Othergrounds: The IC Edition (Act 8: The Strangest Days have gone By)

Arloste

" Thank you." With the others alright with it she Removed her Blue light jacket. She'd been wearing it to hid her skin.
She Very self councios of it. And normally didn't like showing to others, but this was a little Different. They wern't going to judge her. They were just as odd as she was if not more. So she removed her Gloves as well. Then she closed her eyes and focused. Within a few seconds her body started to give off an erie pale glow. And It got a little brighter till they were able to clearly see the inside of the room.

"There."

ViperaUnion wrote:

Tom could hear people muttering things about him, but didn't turn around to shout, although he was greatly tempted to. "Sure, if you wanted to crawl through the ventilation shaft, go ahead, tease the guy that made life easier for the lot of you. I would have done it, anyway, did you expect everyone to fit?" He muttered under his breath. He was extremely irritated right now, with this whole day. First, you wake up in a room with a bunch of people you don't know or want to be around, and then the people in charge decide to leave you trapped. "Got a few words to say to whoever is in charge of this place..." He grumbled to himself. Nobody could really disagree with his last statement if they were listening, after all, everyone was pretty steamed about today. He didn't really respond to what anyone was saying, and it was for a very good reason.

John heard Tom talking under his breath. It was obvious what he was talking about. Might as well explain why everyone was acting the way they were.

"You made getting out easier, but you kind of showed off and no one likes a show off. They were more efficient ways of getting that door opened," he told told Tom.

He wasn't sure if Tom noticed what he said, but screw it. He might as well do whatever he felt like doing if no one could notice him for thei- wait. Wait a minute. Something was wrong. Something was missing. He checked to see if he had everything he came with. It appeared that everything was there. Everything except his sister's necklace. The mood whiplash from cynical to panicked would have given anyone a sore neck. He needed to find that necklace.

Tom wasn't going to actively try to hurt people, but he had a very bad temper, and his entire body hurt from the last workout he had. He was always in a bad mood, so why try to hide it? He couldn't see him, but he knew some guy was talking to him. He was also deeply offended, and turned to glare at the space where he thought the meta-human was, "Well, you're quite the judge of character, what do you know? Do you think I got this way just because of my powers? Sure, they make it easier, but I wanted to be a bodybuilder before all of this. When your limbs feel like they're going to fall off from a workout, you'd probably understand better. My strength comes because I maintain it on purpose through rigorous training, it's kind of my hobby, so don't condemn me if I say I'm a bit offended." He said, his voice extremely cold and hostile. He had answered a bit louder, so if anyone who wanted to listen in could hear it. His power wasn't the only factor of his strength. As he said this, Marie stood aside from the eyes, her eyes momentarily flickering between the colors of red and orange.


Nicole looked at the door, as she told everyone her name, "My name's Nicole, but some people just call me Nicky, I don't really mind whichever one you choose." She answered. She had no idea how to get the door open. "I could try to smash it with my wings, but I think I might damage something in the process...does anyone know how to pick locks, maybe?" She asked.

If this was under normal circumstances, John would have been shocked about the fact that he was noticed by someone other than his sister. Right now however, he was frantically trying to find the necklace. He couldn't lose it. It was the only thing he had of to remind him of her. The only person he had left in his family. Unknown to him, in his panic, his SEP field was deactivating.

"Maybe I dropped it in the room we were in, or maybe it is in the room with the luggage..." He thought.

Torre

This was his chance to finally help. He could easily break the door or at least weaken it enought to be broken down. All he had to do was find the proper frequency for the door. Once he did all he had to do was brodcast it long enough for the door to buckle.

"Well I'm not a lock picker, but I think I might be able to atleast weaken to door. See most stuff has a frequency that it breaks down at when vibrated long enough. I can do that. It might take me a bit to find the right one though."

Drake and Douglas

ViperaUnion wrote:

"I could try to smash it with my wings, but I think I might damage something in the process...does anyone know how to pick locks, maybe?" She asked.

Drake smiled at Nicole, "Only if you want to break your wings there, bird chick. Hahaha" He started to laugh. The door looked like it would take a nuke to knock down. It'd be easier to get around it than injure themselves trying to open the door. If there only was a way around.

The Midnight Stalker wrote:

"Well I'm not a lock picker, but I think I might be able to atleast weaken to door. See most stuff has a frequency that it breaks down at when vibrated long enough. I can do that. It might take me a bit to find the right one though."

This seems like a fairly good way of opening the door. Have Torre weaken it and then have Jia-li finish it off with her darkness. Drake wished that he would be more useful in the group. Illuminating the hallways were enough help. He kept his hands raised up into the air and spoke to Torre, "Yeah, brother. We could use that door broken and into a million pieces at that." He stood there looking at the door. Right now he would be wearing the tinted goggles that were on his head, except that it's too dark to do even consider doing that.


Douglas was hugging behind the group. Silent. Just as he liked it. He sneaked past the group into the side hallway and looked up at the vent, which was uncovered. He figured that he can get inside of it. "Hey..." He nervously spoke to the group, "Can someone help me up?"

Torre

"Alright. Sounds good to me. I hope this works. "

Torre walked forward past the others up next to the door. He stood there for a second assesing witch frequency would be best to start with. Since It was a metal he started at the low end, somwhere around 40Hz. Just with in the human hearing range, but at a low enough Volume most folks couldn't hear it. With that decided he closed his eyes and focused. It took a minute to get it going, but soon you could see the door vibrating slightly. Soon the door was starting to visably deform. Not a lot of the damage was visable, but the door was getting weaker and more brittle. After a couple of minutes of this he desided to stop. He could likely completly demolish the door, but it would leave him weak for a bit.

"There. That should be enough. Now the lady can try and smash it up. It should just fly apart."

During the whole vibrating-the-door phase, Nicole was gritting her teeth with pain, clamping her alula-hands over her ears. She was able to hear infrasound frequencies all the way to 0Hz, like an elephant, and ultrasound past the hearing range of mice, and that noise had been extremely loud for her. When it was over, she winced, "Please don't do that around me again unless you really have to. I might have wings, but that's not my only mutation. My ears are really sensitive, and that seriously hurts." She said, flinching. She still covered her ears, trying to stop the ringing sound.

Torre

Well that was bad. He felt kinda bad about it. But he didn't know. The best he could do was be careful about it around her.

" Sorry. Didn't know. But now that I do I'll take into account next time. So both of use can here infrasound. Can you hear Ultrasound?"

Nicole thought for a moment, not wanting to sound as though she were begrudging the guy for what he did on accident, "Yes, as far as I can tell, my hearing is as accurate as an owl's for locating things, and as far as pitch, it's between 0Hz and all the way past a bat's, which is about 120,000Hz. It sounds cool at first, but when you can't turn it off, it's kind of annoying. Pitch is one thing, but when you can detect things like earthworms moving underground, then it gets kind of distracting. My hearing, smell, and vision are all so acute that it's more of a hindrance than an asset."

Drake


Naturally both Drake and Jia-li took steps back when Torre was going to do his thing. When he started they were already a good distance away. They didn't know what he was capable of. When the door started to shake Drake couldn't help but compliment Torre, "Nice...." He was going to tack on "Wish I could do that". That was redundant since he just copy his power for later. Since he just met these people he was going to play it smart, and keep his powers a secret. Just in case someone overreacts and assumes that there's some negative affect on them... Which it could. Since he doesn't know too much about his powers yet. That was something he wanted to know, if he didn't there'd be no reason for him coming here. He just continued watching as the door was smashed up. Haha... What power he has in his hands. What could he do to a person..." Drake thought to himself.

ViperaUnion wrote:

"Please don't do that around me again unless you really have to. I might have wings, but that's not my only mutation. My ears are really sensitive, and that seriously hurts."

Drake was on the verge of making a sarcastic comment about this statement. Something about 'Sucking it up.' However, he wasn't feeling what she was feeling, nor did he know about her powers. She easily could be in immense pain. He definitely would come off as a jackass. So he kept his mouth shut and continued on.


Jia-Li


Jia-li wasn't too impressed with Torre's display of power. It was cool and all, just not too impressive--- Or flashy. When the door was broken apart, she knew it was time to destroy this door too. Slowly stepping in front of the group until she was a few feet away from the door. Once again she felt like an annoying show off. Jia-li pointed both hands at the door and pitch black smoke surrounded her. The darkness formed tentacles and spiraled. The tentacles flew towards the door at high-speeds and knocked down the door with the sheer force. The door made a loud bang that could be heard from the other side of the Administrative Building. With the entrance in sight the tentacles disappeared. Jia-li was the first to step into the room, except she did it cautiously. This room was a small room, with a green light on the ceiling. On the side of the room were three levers. Main Power, Auxiliary Power, Lights... All the levers except for Main power were locked under metal boxes. The Main Power box was broken open, and the lever was switched down. Naturally Jia-li switched the switch back up. At this moment all the lights in the building suddenly came back on. The computers turned back on, the electronic doors (which normally are difficult to bypass) turned on--- Allowing the group passage.

"At least it's easier to see now..."

Once again, Nicole flinched and covered her ears, What is it with these people and noise? She thought, somewhat hysterically. Now her ears were ringing, and she was sure that her sense of balanced was messed up. She was sure she had vertigo, it felt like she was swaying slightly on her feet. She was positive if anyone said anything for the next few minutes, she wouldn't hear anything over the ringing. Nicole didn't say anything, but she was visibly disturbed, her eyes tearing up slightly, and she felt sick to her stomach now. It was easy to tell that the volume of the blast had been well over her pain threshold. She clenched her jaw, telling herself that she was going to look ridiculous if she had a meltdown. It hurt, though, so she didn't know if there was an exception to the rule.

Jacob looked up at the ceiling as the power turned on. Finally, he thought, light. Although he liked the dark, he needed the light if he wanted his power to work. He looked over to his shadow against the wall on the right. Jay held out his hand and made a shadow of a dog. He made it bark and laughed a little. Shadows were awesome. Even though it looked like a dog, it was only his hand. It wasn't really shape-shifting, more like… wearing a costume. Jacob looked over to his shadow again. He waved his arm up and down in a floppy kind of way. It looked weird on his shadow. Then he waved to himself. Suddenly, Jacob stopped. He stared at his shadow. He blinked his eyes, but as soon as it had appeared, it had disappeared again. He could swear that he had just seen his shadow with two hands on the same arm! He shook his head. He must have just been seeing things. But then again, if he wasn't, it was more likely to happen to him than anyone else. He was the guy with the weird shadow, however nobody else knew this yet. He tried waving at his shadow again. It waved back normally. Jacob shrugged, and walked out to see what everyone else was up to.

Torre

He Could tell that Nicolewas in pian. The Blast to the door had been really loud. And to be honest if he hadn't had his earplugs in he'd be in a similar situation. Of course that's why he wore them. For protection. He could give her his spare piar. He couldn't do anything about her other senses, but at least he could help with that. So he went to her and wiated for her pian to subside enough for her to hear him.

"Hey. I know it hurts, but I got something might help some. They're special niose cancelling earplugs. They kill the volume by a lot, and block most frequenceis over 25,000Hz. Dunno if you want to be cut off from your like that, but it's better than being in pian." He looked up. "And the power is back on, so I'm sure there are a few loud machine that probably came back on somewhere."

Cyex/Arlost


They both looked up at the lights. The power was back on. Good.

For Cyex that meant that most of the complex's electronics were back on, and that meant he could finlly use his powers. Without electricity he was about useless. Just a kid who was really good at math.

For Arloste this meant that she was no longer needed. So she quickly put her jacket back on and looked around at the others. Hopefully they knew what was going on.

Nicole smiled gratefully, "I would really appreciate it." She said, "Hearing loud pitches is only good on occasions when there's not so much ambient noise." The pain was subsiding, but her eyes were still wet from the tears. She wiped them with her alula-hands to the best of her ability; her feathers repelled water, so it wasn't nearly effective as a normal human hand, but it worked. She didn't want to say anything mean to Jia-li about the blast, she wasn't a hateful person at heart, and she didn't want to offend anyone. Besides, it was easy to forget things, and sometimes making noise couldn't be helped.

Group A


Lights are on. That was cue for Drake to turn off his powers. Which was an effect of his powers that allowed his clothing to be incorporated into his transformation. The electricity that shrouded his hands faded away as his actual flesh revealed his true limbs. Perfectly unharmed, nor were his gloves or sleeves burned. He did notice that Nicole was in pain, it wasn't like he didn't care. So, naturally he asked her if she was okay, "Um, bird chick? You okay there?" He did feel that it was redundant to say so. She was obviously the opposite, but it was more of the thought that he asked. Jia-li didn't notice what happened to Nicole and instead decided to lead the group away from the power station and out of the building hopefully. Now that the lights are on it is more apparent. As they wandered along Jia-li sensed something in the near distance. Another group of people, since they were a bit large they formed one big blob of darkness in the distance. Naturally Jia-li went towards the new group, since she had hoped that they were students in the school. Eventually they all had arrived at a big door, which she opened.


Thankfully this door didn't lead into another hallway annoying the group even more. It lead to the foyer, which also lead to the entrance (also works great as an exit). Jia-li walked a few feet until she was standing a few inches away from the foyer. The foyer looked like there wasn't too much fighting here. Aside from one subtle bullet hole on the stairs and a large burn mark it looked like there was no fighting here. However, there was one IMI Tavor TAR-21 Assault rifle just lying at the very base of the stairs. In full view of Drake and Jia-li. It... was very troubling seeing it just lying there. Especially to Drake who looked away awkwardly. During this she managed to get a good glance at the exit. It was wide open just inviting them outside. It was dark out there, but lights could be seen in the near distance. So, that could mean that the rest of the place does have the power on.

"I'm sensing another group coming in..."

Group B


With the power back on Lily decided it was time to lead the group around near aimlessly. There were conveniently placed to lead to a place known as the front desk. When they finally finished following the arrows, they too arrived in the foyer. The first thing said by Lily was, "Hey! Are you all with the school?"

"I'm fine," Nicole answered, "It happens all the time." She said. She didn't want to seem weak, although the considering she had been in severe pain because of a loud noise, it was more of a denial that she wanted too many people to be concerned. She had to learn to live with this, it wasn't going to turn off, so she might as well get used to her power. Still, though, it was pretty hard. When they ran into another group and someone asked if they were at the school, she realized it was probably another group of students. She didn't respond, though, because she was reluctant to raise her voice.

Torre

He heard someone new. More people? That's good news. Mabey they knew what was going on. I sure hope they do. Cuz they need to figure out something fast.

"Um Now we aren't. Were suppost to be students. What about you? Are you students as well? We've been walking around for quite awhile now. We got luck and found the power though. Looked like someone was determined to shut it off."

Marie just blinked once, "We had to smash the door." She said in her usual monotone. "We just got here." It was pretty obvious she was confirming they were just other students, although her speech was rather flat, and somewhat brief. Her eyes flashed pale pink for a moment, but nobody could be sure why, although there was just the tiniest twitch at the corners of her lips, as though for a moment she had considered smiling. "I think that either they have poor management here, or something went horribly wrong, really, you'd think they'd be more careful when everyone is a meta-human, and who knows what kind of powers we have to begin with? For all we know, someone could have spontaneously combusted." Tom added, looking around the room. Marie, strangely, had a reply for this, "Most of us probably have some degree of control that would eliminate such accidents." She said, "It is highly unlikely that any of us will spontaneously combust at any point and time, unless one of us controls fire, in which that would likely add a bit more risk." It seemed she had registered a figure of speech in a logical manner.

Jia-li

Quote :

"We had to smash the door." She said in her usual monotone. "We just got here." It was pretty obvious she was confirming they were just other students, although her speech was rather flat, and somewhat brief.

Exactly what Jia-li had suspected. These people are in the same situation as them. Which means that she knew as much as they do. This wasn't too much of a let down, they had no idea what to do next and she knew that. They had to know what was out there. There was one choice of what she can do to tell. Jia-li let out a quiet sigh, before closing her eyes tight. She focused, and slowly attempted to expand the range of her darkness sense. She tightened her eyes and prepared herself to be overloaded with many presences. However, as her sense expanded and expanded not a single presence was detected. Once again she had overloaded herself. She got a brutal head-ache and dropped down to her knees. Dizzy, and tired she let out a quiet moan. It wasn't long before the extreme affects had worn off leaving her with a major, but tolerable head-ache. What she accomplished? She now knows that there's not a single soul out there. When she raised to her feet she had a message for the rest of the group. She grasped her head as she tired to focus herself. So that both groups can hear her she shouted, "There's nobody at least in a mile of here!" There was an obvious amount of anguish in her voice, "I can tell, I can sense people..."

Drake and Victoria


Drake was hovering over the group examining everyone while they were talking. Someone definitely caught his eye. Victoria E. Blackmore, his older sister. He did indeed know of her power--- something that has to do with thoughts. She knew of his powers. Neither of them truly understands their powers. They split apart from each other and this is indeed the first time they had seen each other in about a year (Drake had expected it'd be several more years before they did again). Drake was rather... excited to see her. He smiled devilishly, before shouting, "Big sis!." Before running over there laughing.


Prompting a "Crap..." From Victoria. When he got close he gave Victoria a big hug. For a moment he managed lift to lift her a few inches off the ground. She struggled to get free, before saying, "Put me down."

Drake responded, "Oh yeah." Before putting Victoria down, "So, crazy seeing you here..." He looked around. Before Victoria tapped him on the side of the neck with one of her index fingers. Since it was one of the only exposed parts on his body. She formed a mind link with Drake allowing them to talk telepathically by sharing each other's thoughts.

She sent him a message, 'Drake we can talk through thoughts, now'

Since they had done this before, Drake knew exactly what to do, 'Cool. We're using your psychic crap again.'

'It's not crap... That's besides the point. What do you think of this situation?' Victoria responded

'We're here. There's at least fifth teen peepz with us... What else is there'

'I think there's something wrong... Did you pay attention to what the Asian girl in the orange said?' Victoria took note of what Jia-li said.

'The ugly broad? Nah... Wasn't paying attention.' Drake noted

'Don't be an ass. She said that she can't detect anyone nearby...'

'That's not a good sign. But, you know what. Haha, one part life is one big bad sign. The other half is---' Before Drake could continue his speech, Victoria cut him off.

'Yeah, yeah. Let's cut the crap and continue about what to do next.'

'That's what we're talking? Who knew? Well, from what I can see we could go for some food. Maybe somewhere to sleep. Um, maybe we should start talking out loud. We look a bit odd, just standing here looking at each other like a bunch of fuckin' weirdos...

The group unanimously decided to go with a grand suggestion that Drake threw across, "Let's just get out of here and see what we stumble upon first?" The group lead by Lily (with Douglas by her side) marched out of the Administration building. It was dark, and the lights were the only things illuminating the path. There could be anything out of the group's field of vision. Lily went down the only path only because she had no idea where else to start. Hopefully he would have went somewhere important. In fact he (inadvertently) had. She saw an object in the distance that -as they got closer- turned out to be a map of the entire Othergrounds. She was all over it and immediately scanned it to see all the buildings that this school had, she spoke in an enthusiastic tone "Yes! !" As she dragged her finger across the various landmarks that the map told "An Education Center, a Hospital, a Training Hall and... Dorms!"

The Dorms might be the best bet for finding shelter and everything necessary (if by any chance they can't sleep in the Dorms they'll have to see about the Hospital or the Education Wing). "We're going to the Dorms." She states. Unless anyone wants to check out the other places now--- they'd also have to be insanely dumb and impatient. The Dorms were pretty close to them and a few other key locations (like the Hospital and Education Wing). So, Lily once again lead the march to the Dorms. The building came into view. The building was quite imposing. It seems like there was a ton of fighting here. Far more than that last building. The front door was riddled with holes. Every window was cracked or downright broken, and every single window (in his line of view) has a bed or any furniture blocking it. The front entrance looked like it was blocked with plenty of tables. They were brushed aside... the real question Lily wanted to ask was when did all this happen. There was not a soul in sight. She was a bit afraid of the place. All the lights were on in this building (which brings up a question on why the power was off in the building he started in). The room inside looked like it was quite cozy at a point. Heh, she probably would have loved this place--- however, she was glad that he got here when she did. Any sooner and he would have been apart of this story. She slowly scrolled inside first. The sound of broken glass under her feet caused quite a loud crunching sound.

While everyone was walking inside; a large orb like robot, with a glass shell and mechanical interior, It easily had several robotic arms. It was large ((Think of the Eyebots from Fallout but bigger... and made out of glass)). It came from one of the hallways inside the Dorm towards the entrance (where the group is heading). They didn't notice it yet--- Douglas on the other hand noticed it and stopped dead in his tracks. Since it was so strange and new (they weren't informed of the Eyes) he immediately pointed at it and caught everyone's attention. He screamed, "What's that!?"

Lily just stared at it and asked the same question herself, "What is that thing?!" She tried to be calm and collected--- yet, she failed horribly. She did look surprised or frightened by the Eye. Could it be an enemy?

Nicole winced when she saw the eye, but the shades coming from it along with the buzzing in her ears told her what it was. "It's a robot, but I don't think it's trying to threaten us. If it was, it would have done something by now. It's probably harmless, although I can't say I know what it's primary function is." She said, beginning to polish her quartz crystal with her wing again. This was her typical compulsion when she didn't know the answer to a hard question.

John eventually found the necklace. For some reason, it was in the hallway. Probably fell when the other students and himself were being transfered. At least he got it back. He quickly went back to the group. Might as well follow them. It was not like he had a better plan.

((From this point on, his SEP field is deactivated.))

Marie did not make any facial expression, but as her eyes usually did at odd intervals, they flashed a shade of yellow, before a small flicker of pink. "If we are lucky, it is remotely controlled by something, although it is unlikely, as there appears to have been some sort of fight across the campus. The staff may have been injured, perhaps, but they might have created something that would continue to run the school while they were unable to do so, although if this were the case, then we would not have been forced to destroy the doors when we arrived. Much of the grounds do not function as they should, there is much structural damage and devices in need of repair. Originally, we may have been able to call for help, but as this school is probably with good reason kept a secret, whoever is currently in charge has taken our mobile devices to prevent us from communicating with the outside world." This was so far the most she had spoken, and her vocabulary, as it was when she was focused on thinking, was sophisticated for her age.

Tom frowned, "Okay, then, so what's your point with this robot?" He asked. Marie looked at him, her eyes seemingly focused this time, although still lacking emotion, "To place my long explanation in a nutshell, this machine could be used to safely observe students at this school from a distance, although it is likely not its primary function, as a camera does not need to interact with anything, so therefore it should not require limbs. I believe that it maintains the school, as it appears to have tools stored inside of it that are suitable for repairing structural damage. I seriously doubt this machine is a threat, although its appearance is rather enigmatic in nature as a whole." Marie could see tools inside the robot's clear shell, and some of them looked like building utensils. This explanation just made him frown more, "When did you start talking like a professor?" He muttered. Once again, as she seemed to do whenever someone asked a rhetorical question, Marie took it literally, "I read much, and as this problem is logical, and not emotional, it is easier for me to focus on it." She said, "I simply have an extensive vocabulary, and devote much time to my studies. When I am able to safely divert my thought process without risk, I am capable of quite eloquent speech, and am able to carry on a legitimate conversation, although I shall not do this very often, so I may lapse back into simplicity at any given moment."


Nicole stared at the little girl and the tall muscular guy with dreadlocks. As far as she was concerned, most scientists didn't match the girl's speech pattern. "Uh, does she do that a lot?" She asked the dreadlocks guy, "No, in fact, this is probably the most detailed way she's ever spoken. You heard how she talked when she was explaining how we smashed the door, that's how she was when we woke up. I guess she's got really unstable powers, or something, she must be focusing all the time to control them, considering that she's made it sort of clear that it has something to deal with emotions." Marie just stared at Nicole, "He is correct." She said. Her eyes were starting to lose focus again. "You should stay calm, everything is easier." Tom just looked back at her, "I guess that's the 'lapse back into simplicity' part." Marie once more replied, but this time, it was the shortest and least detailed answer possible, "Yes."

Cyex

A machine. Perfect. So this place obviously had to have some sort of way to bradcast a control signal. If they could find it then they might be able to contact the outside world with it, but first he'd have to be able to locate it. Normally that would easy. All he'd have to do is locate three resievers, calculate the signal straingth, and use some basic Trig to find where the brocaster was. but in this case he only had this robot. So Trianglation was out of the question. Still he might be able to get something useful out of it.

"Hey Everyone I'm going to try and hack this thing. See if i can get anything useful out of it. I'm hoping to find out where whatever is controlling is at. If it is for Mantainance then it should have so sort of base it reports to. For charging and replacing broken tools and the like. If I can find that we might able find someone there or maybe something that can help us get out of this place."