Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 4: Silent Lucidity

[Mr Fox]

Click to reveal..

(15:45:41) ChatBot: (Sly) rolls 6d10 and gets 1,2,2,9,5,5.

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis screamed, his body thrashed once and he sat bolt upright tearing the EEG leads off his body and even ripping the IV out of his arm as his body spasmed. The episode lasted maybe ten seconds before his breath was expended and his eye rolled up into his skull and he flopped back down onto the bed like a ragdoll. Somehow the ECG leads had managed to stay attached and they beeped furiously as his heart raced and his breathing came in panting gasps. His eyes were open but unseeing as he lashed out with telekinetic power. The IV pole by his bed shot violently backwards a pace before rising into the air. Travis's face twisted with anger and the IV pole bent and twists like taffy before he tossed it clear across the room with a flick of his arm. "YOU MOTHERFUCKING ALIENS WILL NEVER HAVE ME AGAIN!!! I'LL KILL YOU ALL I'LL RIP OUT YOUR GODDAMNED BRAINS!!!!!!!"

[z-May Allman]

"Travis!" Ronnie shouted, dodging a spinning piece of medical equipment. She lunged for him, grabbing at his hand, shouting, "Calm the fuck down! There are no aliens here, just us mutants!"

She hoped that she'd get through to him before they had to subdue him. If he was hurt, he could get hurt further if they had to stop him.

[SalmonMax]

Juno rolled her eyes and laid back down when the doctor mentioned the Virus.

"I -hate- the virus," she muttered. "I wasn't even pushing it!"

She thought for a second about jumping out of a truck at nearly 80mph onto rough concrete and rolling into a solid wall just before the truck exploded into a tower of flame.

"Much," she added sullenly.

Then Travis woke up, and all hell broke loose. She shielded her face and watched, wide-eyed as he thrashed both physically and mentally.

[Travis Kincaid]

One of the creatures came toward him, grabbed at his hand. Travis' eyes darted around and he saw more, some were resting and just now taking an interest in him, others were already close. Travis flung both his hands up over his head and then down, as he did a wave of force rose up and came crashing down within the room. Everything began to be pushed and pulled with phantom force, cups and medical charts flew into the air, furniture stuttered across the floor, clothing and hair whipped about as though a poltergeist was at work.

Click to reveal..

healthy ? / QP 26/28 / WP 4/4

Activate Storm technique 2 QP

(14:43:21) ChatBot: (Travis) rolls 7d10 and gets 6,3,5,10,8,7,2.

Damage is 8B per turn, dice pools are -2, movement is 50%.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian was sucked out of the revelry of looking for his sister by the sudden madness of the world. He looked around and immediately spotted the center of the storm. It was Travis and he was huring people.

He waded through the maelstrom to Travis' side.

"Buddy, you can't hurt me. You've got to stop this," he added as he reached out to shake him. "Don't make me knock you out. Not in this state. Come on and snap out of it."

Inwardly, Adrian wasn't even sure he could knock the telekinetic out. His ability to subconciously push aside damage was almost as great as his own ... and he wasn't that strong - not strongt enough by far.

[Stargaizer]

Kevin was at Travis' side in a heartbeat, seeing as all he had to do was turn around, and he tried to calm Travis down. However, when the first piece of medical equipment started getting thrown around, he knew he had to do something.

There wasn't anything that Kevin could do to keep Travis from using his power, but there was a slim chance that if he could get his force field between Travis and the rest of the room, that it might contain it... maybe...

He tried to yell at Ronnie and Adrian over the noise Travis' power was making. "Stand Back!" And with that, he gave Travis' gurney a shove towards the wall. He was hoping to get Travis length wise against the wall, so as to make it easier to section him off with his force field.

Click to reveal..

(( [bruised 0] || 5/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))

I assume... since this was my last state before the WalMart. If we're actually at full health and QP, despite how we feel, then let me know, please.

Paying double for FF to avoid virus damage.

(Kevin_Bridges): Strength roll to push Travis' gurney

(21:30:38) ChatBot: (Kevin_Bridges) rolls 3d10 and gets 7,7,7.

(21:31:00) (Kevin_Bridges): 3sux @ std diff

[Tim Wiley]

Tim saw what was coming and he knew he was screwed if he couldn't do something to protect himself. It was too late to drain him of anything, and by the time he got to the correct person to copy something to protect himself, he would be a bloody mess.

Drawing on similar energies to the one that he used to drain others of their power essense, Tim did the same thing to the energy being tossed around the room. He began to draw that energy into his body, leeching it from the air surrounding him.

(Assuming the attack is energy.)

Click to reveal.. ( Absorption: Energy Magnet)

Paying double to avoid virus damage.

(06:02:07) ChatBot: (Tim_Wiley) rolls 3d10 and gets 9,1,8.

Absorbs 2 bashing HL. Takes 2 bashing HL.

WP: 4/4

QP: 20/28

Injured (-1)

[Joani]

Kevin unfortunately underestimated the extend of Travis' control and powers. His Forcefield briefly protected those behind it but the telekinetic storm that Travis brewed was simply everywhere. The whole room came to live and every lose item transformed into deadly bullets.

(ooc: everyone please soak vs. 8B. Movement at 50% and dicepools for action reduced by 2)

Simultaneosly Tim tried to suck the "energy" out of Travis Storm just to find out that there was no energy he could draw out. Travis power seemed to work differently than he expected or maybe he was just trying his luck. Someone had to stop Travis else he'd do some serious damage.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian slogs his way arcoss the maelstrom to Kevin's side.

He says loudly,

"Some one should knock him out, Doc. He can't go on like this and we have other people that are screwed up here in this wing that he's going to kill. Drop your shield and let me hit him. If you have a better idea, I'm all ears. I don't want to do this."

[Stargaizer]

Kevin yelled back, "Make it good!" and stepped out of the way, bringing his force field with him. He tried to back up against some of the 'softer' looking people in the room, angling his 'shield' to offer them at least some protection.

Kevin himself had nothing to worry about, he was impervious to the damage, even without the force field, but others weren't so lucky. This had to stop. He could help Travis later, but right now he needed to be stopped.

Click to reveal..

(( [Healthy] || 22/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))

Kevin has 12B soak w/o the FF, so he's good.

What he's trying to do, is basically the opposite of what he tried before. 'Blocking off' Travis didn't help, so he's going to try to gather people up behind him and protect them with his shield. It might help at least a little bit... maybe...

[z-May Allman]

Kevin's permission - not his to give, but she'd bitch about it later - jarred Ronnie out of her indecision. "No one beats the shit out of my partner but me," she growled, and leapt. Her leaps could span miles; it was nothing for her, even with Travis' resistance, to land in a crouch on his gurney. She was all too aware of the punishment that she was taking from his storm, but she'd been caught in those before. She'd survive.

Before he could rip her away from him with a wave of energy, Ronnie dropped to her knees, straddling him. Quickly, she grabbed his gurney with one hand. If he tried to toss her, he'd end up flipped half-way across the room. "Travis! Fuckin' wake up!" she screamed, then did the one thing guaranteed to knock him out of fight mode.

She cradled the back of his head with her free hand and kissed him.

[Adrian Moss]

"I'm going to hold you Ronnie," Adrian said as he reached an arm around her as his other grabbed the gurney to.

"You use both hands. I won't let go."

Adrian gripped the gurney tightly, indenting it with his powerful grasp. He could hold on with whatever Travis could put him through while Travis was asleep. Travis being awake was another matter. Adrian hardly looked forward to flying.

[Travis Kincaid]

The alien pushed through his defensive storm seeming to ignore it entirely. Travis had no time to recoil as it grabbed his head. He had no time for terror barely time to register that the last thing he would hear or feel would be his own neck breaking. He couldn't redirect his power quick enough as his head was grabbed and the alien kissed him.

Travis' mind flipped like a television set changing channels. Everything in the room stopped suddenly and completely as though frozen in space and then fell to the floor. The remnants of Sly's telepathic world were torn asunder under the incessant gentle pressure at his lips, the taste of another person, he gentle cradling of his head in somebody's hands. Travis' confusion stepped aside as instinct took over, he didn't bother to fight it or understand it he simply gave in to it.

His own hands searched until he found his mysterious partner, he felt a face, surely female, delicate, pressing her lips to his. His mouth opened and his tongue ... found only air as she pulled away. Travis opened his eyes, not sure who he would see, his mind, damaged as it was, brought up images of the raven haired woman, and a dim recollection that he could not place, something subconsciously experienced, somebody frantically telling him that she loved him...

He saw purple eyes regarding him from intimate inches away, a caring and concern deeper than he had ever seen writ upon her features. "Ronnie?" he asked, his hands still gently cupping her face.

[z-May Allman]

Click to reveal.. (Love)

"Come on... they'll rescue us soon, you need to hang on," she pleaded, then paused as the ultimate bribe came to her. "I'll... um, I promise you I'll have sex with you if don't die." There wasn't even a lecherous smile in response to that, and Ronnie felt real fear. "Travis, please don't die. Fight! Fight for... for me."

She felt the Others pull back, giving her privacy. Nearly weeping, Ronnie begged, "Just hang on, they'll be here to rescue us soon. You have to hang on, I know you just live for the next fuck, but you like me, and... and you wouldn't want me to be sad, would you? Please... please..." She scooted up and kissed his chilled forehead. "I'd rather die myself than lose you here. Come on..."

The silence was thick, filled only with her stricken voice and his terrible breathing. "Travis... please..." This was it, she sensed; her last chance to tell him what she was feeling and she blurted, "I love you!" The tears finally fell as she kissed his bloody lips.

So like before, but no blood, no death, just another kind of desperate urgency. And of course, no confession of love. Unlike then, Ronnie enjoyed the kiss. In fact, when he went to deepen the kiss, she hesitated and almost continued. But she wasn't welling to break the illusion that she had to do this for her partner; she didn't want the others, or Travis, to think that she wanted to do this. Especially if it did.

"You better?" she asked. "Not going to kill us anymore?" At his bewildered nod, she told Adrian, "You can let go now. He's fine." When Adrian released the gurney, she sat up and said, "Do I look like a fuckin' alien?" As her partner started to answer, she punched him - though she did pull her strength back to human norms. "What the fuck was that about?!"

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis rubbed his arm in mock pain, "Alien? I ... what the fuck where are we?" A hospital, in D.C. "We were in Wal Mart, and I'm sure you were all there. I was ... I could ... it felt like I was right on top of my memory, so close. And then, I dunno, I think somehow I ended up in his head." He points at Sly's comatose form, "He ... we, I guess, were on this ziggurat or something and there were thousands of the aliens. Maybe more, I don' know where we were but something attacked Sly and then ... it was like I got thrown in my head. I saw something coming at me and I reacted." Travis started to see the disarray the room was in, the scattered and damaged items, the torn sheets, clothing, window dressings. "I freaked out didn't I? And you needed to snap me out of it?" Ronnie nodded and Travis looked almost disappointed.

As he looked around more he realized that he was on a hospital bed. Ronnie, wearing a fashionable tie in the back gown and apparently naught else was straddling him at the waist. Nature took over and Travis' body attempted to send all his blood to two distinct parts of his body.

[Grav]

Grav watches on getting hurt abit by the storm of equipment, but there was little she could do between the effects of the virus, and the fact her only "attack" was generally lethal.

"Glad that's over with."

[SalmonMax]

Juno lowered her arms once the poltergeist show was over and cleared her throat. A bruise on her forearm was slowly fading.

"Could I get another water?"

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian moves slowly over to Juno with sad eyes,

"Rebecca's no were around. Nor are your boys. And," he grins ever so slightly, "if you want water, I'm going to have to roll you out inot the hall. I think Travis spilled every drop in here."

[Joani]

Dr. Spyder slowly stood up again after he had taken cover behind an empty gurney. Coincedently the nurse came at the exact moment with a tray of glasses and some water. She placed it on a table which Dr. Spyder just turned over on its feet again and smiled nervously. "Everything is alright, Nurse Goldstein - just a minor irritation on behalf of the patients. I think given the circumstances we shouldn't wonder."

He straightened his Doctor's apron and looked around at the mutants not sure what to say so he instead asked, "Any questions?", he smiled nervously trying to regain his composure and maintain his air of medical authority.

[Adrian Moss]

"Questions? Yeah, were is my sister Rebecca?" Adrian demands standing over Juno's bed.

"She's not here and she was with the others at our fallback position. Nor are the humans and that Army Captain. For that matter, what camp is this?" he added dejectedly. After all, all of his growing up life were else could a mutant end up?

[Joani]

"Your sister is safe and waiting for you. She was here most of the time for the past 3 months. Captain Hicks is in intensive care - he got severely injured and I fear he lost his sight. He got blinded by a flash that literally cooked his eyes. As for your last question - This is no camp. You're in Washington D.C. General Hospital by request of the President of the United States. He wanted personally that you get the best treatment the country has to offer.", Dr. Spyder answered feeling more comfortable with questions he could answer.

He took a deep breath and waited to see how that got received by the mutants.

[Grav]

Grav stopped her yellow eyes narrowing as she looked at the Doctor. "Three Months?!?!?"

She was suddenly very alarmed. "What the hell happened to us?"

[z-May Allman]

Ronnie blinked at this news, then hopped off Travis' gurney, mindful too late of her hospital gown. Fuck it. They've seen it already. "Obviously, we were badly injured in some extraordinary way," she said, thinking. "Hicks got his eyes fried... was there a nuke detonated? Or was he standing too close to a smaller, bright explosion." She felt sorrow - Hicks was a good guy and deserved better than that. "And what can be done for him?"

[Savannah Tanner]

(Re-referencing this stuff because it's been awhile, had to get ahold of Mala for permission to act on Simon's behalf. Thanks for everyone's patience.)

Originally Posted By: Travis Kincaid

One of the creatures came toward him, grabbed at his hand. Travis' eyes darted around and he saw more, some were resting and just now taking an interest in him, others were already close. Travis flung both his hands up over his head and then down, as he did a wave of force rose up and came crashing down within the room. Everything began to be pushed and pulled with phantom force, cups and medical charts flew into the air, furniture stuttered across the floor, clothing and hair whipped about as though a poltergeist was at work.

Originally Posted By: Joani Reikspar

Kevin unfortunately underestimated the extend of Travis' control and powers. His Forcefield briefly protected those behind it but the telekinetic storm that Travis brewed was simply everywhere. The whole room came to live and every lose item transformed into deadly bullets.

(ooc: everyone please soak vs. 8B. Movement at 50% and dicepools for action reduced by 2)

Simon instinctively sat up then and lifted a hand. The air surrounding both him and his sister seemed to harden, like invisible crystal, and the items that hurled themselves through the air appeared to mostly ricochet off the air as if off of a wall. Items that did break through didn't seem to hit them with as much force as they did when impacting the others.

Click to reveal..

Casting EM: Shield at double QP to avoid virus damage, 6QP.

Simon: Soaking 3B(Sta)+4B(shield) = 7B Soak, Simon takes 1B dmg from attack.

Savannah: Soaking 5B(Sta)+1B(M-Sta)+4B(Shield) = 10B Soak, I think Savi takes no damage, please correct me if I'm wrong.

The twins sat quietly, the shield dropping after Travis's TK storm had subsided, absorbing what the doctor had said about the amount of time that had past.

[SalmonMax]

Juno grabbed her water and gulped it frantically, then coughed.

"What about my dad?" she demanded. "And Six and the other kids? Three months? Nukes? Someone needs to sit down right now and explain what happened to us. Hell, what happened to everything."

She points at the doctor.

"And if it's not gonna be you, then you need to get whoever it's gonna be."

[Tim Wiley]

That sure as hell didn't work! Tim was pissed at himself for wasting his energy in a futile attempt at self-preservation. He was now bloody and bruised by flying objects impacting his body in various places. He looked over at the doctor with a pleading look in his eyes. Dude? Are you going to help me or what?

As the doctor began to explain where they were and that it was three months later, Tim went into his quiet place. Too many things have happened that defied explanation and all he wanted to do was think and reflect. A cigarette would be great about now too. Tim began to fish into his pockets for a pack of smokes.

"So have we been unconscious for three months?" Tim finally asked, his body felt as if it had been dragged behind a truck on a gravel road. "And I could use some of your ministrations over here. Mr., 'I'm a telekinetic with a nightmare', almost killed me."

Click to reveal..

WP: 4/4

QP: 22/28

Wounded (-2)

[Stargaizer]

Kevin dropped his force field. Apparently, no matter what he did, he was unable to stop Travis from hurting everyone in the room. At least he'd be able to help them after the fact. So he walked over to Tim, placed a hand on his shoulder, and let his healing powers flow into the 'copy-cat'.

After that, he also went around and healed, as best he could, anybody else who seemed to be visibly damaged. And listened as he did so.

His response to the doctor was calmly stated. "Dr. Spyder, I do believe the first order of business is to get all of us back our clothes, or comparable replacements. As for the Captain, if you'll take me to him, I do believe I can help; as I should be able to for most everybody in this facility. I am Dr. Kevin Bridges, and suffice it to say, I can probably treat these people with more expedience than you can; no disrespect intended.

As far as news goes, I do believe that a coherent, chronological, concise as well as detailed explanation of the events that have transpired while we've been out would be in order. Starting with the aftermath of our efforts in Las Vegas, such as the fate of the people in the ship that we were trying to save, and whether or not there is a more complete list of casualties and MIA's."

As he spoke, he moved towards the center of the room, trying to take at least a little bit of control over the situation, as well as trying to calm everybody down.

Click to reveal..

(( [Healthy] || 18/28 QP || 6/6 WP ))

Dropping one level of healing to avoid virus damage, healing 4B levels.

Joani, this is out of combat, do I have to list the QP paid to heal everyone? And is there a safe way to use the regeneration part of the healing power (as you have to pay double anyways)?

[Joani]

Dr. Spyder raised his arms in defence. "Slow down, slow down - I can't answer all those questions but I do know who. I just need to make one call if you let me.", he looked at the other mutants visibly intimidated by Kevin's analytical approach.

[z-May Allman]

"Make it fast," Ronnie said. "We're waiting for our answers."

[Travis Kincaid]

Originally Posted By: May Allman

Ronnie blinked at this news, then hopped off Travis' gurney, mindful too late of her hospital gown.

Travis frowned in either mock or genuine disappointment. Eventually he shrugged and sat up using a bit of TK to raise the bed into a comfortable reclining position. He observed the aftereffects of his outburst, "Sorry folks, I didn't know what was going on; there was a telepath inside my head you know."

Originally Posted By: May Allman

"Make it fast," Ronnie said. "We're waiting for our answers."

"I've been saying that for months now, you actually start to get used to the waiting eventually." He seemed thoughtful for a moment, "Did I? Did we save those people in the ship? The prisoners they took?"

[Joani]

The Doc nodded at Travis smiling. "Yes, you saved them. And if I may dare say so, I think the whole world owes you. All of you. Now let me make that phone call and tell the higher ups that you are awake and asking questions."

Doctor Spyder left the room to make his call leaving the mutants behind for the moment. A mere 30 minutes later the door opened again. 5 men in black suits with obvious attitude placed themselves strategically around a woman dressed in a business suit. She had her red hair knotted tightly into a bun and wore small glasses that accentuated her beautiful face. The name tag on her blazer read Prof. Emily Storm, Secretary of State of the United States of America

She smiled briefly at the mutants and nodded at the men who reluctantly retreated out of the room leaving her with Dr. Spyder and the mutants alone.

"My name is Prof. Storm, I'm the Presidents right hand and have been trusted with this Operation. First of all let me forward the Presidents gratefullness for what you've done for all of us. Your daring mission saved millions of peoples lives and gave us a chance to fight back. Earth is still under attack but we have managed to reclaim most of the planet. Germany and South America are the last bastions of defence the alien invaders got and hopefully with your full recovery we can drive them off the planet once and for all. I have full authority to provide you with all accomodations you need and if any of you had trouble or issues with the US Government you'll get a blank slate to start over.", Prof. Storm looked at Dr. Spyder before she added, "You've got questions I've been told - I'm willing to answer everything within my given authority.", raising an eyebrow expectingly as she finished her sentence.

[Adrian Moss]

Adrian stands forward.

"One, I would like to see my sister.

Two, how do you theorize we won,

and Three, forgive me for not trusting you, but because of this government I've been on the run my entire life. How do you expect us to trust you?"

[Tim Wiley]

"Wait a minute. " Tim blurted out, almost interrupting Adrian. "Have all of us been in a coma or something for the past three months, or am I suffering from amnesia?" Tim got off the bed, feeling woozy and tired but uninjured.

"Forgive me for not being skeptical, but how do we know if anything you are saying is true."

Tim began to look at the woman closer, trying to discern her emotional state.

Click to reveal.. ( Natural Empath)

paying double qp to avoid virus damage.

(18:27:01) ChatBot: (Tim_Wiley) rolls 6d10 and gets 3,5,2,7,9,6. [2 sux]

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis considered for a moment waiting until he could have some privacy but he didn't know if he would get any let alone when. "I have a couple of questions as well. Like maybe, who the hell am I? Run my prints, my DNA, I don't care, but I want to know who the hell I am. I'd also like to know why you think its our job to fight off these aliens, what's in it for us? Offering me a blank slate is a joke, I don't even have a slate to wipe clean."

[Rorx]

Tom thanked Kevin for the healing following Travis' episode and sat on the floor next to the gurney he had been knocked off with his head in his hands as the Woman gave her spiel and the questioning began.

God I feel awful, guess this is the effects of the Virus. I wonder if this means I'm heading for the pearly gates now? Shit all they can do if I am, unless there has been a major breakthrough while we've been out.

[Grav]

Grav shook her head and regretted it as it felt like the Virus was slamming her head against a brick wall repeatedly.

She waited to hear the man's answers before she asked her own questions, curious to see how this wuld play out.

[Joani]

Prof. Storm gave Travis a short look and nodded. "I understand your situation and maybe you'll understand mine once you are back up to date with the latest news. I... no, let me rephrase that, the President of the United States is not assuming anything but you have already dealt the enemy a critical blow which gave us a chance to fight back. Following up to drive them off our home was just the next logical step. If you refuse the offer it is your decision. I wouldn't turn down a life-time job with the government, though. You are the heroes of the new millenium if you like it or not. As for your particular 'problem'", Prof. Storm used her fingers to put virtual quotation marks on the word "problems" as she spoke it, "we will use all our resources to find your true identity."

Prof. Storm gave Tim a look like a school teacher and put on a well trained smile, "You have to determine for yourself if I'm lying or telling the truth. You have missed out on the last 3 months and for a moment the medics didn't have much hope to see you back to health. Being skeptical is a logical response and I appreciate your concern but tell me, what can I do to proof that I'm not lying. What would convince you, that I'm "the real deal"? A meeting with the President? I can arrange that."

(ooc: Edit for Tim - she seems sincere and not trying to hide something. But she also is a professional in what she does. It is difficult to read her (unless you used a power which I've overlooked).)

[Adrian Moss]

"Bring my sister and the others who were fighting at our side. Let them tell us how they've been treated and what's going on. Listen Lady - Ms. Storm, we don't know you. Let us talk to people we know. That would be a good start."

Adrian looks to Juno and nods. At least she could know the people from her neighborhood were okay.

[Rorx]

Tom says from his place on the floor, "What would convince me would be if Morgan woke up in a fit state to read your mind. Failing that I suppose we'll have to take your word for it until we can get some confirmation from a source we trust to be independent of your influence."