VIRGINIA - AFTERMATH [The federal government's metahuman facility has been devestated by an attack of commandos and metahumans directed by the sinister Puppet Master. Finn, Harvey, Walt and Lisa have survived, but Gordon's whereabouts are unknown, and Tyler Sterritt, the unwilling minion of the Puppet Master, is bleeding and unconscious. Worst of all...somehow, during the battle, the psychopathic metahumans kept drugged in the basement have disappeared.] % Finn % Finn closed her eyes to hide the pain and despair in her gaze, but didn't quite cover the moan that escaped her lips. It wasn't a moan from physical pain, though that would have been better, she realized. "Let's just get out of here," she whispered. "Get as many people as we can and get out of here." Her eyes opened and fixed on no one. "They're gone." <><><><><> Lisa: Concentrating she tries to make the drizzle turn into a steady rain throughout the complex. Lisa glances down at her wounded body wincing as she sees the effect of Tyler's weapons. The bleeding worries her the most. * Gotta get some bandages and stop the bleeding. * Her thoughts are punctuated by a gasp of pain. " We can organize an evacuation of the wounded as we get Tyler out of here. I'll try to put out the fires as we move through the complex. Also we could use first aid supplies and we need to find out what happened to Gordon. I think he would have come here if he was able to. Finn can you locate Gordon ? " She asks worriedly. The Agent>"Downstairs.....!"< Finn>"Oh, Jesus," she whispered, tears coming again to her eyes, "the psychos."<...>"They're gone."< * That explains the attack. We were tricked. While his metas diverted us they took the prisoners. Damn. * She curses, realizing that they're going to have to fight them again later. " At least they're not wandering in the complex waiting to attack us. Let's see what we can do for the survivors. " She replies bleakly her eyes closing as burning agony courses through her body. If there's anything she can use as bandages she'll try to stop Tyler and herself from bleeding to death. <><><><><> [GM] Actually, while still in pain, Lisa does not seem to be in danger of bleeding to death. In fact, the bleeding has now slowed to a trickle. The wounds are still large and ugly, though. Tyler, on the other hand, it's hard to tell, since there's so much blood, but she certainly needs more than first aid. "Gordon?" the agent says. "Who's that?" Two more men come running (limping, in one case) down the hall. One is Agent Smee, the other is someone they don't recognize. "S***" Smee says, looking at the carnage. "Where'd the enemy go?" <><><><><> Lisa: " Tyler needs a hospital there isn't much more I can do for her. " She says in a quiet voice. >"Gordon?" the agent says. "Who's that?"< Lisa looks up at him eyes narrowing in suspicion. But before she can say anything Agent Smee arrives with reinforcements. * Well one reinforcement anyway. * She thinks with a bit of graveyard humour. " Agent Smee is this one of your men ? She asks gesturing to the first agent. " He doesn't know who Gordon is. That might be perfectly innocent though every other agent I've met here seems to know _everything_ about us. It would help to know if he's with the agency or a straggler. " Agent Smee>"Where'd the enemy go?"< " The same way they got in through one of Tyler's gates. She was enslaved by Euroninja so he could capture the metas the agency keeps in the basement. Finn said she'd try to free Tyler when she gets some of her strength back. She can tell you more than I can. " She replies; then grits her teeth as a surge of pain and nausea wrack her slight form. Lisa continues trying to make it rain inside the complex. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey will help in trying to help stabilize Tyler. But when Lisa announces that at least 'they' aren't waiting to attack us he asks "sure about that?" glancing significantly at finn for confirmation or denial. "I think at least the black glowing guy is still around, and we don't know if the blobby thingy exited." got to watch our backs he adds silently to himself. <><><><><> % Finn % Finn began to walk down the hall, and so was a few steps toward the agents when they started coming from the other direction. She just wanted to get out as quickly as she could ... *that* fear hadn't gone. And it seemed as if they would all just stand around here talking, and not MOVING, until one of them did. So she decided to be the one. "Gordon's the latest member of our little 'team'," Finn explained over her shoulder, then immediately began a scan for his mind. And once that was done, she turned to the agents. "The enemy has left the building, chief. We've got a brain-dead commando and a very wounded puppet of Euroninja back there that we need to get out, along with the rest of us. But we *can't* *stay* here. We need to get out, and get out NOW." And so, she continued limping down the corridor, her hand resting heavily on the wall to keep herself upright against the pain. <><><><><> Harvey: Confused, but with a cold chill slowly spreading down his spine, "Who's gone...and what does 'gone' mean in this case, exactly?" Looking down at Tyler, who still isn't patched up that much since they don't have a doctor or anything handy "Moving Tyler without killing her is going to be difficult...but she's introuble if we don't move her to some help too". Did Tyler just move? Is she waking up? Harvey wonders, alarmedly! <><><><><> [GM] Smee looks at Lisa oddly. "Of course he's one of ours. Martins is an armorer, he probably didn't meet any of you before." He looks around. "Christ, where did all this rain come from? One of you doing this?" As if to punctuate Finn's thoughts, her senses scream an alarm at her... Downstairs, in the basement, above the corpses of the men that were guarding them...in her mind's eye, Finn sees a gate opening up. One of Tyler's gates. Exactly like hers. Except- quick check- yes, Tyler is still unconscious, and definitely not creating this one. Something briefcase-sized, encased in black metal, drops out of the gate and falls a foot to the floor, with a clunk that Finn doesn't hear, but can imagine. >>>60...59...58...57...56...55...<<< <><><><><> % Finn % "JESUS CHRIST!" Finn's eyes went wide, then they closed in pain, emotional, mental, physical, and then snapped open again. She didn't bother with words. **>> EVACUATE THE BUILDING, THERE IS A BOMB SET TO GO OFF IN LESS THAN A MINUTE! <<** She once more radiated her thoughts out to any and all in her area, trying to get to those who wouldn't be reachable by talking, to those who might still be able to make it out. She wasn't sure if she was going to be one of those ones. "Let's move, people ... or all of this won't mean crap." Finn began to limp faster down the hallway, trying to run, trying to speed up, adrenaline once more the only thing driving her. **>> Lisa ... pick up Tyler, I don't care if it hurts her ... we *need* her, someone just opened up one of those gates and put that damned bomb in here, and it *wasn't* her... <<** <><><><><> Lisa: * Great. Now he covers his tracks, with a bomb, so no one knows that he's taken the captured metas. * Lisa picks up Tyler as carefully as she can. She begins running after Finn using a fireman's carry to minimize any further dammage to Tyler. <><><><><> [Walt] "Momma, don't let yer babies grow up to be metas...." Walt mutters as he moves to try and help Finn make better time out of the area. He slings the SMG, not sure yet that the kind of threat that can be shot at is completely gone. If Finn is moving OK but theres someone else having trouble, he'll move to assist them. All the while wondering *VERY HARD* what the odds are that the rough landing that the bomb had somehow screwed up the detonator or otherwise put the bomb out of commission. Not slowing down, mind you, just hoping ! <><><><><> Harvey: "Dang the walls and full speed ahead" Harvey declares, using a little humor inspite of the gravity of the situation; and announcing his willingness to go straight through any walls or other impediments the group may encounter. <><><><><> [GM] Lisa scoops up Tyler, effortlessly. She's relieved not to hear the ugly snap of a broken spine. Tyler coughs, making a brief gagging sound, but her head lolls to the side, still oblivious. The whole group begins sprinting....with no fixed idea of where they are going. Finn senses lots of people still in the building. Those able to move under their own power might get away in time, IF they move NOW. But there aren't nearly enough people to grab the wounded and bear them out in time. There is no time for pause, no time for delay- >>>48....47....46....<<< It's questionable whether even getting out and moving directly away from the facility at top speed will be sufficient. Finn's senses don't extend to telling her just how big a bomb it is down there....but the memory of a dark thread leading to Germany gives her a dread suspicion. Speaking of the wounded, Gordon is only one corridor over, still alive but unconscious. Finn senses no other metahumans in the facility, other than those with her. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey is triing to figure out how to help. He isn't too worried for himself since he already survived an explosion, even if only (only!) from a grenade. Maybe he could get some of the people to link hands and desolidify them too, but there is a mass limit for how many he can desolidify and he's not sure he can get everybody. Then it occurs to him that his abilities both let him take shortcuts through walls and survive explosions. "Finn! Where's the bmb and how long do I have?" Boy, he hopes the tone of his voice tells Finn to keep the response terse. <><><><><> % Finn % She didn't even halt in her escape, but turned suddenly and went down a side corridor. "Gordon..." Finn explained breathlessly, heading for where she knew he lay unconscious. But as she ran, she called back to Harvey... "In the basement. Wait, here!" She "sent" the image to his mind, the visual area where the bomb was. She wasn't sure if he would be able to extrapolate where it was from that, so she locked her mind once more on the bomb's image and "widened" the image, pulling it out and back to display exactly where it was, then conveyed those images to Harvey's mind. But she still kept trying to run, to pick up Gordon in a fireman's carry and hobble as quickly as she could out of the building. <><><><><> Lisa: Lisa follows Finn into the side corridor staying with her as she moves to pick up Gordon. " Finn want me to take him while you take Tyler ? " Lisa asks despite wounds which make her painfully labor for breath. If Finn says yes she will trade Tyler for Gordon as quickly as humanly possible then resume running for the exit. Otherwise she continues with the others trying to escape the building before the bomb destroys it. <><><><><> [GM] Finn finds Gordon, naked and bearing some resemblance to a side of beef, done medium rare. Gordon is rather heavy. Tyler, being a much lighter load, is transferred carefully to Finn, while Lisa lifts the crisped Gordon effortlessly. >>>35...34...33...32...<<< Finn sends a mental image to Harvey as to the location of the bomb. <><><><><> % Finn % Looking at Lisa, Finn shook her head with some reluctance. "Lisa, he's probably heavier than Tyler, and you need all the breaks you can get at this point. Let's not stop and just keep on going..." <><><><><> Lisa: She doesn't waste what little breathe her injured body has on arguing. Lisa settles Gordon into a fireman's carry and runs for the nearest exit at full speed. Leading Finn and the others out of the building and away from it. * Why me ? * She asks herself, exasperated, because she has a good idea as to the answer. <><><><><> [GM] Finn, Walt and Lisa sprint out of the complex, bearing Gordon and Tyler between them. Lisa, even in her injured state, carries Gordon easily; Walt manages to take Tyler and limp along without too much difficulty. >>>20....19...18...17...<<< There are far too few of the others exiting with you. <><><><><> Harvey: Reviewing Finn's 'psychic map' of the bomb's location in the complex, Harvey decides that it he runs really fast he just might make it in time, (or maybe not quite in time) it's worth a try at least. A small part of his mind, somewhere in the back, manages 'gee, this is convenient' appreciatively of Finn's well sent map. A slightly larger part of his mind is shaking in its skull (which is what minds do since they don't wear boots) at the thought of entering the detention area with it dangerous (and to Harvey terrifiing, occupant) until an even larger section of his mind slaps it for having forgotten that all the prisoners are gone. That fear gone Harvey desolidifies through the floor into the basement, heading for the bomb. His last words are "Wish me-" with any further words cut off by the floor as it passes his mouth. Through the floor and his legs start churning as he breaks into a sprint. Of course he gets little traction on the air but he continues to descend until his feet reach the denser material of the floor below. Staying desolid he charges THROUGH walls, debris and obstacles. Finn's map conveniently matching his ability to ignore walls and doors by not being obstructed either. The countdown she continues to send getting disconcertinly low <20 - 19 - 18 ...>. Harvey sprints spending little thought for where he is going to, concentrating on how to get there, which is a relief since it means he isn't dwelling on the fact that he is running TOWARDS a bomb about to detonate. The question he is really concerned with is what to do when he gets there! The obvious idea is to do again what he did to Lucretia, without regrets this time since if it works no one will be killed. The problem is, will resolidifiing a bomb into the ground disarm it? .....This is not a question that was covered in physics class.... It occurs to Harvey, disconcertinly, that if it doesn't disarm the bomb it will actually make the blast _more_ effective by better coupling the blast to solid objects. But will it go off after resolidification? <14 - 13 - 12> C4 is pressure detonated, and shock waves should actually be improved by increased density, once a detonator starts a shock wave. Resolidifiing the bomb in metal would probably short out any electroic detonators, but there's unlikely to be a convenient piece handy, so what will a floor do to the bomb? Harvey's breath starts to come in gasps, he's still a little out of shape, almost there! Got to go dense long enough to touch the bomb and intersolidify it, then get desolid again in case it goes off anyways! <><><><><> Lisa: " 'Luck !!! " She half whispers and half gasps in pain. Lisa continues running not looking back but wishing with all her heart that Harvey will be able to prevent the bomb from exploding. <><><><><> [GM] Finn, Walt, and Lisa keep running, bearing Gordon and Tyler with them. In the basement, Harvey drops down to the hallway where an ominous black case, the size of a large briefcase, sits about ten feet from the gunshot bodies of two agents who were guarding the facility. The doors to the holding cells are open, no other signs of life can be seen. Harvey grabs the case, and pushes it into the ground. It does not phase smoothly; either his power is not operating perfectly, or the bomb is proving difficult to alter in density. Sweating, he struggles with it, manages to slide it halfway into the concrete floor, then takes a deep breath and steps back, phasing back into desolidified form. The black form sits there...and sits there. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey stands back panting, partly from the run and partly from fear, waiting to see if half a resolidified-in-stone bomb can detonate. While he stands there waiting to see if it's live or die, he wonders why he had trouble getting it into the ground? He seems to remember something Dr. Culbrand said back when they were trying to predict what would happen if an object resolidified in another solid. Something about very dense items. "Sh**!!! IT'S NUCLEAR!" Harvey shouts out loud when the realization hits him. 'SH** SH** SH**' he thinks, just to relieve stress. That explains why the bomb is so small. Harvey considers grabbing it and pushing it deeper into the ground, but decides that while it probably still wouldn't go off if he desolidified it to push it deeper, he doesn't want to find out for sure. He grabs anything available and resolidifies it into the exposed portion of the bomb and then hustles it out of there, trying to rendevous with Finn, Walt and Lisa. [While waiting to see if the bomb would go off, it occurred to me that Tyler might be able to summon up an antimatter bomb, which definitely can not be disarmed by resolidifying in stone!] <><><><><> [GM] Aside from bodies, and a couple of weapons, there really isn't anything lying around in the basement to stick in the half-submerged bomb. Rummaging in the holding cells, you can find odds and ends from the apparati that were used to keep the prisoners drugged. You are getting increasingly nervous staying so close to the bomb, however. Partly submerged, the triggering mechanism may be incapacitated, but if the detonator and plutonium is still intact, it can still be set off. And might be unstable at this moment. Not being a nuclear physicist, Harvey has no idea what might be the results of plunging something else into it. <><><><><> % Finn % Though running, Finn still kept a brief contact with Harvey and the bomb, perhaps morbid curiosity, but mostly wanting to know if and when they could stop. Once the countdown has stopped, or paused, she halted where she stood, and called at Walt and Lisa to do the same. "Put Tyler down here ... Harvey's got the bomb taken care of ... for the moment. But if we can get it away from here, all the better." She tried to mentally contact Tyler, and see if she could somehow wake her up without activating the black bands that were no doubt still about her mind, alterting Euroninja of her conscious state. <><><><><> Lisa: Slowing to a stop at Finn's call, Lisa walks back to where Finn and Walt are, and carefully sets down Gordon. She arranges him so that he isn't lying on his wounds and gives him basic first aid for shock. [OOC: Trauma shock.] " Way to go Harvey ! " Looking at Gordon's wounded body Lisa decides to try and see if she can heal him. Her last attempt, with Harvey, was interupted but hopefully this time she can do some good. She reaches down and lays her hands on Gordon concentrating on making her healing ability affect someone other than herself. Lisa'll continue the attempt for at least a minute or two. If it doesn't appear to be working she'll give up on trying to heal. If it does work she'll continue healing Gordon until the worst of the dammage has been repaired. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey keeps looking for something non-conductive to stick into the exposed part of the bomb to be on the safe side. If the walls were cinder blocks he'd just yank one of those out of the wall and use it. He doesn't really care what it is, but he does insist it be non-conductive. <><><><><> [GM] Harvey SEEMS to have successfully "disarmed" the bomb. However, another problem is now presenting itself; he's surrounded by flames, consuming the facility above him and moving their way downstairs. Air is becoming smoky and rarefied, and as he's learned in earlier tests, he DOES still have to breathe while desolidified. In the meadow, a thirty-second life-or-death sprint from the burning complex, Walt, Lisa and Finn collapse and watch the flames roar and shoot into the sky, and Finn tries to shut out the agonized cries of those who aren't able to make it out. All Lisa's efforts to heal Gordon are futile, and Finn can sense that Gordon is near death himself, mostly from shock. Yet Lisa's earnest desire to heal Gordon has set something off in Finn....a tingling that starts at the base of her spine, and is beginning to spread outwards through her nervous system, energy flowing from some unknown internal reservoir and channelling through her body. Finn feels a little better, though still in pain, tired, and not far from shock herself. Lisa, for her part, looks significantly better....the wounds in her side are still open and oozing blood as a result of her sprint, but they're smaller than they were a few minutes ago. Trying to concentrate on Tyler's mental state despite the tingling manifestation of some new aspect of her power, Finn sees Tyler's consciousness flickering but still buried beneath the shock and pain of the bone-breaking injuries she has sustained. Finn feels pretty sure she could wake the enslaved metahuman up...but those black bands are not merely "wrapped around" Tyler's mind, they're entwined in it, buried like a parasitical virus. Short of removing them, a task Finn is not at all sure she's up to, even without active opposition from the Puppet Master, there's no way to wake her up without having to deal with their influence. If Tyler is awake, her volition is constantly guided by the desires of her lord and master, as best she can anticipate what those desires are, and regardless of how little she wants to obey them. <><><><><> % Finn % "Wait a minute," Finn stopped as she sat back on her heels, her eyes unfocused, or rather as if they were focused *inward*, rather than outward. "There's something happening ..." She looked up at Lisa, once more turning her gaze outward. "This healing ... what does it *feel* like, Lisa? Something ... I can feel something in me ... maybe I've got that ability too. But tell me, do you feel anything when you use it, or feel anything odd within you?" Finn rested one hand on Tyler still, as if the contact helped her in some way. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey looks at the flames with surrounding him. It's getting smokey, hot, and yes a little hard to breath. But there is nothing like having just disarmed a nuclear weapon, without a manual, to show one how to keep your head in a crisis. And besides, Harvey is over confident in his ability not to be hurt, so he's concerned but not so paniced that he loses his head. On the other hand the continuous mild nausea he's been experiencing for a while makes him feel less than invulnerable. First matter of business is to exit the building. Since he's not panicing he remembers that it's cooler and easier to breath near the floor. Since he's in the basement he figures he'll just move through the basement, ignoring walls, until he gets to an outer wall and then just take a deep breath and walk up diagonally through the outer wall and ground until he gets to ground level, preferably not too close to the building. He may even finally try a trick he's been wanting to use with his power, 'submarining'. He'll let his feet and torso sink into the ground until his head is near the floor, where it is coolest and easiest to breath, and walk that way. So far it doesn't look too hard to get out. <><><><><> Lisa: * Nothing. I felt another meta-ability wake before all this began. It's not healing. I'm going to have to put off discovering what it is for now. There are innocent lives in danger. * Lisa thinks worriedly. Once she ceases to concentrate on healing Gordon she immediately notices that _her_ wounds are getting better. * Well that's something at least. * " I don't feel anything odd when my healing abilities are working. Well ... I do begin feeling better and the wound or wounds begin healing. I suppose the only way to really be certain is to try and heal someone Finn. " " If you and Walt will be allright I'm going to try and put out those fires. " Lisa waits for a moment to see what Finn says. If she doesn't object Lisa will switch to dragon form, fly over the complex and try to put out the fires by making it rain upon them. She'll stay away from the lab portion of the building just in case the chemicals stored there explode. Lisa concentrates on the heaviest possible downpour. <><><><><> % Finn % The folk singer turned metahuman looked frustratingly disappointed when Lisa's response wasn't obviously what she was hoping for. "I really have no clue what this is then ... and if it's healing, I don't want to risk releasing it, or whatever..." Finn trailed off, then nodded her permission for Lisa to combat the fires. "Harvey's still in there. Anything you could do to help would be great, but don't push yourself, Lisa." She looked at Walt, then at Gordon and Tyler, her eyes tearing with frustration. "If we don't do something now, Gordon's going to die, Walt. Damn it, I have to try." She knelt beside Gordon and put her hands on his arm, entering his mind as she did so, pleading for him to hang on for just a little bit longer. Then concentrated on that tingling sensation in her spine, and willed it to flow out through her hands, and into Gordon's body. <><><><><> Gordon: A few moments within reach of Gordon is likely to make the strongest stomach heave. The stench of burned flesh rises from my smoking body. Blood oozes out of a large hole in my back. [I *really* hope I was laid face-down! Large amounts of dirt in the wound would be a *bad* thing.] Large patches of hair have been seared from my body, the skin beneath red and blistered in places, adding to the hideous aspect of the man lying before Finn. <><><><><> [GM] Harvey carefully makes his way through the earth beneath the burning facility, emerging into a virtual downpour, caused by the dragon floating overhead. Other survivors are struggling to get out, both hindered and perhaps saved by Tien Lung's highly localized rainstorm. Finn's physical contact with Gordon brings his aura into sharp focus...not only the psychic readings she usually picks up, including an uncomfortable amount of personal information about his upbringing and his life, little miscellaneous details that he surely would not choose to reveal, but more importantly, his physical condition. His injuries are severe, and Finn sees them as bright red "leaks" in the flow of life energies coursing through him, a smoothly operating organic system whose integrity has been violently disrupted by massive electrical shock and the impact of a portable missile, both of which would have obliterated a normal man. Something about the "yin and yang" of Oriental homeopathic medicine comes to mind, as Finn sees the human body in a new light. Of course, this could simply be how her mind interprets the unfamiliar psychic information that her...powers, are feeding her. Theoretical models aside, laying hands on him produces a definite result, as the excess energy flowing through Finn's system channels through her fingertips and infuses Gordon with badly-needed life force. The red glare around him diminishes slightly as Finn replaces, in small measure, some of what he's lost. Unfortunately, in her current condition, Finn has precious little "excess energy" to spare. The last of her reserves, she pours into Gordon, desperately trying to heal him, and realizes in moments that while she might have the raw power to bring him back to full health, the effort would quite possibly cost her her own life. As it is, Finn topples forward and joins Gordon in unconsciousness, her last little bit of strength being barely enough to pull him back from the brink of death. Leaving Walt standing guard alone over three unconcious metahumans. <><><><><> Tien Lung: Flying above the burning complex Tien has time to think. Time for the depression, she felt earlier, to return. But before she can sink into self doubt and pity she realizes, with a start, that Euroninja has to know that his bomb failed. Tien considers this for a moment then increases her vigilance just in case he tries something else. * Most likely he won't continue fighting even if he realizes just how badly messed up we are. He's lost a great deal already. Then there's the fact that Tyler failed, would he even want to rescue her ? Would she be worth the risk to him ? He still has that other meta, the one who teleported the bomb. He could make the attempt if he wanted to. It doesn't seem likely but I'd better keep watch just the same. * Tien will keep the rain falling on the burning building until the fire looks to be mostly extinguished. She'll also keep alert just in case Euroninja tries to reclaim Tyler. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey looks around but the only one of the metas he can see is Tien, high above the ground. He gives her a friendly wave, which she probably doesn't see. Then he looks around and not seeing anyone else he starts to walk around the building in a large circle. If he finds Walt, Finn etc. he'll go over to them, if he finds anyone who needs a hand leaving the building he'll help. He also stops and looks behind him several times, he's not paranoid (there really are people out to get him!) <><><><><> % Finn % ** well, look at that ... ** One corner of Finn's mouth quirked upward in a half-smile as she realized that she was, in fact, *healing* Gordon. Lisa was going to be jealous... But that was her last thought, before the panic set in, the idea that once she began this healing, she might not stop, might never stop, until Gordon was healed... ...and she was dead. Fortunately, her...powers didn't seem to work that way, or at least not now. And now, her tiredness, the sleepless nights, and the stress of the past few days caught up with her, and she fell into a sleep so deep that she doubted even Euroninja showing up and dancing a jig in front of her would cause Finn to open her eyes. [...snore... <><><><><> [Walt] "Finn!" Walt yelps in alarm, dashing over to her. The whole "Ah will HEAL this metahuman!" schtick was *way* over his head, so he was just standing off to the side ready to fend off any further 'rudeness' from other metahumans or 'normal' commandos. He'll check to see if she's breathing and such, then sigh in relief when he sees that shes _just_ unconscious. Walt will at least rearrange them so that when/if they do wake up, they won't be all cramped and/or disgusted by the position that they find themselves in. "Well, shoot..." Walt mutters, "ah suppose that if worse comes to worse, ah can just use harsh language at 'em"!". So Walt waits, occasionally checking on the others, trying not to think about the 'slapping around' he himself had received. Truth be told, trying not to think about much of anything save staying awake and aware. <><><><><> [GM] Flames continue to consume the facility, until the inferna has literally razed it to the ground. Survivors are gathering in the field surrounding the wrecked compound, and some sense of order is restored, as men begin organizing the still-ambulatory agents and administrative personnel, and move vehicles out into the open. Agent Slopes and Agent Smee are two of the men who approach Walt and his unconscious charges. Walt is feeling pretty rotten himself, now that the adrenalin is wearing off. In fact, he's feeling very, very sick, and his skin is burning fiercely as well. Nearby, Harvey feels much the same way. "What condition are you all in?" Slopes asks, looking down with concern at Finn, and Tyler, and Gordon. "Anyone critically wounded?" He eyes the naked Gordon in particular, whose hide is still burned and bloody, Finn's healing not having done much to improve his outward appearance. Then sees Tyler's blood-soaked shirt and grimaces. "Christ. We have choppers coming, we're gonna evac everyone to Norfolk." Indeed, Walt and Harvey and Lisa can already hear the thundering sound of several helicopters approaching; somehow the sound is more ominous than reassuring. <><><><><> [Walt] Despite himself, Walt laughs more than a little coldly. "Hows it all look to you, agent? We got our asses handed to us, pretty much! Ah ain't sure, but I reckon we gotta ton of dead or dying trapped in that there building. That there fella 'puppetmaster' or whatever the hell he calls himself roughed us up right nicely, and took all of the prisoner paranormals to boot!" Walt grimaces, again aware of the various cuts, scrapes, burns that he suffered in the fight "Evac? Sounds good to me, let me tell you! Ain't anybody here what could beat an asthmatic junebug, never-you-mind an actual person!" Walt slumps down, obviously tired, hurt, and shocked by all that he has seen and done. <><><><><> Tien Lung: Flying above the blazing complex Tien watches it burn despite her best efforts to put it out. When the flames have finally razed the building, in spite of the mini-deluge, she flies down to where the other meta's have gathered. Tien wills the rain to end then shifts back to human form. She notices Finn's unconcious form, and tenses, but seeing that Walt isn't too concerned Lisa visibly relaxes. * She did try healing Gordon it must have exhausted her. * Waiting until after Walt finishes speaking; Lisa replies: " Gordon seems to have the worst injuries mostly to his back. Tyler's wounds seem to be broken bones and possible internal injuries. Finn and Walt have severe burns and Harvey moderate burns from that meta we fought near Finn's room. There's no way I can be certain but I think he may have hit us with radiation. All of them need immediate medical attention. " " I've been slashed, bitten, burned, shot, and blasted but I seem to be healing. I hurt all over and I'm tired but I'll live. I think. " " Good. " She responds tiredly to Slopes as he mentions the choppers. The aches in her body and soul, that she'd previously been holding off with sheer willpower return in full force, cause her to sit down rather abruptly. She wraps her arms around her knees and rests her head upon them as well waiting for the helicopters to come and rescue her from this nightmare made real. <><><><><> Harvey: "I'm not sure 'burned' is quite the accurate word. I feel like I've got a sun burn. A really bad sunburn, with some of the symptoms of heat exhaustion. I guess you'd call this meta-burn; it's uncomfortable but I'll live." [symptoms of heat exhaustion include pale and clammy skin, normal body temperature, sweating, tiredness, weakness, dizziness, headache, nausea, possible muscle cramps, possible vomiting, possible fainting. (according to the AMA Handbook of First Aid and Emergency Care). Yes we definitely have heat exhaustion] <><><><><> [GM] Tien Lung's rainstorm did help extinguish the fire outside, but much of it was burning underground and inside what was left of the walls. The first helicopters that arrive are not transports, but big black gunships, military choppers loaded with weaponry. They circle the area like vultures bristling with machine guns and missile launchers, looking for targets. And high above, there is a screaming roar passing overhead- they even sent jet fighters! For all the good they might do. By the time a larger helicopter lands, opening its bays to accept the metahumans, with another one settling next to it to carry most of the other surviving agency staff, there are military vehicles coming down the road, armored personnel carriers and jeeps, full of National Guard troops. All too late. The helicopters whisk you all away into the greying sky. ..... Norfolk, Virginia. Lisa (provided yet another overcoat), is briefly inspected by the doctors, and pronounced in perfect health, as far as they can tell. Walt everyone else is admitted into the emergency room; Walt and Harvey are both told that they have radiation burns, and will need immediate anti-radiation drugs. The doctors also grimly inform you that you suffered a dosage that may prove lethal; they can't tell you how long you have to live, but being kept in the emergency ward is not a good sign. Gordon and Tyler remain unconscious; Tyler with the help of sedatives once the doctors are told that she remains under telepathic influence. Finn wakes in a hospital bed, and her senses allow a flood of sensations and information into her head before she wants it, with enough intensity to give her a screaming headache for a few seconds, before she somehow manages to "turn down the volume." Even before the doctors come to check on her, she knows that Gordon and Tyler are actually in *better* shape than Harvey and Walt; their injuries are more visible and more delibitating in the short term, but they aren't dying. As for her, the manifestation of her new talent managed to flush the radiation from her own body, just as it cleansed Gordon (which is where most of her outward energy was focused, on the radiation and shock- thus Gordon has been stabilized, but his severe wounds are still present.) <><><><><> Harvey: When the Doctors tell him he may have received a lethal dose he replies "Maybe, maybe not", because he's still in denial. After the other things that have tried to kill him this week, he isn't ready to throw in the towel. He's also still overconfident, a power that makes you untouchable tends to do that. But while he's not ready to throw in the towel yet, a blanket would be very much appreciated. He feels miserable. He considers asking for a book to read (something on radiation sickness seems appropriate) but gives up before even asking, he doesn't feel well enough to even try reading. He settles for finding a bed, a blanket (a pillow would be nice) laying down to be miserable since he's too uncomfortable to sleep, but to tired to be awake. "Hey Walt, how you doing?" he asks? It's ridiculous beyond the bounds of irony to safely stop a nuclear warhead and get radiation poisoning from hand to hand combat. <><><><><> Lisa: Lisa's startled by the doctor's findings that she seems to be in perfect health. Considering the wounds she took in battle she should be dead. * I'm going to have to fight smarter. I can't rely on my healing meta ablility to protect me from my mistakes. So tired. But at least my aches and pains are gone. I need to get some rest not thinking strait. So much violence. Why ? How can anyone be so hateful ? Gotta sit down and rest. * Her thoughts like her emotions are muddied and confused by the shock of what she's experienced this night. She'll pull the overcoat she's been lent tight and take a seat in a waiting room near where they've taken Finn, Gordon and Tyler. * Hopefully they won't spread them out too far. At least I can keep an eye on them until the agency can secure this place. * She thinks tiredly, not realizing that they've probably already taken care of that before bringing the metas here, still recovering emotionally from the carnage of the earlier battle. Lisa keeps watch until the government gets some kind of security into place then if no one interferes she'll get some rest. <><><><><> % Finn % "Ouch." Finn's first word when she awoke indicated her mental pain rather than any physical pain. She closed her eyes and concentrated on shutting everything else out but her own breathing, her own body. Some mystics or old Oriental men might call it centering herself, but she'd never had much use for New Age philosophies. At least, not unless they made good song parodies. Once everything was back in place, she began to examine the flood of images and thoughts that had hit her before she could shove them way, replacing the wall she had learned to build in the past few ... what was it, days? How long had she been asleep? That's when it hit her. She was asleep, with no dreams. "YES!" The word tore from her throat with triumph, minor as it was. Exhaustion might be the only way she could sleep without the vision/dreams, but if it was so, so be it. And if not, then all the better. But there were more important things first. Harvey and Walt needed her care. She wasn't sure how to do it, but she knew she had to try. She threw back the sheet on the bed and began, slowly and carefully, to get out of the bed. Damned hospital gowns! She pulled the sheet off the bed to wrap around her, and began to make her way toward where the dynamic duo were, the information there in her mind before she even asked for it. And woe betide any doctor or member of the hospital staff who tried to stop her. <><><><><> [Walt] Walt seems concerned, but not overly so; he does as he's told and tries to be as co-operative with the doctors as he can. Other than that, he just tries to not think about it too much. Other than, of course, the odds (visualizing them increasing) that both he and Harvey get out of this alive and well. "How'm I doin'? Jes' fine, I reckon, considerin'. Cain't say as I much like laying around in these peekaboo jammies, but hey, whatcha gonna do, right? Now don't you worry none, Harv; I got it straight from a little bird that you and me, we're gonna get out of this OK." The (scary/interesting/inspiring) thing is that he actually seems to believe it, too (the ok part, not the bird ) <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey laughs out loud at Walt's description of 'peekaboo jammies'. Looks like there right, laughter is the best medicine for radiation sickness, because he feels a little better after. <><><><><> [GM] Lisa sees Finn emerge from her room, a sheet clutched around her. Finn can sense depression overwhelming the Chinese girl's usual cheeriness. Lisa is the least scathed person, physically, in this whole ordeal, but it seems to have taken a terrible mental toll on her. Harvey and Walt seem reasonably cheerful for dying men, when Finn and Lisa enter their ward, brushing past a protesting nurse. <><><><><> [Walt] "Well, there now, ya see? Doin' a mite better already! Ah tell ya, ah bet the reason they have us wearin' these disguised tablecloths is so that our natural male ego will be kept down. With all these 'long, cool drink o' water' nurses wanderin' hereabouts, it'd just be a matter of time afore you or I started to create massive confusion with our natural manliness!" Walt winks at Harv, his extremely wide grin showing just how seriously Walt takes all this. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey grins, though not quite as wide as Walt does, and winks back. <><><><><> % Finn % "Hi Lisa," the folk singer addressed the dragon lady as she walked past Lisa and toward Harvey and Walt's room. She brushed past the nurse as if the woman wasn't even there, and then swept into the room with her usual wry smile on her face, just in time to catch the remnants of laughter. "Well well well ... looks like they're not as bad as I thought, if they can still laugh at the situation," Finn looked between the two of them, trying to gauge who was the worst off. "Are you two interested in seeing if I can heal you up? I can't guarantee it'll work, but it seems to have ... with me and with Gordon. Well, I *think* I got rid of the radiation, which is the biggest thing we all need to be concerned with, of course." She stepped between their beds. "Okay, who wants to be the guinea pig?" <><><><><> Lisa: " Hi Finn, " the dragon lady replies to the folk singer then follows her to the emergency room where Walt and Harvey are being kept. The improvement in Finn's condition cheers her mood considerably. Giving the nurse a sympathetic glance as she goes past Lisa looks between the two terminally radiation poisoned metahuman comedians and just shakes her head in mock disbelief. The ghost of a smile shows on her lips as she gazes at the two cooked metas while wondering just what they were laughing about. She genuinely hopes that Finn can heal them of the burns and radiation poisoning. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey is in the middle of a chuckle when he notices Lisa's bemused look. for some reason it strikes him as incredibly funny, and he breaks out in to uncontrollable laughter. "Hi Lisa", he calls out, "welcome to the funny ward" he adds, refering to the laughter between himself and Walt. "Are you sure you want to come in here with out a lead lined outfit?" which is obviously intended as a joke, since they aren't emitting secondary radiation. "Take your pick. Neither of us is going enywhere if you can't, so feel free to experiment." Harvey continues to chuckle at something that was apparently said just before Finn entered the room. <><><><><> Lisa: She gives an aggrieved sigh then with a completely innocent look on her face replies: " Harvey with the way my clothing keeps getting destroyed ? I don't think a lead lining would help. Maybe something in a skintight titanium mesh. No then I'd have difficulty changing ... Why don't they have this problem in the comics. Everytime I turn around another villain is destroying my wardrobe. " She pouts for a moment in mock consternation. " Hmmm ... maybe it's one of those metahuman weaknesses like comic supers have, sort of the opposite of a power, lose your clothing whenever you use your meta-abilities. " The smile on her lips belies any belief in such nonsense but their clowning around has cheered her up a bit more. <><><><><> Harvey: "Every time you turn around another villain destroys your wartdrobe? Yes I have noticed that. I can't imagione why that happens. I really don't see what viallains have against your wardrobe....but isn't it better to have them damage your wardrobe than damge you?" <><><><><> [Walt] "Ah should say it's better, damaging her duds rather than her skin," Walt chimes in, "especially grade-A quality skin like Lisa's!" Almost as soon as he says it, Walts eyes bug out at his own words, and he turns red and slowly slides down under the sheets. "Oh gawd, ah can't believe ah just *said* that" he mutters, sardonically hoping that the radiation would hurry up and finish him of before he died of terminal embarassment, or Lisa pulped him, or his mama suddenly appeared and beat him sensless for talking to a lady that way! From beneath the sheets comes a plaintive whimper. "Finn, just try whatever y'all gotta try on me; ah deserve whatever bad might happen, and besides, the radiation seems to have addled mah brain." <><><><><> Lisa: With a wry smile on her face Lisa looks over at Finn and says: " Well at least that proves he isn't dead yet. Of course if he keeps saying things like that in front of you I wouldn't bet on him surviving for very long. " " Walt, I'm not offended. Amused maybe; but not offended. It was a compliment of sorts... I think. " Lisa looks like she's trying very hard to prevent herself from breaking into a case of giggles. Whether they know it or not Walt and Harvey have done a lot to help Lisa recover from the horrors that she's experienced in the last twenty- four hours. Lisa finds a seat so she can watch Finn heal Walt and Harvey. <><><><><> Harvey: Ignore some of Walt's remarks. "See, he agress with me, it's better if the wardrobe bears the brunt." Then he stops, before he gets himself in trouble too. <><><><><> % Finn % She laughed. Finn actually laughed. "No way, you're on your own, Walt." She moved over to Harvey's bedside. "Besides, if your powers end up cancelling mine, I'd like to know if it's going to work, first. Now just sit tight, Harvey ... this isn't gonna hurt a bit." Finn smiled down at him and pulled up a chair next to the bed. She sat in it, took his arm in her hands, and concentrated. Thought about the power she had felt loosening in her last night, from deep inside herself. Thought about it coming up her arms again, flowing out into her hands and into Harvey, healing, cleansing him as she had done Gordon. Realized that she might kill herself if she wasn't in good enough shape. Last night (or whenever it was), she had only saved herself because she passed out, gone so far beyond her body's own limits that it couldn't even give itself up for the completion of the task. ** oh jesus ** She hoped she'd be able to pull away, or at least sound out a warning if she couldn't release herself from this compulsive healing. She didn't even have time to warn Lisa. <><><><><> [Walt] "Oh lordy," Walt moans from beneath the dubious cover of the hospital linen, "out of mah head with radiation sickness and even mah oldest 'n' dearest buddy Finn is jest gonna sit there and let me hang!" Walt peeks out from beneath the corner of the sheet, anxious for his own part to actually *see* if anything happens. "After all," he continues, "all ol' Harv there has to worry about is radiation; ah'm a dyin o' embarassment here!" Walt clears his throat. "Aw, shoot; odds are Finn'l have him up and back to the ghost of his former self that we all know and love in three shakes of a lambs tail". <><><><><> [GM] It's actually easy.... Which is not to say it doesn't drain you unbelievably fast. But summoning your....power, a second time, the way you did with Gordon, proves as effortless as it now is for you to pick thoughts out of peoples' heads. Your healing energy flows out of you and washes through Harvey's system. It takes another "push" to force the stubborn radiation out of his body, where it lingers, clinging to his cells and slowly (though not that slowly, actually) killing him. But finally you complete the process, scanning him and satisfied that his aura is no longer contaminated with the toxic glow of lethal rays. Unfortunately, the effort quite exhausts you. You *could* immediately repeat the procedure on Walt, but you suspect you'll end up spending the rest of the day in bed if you do. Harvey's sunburn is gone. <><><><><> Harvey: "You are also suffering from a near lethal case of 'if looks could kill'... of course, around here they sometimes can". Isn't that what the doctor always says, just before it does? ...But hey, how can a telepath hurt you, he thinks with a bright internal smile, which instantly crashes to a devastated internal frown that accompanies the thought (I do NOT want to KNOW how a telepath can hurt you). The result of this silent internal conversation is that Harvey tenses up a good deal, but gives Finn his arm anyway. 'Heck, I trust Finn' Harvey keeps telling himself (another part answers 'but she doesn't know what she's doing either.') Remarkably, after all this internal rangling, Harvey is quite calm sitting there with Finn holding onto his arm. The sensation as Finn takes his arm and gets a far away look in her eyes, as though they're focusing a few inchs UNDER his skin, is not describable in english. Harvey can't even describe it too himself. Trying to figure out how to describe the indescriable to himself would probably give Harvey a headache, but Finn is holding onto his arm and that doesn't seem possible right now. Harvey is relieved when Finn gets a small satisfied look on her face and loosens her grip on his arm. It seems promising. Then his look turns to alarm as he notes how Finn looks. "Er, Finn, Maybe you'd better sit down here for a minute" he suggests. She looks just like she just stood up too soon after donating blood, which for all Harvey knows may be a very apt description of what just happened. Moving out of the way to clear a spot for Finn to sit down he notices with surprise that his 'sunburn' is gone, 'boy if we could put this in a bottle.' <><><><><> % Finn % "Whoa..." Finn wobbled a bit after releasing Harvey, and readily accepted the support he offered. She sat down on the first available chair and took a few deep breaths to help recover. "I think I'm going to need a few more minutes before I get to you, Walt. I hope you can wait that long." She looked up at him and grinned impishly. "Of course, the only pink I can heal is the sunburn...the embarassment you'll just have to live with." Well, she must be feeling a bit better if she can still rib Walt. "Lisa ... do you think you can do a favor for me? Try and get some real food and some tea? And Harvey, if you could run any interference from the doctors and nurses, that'd be great too. I don't want to get poked or prodded or hooked up to machines while I do this. At least not yet." She rested in the chair, closing her eyes and trying to concentrate on feeling her own body - her heartbeat, the blood rushing through her veins, her breathing. Trying to understand how her body worked and how it managed to heal Gordon, and Harvey. It was too bad she hadn't paid attention in those yoga classes she once took. <><><><><> [GM] Your awareness envelopes your body, and you become instantly attuned to every facet of its functioning; your heart beating, your blood flowing through miles of arteries and veins, synaptic activity in your brain, oxygenation of your blood occurring in your lungs, fatigue poisons gradually being eliminated and your muscles losing some of their tenseness....this would seem to be what your yoga teacher claimed was the pinnacle of self-awareness. At the time, it seemed to be a lot of mystical mumbo-jumbo. The body has amazing healing abilities, but they take time, because they draw on your physiological resources....repairing damaged tissue, mending muscle and bone, or neutralizing radiation....all takes energy and mass that has to come from the body. Your power accelerates the process by a ridiculous factor, and can even supercharge the process, instantly eradicating poison and disease that usually would require a long and chancy contest of the malignancy vs. the body's own natural defenses. But it still can't produce something from nothing. You have been supplying much of the energy yourself...everyone has a certain amount of "excess" energy, usually, which is quickly replenished, though if you exhaust it too often, your capacity may diminish over the long term. If you draw more deeply from your own life force, you'll begin draining yourself of vitality that isn't replenished so easily....you'll have to "heal" normally. You are quite capable of killing yourself in the process of healing someone else. It would probably take a deliberate effort, though, and you'd really have to force it...just like it's possible to run until you die of exhaustion, but most people will collapse long before then as their body's warning signals force them to stop. It is somewhat frightening, though, that the upper limit of your power is much greater than the upper limit of your physical capacity. Like connecting a high-powered laser to a nine-volt battery.... <><><><><> Lisa: " Real food and tea in a hospital. Sheesh. You don't ask for much do you. Well I'll see what I can do. Be right back. " Lisa's replies to Finn. Lisa will start with the nurse if she's still around or preferably one of the federal agents trying to make arrangements for food and tea for Finn. She'll return when the arrangements have been made. <><><><><> Harvey: "For you", grin, "anything." And stands up to see if there is anyone to interfere with. "By the way, you want that tea decaf?" <><><><><> [GM] Lisa manages to flag a nurse, and soon a tray of refreshments is brought in for everyone. A doctor finally arrives at the room where all the (conscious) metahumans have gathered. "All right, how is everyone feeling?" he asks, looking a bit nonplussed at the mini-convention, but not making any effort to disperse you. <><><><><> Harvey: Harvey decides now is the time to run interference for Finn (after all, he owes her). So he goes right up to the doctor and says "I feel fine...is that something I should be concerned about?" This should take a while for the doctor to answer. While the doctor is poking and prodding Harvey, which should keep him from bothering Finn, Harvey will toy witht he idea of what the doctor would do if the poked and prodded suddenly became desolid and thus resistant to being poked and/or prodded. The image of what the doctor's face would look like does wonders for Harvey's tolerance. <><><><><> Lisa: " I'm feeling fine too. " Lisa replies to the doctor still somewhat bemused by Finn's healing meta-ability. " Finn I've been thinking about your healing talent. It seems to tire you out very quickly. What I was wondering was if you could draw on someone elses vitality to heal then you could fix up Walt, Gordon and Tyler right away instead of having to wait and rest. Does that sound even remotely possible to you ? " She asks in a soft whisper while Harvey runs interference. <><><><><> % Finn % Her new awareness of her body took Finn by surprise. When she opened her eyes again, she looked at the rest of the group and wondered if she could sense them in the same way. She'd do that in a minute, but now it was time to answer a few questions. "Decaf?" she made a face at Harvey. "Ewww. Real tea please, Salada if there's a preference. None of that herbal crap." She smiled at the doctor and nodded at him, but let Harvey do what he said he would, and walked over to Walt's bedside. "I don't know, Lisa, and to be honest, I don't think I want to try. At least not right now. I know that this could kill me if I pushed it too far, so I'm not willing to try to drain anyone else yet. But it's something I'll definitely think about for the future." She pulled up a chair next to Walt's bedside, and relaxed in it. She placed one hand on his shoulder and smiled up at him. "You ready? I hope I don't glow or anything while I do this," she whispered with her always-ready wry grin. "I'm not sure if can get you all the way healed, but I'll do what I can now." So saying, she closed her eyes and began to reach for Walt mentally. First, to see if she could understand his body as she understood her own, to see if she could see the problems within it, the poisons and toxins and injuries. Then she began to heal them, drawing the power once more from within herself and pushing it out to him through her hand. <><><><><> [Walt] "Ah'm just fine, doc; just trying to shield my fellow refugees here from the blinding glow of mah embarassment. Oh, an' the radiation, o course". The voice comes from beneath a very lumpy white sheet, with still no trace of Walt to be seen. <><><><><> [GM] Actually, Walt *doesn't* feel fine, he feels sunburned, blistered, and very sick. Which Finn can sense immediately; he took a much worse dose than Harvey. Apparently Harvey's intangibility allowed him to escape some of the radiation, though not all. Walt's luck, on the other hand, gave him no protection. Finn concentrates and tries to push the radiation out of Walt's bloodstream, as she did for Harvey, but the effort is too much. It's too soon after her last exertion, and the energy needed is too great. The best she can do is alleviate the worst of the blisters. As powerful as her talent may be, Finn's physical limitations make it clear than she'll never be able to depopulate a hospital. Though the physiological reactions aren't there- she isn't sweating, except a few beads around her forehead, and her muscles aren't cramped- Finn's exhaustion was nearly complete when she finished with Harvey, as if she'd just run herself to the point of staggering to a collapse. An hour or two might have her sufficiently recovered to try another "full power" healing attempt. A few minutes won't. <><><><><> Harvey: "No to decaf huh? O.K., but you look like you need rest, soon, and I hope the caffeine doesn't give you trouble." He gives her a little smile. He'd taken a liking to her, and then there's the fact that she just helped him out of a tight situation, and he pays his debts. <><><><><> % Finn % "Well, shoot," Finn sighed quietly. "I guess you're just going to have to wait, Walt. Maybe later today. You got it worse than Harvey, and I'm just not up to snuff, shall we say?" She pulled the sheet down so that the top of his head and his eyes were revealed, and a lopsided grin met his gaze. "I think we need to get some people in here to tell us all what's going on, anyway. I mean, I know how everyone *is*, but I we still don't know a whole heck of a lot about the night's events." Finn turned to the doctor. "Are there any agents out there that we can speak to? I'd almost imagine they'd be banging down to the door to talk to us, but they probably already know most of it, hmm?" Her eyes grew pensive for a moment, and she spoke quietly, almost to herself. "...I wonder if they found the guy who did this to us..." It's rather obvious that she means the radiation metahuman, Black Death, and not Euroninja. <><><><><> [GM] There are indeed a number of agents waiting to speak to you. One of them is Agent Slopes. He looks pretty calm, considering what he's just survived, and that his partner is dead. As usual, you get nothing from his thoughts. "I know you're exhausted and I understand you're...healing, your friends," he says. "But, as soon as you recover enough..." he takes a breath, gathering his thoughts. "Tyler Sterritt was apparently a minion of this EuroNinja, from everything you told us and what we've been able to deduce after the fact. We have her sedated now, so she doesn't wake up and gate more metahumans in here, or herself out. But right now she's our only link to the son-of-a- bitch, and if she could bring her friends here....maybe she can send us *there*. Or at least tell us where there is. So I'm asking for your help again. I know you've been through hell, and you aren't keen about working with us in the first place. But I have to ask, because it's our best shot at tracing this man. You can read her mind, maybe even keep her from doing anything aggressive while we question her." <><><><><> % Finn % Finn just stared at Slopes, uncomprehending. Well, she *comprehended*, she just didn't believe that *anyone* could be so stupid. Then again, he *did* work for a government agency. "You want to *go* *there*? Are you *CRAZY*? Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I can't believe ... no, strike that, I _can_ believe, I just don't want to. "Slopes, listen to me. Euroninja *knows* we have Tyler. Do you actually *think* he will still be there? If I am not mistaken, he has someone *else* who can gate, like Tyler can. It was how he got the the psychos out, and how he planted the bomb. "In fact," she got up and took his arm, "take me to Tyler now. He could *still* get her back, if he can track her somehow. I'd like to see if I can do any repairs on what he did to her mind. That may not drain me as much as healing Harvey did, and if it does, then I'll just see if I can find anything out about what he did to her." She didn't look like she was going to take no for an answer. <><><><><> [GM] Slopes' perpetually calm expression doesn't change. But for the first time, his voice has an edge to it when he speaks. "Yes, of course, you're right. What was I thinking? A madman with nuclear capabilities has just destroyed a top secret government headquarters and captured half a dozen extremely dangerous, psychotic metahumans whom he can mind-control and turn into brainwashed super-terrorists. Obviously he's too dangerous for us to go after, we'd better just leave him alone and hope he decides to retire." He masters the quaver in his voice and shrugs off Finn's hands. "Fine, let's see Tyler. Maybe you'll decide there's something you can do to help, if it's safe enough." Finn is more glad than ever that Slopes' mind remains opaque to her. He walks down the corridor of the hospital, limping slightly. In another wing, two armed Marines are standing in front of a door. Slopes shows his badge and brings you inside. Tyler, bandaged and with her arm in a cast, lies unconscious in a hospital bed, with an IV drip feeding her drugs that keep her unconscious. The dark threads still lie buried in her mind, burrowing through the layers of her psyche like a parasitical vine wrapped around a tree and strangling the life out of it. <><><><><> % Finn % She wasn't going to get into this. She didn't have the strength. She wasn't going to get into this. She didn't have the TIME. But she just couldn't let it go. Finn bit back her sharp tone and wobbled down the hall on her own after Slopes shrugged off her arm. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say that we *shouldn't* go after him. But Jesus, Slopes ... can't we even take a day to recover ourselves? Do you really want more of your men to be taken over by him? Don't forget, I saw those damned black threads on someone on that plane, and I *still* never managed to see everyone that was on there. SOMEONE who was working for you was actually working for him. There could be more, and not even your opaque mind might be able to stop him from controlling you." She realized as she said it how bad that must sound. She didn't mean that *he* was opaque, but his mind was still unreadable to her, and it was better than calling it a blank mind. Then she ignored him, went into Tyler's room, and concentrated all her energies on the woman on the bed. Finn sat down next to the bed, pulling a chair up so that she could rest a bit. She placed her hand on Tyler's arm ... for some reason, she felt better if she had physical contact with whomever she was healing, though she had no idea if it was really necessary. She slipped into that mental state she assumed when she was looking into someone else's mind, and began to trace the threads. She wasn't sure how this actually worked, but maybe, *maybe*, if she pulled on one thread, perhaps the beginning one, the first one, maybe the rest would unravel. Or be easier to remove. It was worth a shot. <><><><><> [GM] Touching Tyler does seem to make it a little easier to slip into her mind...you normally have to make a small initial effort to cast your senses across the distance from your mind to the mind you're trying to reach- though the *physical* distance doesn't seem to make a difference. However, bringing your auras into contact with each other eliminates that small gap. The threads in her mind will not be as easy to eliminate as simply pulling on one and hoping they all unravel. They're enmeshed in her consciousness and subconsciousness, monitoring every aspect of her cognition, a thousand little mental tripwares operating with the efficiency of a self-aware alarm system to make sure Tyler doesn't do anything the Puppet Master doesn't want her to do. The skill it must take to lay such a comprehensive and invasive control system in someone else's mind is frightening. But the violation at having someone be able to do that...you shudder for Tyler's sake, he could have made her do absolutely *anything*....commit suicide, murder her parents, sleep with her worst enemy...she has *no* defenses against him. There are signs that he was beginning to alter her fundamental personality...he hadn't gotten far, but her natural inhibitions have been eroded slightly, and he was beginning to subtly alter her morality. If you were a psychologist, you might be able to assess the changes in terms of id, ego, superego, or whatever is the current terminology in vogue... but with your layman's vocabulary, you can only go on what your metahuman senses tell you, and translate it into instinctive impressions. He was trying to turn Tyler evil. <><><><><> % Finn % Visibly repressing a shudder at what had been done to her mind, Finn took a moment to regroup and rest herself before attempting to tackle the task. Or at least make a dent. "He was in the process of changing her personality. Her *fundamental* beliefs, morality, everything." She looked up at whomever was in the room with her, eyes bleak. "It was actually *working*." She rubbed her hands along her arms, trying to get warmth back into herself that went core deep. "I think I can reverse it, but this isn't something that can be done overnight. Even *he* didn't do this overnight, but it probably took him weeks, maybe months. I don't know how long he had control of her. "I'll work first, if I can, on trying to override his basic controls. Give her some of her own defenses back, perhaps even enable her to resist him, if he tries to get a hold of her again. "But if you want her to answer questions *now*, then I'll try to see what I can do for her first. Christ, I don't even really know what it is I'm doing, I'm really flying blind here, but I'm her only chance. And she wants help." She reached out and touched Tyler again, comfortingly. "I'll get you out of this Tyler. I'll do my damnedest to set you free." So saying, Finn entered Tyler's mind, and began her own version of psychic surgery, attempting to undo what Euroninja had done. <><><><><> [GM] It's an involved and exhausting process. You begin to really gain an appreciation for surgeons. Trying to thrust sharp, pointed instruments past delicate tissue that will rupture with one careless prod and possibly kill the patient, seeking to excise a malignant tumor....likewise your mind sifts through the layers of Tyler's consciousness, you feel your power like a live wire, that you could touch here, or there, and erase or overwhelm or alter something vital and irreplaceable in her mind....but unlike a surgeon, you don't rely on training and experience. You have something more and less...instinct. You *know* what will happen if you focus on that thought there and think about removing it, you can sense the potential effect of pushing hard on her mental aura with anger or love or boredom or some other emotion....Tyler is as helpless before you as she was to the Puppet Master. The Puppet Master's threads are entwined in her mind, and you have to burn each and every one, focusing mental energy on the corrupting presence that still has a thousand hooks buried in her brain. They don't fight you, but the malice resonating in each one, and your effort to "zap" the threads while leaving Tyler's mind alone (no easy feat, when in places they have melded into her personality, like gum melting onto a carpet) is tedious and terrifying at the same time. You don't know how much time has passed, until you *think* you have exorcised the last tangible signs of the Puppet Master's domination. Leaving you with only an uneasy intuition as to how "free" Tyler will be when she wakes up, after having spent weeks under his control, and fending off (with little success) his careful neural engineering.