To Save The World!

[Chalcon Crunch]

IC: The young man looked at Mystic for a long while, not saying anything. After about 10 minutes of just staring, he opened his mouth and began to speak."You are..." he said in broken English, his voice soft, nearly inaudible. "You are not part of... facility. No Altereds in the facility that weren't prisoners. Where am I?"

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:"We've taken you to one of the League Penitentiaries. I apologize for keeping you in such conditions, but we needed to keep you secure until we can confirm you're not a threat, and with the invasion getting you to one of our better facilities has been... difficult, to say the least," explained Mystic. "You... do you know about the invasion? Where were you before we recovered you?"[For Science!]

Edited November 17, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Kumata]

IC(NPC): The green glow in the sky grew steadily brighter. Photon was just letting off the final lightbolt to end the artificial life of the Skeletal Soldiers he was facing when the glow rapidly grew in intensity, momentarily becoming as bright as the sun appeared before blinking completely out of existence. The sudden absence of the glow felt like a sudden darkness. The white-and-gold-clad hero looked up at the sky - which for the first time in weeks (though it felt more like a year) the looming shape of the Armada Mothership was nowhere to be found. He grinned, then chuckled, then burst out laughing."All right! See that, y'overgrown space invaders?" he yelled toward the empty sky. "That's what happens when you mess with Planet Earth..!"

[Chalcon Crunch]

IC: "Invasion?" The young man thought for a moment. "Do you mean the raid on the facility? They... They freed everyone... But everyone wanted revenge..." His eyes glaze over as he recalls something.

[Korkoa]

OOC: So... did the timeskip happen then?

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

OOC: Probably just a few more posts, Korkoa; we're literally this close to the timeskip. Mothership's blown, Technax is dead(?), we're just waiting on Trans to wrap things up.IC:So the kid probably didn't have any ties to Technax, Mystic thought to herself. The odds of him being connected to the invasion were pretty slim; Technax's expertise seemed to be more in the realm of machinery. But the entire planet had been at war for the last week, so every unexplained event had to inspected just to make sure it wasn't an alien attack."Can you tell me more about this 'facility'?" she asked. "Who were 'they'? Who wanted revenge? What can you tell me about where we found you?"Cautiously, she attempted to get a better view into his mind as she asked these questions. Mystic didn't want to dig too deeply; most subjects tended to get paranoid when they felt their minds were being monitored, and it was never an experience she found pleasant to begin with. But he was clearly remembering something. It was bound to be pretty close to the surface, perhaps close enough for Mystic to steal a peek at.[For Science!]

Edited November 17, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Chalcon Crunch]

IC: The young man clutched his head. "I... All the light was cold and false... I remember being overwhelmed by the sun when I escaped... It wasn't too far from... Where I was. Everyone... We were psychics, to be used for a project. I was the..." He tried to think of a word. "The... centermost part, what is it called...?"As Mystic entered the young man's mind, she would find herself in a large "empty space," seemingly separate from his memories and normal brain. "...There's no one for you to connect with right now, ma'am."

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:"Do you know who was running this project?" she asked, trying to keep a balance between the real world and whatever she was finding within his brain. "What were they planning?"Meanwhile, she attempted to push slightly further into this blank space. And just what am I trying to connect to, exactly? she thought, casting it out into the mental void.OOC: Wasn't entirely clear if the voice talking to Mystic when she checked Ori's head was supposed to be some sort of mental command or just Ori talking. I assumed the former, if I'm wrong just let me know so I can fix it.[For Science!]

Edited November 18, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Chalcon Crunch]

OOC: It was Ori talking.IC: "They... Wanted some sort of network, an organic one rather than a computerized one. I was the hub."

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

OOC: Alright then, my bad.IC:"What could they possibly want that for?" Mystic asked. She could already think of a few possibilities, but none of them were good. "And just who are they? Do you know?"[For Science!]

[Chalcon Crunch]

IC: The young man shook his head. "I... They took me when I was very young. I never saw any of them by the faces. But... They're all gone now. The other saw to that.""I just wish they hadn't done what they had... I wish they were still alive."

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:"Who are these... others? What did they do?"Mystic attempted to push a little further into his mind, see if she could get past this emptiness she was confronted with. While he didn't seem out to hinder her, he didn't seem in a proper state to explain what happened. If her questioning brought up some relevant memories, they might help her to piece together what had happened.[For Science!]

[Chalcon Crunch]

IC: "Psychics... All of them, different kinds of psychics. Telepaths, Telekinetics, PK Supermen..." Tears began to form in his eyes. However, as Mystic continued to travel deeper, nothing seemed to change. It seemed as though she wasn't in his mind at all...OOC: A PK Superman is a kind of psychic that generates a psychokinetic field around their body that allows them to fly and exhibit super strength.

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

OOC: Yes, one of the villains for the Frigid Arc had a similar power; I referred to it as Tactile telekinesis, though. (Incidentally, my superpower is to take any given character and say "why yes, that's quite like a character I made back when so-and-so..." ).IC:Mystic attempted to pull back and refocus her mental efforts. She wasn't making any progress reaching his mind this way, but she wasn't about to give up. It also occurred to Mystic that maybe she was pushing the kid a little too hard for information."I... I'm sorry, I can understand this must be hard for you. You've probably been though a lot," she said. "We can take a break, if you like, but if you can remember anything else about the people who took you, it would be very useful."[For Science!]

[Half-Dragon]

NPC: Scorchmark was in bad shape. Halfway through the crash the ice holding his feet in place had come loose, but only partly, and his feet had torn free of the rest, leaving some of the skin of his ankles behind. Thus, in addition to his injuries from the many fights he'd been through lately, he now had several extra bruises from the rough landing and was bleeding around the feet. That said, when asked if he was alright his only comment was "Fine." If he noticed Silver's readout, or even cared, it was impossible to tell. He was acting taciturn and showing very little emotion, but then he always did that. It was, however, just possible that his silence now was a tiny bit more respectful and a tiny bit less perpetually-moody than usual.XH-DXIC: Shard rocketed down through the atmosphere, or possibly one of the other layers - he never did pay attention in Earth Studies class. Well, whatever sphere he was in, he was rapidly moving through it, and felt now would be as good a time as any to inform Esp of this. He touched his communicator. "Alright, I am now moving through the whatever-you-call-it-sphere. Should I be expecting pickup here?" Nothing. Not even static. "Hello?" He pulled back his finger and looked at it. Oh. Molten metal. The communicator apparently wasn't as thermal-resistant as he was. What was more, he didn't have one of those implanted chip things, since it didn't have much to read; solid diamond and all. So, lacking anyone to tell him otherwise, he began slowing down his fall as best he could - no easy task, with momentum and gravity stacked against him. He pulled back with all his might, against the constant pull of his own dive. Was that the ground? It was getting dangerously close...*H-D*

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: All of the layers are part of the atmosphere. Shard might be in the ionosphere.

[Transairion]

OOC: Yes, the timeskip is so close you can almost taste it!I said my next IC, aka this one, would be the last, but I have to postpone since there's one vital detail I didn't include in my previous: everyone chewing out Isis for knowing this would happen this whole time! I know everyone wants to verbally abuse her, I'm sure you do ;)Oh, and I didn't pick up Shard since I told him to head towards Earth, and he went so far as to enter the atmosphere, which'd make it a million times harder for a damaged Esp to grab him.... but you survived re-entry fine, planetfall is no biggie! Can you see one of those jumping castle factories? :PIC: Isis met Fade's glare with one of disgreement, brushing off his internal judgement of her."The mission was a success. You all performed as predicated admirably, and I thank you for that. I know you all.... disagree with how it had to be, but the entire population of the Earth was at stake... I could not tell you anything more, or you would have reacted differently and may have cost all those lives. Everything that happened went as predicated, leaving us with the most postive outcome for us all" the Egytpian chose to justify herself for the hundrenth time, even though she was sure none of them really cared: they were too stuck on how little information she'd shared with them, and the result of their mission. You just can't please some people...

Edited November 18, 2011 by Transairion

[King Joe]

OOC: Hey, can Surge catch Shard? Might be a good way for me to get into things...

Edited November 18, 2011 by King Joe

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

OOC: Oh, goodie, I was worrying I wouldn't get a chance for this. :evilgrin:IC:"Stop. Talking. Now."Fade rose up once more - probably for the last time until he could get some decent medical attention, it was getting quite painful - and stared down Isis with a glare as destructive as the explosion that had hung over the planet mere moments ago."I don't want to hear your excuses, especially not now," he said, his voice low with an icy fury but steadily rising. "Yeah, when you reach the bottom line, we saved the world. I'm never going to dispute that. And I'm sure you thought this was the best possible outcome, but let me tell you one thing: you're never going to convince me it was. Not in a million years."Do you want to know why I don't like you? It's not the psychic thing; I don't like all that mind-reading stuff, but give me a chance and I can bring myself to trust a psychic. Silver proved himself, for example, and I trusted the kid. He trusted you, by the way, nice to see you repay that trust so kindly. But you know why I don't trust you? You're selfish. You've got the whole future locked up in your head, you could do so much with that kind of power. But you hide it away behind a veil of vagueness, because you're afraid you'll lose that vision if you change anything. Now, if you'd just been up front with your visions, we could have planned, we could have strategized, we could have done anything to improve upon your little suicide mission. Maybe we would have come to the same conclusion as you, but it would have been our choice, and we'd have made our peace with that. But no, you couldn't risk lowly beings like us messing with your perfect vision, now could you? Really, out of all of us, you're the least powerful by far: you don't control the future, you let the future control you."You can tell me what we did today was in the service of 'the greater good', but you know what? Screw the greater good! Far too many kind souls have died because someone decided it was worth it for The Greater Good. What I do, I do because I believe it to be right, because I care about the people I protect. My way might not be as... efficient as your greater good but at the end of the day, at least my conscience is cleaner."Now, I'd love nothing more than to say I want to never see you again. But I'm sure you of all people know if that's gonna happen or not, and you'll just be all smug and mysterious about it, and I'm left wondering about this vast, wonderful future you're not keen to share with anyone. So, no. Don't do that. I'd like to have at least a few surprises in my life; if you ever chose to step out of your little world of prophecy, I think you'd enjoy a little spontaneity over always knowing what's coming next. But since you can see the future, you probably know you're not gonna do that, and I know it even without fancy psychic powers. Good riddance to you."[For Science!]

Edited November 18, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Half-Dragon]

OOC: Sure. Though he'd have to be able to catch what is at this point more or less a meteorite without damage...NPC: Scorchmark busied himself cleaning and dressing his ankles with some medical supplies Esp apparently kept on hand for just such an occasion, rolling his eyes behind his visor while Fade had his little rant. But when, after he had finished not only the ankles but every other scrape, bruise, cut and even a bullet wound (grazed) on his arm and it still wasn't over, he got up and gave Fade one of his infamous glares. "Shut. Up." Privately he was on Isis' side on all this. You do not take chances with the fate of the whole world and everyone in it. Silver's sacrifice was valiant and unfortunate, but he had seen the necessity of it. Ranting now was pointless and, in any case, irritating.XH-DX

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:Fade glanced sideways over at Scorchmark, utterly apathetic to whatever infamy his stares supposedly carried."If you knew me better, you'd know what an impossible task that is," he said, limping towards the ramp. "But for once, I've said all I needed to say. It's not like she's gonna listen anyway."[For Science!]

[King Joe]

OOC: He can turn himself into sentient energy. I think he'll be fine.IC: Surge watched the explosion going on from a place in the middle of nowhere in Nevada. He was watching. If any piece of that ship were to impact earth, well, he had no idea what would happen, but it couldn't be good. Not to mention his greatest enemy would get a boost from the destruction. Screaming through the atmosphere he noticed... Something. He wasn't sure what exactly, but it had an energy signature that resembled life. He sighed to himself. "I can control energy and I get my terms for it from Star Trek." Whatever it was, it should have a chance before he consigned it to death. Surge began to change himself. "Light should be able to reach it before it hits." With a flash, he was off, screaming across the sky at lightspeed. In fact, he WAS light. He quickly manipulated it into a solid state to be able to actually catch whatever it was he was catching. He absorbed some of the heat energy off the... whatever it was. He eventually managed to slow both himself and the crystal thing he caught and managed to land right where he took off from: The middle of nowhere in Nevada. "I don't know if you can understand me, but I think you're living. If you can, tell me what happened up there."OOC: Surge describing Shard as a thing is due to the fact he knows absolutely nothing about him. No offense to anyone, fictional, real, living or dead.

[Half-Dragon]

IC: Still a bit dazed by the experience, Shard shook his head and glanced at his rescuer. "Uh, yeah, I'm good. Name's Shard. You can put me down now." Considering he wasn't sure if he would've pulled out of that dive in time to not shatter into a million billion trillion squillion pieces he's willing to overlook the whole 'no idea what you are' bit. He was human-shaped. It probably should've been fairly clear. Well, except for the bladed arms. And the fact that he'd attempted to increase air resistance by extruding a number of crystal plates. And- Okay, nevermind, he looked vaguely humanoid at best.*H-D*

[King Joe]

IC: "Whew. I thought I was going crazy for a second there, just catching a power crystal or something. The names Surge, nice to meet you. I picked up your energy signal when you were falling. So what's up with the spaceship exploding and what did you have to do with it?"

[Half-Dragon]

IC: Shard glanced up at the explosion. "Uh... Long story short? That was Technax's main ship. Or flagship or something. We infiltrated it, and I think I saw the others get out of range on-board our own ship. Is it wrong to hope Technax didn't get off in time?"*H-D*

[King Joe]

IC: "Well, let me ask you this: Was he evil with no hope of turning good? Then no. It's perfectly fine to hope that. Now who's "we" and what's this ship? I've been living under a rock the last few days. No really, that ship threw off the magma currents in the earth's core. I was down there trying to sort it out and keep Pompeii from happening again. And am I beat! Let's head to my place, I'll get a recharge, see if I can remember how to make coffee, and we can talk. Or, do you drink coffee?"OOC: I thought this might be a semi plausible reason Surge wasn't around for all the invasion fun. Huge ship pops up in earth's orbit, stuffs going to get messed up.

Edited November 19, 2011 by King Joe

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Depends on how huge the ship was. It would have to be about the size of a moon, and rather closer to the Earth than the moon is, for its gravitational pull to have any significant effect, and it would have to be a pretty big effect to do that to magma.But, it's an awesome explanation, so I think, even if the science doesn't work, rule of cool should allow it to stay in.

[Rumpelstiltskin]

OOC: The Mothership's shadow alone covered half of the planet. I think it was big enough. :PIC: (Loadstone)"You know what, Scorch?" Loadstone said, his voice trembling with anger. "I'm with Fade on this one. I know that Silver's...sacrifice...was a necesary evil. That it was the only way to save billions. But you don't have to be so smug about it. A good man died. He died, to save your sorry ***es, and you brush it off like his life meant nothing. NOTHING!"I've lost my share of loved ones, and I've come to terms with it. But you can stop rubbing it in our faces. Show some ***-**** compassion! A little respect for the dead! Is that too much to ask? He would have been respectful if it had been you!"He took a deep breath, but his voice still sounded like dry ice. "As far as I'm concerned, you," he pointed to Scorchmark, "and that hag," he pointed to Isis, "can get off this ship. Your very presence dishonors Silver's memory."IC: (Aquarius)"It's not me," Aquarius said, pulling a lever and turning a wheel. "I think some of the wiring's frayed somewhere. It doesn't want to respond to any of my commands."~Lord Rahl~

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: Consider how much of the Earth the Moon can put in its shadow. With how far away the Sun is, it isn't hard to eclipse it with an object that still isn't big enough to screw with the Earth's mantle.Still, rule of cool mandates that the ship was that big, and that Surge's trip down there was completely necessary.

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:Fade winced and supported himself against a wall. He might have agreed with Loadstone, but for once he was wisely choosing to keep out of the debate. Silver was probably dead, and he wasn't about to get into an argument on the merits of his sacrifice, not now of all times. He'd given Isis a piece of his mind, of course. She'd given the kid a death sentence and shown not a single ounce of compassion for it; there was no way Fade could live with himself letting that stand.But he'd spoken his mind, whether or not Isis even cared, and now he felt silence was the best he could give. He'd mourn Silver's sacrifice in his own quiet, self-internalized way, just as he had Jen, just as he had his family. But for now, he was done fighting. All he wanted to do was get back home, back to Isobel, and maybe find a way to get past this nightmare before the next one arose.---"If something's screwy with the wires, I bet I can find it!" HIvemind said. "Hang on!"She cupped her hands, releasing a few dozen hornets into the air. They buzzed about a bit, before vanishing through the gaps in a nearby vent."Don't worry about it, if there's some loose wire or something down there, my bugs'll find it pronto. Fixing it... that's another story, but one problem at a time, eh?"[For Science!]

Edited November 19, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Half-Dragon]

NPC: The only warning was a brief hissing sound of air intake, and then Scorchmark's hand was around Lodestone's throat faster than blinking, and had him pushed up against the wall. Even with the metallic sound of the visor, the anger was clear in his voice. "Don't you ever," he growled, "ever tell me I don't care about those who die. Your whining isn't going to bring him back. Hating her sure as **** won't. Now grow up. He died a hero. All this hand-wringing is what dishonors him." After speaking perhaps more words than he'd said in the last hour put together he turned around and stomped out of the ship, not caring to check where they were or where the nearest speck of civilization was. He just walked out the door and kept on going.XH-DXIC: Shard's face could only be described as deadpan. "Maybe you'd be more comfortable talking to my other face." The diamond form before Surge shrank suddenly, from a nearly seven-foot-tall statue of what was probably a man into a clear and recognizable human, about five foot nine, with short, brown hair and brown eyes. "Y'know, the one I was born with. Before I got the powers. Like most people. And coffee would be great."*H-D*

[HeavyMetalSunshineSister]

OOC: I, err... I'm not certain, but I don't think the ship has landed yet. Landing's important.

[King Joe]

IC: "Yeah, that's much better. Actually, you probably don't want to be talking to solidified light either." Surge then reconverted his body into matter. "OOOOF! Now I'm really beat... My place is right.... HERE!" He said triumphantly, kicking a rock and squishing what looked like a bug underneath with his foot. A hatch opened, and he walked toward it. "You coming in, or would you rather go out for coffee? I know a great place about 200 miles that way." Surge pointed off towards the nearest city. Which was in fact 200 miles away.

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

OOC: I, err... I'm not certain, but I don't think the ship has landed yet. Landing's important.

OOC: Not that the thought of Scorchmark jumping out of a moving spaceship doesn't amuse me, but the ship did land/crash a few posts back.And just for the record, Sivler being dead and Isis being a terrible person can be two separate points. [For Science!] Edited November 19, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Half-Dragon]

IC: Shard nodded gratefully and replied, "I am way too tired to walk two hundred feet, never mind two hundred miles. Homebrewed coffee it is." He followed Surge in through the open hatch. "So... Nice place. Is it always this dark?" A feeble attempt at conversation, but his brain was just realizing how much he'd been through in the last few hours, much of which involved large amounts of physical pain, severe energy loss and multiple near-death situations.*H-D*

[Rumpelstiltskin]

IC: (Loadstone)Loadstone didn't give Scorchmark the satisfaction of seeing him rub his neck until he was well off of the ship. He half considered following him, but decided against it. He really had no quarrel with Scorchmark apart from his lack of manners - though Loadstone was hardly one to talk. But he was not about to stand aside and let anyone defend Isis without lumping them together with her indifference, regardless of whether they felt the same or not."Do you want to threaten me too?" Loadstone shot at Isis, fixing her with a cold stare. "Apparently compassion is a crime."IC: (Aquarius)"Well, diagnosis is half of the cure," Aquarius said, half to himself. Meanwhile, the crane swung itself wobbily around to the ship, and began to shakily lower the truck onto its deck.~Lord Rahl~

Edited November 19, 2011 by Lord Rahl

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:"Yup, and the other half is... uh... curing, I guess. Shut up, metaphors are hard and I'm busy," Hivemind muttered, trying to focus on the multiple eyes of her bugs as they buzzed through the circuitry. "Well, if the rest of the shipyard's any indication I can't imagine the crane's gonna be in any good state... Yeah, I'm no electrician, but all this looks like it's in a pretty poor shape..."[For Science]

Edited November 19, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Transairion]

OOC: Yes, the ship crashed in the Egyptian desert (better choice than Antartica, it's freakin' freezing down there!) minutes ago so Scorchmark can just walk off if he wants to.IC: "Your opinion is your own, though I did not expect a... strong reaction from his point of view. But do NOT think I sent him up there thinking he'd be fine.... Silver insisted he had to be the one to fix the damage he was certain he directly brought upon the Earth himself... he knew the chances of his return were.... slim. That is why he didn't let any of you assist him, and why he forced Esp to forgo her programming to protect him.... otherwise you all would never have left the ship at all. Had you had knowledge of this, would you really have let him go?" Isis frowned slightly, certain that had she told them all earlier, the only result would have been the deaths of many of them as they refused to let Silver act alone. By keeping it secret, their lives had been saved at his choice.... why couldn't they see that?

[Chronicler of Ko-Koro]

IC:"If I'd known? Maybe I would have, maybe I wouldn't have; we'll never know, now will we? But if it truly was the only way to stop Technax... then yes, I'd have said my goodbyes and seen him off, because I'd have decided it was the only hope for Earth," Fade said. "But, as I detailed to you before that little outburst allowed you to conveniently ignore it, it doesn't matter. You decided that we couldn't handle it, so you decided to hide it from us. You decided for us, because you were afraid our views would be inconvenient to your grander plan."But hey, at least it worked, right? Sure you had to spin a few lies and omit a few details, and you led an innocent man to his death by letting him think suicide would be the only way to atone for things he didn't actually have any control over, but at least you saved the planet! Now, that might work for you - precognition and all - but that's not how I do things, and I'll never trust anyone who thinks security is worth sacrificing truth. Because, once you become completely convinced that your way alone is right... what happens when you're wrong?"Fade raised one of his arms and made a sweeping motion towards the ramp."But, as I've mentioned, we both know you're not gonna change your ways. You especially know that; again, precognition," he finished. "Now, I do believe this is your stop; please leave."[For Science!]

Edited November 19, 2011 by Chronicler of Ko-Koro

[Rumpelstiltskin]

IC: (Loadstone)Loadstone muttered something about "dancing around the subject" and "heartless witch," the latter quiet enough that it could have been a mere thought. He called up his magnaboard and leaned on it, watching Isis pointedly.IC: (Aquarius)Aquarius nodded absently, manipulating the controls to have the crane release the truck...He waited. And waited."D***, the control's are jammed," he swore, shoving himself up from the controls with a huff. "We're going to have to release it manually; it won't let go by itself."OOC: Not sure how much longer I can stall here, but I think the timeskip's close enough that it'll work. ~Lord Rahl~