Stage 4: Arrivals & Departures Arc 5.4

  Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

  I sit up at full attention. "How long has she been awake?"

  "Off and on for a few hours now, she first woke up late into your surgery."

  "I want to see her." I say as I start getting out of bed. At least I'm not hooked up to anything this time.

  "Let me check if she's awake first." Ms. Clark pulls out her phone and begins texting.

  "Y'all are watching her too?"

  "She was as much of a witness to the Nine as you are. We want to speak with her more as well. Plus, wouldn't you want to know if her being held by your power in stasis had any side effects?"

  I pause as my feet hit the cold tiles of the floor. Would there be any side effects? Why would there? There shouldn't be.

  "She’s not awake right now. How about we get you some food and checked out first?"

  ****?

  After eating and grinding Observe a bit, I go to Chela's room. She is still asleep but they have at least moved her out of the ICU. It's still visiting hours for family. How long will that ruse last me though? I can't do much until she wakes up. Her Observe status hasn't changed any since this morning.

  I rouse from meditation as I hear a muffled moan coming from Chela's bed. At least I wasn't in free camera mode or I might not have heard her. The clock on the wall says it's a little past eight in the evening. "Chela?" I ask as I look around. We're still alone. All my previous paranoid Observes didn't reveal any cameras or recording equipment. I slip off my flimsy domino mask as she flutters her eyes open.

  <"Hey, Chela, it's Simon">

  It takes a moment before she responds. <"Simon?">

  <"Yes, I brought you to a hospital">

  <"They said, Stasis…">

  <"Stasis is the cape name I gave them. So you spoke with them?">

  <"My…everything hurts... how?">

  <"Inventory"> She looks at me with confusion, but I can't tell if it's about my word choice or pain. <"A space, where I put things and take things out of that you saw while we were…">

  <"You… saved me then.">

  <"Only returning the favor, I wouldn't have escaped without your help.">

  <"We wouldn't… My parents?">

  <"I told the PRT where to look, they've been investigating the site, the town everything happened in and…">

  <"Are the Nine dead?">

  <"No… they escaped."> As I say it, Chela's hands tighten into white knuckled fists, and her heart rate monitor starts spiking.

  <"I want to kill them."> Chela mutters in a low growl.

  <"Chela, no, you can't, you're not strong enough, and you're injured. You have to heal, and grieve, and…">

  <"I'll get stronger."> She half-yells, but her defiance slips as wet tears roll down her face and the rhythm of the heart rate monitor goes back to normal. <"I don't know what to do.">

  <"Heal is what you need to do. You got stabbed through the chest, you were on the edge of death. Rest, heal. Get physical therapy, get mental therapy, counseling, go back to school."> All the things I should be doing myself. Why can't I take my own advice? <"I'm going to try to do whatever I can to make sure you get better.">

  Nearly a minute passes without her responding further, albeit she is still crying quietly. Observe.

  She gained a few stress points, and obviously isn't sedated or unconscious anymore, and her other mental debuffs are no longer latent. Motivations? Why would she think she would get kidnapped? Oh no, you can't follow me. I grab her hand and squeeze it, I can't exactly hug her, but… Good, that restored another stress point at least. <"Do you have any other family in the states? Or friends? Anyone at all?"> I ask cautiously. She squeezes my hand harder and shakes her head no. Damn.

  <"They asked me that too."> Chela whispers quietly.

  <"They?"> Of course they did. <"What did you say?">

  <"Doctors, a social worker, and a government person. I told them my name, and that I had no one to contact, that my family died in the attack. I don't want to get deported. Can I stay with you?">

  You knew she would ask that, but… <"I.. Chela…">

  <"If they send me back to Mexico I will get kidnapped by the cartels for my power!"> she pleads.

  Shit, yeah, that's probably a thing that happens there. < "I implied we were related just so they would let me see you, but I can't...">

  <"Then I will say you are, please.">

  <"No, I mean, I'm homeless. I couldn't support you. I don't even know how I will support myself. You can't heal or get help by following me, it would be bad, and dangerous. Look…did you tell them you were a citizen or immigrant or such?"> She shakes her head no. <"Then if they ask, say you are a citizen, but you don't know what your social security number is and don't know where any documentation is. Say you remember your parents telling you that you were born in Galveston or something. They'll have a hard time disproving that. You understand?">

  She nods slowly. <"My papa, he coached me on things like that sometimes. Will you stay? We could...">

  <"Chela… I have other people I'm trying to reach; and even when I get there, I'll still have the problem of not having a place to live. So I can't stay either.">

  <"You will leave me too? Everyone has left me…">

  <"I don't want that either. I'll see what I can do to get you a phone or something and my contact info, but I just can't provide you with what you really need. Which is healing and to get your mind into a better place.">

  <"I had hope when I first woke up. I knew you were in the hospital. I recognized your sign or flavor or such. There were two other powered people here too, one near you but they left hours ago. The other is still here.">

  <"The one near me was a guy named Leech. He helped me get healing."> I hold up my bandaged hand. <"I don't know about the other one."> Actually It's probably the other cape the PRT mentioned they would have nearby. <"Where are they located?">

  <"46.3 meters to the southwest and 4.5 meters up. They stay within one spot then move to another in that area every 10-15 minutes.">

  <"I think there is a Hero visiting sick kids on another floor. I wouldn't worry about it.">

  Chela grimaces, gasps a little, then pulls her hand away from mine, fumbling for some button on a cable before pressing it. <"Are you okay?"> I throw some observes at all her equipment to see what she is doing.

  <"It hurts…"> Chela mumbles before her face relaxes once again. <"What is going to happen now?"> she asks me after nearly a minute passes.

  <"Did you tell anyone about what you can do?"> She shakes her head no. < "Then, since you don't have any family to stay with, they'll call CPS, that's Child Protective Services, and…">

  <"That is who the social worker lady said she worked for.">

  <"See they already started. It means that, after you get out of the hospital, you'll have to be in an orphanage for a while, or maybe a foster home. It won't be easy, but you can heal and go to school and meet other kids there, and…">

  <"Were you in one? You said you are homeless."> I grimace. Well how are you going to answer that one Simon? Going to tell her you ran away also? <"You were. You ran away didn't you?">

  Fuck. <"Don't do what I did, my situation was complicated.">

  <"Why not? Complicated because you have powers? Won't that make it complicated for me too?">

  She is crying softly again, damn it. I don't know what to tell her. A fat lot of good my Speech skill is doing right now. Then again, I don't know what it is I am trying to achieve or get her to do here. <"Just, don't use me as an example, you don't actually know much about me; or me you, not really.">

  <"But you told them you have powers, should I say so? What will happen then?">

  I moved closer and spoke quietly, close to whisper. <"I didn't tell them, but I couldn't hide them either. I used them to save you, and had to use them again to get you help; and even then I haven't revealed all of them. I… I can't really tell you if you should or shouldn't tell them. That really has to be your decision. But if you do, you'll automatically get removed from Foster care and put into the Wards"> I notice her frown, and amend my statement, <"But that's not necessarily a bad thing, it might even be better for you. I think they're suspicious anyway just because you survived the Nine.">

  <"Is that why you ran away? Because you didn't want to join?"> She whispers back to me.

  I may be fucking this up. <"No… no, that's not why.">

  <"So you will join? I will join if you are there.">

  <"No, I mean that's not why I ran. I just… It was too inflexible of an environment for me to stay with my foster family, and I needed to go find someone, and figure some stuff out.">

  <"So would you join after you figure stuff out?">

  I audibly sigh. <"No. I don't think it would be right for me. There would be a lot of rules and regulations that I don't think I'd work well under; and that wouldn't work well with my powers either."> Chela starts to say something again, but I interrupt. <"But don't make your decision based on what I am doing." I plea to her, <"I'm probably not making good decisions anyway."> I mutter under my breath.

  <"I just want to get strong enough to kill the rest of those monsters that killed my parents. Will these Wards help me do that?">

  <"I don't know if anyone can help you do that. The Nine is really horrible. They won't let a Ward go after them, but you can probably get training, or so they claim. I don't know how they operate.">

  <"I do not know anything about powers, or the masked fighters, just what I hear on the television. In Mexico, the Villains run the cartels, and half the Heroes are corrupt. Lots of refugees constantly flee Central and South America from the horrible fights there.">

  <"Well, I know some, but I'm no expert. You had what is called a trigger event. It happened when Jack kicked the…"> I stop as she noticeably withdraws. <"Yeah, this isn't going to be an easy thing to talk about. I won't if you don't want me to.">

  <"It is okay"> Chela says, but she hits the button on her pain meds thing again anyway.

  <"Are you sure you're okay for this? You're grieving and on pain-killers the story will sound crazy and I don't…">

  <"Even if I am not okay I still want to know."> Chela grunts out stoically, interrupting me, she has stopped crying and wipes her prior tears off her face. She shouldn't even have this much semi-calm given what she has been through, but fuck neither should I, so maybe…

  <"Alright then. These giant things, I don't know what to call them. They look like giant space whales in the weird ass dreams or memories or whatever I saw when I blacked out when your trigger happened. Then I realized it wasn't the first time I saw them. I saw them when I triggered last December. I just forgot or maybe I suppressed it for some reason. It's hard to tell because…"> Because weird ass amnesia. <"Well never mind, but the point is that these things come down and touch a part of your brain, something called the Corona Pollentia and give you powers. You were already primed to receive powers, anyone with a Corona Pollentia is. I noticed on the bus before everything happened, I guess I was too, but didn't know it at the time.">

  <"You noticed? Why didn't you say anything?">

  <"Another weird aspect of my powers. I didn't want to say anything because it's apparently possible to live your whole life with one and not get triggered with powers, so why burden you with that? Then the Nine happened and all we could focus on was surviving…">

  <"…I still want to know,"> she says a bit glassy eyed, prompting me to continue.

  <"So when you actually triggered, these weird spiraling tendrils came down from those space whale things, and it also made me, Jack and Burnscar blackout, and I re-saw, or re-remembered my own weird trigger vision, so I'm fairly certain you had one too and…">

  <"The what things?">

  <"The giant space whale things that touched your brain. I just told you about them."> she just looked at me with confusion. <"Okay let me try again, these giant space whale things give you power when you trigger because of your stress hitting zero and you having the worst day of your life. Anyone with a Corona Pollentia, that's a structure in your brain, which can possibly get powers when triggering, though not always. You can sometimes live your whole life with one and have that not happen. I got a vision of this happening when it happened to me but couldn't remember it until it happened to you and I blacked out because I saw it happening to you. Then I remembered it again and when I woke up I even saw these weird illusionary tentacles reach out of the sky touching your head but then they disappeared, hell even Burnscar said something about worms, before being confused and wondering why she was on the ground… ">

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  I stop as Chela holds her hands up to the sides of her head. <"My head hurts…">

  I noticed her observe window flicker with updates, and what the holy fuck?

  Just as quickly, the two new status effects disappeared. <"Chela what the last thing you remember just now?">

  <"I told you I don't know anything about powers or masked fighters…">

  <"Just what you heard on television"> I finish for her. Hell I even have those spiral things recorded on my FRAPS, the ones Burnscar, Jack and the rest never even reacted to, the ones which will go away along with my interface if I filter my interface stuff off when exporting.

  <"Simon?"> Chela asks.

  <"Yeah, just a moment."> Just what the hell is this? Why would she lose memories of our conversation about it? Why did I lose memories of it the first time? I toggle the FRAPS I have running right now and rewind my last conversation with her, then I start again, keeping an eye on her open Observe window. Hell, I could show her the scene with the tendrils if I had a computer to play it back on… Yeah, no that's stupid. No fucking way I'm showing her the worse moment of her life on video.

  I begin again for the third time. <"I'm no expert, but you had what is called a trigger event. This isn't going to be an easy thing to talk about, and I won't if you don't want me to. I want to make absolutely sure you're okay with this. You're grieving and on pain-killers, and the story will sound crazy.">

  <"Even if I am not okay I still want to know."> Chela says, echoing what she told me before, and not even remarking on how I just repeated my paraphrased intro for the third time.

  I should go slowly, use more detail, take breaks, and ask her to confirm what I've said as I go. <"You triggered when Jack kicked the barrel out from under your mother…">

  ****?

  <"I see them, I see them, the whales, the Shards…"> Chela yells between hyperventilating breaths.

  Over an hour and several tries later I broke though, I was almost ready to give up. Learning that something tries to hide these memories was worth nearly an entire level in Parahuman Lore. I fucked up though. I shouldn't have pushed her. Her heart monitor is spiking, and she's holding my hand in a death grip. I told her as much as I could though it seems to have stuck this time.

  "What's going on?" A nurse barges into the room. "Move back now…" she pushes me out of the way but Chela is still holding onto my hand tightly.

  <"It's okay Chela, calm down."> I yell around the woman, moving out of the way, but Chela still hasn't let go.

  "What did you do to her?" the nurse asks me.

  "What, nothing!" The monitor beeping is slowing down now and Chela releases my hand.

  <"It was bad dream, I'm alright."> Chela says in my defense.

  "What did she say?" The nurse asks, then punches the call button. "Send Angela to room three-forty, we need an interpreter."

  "She said she had a bad dream"

  "Stasis?" I hear Agent Piper speak up from the hallway.

  The intercom answers "Angela went home for the day. Gabrielle is on shift though." Oh fuck my mask. I quickly slip it on, after the nurse looked at me.

  "Uh, oops. You didn't knock so I didn't have time." I tell her.

  "Oh Lordy, she's normalizing at least, just a spike." She says into the intercom as she turns her head away from watching me. "Damn Capes" I hear her mutter under her breath due to my enhanced audio volume.

  "I okay. Bad…" Chela brings her hands together next to her head in a sleeping gesture, then winces at the pain of moving her arm.

  "Dream, Bad Dream" I tell her.

  "Si, Bad Dream" Chela responds again.

  "Is everything alright in there? Are you masked up? You've been in there a while. May I come in?" I hear Piper ask from the hallway again.

  "I am now, the nurse didn't knock."

  "There was an elevated heart-rate alarm…"

  "Well, Ma'am, I'll remind you that…" Agent Piper begins as he enters the room. Another PRT agent files in behind him.

  Observe.

  "Yes, I know. We've had training classes on it. Pardon me, but I have other patients to attend to." The nurse says as she walks out.

  Piper nods at Chela. "I hope everything is alright. We haven't been properly introduced."

  <"Yes, Good Evening Chela, I hope you are feeling better."> Juan speaks up in Spanish. <"We spoke briefly earlier this afternoon. This is my associate Agent Piper">

  <"Isn't non-family visiting hours closed?"> I ask.

  <"Are you family?"> Agent Hernandez asks me.

  <"He's my Cousin"> Chela says.

  "Mind filling me in?" Piper asks.

  "She says Stasis is her cousin."

  "Ah well, nice to clear that up."

  "Where is Ms. Clark?" I ask them.

  "She had to head home, it's rather late."

  <"I am very tired, I want to eat and go to sleep. No more questions"> Chela says before looking at me. <"Sim--"> she pales a little at the slip.

  "Stasis" I remind her.

  <"Will I see you tomorrow?">

  <"Yes">

  I turn back to look at the agents. "Well you heard her."

  "Actually…" Piper cuts in before Hernandez interrupts.

  "She said she wants to sleep, and not answer questions." Agent Hernandez answers.

  "Well hopefully she can tomorrow. It was nice to meet you anyway." Piper says to Chela as we head toward the door.

  <"I will see you tomorrow"> I tell her as we leave.

  "And how are you Stasis?" Piper asks me as we enter the hall.

  "I'm hungry and tired also. I'd like a ride back to the hotel, and maybe pick up something to go. Any good BBQ places nearby open this late?"

  ****?

  We pull up to my hotel a half hour later, as I burn off some more mana from random Observe grinding during the drive. The BBQ containers are sitting in my lap filling my nose with sweet smells. I hope it's decent when I actually eat it though. Piper and Hernandez are sitting in the front seats. I get out but stop at the driver's side door. Agent Piper rolls it down.

  "Yes?" he asks.

  "Thank you, a lot, for helping get my hand fixed, tell Ms. Clark that too…"

  "But?"

  "There's other things I need. First don't pester my cousin with a bunch of questions."

  "She is a witness…"

  "And she can't recount what happened as well as I can without breaking down, so don't. I want all of her, all of our, hospital care paid for. That includes future needs for her. Physical therapy and Psychological counseling for several months if needed. The two people, the bodies, I mentioned you needed to find in Falling Spring. They're her parents. Pay for all their funeral arrangements, and whatever help she'll need to get over their deaths. She's lost everything, we both did.. She needs clothes, basic necessities, spending money and a good foster home. I can't take care of her. Hell, I need a wardrobe and money also."

  "You're asking for quite a lot. But you haven't yet…"

  "Quiet, before I change my mind. Just do whatever you need to, and I'll know if you come through or not. Just…" I can't keep holding it back if it can end those fuckers. "Jack Slash's main power isn't what people think it is. He's some kind of Master-Trump or Social Thinker. It's probably the only reason the Nine can ever stay together. I think he communicates with other people's powers. A normal girl got the drop on him though, for a few seconds before she got killed. She managed to shoot him in the arm, and he was actually surprised. Gunshot didn't do shit though because of enhancements Bonesaw put into him." Piper scrambles to pull out a data-recorder. I sigh, "Don't."

  He frowns. "Then will you be willing to make these statements in front of a Protectorate thinker panel?"

  "Maybe, at the hospital. I'm not going anywhere else."

  "Is there anything else?" Piper asks, stunned.

  "Yeah, the Siberian is a projection. The rest I'll do as a report for Ms. Clark as I promised." I see Hernandez pulling out a phone. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, after I talk with Chela, and you've told me what you can do for us. Oh and one more thing. Do either of you have a lighter?"

  "Aren't you a little young---?" Hernandez asks,

  "Just give him your damn lighter!" Piper yells back at him as I scowl.

  I take it, turn, and walk away from their car back toward my room. I give a nod to the three stooges that are back on watch in their car several spaces over, but they just watch as I pass. I ascend the stairs, slip into my room and check on all my stuff. It's all still where I left it. So I put it all back into my inventory.

  No progress on the Helping a Friend Quest, but, maybe it won't update until they actually start doing those things. I'll look up a lawyer if I have to and make it a contract, but if it fails I'll know they're lying bastards.

  Well, I can't waste too much of tonight. I disable the Smoke Detector, and pull out the lighter they gave me. Time to get some Grinding in.

  Simon's Character Sheet:

  Name: Simon Clarence Anderson

  Gender: Male

  Age: 15

  Race: Human (Parahuman)

  Class: Teenage Runaway / Rogue

  Faction: None

  Money: $0.00

  Title: Gentleman Thief

  Level: 26 (44.06%)

  XP: 64747

  Primary Attributes

  STR: 17 (-0.95) 16.05 (0.00%)

  AGI: 23 (-1.35) 21.65 (0.00%)

  CON: 58 (-2.53) 55.47 (34.46%)

  INT: 30 (-0.13) 29.88 (0.00%)

  PER: 12 (-0.13) 11.88 (51.09%)

  WIS: 22 (-0.13) 21.88 (35.42%)

  CHA: 14 (+0.00) 14.00 (7.67%)

  LUC: 15 (+0.00) 15.00 (78.75%)

  Unspent Points: 9

  Secondary Attributes

  Health Pool: 3012/3012

  Stamina Pool: 1863/1863

  Mana Pool: 7469/9750

  Stress Pool: 467/520

  Attack: 21.35

  Speed: 3.22

  Dodge: 21.64

  Armor: 0.40

  Carry: 160.50

  Allure: 4 (-0.75) 3.25

  Status Effects

  Teenage Acne: ALU -0.50

  Alluring Charm*: ALU +1.00

  Fractured Ribs: STR -0.50 AGI -0.75 CON -1.50

  Bruised Organs x4: AGI -0.40 CON -1.00

  Minor Concussion: INT -0.13 PER -0.13 WIS -0.13

  Severed finger: STR -0.15 CON -0.02 ALU -0.13

  Partially-severed finger: STR -0.10 CON -0.01 ALU -0.13

  Broken Hand: STR -0.20 AGI -0.20

  Visage of a Wuss: ALU -1.00

  Skills

  Max Slots: 66

  Free Skill Slots: 20

  Artistry: 10 (85.89%)

  Athletics: 13 (8.30%)

  Basic Academics: 9 (0.00%)

  Computers: 10 (11.23%)

  Crafting (Cooking & Brewing): 1 (0.00%)

  Crafting (Stone & Pottery): 10 (5.67%)

  Create Mana Golem: 12 (45.64%)

  Damage Resistance (Corrosive): 2 (43.31%)

  Damage Resistance (Electrical): 3 (24.35%)

  Damage Resistance (Fire & Heat): 4 (0.75%)

  Damage Resistance (Ice & Cold): 8 (0.00%)

  Damage Resistance (Physical): 12 (37.90%)

  Damage Resistance (Sonic & Concussive): 1 (0.00%)

  Disable Device: 12 (7.51%)

  Disease Resistance: 14 (25.45%)

  Disguise: 4 (25.98%)

  Drug & Poison Resistance: 25 (2.76%)

  Empathy: 15 (27.23%)

  Firearms: 1 (0.00%)

  Gamer's Body: MAX (0.00%)

  Gamer's Interface: MAX (0.00%)

  Gamer's Mind: MAX (0.00%)

  Language-English: MAX (0.00%)

  Language-Spanish: MAX (0.00%)

  Mathematics: 4 (0.00%)

  Medicine: 3 (25.67%)

  Meditation: 13 (36.93%)

  Melee Weapons: 4 (31.96%)

  Null Resistance: 16 (10.56%)

  Observe: 27 (91.99%)

  Parahuman Lore: 12 (89.52%)

  Power Dash: 5 (0.00%)

  Power Strike: 10 (8.74%)

  Programming: 10 (0.54%)

  Psychology: 5 (12.61%)

  Science (Biology): 1 (53.22%)

  Science (Chemistry): 1 (0.00%)

  Science (Earth): 1 (0.00%)

  Speech: 11 (9.95%)

  Stealth: 13 (8.68%)

  Strategy: 6 (10.35%)

  Survival: 2 (67.65%)

  Thievery: 11 (22.25%)

  Unarmed Combat: 5 (11.10%)

  Vehicle Operations: 3 (0.00%)

  Video Games: 26 (16.74%)

  Unspent Skill Points: 0

  Perks

  Free Perk Slots: 1

  Gaia's Blessing: Mana Pool and Mana Skill access

  Gaia's Attunement: Elemental Affinity access

  Light Sleeper: Need only 5 hours to get fully rested

  Mana Reserve: Bonus MP per level increased by 25%

  XP Whore: +10% Level XP

  Fast Recovery: x4 HP, Stamina and healing regeneration speed (Free at 50 CON)

  Toughness: Bonus HP per level increased by 50%

  Quick Items: Retrieve and place items in inventory instantly w/out using the window

  Flaws

  Selective Amnesia: We had to make room for stuff in your head

  A Bit of a Troll: Sometimes you just can't help yourself

  Unnatural Curiosity: Can't always resist the urge to find stuff out

  You still look like a Wuss: Even with a few extra muscles, you still look like a wuss.

  Wanted by the S9: You think they'd forget? Git gud, skrub

  Affinities

  Earth: 8

  Water: 2

  Plant: 2

  Lightning: 3

  Fire: 3

  Air: 1