSAND, reasons why they shouldn't be wandering around unsupervised, but Alex didn't want to chaperon them because every minute she did was a minute that important things weren't getting done.

"Uh. What are your names?" she said, deciding to stall them until someone came to escort them.

[Butch_Cole]

Over the network Butch said to his brilliant sister: On my way Alex. I'll get them out of your hair in a minute.

[Courier]

Even deep as he was inside his mind, Warren sensed something was odd. There'd been too many flicker teleports back... more people had come back than had left.

And there were people he didn't recognize here... in the sanctuary. Something had happened.

Warren opened his eyes and sent Pip? Please add me back into the family network.

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

"Uh. What are your names?" she said, deciding to stall them until someone came to escort them.

Two kids and one adult, the kids... were likely second gen. The other team had a more productive day than Warren. Well... good for them.

Warren rose to his feet and said warmly, if a little tiredly, "Yes. Welcome. I'm Warren, this is Alex."

[Quantum Fire]

As Alex scowed at them, the young girl, not more then nine years of age, winced and put up her hands in a warding gesture. The boy scowed and stood between them even as Alex approached them and offered him and the escort behind them the RF tags.

"Your hurting Zia.. " The boy spoke up, his tone bold and almost challenging, and when Alex looked at him in question, he met her gaze directly. "Anger hurts Zia, when people are upset around her.. it makes her head hurt.."

At which point, the girl, Zia apparently who was increadibly cute, more so then a normal child would be, spoke up, shyly and slowly. "Eric, it's ok.. it only hurts a little, she's not really mad.. " The young girl, an empath apparently, reached out to touch Alex's hand, and she felt something outside herself touch her emotions and attempt to sooth them...

[SalmonMax]

Alexandra jerked her hand back, severing the contact, though she tried to control her natural emotional revulsion to being manipulated.

They're just kids, after all...

"Okay...whoops, whoa, slow down. House rules. First is we don't use powers on each other unless we ask first. Alright? I'm sorry if I'm giving you a headache. Truth is, I give most folks around here a headache, which is fine because they give me one too. And I think it's great that we rescued you and brought you here, I really do. There's just some security stuff you guys have to do before we can let you wander around. We have to make sure no one's using you to figure out where we are. That can happen even if you don't know it's happening, or even if you don't want it to happen. So...Zia, and Eric, welcome to our place. Lets get you two somewhere we can do a few tests and make sure everything's safe alright?"

[Butch_Cole]

Butch walked in to Alex's lab. She was in the middle of saying:

"...We have to make sure no one's using you to figure out where we are. That can happen even if you don't know it's happening, or even if you don't want it to happen. So...Zia, and Eric, welcome to our place. Lets get you two somewhere we can do a few tests and make sure everything's safe alright?"

The kids were cute, a boy and a girl. Butch never really had any friends his own age when he was that young. He was already a teenager when he came and joined Traveler's little refuge for the 2nd generation. When he was on the streets though, Butch recalled some of the corner kids taking care of younger siblings and half-siblings and foster siblings for parents who were absent for one reason or another. Mostly he watched them from a distance, wondering what it would be like to have siblings, people to look out for and that would look out for you. Thankfully he had that here on the island with the others, but he had never had any exposure to any pre-teen novas though.

How much different could they be from regular kids? Butch took a moment and thought about it. "These kids are probably scared as hell," he thought. "They're orphans and they've been on the run and seen God knows what."

He came into the lab and squatted down to be at eye level with the kids, smiling warmly. Butch stuck out his hand to each of them and said, "So, you've met my smarty-pants sister here it seems. Hi Eric! Hi Zia! My name is Butch." He jerked his thumb behind him towards where Oz was. "That guy back there is Oz. Oz is a doctor. Isn't that cool? A young guy like Oz and he's a doctor? Oz is the coolest doctor you'll probably ever meet. He wants to make sure that you're not hurt or sick or anything. Is that ok with you?"

He looked up at Alex and shot her a mental note: Hope you haven't damaged them too badly, sis. You want to run your tests here and then Oz and I will get them out of your hair? Let you get back to building that sub in peace?

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany was fighting another flashback. The bleed of images and emotions from the others triggering memories buried deep with trauma. There was enough different between the thoughts of the others and her memories that Pip was able to ride the edge of the flashback, keeping the link open. But she wasn't able to do much more for a few minutes.

Having missed most of what had just transpired, Epiphany squelched the last of the terrors and came back to herself, sweating and chilled. She had been able to keep the walls up between herself and everyone else, but it had taken a great effort. She knew there had been conversation over the network, and some of it had been directed her way, but she couldn't say what it had been.

The two strange children and the adult accompanying them drew her attention as Epiphany again focused on the world outside herself. There was a static in the network around Alex that had the flavor of the girl. Pip knew the child must have done something to Alex's mind for that kind of a tang to linger in the net.

Pip wasn't sure what had happened, but she knew that wasn't something she could allow. With a another expenditure of power, Epiphany strengthened the network, shielding the minds of those she was connected to from psychic intrusion.

[Courier]

Warren tried again, this time sending with concern, Pip? Are you ok? Can you add me back in?

[LydaLynn]

Blinking, Epiphany looks over at Warren. "Sorry, just . . . in my head a bit there. I can't add you without first dropping everything and going around to everyone to regather the links. And since I don't know what is going on, I should probably wait until we know a drop won't cause problems. Especially since it looks like one of these kids might be some level of psychic. I've got a shield up over everyone right now and I can't maintain it without the network."

[Quantum Fire]

The boy seemed to have a sort of protective attitude toward the girl, who backed away when Alex rebuked her... then she paused. "I'm sorry.. " Then she paused.. "I can't feel you anymore.. " She looked around a moment a bit worried now.

Eric reached out and touched her hand, then moved between her and the new arrival, and she calmed, giving him a smile before turning her gaze back to Alex. Somehow, the impression between the two of them was similar to a knight guarding a princess, which would be amusing, if it wasn't for the fact they were nova's, meaning there might be more to them then there appeared on the surface.

It was also terribly cute, and the baseline human following them smiled slightly as he watched them, and as they settled down a bit, he spoke up. "Sir, Ma'am, I'm Joseph, a pleasure to meet each of you." He was terribly polite, and an older gentleman, his hair completely white, he must have at least 60 years of age, though he seemed physically in shape.

[Courier]

Warren sent back, That's ok... with all the teleporting I'd figured everyone was back.

Warren focused on the kids. They were cute and about his age when he'd come here. Probably in similar circumstances too or they wouldn't be wandering around unsupervised. An enclave fell or he and his mom had been spotted and it was time to move again. Grim memories. Until he'd come here Warren hadn't really understood what 'safe' meant.

Warren said gently, "And I'm Warren, and I'm pleased to meet you. You're safe here." Unspoken Warren added the words 'at least for now'. When he'd been that age he would have known that's what 'safe' meant.

Bringing in people like this... dangerous. Necessary. They needed a second base, and then a third... somewhere where kids like this could truly be safe no matter what was sent after them.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany nodded and sent to Warren, "I think we're going to need to speed things up on finding new safe havens if we're going to have people dropping in like this. I know you didn't get to rest, but as soon as you're able, we should try the moon. I know there is at least an apartment area already carved out. I think there were some stores, but I don't remember how big or if anything is left there."

Realizing she hadn't yet moved from where she had been leaning against the wall, Pip pushed herself upright and flexed her wings to settle the feathers before turning to smile at the children. She didn't approach. She knew her appearance could be overwhelming and they had just had alot happen to them.

"Hi, I'm Pip. And if you could keep your thoughts to yourself while you're here, we would appreciate it. I'm shielding everyone right now, but it would be better if you reined in your powers a bit. I'd be happy to help you learn how to control if you havn't had the chance to learn before." She tried to keep her voice friendly and a smile on her face. Epiphany didn't want to scare the children, but she wanted to establish early the proper etiquette for dealing with powers. They couldn't be allowed to run uncontrolled through the base.

[Courier]

Warren sent back to Pip, "Agreed. The moon will be next, I'm spent right now." Pip could feel the mixed truth of this statement. Warren had a little juice left, and his suit, and he could burn life. In an emergency he could act, but he didn't judge this to be an emergency.

Warren continued, "Give me an hour or two and I'll be back up to full. Wait. Does 'shielding everyone' include both them and me? And... if I'm totally off grid then I'll bet I'm totally unshielded when I come back?"

Warren said to Butch, "Well congratulations. What happened out there? Where are the others?"

[SalmonMax]

As thoughts and people started swirling around the two kids, Alexandra took the opportunity to step back and think about what she needed. There was a wave of waste heat and light from her hand, and then a small, slim black plastic case was in it. It looked a little like a smartphone. Without any fanfare, Alex waved it over at the kids then took a look at the small display before allowing the device to fade back into virtual particles and vanish from the universe.

Okay, I don't see any radio or microwave signals. Probably not bugged. Nothing I can do about telepathy...I'll leave that in Pip's hands. As for the sub, I want to reiterate this...it's not going to be done tomorrow, or next week, or the week after that. Even if I build it out of stable fakematter, it'll take awhile. So go easy on the orphans for now, okay?

[LydaLynn]

To Warren, Epiphany replies, "I've got everyone I have a link to, through the network or individually. I can't shield the kids without pulling them into a link, and I'm starting to stretch how much I can do at a time. But yes, without the link, and it would get dropped when you go too far, you lose the shielding."

Listening to Alex's thoughts, Pip sends to just her, "Warren needs some rest, but once he's done, we're gonna take a quick trip up to the moon. There's an apartment carved out under the surface that we're going to see how much it will take to get back up and functional for those who need to breath. It can serve as a stop-gap once we get it set up."

[SalmonMax]

Alex looked thoughtful, and nodded.

I dunno about a stop-gap...but it might make a good bolthole. Someplace we can run to if the island falls. Yeah, that's not a bad idea. Let me know if you need me for anything.

"Okay kids, I'd better get back to work. I'm sure someone'll show you around and all that." She waves and heads back towards the workbench.

[Butch_Cole]

Butch said, "Hello,' to the children's caretaker. He seemed like a decent looking fellow, but one could never tell for sure. Still, Butch felt a decent amount of trust in Sophia Rousseau and thought she wouldn't let the children be taken care of by any sort of monster.

He looked at Warren and said, "Thanks for the congrats. The mission was a success, I'd say. Everyone else is fine. The girls went to take a shower as they were...umm, well, they needed a shower let's say. Darrik's around and Oz is here with me. I'll give you the gritty details later as they're a little bit 'R' rated to say the least."

[Quantum Fire]

"I can't touch thoughts, just emotions." Zia responded to Pip's statement, and Eric spoke up, adding his own point to the conversation. "She also can't turn it off.. she always feels what other people feel." At which point the young girl blushed slightly, which was again, rather cute coming from her. She looked over at Butch, Oz and Warren, then she took a deep breath, reached out and took Eric's hand, and both of them went over to him. With a glance at Zia, who said nothing, just gave him a weak smile, Eric spoke up again, looking at the two of them. "Your a Doctor? I think Uncle Joseph is more likely to need a look over then us, but we'll go with you, and let the lady Genesis work."

Click to reveal..

To put things in perspective, socially, Zia has Mega-Appearance 2 with Halo & Kawaii, Mega-Manipulation 2 with Subtle & Evasive, Mega-Charisma 2 with Sooth, and Mega-Wits 2 with Lie Detector and Natural Empath. Power wise, She also has Empathic Manipulation 3 with the Permanent Power Aberration, as well as the Sensitive Aberration linked to her emotion sensing, the more intense or more people she feels emotions from the more overwhelming it is. Besides that, she also has a few other nova abilities, but those are the ones most obvious, and most likely to come up should you try to lie to or manipulate her. On the flip side, it does mean it will be easier to get her to trust you then it would baseline child in her situation.

Though it appears that Eric is more in charge then her, she's really the silent leader of the two. Fortunately, she has a good heart, and isn't inclined to manipulate people into doing things bad for them, just good for her.

Only Alex, Epiphany and Darrik possess the capabilities to figure all of this out quickly, but Zia is subtle enough that the rest of you will require it pointed out to you.

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany nodded as Zia replied, "We'll just have to see if we can work out some way to keep you from mulling through everyone's emotions then, because I can't keep shielding forever and most of us here like to keep out feelings to ourselves. But we can work on it together and we won't force you to do anything as long as you arn't hurting anyone." As the two headed off to get a checkup, Pip started mulling over the problem.

[Kasheal]

Oz looked embarrassed as Butch introduced him then smiled down at Eric. “Yes-I-am-you-all-look-ok-but-its-always-better-to-be-safe-then-sorry-I-have-a-room-near-by-with-some-of-my-equipment-so-it-wont-take-long-at-all.”

Oz lead all that were coming to a room just a few corridors away. The room mimicked Oz’s own scatter brained mind. Machines of varying purpose dotted the room in no particular pattern, against one wall was a desk and a simple bed/gurney which where both covered in numerous opened books.

“Welcome-to-my-domain-just-give-me-a-second-to-move-all-this-stuff-and-I-will-be-right-with-you.” He quickly set about clearing away the books. In an odd way he regretted that the flat surfaces got the most use in the room and that was only to keep books on. Living with other Nova’s meant most of them had immune systems that rarely failed and were much more resilient. It wasn’t like he wanted any of his siblings to be ill or anything, just that he had so much unused knowledge and all those machines had never or barely seen use.

[Courier]

Cute Kid Warren reflected. Definitely a healer and not a warrior. Actually she reminded Warren a great deal of his mother... and she was born right about the time mom died.

...from such thoughts baselines had invented 'reincarnation'. Her hair wasn't growing absurdly quickly and a point or two of coincidence was just that, coincidence.

Hmm... what would she be like when she was older?

Oh. Shoot.

Warren sent to Pip, "Please forward this to Alex and anyone else around. Think of Zia when she gets Pax level strong. Feeling every feeling over the area of a city, maybe even further."

[LydaLynn]

Epiphany sat up at the thought from Warren, "That's a frightening thought. There's no way she will be able to survive sane on Earth if she doesn't find a way to shield that. For right now, I'm not going to forward it. There's nothing we can do about it that we arn't already doing and it should be some time before it's a problem. We need to have another meeting soon to discuss what we're going to do now and we can bring that up then. For now, see if you can hurry Oz along, though I can't believe I'm saying that. But I'm starting to run low here, I can't keep the shields up much longer and we want them somewhere safe and away from the majority of us before the shields come down."

[Quantum Fire]

As Eric sat down in the bench, it was easy for Oz to figure out that he at least, was ridiculously healthy, super-humanly even in some the readings on his equipment were rather strange, as he tested the boy. It took him a little while, asking questions, but he was able to ascertain that the boy's biochemistry was unusual, and he'd inherited that particular nature from his mother. Eric also exhibited a positive gift for energy transference, able to drain quantum, turn Quantum into different kinds of energy, and turn kinetic energy in supercharging his body.

Zia was also healthy, but only a bit above the human average, she was incredibly cute, patiently sitting there as he performed his tests, but he found nothing wrong with her either.

Uncle Joseph however, was a bit strained, he was into his late middle ages, and had been pushing himself hard over the last day or so, as the children's guardian.