In spite of his heightened blind-man hearing, 626 powers through the pain.
He sees the plasma man's escape rather differently than the rest of you. His telekinetic vision didn't afford the luxury of color or long distance vision, but in return what sight he does have is perfectly precise out to it's fullest extent. He doesn't see the wall heat up. He feels that. He does see every warp and crack as it forms, however. It was fantastic.
Not many people seemed to be joining the Rat. A pair even ducked behind a wall to discuss the matter. They were all good people who stayed. He had shaken hands with all of them, though he really knew none so far. He sees Igor, the small blue kleptomaniac who had become his shadow, and contacts him telepathically, Stay here. Tell Amanda and the Warden that the League is not alone in this. Make clear that I am not a friend of the Rat. But before they get too excited also make it clear that I'm not their friend either.
He then steps forward toward the Rat. The longer we wait the harder it will be to lose the League. He says.
Hypatia clapped her hands to her head at the scream. That hurt! Her opinion of the Rat was rapidly falling, few of the prisoners seemed inclined to take up his offer and he had opened the five metal boxes before checking who, or what, might have been imprisoned within. She also didn't like the fact that he had tricked her... or that he had killed Jerry. The Rat might possibly be able to protect himself from the inevitable response from the League but Hypatia doubted whether he would be able, or even willing, to provide the same protection to those who followed him.
Two years ago I might have followed him. Hypatia thought, But two years ago me got herself arrested and stuck here. No, the most prudent decision is to stay ... and maybe try and earn a few brownie points at the same time.
Glancing up at the hole the man made of plasma and the girl with the pigtails left through, she mentally added Of course it's just good sense to have a backup plan
Her mind made up Hypatia moved to help the wounded, moving them to the area the man in pyjamas indicated.
Cowboy looks at the others, realizing that a few have followed his lead—certainly enough medics here, and someone asking for advice. "I'm not sure..." he shakes his head. "I'd try cutting my own way out, but Mr. Rat suggests we'll have bigger problems soon... I could build an impenetrable barrier, but that would take ten or fifteen minutes, and I don't know if we have that kind of time. Still... is there a chance they let any of you keep a phone, laptop or tablet with crippled internet?"
Hypatia gestured at the hole at the top of the dome that the the plasma man made. "I could get a couple of us up there if things get really bad down here. It looks like it may be a bit nippy out there based on that draft coming in and I'm not really dressed for the cold." Hypatia laughs. "I suggest that we be good little boys and girls for now and sit tight. It seems that the scary guys would rather run away than stay and play anyway."
"I can get out, I might be able to carry someone light. I have to agree though, we are better sitting tight here." Or could I still go with king Rat? the offer is tempting...
Simile watches the others go. "Well, guess I'm staying then." She looks around at the others, "Well, they call me Simile, or they did. I guess I'm now just 1547. I wonder what's going on out there?"
Hypatia tuts at Outrun's question.
"You've been here how long? And you don't even know the names of your neighbours? Tsk, Tsk, no wonder things have gotten so bad around here. Lack of community cohesion leads to a rise in crime rates you know." She flashes a broad smile and sticks out her hand.
"I'm prisoner number 222614, but you can call me Hypatia. I know who you are, of course. Delighted to finally be formally introduced to you Outrun "
"Yeah, yeah." The cowboy calls back. "And I could hack the prisoner records, but there are more pressing concerns than showing off. No masks, so you can call me Jason."
And he stands up, seeing that everyone still alive is getting at least some measure of treatment, and pivots on one foot, tracing a triangle in the air with his two hands while reciting a series of numbers; and then Jason is surrounded in overlapping shimmering fields of orange and blue, each itself undulating through complex geometrical patterns.
And, quickly, he walks over the man with black eyes. "Now, excuse me, but I don't think that's yours. And I'm not in a fun mood today. So you've got sixty seconds to explain what you're doing in that body, and why you deserve to keep doing it."
"I'm Seth," is all Seth introduces of himself. He continues, without a hint of sarcasm, "Let's focus on keeping everyone alive against their rampage for now? We can koombaya round the campfire later." A rat pops out from Seth's pajama's pocket, nibbles on his neck in protest, then scurries back.
The adventurer who has commandeered another's body moves over to the dome wall and begins climbing it, far too fast for a normal human. He moves is a straight line and doesn't apper to be moving that fast, but in between your blinks he has moved up the wall a good distance. He then crawls over the lip of the hole and is gone from sight.
Those following the Rat depart, and for the moment silence reigns (other than the groaning of wounded people), but you know it will not last. Is there anything that you want to do before the authorities show up?
"As I mentioned before, I could get myself out, maybe I could get another person out, but while I can understand running, that just leaves you at the mercy of Rat, with no support.
Maybe if we explain the situation they can purge our systems, show a little a trust and we may be rewarded."
Simile actually thinks she's just tired of running and hiding, but that's hardly a great justification.
Several minutes have past, and the snow begins to fall into the hole, soon leaving a circle of cold, wet bodies (5 of them are no longer alive). As your group stands around looking at each other and trying to process what has occurred, you see what at first appears to be a spot, only observable in the sky because of the color difference, as it descents, it resolves itself into the form of a man, wearing a Green cape with brown tights.
The Protector.
The most notable adventurer in the modern world, everyone can easily recite his power set: he can fly, is super strong, and completely invulnerable to harm.
Drifting down through the hole, he ignores your group and moves to one of the other metal boxes. Ripping one of the walls off the box as casually as someone might tear a piece of paper, he drops the metal to the ground and says "Bryan, I need you to quit hiding here. You are needed in the world, not hiding in a prison." The protector's massive frame covers the hole, preventing you from seeing inside.
"Leave me be, fool. I belong here."
"How long do you think that you can hide away from the world before it's had enough of your whining?"
"Until I serve my sentence."
"We don't have time for that. 9 of the others have escaped, led by Rapture. I told that fool Jackhammer not to trust him, but he swore that he had changed."
"If the others have escaped, you won't have much time. You'll need....nevermind, I'm staying out of it."
Silence reigns for a moment, then the Protector roars and rips the lid off the box, sending it flying into the far wall of the dome.
"Fine, fine." says the voice from the box. "You will need someone to recapture them, plus rapture. There are some 1 percenters behind you who could probably do it. Go get them and fight your damned war again, but leave me out of it. Completely." and then the voice is silent.
The protector whirls and looks at each of you for the first time, the man sizing you up like you were meat at a deli counter.
"Each of you, tell me your powers, and what you were convicted of. Quickly."
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Simile drops down to one knee, her arm across her chest. In a gesture of subserviance.
"I am a telepath" she hesitates a moment. "And I can change form."
"I suppose I'm a thief."
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"Jason Majors," Jason says, tilting his hat, though again eyeballing the various spots other prisoners have fled to. "Online whistleblower, plus kinetic combat and healing. I've broken a lot of windows taking on bad dudes, some of them literal, and I guess that makes enemies. Best I can tell I'm in here because of paid testimony from three crooked cops and a blood sample left at a crime scene in a city I've never visited."
"Still... 'Rapture,' as you call him, said he let some real nasty types loose in this yard, and that we'd have a fight on our hands in a few minutes."
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"Seth Shadrach. I transcend planar and dimensional boundaries to shape the immediate quantum realities as each fourth dimensional creature might perceive or interface with." Seth spouts, rather confidently. He pauses here, seeing your lost faces, and he then looks somewhat confused. "Um... I do magic?"
He leaves things hanging, then seem to realise that the Protector had another question. "I terminated the physical continuity of someone of this plane. A boy. With a kitchen knife." Holding up a rat, he continues. "Here he is. Meet Rob."
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"My shape is malleable and I can call on nature herself for help," Kailynn said as he looked up from one of the people he was helping, "As for what I was convicted for, I believe it was called Assault and Battery."
Some of your other prisoners give answers as well, the ones that stand out are the guy who can see through the walls of houses who was convicted of 12 counts of premeditated murder (you get the impression that he is a professional killer), The teleporter who was convicted of 134 bank robberies, and the young woman who has the ability to make any man fall in love with her, who was a con artist.
Hypatia curtsies and smiles sweetly at the Protector.
"Hypatia J. Kuningatar, your Protectorship. I have some magical talent and I see ... everything. I'm here because my father made enemies and I made mistakes. Hung out with the wrong sort of people, went some places I wasn't allowed in. I believe I have learnt my lesson and I can assure you I will not make the same mistakes again."
The protector is about to say something else when you all notice a light shining down into the hole. Looking up, there is a helicopter that is shining a spotlight.
"Wait here." he says before flying straight up, much faster than his descent.
After several minutes, he returns and says "you, you, and you, come with me." while pointing at the guy who can see through walls, the teleporter, and the con artist.
They move close to each other and the he flies them out of the hole.
This time he does not return.
A few minutes later a soldiers begin repelling down into the room. They secure each of you and are about to begin moving you into your cells when over the loudspeaker a woman's voice rings out leave inmates 1547, 14259, 333442334243, 1611, and 222614 where they are. Bag and tag the rest. The soldiers leave you sitting where you are and continue rounding up the rest. Several minutes later a tall, dark-haired beautiful Asian woman enters through the door that the Rat and others had left through, followed by a group of what can only be adventurers.
"Well, this is a s#@$storm, isn't it. You seven, how would you like to earn time off your sentences? I need an answer right now. Yes or no?"
"Sure," Jason replies, "But I only see five of us."
Seth remains silent for some time. "They kept away the voices!" Rob the rat scrambles up his shoulder and nibbles his ear gently. I know ... I know ... I can only help when I'm outside. Help people like you. But he still hesitates. Then, he looks at Marcus. 6 more months. I have 4 years...
Seth simply replies, "Yes."
Simile blinks once "Yes"
"I see no reason why not." Hypatia replies. "Yes."
"Yes, I'd love that." Kailynn says.
"Very well. Go gather your belongings, as you will not be returning here. You have 5 minutes. Should you not be back here in that time, you will be left."
the woman glances down at the exquisite watch on her wrist and then looks at you all.
Simile has few possessions, none of which she has here. She does however have someone to say goodbye to.
Simile looks around for Daniel, returning to the last place she saw him, but when she sees him she realises she doesn't know what to do. She's spent years pretending, had friendships as part of a cover, but never really settled into any sort of relationship.
In a moment possible scenario's flash through her mind...
Give a rousing speech to keep his morale up...
Kiss him with a passion, to make him remember...
sneak away, forget saying goodbye...
In the end, she just calls out. "I have to leave. I've been recruited to stop something bad." before backing away and running towards her "freedom".
Simile returns, a little out of breath, only a couple of minutes after she left.
"Only thing I care about is my armor and hammer," Jason comments, "And they weren't about to let me hold onto those. Any chance there's an office I can pick them up at?"
Hypatia doesn't have anything she wants to collect so she simply sits down on the ground cross-legged and waits for the others to return while thinking over the day's events so far.
Seth retreats back to his house / cell, and first changes out of his pajamas into something he thinks might be more suitable, a simple T-shirt and jeans. He takes a brief look around his house with some regret. Although it was a prison, it was peaceful, and he was already nostalgic about it. He gathered the few personal artifacts he has accrued over the last year, which is not much. He came with little, and is leaving with less. Strangely, he then starts gathering up random household and kitchen goods, e.g. scissors, twine, pegs, baking soda, floss, and what not. One by one, he pushes them into his pocket.
When he returns back outside, other than the change in clothes, his hands were just as empty as before.
Following the woman, who turns on her heels and walks a brisk pace that most of you can barely keep up with. As you exit through the door, you find yourselves in a catacomb of offices, where there are signs of battle everywhere; office doors have been bashed in, and there are signs of fire and energy discharges.
The woman cuts a path as if she knows exactly where she is going. You soon emerge into a lobby, where another squad of soldiers stand waiting for her, each of which holds a duffel bag. At this point, the woman turns and speaks for the first time.
"Criminals, I am not granting you a stay of execution: you have merely been released into my custody. I am going to have you hunt down the escapees, and try to determine exactly who arranged this...offense. That is why you are here. Every escapee you capture will get each of you a year off of your sentence. You will be kept in different facilities, and you will be granted freedom to pursue escapees as you like."
She pauses for a moment, then adds "There will be some caveats, however. Should you fail to produce results, I will lobotomize you and put you in a senior center to live our your days eating pudding and crapping in your pants."
As she is giving a speech, soldiers are going around and using air injectors to inject each of you with....something. After injecting you, they remove the discs from the back of your necks.
"Each of you has been injected with a nanite swarm, compliments of one of our consultants. They will soon begin building a cluster in your frontal lobe that will emit a unique energy signature that will allow us to track you."
"To be clear, that means you run...lobotomy. You attack anyone I don't want you to attack: pudding time. You turn to the other side, hoping they will help you...you get the picture, I'm sure."
"Once you've served your sentence, you will be free to go your way, and the nanites will be deactivated and removed from your brain."
"Now, tell me what you know of the escape."
Simile considers making a comment that both teams are using the same tactics, but decides against it for now.
"We heard a lock down protocol... Pale Rider and evidently allies of the one known as Rat enacted a rescue.
Rat, claims he has been feeding the prisoners her quantities of his blood, which is both addictive and he can return it to himself, violently. Assuming his demonstration was not just showmanship.
He claims he has several figures... infected this way, and he can kill them and potentially manipulate them as he sees fit.
He gave everyone the option of following him. We elected to remain here, trusting in the processes of the judicial system over the ambiguity of terrorist.
He also removed the safeguards from the secure units, we observed three of them escaping, I assume you do not need an observation of their abilities?"
"The Rat called one of the people orchestrating the breakout 'Fredrick'. He seemed to be acting as the Rat's second in command. The Rat explained that he had complete molecular control over his body and that he had been drugging people with his blood in the 1980's before committing mass murder and ending up here.
As Simile stated earlier, he explained that he had been feeding us all his blood and could kill us if we didn't co-operate. Jerry here questioned him and was killed to set an example. The Rat stated his intention to overthrow the League and create a New World Order and invited us all to join him. [Insert Correct Number] prisoners took him up on his offer. I could tell you what I know about them all if you like but you probably have access to more information on them than I do.
The Rat then took down the technomantic defenses around the five central cottages but it seems that he didn't know who was contained within them and their response caught him by surprise. He left with those who chose to follow him, while we elected to stay behind to help the wounded.
I assume you are aware of everything that happened from the moment The Protector showed up?
"
Hypatia put a slight bit of emphasis on the last question and listened carefully for the response. It seemed odd that both The Protector and this woman were recruiting prisoners to go after The Rat. Mayhaps the left hand knows not the actions of the right? Hypatia thought to herself.
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"Mr....Outrun, all of the camera activity, including the cloud backups, are gone, despite multiple assurances that such a thing should be 'impossible'."
She ponders the information you have given her for a moment, making some notes into the smartphone she is scrolling through with a stylus. As she does so, you are each given a duffel bag, which you quickly discover contains your personal belongings: various and sundry implements of death and mayhem. In addition to your personal belongings, you have a cell phone and a pair of credit cards: one that looks like a standard bank card, and one that has no numbers on it, but is entirely black. You at first think it might be a door badge, but there is the standard magnetic strip on one side of the card.
"Keep the phone on your at all times; failure to answer will not be tolerated. As to the two bank cards, you will receive a stipend to allow for your living expenses, and that stipend will be placed on that card. The onyx card is an emergency card, that will allow you to relay your position if you are ever captured. Think of it as a call for help; If you get in over your head or can not contact us directly, we will track your use of the card."
"Now, let's head someplace warmer." With that, she turns and exits into a raging blizzard.
"Wait... but by then she has already walked out. Seth continues asking to her back, nonetheless. "Why do you trust us?"
Clearly not going to get a reply, he follows along. As he walks, he pulls out his items one by one. The first he retrieves is a dirty white leather trenchcoat that he puts one, pulling up the collar as he enters the storm. Each of the other items he retrieve, however, you see them just ... disappearing.
"Some questions are better left unasked." Kailynn replies to Seth as he shifts into a Saint Bernard, carrying his stuff on his back, and follows into the cold.