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

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

"No no, he is." Deora corrected. "But Gidget was running the place for so long that she knows all the ins and outs better than anyone. And, as far as I know, it's her money that pays for this place. So while he's in charge, it's hard not to look to her experience for advice and stuff. At least, that's what Kerana told me when we still roomed together."  

[Nova Blancke]

"Oh you want fair?" Theo responded and laughed a bit. His smile quickly died down as he noticed her shift in demeanor.

"Tess?" He asked as he got closed. Eyes widened as her panic increased and she fired at him.

"TESS!!" Theo shouted this time as he threw up his barrier at full force. The first one got through and hit him, albeit with a lot less impact. He grunted as it made impact.

"THERESSA!! Calm down! It's Theo!"

"I suppose I could get used to putting things on your tab. Don't spoil me too much now." She said with a wink as Heather vanished to try out some outfits.

Liv did as her girlfriend requested and looked around for a bit. But the more she did that the more got that shiver on her back. Needles and puncturing was something she was never good at. It was kind of embarrassing for her to admit. For now she was just browsing and looking around as she did have an idea and she was sure a place like this had things like that laying around.

As Heather approached she also had a few shopping bags.

"Well look at you. Think I can have your numbah sweetie?"

"Ah yes, that does make sense. I suppose I could say that Gidget owes me for what I did earlier, though I did not do that with a reward in mind. By doing so would take away from the act of giving itself." Legio said but mostly to himself.

"Thank you for your assistance Deora."  

[BeaMichelle]

Theresa's eyes finally came into focus just after Theonis called out her full name. She could see that the person she was determined to kill was not Luna, but her big brother. Someone who had been nothing but nice to her. Someone who was visibly in pain.

"...Theonis?" she wheezed. "I...hurt you. I hurt you!"

She dropped to her knees and hugged herself tightly. She rubbed her arms desperately as she began to rock back and forth. The seemingly grown woman then started to wail like a child that had just discovered their pet had died. What she felt was both foreign and familiar since it was the first time she had felt such terror since becoming whole.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" she repeated over and over again like a mantra not only commiseration, but an assurance to herself that she wasn't the monster she was made to be.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather giggled and hopped over to Liv. "Play your cards right and you'll have more than my number. Though, to be fair, I think the deck is stacked in your favor."

As they walked out of the store, she asked, "So now that we went to my place, would you like to...oh hey? You got something from there?"

Her mind wondered what someone like Liv would possibly get from a place like that. She then mischievously grinned and asked playfully, "You didn't get that from the restricted back area did you? I didn't know you were into that sort of stuff. Kinda cool to see you're flexible in more way than one."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"No problem." she said with an appropriate gesture. "How's Rydia doing in there? She was still pretty broken up when I left to walk her dog."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gidget trudged down the hall toward the training rooms. She had gotten some puzzling alerts regarding a loss of structural integrity to that section. She hated to step on Theonis' toes, but anything regarding major construction, damage, and repair of the facility went straight to her. That place was her baby, after all.

She opened the door to the room Theresa and Theonis were registered to, looked in, put her hands to her head, dropped her jaw, and made a noise similar to someone that had just been doused with freezing water.

"Haaaaah!!! Whatid?! How?!"

It didn't take long for her ears to pick up on Theresa's weeping. She stretched and looked around for a way to get to the sound, but the place had become Escheresque nightmare.

"Theresa?! Theonis, are you in there?! What happened?! Do you need help?!"  

[Nova Blancke]

Liv tried to contain her smile but failed....badly.

".....Yeeeaaaaaah. Told you that I am a switch. But eh....I think there are some things in there that you'd really like cutie.If you're a good little dragon for me."

"From what I understand, she is trying to keep a ...brave front as they say. But she might be caught in a loop. But I have been told I am not good at reading such things."

Noticing her shift back to her...former self, Theo lowered his guard a bit, but not completely.Until she started crying. That's when he knew she was back to who she was. Flying closer he landed in front of her. Grunting once more as he shifted his weight. Might be a few broken ribs. Placing his hand on her head.

"It's okay. People do get hurt sometimes with sparring. These things happen Tess. I'm not mad."

Gidgets voice seemed to echo, from her surprise to her call.

"Well....Seems she can change her environment with enough metal around. We were....sparring as you suggested to her."

"I think I broke something."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Heather grinned and bit her bottom lip. She had given little thought to those sorts of "activities" until very recently. So recently, in fact, that she bought a spiked collar and chain on a whim. Guess it was a good thing she did. Experimentation was healthy, right?

She cleared her throat and asked, "What I was asking, before I got pleasantly distracted, was if there's a store you'd like to go to?"

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Deora sighed and nodded. She huffed, "That's what I was afraid of. She's been all twisted up since last night. I can't imagine what she's going through right now. I don't know what I'd do if my family was almost all gone in one day. Even after everything they put me through."

She looked down at her watch and said, "Ah, looks like the pool's open. Bueno. I've been wanting to spend time in my element, but didn't want to wake up any of the water metas. Anyway, good luck with your stuff. Hasta luego."

With that she walked with a bounce in her step toward the pool.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gidget cursed under her breath and brought up her coms. "Casper unit needed at training center three. Possible blunt force trauma and or penetrating wounds. Priority two. Have mental on stand bye."

Gidget climbed her way toward Theonis' voice until she was able to navigate far enough in to see them. "Oh, Theresa." she said sadly. "I said to spar after healing a bit and with supervision."

She looked around and put together what happened. "She remade the playground and triggered her PTSD. She probably didn't even know she was doing it when she did it. It's what she's familiar with."

A small team of four medics phased through the walls until they reached the area Gidget, Theonis, and Theresa were in. The one who brought them in, a metahuman with the ghost like abilities to levitate and phase through objects, floated up to the platform and said to Theonis, "I'll float her down, sir. You should get checked out by the others."
 

[BeaMichelle]

Theresa tensed up, and then quickly relaxed when Theonis placed his hand on her head. He called her Tess again. She really like that. It was like a special name that was just for her. Not Theresa or Thea, but Tess.

She looked up at Theonis with bloodshot eyes and sniffled, "Thank you. You're so *sniff* nice to me."

When the ghost guy came up to her, she didn't fight him. Even after growing up in the span of a few minutes, and being imbued with god-like power, she felt so very tired. She allowed herself to be carried down at examined, even if the guy had some trouble with her weight.  

[Nova Blancke]

Theo took a deep breath, which hurt....more than he thought now that the adrenaline had worn off.

"Of course, you didn't mean it, did you?" He said to her as she got floated down.
Nodding to the fellow in response.

"I think she can revert this when she's gotten some rest." Theo said. Stopping his breathing for a moment to focus. Yeah...definitely fractured some ribs. Instinctively, he placed his hand on the side of his chest.

"Didn't think she'd be capable of this or ricochet bullets with calculated trajectory."

"Sorry bout this.I Uh.....I'm gonna go and get scolded" Theo said and floated down himself. Walking would hurt so he wasn't going to.

Legio gave Deora a slight bow in response and let her wander off.

"I could use some lingerie and your opinion on them. After all, you'd be seeing me in them a lot." She chuckled a bit before somehow her thoughts went to a different place and she got a bit more quiet.

"Say.....have you met....'them' yet? Like...older me. I've heard about it but I am not sure if I want to. Sure I am very curious but...ya know. Kinda weird."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

The other two medics quickly split up between Theonis and Theresa. A quick scan of the two revealed their ailments in no time. Theonis did indeed have broken ribs.

"You've got three broken ribs, sir. Each one has been broken at two points. We call this a flail chest. I can fix it here, just have a seat and hold still."

The other medic walked up to Gidget and whispered something into her ear. She nodded and walked over to Theresa. "Hey Kiddo. I just want you to know that you didn't do anything wrong. Everything here can be fixed, and Theonis will be feeling better soon. So you just go ahead and rest those eyes. These nice people are going to take you to my room. Okay?"

Once Theresa was gone, she then turned her attention to Theonis. She wasn't outwardly mad, and her tone suggested that she was both concerned and curious.

"Looks like you're gonna be okay. Don't feel bad. She asked how training worked here last night and I told her about sparing, so this is on me too. Can you tell me exactly how it all went down? She needs to train, but we need to avoid her stumbling into a trigger."

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Heather had started to lead Liv toward a store for undergarments when the question was posed.

"No, not really. I heard some rumors and whispers yesterday when we were getting prepared, but I haven't met any of them. To be honest, I'm a little scared to. Hearing what Alec described is bad enough. The idea of hearing a first hand account of the end, to know how we die, just thinking about it makes me feel sick to my stomach."

She reached a hand over to Liv's and interlaced her fingers with her girlfriend's. She forced a smile and said, "Besides, I've got my Liv right here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once Deora made it to the pool area, she wasted little time in getting changed for a dip. She could feel a strange disruption come from one of the pools and thought it would make a good distraction from the weight of her situation.

She entered and saw Aqua and Sarah trying to calm an unruly blonde girl that was floating in a bubble that was only perceivable by way of the water that was hovering around in it.

"Erm, am I interrupting something? Should I come back later?" she asked.  

[Nova Blancke]

Theo sat down with a grunt. Hurt more than he thought. Thinking back on it, it wasn't the first time he got injured like this. Back when he and Trinity tried to stop Shane, he ended up with rib injuries as well. Simpler times.

"Feel bad? I'm the one with broken ribs."Theo joked before grunting as he tried to chuckle.

"Okay...no joking."

"First bit was standard. Feeling each other out a bit with ranged attacks on her part. She got frustrated when she couldn't hit me with my barrier. Transformed her legs into that of ...Chariot. Afterwards tried to make a stronger gun."

"She lost balance because...I think she was trying to make her railgun but stopped herself from doing so. After that we talked and she got an idea which you are looking at. Eventually I let her jump me, got out of the way and blasted her with air. Which I guess dried her eyes a bit because after that her panic started."

"Well that's nice of you to say. So I assume you wouldn't want to be in between a Liv sandwich?"

"Thanks...but...that's not what I was thinking about. She has a daughter with Theonis. So yeah that'll be a bit weird."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Gidget listened carefully and hung onto every word that came out of Theonis.

"I was afraid something like this might happen. I told her to wait until she had a chance to get help, but I don't think she understood what I meant by that. She said she did, but it's easy to forget that she's a three year old in the the body of a twenty-something sometimes. Especially since yesterday. Her demeanor changed significantly after what happened with Damien and Chariot."

She sighed and looked around at what Theresa had created. "This should be impossible. There's not enough metal in this one room to create something so complex. Was it the ascension? Hell, makes me wonder what Alec and Liv can do now. What the rest of you will be capable of when it happens."

"Anyway. I think it may be best to leave Theresa out of training for at least a month. Let her be a kid and get help from professionals that can address her PTSD and battle conditioning. That poor girl probably has more experience with violence than all of us put together."

The medic finished just as Gidget stopped speaking. "There you go, sir. All better. It'll be tender, but you should be at 100 percent after a good night's sleep."

Gidget looked from the medic to Theonis. She asked him, "Speaking of 100 percent, was her constructed weapon that strong, or did you not get your barrier up in time? Because I've watched footage of what she's capable of doing, and you're lucky to have your chest in one piece. I still don't know what sort of damage you and the others can take, and unfortunately this is the safest way to see what can actually hurt 'the 8' without actually subjecting you to the same sort of torture Theresa underwent."

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Heather's eyes went wide and her jaw dropped in amusement. "Shut the ******** up! For real?! The other you has a kid?! How did you hear about that?"

A thought steadily occurred to Heather at that moment. If the other Liv had a kid with Theonis, where was she? Did the other Heather never fulfill her dream? And what happened to Trinity? So many questions.

"Yeah. I could see how that'd be awkward. Jeez. So one of the kids that made it through is...oh wow."

"I dunno. If it were me...I might not ever talk to myself. I mean, they come from an alternate future, right? Not ours? Just dealing with our stuff is a lot. To think about a future that wont happen for us? What could have been but wont? That's pretty heavy."

They arrived at the store and stopped at the entrance. Heather sighed and looked to Liv. With a grin she asked, "Speaking of heavy, do you need to get resized or anything after what happened this morning? In the sauna, I noticed some changes in your...physique."  

[Nova Blancke]

"Thanks doc." Theo responded to the medic,

"I tried to just use wind instead of Pressure so that played a part of it. And...well.." Theo looked around, found what he was looking for and launched it towards him with pressure. Catching it midair with his hand and showed it to Gidget,

"She fired...these at me. Basically golf balls with the force of a machine gun. So I think the body suit definitely helped negate some damage."

"And...I don't think I can somehow take more damage. The other three might since they are fully ascended but I dunno if it's the same for the rest of us."

Theo got up,

"As for this," He tapped a piece of the room," I think it's everything Earth related, "

"Yeah it's a bit...odd." Liv responded before arriving at the store.

She looked down at Heather with her icy blue eyes, lips pressed together in a bit of a pout."What are you trying to say...Heather?" She got a in front of her and up real close.

"My a** got bigger? Thighs filled up more? My breasts grew? Speak up honey."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Gidget took the projectile from Theonis and scanned it with her right hand. The first thing she noticed was the peculiar weight of such a small object. Could it be...?

"Tungsten?! Holy crap. According to the files your dad gave me, she was only capable of absorbing and repurposing natural metals, stones, and minerals she had come into contact with. There was nothing about tungsten in those records, and what I have here is locked up. Did she construct it from an elemental level? Maybe it's the part of her that comes from me?"

Gidget shook her head when she realized she started rambling out loud. She was about to say something else when another Valhalla employee pinged her phone. She picked it up and replied, "Gidget. Where? I'll be right there."

She put the phone back in her pocket and said to Theonis, "C'mon. You're going want to see this too."

There was a commotion coming from the rooms beside the one Theresa and Theonis had used. Valhalla staff had sealed off the entries and stood guard until Gidget and Theonis arrived. He let them through to see what the big deal was.

The wall, ceiling, and floor closest to the room they'd just left was warped and misshapen like a toddler's play-dough sculpture. It had been stretched and bent into the maze that Theresa had constructed since it required more metal than was in the one room.

Gidget didn't look at the staffer when she asked, "And you said the other one is like this too?"

"Yes ma'am, and before you got here I received word that the areas of the floors directly above and below the room are in a similar state."

"How similar?"

"Not nearly as bad as here. If I had to guess, it's because the plates between floors is more dense and thick than the walls."

True enough. "Thanks."

She looked to Theonis and said solemnly, "So she can't make something out of nothing. Theo, I hate to say this...but it might not be safe for her to be here."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She didn't notice?

"Now now, it's nothing bad. Here, come with me." she insisted.

She took Liv's hand and brought her into the closest dressing room. "Get down to your undees. I'd do it for you, but I'm afraid I might not be able to stop myself from going further. That interruption earlier left me a bit...frustrated."

Heather waited until Liv was able to take a good look at herself in the mirror. "See? Everything is tighter, more defined. I can even see a hint of abs. Theresa grew up, Alec got hot (for a guy), and you seemed to...I dunno, put a cherry on top of what was already a damn good sundae."  

[Nova Blancke]

Well that response wasn't what she was going for.

"Yeah, we get interrupted a lot for some reason" Liv said and took of most of her clothes. And then she looked into the mirror as Heather talked. She liked to think she knew her own body best but these minor changes wasn't something she had seen or noticed before.

"Damn....you're right." She said as she turned a few times, posed a bit to look at most angles she could.

"Huh.....well....your self control is amazing, if you've got this teasing you every time."

Theo raised his eye brow. He didn't know that much about metals. Maybe time to study up a bit on that considering both his father and sister are metal based Meta's.

He followed Gidget to the next room. His eyes went wide and he whistled.

"She pulled the metal around towards her to use. That's...quite something."

He listened to Gidget and...he hated that she had a point. She knew what she was implying. If she casually did this what would happen to Valhalla if she had a full breakdown and pulled all the metal towards her.

" Safe for her or for the rest of us? It's not really safe anywhere else. She's too valuable at the moment. We could have her practice and train in the nearby scrapyard. Plenty of metal for her to use. If anything goes wrong there, it's not the people of Valhalla that suffer."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Girl, you have absolutely no idea how badly I want to-

"Well, I mean, you certainly don't make it easy."

...then take my tongue and run it across-

"But I have to try. If I indulge my baser instincts all the time, it might be harder to wrangle the dragon back."

...lift you up against the wall and-

From just outside the dressing room, one of the clerks asked her co-worker, "Hey, is the AC broken? I feels really muggy back here."

Heather tensed up, blushed, and realized that he mirror in the dressing room had started to fog up. She put her hands to her face and rambled, "Um, I'll be outside. Might grab a pretzel. You want a pretzel? I'll be back with a pretzel."

She grabbed her bags and power walked out of the store. The ambient temperature cooled almost immediately. As she stood in line to get a pair of cinnamon sugar pretzels, she cursed herself for still being such an embarrassing mess. After such a powerful display at the restaurant, she was sure she'd finally gotten past her awkward phase. Nope. Still a hot mess.

She returned to the store, pretzels in hand, and sat on a bench. While she waited for Liv to come back out, she counted to ten and down again while breathing in and out deeply.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Honestly, both. She only been free from her shackles for three days. She needs time to adjust to what the world is like outside. Hell, she probably still hasn't had a chance to just touch grass. I'd need to get advice from our shrink, but I think she'd be better off on the surface. Even if that's the case, she'd still need someone to-"

Gidget's ringer began to go off. She picked up the phone and answered, "Gidget. Oh hi! Yes, he's here. Oh, I'm so sorry. There was a bit of an accident. No, he's fine. Of cour...no he...I didn't...bu...Yes. I'll tell him. Ok. Bye."

Gidget put her phone down and took a deep breath. She looked back to Theonis and said, "That was your mom. Apparently your phone either got damaged in the match or you didn't have it on you, because she's been trying to reach you for the last ten or so minutes and didn't get a reply back so she called me. She wants me to tell you that she'll be arriving in about thirty minutes, and she'd like for you to be there when she lands."

"Also...could please not tell your mom how much I tease and poke fun at you. As embarrassing as this is to say, I don't want to get in trouble."