More Meteor Showers Bring Even Stranger Powers. (O/A)

[The Count of Monte Carlo]

((Fun fact, I live about 100 miles south of Knoxville... ))

Ako had to pause for a moment once he was in Gidget's lab, his mutation almost allowing him to see the various maze-like levels of wires an circuitry embedded within the walls. He the news report in silence, thoughts running through his head as he tried to figure out what this all might mean, and how events might unfold. "Hello, Trinity." he said as he watched the replays of the news footage. He was silent once again as Trinity and Gidget discussed what they saw, but one figure caught his eye before they seemed to notice it. The woman with Shane and Annie. She was indeed familiar. He never seen her in his life, and yet she seemed like family, even through the screen. As Trinity zoomed in, it became clearer and clearer.
Without even noticing Gidget's question, and without a doubt in his mind, he almost seemed to stareinto the screen as he said; "It's you."  

[Deora_Alvarez]

"Liv?" Deora now realized how little she knew about the woman she was supposed to be spying on. "I don't really know too much about her, we're both pretty new here. I don't think I've seen her with anyone, though. Why?"  

[PixelMuse]

The Count of Monte Carlo

He was silent once again as Trinity and Gidget discussed what they saw, but one figure caught his eye before they seemed to notice it. The woman with Shane and Annie. She was indeed familiar. He never seen her in his life, and yet she seemed like family, even through the screen. As Trinity zoomed in, it became clearer and clearer.
Without even noticing Gidget's question, and without a doubt in his mind, he almost seemed to stareinto the screen as he said; "It's you."

"I thought the same myself but didn't want to say for certain. Especially since I witnessed Leviathan ripping your chest plate off and punched the final blow." Trinity backed off from the monitors and paused a moment in thought, remembering her first fight. She had a broken leg by that point and could nothing but witnessed what took place. It could be quite possible that from where she was she couldn't assess how bad the damage was, yet that was countered by another thought.

"It could be quite possible that from where I was, I couldn't see how bad the damage was. Yet...didn't you say that he crushed and burnt your heart?

Regardless, based on our observation. It looks like someone has either brought your body back to life or cloned you a new one... something tells me that it may be Daedalus' doing. They would have the means to do that, yet I suppose we could have done the same if the body was acquired.

Then that starts another line of questioning. What were they doing out there that day to begin with? What did they do to your body? How did they take your body without Valhalla knowing?"

She rested her head on her hand and her elbow in the other in thought to see what the others thought of this predicament.  

[Nova Blancke]

"Different personalities, so far I have been hitting the....better sane ones. Which means all of you got lucky. As for Shane, I could control him but where's the fun in that? If he does get too close I'll have him consume his own arm. Or have Cassandra pound him into mush. Or I could have you or your mother melt him despite the deal." He replied with a hint of eagerness at the end.

"It's so easy to do....." Alexavier took partial control over Christian to show how easy it was for him. It was innocent though. He simply made Christian wave towards him then released control again.  

[mc2]

Christian's blue eyes widened as he felt and watched his hand wave. While Alexavier controlled his body, he failed to control his thoughts. As he felt Alexavier release him he narrowed his bright blue eyes, the color so different than his mother's warm brown eyes. "If I told Mommy you did that she would cut you out of her deal immediately and seek revenge," Christian warned. "Not that I am going to tell her. I think it was worse when Dad made me love him despite the experiments he put me and Mommy through. He even convinced Mom that she didn't want to escape Daedalus for years."

"You know, Mom would hate you more if you made me kill Shane than if you made her do it," Christian offered, his blue eyes cold. "She keeps trying to protect me from following her path of destruction. She thinks that somehow I can get a normal childhood. Meta-humans don't get normal childhoods. You two were Daedalus prisoners, right? I think it is stupid to focus all your hate at Shane. If I was older I would hunt down every single Daedalus agent and make them pay. If I were you, I would prioritize better."  

[Nova Blancke]

"But you are not older, are you? And I think killing something that could devour everything in this city suffices as a good priority don't you say? Also lets get this straight. I do not care if she hates me. I can have the two of you kill each other if I want to, just because I can. But then who would kill Shane?" Alexavier replied coldly.

"Even Meta's can have normal childhoods. As normal as it can get for them. Even if you were normal you wouldn't have that. Your IQ took care of that."  

[mc2]

Christian shook his head, "You're wrong. You couldn't make the two of us kill each other. Mom has limits that I don't and our powers differ in certain ways. Mom is better at changing water to acid, I can change poison and acid into water easier. And I thought you said you could kill Shane, yourself. Why bother with Mom or me?"

He sighed, "You're right, though, about my IQ. But, I could always do what Mom did. She always lied and hid her IQ. Shane didn't even know she was a genius until recently. She never lied about being smart but she always hides how smart she is. I could do that to fit in. Not that I would want to do that. I'm too much like Daddy in the sense that I don't want to just 'fit in' or even just be good, I want to be great."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

mc2

While Annie treasured the moments and feelings, what she truly treasured was the fact for the first time she hadn't felt the dark presence weighing on Shane's mind and spirit. As they separated Annie whispered almost breathless, "If I knew that was all it took to get you back to who you were, I would have acted on impulse a long time ago."

She turned away from him feeling the blush on her cheeks still remaining, trying to calm herself she studied the scars on her arm. Her finger running down the long scar from the meteor shower that had changed her life and probably not for the better. "I know," she muttered, closing her eyes, "It won't last. But for the moment I am going to pretend that this feeling will never end. The feeling of being safe and treasured..."

Shane rolled over onto his side to face Annie. "That sounds like a good plan. Mind if I pretend with you?"

He shuffled over and wrapped an arm around her waist. He then squeezed her gently and touched his head to hers.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

PixelMuse

"I thought the same myself but didn't want to say for certain. Especially since I witnessed Leviathan ripping your chest plate off and punched the final blow." Trinity backed off from the monitors and paused a moment in thought, remembering her first fight. She had a broken leg by that point and could nothing but witnessed what took place. It could be quite possible that from where she was she couldn't assess how bad the damage was, yet that was countered by another thought.

"It could be quite possible that from where I was, I couldn't see how bad the damage was. Yet...didn't you say that he crushed and burnt your heart?

Regardless, based on our observation. It looks like someone has either brought your body back to life or cloned you a new one... something tells me that it may be Daedalus' doing. They would have the means to do that, yet I suppose we could have done the same if the body was acquired.

Then that starts another line of questioning. What were they doing out there that day to begin with? What did they do to your body? How did they take your body without Valhalla knowing?"

She rested her head on her hand and her elbow in the other in thought to see what the others thought of this predicament.

Gidget's robotic eyes began to tremble at Ako's suggestion. If she could breath she would be hyperventilating at that moment. She had never made it a point to practice emotions along the lines of panic.

"That...no...no that isn't possible. I...remember. The darkness, seeing my body on the slab, the void. This...I...oh God."

Her mind was having difficulty processing the notion that she may have been alive, or any of the other possibilities that Trinity mentioned. She slowly sat herself down and grasped her head in both hands.

"It can't...no. No he did something. Shane has to have done something." Gidget's voice became frantic, but at the same time nearly monotone.

"Trinity, I want you to bring them back here. Take Ako, Theonis, Big Larry, or whoever you think you will need to bring them back by force if necessary. I don't care."

Gidget stood up and slammed her hands down on the main panel of her desk. The images on the screens flashed at a rapid pace as she went through every angle of every image taken by the store. One monitor settled on a picture of the license plate belonging to the minivan Shane stole. Another stopped on a DMV record for the owner of the vehicle. The one next to it displayed the registration. The screen below the image of the minivan displayed a map with the vehicles GPS co-ordinates.

The map rapidly zoomed in on the location using a satellite image. Gidget removed her hand from the panel and almost shouted, "There they are, at a Holliday Inn."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Deora_Alvarez

"Liv?" Deora now realized how little she knew about the woman she was supposed to be spying on. "I don't really know too much about her, we're both pretty new here. I don't think I've seen her with anyone, though. Why?"

Heather began to fidget with her hands again. As she spoke the scales on her face changed color.

"Oh it's just...y'know...no real reason, just curious."  

[mc2]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Shane rolled over onto his side to face Annie. "That sounds like a good plan. Mind if I pretend with you?"

He shuffled over and wrapped an arm around her waist. He then squeezed her gently and touched his head to hers.

Annie smiled at Shane's words and snuggled closer as he squeezed her. "For once not to have to calculate and just trust someone," Annie began, "it was a relief. It is funny, I've never been that confident in myself and I never could shut down my mind and focus on the moment, before. I have spent my entire life acting. I pretend I'm confident and that I am strong, but in actuality I'm none of that. No matter how much I try to change myself, those facts remain the same, I just become a better actress."

"I always assumed if I showed who I really was, people would hate me," Annie said, running her fingers down the speckling of acid burns on her arm. "Even though, I have been always able to accept other's faults, I never assumed anyone could do the same for me- accept my faults, emotional and physical. I suppose true happiness is peace of mind and feeling secure."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Shane pulled his hand back and gently grasped the hand that was tracing the scars. "Perhaps you're right. However, I don't understand how you can say you're not confident and strong. Do you mean to tell me that you've been putting on a brave face this whole time?"  

[mc2]

Annie glanced down at Shane's hand holding hers, "I wouldn't say I've been putting on a brave face: I think what I do is quite cowardly. My life has called for me to be confident and strong, so I make myself fill the role. And with enough confidence you can do anything- even if it is false confidence. People like confident people, if people like you, you can fit in easier."

"All I wanted was to be normal," Annie said. "Back home I was the poor motherless girl raised only by her father. I was the genius kid who skipped a couple grades and could have went to Harvard or Yale. I reinvented myself more in college: I became the girl that was talented at art and got good grades but not a genius, my grades were good because I "worked hard" not because I was a "genius". Then, the whole mess about the meteor shower. I always had been self conscious about everything about me- including my looks. I hate that scar and those burns- it reminds me of what I can never achieve- normality."

"No matter how well you can act, some things can never change," Annie said. "I never wanted an ordinary life- the white picket fence and 2.5 kids, but I did want my own sense of normal and ordinary, maybe a bit different, but ordinary enough that I could be accepted. If your anything but ordinary people start expecting too much from you: people pin more hopes on you. I don't like disappointing people so I lie about who I really am."  

[PixelMuse]

Rikki Tikki Travi

Gidget's robotic eyes began to tremble at Ako's suggestion. If she could breath she would be hyperventilating at that moment. She had never made it a point to practice emotions along the lines of panic.

"That...no...no that isn't possible. I...remember. The darkness, seeing my body on the slab, the void. This...I...oh God."

Her mind was having difficulty processing the notion that she may have been alive, or any of the other possibilities that Trinity mentioned. She slowly sat herself down and grasped her head in both hands.

"It can't...no. No he did something. Shane has to have done something." Gidget's voice became frantic, but at the same time nearly monotone.

"Trinity, I want you to bring them back here. Take Ako, Theonis, Big Larry, or whoever you think you will need to bring them back by force if necessary. I don't care."

Gidget stood up and slammed her hands down on the main panel of her desk. The images on the screens flashed at a rapid pace as she went through every angle of every image taken by the store. One monitor settled on a picture of the license plate belonging to the minivan Shane stole. Another stopped on a DMV record for the owner of the vehicle. The one next to it displayed the registration. The screen below the image of the minivan displayed a map with the vehicles GPS co-ordinates.

The map rapidly zoomed in on the location using a satellite image. Gidget removed her hand from the panel and almost shouted, "There they are, at a Holliday Inn."

Trinity felt concern for her best friend. She knew she had worked very hard to create a body that looked and functioned like her original one did. It was definitely a harsh blow to her to find out that her body was alive all of this time. She knew what she had to follow Gidget's orders but she didn't want to leave her like this, systems that they need may go on the fritz because of her state of mind right now. Besides there's still the possibility, now a slimmer one, that it happens to be a girl that looks a lot like her. Part of why she didn't want to say anything earlier was she didn't want to upset Gidget, and let her know when she saw the girl in person.

Trinity placed her hand on Gidget's shoulder. Granted she couldn't sense the comfort she is providing but Gidget could detect where her hand is and figure out that she was concerned for her best friend.

"Gidget, I will bring them here, but you need to calm down a bit. I know it's shocking and a lot to take in but we need answers and need to confirm for certain that this girl is who we think she is.

There's still a slim chance that this is another girl that happens to have a very close resemblance to you. If that is the case I'm going to do everything I can to protect her, no matter how much Shane will want to achieve his goal.

No matter the circumstance I shall bring them here, but you need to try to keep your cool."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Gidget's eyes began to stop their mad quiver when Trinity's words reached her ears. She took an instinctive breath in an effort to collect her racing thoughts. Her mind was constantly on a razors edge of serenity and madness. Seeing what could be her body nearly sent her over the edge.

She turned around and looked to Ako and Trinity. These people were her friends, and they would make sure that everything would work out for the best.

"You're right, thank you. I'll remain here and make sure the new tenants are settled comfortably. I'll be alright now."