Realistic or Modern Mission: Operation Snowglobe!

[Necessity4Fun]

Kendrick Haywood

​

Location: AEGIS Facility 108 - Storage Closet >> First Floor Corridor >> Outside
People Around: No One >> Everyone who is still in the cafeteria >> Hamasaki Manami
Interactions: Gus
Today's Toys: Ted

Here we go

Dashing down the corridor, Kendrick made his way to the storage closet. He would have preferred to take his time, of course, but since the game was about to start he didn't want to make people wait for him as well. Wouldn't want to have a teacher come check on him if he took too long after all.
The vision of a neatly hung white parka was rather welcoming, as if it had been waiting for him all this time. The boy carefully set Ted on one of the nearby shelves and proceeded to change from his black coat, hanging it in the same fashion as the parka had once been. He put the borrowed piece of clothing on, starting to zip it until half of the height. An idea crossed his mind and the teenager kindly took his teddy bear back up. Setting it between his chest and the parka, leaving the arms and head outside, Kendrick finished zipping, giving Ted a safe place to stay during the activity, protected from most of the snow too!

Upon turning around and staring at the exit door, the boy sighed. Heading back outside or lingering around longer? There wasn't really a choice to do, even if he felt like ditching the game all-together and engaging on something else now. Not that he was ever interested at it.

"I wonder if Manami is going to be mad at us..."

Kendrick looked down at Ted, the toy looking back up at it's owner. Of course, the plush couldn't speak and neither was doing anything on it's own accord, but it felt as if someone was listening, perhaps even encouraging him to go on. The teenager smiled and petted the teddy bear's head:

"You're right. I should at least head back and assess the situation."

He sighed again, this time more confident, and stepped out of the closet. Leaving the room exactly as he had found, the boy made his way back just as the cheerful blue girl headed outside yelling 'GO, GO, TEAM BLUE!' excitedly at the top of her lungs, holding what looked like a blue sweater:

"Oh, so that was the 'flag'.", he thought to himself, relieved to see Manami in her usual mood. That had been quite the recovery for someone who had just passed out. Perhaps, the girl was a lot more resilient than she looked like.

Despite knowing the students supposed to go after her for the game, Kendrick had decided it was better not to, instead lingering in the hallway until the order to leave was given. His decision left him to accidentally eavesdrop on the conversation between Mr. McNabb and Ms. Morgan. The teenager tried not paying much attention to it, he wasn't supposed to anyway, but the confused questions from the EC teacher ended up being too hard to ignore. Kendrick wasn't sure what has happening either. Allen McNabb was always a rather strange individual, however, this was a record, even for the man. Ms. Morgan didn't sound like she was paying attention to him, or amused at all.

"I think I understand the confusion! Not sure how this happened, but I think the new girl thinks that Sam's name is 'Mr. Allen McNabb'. Were your introductions confusing perhaps?", Mr.Mallory's voice replied with a theory.

Confusing names?! From the little the boy had seem of Manami, he wouldn't put something this silly past her.
With a low, amused laugh, the teenager looked back on the morning, wondering where the confusion had started. The first time the three of them: Sam, Mr. McNaab and Manami, were around... That would be when the teacher had offered them a ride on his hideously colored Tesla, wouldn't it?

"And what happened next...? Let's see: I was offered a ride, that I politely rejected later, but before that...Oh! The furred girl had been rude asking who the man was and I replied-...... Oh. Oh dear."

Without hearing the rest, Kendrick raised the hood of the parka and dashed outside. The first confusion had been dangerous enough, God knows in what kind of trouble Manami could get into by confusing names and maybe roles all around the place! And if he was right, it was technically his fault. Technically. Either way, that ought to be fixed as soon as possible.

"MAN-", the boy almost called upon catching sight of the blue sweater from before, but he stopped himself. What if she was still upset or mad after the whole situation at the cafeteria? Well, she had no reason NOT to be. After all, it ended up being quite a risk for her, if passing out was any sign...
Instead, he decided to just approach silently, let the girl engage into conversation if she wanted and have a choice not to if she didn't want it. He took a couple steps closer to her location and braced himself for either a shower of questions, or yelling.

 

[Gus]

Manami Hamasaki
​

Location: Just outside 108
Nearby: Kendrick so far
Mood: Euphoric
@s: Necessity4Fun ManicMuse Lioness075 The J B Bag o Fruit The Oldest Blueberry

Manami had utterly forgotten about the game. She was still holding the sweater, but her face was turned to the sky, mouth open, scarfing down snowflakes like plankton. She didn't see Kendrick approaching at first, partly because of the thick curtains of snow coming down, but also because her gaze was directed upward and her attention was focused on turning in circles without falling down. Her laughter cut through the deadening snowfall like dolphin leaping out of the sea, joyful and carefree. On the third rotation, she slipped and nearly fell down, laughing all the more, and caught sight of Kendrick.

"OH! Kendi-Kun! It izu snowingu! So pretty! Ando Tasty!"

She reached out to take his hand, then realized the hand was already full of blue sweater. For a moment, she looks puzzled, then remembers."

"OH! We team Blu! Quicku, we hide. Dis way!"

She turns and dashes up the street toward Railroad Avenue, singing her impromptu song about the street name and laughing.

 

[ManicMuse]

Page Morgan

location : Facility 108, On the Playing Field


State of being: Cold in pain

@: Necessity4Fun Lioness075 The J B Bag o Fruit The Oldest Blueberry Gus


Nearby: Some then none but one unknown to her

Mr. Mallory was quick to offer up an explanation of events, as Mr. McNabb toddled about, now wearing the scarf, instead of hiding it. Page was at a loss for words, the odd behave from Mr. McNabb made her blood boil. It was one thing to have such odd social behaviors from the children, but an instructor? Page was not one for violence but part of her wanted to sock him in the nose. Biting her tongue, Page took a step back and looked away. Turning her attention toward the snow the chill of the air was getting to her.

"Right then. We should get under way. I will let you two sort this. I'll head out on the course."

The cold was tormenting her today. The chill of the air was enough to make her bones hurt. Rubbing the palms of her hands together she focused her concern into a purple flame, that started at her palms and slowly rippled up her body, keeping the cold at bay. Disappearing into the course, she headed off toward the docks. There, she hoped to avoid the others, at least for a time. Part of her wondered what was holding up Larry, he still had not bothered to respond to her text.

 

[Gus]

Aaron Mallory
​

Spoiler: @s

ManicMuse B Bag o Fruit The Oldest Blueberry Necessity4Fun The J Lioness075

"All right then, 'Mr. Allen McNabb' you run along and join your friends, you little scamp imposter... You too, Hadrian. ...and as for you, Mr. Allen McNabb the OG tern-burglar, why don't we get you installed in the snow fort, eh?" He starts to put a friendly arm around his elderly colleagues shoulders, then stops, thinking better of it; there is only so gentle he can be, and while Allen is a lot tougher than he looks, appearances rule his natural reactions. As they head toward the door, following in Page's fiery wake, Aaron stumbles, and nearly falls. Something feels... very... wrong... his head is spinning. He leans heavily against the wall of the hallway, pulverizing the drywall and crunching the brickwork beneath it. He sinks slowly to the floor, his hand describing a sweeping arc of wreckage where once was (more or less) pristine wall. He breath is coming in ragged gasps now. His voice is thin and wheezy as Allen's and his words seem slurred and confused
"Wha- Whe...where did... it all... go?"

And then the building power failed, plunging every thing into darkness. The only light remaining was the faint purple flickering of Ms Morgan's flames, just outside the facility doors.

"W- well... that. Can't. b- be... gooood..."

And then he went quiet. In the absence of power, facility 108 was as still as a tomb. You could almost hear the snow coming down outside.

​

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Kendrick Haywood

​

Location: AEGIS Facility 108 - Just Outside of the Main Building
People Around: Hamasaki Manami
Interactions: Gus
Today's Toys: Ted

I don't know why. But, I have a bad feeling about this...

Wondering what exactly Manami was up to, Kendrick raised an eyebrow, confounded. Sure, it had been quite a while since he had seen a game of 'catch the flag', but he was sure it didn't include spinning around the place. There was no denying the scene was enjoyable, however and his doubt filled expression melted into an warm and gentle, but also discreet smile, as he waited for the cheerful girl to notice his presence.

It didn't take her that long. Her silly disposition, followed up by a spin screw up and almost consequencial fall, caused the boy to hold back some laughter. Not that he wanted her to fall, but given how carefree Manami was being, it had been strangely amusing! And then she noticed him, called his name... and it hadn't been what he was expecting at all.

As if in sync, as she looked confused about the 'flag', he went puzzled about her entire reaction. Or, lack of a reaction, in this case. The girl had called for him, not angry nor sad, just the usual bounciness. To make it even more strange, she had clearly tried to reach for his hand again, seconds ago:

"Maybe Manami just, doesn't get angry at all??", his brain tried coming up with some kind of logical answer.

To be fair, that seemed like something impossible, but at the same time, this girl had been doing nothing but surprise him the entire morning. She was a complete mystery to him: innocent, naive and seemingly waaay too kind. -Or perhaps just oblivious?- He just couldn't begin to imagine what was going through her head at all! And that, was a bit scary.
There were absolutely no clean indications of 'do's or ' don't 's with Manami, which ended up making him consider every new action towards her very very carefully. There was only one thing he was certain about: He had definitely never encountered anyone else like this before in his life.

Blinking back from his introspection, Kendrick went after her, whose last sentence had gone beyond him, except for the last accented 'this way'. The teenager shrugged and did as he had been told to, Manami already rather far, cheerly singing. He doesn't make an effort to catch up, if anything, that gave him more time to think, which was always welcome.
As he watched her go by towards what could only be the avenue's direction, he recalled why he had come in the first time. And it was not the game. Once the boy had finally caught up, he went around the girl, hopefully catching her attention with the movement and stopped, back towards the avenue, and 108 straight ahead:

"So...", he hesitated not sure of how to begin, looking away from her for a moment, enough to see a figure leave the building beyond and head the other way, before returning his gaze to the girl, "...there's something we need to talk about, regarding names.", ugh, he was doing it again, being extremely vague... Come on, you can do better than this!

"You see, there seems to be a confusion going on and-"

Before he could finish, the noticeable beacon of light that was the facility, even during a heavy snowfall, blinked out of existence permanently. Kendrick wasn't even slightly focused on the structure at the time, but as the illumination spot in his line of sight simply vanished, it instantly caught his attention:

"Did 108's lights just went out?!", he asked himself in disbelieve, as if he needed a second layer of confirmation just to make sure it was actually happening, "Has that ever occurred before?", the boy couldn't recall, still, it just seemed incredibly weird for the entire facility to just go dark suddenly.

"Uhh, the game might have to be cancelled...", Kendrick accidentally commented out loud.

 

[Bag o Fruit]

Allen McNabb Gus ManicMuse The facility went dark. Oh huh. Allen leaned back and forth, Lazarus observing what they could. It appeared rather that the world had gone dark. Oh... huh. Is it an... eclipse??

"Haha! Mmister Mallory, you did wwell to schedule th-this game of capture the flag during aaa solar eclipse! Now everything is darrk! Hey... Is Mister Mallory on the floor?" Allen looked around, to no avail. M-miss Morgan, can you, err, light?" ...

Miss Morgan?

 

[Lioness075]

Name: Samantha 'Sam' Casan	Rank: B
Superpower: Superspeed	Attire: White parka, usual dark grey sweatshirt, jeans with bootcut, barefoot
Tagged: Gus (Manami), Necessity4Fun (Kendrick), B Bag o Fruit (Lazarus)

Sam shrugged off the cafeteria scene and chastising remarks, as she really wasn't bothered by all of it. In fact, she was busy trying to hide her smirk from everyone. That'd been hilarious and she'd loved every second of what had transpired. She couldn't understand what she'd done wrong in the moment. It was just for shit and giggles.

Lost in her amusement, Sam missed Kendrick and Manami leaving to join the game outside. It seemed most everyone else had left, which meant she was stuck with the creepy old man. Ew, no thank you.

Abruptly, Sam turned away from him and sped out to the front of Facility 108, her body becoming a blur in the process. Once she got outside, Sam quickly realized that her speed was going to be of no use in the snow-covered grounds. Skidding to a halt too late, Sam crashed right into a snowdrift, a comical imprint of her body on top of it. A moment later, her head popped back up with a small pile of snow on top of it. Frowning, Sam shook her head clear of snow and then climbed out of the snow drift before dusting herself off. Not the best entrance.

Looking around, Sam's glowing eyes helped her see in the dark despite the snow disrupting her view of the ground. It didn't take her long to spot Kendrick and Manami nearby. Jogging over to them, mindfully raising her knees to help herself cross the snow, Sam soon slowed to a halt beside Kendrick.

Elbowing him and grinning, Sam then exclaimed, "A team of champs here! There's absolutely no way the faculty will beat us in this 'capture the flag' game. No way whatsoever. Seriously."
Rolling her eyes after saying this, Sam resisted the urge to add how she'd gladly lead the team to victory to save them the embarrassment of trying.

 

[ManicMuse]

Page Morgan

location : Facility 108, Courtyard/ Doorway


State of being: Fiery


Nearby: McNabb, Mallory

@: Gus B Bag o Fruit Necessity4Fun Lioness075 The J

Page had not made it far. With her phone out, she was busy ordering a book that was just released. Hitting the confirmation button a notice of failure connection came up. After a few more attempts, a notice of no wi-fi filled her screen. Turning around and raising her phone in the air, she waved it around as if it would help. That is when she noticed all the outer lighting of the building was out. There was no power.

"Great."

No lights was not good but not awful. They were planning to be outside anyways. Still that meant it was going to be cold and dark. Guess it was up to her to fix that. Throwing her head back and giving a sigh, Page begrudgingly headed back toward the building. Before heading inside the doors, she stopped and turned her attention to the court yard.

Closing her eyes, she inhaled slowly clearing her mind. Raising both hands, envisioning a ball within her hands, the space between her palms filled with a fiery blaze. Pushing both palms away and outwards, the orange and yellow flames drifted away from her. The ball of fire split into four equal orbs. Suspended above the courtyard, the floating fire effectively illuminated the area. The purple flames, which had been warming Page faded away, as her focus now was on lighting the courtyard. Opening the door of the school, she sent two more orbs dancing down the hallway to light up the hallway where the other's were. Seeing whom she assumed was Aaron hunched over against the wall, she called out, "Hey, you alright in there? Let's get everyone out here."

​

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Kendrick Haywood

​

Location: AEGIS Facility 108 - Outside of the Main Building, a little farther up.
People Around: Hamasaki Manami and Sam
Interactions: Lioness075
Today's Toys: Ted

How much of an airhead can you be?!

Still pondering about what a blackout in facility 108 could even mean, though a little suspicious of the fact that it had happened in the first place, Kendrick had stopped paying attention to Manami, and instead was fully focused in watching the building past her.
As he did so, the boy noticed a figure come back and stop by the entrance for a while. With the lights out, the purple illumination the silhouette itself seemed to be giving out became clearer, leading him to conclude that could be none other than Ms. Morgan, since he hadn't seen anyone else capable of 'creating' light in such a scale inside the building earlier. Okay, that much made sense, but, what is she up to?

Completely distracted by trying to bestow hypothesis upon the few pieces of this 'puzzle' that had presented itself to him, the teenager didn't notice Sam's approach at all, despite it having been in his field of vision the entire time. Thus, when the girl annoying elbowed him, he was instantly brought back from his thoughts and noticeably surprised for a second...
...And then was extremely annoyed at how oblivious and noisy the girl was being:

"IF, we actually play any catch the flag", he sighed angrily, "Really? Didn't you just come from there? Did you not notice we're standing in complete darkness right now? The entire facility's power seems to have gone out! How could you have missed something this.big?!"

 

[Lioness075]

Name: Samantha 'Sam' Casan	Rank: B
Superpower: Superspeed	Attire: White parka, usual dark grey sweatshirt, bootcut jeans, barefoot
Tagged: Gus (Manami), Necessity4Fun (Kendrick)

Hearing Kendrick's usual angry and irritated tone, Sam couldn't help but immediately smirk. His typical attitude quickly followed with all of his questions and comments. It amused Sam that he thought he could annoy her like this.

Rolling her eyes, Sam promptly replied, "I used my superspeed when I ran out here. When I'm moving fast like that, I don't actually tend to notice everything that's slowly happening around me. I was focused on getting out here and then got distracted by the snow."

Turning around to finally see what had happened, Sam sighed.
"Yeah, looks like we probably won't be playing anytime soon. I guess the snow killed the power for the night."

Noting Ms. Morgan's floating orbs in the area, Sam retorted, "At least I can see the orbs floating around. Not sure how you missed those, Mr. I'm-so-observant."

Looking around again and frowning, Sam exasperatedly added, "Okay, how'd you lose Manami out here? Wasn't she just beside you? We can't lose the clueless fish-girl!"

 

[Gus]

The figure peered a bit longer into small crystal sphere in his right hand, and then with a flick of his wrist, it was gone. A voice like the rustle of carrion beetles rummaging through mulched flesh issued from under the hood of its cloak.

“My confinement on this cursed island is nearly at its end. What's past is prologue. I ascend, to take my rightful place once more. At that hour, lie at my mercy, all mine enemies... Moon-calves! Guard well my instruments. Do as thou wilt with whatever remains when I am gone, but suffer none to approach alive til then!”

The cloak opens and things begin to scuttle out of it. Scaly, chitinous things, the size of large dogs, but misshapen and with far too many limbs. Impossibly, nearly two dozen issue from the darkness of the cloak. Five drop off the edge of the pier behind him, churning the water as they swim away. Fifteen more burrow off through the snow drifts, splitting into three groups heading north, south and west. The final three are the largest, and they spread enormous insectoid wings and buzz upward and away to the west, their noise deadened by the still falling snow.

The hood turns upward, watching them go for a moment, and then with a violent shake of its cloak, it is gone, leaving behind no sign but the falling of the snow it had caught in the folds of heavy cloth.

 

[Gus]

Aaron Mallory
​

Location: The floor
Mood: Trying not to panic; have to think!
Nearby: Allen McNabb
@s: ManicMuse Lioness075 Necessity4Fun The J The Oldest Blueberry B Bag o Fruit


Aaron lies on the floor, wheezing feebly. He feels like there is a tremendous weight on his chest, and he can't move a muscle. Correction: he can move his diaphragm, clearly, or he'd be suffocating. He takes stock for a moment and realizes that he can also move his eyes, and tongue. For his limbs though, nothing. He can't even lift his head off the floor. If he rolls his eyes back as far as he can just see Allen hovering nearby. He takes as deep a breath as he can manage and rasps out:



“Allen! Allen, hel' 'e. Hel' 'e 'lease. Get the staph and students 'ack in here.”



Spent, he draws another short breath, and turns his focus to his sole remaining resource. Think, Mallory! What is going on?!

 

[Bag o Fruit]

Allen McNabb TAGS Having discerned that he was alone, Allen stood in place drooling a little as Lazarus shifted their attention to processing power instead of maintaining human brain function. Alright... if our memory files are correct there is not supposed to be an eclipse happening today. Also, there seems to have been a power outage and a Mister Mallory outage. This is- wait. Isn't Miss Urbain the power for the facility? How has there been a power outage?

In a few seconds, Lazarus scanned through the facility blueprints that they'd saved to their memory files and formulated theories. Dark, theory one: a large object has blocked the sun. Dark, theory two: the sun has been consumed and we're all going to die. Dark, theory three: our systems were somehow disabled until nightfall without us noticing. Dark, theory four: the facility has entered a pocket dimension.

Power, theory one: Miss Urbain's containment has been breached and we're all going to die. Power, theory two: the turbine has somehow become misaligned. Power, theory three: Miss Urbain's powers have somehow been disabled. Power, theory four: the facility has entered a pocket dimension without the component housing Miss Urbain, and we're all going to die, AND most of Baltimore is going to die.

Allen fell on his ass while Lazarus wasn't paying attention. Actions that could remedy dark theories: none. Actions that could remedy power theories: find Miss Urbain and attempt to rearrange her genes. Probability of success: ... 0. Darn.

As they computed, Aaron awoke. “Allen! Allen, hel' 'e. Hel' 'e 'lease. Get the staph and students 'ack in here.”

Lazarus had a moment of sudden terror as the auditory system flared into alarm. They reassumed piloting positions, and puzzled over the input they'd been given. Allen. Got that. Hel... ee. Helly? Hellish? Hellish... lease. Given what we've learned about the challenges facing the facility administrative staff, this is unsurprising. "Get the staph and students ack in here"... okay, ack is a well known exclamation of sickness or injury. He is undoubtedly experiencing distress. Get the staff and students in here. Okay! Allen can do that!

Allen grinned, and narrowly managed to stand up. Stepping foot by foot, he made his way to the door, and waitaminute paused. He turned.

"Mmister Mallory." he said "I shhould think you'd know: in sschool we use "heck". Then he turned back, opened the door, and ventured forth to slip on a patch of ice.

 

[Gus]

Manami Hamasaki
​

@s: Necessity4Fun Lioness075 ManicMuse The Oldest Blueberry B Bag o Fruit The J


Manami clears the nearby snowdrift at a bound, slips and falls, sliding to a stop on her back in between Kendrick and Sam. She holds up her hands for help regaining her feet, but is already talking in a steady stream of mixed english and Japanese.



“Oh! Bikuri-shita! I so... surprise! I try hide... swetah? Across. Beah creeko?” she gestures vaguely to the north, “Ovah dato wuei. Dekinai! I can noto go to zeyah! Is... wall? Gurass jya nai no desu kedo... It not grass, but it... like grass? Like... grass bui? Anno... Like fishbowl wall? I swim check... it eburywhere!”

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Kendrick Haywood

​

Location: AEGIS Facility 108 - Outside of the Main Building, a little farther up.
People Around: Hamasaki Manami and Sam
Interactions: Lioness075 , Gus
Today's Toys: Ted

Until I see it, I won't believe it.

Crossing his arms, the boy silently listened to Sam's counter-arguments, wearing his usual, unamused expression. That is, until she switched roles and started reprimanding him out of nowhere! An indignant gasp came out with such a force that Kendrick choked. Was he actually hearing that?! This is preposterous!

"I would have noticed it if a certain someone hadn't interrupted me.", he spat, "You have absolutely NO right to call me out on something that you, yourself, caused in the first place! And no, before you say anything, I do not mean the orbs!!"

Wanting to avoid another brawl, Kendrick took a deep breath to calm down. He was still noticeably annoyed, but when answering the girl's next questions, the boy no longer raised his voice in anger:

"Manami is not some sort of pet that I need to look after as if I'm a guardian angel. She's a rational individual just like me and you, who can come and go as she pleases. I'm sure she can take care of herself-", 'there's just snow here', it's what he had been about to say.

However just as the finished that last sentence, there was the sound of the one in question, tripping and falling. Soon she stopped between the other two, accidentally proving Kendrick wrong. He facepalmed mentally and reluctantly, offered Manami a gloved-hand to help her stand up. Before he could even ask anything, the girl had started blurting out a mix-match of languages, a bit too fast for him to pay full attention or grasp the whole message.

Like last time, a couple of the words stood out: surprise, grass (but 'it not grass'), fishbowl wall and a heavy accented everywhere by the end. Grass, but not grass... That had to be the starting point. Not only because it made less sense, but because it was the component they had more information about. Like grass, but not grass... It couldn't be a plant. Everything was covered in snow currently. If it wasn't the meaning that was similar, perhaps the spelling? WAIT. 'Fishbowl wall'...GLASS! Glass...everywhere? What glass? There is supposed to be no glass in the outside...

"Is she actually hinting at the possibility that we're trapped in an invisible dome, like some fantasy movie with magic?", he mentally laughed, "Because there is no way that can be true..."

Kendrick looked at her with sympathy and a hint of amusement. He would have expected to hear such things from a little kid, but strangely this didn't surprise him that much. He smiled. She was so innocent, so sweet. Part of him wished he didn't have to drag her back to reality:

"Manami...", he started softly, "I have seen a lot of things, but this is way too out there. Everything has a limit. That is a thing from movies, okay? You probably just tripped at something else and then assumed it was an invisible wall."

He had to admit though. No matter how unbelievable and nonsensical it sounded, had he not been supporting Manami right now, the boy would have gone towards where she had pointed. Just to sate his curiosity...

There is NO way this is something that's really happening.

 

[Gus]

Aaron Mallory
​

Location: Facility Hallway, on the floor
Condition: Paralyzed
Interactions: none
@s: B Bag o Fruit Lioness075 ManicMuse The Oldest Blueberry Necessity4Fun The J Teh Frixz

Allen McNabb tottered away, leaving Aaron alone in the dark with his thoughts. This was far from comforting. He had never felt so helpless in all his life.

(A flash impression of a lab with warning alarms blaring pops through his mind and is gone again.)

What force could possibly hold him against his will?! And what could the others do against such power? Come to that, why were none of the others affected by this? Why only him? As he pondered this fact, he suddenly realized: that was itself a clue. Whatever was happening to him was targeted to him specifically, tailored to his peculiar powers. The rising tide of panic dissipated, and he began to think clearly again.

All right Mallory. So they have taken away your strength. That doesn't define you. What else have you got? Wormholes? No. Not enough energy. All you have left is your brain and your senses. So. Use them.

He reaches out, feeling the space around him as sensitively as he can. First the building around him. Slight stirring of the other people nearby. The ground beneath him felt... peculiar. Shallow. The harbor too, as if most of it were gone. He pushed past them, tried to find the moon and the sun. Something blocked him. He reached out again, and again, but wherever he focused, all he could feel was a gently curved 'wall' of some kind. The mass energy of the barrier was fantastic; like nothing he'd ever experienced... except... Playing a hunch he visualized his hands reaching out and out, spreading nearly a mile to touch the dome, his fingers splayed out across its surface for hundreds of yards. He focused on sweeping out the surface this way and that until he found... A bump. A little cluster of energy like a pimple on the inner surface of the sphere, near the ground, almost due east of him, and from that little imperfection, a thread, leading back to him. He traced it back, found five more threads leading from him out to the sphere. One in each cardinal direction, one straight up into the sky, and one driving down deep into the earth. And at the end of each of them was a tiny little imperfection. Six siphons, draining away his power. Presumably to power the sphere. To what purpose he could not begin to imagine, but he didn't suppose it was good. People with good use for your powers tend to ask politely. Still, he knew where his power had run off to, and knowing, they say, is half the battle.

This battle though, he was going to have to trust to an old man, a living power plant, four students, a secretary, and a service robot.

And the day had started so promisingly.

Suddenly realizing Penny's drones might be on battery back-up, he called out to see if she was listening

"h-enny? You there? Change ov less'n -lans. We could use suh hel- if you can hear me."

 

[Lioness075]

Name: Samantha 'Sam' Casan	Rank: B
Superpower: Superspeed	Attire: White parka, usual dark grey sweatshirt, bootcut jeans, barefoot
Tagged: Gus (Manami), Necessity4Fun (Kendrick)

Sam choked on laughter, as Kendrick responded in probably the most appalled way possible. It was just impossible for Sam to take him serious when he got like this. It didn't help much that he was still a teen and any teen trying to be serious typically failed at it.

Further bemused by Kendrick attempting to defend Manami's current childlike state, Sam smirked and waited for him to finish.

Not a moment later, Manami herself slid into the scene with Sam and Kendrick. Raising an eyebrow while looking down at Manami, Sam muttered, "Speak of the devil..." Though, instead of offering any aid, she merely crossed her arms over her chest. She was the oddest person Sam had probably met since being here.

Already, Sam was only understanding about half of what Manami said to them. She did mention hiding the sweater across a 'beah' creek. Maybe she meant...beach? Was there even a beach nearby? No, they were near docks. Great.

Then Manami went on to mention some wall...which she went on to describe as a fishbowl wall. So helpful. Putting a hand on her face, Sam merely shook her head while Kendrick tried to make sense of everything said.

Hearing Kendrick shut down Manami's idea of a fishbowl wall, Sam then understood that she'd meant something like an invisible forcefield kind of wall. Much like Kendrick said, the kind one would only really find in movies. Though, given that they lived in a world full of supers...

Since it seemed like the teachers had been slow to join them, Sam decided a detour was in order.
"Manami, why don't you bring us to the fishbowl wall and show it to us?"

Even if it was made up, the mere 1% chance of being able to prove Kendrick wrong was too much to pass up on.

 

[Teh Frixz]

Penelope

"Ohhhh Hana-san, we can't! We are sibling and it be so wrong!"
"Don't you love me Toru-kun? Am I not pretty to you?"
"No no! Just no tell anyone about my new tenta-"


Power blacked out in Penolope's room deep below AEGIS, leaving her sitting silently in the dark facing her now empty TV screen. "Oh c'mon? Am I cursed? Is this hell?" She slides up off her couch and wanders off towards her wardrobe/darkened control console. The device used to monitor her power output and give her at least a little feedback on the status of the facility at large was oddly silent. Not normal but not unprecedented. She put out plenty of energy for the facility, but components failed now and then.

Tapping a few times while balancing on one leg to attempt putting on some pants, there was still no response. Even pulling the battery backup wasn't working and the first sense of panic was hitting her. Did the world just go dark up above? Did the facility collapse in? She gazes up at the ceiling for answers but none came. Not that she expected one to come flying out to her but it would be nice if it did.

Halting her standing and wondering, Penny decided this was enough of an emergency to use one of the many failsafes they kept on installing in here. The tiny closet blocked by a few cardboard boxes held her first line of defense against horrifically melting innocents out in the hallway. A big clunky suit, different than the mobile unit as this thing was merely a temporary, two hour rated, solution. Slipping into it and remarking at how fucking uncomfortable it was, Penny stepped off the platform and towards her vault like door.

It was always a bit creepy stepping on out into the facility at large. It felt like she was venturing into some high end restricted zone online but just the consequences this time were a tad more real. It felt good but still, uncomfortable to the max. FUCK IT.

"Hello? Powers out idiots. Someone come fix this shit, I was watching something?" The suit clunks along, Penny wandering down the hallway away from her room and into the dark of the facility.

 

[Gus]

Manami Hamasaki
​

Location: Near Corner of Railroad Avenue and Riverside Drive
Nearby: Sam and Kendrick
Mood: Not scared. Not yet. Just not liking the look of this.
OOC: WE'RE BACK!
Necessity4Fun Lioness075 B Bag o Fruit ManicMuse The Oldest Blueberry The J

“Hai! Uh... Yeas. Dat is ito! Inbisiburu wall. I show. Dis uway.” She bounded toward the water, then skidded to a stop. “Oh. Maybe you no swim? Ummm. DIS uway! Kwik! We go up re-yu-ro-do abenue.”

Moving with surprising speed for someone clearly built more for swimming than for running, Manami set off up the road without a backward glance. The snow was now more than half a foot deep, and continued to fall thick and fast. Keeping her in sight might have been a problem, except for the clear trail she left behind her in the thick white blanket.

As the trio approached the end of Railroad Avenue and turned onto Riverside Drive, the snow, which had been dropping straight down, undisturbed by wind in the least, gradually began trending northward. Curiously there still seemed to be no breath of wind of any kind. Nevertheless, the further north they went, the more the snow seemed to urge them forward until it was whipping past them as if driven by a gale. Even the snow on the road seemed to be thinning, as if the pull had become so great as to stop the snow in this area from even being able to settle on the ground. Up ahead, nearly concealed by the driving snow, there was some kind of hazy blue source of diffuse light with several undefined shapes moving in front of it, casting crazy shadows onto the whipping wisps of snow. Manami turned back to the others, scales puffed out and eyes wide.

“Wall is ovah dat uway. But... Shadows... I don't like.”

 

[Bag o Fruit]

Allen McNabb Gus Lazarus finished putting the back of Allen's skull together and had him stand up on the ice. Again. Third time's the charm, right? They were, in fact, auspiciously favored in that moment as Allen's feet landed on a grate in front of the facility. As designed, it had not frozen over. He stood, and Lazarus recollected themselves. Right, we were going... to find the students! They stimulated the area of the brain stem which contracted the diaphragm... too much, it seemed, and blew out that section of Allen's nervous system. As they worked in the lower regions to repair the damage, Allen began to turn blue from more than the cold and Lazarus began to worry that he'd fall over again.

Fortunately, they repaired the electrocuted nerve cells and tried again, more gently this time, to breathe in as far as Allen's lungs would allow without pain... and then a little more. Then, with all the gaseous ammunition they could muster, they let loose Allen's yell:

"STUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUDEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeents!"

And it was utterly lost in the wind. They tried again. And again. But it seemed they would be unable to reach the students from where Allen stood. It became clear: they would have to venture forth, into the snow and ice. Ohhhh dear.

Step by step, Allen tottered down the drive away from the facility. Step after careful, careful step. So far, they had managed not to fall, even keeping an eye out for students. We must be sure of every step. A fall will only set us back, and our mission is crucial. A step, a grind, a shift of the weight, a step, a grind, a shift of the weight, a step... soon the world nearly fell away, and all that mattered was the step, the grind, the shift. To remind themselves what it was they were fighting for, Lazarus turned Allen's head to look back at the facility.

It was still fully in view, no more than ten feet further away than when Allen started. Although the experience was not at all cathartic for Lazarus, as the action was not so much theirs as a process they invoked via electricity, they had Allen sigh. Then, they turned Allen back into the battering snow, and marched onwards against the wind.

The Facility watched him go. Allen's lab coat nearly invisible against the snow.

And soon the snow was all that could be seen.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Kendrick Haywood

​

Location: AEGIS Facility 108 - Outside of the Main Building, at the end of Railroad Avenue, by the foot of the gigantic invisible wall.
People Around: Hamasaki Manami and Sam
Interactions: Lioness075 , Gus
Today's Toys: Ted

Something is wrong, something is very very wrong and we shouldn't be outside right now!

As Sam laughed at him for the hundred time this Saturday, Kendrick's semblance fell into the utmost expression of numbing frustration. At this point, he was just so done that anger wouldn't even come through properly anymore. He took a low pitched and heavy sigh. So heavy in fact that one could hear the amount of irritation the boy was feeling right now. Heck, he could even sense a headache coming this way:

"I swear to God! if your next sentence isn't something useful, I might just decide to throw myself into the bay and end my misery! Bloody Hell..."

Luckily for him, and possibly everyone else nearby, the girl did make an acceptable suggestion. Kendrick thanked the Universe and beyond for this blessed moment of clarity that had been bestowed upon them and managed to relax a bit.
Okay, investigating the 'invisible wall' that was something he could get on board with, if not solely to unmask the damn thing. Sure, the teenager had seen a couple strange things already, but to believe everything was suddenly possible was stretching it. This was still reality and it still had its limits.

Promptly answering to Sam's idea, Manami soon took off wanting to guide them to the supposed wall. At first, the boy didn't make much of it, merely following the girl's path with his gaze. But once he realized she was moving towards the water, an alarm went off in his head and he had been about to stop her. She, however, seemed to notice something, coming to a halt by herself.

“Oh. Maybe you no swim?"​

Kendrick paused, the question had taken him by surprise. He attempted to hold the sudden nervousness the matter brought up, hiding one concern by overlapping it with a similar one:

"Well, not necessarily... But I'm sure that we wouldn't be as comfortable with swimming during this weather as you seem to be. Surely we would all get sick from the combination of wind, snow and being completely soaked."

His commentary had probably not reached Manami, as the girl had already restarted movement, dashing in a new direction before the others. Well, at least this was a path still on land, which was much appreciated. Still unconvinced, the boy went after her, not making an effort to catch up at all. Instead, he once again went over the situation in his head, looking for an explanation, maybe a clue that he had missed somewhere.
Attempting to keep Manami inside his field of vision proved to be an impossible task. Heck, she was fast! While he had been struggling to find proper footing over the snow cushion, the cheerful girl had gone through it without a problem. It was almost as if the snowstorm didn't actually pose a barrier for her. ...... ...Wait there a minute!

He glanced left and right with suspicion. Turns out the lead he had been looking for had been in fact, under his nose the entire time. There was no wind... The snow kept falling at an angle, suggesting that something was influencing said pattern, but it wasn't the wind! There.was.no.wind! And the way he could say so with certainty was due to the fact that, not only he had finally realized his hat had probably fallen during the cafeteria conflict, but despite being unprotected in the outdoors his hair remained perfectly still until he moved again.

"This can't be right...", he started in a low voice, "There must be a logical explanation for this phenomenon...", the boy tried reassuring himself, but the doubts had begun rising and alongside them, concern.

Shaking his head to regain his focus, Kendrick realized that he had reached Manami at last. She turned around and said something to the other two, but the sight of the sci-fi translucent wall had already drawn his attention completely. He let out a low 'woa' as he admired the blueish glass-light that stood before them. Amazing as it was, his mind was already racing with theories over why that was a thing. This could be just a mirage, or it could be the result of some weird light refraction, maybe even a mix of both of these?
And then he spotted the road; The actual road! That was supposed to be as filled with snow as the rest of the place was... He inspected the scene further, now trying to find a theory for that fact, but nothing came to him. Instead, he noticed the odd behaviour that the snow presented in this place. It was almost as if something was acting as a snow magnet?! But, how would that even work??

The doubts reappeared as Kendrick became not only confused, but worried as well. The feeling of losing control of the situation soon took over, making his thoughts run awry. Been able to explain things always brought him a notion of safety. But it had slowly begun to fade as the truth caught up with him. The teenager reached into his pants' pocket, surprisingly enough finding a coin.
In a desperate act of both stubbornness and denial, Kendrick took the one dollar coin and flicked it in the direction of the wall. His last stand backfired when the coin hit the distorted light and ricocheted back at a random angle. The boy could feel his blood freeze as his depiction of reality completely shattered:

"That... That wasn't supposed to happen..."

Something was wrong. Now it was clear as day that whatever was happening was incredibly serious. He took a step back, terrified:

"Uhhh, change of plans! I suggest we all go back into the building where is safe. And the faster we do it probably the better..."

 

[Gus]

Peering down from the roof of the school, the hooded figure watches the students and staff scurrying this way and that in varying degrees of consternation.

Something like a chuckle issues from under the hood, and the rustling charnel house voice muses to itself:

"Fools! I and my fellows are ministers of Fate: the very essence of which your paltry powers are forged. Like the baseless fabric of this world, its cloud-capped towers, its solemn temples, even you, and all your people, shall pass away. Observe this great globe: all that which it encompass, shall dissolve, and leave destruction in its wake. My labors are done. My long journey home begins!"

Away to the west, near the limit of sight, the harbor turns red. A moment later the sky overhead flares red, and then, as if in answer the eastern horizon flares red, and then the south as well. Last, after a brief delay, the bluish light just past bear creek to the north turns red and begins to pulse. To the three children of 108 who had gone to investigate the barrier, it outlines the shadows in tints of blood, revealing the strange chitinous creatures as they are: not merely shadowy tricks of the eye, but true monsters. They scuttle menacingly forward, pinchers clacking.

 

[ManicMuse]

Page Morgan
B Bag o Fruit Gus Lioness075 Necessity4Fun Teh Frixz
​

Page was oblivious to the growing threat. Instead, her focus had been set on watching the very odd behavior of McNabb as she stood in the doorway. After watching him collapse beside Mr. Mallory, Page panicked. Perhaps, the stress of being old and insane had finally delivered the killer blow . Dead or not, that did not change the fact that now there was two collapsed instructors and the children were who knows where. Then again, knowing her luck, she suspected Mr. McNabb was just acting strange, once again and was likely perfectly fine.

Taking a slow inhale, all the flames produced by her, flickered with the influx of tension that was flowing through the young secretary. Pulling the phone from her pocket, she slowly walked back into the building, toward the bodies laying upon the floor. Pulling the phone from her jacket, she began to open an email and attached the students to it before titling it, *Important*.

Standing now a few steps from the men, she kept the message short and simple, "Return the cafeteria immediately. Do not leave anyone behind." No sooner had she sent the message, did McNabb pop off the ground and take off toward the door. Page, silently grinded her teeth, having no time for the shenanigans. Bottom line, the power was out and something was clearly wrong with Aaron. Kneeling down, Page leaned in attempting to locate a pulse, if such a thing was possible given his physiology.

"Aaron? What is going on? Are you okay?"

Shifting a sphere of fire closer, Page attempted to visually inspect the man, "I really hope you are not having a heart attack Mr. Mallory. I really would have no idea how to treat such a thing given your....condition."​

 

[Gus]

Aaron Mallory
​

Location: 108 hallway floor
Mood: Worried, but making progress toward plan.
Nearby: Page Morgan
@s ManicMuse Lioness075 B Bag o Fruit The Oldest Blueberry Necessity4Fun

Page Morgan, thank heavens! He was not a bit convinced that Allen had understood a word he had wheezed, or that Penny had heard him. Ms. Morgan, however was utterly competent and professional. She would rally the others where he could not. He tried to call out to her as she she bent down to inspect him, but the words wouldn't come. He rolled his eyes toward the light, trying to show her that he was at least conscious if otherwise immobilized. Why couldn't he talk? Unable to move his lips or jaw made it difficult but... His vision blurred.

Air.

He was nearly out of it, with none to spare for speaking.

Fighting for his very life, he mentally pulled with all his might on the siphoning threads to the east and west, trying desperately to wring a bit of his stolen power from them. He didn't need much, just enough to move his diaphragm.

With a hissing groan, he drew a long shaky breath, and after a moment his vision cleared. Re-concentrating his recovered energy stores in his neck and jaw, he rolled his head as well as his eyes to face Page's light. Forcing the barest movement of his lips he spoke as clearly as he could manage.

Ms. 'organ, I b'lieve the h-acility is under attack. Someone has... stolen my energy and sealed us off with a barrier. Cell signals and wi-h'i are likely gone. Use your flames to signal the students to come 'ack. Then go get -enny... ...Ms. Ur-b'ain... If -ower is out they may be siphoning her off too. I will try to gather 'ack what energy I can. Hurry!”

 

[Gus]

Manami Hamasaki
​

Location: Facing the monsters --> Splashing down in Bear Creek
Mood: Fierce --> Dazed
Nearby: Kendrick, Sam, and an awful lot of awful things.
@s Necessity4Fun Lioness075 ManicMuse B Bag o Fruit


Recognizing the intent, if not the body plan of the creatures, Manami positioned herself squarely in between them and her fellow students. Casting the blue sweater down in the snow like a gauntlet, she lowered her head and spread her arms and feet in a ready stance.

“Yu will not hurt my friends!”

As the first of the things scuttled forward, she threw herself flat on her back and flicked one arm upward, a blade like stinger shooting up into its mouth parts and tearing back out again along with a spurt of dark fluid that stained the snow and splashed across Manami's face. The creature reared back, wounded, then one of its pinchers, the smaller serrated one, swept down swiftly, attempting to grab her around the neck. She caught the two halves of the pincher in her hands, and strained to stop it closing, her muscles bulging almost obscenely. There was a cracking sound and a high pitched burble issued from the monster. Its damaged pincher jerked upward, pulling Manami with it. Then its other pincher, the massive one, swung in from her right and cuffed her with a tremendous impact, and she sailed off into the night, landing, after a long moment, with a splash in bear creek. The wounded creature withdrew back toward the creek and three more took its place, menacing the two remaining students.

The flashing red light of the barrier began to pulse more rapidly.