[IC] Crisis: Mars! [Full unless you're Brilliant]

[Sep]

"Another incident today, as a man in the spaceport tried to breach quarantine. Witnesses say he literally walked straight through the walls into the port. However when he tried to take off U.S.F forces were deployed and the ship was brought down, no-one was injured in the crash however damages are expected to take one month to repair-"

Ryan was ready to smash the TV, he was fed up of hearing it blab about the incident and about people doing amazing things. All he wanted to do was get out, and no matter how strong he was becoming or how hard he tried he couldn't bust out through the door of the cell, he didn't know what it was re-enforced with however it hed no matter what he did, and he wasn't the only one in here. There were others, the woman next door who they had carried in had powers too. Or at least he suspected so as everytime they went to open the door they would pump in knock out gas first to put her to sleep.

Just as the reporter on the television, it was an older set that didn't even have a projected screen, went on to talk about the dangers powered people presented to themselves and their families it flickered for a second. Taking his attention he looked at it, it did it again this time a figure who could barely be seen sat in the middle of the screen. "Ryan, Edith. You are not alone." With that he disappeared and the news continue, and he had no idea what the hell was going on. Then there was a knock on the door as it opened and two X3 droids stood there. Speaking in their metalic voices "You are required to head to the medical bay for an examination."

"I feel fine, really. I feel great." The droids looked at eachother, processing the response. "This is not a request, you are required to head to the medical bay for an examination." That's when he took his chance, charging out, he hit one square in the chest. Before that would have broken his hand, now his hand dented the metal chassis and sent the droid flying. Then he heard the rifles cock, and looked around to see four more droids and two enforcers. "Can't blame a man for trying." He put his hands behind his back, and one of them came up behind him and forced some form of cuffs onto him. He grunted as he pulled his arms awkwardly. "Yeah, I guess I deserve that. Don't want to break your shiny toys." There were a couple of guards standing outside the room next door, tapping on it. "We're coming in, any funny business and you will be knocked out."

All he saw was the door open before he was lead down the corridor. Medical examinations. This was going to be a long day.

---

There was a woosh of air as she appeared in a flash of light, several pieces of paper were thrown away from the spot she appeared on. She stumbled slightly. She didn't know what was worse, the displacement or the tiredness that came with teleporting. Though she had just gained the last file she had to get. She picked up her phone the second it began to ring, how could he not know? He always knew. "I have the files on a datachip- Yes I know the conditions, and it's dropped at the usual site." She stopped, almost dropping the phone at the next line.

"You found him? Where? - So he's- Yes, I understand. Just tell me when." She looked to a family picture hanging up on her nearby wall. "I'll do what needs to be done, he's my brother."

[Peaceless]

The decision was almost unanimous. Until the current situation is resolved, the Cairo-Aire biomedical research center was to be turned into an emergency clinic. Weird people with weird powers were rampant, and there was a slow but constant increase in civilians caught in the crossfire between feats of magic and the USF's military solution to said magic. The lab was well-equipped for this, most of the staff were M.Ds, and it was impossible to continue their research under the lockdown anyway.

Thus, most of the high-end sciency equipment was stashed, and the building was refurbished into a small E.R. with overqualified nurses and slightly lost doctors.

Chris couldn't really find his place in the new arrangement. Whatever little medical proficiency he had could only be used for moving medicine and tools around, and even then he felt unneeded most of the time. Under the guise of keeping the measurement machines operational, he continued testing himself, but only sporadically. His fear of being detected and dragged off to wherever the 'mutants' were taken grew every day.

Then, one day, true to his fears, they came. A USF officer, accompanied by five armed soldiers whose worn equipment and worn faces told they meant business. They came in the late evening, after closing hours, when only Chris and the nightwatch doctor were present.

What followed was an offer Chris couldn't afford to refuse. The USF knows about the lab's research, the officer said, and are aware that it cannot continue under the ongoing quarantine. However, the USF are in need of similar research - they need to examine and categorize the incoming 'anomalous' humans. The lab's advanced equipment is exactly what they need, along with a minimal staff that can operate it. This research must be done in the USF's main containment facility on Aire.

The lab did not really have any staff to spare, other than Chris. The equipment was unused anyway. And the funding offered was nothing to scoff at. They accepted, while Chris was trying hard to hide his excitement. This, at least, was made easier by the strange side-effect of his power.

Once the move was complete, he notified the staff it would take a week or two to calibrate the instruments. This does not prevent testing of the patients, but the results may be unreliable. He wondered how much of a suicidal move this whole deal was, when the door to the infirmary opened.

[twave]

Having been incarserated for many years being cooped up in a cell wasn't that difficult. This one might even be better than her last one. The mattress seemed to be more comfortable at least. But that could also be due to her body not being so old and achey. Speaking of which she had no idea how she was 17 again. With the exception of her hair everything was as it was 70 years ago. Having already inspected her body she confirmed that several scars that she should have were gone without a trace. The worst of which would have been on her right side just above her hip. It was an injury sustained the day she was captured.

Whomever had done this to her, one could only assume it was another person, she wasn't sure if she should thank them or not. How something like this could be done was beyond her. Previously she did not have an active feed of the outside so the existsnce of people with powers was unknown to her. Upon realizing that there actually was something to watch without having to request something she made use of it. Mostly she wanted to see the news and try and catch up a bit. The discussions and reports of people with powered sounded ridiculous to her, but not impossible she supposed.

In the mean time she excersized or worked out because what else was there to do? A couple times she was gassed, why she didn't know but she always woke up pissed off afterward. After one such occasion she wadded up her shirt and threw it in frustration. When it suddenly practically came to a standstill she approached it before it began to move normally again.

Small amounts of experementation allowed her to understand that she was the one causing the anomaly. Was she some sort of lab rat or something? Next door there appeared to be another captive. He was new to this it seemed because he made a lot of noise, banging on the door and being a neusince. Beyond that though she didn't see any other people. The guards were all robots, those lifeless VIs. Oddly though she didn't quite have the same hatred of them as before. She still wasn't a fan but the irrational rage they usually induced seemed to be gone. Getting the message through the TV she wondered what it could mean. Doubtful it could be one of her old mates that helped her in the atracks. While pondering there was a crash outside. Knowing better than to go to the door she waited until there was a knock at her own. Heeding the instructions she took a seat and waited quietly. Apparently they were going somewhere and as she was escorted out she caught a glimpse of the other captive.

[Greatmar2]

Renat breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped out of the classroom. He had spent this school day the same as all the others in the past few days; focused more on not having anything become stuck to him than on the lesson itself. Calm down, stressing will not help, he thought to himself, if you stress, you are more likely to act weird. Relax and act normal. But this did not help. He had also been avoiding his couple friends for the past couple days, fearing they might notice something different about him that his other classmates who couldn't care less. Though he also knew this would bite him in the butt, as Richard and Anna would probably now be looking for a reason he was avoiding them. They were probably on the brink of asking his parents what was wrong.

Deep in thought and avoiding as many people as possible, Renat headed towards the park. The park was one of the several sparsely dotted across across the huge city, parts of a group of projects intended to introduce at least a little bit of vegetation to the harsh red environment. In the park Renat visited, there was a cluster of foliage which he had often liked to hide in when he didn't want to be found by people. I need to tell them something. I can't lie to them, as eventually there will be holes in my cover up and if they find I lied to them, they will be more likely to report me, regard me as a freak and lose trust in me. But can I really just tell them about it? Renat thought about his power. He had been trying his best to not use it at all since discovering it, as if it would be discouraged from ruining his life and just vanish. Though sometimes his curiosity got the best of him and he did small tests of what he could do. As far as he had discovered, he could bond with or absorb objects and manipulate their shapes. It took a lot of concentration, but he might be capable of more, but whenever he opened his eyes and saw the foreign growth on his hand or arm, he immediately focused on it falling off and then causing it to.

Shaking these thoughts out his head, he reached into his backpack and brought out his tablet. Renat had homework and a lot of the day's class work to catch up on. Before he started, he briefly mused on whether Anna and Richard were searching for him and, if they were, how long he would have until they checked this spot and he would have to come up with an explanation. It'll come to me eventually... he thought, and got to work.

[Peaceless]

@t2wave

The infirmary, once probably large enough to contain four separate examination stations separated by foldable walls, was now so cluttered with medical equipment and machinery that the staff had to crab-walk to get from one end of the room to the other. There was still a desk with a computer unit near the door, as well as a few chairs. The rest of the room looked like a folded-up arcade saloon, only slightly creepier.

The girl who was led into the room was greeted by a mixed staff. There was a robotic guard permanently stationed behind the door, a nurse who looked like she does not really want to be there, and another man. Though dressed like a doctor in a long white robe, there was something a bit off about him. First, his white lab coat was made from an unnecessarily sturdy material, and its pockets were filled with various tools and electronics instead of medical supplies. There were protective goggles on his forehead. The general impression was that he was a doctor for the robots. Second, his face, while inconspicuous in itself, seemed to be completely numb, like a realistic mannequin. He looked quite young, his expression unfitting of his age.

The man gave her a long look through large round glasses. Eventually he lifted a transparent UI screen from the desk, and tapped it a few times, the screen blinking into a different picture each time.

"Please, have a seat." he gestured towards an examination table. His voice seemed distant, devoid of emotion. "What is your name?"

[Sep]

Unknown Location

"Excellent subject, high degree of versatility. Mentally immature, coaching role would probably be best. He doesn't quite need help yet, but if things contiue the way they are he probably will. This other one is different, he studies them and his actions may dictate his use to us. So far he seems to be with the U.S.F and as such not to be trusted. However time will tell if he can be trusted enough to be brought into the fold."

---

There was a flash and a burst of air as the displacement subsided a woman stood in the centre where the light was. She walked out of the alley, this was her job. Simply being due to the fact that she knew this place it was easy to teleport too. It was a park, she missed the birds. She couldn't really remember anything but their song, but a park like this should have birds. Though while the ecosystem was still improving through project after project it couldn't support any wildlife. Though one day, in her life time, she hoped it would. She saw him enter the park and go and hide behind some bushes, her phone rang. "Yes, I'm here. He's hiding- Wait. People are getting closer. You'll have to call me back."

---
"Renat?!" Anna burst through the bushes, Richard was slightly slower at doing so and a bit more laid back. Trying to play it cool like most teenage boys. "Where've you been boyo?" Anna just scolded at him. "We've been worried, you've been acting weird. Speaking weird, and acting weird...""You already said that.""Yes I know I said that."

Anna indicated for him to be quiet. "Seriously Renat, what's been going on? You've had us worried."

[twave]

Were she not being herded around Edith would be pondering the cryptic message that she saw. But that would have to wait. Just from the looks of the place it was a newer facility from the one she was at before. It was quite a bit more fortified though, had the appearance of a Bunker. Given the limited amount of space in the dome it wouldn't be unusual to put something like this underground. Going down was the best use of realestate.

Entering the medical room she quickly noted the two there. The nurse's expression was hard to read alone. Clearly she didn't want to be there but alone there was no way to tell why. The one in the coat wasn't much help either. His expression was unsettlingly devoid of, well, anything. He had various gadgets with him though so for the time being this didn't look like an operation or anything. Perhaps her imagination was running away on her but she was still on edge from having mysteriously become younger. It could have something to do with her power but try as she might time refused to go anywhere but forward.

Honestly the equipment told more than the figures present. The cramped space and not completely organized arrangement spoke to the haste used to set this up. They were probably brought in from outside to perform medical tasks the VIs were not designed to do. What kind of mess was she in now? Life in prison wasn't enough for fate?

Directed to take a seat she stepped up and did so. By now she had put on an expression of fear and uncertianty. Everything started with a simple question though, her name. While she could easilly answer that she couldn't know why they wanted to know. Perhaps she could use her revitalized appearance to pass as someone else. Drawing on a previous alias she answered nerviously. "My name is Fiona Tarnett." Glancing at the things around them again she tried to get a better idea of what might happen.

[Greatmar2]

"Renat?!" The aforementioned jumped, giving a startled yelp as a wild Anna appeared burst through the bushes.

"Where've you been boyo?" Anna gave Richard a dirty look. "We've been worried, you've been acting weird. Speaking weird, and acting weird..."

"You already said that."

"Yes I know I said that." Anna looked serious. She could be scary at times, especially when she was angry or very worried about someone. Sometimes it could be hard to tell which.
"Seriously Renat, what's been going on? You've had us worried."

Renat knew there was no getting out of this one, no more running from facing this discussion. I'll have to tell them the truth... What else can I do? "I-I... Uh..." he stuttered, unsure where to start. His friends, even Richard, were listening intently. "I discovered that I have a power," telling his friends about this was harder than his parents, "I didn't... I'm sc-... Please don't regard me as a freak. I wish it would just go away, but it isn't... I don't want it. I didn't ask for it. I don't want to be one of the weirdos that have been showing up the past month. If the U.S.F finds out, the-"

"Renat," Anna interrupted him, bending down to just above eye level with the sitting Renat, as he started to spew out panicked sentences, "calm down. You are going to be ok. Take a deep bre-"

"No you're not! I'm off to report you now," declared Richard, marching off. Anna rolled her eyes, standing up again, and placing her right hand on her hip. Renat released a pent-up sigh. 3... 2... 1... A half... A quarter... Renat counted, Guess maybe he has- Nope, here he is. The bushes rustled and Richard returned a grin plastered to his face. Despite his terrible humour, Richard never failed at least slightly lift the mood. "I need more information for the cops. Carry on."

"I found out about a week ago. I've been avoiding you guys because I wasn't sure how I could tell you or if I could tell you. But now that I have and it's over, I feel a bit better. Before it felt like an impossible feat. It's weird how the human brain works. We're emotional creatures and it can- Sorry, going off topic as usual. See, I'm still me. Guys?"

"Of course you're still you. Having a power doesn't change who you are it only-"

"Makes you even cooler! Dude, we'll stick by you, don't worry so much."

"What he said. Come now, we're all going to my house to work on the interpretation and conclusion from that science prac we did in class last week. The thing is due tomorrow and you didn't show up when we were planning to do it originally. Maybe we can work together on the maths module we started today, since you didn't seem to be paying attention and Richard is, well, Richard."

"Heeeeey!"

"Come, let's go." Anna's word was final. Renat placed his tablet into his backpack, got up, brushed himself off, hung his pack on his shoulders and followed his friends out the bushes. It surprised him how immensely satisfying it felt to be back with his companions.

[Peaceless]

@t2wave

"Very good." The labcoat said matter-of-factly. He typed it into the handheld UI, and waited. The girl could see a red rectangle through the half-transparent screen. "Odd." He tried again, with the same result. "Am I typing this correctly? T-A-R-N-E-T-T-E? Maybe without the E." After a few tries, he pushed at his glasses impatiently, and looked at the droid. "Which room is she from?" While the bot was processing the question, the nurse suddenly excused herself and left. He watched the girl for a few moments, then apparently decided to lighten up the mood.

"Please excuse her," He said, making an exaggerated gesture towards the fleeting nurse, "It's all because I'm not a real doctor." He then attempted at a sly smile. It looked as if he had never seen one before, and someone explained it to him over the phone.

[twave]

Great, he was checking the name against a database. She should have known they would though. As of yet she hadn't seen a way out of here. Not that she had much of a chance even if she got away from the man with the glasses of the robot. Who even wore glasses nowadays? Corrective surgery for such a thing had been around for almost a couple hundred years. Some people must really like the look she guessed. As her mind wandered the man kept trying the name before asking the tin can which cell she came from.

Crap, what was wrong with her? How could she be thinking about nonsense when her identity was on the brink of being discovered. Seeing the nurse leave her attention was redirected to Chris. Dismissing the woman he said something quite curious. Her expression visibly conveyed her curiosity. It was slightly muted though when the odd smile appeared. What was he doing? "If you're not a real doctor then what are you?

[Sep]

"Punch the target.""Excuse me?" Ryan stood in a weird lab with his robotic friend. On front of him sat a target, with a couple of wires and some screens recording data. Obviously this was a strength test. He turned around to one of the Hunters who followed him in here. "Why don't we make it interesting, why don't I hit you?""No, hit the target wise guy." He just shrugged, turning around and hitting the target. There was a minor dent in it and he smirked. Though as he looked at his wrist his smile disappeared. More of his skin cracked as he hit the target and below he could see more of the red stone that was appearing elsewhere over his body. This was just getting weirder and weirder. "Uh..." Then he felt a tap on his shoulder, "Next test.". He turned around to see a Pacification unit, he almost swore before he saw it lifting a weight. He really didn't want to fight one of those things.

"So bicep curls, crunches, what is it you want me to do?""Lift it.""Yeah, I got that. But how." They looked at eachother for a minute. "I assume you're giving me a strange look through that helmet.""Yes""Okay I'll lift it." A female doctor walked into the room, standing with a datapad taking notes. He just ignored her. Walking up to her he took a grip off it. "Okay so I just lift it?" They all just stared at him. Grabbing it he lifted, his arms straining slightly. Skin cracking the length of his arms, dust falling down the back of his shirt as his skin on his back broke. Though eventually, the beam lifted and he stood with it there in his two hands.

Little red tinted skin remained, the majority of his body was red stone. His face had half of his old skin left the other half was the new skin. He offered a lopsided grin. "What's next?"

---

There was movement off to her left, she was about to pick up the phone as the boy left with two of his friends. She rolled her eyes, a kids hangout. Give it a year or two and there would only be two of them in those bushes. Which two she didn't know, depended what one was like her and the studious one. She laughed aloud, to several strange looks, when she thought about all the work she put in to get her internship and here she was, a teleporter taking jobs from an unknown individual who was trying to look out for her and other powered people. Yes she didn't know who he was, but he seemed to be trustable. He hadn't steered her wrong so far, and she was closing in on her brother.

She just hoped the Watcher, yeah that was a good name, she just hoped the Watcher had this right. Otherwise she'd be in for a bad time. Then it came out of the trees quietly, a Hunter. So far few of them had ever been seen on Mars especially in the middle of the park and while there was an increased presence in the city due to the events unfolding a Hunter working in broad daylight like this was quite odd in a place where there seemed to be no visible threats. Then he trained his weapon on the group of kids, she didn't think. This was it. "Hey Kid! Look out." With that she concentrated on the spot on front of the kid that she had just burned into her mind, closing her eyes she felt the air and leaves rush towards her.

In a blinding flash of light she appeared between the kids and the Hunter, the air rushing out from the centre where she stood. With the flash the hunter fired a capture net. Electrified netting locked onto her, guided by four small orbs it positioned itself around her before pinning itself into the ground and shocking her. Pinned to the ground and with god knows how many volts passing through her her body began to shake out of her control. She looked at the kid as best she could "G-Get out of h-h-h-here kid."

---

"Part ones complete, get someone on the inside. Part two will be substantially trickier. Though there is every possibility the kid could run or try and face the Hunter right now. Either choice is accounted for, though only one is proffered-"

[Greatmar2]

"Hey kid! Look out!"

Renat turned in the direction of the voice and, with panic realised there was a U.S.F. Hunter training its weapon on him. With an intense flash, a woman appeared in front of him, a wave of air reducing his balance. Suddenly the woman was covered in a net, sparking with electricity, that pinned her to the ground. "G-Get out of h-h-h-here kid." she managed to say between the thousand-volt spasms of her muscles.

Renat was still processing what had just happened when Anna tugged at his arm shouting, "Renat, run!" And the three teens sprinted what was probably the fastest they ever had, splitting slightly and wildly zigzagging in hope of making it harder for the mech to aim. Renat heard the sound of the mech firing again. Glancing back, he saw a net sailing towards him. With a desperate dive to the left, Renat tumbled to the ground, hearing a solid thud followed by frequent electrical clicks to his right. He felt someone pulling him up to his feet and saw Richard, who guided Renat's running until he had regained his bearings.

They made it out the park, turning a corner and out of the line of sight of the Hunter. The three stopped for a brief breather before a commotion further up the street caught their attention. A squad of X3s were headed straight towards them. "We'll have to split up. At least one of us must escape."

"Renat, no!"

"They are after me. You'll be no good captured as well. Find help." Renat ran, not waiting for a response. The X3s were getting closer. Wow, I sound like one of those corny clichés that I find in every second book. But it does have some truth, if I'm about to be electrocuted, I might as well try be useful.

Renat dodged through crowds, ducked into alleyways and sprinted through squares, heading in a large arch around the park. Eventually he stopped running in an alley, too tired not to take a breather. I have to at least have a look. She saved me. She's powered person too, so maybe she will know more about what I am supposed to do. If I can save her, that is. After catching his breath for a minute, he did not hear any disturbance near him other than the occasional citizen walking in the secondary street. He crept out the alleyway and snuck a couple alleyways closer to the park. When he reached his destination, he popped his head around the corner to see what was happening in the park...

[Travesty]

Its been almost a month since things started to get weird for Matt. It happened during one of his rare trip to town district, he was on the hunt for a cheap VR capable headset when random numbers, words, and symbols started to appear in his line of sight. None seem to make sense at the time, just gibberish scattered everywhere, layers upon layers of numbers and words, some vivid enough, and some almost invisible.

He thought it would go away after some time, but days passed, the numbers and words lingered, sometimes disappearing briefly, but returns just as fast, and he noticed that it appears especially when he's near computers. And when he thought he had the worst of it all, is when the lines started to appear too. Thin thread of glowing lines crisscrossing everywhere, extending from each houses, establishments, and even from people. He had half a mind to call for an ophthalmologist then, but eventually decided against it since he didnt know how to describe his situation without making the doctor think he's going nuts. And then he began to notice the patterns.

The lines didnt simply extend from houses or establishments, or from people. It is somehow connected to their techs, or gadgets if you'll have it. Each line represents a tech's connection to each other, a communication line that became visible to him for some odd reason. Not only that, the numbers and words that started out as gibberish became more clearer - messages, codes, and programs passing through the connection lines. The only reason he couldnt make sense of it at first was because he's seeing these things all at the same time, hundreds and thousands of digital information flying in and out of his vision. Matt learned that if he concentrated enough on a single line, he could see the whole content with much clarity.

Days and weeks passed, he has grown more accustomed to his new found abilities. Matt discovered that not only he can see and interpret the lines, but he can also affect it, and the information that flows within it. At first, he can only do small things like switching his neighbor's TV channel, or adding a few interesting words on someone else's emails, or redirecting calls. And then, came a time that he is able to completely manipulate and intercept data, and be able to feed the lines with his own version of digital information, making the tech to interpret the data the way he wants them to. However, as he discovered more of his power, the more lines seem to appear, and the more complicated they became. One time, he saw an U.S.F drone pass by, and the connection line he saw there was entirely different from the rest he'd seen so far. It glows differently and the data that flows in it are quite hard to interpret, or at least at his current level.

"Another incident today, as a man in the spaceport tried to breach quarantine. Witnesses say he literally walked straight through the walls into the port. However when he tried to take off U.S.F forces were deployed and the ship was brought down, no-one was injured in the crash however damages are expected to take one month to repair-"

Matt waved at the the old tv set, instantly switching it to a different channel. He knew about the existence of other people like him, people who possess extraordinary powers. He's been doing research about them, and what he found out so far is that the mutations started almost a month ago, the same time he had the numbers and words in his vision. Also, he's read some (reliable) accounts pertaining to supers going missing. Matt tried to look for more information about that matter but finds it rather difficult, either someone is trying to block him off or that there isnt much information to begin with.

"... tried to breach quarantine." Thats odd. Mars have several quarantine sites scattered around each colony, and they're there simply to evaluate new comers, its a mandatory procedure for immigrants from Earth, everyone knew that. Then why would someone want to break out of a quarantine site? Matt was sure the quarantine procedure doesnt take too long to warrant a break out, else the U.S.F has a good reason to detain people... like having powers for instance. May be the U.S.F have something to do with the missing supers.

These things have kept Matt awake all night, and sometime before dawn, he has decided to check on the nearest quarantine site to confirm his suspicions. He could be in for some trouble if the U.S.F really has something do with it all, but some part of him wanted to know whats really happening, and there's just no way of talking him out of it.

[Unknown100]

Rose

“Einstein said: ‘Everything Is Energy and That’s All There Is To It. Match the Frequency of the Reality You Want’. This 20th century Theoretical physicist changed the world, when he spoke of how energy can only transform, never cease to exist. Because of that he also believed in eternal life, and that we would one day become pure energy, as we would no longer need physical form. Today, hundreds of years later, scientists finally understand the true meaning behind those words. If we are to evolve as they dominant species in the universe, understanding energy is…”

Rose put down her book about energy and matter, as the news-bot yelled out “NEXT” in a hollow voice. Being next in line, she stepped forward to the worn, filthy-looking counter and the metallic man standing there. Man actual wasn’t the correct definition; it was a robotic torso on a stick behind a counter. Here was one of the few examples of charity that still worked in the poverty district.

“Good morning to you ma’am. Please know that in order to improve our service this conversation might be recorded,” the V.I. started out with as always.

“I’m not a ma’am, bucket-head, and if anyone was interested in improving service in this forsaken part of town, I think they would have done it already.”
Rose sighed and ran a hand through her long blond hair. While trying to sound as innocent as possible, she then asked: “So… bucket-head, I would like to know about this night’s events.”

“Very good, ma’am. On this very night a particular large amount of stars where visible from the north corner. Sargent Owen has lost his cat at 00.05 and is putting out a reward. There was also an unfortunate recycle accident-“

“Yeah, tell me about that,” Rose said, but immediately regretted. Had she spoken to a human, they would have detected the eagerness in her voice.

“Hang on, ma’am.” The faceless machine seemingly spend a moment processing information before answering. “Last night, as recycle-fluid entered the container halls, they burned down a security door and caused this night’s recycling to be stopped and postponed. The number of casualties where… 0.”

“I thought those doors were impregnable.” With a quick glance over her shoulder, Rose made sure no one was listening.

“Burning down a security door requires more than 2500 degrees Celsius, ma’am. For more information see an education-bot or visit 21. century Wikipedia.”

“But recycle-fluid is nowhere near that hot, how can such an accident happen?”

“I’m sorry, my files seem incomplete. Details in this matter have been limited by the USF for your safety.”

It was as Rose feared. The USF seemed to cover up the incidence which meant they knew someone like her, a freak, had caused the destruction of a security door.
She left the line with the words: “Thanks, bucket-head.”

“Have a nice day, old ma’am.”

Rose thought back to the night's events. She hadn’t meant for it to happen – she didn’t want to incinerate that door. She had thought she would have more time; more time to scavenge parts from the junk containers. Suddenly the doors started closing and recycle-fluid poured down from the ceiling. Before long it would fill the great container halls and turn everything into mush. Rose had been trapped, and in an act of desperation she held up her hand towards the door. Next second there was a huge smoking hole in the door and door frame. What was supposed to be able to endure so much punishment had been absolutely annihilated by her power.
This unfortunately wasn’t the first time she had used one of her energy beams, and each time they left a breadcrumb for the USF to follow.

Now she had more reason than ever to watch her back, and last night’s loot was her only comfort. That, and the reminder that she was Rose – when life pushed her, she pushed back. And now she could push back with a power that turned reinforced steel into butter.

[Sep]

In the Park - Several minutes ago

The hunter walked over to the net, as he hit a button on his wrists the spikes retracted from the ground, he then pulled them together and clipped them into a handle. The net still periodically sending a spike through Cassies system, as he got nearer the tree line a LAV-55 rolled up, as he stood at the back the door opened and he hoisted Cassie into the back compartment of the vehicle. He then walked over to their new asset. "Artie, finish downloading the targets data and then get out there and find him, and I can't believe I'm saying this, follow your gut and do as you see fit." He indicated to Cassie in the net. "I need to take this haul back to the keep. Off you go."

Watcher
"A new ones popped up on the radar. She's been getting herself out of trouble. Trying to see if they're onto her yet. The worst thing is they're closer than she thinks. The technopath however is in the clear, hunting for answers. The two of them together... may just find some. Divert some messages the technopaths way, let him find her himself. It's not quite time for direct contact." There was a moment of silence.

"Get some footage of Cassie online, put it out there. Even show her teleporting to protect the child. The U.S.F has been covering up and preventing any coherent imagery from getting out and this may just give people the kick we need them to have."

[vietmyke]

"Artie, finish downloading the targets data and then get out there and find him, and I can't believe I'm saying this, follow your gut and do as you see fit."

CONFIRMED. LEVEL OF FREEDOM ELEVATED TO: "AS SEEN FIT."

//DOWNLOADING TARGET DATA...
RENAT EMLYN_
CITIZEN ID: 4561-2407-9485
AGE: 16_
GENDER: MALE_
STATUS: ANOMALY_
THREAT LEVEL: LOW_
COURSE OF ACTION: CAPTURE_

Artie dismounted from the LAV-55, his feet landing on the ground with a loud clunk, as his thick alloy feet hit the park's pavement. The droid made a motion similar to rolling its shoulders as it did a quick diagnosis on its various weapons systems. Artie appeared extremely similar to the X3 droids that commonly patrolled the streets, the only cosmetic differences being a minor height difference, a black coated chassis as opposed to the olive drab of the X3, and his bright red scanner "eye". However, internally, Artie was infinitely more complex. He was fitted with more advanced scanners, more advanced weaponry, EMP-coated shells, advanced systems, and redundancies for everything. Built less than a year ago, Artie was essentially state of the art, in both mechanical design, and AI creation.

As the hunter left with the first anomaly, Artie stood in the park, gathering his surroundings. He concluded that the park was an anomaly in and of itself. Whereas the majority of the city- as well as Mars' landscape, was desolate and void of vegetation, this park was one of the few areas were trees and other greenery grew. Artie could not comprehend why for the life of him. The primary purpose of vegetation for humans was to produce oxygen for them to breathe, however, Aire, like the rest of the cities on Mars had built-in atmospheres, already fit with oxygen generators. The amount of oxygen produced by the parks were insubstantial at best.

As Artie scanned the park, he picked up a life sign, not far away- very close by in fact. Exiting a nearby alleyway was a smaller life sign, approaching the park in a manner that his Hunter Partner had described as "sneaky", implying that a slow motion, with a hunched over back implied one had achieved stealth. Quickly scanning the life sign, Artie's eye shined brightly in Renat's direction.

CITIZEN ID: 4561-2407-9485 CONFIRMED. TARGET LOCATED.

Rifle in hand, Artie began approaching Renat, its footsteps deliberate and imposing. Holding out a hand, Artei spoke, its voice processor sounding hollow, but distinctly male.

"Citizen 4561-2407-9485, Renat Emlyn. You are under arrest. Do not resist."

[Sep]

Greatmar - Myke was too tired to add
Renat just saw the LAV-55 driving off. They had taken the lady, leaving what looked from the distance to be a strangely coloured X3. Who was she? Who can I ask for help now? My friends and family do not know how to help me and it would be stupid to ask random strangers.

As he stood there, thinking what to do he had forgotten to watch what the robot was doing. A flash then caught his attention. The robot was facing him. It then began walking towards Renat with a slow and deliberate pace. X3s are not supposed to understand things such as body language…

“Citizen 4561-2407-9485, Renat Emlyn. You are under arrest. Do not resist.”

Renat ducked behind the wall, even though it would not help him in the slightest. Even dumb X3s could figure out that they only had to go around the corner to find him again. I need a plan; fast. X3s have a digital map of the city, so it’ll know the proper streets too well for me simply lose it. If I found somewhere to hide, maybe… If it can run faster than me, it will likely catch me and shoot me to take care of me. If I were to surrender, it’ll be a lot easier. And maybe I’ll have an opportunity to trick it, seeing as it’s just a dumb robot, left all on its own.

The metallic footbeats hit the paved path. It was getting nearer, fast. Instinct took over and Renat ran, silently berating himself for losing any lead in distance that he had. And for returning to the park…

After zigzagging through the streets, he didn’t get any lead. It was always one corner behind him. Soon Fatigue began to set in. Renat would not be able to keep up this pace, while a robot could.

So, Renat decided it was time to stop. It was time to accept that he could not escape this one by merely running. If there was an opportunity, he would grab it. But he could no longer run. He stopped and held up his hands the best he could while bending forward and panting. In moments the bot had caught up.

U.S.F - Mars Central Control



Robotic voices filtered through speakers behind him, on front some of the higher ranking officers moved units around as necessary. It was really all check work. Him and CC did most of the work, the voices filtering through from the boots on the ground was something of a habit that the newer officers never understood. How could he understand it all? Fact is he couldn't, but if anything important happened he'd pick it out. Which is why he stood with his eyes closed listening to every report coming in. "CC.""Yes General?""Play that last report, main screen cut out all the other noise.""Yes sir."

The screen at the front of the room changed, to that of a helmet cam. The top right read Private Andersmith and all the general fluff he was using in his hud appeared. "Remove Hud details." They disappeared, before them was the door to one of the recycle stations, burned through. Which just shouldn't be possible, those doors were designed to take far more heat than there was in one of those chambers, and the burn hole was bigger on the inside indicating whatever it was it had burned itself out. They had another one on the loose, and they had just caught one. "Send orders to Artie, as soon as he's finished he's to report to Sector Zeta-Alpha-Three-Four in the Industrial District. We've got another one, send copies of any camera footage to both CC and the survelliance operators, see if you can catch this one on camera. Look for anyone acting out of the ordinary, follow them. See whose asking questions. Let's find this bastard before it gets out of control."

"General, you'll want to see this."

The main screen changed again, this time to a reporter. The image to the side of her was a freeze frame of a hunter ready to fire. "Shocking events in one of the Rings park lands today-" the image began moving, showing the net be fired and Cassie appearing out of nowhere to be hit by the net before the youths ran off. As the Hunter reached the net the video began to loop. "In what appears to be a shocking turn of events a U.S.F Hunter unit was seen attacking an innocent boy, as it fired however in what was more surprising is a woman appeared out of thin air and took the shot for the boy. We're yet to get an official statement from the U.S.F on either the boy or the woman however-"
"Son of a bitch.""General Lorne? Commands requesting an update immediately."

[Peaceless]

EDITH & CHRIS

Great, he was checking the name against a database. Edith should have known they would though. As of yet she hadn't seen a way out of here. Not that she had much of a chance, even if she got away from the man with the glasses or the robot. Who even wore glasses nowadays? Corrective surgery for such a thing had been around for almost a couple hundred years. Some people must really like the look, she guessed. As her mind wandered, the man kept trying the name before asking the tin can which cell she came from.

Crap, what was wrong with her? How could she be thinking about nonsense when her identity was on the brink of being discovered. Seeing the nurse leave, her attention was redirected to Chris. Dismissing the woman he said something quite curious. Her expression visibly conveyed her curiosity. It was slightly muted though when the odd smile appeared. What was he doing? "If you're not a real doctor then what are you?"

The labcoat just stared at the girl for a few moments, expecting something. Then he sighed, pushed up his glasses, and looked at the UI again. "It sounded funnier in my head." he said to no one in particular. He looked at her, followed her gaze towards the machines, looked at her again. "Oh. They haven't told you what we're doing here? Which means you haven't consented... well, if we keep it non-intrusive I suppose that's fine."

"I am Chris Abu-Machlouf, Physicist extraordinaire." He made a wide gesture with his arm. "This is the USF's new abnormal testing and categorization biolab. I realize it looks a bit worrisome," His eyes stopped for a long moment over something that looked like a surgery table with many different knives hanging over it on robotic arms, "But I assure you the tests are harmless. Unless, of course, your 'abnormality' is being harmed by weak electromagnetic emissions..." He scratched his chin in thought. "Yes, we'd better take it slow."

Realizing that Chris was trying to be funny Edith wondered if she had missed something. Humor wasn't one of her strong suits, at least it hadn't been since a little before joining AAIM. Either way she apologized for missing the humor. "Sorry." That was actually something of a curiosity. If she was truly younger then maybe the damage to her brain was repaired. Perhaps it could just be maturity though.

"Anyway, I'm afraid there's an identification problem, miss Fiona." he looked at the screen again. "A temporary technical difficulty with network integration, no doubt. I have only arrived yesterday, after all. I wanted to make it more pleasant, but, if you please," he gestured at a fingerprints and retina biometric scanner welded to the table. And took a step back, just in case.

Then four eyes began to explain the situation a bit. This was some testing to be done on people with abilities. And it was driven by the USF no less. Well great either way it looked like she was found out. Plus the scanner would identify her anyway. Sighing she placed her hand on the scanner and let the retina scanner do its work. If she were on the outside and needed to get through security she would have had something in place to get past something like this. Here she had nothing though. "My name is Edith Rendel. You might have heard about me in school or something." The device confirmed her words. Judging by the man's age he wouldn't have even been born when she was committing crimes. No her place would have been prison by then.

Chris tilted his head slightly at the girl. Was this an escape attempt? Has someone behind the stage failed to implant a profile in the database that would say in large red letters that a horrible mistake has happened and 'Fiona' must be released immediately? Or maybe she was just schizophrenic? He slowly forced some air out of his lungs in a thoughtful manner. To be honest, this was going far better than he had expected.

Having pretty much dropped any guise she had, however flimsy, she at least seemed to be more open. In this place someone to talk to seemed scarce. "So are we going to be doing a standard physical or will it be much less pleasant?" Really if they were doing research of people with abilities there was no telling what they would do. Plus she wasn't exactly a model citizen and there were probably people out that that would love nothing more than to put her to death.

He looked at the screen in his hand, depicting a profile of a woman. It had a picture and some basic details. Only the name seemed to match the girl in front of him, and even that was doubtful.

"Hm. Give me a moment." The physicist played around with the settings until he reached a detailed result of the last biometric scan in this room. Apparently it had been configured to work in a noisy environment and had allowed a mismatch of up to 1% from the database for recognition. In this case there was a 0.2% error, meaning 99.8% match. 0.2% error! Literally millions of people could've introduced themselves as Edith Rendel, and the sensor would believe them.

He tried to see if he can recognise a pattern in the error data, but gave up after a few moments and returned to the main screen. A picture of an elderly woman with hard eyes stared at him. Digging his memory for the name, he found nothing, but he was never good with newspapers or history lessons, and it didn't matter much now anyway. Lifting the screen to his eyes, he tried to compare the girl to the picture - and soon found out her white hair blotted out the other differences, convincing him once again that hair had a much larger impact on appearance than one may think. He ruffled his own hair with thought, then realized he forgot the protective goggles on his head and put them on the desk.

"Well, 'Edith'," the accent in his voice was barely audible, "This isn't really a physical." he finally said. "What I am looking for is parameter changes outside the scope of human health. Though you must understand, this is a new research subject so we won't be doing every possible test, hopefully. I'd like you to focus me - Is there anything that you can do or feel that is strange or unnatural?" He suddenly cursed himself in his mind for that 'feel' comment. He isn't supposed to be a professional in this yet!

Edith figured Chris didn't seem convinced he should believe her or the instruments. To be fair she did look a lot different than anything they likely had on record. Taking a moment to think about what to do she wasn't quite coming up with her usual brand of chaos. Slightly frustrated with herself she ran her hands through her hair. "They don't teach history like they used to. Probably because they don't want to expose kids to a fanatic." Shifting slightly she looked at him as if he were rather dense. He was probably doing his best but it was still rather sad.

Waving her hands down her body to draw attention to the obvious she rolled her eyes. "Does losing 70 years of age count as strange? Because this is how I woke up here." Crossing her arms she glared at the bot standing at the door, she still spoke to Chris. "Whoever did this to me I don't know whether to thank them or curse them." By now she didn't really care. Her three weeks in the place has been trying and she wanted answers more than hiding. Assuming the scientist believed her at all.

"Oh." Chris said, impassively. He said everything impassively for some reason. "And this just happened one day?" He was already with his back to her, scanning the room. "Was it gradual or sudden? Do you feel going younger still? Do you feel anything odd at all, with your senses I mean?" He asked urgently, shooting ideas at Edith as they came. At the moment he could not disprove the possibility of her dying from degeneration or some similar process in the next few days.

Well, he could, but...

"Honestly I'm not sure how quickly it happened. Kind of hard to tell when you're unconscious. Couldn't have been more than a couple days though." The barrage of questions made her stop for a moment to think about how she felt. As far as she knew she hadn't gotten any younger. Or at least not at the same rate. "Nothing else has changed in the last three weeks so I think I'm fine. At least I hope so."

He pulled out a mobile pulse and ECG meter from a closet and set it on the table. "Here, put this on -" He put a wired plastic clip on her finger and spread a blood pressure sleeve for her to put her other arm through. Well, at least it appeared that this guy hadn't been the one experimenting on her. Wrapping the sleeve around her arm she finally answered the last question. "I feel 17 again, that's odd in my book."

"I'm glad to hear that." the labcoat said, focused on unwinding the ECG probes. He raised his eyes at her. "That it's stable, I mean. I should be recording this... excuse me a moment." he pushed his glasses up his nose, grabbed the UI with the same hand and pushed at an area on the screen with his nose.

"So. Subject appears to be different than her profile," he returned to the probes, "By 70 years. Woke up younger about three weeks ago, no recollection of process, appearance stable. Physiological data to be added here." He pushed the screen again. "Roll up your sleeves please."

As she rolled up her sleeve Edith watched the labcoat. Despite his marked lack of tone in his words or much expression he seemed rather all over the place with his thoughts. Of course he did say that he wasn't really a doctor. Perhaps he was just nervous. "So are you new to this or something? I know I'm your usual patient but could you relax at least a little? Being scatterbrained isn't the best vote of confidence for the person you're trying to study." Since earlier he'd mentioned looking into abilities she could only assume they were trying to ascertain what made her different. The whole powers thing from the TV sounded far fetched to be some natural thing. She herself had been locked up so long that she was sure someone had to be responsible for the changes.

It did make her wonder if Chris knew something she wasn't being told. But for now she would settle for less aggressive conversation. "What do you think about the reports of people gaining powers? I only just heard about them but I can't help but notice the coincidence that something this strange happening to me around the same time." While she spoke she let him set up the equipment, not getting in the way as best she could. "I've been in jail since before you were born so I'm just trying to figure out how something like this would happen." Somehow she doubted she would get much from the stoic but she kept an eye out just in case.

"I'm trying to find out if your life is in danger as fast as I can, confidence has nothing to do with it." Chris replied while carefully sticking the probes on Edith's arms. There were at least two distinctively different ways to accentiate this, giving it opposite meanings. The labcoat did neither, of course, leaving the meaning to the girl's imagination. There was something liberating in not having a tone of voice, he suddenly realized. It's almost like he was living his life behind a computer screen. In fact, he had been hoping to someday be as cool as he was right now, especially with a girl who...

He realized he was staring at Edith's midsection. Without missing a beat he lifted the last probe to her eyes.

"Please put this under your shirt, five fingers over the navel."

"That isn't exactly comforting either." As he placed the sensors it occurred to her that she hadn't been this thuroughly tested since getting shot several decades back. Though the doctor she had to go to was far more questionable in his practice. Being an outlaw meant cutting corners sometimes. Lost in thought she shifted back when he held the last one up to her. Really? What was the big deal about where the thing went?

Without much afterthought she took the sensor and lifted her shirt long enough to put in in place. The action didn't mean much to her. "You didn't answer my question." Really she was trying to keep herself distracted. Doctor visits were never her thing despite having been through them many times. How odd that she could commit attrocities but something as simple as a checkup made her nervous.

The labcoat blinked at the girl a couple of times.

"Your question... Oh. Yes, well, we had had a debate about this back at home base." He said while calibrating the various instrumentation connected to Edith's limbs. "Many versions cropped up, including sudden evolution from long exposure to some undetected agent in the soil or the artificial atmosphere, though that one died quite fast - there is no statistical behavior that can explain such a simultaneous outbreak of abnormalities. Some of the guys suggested it's bioweapon testing actually - what if the subjects were introduced by the USF, both for exposure testing and to lay down martial law undisturbed..." The question mark that was somewhere in the sentence was lost, both because Chris didn't seem to be able to pronounce them, and because he was now looking at the VI guard at the entrance. The guard was staring ahead, completely still, but when it noticed the eye contact it turned its head.

"Many versions, yes." Chris abruptly turned his head towards the UI, which was collecting data from the pulse, blood pressure and electrocardial activity sensors. It was all too... mathematical. It almost disgusted him at this point. So much of the truth was lost in translation...

His hands started to itch. He looked at Edith's arm, connected to his instruments via a white patch with a wire coming out of it. There was a short mental struggle. He lost.

"Hmm, let me fix that - " He reached out for the patch, his other hand closing around her arm as if to steady it...

Initializing skin-level biotelemetry. Confirmed. Blood flow detected. Pressure within nominal parameter range. Pulse within nominal parameter range. Increasing probing depth. Connection to central nervous system confirmed. Brain activity detected. Compensating for information increase... this is hard, dammit... confirmed. Scanned biotelemetry limited to global life signs. No alerts detected. Internal organs within nominal parameters. Scanning brainwave signal physical layer... Envelope detection failed. Oh, right, a woman... That's it. Disengaging.

Edith felt a slight tingling on her skin where Chris's hand closed over her arm, for the ten seconds it took him to fix the probe. There was some sweat on his forehead. He looked at the UI, nodded to himself, then looked at her.

"Congratulations." He said unceremoniously. "As far as these simple devices can tell, you are not in danger. Now, now we can begin."

Well the question went nowhere. But it served its short lived purpose as a distraction. The theories were silly to her. The second one could make some sense, but fell apart when it came to her. Why would someone give her of all people a power? When he needed to adjust one of the sensors she held her arm up. The tingling sensation from his touch was weird but she chalked it up to nerves.

He was noticeably sweating though and she was a little concerned. What the hell is wrong with this guy? He did gave her a clean bill of health, but the somewhat relieved expression wilted. "Begin what?"

"Experimentation, of course." Chris quickly removed the devices connected to Edith, but left the ECG connected. He opened a panel at its side and pushed some obviously non-user-operated parts. The graphical display on the UI turned to text, then back to graphs, but weird ones.

"There is a theory that says all carbon-based life is operated by electricity." His monotone was similar to a dry narrative on a Discovery channel equivalent. "All electricity that is not constant is transmitted. This is how brainwaves can be read without cracking the patient's head open." With tragic irony, he pressed a button on the operating table that had the suspended knives. The tools and their robotic arm came off the table, suspended on their height by a wheeled column that fit underneath the table. He rolled it closer to the examination bed that Edith was sitting on.

"This will be very inceptive. It takes time to study the output and I will be searching for a pattern at first." He plugged the column into a nearby power and data outlet, and brought up a new window on the UI. "Now that we're recording, please try to... become younger. Or older."

The knives were pointed in a menacing circle towards Edith's face, like a skeleton of a very large worm.

"You know, when they tried to figure out what was wrong with me they did something similar to this." She wasn't going to go into detail of that particular encounter. Sitting back she tried to relax. The UI showed the typical signs of nervousness and stress. Focusing on what he requested she didn't think would yeild results. So far she'd gotten nowhere with it. And other than a light increase of activity nothing looked abnormal on that front.

[Sep]

The Keep

Ryan lifted it, groaning slightly as he did. He was impressed he could lift it, surprised and worried. Though it was still damn heavy. Then an idea struck him, gripping it more tightly he swung it into the Pacification unit. Alarms immediately began ringing and he just managed to jump through the door before it slammed closed. Middle of a prison facility, no idea where... and it was full of U.S.F forces. This wasn't exactly the best situation to be in. Though... he did feel better after hitting something. That seemed to be what the last couple of days had been missing. Now the oddest thing was he had never seen or heard of another prisoner. Edith. The name the TV had used she must be the one who was in the room behind his own, she'd know what was going on.

Yes, that must be what that was. It was a clue, a trail to follow.

X3 Unit - Medical Examination Room in the Keep

The X3 moved itself to the middle of the doorway, before moving its hand up, as if to signal for someone to "Stop" however a hologram spat forth and stood on front of the robot. The General stood there, a stern look on his face. "I was just calling to congratulate you and to see if you could hurry up. Then I get reports of alarms going off throughout the facility, what on Earth is going down there Doctor?"

The hologram could be seen casting its eyes to Edith, obviously the X3 was acting as his eyes. He recognised her of course, how could he not? With the high volume of Lorne Corporation facilities that had been hit. People were saying that it was lucky that anyone had survived the blast radius at all. However as far as he was concerned, others were always too slow...

Shaking himself out of his reverie he spoke, in a more commanding tone directly to the X3. "Have another unit come in and secure the prisoner on the bed with handcuffs-" He turned back to the good Doctor. "Then continue running every kind of scan and test you have on these people. Save the autopsy for last, so you don't taint any of your other material." A closer alarm began to ring. The general then merely sighed before the hologram faded away.