Heroes

[Quist]

This has got to end, Malin thought to herself as she lashed a titanium arm out, crumpling the barrel of a repeating rifle inwards and sending the entire thing flying off the white pedestal it had arisen on. As it clattered to the floor, Malin hunched over, placing her hands on her knees and breathing heavily. It had taken what seemed like forever for her to finally destroy all of the weapons that had appeared in the room. She had husked at least three times, going from Teflon, to brick, to steel and now titanium, all to counter the various perils thrown at her. It was definitely starting to take its toll on her, as she was nearing her limit. She figured she had one husk left in her, perhaps two, before she would have to revert back to her original human skin. She hoped to find a way out of here before that happened.

 

She straightened up and strode over to one of the walls, hauling back with her fist and punching it with all her might, which was now considerable, given her current composition. The wall dented inward, but only by a very small amount, not nearly as damaged as Malin had hoped. She swore under her breath, then cocked her fist back in preparation for another blow, but before she could even think of throwing it, the ceiling panel right above her opened and a torrent of water gushed down onto her. She looked up in amazement as several other panels slid open from the floor and the sides as well, revealing giant nozzles that spewed jets of water into the room. Before she had a chance to blink, the water had already risen up to her waist with no sign of slowing down.

 

"Damn," she muttered, willing her body into another morph. The shiny titanium began to slide off, revealing smooth, brown wood. Her power was able to combat most things, but she couldn't husk herself gills. She'd have to try and float to find a pocket of air in the ceiling. Reaching down, she grabbed one of the metallic orbs with her still titanium-clad arm and hurled it upward. It embedded itself into the ceiling right between two nozzles. She had to hope it would be enough.

 

The water was up to her neck as she tore the last bit of titanium off her face and began to float upward. Malin took a deep breath and waited.

[Master_Archon]

((Okay folks, sorry for taking so long, but there is such a thing as the holidays you know. ))

 

Jaydon sat cross-legged in a shiny white room, it was relatively small, only about the size of a bedroom or apartment. The room was completely and utterly white, and kind of metallic-y, if you could call it that. The only anomaly beyond that was a glass door opposite of Jaydon, outside was, well, he didn't really know.

 

Jaydon popped a piece of candy in his mouth, he'd woken up to find both the candy, and Jim's cell still on him, but every time he tried using the cell it only said no connection, and obviously the biker guy who brought him here knew there wouldn't be a connection either, that, or he was in too big of a rush to skiff Jaz. But, as stated before, he may be lazy, but he isn't stupid, on the contrary, he'd already concocted a plan on how to get out, now all he had to do was wait for those scientists he'd caught a glimpse of earlier to come back, and he was certain they would.

 

To his exact expectation they did, three of them to be exact, a female and two male cohorts. They stood outside of the door staring at him as if he were the elephant man or something.

 

"This one is different from the others. We know he has more interesting abilities, like the woman we captured, but the thing is, he hasn't shown them, he's been sitting against that wall since he's woken up, no signs of struggle, no drive to escape. If you ask me, ma'am, I honestly think he doesn't care, I'm only guessing though," one of the scientists said to the woman scientist as he stared at a clipboard he was holding.

 

'So she's the lead geek, okay, need to remember that,' Jaydon thought to himself, his face showing no emotional changes as he just sat staring at them lazily. Aside from that he guessed there was one other person captured along with him, and that they were observing him somehow, though he saw no means of doing so with the weird sci-fi white room he was in. Oh, and he also guessed the place was some kind of weird superhuman geek fest study thingy, or something like that, he really didn't care.

 

"Alright, we'll start his tests soon, just after we check up on the woman, lets go," the lady scientist said, seeming uninterested in him, though, who would be considering the amount of activity he was displaying. Just as they were turning to leave he pulled the bag of candy out of his green vest and began munching on them openly.

 

The other crony, the male who hadn't spoken became alarmed and dashed forward, "how did you get that!?" The scientist exclaimed, Jaydon only smiled and waved at him with Jim's cell, the man's eyes growing to the size of dinner plates it seemed. He rushed to the door's control panel, and was about to open it but was stopped short.

 

"NO!! You fool! He's just trying to bait you," the lady scientist said to the man as his finger hovered over the panel precariously. "He's had the candy since he's been in there you dolt! Next time check the feeds. As for the phone, he's not going to get a connection out of here any time soon," she chastised, the man cringing as she scolded him. She walked up to the glass door, a spark of newfound interest in her eyes.

 

"So, you're not so unmotivated after all," she stated, Jaydon only smiling sheepishly, though there was an obvious hint of mischief in his pretend innocence. Jaydon threw a piece of candy at the glass door, hitting the door it sparked with a white flash and plopped to the floor, a small tail of smoke steaming up from the already melting candy piece. To most this would seem like a simple act of play, but it proved to the scientists that he watched his sci-fi flicks, he knew about the electrified door without even testing to see if he could bust it open with his abilities.

 

"This one's smart, either that, or unimaginably stupid. Either one, it doesn't matter, if he wants to play, then let him play. You, activate the test, I'm interested to see how things will turn out now," she said, a wicked and mischievous smile of her own creasing across her lips. The scientist who had been ready to open the door now began punching in a sequence on the panel, moments later to Jaydon's surprise, or not, a white panel came down infront of the door, and then it sealed up and he could no long tell that there was a door, or even a panel there, it looked like a wall, then again, he couldn't tell where the walls were anymore with the door gone, it looked like an abyss of white, which was actually, really creepy.

 

He looked around to take in his surroundings, from what he could tell the light source came from the ceiling, but it wasn't one individual light, it wasn't even a whole bunch of lights, it was like the entire ceiling was a glowing tile, it produced a minimal amount of light, and it appeared just as white as the walls and floor. The fact that the walls and floor were white in such a way made it to where the light reflected around in the room, allowing a minimal amount of light to illuminate the place greatly. The only way he was able to tell the light was coming from the ceiling was the fact that if he stared long enough his eyes hurt like they would if you stare at a light bulb too long; he didn't get this effect when he looked at the walls and floor.

 

On top of all of this the way the room was lit prevented any shadow what-so-ever. To Jaydon it was like those commercials with the white rooms that seemed to have no walls but you could tell they were there. Well, this place was a lot like those rooms, only worse, he couldn't tell where the walls were, he could barely tell that he was standing on a floor.

 

As Jaydon looked around slowly he felt that there was no wall behind him anymore, and as he stood up and turned around he found nothing there but white. He cocked an eyebrow and began walking, and walking, and walking, until finally he slammed into a wall. As he looked back over his shoulder and looked at the melted puddle of chocolate on the ground, he blinked rapidly in surprise, he could see the candy, but it was FAR! He had gone that far out and didn't even realize it, because when he walked it felt like he wasn't moving, the perception of passing objects, including passing shadows just wasn't there.

 

This wasn't a test, it was torture; if someone were to be put in this room that had no abilities or even common sense, they'd be insane in a short matter of time.

 

Jaydon looked up at the ceiling, he had no idea how high it was, and he didn't want to test, though he wished he could shoot the ceiling with a shard of bone to take out the lighting and create some form of shadow, but he didn't want the scientists learning about his abilities as of yet.

 

Jaydon scratched his head slowly, this whole thing was maddening, and it didn't help that he was pacing and couldn't even tell. 'Crud, what now!?' He asked himself.

[stingerhs]

Sitting in the front seat of the squad car, Elisa looked out the front window. If there was any perks to having constant police protection, it was that she didn't have to drive anywhere herself. This time was even better as she looked over at the young Police Officer sitting in the driver's seat. His name was Thomas Williams, or just 'Tommy' as he had introduced himself several days ago, and Elisa thought he was cute.

 

"So, why do you have to be at the University early today?" Tommy asked. Looking over at her, he continued, "Your dad never told me why."

 

"Oh, well, its just this lecture their holding today," Elisa replied as she looked over at Tommy. They were stuck at a traffic light just two blocks from the main entrance. "Its not required, but my biology professor is giving us extra credit."

 

"Nice," Tommy replied. "I wish my professors had been that nice when I was back in tech school. Then again, I never would've made it to the Academy if they were that nice."

 

"Well, then maybe it was for the best afterall," Elisa agreed as she smiled at him. As the car kept moving down the road, Elisa then said, "How long has it been since you left the Police Academy?"

 

Smiling, Tommy replied, "Just one year out actually. I'm quite glad, actually; those rookie pranks can be quite vicious."

 

"Pranks? Like what? Shaving cream in your locker or something?" Elisa teased.

 

"No, more like whipped cream in my hat or making me deal with the crazy cases. Stuff like that," Tommy replied with a smile.

 

"Crazy cases? Sounds like you've been set up a couple of times," Elisa commented.

 

As they turned a corner into the school, Tommy turned on his lights to get them moving towards the parking lot easier. "Oh yeah. Some major setups, actually. They've got it coming, though," Tommy replied somewhat disjointedly as he concentrated on his driving. Finally reaching some spaces near the lecture hall, Tommy parked next to an unmarked car in the spaces designated for the Police and Campus Security.

 

Putting the transmission in park, Tommy then cut off the lights and the engine. "Well, lets get inside," he commented. "Maybe if I listen good enough, they'll give me my Associates, ehh?"

 

Smiling as she got out of the car, she then said, "Just maybe." Heading into the lecture hall, Elisa was a bit surprised at how crowded the hall was, but then again, the subject at hand was dealing with the evolution of the human race. Not to mention that Elisa was feeling like she was one of those that had evolved given her transformation ability.

 

Looking for two seats, she found one next to a medium-toned girl similar to herself with dark hair. Sitting down next to her followed by Tommy, she started to pay close attention to the speaker.

 

"Sounds like a script to me," Tommy quietly commented after a couple of minutes.

 

"I know," Elisa whispered in reply. "I thought he was going to be talking about the 'specials' and not this, erm, stuff."

 

"He's just reading someone else's speech," Milly complained quietly, so as not to be heard by the people around her. "I thought he'd at least put in a plug for his own research. You read his paper on the net?"

 

Overhearing the two girls next to her, Elisa looked over at them. "Well, I read his paper just the other night. Pretty interesting stuff, if you want my opinion," Elisa commented. Catching the slightly confused look on Milly's face, Elisa stuck her hand out, "I'm Elisa."

[starmark2k]

((OCC- The reason I left it so long between posts was because I got the feeling people left but I wanted to give them a chance to post, they hadn’t so I guess they’ve gone…No great loss, still got plenty. So the people I’m considering as left are tommycat, phantom, count, kotor_freak and padawan.))

 

“…in the hope it’ll lead us at triple Helix in both extending life and making it more comfortable for all mankind.” Jason finished reading the speech and turned around and walked back to his seat allowing Mrs Caminetti to walk up the podium.

 

“Thank you Dr Hawk.” She said with a sickly sweet smile and looking over the assembled group of students. “This is the end of our lecture but the facilities will remain open to be viewed. My associates and I will also stay around to answer any questions you may have about Triple Helix or Globe-net.”

 

Jason sighed and looked down at his watch he had fifteen free minuets until this whole lecture thing would restart and now he had to spend them answering questions. Questions about all the great work he does in the fast and exciting world of genetics, of course he had to Lie as this was mostly a way for Globe-net to get early recruitment of future scientists.

 

Jason was quickly ushered into a small office by the side of the lecture hall where he was expected to answer the questions of anyone who entered.

[JasraLantill]

Looking for two seats, she found one next to a medium-toned girl similar to herself with dark hair. Sitting down next to her followed by Tommy, she started to pay close attention to the speaker.

 

"Sounds like a script to me," Tommy quietly commented after a couple of minutes.

 

"I know," Elisa whispered in reply. "I thought he was going to be talking about the 'specials' and not this, erm, stuff."

 

"He's just reading someone else's speech," Milly complained quietly, so as not to be heard by the people around her. "I thought he'd at least put in a plug for his own research. You read his paper on the net?"

 

Overhearing the two girls next to her, Elisa looked over at them. "Well, I read his paper just the other night. Pretty interesting stuff, if you want my opinion," Elisa commented. Catching the slightly confused look on Milly's face, Elisa stuck her hand out, "I'm Elisa."

Milly eyed the girl. She looked very familiar, but Milly couldn’t quite place her. Nevertheless, she smiled and shook hands with her anyway. “You’re in Professor McGraw’s 101 class, right?” she whispered a guess. “At 11 o’clock?”

 

The girl nodded.

 

“Milly Cheveyo,” she introduced herself. “Bio217 at 9:30. I’m sure I’ve passed you in the hallway once or twice.” She nodded up at the stage where Dr. Hawk was just wrapping up. “Some ‘speech’, huh?” she whispered to Elisa. “His paper was good, but his speech, well….” She paused. “As the saying goes, if you can’t say something nice,…” She gave a helpless sort of shrug and a crooked grin. “At least there’s the extra credit, right?”

 

“Thank you Dr Hawk. This is the end of our lecture but the facilities will remain open to be viewed. My associates and I will also stay around to answer any questions you may have about Triple Helix or Globe-net.”

 

“Great! Questions,” Milly said enthusiastically as she stood up along the rest of the people in the auditorium. “C’mon,” she said more to her friend Jane than Eliza, and she gathered up her backpack. “’Cause I’ve certainly got a couple of questions for Dr. Hawk.”

 

“Well, I’m not staying for questions,” Jane said abruptly. “Extra credit didn’t include anything about ‘questions.’”

 

“But don’t you want to know why he didn’t talk about his own research?” Milly asked outright. She did. It was the entire reason for her coming here. To find out how many other 'special' people were out there.

 

“If it doesn’t get me any more extra credit? No.” Jane shouldered her purse. “You comin’? I was going over to the student union to meet Sean.”

 

Milly shook her head. “No, you go ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.” She then turned to Elisa. “You want to come with me?” It was then that she noticed the young police officer, standing on the other side of Elisa, seemed to be with Elisa (rather than just extra security as Milly had first thought,) though whether he was there in a professional sense or not Milly didn’t know. And she didn’t want to. It was bad enough that Cass was waiting in the wings, let alone to be seen with a uniformed officer. She let out a barely audible sigh. “Erm, do I know you?” she asked him plainly.

 

“Erm…” was all that Tommy managed to get out before Milly held up a quick hand and cut him off. “Nevermind.” She looked at Elisa, then smiled. “Doesn’t matter. I like cops. I really do.” She glanced over at Cass, who was standing at a relaxed but practiced parade rest stance near the end of the auditorium’s stage, and gave a quick roll of her eyes. He caught her gaze and gave her a small, discreet wave of his hand. She smiled back. “Just don’t like them hovering near me in very public and potentially embarrassing-situation type places,” she added quietly through clenched teeth.

 

Elisa seemed to pick up on the fact that Milly, like her, wasn’t completely alone in the auditorium today and seemed to have a police escort of sorts, too. “Oh. Does your escort annoy you sometimes, too?” she whispered.

 

“Yeah, especially when he leaves the toilet seat up.” Then Milly did a double take. “Escort? Oh. Good grief, no, it’s not like that.” She gave a little nod towards Cass. “It’s worse. He’s my brother. And,” she added, for Officer Tommy’s benefit as well, “he’s a detective.”

 

The two, or rather three to include Tommy, headed toward the Q&A area where Dr. Hawk waited behind a small desk. There were a few other people there, most of them collecting a Globe-Net pamphlet or just saying thanks or congratulating the doctor on his speaking ability. Not one of them were asking any questions, well, at least not any questions about why he hadn’t even mentioned his own work as well as touting Globe Net’s success.

 

So, pressing her lips together in a tight determined line, she waited for a moment, and then waved to get his attention. “Dr. Hawk? I’ve got a question for you.” The small room went eerily silent. Milly swallowed, then cleared her throat. “How many samples and, if any, what types of special DNA code mutations, mentioned so prevalently in your most recent scientific paper published on the net, have been factored into Globe-Net’s Triple Helix research and how would that affect the final outcomes?”

[Writer]

((Joint post with Jasra))

 

Lara's heart jumped into her throat. What was this? Asking such a question in public? It would not do. She stepped forward, clearing her throat. "Surely you realize how much junk is posted on the internet... how much faith are you really putting on the bet that this thing you read was actually written by Dr. Hawk?" She rolled her eyes. "Don't waste his time."

 

Milly's mouth hung open aghast at the audacity of the outspoken girl. "Excuse me?" she asked, staring at Lara. "Are you accusing Dr. Hawk of plagiarism? You think he just added his name to a paper he didn't write?" She shook her head with disbelief.

 

"Hardly," Lara replied. "I am merely suggesting someone else planted his name on their paper in an attempt to gain an audience from his success."

 

Milly looked over at Dr. Hawk, and then back at Lara. "That sounds...." She paused, thinking of an appropriate word. None came. "Stupid." She cringed slightly, thinking of how 'stupid' she had just sounded.

 

Lara offered a tight smile. "Indeed," she said. "And yet, you'd be amazed at how often it happens. Look at MySpace, for example. Think of how many profiles there are that claim to be the real person. On the internet, there is simply no way of telling the authentic from the bogus."

 

"No one would publish a paper like his and then...." Milly stopped herself. "Who are you to criticize someone as esteemed as Dr. Hawk anyway? How do we know that you're not a bogus student and not a reporter or something trying to make Dr. Hawk and Globe-Net look bad, huh?"

 

Lara glared at Milly and determined it would be better to intimidate the girl into silence. "What makes you so desperate for this paper to have been written by Dr. Hawk?" she demanded. "Perhaps you think you're special? And so you cling to the only speck of hope you have, a doctor who supposedly publishes a paper about people like you. Looking for answers... looking for answers where there are none... just a brilliant doctor striving to make life better... for the everyday human." She shook her head. "You'll find nothing supernatural here."

 

“Everyone’s ‘special’ in some way,” Milly said outloud, but in her head she was thinking, How dare she imply that Dr. Hawk’s paper is fraudulent?! Wonder how ‘supernatural’ she would think it was if I told her I could see crumbs from the poppyseed muffin she had for breakfast imbedded on her shirt.

 

Lara brushed her hand over the front of her shirt, subconsciously reacting based on Milly's thoughts. "I know that," she admitted slowly. "I don't care if you can see down to the microscopic... but we can't all be superheroes." She turned to Dr. Hawk.

 

"I'm sorry we cut so far into your Q & A time," she told him. She sensed somewhere in his mind that he recognized her voice, and so she planted her cell phone number there with a slight hint of a suggestion to call.

 

Milly’s eyes widened as she watched Lara brush off the microscopic crumbs that she shouldn’t have seen or even known about. Something wasn’t right. In fact, Milly began to feel that something was downright creepy. Is she reading my mind? Milly thought. Instinctively searching for some security, she looked over Lara’s shoulder, through the doorway, across the auditorium to where she could see Cass waiting at the other end of the stage. She let out a tiny sigh. Good, he was still there, she thought. Even better, he was making his way towards them.

 

Lara caught Milly's discomfort and realized what she had done. Furthermore, she noted Milly's glance to where Cass was approaching and she half-turned to look over at him. Instantly, her eyes landed on his badge, clearly displayed on his belt and her eyes widened. In addition, there was a uniformed cop not far away and her eyes went to him next.

 

"Oh, not good," she whispered to herself. And without another word, she made for the door and slipped away. Globe-net had warned her against police inspection of any kind and she wasn't about to test what they could do to make her life significantly less comfortable.

 

Milly gave a sideways glance at Elisa, and then followed the disappearing form of Lara as she exited the Q&A room and headed towards the auditorium’s exit.

 

“Weird…” Milly muttered under her breath.

[Master_Archon]

'Shove it all, all this thinking is making me hungry,' Jaydon thought to himself, annoyed at his dilemma, which increased his hunger further. 'And all I've got is candy,' he continued, looking down at the bag of candy that he pulled out of his vest. As he stared at it his gaze shifted towards the now hardened puddle of chocolate a great distance away, but suddenly his expression changed to a look of sudden realization as something clicked together in his brain.

 

"Eureka," he quietly muttered to himself, a lazy grin spreading across his normally placid face.

 

Moments later he was doing something you normally only saw little children doing, and that was smearing chocolate all over the wall.

****

 

Jaydon smiled as he peeled himself away from the last wall and smiled at his handiwork,though he'd barely had enough candy to cover each wall with at least a small streak, as the matter stood, the room he was in was huge. A bit bigger than a gymnasium. And now with the walls covered to a slight degree, he found he could stand the room now, considering that he now had a sense of depth to count on.

 

But he was still hungry. He looked down at the near empty bag, the only thing left was a small piece of candy. Jaydon wretched it from the bag and popped it in his mouth, chewing slowly. He sighed, crumpling the bag up and pocketing it, he walked towards the middle of the room, licking his hands clean of chocolate as he went.

 

He looked around, wondering if that was all they intended to do to, 'test' him. But just at that moment he felt a slight vibration pass through the room, and then a low groan could be heard followed by a muffled click, like the sound of an enormous lock being unlocked by an equally enormous key.

 

"Why can't I keep my thoughts to myself," he muttered with a groan of protest, he knew something bad was going to happen. Just as he thought something did happen as a part of the wall behind him dislocated itself from it's place in the room and began hurtling towards him. Jaydon barely saw it in time to move out of the way, the huge rectangular column grinding past and slamming into the opposite wall.

 

Jaydon sighed, that was too close for comfort, way too close for his kind of comfort. But just as he got settled from that ordeal, he suddenly felt the ground shake like the whole place was coming down around his ears, and after that had subsided he began hearing various moans, groans, and unlocking clicks coming from his surroundings.

 

"Ah Snap!" He exclaimed unhappily, as he started moving towards the chocolate puddle that represented where the door had been, because if there was one thing that wouldn't come streaking towards him, it was the wall that was apart of the hallway, or so he hoped. As he made his break for it the place came to life, large wall panelings began detaching and going off in various direction, at various heights, and the whole place was full of sound now.

 

Jaydon ran with the determination of a man who acted like a chicken with it's head cut off, which was surprisingly fast. But as he thought he would make it and find a safe place where he could avoid oncoming pillars, he found himself rising up at an amazing rate, to his disbelief the floor had begun shifting too. Suddenly it was a world of rectangular columns and cubes shifting and moving around at high rates of speed, and Jaydon had nowhere to go but down. He jumped, not wanting to be caught between the floor and the ceiling as they tried to kiss, after all, who was he to stop their romance?

 

Jaydon landed with the grace granted to that of a rubber ball, he hit the ground, bounced, came back down, bounced once more, then hit the ground and rolled until he came into contact with the side of a column that had already come to rest. Once Jaydon came to his senses he yanked his legs tight to his chest, but it wasn't out of the want to curl up in a ball and pray for mercy, but the fact that a column was coming towards his sprawled out legs, parallel to the column he was lying against. The column soared by, only a couple feet from him.

 

He decided to remain lying next to the column, considering it was the safest place he'd found so far. He watched as another column rose from the floor to meet the ceiling, and a couple of smaller cubes shifted downward into the floor, giving the pit a weird look, like one you'd find in those strange drawings where everything confused the mind and eyes. He remained still for good while longer, though he couldn't see anything else moving, he could still hear columns and cubes grinding, screeching, and slamming around in the room. But slowly the sounds began to die, one after another, until Jaydon only heard one last thud as another column slammed into something, and then all was silent.

 

Jaydon got up, dusting himself off out of instinct. He looked around, the place was an obstacle course now, and the sides of the pillars and columns weren't white, which allowed him to see the shape and depth of things, that, and the fact that portions of the ceiling were covered, allowing a strange form of shadow for him to mentally grasp things better.

 

Jaydon put his hands in his pockets and nodded to himself, if it weren't for the fact that it had just tried to kill him, he'd say that the room looked nice, like a piece of art, well, because...it did look like a piece of art, an odd, abstract, bloodthirsty piece of art. And if it weren't for those nerds he'd have never have had to have dealt with this, he could have just sat in his small white room, staring out the glass door, eating candy and fidgeting with Jim's cell, all while concocting a successful plan of escape.

 

That was it, if he ever saw that lead geek in person again, he'd, he'd!....Give her a serious tongue thrashing....yeah right. Having a younger sister was a blessing and a curse, it made him appreciate the opposite gender more than he'd like to admit, but it also meant he couldn't bring himself to do anything about one of those opposite genders if they ever seriously ticked him off. Oh well, what's done is done, or so he hoped.

 

But just as he finished pondering, he found something new happening, oh goody!

 

"Oh no!" He exerted with an exasperated sob.

 

Suddenly panels began opening on the pillars and columns around him, and what he found that came out would have been a dentists dream come true. Staring him in the face, or vice versa, was an rather big drill on a mechanical arm, in fact there were quite a lot, and not just drills, saws too, and other physically painful implements.

 

From what he could tell the scientists had figured out that his abilities lied inside, and not outside, because he had shown no physical external use of powers, and from what they could probably tell, he had none...or so they thought, or, he thought they thought...whatever.

 

Jaydon looked around him nervously as the saws and drills, and other various thing began firing up, and turning menacingly in his direction.

 

'So they wanted to box me in so they could get in close,' he thought to himself, looking around for an opening of escape.

 

"How bothersome," he moaned his most spoken phrase, a drill suddenly snapping to life, lunging for his chest, his eyes widening with shock.

[Rogue Nine]

Cass crossed the last half dozen meters to his sister and came up to stand to Milly's right side. The crowd had parted for his approach, no doubt because of the gold shield at his belt, and were still shooting him sideways glances as they all turned to refocus their attention on the speaker at the front of the room. Odd spectacles were probably somewhat commonplace at big universities, especially ones with rather outspoken students. At least they weren't in Florida.

 

"Sorry for coming over," he whispered to Milly quietly. "It looked like you and that Aussie chick were getting pretty heated."

 

"Yeah, sort of." Milly gave a mock shiver as she watched Lara escape the auditorium. "And she kind of creeped me out, too." She gave Cass a look that told him there was more to the story but that she would tell him later. "But she's gone now, so s'all good." She turned to Elisa. "This is Elisa," she introduced the dark haired girl standing next to her. "Elisa, my brother, Cass."

 

Cass extended a hand towards Elisa. "Charmed," he said as they shook. He then noticed the young uniformed officer standing just behind and to the side of Elisa. "Officer..." Cass squinted to read the nametag, idly wishing he had his sister's power, "...Williams." He reached a hand over to the junior cop. "I'm Detective Cheveyo, West Precinct."

 

"Officer Williams, out of the North Precinct," Tommy responded.

 

Introductions made, they all turned back towards Dr. Hawk who, aside from looking quite bemused, still hadn't answered Milly's question.

[starmark2k]

Jason walked around the desk and sat on it’s edge with a smile on his face, despite what the Australian girl said before she stormed out the office he was more than happy to answer the other students question. Most of the other students had left so now all that remained were the girl who asked the question, one other girl and two members of the police force.

 

“Triple Helix and Globe-Net have nothing to do with my research.” Jason replied. “As far as I know they consider the situation the same as everyone else and non-existent. All my work into it is personal, I’ve pretty much devoted my life, spare time and money to it. All in all I’ve managed to collect around fifty samples from people all over the country and discovered a great many differences in each mutation.”

 

Jason stood up still smiling and looked down at the girl who had asked the question. “So you read my paper. Few would admit that.”

[JasraLantill]

Milly shrugged a shoulder at Dr. Hawk's observation. "Yeah, well... I'm a college student. I read all sorts of weird stuff on the net. It's a prerequisite for living in the dorms." She paused, as Cass was giving her an odd look. "Not that I live in the dorms," she added quickly, "but I could if I wanted to."

 

She shifted uncomfortably, and cleared her throat. "So, fifty mutation samples? That sounds like a pretty good sample size, Dr. Hawk. Can I ask you what types of mutations you found? And do you think the etiology for the mutations are more environmental or...," Her eyes quickly flicked over at Cass. "...genetic?"

[starmark2k]

“I can’t say for sure if the mutations are related to the Nature or Nurture, to be honest the samples I have are few compared to the amount I would need to make a fare assessment.” Jason replied still smiling that someone has an interest in his work. “The Types of mutations are varied one can create barrier like forcefield, another can create flame, Just last night I met someone who can intercept electronic signals and send them using only his mind, That’s weird and should be impossible and that’s only the second strangest mutation I’ve discovered.” Jason stopped for a few moments looking at the girl asking the questions, the only people who have showed even half the interest this girl has were all the specials he described.

[JasraLantill]

As Dr. Hawk explained some of the powers that his 'samples' had, Milly's mouth began to drop. Forcefields? Flame throwing? Electronic signals? These incredible mutations suddenly made her vision and Cass' luck seem... paltry and insignificant.

 

"Wow," was all she could say. "That's... wow." She gave a quick glance at her brother again. "So, you said the second strangest mutation? Erm, what was the strangest?" Milly wanted to know.

[starmark2k]

“There was this guy who made people dance and sing.” Jason answered. “His life is a never ending musical… I remember singing ‘That’s a weird power’ while taking a blood sample.” Jason explained with a large grin across his face remembering the occasion. “Most people don’t remember doing it and those that do think they dreamt it…. The point I’m trying to make is that there are more people Like that… well not exactly like that but you get the point, than you can possibly imagine.”

[JasraLantill]

"Oh, I can imagine," Milly blurted. But then, realizing that she might be giving too much away about herself, hurriedly followed up with, "Say, wasn't that a plot line for a t.v. show or something? Star Trek or The Outer Limits or...?"

 

"Buffy," Elisa suddenly offered.

 

Milly gave her new friend a strange look. "Huh?"

 

"The t.v. show," Elisa clarified. "Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I'm sure of it."

 

"Oh." Momentarily distracted, Milly gathered her thoughts and addressed Dr. Hawk. "So... strange, and musical, mutated powers. In your paper, you were exploring the possibilities that this might be some sort of evolution. But... is it possible that these mutations could be reversed? You know, make the people 'normal' again?"

[starmark2k]

“As far as I can tell the mutation is an alteration of the normal Human DNA.” Jason Replied to the second student. “All though can’t be certain such mutations could be cured by Gene Therapy of course the mutation may be fixed in and unable to be removed without causing the person in question great harm, personally I believe it is Evolution and natural selection at work.”

[stingerhs]

"So, its like the X-Men or something, then?" Elisa offered. Catching some odd looks from a couple of people she defensively added, "Hey, somebody was going to ask."

[starmark2k]

“You’re not wrong in linking this situation with that seen in Comic books such as the X-Men.” Jason agreed. “I mean people are doing things that are impossible.” Jason smiled and chuckled. “I suppose I’m a little like Xavier, trying to find these people and help them discover their potential… if only I had Cerebro then the job would be a lot easier.”

[JasraLantill]

"Discover their potential?" Milly asked, sounding a bit suspicious. Again, she shot a look to her brother, Cass. Even though he had said Triple Helix and Globe-Net had nothing to do with his research, she couldn't help but be suspicious about why Dr. Hawk would want to help these 'specials' develop their powers. "Why, so you can help them get some kind of government job or something? I mean, what's in it for you?"

[starmark2k]

“The discovery of finding out what these people are capable of.” Jason answered. “I honestly think that most of these people don’t understand what they have and if I can tell them how, they can understand and see just how far they can take these gifts of theirs.” Jason stated looking at his watch. “Look I’ve got to get back out there but if any of you have more questions here’s my card.” He informed placing a small pile of cards with his Email and phone number on it. Jason walked out of the room getting ready for another few hours of s cript reading.

[Rogue Nine]

Cass saw his chance as Dr. Hawk moved to leave the room. "Tough questions, Mil," he said, squeezing his sister's arm lightly. "You should be a reporter. I'll see you at home later."

 

Pushing through the crowd, Cass caught up with Dr. Hawk just as the older man reached the side door. "Dr. Hawk," he called out, pulling his shield from his belt and holding it up. "Detective Cheveyo, Seattle Homicide. If you've got a minute, I'd like to ask you a few questions regarding a case I'm working on."

 

The professor checked his watch, then nodded at Cass. "Sure, Detective. Just a few though."

 

"Right," Cass said, taking his notepad out and flipping through it. "I'm sure you've heard that Peter Jay was murdered earlier today. Did you know Mr. Jay, doctor?"

[starmark2k]

“Not personally.” Jason answered. “But I did contact him a few days ago, I got a sample of blood and analysed it. It’s my belief that Mr Jay was one of these specials I wrote of in my paper.”

[Rogue Nine]

"So you've never met Mr. Jay in person, but you have contacted him, correct?" Cass asked.

 

Jason nodded. "Correct."

 

"And you've been here at the university all day?"

 

The professor rubbed his chin. "Since early this morning, yes. Rehearsal and everything. The faculty will alibi me, if that's what you're thinking."

 

Cass shrugged. "Just trying to do this by the book, Doc." He took a business card out of his pocket and gave it to Jason. "If you can think of anything that might help with my investigation, please don't hesitate to contact me."

 

"I'll do that, Detective."

 

Cass shook Jason's hand. "Thanks, Dr. Hawk." Stepping back, Cass watched as the professor headed through the door into the auditorium, ready to give his speech again. Stuffing his notepad back into his pocket, he turned and headed back into the throng of students, trying to spot his sister before he returned to the precinct.

[starmark2k]

Nicolay walked down the row of cells looking into them at his four captives, each had a unique gift be it husking, electric manipulation, photographic memory or Bone Manipulation. Each of these people could be used in his experiment which was close to the next stage… all he needed was more Gifts. So far he had only managed to find nine of these specials the four captives and the five that worked for him.

 

One of the scientists that worked for him stepped over to the world famous geneticist carrying a file. The file was one that had been stolen from Dr Hawk’s office in the Globe net building then copied. The file was his own research in to the specials and it contained 6 DNA samples of people with special gifts and hypothesis. Five of the samples had names attached to them including the four captives and Mr Jay, but there was one that was left nameless, one with a power that Nicolay wanted to study for his project.

 

“Sir we discovered the identity of the sixth DNA Sample.” The female scientist informed.

 

“How?” Nicolay asked.

 

“We already had a record of it in the personnel files.” She informed. “It’s Jason Hawk himself.”

 

“Well, He had been keeping secrets from us hasn’t he?” He rhetorically asked.

 

“Shall I have him brought in?”

 

“No, we need to ensure we have his research first.” Nicolay ordered. “Inform Lara Caldwell that we need him alive.”

 

The scientist paused for a few moments. “Umm, Yes Sir.”

 

“Something Wrong?”

 

“It’s Lara, Sir! I doubt her commitment to us.” The scientist informed.

 

“You are correct… Send in Kate to retrieve it then bring him in as well.” Nicolay replied. “If Lara is unsuccessful, eliminate her.”

 

“Aye Sir anything else?” She asked writing on a clipboard

 

“Yes I want to test the combat capabilities of the Electric man, the husker and the bone manipulator… Take them to chamber 3-7, have Brute and Enigma meet them there.”

 

“2 against 3 sir? Doesn’t sound fair.”

 

“I know, Brute and Enigma will slaughter them.” He said grinning. “Have the memory man taken to room 3-8 Show him fight then I want to test how much he’s absorbed.”

________________________________________________________

 

Jason returned home and threw his bag on the floor, after the day he had he needed some rest… The problem was whenever he closed his eyes he kept remembering the same telephone number in his head, like it had been imprinted on his mind. He walked over to the phone and dialled the number curious to whom he was calling.

[Writer]

((Joint post with SM))

 

Lara's phone was buzzing. She hated it when it did that... but then again, ringing was worse. She sitting in a class... one of those big lecture types, but the professor hadn't started yet. So Lara tugged her phone out of her pocket and answered it.

 

"Hi... erm..." Jason stuttered. "This is Dr Hawk, I think someone gave me this number."

 

Lara's face flushed bright pink. "Yeah... sorry about that intrusion of... never mind. I... my name's Lara Caldwell. Calling... umm... wanted to talk about that paper you put up online."

 

“Yeah, I remember you were at the Globe-Net lecture.” Jason replied, recognizing the lady's voice. “I’m sorry... I Just don’t remember you giving me your number… was there anything specific about the paper you wanted to discuss?”

 

Lara breathed out slowly. "I..." She stopped herself, taking her surroundings into account. "Well, I'm... I'm in a class right now, so I don't really have the time to talk, but..."

 

"Yeah?" Jason encouraged.

 

Lara glanced around the classroom. "Look, I know it's a little on the later side of the day... but I'd be interested in knowing more about what you... about the things you talked about in that paper."

 

"OK... erm.. we can meet up somewhere later to discuss this if you like?" Jason informed.

 

Lara breathed a little sigh of relief. "Yeah, that'd be good," she said. "Class gets over in... roughly an hour..." She looked down at the professor. "And it's just starting... gotta go..."

 

"Where do we meet?"

 

Lara cringed. "Just... go somewhere. I'll find you." And the line went dead. Lara shoved her phone back into her pocket and tried to relax, tried to focus on what the professor was saying. But luck was not on her side... a text message popped up.

 

"Jason Hawk. Bring him in. Alive."

 

Lara's eyes popped open wide. She snapped her phone shut in a hurry and shoved it in her pocket once more, now trying very hard to focus on the professor.

 

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

 

 

Kevin was bored. Maybe there was something to what Will was always telling him... something to do with working... and keeping busy... and the prevention of a dull time. Kevin shrugged. He'd agreed to meet with Dr. Hawk again, but there was still a little bit of time before that was supposed to happen. Kevin shrugged and headed for his apartment. Will would not be home yet, so Kevin had the place to himself...

 

Great... he thought to himself. What do I do in an empty apartment? He snorted. Probably, watch TV... Sci-Fi channel, maybe, even though they didn't have cable. But since when was that a problem for Kevin Waters?

[stingerhs]

Looking over at Milly, Elisa then commented, "Well, that was rather brief. Still, you think we'd get any other pressing concerns answered for the next part of his speech?"

 

Taking one of the business cards, Elisa looked it over briefly and placed it in her pocket for safe keeping.