Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 3: Animals and Relics

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory waves Raider off as he approaches, the pain may be intense but it is not enough to cover the feeling of his cell going into overdrive. Tissue knits togethers and bones realign as his quantum born hardiness make short work of the damage.

Adam and Courier both ready their own leathal projectiles as Raider moves toward the downed man. Billy sits near to the man, "Robert why you shoot nice people, they give me yummies and let me draw?"

Raider looks over the man, he is badly burned, second and thired degree over a large portion of his body. It's clear that we was indeed caught in the blast area of Adam's bombs. It's impossible to tell if he is a nova or not but he is clearly no tougher than any other baseline regardless.

Raider does what he can for Robert but it is clear that the burns and the blast have done enough damage to kill this man, it's only a matter of time. A short time later he regains consiousness and looks up at Raider, a light of recognition in his eyes, "Who ... are you?"

[Courier]

Doug glides down to hover next to the new comers.

(Only to Raider) *Did we get the wrong guys?*

[Mr Fox]

Raider strains every fiber of his being to send some of his quantum into the other man to heal him. He's been working so hard to learn healing, studying for months now every bit of medical knowledge he could find. This was the moment it was needed, he could be looking at his own brother, he just couldn't let this man die, no matter what it cost.

[jameson (ST)]

Raider concentrates and is frustrated, he just hasn't learned enough skill to do what he wanted to do yet. To hell with it he thinks and pushes past the boundries within his mind. Suddenly a connection between him and the other man is established and Raider uses uantum energies to heal the worst of the man's wounds.

The group sees Raider's hands glow brightly with a prue white light that begins to turn sickly green as the man's injuries begin to heal before their eyes. When it is done Raider slumps, a great deal of power drained from him.

The man is unconsious but looks much more stable. Billy's eyes are wide with amazment, "You saved Robert!" He wispers reverently.

[Mr Fox]

Raider pants, and manages to look up at Billy, "I did. Your friend will be alright now." He looks down at his hands in amazement, still slightly glowing but fading slowly back to normal. He'd been working to learn how to do that for so long, and to think it would be to save a man that had just tried to kill his friend Gregory, a man that might well be his brother. He wasn't sure how that was possible, but the resemblence was unmistakable. He could almost be looking in a mirror. It was something he would have to explore now that the man would live. Being an orphan had never really bothered him before, he had been so focused on making a life for himself he had never bothered to think about what he missed about his lack of family, but he felt it now. How different would life have been if he'd had a brother and a family.

[Gregory]

After several moments, Gregory was all healed up. He would still be sore until the phantom pain dissipated. Rising slowly, he headed over to where the others were congregated. It looked like the danger had now passed.

When he got there, he saw a blackened and mangled man. His skin was charred in places, and in others, angry, golf-ball sized blisters covered the surface. The man looked a lot like Raider. The man was dying.

A sick sensation began to crawl up form Gregory's stomach. I did this. It my fault Billy's friend dying. Billy now alone. If tears were not already coming down his face, they would be now. Gregory had never felt as miserable and guilt ridden as he did now. He watched Raider work frantically to save this man, as nausea began to assert itself.

Suddenly a white light erupted from Raiders hands, and then it shifted to green. Where the wounds were critical and horrendous, they were less now. He had healed the man of some of the injuries. Raider, however, looked exhausted.

He going live now? Gregory hoped, the vomit settling back down into his stomach. The man visibly looked better. When Billy whispered that Raider saved Robert, Gregory felt relieved, then was happy.

Excitedly clapping his hands. Gregory softly cheers, "You saved him Ray-darr! He live! Billy have friend back!"

[Courier]

Courier looks at Raider with a new respect,

"Wow! Where did that come from?"

[Mr Fox]

Raider smiles at Courier, "Well, I've been studying medicine for a while now and I knew this was possible, I just hadn't been able to figure out how to make it work until now. I guess the secret was that I just needed to be desperate enough." He looks down at his hands surprised that although the glow had faded away, there was still a slight shimmer to his hands, instead of being their normal pale white, they now had a pearlescent shene to them. Add to that his unnaturally red hair, and black eyes and he was starting to show some taint buildup. He gave a sigh and got up from where he'd been kneeling on the ground next to his double.

[Courier]

Courier is still looking at Raider with a combination of respect and dismay,

"So that was new? A new power on demand?... But it had a cost..."

Doug visibly tears himself away from that line of thought and focuses on "Robert".

"So who are you?"

[Courier]

Realizing that he's talking to himself, Doug reaches down and picks up the man's gun an examines it.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz is back in the garage tapping his foot and repeatedly shooing away the doctor that had been summoned for him. What the Hell was going on? Finally he steps over to the void and looks in again, after hesitating just a second in case his memories sprong back up again.

*Hey! What the Hell's going on?* he repeats in his head, hoping someone picks up on it.

[jameson (ST)]

Raider sits on the ground, slumped from exhaustion that has swept through his body. He studies the man's face he appears older than Raider but it is hard to tell if that is actual age or the result of hard living. Billy sits quietly nearby watching with wide eyes.

Gregory and Adam both stare at the unconscious man and then at Raider, then back, repeatedly. Brother or father if the man is not related to Raider that would take more to believe than what they are seeing right now.

Courier studies the man's weapon but cannot understand how it operates, there appears to be no trigger and the device itself does not seem, to have any moving parts.

*****

Back in town Buzz finally shoos the doctors away and takes a seat in Raider's living room, sulking as he continues to attempt to contact Courier once again

[Courier]

Doug reflects, *Well, that was interesting* and belatedly realizes that he hasn't rotated the link in a while, and attempts to link to Buzz.

*Hello?*

Originally Posted By: Buzzkill

*Hey! What the Hell's going on?* he repeats in his head, hoping someone picks up on it.

*Hi Buzz. Sorry about that. Gregory warned that we were about to be attacked, then it got messy.*

*Let's see, Gregory got shot, with the same light attack that nailed his cat's paw and triggered our going heavy on these two.*

*It would appear Gregory heals fast, he's fine now. More interestingly, he was shot with a gun. I've never seen anything like it.*

*We have the shooter... and it's looking more and more like he's Raider's father or brother or something. Adam really did a number on him. Shooting Gregory was like his last action before dying... except when Raider saw his own reflection he kind of went nuts and pulled a brand new power out. Healing.*

*Raider looks really tired and he's picked up another aberration. His...brother(?) is out cold.*

[Buzzkill]

*What the hell?* thinks Buzz, then pauses when he realizes that what he thinks can be heard. *Umm...well what the Hell? What about Squidward? You didn't see him anywhere? That must mean...* Buzz pauses again as his enhanced intellect starts to piece together a few things.

*You better get back here...fast as you can! He's coming for it here! He just wanted to draw you out! Hurry!*

Buzz hops up from his chair and begins to shout order at anyone around him. "Hey! Sound the alarm! We got Aberrant incoming any minute! Get the women folk and kids into the shelters! Hurry!"

[Courier]

Courier says outloud,

"Ah Heck!!! Buzz thinks we were lured here to fight each other while Squidward attacks back home. **** these super smart types making moves to make us make moves."

"I think he's right, and even if he's not we aren't getting anything done here. We should probably head back."

[BlueNinja]

The moment Courier says "Squidward is headed back home," Adam turns around, sprints over to Gregory, shouting at him, "Drop!" He'll open the Warp as close to underneath Gregory as possible (spend a point of Will for accuracy in that Dex+Warp roll, aiming for actually underneath his feet) hoping that Courier can grab Raider fast enough to follow him through.

[Gregory]

Squiddy headed back home? Why he not already there? Gregory wondered for a moment, but soon realized that Adam was speaking of their home and not Squiddy's. "Uh oh! I think we needing to go there now." Then he saw Adam running towards him yelling "Drop!".

Drop?...Ok. Gregory hunkers against the ground, a little confused as to why.

"Wait, what about Billy and Robert?" He yells. "We can't leave them here!"

[Courier]

Doug says,

"Time to leave guys."

and he picks up Raider, then Robert, and if he will allow him, Billy, and flys to and then through the gate.

[jameson (ST)]

Adam mainlines quantum and breaches reality once more to connect this place to Raider's garage. The warp opens and Gregory, Raider, Adam, and Billy jump through followed by Courier carrying Robert as carefully as possible. They land in Raider's garage as Buzz dashes outside and starts yelling about an aberrant attack. As expected, given their proximity to the Wall, all hell breaks loose as people scurry for shelter or to man the defenses.

[Courier]

Courier starts to put Robert on a couch, then realizes what's going to happen.

"Billy, you need to hide with Robert in this room. Courier takes Robert into a back room, hopefully with Billy following."

[Mr Fox]

Raider will see to it that the box and the transcripts are hidden well in a secret spot in the garage behind a wall panel that comes loose. He will then take what time he can to get some food for the novas so they can recarge their energy as quickly as they can. With luck perhaps the attack will not be imminent.

[Gregory]

The moment Gregory arrives at the garage, he activates his chamelion abilities. As soon as the food arrives, he grabs a handful of it, and then finds a corner in which to hide.

[Buzzkill]

Buzzkill seems to be in his element, shouting and lecturing to any and all that listen.

"You there! What the Hell do you think you're doing lemonhead? The ladies take the children to the shelters, the men man the walls and get the buckets for the fire brigade! Why in my day...never mind! Just get busy and do something for God's sake!"

Looking around he sees some of his friends returning from the field. "You're back! Have you seen him? We need to turn over every rock til we find him!"

[BlueNinja]

Adam stays inside the building, watching over Raider and the "stolen" flight recorder information, waiting for the hammer to fall.

[jameson (ST)]

Buzz runs about barking orders outside and directing people to shelters. He feels a burst of quantum from within the house and re-enters to find the group back plus two members, one of whom looks very much like Raider.

Courier, with Bill in tow, moves deep into the house and to a hidden room which Raider says should be able to hide Billy and Robert from any inspection short of a mega-perceptive.

Gregory takes up a position just outside the house, hidden in the shadows and cloaked in his color-shifting skin to keep watch while the other busy themselves inside.

Meanwhile Raider, with Adam's help, grabs the recorder and the box of files and moves to place them into a hidden wall safe. As he picks up the recorder he finds that it seems to be far lighter than he remembers.

[Mr Fox]

Raider goes to pick up the recorder and transcripts in order to put them into the wall hiding place and stops in his tracks. He hefts the box to judge its weight and realizes it is lighter than it should be. He has a nasty suspicion that they have been duped. He stoops to examine the box and make sure it is the same one or that its contents haven't been stolen.

[BlueNinja]

Adam blinks as Raider stops, the unexpected halt almost sending the box spilling across the floor. "What? There's no way that Squiddie could have gotten to it - I mean, Buzz and I were here in the room the whole time." He stops, thinking it through. "Unless ... we saw him teleport the ship. Could he teleport stuff to him without having to be here? We'd never even have noticed it."

[Gregory]

Gregory flattened himself against the wall, near the door of the garage. His eyes looked up and down the narrow streets, and then into the sky. Every few seconds, he took a bit of food, before resuming his scans of the surroundings.

After 15 or 20 seconds, he sends out a wave of sound to warn him of any unseen intruders.

[Courier]

Courier walks back from the hidden room and observes both the lack of an attack and the mounting concern of the other novas.

"Um... what's going on?"

[jameson (ST)]

Raider takes a few seconds to closely inspect the recorder and realizes that it is very likely a fake, it's too light and and the exterior markings look wrong. He tosses it aside and it lands with a hollow plonk on the floor as Raider opens the box with the paperwork. Within he finds nothing but scraps of old newspaper and magazines and blatently blank pages.

Adam and Courier standing nearby watch in shock as it becomes clear that somebody made off with the recorder and the notes and replaced them with lookalikes.

Outside Buzz continues to bark orders unaware of what is transpiring inside. Nearby Gregory lets out a chirp. He is usnable to detect any cloaked invaders.

[Courier]

Doug sends to Buzz,

*Buzz... it looks like we're too late. They snuck in and got our stuff and left already.*

[Gregory]

Gregory didn't hear anyone who was hidden. He wondered if they were going to attack at the front gate, or at the shop. Either way, he would make sure that it was his enemy. He didn't want to hurt someone, who didn't deserve it, again.

Meanwhile, he watched and waited.

[Buzzkill]

*What?! Oh son of a bitch!...*

Buzz stops shouting commands and just stands there fuming for several seconds.

"Alright, umm...keep the evacuation going, we'll let you know when it's safe."

*It's already gone? Dammit! How? We saw an energy signature when he did it the first time. How could he have done it without us seeing!*

[Courier]

Doug sends back,

*Supposedly he has a crew. Invisibility? Shrinking? ESP? Whatever it was, he played us. That's why he didn't send a time and place. We were supposed to show his guy where the stuff was, then as soon as we were off guard, zap.*

*Thing that gets me is it must have happened just a few minutes ago.*

[BlueNinja]

Adam swears, swears some more, then (unless someone moves to stop him) throws the fake one on the ground and stomps on it. Breathing heavily, he looks around the shop. "Can anyone here track another nova? I mean, like, by power use or something like that? Because now I really want to turn this guy into barbeque."

He glances over at Raider. "Check this place out, see if he stole anything else from you."

[Mr Fox]

Raider looks as Adam stomps on the fake box wishing he could join in. "Fortunately, my personal stuff is kept safely hidden and not in this garage, so I doubt he stole anything else from me."

He stares at nothing for a moment thinking. "I do have a thought though. Robert and Billy were set us as much as we were. Maybe they might know more about where Squidward lives or how we might find him. We'll have to talk to Robert when he wakes up. Plus we still have that device that looks like squidwards teleporter, though I wonder if it really works."

[jameson (ST)]

As Buzz returns inside, fuming over being duped by Squidward, he sees the others also dipped in anger. Adam is destroying the fake "black box" while Courier looks ready to tear a car in half. Only Gregory, who remains just outside the door watching for aberrants, and Raider show no outward signs of rage. Raider is staring distantly into space thinking.

The minutes tick by and as it becomes obvious that it was a false alarm the civilian defense stand down to alert status and allow people to return to their homes and buisnesses. Gregory returns inside to see Adam kicking the mangles remains of the flight recorder duplicate and the others are each trying to deal with their own anger.

The house is silent except for the intermittant thud of Adam's boot into the scrap metal. Suddenly Courier's eyes roll up into his head and he collapses like a sack of potatoes to the floor. Within his head Squidward breaks down the last of Courier's mental barriers and laughs, Fools, it was so easy to pit you against each other. Now I have what I wanted and you have dealt with one of my enemies for me. I could not have asked for more ... Oh Doug? Your little woman freind is still here with me, she is ok ... for now. If I can think of anything else I might need I will be sure to let you know ...

Squidward's prescence retreats from Courier's mind and his eyes flutter open. He is once again flat on his back looking at the ceiling. The others have all gathered round and are looking down at him, concerned expressions on their faces once more.

[Courier]

Doug opens his eyes and finds himself once again staring at the ceiling. He’s not happy. It shows in his tone when he ways,

“That was Squidward sending his love… more like gloating about it. He still has KB. He thanked us for taking out Robert. Said something about how easy it was for him to turn us against each other. Called him ‘an enemy’. No, he said, 'one of his enemies'.”

Doug doesn’t climb awkwardly to his feet, instead he simply rises and sets himself upright. Then he floats over to his “coffin” and starts to take off the armor and put it inside. After finishing his talk he switches to mind speak,

*He thinks he won more than he did. Said he 'couldn't ask for more'. But Robert is still alive. When he wakes up we’ll have to find out if he knows how to work that gizmo. On that subject… say, Raider? Do you think that new power of yours will work again?*

[Mr Fox]

Raider, looks concerned when Doug collapses to the ground, then relieved as he delivers his news.

"Hmm, I have no idea, I can certainly try. Do you need healing or were you referring to Robert? Either way, I'll do what I can but I'm still pretty drained."

[Courier]

Doug replies,

"Robert. I really feel like killing something, and I've got a headache, but I don't think you can do anything about those."

"If you want to test your stuff you could... NO. No, you probably don't want your knew gift to go public. He knew us. I think Squidward is from around here. I thought that back when we first met, and now I'm wondering if he's close by, maybe even inside the city."