Absolute Uncertainties (IC)

[Aoiroo]

College never changed, it was like high school in that aspect really. All colleges followed a very similar formula of organization, universities especially when it came to how days went. It was only a little after three, so their was literatelly no one except for the few students already free for the weekend simply wandering the campus as most attended the last of the afternoon classes. Carrie wasn't much of an afternoon person today, probably because her normal morning of sleep had been interrupted, plus it had been ages since she'd attended a class.

It was very much a lecture type class that was deeply seated in theory. She didn't know if their were more interesting classes she could of attended to get the same thing, their probably were some lab based classes of the same subject, but Sarah apparently was only attending as a point of completely her degree. Of course, it didn't mean it wasn't hard for her. Carrie was sitting next to Sarah half asleep while she looked down at the professor in the front. He was certianly brilliant, he knew his stuff quite well and seemed quite ready to talk for hours on his choosen subject, and as such almost everyone in the class was irrifutably lost. It wasn't the professors fault, everything he said was clear and precise, but lecture classes for a lot of students was where they slept off the previous night. Carrie understood what he was teaching quite well, Sarah was sitting and scribbling all over her book notes about what she assumed might show up on next weeks test, though other then her and a choice few others, the class was more or less dead except for the musings of the excited and eccentric man at the front of the class in a nice suite and a bow tie.

[Supercape]

"So, If we presume that M-Theory is a valid map of quantum entaglement..."

Professor Quill was unusually excited today. Why, his paper on observational probability models in n-dimensional space has been accepted by Quantum Research!

"Despite what Professor Liebniz might teach you, the effect of direct observation on the theory is influenced by our own state of perception. If we look at..."

He supposed some of his enthusiasm was rubbing off. Some of the students actually looked interested!

In your face, Liebniz!

[Aoiroo]

The class ended maybe an hour later, Carrie didn't have any real grasp of time since she blacked out a few times from the combination of boredom and sleep deprivation that was nagging her. Sarah however seemed to have a page full of exact quotes from the professor she had scribbled down. Catching a glimpse at the notes, there was a lot of notice to someone named Liebniz, that was weird, but otherwise it seemed like some pretty solid theory work. Given, as solid as it was, she knew from a glance she'd be spending the whole evening translating the notes into standard English while Sarah worked on homework for other classes, but hey, at least there'd be pizza.

As the students stampeded out of the lecture hall to start their weekend, Carrie and Sarah lagged behind so as not to be trampled. Descending the stairs with her friend at her side, Carrie caught the eye of the professor who had spent the last two hours explaining a concept that she already knew since she found an article about it online before she came. She wasn't interested in interaction, but Sarah promptly walked next to her and to the professor asking,

"Umm, Professor, do we turn the paper in when we come in for the test next Friday?"

[Supercape]

Quentin looked at the frumpy but studious student who had addressed him. Looked like she could do with a square meal or two, he concluded.

"That would be splendid, dear Lady. I'm afraid those buffoons who run the course do insist on such things. Bit of a pain, I expect, but there you go. Personally, I view all these papers and exams a bit of an barrier to true learning, but sorts the wheat for the chaff, as they say. Make the most of it."

He beamed at her with all the encouragement he could muster. He did hate marking exams, especially if he had to give bad marks to intelligent students.

Of course, giving a resounding fail to loudmouth jocks who got to university on a sports scholarship was a positive delight.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie hung back as she spoke, and let out a light breath before looking at her watch she glanced out the window.

"Bus is almost here."

Sarah glanced back at her,

"Ohh, we should get going then. Have a nice weekend professor."

Sarah waved goodbye as Carrie led her out and they went over to catch the bus before it departed.

They arrived at Sarah's dorm about twenty minutes later. It was one of the cheaper dorms with only one room, no kitchen and a shared bathroom, but it was still bigger then Carrie's appartment, and much better taken care of. As they got in, Carrie took up the notebook that Sarah had written over and laid on her roommate who had already left for the weekend bed and started to read through the notes.

"This guy certianly likes to talk."

Sarah had sat herself at a computer desk and pulling out a book for her Radiology classes.

"Yeah, he's funny though. Do you understand everything alright?"

Carrie laid on the bed and held the notebook over her head,

"Yeah, mostly that he seems to have some strange tick involving trying to disprove some other professors on campus. Anyway, I'll can outline the key points just fine, as well as do some elaboration since he seems to get a bit caught up when he gets into talking about Quantum physics."

Sarah put down the book and reached into her bag producing a cell phone and a small coupon book,

"I've got a deal for two medians, what do you want on your pizza?"

"Huh, I haven't had any fruit today, so make it half cheese half pinapple, and tell them not to skimp on the sauce."

The shadow of night fell over the campus, and covered it with uncertianty. Fridays were generally spent out and off campus and more near Midtown and other places one would loiter on the weekends but it didn't make it any less dangerous. There had been a break in earlier that month in one of the on campus buildings, as well as an increase in muggings. Though there was some standard investigation on the whole thing as well as an advisement to be on the look out, Carrie wasn't going to sit by while her friend was going to get mug. Luckily she had said that they could leave early tomorrow and go to a local event, which was enough incentive for Sarah to get to bed early enough for her to sneak out. This meant of course she'd be tired as heck tomorrow when she did in fact attend that event but it was a price worth paying.

She was able to get access to the top of one of the one story on campus restuarants. It had a decent view of the more open parts of campus, though she'd probably have to look around more thoroughly if she was going to try catch this person but it was a good start. She was covered mostly in shadow projected form the streetlights set around campus, and she was pretty sure no one could see her. It was very quiet on the campus at night, and though she was certian no one was around, the sudden crash made her almost jump out of her skin.

[Supercape]

Quentin decided to toast a wonderful day and his publication at one of the campus restaurants. The young Haley Hearts, an attractive young post graduate research student had joined him for a drink or two, alongside one or two other academics who drifted in and out.

He was, he decided, unusually intoxicated. But the Pinot Noir was excellent, the steak succulent, and the Creme Brule appropriately tasty. He had been a bit disappointed with the lacklustre french onion soup, but it was uphill from there, and this was only a campus restaurant.

Better still was the company, the academic prestige, and, to be blunt, the warmth of the alcohol that was dancing through his veins. He was hardly an alcoholic, but neither was he conservative with the bottle.

He bid Haley goodnight, put on his Tweed Jacket, and strolled out (slightly unsteadily) into the night air. Even in his partially intoxicated state, he could hear the distant crashing sound.

[Aoiroo]

Getting down from the roof was not hard, and she did so while only making a light thump with her descent. Still sticking to the shadows she came to the corners when happened upon some random guy who was face first on the pavement twitching,

S%@t,

Running out from the shadows she quickly went to his and pulled him up from the dirt. Looking at him, he was having spasms, his eyes were unfocused and his was foaming from the mouth. Reaching into his pocket, she grabbed the cell phone and started to dial 911 when she saw someone in the distance. Keeping her hand on the seizing boy, she called out,

"Who's there?"

[Supercape]

Quentin looked quickly around. It was dark and nobody could see him. Focussing for a moment, his clothes instantly reformed themselves into the resplendid blue costume of Supercape.

His moderate intoxication lead to a slightly blurred costume. The cut was a bit wrong, the cape a little lopsided, and the blue and white insigna blurred. But it didn't look too bad to the casual eye.

I hope this isn't too serious. Not in the best of shape. Damn that wine.

He flew, in a fairly straight line, to the commotion. The night air breeze and the sight of the boy were sobering, to say the least.

It was still a little dark to make out the form of the girl. "Call 911, Citizen!" he intoned in what he hoped was a suitably confident and notatall slurred voice. "This man needs medical attention!"

[Aoiroo]

With the phone still in hand looked straight at the person as he flew towards him, and nearly had a brain anerism once he spoke,

"Thank you Captian Obvious!"

She yelled out as she pressed the send button and held the phone to her ear. She held a hand to his neck and started to count only to find his heart beat irratic. She wasn't a doctor, but she assumed this was abnormal in a seizure victum, though not as abnormal as a skid mark leading up to the victum. She was going to comment as the line went through.

"Yes, I need an ambulence at Freedom University over in North End, I found a young man...."

She was cut off as something hit her and sent her back a few feet. Landing on her back, she started to glance around and look for the source and noticed that the phone was missing.

"What the fu...."

She was cut off again with a hit from behind the sent her toppling over the seizing boy. She didn't look up, instead, she flattened herself and sat against the pavement so as not to get hit again by whatever it was that was attacking her.

[Aoiroo]

As Silhouette flattened against the ground, her form was almost invisible in the poor lighting causing the zoom to finally stop and take a look. A ganky boy about five seven sat looking around couldn't find her, but really didn't need to as he saw the rather flashy blue caped hero in the distance. Sprinting off he pulled a shoulder into a tackle onto the blue and tipsy hero.

[Supercape]

Supercape was not the canniest fighter at the best of times. When intoxicated, and facing an opponent who seemed to move as fast as lightning, he had little chance. The blurring figure slammed into him and he went flying, the wind completely sucked out of his body.

Heroics and wine really don't mix he realised. He just hoped this realisation was not too late, as he fought to shake off the stars.

[Aoiroo]

The zoomer changed direction after the impact and slid back to lose momentum as looked back at now unconcious guy on the street. Walking over this time he reached down and tried to pick him up. There was a slight tug as he tried but he managed to get him to his feet and was about to turn and start running a leg appeared off the ground and sweep at his feet which with the sudden acceleration sent him flying forward friend in hand. Looking at the other hero, Silhouette regained her full form before yelling,

"Grab him!"

[Supercape]

The fog cleared. Perhaps the blow and the adrenaline even sobered Supercape up slightly. With a quick glance at the boy, he focussed on a few key atoms which shifted, altered, and let loose a glow of purple radiation that enveloped the speeding youth.

Nobody was fast enough to evade Supercape. The incandescence glided over the boy's skin and his eyes glazed over, dropping his friend to the floor and loosing motor control. The quantum blast was not lethal, but it more than paid back for the bruised ribs Supercape would be feeling tomorrow.

[Aoiroo]

The shock must of hurt like a mo fo whatever the guy and blue did because the Zoomer could barely move. Sil didn't have time to stand in awe of the other heroes attack, instead she took the chance and sprinted next to him, holding her hand up she landed a strike just above the collar bone and knocked him a few feet forward unconcious. Running over to his body, she fished into his pocket and reached in to find the phone she had dialed earlier still connected with 911 and a very flustered operater was asking if she was okay.

"Yes, sorry, had some minor difficulties, is that ambulence on it's way, because we've got some Zoom users here and we need them here stat."

Hearing the reassuring saying that an ambulence as well as the fire department was called for once she turned towards the other hero and blue and started approached the other hero in blue and smelt a very distinct aroma coming off of him, she looked at him,

"Are you drunk?"

[Supercape]

"Drunk. Nonsense my dear. I may have had a glass of wine. Or three. "

He stiffened slightly. "Can't a hero have an odd tipple?". He deflated, his shoulders slacking. Not a good example, he realised. Honesty was the best policy.

"Look, I have had a few, and I realise that is not exactly ideal. However, I happened to be in the area by coincidence and felt I had to react. "

What exactly was the policy on this anyway? He was hardly a big drinker, but he wasn't to keen on complete abstinence. He hadn't been this sloshed for months, if not a year or so, and he was hardly falling over.

[Aoiroo]

Carrie looked at him then the scene, walking over, her voice started to sweeten as she said,

"Ohh, is that all, well then."

Walking next to him where he barely stood. She let out a breath out of her nose and moved her hand like she was just going to grab his shoulder. Halfway there however, it increased speed and she smacked him hard on the back of the head.

"I hope that's enough to sober you up for when the cops come."

Looking over him more thoroughly she also said,

"Also, fix your costume, and get rid of the smell. We can say one of those zoomers spun you like a top to explain everything else, but if the cops smell alcohol on your breath you lose all credibility on the spot."

[Supercape]

"Hmph" retorted Supercape. To be honest, he was feeling more alert anyway. With a concerted effort he stared at his costume until it folded into a more uniform and characteristically magnificent form. Not perfect, but without an expert tailor and a tape measure, nobody would know the difference.

Not much he could do about his breath, other than try not to breathe to heavily. With a flash of inspiration, he again reformed his costume to create a mouth covering. Of course, he know looked like a half baked blue ninja and his voice was muffled, but nobody would smell his breath.

"Wfft thsh tho?" he asked.

He pulled a bit at the cloth, and spoke a bit louder.

"Will this do?"

[Aoiroo]

She looked over the costume and the mask, she'd think someone who could control atoms would be a bit more creative.

"Yeah, that's fine."

Walking over to both of them, she laid them both flat on their backs and held her hand to their necks to monitor their heart rates. Though erratic at first, they seemed to settle into a steady rhythem so it seemed the two of them were good enough not to suffer a heart attack. Given, their was a possibility that the guy that attacked was a natural speedster, but zoom was just a more common solution especially among the college scene.

The ambulence got there a few minutes later, though they couldn't confirm the use of zoom, they set them both up with fluids and loaded them up. The cops came shortly after and questioned them about the incident. Sil got visibly annoyed by a few questions, mostly about who she herself was, mostly she stayed polite and answered that if they ever hung around the Fens at night they would know. The cops went with the ambulence to question the boys about the rash of muggings in the area and such as their job was and pretty much left the two of them alone on the campus. Walking over to Supercape, Sil reached over and held out her hand for a shake.

"Well, even if you chose a rather stupid time for you to be playing hero, thanks for the help."

[Supercape]

"Hmph. Well, thanks. Consider me suitably admonished", replied Supercape. He was rather uncertain about the whole business, truth be told.

"The names Supercape, incidentally, on account of my super cape". He gave a wink. He really hoped the heroine would lighten up a little. All work and no play and all that.

[Aoiroo]

She let out a sigh,

"I'd probably have some comment except that Dr. Atom, and anything of the sort has been more or less copywrited by the Atoms family. That is your power right, you accelerated the atoms around that boy and caused a small explosion that pretty much zapped them."

Reaching over she grabbed a hold of the cape, and held it up,

"You're still a bit uneven, you control the particles in the costume too. It's pretty clever, but not very useful if the condition of your clothing depends on your state of mind."

[Supercape]

"Hmph." mumbled Supercape once more.

"Who were those rapscallions anyway? I'm not particularly fond of getting run over, particularly by a human being. And my hip hurts. "

Pondering the matter slightly, he continued. "I'm a bit new in town, but I have heard of this zoom thing. I'm guessing that's the root cause, so to speak. "

He furrowed his brow, and massaged it gently. "This is most perturbing. I really don't want this stuff on the campus. Might interfere with my lec... errr... my e..lectric superpowers. Or something. " he mumbled.

[Aoiroo]

Fruedian slip much, she didn't really look to much into it, she really wasn't interested in it, what she was interested in was what was happening on campus.

"It's strange that we were attacked, Zoom is mostly used as a recreation drug on the party scene because apparently nothing says fun like going running super fast. That sort of sensation can be addictive, it just depends on the person really."

Walking over to skid marks, she looked at where they end,

"The boy from earlier was lucky that he just got a seizure, Zoom has been known to cause heart failure once the dose runs out, plus he didn't run into anything, just went down on level ground. The other guy was strange though, for some reason he didn't want us to help his friend."

Standing up, she walked over,

"This stands for further investigation, though I could use some help, would you mind assisting me tomorrow after you've sleep off whatever it was you had ingested before this incident?"

[Supercape]

"Certainly, my dear. " replied Supercape, massaging his head and his ribs. He pulled out the phone he used for his costumed identity, and gave her his number.

"The Zoom stuff seems a little reckless to me. Hmph. Kids today. Should be studying and reading books. Wasn't like this in my day. " he sniffed.

But she was right in one regard. He needed a good nights sleep.

"Well, tomorrow then. I'll brush up on my Zoom in the meantime. " and with that, he flew off.

Not exactly in a straight line, but it would do.

[Aoiroo]

It was just after three when Carrie came back in. The campus was almost completely empty, so she really didn't find anyone else. The next day she'd probably try going into the buildings to find them tomorrow. She could probably break into them by herself that night, but it was never something she liked to do, especially with school security. As much as she could claim good intent, she just generally did not look like a good guy. The other guy would be a good voucher for her in case she gets caught on campus, if only because he's too obviously loud and colorful to be a villian.

She didn't get into bed until about four thirty, spending the extra time looking into more detail about the eplicate activities any police or media covered reports she could get to without outright hacking a police database (she had tried the whole hacking the police database before, and she got firewalled almost immediately). When she did finally get to bed, she had learned some details like which buildings had been broken into the previous weeks, as well as the dates of the muggings. Most of them did in fact happen on weekends, meaning that tomorrow night was a good time to try and catch whoever was pulling it. But then again, that was tomorrow night. For now, it was time to sleep, and even with the information swirling into her head, tiredness overtook her quickly.

Sarah bless her heart was about as much as an early riser as Carrie was, and only pushed at her to get out of bed at ten thirty so they could get ready for signing. Dispite the fact that she at least managed six hours, Carrie was groggy and still a bit sore from the previous nights festivities so she could only mumble and groan as forms of conversation for her first two hours of conversation. Time passed quickly as she found herself in line outside a Barnes and Noble holding large coke, and burger from Wendy's. Sarah was chatting up the person in front of her in line about the author they were in line too see who had some series out about bounty hunter who seems to have car troubles in every book she shows up in. Carrie herself wasn't a fan, but she was picking up a copy for her mother who was an avid reader(or listener) of the series. She knew some bits and pieces of the stories, so she chimed in sometimes and led conversations in a different direction, mostly though she was their for show and to hold things when Sarah needed to go do someone or saw someone she knew and wanted to talk too. It was like this until about two when they finally got to the front, where there was a short conversation between her friend and the visiting author before they were shooed off to spend the rest of the day otherwise loitering.

[Supercape]

Quentin awoke the next morning with a mild hangover that partially resolved with a big glass of water, an english breakfast, and a liberal dose of paracetamol.

Event below par, his mind was keen, and he spent an hour or so in the campus library researching the effects of Zoom. Nasty stuff, he concluded.

He was hardly a detective, however, and admitted to himself that investigating crime was not really his thing. The young lady he had met last night probably had more clue than he. He was still rather ashamed of his general behaviour last night, and noted he really hadn't got much of a clue who she was.

Perhaps a quick message to her?

Apologies for last night. Any leads? I promise I'm quite sober today.