Archive Mutants & Masterminds: Future Imperfect - Chapter 4.2: Shadows of the Past

[Travis Kincaid]

He smirked and redid his belt, "What you fail to comprehend Mr. Nash is that I do not want my old job back. I don't even remember having this job. You see all I am interested in here is getting my brain to look less like soft Swiss cheese and more like a normal collection of sequential memories." He waved a hand around the room, "Look at all of this. You guys didn't have a fuckin' clue what was going on did you? I get nabbed by aliens and disappear for a couple years and when I get back, lucky me!, time to fix the problem." Travis adjusted his coat, "No thanks. I don't want your job, your health benefits suck."

[Joani]

Nash tried to answer but lacked the words to describe the situation. Lowering his arms he admitted, "There must be a mole in this Department. Someone who knows how to manipulate our systems and keep you off our radar. That person may aswell be yourself but that theory just went down the sink the moment you entered this facility. I'm not trying to be a pain in the ass, can I expect at least as much from you?", it was hard to read Nash but he sounded genuine so far. Well, as genuine as someone in his position could be.

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis snorted derisively, "If you know me at all you know I'm a pain in the ass by nature. Memory problems or not I'm still me ... I think. I don't actually remember so many I'm not...." Travis smirked again, "You said you wanted to examine me, I'm here now, let's get the show on the road. We can talk about employment options once I know there isn't a chip in my head making me horny all the time."

[Joani]

"I take that as a 'yes'.", Mr. Nash replied and nodded to one of his experts.

They were taken across the huge hall to a corridor that lead them away and a bit deeper down. Mr. Nash was explaining what they were going to do as they walked.

"It is close to an MRI but we don't need you to get undressed. It'll be just your head that we need to scan. Most important thing at this moment is to determine if your memory loss is induced or because of damage to your brain. For your sake I hope it is the latter because inducement suggests that you've been manipulated and that'd make things... complicated."

Looking at Ronnie and her obvious protective behaviour towards Travis he added, "If you want you can check the whole procedure yourself and make sure we're not messing with your friend. It is in our fullest interest to cooperate here to get the best result out of this. Maybe we'll find a way to undo this but I can't promise. A mutant with mental powers would be extremely valuable but the last one capable of that died because of the Virus. May she rest in peace."

Mr. Nash was most likely referring to 'Probe', one of the most powerful mutants that worked part time for the government and who was known for her telepathic and psychic abilities.

[Joani]

The lab looked extremely futuristic with all kinds of large flatscreens and holographic displays.

Several men in lab coats asked Travis to remain still while the scanning process was executed. In the meantime Nash asked Ronnie to watch the procedure behind one of the huge screens explaining what the results meant.

"Hmm... looks like your partner suffered some damage to... What on earth is that?!", Mr Nash stared at the screen.

Ronnie could see that there was something attached to Travis' central cortex of his brain... it looked like a squid that was framing his entire skull. The thing was larger than his skull. That was physically impossible. Ronnie instinctively looked at Travis trying to match what she saw on the screen with Travis' head. He could tell the flight of fear that briefly crossed her face.

[z-May Allman]

"You can't tell him," Ronnie said, the sight of that thing jarring her memory. Bitch wasn't lying. Raven had said that there was something in his head, something that left him alone so long as he remained unaware of it. "If it knows he knows, it'll kill him.

"Now, pretend I'm freaking out over nothing," she said, thinking fast.

"Uh," the technician said, but Nash quickly said, "I see. For now, let me reassure you that we won't say anything."

Ronnie forced herself to look calm and even rolled her eyes. "I hope so," she said, giving him a smile and a thumbs up through the glass. "Otherwise, I'm going to get angry, and you wouldn't like that, Mr. Nash."

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis waved and smiled. He didn't miss the concerned look and it didn't take him long to figure out what that look meant. So either my brain really does look like Swiss cheese or some little alien smiled for the camera and mugged for a photo. Great. He waited for the tech to give him the all clear and then walked out of the scanning room to meet Nash and Ronnie. "So how's my brain doing? Nice and healthy?"

[Joani]

"It looks... ok. But I fear your memory loss is induced and unless we find a powerful telepath I fear we won't be able to undo that. At least we now know that there is at least one more person involved in this thing. I will contact our research team and let them check our databases to find out who'd be able to do this and if you had any contact with said mutants."

Mr. Nash nodded at Ronnie and smiled nervously.

"Maybe we could discuss this matter in private while we're having lunch? Be my guests.", he raised an eyebrow expecting a positive answer to his invitation.

[z-May Allman]

"Free lunch? I'm there," Ronnie said, trying to keep the mood - her mood, specifically - light. "Lead on, Mr. Nash."

[Travis Kincaid]

"Powerful telepath huh? I don't suppose you have one in a closest somewhere that you forgot about?" Nash shook his head, "Well I MAY get lucky and find somebody Sly who's been hiding out from you guys. As for lunch I think I'd rather pass. I had hoped to not leave the others we were found with without word from us for too long."

[Joani]

"Ahm...", Mr. Nash really didn't expect that answer. "I can't give you more details if you walk out now."

After a short moment of consideration and a deep sigh he handed Travis a card. "Make sure to contact me as soon as you've made progress. We keep an eye on you - both of you."

Mr. Nash guided them to yet another elevator after walking through several long corridors and shook hands as they left. The elevator brought them directly to ground floor of a building not far away from the capitol. No one seemed to notice how they left the building.

(ooc: it looks like a normal day in Washington DC. There is normal traffic and people are going about their business.)

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis looked around outside before turning to Ronnie, "Honestly didn't expect them to kick us to the curb so quickly. Might have been nice for them to give us a ride back to the hospital." He straightened his coat and picked a piece of imaginary lint off the white fabric.

[z-May Allman]

"Yeah," Ronnie sighed, "but you didn't want to play ball, so they didn't want to play nice either." After a few moments of effort, they managed to hail a taxi and directed it to the hospital - with a detour through a drive-through.

Ronnie was quiet, but as they were waiting for their food, she reached out and took Travis' hand, holding it firmly.

[Travis Kincaid]

"You know we coulda just flown, I feel well enough to make it a few miles." Travis looked down as Ronnie wove her fingers through his. "Who's doing that? You or her?" This day had brought more questions than answers and worst had made things between he and Ronnie about as complicated as it could get.

[z-May Allman]

Truly stung, Ronnie snatched her hand away. "Fuck you," she snapped reflexively, twisting away from him so that she could stare out the window. She almost opened the door and rolled out, it had hurt so much. Instead, she turned back and snapped, "Are you going to do this all the time now? If you see me, it's fucking me. If you won't trust that, then... this is going to suck."

[Travis Kincaid]

Travis heaved a sigh and said something Ronnie didn't expect, "Hey, I'm sorry. This whole thing isn't easy for me to understand and it's ... Ah, fuck me, I don't know what is what anymore. Hell. Ronnie ..." He turned her to facing him and leaned forward until his forehead met hers, looking into her eyes, "I don't know what we have, you and me. I'm trying but ... I'm kinda very confused. Especially since not a day ago ... or three months or whatever, you and I we weren't ... I mean ..." He sighed and kissed her lightly on the lips, "You, me, Raven, Thomas ... good god I hope that this isn't going to get any more complicated."

[z-May Allman]

"It'd better not," she murmured, savoring the after-tingle of his lips on hers. It'd better not, she said fiercely to the Others inside. "I think it's complicated enough, thanks."

Tentatively, she took his hand again, feeling better just holding it. She had never been in this position before, and the gentleness of it was disarming completely. She offered him a soft smile, and wished that the cab ride wouldn't end.

[Travis Kincaid]

Shortly the cab stopped at the hospital and the two of them managed to avoid the mob of press that thought that they were still inside. They found that the others had been taken to see the president and Travis groaned. "OK, fuck it. Let's go." Travis grabbed Ronnie's hand and dragged her along in his wake as he located the roof. "OK. I've no clue how this is gonna work ... but that's what makes it exciting." Without warning Travis scooped her into his arms. "Hold on!" he told her as they shot off like a missile into the bright blue sky. Travis' trajectory was ballistic and once they had attained a mile in altitude he located the White House and they began their descent.

[z-May Allman]

Ronnie had never flown before, and had never been flown like this. She had been carried before, but not often, so it was still unusual. Smiling slightly, she slipped her arms around his shoulders and tried to wrap her head around what had happened today. Everything had been turned on its head, from her relationship with Travis to her understanding of his nature.

Idly, she caressed the back of his head, wondering if the alien inside could feel her touching him. The thought grossed her out, but she didn't pull away. This was Travis, damn it! That alien was coming out - somehow.

She just had no idea how to make that happen.

[Joani]

(continued here: Chapter 4: Silent Lucidity )