Aberrant: Dead Rising - 12i: Socialized Health Care [Complete]

[Dan Hawkins]

Dans hands stopped crackling and he seemed to relax, a little. "Damn."

He looked around and to Myfwany. "Are you alright?" There were holes in his fatigues where he'd been hurt, though the flesh beneath showed no sign of a wound.

"I can provide power here if I need to, but I don't think we should unconver the equipment until we've cleaned the mess. No need to contaminate any of it anymore than it likely is."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"They're zombs," Kristin said with callous finality, sneering down at the crumpled bodies, then walking into the hall, smirking as she flexed an incredibly muscular arm, her bicep swelling larger than a softball harder than steel. "And not as super as us." As me!

In the somewhat better light of the hall, they could all see how much Kristin had changed. From five-foot-two, Kristin had grown to just short of six feet tall, her powerful build easily rivaling Jill's on her best day, if not flat out exceeding it, muscles rippling with ominous strength. Her modesty was barely retained by her stretched and split clothing, though despite wading through the mass of leeches, very little gore or blood had adhered to her stunning form.

"If we're cleaning up now, where are we dumping the bodies and other garbage in this place?" Kristin asked, stepping back into the lab and hefting the broken bodies in either hand with effortless ease, her jade eyes skimming over Dan with dark musing.

I wonder... can I get even bigger, even stronger? She couldn't even imagine growing any stronger than she was now, so exhilarating was the energy coursing through her veins, yet growing aroused at the thought.

[Karren Gaunt]

"We're not done yet," flatly intoned Sarah as she emerged fully into the light lookign rather less glamorous, "One more door leading to who knows what to check at the end of the hall, and we don't have that much more time before the Captain opens a gate to retrieve us. I say we clear the complex before then and call it a day."

The wound on her hip knitted shut in a kiss of quantum, an absent-minded thought on the part of the megamorph.

Click to reveal..

Regenerate one HL of wounds for 1 Quantum Point.

[SalmonMax]

"I'd like to at least try to get the power on, if possible," Myfwany said diffidently as she joined the others. "The real power, Dan...I can't use you all the time. But all right, we'll check that last door first. It should be safe enough now."

She looked down at the ruined bodies and shook her head. Two more that she'd failed, by failing to turn her gifts to this study. If she'd started earlier, they might have been saveable. She'd never know now.

"Most everything we've seen has been a manifestation of Jon's," she explains. "With him gone...it should be clear."

Except his assistant. He must have turned her. Which means she must have become a super first.

She suddenly got very still. Jon had been scientist. Scientists kept notes. Records. They documented events. It was deeply ingrained in them.

Had he documented his change? His assistant's?

"Keep your eyes open for...tapes, CD's, notebooks...anything like that. Kristin, could you...come back to normal size? I'm afraid you might accidentally step on something."

[Dan Hawkins]

"I can probably do that, but what I'm going to need is a map. Wandering around in the dark is not my favorite mode of operation."

He cursed himself for leaving the light harness at the Refuge. it would have been very handy. He didn't miss Kristen's gaze, and kept his own features emotionless, though it bothered him.

"Take them outside Kristen. We can bury or burn them after we're done."

He looked to Sarah and nodded. He bent over and hefted her sword in one hand. "This what you were missing?"

[Karren Gaunt]

"Yes. Thank you," Sarah responded with a weary smile that didn't quite reach her eyes as she reclaimed the deadly tool, "Didn't think waving twelve feet of steel in that confined a space would help much. As it was, I destroyed more than a few of the computers."

She paused, adding, "I'll take point."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan looked at them, and sighed. "I might be able to salvage some of them."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Originally Posted By: Myfwany

"Kristin, could you...come back to normal size? I'm afraid you might accidentally step on something."

"I... don't know, Dr. Shattuck," Kristin admitted.

She closed her eyes and tensed, her muscles bulging even more, and tried to focus like Gabrielle and Han asked her to when they tried to teach her to fly. This time, Kristin could feel an ebb and flow to the heady power raging beneath her taut flesh, and though it lingered, she couldn't help but recognize its transient quality.

"I don't think I can stop it, but it's not forever," Kristin said, negligently shrugging as if the bodies in her hands weighed nothing, and the others weren't sure if they were imagining the wistful disappointment in her voice. "Anyway, I'm still sma - shorter than Sarah." She certainly didn't feel smaller than the towering woman. "I'll be careful not to break anything. I'll be right back."

Bodies in hand, Kristin strode briskly through the complex and upstairs to the outside, dropping them by the chain-link fence surrounding the place. Looking down at them, she smirked in satisfaction, seeing the deep impact from where her fist had shattered Jon's sternum and ribs, blood trailing down from his disgusting mouth. Another man that would never hurt another woman ever again, all from a single punch.

Under sunlight, Madeleine looked almost peaceful, her circular lamprey-like maw hidden behind closed lips, making her face seem soft and pretty. For a moment, Kristin felt regret - You never got free of Paradise and it made you a monster - before angrily stomping down on the motion. Not my fault. You're just a zomb now, not the you you and zombs need killing. All of them.

Turning her back on them, Kristin strode back for the stairs leading down into complex, unaware of the wetness sliding down one cheek.

[Karren Gaunt]

Kristen would emerge from the security room to find Sarah leaning against a hallway wall near the final locked door, blade in hand and gaze on that final barrier and what might lie behind it. The blonde megamorph commented down at Kristen, "Ready to put the benefits of that very useful trick you picked up to clear out the rest of this place in less than a half hour?"

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

With Dan staying by the doctor this time, Kristin stalked up to the door and gave Sarah a nod and tight grin, then a shrug. She was stronger and tougher than Dan, so he could stay behind and guard the doctor. She was going to crush more leeches and zombs with the strength she had appropriated as her own.

"I've never been more ready," Kristin boasted, smacking a fist into her open palm with a loud crack, then pulled out her maglite, her powerfully broad shoulders blocking the light cast by Dan. "But there isn't any rush. If we need more time, we just tell Mr. Fox to come back later. Dan, what's the code again?"

Kristin punched in the code as Dan told her, then with her foot, shoved the heavy door open to bang loudly against the wall. Still feeling nearly invulnerable with the strength throbbing within her flesh, Kristin strutted through the door with Sarah looming behind her, guarding her back and flicked the lightbeam around the room. She dared anything or anybody to attack her or Sarah.

[Dawn OOC]

A short hallway loomed, a door to the left, right and just ahead. It was only about twenty feet in length and was about ten feet wide, just as all the other hallways here had been.

The door to the right was marked 'Boiler Room'; the one to the left had no name but was marked with the universal sign for electricity; Dan could guess that was where the generator was. He might be able to restore power here more easily than he'd thought.

The door ahead was clearly an addition to the place. A heavy sealing door, complete with a locking wheel, had been cemented into place. The construction wasn't perfect; the door would catch but it wasn't air-tight, even when closed. Right now, it wasn't even locked and Kristin could easily swing it open. Beyond a black hallway waited.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan looked at them. "We don't split up. I don't trust vaults like that."

He nodded "Do you want to try to turn the power on first, or do you want to check the boiler room? Turning the power on means turning all the security systems back on as well."

[Karren Gaunt]

"Check the Boiler room, then the power supply, then... the vault," commented Sarah softly, having another really bad feeling about this atop of her current bad feeling, "Turning on the power waits until after we confirm we're actually alone in this place otherwise we'll stir them all up before we actually get anywhere."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany stood at the vault door, staring into it down the hallway beyond. Dan and Sarah seemed to have things in hand so she let them handle it. The vault was, for want of a better word, weirding her out. Why bother building a vault door and doing it so badly? And what valuables was it meant to protect in a research facility? More, the vault door was new, but she suspected the hallway beyond was not. Adding on to the building would be a huge undertaking, and wouldn't be done half-ass. It looked to Myf as if a part of the facility had just been...bottled up behind a thick metal door. Not airtight, so not designed to stop biohazards, or really, even determined professional thieves. But it would suffice to keep civilians out. Scientists, say. Or would have been if it was closed. Had it opened when the power went out? Or was it already open before? And when it opened...what had gotten in? Or out?

"I think there's been enough noise we'd have already attracted any zombies in the building," Myf said absently. "But do it however you feel safest. Before we leave though, we have to get some power back. I need to know what this place was, and what happened here."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Kristin snorted. "Haven't any of you ever seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" she inquired, raising a thickly muscled arm and pointing at the heavy door with her flashlight. "That's not a vault - it's a cage. I guess Jon knew he was losing control and got someone to lock him up - or maybe the other way around with that woman." She shrugged. "The last time whoever was let out, they never not under control again. That happened to Oz once. I think."

Not feeling the trepidation the others were experiencing, Kristin stalked towards the vault with the unassailable confidence of a juggernaut, pulling the door open and flashing her light inside. "I don't see what the problem is with turning on the power. If it stirs up any zombs - if there are any zombs - it's not like we can't stomp them into the ground. We won't even have to go looking for them, they'd come to us."

Kristin peered at the construction of the door and its concrete frame and what was beyond it, then looked back at Myfwany over a large shoulder. "If you're gonna be studying the zombs and need a... uh, 'live' one to study, this might be a good place to keep it. The door only locks from this side."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded and opened the door to the generator room, hoping the reason they'd stopped working was one he could fix easily.

Click to reveal..

Looking around, will check the fuel tanks, check for any corrosion, any shorts, any sign of cut or spliced wires that could have short. Or of course the obvious switch in the "OFF" position.

[Dawn OOC]

The wiring was jerry-rigged and it took Dan a couple of minutes to figure out what was going on. Someone had set up several methods of fueling the generator - methane, propane, gasoline and natural gas. There was enough propane to keep them lit for a few hours, Dan was sure. But he'd want to rewire the system to be safer and less of a fire hazard if he was going to run it for any length of time.

[Karren Gaunt]

As Dan tinkered with the generator, Sarah gestured at the open door of the boiler room to Kristen, waiting until she got a nod and swing of the flashlight into the chamber before striding in, blade at ready and knuckles tight on the weapon as she searched for any orphaned monsters or lurking undead in and amongst the badly-neglected equiptment.

Nothing. Or at least nothing she could spot in the dark lit by a dancing flashlight. God, she just wanted out of this place to *think*, to train, to run her reserves down enough so she could collapse back on Dan's couch in exhaustion after a long shower while the Doctor finished playing with these toys so she could get some answers.

Her lips pressed bloodlessly together, and the blonde megamorph sighed before emerging back into the hall with a nod of thanks to Kristen and a quiet 'All clear in the boiler room.'

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"Good," Kristin grunted, shrugging her massive shoulders, then turning back to the 'vault,' panning the beam of her flashlight across the interior. If there was anything still to worry about in this place, it was in there. "Now we can check the zomb's cage."

Without further hesitation, Kristin pushed the heavy door all the way open and stalked passed it, flashlight flicking side to side. Her thick, powerful muscles were tensed, knotted as she prowled forward, poised to strike.

Click to reveal.. (Mad Eye)

Carver] 2:25 pm: Post it. I'll reply

[envoy] 2:25 pm: aye aye.

[glyde] 2:29 pm: well, off to bed,

[glyde] 2:29 pm: have fun all,     

[Mike] 2:29 pm: Seeya

[glyde] 2:29 pm: and have a great evening.

[envoy] 2:29 pm: I never knew the 'whose online' function told oyu what the

people were doing. awesome.

[Lobby]: glyde has left at 2:30 pm

[The Bomb] 2:30 pm: Oh, I guess I'll make a roll too then.

The Bomb *rolls* 4d10: 3+8+7+9: 27

[The Bomb] 2:31 pm: 3 Successes for Perception + Awarenss

Perception + Awareness = 4d10 = 3 Successes

[Dan Hawkins]

"Dan took note of what the situation was and came out of the room. "Alright it will run, but only for a couple of ours, and the whole thing is a firebomb waiting for a match. I'd prefer we don't turn it on now, at least not until we can come back with the parts needed to really fix things right."

Kristen's murderous enthusiasm worried Dan even more than normal. She was not this bad ever, but after stealing vitality from Jon, she'd gotten worse. "Kristen, wait.. Dammit."

He looked at the other women and shook his head. "The two of you are going to have to have a talk with her, She's not going to listen to me, and I'm starting to worry about her."

[Karren Gaunt]

"Starting to?" chuckled the blonde megamorph with one of the first actual smiles she'd had since coming in here, however short-lived, "But okay, I'm sure the Doctor can get through to her easy enough."

And with that she was off into the vaulted-off area, taking up a position on Kristen's right flank and senses alert for anything that might be a threat. It was kind of relief that they couldn't get the power back up to be honest, get them out of here that much sooner.

Click to reveal..

[envoy] 11:21 am: hooray. so should sarah roll perception+awareness as she follows kristen in search of more horrors?

[Carver] 11:22 am: Sure!

[Carver] 11:22 am: Kristin can too.

envoy *rolls* 7d10: 3+7+6+3+6+3+7: 35

[envoy] 11:24 am: two.

[Carver] 11:25 am: Post it. I'll reply

[Dawn OOC]

The hallway beyond was dim, but by the flashlights, they could see that there were nine doors. Five on the right and four on the left; the only doors marked were the two on the end. They were marked as the men's and women's restrooms.

[SalmonMax]

"Huh," Myfwany mused. "No room numbers. And the doors are close to each other, so the rooms are either not very wide...or there's more than one door per room. Individual lab space maybe."

She looked at the 'vault' door they'd come in through.

"Or subject storage. Careful opening the doors, but don't kill anything if it's in restraints. Even if it's a zombie."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan shook his head, and scowled. "No telling what other suprises are in store for us here."

Secretly he hoped there were none.

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

"Well then, let's go find out," Kristin said confidently, striding forward and nodding back at Myfwany over a shoulder. "I'll be careful and I'll try to stop from killing any zombies, if there are even any."

Kristin walked up to the first door on the left, shining her light on it to see if there was anything suspicious about it, then reached for the handle and tried the door. It opened easily and Kristin pushed open wide and stepped through, her flashlight reflecting off the steel surfaces in the large room.

It was a large industrial-sized kitchen, stainless steel countertops and cupboard doors. There was a pair of double oven ranges and a huge, double-doored refrigerator, along with what looked like a walk in freezer. Kristin slipped in through the door, her hiking boots scuffing against the tiles.

"It looks like a kitchen, guys," Kristin called out, her voice echoing off all the metallic surfaces.

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah waited until she had the others' attention and then tried door number one on the right. A bedroom, dusty, dirty, and torn up, clear of hostiles. A quick search revealed a few items of female clothing, possibly those of the female super zed before her transformation, and more useful... a laptop, aparently out of power but okay looking.

The Doctor would enjoy that.

She left it where it was and emerged back into the hallway. "All clear. A bedroom and there's a laptop in the top drawer of the desk in there that looks like it'd work if it had power. Next door?"

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Hard jade eyes riveted on the large door to the walk-in freezer, Kristin padded forward, surprisingly light of foot for such a (currently) burly woman. If there was anything hiding in here, it was in there - All that stuff in the movies must've come from somewhere, right? Probably full of the women that sluggy-fucker raped and ate.

Boots scuffing softly against the tiles, Kristin navigated around the various counters and shelving units until she was standing in front of the freezer. She took a deep breath, threads snapping and fraying in her over-burdened t-shirt, then pressed an ear against the door...

Nothing. No sound, just the coolness of metal.

Kristin turned to the side, shifting into a ready stance, flashlight in her back hand. She yanked open the door with her forward hand and slid back, the beam of light dancing around the interior of the freezer.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan nodded at the statement of the laptop. "Could easily have private notes on it. The battery's likely dead though." Just to be sure he went to check it.

[Dawn OOC]

There was the stink of rot first, then Kristin noticed the lumps of meat and jars of dark liquid. No, she realized with another blink: not jars, but large bottles. The putrid smell was making her eyes water; with effort, she blinked past the tears and took a closer look. The bottles were two feet tall, including the nipple, which was made of a thick, black rubber. That had never been used on a human baby.

Suddenly she realized that one of the packages of wrapped meat was familiarly shaped. Once she realized it was someone's leg, she realized all of the meat in here had once had a social security number.

[Karren Gaunt]

"Doctor, go with Dan. I'll check out these remaining rooms on the right," Sarah commented flatly over one shoulder as she tried the next door on the right, ready for threats or discoveries as she could muster. Empty. A man's room. No pictures, some genetics and science books way more complicated than anything she had cracked open her entire two and third years worth of biology study, and personal effects. Maybe Myf could find something here...

Whatever. Another two doors to go if nothing happened, and then they could get out of here.

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan doffed his backpack and placed the computer within. He didn't want to come back this way, and was not planning on doing so with intentions other than sanitization.

He moved up with Myfwany and nodded. "I can try to access it later, either on my power, or once we've cleaned up and got the grid back."

[SalmonMax]

Myf nodded. "There's no rush on that. Lets make sure this place is secure, then we can see about turning the power back on safely."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

The reek almost made Kristin retch, her breath coming in gagging gasps, jade eyes wide on the... meat. The stench of stale blood assailed her, triggering the sound of screams in her mind. Her own screams.

In Paradise, it hadn't taken long before Hornsbeck learned of her unnatural rate of recovery, and even less time before he turned it into a terrible game. It started with fingers and skin, but soon he and his cronies progressed to taking more... and more. The sound of chains rattled in her ears, the memory of those chains tying her down, the coils so thick even she couldn't break them. And on her flesh, etched into hidden bone, Kristin could feel the hammers again, the axes and chisels and chainsaws, and the cruel laughter of men.

With a whispering, throat-searing scream, Kristin stumbled backwards into a countertop with the squeal of distressed steel as her hand tightened spasmodically. Frantically, the girl twisted around and scrambled out of the kitchen, feet pounding hard on the tiles, the light flickering wildly with her desperate movements, biting her lip hard to stifle her sobs.

"I... I have to get out of here," Kristin pleaded in a small voice at odds with her powerful, amazonian form as she burst out of the kitchen into the hall, shuddering, the door slamming hard against the wall. In the poor light, Myfwany could see that Kristin's pupils had dilated so much, the green of her iris was just a thin rim of colour and her thick, swollen muscles twitched with her distress.

[Karren Gaunt]

Sarah's head whipped around at the commotion, muck-stained hair streaming as she sprinted between the Doctor and the door, blade at ready as she waited for whatever it was that panicked Kristen to emerge and assault all of them. For something to make Kristen run... She stood her ground, both hands on her blade and ready for anything.

Except... Nothing was emerging save for the very, very faint odor of rotting meat.

"What happened?!" she demanded over one shoulder, torn between wanting to give Kristen a once over and keeping her full attention on the door while Dan got back out here to help cover her.

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany on the other hand, never hesitated. On seeing Kristin in the middle of a full-blown panic attack, she rushed forward and tried to gather the larger girl into an embrace...hoping in the back of her head that Kristin didn't just take her with her, crashing through walls and doors and so on.

This was a lot safer before superhumans came along.

"Kristin, it's okay," Myf said soothingly. "You're not there. You're safe, with Dan and Sarah and me. We'll keep you safe."

[Krysti-Lynn Magnussen]

Slowly, under the doctor's attention, Kristin calmed down, though under her hands, Myfwany could feel the girl's empowered physique clench and relax with an ominous strength. Kristin's panting settled in a deep steady rhythm as she dried her eyes on one broad shoulder and sniffed to clear her nose.

"I'm... I'm okay, really it's just..." Kristin swallowed, her face looking washed out and pale under the glare of the Maglite, then with exaggerated care, broke Myfwany's embrace and wrapped her muscular arms tight about her torso. "... what I saw, Dr. Shattuck, it reminded me of... that place."

Kristin's head slowly turned in the direction of the kitchen, then instantly looked away and licked her lips. "I think I found what they were eating. In the freezer."

[SalmonMax]

Myfwany winced and tightened her arms in what she hoped was a comforting way. Inwardly she wondered grimly where they'd been getting it. Had they toppled an enclave? Jon's ability to summon an army would be devastating to defenders.

She shook her head, dispelling the thoughts.

"Well, that's over now," she said, for both of them. "They won't be eating anything anymore, and that's thanks to you."

[Dan Hawkins]

Dan odded, and moved to see the room for himself. The horror within reaffirmed what he'd known. They'd gotten lucky earlier.

Without a word he moved into one of the remaining rooms, hoping to clear this place fast, before Kristen truly freaked out.

From inside he called "Go ahead and take her outside, some fresh air will do her some good I think."

[Dawn OOC]

The kitchen had an attached door and he followed it into the dining room. Dan found himself facing more of the eyes, painted everywhere. And in the center of the room, a young woman's body lay rotting on the table. For whatever reason, she hadn't been used for food; she'd been left alone.

[Dan Hawkins]

"Myfwany, I've got something for you." The smell was awful and Dan was sickened by what he thought would be found out about the corpse.

"Dammit Jon."

He waited for Myfwany to come inside, to confirm his fears.