ic The Doctor Is OUT [IC]

[Blarghy]

GM

 

The doctor failed to respond to either of his rescuers, not appearing to even notice their arrival, and initially, neither did Caleb Cole.  He blinked owlishly at Terrifica, then--about two seconds after she blasted through the ceiling--leaned away from Miracle Girl with an expression of open fear.  Mixed with his alarm, he also seemed deeply confused by her pleas for mercy. 

 

"

.

.

.

W

h

a

t

?

"

 

Back upstairs, Sea Devil and Singularity were left alone with the terrified teenager, who wanted nothing more than to get as far away from them as possible.  He continued to scream for his friends as he bolted down the hallway to the top of the bunker's tunnel; in his haste to climb down, he fell, barely landed on the floor below instead of falling all the way to the bottom, and half-ran, half-crawled toward the lab, where the rest of the guards were similarly panicked.

 

The only boy with a gun rushed to the nearest scientist, hoisted Dr. West by his collar, and jammed the pistol barrel into his ear.  "Get out!" he screamed.  "Y-y-y-you, you leave!  Or I'll kill them!  I swear I will!"

[Heritage]

There are several givens to the life of being a Girl Scout; for instance, you will at some point go camping. Whether or not you like it is a matter of personality and upbringing, but it's going to happen at least once. You will also pick up litter, learn to tie knots, and more than likely put on a life vest on a boat.

 

And one of those givens is working with the elderly; volunteering to help out at a skilled nursing facility is a very common activity, and Casey herself had done it many times. Because if this, the teenaged Scout had had the opportunity to see elderly citizens several times, at all levels of functioning; some of them were fully cognizant and could take care of themselves, some of them had advanced Alzheimer's and couldn't feed themselves or go to the bathroom without aid, and many were somewhere in between.

 

Therefore, the look she saw on the old man's face was a familiar one; it was the look of man who was frightened and confused and not entirely sure of his surroundings, not the face of supervillain with sinister intent. So even as she could begin to feel talons of ice biting into her flesh, Miracle Girl knew this man was not the enemy.

 

"Sir, I need you to return to your room right now for your own safety," she stated in a clear, level voice. "It is not safe for you here, and we need to keep you out of harm's way."

Edited November 5, 2017 by Heritage

[Avenger Assembled]

Sea Devil and Singularity chased after the guard, the former springing into action immediately when said guard took a hostage. She didn't punch or kick, or strike with her tridents or the energetic powers of her suit. Instead she leaped forward on all fours without breaking stride and caught the boy's gun with her tongue, said limb lashing out in a blurred burst of speed and power. She pulled the infernal machine right out of his grip and bit down, hard - there was an unpleasant sound as metal bent and plastic crumbled beneath her shark-like teeth as she bit down with a jaw strong enough to snap a dolphin's spine in one hard bite. The gun tasted vile, of course, but she spat out the pieces and glared at the Surfacer goons. She was terrible at judging ages but they all looked so young, so instead of attacking again she glared at them with bulging eyes and gave a wordless bellow, her throat sacs bulging wide and thick, her crest standing tall on her head.

[Electra]

Singularity stepped forward then, her face completely blank, her voice expressionless. If it weren't for the preternatural sinuosity of her movements, she might as well have been an android. "This is what happens now," she told the guards, her voice pitched low enough that they'd have to listen close. She stopped a few yards away from the closest one, resting a hand lightly on a metal folding chair. "You are going to drop any weapons you have and lay facedown on the ground. You will be silent unless spoken to, and you will answer any questions we ask you to the fullness of your abilities." As she spoke, her fingers clenched and unclenched over the back of the chair, first crimping the metal as easily as one might worry the edge of a paper cup, then beginning to crumple it up into a surprisingly small tube of metal, never touching it with more than her fingertips or seeming to pay it any attention at all. "Or we will hurt you." 

[Blarghy]

GM

 

After Singularity's chilling call for silence, they could almost hear Miracle Girl's voice well below them at the bottom of the bunker, until it was drowned out in the clatter of everything the teenagers were carrying, weapons and otherwise.  Pocket knives, lighters, cigarette packs, small amounts of drugs, even spare change--they couldn't get rid of it fast enough, and if lying on the floor allowed them to avert their eyes from this terrifying woman and her fearsome Deep One companion, then so much the better.  Even the scientists hesitantly moved as though to crouch down, just in case, and when the Hispanic man among them spoke up, it was in a nervous, yet grateful, voice.

 

"Thank you, Wander!" Dr. Daza said, unaware of his (probably common) mistake.  "And...Wander's friend!  But these boys aren't the only problem; there is some...thing here, and we cannot see it, but that doesn't stop it from hurting people.  I don't know what, or where, it is, but it's very dangerous!"

 

Preoccupied as he and the other civilians were, he didn't notice a faint, inexplicable breeze come off the central ladder that ran through the building. 

 

* * *

 

The old man seemed to listen intently to Miracle Girl, but that wasn't a sure sign that he understood.  In fact, for a few seconds after she finished, he continued to stand in place, but then, thankfully, he bounced his head up and down and turned around.  He continued nodding vaguely to himself as he shuffled back the way he came--taking his frozen aura with him, albeit not so quickly that Miracle Girl and Terrifica wouldn't still feel it for a bit longer.  The super-genius would probably realize that this complicated their escape route, if they needed to eventually use the secret entrance she found, but that was a problem for later...especially when chunks of concrete from the wall next to Miracle Girl sprayed through the air for no apparent reason.

 

But Miracle Girl could see more: in a flash quick even by her standards, she was suddenly face-to-face with the woman from Thornton's picture.  Just like Caleb, the ice-man, she had changed a great deal since that photograph.  All her hair was gone, and the skin visible around her makeshift yellow, fireproof clothing looked like aged leather.  Unlike her husband, Julia seemed very alert--and very unhappy.

 

"Get away from him!" she screamed, and threw a punch that missed by inches and tore through the stone beside our heroine.  The air around this woman's fist shimmered with heat, and she didn't look the least bit uncomfortable in the cold that bit everyone else so deeply.

 

* * *

 

Outside, Miss Grue could feel the boiling rage and fear--the two tightly intertwined--that rolled rapidly into the house and now enveloped her friends at the bottom of the underground structure.  Monitoring the situation through her companions' senses was simple enough, although that might distract her attention from something a little subtler...

[Tiffany Korta]

There was obviously a lot more going on here than they had initially suspected, possibly even something magical, which was well outside her expertise.

 

It looks like someone or something is directing all this she explained and projected into there minds these hollow men that she'd seen There's also someone on there way very quickly, I'm going to try and slow them down if I can but be ready for if I can't stop them.

 

Using her senses to keep track of the speeding target she positioned herself to be the biggest target she could, growing to fifteen foot high and very solid. Hopefully, it would be enough to get there attention.

[EternalPhoenix]

Terrifica realized was rapidly growing more and more dangerous here even for professional superheroes, and it was indeed time to get the good Doctor out of here. the initial way in she’d used was now half blocked by the cold man. Wonderful. Upstairs, then. She fireman’s carried Dr. Delacroix and hustled out of the room and up the stair to the ground floor. “Please tell me someone up here has medical training. I don’t have the time right now.” Events were developing rapidly. She was…uncertain…as to if she could respond everywhere she was needed.

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Going to the ground floor would leave her alone with the man she'd rescued, but if Terrifica stopped a bit lower, she'd find that Sea Devil and Singularity had the kidnappers (well, most of them) well in hand.  Her request brought a clamor from the other half of the room, all of the hostages being doctors and medical researchers. 

 

"I can help--we can all help!" Dr. Daza said as he hurried forward.  He looked aghast at Tristan's swollen and discolored body; his head more resembled a bunch of blueberries than a human face, and what little skin wasn't almost purple was instead a deathly gray.  Other than the occasional shiver, the young doctor remained unresponsive. 

 

Thanks to Miss Grue, the heroes knew they had another problem, aside from the obvious trouble taking place at the bottom of the bunker.  Their psychic ally showed them the minds of about half a dozen "people" who, from her perspective, were little more than thoughts of violence.  They seemed curiously empty other than their savage focus toward the house our champions still struggled to control--and they weren't far away. 

 

Miracle Girl, with a quick glance, could see through the dirt, concrete, and buildings across the street, once Miss Grue directed her attention.  Seven well-armed individuals were taking cover; they wore bulky metal suits rather like Fallout-style power armor.  All of the warriors also carried assault rifles and grenades.  Worse, although they stood with professional stillness, the occasional movement or twitch was inhumanly fast.  Not as fast as herself or her enemy, but nonetheless enough to be a problem. 

 

Of course, she didn't have much time for a longer analysis, thanks to the furious speedster bearing down on her. 

[Heritage]

There was so much going on right now it was almost too much to handle, but Casey knew better than to panic, which would help absolutely no one. She didn't know who the newly-arrived 'goon squad' worked for, but she had a feeling someone wanted to erase all evidence that this facility ever existed. The fact that the goons seemed to have boosted reaction speeds did not bode well for anyone who couldn't keep up.

 

But all of that was irrelevant compared to the fate of the poor Coles, their minds and bodies horribly warped by science gone mad. Before she did anything else, she had to try and reach out to the tormented speedster; activating her own enhanced speed, Miracle Girl looked right at the woman and spoke in a level voice, far too fast for most humans to hear.

 

>>"Hello, Mrs. Cole. I know this might be hard for you to believe, but I want to help you. I'm not sure who did this to you and your husband, but it's obvious that the transformations you both endured have made your lives a living hell. I cannot imagine how much you've suffered.">> She held her hands out, palms upward. >>"How can I help you?">>

[Blarghy]

GM

 

Whatever Julia had expected, this clearly wasn't it.  She stopped just short of throwing another punch; her posture was still tense, and her expression furious, but as Miracle Girl spoke, that certainty began to drain out of the older woman.  Nothing replaced it, making her seem hollow.  She stared at her fellow speedster, and her shivers of adrenaline seemed to take on a different connotation. 

 

This was the first human contact Julia had experienced in...a long time.  Isolation had twisted her into something terrible and tragic.  And now, faced with this gesture of kindness, even from someone she considered an enemy, she did the only thing any reasonable person could do:

 

She fell to the floor and began to sob.

 

This went on for some time, the tears sizzling on her cheeks; in their timeless, silent bubble, the only sounds where whatever she and Casey made.  But eventually, Mrs. Cole regained a measure of control over herself and began to talk.  She had quite the story to tell.  Most of it just supported what Miracle Girl's friends learned at Blackstone: the Coles, Owen, and Holly Page were abducted and taken to a secret facility outside of Freedom City, experimented on, and transformed into the flawed superhumans they were today.  They eventually escaped, killing and wrecking their way to freedom.  They managed to recover some notes in the process; though heavily damaged by Julia's uncontrollable heat, they could still read mention of Dr. Delacroix, and so, they sought him out. 

 

"Holly and Owen were supposed to take him, but you sent them to prison instead," Julia pointed out icily.  "So I had to do it myself--and now he and the others are useless anyway.  If they can't fix this, then I don't know who can.  I just want to be normal again.  I just want to go home!  With my husband!  We didn't deserve any of this, and I don't know what else to do!"

[Heritage]

Casey sighed; this was the hard part about being a 'hero' no one ever talked about. Not every 'bad guy' was an evil genius laughing magically as he aimed his destructo ray at innocent civilians; many had been innocent themselves once upon a time. But fate was not always kind, and humans often far from it; yesterday's victims often ended up tomorrow's villains.

 

Miracle Girl pulled off her glove, reached out and put her bare hand on Mrs. Cole's shoulder; the heroine's bioenergy field glowed brightly at the point of contact, but she felt no pain, just her skin against the skin of a poor, exhausted woman pushed to her limits, another victim, no doubt, of human greed. Because why else would some horrific lab perform cruel experiments on innocent people? If it wasn't for money, than it was certainly about power; the two typically went hand in hand.

 

But for all the sympathy she felt for this tormented speedster, crimes had been commited, and that still needed to be addressed. >>"You're right, I did help send them to Blackstone, because no matter what their motives were, they were attempting to kidnap someone, which is still a crime. Just like what was done to the four of you.">>

 

Casey sighed again and ran her fingers through her hair. >>"Look, I don't have any easy answers here; yes, you've commited crimes, several of them in fact: kidnapping, assault, destruction of property. But I also understand that you have suffered greatly at the hands of others, and that the four of you have been desperately seeking a cure for what's been done to you. And that in the case of you and your husband, these terrible 'gifts' have made it almost impossible to get help in any sort of normal way, to even talk to people.">>

 

Then she took off her other glove, and put both hands on Mrs. Cole's shoulders. >>"But I give you my word that if you let your captives go free, I will do everything in my power to help you. I will speak on your behalf to the authorities and help you get justice, and even track down the people who did this to you.">> She met the speedster's eyes. >>"Will you let me help you?">> 

Edited March 9, 2018 by Heritage

[Blarghy]

GM

 

"I did more than just take the scientists and hurt some people," she said with a lump in her throat.  "I've killed them too.  At the lab where they changed us, and then...one of the boys working for me.  Upstairs.  He was pointing a gun at Delacroix, and I still needed the doctor, so I...  He just came apart in my hands, like he was made of wet paper.  I get so mad, so fast, and people just break.  Is it like that for you?" 

 

Many emotions played across Julia's face; she hadn't needed to compose herself for another human in so long that she wasn't sure she remembered how.  Now she felt torn between hope, distrust, desperation, deep-set anguish, and numerous others, but when she looked past Miracle Girl to watch her husband, frozen in time, her thoughts focused.

 

She shook her head.  "I guess it doesn't matter now.  Yes, I'll surrender to you--so long as you find a way to fix Caleb.  He hasn't done anything wrong.  I don't think he even knows what's going on.  If you can help him, then I accept whatever happens to me.  It can't be worse than where I've already been."

 

* * *

 

The scene above was perhaps less emotional but a lot more frantic.  FCI doctors converged on Tristan and threw around medical jargon and whatever meager supplies they had available; the only first aid kit in the bunker was running low from all the injuries they'd already tended, so the physicians improvised as best they could, tearing their jackets for tourniquets, warming him with body heat, probing for fractures, and expressing thanks and puzzlement that he somehow kept breathing in such a condition. 

 

Meanwhile, the heroes had other problems.  As Miss Grue had reported to her team, more enemies could be on their way.  Thanks to her, they still had some time--but probably not much.