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Aberrant: Children of Quantum Fire - (Interlude) Ghosts of the Past (Fin)


Karren Gaunt

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Mary politely took her plate and tried out a couple sets of garlic buns, she also gets some onion rings for a side and sits down the plate with her choice of Dew. "Okay... I really should have been in here... I could have made a juicy lucy or two."

Kamiko gives her a evil look. "What? I know... you burnt your tongue. It recovered in a few hours. You gotta lance the pattie first."

She sighs. "Always happens to the noob."

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Sarah had no complaints about the food, methodically working her way through a sequence of differently condimented burgers, enjoying every bite and even snagging the odd onion ring. It was kind of a zen of eating, one ear ready for a cry of alarm, the other on the conversation. It wasn't often she got to eat her fill, a mere handful of new and old holidays usually, so she was taking full advantage of it, working her way through an impressive proportion of the prepared meals.

It made her think, and that further combined with her focus on the task at hand to make her contributions to the table talk even less, much as she tracked the conversation with her eyes.

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"It's good, Dan," Sarah answered, hiding a much longer train of thought out of a desire to not be morbid and concealing it rather poorly from nova-level emotional awareness.

Kami's question brought a frown to the blonde giantess' face, pausing her slow slaughter through the patties, "I really don't know. Figure out what's going here. Figure out if I can go back home. Figure out *if I want to* go home and risk not being able to come back. It's... it's all very muddled, but superfically, there's not alot of demand for someone whose main skills are killing Zeds and teaching others to do the same. Outside of being an Elite, and, no offense meant, but the thought of selling my services to fight 'baselines' after years of protecting every single life I could... Evil, pure and simple. And your altrusitic groups are tied up with whoever's behind this sterility plot? It's... I don't know."

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"You are welcome to stay, and You don't have to be a combat Elite, like Mary or I were. DeVries has many facets, there's even an arm that supports many non-profit organizations, like Habitat for humanity, providing nova scale aid to worthy charities." He smiled. "There's no rush, as you said though. If you choose to stay, then we can talk about what you'd like to do."

He nodded. "Demand for a good person is always high, Sarah."

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Kamiko nods. "Perhaps I was a little early. Forgive my adding to your stress, Mrs Hawkins." She says with a polite, kind nod. Not everyone's mind is as agile and fast to a decision as her's. Not to Sarah's detriment, she is quite intelligent in her own right but comparing Kamiko to Sarah is like comparing Stephen Hawking to Steve Jobs.

"If there is anything that may help your decision, I am willing to be a sounding board and fill in the more... happier details of life here." Kamiko says as she adjusts her glasses and continues her meal.

Sarah seemed kind despite her harshness at times. Compared to Mary's Tsundere nature, she would be easy to get along with, but Kamiko could read Mary's situation was a phase. She's under stress from YJ, her work, the Aberrants, and the past does weigh on her. It's a dangerous world and Mary might be feeling not up to the task perhaps?

No less... that was Mary's life. And only Sarah as well can live her own life. As everyone else at the table.

"You know... GNS is quite a noble cause, and your skills at command and your physical endowments would be an incredible asset to their organization. Also, depending on where you wish to live, for instance the United States, there are individuals called "Municipal Defenders" or "Public Defenders" that serve to represent their city and even assist in things like search and rescue or disaster relief efforts. Some even go after criminals in the classic comic-book tradition."

"Then there is the XWF... but from the stories I've heard... they are probably quite the distasteful bunch."

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"It's wrestling. How could it be anything but?" Sarah joked back, trying to lighten the mood even as she dove back into the meal.

*two and a half days later*

Sarah had settled into a routine, forcing herself to keep to a pattern and keep moving forward. Sleep. Breakfast. Study. Lunch. Gunnery practicse. Dinner. Repeat, and keep moving, mingle and be pleasant with these strange hosts in a strange world on the verge of both destruction and 'apothesis'. That last word, that concept of the children of Novas being so much more powerful than their elders at so young an age... She could only shudder at the idea of an entire generation of teenagers with that much raw power. The only thing worse is an entire generation of teenagers with that much raw power in a world that had hated and hunted them their entire lives. *That* was a deliberate push towards war and destruction to make even... Idiots.

The blonde sizeshifter pulled the trigger of the pistol in her hands. Bang. Another slight jerk and another hole in the target down range, not quite as neat as the first three bullet holes from this clip, but still on the sheet. Bang. A jerk, and a bulleye. Finally. It'd been too long since she had had a reason to use these smaller calibres, too likely to miss due to panic at the close quarters you needed to guarantess an effective headshot and too small to hurt a super zed. Bang. Another near bullseye. And... out.

Sarah hit the recall button near her position and an overhead chain whisked the paper target on it's hooks back to her, a slight rattle of machinery that almost muffled the click as someone opened the door to the underground shooting range.

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The sound of paper cutting through the air can be heard before it hits a set of paper targets nearby. The paper darts that got thrown were blunted, but they looked like they hit with the power of a rubber bullet. But the thin nature of the paper still allowed the darts to penetrate. The areas hit wouldn't necessarily be fatal, but would definitely disarm a foe.

"There we go... Now for the more expedient knockouts..."

Kamiko throws another series of darts, striking the head and chest with pin-point accuracy on the first couple before a few miss or hit the shoulders.

"Hmm... That'll need some work." She says, forming more darts in her hands.

"Not a bad go of things, Sarah." She says. Goggles over her eyes and sound protection over her ears. She knew firearm training was going on down here, but the paper targets made good practice dummies for her use as well.

"I'm not a expert regarding pistols, but I would think you would use a heavier pistol. Something like what Mary likes to carry."

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Dan stood at the end of the row, aiming carefully. In rapid succession fifteen barks echoed from the gun, and fifteen holes appeared in the target, none were bullseyes, but looking at the target, they could see the kanji for honor stitched by the bulletholes. He retrieved it adding it to "duty" "Strength" and "Serenity."

"I have other guns if you like Sarah."

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"I know, Dan," Sarah answered, taking down her first target and putting up the next one after triggering the safety on her pistol, "I'm just working my way through my least familar weapons before moving to the ones I'm better at. I've had to teach alot of people how to take down Zeds and ammo stashes come in all sizes and weapon types. Weapons of choice are so rarely availiable in a crisis, and fire discipline is more important than anything. Did I ever mention that I started out throwing bricks before my Dan insisted I learn better?"

Her tone was matter of fact, punching the target button again and reloading as it clicked out to the normal effective range for her current weapon. "And to answer *your* question, Kamiko, I usually use my sword. Don't need to reload that, and just as effective most of the time. Guns don't seem to be up to the task of seriously hurting a combat-focussed Nova anyway, even here. At least judging by the calibres I've seen and heard about so far."

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"They can hurt one here, with the right ammunition." He shook his head darkly. "Too much effort's been put into how to kill novas on this world."

He nodded. "I prefer the blades as well. I was always good with throwing knives, and the Whipsword. Much much quieter than guns."

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Kamiko forms her Naginata out of paper. "I prefer the Naginata personally, Sarah. Better reach, can be used as a staff, and a far more... adapted... for defending the hearth and home." She collapses it to her hand. And accidentially gives herself a papercut. She winces, but the blood is almost as quickly staunched as it is drawn.

"Sometimes I have to remember that one should not draw their weapon unless they intend to draw blood."

She scratches her head. "I have to be honest... I detest pistols. When I shot Mary in the Sahara, it felt... too easy. I felt detached from the act and it repulsed me. I know it was a training exercise, and a object lesson, and I think I learned far more in defeat than anything..."

"...I learned my path must be the path of peace."

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Sarah could respect that declaration. A hard one to keep without using the sword to enforce it, but heartfelt and Sarah remembered that clear philosophical compass before years and losses and grey, grey reality hammered home the need for flexibility if she wanted to stay sane. Hope for the best, but be prepared to do the worst in it's service.

"I can understand why they have, Dan. Understand, but not condone," she answered, watching the paper target rattle down range and bring her weapon up, "Back home, Supers and normal humans have to work together to survive at all, the worst abuses resulting in an Enclave without Supers or Supers without an Enclave, and those groups were the ones that fell to Zeds or the Bla... Er, what you call taint. God, if what you've found out about the Node holds even a quarter true back home, a friend of mine would give an eye and an arm to look at it."

She chuckled somewhat bittersweetly, and paused, emptying her clip in a nice tight pattern into the target, a halo of bullet holes around and in the target's head. Six shots utterly consuming her focus before the blonde sizeshifter continued.

"But here... All you have is each other, and you wouldn't be human if you all, Nova and Baseline, didn't turn on each other in search of an advantage or revenge for past misdeeds. It'd be strange to find you not doing it," she mused aloud, lowering her weapon and sending the target back to her, "Sorry, it's just been strange seeing how all the what ifs I never dared think about played out, Supers without a Z. I spent a whole two hours on the Teragen alone and... I'm sorry, but I've been nerving myself up to ask this, but... what was the other me like? What did I do? Were my, er, her, parents happy to see me become the woman whose pictures are in this home?"

Already a mere 5'1 thanks to her powers, Sarah looked even smaller as she turned a speech into an unplanned plea, putting her weapon down and sighing.

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He'd been waiting for her to ask, and thinking of how best to answer. The truth of course, but how to phrase it. "Sarah was a remarkable woman."

"Not because I loved her, or because she was a nova, she was someone everyone liked. Even among we jaded Elites, she was idealistic. She never lost that throughout her entire life."

"She erupted and we were lucky enough to recruit her for DeVries, the premier employer of nova Elites." he held his hands. "Before you revile her as a mercenary killer, let me tell the truth. She wasn't. DV has many divisions, not just combat. She was a member of our Dissaster recover teams. She would go in and help heal damaged caused by War, and until near the end I never knew her to wield a weapon with intent to harm." There was a great sadness in his voice.

"I was her instructor, as everyone who goes to the world's past and current battlefields under DV banner is trained in self defense. I fell in love with her idealism, with how the world, despite all the badness, was something she saw brightly. Once she returned from her next mission, she sought me out... I'd spent that time keeping tabs on her, watching over her through my own resources. I comforted her after seeing what she'd seen, which lead to Sonja."

He smiled for three years after she was born, we lived in near solitude. Kamiko, Mary, and Long were the only ones who could contact us. We were happy, the war was over for us."

I met her parents at our wedding. Despite the fact she was already starting to show slightly, they were extremely happy to see her married. Her pay largely was donated to charity, as she lived spartanly, either that, or she gave it over to her family, to put the kids through school, or help as needed. She was a kind strong woman, and the light of the world was diminished greatly with her murder."

"She was nothing like Mary or I. What I say now I say knowing my counterpart was also a soldier, and I can only imagine the hard calls he had to make."

"I was the other sort of Elite. I joined for the money, the freedom. Only as an Elite could I help ensure what made me a nova didn't happen. Soon though my own path would turn from that, and I've walked down it so far, there's no turning back from it."

"Sarah's parents were happy for her, they called me a good man, and she held faith that I was too, she made me believe it. She was someone who couldn't help but bring out the best in some one."

"I've missed her every day, and wished it was me instead of her most of the time." He reached out and squeezed Kamiko's shoulder. "My daughters though are more than enough reason to continue on. I want a world wher they don't have to walk my path. I'll go as far as needed, to make it so."

"If this bothers you, I'm sorry, but this world is different, and we are who we are."

He nodded. "Still, I enjoy your presence. "You do remind me of her, but you're different in some ways. You're more assertive than she was. and much stronger."

He chuckled. "I suppose turnabout is fair play Sarah. "What was your Daniel like?" The use of his given name was something few earned the right to. "Or did he also reserve that for those closest to him, with the rest of the world calling him Dan?"

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Kamiko adjusted her glasses. Thinking about the universe Sarah came from... The possibilities were endless. Was there an analog of Mom? Did she even exist? If so did they die? She almost wants to send a rescue mission to that god-forsaken universe and save every last Nova and Human they could find. That was Kamiko's impulse, her Noblesse Oblige. What could she do to save a people though? What could anyone do?

"Is it possible... to send people back there? There has to be people there we could rescue."

If Sarah looked close she could see tears forming. Kamiko despised suffering in any form.

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"Where would it end Kamiko? Everyone we rescue, it could be another we don't." "arranging things for Sarah to have an identity here is only possible trough our connections. how many would you bring here, and would you really wish to subject them all to the scrutiny of our world. Eventrually the truth would get out, and you know how that would go."

'You should find a place to bring them safely before trying to save them."

He nodded. "From what Sarah's told us, they deserve no less than to no longer worry.."

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Those words hit harder than his blades. She massaged her chest for a moment. "You..." She changed gears, hopping from her impulse to a more rational conclusion. "...you're right, Dan... forgive my impulsiveness."

Those words hurt her more than anything. Not his, but her own.

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He wrapped his arms around his elder daughter and smiled. "Not a bad idea Kamiko, but not something that could be done immediately. It would take time, research, and more information. Last I recall, those ARE areas you are quite strong in."

"Use your talents to that end, helping Sarah's world is a noble goal, and indeed, I might know some people who can truly help."

He looked to Sarah and nodded. "Still it is Sarah's home, and I'm not so presumptious as to believe it'is ours to "fix."

"If aid is requested, where possible, I know it would be rendered though."

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"I'll see what I can do outside of my duties. I will be joining Nippontai at the first of the month. I... may have my personal talents at their disposal for a while. I sill expect some free time but... it just won't be as much as I've been used to having."

She scratches her head. "But I will see what I can do."

"I think I am done with my practice for the day. I got gate duty coming up soon for GNS and I got to get some stuff ready for a trip Cora, Star, and Mary have planned I'm coming along with."

Dan knew of what that trip entailed.

Read YJ3

It had a level of danger not only for her but everyone involved.

"Then after that I got some last-minute obligations before Nippontai has me for a while."

She bows. "Nice meeting you, as always, Sarah... I hope to meet you again before things get busy."

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Sarah had rarely felt so belittled, so humbled. 16 years of struggle and sacrifice and this wonder child and her peers could probably fix it all on a whim, an adventure, a long-weekend's labor if they put their minds to it. It was... cruel in it's way and she didn't trust her words. She managed to return the bow, stiffly, expression wooden, heading over to the gun closet and picking out a larger calibre pistol, mechanically checking it for grit and care and other maintenance issues. Having a weapon you thought would work but didn't was worse than not having one at all.

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Kamiko decided to stand her ground at this point, observing Sarah. She couldn't know what was going through her head to cause her to seem troubled. Was it something she said?

"I... Was it something I said, Sarah?"

She did walk on eggshells around Kamiko... it's time she came out and stated things immediately. This isn't productive.

"If there is something I'm doing or saying that is uncomfortable, please... let's just bring it out now."

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Sarah gives that a good ten heartbeats of thought and sighs before turning around, a solemn expression on her face and safetied pistol in her hands, "It's not you, it's me. I... I've been fighting to keep myself and what little portions of my world I can reach living and rational and human ever since I've changed. Fighting as hard as I can, as long as I can while keeping sane and human myself. And it was never enough. We always failed someone somewhere somehow, not by a lot, sometimes even by only a little, but always downward instead of upward. And then after I lose my everything... I find myself here, where for all your problems, a dozen of you wonderchildren could probably cure the Z in a week and restore human fertility in even less time if this Sakura is being honest with her Body Shop."

Sarah tensed up, ugly emotion dancing in her eyes, "It's... Well, I've always considered myself a humble person, but... galling to see how small my efforts really are compared to what you've all done here. I know it's irrational. I know it's perspective. But I'm only human. And it hurts sometimes. My problem. I'll deal with it, but until I do, I'll have to ask your understanding."

She recovered fractionally, "Sorry. You wanted to know about my Dan, right?"

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Kamiko decides to stay to listen, it was the least she could do.

"I... see your point, actually, Sarah." Kamiko says with a sigh. Knowing she was indeed fortunate to have been born on this world and not hers. Now she was feeling guilty. Was she going to feel like this when she starts to explore other universes? She has no connection to disaster universes... but... will she feel beholden to other universes in desperate need? Where could she draw the line? Could she even draw it?

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Sarah chuckles harshly to herself, depressing Kamiko the last thing she wanted to do, wiping away a nonexistant tear with one hand and putting down the gun. "I gave your, sorry, his eulogy not two months ago, so I have some words for this," she answered, gaze going abstracted into the middle distance.

"Daniel Ian Hawkins was the lightning to my thunder, the hare to my tortoise, my helpmate in every sense of the word and a Marine from the day I met him till the day he died. My Husband and a Father to our fifteen year old daughter, Joy, getting her to listen when she and I had the occasional row that had me tearing my hair out at the sheer stubbroness she showed. He never shirked away from helping others or learning how to help others more, putting together things as they fell apart, comunities *and* structures. I think I started loving him from that very first day in Quarantine we spent together at the Refuge. He didn't need to, but he did, as an example Supers had to follow the same rules of normal humans if we wanted to get along."

She laughed, more happily now, "Of course, being a Marine helped a lot there, helped turn my head as I got to know him. My Dan, as you seem to, had an interesting history with women, one who fell to madness and the black, another who was the one chance in a thousand pre Z day friend he found again, the third a convict he saved. The later two served as maids of honor at our wedding, as happy and simple a time as I can remember having, seven months pregnant with our child, given away by my mentor, officiated by Captain Fox. It was... perfect. The calm at the heart of the storm, a chance to catch all of our breathes for a moment. I'd never seen him smile so widely save for the first time he took Joy from me into his hands, calloused hands that could punch a Zed's skull from it's shoulders or lift a roof over his head cradling something so fragile as a newborn child like it was the most important thing he had ever touched."

Sarah paused to brush away real tears now, caught up in the moment, "And he never did put her down. Nor me. Not where it mattered in his heart, holding me up when all I wanted to do was fall down and willing to let me do the same for him. He was a pillar of the world, a good man who helped show a brash young woman with a head full of big ideas how to be a hero and a human being. He did that for everyone he met and through the years. He loved me, and I love him. I miss him, but know that he'd want me to live by his example instead of die for his memory. The survivors of the Enclave tell me he was fighting to buy them time to escape the Super Zed until the very end when the monster sucked the entire enclave into itself and exploded with a bang. And he would have, my Dan, my Husband, my Marine."

There was a moment as Sarah wound down, a shuddering exhale as she returned to the here and now away from the unsaid vistas of years, honey-smooth voice laden with cool, painful grief, shaking, "Which isn't to say he was perfect. He was human. He had moments of weakness, but, like you, he tried his best every day of his life to be better and aspire to the best in himself and not the easy darkness."

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Dan smiled. 'Sounds like your husband was a hell of a man, and I'm proud to cal him a brother in the Corps." He held his arm out, where even now thirty years later he still had the tattoo of the corps, the same one Sarah remembered on her Dan. "The bond of the corps crosses all boundaries."

He nodded to Sarah. "You're welcome here as long as you like. I'd have loved to have met him for real, but I feel as if I know abit more about him, and you just from hearing you speak of him." He smiled. "Thank you, and I grieve with you over your losses. I can do nothing to replace them, nor would I try to, I simply offer this place as a new home and haven for you, as long as you would wish it."

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Sarah accepted the handshake with a nod, tears drying on her cheeks, "Thank you for the offer again."

She turned and gave Kamiko a sad shake of her head, "I'm sorry, but no. I haven't. So few people survived the first outbreak, less on crowded islands like Japan if that's what she was. The odds are... Well, I said one-in-a-thousand before, but that's what they are, of meeting anyone you knew before the Z and after."

The blonde sizeshifter smiled apoligetically, wiping away her tears and stepping back from Dan.

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Kamiko looks down at the ground. On the one hand here she is, the power to help save a universe at her fingertips yet she feels even more powerless. Perhaps it was better not to interfere. Not unless there are people willing to risk their life to fight against this. That and the prospect of this Zombie virus potentially finding a way to cross the barrier between worlds still is a threat in her mind.

She shakes her head overwhelmed with her own inadequacy. "It would be... a far more wise choice for you to stay here, Sarah."

She crosses her arms in a way that felt like she was trying to get warm. The only idea she had left was to find a "blank earth", one that had no Human life and find a way to get people from Sarah's world across the divide. But Kamiko would have to make her first Jump. A Jump as of yet she felt unwilling to do just yet.

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Sarah nodded again and took up her post at the shooting range, adding over her shoulder as a fresh target clanked it's way down range, "I'll be sure to let you know, all of you if and when I want help. I just need a little time. Good luck with your outing and your friends."

The was the briefest of smiles and Sarah was back into the exercise at hand, pumping bullets one by one into her target.

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