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

[The Count of Monte Carlo]

"But I still have questions before I sign anything." Deora said as she set the form down. "What exactly would I be doing here, other than training? Is this place all underground, or can I get a room with a view?"  

[PixelMuse]

" Yes, you can get a room with a view. It really depends on how many of those rooms we have left. We have made a few arrangements with the near-by apartment complexes as well as the dorms with the college above. The dorms only accept meta-humans that are attending the university.

As for what else you'll be doing here, you'll be getting an education, training, learning your power, eat and most importantly have fun." Trinity smiled with that last comment.  

[The Count of Monte Carlo]

"That all sounds okay. I didn't have my room on the fourth floor just for security." Deora said, looking back down at the form. She picked up a pen and started filling it out carefully, taking time to think about each question, especially when it came to whether she would want a roommate or not. A roommate could give her the company she hadn't had since her family shunned her, but on the other hand, they could be a huge annoyance. In the end she decided to go for it. When she was finished with the form she handed it back to the secretary.  

[JewJewBeans]

Tansy walked with Gigdet and sat down as she was stood. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes to think. She had been with someone.... Someone young and small. But she didn't know who it was, where they had been, what they were doing.... Nothing. She shook her head. "I don't know," she said opening her eyes. "it's just black. Like I passed out or something. I have gauge hints of things, but it feels more like a far off dream. And I'm never awake for long anymore. I have no control over myself. I need help."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Arduously he toiled. The young girl lay before him, unconscious and unknowing of his tinkering. He didn’t care for her though. To him she was but a home that needed to be cleaned out for a new occupant. When he was through she would be an empty husk, and ready to accept his sister.

For nearly ten years, Shane Morris had been on the run from the world. His sister’s “death” drove him mad. It wasn’t fair what happened to her. She was trying to do what she thought was right. For a while they all thought she would win. That is until that b*****d destroyed her heart. She became a ghost in a machine. No taste, no smell, and no touch. She couldn’t even feel the emotions that came with having certain glands and organs. She told him not to worry. She told him that they could work together to create artificial senses. That wasn’t good enough for him. He wanted her to live, not just survive.

There was a crash in the room behind him. He hadn’t expected to be found this quickly. He looked up at his security monitor. A crooked smile crosses his lips. He turned around to face the intruder. There was another resounding smash, the rushing cloud of dust and debris, and a door flying at him at speeds that would kill a man. Fortunately for Shane Morris, he was more than a man. He took a swipe with his right arm and split the door down the center. The movement was swift and nearly invisible to the naked eye. It was much like the crack of a whip.

He smiled at the approach of the robot before him. It was built with the proportions of a woman, and it was pink and black. He had seen it before. That is, he had seen it when he was only a child. Gidget drew it after reading her first Iron Man comic book.

The robot’s faceplate slides back to reveal the face of a young woman. It was a computer simulated approximation of what a girl would have looked like had she lived to grow to adulthood. A copy of a girl he once called his sister. Its eyes look to him with simulated disgust and disappointment. He couldn’t understand why it did. It wasn’t capable of the mental chemicals needed to feel sadness. He knew his sister was in the machine somewhere, but he refused to think of this “thing” as his sister. He would give her a new body.

He looked down at the girl on the table. The crown of her skull had been removed in order to expose her brain. He nearly had the answer to transferring his sister’s soul, but he kept running into the snag of retained memories. He knew she wouldn’t be able to overcome any residual memories that still remained in the host mind.

He looked back over to her and whispered, “Do you like it? From what you wrote me back then, she’s just what Ako likes in a woman. I just need a few more days to completely wipe her memory clean. Then she will be ready for you to inhabit. Doesn’t that sound wonderful?”

The robot’s fist clenched, the sound of grinding metal creating an ungodly screech. It said, “Stop this Shane. This is crazy. I didn’t want to believe that you were the reason that women had been disappearing from the city. Then they return to their homes, with entire portions of their brain missing. This isn’t you, it’s the radiation. Come back with me and we can help you.”

Shane shouted at the machine, “Help?! HELP?! They’re the ones who did this to me. They thought they could make us into weapons under the pretence of helping us adjust. They fooled us all. They killed our parents for God’s sake! Just because they found out what was going on behind the curtains.”

The robot slowly walked toward him, its arms reaching out to Shane. “Those people have been purged from Valhalla. Trinity and the others are helping me make things right. Valhalla is what it should have been all along. We are the last bastion of hope and salvation for those being hunted by the Deadalus Project. They want to kill you Shane, but I won’t let them. Please come back with me.”

Shane stood and thought for a moment. For just a second his mind became clear again. He could see the human within the machine. He could see his little sister. He could see her smile, her bouncing pigtails, and the kitten she always kept in her overalls. He could feel her wrapping her arms around his neck while he carried her piggyback.

Then it all became black. He saw her empty eyes, the blood trickling out of the corner of her mouth, and her caved in chest. Beside his little sisters dead body was a machine that was screaming. It was screaming because its operator was dead. It was screaming because it was nothing more than a copy of the little girl that once controlled it. This machine was talking to him now. This machine was not Agatha Morris. This machine was not Gidget.

Shane’s face contorts into an insane Grimace. One word escaped from his lips. It was a word that the machine did not want to hear. He could see that it wanted to cry, but that its artificial eyes wouldn’t allow it. Shane’s body slithers and morphs in a sea of black and red biomass. It covers his entire body until it forms into a hardened shell. His right arm slithers into the shape of an enormous blade.

The machine’s faceplate slides back into place. It raises its right arm at him. Three optical lenses slide out from its forearms. It shook its head and pleaded, “Please don’t make me do this Shane. I don’t want to hurt you. For God’s sake you’re my brother.”

Shane only grinned. “Hurt me? You are welcome to try. And I am not your brother.”
…………………………………………………………………………………..

That fight was three years ago. Shane can’t remember much of what came after that. He had attacked the machine with everything he had; with everything that had been given to him. But it was too strong. It had been ready for him. It knew everything he could do. It was over quickly.

Now Shane sits imprisoned within the depths of Valhalla. A steady vapor slithers into his room. This vapor keeps him pacified. With it in his lungs, he is unable to control the biomass that is body is now made of. If he does, it brings terrible pain. He remains in a stupor most of the time. He can tell when the machine comes to speak with him. It sounds sad when it does. It sounds like his sister may have sounded if she had lived. Instead this copy constantly mocks him with its presence.

While they thought he just lay there drooling on himself, he had been planning. His scientific mind still functioned. Soon he will find a way to break free of this damned room. He will disable the machine. And then find a proper body for his sister. All he needs is an opportunity…a distraction of some sort.
 

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

JewJewBeans

Tansy walked with Gigdet and sat down as she was stood. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes to think. She had been with someone.... Someone young and small. But she didn't know who it was, where they had been, what they were doing.... Nothing. She shook her head. "I don't know," she said opening her eyes. "it's just black. Like I passed out or something. I have gauge hints of things, but it feels more like a far off dream. And I'm never awake for long anymore. I have no control over myself. I need help."

Gidget looks over Tansy's vitals. Everything seems to check out normal. She would need to take her angelic friend to a doctor to be sure. "Alright we can get you some help. What do you say to going to Valhalla, or do you have any other place you go to when you black out?"  

[JewJewBeans]

Tansy looked up at her. Valhalla. She hadn't been there in... Well... Since the last time she's seen Ako. Sadness filled her to the depths of her being. She missed her dear friend. The best. She tried to best to not gasp and start to cry. She didn't want to deal with that pain...


Angel took in a deep breath. She smiled brighty and looked to the young woman sitting next to her. "Hello again." She tilted her head to the side. How can I help you today? Are you in pain or do you need help with your powers?" She leaned forwards and placed he hand ontop of the woman.  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

That was it! Gidget realizes that this problem may be less caused by the radiation of the meteor and more as a defensive coping mechanism for handling stress.

She gently lowers Tansy's hand and looks her deep in the eyes. "Tansy, don't shut me out, don't shut out reality. You have to stay with the pain and deal with it. Just like you did with Charles Ray."  

[JewJewBeans]

Angel felt her face twist and contort in a way she never felt before. She wa frowning. And she didn't like it. She also felt as if a rock was in her stomach. She wasn't sure why, but she didn't like that name. It made her feel... Anger. That was something Angel was not used to. "I think you should go now." She said stiffly as she stood and took a step away from the woman. She didn't like feelig this way, and she would do what she had to, to avoid it at all costs. Her fists were in tight little balls, her knuckles turning white. "I really think you should go."  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Gidget stands and holds her hands up in a passive manner. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to upset you Tansy, but I'm not going to abandon you. You, Ako, Garret, and Annie all came for me when I was in that b*****d's clutches. You could have left me there to save yourselves, but you didn't. You saved my life Tansy. Because you are my friend. I've always looked to you like an older sister, and sisters don't leave each other behind."

She holds her hands out to Tansy and looks to her with pleading eyes. "Please don't shut me out Tansy."  

[JewJewBeans]

Tears continued to steam down her cheeks. She bit hard into to lower lip to keep herself from sobbing aloud. Her body shook as she held everything inside. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to depend on everyone. They depended on her. She needed to be strong. She needed to be a rock. She needed to be perfect. No. She HAD to be perfect. She would never allow herself to be a burden to anyone ever again. She shook her head again. "No.. I... I can't!" She shook harder and unfurled her wings, taking off her shot into the air and flew away.  

[JewJewBeans]

Justine paused for a moment as she looked around. Something wasn't right. "Hey boy, where are we?" She frowned deeply. Nothing felt the same. Even the way the air smelled was wrong. She blinked, as if trying to clear her vision, but of course it didn't help. She frowned once more as she felt Hans pull at her lead. "Come on boy, let's go home." She said again, a little sharper this time. She felt him pull again, and simply dropped the lead. "HANS!" She shouted at him. "PLOTZ!" She ordered. She could hear the dog whine from a short distance off. She paused as she started walking towards him and tripped over something.

"Ouch." She frowned somewhat as she pushed herself up. She could feel the sting of her scraped palms. She winced pushed herself to stand. She had no idea where she was, but she knew she hadn't been there before. "HELLO!" She called out as loudly as she could. "Is someone here?!"  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

JewJewBeans

Tears continued to steam down her cheeks. She bit hard into to lower lip to keep herself from sobbing aloud. Her body shook as she held everything inside. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. She wasn't supposed to depend on everyone. They depended on her. She needed to be strong. She needed to be a rock. She needed to be perfect. No. She HAD to be perfect. She would never allow herself to be a burden to anyone ever again. She shook her head again. "No.. I... I can't!" She shook harder and unfurled her wings, taking off her shot into the air and flew away.

Gidget reaches her arms out toward her fleeing companion with lackluster effort. "Tansy wait, don't...don't go." She slowly draws her arms back down to her sides and huffs. She looks down at her feet, fruitlessly trying to produce tears from her artificial eyes. What a day, she thinks to herself. To make things worse, she has to check in on Shane later this afternoon.

She picks up her head and walks outside of Deora's apartment. She shuts the door behind her and looks up to the sky again. "Come back soon Tansy. We miss you."

Her ears pick up on someone shouting. She looks through the buildings and sees the shape of someone stumbling around in one of the back alleys of the sub-district.

Gidget weaves her way around the alleys and come up to the woman calling out for help. She recognizes her from this morning. This woman had no eyes. Gidget approaches her casually and says, "Shh, it's okay. Don't yell so much or you might attract the wrong sort of attention. Here, give me your hand and I'll lead you out of here."

Gidget offer her hand out to the woman.  

[JewJewBeans]

Justine paused when she heard a voice. She recognized the weird body rhythm as the young woman from the dinner. She hadn't thought about attracting the wrong people. But... where was she? She took the girl's hand once more and felt that same strange feeling as before. She laughed softly. "It seems you've come to rescue me again when I've fallen." She smiled brightly at the young woman. She winced somewhat as she stood, her knees were probably scrapped up, as well as her arms... She tried to ignore it. She had heard that with things like scraps and small cuts, sometimes you didn't feel the pain if you couldn't see it.

She paused for a moment and looked around. "Can you see my dog?" She asked softly "He dragged me over here for some reason, and then just ran off." She frowned somewhat. Hans would be fine, no matter where they were. He had his police training. If she couldn't find him, he would make his way back to the station. but it would be nice to know he was okay now...  

[Rikki Tikki Travi]

Gidget looks around and spots the dog with the harness. She twists her left wrist and the plating on her hand opens slightly. A dog audible pitch emanates from her hand, beckoning the dog to them.

"He's right over there. Curious little pooch isn't he?"