Aberrant: Stargate Universe - Facing the Music

[Aradia McConnell]

(Occurs the day after "Secrets and Revelations" - I promise, this time! )

Aradia had spent the day so far doing everything except working out at the gym. Part of her was excited about the possibility of such a new dimension to her abilities. Part of her was a bit horrified. If she was really good now at being an acrobat - in a supernatural kind of way - she wasn't sure if she could ever go back to performing, even if she did, by some miracle, get out of here. I mean, if you were too amazing.. too perfect at it.. you were gonna start to get attention. The unwanted kind. She could feel her old reality starting to slip out of her fingers, and it scared her. At least she could ignore the shapeshifting - refuse to do it if she wanted. But this - being better than anyone really should be at what she loved to do anyway - this was different. It affected her in a way she might not be able to ignore.

So she had gone to the shooting range again, even though she just went the day before. She'd gone and seen the doctors, keeping the story to a minimum. She'd fallen, and needed to be checked out just to make sure she didn't have any injuries. After she'd received her clean bill of health she'd mulled some more over whether to call her Dad yet, and what she was going to tell him. But upon coming up short again in that regard, she had finally given up and gone downstairs to get lunch. She was starving.

She ran through the line, grabbing the typically massive pile of food for a specialist. She glanced around for Livy, since her first instinct was to talk to her about this. But instead, her eyes rested on her CO, who seemed to be chowing down on a quick lunch himself before the rush.

He's probably the one you should be talking to first, dipshit. This is the military, chain of command and everything, right? I'm so not used to this stuff. C'mon.. let's get it over with, and hope you don't get in trouble.

She walked over, and sat her tray down in front of him before sitting down herself.

"Hey Boss - you got a sec?"

[Forge]

"Sure Gumby, have a seat." Vinny said, gesturing across the table from him with his fork. "Whaddya need now...a see-saw?"

[Aradia McConnell]

Her lips twitched in amusement as she saw down and popped open a can of soda.

"No, but thanks for the offer. I'll let you know if I change my mind."

No puttin' it off now.

"I, uh.. I think I've got new abilities. Or.. better ones, I guess. Livy mentioned that happens sometimes, right? Like some kinda power-up, or whatever?"

She looked thoughtful for just a moment, like she was trying to remember a passing comment in conversation.

"Let's see, what did she call it again? Oh yeah.. 'improvements'."

[Forge]

"Oh yeah?" he said, taking a bite, looking slightly surprised. "What can ya do now darlin'? Hope you let Doc know, don't like gettin' yelled at."

Fraiser and Vinny's relationship went back a ways, usually with Vinny as an unwilling, near-death patient and Janet as the stern enforcer of rest. Somehow in the years of their relationship, despite his clear size advantage, he always found himself doing her bidding, when pertinent anyway.

[Aradia McConnell]

"Yeah well, I wasn't sure who I was supposed to tell first, ya' know? You, or the Docs. See.. it was kinda public."

She cringed a little at the immediate look of dread on Vinny's face, and held up her hands for a second, guesturing for him to hear her out.

"It wasn't - I mean, it wasn't that bad.. I guess. It's not something really new, so much as.. better. My acrobatics. I mean.. I'm not gonna lie, I'm good. I've been doin' it my whole life - I should be. But I'm pretty sure even world-class gymnasts don't jump fifty feet and catch flyin' kids whose parents weren't watchin' em outta mid-air. Or land on solid rock without bones goin' crunch, right? So.. I'm not sure how convincing the 'I'm an acrobat, it's nothing..' story really was, ya' know?"

[Forge]

"Yeah, that's fuckin' bad." Vinny said, dropping his fork to his plate. "We better get our asses to O'Neil before the PR shit-storm hits the fan and he doesn't have a clue."

Vinny stood up and started to leave, knowing Ari would be right behind him.

[Aradia McConnell]

Aradia ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath, following Vinny out of the mess hall. She followed him nervously all the way to O'Neil's office, and waited quietly as Vinny presented them, convincing the secretary that the situation was urgent and couldn't wait.

After a few minutes, they were led into the office. By this point, Aradia's skin had visibly blanched. She'd never really been in school, having been home-schooled her whole life with the circus. But she was pretty sure this what it must have felt to be summoned into the principal's office.. except way more serious.

[Mr Fox]

O'Neill looked up from the mound of paperwork that he was forcing himself to go through only by willpower alone. It was almost a relief when his aide interrupted. Then he saw the expressions on the faces of the two specialist who entered the room. "What happened?" There was a unspoken "ah hell" in front of the question. He gestured at the chairs in front of his desk skipping the formalities of the salutes.

[Forge]

Vinny took a seat and looked over at Ari expectantly, silently giving her the 'go ahead' with a nod.

[Aradia McConnell]

Aradia nodded slightly at Vinny, and turned back to O'Neill, hiding her nervousness with what she hoped was a fairly professional, if somewhat contrite expression.

"Well, General, Sir.. I guess you could say I've - well, we've, I guess - got a bit of a problem. I was out yesterday - last night, I mean - at that restaurant about forty five minutes from here, where they take you through the caves, and then you eat in the grotto area, where the sky-"

She paused for a moment as she realized she was rambling a bit, and cleared her throat nervously.

"Sorry. I think it was called Anne's Fridge, or Anne's Icebox, or somethin' like that. Anyway, there was this lady there, she had these two kids with her, and one of 'em was real little, you know? Like.. I dunno, three or four, maybe? Anyway, the woman wasn't payin' attention to her kids, and the little one ended up on this big ramp that looked down into the restaurant. Well, the stupid b-"

Ari stopped then.. she had gotten a bit caught up in remember what had happened, and her annoyance at the woman was clear for both men present to see. But she caught herself before popping off a swear word in front of O'Neill, though her cheeks colored a bit at the near-slip, it had been obvious what she was going to say.

"The.. unprepared mother.. tried to grab her kid off the ledge, and.. well, she fell. I - I didn't even think about it, General, I just.. jumped. Like I knew I could do it, you know? I mean, maybe I coulda anyway, back in the day, before all.. this. But it woulda hurt, you know? There wasn't any net there or anything, obviously. Just.. rock. But, I don't know.. I guess I just knew I could do it, even though I didn't. So.. I jumped. I grabbed the kid in mid-air, and I remember flipping around a little to slow our fall. I can't remember..."

Her hand flexed slightly, and she glanced down at it, and at the bandage wrapped around her hand.

"That's right. I must have grabbed onto the ledge to slow our fall. Anyway, when I hit the ground it was slow enough, and fortunately the kid didn't get hurt. The assistant supervisor insisted on calling an ambulance though, and Waki insisted on-"

O'Neill arched a brow at her curiously, at first not placing the reference to his other specialist's relative.

"Waki?"

*Goddamnit mother fucking son of a bitch, I wasn't gonna mention that part! FUCK!!!*

"Yeah.. uh, Wakiki Izumi. Olivia's brother. We were.. out."

She tried to sound casual about it, but the slight flush that crept across her face made it clear just what she meant by "out". O'Neill's lips twitched slightly, though whether it was with amusement or annoyance, Aradia couldn't tell. Vinny glanced at her out of the corners of his eyes, which were a little wider with surprise than they normally were.

"Anyway, he insisted they check me out, and bandage my hand and stuff. They tried to get me to go in for X-rays, but.. I wasn't hurt, y'know? And I wasn't sure if anything would look.. weird. I mean, I hope not. But.. I thought it would be a bad idea, if they took me to the hospital, so I refused."

"And did anyone ask you how you made the jump?"

"Yeah.. I told 'em I used to be an acrobat, that I did that kinda stuff all the time, it was nothin'. Don't know if they bought it though. I - I did tell the ambulance drivers that I worked at the base nearby, and I'd have the on-base docs check me out, so they'd leave me alone."

She paused for a second, and bit her lip nervously. For all she knew, she was in a lot of shit. But there was one last thing she had to say, before she found out what kind of trouble she might have caused, or might be in.

"I'm sorry if I made a mess of things, General.. but I'm not sorry I saved that kid. It's not her fault she's got a dip-shit for a parent, you know? She shouldn't have to die cause of it."

[Mr Fox]

Sitting back in his chair, O'Neill thought about it for a minute. "I haven't gotten any reports of news stories claiming supergirl saved a local child so I think we are o.k. on this one, but please try to stay out of the public view. I'm not saying you need to stay on base, but just try keeping a low profile. That was quick thinking telling everyone you were an acrobat, and it's even true so it's believable if anyone checks you out." He paused for a moment then added, "Specialist I-J's brother huh? I hope I don't need to remind you of the NDA, you or IJ."

[Aradia McConnell]

Aradia stiffened a little, but shook her head firmly.

"No sir - I imagine he's pretty familiar with the phrase 'I can't talk about it' by now. He knows what not to ask."

[Forge]

Vinny knew when to keep his mouth shut, he had not a leg to stand on when he himself was involved with Olivia. Anything that was going to come rolling down the mountain, Vinny wanted to be far and clear from, and in a bunker to boot.