Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 2: Wish You Were Here

[BlueNinja]

Adam glances between Buzz, Courier, and Bob, waiting to see who's going to make the first move, and trying to hold his tongue to keep from blurting out something stupid, like What's in that anti-quantum building? You hiding our friend? He knows it wouldn't help, and Adam is getting a little tired of Buzz giving him that Couldn't keep your mouth shut for just one damn second, could you kid? look.

[Courier]

Doug sends to Buzz,

*I think we just have to ask him. Maybe mention that KB really should be released as part of any agreement? Although we don't know for sure that they have her.*

[Buzzkill]

Buzz sighs, it's obvious he doesn't like what's coming up. There are too few old timers like Bob and himself any more, and he hated the idea of upsetting him, because Buzz knew that no one holds a grudge like an old son of a bitch. He stroked his chin whiskers while he thought of how he was going to say it, but in the end he was always a straight shooter.

"Bob you're a good man, and these people are lucky to have you as a shepherd. And yeah, we have a deal, we'll get you that billet of steel for them hides. But first I gotta ask a question and need a straight answer from ya'." he sighed, not wanting to ask, but knowing that he had to or his young fellas might ask in a lot harder way. "One of my boys found a buildin' in town, seems a lot like a jail meant to hold Aberrants. It ain't at all normal, it makes us nervous, and it begs the question; what you got in there? We know our friend disappeared around here, and she was in trouble when she got caught. We wanna know what's in there before we make any deals. I hate to impose any more than we already have, and we can still be all friendly and profit from the arrangement. But what we got here is what we called in my day 'An elephant in the room.' The elephant's there, and everyone knows it, but no one wants to talk about it. That building is the elephant in this room, and we gotta talk about it."

Buzz finally stops and crosses his arms, sucking on a shred of meat still stuck in his teeth.

[jameson (ST)]

Bob sags in his chair a bit, looking somewhat defeated. It's almost like somebody punched him in the gut. He's quite a moment and by and large the only sound in the room is a low whistling as the breeze outside finds its way within through the cracks in the walls.

Finally Bob speaks up, "First of all let me assure you that your friend has not been seen around here, to be honest there's less than a handfull of people in the area who aren't at least 90% white. I hope you do fine her but she aint here.

"As for the building ..." he pauses as though seraching for the right words, "I was hoping it would go unnoticed but I probably should have brought it up as soon as it became clear you aren't really aberrants ... It's no more a prison than any other hospital ... I can see by the looks on your faces that was not what you were expecting to hear.

"Look I wasn't entirely truthful before, we're aware that aberrants can spring up from otherwise normal humans. I'm also aware that initially they may seem to be fine, but we've seem far more people lose themselves to insanity and mutation than not. A few years back a local boy was attacked by an aberrant while gathering firewood. He turned into one of them and killed the aberrant. At first he was fine but soon he began to change, he mutated and he became more agressive and it was like he thought the rest of us were beneath him.

"Now here's where the weird thnig happened. This boy he had a twin brother, Johnny. Those two were so close before the accident and afterwards Johnny was devestated by what happened to his twin. Well one day maybe 2 months after the attack the aberrant boy lost control and started attacking people. Johnny couldn't take it, he was terrified that something similar could happen to him but also saddened by his brother's state, he interceeded and tried to stop his brother but instead only was attacked as the closest target. The aberrant knocked him down, hard, probably should have killed him but instead Johnny just fell down. He lay there and just before his former twin struck him dead he yelled out, 'I wont be like you!'

"Well the aberrant screamed at this and sudden as you may tried to run off. Two of our hunters managed to shoot him dead before he could get too far though. We all thought Johnny was just lucky, but we had no idea. Some months later one of the buildings in town caught fire and a young girl got caught in it when it collapsed. Quick as you may the fire went out and the girl, wreathed in flames, came walking out of the rubble. She was crying, you could tell she thought she was going to go insane and try to kill people right then and there.

"Well Johnny came up through the crowd and as soon as he was within, maybe 15 or 20 feet of her the fires snuffed out like she got dunked in the lake. Everybody was stunned except Johnny, I think he already knew what he could do.

"Anyways to make a long story shorter, it seemed that Johnny prevents aberrants, and I would imagine people like yourselves, from using their powers. Little Beth, the girl who could control fire, she says that when she uses her powers it feels like she's touching some sort of medium or energy that lets her do what she does. She says that Johnny pushes that field away from himself or disrupts it somehow ... kinda like an bubble of air pushes the water out of the way."

Bob pauses again to collect his thoughts. "Johnny asked for the biggest place in town so that he couls live with other aberrants and help them to not go insane or to dampen their abilities. It seems to work, he and Beth have been able to control her abilities and she has no mutations. They've been able to help others as well.

"We don't advertise it because there's only some much that Johnny can do and we want to avoid having neighboring communities sending us their problems." He finishes and it's clear that he has laid it all out for you, at least as much as knows and understands.

[Courier]

Doug thinks over this new news from several angles and says,

"How many people, novas, whatever, are in that building now? And I think we're going to need to talk to them, they might have news you don't."

[Buzzkill]

Buzz stares quietly ahead as he absorbs what was just said, it certainly wasn't what he expected, and he had to give Bob some credit for being able to keep this under his hat for so long. He tunes into the telepathic conversation they had earlier.

*Hey boys. I've had to give some of you my Timeout when you got a little too antsy with your powers. Did it ever feel like the way he described?*

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Buzzkill

*Hey boys. I've had to give some of you my Timeout when you got a little too antsy with your powers. Did it ever feel like the way he described?*

Courier sends Buzz' message with the following,

*I think I'm the only one here who's been given a timeout and as I didn't see the building I've got no idea. Gregory and Adam are new, Raider's powers are passive. But feel free to correct me Gregory, Adam, or Raider.*

[Gregory]

Gregory sends back to Courer: *I do not understand 'timeout'. I know I can not send when near it. My blending skin still works. Are you coming to the building? You can find out if it is 'timeout' when you are there. Do you want me to get my kon'struct and see if it still works near building.

,,

Gregory waits patiently, underneath the porch, for a reply.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz thinks to the rest of the group:

*My timeout is when I spank one a' you youngsters for throwin' your powers around too much, like sendin' you into the corner the way your parents shoulda' done! But at any rate it shuts down your powers, it's why they got me on guard duty so much. I got the feeling though this is omethin' different. If we check this out we need to keep the door open or let him come out.*

"Bob, I gotta say, that was the last thing I expected you to say. Me and the boys would like to see this hospital and the resident doctor in it if we could."

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

Gregory sends back to Courer: *I do not understand 'timeout'. I know I can not send when near it. My blending skin still works. Are you coming to the building? You can find out if it is 'timeout' when you are there. Do you want me to get my kon'struct and see if it still works near building.
Gregory waits patiently, underneath the porch, for a reply.

*Buzz can turn off our powers for a time. And please stay there for a few minutes, I think we are going to head over there, and it'd be interesting to know if someone leaves right before we show up.*

[Mr Fox]

Raider thinks to Courier, "Assuming our powers don't get shut off, I'll stand ready to evac anyone that needs help."

[Gregory]

When the link opens back up to Courier: *I will move to where I see the door. Watch for anyone leaving. I will wait for the rest of you to show up.

,,

Gregory blends in with the surrounding buildings, and stealthily moves to a location where he can see the door to the building.

[jameson (ST)]

Quote:

"Bob, I gotta say, that was the last thing I expected you to say. Me and the boys would like to see this hospital and the resident doctor in it if we could."

Bob sighs and wipes his hand over his brow, "I kinda figured you would, well no point in not letting you, we'd be hard pressed to fight you off even if we wanted to. Frankly I think we'd all be better off if we could stay freinds with you folk, seems like you got yourselves together, ya know? Anyways come on follow me."

Bob gets up and leads the group out to the building. It's somewhat small maybe 20 feet on a side and all on a single story. Bob walks right up to the door and turns when he doesn't hear your footsteps behind him.

"Well this is it, y'all coming?"

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

"Well this is it, y'all coming?"

Doug sends to everyone,

*I suggest Adam (big town leveling gun) and Gregory (hidden ace) stay here. I need to go in and search for KB, Buzz would be useful to question them, Raider I'm sure wants to try to figure out how this works.*

Courier says, "Big time" and walks to the door.

[Mr Fox]

Raider nods as if in response to Bob's question, but actually to Doug's thought. He will follow Bob into the building, trying to 'feel' what is happening and perhaps figure out how. He will try what subtle little experiments he can, making his hand go insubstantial, sending thoughts to Courier, etc.

[BlueNinja]

Adam nods to Courier, and says out loud (for the benefit of Bob and other potential non-friendlies), "I'll stay out here. Anything goes wrong, just shout, and I'll start cracking heads together. Hopefully, we're just ... a little off course, and these fine people are telling us the truth." He'll focus on whoever nearby looks to be the most dangerous (as Bob himself seems fairly harmless) and put a bit of threat in his voice.

((Intimidation roll please, just trying to make the most visible threat think twice about starting anything.))

[Buzzkill]

*Alright boys, let's do this. I'll play the role of the ambassador and hostage, you do what you do best.*

Buzz stands up and puts on his jacket.

"OK Bob, take me to it, let's see the doctor and check out his medicine."

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory continues to crouch in the shadows waiting, watching, as Buzz, Raider, and Courier walk up to the building and enter. Nearby Adam makes a show of intimidation, generating afistfull of quantum energy in the form of one of is signature bombs. The villagers, already steering clear of a building known to contain aberrants, keep a wider berth to stay well away from Adam.

Buzz, Raider and Courier approach the building and walk up the steps. As they cross the threshold they enter the radius of the quantum-null zone. All three novas quickly feel the weight of a day of hard labor slam down upon them. They realize in horror that their quantum reserves have just been sapped, negated as though the enegery was removed as they crossed the invisible line of the null-zone. Instantly their quantum pool's are drained and they feel exhausted and sluggish.

Raider's jaw hangs agape, he cannot fathom what he has just experienced. He quickly formulates a theory that the area within the zone is either flooded with some sort of energy directly opposing the quantum background. The other possibility he comes up with is that much like waves can interfere destructively and negate each others, they may be standing an a zone of quantum interference which is preventing their powers from functioning and negating their own quantum reserves.

Within the building they are now standing in a small room, center room from which the other rooms of the building adjoin. A small desk sits in the corner and a man sitting at it is reading a book. He looks up and speaks, "Bob, hello, who are your guests?"

[Courier]

Doug nods to the man and goes,

"Wow, that's a hit below the belt. I'm Doug."

(Doug flexs his muscles trying to get a feel for how heavy everything is now)

[Mr Fox]

Raider smiles at the man at the desk as though nothing is wrong. "My name is O'Riely, excuse me for just a second, I'm curious about something."

With that he backs up a few steps and exits the quantum dampening field to see if his reserves reappear or whether he will remain drained of energy even after exiting.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz gasps and gapes like a fish as his hands rush to his chest. All the wind gets sucked out of his sails as his knees go weak and he staggers forward falling onto Doug.

"Martha.." he whispers, as he becomes lost in the memories of the last time he felt this sensation. It was when his beloved and long suffering wife finally died from leukemia, after fighting in it for ;ong pain filled years. He had known it was coming for awhile, but still when he was told it after coming home from checking the fishing nets it still hit him like a kick to the chest. Tears cloud his eyes and he slumps to the ground with a weak wheezing sob.

[jameson (ST)]

Courier moves about within the room and quickly comes to the conclusion that his quantum born strength has been sapped as well. Considering his lifting ability versus his physique he's not surprised given that no mortal muscles could lift what was normally capable of doing without substantially more mass.

Suddenly Buzz crashes into him, the old man is grasping at his chest and his eyes are half closed and fluttering, clearly one of the old man's flashbacks. Courier helps to steady Buzz while trying to come to terms with his own powerlessness within the null-zone.

Raider quickly exits the building and fumbles mentally for his node. He is now able to sense and touch the quantum enegery of the universe again but finds his energy reserves depleted, unable to even works up enough energy to partially phase out a finger.

[Mr Fox]

Raider nods to himself at the discovery. He walks over to Adam and says quietly, "No problems yet, but just be aware, all my energy is gone, anyone that gets nullified isn't gonna be worth anything for a few hours, in terms of quantum powers." After letting Adam know, he turns and walks back into the building to catch up with Buzz and Courier. Once he does, he quietly informs them that just walking outside won't restore them.

[Gregory]

Watching the others enter the bulding, Gregory wonders if they will be able to speak with the man causing the 'time out', as Buzz calls it. He is curious about what is happening, and wonders why the others, and not him, get to do the talking. Afterall, it was his discovery.

Still, Gregory knows he is working with a group of people. This means that sacrafices must be made if they, as a group, are to survive.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz tumbles to the ground, he's completely lost in his painful memories. After hearing of Martha's death he tries to reassert his control, only to now be confronted by the leader of the search team that went looking for his boys with nightmare intensity. He was trying to hide the bloody and torn flannel shirt which was all that was left of Trevor so that Buzz couldn't see it. They searched for two weeks before getting that one horrible sign. Of Alex there was nothing.

"They're all dead!" he chokes "They took 'em all from me!" he continues sobbing as he curls into a ball, his body wracking with anguished spasms.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Courier moves about within the room and quickly comes to the conclusion that his quantum born strength has been sapped as well.

Doug thinks to himself,

*Well, shoot.*

Then he looks down at his arm and realizes what he isn't seeing,

*Hey, that’s still a nova’s arm, and those are solid nova muscles. And the scars I got as a kid are still gone. So no-juice doesn’t mean I shift back to Doug-the-weak. I’m still Doug-the-Courier just without the super strength.*

Doug pauses to get conclusions

*…weird.*

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Suddenly Buzz crashes into him, the old man is grasping at his chest and his eyes are half closed and fluttering, clearly one of the old man's flashbacks. Courier helps to steady Buzz while trying to come to terms with his own powerlessness within the null-zone.

Doug says,

“Buzz? Buzz, you’re here. BUZZ?”

Doug says to Raider when he gets back,

“Should we move him outside? Maybe he needs juice to think straight?”

[jameson (ST)]

Inside the building Buzz topples into Courier and slides to the floor. Though far from weak Courier find it odd that he must put effort into keeping Buzz from crashing down. Bob and the other man quickly run to his side.

Raider comes back into the building at this moment and seems Buzz curled into a fetal position on the floor the other 3 men crouched near him. Before he can ask what happened Courier speaks up.

Quote:

“Buzz? Buzz, you’re here. BUZZ?”

“Should we move him outside? Maybe he needs juice to think straight?”

Bob looks Buzz over, "I can't find any wounds, is he mentally unstable? Johnny could this be caused your damping zone? Maybe we should take him outside like you said..."

Johnny looks at the three strangers, "You're all aberrants aren't you?" he asks with a touch of pity in his voice. "Please I will stay here, take him outside my influence if you feel that will help him."

*****

Outside Gregory and Adam can hear some sort of commotion going on within the building but are unable to determine what is going on. Those villagers who had come closer to investigate the goings on now quickly depart, clearly fearing that the worts case has happened ...

[Mr Fox]

Raider will lend a hand with Buzz.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Johnny looks at the three strangers, "You're all aberrants aren't you?" he asks with a touch of pity in his voice. "Please I will stay here, take him outside my influence if you feel that will help him."

Doug swings Buzz up into his arms, and partly staggers under the weight but adjusts for it. He comments,

"Nope. No aberrants here, we're the real deal. Novas. Buzz is just old. Guess we all forgot how old."

Doug carries Buzz out to Adam and says to him (and mentally to Gergory if that works)

"OK, we had an accident. Looks like Buzz is so old he can't think without his powers. Hopefully with some juice he'll be back."

Doug puts Buzz on the ground next to Adam and then walks back into the building saying,

"Let's try that again..."

Just outside the building Courier pauses for a moment and tries to pick up a rock and break it in half, whatever the result he then goes back inside.

[Gregory]

Gregory sends back to Courier: *I will watch Buzz, but stay here. Buzz being funny curled up on ground like that. Hope Buzz get better...but still fun to watch him. Has anyone tried to 'turn off' powers?

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

Gregory sends back to Courier: *I will watch Buzz, but stay here. Buzz being funny curled up on ground like that. Hope Buzz get better...but still fun to watch him. Has anyone tried to 'turn off' powers?

*Buzz in the only one of us who can do that I think... and that building is way beyond what he can do. One touch and no powers and you lose all your juice as well.*

[Gregory]

If Courier is still able to receive: *Not thinking of 'time out', but of dorm'in. Turning off own power to protect self. Not sure if I explain it correctly. Sorry.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

*Not th...*

Courier Doug walks back into the building and offers to shake hands with Johnny,

"Hey there, I'm Doug. Sorry about that. Where were we? Oh yeah, No, we aren't aberrants. We're Novas."

[Buzzkill]

Buzz's memories are flooding over him, like a peasant army finally getting their shot at a tyrant.

He goes ramrod stiff in Doug's arms, in his mind's eye he sees rubble, shattered glass, and pipes strewn about him, like toys cast aside by a child. He's trapped in the bomb shelter again when the Burn actually happened. Stuck there for more than two weeks with a broken ankle, fractured hip, and broken collar bone. He was midway down between a pile of corpses and rubble, subsisting on rain water and what bugs he managed to catch with his good arm. He was only 16, only a few years older than Trevor. When he was rescued everyone marvelled that he was still sane. His rescuers certainly wouldn't be surprised that these memories had a long life and a vicious ability to re-inflict themselves.

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory watches from the shadows as Buzz's tremors susbside and he regains control of himsels slowly. Eventually he sits up and looks around, momentarily confused at his location. Raider sits with him and eventually helps the old man to his feet. Adam, still maintaining is active bomb ready to hurl, stands nearby active as bodygaurd.

*****

Meanwhile Courier head back into the building, he finds that though his strength has returned outside the null-zone that his depleted quantum reserve leaves him unable to utilize his massive strength in a truely destructive mannor. He continues inside and introduces himself to Johnny once more.

"What is it you called yourself," Johnny asks, "A nova? What is that? Is that what I am?" Clearly the young man is curious to see people with apparent full control over their abilities who also have held onto the lion's share of their humanity.

[Mr Fox]

After ensuring that Buzz is doing ok, "Hey Buzz, I think maybe you should take a rest out here for a bit. I'm gonna head back in and give Courier what little backup I can and continue trying to figure out what is up with that null quantum zone." Raider will return to the building again and join Courier for the conversation. He will also attempt to analyze what he knows of the dampening field for any weaknesses. (analyze weakness)

[Buzzkill]

Buzz is exhausted and spent from the ordeal. He hadn't had an attack that intense ever, for several moments he's not even convinced that it's actually over. Finally he seems to comprehend that someone is speaking to him.

"Bless you boy." croaks Buzz to Raider as he strains to get his senses back and figure out where they are and what happened since he took those steps into the building.

[BlueNinja]

Adam keeps a wary eye out, while trying to watch Buzz through the door. Once the old man seems like he's recovering decently, Adam will take a few steps closer (though if he can tell where the null-zone is from the other's actions, he'll stay outside of it). "Hey, Buzz? You gonna be ok? This isn't exactly the best place to be sick, I think." He's calling from the street towards the building.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

"What is it you called yourself," Johnny asks, "A nova? What is that? Is that what I am?" Clearly the young man is curious to see people with apparent full control over their abilities who also have held onto the lion's share of their humanity.

Doug smiles and replies,

“Maybe. I’d guess yeah, but you’re asking the wrong guy. As I understand it, some of us become monsters controlled by their powers, some become people who control their powers, and then some of us slowly or quickly lose. The wrong set of genes, stress, lifestyle, power set, luck, and/or god may all play a part. It’s probably like cancer, lots of causes, similar results. I don’t think anyone knows for sure why… but we do see some treads. Little aberrations lead to bigger ones lead to monsterhood and/or madness. On the other hand some people never get aberrations at all and some people with aberrations don’t seem to progress very quick.”

“Buzz seems all right and he’s been nova a while. Raider here seems all right, take your whammy away and he still won’t have any. Ditto me. I use my strength constantly and I’m still a rock.”

Doug flexes his arm showing off a rocklike muscle, then he nods to Adam standing out there with Buzz.

“Now him I worry about. Whether or not he’s walking down that road, he’s obviously on it, and he hasn’t been a nova all that long. Maybe he’ll stay with what he’s got from here on out, or the day may come when he has to be put down for the good of the community. I hope not, but there it is.”

[Gregory]

Gregory tries to listen in on Buzz and Raider, in an attempt to discover what they are saying. He will try and push some of his quantum energy into the effort.

He will remain hidden until someone says it is safe for him to reveal himself.