Aberrant: In the Beginning - Vassily Kalupin

[Reverb]

Vassily was tired, his vision blurring, and his head swimming. He had been working on a program to decode certain encryption algorithims. The math was fine, but hunting down the errors in the program was time consuming and mentally exhausting. With this new program, he could break more passcodes and encryption schemes than his previous attempts. He saves the program and shuts the computer down, heading to his bed. Before his head hits the pillow, his eyes have shut and his conscious mind has shut down. His light snoring indicates he is sleeping well, and is almost drowned out by the light rain outside his apartment.

[Dawn OOC]

He was dreaming about running along the electric lines. They shouldn't have held his weight, but they did. He ran faster and faster, so fast he was dodging the falling rain. Laughing, he ran faster still.

The line he was running on ended at a house, and he jumped through the wall reflexively. A woman was in the dark room; she turned to look at him, starting. But she smiled and laughed, clearly not unhappy to see him.

Her eyes were made of mirrors, and her mouth was full of light, but she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

The pounding on the door woke Vassily up with a start. "Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del! Open up immediately!" The Ministry of Internal Affairs! Why were they here? He knew that he had about two minutes before they beat the door down.

[Reverb]

Vassily grabbed the electromagnet he kept near his bed just in case this happened and ran to his computers. He began running the magnet up and down the outer casings, fragging the hard drive and the motherboard. His hands slipped a couple of times as sweat began to gather in his palms, giving him slight shocks as it did so. When he was done with that, he began heading for the window in his bedroom, glad he was only on the second floor. As he reached the window he heard the door bust in, so he opened the window and jumped without care for his own safety. He knew that if they caught him, and tied him to any of his hacks, he'd be in jail for a LONG time, and he couldn't handle that.

[Dawn OOC]

The computers die quietly, his work gone with the quick pass of a magnet. It hurts him to do this, to erase his work as if it had never been. But Russian jail was a terrifying thought and so Vassily did it gladly.

He landed in soft trash below the window, groaning more from the scent that arose in an aromatic puff around him than the landing. Standing, he ignored the aches and pains and turned to run up the alley. A figure stepped at the end of the alley; something like a gun was pointed at him. "MVP! You are under arrest! Stop or be shot!"

[Reverb]

Vassily looks up and down the alley, and takes off down the alley, heading for the other end, zig-zagging all the way, trying to dodge the inevitable shot. He grimaces at the feel of the injuries he sustained on the fall stressing again. Damnit. Gotta get away. He grabs the garbage cans he passes and throws them down behind him, trying to delay any pursuit.

[Dawn OOC]

"Fuck your mother!" the cop shouted. "Why do they always run?" Vassily could hear feet pounding behind him. After a moment, they stopped, and Vassily heard the terrifying report of a gun. He whimpered at the brick wall ahead of him exploded into fragments, raining pieces on him. Cringing, he dashed past, almost to the mouth of the alley.

As he turned the corner, someone was in front of him. He ran into them, elicting a very feminine grunt from them as he knocked them down. He saw a drawn gun in one hand and a MVD badge in the other. As she looked up at him, he recognized her. She was the woman from his dreams, sans the weird eyes and mouth. But she was here, she was real and she was trying to arrest him.

[Reverb]

Vassily stares at the woman slack-jawed for a few seconds, and the rain, which had been light for most of the day, suddenly got worse, and lightning began cascading across the sky. The thunder roars, snapping Vassily back to the present. Without another thought he takes off, heading out of the alley and onto the streets. He runs at full speed down the wet street, his shirt plastering itself to his slight frame. As he turns another corner, his feet slide out from under him. He slams his back into a light pole, the pain making him wince. When he stands, he takes a look back to where the alley was, and sees the two agents running after him. His pajama bottoms are soaked through making running difficult, but he keeps going, his back screaming in protest.

[Dawn OOC]

Another gunshot rang out in the deserted street but this time Vassily didn't even see where it had gone. His back pounded distantly, subdued as his body released chemicals which raging through his system, dulling pain and giving him a survivor's edge. Unfortunately, his chasers had that, too.

He wasn't thinking about where he was going. The Narva Triumphal Gate appeared on his right, and he turned the corner at that monument, trying to think of where he was. That answer came all too soon. The Neva River loomed in front of him and Vassily cursed as he realized his mistake. His breath was rasping in and out of his lungs as he turned and ran parallel to its banks. He had to get away from this open area!

A third shot rang out and Vassily felt something slam into his back and knock him down. For a second, he lay in the last of the snows, feeling the cold fire that crawled up his back and into his skull. Hands grabbed him and pinned him; he looked up to see the woman pressing her hands against his back. As she turned to shout at the other guy, he saw one rise in the air, and it was red with blood. My blood.

As he passed out, he heard her tell him, "Don't die! Hold on!"

[Reverb]

Vassily finds himself running the power lines again, the pain gone, his spirit feeling as light as a feather. His face is split by a giant grin while the wind speeds through his hair. The scenery seems to blend together as his speed increases. He begins to notice a tingle running through his body as the speed gets greater. Stopping for a second, he sees the cityscape surrounded by a faint glow, as if lit from within. The glow is all shades of electric blue, and occasionally white. He resumes running, letting the energy of the power lines rush through his body. The tingle returns, at an even stronger level, but it is more pleasant than painful.

[Dawn OOC]

Waking up is far less pleasant than sleeping. That tingle exists there, too, but it is pain. His back is a mass of 'ow' and even his head is trying to pound itself right off his body. Vassily can tell it's being muted by pain killers, given how foggy-headed he feels.

Opening his eyes, he finds himself in a St. Petersburg hospital. He's not sure which one, but the bed, the room and the equipment make his status clear. Stirring slightly, he felt something stop his wrist from moving. Lifting his arm, he saw the silver band of a handcuff holding him tight to the bedframe.

The MVD had arrested him while he was unconscious.

[Reverb]

Vassily shakes his head in disbelief. How in the hell did they find me?!?!?!?! He stares down at the cuff, and goes through his last few hacks in his head, thinking about any errors that any could have conceivably let them find him. Vassily slowly pulls on the handcuff, seeing how much play he has. When he's stretched it to max a few times he sharply yanks on it, triggering a massive explosion of pain from his back and wrist. Even through the painkillers he feels it. However, Vassily just grunts, and shakes his head. He lays his head back on the pillow and allows himself to ride the wave of pain. His eyes water as he contemplates his future in the prison that the MVD will assign him to. With thoughts of prison dancing in his head, he grimaces, then he remembers that the prisoners would treat him like a piece of meat. Either beating him up, or commiting unsavory acts upon his body. He starts to visualize the experience, and ends up fainting due to his fears.

[Dawn OOC]

Vassily is running the lines again, but it's not just fun. He's running for his life, fleeing the MVD. Now, he knows that he's not running on the lines themselves, but on the electricity in those cables. Scenery streams by in blur. He's going fast, so fast, and he realizes he doesn't know where he is anymore. The city around him doesn't look familiar, and he's going too fast to really make out his surroundings.

Vassily woke up, or something like that. He became aware standing upright in a small room. It was a child's room, complete with drawings on the wall. Unfortunately, it was occupied by a young girl, who was sitting on her bed, one foot on the floor, in the middle of getting up. She was small, about six years old, with mussed, curly blond hair and big eyes. Even more unfortunately, she immediately screamed.

Feet pounded outside her door, and then a man opened the door. "What did you do to my sister, pervert?!" he shouted, his hands clenching into fists.

[Reverb]

Vassily grabs his head as a splitting headache passes through his skull. He falls to his knees, then looks up at the guy that barged in, "I have done nothing. I was just somewhere else... now I'm here. Where am I? What have you done with me? What happened to the hospital?" He looks severely confused. Vassily turns to the little girl, "How did I get here? I'm sorry if I startled you."

[Dawn OOC]

The little girl dashed away, jumping off the end of her bed so that she could hide behind her brother without getting close to Vassily. "You came through the wall!" she shouted and Vassily saw the brother jerk as he flinched away.

"You're a novus," the man breathed, his eyes widening. "Get out of my house! Leave us alone! We did nothing to you."

"I... through the wall? I don't know what you're talking about!" Vassily cried, hand still pressed to his head.

"I'm calling the MVD." Vassily looked up just as the man left the room. For a moment, his back was turned and Vassily had a moment to escape. Without going through a window, that would be impossible. But what if he could go through a wall?

[Reverb]

Vassily panicked and one thought kept ringing through his head, I'm a novus?!?!?!?! He began to sweat, and his mind began racing. Time seemed to slow down as he remembered the feeling of traveling the power lines. He recalled that one group has been doing research on Novus stuff, a group known as Aeon. He struggled to recall where they were located, then the memory surfaced about them being based in London. He focused on the feeling of racing along the power lines and visualized Big Ben, as he slowly became covered in electricity, and his form became two-dimensional. His body then flowed into the closest power outlet, and he was running the power lines, again.

[Dawn OOC]

He was doing fine until he hit the water. He panicked for a moment as he sped across the English Channel, the water seemingly enclosing him. But it was there and gone, and he didn't have trouble breathing, and he suddenly realized just how incredibly cool this was.

He had been thinking about Big Ben, but where he really wanted to be was at Æon. And his power reacted without him. He expected to pop out somewhere near the famous clock. Instead, he was in the foyer of an impressive building.

The woman behind the desk blinked, her mouth forming a little 'O.' "Um... Welcome to the Æon Society, sir," she said in English, her British accent in sharp evidence. She looked at the hospital gown he still wore. "Can... can I get you a coat? Or something?"

[Reverb]

"Please, ma'am. And if I could talk to someone about novus research, that would be good too." He smiles wearily and looks down at the hospital gown, holding it closed in the back. Suddenly, electricity begins to cascade along his body, like mini-lightning bolts. "Holy mother of god, What's happening to me?" His voice, before a little squeaky, now has a quality to it that could only be described as booming, as if he was channeling a thunderclap. His voice also cracks as he looks at the receptionist and says, "I think I need to see a doctor, quickly."

[Dawn OOC]

She looked a little startled. "I, ah... I'm sure you'll be fine," she said, sounding completely freaked out. "I'm sure... it... excuse me." She hurried around the desk and picked up a phone. After a moment, she mumbled something to someone, and hung up. "Dr. Rashoud will be with you in a moment. Are..." She blinked. "Are you in pain?"

[Reverb]

Vassily looks down at his body again, and raises an eyebrow, then looks back at the receptionist, "Surprisingly... no." He looks around and spots a chair that looks like it was meant for waiting visitors. He gingerly take a seat in the chair and his left leg starts bouncing up and down quickly in what could only be described as a display of anxiety. Vassily keeps watching the hall past the receptionist, waiting for this Dr. Rashoud. Remarkably, there is no damage that occurs to the chair he is seated in.

[Dawn OOC]

A petite woman of Indian heritage came bustling up the hall. She was dressed in a doctor's coat and had a clipboard in her hands. She stopped well back from him, her quick eyes noting things about him. She also started to write them down. After a moment, she stepped forward and firmly offered her hand. "I'm Dr. Rashoud. It's a pleasure to meet you."

[OOC: I'm leaving Vassily in his own thread for now, rather than getting him tangled within the Chapter 2 thread. Since he's probably on a ride to the future, I think it's ok to leave him here.]

[Reverb]

Vassily smiles, and shakes the offered hand, "I'm Vassily Kalupin. Nice to meet you. I hope you can explain things. I have a few questions for you about me. And if you have questions for me, i'd be glad to answer most of them. Perhaps we should head to an exam room, or someplace like that?" He releases her hand and waits for her to lead the way to a more private setting.

[Dawn OOC]

"Well, yes, normally, that's what we'd do," Dr. Rashoud agreed. She sat down next to her, a troubled frown on her face. "But in the last twenty-four hours, we've had a few people disappear, largely, the newly erupteed. So I hope you'll consent to an armed guard in your exam room. I know that this will infringe on your privacy, but the guard will be completely discreet. I would never suggest it in normal circumstances but I'm concerned about your safety."

[Reverb]

Vassily thinks for a moment then nods his agreement to the provision, "As long as you get me something other than this hospital gown to wear, I'm yours." He smiles and winks as Dr. Rashoud. He looks around the room, and signals for Dr. Rashoud to lead on.

[Dawn OOC]

"We'll get you some clothes after the exam," Dr. Rashoud promised. "And my, your English is quite good."

She led him to an exam room and stayed with him until a guard showed up. Then she gave him a very thorough exam - though not unpleasantly thorough - and finished by asking for the details of his eruption. His explaination was highly edited and in some parts, an outright lie. He said he had landed in the hospital because of an irate now-ex-girlfriend.

When he was done, Dr. Rashoud closed her notebook and asked one more question. "Now, Mr. Kalupin, what do you want to do with your life? Æon would be happy to employ you for a while, and our man Pax has an exciting proposal. He wants to found a team of Homo sapien novus to respond to disasters. It should be very interesting."