Aberrant: Infinite Earth - Fiction - Mission 2: Detoured [Mature] [FIN]

[The Traveler]

"Oh... just a safe place. I disappear there for a few months at a time. Doing humanitarian work. I put a lot of work into her."

She swims over, leaning on the edge of the pod. "There was a time, when I thought I wouldn't fall in love with a place. But my little getaway..."

"Well, it's civilized, treats us "Metas" with respect and well, everyone is in a free and open society from it."

"Although I fell into it's subculture... embarrassingly." She leans back, letting the rain hit her face. It felt cleansing.

[Hotstreak]

"Oh? a subculture eh?" he moved closer to her and smiled. "Do tell. We've nothing but time."

[The Traveler]

"Well... there are two distinct cultures in metahuman society on Universe 343-A, There is the public metas. Everything from public servants to search and rescue to even military... but then... there is the costumed culture, the "Incognita Custódis" - Or the Unknown Guardians. People fall through the cracks and they are there to catch them. They wear costumes that fit their paradigm."

"I... I couldn't help but get enamored in the mystique."

She blushed. "The Librarian is a far different woman there, let me tell you."

[Hotstreak]

"A superhero." He looked at her, and then leaned down to kiss her. "That's damn cool." he stroked her face in the rain, even as with his other hand he began pulling in the latest fish to bite his line..

"Tell me about it."

[The Traveler]

She adjusts herself, pulling out of a pocket on a belt her mother's old Ionic Screwdriver. She activates a screen inside showing her wearing a pair of steampunkish goggles and what looked like something that would pass for some sort of steampunk gathering with a tan waistcoat, a ample black skirt, and a dickensian cloak. She had the goggles down, as per the culture's mores.

"There you go... The Librarian..."

[Hotstreak]

He looked, and chuckled. "Steampunk. Really?" he stroked her hand idly. "with all your tech, I'd not have guessed that one." He caught the fish, a small yellowfin tuna. "Now that's more like it. These things taste great."

He looked at her, and smiled. "Are you done taking your bath?"

[The Traveler]

Yomiko climbs out, taking a knee in the pod before exhaling, her ribs and spine re-adjusting as her internal air bladders deflate.

"Tuna huh?"

She makes a pair of fake cat ears out of paper suddenly and makes a purring sound. "Tuna sounds purrrrrfect..."

Her smile was one of joy... for this period of time... the world could go to hell.

[Hotstreak]

He smiled, cleaning the fish outside, before bringing it in to cook, and nodding to her. "Indeed, and maybe some desert afterwards, if you like."

[The Traveler]

Her paper ears moved like a cat's would. "Oh I would be delighted!"

Suddenly the stress of the past few days ebbed away. "So... One more full day..."

She sighed and leaned against one of the few visible bulkheads of the pod. "Then I start being me again."

"Tell me... since we are getting to know each other... tell me of your home... tell me what happened?"

[Hotstreak]

"I'm not a nova, I'm a Mutant." He started off, as he began cooking. "When I turned twelve, I discovered my control of flame in tragic fashion. On my world mutants were hated and feared."

He scowled. "i was lucky, I could pass for human easily. The exception was the aura of heat I gave off. I can control it now, but back then i couldn't. Still I got off lucky compared to many."

"We'd gone to new york city and been attacked by some killer robots, called dreadnaughts. on our way back, Sonja and I were separated, and thrown to the dimension you found me."

There was alot more to tell, but it was quite clear it was a touchy subject for him.

[The Traveler]

Yomiko blinked, and walks over to a medical scanner, while using the Ionic for a far more detailed scan.

"Well... your Genome is definately not baseline..."

She pulls up her medical scan, showing her well distributed MR coils and node distributed with her nervous-system. "A Nova is able to channel quantum energy through their body using the MR Node and it's coils like a second nervous system. A Second Generation like myself has an easier time due to our nature as full-born Novas."

"Your... genetic code must have some sort of synch with quantum energy to produce the same effect as my ability..."

She stroked his face. "You... are amazing., you know that, right?"

She had someone special in her hands... someone unique... just what she traveled for...

[Hotstreak]

He nodded. 'Not so amazing, just different." He was slow roasting the tuna, and smiled to her. "Though if my uniqueness makes you happy, so much the better then." he continued cooking happily, allowing her to ask what questions she would.

[The Traveler]

"So... any idea where your friend went?"

Stories like this always got Yomiko's attention... those lost or in distress had no better heroine to rely on.

"I mean... how long has it been since that day?"

[Hotstreak]

"She's still there, living as a nova, one Teen Tomorrow. We've been there over two years at this point."

He looked at her and sighed. "She realized she really wasn't into men, and ended things. I knew it was too good to be true as it was, we ended up together because we were all we had."

He sighed. "I tried again, and she rejected me, and about two months later you showed up."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko sighed with relief that she wasn't in danger.

"Well... in a way... it all works out."

She stands up stretching out.

"I'm one of 6 kids... about as diverse a bunch of people you'd ever meet. And you have heard me gush about my Mother and Father ad infinitum... but I got godmothers, godfathers... and a godsister that is the empress of a whole damn planet."

She sighed. "Then there are my Mother's former compatriots... The tyrant headhunter, the living kitsune, the victorian enigma, the secret agent..."

She smiled. "It was utter chaos. Now I'm experiencing the same thing... The Human Reactor..."

[Hotstreak]

He looked at her and smiled. "You can tell alot about people by the company they keep, Yomiko." He offered her some of the now cooked tuna and nodded, before getting some for himself.

[The Traveler]

"I have to be honest, Daniel..." Yomiko said, enjoying what was offered. "I'm... not proud of myself back there."

"I am about to further manipulate a society that has already been influenced by outside means. What happened here was caused by accident, but this..."

She sits on the makeshift bed she set up. "This situation I am about to create makes me wonder if I am just makign a bad situation worse. You, of course have already expressed what you would like to do."

"There is just an impulse I've... felt... to just tear all that they have created down..."

[Hotstreak]

"What they have is flawed, and one day a nova will rise and use violence to force this change. We are not doing that. Our way is peaceful." He smiled. It could be much much worse.

"We will see how it goes."

He stroked her cheek softly, trying to help her through this.

[The Traveler]

"Then my way might be the only way that this world has a chance for peaceful change..."

A beep on the main control console gets Yomiko's attention.

"Well, leave it for Rebecca to arrive early. The Hikari Maru will be landing nearby tomorrow morning. It'll be in default mode, so when you wake up and you see a multi-supercarrier sized spacecraft land near us, that is it."

She smiled, ruffling his hair. "Unfortunately it'll be raining in this area for the next few weeks, so we'll have to watch our footing..."

She adjusted herself before looking outside again. "I guess it's time to test myself."

[Hotstreak]

He came up behind her and kissed the back of her neck, the sensation reminding her of their time on the beach. "You should relax."

"Tomorrow will be a day of days, and if you are as tense as you are now, you will make mistakes, or not see things coming."

He nodded."Once we're done on this world, we'll go somewhere nice, where we can truly continue our beachside festivities."

[The Traveler]

She nodded after finishing the rest of her meal.

"We should. Until then I got to clear my head."

She stands up and takes in a long breath, and Daniel notices her ribs expand past their nromal breath. She was going to jump in again. In the rain.

"I'm going to listen to the rain for a while. The white noise I find relaxing."

She hops in, and keeps close for the rest of the waking portion of the day.

- The next day -

Yomiko was a flurry of activity before the Hikari Maru arrived next to them, pulling the pod back into the hull of the ship's escape pod deck. When Yomiko set foot on the floors of her home she was indeed happy to be there. She was wearing clothing that made her look more like a victorian librarian than a universe-hopping troubleshooter and adventurer.

"Well, Daniel... we are back home."

[Hotstreak]

He nodded, even as they were hailed by dozens of ships, and sighing. "They're very, very worried now, from the sounds of things out there."

He chuckled. "And we haven't done anything yet."

[The Traveler]

"Let them eat silence." Yomiko said, with a sharp tone verging on annoyance.

"I will speak to them when I am good and ready. Once I see Rebecca, and get a communication going with Brittania, then I will consider speaking with them."

The sound of someone walking up behind the two doesn't unnerve, but the heavy air of quantum coming from the familiar footsteps was a shock.

"You sound like you've not had an easy go of it either... although the outfit isn't your usual 'survival gear and floaties' you usually sport..." Rebecca says.

Yomiko just gives a wry, and tired smirk. "Rebecca, be a dear and keep them occupied with some witty banter. I got some matters to attend to."

She pats Daniel on the shoulder. "You should come along, you'll need to be kept in the loop."

She turns and smacks right into a bulkhead, suddenly stunned. "Uh..."

"Forgot to mention, the internal layout changed... I've been having a few moments like that myself."

Yomiko sighed... "Where is the bridge then?"

"To your right, down at the end of the hall just follow how the hall turns and you'll reach the signs."

Yomiko nodded and gestured to Daniel to hopefully keep her okay if there are any more sudden low-hanging bulkheads.

[Hotstreak]

Daniel smiled, keeping her from hurting herself as they headed to the bridge. He rubbed her shoulder. "Everything will be fine, trust me."

[The Traveler]

Walking around the re-configured ship made her feel like she was in the old Hikari Maru again, until she got to the bridge.

"Well... definately better..."

The bridge no longer looked like the dark, alien control room it originally did. The white control panels, the clean displays, the comfortable looking seats and well lit interior suggested something far more... official.

"Well let's see if the Trans-D communication array is online."

A couple sweeps of her fingers over the flat-screen and the operating system starts and she starts going through the availiable frequencies through the Stonehenge Network.

"Brittania Gate Watch, this is Hikari Maru, requesting parlay."

A few moments later.... "We read you, Miss Hino. We've been waiting for your contact. Have you come across a lost ship of ours in that universe you're in? It had set a course to that universe when we lost contact with the ship."

Yomiko paused... "Your ship... your ship was destroyed. It got hopped through time to a point during the Second World War. The crew managed to bail out via escape pods to various locations on earth but..."

"...some met worse fates than others."

There was a awkward silence. "I... I will put the Empress on."

"I will also need the Minister of Trans-Dimensional Security."

"Understood."

Yomiko sat in the captain's seat and watched the main viewscreen. She knew her God-sister, the Empress Hideyoshi, would want to see her.

"Yomi-chan! You're... well... looking different."

Yomiko straightened her clothes. The usual protpcol was always dropped in their conversation.

"I wish this was on better terms." Yomiko said, sending some files via the transmission.

"Those files are my log in regards to the situation here."

Sarah nodded, looking over to Daniel, immediately grabbing a handkerchief for her slight bloody nose. "Well, you found a... travelling companion."

She looks over closer to her screen. "So... what do you know of things... Daniel, is it?"

[Hotstreak]

Daniel nodded. "In general Highness, not much. Yomiko has inherited the legacy of her mother, as an interdimensional explorer. We have arrived here on this world, and discovered sadly that the native population abuses their nova population for their gain, or simply eliminates them."

"Beyond those basic generalities, Highness, I must confess I know little. I am simply along for the ride, and the company."

[The Traveler]

"Hmm... and you want us to help you negotiate some sort of change? With a pre-manufactured first-contact? To blow the lid off? I'm sorry, Yomiko, but there has been enough damage done here already."

The Empress sighed. "This conversation never took place. As far as we're concerned, the ship was lost."

"SARAH HIDEYOSHI!" Yomiko shouted. "Your people died here. Doesn't their families deserve closure?"

"I'm sorry, Yomiko...Unfortunately since I think your emotions are getting the better of you... until I am told better I am barring you from Brittanian space. Until I get assurances you can be trusted again."

The transmission is suddenly cut off.Then Yomiko with her Ionic in hand tosses it into the viewscreen, cracking it where the screwdriver made contact.

"No..."

She crossed her arms.

[Hotstreak]

"Well, that certainly didn't seem to go as planned."

He sighed. "You are being emotional, that is true, but at the same time, this world may need some help."

He looked at her. "It's your ship, we can go, or we can stay."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko looked at the cracked screen, pulling out the now broken scewdriver.

She then opens a channel to the people she met with on the island.

"Ah... Librarian. Nice to finally hear from you..."

Yomiko held up her hand. "I spoke with the Brittanians... and they gave me a message. They aren't coming."

"Well that is unfortunate."

"And I have a message." She says, starting the jump engine. The ship moments later appears above the island.

"Wait... what... is that your..." The Secretary said, looking confused.

"I cannot allow your kind to use the Stonehenge gate, or the others here."

"What?"

She hits a few buttons. "Nor do I wish to help you. But before hand..."

She starts broadcasting on every possible frequency the meeting that took place a couple days ago.

"Do you know what you're doing?"

"Yes, helping you help yourselves."

She cuts off the channel, and after her video plays she sits back in her seat.

"People of Earth, you've been part of a lie. One propegated by those that want to hold on to their power. They hold themselves over people given gifts that could help you all but instead they put them on leashes... keep them in guilded cages."

She stands up. "That masquerade is over... today..."

She brings her engines up to full without moving, and at points along the earth, the various gates shatter at once, unleashing massive amounts of quantum energy.

"When everyone is special, no one is special."

She presses a couple buttons, and the ship jumps into trans-dimensional space.

"Now I've done it."

[Hotstreak]

"You certainly have."

He looked at her and nodded. "I don't disprove, but we cannot go back there. And if we have it, something that will cloak our signature as we travel, this needs to be done, just in case."

"So where are we going now?"

[The Traveler]

Yomiko slumped back in her seat. "We can hide... but... I can't hide from certain things."

She opens a channel to the council on Sanctuary, but keeps it passive.

"I'm sure to be hearing from my Mother soon regarding this."

She steepled her fingers, running her fingers along the sides of her nose. "My journey... might be over if I really messed up."

She reached out, holding Daniel's hand. "I'm... I'm no better than they are.... those people... I went against everything I believed to prove a point."

[Hotstreak]

"That just shows you're human, Yomiko." he smiled. "It may be better for them in the end."

"I will stand with you, regardless now."

[The Traveler]

Yomiko nodded, standing back up.

"I have to show more restraint..."

"Perhaps I need to learn more on who I could be, not just some avenging angel but a guardian..."

"...I know just the place."

Then a voice on the viewscreen appears. "Yes, you are going there, young lady. You do have much to learn."

Yomiko gulped. "Mom?"

"I was talking with the council about this, and they're going to show lenience... after all this is your first go-around. But you're going to have to prove you're worthy of flying my ship."

Yomiko blinked.

"Didn't think I would just give you my ship? I'm trying to smooth things our with Sarah here... what you did is quite a headache. That and you are needed there at that universe... Librarian."

"Needed?"

She looked to Daniel then back to the screen that was starting to self repair. "What about our prisoner?"

"The Corsair? We've transported her to the council chambers. She will answer for her crimes."

Rebecca runs in, looking worried. "Cap! Our prisoner is gone!"

"I know. She's been... properly sent to justice."

Yomiko turned to the screen. "Alright... I'll go there."

"Good... I'm sure your own guilt doesn't need a guilt trip from me. Just prove to me you are still who I thought you were... and dump the victorian."

The channel closed as she looks to Daniel and Rebecca. "Alright... time to prove I'm not a supervillain."

"That and perhaps I and Daniel can finally enjoy some time alone for a change."

Rebecca blinked, completely unaware. "Okaaaay...." she said before walking out.

=FIN=