ABERRANT WEIDER STUFF: SEASON 2 EPISODE 02 - PATHS

[WS ST]

Wheels within wheels
In a spiral array
A pattern so grand and complex
Time after time
We lose sight of the way
Our causes can't see their effects

by Neil Elwood Peart / Gary Lee Weinrib / Alex Zivojinovich

PATHS

AWS – S2 -Ep 02

 

In 1938 in Berlin Germany nuclear fission was discovered. It was the eve of world war two and those scientists involved in the discovery feared that this new knowledge would be taken by the Third Riche and turned into a most terrible weapon, a weapon which could end the world, and so many of them stole away in the night, so to speak, to the west and freedom. Some of those scientists were not so sure that this fear was founded in anything but joined their collegues as well.

 

Sean looked at the time the hour had flown by fast, she listens and can hear the shower still going. That was odd Sara wasn't one to linger in the shower unless there was something to occupy her, Sean thought with a lascivious grin as she stood up and headed to the bathroom to remind her girl of the meeting they had to get back too.

The tall buxom woman lightly rapped on the door “Hey hun, It's time to get back for the meeting if your going to come.” There was no answer only the sound of the shower, Sean frowned and tilted her head toward the door. All she could hear was the shower so she tuned her senses up and the ambient sounds crescendo but then one by one she tuned the extra sounds out. All but the shower. She should have heard Sara's breathing her heart beating, the sound of blood moving in her veins.

All she heard was the shower.

Sean opened the door to the bathroom and steam billowed out she feared what she would find, but she found nothing. Only an empty shower filling the room with steam.

 

The war started and the west, already afraid of the possible outcome, embraced those scientists who had come from Germany. The fear that Germany would create a bomb was real and it is recorded that many of those same scientist who didn't want the bomb to be built by Germany urged the United States to be first to utilize this new science to defend the world. In December of 1942 a sustained nuclear reaction was attained at the University of Chicago The path to the Bomb was paved.

 

Doctor Mizuki had been sitting on the uncomfortable chair for almost half and hour. It had taken him many weeks to get the okay to make this visit now that he was here a short wait was not a worry.

The door across from him, the exact mirror of the one behind him, clicked and swung open The Small brown skinned woman with a wild untamed mas of black hair, in a pale blue prison jumpsuit was led into the room. She was shackled and hand cuffed the two women guards led her to the chair across from him and the attached her cuffs by a short chain to a ring set into the surface of the table. One of the guard set two cigarette on the table in front of the woman and one single wooden match. “You have thirty minutes if you finish early just call out and they will come and get you.” said the guards woman who had put the cigarette down.

Mizuki nodded that he understood not taking his eyes off the woman The guards left and he was alone with his former colleague.

Rashoud waited until the door closed behind her and picked up one of the cigarettes and the match with a flick of her thumb she lit the match and sucked in a deep lungful of smoke.

“I did not know you smoked.” said Mizuki

“I didn't,” Rashoud said, blowing the smoke to the side so as not to bother the man who thought she was a friend.

Mizuki looked down at the table, wondering now, why he had come. “I am sorry it took so long for me to come and visit. But I was investigated after... you know.

I do not understand. We had perfect access to the Irregulars why did you feel the need to experiment, to create those Aberrations?”

Reshoud sat like a stone the cigarette burning between her fingers seemingly forgotten. Then she started to laugh.

It was small at first just a chuckle then it grew until she threw back her head and gave vent to a full hysterical laugh that bordered on the psychotic.

“Aberrations, Mizuki, Aberrations They weren't aberration they were designs haha it's those freaks you call Irregulars those Hahaha those are the Aberrations”

Mizuki recoiled at this woman who he had called friend.

 

July 16^th 1945 the first atomic bomb was exploded in a test in the Nevada desert, the sight witnessed by the military and scientists of the Manhattan Project. It is said that as he witnessed the first detonation of a nuclear weapon on that, a piece of Hindu scripture ran through the mind of Robert Oppenheimer: “Now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds”. It has often be recounted that he actually said this. He did not. What he said was “It Worked!” The false quote is perhaps more appropriate as well as romantic, within a month, two more bombs would be detonated, this time over population centers in Japan.

 

The Irregulars entered the secure conference room of Irregular Solutions.Everyone of the Keys who made up the superpowered group was present both the originals and those recruited since. They had arrived one or two at a time, even Alex had portaled in from DC. Only Sean and Sara were absent, running late. Abel wasn't even sure Sara would be there after Jeane's outburst. He looked down at the bag of rocks she had given him with instructions to give to Jeane when he saw her. He looked up and made eye contact with the newest and youngest member of the team and wondered what that had been about. Regardless it was time to get started

[Jeane]

Jeane walked into the room like she was prepping for a fight, a scowl on her face and eyes narrowed. Her hair was still damp from the shower she had just gotten out of, hanging loose around her face. She was dressed in reds and whites, a T-shirt, sweatpants, and sneakers claimed from her closet in her purposeful haste to get here on time after losing track of it on the rim of the Grand Canyon.

At some point she had run out easy to strike boulder and resorted to lifting Sara the rock overhead and chucking her, eh, it off the side of the cliff to meet it's doom far below. Plopping her butt down by the edge of the cliff, Jeane drummed her heels on the rockface and stared out into the emptiness, breathing deeply to let the anger cool enough so that she could form emotions into ideas and ideas into plans. Rock dust covered hands rested on her knees, freezing as a thought breached the flow of molten thought, enough to threaten to make the volcano erupt again even as her lips shaped it into the open air.

"Wait a second. Where does she get off calling *us* accidents? The only reason she lost *and* got her powers back was because of accidents. If I was a shittier human being, she'd have never gotten them back at all. Accidents, my ass. Oh, she's going down."

The second she said those last words, she knew exactly how doomed she was. Just *one* of her friends, well, teammates based on how she was feeling right now had even partially rebutted Sara's venom to her face, and with an hour for her quantumly-charming friends to turn that poison into some kind of bullshit 'truth'... This was going to take work. And thought. And even then, she'd probably lose, but, damn it, she owed it to them to try. Paper. She needed paper. And pens. And signal for her phone. Sara wasn't going to win this. Not by default anyway.  

"Sara left this for you," Abel commented when she drew closer enough to be spoken to without shouting. She took a seat next to him, and he passed over the bag, prompting the scowl to mix with confusion long enough for her to open it up. What the..? Oh. Oooooh. That preening, smug bitch. Bring it on, Doctor Manhattan.  

Jeane was filled with determination.

"Thank you, Abel," she exhaled softly, closing the bag and forcing the anger into a hot, tight ball in her belly and looking around the table, "I see our local bi... Sara isn't here yet. I wrote a short speech and everything for when we do start. So what are the rules for this?" 

[Sean Cassidy]

Sean went inhumanly still, her heart skipping a beat, breath held, the fine hairs on the back of her neck rising. She could feel every individual particle of steam that touched her flesh, hear every drop of water hit the tile of the shower stall, smell the constituent components of soap and shampoo in the bathroom.

Sara wasn't there. There was only a fading hint of Sara's natural scent in the moist air, no trace of her clothes, no sense of her presence. Sean's lips parted as she exhaled, making the steam swirl and dance. Sara was gone. How? Why? Did she leave on her own or was she taken?

Turquoise eyes that had their own dedicated websites and had widened in disbelief narrowed as Sean focused on spectra beyond human reckoning. The only heat signatures were her own and those caused by water hot enough to scald a locked human in moments. No hint of Sara's unique quantum signature. Nothing disturbed or stressed the natural quantum fields that would suggest more forms of teleportation or generated Portals. No other signs or residue of other Key powers. The window was closed and there was no way she could have missed Sara flying away, no matter how fast she was going.

With a long, slim finger, Sean flicked open the AMP-glass shower door, more steam billowing out. Nothing should have been beyond her capability to perceive, but she had to look with her own eyes. The stall was empty, save for the pattering of water on the tile and steam. She frowned slightly, suspicion spiking. With Sara's revelations and the decision facing the Irregulars about future potential Keys and the ramifications thereof, now was not a time for Sara to go missing, willingly or unwillingly.

Sean reached in and swiped her arm through the generous shower stall, making several passes to cover the entire area, in case something was concealed from her senses that she could touch. Nothing, only her arm getting wet and her dawn-hued hair darkening to dusk with damp. She turned off the water then leaned against the shower door, feeling the dissipating heat radiating against her back.

"Sara?" Sean's melodious inquiry was answered only by echoes rebounding from the tiled walls.

<Sara?> she sent out mentally into the void.

Sean closed her eyes and breathed deep as she expanded her awareness of the holographic nature of reality, able to spread her senses throughout an ever growing amount of surrounding space. A kilometer, ten kilometers, a thousand, further, beyond the bounds of Earth, beyond the orbit of the Moon, searching for any hint of her friend, of her lover, of her love.

[Abel Cross]

Abel had spent the hour alone, his office locked, trying to go through best and worst case scenarios given the information he had.   Still there was so little to work with, and he was annoyed.   Still he worked through the scenarios, theories and vague hypotheses he'd brought together regarding what was best for them all going forward, all the while, he'd had the bag on the table.   Once it was nearly time, he'd gone to the meeting he called, and he handed the rocks to Jeane, noting the change in her demeanor.  Well damn, we've yet to start, and she's already mad again.  

Noting that not everyone was there, he nodded.  "No real rules, save the one that's always existed at our gatherings, whether they were at the gaming table, or anywhere else."   He smiled, as if remembering a happy memory.  "Don't be a Dick, and show others the courtesy you wish to be shown.   I think we should wait for everyone, and I had some refreshments brought in, so help yourselves.  When Sean and Sarah show up, We can begin."

Over his private link to Sean,  Abel's voice called out to the wayward beauty.   <Sean, is everything alright?>    It was odd for Sean to be late, even with Sarah was involved, and he knew it had to be important as Sean hadn't contacted him to let him now.

[Jeane]

Jeane waited. A minute, maybe two, much as it grated on her nerves when Sara caused the whole problem in the first place, so whatever was causing the delay was either very important or very personal. She could see it being either way. Still. Rude much.

"Guess she has better things to do then be here or answer her calls. Anyone else want to get started already? We can always catch them up later if they aren't listening in already to make a better entrance," the tall blonde chuckled grimly, sucking in a deep breath to swallow the bile Sara's little 'gift' continued to inspire in her. God, she hated bullies and manipulators. Nervousness bloomed in the false smile as she squared her shoulders and met the gaze of the others, very much aware of her lack of seniority in this gathering. She hadn't even met the one with the wings... Okay. Just jump.

"Like I said. Made a speech and everything, so I'm willing to speak first to get the ball rolling... This is important, after all." 

[Sean Cassidy]

She searched Tahiti where Pandora and Apollo had trained Devin and others, had taken at look at Devin's old place in California he had made a base for his secret operation, but found no sign of Sara. She passed her Far Sight over an remote island in Fiji she had shared with Sara, a place in Malaysia, Paris, across Germany and Eastern Europe and other places she had visited with her girlfriend. No sight of her bold face, no sound of her sarcastic, slightly raspy voice.

Her Mind's Eye was roved over the dark side of the Moon as she focused striving for Mars, when the mental reply finally caught up to her far ranging consciousness.  Unfortunately, it wasn't who she wanted it to be. Her distance body sighed in frustration, a hand brushing back damp hair.

<No, it isn't, Abel,> Sean answered curtly, the tight reins on her mental communication giving Abel no other indication of her thoughts. She pulled back, her senses snapping to Irregular Solutions with impossible speed, catching Jeane's comment.

<In fact, I did have something better to do,> Sean told Jeane over a private channel, her mental tone icy cold. <And it isn't to make a 'better entrance' to lend more weight to my or her opinion on this very serious matter.>

Sean stood up on the bathroom, quickly drying off her arm and brushing back to her hair, anchoring her senses back in her body, her mental voice back on general guild chat so that all the Irregulars could hear. <Sorry for being late, guys, just climbing into Little Bigfoot now. I'll be there in a few. Sara's missing, gone. I can't find her, and I don't know if she went willingly or was taken.>

Sean put the Cherokee/Challenger hybrid into gear, the electric engine humming softly, then drove for Irregular Solutions at twice the speed limit, but with control as smooth as though she were out for an evening stroll. Sara's absence was too much to be coincidence.

[Abel Cross]

Abel sighed.  Good freaking lord,  he thought inwardly, this was just what they needed.  He reached out globally with his telepathy, and shook his head.  <Sean, I'm not getting a return mentally from her anywhere on Earth.  The link's closed too of course.  I assume you couldn't find her either.>

He cast a look over to Jeane, and spoke.  "Whatever you're feeling towards Sarah personally, Stow it.   We're here to talk as equals,  about something that could effect everyone earth eventually.  Let's at least be civil.   I know we all have our issues,  but we have to work together, or this isn't going to go anywhere, and the next time we try to talk about this, it will likely be far too late."

His look softened abit after that, and he looked to her. "Now, if you want to get started, then go ahead, but remember, we will hear both sides of this, and decide together how best to move forward."

[Jeane]

Listening to news of Sara's disappearance, there wasn't a whole lot of doubt that the other Key's absence was either something she caused or took advantage of to help shove them all into making the 'right choice'. On the very very very off chance she was wrong and Sara was *in trouble* instead of *being the trouble* though... She'd be among first to volunteer to kick in a door to go rescue her. Adjourn the meeting then and there.  Jeane wanted to prove Sara wrong, not put her in a box, after all, not after the rock. What would that prove? 

This dark monologue of thought played out as a quick flicker of expression as she 'stowed it' deep in her belly with the other anger, emotion put to work as she fished a much-abused sheet of paper from a pocket, angry scribblings and crossed out lines of text. She stood up with a determined expression, a nod of gratitude to Abel before she started speaking, glancing down at her notes from time to time.

"I'm not going to go over Sara's surprise reveal again, and I'm sure our big brains have more facts off hand about how or how not more Keys unlocking then I could look up in an hour. No, I'm bringing it down to the point of view of an 'accidental Key', the practical rights and wrongs of what Sara proposes from my eyes and maybe a few of my fellow accidents. After I calmed down, it took me a bit to start thinking about all this in terms of keys vs normals, not keys with normals for the first time since meeting you all. My parents would call you good influences."

Her smile ever-so-briefly reached her eyes before determination refroze them, "No matter what Sara says, we, both as keys AND human beings deserve a place in this world. We have done nothing so wrong so as to deserve extinction just so her perfect, flawless psychics can inherit a world we're helping to build alongside the rest of the human race. We don't have to be a phase. We can be a foundation. Just because we're the first keys, doesn't mean we'll be the best keys forever. Someone who unlocks tomorrow could, and probably will, have a better solution for tomorrow's problems than anyone in this room right now. In fact, I hope we're the absolute *worst keys ever* as the next generation takes what we build and builds on that before passing that legacy onto the next generation. And so on and so on and so on."

The tall blonde made her point by leaning over the table and stabbing it with a finger in time to her last point before straightening again.

"Because, no matter how strong our nodes might make us, we're not gods. Keys are going to die, quit the good fight, or wander off. There are going to have to be more unlockings if we're going to stay a part of the human story. And if we stop all unlockings, that's just slow suici... voluntary extinction." 

She paused, catching her mental balance before sweeping the table with her eyes, anger flashing as she reached the climax of her speech, "End of the day, no matter what facts the rest of you use to justify killing ourselves off to yourselves, I'm going to have a real hard time fighting for a world that doesn't have room for me and mine. Part of who I am is being a Key now, and I won't be able to look another Key in the face and ask them to risk their lives for a humanity that can't fit them just when we're reaching out to the galaxy. Now *that's* crazy to me, but that falls under facts, and I said I'd leave the facts to our big brains. So I'm done. For now."

She plopped back down in her chair, notes clenched in one fist, reining herself back in. 

[Lilly Pryor]

Lilly was a little unsure what this whole big meeting thing was about. For her though, she figured it was par for the course. She already had a dozen other problems to deal with, so what's the big deal about one more? She was pleased to see Alec though, they were pretty close, and comprised the Quarterback/Wide Receiver duo that brought home Shelly's first State Championship in 'Boys' Football. He had been busy though, putting his healing gifts to use at John Hopkins' and protecting Washington D.C. in general. Lilly would see him from time to time when she would visit the hospital to share her healing gift as well, and just help boost moral for the convalescing. Still though, it had been a while, too long really, and she was glad to see her friend, and one of the founding Irregulars, again.

After catching up with Alec for a minute and greeting others, she took a seat, smiling, waving and shaking hands with some of the other KEYs she barely knew or did not know at all. She thought it was odd, and probably not a good idea to have so many KEYs in such a confined space. Part of her screamed 'Trap!' or 'Set up!' or several other things, but was confident that Abel had already thought of that long before her. Still though, she kept her guard up and senses sharp, in case her highly unlikely suspicions ended up to be true.

Lilly sat back in her chair and listened to Jeane when she began speaking, trying to take in what she was saying, while attempting to make heads or tails of it at the same time. There was obviously something that she, and probably other, were missing. From the sounds of it, some prior discussion that, for some reason, she was not invited to, but Jeane was? That was weird.

Lill pulled her long, dark hair back and put it up into a high pony before raising her hand to get the attention of the other, and leaning forward a bit, looking to Jeane.

"Okay. I'll just come on out and say what, I am sure, many of us are thinking." Lilly said confidently before continuing,

"Huh?? Sara''s big revelation? Voluntary extinction? Sara's psychics? What the hell are you talking about? What is this," she said, motioning around the table and room at the meeting of so many KEYs, "..about?" she asked with a confused look on her face.

 

[Abel Cross]

Abel sighed at Jeane's plea, it was definitely putting the cart before the horse, but it was done.   "Alright, since I know several of you at least are totally lost, I am going to share my own memories with you of what was said, in its entirety.   From there, you can come to your own conclusions."  

It was rare that Abel actually opened his own mind to guildchat fully, but he did so now.   He'd already partitioned off the corner of his mind containing the memory of the conversation, and he effectively showed them the way to it, allowing everyone to experience the whole conversation through his senses.   For Mariah and James, this was the first time they'd been part of something like this, and they both smiled at him.   

After several minutes, he picked up the conversation.    "What I can say is these Psychics already exist, and until they actually use their powers, they are completely unidentifiable as such, even to those of us with exceptional ability detecting such things.  According to Sara, I was probably coming into my own natural psychic abilities before Unlocking, which, given what we know of the unlocking process, became the template my subconscious used for my development as a Key.

"While being a Key shows no signs of being genetic, being Psychic could be, and would support some of what Sara has said.   My younger sisters, now that I've looked at everything objectively, are not Keys, but this other type, they are natural psychics.  What I mistook as them unlocking, was actually the effects of their abilities interacting with my own mental defenses, which I've upgraded considerably.   I imagine you've all got some questions now, though without Sara here to explain everything she's seen, and fill in things with further information, We have only what I've shown you to go on."   

He looked imperceptibly at Sean, who he knew could feel herself being looked at, as if to question if she'd found anything more about any of this.   His own efforts were inconclusive, and he didn't want to put it forward unless he heard nothing else.

[Kia Mizuki]

"I'm still kind of unclear on this," Kia mentioned, starting to raise her hand like she was still in class. "I think I get what you're saying about Keys not being natural and all that, but I'm not sure what we're supposed to do about it. It's not like anyone's intentionally making people unlock. It just happens."

[Sean Cassidy]

Sean arched an elegant dark red brow at Kia. "No one's intentionally making people unlock? Kyle and the brain in jar that was found at that naval Black Op would indicate otherwise, Kia. It doesn't 'just happen' though the great many factors involved may make it seem like it does. And one of the major factors may need to be reevaluated. We were operating under the impression that exposure to certain exotic particles, quantrinos, was a critical component to the unlocking of Keys, but that is now suspect with the detainment of Dr. Rashoud, who seems to have been part of a conspiracy with - and without - Project Stepping Stone and Guardian Shield."

Her long fingers danced gracefully over the glossy black block of advanced smartphone, projecting a holographic display of images of the items they had confiscated from Fort Story - and that had been turned over to the government - and a counting showing how much of the data had been decrypted. "We still have to go over the stuff we got from Fort Story . As for what we can do about future potential Keys, that is yet to be determined until we look more closely at what causes unlocking and how. We've designed the new Portal systems so they no longer emit gratuitous quantrinos, if that is indeed a factor. The info gleaned from Fort Story may provide us with more insight. If proximity to unlocked Keys is a factor..."

Sean frowned, chewing a delectable underlip. "There will be two main branches of inquiry in curtailing the unlocking of future Keys." She tapped the tapped with a forefinger, the sound surprisingly sonorous and intense. "One, finding out what environmental factors cause Unlocking and removing or negating said factors." Her middle finger joined her index finger as she tapped the table again. "And two, determine a way to make the rest of humanity largely unresponsive to said environmental factors, or at least make unlocking less appealing when exposed to said factors."

Sean held up a restraining hand as Jeane was about to voice her protest. "Yes, yes, if we so choose to curtail the unlocking of future Keys. However, I would like to add that planned obsolescence of Keys had always been a goal of mine. I've been trying to provide humanity with the tools and wherewithal to succeed and thrive without the need for Keys. Humanity's fate shouldn't be determined by a percent of a percent - less actually. Which isn't to say we can't help, we have and we should. We're still part of humanity, even if calling us human isn't precisely correct anymore. But we aren't a true representation of humanity."

There were murmurs of disagreement and Sean's lips tightened. "I know, it's not something we like to think about, to admit, but it's true. I'm not saying we don't sympathize or can't empathize - dorming for some might strengthen the bonds - but consider.... how many of us, here, actually still need to eat and breathe? They're very basic human needs. I still do, but if anything, I'm in the minority. And that is just one way we differ that has nothing to do with superhuman capabilities we possess. Do I have to continue the list?"

Sean seemed calmed and collected despite her girlfriend gone missing but those who knew her very well could just barely detect a faint stiffness to her posture through her inhuman grace. It wasn't that she wasn't concerned for Sara, Sara had come back from long odds, but not knowing where she'd gone, or how, was eating at her. But she wasn't going to let it influence what she wanted to say.

Her gaze fell on the satchel in front of Jeane, her turquoise eyes narrowing on the splintered shards of rock spilling from it. She recalled Sara handing the bag over to Abel. With her superhuman ability to interpolate and extrapolate facts and deduce connections, she could practically see Jeane shattering the stones with her fists in frustration. Stress and anger Jeane still felt and barely suppressed.

"I'd like to expand on a point Abel and Jeane brought it, if I may? Unlocking not only doesn't change us on a genetic level, despite any physical alterations we may have undergone." Her lips quirked wryly as she glanced down at herself then arched a brow at Jeane, the two of them having changed the most physically, at a casual glance. "It doesn't effect the germline cells. Meaning, being a Key isn't hereditary. There is no guarantee any of our offspring will unlock as a Key. They likely wouldn't even have a greater chance of it occurring. And they wouldn't inherit any of our quantically enhanced attributes or abilities. There will be no second generation, no legacy of Keys, only a perpetual first generation, if things continue as they have."

Sean focused on her attention on Jeane. If her silken melodious voice was intense, there was no hint of anger in it, though she was trying to get her own point of view across. "You are pissed at being called an accident, right, Jeane? Would you prefer thinking of it as winning the lottery? Nobody is entitled to the powers we have, not even 'the originals'. Those deserving or worthy - however that is determined - aren't any more likely to unlock. In fact, they are less likely, if we presume they make up a smaller proportion of population. And those who are more like to abuse their powers, accidentally or unthinkingly, selfishly or actively disruptive and destructive..."

Sean gestured at the unusually tall blond girl across from her. "You're a year or two younger than most of us, Jeane. You've been a Key for less than half the time, and already, by general metrics, you're as powerful as any us. By you own admission, you've said we've been a positive influence. And yet, when Sara said something you took issue with, what did you do? You ran - no, you teleported away and smashed rocks with your fists."

She nodded pointedly at the bag of rocks in front of Jeane. "Which doesn't mean I think that is an unwarranted response. But what about other Keys? Then tens, the hundreds, that try to keep their powers underwraps, and don't have a positive influence, let alone have been exposed to truly negative ones? We won't find them all, and of the ones we do find, they won't necessarily want our help. What can someone as strong as Lilly do in a fit of pique if say, she was slapped by a parent or teased by a sibling or classmate. What chaos can someone with Abel's turbocharged psychic abilities cause just because he tried to force his divorced parents back together, then just wanted his older brother to stop beating him up, then wanted his grandparents to give him better and more Christmas presents, and then and then and... Someone with my or Courtney's social... dynamism can cause any number of issues, and that is without even trying.

I compared it to winning a lottery, but it's more than that. It's too much power too quickly that humanity isn't ready for. If ever, at least, not this way. Look, Jean, have you ever taken PED, performance enhancing drugs, before?"

Jeane's fair brows knitted in quizzical affront. "No, of course not?"

"Why not?" Sean countered smoothly. "Used smartly and with consideration, they would have objectively made you a better athlete, stronger, faster, able to exercise harder and for longer. Unlocking... it's just giving a random person a super dose of quantum steroids. Some will handle it fine, even admirably, but most won't, regardless of what we do. And if we try to force the issue, keep all Keys in line, how different will that make us from the Titans? More nukes aren't a deterrent to more nukes, its just more chance of something going wrong."

Sean sat back in her chair, eyes going around the table. "I'm not just agreeing with my girlfriend. This is just how I see the issue, reflecting on the revelations Sara voiced and extrapolating from trends I can see."

[Lilly Pryor]

"We, and the quantum tech they've invented, all put out radiation or whatever that unlocks KEYs. The more KEYs there are the more quantum Tech there is is, the faster more and more will unlack, which just accelerates it ever more, making it increase at an exponential rate or whatever." Lilly sighed.

She looked at the expression on Kia's face and blinked.

"What? I did get a B in Trig, Kia." she reminded her friend, giving her a playful jab with her elbow.

"So anyways, " she said, bringing her focus back to the matter at hand, "...if we want to stop or slow the rate, then first, big, relatively easy step would be dealing with the quantum tech."

"This is supposing, of course, that Sara is right about what's she saying, of, which we have probably little or no idea of verifying. I mean, she's my friends, so I am inclined to give her the benefit of the doubt, but this is pretty major, not, like, if a movie was good or not." she added.

"I've thought about this, us, some here and there though. And the fact is, we're not natural. We didn't evolve to be this. We, the originals, were doused with the radiation from the portal tech and it triggered these changes. We didn't evolve to be this, we were artificially created. Everybody else was doused with ration for us, Q-tech, portals or whatever. If Abel and his sisters were already latent psychics before we were unlocked, then it's waaaay more likely that evolution got them there, not some accident, like us. That does kind of make the case for them being the one to 'inherit the Earth', so to speak. I mean, yeah, KEYs are all badass and whatever, but we could be stunting, or cutting short humanity;s natural evolution."

[Jeane]

Jeane had once compared being remanded by Sean to a bite on the ear with the threat of the ear being torn off. This time there was no threat, no warning, just a sharp, swift emotional pain as the honeyed words tore into her, golden charisma flowing in like a torrent to drown her fire with ashy water, cruel logic trapping her in words and forbidding her from speaking in her own defense and the defense of all the others who could follow the Irregulars, all the others who couldn't speak and never would because Sean had a goal of *planned obsolesce* for the Keys if she had her way. If Sara and her 'natural evolution' had their way.

She clung to those two pairs of words letting the outrage keep the faintest embers of defiance going amidst the tempest and emotional beatdown, nursing them back to life as Lilly said more poisonous words that meant nothing. The tall blonde stared down at the table, thinking at a mile a minute in blind circles. She could try..? No. How about..? No. Surely they'd..? Ha. What if..? No. She wasn't strong enough or smart enough or old enough, or even just plain *pretty* enough to reach Sean. And Sean would turn all the others, not that they needed turning by their damning silence of non-support. 

Her jaw worked briefly as that glow of resentment grew in the ashen ruin of her hopes and dreams, burying itself deep. 

Jeane felt like she spitting out a mouthful ashes as she looked back up at the others, voice fragile, "When you build your system to make us stop being a thing, do you think you could tweak it so that we get a few new Keys every once in a while? You never know. The psychics could use the help protecting the human race." 

 

[Charlie Cole]

"You know, we're making a lot of assumptions." Charlie finally said. "Assuming Sara is right, assuming our tech is causing this. Right now, we have far more questions to answer before we can make any ethical debate or argument about the future of humanity." Jeane was getting more worked up and Charlie was trying to be the peacemaker, the same as he'd tried with Tease. "I think right now we're missing some more current answers: why did Dr. Rashoud do this? My understanding was that she was essentially a sane person."

[Abel Cross]

Abel had listened intently as the Irregulars spoke, and looked to Charlie once he'd finished.  "We will never know, now.   The government has locked her away behind an impressive amount of shielding.   I can of course get through it, but I'd need to be close by, and you can bet they are watching for just that.  So that's gonna be a no-go for now, I'm not ready to go against the government proper."

He looked to Sean, "Do you remember when Devin unlocked, how Hooli reacted to it when he found out?  He was utterly surprised, and straight said this wasn't supposed to happen.  More than that, has he actually appeared to anyone recently?"   He looked to Lilly, mostly because the bear was technically hers.

"He had alot to say early on but nothing now."

 

He looked at the others gathered there.  "Keys are not bad, and I don't feel that any Keys who unlock are a mistake.  We do need to understand what makes people unlock as Keys, whatever else we decide.   We don't have Rashoud, so we're going to have to handle all of this ourselves.   I don't really know that the government is going to keep cooperating either if we're being totally honest.  If they can make their own keys, they will, especially so long as they feel they can fully control them."

He looked at Jeane, "And that, Forcing keys to unlock to be used as tools, is the sort of thing that worries me more.  That is the Unlocking we need to look at stopping most."

[WS ST]

INTERLUDE

 

After the Trinity test, the army took complete control of the bombs and the Manhattan Project was history. The scientists were of course sworn to secrecy and sent on their way. One such group of scientists, who had been instrumental in the very first splitting of the atom in Chicago returned to that lab to continue work. Fermi had been convinced that the bomb would spark a chain reaction that would cascade and ignite the atmosphere at the Trinity test site. There had been many heated arguments leading up to the tests, he and his work group produced the calculations and shared the theories supporting their belief but the test had gone ahead. Fermi and his group were astonished that their calculations could have been so wrong. It was with this in mind that they returned to Chicago and began to unravel a mystery only they could see.

 

Somewhere in Roseland, Chicago

Marcus White was furious at Mr Taylor, at a shitty company which paid as little as it could and at himself for not controlling his own emotions. He looked at the pink slip sitting on the seat of his old ford how the hell was he going to tell his mom that he lost his job.  Marcus was a 21 year old drop out he had run with the gangs as a youth but had gotten out, unfortunately his little brother hadn't and now the little shit was in trouble. He had asked for a couple of days off to sort his brother and Taylor that fuck, had said no, and when Marcus insisted had fired him. Racist prick.

Marcus stopped the car. he was at one of the hangouts where the gang he had belonged to made their crib. Where his little brother had called him said he was in deep shit.

He felt the eyes on him as he got out saw the gangbangers knew that there were a lot of guns and even if they weren't pointing at him knew that they could be in less than a second. He went inside. Words were exchanged and they brought him into a big room. It had once been a  couple of apartments but walls had been knocked down to make one large space. There were about ten guys Most of them Black but a couple of Latinos too. Ty "The Ace" Seams was there he was the leader of the gang. A skinny black kid, a drop out of course but tough and vicious. "Well well, Marcus what  you doing here Bro."

"I come for my brother, Ty. That's all just let me have him and we'll be gone." He was feeling hot even though the room was cold. He was angry his head hurt like hell and he really didn't need this shit not right now.

"I don't know Marcus, your brother and his fucked up friends have opened a fucking can of worms with their shitty little crash and grab. His friends are fucking on ice  and your brother the little bitch didn't have the guts to stick with them. Come around her with some lame ass sory about some fat cunt beating my boys to death. Some fat bitch beating MY boys to death with her bare fucking hands. So now we got the cops all up our asses and we got the other gangs all up our asses cause the cops are up their asses,  that is fucking up business." He makes a gesture and a couple of guys drag and young black man into the room. Marcus's brother. He's been beat to shit.

Marcus' blood is pounding burning in his veins all he wants is to take his brother and get home.

The gangbangers nearest to Marcus notice smoke coming off his clothes. They step back.

"You know what Marcus, I don't want the little pussy anymore," He pulls out a pistol and shots the boy in the head. "you can have him."

Marcus hears screaming but his blood is on fire.

Soon everything is on fire.

 

The chain reaction should have produced a greater amount of energy, it should have been enough to begin fusion reaction with the localized hydrogen which should have created the “atmospheric fireball” his group had predicted. Every calculation had been done a hundred times checked and rechecked, the Trinity bomb should have produced a yield nearly ten time what was observed. Even Oppenheimer had commented about how could they have been so off on the calculations for the yield. The Chicago group didn't believe that the calculations had been wrong, after all the calculations that led to the explosion had been correct otherwise the bomb would not have worked at all. Something was off and they intended to find that missing energy.

 

A SECRET SECURE FEDERAL PRISON

LOCATED IN THE MIDWESTERN UNITED STATES

Jiro Mizuki Shook his head “Anhera what happened to you?”

Reshoud stopped laughing and sucked on the cigarette.

“I don't know Jiro, I got caught up in it. And when the Irregulars happened. It just threw a wrench into what had been years of painstaking careful work. Work which would have changed the world put an end to hunger, poverty, war. But your daughter and her friends jeopardized all of that. We had to protect ourselves. We had to have weapons of our own.”

Spoiler

 thread is unlocked you may post again

 

[Jeane]

Charlie earned the very briefest of grateful smiles from the towering blond before her muted funk rolled back in. He was basically her favorite person right now, only person to question Sara's prophecy of doom.

"So aside from one of us sacrificing ourselves in a suicide run as another 'renegade key with a grudge' with you using our brains as a relay to get close enough to strip Rashoud of every fact she knows about this conspiracy that has you so worried, what can the rest of us do while you and Sean lock yourselves in a lab to 'fix this', Abel? Because I'm obviously too stupid for the 'have good ideas' club you have going here. Just give me somewhere to run, and I'll be out of your hair while you decide how to end us."

She rolled her eyes, huffing tiredly, "And before anyone else jumps down my throat, that first idea was sarcasm." 

[Kia Mizuki]

"Hey."

Kia's voice was gentle, sympathetic. She'd come over to sit down beside Jeane.

"It's okay. We're going to be fine. From the sound of things, the danger isn't a handful of Keys like us...it's the idea that there could be thousands and thousands of them. Right now it's all too random. Even if the Keys who are 'good' can keep the ones who are 'bad' policed...sooner or later there's a chance we'll all get so strong that we wipe everyone out even if we don't mean to. And the more of us there are, the bigger the chance that'll happen."

She looked back at the others for a second, then at Jeane.

"None of it's about you or me or anyone in this room, or anyone in particular. It's about what happens years from now."

[Jeane]

That was almost enough to spin Jeane up again, make her want to try one more time, but a glimpse of Sean from the corner of her eye as the tall blonde's mouth opened drowned the impulse again. Anything she could say was a waste of time, her beliefs like paper walls before a flamethrower. Useless and embarrassing like a small child trying to pin a professional wrestler. She should have known better than to hope that more of the Irregulars would have faith in their ability to cope with this and just how many Keys were going to die when the Titans came. Not even worth mentioning.

"...This is all going to end in tears, ya know? And the blood will be on my hands, too, for keeping this secret of ours. Do what you want, guys. All I can do is abstain from voting. If you need me, my phone will be on. Try not to need me in the next few days, okay?" 

With that final, bitter statement of disappoint, Jeane reverted to what she did best when things went wrong: she ran. Or in this case, teleported out of her chair with a crackle of lightning before anyone else shat on her argument. Alone in the fog between worlds, a bodiless mote of awareness, she simply existed, too burned out to care which keyhole she reached for. Nowhere she wanted to go really. And she could reach anywhere. Up. Down. Left. Right. Forward. Back. A peculiar sensation hummed in her nonexistent head as she idly poked the 'world' around 'her', a feeling of 'Inward'. Feeling self-indulgent after this incredibly shitty day, Jeane mentally shrugged and dove into the rabbit hole.

And the world turned upside down.

Spoiler

Interdimensional Teleport, yo. Jeane Out.

 

[Abel Cross]

Abel scowled.  "Goddammit."   He was annoyed now, not just with Jeane's departure, but with himself too.  He should have known this was likely to happen, hell he'd expected Jeane and Sara to come to blows at some point.   Still the flash of irritation passed quickly, and his face returned to a neutral mask, the same a few could recognize when he throttled his emotions back to minute levels.

"Are we really ready to do this, to ensure that there are no further Keys that unlock?  How far are each of you ready to go?  Are we sure that this is the path we need to be walking?"   His voice lacked any emotion, any hint of the persuasiveness he could back it with, if anything he wanted to hear what his friends really thought, and how far they felt they could go.   

 

[Lilly Pryor]

"Seriously, dude. Did you honestly expect this to go different?" Lilly asked Abel with almost a chuckle.

"It is going to take a lot more than one meeting to resolve this. And for the record, I have not heard from Hooli is quite some time."

Lilly leaned forward, resting her elbows and palms flat on the table.

"Look this is what I suggest. First, we can do some 'passive' things for the moment to at least slow things a bit and not raise a bunch of alarms which will give us some more time to talk it out and think it though. For example, you can slow the introduction of your quantum tech dramatically, I am sure. There's prolly something else we could do. I don't know."

"Second, we need to ask Sara, or at least figure out, where she is getting this information from. She's an Irregular, and a Founding member at that, so of course I will give her the benefit of the doubt for the time being, but some more info on something this major would be good."

"Third, we, crunch the data to see if what Sara said is panning out. Are more and more unlocking at some exponential rate or something?"

"Fourth, maybe we do talk to Rashoud?"

"Fifth, maybe we talk to Apollo?"

"Any other ideas?"

[Sean Cassidy]

Sean's eyes widened as Jeane disappeared in a flash and crack of red lightning. She'd seen the twist and fluctuation in the quantum field before when someone teleported - Devin, James, another two. This was different. Not in intensity - Devin's capabilities were much stronger - but in kind. The fluctuations had turned in on themselves, almost the energetic analogy to a mobius strip. Hmm...

Her lips tightened in frustration. End us? Sean had no intention of ending Jeane, or any of the Irregulars. Or even any other Key that didn't mean her or hers any harm, or who didn't pose a critical threat to the world at large. But Jeane kept thinking of Keys as a species - perhaps a subspecies - when that was a fallacy. They were anomalies. Curtailing the advent of more Keys didn't mean the current ones and the ones that unlocked in the meantime couldn't contribute to the progress of Earth and humanity.

Sean gave her head a small, tight shake. "Nothing says the options we end up having in life are going to include good ones, Abel. Sometimes it just degrees of less bad. If Keys continue unlocking, we'll soon come to a point of us and them. Many, most will want to become a Key. Many will try to make them. The conspiracy Rashoud is part of was able to manage it, however imperfectly, with the Brain-in-a-jar and Kyle. Resentment will grow, and conflict will follow, despite best intentions."

Her perfect lips curved in a half smile. "And best intentions don't always abound. We could go the other, and try to unlock everyone, put them on an equal footing, as it were. But think of the worse, most despicable person you can imagine... and now give him power equal to ours. Give a hundred, a thousand people like him the same, and honestly consider if we'd even approach breaking even with everyone unlocked - presuming we could manage such a feat - with such as they in our midst."

Sean nodded at Lilly. "Agreed, this isn't something we can deal with in a day. Talking to Apollo is an option, one that we should follow up on, if only to cover our bases. Assuming he and Pandora hadn't lied about everything, I'm not sure how much help he can provide however. Our society and how humanity manifests and channels these quantum powers are very different."

She waved a hand at Charlie, one finger extended. "Of us, I believe you've had the most contact with him, Charlie. Would you be willing to talk with him, if he's willing to talk?" Giving Charlie a moment to answer, she nodded then turned back to Lilly, extending a second finger. "As for Rashoud... I've been trying, gently to speak with her. But the Government is keeping her sequestered and unavailable." Devastating turquoise eyes glittered, her compelling voice took on a hint of an edge, her faint grin an enticing challenge. "I may have to press the issue."

A third finger joined the first two. "Data we have, we recovered a fair bit of from Fort Story, we just have to finish decrypting it. And I assure you, it is a priority. And I've detailing a pack of Proxy programs to start collecting any articles, news stories, and social media feeds that involve or hint at Keys. I'll also start skimming more classified databases and if I find any good leads, share them with you guys, to follow up on."

Her expression became almost circumspectly neutral as tapped the table with four fingers, carefully blank of any concern or worry. "Speaking with Sara, yeah... that's going to have to wait until she finds her way back from wherever she is, or I can find her." The faintest frown crossed her lips, gone in less than a blink. It had been minutes, and already, she had searched for Sara deeper and further than most could comprehend. "I don't believe someone has taken her against her will, or could - not now, not without any sort of trace - but that doesn't mean someone  or something - Hooli for example -" Sean tilted her head at Lilly, acknowledging her earlier comment, "couldn't've persuaded or tricked her to remain absent for some reason. I'm going to look into it of course, but I'll admit, at the moment, I'm at a lost."

Her smile turned wry and she waved a dismissive hand. "I hardly think the tech Abel and I have introduced have contributed to any increase in emergence of unlocked Keys. The vast majority work on already established scientific principles, even if only - once - theoretical." The waggled her fingers playfully. "No quantum chicanery involved. But I'll give anything we have produced another look in light of these developments and will carefully review anything develop in the future."

Sean leaned back in her chair, folding her arms beneath her breasts. "At the moment however, I think our best bet, for a starting point at least, it with the files from the Black Project. From what we've managed to decipher and piece together so far, seems like they've been looking at Keys, or the potential for them, for decades." She pursed her lips and cocked her head to the side. "Lilly, perhaps you could talk to your father? Working for Stepping Stone and Guardian Shield, and then... situation with Devin, perhaps he learned or heard something of conspiracy. Or might be able to pull some strings to get us access to Rashoud."

[Kia Mizuki]

"I can talk to my dad," Kia volunteered. "He worked some with her, even if he wasn't in on it from the start. But I think we've really gotta work on the message here? Because Jeane isn't the only one who's going to misunderstand us. We could wind up turning all the new Keys against us if we're not careful, and that won't make anyone's lives easier. I like Lilly's plan. Lets get our act together and think this through, and figure out what we want and how to get other people to understand and THEN go public with it."

"The last message we want to send is 'keys are dangerous and bad, so lets throw them out or get rid of them...or whatever.'"

[Jeane]

A PLACE CLOSER THAN THOUGHT YET FARTHER THAN THE STARS

Jeane didn't know where she was, but this was not Shelly, Montana. Nor was she inside the Irregulars HQ. Not quite. It smelled like a swamp, thick mold clinging to everything and staining her clothing, skin, and hair with rancid, sooty slime. She couldn't quite bring herself to care though. Half-formed thoughts of hate and disgust and fear whirled around her head, too tangled to resolve into anything coherent. The tall blonde was slumped against one wall of the empty mock-conference room, fighting off the nausea left over by her transition to wherever this was and sucking in air. Her face scrunched up as she fought the urge to scream and cry and throw herself into blind motion, somewhere, anywhere. What good had that done her before? Zero. Less than zero.

She had managed to come up with precisely three realizations worth speaking aloud since coming here.

Number one, why tell them now? Unless she was very wrong, there were enough Keys now to kill the Titans but not enough that they'd survive the war in viable numbers. The perfect fall guys to ensure the psions inherited the Earth after the Keys killed themselves off protecting whatever large or small corner of the world they felt worth protecting or got thrown away like the disposable weapons Sara and her new allies saw them as when 'their job was done'.

Number two, Sara had snuck in to see Abel before the meeting and delivered the bag of rock chips to him. Whatever else they had discussed there, Jeane couldn't guess without spiraling into nakedly paranoid thoughts, but the fact he hadn't mentioned it to the group when Sara's absence was brought up? Ha. She could recognize a con after the fact. A con in which she was a sucker. Who knows? Maybe the whole *actual* point of the meeting was to see how to sell the slow genocide to 'Accidental Keys' like her. Mission success there. Just lock them in a room with Sean for 30 seconds. Done.

Number Three, heroes didn't do shit like that. So what did that make her if she worked with bullies who'd do that to her? A damned fool, that's what, the kind who deserved to be abused if she went back like a kicked dog begging for affection. And yet, what choice did she have? No doubt they'd chase her down under the guise of 'concern' for her, maybe even honest concern from the ones not in on Sara and Abel's trick. How could she even tell the difference?

Jeane tilted her head and stared up at the crumbling ceiling, tears starting to trail down her face, voice redolent with bitter resignation, "All right, Sara. I know you're listening. You win. We lose. Congratulations."   

[WS ST]

Interlude

The scientists worked but never quite found the holy grail they were after and all the while the governments and the militaries of the world kept building their stockpiles of Nuclear weapons Kept testing them. The Americans exploded a 25 megaton bomb which the Soviets had to answer. They detonated a 50 megaton bomb. Things were getting out of hand.

Bombs, bombers, submarines, ICBM.

MAD mutual assured destruction.

Then they discovered what would one day be called Quantum Enhanced Humans

People with powers

Super Powers

Persons of Mass Destruction.

KEYS

The focus shifted

[Abel Cross]

Charlie nodded once.  "I'll talk to him."   It was clear he didn't exactly relish the idea, but there was a point.  

With everyone settling on what they'd do in the immediate future, Abel nodded once.  "Alright then, I think we should stop here, and once we actually have a grasp of things we can revisit this.  I just wanted everyone to hear about this, as it came up during something that initially wasn't going to include everyone."

He looked to James and Mariah, who'd been mostly quiet, and they both nodded.  "I still believe what I told you, and I will do all I can to bring about what I promised."   They both took one of his hands and didn't speak.  He knew what they felt, and nodded as they left for the night.   They'd stay, but this was harder on them than others.   Once they were gone, Abel let out another sigh.  "Dammit."  He felt like a failure, because he hadn't really been able to reassure them, that he felt he'd not worked hard enough to find a answer, good or bad.

[Jeane]

A PLACE CLOSER THAN THOUGHT YET FARTHER THAN THE STARS

"I love you guys so much. Here *I am* having the shittest of shitty days, and here *you are* giving me an excuse to vent. Violently," Jeane intoned with a grin that bordered on the murderous, one hand dropping to her side and birthing an axe forged from scarlet lightning, her feet shifting in preparation to dodge away from an attack or lunge into her own, "One chance: step away from that sample or I use this to take some of it and part of one of you."

The quartet of monsters facing the tall blonde replied by crouching protectively over the dead merman they had already half-devoured and spreading their finger-like mouthparts wide, sparks spitting from their talons and teeth. Take a spider, fuse it with a human hand, and bloat it up to the size of a German Shepard and you'd get the eyeless horrors facing Jeane down. She'd finally had enough wallowing and started exploring the building when the sound of something messily dying amid triumphant hunting barks had diverted her course. Morbid curiosity had turned into the hope when she saw one of the psychic mermaid monsters lying dead amid the squabbling pack, it's head still intact. Her ultimatum was just an excuse: a line in the sand she hoped they'd jump over, for once, escalate. She needed something to hit, something that would bleed when she hit it the way she wished she could punch Sara's smug, stupid nose through her smug, stupid face.

The horrors in front of her didn't disappoint, spreading out to surround her when she took so much as a step forward.

She laughed delightedly in release, lunging forward into closest one, axe screaming downward to cleave it in twain. Chartreuse blood splashed up from the hit, soaking into her already filthy clothes. The rest of them retaliated, skittering and leaping forward with reflexes only a fraction slower than her own. Once, twice, Jeane danced past reckless sparking lunges from her foes, eyes sharp and muscles propelling her out of the path of danger with twirls and leaps that had her hair haloing out around her head and axe trailing sparks. The third though... The third timed it's leap in a moment between Jeane's feet leaving the ground and regaining her footing for another. It hit, and a grotesque mouth buried among twitching burning fingers tore through her shirt and into her stomach, gnawing and tearing into her side.

Jeane rewarded it for it's initiative by slamming it with the butt end of her energy axe, blowing it's upper body apart with the discharge, sparks harmlessly absorbing into her own tissues as her node weeded out the harmful energies. She dodged the two remaining monsters and their strikes, graceful movement unhindered by the massive wound in her side, globules of strangely self-cohesive blood flying behind her as she circled the room.

Another moment of blurred time saw one of the monsters latch onto her free arm and bite right through it. Jeane snarled, not from actual pain, but in frustration at the fact when she did heal the wound, she would be down another set of scars, another set of stories she could point at. All because she was stupid enough to pick a fight with something that could rip an arm off and too slow to dodge the hit. Same with her side.

She kicked the beast into the wall and was on it before it hit the ground, splitting the badly-neglected wall with a follow on strike from her axe.

The singing of sparks behind her prompted her to step to one side and saw an extended talon flash three inches from her nose before the rest of the creature impacted the wall and sent itself, it's dead kin, and her arm tumbling into the room beyond in a cloud of dust and concrete chips. Judging by the scrabbling of it's claws away from her, it intended to keep on going given the chance.

Oh. Oh hell no. Not today. Jeane leapt through the gap, blood blobbing up into crimson bandages over her wounds, alien blood stains complementing her hair as she began her run.

Spoiler

 

 

[WS ST]

INTERLUDE

Throughout the nineteen fifties and into the early sixties the faced a new kind of war a cold war. The bombs multiplied, the sky filled with bombers carrying nuclear holocaust while the oceans filled with submarines some with missiles and atomic destruction aimed at the supposed enemy, some designed to hunt those subs like sharks hunting seals.

  Quote

"Alright then, I think we should stop here, and once we actually have a grasp of things we can revisit this.  I just wanted everyone to hear about this, as it came up during something that initially wasn't going to include everyone."

"Agreed," Sean said with a deep sigh. "We need to know more, and I believe each of us has some line of inquiry to follow for the moment. Let's get on that."

The Irregulars exchanged a few more suggestions and comments, then broke apart for their various needs and wants. Sean and Abel proceeded to one of the most secure rooms in Irregular Solutions HQ, where they were keeping the drives and devices recovered from Fort Story.

They had been using specially designed Proxy Programs to decrypt the data, but with its importance elevated, the two super-geniuses began taking direct action on that front. They left Mariah, James, and others to see to the daily affairs of Irregular Solutions, seeking the input of Savant and Sage if only absolutely necessary.

Except for those able to interface directly with computer systems, no one had Sean's facility with software, and Abel was one of the few on the planet who could aid her and provide worthwhile input. Even so, It took them most of the week to get all the data decrypted.

There were layers and layers of encryption, each one growing more sophisticated, clearly added afterwards as the technology advanced. It wasn't near to the levels of encryption she had developed - using an entirely different software structure - but it slowed her and Abel, light a plethora of speed bumps and detours and road blocks that they had to navigate carefully, less they made a mistake and caused the drives to be wiped.

For a bare instant, Sean had considered enlisting Death Otter, but as more information was decrypted, there was no way she'd willingly share what they learned with her. She definitely couldn't have trusted her with this.

Sean still needed to sleep. She'd gotten by with four hours a night as a boy, and needed even less now, but with Sara missing, she'd thrown herself into the work, barely leaving the lab for the entire week, save to eat and spending an hour each night searching for Sara with her unrivaled Farsight. She began growing terse with any interruptions, believing if they could solve this issue, they could solve the issue of the Sara.

What they found was disconcerting to say the least. The conspiracy Rashoud was a part of went back to the early '50s, '51 or '52, they weren't quite sure. Logs referred to experiments and treatises from both dates, but it was unclear if some of them were part of the conspiracy from the beginning, or were co-opted.

The blackest of black operations, the conspiracy was hidden behind layers of other classified operations, such as Stepping Stone. The Roswell incident was also blown out of proportion by the Conspiracy to as another smokescreen. Teleportation Portals and the creation of Quantum Enhanced Humans - Keys - were just a by product of their true goals.

The Project's real purpose was to harness the portion of nuclear reactions that were being siphoned into a suspect other dimension, to learn how to access that dimension, and how to use the process as a weapon.

Sean mused on this, and what she had perceived with Jeane's last teleportation trick, considering a different to track to search for Sara. But as much as she wanted to do so, and Abel could sense it even though Sean tried to conceal it, it was a distraction.

The Black Project had determined the true cause for unlocking Keys. It wasn't quantrinos emitted by the original Portal devices or by Keys to a lesser degree. It was a particle dubbed the Genesis Particle.

Origin unknown. It doesn't come from space; it wasn't generated by any kind of  nuclear reaction. It seemed to simply and spontaneously manifest with no pattern or means of instigation, and they had used the brightest minds and most powerful computers of the times to determine any such.

The Black Project was able to devise a means of capturing the particle once detected and a means to capture them. From what Sean and Abel were able to determine, the Project had captured 99 to 102 of the Genesis Particles over its decades of operation.

The discovery of the Genesis particle was linked to the original discovery of Quantum Enhanced Humans in 1952. In late November of that year, after the first detonation of a Thermonuclear bomb a young girl , 11 years old, in Hawaii, developed the ability to Phase, or pass through solid objects.

Once alerted, the girl and her family were relocated to a secure facility in Nevada where numerous tests were done. Sean grunted. In what they possessed, the girl's fate or that of her family were not mentioned, nor was her name. Another thing to look at, if we can find anyone who was working with The Black Project at the time and convince them to talk.

Originally it was thought that the particles were created during a nuclear reaction. This proved false. Experimentation to create them through the nuclear process never created any Genesis particles. The experiments did however lead to Portal Tech which were also thought to be the origin of the particles.

This also proved false, though it did lead to the discovery of quantrinos. As far as anyone in the Project was able to determine the particles simply came into existence. They do not decay and can possess either a negative or a positive charge.  None had ever been collected with a neutral charge. Oppositely charged Genesis Particles repel and can't be brought into contact, as far as experimentation by the Project was able to determine.

Information on the Genesis Particles was actually relatively sparse by Sean's reasoning. It must be sequestered in a different Black Project data haven.

Still, the Project had learned enough to allow them to branch off and new line of inquiry and experimentation. The first particles were purposefully captured in the '60s and used in experiments with animals and 'volunteers', men serving time for severe and brutal crimes, most serving life or on death row.

None of the early experiments were successful and usually resulted in the death of the subject. The first Key generated was actually a young man working at the site who was exposed to a particle accidentally. He developed rudimentary psychic powers, far more limited in breadth compared to Abel, let alone in power.

Later experiments were only marginally successful. There were 22 Catalogued Keys that were generated under lab conditions. Only 4 have survived the generating process, although two died later in testing. Only the Brain and Kyle survived the program to this point and were deemed 'successful', the results of directing the generating process.

The coldly logical part of Sean could understand the reasoning and need for the experiments, in the Project's eyes, but both she and Abel were utterly disgusted by the implementation and disregard for lives and the subjects themselves.

All of the low level keys who worked for Project Stepping stone and other projects they hadn't been unaware of were "naturally or Spontaneously" unlocked and most, if not all, worked in areas where the particles were not being experimented on. The Black Project did not know how many keys there are out in the world as most (but not all) had gone undetected...

... until the arrival of the Irregulars, which was an unprecedented event and has created a situation of cascading incidents. Information had been shared with allies among the British, Japanese, Germans, and the French, and it was an operating assumption that there were working on their own analogues to the Black Project.

Searching through the files, Sean and Abel accounted for all the Genesis Particles collected by the Black Project. As of the incident at the Fort Story Psyops Lab, all save for 4-7 of them had been used, the rest stored at one of three secure locations.

When they had learned that, Sean had immediately cast her Farsight to those locations - getting Abel to get James on standby - but she wasn't surprised to find the sites abandoned and scrubbed clean. Recently as well. Still, she and Abel visited the sites clandestinely, in case they could detect something that would be of relevance if and when they crossed paths with the Black Project once more.

Abel mentioned Jeane's newly evolved ability with teleportation in regards to the Black Project's original goals. It was something they would definitely need to follow up on - Sean was growing more eager, for Sara's sake more than Jeane's, if she had to admit it - but the issue of escalating unlocking of Keys took precedence for the moment.

Using the Project's own research, Abel and Sean began working on a way to siphon and collect any Genesis Particle that might manifest anywhere across the planet. Terrestrial and Extra-terrestrial solutions were considered until they settled on a network of satellites to cover the planets.

Their first concept was a lattice of a hundred satellites sitting in orbit and at the Lagrange points, until Sean come upon the idea of a mesh network of millions of nanite-sized units. They would convey far greater redundancy and camouflage, able to adapt and respond to other objects entering and exiting orbit, respond to generation of higher numbers of genesis particles in one location - if such should happen - and to transfer the location of stored particles to prevent outside retrieval. Essentially, it would function as a sort of immune system for the planet, targeting a specific system, but able to adapt to evolving developments. They would also be able to scavenge space debris to replace loss units.

The development of the Exodus satellite mesh network took Sean and Abel over another week. Abel suggested they at least take eight hours a week to relax, no working or thinking on what they were doing. Sean readily agreed, then just as readily, ignored him. She wanted this done so she could then focus her attention and time on looking for Sara.

Abel to could see the toll it was taking on Sean. Her natural golden tan was looking pale, and she was looking wan, with the suggestion of bags under her eyes, even if she looking no less beautiful than ever. Indeed, Sean seemed even more sensual than usual, her movements more enticing if no less precise and she wasn't keeping a hold on her potent pheromones as much as she used to.

It was starting to make working with Sean more difficult, especially when he caught her more than once casually masturbating. Sean hadn't even been embarrassed. Even with her melancholy and distress over her feelings for Devin, Laurie was beginning to worry about her sister.

Having devised how the Exodus system will function and designing the units, it was time for them to manufacture them. Abel tried to create them by manipulating quantum energy, but it was slow and difficult and extremely taking - the units might be microscopic, but where very complex.

Instead, they fashioned some tools and a specifically designed 3D-printer to help in the manufacturing process and Abel used his quantum capabilities to simple generate raw materials. Then with their new devices and Savant Multitools, Sean and Abel began building the units, hundreds of thousands of units, by hand.

They worked with blurring speed, more precise than any of the machines they had designed. After a certain number, the units they had created were able to help to build more.

Twenty-three days since they started and they reached the critical threshold they needed of units, so that the Exodus could sustain itself and sufficiently cover the planet. Then they destroyed any files and information they had generated on making the Exodus satellite Mesh Network. They still had systems to link up to it, but the information on the design and function of the network would be locked in the vault of their minds.

Sean locked distinctly disheveled when Abel came back with Gatekeeper.

"For better or worse, let's do this," Sean said. "I'm sure I could have come up with more portentous words,  but I just want this done."

Abel and Sean designated the precise coordinates for the portals for optimum distribution, then activated Exodus and let the capturing of the Genesis Particles begin.

 

INTERLUDE

Vietnam

By this time China was in the nuclear arms race. America was at war and not a single shot had been fired between the actual participants. Escalation continued and those I power knew it was only a matter of time before someone somewhere made that final mistake. War. Nuclear war was inevitable. Everyone knew it. It could happen tomorrow or next week or five years but it was coming. And when the bombs fell and the missile flew all of it would end.

Something had to be done.

 

The tiny invisible to the naked eye satellite flew through the portals and flew into position it would take several hours but everything was on automatic now.

Sean was in a state. Her connection to Sara was still empty even though the connection was still there almost like it was mocking her with silence. She sat down it was the first time in over a month that nothing was calling for her immediate attention and sensing the moment of quietude her mind withdrew and the inner thinking began focusing on thoughts that had not taken the forefront.

Abel came back into the mesh control center and was surprised to find sitting there doing nothing. He was about to ask if she were all right when she turned and looked at him a quizzical expression on her face.

“If we don't create the Genesis Particles and the portals don't and the nuclear process's don't, then why are more coming into existence now? At this exact moment in time?”

 

The last of the mesh was in place and the field came to life only those instruments of incredible sensitivity could detect the field and then only if it knew to look for it. For and instant of time the field hovered then it began to contract at almost the speed of light.

In the control room both Sean and Abel looked at the main screen which suddenly came alive showing multiple dots erupting across the globe. If their programming was correct each of the flaming blue lights would indicate a Genesis Particle. They had expected to find and capture a few dozen maybe a couple of hundred at the most. The lights kept flashing on until the globe that was the earth glowed blue.

The field hit the earth and.....

 

Sean gasped her mouth filling with cold fluid that was tasteless but thicker than water. The gasp took a small amount into her lungs which immediately caused her to begin coughing she couldn't move her body was encased in something cold and hard it felt like metal but it was too tight. Coughing she opened her eyes and saw nothing...no...wait there was a bit of dim light bout only when she held her head still it was right in front of her eyes like a small window.

Suddenly the window disappeared as the top half of the container she was in flipped up and warm air rushed in the section of the tube covering her lower torso split down the middle and the two halves swung up and out of the way.

 

Coughing and gasping for air Sean Sat up and immediate ran her hand through her hair only there wasn't any all she felt was a smooth wet scalp. She was bald. Her hands dropped to her chest to hold breasts as she was wracked by another coughing fit and her hands found a nearly flat chest her breasts which should have filled her hands were barely there. She looked down as she caught her breath and saw a a thin almost boyish form clad in a one piece suit like a diving suit that covered her from her neck to her mid thighs. It was of two colors but she could tell what in the dim light.

She looked around there were no voices in her head the was nothing the light came from dim strips along the walls at the floor non trip lights but it was enough to giver her a sense of the room. It was large she could see desks and what looked like computer server towers lining the walls and several rows of...tube like metal containers that looked like coffins or capsules.

She squinted at one of the computers and slid off the end of the container that had held her. She lost her balance expecting to be top heavy but she quickly recovered and once again looked down at her small breasts. This inst what I'm supposed to look like.

She made her way slowly to the computer now that the coughing was done she could breath easier the air was warm musty with a hint of mold. There was also a strong smell of ozone in the air. She stopped at the wall and looked at what she had thought was a computer server tower. It was a computer but not like any she had ever seen at least not that wasn't in a history book.

As she watched the computer tapes spun on there big spools and suddenly stopped there was a loud pooping and the ozone smell grew stronger a warbling siren began to sound it was loud for a few seconds then tapered of to a low hum as around the room some of the metal tubes began to open...

Spoiler

much of this was written by Sean with input from Justin.... the weird shit you will probably hate...yeah that's all me

This ends the episode so this thread will be locked I will shortly begin episode 3 for those who are still with me.

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