Aberrant: The Long March - Chapter 9: Where the Road Leads

[SalmonMax]

Meredith's thumb presses the control for the nullifier, and she raises the weapon encasing her right hand, ready to shoot.

[Omar]

Omar will first throw the large desk and the computer monitor at the one furthest in the room. He will hold his action until Meri hits the field.

(OOC: Multiple action)

[Joani]

Joani kept her position expecting the others to attack any second. If things worked out the fight would be over before it even started. She was making sure that the Aberrants wouldn't pass into the safe zone and her muscles tensed with anticipation.

[Mr Fox]

(Init order: Omar, Cody, Joani, Kyria, Bad guy 1, Steve, Meri, BG2, Ulric, BG3, BG4, BG5, BG6.)

[SkyLion]

AS the seconds draw out in the tension of waiting, Cody digs deep. He grimaces but makes no sound as he drains the very life force from his cells that will give him a fighting chance in case things get ugly. Six Novas, even drained of quantum could be very dangerous, especially when desperate, as Cody felt now. He wipes abit of blood trickling from his nostrils and tastes the coppery fluid as it drains down his throat.

((Sacrifice Bruised HL for 2 QPs. Before Meri hits the Button, Cody goes for 2 drains, not multiple action as one should be considered Ambush. If for some reason this is not okay let me know and I can edit.))

[Courier]

Steve waits till he hears the click of Meri's switch then pivots and throws one knife at the man with the Shotgun, and prepares to throw the other at someone else.

Split action: 1st to throw, 2nd to throw but will delay init till after he sees if anyone is going to launch an attack at him. If someone does he'll spend a point of willpower to change that action to a dodge, if not then he'll throw the second as well.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria waits, unwilling to instigate the the violence, but taking a careful aim on the legs of the man in front.

[Mr Fox]

The tension built for a few seconds and then Cody held out his hands in a look of intense concentration. There was no visible light show or anything to see, but the large muscled man on the other side of the room grunted and staggered back a pace almost knocking into the brother holding the shotgun. Cody did look a bit more refreshed afterwords. The next thing that happened was a frown from the evil evangelist looking nova in the front. "Use not you evil powers against my people lest they be taken away from thee!!!" He raised his hand like a preacher casting out the evil spirits of the sinner and each of you feels as if you have been somehow touched but without effect. All that is except Meri. She returns to the flesh and blood feeling as if she can't hold onto her power. She does hold onto the remote however and pushes the button.

In an instant the big Geryon wannabe collapses to his knees and becomes a normal man, who is a bit skinny and covered with acne scars on his face. The preacher man looses his 'shininess', and the two brothers in the back look a little less healthy.

The next thing that occurs is that the computer monitor hits the preacher in the belly sending him slamming against the wall next to the elevator. Then the desk hits him ending that potential threat entirely and messily. Meanwhile Joani stands resolutely like a wall prepared to bar the enemy from passing out of the field. Seeing the one with a shotgun begin to raise his weapon Kyria takes a shot at his leg and fires sending him spinning back into the elevator. Despite the injury he does bring the shotgun up and fires at Omar. The pellets from the shotgun sting badly and even puncture the skin in a couple tender spots, but do little to actually harm the big man.

Steve seeing how the battle is falling out decides to take aim at the other brother and lets loose with two knives. One makes a glancing blow off the mans leather trench coat but the other sinks deep into the mans gut. He staggers back clutching at the knife with one hand and reaching for something under his coat with the other. Seeing the impending threat Ulric calmly takes aim with the rifle and sends a lightning bolt into the man's chest and he collapses to the ground his every muscle twitching violently for several seconds before going still.

Of the remaining two badguys one falls down the elevator shaft landing inside the elevator sprawled atop the still twitching corpse. It breaks his fall, but he takes one look at the carnage to the rest of his little cannibal pack and stands back up trying to leap for the top of the elevator to pull himself up. As he does he yells up the elevator shaft, "Run! It's a trap." This seems to snap the skinny kid out of his shock and he gets to his feet and runs for the elevator also trying to climb up the side of the elevator to get back to the ladder.

In only a few seconds the Battle of the Proteus Basement is over. Meri's handy defenses having made all the difference between what could have been a bloody conflict and a route.

(The one with the shotgun is still alive but injured. He will attempt to flee next round, as will the other cannibals. question is do you eliminate them or allow them to flee.)

[Courier]

Steve calmly picks up the "storm-trooper" rifle he'd left at his feet and attempts to shoot the already fleeing ex-Geryon nova in the back.

[Joani]

Joani sighed as she watched Steve aim for the helpless Nova and looked away in disgust. She knew the others wouldn't let them flee and she had to bite on her tongue to not call out to the others to let them go in peace. They had won, the fight was over. Going after them would be slaughter.

[Omar]

The kill was satisfying. More so, because of the selfrighteousness of the preacher-like aberrant. He could see the look of disgust on Joani's face, and he would sit down and talk to her later about it. For now, there were fleeing opponents to apprehend.

Omar sends to Lorien: * Send me to the surface. I want to greet the cannibals when they get to the top.

[Mr Fox]

Omar found himself briefly in the transporter room then an instant later on the ground floor of the building at the opening of the elevator shaft. (You have one round before the first one arrives at the top.)

Downstairs the former bruiser fell to the floor with a small smoking hole in his back.

[SalmonMax]

A little relived that she didn't have to pull the trigger, Meredith looks down at herself and plucks at the fabric of her shirt.

"Huh. He made me turn back. That would have been pretty bad..."

She eyes the others warily. "So...you're okay with me coming back with you? I swear, I'll be really useful."

[Omar]

Making sure his spikes are no longer out, Omar places himself 10 meters in front of the entrance. When he gets to the top, Omar will bellow. "Stop or be killed!" If attacked, Omar will attack and attempt a clinch.

(He will set up for a Smackdown on the next turn- his move is like Wan Fu from Samurai Showdown..he will pick him up and slam him on his head.)

[SkyLion]

*Omar don't kill him.* Cody sent. *I'd like to at least interrogate him first and see what he knows about this place. Maybe there are others here that could use our help in the passing.*

Cody burns some of his ill gotten gains to heal the wounds he sustained in order to steal them.

[Mr Fox]

The first one out of the elevator takes one step and glares at Omar, and energy beams come out of his eyes and strike the big man in the chest staggering him backwards and leaving a nasty burn and a hole in his eufiber. The burn doesn't stop the massive Paragon from stalking forward and grabbing the other man binding him in his iron bearhug.

After a few seconds of struggle bye the smaller man, Omar flips him upside down and using not only his incredible strength but also their combined weight to drive the his opponents head into the ground. He succeeds but not without cost. As he wass being flipped the other man shot a second beam at point blank range into Omar's right knee. The temporary loss of balance only hastened his own demise however as his head was pulped when it made contact with the floor.

Omar was just recovering when the next one came blazing out of the elevator shaft and ran for the door with incredible speed. Only one remained in the shaft making slow progress up the ladder.

[SkyLion]

Cody reaches out with his mind telepathically and attempts to usurp control over the nervous system of the one climbing up the shaft. If he succeeds in the dominate he forces the man to come back down where Cody can interrogate him at leisure.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria makes her way over to Cody, putting a hand on his shoulder and reaching out to him telepathically. *Are you alright?*

[SkyLion]

Kyria can tell both from his appearance and his mind that he is concetrating at the moment, attempting to psychicly lasso their fleeing foe. Some fast drying blood is smeared on his face, visible since his helmet had been retracted.

[Omar]

Omar blocks the entrance, ready to grab the other nova when he comes up the elevator shaft. When he does, he will clinch and attempt to choke the nova into unconsciousness. He will do his best to not kill this one.

[Courier]

Steve glances at Cody and correctly realizes what's going on. He thinks *Everything is so Obvious with my powers on... good move Cody* and sets up to cover the door with his rifle.

As soon as he has a good shot Steve attempts to shoot to kill.

[z028 Riley]

Kyria twines her mind with Cody's, slipping into the now-familiar meld with him to lend her own powers to his.

[Ulric Reikspar]

Ulric gets up and says,

"It's over except for executing these poor bastards."

He moves over to Joani.

"We don't know what these creatures went through, people. This is murder. The reality of their cannabalism aside, they are not our villians to put aside for any kind of justice."

With that, he goes back into the Computer room.

"Lorean, please keep us abreast of any other novas coming close, and how is Andrew doing. I'm going to start dismanting the computers her for transportation to you asap."

[Joani]

Joani followed Ulric wordlessly to the computer room and stood guard at the entrance. This wasn't necessary she thought to herself but tried to keep a neutral face. Her eyes wandered through the room until she stopped at Meri.

"I have no objections taking you with us, if that is what you wish. I must warn you, though. There is no going back once you've decided to join us.", she crossed her arms infront of her chest in a typical Supergirl pose and smiled at Meri. "Do you know what you are getting yourself into?"

[SalmonMax]

Meredith stares at the 'superman' girl, honestly shocked.

"Look at me!" she blurts, then sweeps an arm around her den. "Look at where I live! Look at HOW I live! How could anything be worse? At least you have other people...real, actual -people-! If there's strict laws, that's okay! I'll follow them!"

Tears start running down her cheeks. "Please don't leave me here alone. I'll do whatever you want."

[Joani]

Joani immediately dropped her pose and changed her stance to a more open and vulnerable position. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to threaten you, Meredith. Please don’t cry, we’re going to take you with us.”, she walked slowly towards Meri and offered her comfort with opened arms.

“Everything’s going to be alright, I promise.”

[Mr Fox]

After a moment the last of the cannibals crawled back into view in the elevator. He moved woodenly and exited the elevator moving slowly towards Cody. As he did Steve brought his weapon up and calmly put shot right through the man's head dropping him instantly.

A moment later Lorean sends over the link, *The one that escaped appears to be running at high speed and has already left the city and isn't slowing down. I think the threat is over.*

*****

Meanwhile aboard Lorean Morgan retrieved a jar of the stem cells that Andrew needs to live and lacking any better plan pours them into the bed in the last place he saw Andrew's mouth. Without reforming the puddle of nova simply absorbed the cells. Morgan looked to Lorean, "From the readings I'd say he is in a bad state. These readings look like extreme exhaustion and I can tell that he doesn't appear to have any quantum to sustain his form." After a minute or so the readings began to change, "Looks like those stem cells did the trick. He's still pretty bad off, but stable now. Should be just a matter of time before he recovers. I'm going to wait here with Andrew in case he needs me. You can go down to the planet now if you want." She nodded and walked out heading for the transporters.

********

Just as reactions began to the final kill, Lorean ported in and looked around.

[Omar]

Omar send back to Lorien and Cody: Is the final target still on his way up? I killed one of them, but the other got away. If the final guy has been neutralized, can I get a teleport back down please.

,,

[Mr Fox]

"Porting you now."

Omar made the usual two jump trip, first to the teleporter room aboard Lorean then to the destination.

[Courier]

Steve says (both over the link and out loud),

"They're dead. Five out of six anyway and the last ran away. We'll be gone before he comes back."

Steve glances at Cody in half apology and continues,

"Sorry if I jumped the gun a bit there. He was a dangerous feral nova we didn't need and who knew we were going to kill him. It would have been simple torture to keep him around. We have Meri, Lorean, and you Telepaths to find other people if we want to."

[SkyLion]

Cody nearly jumps out of his skin when the shotgun blast breaks his concentration...and violently severs the connection he had made with the cannibal.

*DAMN IT STEVE!* he "shouts" in the pain of it. *You realize I felt that blast hit as if it was me you were shooting at?! Next time bloody warn me if you're going to do something like that...*

[Andrew Murphy]

As Andrew's body absorbed the stem cells his color quickly recovers from an ashen gray to a more healthy reddish color. As his color returns so too does his body's ability to recover, process, and store quantum. His vitals, such as they are, begin to normalize. *Thank you Morgan ... I think I can recover now. I just need tome to regenerate and rest.* Even over the link Andrew's "voice" seems weak and conveys a sense of fatigue that would be labeled as clinical exhaustion in a non-nova. *How are the others?*

[SalmonMax]

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar

Joani immediately dropped her pose and changed her stance to a more open and vulnerable position. “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to threaten you, Meredith. Please don’t cry, we’re going to take you with us.”, she walked slowly towards Meri and offered her comfort with opened arms.

“Everything’s going to be alright, I promise.”

Meri hesitates, then fell into Joani's arms to sob into her shoulder.

"I thought I was the only one," she sniffles. "I thought it was just me in the whole world."

[Omar]

Omar pokes at the scorch mark in his eufiber, and is massaging a red mark on his knee as well. Despite the burns, he appears to be smiling.

"I hope this old suit of eufiber repairs itself when I have my juice back. These things are really hard to find these days."

Omar notices that Joani is cradling a sobbing Meri. The poor girl was probably still frightened.

[Mr Fox]

Morgan looks down at Andrew with a smile, "Glad to see you are out of the woods my friend. You had us very worried there for a bit." At the question he says, "Don't worry about the others, they are fine. They have difficulty with some cannibals, but they took care of the situation. Lorean just ported down to help with the search for data. You should have some good info here pretty soon if they can get them powered up. For now just get some rest and they'll be back aboard before you know it."

******

Meanwhile back on the surface.

Lorean moves to the computer room and attaches a small hypercombustion generator and powers up the systems. A moment later she calls out to the other room, "Looks like there is some pretty strong security, Cody do you want to assist?"

[SalmonMax]

Meri pulls back from Joani, clearly embarrassed, though also grateful. "Sorry about that. I've been, well, anyway. Sorry. Thanks. I should..."

She hears Lorean talking, and looks around to see where the voice is coming from.

Her face pales.

"Oh. Uh. Wait!" Meri waves a hand and nearly stumbles in her haste to get to the computer room. "Wait! Did I warn you about the bomb? There's a bomb!"

[Mr Fox]

Lorean freezes with her hands poised just above the keyboard about to type. "Bomb?" She quickly scans the room but not seeing anything noticeable looks back to Meri. "What bomb, I don't see anything in the room."

[SalmonMax]

"It's not in the room, it's under the building," Meri explains quickly. "Trying to breach security will set it off. You might be able to break it and stop the explosion, but I know I'm not good enough, so I didn't try. It seems like the only thing it's wired to is the computers, so I left it alone. I was worried the bomb might be sensitive to nova powers, so I didn't try to change it."

[z028 Riley]

Kyria reeled back from the daze of feeling someone die violently in her mind, landing hard enough on her ass for that pain to snap her back out of. She swallowed several times while she got her bearings.

Link: *Do we have what we need? Can we get out of here yet?*

[Joani]

As soon as Joani heard something about a bomb she followed the others into the computer room. "Can you be a little more specific about the location of the bomb? Maybe I can absorb most of the blast effect in case we set it off."