Ceta de Cloyes

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

March 8th, 2020
5:40 PM, PT
DEO Lab, Coast City

@Queentze

---

His eyes narrowed, Mars was easily within range of his pods’ communications systems, not to mention human inventions such as Hubble, if there was life on Mars it’d be known by now. There must be something more at work then, but for now he’d file away this Frakedi’s words and see what was to be made of them later.

He cocked his head to the side, relaxing slightly. The Martians words were just natural enough to be believable, and he finally loosened his stance and allowed the ecto energy to dissipate - for now. He took the hint for what it was, having known a telepath on Ghol- and then on Zon, she had used any every chance to use her ability to mock everyone she came across, leaving breadcrumbs of hints for them to try and figure out what was going on. She reminded him of a cat in that way, playing with her food, of course he hadn’t known what a cat was back then. He could have misinterpreted the Martian’s hint, but he was already beginning to suspect there was some kind of manipulation power at work given the previous hints about what had been done to Briggs.

He kept his eyes trained on them warily, but settled enough to answer Frakedi’s questions, since he had answered his. “Okay,” he allowed, “I’m Echo, from Ghol, and I think these lis’srekits raided an alien bar here in the Coast City.” He grimaced and glanced suspiciously at Briggs, “At least three people died, others are missing. I know the DEO was there, but I need more answers. We’re here to get them.” He said, voice taking on a challenging edge, daring them to try and stop them.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

March 8th, 2020
5:37 PM, PT
DEO HQ, Coast City

@Queentze

---

He eyed a suspicious looking plainclothes man loitering across the street from the DEO HQ. The man’s sunglasses, casual NY baseball cap, and shapeless gray hoodie were so unassuming as to be noteworthy. Judging by the way the man seemed utterly bored and only altered his course infrequently, Ezra would guess he was some kind of agent either spying on the DEO, or a member of the DEO themselves on lookout, which made sense given the abilities of some aliens to avoid normal means of detection.

A bang echoed behind him as the door was kicked in, and he spun on his heel, violently glowing green energy lighting up his fists and eyes. He faced the threat with a sneer already in place and fists poised to launch his energy attacks at the attacker, but the man’s glowing red eyes made him pause. An alien? Or a meta?

Another combatant came down through the roof, displaying a similar ability as his own to become intangible. This one had glowing red eyes as well, which may have been comforting if they weren’t on a human’s face. There was a quick exchange, and the first man, Briggs, lowered his gun. The other seemed to be in charge, and… is he threatening me? Ezra’s defensive stance widened, and he clenched his fists tighter. He knew how quickly a gun could be turned against him, lowering it meant nothing, and the other man’s words had been decidedly… unfriendly.

...maybe that was understandable, if he was an alien at least. Being hunted wasn’t exactly the greatest forge for wholesome people skills. He didn’t relax, but refrained from blasting them both in the face and escaping out the window. “Who are you?” He demanded sharply, “what are you doing here?” His eyes took in Briggs’ equipment, uncomfortably similar to the agents he’d fought at The Small; “Who’s them?” ’as long as your not with them’, he’d said, did that mean there was another faction at play here? Or was this one hunting the DEO too? Did that make this other one a spy? His eyes narrowed, uncertain but unwilling to assume anything.

Worlds Apart

There were tears in his eyes- no, in her eyes- in... in someone’s eyes? He flinched at the bitter ink sliding through his mind, breaking into fractal patterns in his vision, and found his balance again with one hand bracing on Stormy’s shoulder. He should thank her, for helping him, for caring even, but the words wouldn’t come.

“How are feeling sugar plum? How can I help?” She was too kind, he felt a sudden urge to protect her, to make those tinges of alabaster unease and buzzing fright just go away. He couldn’t though, he didn’t know how.

He shot a glance towards the others, and spoke with a weak voice; ”I can taste their pain,” he admitted to her, his own fear of the implications of that easily heard in his worried tone. ”It hurts,” he mumbled.

Then he noticed her mask still in hand, whispering to him- no, to her, he was just eavesdropping. He didn’t know what it was saying, but it sounded like a song… ”Xi's singing for you…” he commented aloud, a little amazed. ”Mine ate me,” he finished the thought, a mix of uneasy emotions settling in his gut. Then he realized what he said, having not intended to say it aloud; ”Sorry.” He was doing a lot of apologizing, and muttering, but he was just so off balance it was hard to step out of his current expression. Whatever that meant.

He rubbed his forehead with his sleeve, but that didn’t help the thrashing warmth of crimson and writhing grasp of strobes, twisting angrily in his head. They tasted like smoke. He glanced over to where things had heated up again, and wished they would calm down, that everyone would stop freaking out so his brain could chill for two seconds.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

March 8th, 2020
5:35 PM, PT
DEO HQ, Coast City

@Korkoa
@Crazytazer
@Queentze

---

Jessie had come through for him, which shouldn't have been as surprising as it was. Ezra found it strange to be able to rely on someone again, not even his family had ever done something so blatantly dangerous or illegal for him. This was right up her alley, the kind of thing she found exciting- and yes, maybe he found it a little thrilling too - but he didn't believe that was the only reason; Jessie cared for him and he wouldn't doubt that again. He hoped she knew he'd do the same for her, y'know, if she had been at risk of being killed by an unknown government organization instead of him.

As he lurked outside the building, a short block-shaped place three stories tall with dark walls, sharp edges, and tinted windows, Ezra checked his phone to get the latest update from his partner; Something's in there. Made contact with me through the computer, talked into my brain. Trying to find out more. This is the place.

A prisoner. He'd expected those, though one of them reaching out to them before they even infiltrated the place was a surprise. A telepath maybe? But then they wouldn't have been able to talk through the computer. Technopath? He didn't know any technopathic species, aside from Jess at least, so it was possible… but unlikely. Maybe some kind of electro-gaseous lifeform, they usually had peculiar effects on nervous systems and computer systems alike, though how one would survive on Earth he didn't know. He shrugged, it was too early to tell.

Couple guesses, nothing solid tho, keep me posted. He sent back, before pocketing his phone and getting back on task.

He shot up into the air, costumed in his old containment uniform and flying invisible so as to not be seen. He ducked into a back alley a little further along, searching for the back door most of the buildings nearby all had. He found it easily, a big metal rectangle with a large clamp-like lock on it. Good enough. He ducked his head through the door, intangible and invisible and smirked as he found exactly what he was looking for: two agents were stood nearby talking heatedly, apparently frustrated with one of their coworkers or something, and bolstered on their waists were little key cards, and what was that? A mobile phone? Yoink.

He relieved the whiniest agent of his key card and phone, hastily backing away and back out through the door as the deep chill of overusing his invisibility and intangibility powers began to creep into his core. He lasted a bit longer, flying through the open window of a building next door and checking he was alone before fading back into the visible spectrum and becoming tangible once more. He whipped out his phone and played with a fancy little connector he'd bought for just this occasion before sending a text to Jessie; Got a key card and an agent's phone, might not have anything important on it but I hooked it up to mine. See if you can find anything? He’d try himself, but the required passcode was a long string of numbers he couldn't hope to guess.

He'd done as bout as good as he could without actually sneaking all the way in. With any luck Jessie would find a blueprint and they'd find a good place to just walk through a wall at. He could only hold intangibility and invisibility for so long, and for two people it was even more questionable, with a group of potential alien prisoners? Forget it. So they needed a plan, a path to follow, an answer to any defenses or obstacles in their way.

He peeked out of the window, glinting green eyes flickering like a candle in the dark shadows of the room he'd chosen to hide in. This was a perfect position to spy on the HQ from; he could see directly down the alleyway where the back entrance was, he could see the front entrance perfectly, a few of the lighter windows facing him he was able to see through, and he was high up enough to see the roof access as well, potentially leading to an elevator or stairwell: and speaking of vertical travel, humans loved their basements and bunkers, perhaps the building had lower rooms he couldn't see, he briefly wondered if he should seek out an underground entrance via a subway, mine, or sewer tunnel, but dismissed it. Even if there were lower levels and entrances to them, he had a better view from here until he heard back from Jessie.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

March 8th, 2020
3:15 PM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

@Korkoa
@Queentze

---

Lreglo Iktin. Five minutes ago the name meant nothing to Ezra, now whoever that was was going on Ezra’s best buds list. Finally, a lead! He floated up through the roof of his apartment and into the workshed, a wide grin on his lips as he saw Jessie already there. He hurriedly took a seat at one of the many laptops and plugged his phone into the device, data transferring in only a handful of seconds thanks to the quality make of them.

“Benji got a hit,” he informed his partner excitedly. “There was a badge in Indy,” wherever that was, “he got a local to tap the mics and found a few bases before the program was discovered and shut out.” As he spoke a map unfurled on the screen and began highlighting red dots in several well known locations; Metropolis, Midway, Hub, Central, and Coast City, with a few extra scattered around smaller locales in the Midwest. “It’s not all of their bases, but we only needed one right?”

He paused, realizing they’d never discussed what they would do about the DEO. Jessie had pledged to help him, but did that extend to sneaking into an armed government agency and stealing information from them? He anxiously met her eyes, “I’m going to go after them. I have to know what they’re up to, who’s giving the orders.” There was so much he didn’t know it was hard to articulate the questions he had that needed answers, but he did his best. “I won’t, uh, I won’t make you go,” though her technological expertise would be vital to his mission, “but I have to ask; will you help me?”

---

March 9th, 2019
9:40 AM, ET
The Bowery, Gotham

---

His laughter echoed off the alley walls, the creepy edge freaking out more than just his quarry. A gun flashed, the bang of its shot seemed only to accentuate the unnatural silence of the area. The bullet went wide though, and burst into a flash of bright pink light before it could damage anything or anyone. The shooter was a man dressed in black, beanie pulled low over his face except for two slits for his eyes. He ran like the devil itself was chasing him, through panicked glances over his shoulder and firing at even a hint of movement, and especially at the creepy laughter that followed him.

Hex, on the other hand, was having loads of fun taking his revenge on this particular mugger. The man had targeted Anna’s family while they were out getting groceries, and she’d been upset for days after, flinching at random strangers and avoiding alleyways and all sorts of out of character behavior. So he decided to deal a little more vigilante justice to the mundane side of Gotham. Sure the lines were out of whack, but there was only so much chaos they could cause right? It wouldn’t hurt to take a break every now and again to put the hurt on the rest of the criminals would it?

He jumped, landing in a crouch directly in the mugger’s path just as he was looking over his shoulder again. When the man looked ahead of him again, Hex had ducked into an alley as the man went charging over his ‘present’. The drip-dodecahedron shaped piece of glass shattered in a flare of violet power, and the man only got a single echoing shriek of fear out before the blast slammed upwards from beneath his feet.

Laughing again, coming down from the high of the chase and settling into the high of victory, Hex slowly approached the downed man and pulled a small carved stone out of the man’s hoodie pocket. A silencing ward; the man’s gunshots and shouts hadn’t attracted any attention because this little baby had made sure no one could hear them. Thank you great truncated icosahedron, it’s like you were meant to hold that spell.

He continued to smirk at his own job well done as he pocketed the stone and strode up a set of conjured glowing violet stairs so he could take to the roofs again without being seen.

He sent a text to Pads noting the muggers location and the sleeping charm he’d left behind.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

[ Removed because I'm an idiot ;( ]

Worlds Apart

It was black. It was red. He saw it before, and he knew what it was, but now, when he looked, the bright stains on the grass were pitch black. Then he blinked and the color hadn’t changed at all, it was red. His eyes felt weird, oddly numb and watery, and he could taste the blood in his mouth even now- but it was like chocolate too, except not really. The chocolate wasn’t on his lips, it was in his brain. That was the thought that brought his analytical half back. He was tasting things that weren’t there, seeing colors that weren’t there, more signs of being very very sick.

He looked up, the woman at his side, purple burgeoning on pink- and yellow - no, just purple. Lilac, like- oh, not that color either. Almond instead, and hazel, but mostly skin; it was Stormy- did he know her name? He must do, he knew it now… How did he know it now? She wasn’t purple, never had been, and she didn’t taste like whips, that didn’t even make sense, where did that thought even come from? He rubbed his eyes, accidentally smearing some of his bloody nose on his cheeks, leading to a solid minute of scrubbing at his face to get it off. He ignored the way his sleeves felt like jelly.

Someone was laughing, or crying… She tasted like stars. No. she didn’t taste like anything. He hadn’t even breathed in her direction, why was his brain so convinced he could taste people without touching them? She should’ve tasted like lemons anyway, with how yellow she was, or maybe a lime- no, no, no. No. People were people colored, they tasted like people, he was not tasting them, and no, that kid probably didn’t actually have wings.

Probably. No matter how he blinked at that one only the bleeding orange faded, and the taste of screams. Sound of screams it should be, but he hadn’t heard them, how do you taste a scream? His tongue watered, and he looked away uncomfortably.

Who was shouting? The Ghost Girl seemed a stalwart concrete wall, and she tasted like iron. Like blood. Funny, his own blood tasted like chocolate, her… presence, if that was what he was sensing, tasted like blood. Bizarre.

He was going insane wasn’t he? Alice down the rabbit hole, welcome to Wonderland.

Welp, there was only one course of action now.

He took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and stood. He wiped his jaw one last time, just to make sure it was clean, though his bloody nose didn’t seem eager to stop, though it paused a moment or so every few beats. He turned to face the others, taking in the… awkward affects the others seemed to be experiencing from their masks- Semblances. He was smoking, throwing up, bleeding; Ascot was sprouting wings and making moves; Tabitha was… he couldn’t say what she was doing, his eyes said one things, his… new senses told him differently. By far the most unsettling was Koda’s hazy view of Tristan being- well he wanted to say molested, because that was what it looked like, but the word transformed sprang to mind - transformed by a machine, into a machine? It was mildly terrifying, potentially more unsettling if he’d actually been able to focus on it, but his mind kept straying. There were whispers on the edge, telling him secrets he knew, but what they were he couldn’t hear, or understand; he caught words, or he thought he did, but they weren’t English, they were… tastes. Flavors maybe. Flavors hissing like snakes, and tugging like squids, and winking like stars.

That didn’t make any sense. He frowned, and focused, trying to press this new perception into something resembling reasonable, but reasonable was flying down the tracks like the train that’d killed him. He flinched at the thought, emotions all over the place and unprepared for the sudden blow of realizing that yes, this was happening, and no, nothing made any sense at all, and yes, he’s probably dead and loony forever now, ‘kay thanks, bye.

So much for progressive risk taking, this was why he worked in a comfy lab on Earth and not in a screaming void like space.

He realized he’d clutched onto Stormy for support, though he rapidly released her arm when he felt her purple over his brown- his tan? He was dark, but the dark wasn’t him, not really, it was Nofec-

He nearly lost his balance, at the emotion that rolled through him at the name. Grief. The Self was Torn. The Self was Empty. The Self was Broken

.”Sorry,” he whispered weakly, at first directed to Stormy for touching her, and then belatedly towards… himself? ”I’m so sorry.”

...but he didn’t feel sorry, just hungry.

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 3rd, 2019
11:15 AM, PT
CCC, Coast City

@Korkoa

---

Echo

“What,” he muttered to himself, eyebrows drawn together as the level of Suspicious began to rise. First the gear, then the talk of cashflow, then the money. He bit his lip to keep his mouth shut as he looked at her with widening eyes, his hand slid off his keyboard to quickly cover the money and a brief glow encompassed the stack of cash, the low light hidden by the sun, before all of it vanished into invisibility.

“Insured?” He parroted, complexed, and what the hell was an ATM and why did they have money in them? Were these things just scattered about the city? He nearly groaned, yet another Earth thing he’d missed. But if the money was insured, well those were like the commercials right? He was pretty sure they used to have insurance companies on Ghol too, but then the whole apocalypse thing went down so… but insurance meant the money would be replaced if stolen right?

That wasn’t so bad right, Jessie wouldn’t do anything terrible like rob someone’s life savings, these ATMs were probably owned by someone rich if they just stuffed their money out in the city where anyone could happen upon them. Probably. He’d have to do some research. “I- what?” He shook his head, still trying to adjust to his new view of the world now that his friend, best friend really, was a criminal. Probably. No, definitely, no matter what planet you were on relieving someone else of currency was illegal, especially rich dickheads who deserved it. He would know, he used to be one of those rich dickheads- or the son of some at least.

“Okay,” he said, gaining his bearings and latching onto a truth; “I trust you,” he admitted, meeting Jess’s eyes. “I- you know this world better than me, and I trust you. So this- er, if this is where you want to go, I’m with you.” He was unsure, and it showed in his voice, but even so he was already committing to his words. They were partners, and if that meant being partners in crime then… well it would be fun to use his powers again, and who knows? Maybe once they had money they could actually protect themselves against the likes of the DEO.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, took a breath, and nodded. Okay. “Two grand, huh?” He breathed, a little disbelieving of the words even as he said them, and felt the invisible stack in his hand. “Why?” He asked, “what could I even do with this?” He glanced at the money even though he couldn’t see it, trying to remember how much it was worth. He knew the general prices of most things, but he kept his window shopping to a minimum. It would be difficult to adjust from being a paranoid, poor nobody hiding away in a dark and cheap apartment to someone who would… consider using his powers, and owning things, and buying things, and… He really felt like a hermit with all this self-examining he was doing. He looked at Jessie again, measuring, “I’m with you.”

Heroes Reborn - A DCAU Roleplay (Always open!)

December 3rd, 2019
9:10 AM, PT
Satomi Towers, Coast City

---

Echo

Ezra would be going to school soon, his class would be in a couple hours. He used his dwindling spare time to great effect though, finishing the process on that ecto-crystal he’d been making over the last month. It’d only taken so long because he hadn’t cared very much, it was just something to satisfy his boredom with, but now he had an idea; the ecto-crystal was essentially crystallized dense ectoplasm ordered into a very specific shape. What uses did ectoplasm have again? Oh, that’s right, it was only the source of power for his entire civilization. His people had used liquid-infused ectoplasm, using several processes to simply harvest the energy directly from Zon, gradually becoming more potent as they advanced, but he didn’t have access to the low-level never ending ecto-radioactive rays of Zon, instead he had his own core, what amounted to his heart, which was constantly bleeding pure ectoplasm, enough to bleed the excess outside himself in the form of this crystal.

He and Jessie were exploring entirely new concepts for the both of them: blending their two worlds’ technological principles was a difficult task, but he was a son of House D’sra, this was his family’s life work, their expertise, and Jessie had proved she was no pushover either, she would have easily been accepted as one of his parents’ students had she been an Ectonian. The thought was as cheering as it was anguishing.

That wasn’t important now though, he waved his errant thoughts away and focused at the task at hand, rubbing his eyes to relieve some of the strain and narrowing his eyes to better see the newest, and last, layer as it carefully coated the crystal and began crystallizing.
There. Perfect. Now he and Jessie could use it as a power source, with any luck they could design a computer, or better yet an AI- an Ectonian sy’lhf would be brilliant: the crystal could be it’s heart! Oh, but converting the crystal into an AI core would be so complicated, they didn’t have the equipment to build it, and he doubted the human computers would be capable of programming it… He sighed, disappointed. He’d almost gotten carried away with that idea, a little slice of Ghol here on Earth just for him.

His phone hummed on the nearby table, and he peered over to see Jessie’s message; "Ez, meet me for lunch on campus today after class. Want to talk to you about the crazy happenings in the news, and show you something. I have some plans for our tech project that I need to run by you."

Perfect, he could tell her about the ecto-crystal then.

---

11:10 AM, PT
CCC, Coast City

Ezra was so confused.

He hid behind a beanie, a thick pair of sunglasses, and a large white scarf that swallowed half his face to obscure his green blush of embarrassment. He’d accidentally answered the Professor’s questionnaire in Ghaszic, his first language, which had a very scribbly, loopy, scratchy writing style to it. Such a mistake was sure to draw unwanted attention, but he hadn’t noticed until the professor proclaimed; “I didn’t know you were Russian.” Ezra had muttered a bunch of incomprehensible excuses and apologies and then rewritten the paper in English, but he was still so confused; was it common for humans to write in alien languages when they were rushing? Little did he know, Ghaszic, and most other Gholic languages, had an uncanny resemblance to particularly messy Russian cursive.

He found one of those small, round, two-person tables by the window inside the college’s Big Belly Burger outlet and sat down, once again thankful this world was so full of bright days. He placed his laptop on the table and started on some of the new assignments while he waited for Jessie to show up, having sent a short ”im at bbb’s” to her as he walked in. His laptop wasn’t very fancy, it was actually one of the cheaper ones, but it allowed him to do his assignments and listen to music so he couldn’t complain too much. Well, he could, but he doubted he could afford, or find, a computer advanced enough to fit his tastes, so the cheap one he could afford was as good as he needed.

For now, he thought, remember the planning he and Jess had been doing. The computer was good enough, but not for much longer.

Worlds Apart

Koda nearly ran for it, it was just one of those fight or flight situations where his brain freaked out and flooded his body with freak-out esque hormones. There were gunshots, there was blood, the lines between belief and doubt were so muddled as to be undefinable, and there was a great thundering coming towards them. He didn’t run though, he focused on the dying man instead, for the few seconds his attention counted for anyway, because in the next moment all was light and weightless.

He stopped breathing, unsure if that was his brain hitting maximum freak out and forgetting how or if that was a side effect of death-activated wormhole travel… but then he was out the other side and took a loud gasping breath as he collapsed into soft grass, staring down a peculiar purple flower, its petals dark except for the sprinkling of white dots like stars. It’s sudden appearance in his face was… intriguing enough to jar his brain into higher functions again, and he nearly cackled as he sat back on his ankles and got a good look at a whole other place- it had worked.

It had worked!

As the excitement built in him a razor sharp smile split his face. This was brilliant, there was so much to- a tug pulled his attention down. The dark tactile edges of the mask, so like the stubby arms of a small octopus, were tightening their grip on his fingers. Right, the Mask, the Semblance, the deal; he got to came here, and all he had to do was wear a magical mask.

As if anything was that simple. He looked up to the others, finding them orienting themselves, checking each other out, some were calming down from their freak outs, others not so much- and the officer was whole again, the attacker as well, and the suicide kid- and he noted at least one gun among them. Great. He looked back down, taking himself in: he was as he’d been just before being transported, being rebuilt obviously hadn’t been the same as cloning, and thank fuck for that - he did not miss boobs thank you very much.

He hadn’t heard the others’ words, except for some of that last shouted reprimand, so he wasn’t aware the Ghost Girl wanted to speak with them more, instead his attention finally managed to cling to the mask itself. It truly was like the piece of a domed helmet, he thought as he brought it closer to his face, inspecting the way the triangles it seemed to made of connected together at the barest of angles. It was shiny, like glass, but only barely see-through by its dark tinting. The edges misted and tugged at him with insignificant but noticeable force, giving him the impression it was at least as sentient as a plant, if not wholly sapient given it’s magical status.

There seemed to be some sort of circle beneath the center, about where his eyes would go. Was that some sort of interior lense? Was this mask made for a cyclops? Or perhaps it’s function was complex enough they only bothered to make the one big lens instead of two?

...and then his curiosity got the better of him, and the circle lit up with blue light, nearly blinding him in it’s intensity, and the mask’s short tentacles elongated and clutched his face. All at once everything faded to darkness, and it was as if he was drowning as something slick surged down his throat, energies flowing through him as if he was being electrocuted by the very air in his lungs- except there was no air in his lungs.

He coughed and gasped on the substance, but he made no noise by the way the mask had so vigorously smothered him. From the outside looking in it was obvious something was wrong by the way he jolted from his crouching position to stand and stumble backwards as if struck, and he clutched at his throat as if he could force it to open and take in air. Then, only a few seconds or so later, the mask was gone and he could see again.

But… he didn’t feel- he hit the ground on his knees and hunched over, painfully vomiting bright red all over pretty space-colored flower he’d admired before. The terrible feeling of something wrong inside him faded a bit, but he wasn’t an idiot; vomiting blood was Not Good, and vomiting blood after getting his throat roughed up by a magical mask? Very Not Good. Or maybe it was fine, Koda didn’t know shit about magic, he just knew it didn’t feel very okay at the moment.

He put a hand over his mouth, as if the gesture would keep anything else from coming up, and noticed several not very normal things all at once: First was the way his hand seemed to be smoking, a somehow physical darkness was misting off his skin- and a quick look over showed that was true of every part of him, though muted a bit except for his hands. Second was the metallic smell and a slick feeling of his nose, which proved to be bleeding. And third was the echoing jumbled sensation of his brain, making it hard to focus on much of anything, but he suddenly felt like he was standing in a crowded city street with thousands of voices shouting all at once- all of them hazy and far away and maybe not speaking any language he knew-

He vomited again, this time the same as the last, upchucking slick red liquid that could only be blood, but mixed here and there with swirls of black. This time when he looked up, sitting back from his hunched over position, he felt much lighter, though still in a very unpleasant way. He was decidedly not trusting anyone and their stupid magic masks ever again, working magical wormholes or not.

Unbeknownst to him there had been several other changes, powers he had yet to catch wind of, but also one last physically apparent change: his eyes were still brown, the irises at least, but the formerly white scleras were now dark red, an unnervingly inhuman look.

He didn’t look at the others, and in fact faced away from them as he sat back and held his stomach tightly and curled in on himself a bit, embarrassed that he’d actually threw up in front of them, much less threw up blood in what was a very concerning display of not being okay. Amazingly, the role of the scientist he’d embodied since birth, was now starkly absent as he tried to collect himself, not a single thought spared on calculations or observations or speculations, he just… needed a moment.