"Is everything alright in there? Are you masked up? You've been in there a while. May I come in?" I hear Piper ask from the hallway again.
"I am now, the nurse didn't knock."
"There was an elevated heart-rate alarm…"
"Well, Ma'am, I'll remind you that…" Agent Piper begins as he enters the room. Another PRT agent files in behind him.
"Yes, I know. We've had training classes on it. Pardon me, but I have other patients to attend to." The nurse says as she walks out.
Piper nods at Chela. "I hope everything is alright. We haven't been properly introduced."
<"Yes, Good Evening Chela, I hope you are feeling better."> Juan speaks up in Spanish. <"We spoke briefly earlier this afternoon. This is my associate Agent Piper">
<"Isn't non-family visiting hours closed?"> I ask.
<"Are you family?"> Agent Hernandez asks me.
<"He's my Cousin"> Chela says.
"Mind filling me in?" Piper asks.
"She says Stasis is her cousin."
"Ah well, nice to clear that up."
"Where is Ms. Clark?" I ask them.
"She had to head home, it's rather late."
<"I am very tired, I want to eat and go to sleep. No more questions"> Chela says before looking at me. <"Sim--"> she pales a little at the slip.
"Stasis" I remind her.
<"Will I see you tomorrow?">
<"Yes">
I turn back to look at the agents. "Well you heard her."
"Actually…" Piper cuts in before Hernandez interrupts.
"She said she wants to sleep, and not answer questions." Agent Hernandez answers.
"Well hopefully she can tomorrow. I was nice to meet you anyway." Piper says to Chela as we head toward the door.
<"I will see you tomorrow"> I tell her as we leave.
"And how are you Stasis?" Piper asks me as we enter the hall.
"I'm hungry and tired also. I'd like a ride back to the hotel, and maybe pick up something to go. Any good BBQ places nearby open this late?"
****
We pull up to my hotel a half hour later, as I burn off some more mana from random Observe grinding during the drive. The BBQ containers are sitting in my lap filling my nose with sweet smells. I hope it's decent when I actually eat it though. Piper and Hernandez are sitting in the front seats. I get out but stop at the driver side door. Agent Piper rolls it down.
"Yes?" he asks.
"Thank you, a lot, for helping get my hand fixed, tell Ms. Clark that too…"
"But?"
"There's other things I need. First don't pester my cousin with a bunch of questions."
"She is a witness…"
"And she can't recount what happen as well as I can without breaking down, so don't. I want all of her, all of our, hospital care paid for. That includes future needs for her. Physical therapy and Psychological counseling for several months if needed. The two people, the bodies, I mentioned you needed to find in Falling Spring. They're her parents. Pay for all their funeral arrangements, and whatever help she'll need to get over their deaths. She's lost everything, we both did.. She needs clothes, basic necessities, spending money and a good foster home. I can't take care of her. Hell I need a wardrobe and money also."
"You're asking for quite a lot. But you've haven't yet…"
"Quiet, before I change my mind. Just do whatever you need to, and I'll know if you come through or not. Just…" I can't keep holding it back if it can end those fuckers. "Jack Slash's main power isn't what people think it is. He's some kind of Master-Trump or Social Thinker. It's probably the only reason the Nine can ever stay together. I think he communicates with other peoples powers. A normal got the drop on him though, for a few seconds before she got killed. She managed to shoot him in the arm, and he was actually surprised. Gunshot didn't do shit though because of enhancements Bonesaw put into him." Piper scrambles to pull out a data-recorder. I sigh, "Don't."
He frowns. "Then will you be willing to make these statements in front of a Protectorate thinker panel?"
"Maybe, at the hospital. I'm not going anywhere else."
"Is there anything else?" Piper asks stunned.
"Yeah, the Siberian is a projection. The rest I'll do as a report for Ms. Clark as I promised." I see Hernandez pulling out a phone. "I'll talk to you tomorrow, after I talk with Chela, and you've told me what you can do for us. Oh and one more thing. Do either of you have a lighter?"
"Aren't you a little young---?" Hernandez asks,
"Just give him your damn lighter!" Piper yells back at him as I scowl.
I take it, turn, and walk away from their car back toward my room. I give a nod to the three stooges that are back on watch in their car several spaces over, but they just watch as I pass. I ascend the stairs, slip into my room and check on all my stuff. It's all still where I left it. So I put it all back into my inventory.
No progress on the Helping a Friend Quest, but, maybe it won't update until they actually start doing those things. I'll look up a lawyer if I have to and make it a contract, but if it fails I'll know they're lying bastards.
Well, I can't waste too much of tonight. I disable the Smoke Detector, and pull out the lighter they gave me. Time to get some Grinding in.
Stage 4: Arrivals & Departures Arc 5.5
Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010
-1 HP [Fire Damage] (8 Resisted) x447
Your Damage Resistance (Fire & Heat) skill has increased by 1
You have unlocked the Fire Affinity feature for Damage Resistance (Fire & Heat)
About fucking time, that took too long. I guessed right at getting fire affinity at level five, just like for Ice & Cold resist. Do all the elemental damage types do this? If so, what's Air, Earth, and Plant?
I can't do this with a lighter again. My arms and legs were blistered to hell, but have already healed from HP regen. It's still smoky and smells like burned flesh. Opening the windows only help so much. Don't use actual fire anymore dumbass, use something that's heated.
I remove my BBQ, chow down and the remaining burn spots heal. I settle in to meditate and blow my mana grinding Observe via free camera.
Your Observe skill has increased by 1
Your Observe skill has increased by 1
Being sedated yesterday screwed up my sleep, but it's flexible. Didn't even sleep three hours but got most my MP back, plus I'm feeling clearer-headed. I flip through the channels to catch up on news.
"…the DOW dropped 700 points yesterday amid fears of…. CLICK… The All New Chevy Explorer has… CLICK… The President of Mexico will be in DC today to meet with President Markham and the Chief Director of the PRT to discuss… CLICK… Get todays latest trending hot fashion at affordable prices… CLICK…
RIIIIIINGG….
I mute the TV when the phone on my nightstand rings. That's odd, wasn't expecting anyone. I pick it up nervously and turn the TV off. There isn't any news about the Nine, everything is drowned out by coverage of the Behemoth attack.
"Stasis? It's Agent Clark." I exhale a sigh of relief. Why am I being so nervous right now?
"Hey, what's up."
"I wanted to check and see if you were up. I'm in the Lobby actually. I've been authorized to take you shopping this morning. As well as get Chela some clothes."
"We're not going to go to the hospital first?"
"We can if that's what you would prefer. My fellows at the hospital said your cousin was still asleep as of an hour ago. She has some routine follow up assessments scheduled this morning. Do you want to go to the hospital now or later?"
I'm not sure. I promised I'd see her again today, but there's little point in sitting around if she's asleep or the doctors are seeing her. "I guess I'll go shopping, can we get some breakfast? I'll be down shortly."
"Sure, I'll be here."
I freshen up, slip on my mask and head out the door. As I step out, the count of people watching me jumps from 0 to 8. What the hell? Okay there's the three stooges, expected them. I look and spot another car. Observe, Observe, Observe. More PRT, what the fuck? Why'd they double the watch? That's six, who's the other two? It's not Ms. Clark, I'm not in the lobby. My paranoia rises as I round the corner and watch the numbers go up and down as various things occlude their line of sight. My mask draws additional unwanted attention in the lobby. If not for the floating names, I wouldn't know who was working for who. Ms. Clark waves me over. Two burly plainclothes PRT guys are accompanying her.
"What's with the escort?"
"There's a lot of high-profile stuff above my pay grade going on in the city today."
I throw a quick observes at her and the muscle. She's nervous, anxious, and armed. Concealed too. What the hell? She was never armed before. Why now? She's even wearing a light-weight concealable Kevlar vest. So are Tweedle-Dum and Tweedle-Dee. What the fuck is going on?
"Stasis?" She asks me, pulling me out of my daze. "Are you ready to go?"
"Yeah. I guess they told you what I asked for?" I say as I follow her out the door.
"Basically. You know, we were going to take care of your and Chela's hospital bills anyway. Even so, I've got a limited budget allocated for you and Chela.
"How much of a budget?"
"$1500 for each of you. Although, I'm only getting Chela a few outfits to wear when she gets out of the hospital. I'll take her shopping to spend the rest when she is well enough to pick things out for herself."
That wasn't bad, "Is that all?"
"Hey, how about you take one step at a time. This is for clothes, supplies and sundries only, so don't go overboard. You gave some good intel that will make a difference when the Nine are encountered again. We want to see more."
"Has the PRT or the Protectorate figured out where they are?"
"If we have no one has told me yet. The CSI division working the scenes did single out what they believe are Chela's parents based on your earlier report. If she consents to a DNA sample, we'll have it verified and get arrangements made."
"DNA Sample?" Fuck, I didn't think… no, yeah. This on top of everything else she went through…
"Stasis? Is Chela just your Cousin?" She asks me as we arrive to her car. Parked next to it is a black panel van our escorts open up. My sense of Paranoia spikes again, and I ignore her question.
Ms. Clark puts a reassuring hand on my shoulder. "It's not going to be an open-casket funeral." She says as calmly as she can.
I take a deep breath. "Okay" I mutter. At least this means they are willing to take care of them.
"Do you want to take my car or the van? You might not want to wear the mask in a shopping mall, and you can't exactly change in my car if want to put on any new clothes."
I look at the ominous windowless PRT van, and do a quick one-off with my free camera to look inside. Observe. Armored, special modifications, tactical equipment lockboxes. Hmm, super-van I wouldn't be able to get out of or Sara's, plain old Chevy sedan? "I'd prefer your car."
"Told you," she tells Tweedle-Dee.
"Alright, we'll follow," he answers in reply.
"Where are we going anyway?"
"L'Enfant Plaza to start, Gallery Place and City Center. They're near the National Mall and the monuments. In case you wanted to sight see a little. Have you ever been to DC before?" Sara asks me as she opens her door.
"No, first time." I say as I climb inside.
"After that, probably Georgetown Park mall."
"I'll radio ahead, they've got a lot of traffic control down there. No need to get stuck with the civvies." Tweedle-Dum says as he and his partner climb into the van.
"Thanks, Carl" Sara says in return as she starts the engine up.
I swap to free camera and ascend. The three stooges have left, but I know they were night shift. The other three PRT surveillance dudes start up their car as well and follow us. What the hell? Why do I warrant an extra escort of five fucking people? Not to mention the extra two unknown pairs of eyes were there again the whole time we were in the parking lot. I try to figure out who else it is, but the observation count drops as we head out.
****
Despite my stealth eye feature showing 'normal' numbers again while in the car with Ms. Clark, I feel uneasy. I don't think it's from my vibes feature. My escorts don't have much listed in motivations or feelings in their Observe windows besides doing their surveillance and escorting jobs. Still, there's a lot of PRT and DC Cops out in force today.
"I see a lot of cops and PRT on the roads. What's going on?"
"Big International PR event. I think the President is going to make a speech. The Chief Director and Legend will be there too. Word down from my higher-ups is for everyone to be on high-alert in general today."
"Oh." Is that all it is? Should bother with the mask still? She made a good point, I don't want more attention and a mask will do that. It's not like this domino mask actually hides a damn thing. It's just a flimsy courtesy. It doesn't do shit for obscuring my identity. Fuck it, I'm abandoning the Stasis persona anyway after I get on my own again. "I might do this shopping without the mask."
"That's entirely up to you. It would probably draw less attention. However, if you decide to I'll need to let the rest of our escort know, so it can be accommodated. Take that into consideration before you decide."
"Why so much escort for us anyway?"
"You've already figured out you have high value intel. I believe Agent Piper already warned you about the press and how the Nine might keep tabs on you via that coverage. Also, if I understand correctly, the weight of what you told him last night would have them hunting you down if they knew what you revealed. That's the other reason for the extra escort, even if we don't find it likely they will make an appearance. I know you're reluctant to accept more formal association and assistance from the PRT, but I can't stress enough that we can protect and support you much better if you did."
"Well, I'll consider it, but I just don't think joining the PRT will be right for me."
"You mean the Protectorate. Parahumans aren't allowed to join the PRT, that's what the Protectorate is for."
"Oh, yeah. Why is that anyway?"
"The PRT helps guide and protect the public from Parahumans, and Parahumans from the public. It would be an extreme conflict of interest to have Parahumans as members. Also, it's the law.
"So what happens if a PRT member triggers and turns into a parahuman?"
"They have to resign and join the Protectorate. It's occurred a number of times in our early years, but we have screenings that assess that risk now, so it's a far less frequent occurrence."
"You scan prospective employees brains?"
"Sometimes, but those are not nearly as conclusive as the internet claims they are. We do psychological evaluations as well."
"Did they tell you what I said last night?"
"That Jack is a Thinker and The Siberian is a master projection. Is that correct? I'm curious how you discovered and verified this."
"Yeah, that's… I said more than that but yeah."
"Would you be comfortable in elaborating further or do you want to wait for the thinker panel or your report later?"
Do I? I keep trying to justify that I'm covering my own ass and making sure Chela gets help. How can making sure they know everything they need to take them out not also be helping? I refresh my observe window on Sara and re-read it.
She's being genuine. Nothing but good vibes from her. She hasn't even pressed further at my lack of an answer to her last question for the last few minutes. I'm just being stupid.
"Jack likes to listen to himself talk…" I say, and Sara pulls out a recorder from her pocket.
"May I?" She asks.
I nod, she clicks it on and turns her attention back to the road. "Everything that comes out of his mouth is a careful manipulation. Even when he was having casual conversation with the other members of the nine, it was all…engineered. He's their glue..."
"You overheard this or you spoke with him?"
"He said most everything right in front of me. He didn't care, confident he would, I dunno, win, or that I'd be dead and it wouldn't matter maybe. I realized he manipulated them, the rest of the Nine that is, as much as he was manipulating us, the survivors, to do what he wanted us to do. Which for us was to turn on each other in his sick horror movie knock-off game." A vision of me pushing Melinda into the electric trap on that table flashes through my mind. "For them I guess it was to stay together committing atrocities…"
"Your prior statement was still very specific, if you only observed conversations. "
Don't fool yourself Simon… "I know the PRT has figured out I have some kind of thinker ability too. So, there's that."
We stop at a traffic checkpoint. Sara rolls the window down, waves her badge, and the police lets us through after examining the vehicle. We head into the monument area. There's lots of crowds out. All the other traffic, except our escort van, gets directed elsewhere. Sara still has her recorder on, but we're getting close to the shopping center.
"I had a plan to eliminate Mannequin, dudes basically inside an armored shell, so I was pretty sure I could suck him into stasis. Jack somehow knew that. He told him not to get close to me so that he wouldn't get 'disappeared'. That was also way too specific of a statement to make unless he somehow knew what I was planning or what was possible. So adding all the clues together…" and the blatant power description from Observe but I'm not fucking mentioning that.
"And the Siberian?"
"I know if something's an object or not. She… was perceived as an object. There was a moment when she was chasing us, caught us. If Jack hadn't wanted us alive to torment further we'd be dead. She's the one who bit my fingers off. That… shouldn't have been possible because of how my power works on my body. In that moment when she grabbed my hand, I tried to inventory her. It didn't work, but I learned she was made out of some kind of dimensional matter powered by negative energy. I don't know what that means, but it was incompatible with what my power does. So instead of sucking her in, I tried dumping everything I was carrying her into her mouth as she was biting down on my hand."
"That worked, to an extent. Her form got all warped as all the stuff I was carrying phased into her body, primarily around her head. It gave us a chance to escape, so I took it. She was still standing when we gate—got away, blinded and off-balance, but still swiping at the air where I was."
"Is she still in this state?"
"I have no idea"
"That is very important information to have, thank you for providing it." Sara says as we roll through yet another checkpoint, this time we leave the secured section and pull into a parking lot at the mall. "Is there anything else you want to add?"
I shake my head. "No, not for now, just want to get this stuff done. It's hard for me to trust, but I'll trust you. I'm going to de-mask. Don't want the attention in the mall." Huh, admitting that gained me a couple stress points back. I wait for a moment when no eyes are on me, pull the domino mask off and inventory it.
I glance at myself in the rear view mirror, before following Sara and getting out of the car. At least my hair is still dyed. Huh, shouldn't some of my natural color be showing at the roots by now? It's not, how long has it been since I dyed it? I'll be grinding my disguise up more anyway.
Sara calls in that I had de-masked, and plugs the data recorder into her smart phone, presumably transferring our recorded conversation. Shouldn't smart phone already have recorder functions? Why two devices? Whatever, I need to get a phone from a store her for myself.
****
Your Observe skill has increased by 1
I'm glad I de-masked. There's a lot of people shopping and milling about outside sight-seeing or awaiting this big PR event thing. I'm getting a massive grind fest for Observe done.
Apparently I hit another milestone at level 30. I can see the modifiers values to INT and WIS, and the base value for LUC now. I need to slow down, pay attention, and re-check base stat averages, instead of observing and closing the window immediately without reading just to grind as fast as possible.
There are a lot more 'Parahuman-candidates' out there than I thought. It's not nearly as rare as I thought it was. I've found over a dozen since getting to DC. Half of that in the last three hours because the density of people is so high. Based on how much mana I've blown, I've used observe well over 2500 times today; mostly on people. That's not exactly a precise statistical measure. If only I could write a program to interact with my interface and automatically collect the data. What are the national and world stats on Parahumans numbers? Would it be accurate compared to any I generate? Also why didn't I see lots of candidates before? Houston has plenty of population density for some to have been apparent. Maybe my Observe level wasn't high enough then? Or maybe it was because I never read the data when I'm speed grinding; maybe both.
****
I set aside another outfit and bring it to the front where Sara is waiting and we checkout. It's the fifth store we've been to. I've managed to collect several 'stylish' outfits that should give me a +0.5 Allure on average. A bit on the expensive side, but they give me the best bonuses for allure and comfort. Throw in a leather trench coat, sneakers, good steel toed boots, some packages of socks and underwear, some non-prescription glasses, and a few hats, and I was done clothes shopping under the eye of the PRT. Still had to get some other stuff though. I contemplate the make-up kit and how it might help me grind disguise but it would be too weird right now so I pass on it.
****
"Two Sleeping bags? Why?" Sara asks me as I drop them in my cart in the sporting goods store we are in. I set them next to the first aid kit and other miscellaneous camping supplies and sundries I gathered.
"Do you object? I'll explain in the car."
"They're fine. I do object to the hand-axe, knife and the bat, put those back."
"I would have never escaped if I hadn't had tools like those on hand when.. you know. I feel safer knowing they're available. Also, this isn't a knife it's a Leatherman multi-tool." Sara's expression doesn't change. "Fine" I sigh and wander away to the spot in the store that was a camera blind spot. The bat I'll put back, but the Leatherman and the hand-axe, I suck into my inventory while obscured behind a product display case. That was a stupid risk to take. I can easily do this elsewhere after I've departed. No more stealing shit while the nice PRT lady is in the same damn store!
****
"You said you'd explain the sleeping bags in the car?" Sara asks as we pull out of the parking lot and head to the next store.
"Oh, uh." I was hoping she forgot. I didn't actually mean to mention it. but…
"Does it have something to do with how you saved Chela?"
Damn. "How'd you guess?"
"Do you know what the Manton Limit is?"
The what now? "No, not really."
"It is a theory, named after it's inventor, regarding parahumans and how powers work. To say that one is Manton-limited it means that, if the power does not inherently target people to begin with, that it cannot target people or potentially other living things. It's thought to be a safety measure to prevent people from using dangerous powers on themselves accidently, but that for whatever reason it might not always distinguish self from other organic life forms."
Now I remember that being mentioned in a few articles. I never followed up on it though.
Sara continued talking, "We've wondered if you were or weren't Manton-limited regarding your ability to put things in stasis, if you could or could not do it to people. Clearly you did so to Chela in order to save her, but I read the medical report, and I wondered why she was in a sleeping bag while wearing clothes."
Well, that's pretty observant of her. "This is something you've studied in your classes?"
"Yes."
"So do you think I am Manton-limited or not?" Indeed how would the PRT classify me?
"Your stasis power seems very general, so probably would be limited, but those who are so limited, have to trigger a second time to overcome that barrier."
"Second Trigger?" A memory of Jack asking if he got a double whammy flashes in my mind. Some of what Bonesaw was saying about the brain also makes a bit more sense.
"That's a whole other area of study, which my classes have barely touched on yet."
"Yeah, you were saying?"
"Right, if you had undergone that, the extra step of the sleeping bag seems odd. Her injuries were too severe for her to have been sleeping, nor would running from the Nine had allowed time for that. So I want to say you aren't Manton-Limited but it seems odd."
"Yeah, you're not wrong. Normally I can't put living things in stasis, but I cheated."
"Cheated? With the sleeping bag?"
"Yeah, I didn't put Chela in my inventory I put the sleeping bag in it. I guess my power though that was good enough. It was a move of desperation. But, since it worked, if I even find myself in the situation again, I want to be prepared, hence the sleeping bags."
"Inventory?"
Oh shit… "I mean in stasis. I can intuitively keep track of everything that I've put in stasis. So I imagine it like an inventory."
"Okay, makes sense I guess."
"What else can you tell me about Manton Limits and Second Triggers, and can I see your textbooks?"
"I suppose, but they're in the backseat."
Won't let the stop me. I crane my neck and spy her book-bag behind her driver's seat.
"We've covered Manton limits a far bit recently, but not much I can add about second triggers. There are very few documented… Stasis!" Sara yells as I lay my seat back suddenly, reach over and spill out her textbooks. "I meant you could look at them later not right now, while I'm driving."
"Oh, my bad…" I say as I sit back up and crack one open on my lap, looking through the table of contents. Mainly I just wanted to know the author and titles, so I could look them up later.
Sara gives me a brief overview on the Manton theories, while I briefly peruse her textbooks. That plus my speculation on parahuman and parahuman candidate population earlier bumps me up to the next lore level as well pull into another parking lot.
Your Parahuman Lore skill has increased by 1
****
"You know we could give you a phone, if you want to be an affiliate." Sara says as I pick up a couple cheap flip-phones from an electronics store. She gestures before I can protest. "It's not joining, or even being partnered tangentially. It would just give you a way to contact the PRT for help from a known number to priority route you, and give us a chance to contact you as well in case we want to ask follow up information, or maybe let you know when the Nine have been eliminated."
"I think the News would let me know that right? I'll consider it. I still want to get this though. Is that and some pre-paid minute cards going to be an okay purchase?" I'm probably being paranoid, but I really just want to get this for Chela. I can get one for myself later when I'm on my own again.
"Yes, but I think that will come close to emptying out your balance."
"That was what I planned. Can I get the remaining balance in cash?" Sara sighs but relents.
There was 210 dollars and change left, now cash in my inventory when the cashier zeroed out the card. Sara was calling the hospital to check up on Chela while I activated the burner phone and loaded it with one of the pre-paid cards. I'll keep the other card for my own use later. Once it was working, I left myself a test message on my VOIP number. I really need to get online to check my messages and emails, it's been days.
"Chela was awake for a while this morning but went to sleep again after her appointments." Sara says as she returns." I must have outwardly frowned, because Sara switched to a reassuring tone. "She did ask after you briefly this morning. She has another check-up though in an hour, which will take some time. So we have a couple more hours to kill if you want to head back when that is done."
"Yeah I guess"
"You want to see any of the monuments?"
"Yeah, alright, if we can get through all these crowds."
"Flashing the badge can help sometimes."
****
We went to the Washington Monument, and the Lincoln Memorial, then did a brief tour of the capital building. I was making great grinds with Observe again. Now we're finally weaving through the crowds towards the White house, when the press conference is announced as starting soon.
There is so much security, DC Police, government spooks, and heavy PRT presence was everywhere. It's still making me nervous and uneasy. With the weird kind of Master powers out there I guess they can't ever be too careful. My stealth camera observation counter for both people and cameras, was fluctuating so much, it lost usefulness.
We are still pretty far away but they have big screen TVs and speakers setup. Sara got us an elevated place to watch, and I can make out the President as he comes up to a podium, even if he was the size of my thumb when I held my arm out.
Hehe, too damn curious, Observe.
My fellow Americans, today I am proud to announce…
Oh, look more important people. Observe.
…the first preliminary steps towards…
…bringing the nation of Mexico…
Observe. Uh, What the hell?
…into what is now christened, the Protectorate Alliance of North America…
Observe. WHAT?? WHAT?? Oh shit! Sara just said that's not supposed… Who the fuck is Cauldron??
cont