Aberrant: Phoenix Rising - Chapter 3: Animals and Relics

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Back at the shop Courier, Buzz and Adam wait for word of something but neither Gregory nor Raider has anything to report.

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Doug say, "OK, so we proceed with plan 'A'. We go there and hope he'll contact us."

[Gregory]

Gregory was frustrated. I know someone here. How they hide so I not see them.

He decided that he would try two more things before calling in the others. He pinged, while he was near the crater, with his node to find any quantum signatures, other than his and Raider's. If that turned up nothing, he moved quickly away from the crash site and called up a construct. This construct, which would look like a human, would walk towards the center of the crash site. If bad guys were there, they might attack it.

[Courier]

Doug pauses... "Hold up, he's trying something..."

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory concentrates for a moment an mentally squeeze his node much like one would an orange. A wave of quantum energies is released and flows around the area. Relatively close by in the crater a bright point reflects some of Gregory's energy back toward him, That would be Raider he thinks to himself.

Further out somewhere in the forest itself two more nodes respond to Gregory's ping. He spins slowly and begins to scan the area the two pings came from. After a few moments he sees one of the two aberrants. A mass of grey-green tentacles and claws it looks more like a deep sea creature than something which was once human.

[Gregory]

So theres you are Gregory thinks with satisfaction.

Sending to Courier * I find two aberrants in woods near crash. They are 40 meters west of the crash site. One is green with claws and tent'cles. Can't see the other, but must be hostile. Be ready for Adam to attack on my mark.

,,

Gregory shapes the quantum energies into the form of a large man. Knowing that Adam's attack is based on fire, Gregory gives the figure invulnerability to fire so it can survive Adam's 'Bomb'. Claws would be a nice addition.

Once the construct is complete, Gregory sends it in to confront the aberrants. It will move, noisily, to their location in hopes of provoking they attack. Meanwhile, Gregory will kick on his force field and move away from the where the aberrants are located.

Once the aberrants give up their position, and attack the construct * Now!

[Mr Fox]

Raider will quickly make his way to where Gregory says they are. Once there he will scout around for any sign of KB. If she is there he will grab onto her and make her incorporeal in order to sneak her away from the two badguys. He will also real anything important he sees to the others.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

So theres you are Gregory thinks with satisfaction.

Sending to Courier * I find two aberrants in woods near crash. They are 40 meters west of the crash site. One is green with claws and tent'cles. Can't see the other, but must be hostile. Be ready for Adam to attack on my mark.

Courier sends back,

*Is the other abby KB? And you should let Raider make you unsolid if Adam is going to cut lose, his power will plaster everything there.*

(Doug forwards what Gregory said and his responce to everyone along with the following)

*He's going to trigger them and see what happens. If it's an ambush, then we'll ambush the ambush. But if it's not we're going to have to talk to them.*

[BlueNinja]

Adam takes a deep breath and concentrates, revisualizing the area so that he knows where these Abbys are. He'd hate to blow up the wrong stretch of forest, after all.

[Buzzkill]

Buzz nods, going over what they were talking about, recent events regarding KB, Bob and some hospital, and older more painful memories that he'd carefully dredge up and then suppress again.

"I'm ready to negotiate, if there's any negotiations to be had. Just gimme the word and send me in."

[jameson (ST)]

Gregory concentrates on the ambiant qunatum enegery and shapes it, collects it into a mass and give it form and purpose. A large man shaped thing with a thick hide and large claws pulls itself up out of the ground and shambles toward the treeline. The creature in the trees looks down at the creature and rumbles something indeterminate. The construct keeps shambling into the trees and passes below the twisted aberrant.

A pair of tentacles lash out from the aberrant and wrap themselves around the constructs arms. From another tree a few yards away from the aberrant a lance of pure light stabs down at the construct and peirces the quantum field holding the thing together. The quantum energy grounds and the shape bursts.

The tentacled mass drops from the tree and looks around the area, "Where it go?!?!" Cries the creature turning in circles.

[Courier]

Doug swears mentally and sends to Gregory,

*Get out of there. No, find Raider, Adam is going to toast the area.*

(To Raider) *It's a trap. Gregory sent in a decoy and the abbies tried to kill it. Find him, Adam is going to toast the area.*

Doug forwards to Raider and Gregory his best impression of their location from what he's seen from their eyes.

(Out loud). "It's a trap. They're there to kill us. Adam, as soon as Raider ghosts Gregory, let's toast the place."

[Mr Fox]

Raider sees the carnage that occurs when Gregory's construct goes for a walk. He mutters under his breath, 'frag!', and heads toward where he believes Gregory is at top speed. As soon as he finds him he will grab Gregory's arm and phase him out of normal existence. As soon as he has him he will pull him down so that he is mostly in the ground leaving just their heads above grade to watch the fireworks and make sure to witness what happens to the badguys as a result of Adam's blasts.

[Courier]

Courier activates his flight and hovers. He looks less silly floating rather than walking around. Finally here is a chance to do something. Even if it isn't going to get KB back, it was a chance to make someone pay. He reaches over to his belt and picks out two metal spheres and passes one to his left hand.

(Flight On)

[Gregory]

Gregory sends back to Courer. *I have force field. It protect me well. If hurt, I can heal myself. I am 50 meters from abbies. Just toast the place!

,,

Gregory continues to move away from area with his force field on. He hopes Raider catches up. Once he hears the explosion, he will dive for cover, in order to minimize the blast's effects.

[Courier]

Courier says,

"Gregory claims he's ready. Let's get started."

[BlueNinja]

As soon as Adam gets the word, he opens the Warp, and lets fly with a little creative carpet bombing.

((Opening the Warp about 30 meters above the ground, then next round dropping three q-bolts in a triangle pattern around the two Abbys, each one about three meters away from the others. If the Warp stays open more than that one round, repeat the bombing the next round if they are still alive. If one of the Abbys can fly or jump up towards the Warp, abort actions to close it before they can get in.))

[Courier]

Courier will wait till the gate opens, then he will wait for Adam to attack, then he will move through the gate and move up and the to the right of it.

(As movement through a gate is a full action that's all he can do).

[jameson (ST)]

Raider sprints toward where he thinks Gregory is throwing himself to the others side and shifting his mass into the pocket realm. Above them a pair of bomb-bay doors swing open and a series of directed strikes streak out and toward the ground. The aberrant is caught in a series of concusive blasts as mushroom clouds bloom from the forest floor. Trees, dirt, leaves, and rocks are thrown to the four winds by the force of the repeated explosions.

Lucky for Gregory that Raider got to him in time, he was far closer than his estimate of 50 meters. A firestorm of explosive energy and burning debris washes over the two men. Smoke, dirt, sand, and debris blot out the sun and fill the shallow hole that they are in.

Above Courier flies through the gate and quickly pulls a bootleg turn positioning himself above and to the left of the gate. Below a smoke filled haze obscures the ground but cannot hide the damage. The series of explosions has leveled a section of forest more than 50 meters across and toppeled or thrown many of the younger trees. The larger trees are blasted and blackened, thier bark blown off or still on fire.

Back in the Garage Adam hesitates, uncertain if there is need to toss another grouping of bomb through the gate and unknowing if Gregory was able to weather the firestorm. Buzz peers through the gate beside Adam and witnesses a holocaust unlike anything he has seen since the burn. Despite his recent mental excercises, or perhaps because of them, the nightmare memories of the burn come crashing back into him. He drops to the floor like a marionette as yet another attack from his own mind cuts loose the strings of his self control.

[Mr Fox]

"Hang on to me and don't let go", Raider will pull Gregory along as he searches through the smoke for Squidward, and checks to see if the other abby is dead. He will relay whatever they see to the others.

[Courier]

Courier considers flying down to investigate then he thinks better of it. Assuming it's possible, he shifts the link to Gregory.

*How you doing?*

[Gregory]

*In ground with Raider. He find me when bomb go off. I not hurt. Abbies hurt though.

,,

Gregory smirked that he was able to trick the abbies into revealing their ambush. He liked that he ruined their plans and turned the tables on them. Who laughing now He chuckled to himself.

[Courier]

Courier yells through the gate,

"I linked with Gregory, he's OK and with Raider."

Courier continues to stand on air and wait for the smoke to clear.

[BlueNinja]

"Let me know when you need to get back!" Adam knows he can't hold the gate open for very long, so he'll let it close, and turn to see what he can do to help Buzz, apparently having seizure on the floor.

[Buzzkill]

"Ma! DAD!!! Get to the shelter! It's not too late!" screams Buzz, his voice echoing eerily through the warp gate to those on the other side. Buzz is on his knees reaching a hand through the gate as if he'll somehow help the phantoms on the other side from the conflagration in his mind.

"Hurry! They did it! They dropped 'em! MOM!!!" he screams. In his mind he sees the broadcast on a hovering billboard indicating that the Chinese have made good on their threats and were beginning to carpet bomb the Earth with Nukes. He's standing against the stream of panicking people as he sees his parents rushing to the shelter as a flash brighter than the sun goes off on the horizon.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Buzzkill

"Ma! DAD!!! Get to the shelter! It's not too late!" screams Buzz, his voice echoing eerily through the warp gate to those on the other side. Buzz is on his knees reaching a hand through the gate as if he'll somehow help the phantoms on the other side from the conflagration in his mind....

"Huh?!?" Doug thinks.

"Telepathic attack? No, Buzz is just having a problem."

Courier waits for either the abbies to show up or the gate to close. Adam's power is impressive, but Doug doesn't really trust his aim.

[jameson (ST)]

Below Courier the doors swing shut and fade from existance as a light breeze begins to clear some of the smoke and debris. Courier is unable to see Gregory and/or Raider but is not suprised given the ghostly nature of Raiders abilities.

As the smoke clears Gregory and Raider see that they are standing within a shallow crater or fire blackened blasted earth. Nearby trees groan as they settle back into place and brush and twisted branches still smoulder.

Near the center of the crater, at its lowest and clearest point, the aberrant sits rocking back and forth. Gregory's hearing is the first to recover and he can hear the creature crying, "Owie, owie, owie ..." Gregory and Raider look around but are unable to determine where the second aberrant was or if it is still alive or not.

*****

Back in Raider's garage Adam pulls Buzz abck from the gate as it begins to fade and helps the old man. He is just getting Buzz seated in one of Raider's chairs when there is a knock at the door.

[Mr Fox]

Raider thinks to Courier, "I think we have a problem. The dumb one is just hurt, and Squidward is nowhere to be found. I suspect he probalby teleported away as the blasts began. That's bad for our friend. So what do we with this guy that's hurt? Maybe a prisoner exchange? Hang on, I have an idea."

Raider pulls Gregory fully up out of the ground, then squeezes his arm and whispers, "I'm going to talk to the injured abby, hide if you can. Squidward might come back at any time." With that he lets go of Gregory.

He makes his way forward and as he gets near the abby he becomes partially visible, but remains ready to fade out the rest of the way instantly. He says quietly and gently. "Hello, you look hurt. I can make it better if you will let me."

[Courier]

Courier rotates the link... with the obvious exception of Buzz. He also attempts to contact KB again.

(To Raider & Gregory) *I thought Squidward wasn't here to begin with? And are we sure the other abby is gone, did anyone do a 'ping'?*

[Gregory]

Gregory sends back to Courier. *I did not see Squid. I will ping for other abbies. When you coming? We might need help.

With that, Gregory pings for other nova. He is also moving stealthily towards the other nova, his skin still blending in with its surroundings.

[Courier]

(Back to Gregory)

*I'm already here, above you. Adam and Buzz are on the other side of the gate, which just shut. Something's wrong with Buzz, maybe the same as back in the hospital.*

*When you heard the other abby, did that sound like Squidward?*

[BlueNinja]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Back in Raider's garage Adam pulls Buzz abck from the gate as it begins to fade and helps the old man. He is just getting Buzz seated in one of Raider's chairs when there is a knock at the door.

"Fer crying out loud," he mutters to himself, making sure Buzz isn't in imminent danger of falling out of the chair, before stomping over to open the door, yanking it open with a scowl. "What?" he blurts out before seeing who it is.

[jameson (ST)]

Adam flings the door open “WHAT!?” already bursting past his lips. He sees a young man of maybe twenty flinch back, “S …s…sir? We heard an awful noise like an explosion and then somebody crying out. I just wanted to make sure everything was ok?”

The young man is obviously nervous. He peers by Adam as Buzz begins to call out to his long dead family, the madness of his own memories tormenting him.

*****

Gregory lets go another wave of quantum energy in an attempt to locate the aberrants as Raider closes the distance between himself and the tentacled creature. Overhead Courier hovers over the battlefield, his armor making him a bright reflective target. He surveys the battlefield and sees nothing moving beyond the crater.

Gregory’s ping returns only 3 other nodes, two of which must be Courier and Raider. Either the second aberrant was killed or it fled. Raider moves to within ten feet of the creature and as the smoke continues to thin he can begin to make out the creature form.

A small human-like central body serves as a center point for dozens of tentacles which appear to have completely replaced the aberrant’s arms and legs. Its skin has become tough and leathery and is tinged with shades of green and brown, either as a result of defensive color blending like Gregory’s own skin or as a simple mutation. As Raider approaches he tries to sound reassuring and non-threatening. The creature ceases it’s chanting of “Owie” and looks up at Raider with large childlike eyes. It cradles one of it’s tentacles which is scorched and burned, though the rest of the creature seems unscathed.

Quote:

Raider says quietly and gently. "Hello, you look hurt. I can make it better if you will let me."

“Fire burn Billy. Owie!” He says as he shows Raider his burnt limb. His voice is guttural and deep but similarly seems childlike in the intellect behind it. “Where’d Rob-bert go?” It asks almost plaintively.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Overhead Courier hovers over the battlefield, his armor making him a bright reflective target. He surveys the battlefield and sees nothing moving beyond the crater.

Doug thinks,

*Now why is my armor so shiny again? Oh yeah, I asked for it. Clever me. So I’m just floating here looking good as a target… or I could go down and look good as a target. No, Raider has things in hand, I can already listen with the link, no need to look over his shoulder as well.*

*I don’t see anything moving… and this is fairly short range for me. Let’s move up and get a better view.*

Doug flies up another 100 meters and looks around again.

[Gregory]

Looks like one of them gone. Maybe he dead. Gregory thought to himself.

Gregory decided that it was time he try to find what exactly is happening. So, he kept his camoflage on, and moved towards the crying. Gregory hoped that he could get some information from their prisoner.

Sending to Courier *Only one abbie left. He hurt. Will try to get imf'mation from him. Tell other to come through.

[Courier]

Originally Posted By: Gregory

Sending to Courier *Only one abbie left. He hurt. Will try to get imf'mation from him. Tell other to come through.

*Buzz is down again. Adam is dealing with it... looks like it's just us three for right now.*

[BlueNinja]

Originally Posted By: Dr. Raphael Bradford

Adam flings the door open “WHAT!?” already bursting past his lips. He sees a young man of maybe twenty flinch back, “S …s…sir? We heard an awful noise like an explosion and then somebody crying out. I just wanted to make sure everything was ok?”
The young man is obviously nervous. He peers by Adam as Buzz begins to call out to his long dead family, the madness of his own memories tormenting him.

Adam blinks, and briefly covers his eyes with a hand. "Adam, you dumbass," he mutters, then looks at the guy with what he hopes is a more reassuring smile. "The explosions were me - trying to weaken an Abby - look, that's not important, the town's not under attack or anything. But do you know if there's a doctor or priest or someone who's been working with Buzz? He, ah," Adam pauses, glancing back over his shoulder at the unfortunate old man, and then taps his temple. "Bad memories or something, and I don't have a clue. Can you get someone? And sorry about the shouting."

[Mr Fox]

Raider smiles sympatheticly at the aberrant. "I don't know where Robert went, but perhaps we can help you get home once we fix your arm." Raider will set his medical kit down and go through it until he finds a good local anisthetic to dull the pain.

Once he does he will approach closer. "My name is Raider, what's yours?" He will wait for an answer before proceeding, "I want to help you." He shows the abby the tube of gel he has in his hands, "This will dull the pain some and help the burn heal. It will feel cold when I put it on but the hurting will not be so bad after a minute or two."

After he applies the anesthetic, he will say in a friendly voice, "There, that's better isn't it? Now, lets see what we can do to help get you home. Do you know where you live from here, or can you describe your home?"

[jameson (ST)]

Originally Posted By: Mr Fox

Raider smiles sympatheticly at the aberrant. "I don't know where Robert went, but perhaps we can help you get home once we fix your arm." Raider will set his medical kit down and go through it until he finds a good local anisthetic to dull the pain.

Once he does he will approach closer. "My name is Raider, what's yours?"

The aberrant is crying now, "B ..B..Billy," he replies in resonse to Raider's question, "Make owie go 'way please?"

Quote:

"I want to help you." He shows the abby the tube of gel he has in his hands, "This will dull the pain some and help the burn heal. It will feel cold when I put it on but the hurting will not be so bad after a minute or two."

"There, that's better isn't it? Now, lets see what we can do to help get you home. Do you know where you live from here, or can you describe your home?"

Shortly after Riader applies the gel Billy stops crying, "I dunno where home is, Robert brough me here. He said that the bad man would be here and we could get back at him for being a meanie." Billy looks up at Raider, "Did you see da bad man? He esploded! I think it was da bad man. Where's Robert ... ROBERT!!"

Raider quickly peices together that either Billy is just a child or his intellect is no greater than that of a chile regardless of his true age. Whomever Robert is, he probably brough Billy along as extra muscle to attack "the bad man", whoever the heck that was.

Courier circles the crash site an climbs to a higher altitude. He surveys the area seeing very little other than quite forest scarred by the inpact of the crashed aircraft.

Nearby Gregory as stealthly approached to where Raider and Bill are sitting. He has overheard most of the conversation but has been distracted whiel keeping a watch out for the other aberrant and any other trouble coming their way.

*****

The young man looks past Adam and sees the slumped form of Buzz trembling as his flashbacks continue to trouble the old man. "Of course I will run and get the doctor and let Ralphie know, he may be able to help as well."

With that the young man dashes off looking for help for Buzz. Adam realizes belatedly that he shouldn't have mentioned the aberrant but luckily the boy was distracted by Buzz's condition and apparently didn't hear or it didn't register. Either way another slip like that could cause quite a panic or worse.

[Mr Fox]

Raider listens to Billy before asking, "The bad man, can you describe what he looks like? I was here with my friends looking for a bad man too. Maybe it is the same bad man."

[Gregory]

Gregory wondered if they were speaking about the same man. He also had questions for this strange 'Bill'. I hope they sent by Squiddy. I feel bad if they's not Gregory worriedly wondered.

Un-camoflaging himself, he walks towards Raider and Billy. He then speaks up. "I heard you talking about hungry, and you were going to eat someone. Who you want to eat?"

(Subterfuge to see if he's being untruithful or evasive)