The Shadows of a Worm (Worm X Shadowrun 3ed)
- Thread starter Rajvik_wolfboy
- Start date
Chapter 14
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
"So you have something for me?" Detective Rigg's voice asked from in front of me, dragging me out of my memories and back to the present.
"I'm sorry," I responded, looking up at the source of the voice and smiling. "But when a scary lady in a mask hands you cash to deliver an envelope to a certain person, wouldn't you make sure you handed it to the right person?" Detective Riggs smiled at that nodding while she pulled out her badge and ID, showing it to me so I could get a good look at it. In response I pulled the envelope out of the inside of my jacket and handed it to her.
"I'm going to need you to come with me," she said after opening and reading the short note inside. "Do you mind?"
I sighed dramatically but replied, "If you insist," before standing up.
"Please," she said before stepping over and opening the door into the back. Stepping through the door I found myself in a long hallway with doors along each side as well as one at the far end. We walked past two before she said, "Wait here a moment please," before opening a door and sticking her head inside. "Hey Johnson, go over to R and H and get your people from there, we need to talk." I couldn't hear the response, but it sounded positive and was shortly followed by an older black man stepping out of the room and crossing the hall. The door opened before he could reach it though and a familiar face was being practically carried out of the room cursing with her hands cuffed in front of her.
When Emma saw me she screamed my name, tears in her eyes and I felt my heart lurch. "Taylor, she almost ranted as she ripped herself from the officers' hands and ran toward me. "Taylor please," she continued, "tell them it's all a mistake, that we didn't kill you and hide the body." The cops were on top of her almost immediately, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her back where they forced her to her knees. 'Johnson' slid past them and after a moment three detectives came back out with him.
I pondered not saying anything for all of about six seconds before one of the three detectives who had come out with 'Johnson' asked, "Are you Taylor Hebert?" which settled my mind for me.
"I am," I answered, pulling out my ID and handing it to the detective. "And while they didn't kill me, it wasn't for lack of trying, I'm guessing that the PRT passed this issue on to the police?"
"They did," the detective said, handing me my ID back. "Can you at least tell me when and how you got out?"
I shook my head, "Sorry," I answered. "But that part is clearly in the PRT's jurisdiction." The detective sighed dejectedly, "They should have provided an annotated list of what the three of them have done over the past year, but not including the locker incident itself."
"They did," the detective replied. "If I could get you to come in tomorrow and give me a statement about the locker though I would appreciate it."
"What time?" I asked with a smile only to hear Emma moan and half collapse before the officers that were holding her, lifted her up and carried her down the hall and through the door at the end.
"How does four-thirty tomorrow afternoon strike you?" the detective asked.
"I'll be here, "I answered. "Whom do I ask for?"
"Detective Stonebow," he answered. "Excuse me though, I have to see a woman about a beating now."
I nodded and followed the four other detectives down to the last door on the right, which when opened, showed a garage, and a weapons cage. Let the cleaning process begin, I thought as I followed them through.
**
"Well I believe her," a black lieutenant with that had been introduced as Hondo said after I explained everything that had led to me being here. The truth, not the pretty fiction that I had spun for the watchers outside. "Street, do you remember the clown that we were asked to respond to downtown downtown?"
"Yeah," the younger SWAT officer said with a grimace. "I would ask which one, but I'm pretty sure I know which one you're talking about. It took the cleaners over a week to get all the glitter out of my uniform from that fun little incident."
Hondo chuckled, obviously at Street's misfortune. "Yeah, well while you were trying to make it to where you could see, Alexandria showed up and the clown told her to, and I quote, I want nothing to do with your little club, before hitting her in the face with a cream pie and disappearing."
I blinked at that for a minute, even as Street looked as gobsmacked as I felt. "He did what?"
Hondo laughed out loud this time and I couldn't quite contain my own giggles at the thought of Alexandria, a childhood hero of mine, getting pied right in the kisser. Then the word that Hondo had used to describe the person that had pied Alexandria registered in my mind and I froze. "You said a clown," I said suddenly, as serious as death. "Do you mean like a modern clown, or a Middle Ages version?"
"Full jester's motley," Street said, drawing himself out of the surprise that had taken him. "Why, do you know him?"
I took a deep breath in before counting to five in my head and letting it out slowly. "Somewhat," I answered. "Did any of you see the video of what happened in the Gas-N-Go yesterday?" All of them nodded, "I am a moderately talented amateur compared to Harlequin, and his magical power is so far past me that it eclipses mine by a few orders of magnitude, which is to be expected from someone who is a few millennia old."
"You're joking, right?" Muldoon, a large detective of Irish descent said in shock. "How powerful is this guy?"
"If Lung was what he claimed to be," I said, my voice cold and deadly serious. "Then if he knew of this guy and learned he was around, he'd shit himself and go hide. This guy has killed dragons, hell, he's killed things that hunt dragons for sport."
"Bullshit," Ramirez, the other Robbery Homicide detective said before catching the look everyone else gave him. "What was Alexandra's reaction to him hitting her with a pie?"
"She wiped her eyes clear and said that she probably deserved that," Hondo answered solemnly. "Then she flew off to wherever she stays, I guess. The clown did say that two of the five were enough for her little club to stay up to date before he pied her. What do you think that meant?"
"That there is me. him, the guy in the PRT and two others running around that are either from that world, or at least have been there," I answered before rubbing my face. "Which means all hell is probably about to break loose somewhere." Shaking my head, I looked at the group of six detectives. "So," I continued. "Where do we start cleaning house?"
**
I sighed as I looked at the neat little house two blocks down and four over from my own. Captain John Fischer, forty-year-old Caucasian male, married, two children, both in college, son at NYU and the daughter at USC, both on scholarships. I recognized the ten year old station wagon and the even older Crown Victoria Interceptor that he and his wife drove. From appearances the good captain wasn't taking bribes to look the other way, but then again, appearances could be deceiving, or he could be being blackmailed by someone with a very juicy secret. Of course he could also be a true believer, he wouldn't be the first to fall to despair or an insidious lie, time, and a deep look into his life would tell. That's for another day though, I thought as I turned and continued walking down the road. Tonight had been very profitable in ways other than cash. The four detectives and two SWAT officers would be good contacts for me to have in the police department. Working with them would get me money and them, recognition as we started cleaning at the bottom and worked our way up the corruption that infested this city. I didn't know, nor care how high it went, but we'd get the rot cleaned out, and Harlequin and his three friends could handle their own mess. Working for that demented elf even once had been three times to many.
**
"I'm sorry," I responded, looking up at the source of the voice and smiling. "But when a scary lady in a mask hands you cash to deliver an envelope to a certain person, wouldn't you make sure you handed it to the right person?" Detective Riggs smiled at that nodding while she pulled out her badge and ID, showing it to me so I could get a good look at it. In response I pulled the envelope out of the inside of my jacket and handed it to her.
"I'm going to need you to come with me," she said after opening and reading the short note inside. "Do you mind?"
I sighed dramatically but replied, "If you insist," before standing up.
"Please," she said before stepping over and opening the door into the back. Stepping through the door I found myself in a long hallway with doors along each side as well as one at the far end. We walked past two before she said, "Wait here a moment please," before opening a door and sticking her head inside. "Hey Johnson, go over to R and H and get your people from there, we need to talk." I couldn't hear the response, but it sounded positive and was shortly followed by an older black man stepping out of the room and crossing the hall. The door opened before he could reach it though and a familiar face was being practically carried out of the room cursing with her hands cuffed in front of her.
When Emma saw me she screamed my name, tears in her eyes and I felt my heart lurch. "Taylor, she almost ranted as she ripped herself from the officers' hands and ran toward me. "Taylor please," she continued, "tell them it's all a mistake, that we didn't kill you and hide the body." The cops were on top of her almost immediately, grabbing her around the waist and dragging her back where they forced her to her knees. 'Johnson' slid past them and after a moment three detectives came back out with him.
I pondered not saying anything for all of about six seconds before one of the three detectives who had come out with 'Johnson' asked, "Are you Taylor Hebert?" which settled my mind for me.
"I am," I answered, pulling out my ID and handing it to the detective. "And while they didn't kill me, it wasn't for lack of trying, I'm guessing that the PRT passed this issue on to the police?"
"They did," the detective said, handing me my ID back. "Can you at least tell me when and how you got out?"
I shook my head, "Sorry," I answered. "But that part is clearly in the PRT's jurisdiction." The detective sighed dejectedly, "They should have provided an annotated list of what the three of them have done over the past year, but not including the locker incident itself."
"They did," the detective replied. "If I could get you to come in tomorrow and give me a statement about the locker though I would appreciate it."
"What time?" I asked with a smile only to hear Emma moan and half collapse before the officers that were holding her, lifted her up and carried her down the hall and through the door at the end.
"How does four-thirty tomorrow afternoon strike you?" the detective asked.
"I'll be here, "I answered. "Whom do I ask for?"
"Detective Stonebow," he answered. "Excuse me though, I have to see a woman about a beating now."
I nodded and followed the four other detectives down to the last door on the right, which when opened, showed a garage, and a weapons cage. Let the cleaning process begin, I thought as I followed them through.
**
"Well I believe her," a black lieutenant with that had been introduced as Hondo said after I explained everything that had led to me being here. The truth, not the pretty fiction that I had spun for the watchers outside. "Street, do you remember the clown that we were asked to respond to downtown downtown?"
"Yeah," the younger SWAT officer said with a grimace. "I would ask which one, but I'm pretty sure I know which one you're talking about. It took the cleaners over a week to get all the glitter out of my uniform from that fun little incident."
Hondo chuckled, obviously at Street's misfortune. "Yeah, well while you were trying to make it to where you could see, Alexandria showed up and the clown told her to, and I quote, I want nothing to do with your little club, before hitting her in the face with a cream pie and disappearing."
I blinked at that for a minute, even as Street looked as gobsmacked as I felt. "He did what?"
Hondo laughed out loud this time and I couldn't quite contain my own giggles at the thought of Alexandria, a childhood hero of mine, getting pied right in the kisser. Then the word that Hondo had used to describe the person that had pied Alexandria registered in my mind and I froze. "You said a clown," I said suddenly, as serious as death. "Do you mean like a modern clown, or a Middle Ages version?"
"Full jester's motley," Street said, drawing himself out of the surprise that had taken him. "Why, do you know him?"
I took a deep breath in before counting to five in my head and letting it out slowly. "Somewhat," I answered. "Did any of you see the video of what happened in the Gas-N-Go yesterday?" All of them nodded, "I am a moderately talented amateur compared to Harlequin, and his magical power is so far past me that it eclipses mine by a few orders of magnitude, which is to be expected from someone who is a few millennia old."
"You're joking, right?" Muldoon, a large detective of Irish descent said in shock. "How powerful is this guy?"
"If Lung was what he claimed to be," I said, my voice cold and deadly serious. "Then if he knew of this guy and learned he was around, he'd shit himself and go hide. This guy has killed dragons, hell, he's killed things that hunt dragons for sport."
"Bullshit," Ramirez, the other Robbery Homicide detective said before catching the look everyone else gave him. "What was Alexandra's reaction to him hitting her with a pie?"
"She wiped her eyes clear and said that she probably deserved that," Hondo answered solemnly. "Then she flew off to wherever she stays, I guess. The clown did say that two of the five were enough for her little club to stay up to date before he pied her. What do you think that meant?"
"That there is me. him, the guy in the PRT and two others running around that are either from that world, or at least have been there," I answered before rubbing my face. "Which means all hell is probably about to break loose somewhere." Shaking my head, I looked at the group of six detectives. "So," I continued. "Where do we start cleaning house?"
**
I sighed as I looked at the neat little house two blocks down and four over from my own. Captain John Fischer, forty-year-old Caucasian male, married, two children, both in college, son at NYU and the daughter at USC, both on scholarships. I recognized the ten year old station wagon and the even older Crown Victoria Interceptor that he and his wife drove. From appearances the good captain wasn't taking bribes to look the other way, but then again, appearances could be deceiving, or he could be being blackmailed by someone with a very juicy secret. Of course he could also be a true believer, he wouldn't be the first to fall to despair or an insidious lie, time, and a deep look into his life would tell. That's for another day though, I thought as I turned and continued walking down the road. Tonight had been very profitable in ways other than cash. The four detectives and two SWAT officers would be good contacts for me to have in the police department. Working with them would get me money and them, recognition as we started cleaning at the bottom and worked our way up the corruption that infested this city. I didn't know, nor care how high it went, but we'd get the rot cleaned out, and Harlequin and his three friends could handle their own mess. Working for that demented elf even once had been three times to many.
**
OstermanA
(Unverified Penguin)
- Location
- $PWD
An anvil is an option, but Eidolon is prideful enough that Harlequin could easily use another of his favorite spells to upset him more. Back in SR4, the online PDF sourcebook Street Legends Supplemental has a list of his preferred spells:
LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
Needs a close quote before "she almost ranted"
comma after "me" not period.
In no particular order...
- There's a spell specifically for "Slay Dragon"?
- And for Orgy? Why would anyone even LEARN that?!
- I half wonder if "turn to goo" is meant in that context or not now...
- And I have the same question about "Demolish Pants." Also, it's remarkably bizarre and very specific...
OstermanA
(Unverified Penguin)
- Location
- $PWD
Slay is a generic family of spells in the form of "Slay <creature>", so you can have "Slay Dog" or "Slay Elf". Having Slay Dragon is rare, but requires no special rule. Demolish is the same, in that it's "Demolish <item>", you'll note Demolish Gun right next to it, those are two variations of the same spell, per the rulebook.
Orgy is fun. It's an area-effect non-lethal takedown that incapacitates the target(s) through overwhelming pleasure. The single-target version is called Orgasm. The more successful the mage is at casting it the greater negative dice pool modifier the targets have on all actions. At GM discretion, if the negative dice pool exceeds the targets' Willpower score, they become completely overwhelmed by the effect and cannot take any action. This outcome is generally quite messy. It's also a sustained spell, meaning that it continues to last as long as the caster chooses to maintain it. With the right metamagic abilities, a particularly cruel mage can make it permanent.
Turn to Goo is exactly what it says on the tin.
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WarpObscura
Sleepy Big Stick
- Location
- A dot at the edge of continental Asia.
Kaernetron
Feuergeist
- Location
- Weit, Weit dort Oben
Pro: less draining to cast than other combat spells at the same power.
Con: only works on <creature>, can't slay anything else.
Two words: Trickster Shaman (guilty as charged
).
Why would anyone not?
Someone else's story
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
I don't know if @HereticalZed is going to continue it or not, but his take on a Shadowrun (3ed)/ Worm fusion is here
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
and chummer, it is awesome, pretty much what i'm envisioning the non-transferred Taylor to have had happen. Rock the world Zed, hope to see more of your story come about
Shadowrun: Brockton Bay (AU) (Alt-Power) Crossover
Hello and welcome to my first dedicated story thread, in which I shall endeavor to weave a tale...
forums.sufficientvelocity.com
I don't know if @HereticalZed is going to continue it or not, but his take on a Shadowrun (3ed)/ Worm fusion is here
and chummer, it is awesome, pretty much what i'm envisioning the non-transferred Taylor to have had happen. Rock the world Zed, hope to see more of your story come aboutShadowrun: Brockton Bay (AU) (Alt-Power) Crossover
Hello and welcome to my first dedicated story thread, in which I shall endeavor to weave a tale...
Haha, thanks for the plug. It's been three years now or so since I updated it but I do intend to return to this someday. Just not sure if I'll continue it as-is or go back and do a rewrite. I've got a lot of stuff going on in meatspace and not a lot of energy for writing unfortunately. But rest assured it's still on my mind.
Chapter 15
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
Blows dust off the thread
Lets see what we can get started here.
**
By three o'clock the next afternoon, I had the motorcycle mostly disassembled and soaking to remove the internal grime that builds up when an engine is left to sit for a long time. At that point though, I left the union's mechanic's shop for the hall itself and the showers there. I needed to get cleaned up so that I could make my appointment with detective Stonebow and explain to him what had happened.
When I walked into the precinct an hour and a half later, I was dressed better than I had been the night before, but not quite as serious as I had when I had visited the PRT. The Desk Sergeant was someone different than it had been the night before, so when he waved me forward, I told him, "Taylor Hebert to see Detective Stonebow."
"One minute ma'am," he responded before checking a sheet next to phone and punching in a few numbers. "Yes, detective?" he said into his headset. "There is a Taylor Hebert here to see you? Alright detective, I'll tell her." With a finger he hung up the call and smiled at me, "He'll be out in a minute ma'am."
"Thank you," I replied taking a seat on the empty bench. "Quiet day?" I asked.
"Thankfully," the officer said, making conversation. "Not much happens during the day around here, probably because of the number of people who either are working or at least looking for work. It's after dark when they have nothing but recriminations and time on their hands, maybe a little bit of alcohol in their systems that things tend to get hairy. But I'm usually long home by then."
I nodded as it was the same old song as everywhere and everywhen else. As long as it wasn't his problem, he wasn't going to make too much of a fuss. Before I could say anything in response though, Detective Stonebow came out of the side hall and beckoned me over. "Miss Hebert," he said as I came closer. "You look a bit, older than you did last night."
"Change of clothes, different applications of makeup and people find themselves looking at you differently," I answered as I took a fresh look at the man. "Last night I wanted to be mostly unnoticed, today, it's business." Detective Stonebow was a fireplug of a man, his skin tone and name suggesting Amerind heritage of some tribe or another. Possibly a little soft in the middle to go along with the greying of the temples due to age, but a solid man who by all appearances took his job seriously.
The detective nodded and opened a door that the night before I had figured led into the "Bullpen" and I wasn't wrong. Inside was a half dozen double desks, a second door that probably led to a couple of interrogation rooms, and a third door into a glass fronted office. Inside the office was a hard-faced woman with graying hair who was glaring at her computer as she typed away at something. "The Lieutenant hates her paperwork, but she makes sure that not only her own gets done, but that ours does as well," the detective commented, noticing where my attention was as he led me toward one of the double-desks. "Have a seat," he said pushing out an office chair before stepping around to his own seat and sitting down. "Now," he continued, setting out a tape recorder and starting it. "If you could tell me for the record, what happened Monday morning as you remember it?" I nodded and started to tell him, my voice calm and collected the same as when I gave Wolfgar an after action report.
**
**Winslow High School
Brockton Bay, Massachusetts
7:30AM January 3, 2011**
Did something die in here? I thought as the scent hit me. A rancid, rotting stench that seemed to fill the nostrils and mouth at the same time, enough to make one want to puke. Something like this, my mind continued, the school will have to do something about, if for no other reason than to keep the kids and teachers from revolting. The usual suspects were crowded in their little cliques, in doorways and around lockers as I made my way down the side hall to my locker, and even as I approached it I had a bad feeling. I won't say that they wouldn't have, I told myself. I just want to know how they got the damn thing in there with two locks on the damn thing. And there my locker was, the school's lock built into the door locked as was my own through the hasp. Tentatively I walked over and undid the locks before opening the door and being assaulted by the scent growing worse as part of the contents spilled out onto the floor. I gagged at that point, bending over the mess to retch, my stomach cramping as it tried to send my breakfast out to join the mess. "Know your place Hebert," someone said from behind me and then I was being shoved into the locker.
"Please, no, don't," I cried, but it was all ignored, and the door slammed shut and I could hear a second lock being hooked into the hasp and locked.
"You should never have come back Taylor," I heard Emma say through the grate of the locker. "I wonder what your father will do when you disappear? Will he go crazy, will he kill himself, or will he just shrug and go back to work trying to save a group of people that aren't worth the effort, like you."
"Damn it, Emma," I yelled, "let me out. You've had your sick ass fun, you've made a mess of me and my locker, now let me the fuck out of here damn it." The only response I heard was laughter from the two of them as three sets of feet walked away. I continued to beat myself against the door to my locker until I had no more strength.
**
"From that point until I woke up elsewhere," I told detective Stonebow, "I have no clue how much time passed, but when I was returned it was to the hallway outside my locker, about half past midnight on the fourth."
"And," the detective paused for a minute before shrugging and continuing with what he had intended to say. "The PRT has affirmed that you yourself are not a parahuman?"
"That is correct," I answered. "They have determined that an unknown parahuman was probably involved in my travel out of and back to Winslow High School and that the intervening seven years did occur, but between Panacea and a MRI they have concluded that I myself am not a parahuman by legal definition."
Stonebow nodded, "And do you wish to press charges against the three of them?"
I opened my mouth to answer no, but then paused. Something was wrong with Emma, not a master, not a compulsion, but I had dealt with enough cults, especially since Project Hope and Chicago had happened, not long before my arrival in 2057, to recognize the signs, the sudden changes in her behavior that marked either joining a cult, or being brainwashed subtly. "Something is not right with Emma Barnes," I said thoughtfully. "In that other place, I did a good bit of work dealing with people who had been brainwashed into cults, and looking back at her actions there are definite signs of that kind of change. I will press charges, not that I think it really matters to the District Attorney one way or another, but be prepared for a non-compos mentis claim on her behalf."
"From you?" Stonebow asked.
I shook my head, "From her father," I answered. "He may be a divorce lawyer, but he loves her and will do whatever he thinks he can to protect her, even from the consequences of her own actions."
"What about the other two?" he asked.
"From what I have heard, one turned the other two over because it got too much for her," I answered. "She is likely to get a deal for a reduced sentence in return for her testimony and I'm not going to fight that. The other one can burn." Detective Stonebow could only nod in response.
**
Leaving the precinct, I sighed as I looked out into the evening air. It was early, and while it was a Thursday night, there still had to be some kind of night life in Brockton. I wasn't dressed for clubbing though, and while that didn't particularly matter to me in general, Sarah and Alisha would have had a conniption if I had gone out to a club dressed to do business. "I'm not the Johnson yet," I muttered half to myself as I headed toward the bus stop. I could be home in less than half an hour once I got on the bus, and Dad would probably want to share dinner with me again tonight. He's going to hover for a couple weeks for certain, I thought. I knew he cared, but after seven years of practical independence, I also know it was going to wear fast.
**
Getting home I found dad waiting with dinner almost ready. "I figured things could handle themselves at the union tonight," he said as I lifted an eyebrow at him. "I made beef stroganoff, figuring that it would work for dinner tonight as well as lunch tomorrow."
I smiled at him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "Smells good dad," I told him as I drew back. "I'm going to go check on something online, can you call me once dinner is ready?"
"No problem," he answered turning back to the simmering sauce and its beef strips. "Should be about ten to fifteen more minutes if you want to change clothes as well."
"I'll do that after dinner," I said as I turned around to walk out of the room. "I think I'm going to see what the legal nightlife is like around here after dinner." He frowned at that but nodded. Yeah, I thought, he's not happy about that, but I need some space.
**
I spent the next fifteen minutes checking my email and trolling through Brockton Bay's social media sites looking for a decent bar or nightclub to try out. I had a few options, but nothing that really called to me. I also had an email waiting saying that the PRT had scheduled my power testing for Saturday afternoon, apologizing for taking so long, blaming the problem as that they wanted to get a specialist in from another branch in town to help with the testing. I noted the time in my phone on my schedule app before continuing to look at bars. A short time later dinner was ready, and I went down to eat.
**
At dinner it was back to the same old habit from before Monday. Dad didn't say anything or ask questions, and neither did I. It was as we were cleaning up that I finally hung my head and said something. "Dad, I need to say something," I said as I put the last of the dishes into the drain board. "And I need you to keep an open mind about what I have to say."
"What's that Taylor?" he answered, and I could see when I turned around to face him that he had taken a mentally defensive position.
"I think you should start seeing someone," I said, pushing it out before I could shut up again, before I pushed this all away and avoided the potentially painful conversation that needed to be had.
Dad blushed, actually blushed, even as he snorted beer out his nose and started to hack and wheeze on the drink. Finally, after a minute, he got his breathing under control and looked at me. "Taylor," he forced out. "I don't think I should be discussing my dating prospects with my twenty-something daughter."
"Dating prospects…" I muttered for a second before shaking my head and pushing on. I wasn't joking about this because while for me it had been a total of almost ten years, for dad it had only almost been three. "No dad," I said with a sigh, "I mean I think you need to start seeing someone professionally."
"I am not going to discuss picking up hookers with my daughter," dad growled causing me to look at him and blink for a moment before I rolled my eyes at him, throwing my hands up in the process.
"A psychiatrist dad," I said letting my exasperation with his hard headedness show. "We just sat through dinner as if the last seven years never happened to me. You and I need to be able to talk, and while I know part of that is on me, part of it is on you as well."
"Baby, I," dad trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "Why do you think I need to start seeing a shrink?" he asked calmly.
"Because it helped me while I was," I gestured for a second, searching for a word to encompass all that had happened in the last few years as I saw it. "Uptime, I guess. That's the best way I can think of to describe it. Things then were rough, life was cheap and quite frankly dad, I wasn't in a good headspace when I first got there. After a while though, after some help, I was able to function as something more than a cog in the machine."
"Taylor," dad said, his eyes pleading as he leaned back against the kitchen wall. "Just explain to me why, why you think I need to see someone in that respect?"
"Because we hit a holding pattern after Kurt, Lacey and Uncle Allan came over and threatened to knock some sense into you," I told him as I started to pace back and forth in front of the sink. "You threw yourself into your work to try and bury the pain of losing mom. I think I started to come back a little bit more than that, but then the first year and a half of high school happened, and I ended up uptime, where I got a lot of therapy to keep me from doing stupid risky shit."
"What kind of stupid risky shit did you do Taylor?" dad asked stepping toward me. It wasn't a threatening gesture, but an attempt to console me while reassuring himself that I was whole and healthy.
"It was just after the new year," I told him before I sighed. "The first one I was there and instead of sticking with my team, I decided that I needed some solitude and that I didn't want to bring everyone else down with my bullshit. So I went out to this little hole in the wall in the Ork Underground." I smiled as I remembered the night. "The place itself was horrible," I continued, "but the door guy didn't check ID's as closely as he probably should, and I got in with only a ten nuyen note as a bribe. He probably felt the little pink skinned breeder would cut and run the minute she saw all the big strong trolls and orks." I smirked, "Also probably figured I was some corp brat out to slumming around just to get drunk. Well, he was half right anyway, and I did," I smiled at dad, "get drunk that is. Troll thrash metal making it impossible to hear the person next to you talk, cheap synthahol to drink, it was hell, but it was the kind of hell I was looking for, someplace to be alone and unknown in a crowd.
**
*Ork Underground, Seattle UCAS,
January 4th 2058. 0100hours*
I felt the burn of the cheap synthetic peppermint schnapps as it went down my throat and smiled. This had been just what I had needed, a few hours alone in a crowd destroying brain cells before I could use them. Mom would be disappointed in me that I was in here underage, but it didn't matter anymore. She was dead, dad was dead, and sooner or later I was just as likely to end up dead because this world didn't give a flying fuck about anyone that didn't live the corp sanctioned life. Oh, I'd play the game, and hell, maybe I'd be part of the one-one-hundredth of a percent that actually made something of themselves from the shadows. I doubted that this would be the case though, and for some reason, that thought didn't really worry me. I sighed, looking at the empty shot glass for a second before waving at the bartender and miming for another drink. His response was to walk down the bar to me and tell me, "You're done princess, go home and sleep it off."
"What the hell barkeep," I yelled back over the noise of the band. "It's only one-o'clock, it ain't closing time yet."
"Yeah well I'm cutting you off anyway," the bartender told me. "I don't know how you got past the doorman, but if your twenty-one, then I'm Dunkelzahn."
"Nice to meet you Mister President," I snarked back at the bartender. "Would you mind pouring me another drink, or should I just come back there and fix it myself?"
"Alright smartass," the ork across the bar said to me. "Its time for you to go."
"Alright, Alright," I said climbing down from the barstool, stumbling a bit as I tried to get my feet to support my weight. "I'll leave, I'm going. Don't expect me to be back or to recommend my friends to come here."
"Good," the bartender said, "Don't need any damn corp brats running around here drunk." My response was to flip him off as I walked out of the bar in as straight a line as you could in a packed room.
**
Stepping out of the underground I took a deep breath of the frigid air which sobered me up a good bit before I started walking toward the bus station. Redmond was far enough from downtown for there to be a little snow sticking to the ground at this point in the season, and in the places that the shadows would stay during the day it was about six inches deep. The rest of the ground was coated in a mixture of sand and salt where the shop owners and the city tried to keep the ice under control. My walk and the pleasant buzz of alcohol was abruptly ended as I felt a sharp pain just under my short ribs. "Give me everything you've got and I'll call the paramedics and let them know where you are," a rough voice snarled in my ear before pushing me forward and off the knife that he had just stabbed me with. I spun with the push, landing against the wall of a building and looking at him. Human, male, and so filthy even the Merchants would look at him and tell him to get a bath. "Tick Tock sweetheart," he said waving the bloody knife under my nose, "You haven't got all night." I'm being mugged, I thought, the shithole that was my hometown and I never even really worried about getting mugged because I didn't let myself be in those area after dark and here I am getting mugged.
"No," I said quietly, hitting the man in the chest with a low powered ram spell and watching as he flew halfway across the street and onto his ass in slow motion. While he slid the rest of the way across the street, I pushed a heal spell onto myself before watching him slowly climb to his feet, yell something, and charge me with his knife. Maintaining the spell was hard, but I did it while stepping to the side and hooking my right foot into the man's ankle, causing him to faceplant into the wall before he slid down into the snowy slush. The world around me returned to its normal speed and I continued on to the bus stop without worrying about the man unconscious on the sidewalk.
**
I turned around and showed dad the scar from the knife, "Nicked the kidney, or so I was told later," I told him. "Wolfgar was pissed, but Alisha checked it and said I did a good enough job healing it that there was no reason to cut me open and redo it, knife hungry bitch. But it taught me not to go out drinking like that alone, even when I wanted to be alone."
"What does that have to do with being depressed?" Dad asked, causing me to sigh.
I wanted to be drunk alone because I was depressed and the others would have dug at the reason until I caved and told them," I told him. "You were doing the same thing right after the funeral, and then you at least got up to the level we've been at for the last couple of years. Not talking to each other about things, not discussing the problems we're each facing, or the ones we're facing together." At that point I slouched against the sink's counter. "Hell, as it is, I need to find someone local to replace Doctor Katz. I don't need to be blasting some poor shmuck with a mana bolt because he surprised me at the wrong time."
Dad blinked at me, opened his mouth to say something, closed it again in thought and then sighed before speaking. "Alright Taylor," he said slumping against the wall. "I'll see what the insurance will cover, for both of us," I opened my mouth to say something, but he raised his hand, causing me to pause. "I'm sure you know therapy isn't cheap," he continued. "So let me have my insurance at least help with this one, ok?"
I sighed but nodded, while smiling internally. Because damn if we didn't need this. "Alright dad," I said out loud. "We'll try whomever the insurance covers first, but if they don't seem to be working, or we can't work with them…" I let it trail off and he nodded in return.
"Then we find someone who does work even if the two of us have to go in together to pay the full cost of it," he returned.
I smiled at him. "Alright then, with that settled, I'm going to go out for a bit to relax."
"Relax," dad said giving me a lifted eyebrow, "Not work."
"Yes relax," I replied. "I'm going to see what the Thursday night nightlife is like around here."
"Just be careful," he said smiling. "I don't want to have to pick you up at the PRT building, or worse, the hospital."
"I will," I assured him before going upstairs to change.
**
Lets see what we can get started here.
**
By three o'clock the next afternoon, I had the motorcycle mostly disassembled and soaking to remove the internal grime that builds up when an engine is left to sit for a long time. At that point though, I left the union's mechanic's shop for the hall itself and the showers there. I needed to get cleaned up so that I could make my appointment with detective Stonebow and explain to him what had happened.
When I walked into the precinct an hour and a half later, I was dressed better than I had been the night before, but not quite as serious as I had when I had visited the PRT. The Desk Sergeant was someone different than it had been the night before, so when he waved me forward, I told him, "Taylor Hebert to see Detective Stonebow."
"One minute ma'am," he responded before checking a sheet next to phone and punching in a few numbers. "Yes, detective?" he said into his headset. "There is a Taylor Hebert here to see you? Alright detective, I'll tell her." With a finger he hung up the call and smiled at me, "He'll be out in a minute ma'am."
"Thank you," I replied taking a seat on the empty bench. "Quiet day?" I asked.
"Thankfully," the officer said, making conversation. "Not much happens during the day around here, probably because of the number of people who either are working or at least looking for work. It's after dark when they have nothing but recriminations and time on their hands, maybe a little bit of alcohol in their systems that things tend to get hairy. But I'm usually long home by then."
I nodded as it was the same old song as everywhere and everywhen else. As long as it wasn't his problem, he wasn't going to make too much of a fuss. Before I could say anything in response though, Detective Stonebow came out of the side hall and beckoned me over. "Miss Hebert," he said as I came closer. "You look a bit, older than you did last night."
"Change of clothes, different applications of makeup and people find themselves looking at you differently," I answered as I took a fresh look at the man. "Last night I wanted to be mostly unnoticed, today, it's business." Detective Stonebow was a fireplug of a man, his skin tone and name suggesting Amerind heritage of some tribe or another. Possibly a little soft in the middle to go along with the greying of the temples due to age, but a solid man who by all appearances took his job seriously.
The detective nodded and opened a door that the night before I had figured led into the "Bullpen" and I wasn't wrong. Inside was a half dozen double desks, a second door that probably led to a couple of interrogation rooms, and a third door into a glass fronted office. Inside the office was a hard-faced woman with graying hair who was glaring at her computer as she typed away at something. "The Lieutenant hates her paperwork, but she makes sure that not only her own gets done, but that ours does as well," the detective commented, noticing where my attention was as he led me toward one of the double-desks. "Have a seat," he said pushing out an office chair before stepping around to his own seat and sitting down. "Now," he continued, setting out a tape recorder and starting it. "If you could tell me for the record, what happened Monday morning as you remember it?" I nodded and started to tell him, my voice calm and collected the same as when I gave Wolfgar an after action report.
**
**Winslow High School
Brockton Bay, Massachusetts
7:30AM January 3, 2011**
Did something die in here? I thought as the scent hit me. A rancid, rotting stench that seemed to fill the nostrils and mouth at the same time, enough to make one want to puke. Something like this, my mind continued, the school will have to do something about, if for no other reason than to keep the kids and teachers from revolting. The usual suspects were crowded in their little cliques, in doorways and around lockers as I made my way down the side hall to my locker, and even as I approached it I had a bad feeling. I won't say that they wouldn't have, I told myself. I just want to know how they got the damn thing in there with two locks on the damn thing. And there my locker was, the school's lock built into the door locked as was my own through the hasp. Tentatively I walked over and undid the locks before opening the door and being assaulted by the scent growing worse as part of the contents spilled out onto the floor. I gagged at that point, bending over the mess to retch, my stomach cramping as it tried to send my breakfast out to join the mess. "Know your place Hebert," someone said from behind me and then I was being shoved into the locker.
"Please, no, don't," I cried, but it was all ignored, and the door slammed shut and I could hear a second lock being hooked into the hasp and locked.
"You should never have come back Taylor," I heard Emma say through the grate of the locker. "I wonder what your father will do when you disappear? Will he go crazy, will he kill himself, or will he just shrug and go back to work trying to save a group of people that aren't worth the effort, like you."
"Damn it, Emma," I yelled, "let me out. You've had your sick ass fun, you've made a mess of me and my locker, now let me the fuck out of here damn it." The only response I heard was laughter from the two of them as three sets of feet walked away. I continued to beat myself against the door to my locker until I had no more strength.
**
"From that point until I woke up elsewhere," I told detective Stonebow, "I have no clue how much time passed, but when I was returned it was to the hallway outside my locker, about half past midnight on the fourth."
"And," the detective paused for a minute before shrugging and continuing with what he had intended to say. "The PRT has affirmed that you yourself are not a parahuman?"
"That is correct," I answered. "They have determined that an unknown parahuman was probably involved in my travel out of and back to Winslow High School and that the intervening seven years did occur, but between Panacea and a MRI they have concluded that I myself am not a parahuman by legal definition."
Stonebow nodded, "And do you wish to press charges against the three of them?"
I opened my mouth to answer no, but then paused. Something was wrong with Emma, not a master, not a compulsion, but I had dealt with enough cults, especially since Project Hope and Chicago had happened, not long before my arrival in 2057, to recognize the signs, the sudden changes in her behavior that marked either joining a cult, or being brainwashed subtly. "Something is not right with Emma Barnes," I said thoughtfully. "In that other place, I did a good bit of work dealing with people who had been brainwashed into cults, and looking back at her actions there are definite signs of that kind of change. I will press charges, not that I think it really matters to the District Attorney one way or another, but be prepared for a non-compos mentis claim on her behalf."
"From you?" Stonebow asked.
I shook my head, "From her father," I answered. "He may be a divorce lawyer, but he loves her and will do whatever he thinks he can to protect her, even from the consequences of her own actions."
"What about the other two?" he asked.
"From what I have heard, one turned the other two over because it got too much for her," I answered. "She is likely to get a deal for a reduced sentence in return for her testimony and I'm not going to fight that. The other one can burn." Detective Stonebow could only nod in response.
**
Leaving the precinct, I sighed as I looked out into the evening air. It was early, and while it was a Thursday night, there still had to be some kind of night life in Brockton. I wasn't dressed for clubbing though, and while that didn't particularly matter to me in general, Sarah and Alisha would have had a conniption if I had gone out to a club dressed to do business. "I'm not the Johnson yet," I muttered half to myself as I headed toward the bus stop. I could be home in less than half an hour once I got on the bus, and Dad would probably want to share dinner with me again tonight. He's going to hover for a couple weeks for certain, I thought. I knew he cared, but after seven years of practical independence, I also know it was going to wear fast.
**
Getting home I found dad waiting with dinner almost ready. "I figured things could handle themselves at the union tonight," he said as I lifted an eyebrow at him. "I made beef stroganoff, figuring that it would work for dinner tonight as well as lunch tomorrow."
I smiled at him and gave him a light kiss on the cheek. "Smells good dad," I told him as I drew back. "I'm going to go check on something online, can you call me once dinner is ready?"
"No problem," he answered turning back to the simmering sauce and its beef strips. "Should be about ten to fifteen more minutes if you want to change clothes as well."
"I'll do that after dinner," I said as I turned around to walk out of the room. "I think I'm going to see what the legal nightlife is like around here after dinner." He frowned at that but nodded. Yeah, I thought, he's not happy about that, but I need some space.
**
I spent the next fifteen minutes checking my email and trolling through Brockton Bay's social media sites looking for a decent bar or nightclub to try out. I had a few options, but nothing that really called to me. I also had an email waiting saying that the PRT had scheduled my power testing for Saturday afternoon, apologizing for taking so long, blaming the problem as that they wanted to get a specialist in from another branch in town to help with the testing. I noted the time in my phone on my schedule app before continuing to look at bars. A short time later dinner was ready, and I went down to eat.
**
At dinner it was back to the same old habit from before Monday. Dad didn't say anything or ask questions, and neither did I. It was as we were cleaning up that I finally hung my head and said something. "Dad, I need to say something," I said as I put the last of the dishes into the drain board. "And I need you to keep an open mind about what I have to say."
"What's that Taylor?" he answered, and I could see when I turned around to face him that he had taken a mentally defensive position.
"I think you should start seeing someone," I said, pushing it out before I could shut up again, before I pushed this all away and avoided the potentially painful conversation that needed to be had.
Dad blushed, actually blushed, even as he snorted beer out his nose and started to hack and wheeze on the drink. Finally, after a minute, he got his breathing under control and looked at me. "Taylor," he forced out. "I don't think I should be discussing my dating prospects with my twenty-something daughter."
"Dating prospects…" I muttered for a second before shaking my head and pushing on. I wasn't joking about this because while for me it had been a total of almost ten years, for dad it had only almost been three. "No dad," I said with a sigh, "I mean I think you need to start seeing someone professionally."
"I am not going to discuss picking up hookers with my daughter," dad growled causing me to look at him and blink for a moment before I rolled my eyes at him, throwing my hands up in the process.
"A psychiatrist dad," I said letting my exasperation with his hard headedness show. "We just sat through dinner as if the last seven years never happened to me. You and I need to be able to talk, and while I know part of that is on me, part of it is on you as well."
"Baby, I," dad trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "Why do you think I need to start seeing a shrink?" he asked calmly.
"Because it helped me while I was," I gestured for a second, searching for a word to encompass all that had happened in the last few years as I saw it. "Uptime, I guess. That's the best way I can think of to describe it. Things then were rough, life was cheap and quite frankly dad, I wasn't in a good headspace when I first got there. After a while though, after some help, I was able to function as something more than a cog in the machine."
"Taylor," dad said, his eyes pleading as he leaned back against the kitchen wall. "Just explain to me why, why you think I need to see someone in that respect?"
"Because we hit a holding pattern after Kurt, Lacey and Uncle Allan came over and threatened to knock some sense into you," I told him as I started to pace back and forth in front of the sink. "You threw yourself into your work to try and bury the pain of losing mom. I think I started to come back a little bit more than that, but then the first year and a half of high school happened, and I ended up uptime, where I got a lot of therapy to keep me from doing stupid risky shit."
"What kind of stupid risky shit did you do Taylor?" dad asked stepping toward me. It wasn't a threatening gesture, but an attempt to console me while reassuring himself that I was whole and healthy.
"It was just after the new year," I told him before I sighed. "The first one I was there and instead of sticking with my team, I decided that I needed some solitude and that I didn't want to bring everyone else down with my bullshit. So I went out to this little hole in the wall in the Ork Underground." I smiled as I remembered the night. "The place itself was horrible," I continued, "but the door guy didn't check ID's as closely as he probably should, and I got in with only a ten nuyen note as a bribe. He probably felt the little pink skinned breeder would cut and run the minute she saw all the big strong trolls and orks." I smirked, "Also probably figured I was some corp brat out to slumming around just to get drunk. Well, he was half right anyway, and I did," I smiled at dad, "get drunk that is. Troll thrash metal making it impossible to hear the person next to you talk, cheap synthahol to drink, it was hell, but it was the kind of hell I was looking for, someplace to be alone and unknown in a crowd.
**
*Ork Underground, Seattle UCAS,
January 4th 2058. 0100hours*
I felt the burn of the cheap synthetic peppermint schnapps as it went down my throat and smiled. This had been just what I had needed, a few hours alone in a crowd destroying brain cells before I could use them. Mom would be disappointed in me that I was in here underage, but it didn't matter anymore. She was dead, dad was dead, and sooner or later I was just as likely to end up dead because this world didn't give a flying fuck about anyone that didn't live the corp sanctioned life. Oh, I'd play the game, and hell, maybe I'd be part of the one-one-hundredth of a percent that actually made something of themselves from the shadows. I doubted that this would be the case though, and for some reason, that thought didn't really worry me. I sighed, looking at the empty shot glass for a second before waving at the bartender and miming for another drink. His response was to walk down the bar to me and tell me, "You're done princess, go home and sleep it off."
"What the hell barkeep," I yelled back over the noise of the band. "It's only one-o'clock, it ain't closing time yet."
"Yeah well I'm cutting you off anyway," the bartender told me. "I don't know how you got past the doorman, but if your twenty-one, then I'm Dunkelzahn."
"Nice to meet you Mister President," I snarked back at the bartender. "Would you mind pouring me another drink, or should I just come back there and fix it myself?"
"Alright smartass," the ork across the bar said to me. "Its time for you to go."
"Alright, Alright," I said climbing down from the barstool, stumbling a bit as I tried to get my feet to support my weight. "I'll leave, I'm going. Don't expect me to be back or to recommend my friends to come here."
"Good," the bartender said, "Don't need any damn corp brats running around here drunk." My response was to flip him off as I walked out of the bar in as straight a line as you could in a packed room.
**
Stepping out of the underground I took a deep breath of the frigid air which sobered me up a good bit before I started walking toward the bus station. Redmond was far enough from downtown for there to be a little snow sticking to the ground at this point in the season, and in the places that the shadows would stay during the day it was about six inches deep. The rest of the ground was coated in a mixture of sand and salt where the shop owners and the city tried to keep the ice under control. My walk and the pleasant buzz of alcohol was abruptly ended as I felt a sharp pain just under my short ribs. "Give me everything you've got and I'll call the paramedics and let them know where you are," a rough voice snarled in my ear before pushing me forward and off the knife that he had just stabbed me with. I spun with the push, landing against the wall of a building and looking at him. Human, male, and so filthy even the Merchants would look at him and tell him to get a bath. "Tick Tock sweetheart," he said waving the bloody knife under my nose, "You haven't got all night." I'm being mugged, I thought, the shithole that was my hometown and I never even really worried about getting mugged because I didn't let myself be in those area after dark and here I am getting mugged.
"No," I said quietly, hitting the man in the chest with a low powered ram spell and watching as he flew halfway across the street and onto his ass in slow motion. While he slid the rest of the way across the street, I pushed a heal spell onto myself before watching him slowly climb to his feet, yell something, and charge me with his knife. Maintaining the spell was hard, but I did it while stepping to the side and hooking my right foot into the man's ankle, causing him to faceplant into the wall before he slid down into the snowy slush. The world around me returned to its normal speed and I continued on to the bus stop without worrying about the man unconscious on the sidewalk.
**
I turned around and showed dad the scar from the knife, "Nicked the kidney, or so I was told later," I told him. "Wolfgar was pissed, but Alisha checked it and said I did a good enough job healing it that there was no reason to cut me open and redo it, knife hungry bitch. But it taught me not to go out drinking like that alone, even when I wanted to be alone."
"What does that have to do with being depressed?" Dad asked, causing me to sigh.
I wanted to be drunk alone because I was depressed and the others would have dug at the reason until I caved and told them," I told him. "You were doing the same thing right after the funeral, and then you at least got up to the level we've been at for the last couple of years. Not talking to each other about things, not discussing the problems we're each facing, or the ones we're facing together." At that point I slouched against the sink's counter. "Hell, as it is, I need to find someone local to replace Doctor Katz. I don't need to be blasting some poor shmuck with a mana bolt because he surprised me at the wrong time."
Dad blinked at me, opened his mouth to say something, closed it again in thought and then sighed before speaking. "Alright Taylor," he said slumping against the wall. "I'll see what the insurance will cover, for both of us," I opened my mouth to say something, but he raised his hand, causing me to pause. "I'm sure you know therapy isn't cheap," he continued. "So let me have my insurance at least help with this one, ok?"
I sighed but nodded, while smiling internally. Because damn if we didn't need this. "Alright dad," I said out loud. "We'll try whomever the insurance covers first, but if they don't seem to be working, or we can't work with them…" I let it trail off and he nodded in return.
"Then we find someone who does work even if the two of us have to go in together to pay the full cost of it," he returned.
I smiled at him. "Alright then, with that settled, I'm going to go out for a bit to relax."
"Relax," dad said giving me a lifted eyebrow, "Not work."
"Yes relax," I replied. "I'm going to see what the Thursday night nightlife is like around here."
"Just be careful," he said smiling. "I don't want to have to pick you up at the PRT building, or worse, the hospital."
"I will," I assured him before going upstairs to change.
**
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- Location
- Over the hill and far away
Was it all intended to be italicized?
- Location
- leiden (NL)
Not her. Whoever tries to hit on her (thinking she's a drunk unexperienced 15 year old girl), on the other hand.......
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LostArchivist
Sane, unfortunately.
- Location
- The State of Confusion
I like this story, but this chapter was pretty hard to follow. There was mention that Panacea and co tested her and she's not parahuman, but she's still going in for power testing? For that matter, shouldn't she know what her powers are? I'm also not sure why she'd trust the PRT too much if she wanted to tell them what her powers are...
Also, it was all italics, which if intentional made it pretty hard to read.
Also, it was all italics, which if intentional made it pretty hard to read.
psychiatrist, dad,
areas
- Location
- U.S.A
Why is it all in italics?
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
because i apparently missed closing an italics early on. will fix that tomorrow or friday
Edit: Took me until Monday, but i fixed it
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Chapter 16
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
If this was one of those Star Wars movies, I thought as I approached an old warehouse, its front façade lit with neon proclaiming the place's name as "The Palanquin" I would say the force led me here, I had spent most of an hour wandering the entertainment district that formed a bridge between the boardwalk and downtown and this place had been on practically everyone's tongues. The Palanquin was a bar, dance and after-hours club for everyone. It was also supposedly one of the best places to cape watch as the group known as Faultline's Crew seemed to frequent it between their jobs. The line outside showed it was popular, stretching three-quarters of the way down the large brick-built warehouse that took up most of the city block. It could have easily fit in amongst the bars of Tourist-Ville back in Seattle so of course I felt right at home as I stepped into the line.
It didn't take me long to get inside, and when I got there, I could see why. While the line had been backed up, it was because of the security being diligent in checking the ID's and that the place had apparently just opened for the night. Either that or at least it hadn't gotten the mainstay of its clientele inside yet because people were sparse throughout the place. Of the people that were there however most were standing around the bar chanting at the orange-colored surge mutation that was dancing along the bar top singing along with Billy Idol's rendition of "Mony Mony.'' Honestly, he looked like an orange lizard-human hybrid, but then Surge Mutations were weird. "You must be new around here," a bartender called out as I approached the bar away from the scene. She was human, blonde, and wearing a button-down shirt under a vest with a name tag that read M. Fitts
"It's different," I said, taking a barstool while watching the scene from a distance. "Is it always like this?"
"Only when Newter wants to cause a scene and maybe get some companionship for the evening," the bartender answered. "Give it two more songs and the crowd will disperse with him making his picks for this part of the evening. Later, he'll just pick someone at random and have the bouncers offer to bring them up to the private area for some fun. What can I get you?"
"Yuengling," I answered after a moment of looking at the beer pulls. "I'll be honest," I said as she brought me my beer. "I've seen Surge mutations before, but he seems like he's gotten more used to it than the people I knew." I had been looking at the guy while I said that, but when I turned back to the bartender there was something in her look that I took as wanting to know what I did about something.
"What is a Surge Mutation?" she asked with a calm, cool tone that demanded answers, and I winced.
I shouldn't have said that, I thought as I took a sip of my beer. And she's going to want straight answers that I might not be able to give her. Setting the pint glass down I sighed. "You probably won't believe me if I tell you this," I answered. "And this isn't exactly the best place to discuss it. Can I just enjoy my night off and then tell you about it tomorrow?"
"Tell you what," the bartender said calmly. "You come up to my office with me and tell me what you know, and then you can drink for free the rest of the night."
I could live with that, I thought before nodding. "How does a bartender get to make a deal like that?" I asked, wanting to make sure that things would be followed through with.
"I own the place, kid," she said smiling. "Do we have a deal or not?"
"Sure, why not," I answered, grabbing my pint and taking another drink. "Not like any of you will believe me," I muttered behind the glass. In all honesty though, I think she still heard me as she grinned before retrieving my bank card and canceling the sale.
**
"Gregor," she said to a rather large man sitting next to a young teen who seemed to be out of it. "How's Elle doing tonight?"
"Mostly lucid," he answered, petting the girl's hair. "But I don't think your new friend likes me doing that," he continued as he returned his hand to his side. This caused the girl to grab his hand and forcefully put it back on her head.
"How do you figure that I didn't like that you were petting the girl's head like a pet?" I asked, leaving the "or a pervert" part unspoken.
"Because your right hand kept trying to grab a pistol that wasn't there," he answered calmly. "Its not the first time I've seen the motion, and also something you are used to carrying on your hip, given that the way you walk is slightly off balance due to the lack of weight there."
I blinked at the blunt, and to be fair, probably accurate analysis of me walking up into the private booth. "You're probably dead on for the most part," I returned. "I haven't had a good spar since I got back to town Tuesday morning, but that will probably change Saturday, as the PRT has scheduled me for testing that day."
"Don't out yourself," the girl said just loud enough to be heard over the club's music. "Not a good idea," she finished.
I smiled at her, "But I'm not a parahuman," I said, squatting down across the low table from her. "So there's nothing to out."
She looked up at me, her eyes wide as she took me in. "You have an owl," she said smiling. "Ruthless, a predator, most powerful at night, but not wantonly cruel. It's fluffy," she finished with a smile.
I blinked at her even as the bartender looked at 'Gregor' and commented, "I thought you said she was mostly lucid?"
"She has been," he answered with a questioning tone, "I don't know why she said that."
"I may have an idea," I said calmly. "And it kinda plays into the answers you were asking about. If you would give me a minute, I can check to see if I'm right without really seeming to do anything." As I finished speaking, I turned my gaze to Ms. Fitts to see if she was alright with that idea. She nodded and I gave her a sharp nod back before opening my eyes to the astral plane.
**
Some authors, both mage and not, will each give you a different description of what the astral plane is like and how other people can be perceived in that plane. In all honesty my teacher in the matter probably said it best, "Cast out all your preconceived ideas of what the Astral plane is. All they will do is flavor what you see." Elle was viewed with seven years of experience at moderating that ability and being able to turn that to my advantage, and what I saw made me smile. "Welcome to the Awakening." I said proudly.
Closing my sight again took me a minute, but even with my eyes closed I could sense the irritation that Ms. Fitts was radiating. "She's a mage," I said calmly. "Fairly powerful one too, lots of raw power, but without the training it's almost useless."
"What's a mage?" the woman asked, giving me a very 'mom' look. "And how do you know these things?"
The questions caused me to sigh. "I promised you answers, and I'll give them to you," I replied. "Can we at least get somewhere that I can hear myself think before I start talking about it though?"
The woman paused for a minute, getting her frustration under control. "This way," she said abruptly. "If the two of you want to hear this as well, then you might as well come along too."
"I will come," Gregor said, rising from his seat. "This sounds particularly interesting."
"Stay here," Elle declared, nodding. "Wait for Newter and tell him about the meeting."
The two adults shared a look before the woman nodded. "Alright Elle," she said, "But wait here for Newter, don't go anywhere, ok?" Elle just nodded and sank back into the couch that she had been sitting up on. Then the music became thankfully muted.
**
We walked into an office full of paperwork and the woman moved to sit down behind the desk in it. "I would ask what you want to know," I said as 'Gregor' took a seat in a chair that looked like it had been specifically designed for his large frame. "But I get the idea that you're the kind of person that wants to know everything." I said, receiving a nod in response. "So what I'll give you is a brief overview of events and then you can ask specific questions as the specifics of everything would take a lifetime to tell you, and that's assuming I knew it all." The woman and man both nodded again, and I started my story. "It all began on Monday when bullies shoved me into my locker at school," I said, receiving a wide-eyed stare of surprise at that statement. "Somehow, because of that, I ended up moved into a janitor's closet somewhere around Forty-Seven years into an alternate future and on the opposite side of the country. That world had its own history and powers, and one of them was that in the year 2012 magic came back into the world enough that it couldn't be denied, especially when a full grown great eastern dragon raced a bullet train in Japan. Back then however there were children that were more attuned to the flow of magic that would later become known as Spike babies. They would be the first mages and shamans, the first known elves, and then there was the Surge." I sighed at that point and pinched the bridge of my nose. "What you have to understand is that even then, no one knows for sure why this happens, but with a mana spike, this time seemingly caused by the return of Halley's comet, people started to change again."
"What do you mean again?" the woman asked.
I blew out a hard breath, "Back in the early 2020's I believe," I told her. "People would either randomly change or be born with different features, pointed ears, tusks, horns, would be illogically short, tall, or extremely tall and large. These changes would be scientifically labeled as Unexplained Genetic Expression, but the media had another label for it, Goblinization."
The pair shared a look that I couldn't quite read, before turning their attention back to me so I continued with the story. "I wasn't there for that but the history books basically say that one in every ten people went through it, and as you could expect, the changes were not welcomed."
"Hate groups?" the woman asked, and I nodded.
"On both sides to be honest," I answered. "Not that I could blame the people who had been attacked or grew up knowing those that had been persecuted for just being different, but yeah, groups with names like Sons of Sauron and Humanis Policlub were just a couple of the groups I had to deal with over the years. But the thing was, in 2061, Halley's Comet made its pass near Earth, and when it did, the mana levels spiked again, and when that happened all hell broke loose. Not that my job was a cakewalk before then, but people started sprouting feathers and tails and what not and they got the same level of hate that the history books said that the first generation of gobinized suffered from."
"I'm sure the eggheads had a name for that one as well," the woman said. "What was it?"
"Sudden Recessive Genetic Expression," I answered, pushing my memory to recall all that I could about it. "Said that it was tied to the ambient mana in the world," I continued. "Personally, I thought that they were grasping at straws, but I was just a hired gun, what did I know?"
What were the symptoms of either one?" the woman asked, causing me to stop and think for a minute.
"For the original goblinization, it came on like a flu," I said digging into my mind of half-forgotten history lessons for my GED. "But for SuRGE I'm not sure, though it was probably something similar, just without the VITAS plague to cover for it."
"Did it cause memory loss?" she asked.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "Or at least not any more than for the length that it took for the change itself to take effect. Why?"
"Case-53s," she answered. "They show up with a weird tattoo, no memories and are all strangely changed. Your comment made me think you might know something about them."
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "He reminded me of some of the stories I had heard of the more extreme changes. Though that girl, Elle, she needs some help with her magic."
"Explain that if you can," she said, sitting back in her chair. "You said that she was a strong mage, what did you mean by that?"
"She is watching the astral plane almost constantly," I answered. "There are only three reasons to do that, be completely blind, be crazy, or be aspected to the astral plane and summoning spirits. I don't know how her magic manifests itself but whatever it does, it's probably insanely powerful."
The woman let out a sigh, "Thank you," she said before pulling a slip of paper from the desk and writing out a note on it. "Hand this to the bartender and he'll open a tab for you for tonight that I'll pay as agreed."
I smiled, "Thank you," I told her, as I got up and accepted the paper. "This seems like a nice place to relax, so I'll probably be back and we can talk again if you want."
The woman smirked and replied, "I might take you up on that sometime," she said. "Have a nice night."
"You too," I said as I walked out of the office door, narrowly avoiding the girl and the orange boy as they stepped up to the office. Turning to look at her I smiled, "I hope you can find your way out of the aether little one," I told her. "Maybe when I get set up, I will be able to spare some time to help you out some."
The girl's response was to grab my hand and pull it to the top of her head and grin at me. "Not on the agenda," she said. "Or at least not anytime soon according to the fluffy owl. I smiled and patted her head a couple of times before going on. I had beer to drink and relaxing to do, even though I knew in the back of my mind that something had just changed. Whether that was a good thing, or a bad thing remained to be seen.
**
It didn't take me long to get inside, and when I got there, I could see why. While the line had been backed up, it was because of the security being diligent in checking the ID's and that the place had apparently just opened for the night. Either that or at least it hadn't gotten the mainstay of its clientele inside yet because people were sparse throughout the place. Of the people that were there however most were standing around the bar chanting at the orange-colored surge mutation that was dancing along the bar top singing along with Billy Idol's rendition of "Mony Mony.'' Honestly, he looked like an orange lizard-human hybrid, but then Surge Mutations were weird. "You must be new around here," a bartender called out as I approached the bar away from the scene. She was human, blonde, and wearing a button-down shirt under a vest with a name tag that read M. Fitts
"It's different," I said, taking a barstool while watching the scene from a distance. "Is it always like this?"
"Only when Newter wants to cause a scene and maybe get some companionship for the evening," the bartender answered. "Give it two more songs and the crowd will disperse with him making his picks for this part of the evening. Later, he'll just pick someone at random and have the bouncers offer to bring them up to the private area for some fun. What can I get you?"
"Yuengling," I answered after a moment of looking at the beer pulls. "I'll be honest," I said as she brought me my beer. "I've seen Surge mutations before, but he seems like he's gotten more used to it than the people I knew." I had been looking at the guy while I said that, but when I turned back to the bartender there was something in her look that I took as wanting to know what I did about something.
"What is a Surge Mutation?" she asked with a calm, cool tone that demanded answers, and I winced.
I shouldn't have said that, I thought as I took a sip of my beer. And she's going to want straight answers that I might not be able to give her. Setting the pint glass down I sighed. "You probably won't believe me if I tell you this," I answered. "And this isn't exactly the best place to discuss it. Can I just enjoy my night off and then tell you about it tomorrow?"
"Tell you what," the bartender said calmly. "You come up to my office with me and tell me what you know, and then you can drink for free the rest of the night."
I could live with that, I thought before nodding. "How does a bartender get to make a deal like that?" I asked, wanting to make sure that things would be followed through with.
"I own the place, kid," she said smiling. "Do we have a deal or not?"
"Sure, why not," I answered, grabbing my pint and taking another drink. "Not like any of you will believe me," I muttered behind the glass. In all honesty though, I think she still heard me as she grinned before retrieving my bank card and canceling the sale.
**
"Gregor," she said to a rather large man sitting next to a young teen who seemed to be out of it. "How's Elle doing tonight?"
"Mostly lucid," he answered, petting the girl's hair. "But I don't think your new friend likes me doing that," he continued as he returned his hand to his side. This caused the girl to grab his hand and forcefully put it back on her head.
"How do you figure that I didn't like that you were petting the girl's head like a pet?" I asked, leaving the "or a pervert" part unspoken.
"Because your right hand kept trying to grab a pistol that wasn't there," he answered calmly. "Its not the first time I've seen the motion, and also something you are used to carrying on your hip, given that the way you walk is slightly off balance due to the lack of weight there."
I blinked at the blunt, and to be fair, probably accurate analysis of me walking up into the private booth. "You're probably dead on for the most part," I returned. "I haven't had a good spar since I got back to town Tuesday morning, but that will probably change Saturday, as the PRT has scheduled me for testing that day."
"Don't out yourself," the girl said just loud enough to be heard over the club's music. "Not a good idea," she finished.
I smiled at her, "But I'm not a parahuman," I said, squatting down across the low table from her. "So there's nothing to out."
She looked up at me, her eyes wide as she took me in. "You have an owl," she said smiling. "Ruthless, a predator, most powerful at night, but not wantonly cruel. It's fluffy," she finished with a smile.
I blinked at her even as the bartender looked at 'Gregor' and commented, "I thought you said she was mostly lucid?"
"She has been," he answered with a questioning tone, "I don't know why she said that."
"I may have an idea," I said calmly. "And it kinda plays into the answers you were asking about. If you would give me a minute, I can check to see if I'm right without really seeming to do anything." As I finished speaking, I turned my gaze to Ms. Fitts to see if she was alright with that idea. She nodded and I gave her a sharp nod back before opening my eyes to the astral plane.
**
Some authors, both mage and not, will each give you a different description of what the astral plane is like and how other people can be perceived in that plane. In all honesty my teacher in the matter probably said it best, "Cast out all your preconceived ideas of what the Astral plane is. All they will do is flavor what you see." Elle was viewed with seven years of experience at moderating that ability and being able to turn that to my advantage, and what I saw made me smile. "Welcome to the Awakening." I said proudly.
Closing my sight again took me a minute, but even with my eyes closed I could sense the irritation that Ms. Fitts was radiating. "She's a mage," I said calmly. "Fairly powerful one too, lots of raw power, but without the training it's almost useless."
"What's a mage?" the woman asked, giving me a very 'mom' look. "And how do you know these things?"
The questions caused me to sigh. "I promised you answers, and I'll give them to you," I replied. "Can we at least get somewhere that I can hear myself think before I start talking about it though?"
The woman paused for a minute, getting her frustration under control. "This way," she said abruptly. "If the two of you want to hear this as well, then you might as well come along too."
"I will come," Gregor said, rising from his seat. "This sounds particularly interesting."
"Stay here," Elle declared, nodding. "Wait for Newter and tell him about the meeting."
The two adults shared a look before the woman nodded. "Alright Elle," she said, "But wait here for Newter, don't go anywhere, ok?" Elle just nodded and sank back into the couch that she had been sitting up on. Then the music became thankfully muted.
**
We walked into an office full of paperwork and the woman moved to sit down behind the desk in it. "I would ask what you want to know," I said as 'Gregor' took a seat in a chair that looked like it had been specifically designed for his large frame. "But I get the idea that you're the kind of person that wants to know everything." I said, receiving a nod in response. "So what I'll give you is a brief overview of events and then you can ask specific questions as the specifics of everything would take a lifetime to tell you, and that's assuming I knew it all." The woman and man both nodded again, and I started my story. "It all began on Monday when bullies shoved me into my locker at school," I said, receiving a wide-eyed stare of surprise at that statement. "Somehow, because of that, I ended up moved into a janitor's closet somewhere around Forty-Seven years into an alternate future and on the opposite side of the country. That world had its own history and powers, and one of them was that in the year 2012 magic came back into the world enough that it couldn't be denied, especially when a full grown great eastern dragon raced a bullet train in Japan. Back then however there were children that were more attuned to the flow of magic that would later become known as Spike babies. They would be the first mages and shamans, the first known elves, and then there was the Surge." I sighed at that point and pinched the bridge of my nose. "What you have to understand is that even then, no one knows for sure why this happens, but with a mana spike, this time seemingly caused by the return of Halley's comet, people started to change again."
"What do you mean again?" the woman asked.
I blew out a hard breath, "Back in the early 2020's I believe," I told her. "People would either randomly change or be born with different features, pointed ears, tusks, horns, would be illogically short, tall, or extremely tall and large. These changes would be scientifically labeled as Unexplained Genetic Expression, but the media had another label for it, Goblinization."
The pair shared a look that I couldn't quite read, before turning their attention back to me so I continued with the story. "I wasn't there for that but the history books basically say that one in every ten people went through it, and as you could expect, the changes were not welcomed."
"Hate groups?" the woman asked, and I nodded.
"On both sides to be honest," I answered. "Not that I could blame the people who had been attacked or grew up knowing those that had been persecuted for just being different, but yeah, groups with names like Sons of Sauron and Humanis Policlub were just a couple of the groups I had to deal with over the years. But the thing was, in 2061, Halley's Comet made its pass near Earth, and when it did, the mana levels spiked again, and when that happened all hell broke loose. Not that my job was a cakewalk before then, but people started sprouting feathers and tails and what not and they got the same level of hate that the history books said that the first generation of gobinized suffered from."
"I'm sure the eggheads had a name for that one as well," the woman said. "What was it?"
"Sudden Recessive Genetic Expression," I answered, pushing my memory to recall all that I could about it. "Said that it was tied to the ambient mana in the world," I continued. "Personally, I thought that they were grasping at straws, but I was just a hired gun, what did I know?"
What were the symptoms of either one?" the woman asked, causing me to stop and think for a minute.
"For the original goblinization, it came on like a flu," I said digging into my mind of half-forgotten history lessons for my GED. "But for SuRGE I'm not sure, though it was probably something similar, just without the VITAS plague to cover for it."
"Did it cause memory loss?" she asked.
"No," I said, shaking my head. "Or at least not any more than for the length that it took for the change itself to take effect. Why?"
"Case-53s," she answered. "They show up with a weird tattoo, no memories and are all strangely changed. Your comment made me think you might know something about them."
"Sorry," I said sheepishly. "He reminded me of some of the stories I had heard of the more extreme changes. Though that girl, Elle, she needs some help with her magic."
"Explain that if you can," she said, sitting back in her chair. "You said that she was a strong mage, what did you mean by that?"
"She is watching the astral plane almost constantly," I answered. "There are only three reasons to do that, be completely blind, be crazy, or be aspected to the astral plane and summoning spirits. I don't know how her magic manifests itself but whatever it does, it's probably insanely powerful."
The woman let out a sigh, "Thank you," she said before pulling a slip of paper from the desk and writing out a note on it. "Hand this to the bartender and he'll open a tab for you for tonight that I'll pay as agreed."
I smiled, "Thank you," I told her, as I got up and accepted the paper. "This seems like a nice place to relax, so I'll probably be back and we can talk again if you want."
The woman smirked and replied, "I might take you up on that sometime," she said. "Have a nice night."
"You too," I said as I walked out of the office door, narrowly avoiding the girl and the orange boy as they stepped up to the office. Turning to look at her I smiled, "I hope you can find your way out of the aether little one," I told her. "Maybe when I get set up, I will be able to spare some time to help you out some."
The girl's response was to grab my hand and pull it to the top of her head and grin at me. "Not on the agenda," she said. "Or at least not anytime soon according to the fluffy owl. I smiled and patted her head a couple of times before going on. I had beer to drink and relaxing to do, even though I knew in the back of my mind that something had just changed. Whether that was a good thing, or a bad thing remained to be seen.
**
Sandy River DL
(Verified Destroyer Leader)
- Location
- Lake Michigan
- Pronouns
- Her/She
Well that was interesting. Is Labyrinth still a parahuman, or is her power all summoning? I don't know enough about Shadowrun magic to know if her reality displacement is possible in that system.
Rajvik_wolfboy
Wolf amongst the stars.
- Location
- Florida
there is a spell that allows illusions to be physical, or maybe i'm mixing up a spell from DnD, that said, almost any spell effect is possible with SR magic rules
Kaernetron
Feuergeist
- Location
- Weit, Weit dort Oben
Iirc the only things magic in Shadowrun straight up can't do are resurrection and teleportation. Effects than can be mistaken for reality displacement are possible through a combination of (physical) illusions and elemental manipulation, although not at the scale Labyrinth is known for.
Unless you run into the middle of a Mana Storm, that is (no, you don't get a Darwin Award for that).
Unless you run into the middle of a Mana Storm, that is (no, you don't get a Darwin Award for that).
- Location
- Australia
There's a list of things it can't do in the Street Magic 4e rulebook. It's a bit longer than this.
No creating complex objects (and hammers count as complex!), no decision-making, no space-warping (including teleportation), no time-manipulation (though you can speed up processes), no resurrection...
I... forget the rest.
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