KIM IN TROUBLE [After Nancy Hartwick, Kim Brenner, and Ashiya confronted a pair of very violent individuals in Cabrini Green, one of Chicago's worst neighborhoods, Ashiya was badly injured, and Kim took the unconscious alien back to their car, where one of her high-tech devices began administering medical aid, while Nancy was left behind to face the police.] ===================================================== [GM to Kim] In the back seat, Ashiya's breathing continues steadily. The rise and fall of her chest attracts your attention for a moment, and you notice something. When the healing device first lowered itself onto her naked torso, her olive brown skin was dark and discolored all over, looking like someone had worked her over with a splintering baseball bat. Now, while you can't see her stomach for the box, her chest has made a vast improvement in appearance- not that it ever looked bad! - but the ugly red marks and contusions seem to have visibly faded in just the few minutes she's been under the care of her alien device. Before you can spend too much time observing this phenomenon, though, you sense something else. Something moving, on a lawn in front of the tenament building you parked in front of. But when you turned to glance at it, it was gone. But out of the corner of your eye, you see it again. When you look a second time, for a moment you see a man covered in a black bodysuit, less then fifteen feet from the car, approaching with quiet purposefulness. As soon as your gaze wavers for a second, he disappears. And you have trouble refocusing on him, almost as if he's "semi-invisible". <><><><><> Kim: Kim sends the stranger a thought: **What are you doing, creeping up on me?** She will continue to try to watch him, either directly or from the corner of her eye, whichever is better. <><><><><> [GM] You can't be sure that your message was received, with Ashiya's probe overhead radiating psychic "static". But whether it's a result of your sending or not, the stranger suddenly lunges forward, quickly. Suddenly he's standing directly outside the car, in the time it took you to blink. In his black-gloved hand is a pistol, with what you guess is a silencer on the muzzle, pointing through the window at your head. "Open the door, without making a fuss, please," he says, the voice slightly muffled by the rolled-up window, but still clear. There's the slightest trace of an accent, but you can't identify it. After an instant's pause, he adds, "If you escape out the other side, or teleport away, I will shoot your half-naked friend before I come after you." <><><><><> Kim: Kim thinks fast. **Moves quick; almost invisible. Might be a Sebth, with short-range teleport and some weird suit. Can't do anything sitting here** She calmly gets out of the car, watching him. Assuming she can see him well enough: if he gestures with the gun at any point, she will seize the opportunity offered by it not being pointed at her to grab his hand and knock the gun from it. Otherwise, she'll look for an opportunity to teleport just a couple of yards, so that she is standing behind him, and will then hit him as hard as possible. This will naturally be aborted if he turns out to be friendly! <><><><><> [GM to Kim] He doesn't seem friendly; the gun doesn't waver from you as you open the door and start to emerge. You know some techniques for disarming someone at close range in a situation like this, but you've never had to actually do it with a real, loaded weapon pointed at your face. Before you get out, his other hand snakes out and grabs you by the throat, in a grip like steel. "Stay in the car. Move over." Obviously he's intent on trapping you in the car with him; you decide to go with the teleport plan. You feel a painful wrenching sensation all through your body as you try to teleport, almost like back in Oakland, when you were forcibly dragged by the Sebths' platform back in place when you tried to teleport away from it. It's not quite as bad as that time, but it's definitely unpleasant, and causes you to gasp with effort. Instead of being "redirected", you simply don't go anywhere. You're not sure you can force your way out of that field generated by the probe. The stranger seems to realize you tried *something*, though. His grip on your throat tightens, enough to make you dizzy, and he says, in a very calm and reasonable tone of voice, "Before you attempt anything again, be very, very sure you do not fail, because the consequences of failure will be a bullet through your head. I assume of course, you are willing to sacrifice your friend? Because it will take me less than a second to point this gun at her and pull the trigger, should you somehow escape my grasp." "Be a cooperative young lady and perhaps you both shall survive. At this time, I do not think I require you to die. However, while I would not enjoy killing you, I will not hesitate to do so if you become an inconvenience." <><><><><> Kim: [OOC: What does he look like at close range?] "Who are you? Apart from a psychopathic car-thief" asks Kim, deciding to wait until they are free of Ashiya's probe's field. If he drives off, he'll have to either release her throat or put away the gun - or sprout an extra arm! She will slump back in the seat, apparently defeated, and wait until they are stopped at a junction in a busier part of the city, when he will be slightly distracted watching the traffic. She will then hit him fast, as hard as she can, on an exposed location, and follow up the blow with more - Kim knows that she could be fighting for both her own life and Ashiya's. Her aim will be to disarm him and/or knock him out. <><><><><> [GM] Up close, he looks like someone wearing a ninja-suit. It's a black outfit that covers his entire body, including his head and face. It's not skintight like a superhero costume, though; it seems quite a bit thicker than spandex or anything silly like that. He's a fairly large man, too, at least six feet tall. He maintains his grip on your throat, and the gun pointed at your head, and makes no move to start driving anywhere. Instead, he says, "I am not going to ask you a series of questions and have you stall and take time to think about each one. I am going to tell you the subject matter in which I am interested, and you will tell me everything you know, as quickly as possible. If you try to play games, or try to lie, or hold back, I will know. Do not lie to me or feign ignorance." "There is an aura around you that interferes with mental powers. You three all came into this neighborhood for some reason, but you did not know about those two men. And this device on your friend's stomach is also intriguing. So tell me about all these things. Now." <><><><><> Kim: "Shoot me, and I can't talk. Shoot my friend, and I won't talk. So stop playing silly games with that gun and pretending you're Chicago's answer to Lee Van Cleef" replies Kim levelly. "We came into this area searching for a paranormal who was last seen somewhere around here. A young boy named Chad Reiter, who's got a lot of mental powers, and likes to hurt people with them; we were going to try to `talk him down', before he ended up killing himself or other people. We spotted Falling Star, followed her in the hope of being able to talk to her, and found ourselves caught up in a gang showdown. The third member of our group was trying to defuse things peacefully, when the two men in the van showed up, chucked a grenade amongst the gangs, and started shooting. Who were they?" [OOC: if the ninja-wannabe starts to relax, Kim will too. If, on the other hand, he makes a move to fire either at Kim or Ashiya, she will hit him hard - that costume may well be armoured, so she'll concentrate on joint-locking his gun arm, and disarming him. What sort of accent does he have? Is it anything like either Ashiya's or the Sebths'?] <><><><><> [GM] He neither relaxes nor fires. You realize uneasily that he seems to be very much in control of his movements, and could probably pull the trigger, blowing most of your face off, without your seeing it coming. His accent is very, very faint, but it seems more European than Shabaali or Sebth. "The aura," he says. "And this apparatus attached to your friend. Do not try my patience, girl." <><><><><> Kim: Kim remains nonchalant about having a pound of death held to her temple. "I don't understand what you mean by an `aura'. Something started damping mental powers part-way through the fight, if that's what you mean. As for the box, it's just a high-tech first aid kit. Why all the questions? What's your problem?" [OOC: Kim *doesn't* know where the damping came from, because of the confusion. I think, from reading messages, that it was something Ashiya did] [OOC: Kim will watch for an opening if he tries reaching into the back to pick up the device] <><><><><> [GM] The stranger's hand suddenly tightens on your throat. You feel his thumb driving into your carotid artery, causing intense pain and imminent loss of consciousness..... <><><><><> Kim: Kim lashes out instinctively, trying to cause enough pain herself to force him to lessen the pressure. [OOC: Impulsive, Overconfident, and `Dislikes being pushed around' - Kim is not a good insurance risk in this situation ] <><><><><> [GM] You strike at the stranger, and he blocks with the hand holding the gun. His thumb and fingers continue to press againt both your carotid arteries now, but you still have an amount of fight in you that seems to surprise the masked man. You launch strike after strike at him, most of which he evades by blocking with his other hand or by twisting you in the seat, being that his grip on your neck gives him considerable leverage. You're using all the choke-evasion techniques you learned in judo class, but he counters them without releasing his grip, and you know he's a better grappler and close combat fighter than anyone you've ever sparred with in your classes, including your senseis. Still, it takes a surprising length of time for you to finally black out, and when one elbow does connect against his jaw, he curses in a foreign language and the pressure on your throat becomes much greater- he's no longer merely constricting the blood supply to your brain, but also strangling you. In desperation, you attempt to teleport one more time, but feel the painful wrenching sensation again. Towards the end, you also feel a telepathic presence assaulting your mind, but you don't have time to think about it before everything goes black. At one point, you feel sensation returning. You stir, and suddenly feel a jolt of pain as something slams into the side of your head. Some time after that.... It's dark, and your head hurts. You can't see anything; you think you have some kind of cloth over your head. As feeling returns to your body, you realize you're sitting in a hard chair, and your wrists are bound behind your back, while your ankles are tied securely to the legs of the chair. Something is radiating heat and dimly- sensed light onto your face. "Before you attempt anything, young lady", the voice of your mysterious assailant says, coming from behind you, "you should be aware that your friend is nearby, but not anywhere that you could find her in time. If, that is, you were to suddenly disappear. I know you can teleport. If you do so, your friend will certainly be dead before you reach her." "Now, relax and this will be over soon." With that, you suddenly feel a mental presence boring into your mind. Not a gentle one, like Ashiya's, but something cold and hard and calculating, prying into your thoughts and probing into your memories. You call your mental shield up, and are slightly gratified to sense surprise on his part. But he exerts some pressure, and you know it won't take him long to break down your defenses. <><><><><> Kim: Kim doesn't have many choices. Kidnapped, tied to a chair, with Ashiya being held hostage, there isn't much hope of escape. She'll reach out with her telepathy and see who she can find - Ashiya, her interrogator, or someone unshielded that can be asked to call for help. <><><><><> [GM] You can sense only your mysterious interrogator within the range of your telepathy (not that you have a clear idea what your range is yet), and attempting to read his mind is unsuccessful- occasionally you get a glimmer of thought, but it seems to be "white noise"- incoherent patterns that reveal no meaning. And for the most part he simply shunts your clumsy probes aside. **Fascinating how similar our abilities are, girl. But you are far too inexperienced to be a match for me. Truly a pity.** His telepathic intrusion is not in any way painful, but it's like having someone run their hands all over you, and rummaging through your dresser and closet and reading your diary as well, all at once, and you sitting there helpless to do anything about it. All your life you've fought successfully against being made a victim, and now you're utterly defenseless. You've never been so furious. You aren't sure how long his probing lasts, but you're sure he ferreted out every last detail he might be interested in from your mind. Then you feel his oppressive mental presence push down on your consciousness, and you sleep. ....... You wake up lying on your back on a bare mattress. You're still dressed in what you were wearing before, and you're no longer bound. You're in what looks like a spartan bedroom, a small white-walled room with a window revealing sunlight coming through onto your sheetless bed, and a single wooden dresser. Standing next to the bed, with his arms folded, is your mysterious "ninja", still completely concealed in his black body suit. "Come with me, Kim," he says. As he walks to the door, you get up and follow- WITHOUT THINKING! You obeyed him even before you thought about whether you wanted to or not.... He gestures for you to precede him out the door. <><><><><> Kim: Kim guesses she can't do anything to him unless she can regain control of her own mind, and undo whatever he did to her during his telepathic rape. She tries hard to shut him out, to resist his commands, to avoid going through the door. <><><><><> [GM] You hesitate, willing yourself not to follow. He speaks again; "Keep going. Walk ahead of me." His voice seems to be a catalyst, and you can't help but obey. "Crude but effective," he says, walking behind you. "I will have time to establish more sophisticated conditioning in you shortly, but for now, just be aware that you are incapable of disobeying me or attacking me, and you cannot teleport without my permission." "I think perhaps you underestimate your alien friend," he continues in a casual, conversational tone. You are now walking down a hallway, and as he keeps talking, you pass several doors, go through one at the end of the hall, which leads to stairs heading down. You go down three flights of stairs, and can see that you're inside a rundown house of some sort, with very little furniture. You finally reach the basement. [while you're making this trek:] "For someone from such a pacifistic, compliant civilization, I am amazed at her strength of will. With whatever is generating that mental-suppression aura around her, I cannot penetrate her mind shields and get the information I desire telepathically, so I was forced to resort to....cruder methods. And as much as it pains me to admit it, I failed. I exhausted every means of physical and mental interrogation at my disposal, albeit some of the more sophisticated tools which I prefer are not available, and I did stop short of inflicting permanent damage. She is much too beautiful to leave scarred." The casual manner in which he discusses this is chilling. He could be talking about a pleasant day out on the golf course. "It has been a very long time since I was unable to break someone, and no WOMAN has *ever* successfully resisted my methods." His lack of respect for women is clear in his tone when he uses that word. "But your friend endured more than I would have thought possible, and I'm afraid pure stubborn pride drove me to continue past the point where it was obvious that another tack was needed. I even let Yuri and Piotr amuse themselves with her for a while, though I knew by then that she can effectively detach her mind from her body when she wishes to. While *I* was usually able to bring her back, I suspect she wasn't 'enjoying' their attentions as much as they'd have liked." About halfway across the dusty, moldering laundry room on the bottom floor, you feel the outer edge of the cold, "null field" you sensed earlier. He directs you to continue, and you're engulfed in that sensation you had back on the street and in the car, the one which made your mental abilities all but useless. "Unpleasant, isn't it?" He opens the door to the basement, and you walk ahead of him down a narrow series of steps, to a thick wooden door at the bottom. "Of course, had she told me how to shut off that damned suppression effect, I could have simply probed her as I did you. But sometimes it's nice to get 'back to basics'. Keep the old skills honed." <><><><><> Kim: Kim realises that resistance is useless [(c) Douglas Adams ] for the moment. However, that doesn't mean she'll let him dominate her. "Yes - torture and mind control would be the only way you could ever get a woman." <><><><><> [GM] The masked man laughs softly at your acidic comment. "Ah, the intemperance of youth. You will learn to mind your tongue." The room in the basement is brick-lined, and illuminated only by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. There are two men standing in the center of the room, both of them tall and blond, with crew cuts and very muscular builds, wearing black, unmarked military-style jumpsuits. What immediately captures your attention, though, is Ashiya. She's hanging from the far wall by a pair of handcuffs, which are hooked around a metal loop set in the wall near the ceiling. Her hands are manacled above her head, and her feet barely touch the ground. She's naked- her clothes are lying in a neatly folded pile on a table in the corner. Her arms, breasts, stomach, thighs and legs are covered with welts and long, shallow cuts. You can't see her face, as her head is hanging down, and her long black hair, now matted and plastered to her scalp in places, conceals it, but you can see blood dripping to the floor. With another wave of horror, you see blood oozing from the ends of her fingers and toes...and some toenails and fingernails seem to have been pulled out! There are also several large clumps of hair lying on the ground next to her, as if forcibly ripped out. You can see what appears to be small burns on various sensitive places on her body as well. Her wrists are bloody and raw where the metal of the handcuffs has dug cruelly into her flesh. For a moment, you're afraid she's dead, but then you see her breasts rise and fall, slightly. She seems to be taking small, shuddering breaths. Besides the table in the corner, there is another one a few feet from Ashiya, next to a metal-framed bed with a dirty, stained mattress. From the blood on the mattress, and gleaming, new-looking scratches around the four metal posts, you'd guess Ashiya spent some time chained to the bed. On the table are a variety of implements that turn your stomach- small blades, long metal pins, matches, a cigarette lighter, a length of coiled electrical cord, pliers, what looks like some dental equipment, several metal coils, and a nasty- looking electrical appliance that seems to be a modified cattle prod. Also several bottles of liquid, one of which is rubbing alcohol, another is vodka, the rest are in brown and dark blue vials. There are other metal and glass items on the table that you can't identify and don't want to. Many of them are bloody. Several white towels, similarly bloodstained, are heaped under the table. The two rough-looking men were examining Ashiya with leering amusement when you and your captor came in. Now they study you, with hard emotionless eyes and a frank appraisal that's worse than any dirty looks you've gotten on the street in Oakland. <><><><><> Kim: Kim looks at Ashiya, sickened. Poor, innocent, peaceful Ashiya, who became distraught at even the thought of people being hostile to her. What had she gone through? She might still be alive, but what hope was there that she'd still be sane? Kim will see if her telepathy can reach her, though she knows it's almost certainly blocked. Aloud, she says: "You are sick - evil and sick. I hope one day someone does to you what you've done to her." Inwardly, she takes stock. It's a meagre stocktaking - mind-control to prevent her struggling or teleporting away, a damper to block her telepathy... she'll have to wait for some opportunity. Even torturers can make mistakes - she hopes. Perhaps his control over her will weaken if he's not in the same room. [Her captor sounded European - if he speaks in French or German, she'll use her limited knowledge of the languages to pick up something of what he says] <><><><><> [GM] Your thought apparently reaches Ashiya, even through the "static", because she raises her head to look at you. Her right eye is swollen almost shut, her lovely, full lips are now split and bloody, and her nose still has blood bubbling from it. "Kim," she whispers. "I am so sorry, forgive me for bringing you to this..." Your captor walks over to her. Your fists clench as you see how Ashiya trembles at his approach, and how he casually runs a hand along her body. "Don't worry, Miss Brenner, I am most professional in inflicting injuries, everything but the fingernails will be healed in a week or two. Such a beauty," he murmurs to Ashiya, "you will be a delight to bend to my will." "Now." His voice becomes cold. "You are to be congratulated, Ashiya from the 'Shabaali Union'- very few people have resisted such interrogation before. Your willpower is truly impressive. But I have no more time to waste, at least for now. When I take you...somewhere else, I will have even more delightful methods to see how well you resist them." Ashiya shudders. "But I want to know right now what is causing this mental suppression aura, and how to turn it off." He nods towards you and says, "You have proven you can endure whatever I inflict upon you. Can she? If you remain silent now, you will get to watch while I find out. Would you like your dear friend Kim Brenner to experience what you just did?" <><><><><> Kim: Kim sends a thought to Ashiya **That suppression field is perhaps our only hope. That bastard has already tampered with my mind so that I have to obey him - who knows what he could do with a free hand?** <><><><><> [GM] Ashiya moans, and shakes her head. You can't tell if it's to what you "sent" or what her interrogator said. "Come here, Kim," the man says, and once more you obey with infuriating meekness. He produces a large knife, and lays the tip gently against Ashiya's collarbone. As he speaks, he moves it slowly down her right breast, leaving a thin, bloody line along her brown skin. Adding it to many others. "Ashiya, if you do not begin cooperating, I will order Miss Brenner to remove her clothes." He speaks in a gentle voice that sounds mild and almost fatherly. "Then she will exchange places with you on the wall. And I will have Piotr and Yuri hold you up so you can watch." The point of his blade presses against her nipple, causing a tiny bead of blood to well up. You're fascinated and sickened by this man, as you realize you are in the presence of someone who truly enjoys torturing people. He's inflicting additional injury on the helpless alien simply because it gives him pleasure, not because it will compel obedience more effectively. He glances at you, and you wonder if he "heard" that thought. Then he confirms it; "Oh yes, you are correct, Miss Brenner. A terrible vice, I know, but one learns to live with it. And while your body is not nearly as pleasing as this voluptuous extraterrestrial, I'm sure I could find some satisfaction in practicing my art upon you." Ashiya gasps, whimpers "No," and you realize he's speaking for her benefit more than yours. He probably knows, after plumbing the depths of your mind, that you aren't easily scared...although you have severe doubts as to whether you really could hold up as well as Ashiya did. "Then again...", you notice he's pressing the point ever-so-slightly deeper into Ashiya's breast to punctuate each comment, "I am thinking you will make an excellent right-hand operative for me, and putting bloody marks on you means waiting until they heal. Perhaps I will simply let Piotr and Yuri demonstrate their somewhat cruder methods on the young lady, what do you think of this, Ashiya?" He withdraws the knife, and wipes it against Ashiya's hair. Your gorge is rising, but you grimly remain calm. "No," she whispers. "Do not hurt Kim. I...yield. I am yours, if you only spare her...this." She seems unable to take more than a quarter breath, and each one is an effort. "The psi...neuter...nuteral...neutral...ization field...is generated...by a small remote probe that I ordered...to....generate the field around myself, and follow me... before I became unconscious." Blood bubbles out of her mouth around her words. "It is probably....outside this building....hovering." "I saw no flying object on the way here!" the torturer says sharply. As he brandishes the knife again, Ashiya adds hastily "It is invisible....no, I am telling the truth!" as he presses the point against her navel. <><><><><> Kim: Inwardly, Kim feels even more depressed. She knew she couldn't stand up to torture as well as Ashiya, but she'd have undergone it to help her. But now, keeping the probe hidden is useless. If they don't believe Ashiya, they'll just torture her further, maybe even kill her, then finally realise she was telling the truth and hunt it down. "She's telling the truth, dumbo - at least, she does have an invisible flying probe. Looks like you got ripped off with a cheap Taiwanese copy when you bought your lie detector. Appropriate for someone who's a cheap copy of something Japanese." <><><><><> [GM] The black-garbed man pauses and cocks his head for a moment, and you feel some tiny measure of satisfaction at realizing that you did succeed in irritating him that time. "It occurs to me also," he says in a somewhat less fatherly tone, "that you would be no less useful with perhaps one or two fingers missing. For that matter, it remains to be seen whether I really require you to have a tongue. Do not speak again unless you are spoken to." Turning back to Ashiya, he asks, "How do you turn the suppression field OFF?" "My...computer...was in my pocket," she says dejectedly. Your captor goes to where her clothes are piled, and you see that he had already removed all devices from her pockets and stacked them next to the clothes- her small cigarette lighter-sized computer, the bell-shaped telepathic weapon she used earlier, a couple of other small items. Also the white medical box, which seems now to have retracted all its appendages, and her "laptop" computer. Somehow, he retrieves the right object, the thing you saw Ashiya remove from her phony laptop earlier. Bringing it back to the manacled alien, he holds it up. "How do you order it? In your language?" Ashiya nods mutely. He turns to the two men behind you, and speaks to them in a foreign language. It definitely isn't French or German. It sounds Slavic, probably Russian. They unclip small black submachine guns from their belts and switch the safeties off with a click. "I have told them to shoot you and your friend if I do not tell them not to in ten seconds," he says. "So any other thing you might think of having this 'probe' do had best eliminate myself AND Yuri and Piotr, immediately, or you and Miss Brenner will die. Remember also I can still sense some of your thoughts even with the aura and through your mind shield. Now, I wish you to order it to turn off the mental suppression field. Do it now." Ashiya hesitates, then mumbles "Shiyarul liruhash yahu...nimiwashua ashu- ash-hesh-yisha.....lom Ashiya." Instantly, you feel the mind-deadening sensation that engulfed you disappear. "Ah." Your captor looks around. "Much better." He speaks to his two minions again, and they lower their weapons. Suddenly he jerks backwards convulsively, and you see Ashiya's eyes clenched shut in concentration and renewed sweat pouring from her forehead. You dimly sense mental energy passing back and forth between her and the telepathic torturer, and then you can actually "overhear" her thoughts; **I am a tenth-degree adept of the Shabaali Function in twelve different disciplines, and you, for all your ruthlessness and raw power, are mentally a mere child!** Just as you feel hope rise, Ashiya's opponent stands up straighter, and Ashiya's mouth opens in an anguished cry. She seems to wilt under his stare, even though she can't really shift position, hanging as she is, helplessly from her manacles. Her back arches as some new agony tears through her body. "But you are mistaken, woman," he says out loud in English. "You are indeed formidable....if you were not already severely weakened, you would be a worthy opponent, I think. But you would still lose, because while you may have been using these abilities since birth....*I* have been using them since long before *you* were born!" Ashiya's entire body shudders, and he continues; "Now this is just a taste of a telepathic technique I perfected long ago, one I suspect is probably not taught by your Shabaali society." Ashiya's head snaps backwards and hits the wall as her arms and legs convulse in agony, and her scream fills the room and tears at your heart, as she cries out in indescribable pain. Wailing for what seems like forever, but is only a few seconds, she subsides into quivering sobs. "No one, but no one, has ever resisted that," says the other telepath, with tangible smugness. "Now, I will take everything I wish to know from you, and I will administer repeated doses of pure pain stimulation until you stop resisting me." He places his hand on Ashiya's damp forehead, and for what seems like a very long time, there is no sound except Ashiya occasionally twitching in place and moaning. He holds up the little computer at one point, then goes to fetch the laptop, brings it back and sets it on the ground. Holographic images spring forth, and he closes his fingers around Ashiya's brow again, possibly compelling her to give him their meaning. "Fascinating, fascinating and incredible," he says finally. "Such an advanced people, and so very foolish. Yet you obviously represent a great threat to the Earth. Something will have to be done about this. But in the meantime, this child sounds as if he has much potential. You wished to teach him how to be a good Shabaali telepath. I think *I* can teach him much better." "No!" Ashiya gasps, but he ignores her as he holds up her palm-sized computer again. "Restore the suppression field," he commands her. "I think that will be convenient, to prevent what little trouble either you or Miss Brenner might think of causing while I am gone." Ashiya breathes heavily, then murmurs in her language again. ""Shiyarul lihurush amuyal...nimiwashua meshel-hesh-asha.....lom Ashiya." And once more, that psychic "coldness" drops around you like a wet blanket. Your captor speaks to his lackeys again, and they move to Ashiya and lift her off the hook, while he turns you around and commands you over to a corner of the room. You hear Ashiya sigh in slight relief as her weight finally comes off her wrists, then whimper as she's tossed onto the mattress. While your vile enemy stuffs a gag in your mouth, ties it tightly, then blindfolds you, before binding your wrists and ankles together behind your back with what feels like thin metal wire, in an ingeneous manner that will probably cause it to dig into your skin if you struggle, you hear handcuffs being snapped around the bedframe. "It is most unlikely you could cause any difficulty if I simply ordered you to sit still until I return," he says while he's securing you. "But since your conditioning is not yet completely reliable, this will add an extra level of security." "When I return, I will have the young 'Shabaali' your satellite was kind enough to locate for me. Then we will be able to leave this dingy and inhospitable abode for someplace where I can remake Miss Brenner to my liking, and begin working on you as well. I have never conducted psychic surgery on another telepath before, particularly one so well trained. You will be quite an engaging challenge. And I will have time to study more of your civilization, and the technology you have brought here." "I would say this trip to Chicago has been *extremely* profitable!" He speaks to his henchmen in their language for several minutes, then you hear the door open and close, and footsteps dimly retreating up the stairs beyond. The other two men are still in the room, as you can hear them moving, then the scuff of a chair being dragged against the floor as one sits down. But the other....you hear deep, malevolent laughter, comments which you can tell are crude and malicious passing between them, then the sound of unbuckling, unzipping, Ashiya whimpering, and other sounds you wish you could shut out of your head. Taking stock again, you're very thoroughly bound, you can't teleport, and you couldn't speak even if you weren't gagged. His precautions seem to be excessive to the point of overkill, but knowing him, he probably just enjoyed putting you in discomfort. <><><><><> Kim: At least his cold demeanour can be cracked, thinks Kim forlornly. One tiny victory lost amidst a sea of defeat. If only she could get to the pile of clothes she saw before she was blindfolded, and get Ashiya's gun. That would handle the guards - and with the chief torturer away hunting for Chad, perhaps they could escape. Kim throws all her effort into a minimum distance teleport. Just enough to get free of the restraints holding her, and to cause her clothes - and, more importantly, her blindfold! - to fall off. If it succeeds, she will dive for the gun, and shoot the closest guard with it, following up with the other one (if there is no trigger, she will try to fire it telepathically, then resort to hitting them). <><><><><> [GM] You concentrate on teleporting- and feel an instant aversion to doing so. Like trying to take a step and suddenly being overcome with a desire to stand in place. Increasingly angry at the control that evil SOB established over you, you try again, and again. Sometimes you feel you've almost overcome the aversion, but you're brought up short by the suppression field around you. And each time you try, it becomes increasingly difficult. You realize you're exerting yourself tremendously, even though you haven't moved, but you're not fatigued yet. And even though your breath is coming in short gasps now, and hindered by the gag, you don't feel too out of breath. But there is a limit, and you're going to reach it eventually. You have the maddening feeling that without the suppression field, you might be able to overcome your "programming", and without that mental compulsion, you could overcome the suppression field...but the two factors working together against your attempts are too much of an obstacle. [GM sits at desk rolling dice..."no....nope...no....uh uh, not even close...." ] While you consider whether you have any better options than to continue this effort until you either "break through" or pass out from exhaustion, something nags at your mind. While you listen to the two men sitting down and shuffling cards, apparently finished with Ashiya, who is crying softly, you finally (GM makes an IQ roll for Kim ) realize what it is; when Ashiya ordered the probe to turn the suppression field off, then on again, for her interrogator, she spoke, verbally, into her computer/communicator. But you've never seen her give verbal orders to her equipment before...aside from perhaps a word or two, and once or twice actually typing something on her keyboard. But she usually seemed to be interfacing with her computer telepathically. Perhaps she had to speak out loud the first time because her telepathy wouldn't work in the suppression field, but you already know the field doesn't totally shut off psionic powers, just dampens them and makes them MUCH more difficult to use. <><><><><> Kim: Kim will rest a moment to get her breath back, then try to contact the computer. If there is any sort of access control, she will repeat what she can recall of Ashiya's commands, though the only bit she could identify was `Ashiya'. She will try to make it turn off the suppression field. If that succeeds, she will repeat her attempt to teleport a short distance (just enough to get free) and go for Ashiya's stun gun. <><><><><> [GM] Your telepathic sending, still inhibited by the null field, starts to give you a headache, and you can't "lock on" to anything in range, except perhaps Ashiya, and the two men who just finished raping her. It immediately occurs to you that your captor probably would not have been so foolish as to leave the computer here, when Ashiya is apparently not gagged, and could simply call out orders to it. **Kim....** Ashiya's mind-voice comes through, faintly, through the static. Her "voice" is strained, and you can sense pain and desperation behind it, but on the surface, she seems amazingly calm. **you are t**ing to s*nd to m*? Are yo*...inju**d? I am s* so**y for wh** I have **ought you in**** forgi** me....** Her sending starts to fade. <><><><><> Kim: Kim tries to force her thoughts through. **Ashiya. Can you turn the suppression field off?** She'll repeat the message, until Ashiya receives it. <><><><><> [GM] After several tries, you finally get a weak response back; ***** probe c** ....dire**ly comma**ed telepa**ic***y but ***s out of m* range...wh** go*d will i* do any**y?** You sense an overtone of despair in her words. <><><><><> Kim: **Can we combine to reach it? If it was turned off, I might be able to teleport free and get your stun gun** Again, Kim will repeat the message until it gets through to Ashiya (and then probably rest to catch her breath again!). If Ashiya thinks it is possible, Kim will let her enter her mind to get the power boost needed to reach the probe. If it is turned off, she will again try the short range teleport to get free of her restraints. <><><><><> [GM] It takes a painfully long time before Ashiya responds. **I...I...can*** gesta** with you I c***ot** At first you think she's saying she doesn't have the power, then you think about how much intimacy you experience in a gestalt. **Perh**s a...one-w** gest**t...if yo* wi** agre*? I wou** ha** to ent** your mi** and...take co**ol...supp**ss your co*scio**ness and d*aw on *our Funct**n to pow** my own...oh Nis**yarul Ayis**a how *elf-center** I am! For**ve me *im, to spar* m**elf *ain and ther**y d*man* you surr**der your v**y min* to *e! But I...you *o not wi** to ***talt wit* me, I am **rt and viol***d and...riy**hel **ula...I wi** do as *** wish*** She's starting to mentally babble, and you know from your own fatigue levels that Ashiya, who's been subjected to worse than you, is probably nearing her limits. Also having been exposed to more horror than she could ever have imagined, you fear for her sanity. You think you understand her dread at opening her mind to you, though from what you know of her, having been in there before, linking with another Shabaali, a supportive, nurturing Shabaali, is probably what she needs to restore her sanity and begin healing. You, however, while you care about her, she still probably sees you as being somewhat less than loving and nurturing. A dear friend, but something like a tamed wild animal that might still turn and bite, and having you in her mind right now would be a supreme act of trust on her part- even for a woman who, until today, probably trusted almost everyone, with the slightest justification. On the other hand, having her take over your mind completely and use it as an instrument for her own power calls for a lot of trust on YOUR part. It sounds an awful lot like what that other telepath just did to you, and you aren't eager to experience it again, even if it is Ashiya. The SOB raped both of you, you realize bitterly, and one of you will have to submit to a similar experience to get out of this. <><><><><> Kim: Inwardly, Kim shudders. How can she let someone wander through her mind again? She's had a lifetime of being in control of herself, which has been ruthlessly stripped away by Euroninja. Can she be sure which thoughts are her own, and which have been implanted? What if... She shakes herself. To pursue that line would just lead to madness and paranoia. She's bonded telepathically with Ashiya twice already, once in a full gestalt. There are no secrets left in her head, at least none that she knows herself, and Ashiya was someone to be trusted. Besides, she is a friend, and in need, and in even greater trouble than herself. And it's their only chance of escape. **Ashiya. I will open my mind. Take whatever power you need.** It still takes an effort of will to drop her shields, but she manages it. <><><><><> [GM] **We can on** hope //I **ve no ho**!// our com**ned pow** is eno*** to rea** it I cann** be sure //of any**in*// I wil* try //don* noth*** but br**g pai* to my**** an* oth**s// Y**a*ish A**sha mari**ula...** Ashiya almost passes out from the strain, but at least, IF your plan works, she can do that once the field is shut off, and the burden is on you to use the last reserves of your strength..... Ashiya's mind-touch is hesitant at first, tentative, and none too steady, unlike her usual self. **I am so**y** she "whispers". She slides gently, very gently, into your consciousness, and you both wince as she's forced to assume a more dominant presence in order to force her way through the psychic static around you. Ashiya tries to shield you from her own thoughts, but you can tell this effort is costing her dearly, on more than one level. **I wi** not hu** you** she says, as you feel your control of your thoughts and mental activity being peeled away. **I love you** Then you're only vaguely aware of Ashiya's presence, or anything else, almost like the time you passed out while you were donating blood for the first (and last) time...you had your eyes closed, and could feel the blood being drawn from your vein as consciousness slipped away- you woke up to hear one of the attending doctors chewing out an inexperienced orderly for letting someone so underweight give blood. And suddenly it's gone, just like that. The null field disappears. The two men at the table go on talking, apparently completely unaware that anything has changed. You still feel the mental inhibition against teleporting. You summon all your rage at being enslaved, and your horror at what they did to Ashiya, and will yourself to do it, just blink a few feet to the left, that's all.... Light floods your eyes, and you gulp in fresh air not filtered through a gag. Your wrists and ankles are sore, and you're stark naked once again. You also feel very, very sick. It takes a supreme effort of will not to vomit, and as it is, you involuntarily curl into a ball, clutching your stomach, trying to regain enough equilibrium to move. You hear one of the men say "Shto?", following a deadly pause, and realize he must have just noticed you. You're dizzy, nauseous, and have a brain- frying headache. Worse than any flu you've ever had, and you're about to try taking on two armed muscle-men, naked. Well, you're better off than you were five seconds ago.... <><><><><> Kim: **You can chuck later. Move!** Kim wills herself on. It's worse than the hangover on her birthday, from the cheap whiskey her friend had brought. **No time. Must hurry**. She straightens up and focuses on Ashiya's stun gun, then makes a jump for it. Through the pain, she rolls, focuses on the nearest torturer, and fires (or, if the gun lacks a trigger, wills it to fire using her telepathy). If the gun doesn't work, she'll kick him instead. Whichever way works, she'll do the same to the other one. **One last effort. Fight until you drop. Or there'll be nothing left of you worth fighting for** <><><><><> [GM] One of the men is coming after you, the other one drawing a pistol from his belt, but you move fast, it costs you, you're going to puke any second now, but you rummage through Ashiya's belongings in a frantic hurry, grab the silvery metal object and spin around. There's no trigger, 225 pounds of muscular blond Russian thug is descending on you, and you will all your anger and panic and (fear?) into it, hoping it does something- you feel it "tingle" mentally, and the man staggers and lurches straight at you. You make a prodigious leap and almost smile at the crack his head makes as he hits the wall behind you. Landing lightly on your feet, standing above the now-senseless man (and not sure if you're hoping he's dead or not), you find his buddy is standing eight feet away, with a heavy pistol pointed directly at your face. "Drop this" he snaps. "Drop this or I die you, nishtivak girl!" His eyes are cold and hard, and you can feel his rage, mixed with just a tinge of uncertainty. His voice is heavily accented, like a Commie bad guy straight out of "Red Dawn" or "Russkies", but it's also a little slurred- you can see a three-quarters empty bottle of vodka on the table behind him. Perhaps his semi-intoxicated state is why you're picking up his thoughts so clearly. The surface thoughts are unintelligible, being in his native language, but the imagery accompanying it....pure hatred, for a naked skinny girl who dared to break free and drop his friend when you should be cowering and helpless like the other one, he's picturing your naked body being forced to a kneeling position, doing what he forced Ashiya to do- White hot rage, and he drops straight down as if someone chopped his legs out from under him. You feel your own head ready to burst apart, and the weapon in your hand is conveying the illusion of heat- somehow you know it's an illusion, but it seems to be vibrating with the energy of the inchoate raw emotions you just pumped through it. Ashiya cried out and shuddered in her bed, her manacled wrists and ankles convulsing against the frame where they're shackled. You realize she must have picked up some of that "blast" that you hit the armed thug with. Then you can only fall to your knees and gulp in air, forcing yourself not to throw up, because you can control your circumstances and you're going to control your body too. It takes a while, but you recover faster than you thought you would. You still feel like you ate half your body weight in High School Cafeteria Surprise, but you're functional (pardon the pun ) again. The dizziness passes, and the black splotches fade from your vision. It starts to come back when you open your mouth to speak to Ashiya- an infuriating reminder that the "Euroninja's" compulsions are still controlling your actions, and he never rescinded his order forbidding you to speak. <><><><><> Kim: Kim is thankful not to be sick. Chalk up a minor victory for her mind over her body. She scowls in frustration at being unable to talk, and has to use her telepathy instead. **Ashiya - how are you feeling? Can you move? I didn't mean to catch you in the blast: it looks like I don't know my own anger** She examines Ashiya: is she conscious? breathing? alive? Kim unfastens the manacles (getting the keys off the bodies of the guards if necessary). Wearied, she rescues her clothes from the chair she was tied to, and gets dressed. She'll tie up the two unconscious men: manacle one to the bed and tie one to the chair. With the one on the bed, she takes the bottle of vodka and pours it over his groin - a small revenge for what he did to Ashiya, but a painful enough one when he eventually wakes up. She'll try to plug the barrel of the pistol with something - the gun's no use to her, she'd never be able to convince herself to kill someone, but she wouldn't shed any tears if one of those torturers blew his hand off next time he pulled the trigger. Finally, she searches the room - did "Euroninja" leave anything useful or interesting behind? - and tries the door. <><><><><> [GM] Ashiya is alive and conscious. She is still bloody and battered, and the brutal treatment she was most recently subjected to is all too evident. She doesn't respond at first, but chokes back tears and then cries out in relief when you unshackle her from the bed. You grit your teeth at the sight of the raw flesh of her wrists, and some scraps of skin stick to the metal cuffs when she takes her hands out of them. She curls up into a half-sitting position, and just holds herself. True to the torturer's words, though, all the damage seems to be painful but superficial. You leave her be for a moment, while you attend to the more urgent business of making sure the blond bullies are immobilized. The one who plowed headfirst into a wall is bleeding profusely from the forehead, and you have a nasty feeling he may need medical attention. The only other thing you find in the room, besides Ashiya's things (including the white medical device), all the torture implements, the table on which were the guards' vodka glasses and a deck of cards, and their pistols, is a pair of sleek black automatic weapons next to the table, along with cleaning kits and several clips of ammo. The door is unlocked. You see only the stairs, leading up, beyond. Glancing back at Ashiya, you see she's still sitting naked on the edge of the bed, cringing as far away from the man you chained there as possible, doubled over and taking deep, shuddering breaths. <><><><><> Kim: Kim bandages the bleeding man's head with whatever she can find (the guard's dirty handkerchief would be favourite - stop the bleeding, but give him blood poisoning). She puts a consoling arm around Ashiya. **We have to get out of here. Before that mind-controller returns** Kim will improvise obstructions for the guns by inserting wadded-up playing cards into the barrels and ramming them home with a suitable bit of the cleaning kit, until the cards can just barely be seen by someone giving the barrel a good look. The first person to try firing one of the guns will regret it, as well as not being able to fire a gun with that hand for a long time... If Ashiya still isn't moving, Kim will gently urge her on again (**Come on. We must get out of here**), and help her get dressed. She'll collect together what's left of their stuff (giving Ashiya the stun gun if she's snapped out of shock yet - if the mind-controller does catch them, Ashiya has probably got a better chance of being able to fire). **I hope those two are all there is** she thinks, as she begins to quietly climb the stairs. Assuming there's a door or something at the top, she'll listen for a moment before opening it and going through. <><><><><> [GM] You jam the cards thoroughly down the barrels of the guns, then urge Ashiya to come with you. It takes a few tries before she responds, but she follows you, meek and unquestioning. She obviously is in VERY bad mental shape, worse than before you gestalted with her the first time. She's not likely to be able to use her telepathic gun very effectively; you can only hope she'll come out of her shock enough to do ANYTHING. [I assume you're going to have her get dressed?] Once clothed, she's still going to present a very unpleasant picture. Blood is still seeping from many of her wounds, one side of her face is badly swollen, her hair is a matted wreck, and it also occurs to you that wearing whatever bulletproof fabric her clothes are made of, particularly without a bra [it got sliced up by the medical machine, remember?], is going to turn what would normally be an unpleasant chafing into something truly agonizing after a short time. She smells of dried blood and sweat and worse things. Even under these horrendous conditions, her almost inhuman beauty is still apparent, but that only makes her pathetic condition even more heartwrenching. No noise can be heard from the stairs, and when you climb them to the laundry room above, you can detect no motion at all throughout the entire house. <><><><><> Kim: Kim checks the laundry room for something that Ashiya could wear; failing that, she examines her own sweatshirt. It's a bit baggy (almost anything is a bit baggy on Kim!), perhaps Ashiya could squeeze into it. It would certainly be more comfortable than her own blouse [If this is possible, Kim and Ashiya will swap] **Come on, Ashiya** she sends, **We're getting out of here** She gently leads the alien woman up the stairs to the laundry room, keeping a comforting arm around her at all times, and supporting her weight if she starts to stagger. Once in the house itself, they will head for the door; Kim will stuff the gun in the waistband of her jog pants and conceal it with the bottom of her sweatshirt (or Ashiya's blouse if they swapped) when they reach the door. Cautiously, she opens it and looks outside - if there's no-one around, they'll leave. Kim will do her best to remember where they are (house number, street name, etc). [OOC: Did they leave any of Kim's or Ashiya's money, credit cards, etc?] As they make their unsteady way from the House of Horror, Kim is torn by indecision. The police should be told... but what could they do? They would be helpless against that monster. Also, involving the police would lead to even more problems for herself and Ashiya: the matter of Ashiya's forged driver's license (and undoubtedly she also has forged credit cards and counterfeit money); Ashiya's present mental condition, where the last thing she needs is to be separated from the only other friendly telepath; Kim's own running away from home. And what had happened to Nancy? Contacting the police would eventually lead to her, if she was still free. Euroninja hadn't mentioned her, perhaps he'd ignored her. She swears: she doesn't know Nancy's telephone number. Assuming they can't find the hire-car, travel is going to be particularly difficult. Once they're safely out of the immediate area, Kim will find somewhere for them to sit down for a while. Then she comes to a decision, and dials 911 at the nearest call-box. "There's trouble at - there's some sort of superhuman on the loose. We've just been tortured by him. Beware: he's got some sort of mind control powers." Then she'll ring off. And hope that (a) someone has the sense to pass the message on, and (b) there are people to pass the message on to. <><><><><> [GM] The laundry room looks like it hasn't been used in a couple of years. Aside from some unidentifiable rags, there are no clothes there. When you suggest switching tops, Ashiya complies without question. You can tell she takes comfort from your proximity, but she is being very withdrawn and uncommunicative, not her usual open self. A dangerous sign, you're sure. Physically, she seems strong enough- obviously exhausted, and in pain, but she's able to walk without help, though she keeps an arm around you for comfort, and leans against you, slightly, when it won't slow you down too much. Ashiya's bag was among her other things, but her wallet is gone. So are all of your personal items. Leaving the building, you find yourself in a quiet residential district that seems to be right on the edge of the large inner city area and the surrounding suburbs. Where you are exactly, you can't say, not being familiar with Chicago. You do notice a silver-grey van sitting in the driveway. You get to a pay phone at a 7-11, two blocks away, then run into that compulsion again, the one that prevents you from speaking. You consider what to do next. Ashiya, still looking like the recent victim of a violent attack, is already attracting the notice of people walking in and out of the convenience store. As you contemplate how to contact Nancy, Ashiya's head jerks up, and her eyes seem to focus for the first time. "Nancy! We have to find her! And...and...that man..." her voice chokes. "Kim, he went to locate Chad Reiter, I...he made me...my probes detected another Functional, and almost certainly a Shabaali, I...had to tell him..." you feel the horror in her mind, and know it wasn't a matter of "telling" him, but being telepathically raped, as you were. "We cannot let him reach the child first!" <><><><><> Kim: Kim hangs up the phone angrily. This is getting beyond a joke. That b****** really screwed with her mind. At least she doesn't have to worry about what to tell them! **Ashiya** she telepaths (is there a better verb? ) **I can't talk. We can't do anything about Chad now - we don't know where *we* are, let alone Chad or that man. And we couldn't help him at the moment anyway - you're not in any sort of state to take on that monster, and he can just order me to do what he wants** There is a definite tone of bitterness to that last remark. Kim continues in a more comforting tone of thought. **Sometimes its necessary to retreat and re-group in order to win. This is one of those times. We can't help Chad now; we may be able to do so later** Kim has revised her plan. With the state they're both in, they need help, no matter where from. She'll try to flag down a police car - with none of her forged personal effects, Ashiya isn't so likely to face legal problems - and use gestures to indicate that she can't talk, could she have something to write on? Once someone supplies her with a notebook, she'll write quickly: "CANNOT SPEAK. KIDNAPPED, ESCAPED. AZIJA HAS BEEN RAPED. BOTH BEEN TORTURED. NEED HELP." (the garbling of Ashiya's name is deliberate - close enough that she can claim to have mis-spelt it if Ashiya uses her own name, but different enough to give some anonymity). <><><><><> [GM] Ashiya protests: **We CANNOT let that...man, get his clutches on an impressionable child already psychically scarred! Think what he will do to Chad, how he will corrupt the boy!** She can't muster the resolve to argue very hard, though, and acquiesces as you bring her along, searching for a police car. The cop you flag down is, understandably, shocked at Ashiya's condition, and more shocked when he reads your note. He puts you both in the back seat of his patrol car, and radios ahead as he speeds to the hospital. [Any other information you give him en route? He asks you to write down everything you can, particularly about the person or people who did this, where it happened, who you are, etc.] Ashiya huddles against you. **What will they do, Kimberly? I do not wish to be subjected to your primitive medical technologies and flesh-cutting healers! And your authorities will ask me many questions that will be...difficult to answer! And what of Nancy, and Chad? They are both in danger!" She weeps in your arms. At the hospital, doctors want to check Ashiya for her injuries immediately. They're polite and sympathetic, of course, but from Ashiya's point of view, no doubt they seem cold and harsh. She pulls away from them, looking at you desperately. You realize that the examinations they'll want to perform, since she's a rape victim, would be more traumatic than Ashiya can probably stand. Of course, they can't and won't force her to undergo them, but Ashiya probably doesn't understand their intentions at all, it will all look very primitive and horrific to her. <><><><><> Kim: Kim writes down what she can. "HE WAS ONE OF THOSE SUPERS. CAN TAMPER WITH MINDS. SOME SORT OF COMPULSION = WHY I CAN'T TALK. HOUSE IN RESIDENTIAL AREA, GREY VAN OUTSIDE. MEN INSIDE HAVE AUTOMATIC WEAPONS." "ME = KIM." [Not "ME = TARZAN" ] In the car, Kim maintains telepathic contact with Ashiya. **We cannot STOP that monster getting his hands on Chad, at the moment. We cannot do anything to stop that b****** and rescue Chad until we find some way of blocking his mental powers. The most important thing right now is to get healed, both physically and mentally, before taking him on** Privately, Kim wonders how much the man will *need* to use his powers on Chad - unfortunately, the two seem to have similar personalities. At the hospital, Kim will keep an eye on what happens to their belongings, but will avoid making such a fuss as would draw attention to them. They'll naturally be a bit fussed about the gun; Kim will just shrug, and scribble a note. "IT'S A TOY. WE MANAGED TO BLUFF ONE OF THE GUARDS WITH IT. IT DOESN'T DO ANYTHING" Kim hopes that the gun really cannot do anything if it is fired by a non- telepath who isn't feeling any strong emotions and isn't pointing it at a living being! **Don't worry about the hospital. They'll just examine us, and treat your wounds - nothing more than a bit of antiseptic and a dressing, most like** [I assume they can do that much without evidence of medical insurance?] **The examination may be unpleasant - but all they want to determine is what happened to you, how badly hurt you are, can they get evidence that you were raped, things like that. Don't be put off by their manner: they really are trying to help. Try to relax - I'm still here. If it really gets too much, ask them to stop. They will, but they won't be too happy about it. Can you remember Nancy's last name? That way I could get in touch with her** Kim remains in telepathic contact with Ashiya throughout the examination and treatment, soothing her and explaining as best as she can what they are doing at each point, trying to find a way to relieve the alien woman of some of her distress. Assuming they eventually give her a mild sedative (**It's nothing, Ashiya: just something to help you to sleep**), Kim will attempt to contact Nancy. If Ashiya knew Nancy's last name [OOC: or Kim has managed to remember it; I couldn't without looking it up, so I've assumed Kim can't] Kim will write a note for the police or doctors: "PLEASE CONTACT NANCY HARTWICK IN CRYSTAL LAKE, LET HER KNOW WE'RE HERE". Otherwise, it's time to test the range on her teleport. After carefully memorizing the name of the hospital and which ward Ashiya's in, she'll make an excuse to go to the toilet, where she shuts herself in a cubicle. Hanging her gown (or whatever she's been put in) on the door, she sits and concentrates on Nancy's kitchen and back garden, where she teleported before. Once she has the image firmly in her mind, she tries to teleport there: she's broken the compulsion once, hopefully it'll be weaker a second time. <><><><><> [GM] Ashiya is *very* unhappy about the examination, but trusts you, so she cooperates. When they start applying antiseptic to her wounds, it naturally stings; she exclaims "I do not need disinfectants, my body is immune to infection!" Naturally, the doctors take this as a clear sign that Ashiya is in poor mental health, and needs sedating, which Ashiya also surrenders to, only because you ask her to. She does know Nancy's last name: Hartwick. The police call, but report that they got an answering machine. After that, they want you to write out everything that happened to you in more detail, and also want your full name, and "Ajiza's", while Ashiya drifts into fitful sleep. <><><><><> Kim: [OOC: Did they leave a message on Nancy's answering machine? If not, Kim will ask them to] Kim fills in more details on a piece of paper (she's going to run out of paper at this rate): "KIM BRENNER. NOT MUCH MORE TO TELL. HE ATTACKED US WHILE WE WERE WAITING IN AZIJA'S CAR. HE SOUNDED EUROPEAN, NOT FRENCH OR GERMAN - PERHAPS EASTERN EUROPE? HE AND HIS 2 FRIENDS TORTURED AZIJA; THEY WERE SAVING ME FOR LATER. THEN HE WENT OFF IN SEARCH OF A SUPER, LEAVING HIS FRIENDS TO RAPE AZIJA." If they ask for an explanation of why she wasn't also raped, Kim will give a grim smile and add: "NOT BEAUTIFUL = ADVANTAGE" Any further questions, and she'll feign tiredness - she might not actually feel sleepy, but she sure feels like a rest after everything she's been through! At times during the night, Kim will keep a gentle telepathic eye on Ashiya, to make sure she is still peacefully sleeping. Do Shabaali have nightmares, she wonders. <><><><><> [GM] The police did leave a message on Nancy's machine. You're sure the schoolteacher will have a stroke when she hears it. For that matter, you hope she got out all right. Shabaali do indeed have nightmares, and Ashiya's are vivid, a planet full of demented psychopaths, all wanting to hurt her, she reaches out to help them and gets slapped (NancyangryItrytobeniceandsilent shebecomesangrier whydoesshehateme?), then beaten, then men with evil and violence in their hearts abuse her body in unspeakable ways, and somehow take pleasure from it. Children suffer, everybody suffers. She is alone, and incompetent to handle this, but there is no one else. That man (evilcutmestabmeburnme) has to be stopped, and the only way to do it is (NO! Ican't! Notinmymindagain!) Scenes of her torture and repeated rapes (she was raped before you were brought down as well as after) play through her mind over and over again. 'Euroninja's' telepathic invasion, and his use of telepathy to stimulate her pain centers and ignite such agony that even the second-hand memory of it in Ashiya's mind sends a wave of sympathetic pain through your own body, hurt her as badly as did the physical violation by his two henchmen. She was whipped and burned and cut and poked and humiliated and degraded, and through sheer force of will alone, she's trying to hold herself together. She really doesn't understand any of what was done to her, it's as if true aliens selected her at random to perform incomprehensible experiments on her, out of an unbelievable sense of cruelty. And as shattered as she is, she's still determined to find her torturer and face him again. And somehow save Chad Reiter- as well as you and Nancy- from him. And she has to do it alone, and she has to do it without killing him. Only one way, and that way, though you can't see it clearly, sends a wave of horror through her, as if she's contemplating being raped again. <><><><><> Kim: Kim tries to ease Ashiya's inner turmoil, without waking her up. She'll try to lessen her telepathy to just send an impression of calmness, of peace. Euroninja was exactly the last person she needed to meet. A wave of anger washes through Kim at the thought of someone prepared to do such evil things to someone as innocent as Ashiya. It's like torturing and raping a child. She's worried, though. What's going to happen to Ashiya? She can't fight Euroninja in her present state, and she can't do it without help. Perhaps her probe can be set at a higher power level, to suppress *all* psi activity. Or perhaps, amongst the equipment she didn't bring with her, she has something that can boost mental defences. They're going to need some way of neutralising his mental powers, both short-term and long-term. Maybe they could use Ashiya's gun to knock him out; if so, she spoke of removing Functional powers, perhaps she can remove his mind-control. What will the police do? With all the publicity surrounding the appearance of Functionals, surely someone in authority has started to do something about it. Otherwise, if they just send someone to Euroninja's house, he'll mentally take them apart. A chilling thought strikes her: what if the police send someone who knows that they're in hospital? She shrugs: if that happens, she'll have to find a way of dealing with it. Euroninja went through her mind. He now knows where she lives, but has only a vague idea where Ashiya or Nancy live. Kim hopes he doesn't go after her parents. And, after discovering from Ashiya's nightmares that he'd raped Ashiya, Kim wonders if she herself escaped his attentions after all. She's assumed that she was unconscious the whole time from leaving the car - but with his powers, he could have told her to forget. Other things strike her. Why didn't he just smash his way into her mind as he approached the car? Why did he wait? What was his connection with the men in the van? [OOC: Was the grey van outside his house similar to the van the two men had been in?] <><><><><> [GM] Ashiya's agony diminishes somewhat with your mental presence. She takes comfort from your being near, though she would really prefer to be holding you. Unfortunately, hospital beds generally aren't built for two. Her need for physical and mental affection continues to exceed the ability of "cold" Earthlings to provide it- she copes the best she can. You settle for reaching over to hold her hand while she sleeps, which seems to give her some comfort. Her dreams change to images of her home, and friends and family she left behind, and how much she fears that she'll be marked, somehow twisted so she's no longer suitable to live among her people, when she returns. [The two vans did not seem to be exactly the same model.] <><><><><> Kim: Kim will continue to comfort Ashiya through the night. She hopes she gets the chance to hold another gestalt with her soon - Ashiya needs it.