Aberrant: No Fate - Chapter 3: Deja Vu

[Courier]

Cherub says,

"Will he try to stop us? For that matter, we're done with the temporal editing, right? So do we really need him?"

[Joani]

Newton nodded at Nosferatu and Cherub. "Short after our eruption he went on a killing spree. He warped us to Harrods, you know that huge shopping mall in London and killed the security staff while he was "shopping" as he put it. Bastion overwhelmed him and we managed to escape. Well... after that we had to erase his memory and I forged my first idea to reverse what happened. I feared that we would all end up like him.", Newton sighed as he finished, "He is megalomaniac... very unstable."

Bastion stepped forward and had a serious look in his face. "I think we should start taking action unless you guys are still out for our blood? If not I suggest us going after Legion and you guys see what you can do about Nadine and the Singularity? I guess Synapse can keep you up to date?"

[Frag]

"What do ya say Sean? The...man(?) wants to know if you are going to fullfill your contract? As for me, I'm game to hunt the hard target. Sounds like at the very least he is going to work against you. Even worse he might go squeal and bring in the authorities. If we're not careful we might get to see the inside of Bahrain after all..." He put an arm around Keiko's waist for a moment and gave her a playful squeeze, though he let go before she could feel trapped.

"Besides, we have Keiko here to keep us safe." He gave her a conspiratorial wink and a glance as if he was on to a secret she was hiding.

"We have motive, manpower and opportunity. All that's left is to plan our order of operations. What's more pressing? Legion? Or a friendly sitdown with out blushing bomb-shell to be?"

[SalmonMax]

Still overcome by horror at the notion of a murderous warping nova on the loose, Keiko is startled by Frag's impertinent gesture, and emits a frightened squeak not unlike that of a little rubber squeeze toy. The moment he releases her she jumps away a step and regards him with wide eyes.

"I think this is my fault," she says. "I brought everyone's memories forward from the shifts, but I'm not a telepath. I couldn't see what the memories were." Keiko swallows and looks at Newton. "I can help with Legion. He'll be hard to catch because he can warp, but if I can freeze time around him then it'll be easier."

[Courier]

Cherub says,

"Keiko, how combat capable are you? Could you shrug off a zap from this guy? We seriously need you around to unravel this mess. Throwing you into harms way is a bad move unless you're experienced and invulnerable. We have already had at least five fatalities just getting this far."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko grimaces and wags her head from side to side as she tries to think of a good spin to put on her absolute lack of any fighting experience and skill.

"I had some self-defense courses," she offers weakly. "And if I slowed time right, I could seem really fast. I could probably dodge his zaps."

[Travis Kincaid]

Callum snorts, "This isn't some mugger or blip rapist. If his powers focus on spatial shifting he's probably fast and slipery like a greased snake. Better stay here kid and let the big boys deal with Legion." He says the novas name with a sneer and fake quotes in the air. "Figgy Newton, where's you boy most likely to go? We gotta start somewhere unless you can track his ass ..."

[Frag]

Jacob clears his throat, still looking directly into Keiko's enormous (and the more he looked adorable) eyes.

"Sorry darlin' but theres no point in playing your cards close to the chest."

He breaks his gaze to address the others around him stating simply as he taps his forehead for emphasis.

"Sean here can vouch that as sniffers go, the one in my head is top notch, and I can tell you right now this young lady is the most powerful erupted being in this room."

He nods over at Newton's gang. "And that's saying alot given those three are off the scale already. I've met alot of Novas and I've never met anyone like her." He looks back at Keiko giving her an appreciative smile.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko stares at Frag, either flabbergasted, or doing a really good act. Then she slaps her forehead.

"Oh, I get it! No." She relaxes and smiles. "It's not me. I was...Newton's time machine used this nova who was somehow frozen as she erupted or something, and it fed all this quantum energy to me. Otherwise I could never have traveled in time and moved everyone else and...all of that. I haven't used -all- that energy yet, so you're sensing what's left over. It's not me."

She chuckles. "I mean, yeah, if you count those leftovers, Legion wouldn't stand a chance. It'd be like...voop..." She snaps her fingers. "But it's already fading out of me. Probably won't last long enough to find him."

[Tim Wiley]

Nosferatu nodded to Callum. Hunting a worthy opponent always made him fell more alive. "The last thing we need is a crimal Nova running around and giving Utopia more fuel to use against the One Race."

He raises his hand. "I will volunteer to go after Legion. If possible, though, we should try to take him alive. Just in case we end up needing him."

[Mr Fox]

Sean nods. "Jacob can find him if Newton can point us a direction. And I'm in."

[Synner]

"I'm up for the hunt, but that still doesn't buy us the spatial manipulator we need. Anyone have any suggestions for solving that problem? I can contact my Aberrant sources, though I know Newton here can go to the source and talk to Rousseau."

"What's it going to be, Newton? Don't wig out on us over Legion. Keep moving forward."

[Courier]

Cherub says,

"Hmm..." lost in thought, "Do we have a telepath?"

[Frag]

Quote:

"Oh, I get it! No." She relaxes and smiles. "It's not me. I was...Newton's time machine used this nova who was somehow frozen as she erupted or something, and it fed all this quantum energy to me. Otherwise I could never have traveled in time and moved everyone else and...all of that. I haven't used -all- that energy yet, so you're sensing what's left over. It's not me."

"Well that would explain why you smell funny..." he replies with that same teasing flirt in his eyes and voice.

Quote:

Cherub says,

"Hmm..." lost in thought, "Do we have a telepath?"

Frag snorts with amusement.

"Ha! That would be a change of luck...good or bad though I'm not sure. Teeps are pretty rare. I think Proteus or the Directive conscript or kill any they find. Nobody likes their secrets out in the open..."

[Courier]

Cherub says slowly...

"In theory all this soul touching stuff I do would lead to telepathy if I were stronger."

[SalmonMax]

Keiko frowns and actually turns her head to discretely sniff at herself, then shakes her head.

When Frag mentions the fate of telepaths, she breaks her pad and pen out to scribble a few things on it; then puts it back and looks at the others.

"So...I'm going to check on Nadine. If you guys need me for anything, just let me know."

[Joani]

"I suppose he'll go back to germany - most likely Berlin. That's where he is from. I think he had some connections with the local criminals and he is very vengeful. It shouldn't be that hard to track him, but it will be nigh impossible to catch him I fear. You have to come up with a good plan. Freezing time will be most likely necessary so I suppose you take Keiko with you."

Newton prepared himself to leave adding his part of the plan, "I'll go with my people and do some more research about Bahrain and Proteus. Especially concerning the Singularity. You guys go hunt Legion - and please try not to kill him, we may need him yet. Are there any resources you need? Right now is the moment to request stuff before we part."

-----------------

Keiko went to Nadine's quarters to check on her. The woman was still unconscious and several screens monitored her vital stats. Nadine was moaning as if she had a bad dream but she didn't seem to wake from it. Her vital stats remained within normal parameters though. It was hard to imagine that this woman had the potential to cause the deaths of over 5 million people.

[SalmonMax]

Keiko sighs unhappily and reaches out to put her hand over the other woman's.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly. "I wasn't thinking. I should have come for you alone and just walked into see you like a regular person. I'll do everything I can to make sure no one hurts you. Or...possesses you."

[Tim Wiley]

"I have everything I need." Nosferatu says, flashing his fangs. In reality, he wondered if his Omega devices would still work. He would find out when the time came.

"We should probably form two teams. One to make the direct assault, and the other to block any escape routs and reiforce in case of an ambush."

[z-May Allman]

Ronnie nodded. "I'm with you guys; I know Legion better than you and you can use the 'tour guide.'" She hefted her gun, assuring them that she could take care of herself.

[Travis Kincaid]

"Teleporting targets aren't my usual, if I drop a blackout he'll just bolt. But I can go along as backup if you need it." Callum was matter of fact, still brooding over the fact that with all the power to turn back time the others either couldn't or wouldn't allow him to try and change his own past for the better.

[Mr Fox]

Sean considered the plan then spoke, "I'll go in in the first group. I'm very stealthy when I need to be."

[Synner]

"Hmmm ... if our trail leads to Berlin as Newton suggests, we are going to need somebody who speaks German."

After digesting some of the planning,

"I'll be in the assualt team, I guess. If he opens a portal, I'll try to block it."

He looks around then clarifies,

"I'll drop a portal on his portal."

Payton smiles,

"Remember, if he ports away quickly, it will be a short hop - maybe half a kilometer or so, so we still have a small chance of catching him. A disrupter would be better, of course, but you plan a mission with what we got," he shrugs.

[Courier]

Cherub asks,

"Is he a teleporter or a warper? And I'm willing to go... but I'm not effective in this combat situation. I think I'd be more useful just talking to Nadine and watching our reporter."

[Joani]

Originally Posted By: SalmonMax

Keiko sighs unhappily and reaches out to put her hand over the other woman's.

"I'm sorry," she says quietly. "I wasn't thinking. I should have come for you alone and just walked into see you like a regular person. I'll do everything I can to make sure no one hurts you. Or...possesses you."

Nadine woke up with a muffled scream. Her eyes were wide open and she jerked away from Keiko. “What have you done to me? Can anyone tell me what the fuck is going on?!”, Nadine was obviously losing her composure.

Originally Posted By: Courier

Cherub asks,

"Is he a teleporter or a warper? And I'm willing to go... but I'm not effective in this combat situation. I think I'd be more useful just talking to Nadine and watching our reporter."

“It’s worse, Cherub. He is a Spatial Manipulator – he can do both and is extremely skilled and creative if I may say so. Maybe we should take Vanessa with us, she can try to control his mind again if we can’t get a hold of him.”, said Newton.

Bastion looked as if he didn’t approve to that idea but kept his thoughts to himself.

[Tim Wiley]

Nosferatu nodded to Sean. "I will go in the first group as well. It may come down to a first strike situation. If we can hit him fast and hard, we might be able to stop or slow him."

[SalmonMax]

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar

Nadine woke up with a muffled scream. Her eyes were wide open and she jerked away from Keiko. “What have you done to me? Can anyone tell me what the fuck is going on?!”, Nadine was obviously losing her composure.

Keiko's eyes widen comically in surprise, and she quickly looks behind her, then tries to shush Nadine.

"I'll tell you!" she promises. "Just...you have to listen. I know we did this all wrong, and I'm sorry. I'll tell you the whole story though. I'm Keiko. I'm a nova. I've been working with another nova, trying to stop something awful from happening."

She pauses then, waiting to see how Nadine reacts before getting to the complicated part.

[Joani]

"But I didn't do anything. You must be mistaken!", Nadine was getting desperate and only calmed down reluctantly. Without saying a word she just stared at Keiko waiting for her story.

[SalmonMax]

"No, you didn't do anything," Keiko agrees soothingly. "But there's something out there that's trying to find you. If it does, then it causes some kind of disaster. To be honest, I don't know the details. All I know is that there's this thing called the Singularity. In five days, it was going to find you at your building in New York, and all of Manhattan is leveled. There's this...explosion."

"We came back in time to try to stop it from reaching you. To stop the explosion from happening. None of it's your fault as far as we can tell, but because it's looking for you in particular, we had to move you to a safer spot."

"And...before you ask, we don't know why it's looking for you. In fact," Keiko gives Nadine an embarrassed smile. "We were kind of hoping you could help us with that."

[Joani]

Nadine gulped audibly as she heard about the explosion and started crying. Sobbing she answered, "I'm having these strange dreams... they're freaking me out. There is a war and people are dying and something or someone haunts me. I thought it was just stress. I'm in a very responsible position and the tourism-branch isn't what it used to be. I'm going to destroy Manhattan... that is real?", Keiko could tell that Nadine was slowly drifting into a shock.

[Courier]

Cherub nods and says,

"I think I'm going to monitor Nadine and our cub reporter." Unless someone says something, Cherub leaves to do that.

[SalmonMax]

"No! It's not YOU, Nadine," Keiko quickly assures her. She grabs a stool and drags it over to sit on so their heads are closer together.

"This Singularity is connected somehow to a secret branch of Project Utopia called Proteus. No one really knows what it is, or what they do. These dreams you had...can you tell me about them?"

She fishes around for her notepad, then gets ready to write down what Nadine says.

[Joani]

Nadine stared through Keiko as she recalled her dreams. "They are terribly clear, as if it actually happened. The whole world is at war and people die around me. I can't touch them... they just die and their faces... oh my god their faces." Tears were running down her cheeks, then she collapsed gasping for air.

[SalmonMax]

Hesitantly Keiko reaches out to place a comforting hand on Nadine's arm. "You said before someone is haunting you? In the dream?"

[Joani]

Nadine nodded terrified by the pictures in her head. "He looks like death incarnate... like a Spectre.", Nadine started to hyperventilate and shook her head - then she screamed "NOOOOOO!!!"

[Synner]

Synner gestures and opens up a quick portal to Nadine and Keiko. He steps through and anyone may follow as the warp remains in place.

[SalmonMax]

"Oh..." Keiko moans, looking around in horror. "Don't do that. Look, you're safe now! We're not going to let anything bad happen to you!"

She hears the warp open and hops a step back from it, waving her hands in front of her.

"She's just upset! I didn't do anything! Don't kill us!"

[Frag]

Jacob listens as Legion is discussed. When Vanessa is mentioned he remarks, "That's the only way I can see this working. Any kind of spatial manipulators are notoriously hard to catch, like greased lightning. However...if we can paralyze him in one spot for even a few moments I can drain him dry and we can knock him out. I only say the last part because if he is really in a bind, he might try and burn his life force to escape..."

Jacob looks alarmed when he hears Nadine scream, but seeing others react to the situation, feels its better if he stays out of it.

[Courier]

At the sound of screaming, Cherub runs the last few steps and finds Nadine and Keiko.

"What's going on?"

[Synner]

Synner steps through and then aside.

He holds up his hand in a peaceful gesture.

"I'm just here to see what the yelling is about. It sounded pretty horrific to the point I thought somehting bad had happened. Peace."