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Aberrant: No Good Deed - Prologue: Doctor Aeon and Siyu


Courier

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Nov 12th 2009, Washington D.C.

Dr. Aeon said "You're very welcome Senator" and walked out of the office. John didn't bother looking at his watch, he only wore it because it was expensive and looked great. Like all wrist watches it was annoyingly incorrect.

46 minutes and 23 seconds truly well spent. He even paid full price, and thanked me for the opportunity. 4 million dollars, minus my campaign contribution. I wonder if he'd would, could believe I would have paid to zap him? He believes the right things and he's in a safe seat. I want him to have twenty more years almost as much as he does. I fully approve of the things he already believes in. He's pro-nova. If he wants another treatment in ten or twenty years he'll have to stay that way... and that information will subtly shape his world view forever.

John exited the building and turned right, intending to eat then go back to his office.

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The path John took led him back across the National Mall, and through downtown DC's streets. Shortly, he found himself by a Bertucci's and got a table there. For a moment, he began to reflect on some prospective clients when the garlic bread and olive oil arrived. As he reached for the food, his cell phone rang.

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On his phone there was no telling who could be calling. The possibilities ranged from spam to the President. John pulled out his cell phone and answered with cool sophistication, "Dr. Aeon speaking." Speaker phone off. It'd spoil the effect for whoever is on the other end to hear that my pizza is ready.

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"Hello Dr. Aeon." The voice that replied was rather sinster, calm and assuring even as John almost started at the sound. "My name is Albert Sharps, and I represent a prospective clientele for your clinc." The possibility of business did not make the words any easier for John to deal with.

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John outwardly smiled, but inwardly frowned. He'd been expecting organized crime to take an interest in him sooner or later, this could be that.

John answered, "Really? I'd be interested to meet them and start doing tests then. It's not common knowledge, but doesn't work on everyone. It's all very expensive and experimental right now."

Meaning I don't want it to work on everyone. Making people immortal is done to further the needs of the future. The likelihood of organized crime fitting that description is very small... although this might not be that. Let's just play this out for a while.

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John didn't let his face change expression but reached out to 'see' who was watching him and how many. Regardless of what he found he evaluated his options. The pizza showed up, John ate while he thought.

Could be a nova. Probably is. Not sure if it'd be more disturbing to think that he's deliberately rattling my cage or that he's doing it accidentally. Future isn't hitting the radar as dangerous though.

Could sneak into my office and see what's up... but that strongly risks tipping my hand that I actually can do that sort of thing. Let's keep that card in reserve and just go in.

John finished eating, paid, and left a big tip as was his habit. Then he went back to his office to see who was there.

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John paused, listened, and opened his mind to the flow of time and the influence of other people on his actions. If precognition was a snapshot, this was a constant awareness of what moves other players might make.

Click to reveal..
Activate Tactical Prodigy, first die is mega.

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2315514/

6d10.hits(7) → [7,2,8,8,1,6] = 5 sux (+5 dice for all things tactical and/or strategy

Perception + Awareness (mega spent to reduce diff)

10d10.hits(7) → [2,3,1,6,10,4,10,8,10,8] = 5 sux

http://invisiblecastle.com/roller/view/2315530/

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John frowned. Decisions, decisions. There were all sorts of unpleasant things he could do to whoever was in his office. Summon the authorities, or make them 20 years older, and the elevator down didn't need to stop there. But if Sharps was a minion, then finding out who was pulling his strings should be the priority. Time for John to die.

John turned off his cell phone, then attuned his clothing then assumed his ghost form. Then he let himself drift into his office and settled down to wait and see what they did, and where they'd go after they gave up.

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One rather sharp-nosed fellow sat impatiently in a chair, with two burly men leaning on either wall. After he spoke angrily, it was apparent that Sharps had the nose. "Where is he? We know he came in, so why isn't he here?" Sharps growled. "Chambler," he gestured to one of the two men. "Search the place, and have Reed come inside the front." The bruiser indicated left immediately.

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John would have held his breath but in this form he didn't breath. He knew he was room temperature but he didn't feel cold. He didn't have a heartbeat, and that felt weird... and familiar. Natural but unnatural.

John hovered on the ceiling and studied the men, committing their faces and names to memory. Thugs. Where they all baselines? While he waited John reached out with his node and tried pinging the area a few dozen times with his node.

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John tried to evaluate the new information calmly. Novas? All of them? Bigger league than expected. Raises the stakes a lot. Probably not organized crime... but some still hit the radar as thugs.

Decisions, decisions. Which future pathway to take and which to prune. Avoid them entirely? Probably not an option they'll allow long term. Make contact? Find out what their agenda is? Try to co-opt them?

Staring into the abyss, the abyss stared back, and then blinked. Was that another node ping? They know I'm here. Or maybe they just know I'm around. Node ping isn't exactly a targeting sense. If they know I'm here and around, maybe they'll start talking and tell me what's going on.

John stayed silent and moved to a different side of the ceiling.

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John considered, They weren't expecting that... and neither am I. Let's see... reinforcements? For Sharp? This could be that Reed person, but he probably wouldn't knock.

How about reinforcements for me? I walk in, Sharp and company threaten me, then I'm saved by another agency? Then out of gratitude I hook up with the '2nd' group/person? Which doesn't mean they sent the first group. Let's just see how party one interacts with party two.

John stayed put.

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The door opened, and the second thug that John had seen walked in, highly alert. Another man followed him in, eyes glowing mysteriously. That man's eyes came to rest where John was, or as far as could be normally seen, the space where John was. "He's here, Boss." Glow Eyes stated. "He's hiding right in this room."

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John gave an amused chuckle, "Hiding? Gathering information. So then Mr. Sharps, what did you have in mind?"

Doc positioned himself next to the outside wall and got ready to pass through it out.

(OOC: At the first sign that this is getting violent Doc steps through the wall).

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  • 2 weeks later...

Everyone's eyes snapped around and tried to match the voice to a body. Glow Eyes simply turned to face where John "was". John felt the ping moments before his quantum mind was slammed by a rather strong opposite. "You're not pulling any more tricks, Aeon." Glow Eyes growled.

Click to reveal..

Glow Eyes uses Mental Blast on John.

http://www.ekkaia.org/rpg/wod/dicepool.php?

6d10 vs. WP=

5,6,7,9,1,7

3 sux, John hit.

John takes 3 Bashing levels.

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Click to reveal..
John has more than enough Psychic Shield to bounce this
John felt a wave of mental energy roll across him but he deftly sidestepped it.

John said dryly, "I could leave you old men, instead I'll just leave. Remember that if we meet again."

John attempts to step back through the wall, out the building, and then up and away out of ping range. Assuming this works he then positions himself so he can see the likely exit of the building and waits for the men to leave.
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  • 2 weeks later...

The car came to a halt. Siyu opened his eyes and examined the outside of the building. The proverbial coast seemed to be clear. He exited the car and slung his sword under his coat as he did so concealing the weapon. Hands clasped behind his back he entered the building. As he walked he reached out with his node to assess the number of potential threats if any as well as his target.

Click to reveal..
(10:41:49) (Logic1): Node

(10:42:01) ChatBot: (Logic1) rolls 2d10 and gets 8,4.

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A Sword? Even if he's outside my node ping range we can assume he's nova. Probably not Mr. Big though. If he owned those guys they'd be coming to him. Reinforcements for them? If the problem is too big, then bring in a professional? That seems... unlikely. The four upstairs should still be trying to convince themselves they're in control, it's much too early for them to be reporting failure, much less bringing out the big guns.

3rd Party? Not as unlikely as it seems, if I'm hitting one radar then I'm probably hitting others as well. I could let them run into each other, there's an attraction to letting your problems solve each other, but I don't know if this one is a problem.

Let's fine out.

John let himself drift down, within node ping range but still 12 feet above the newcomer. Then he said, "Greetings. And would you be looking for the Doctor?"

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Siyu started at the seemingly disembodied voice. It shouldn't have surprised him as much as it did. He lifted both hands in a gesture of peace. As he did he activated one of his gift's more base functions. Better safe than sorry.

"I am", he answered calmly as his eyes darted about the room, "I would speak with the Doctor", Siyu spoke in response.

Click to reveal..
Spending 3 QP to activate Gravitic Shield
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Hands still raised the Nova known as Graviton spoke again, "Four nova thugs? No, they are not with me", he answered. "I prefer to work alone if my superiors will allow me to", he further explained.

Four Nova thugs upstairs. This was just what he needed. Perhaps Aeon would cooperate and they could leave unnoticed...fat chance. Siyu calmly made mental notes on Aeon. It seemed he could at the very least make himself incorporeal. It may be worth subduing him even if Aeon agreed. Don't want him ghosting during transport, he mused.

"Good Doctor would you mind showing yourself", the recruiter asked. "Perhaps after we are free of the...thugs we can talk", he implored.

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John thought, Do I investigate this one or that one? Hmm... playing cat and mouse with those four carries a certain degree of risk, and I have their descriptions and some of their names. It might be enough to research them without following them around. Fine then.

John said, "Fair enough", and faded slowly into existence. John gave a partial bow and said, "Doctor Aeon at your service."

"Shall we walk? I suspect those four will come walking out in a minute or three."

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Siyu returned the bow, "Graviton at your service good Doctor."

He was right. The fellows upstairs wouldn't stay there forever. Sooner rather than later they would come to see where their quarry had gone.

"We shall", Graviton answered the second question and gestured to the door before he began to walk himself.

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Doctor Aeon followed him to the door. Hmm... what can those four learn from my office? Not a lot if they already know what I'm up to. Encrypted files. Several complicated machines that go 'bing' and fail to alter people's ages. I could report a break in and see what they do with the police.

Walking out to the street, John said, "How about the coffee shop down the street? Graviton... I can't place the name off hand. Are you an elite?"

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It was obvious this man knew nothing of Siyu or the organization he represented.

He cut his eyes to the time lord as they walked, "No, I do not whore myself out to the highest bidder. Most especially if that bidder is a baseline", he tried to hide the disgust in his voice.

"I represent a group with certain interests pertaining to our kind. My superiors would have a moment of your time," he gestured again only this time to the car, "I assure you no harm will befall you."

Awaiting a response he looked back to the building to check for any potential problems. Things were going according to plan so far.

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Ah, so it's time for that conversation is it? laugh Well good.

,,

Honestly amused, Doc chuckled and replied, "A not so subtle dig at me I suppose, from someone with a Novus Voice. There's a vast difference between money and power, and it's a mistake to confuse the person writing the check with the person making the rules."

"Similarly, there is a world of difference between taking the highest bid, and taking a high bid. Take the highest bid and you're letting money control power. The reverse is using power to control money."

Doc followed to the car without protest.

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Suddenly, a mental force shoved itself into Siyu's head, slamming him hard psychically. He stumbled backward. John then saw Glow Eyes and Sharps' buddies move out into the street. "Two?" one of them asked. Sharps snarled, "Get them, or the boss' have our heads!"

[OOC: Time for combat. Roll in the combat thread once I have it up]

Click to reveal..

(15:34:33) ChatBot: (novus_ST) rolls 3d10 and gets 3,3,10.

Glow Eyes has been maxing his Mental Blast.

(15:36:39) (novus_ST): Int+Mental:

(15:36:52) ChatBot: (novus_ST) rolls 7d10 and gets 9,9,9,9,1,6,9.

(15:37:14) (novus_ST): Siyu WP:

(15:37:17) ChatBot: (novus_ST) rolls 3d10 and gets 9,1,3.

Siyu takes 4 bashing.

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Irritated with what's being forced on him, Doc said, "Time to leave." He grabbed Siyu, making the other meta-human invisible.

Siyu reeled, one hand raised to his head at the assault. And everything seemed to be going so well. At any rate this would work to his advantage. Now Aeon knew the thughs weren't with him. Also, he'd be more receptive after they'd fought together.

He did his best to clear his head and shake off the blur about his head from the attack. As his senses returned to him he caught sight of two clearly non-pedestrian men. All he heard was "get them". It appeared crossing Graviton would be the last thing these men would ever do if he had his way.

His hands came down from his head, the right lowering to his side. The left however he leveled at one of the men. Hand visibly flexing, what appeared to be a strange bubble-like fluctuation appeared in front of their attacker and popped violently. The air in front of the man's chest wavered as it did so. Before he could even assess the damage done he turned his hand and his attention to his next target repeating the process.

Both men collapsed instantly, dead.

Glow Eyes darted for cover, but remained focused on Siyu, mind smashing another strong blow into the Novus. Sharps ran back but was yelling into a phone, "Get down here now, we need backup!"

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  • 2 weeks later...

Doctor Aeon thought, We're both exposed and too slow to get away... so let's fix both of those problems.

Dragging his companion with him, John moved back to the building and entered a 3rd floor room through a partly open window. Then tried to force time to speed up. He didn't use this ability often enough to be good with it, but with desperate times upon him he made an effort of will... and was pleasantly surprised at the result. The world slowed down.

When the two plunged out of the building on the other side, there seemed no opposition or pursuit.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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