Casper V.'s Story

At first, it was just screaming and spasming.

Then, electricity started coming out of every machine in the room, and towards Casper. It was like it was being drawn to him. It engulfed him, keeping him healed and reduced the spasming till he found himself gasping for air, then the energy disapating. One of the scientists looked at the other. "Did it work?"

"Neural Activity has increased, sharply. Thing is, the readings are...not what we expected. It might be what we wanted though. You better go in and check on his collar. The Director wanted to know if it ever got drained of power".

"Why me?"

"Because I am in charge".

And what if he...absorbs my energy? Kills me? Something horrible? Listen, that kid has been so far unable to drain energy from his collar. I think we are safe".

"Fine, but its your ass on the line" he said.

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Casper had been feeling sick for the past few hours, but he managed to keep it under control in the common room. He could feel the energy he drained. Clearly, they didn't realize how much he had drained, or they would make him dissipate the energy first. Instead, Casper was walking around with more power then they kn ew. He could use that eventually. But for now, he started to act casual.

Of course, acting casual was tougher for him today. Today, he felt sick still, like he was going to keel over. This ended up with him finding some corner of the library, looking through books. Whatever they had done to him, it felt like he was...unstable. Which might be a bad thing, considering he could use his energy to fire explosive blasts from his hands. Feeling unstable could be potentially disastrous.

He looked toward the new person, and suddenly an image glimpsed him, of a star. It was so random Casper didn't know what to make of it, but he bet this had something to do with whatever drug they put through his system. Ironicly, that same drug was canclling out the effects of whatever they tried to dope him with. His brain felt a bit...faster, actually.

He then looked over at the new guy again. He still didn't know his name, and he was curious. He looked fully aware, but not panicked. At all. This interested Casper greatly. So he positioned himself a little closer to the man, so he could overhear anything said. He had enough energy that he could spare a little bit enhancing his perceptive skills for a little bit, as the drain wasn't that taxing.

It wasn’t long before Alyssa was gathered out of her room and directed towards one of the laboratory rooms. She said nary a word and ignored their questioning because it had grown tiresome after the fifteenth time. In fact, she did the same thing she had done every other time they brought her into the same room. She crossed both legs and started to mediate, exactly what she had done in her own cell. Naturally that pissed off the staff and she was jerked out of her reflection by a backhand across the face. Sliding her tongue out to poke at her now busted lip, Alyssa narrowed her crimson eyes towards the assailant who immediately backed away from her.

“Summon them, girl.” One of the staff, the one that hadn’t hit her commanded.

Alyssa rolled her eyes and glanced up towards the ceiling, flopping back onto the bed she had been sitting upon. Her long legs stretched out and she moved both arms behind her head, using them to prop it up so that she could stare at both of the staff members. She smirked and glanced away, her tongue poking once again at her split lip. She was starting to feel a little stubborn and although she was generally compassionate and seemed extremely innocent, today’s encounter with Bertha had pissed her off and made her not want to do a thing.

“No.” She glanced back at the doctors, making it obvious that she wasn’t going to cooperate.

“Do it!” The same individual growled and grabbed a towel and a bucket of water. Before she had a chance to react, two armed men had stepped forward and strapped her down onto the bed. Snarling as the towel was placed over her face, Alyssa tensed her body up, refusing to perform for them just because they were trying to make her. So, when they dumped the water over her face, she clenched her fists and fight to get free, but did not use any of her abilities, which just pissed the staff off even more. It wasn’t long before they were pouring bucket after bucket across her face until she completely passed out after nearly drowning.

“Take her to the common room.” The one who was in charge of the others spoke cruelly after removing the towel and drying her face off, leaving her hair soaking wet.

“Sir, she’s unconscious.” Another one spoke, albeit hesitantly.

“And? Do as I say.” The first male walked out while the other one put her in a wheelchair and did as he was instructed. Leaving her unconscious in the wheelchair, he simply shrugged and left her in the room with the other subjects and staff in the room.

"You're so big now," her husband soothed, wrapping his arms around her small pregnant frame. He smiled at her and placed a peck on her cheek, then one on her neck. His hands slipped down her body and landed on her belly, circling it smoothly and calmly. Tetri's smile grew wide and she turned to look at her beloved Roger. She reached her hands up and cupped them over his cheeks, bringing his face close to hers, and then giving him a light kiss on the lips. "This is our baby," she cooed, her bright eyes lighting up with the mention of the child.

They stared at each other for a while, and admiring the look in each others' eyes, the gleam that shone from both of them, connecting to the other and dancing in a swirling gaze of happiness. Tetri drew in a deep breath and patted one of Roger's cheeks before lowering her hands and waddling away towards their small kitchen. "Stew again tonight?" She asked, turning around to him while he took a seat on the couch.

"Yes'm," he replied. Tetri nodded and began to dig the pots of ingredients out of the fridge for mixing the stew, and then halted her actions when a sharp pain shot through her abdomen. "Ack!" she cried, holding her bulging stomach, and threw her side against the wall, slipping down to the floor against it.

"Tetri?" She looked up, a frazzling amount of pain plastered on her face as she responded to her husband calling her name. Shock filled her system entirely when her eyes traveled down the length of his body, to the floor, and then down to herself where she saw herself sitting in a small puddle of blood that only seemed to be growing. Her eyes were wide, and she remained speechless. "Roger....." she huffed out, and threw her head against the wall, unsure of what was actually happening.

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"Mmff.." Tetri groaned as her eyes fluttered open. She let out a small, tired sigh and picked her head up from the table it was resting on, and slid her hands off of it to place them in her lap. She drew in a deep breath and exhaled carefully, confusingly glancing around at the open common area of other patients. She cocked an eyebrow at the mass of people here now, taking note that this was most definitely not where she had been recently.

She turned her tired eyes to face her escort, Shenz, who was sitting across from her at the table, toying with a thin rope that seemed to lead back to her wrist. "What?" She forced out, her high voice sending a shrill ring through Shenz's ear. "What?" he repeated back to her, confusion now overcoming him as he realized she was finally awake.

"What?" She asked again, and then pointed out at the many patients occupying the area.

"You're in the common room, go read a book or something." Shenz suggested and went back to toying with the thin rope.

"What happened to Roger?" She asked, her voice becoming shaky as fear began to set in.

"Who? Look, just go fuck around until your time is up, okay?" Shenz wanted no part of Tetri's delirious confusion. He was still pretty pissed at her for kicking him earlier in the experimentation room and he wasn't just going to let that slide due to her off-set mind.

"That girl.... She's sleeping..." Tetri commented, staring down the way at a woman who was resting in a wheelchair. "I think she forgot her towel." Tetri shrugged and stood up from the table, balancing herself to make sure she was okay to walk around for a little bit. She still felt somewhat dizzy from the procedure.

"Hey!" She shouted across the room, hoping the girl would hear her. She chewed on the inside of her cheeks and turned to Shenz who had release the thin rope to let it dangle down on the floor from Tetri's wrist.. "Just go..." Shenz waved her off and turned around to face the other direction, observing the other patients in the room.

Tetri nodded and drew in a deep breath and made her way on over to the woman sitting in a wheel chair, her hair dripping tiny puddles onto the slick floor. "YOU FORGOT YOUR TOWEL," Tetri screamed into the woman's ear and hiked her skirt up to rip a piece of it off and placing it over the woman's lap. "There."

Proud of herself, the frail woman gave a wide smile and looked around, her attention settling on two men sitting in another area that was closer to the library portion of the common room. A disgusted look quickly replaced her smile and she scoffed at them, noticeably. "They killed my husband, you know," she tried explaining to the wet-haired woman she stood next to. "They did, and I see'd them do, it, I catch'd 'em and I think they're gon' keel me, but I tell ya, my Roger, he is goin'ta whip'um. Say, that fool is somewhere hangin'..."

Her fidgety fingers made their way towards a close by dull pencil and she picked it up, placed in her pocket, and patted it against her leg. "Can't fool me, Roger, you jus' stay safe in this pocket'ere." Tetri then turned back to the wet-haired sleeping woman and shook her head, unsure of what to think of this strange person who would just wet their hair and forget a towel. What was she even thinking? Surely, she wanted to catch a cold, otherwise she wouldn't have forgotten a towel! But Tetri was ultimately glad that she was able to assist the woman with something that would help dry her hair. Hell, maybe the woman would even keep the piece of the skirt so that she'd never run out of a towel again.

The girl woke up in the common room, and did not seem disturbed by this change of location. It happened. Slowly pushing herself off the table and wiping her silver hair from her eyes, she gazed around the room to see all the familiar faces. The boy she had hurt was no where to be seen. No doubt they were attempting to surgically remove the bent metal from his shoulder.

But her eyes did lock on the new face, as if a beacon and lights had lit the way. It had been a while since the last new face had been added. She tilted her head and stood, moving over towards Vallen.

Her bored red eyes bore into him, as if she was trying to figure out every detail of his face. The last time she had done this, the girl had half her hair pulled out.

Screaming was one thing that Alyssa absolutely despised, yet deep in her unconscious state, she could hear a female shouting. Her eyes were slowly slipping open by the time the shouter had reached her location and as the woman screamed into her ear, the redhead hissed and recoiled back against the wheelchair, trying to figure out where she was and who had been yelling at her. Glancing up at the stranger, Alyssa shook her head before gazing down at the strip of dress that was now in her lap. The last thing she remembered was having water dumped over her head, so she must’ve passed out at one point or another. Coughing up some water that had remained where it wasn’t supposed to be, she leaned off to the side with a groan.

“…Hi? I’m Alyssa… Alyssa Callahan…” She used the strip of the dress to dry off her long crimson locks before releasing a deep sigh and slipping out of the wheelchair. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Bertha and shot the pig-woman a look before returning her attention towards the woman that seemed a bit off about things. Taking a moment to peer around at the others in the room, she realized there was at least one new person she didn’t remember seeing, but since she primarily kept to herself, she really didn’t know anyone.

“I’m going to get out of here… I’ve had enough.” She muttered softly under her breath, her eyes glaring over at the staff.

Vallen wasn't really sure what was going on, or why they took the risk of putting all of these clearly powerful individuals together in a room where they could easily cause more trouble than they were worth. Unless, unbeknownst to him, the Director who greeted him during the dinner earlier actually did see worth in the possibility of something 'kicking off'.

As he thought about that first meeting, his stomach growled, reminding him of how hungry he was and how he wouldn't get to eat until the next morning, which at the very least was ten hours away. He didn't really trust the clocks in the library to work, but they were digital so he supposed if they were wrong it was definitely due to manipulation rather than the mechanisms falling behind.

He glanced around him, not sure what the heck he was supposed to do next. People were screaming, chatting, reading, playing ping-pong and he noticed at least two were watching him far more closely than he'd like. His plan was going about as expected as it had during his nightmares in the lead-up to the commencement of the operation, but now he was here he had absolutely no choice other than to deal with it through wits and improvisation. The first and most obvious step was escaping the security grid they no doubt had placed around the room in order to keep everyone under control, but how?

To start with, chaos. And so Vallen took two books form the nearest shelf, the heaviest pieces of hardback literature he could find and, one in each hand, threw them at the first two people he saw.

Casper quickly realized this new guy wasn't drugged, not yet anyways. He was sure of it now. And he might have knowledge of where they are. But if Casper just went up and asked him, it might look suspicious. So he had to improvise and hope for the best. He searched the library, pretending to stumble and "accidentally" grabbing a specific book: The Odyssey.

He heard a commotion that sounded like book throwing. He went to its origin, and the man was there, starting a ruckus. Casper had to act fast. He kept his body moving as if he was dizzy. "Hey, you have a silly face. And your new. You not like those books? Neither did I. This is my favorite book".

He talked quickly and with varying tones, making himself sound drugged. Someone was yelling off in the distance about someone named Rodger, but he kept focused. Casper showed the new guy the book he was carrying. The Odyssey, a story about a great journey. "It's got Dragons, and escapes, and more dragons. The dragons want to escape, but the mean sky people won't let them. Then this hero comes, and leads the dragons to freedom".

Casper knew the book had no dragons. He hoped the man realized however Casper wasn't crazy, but in fact speaking in code. He was hoping his suspicion was right that he threw those books as a distraction. Casper didn't know enough to escape on his own, but this man might know things. Still, he kept up the ruse, to avoid suspicion. "These men, they treat me bad. But I am very special, my mommy told me this. Like, I can drain energy from things. Anything and anywhere. She is really nice, talks to me sometimes, Sillyface. Sometimes she says 'Today is the day you leave on an adventure'. She also tells me to help people. Do you need help? What can I do?". This last part, he said softer, and in a much more normal tone, but you would have to be close to actually hear a difference. "When should I help?"

Casper really hoped he was right. If not, this was all for nothing and might even get him caught. Again.

Still mildly convinced that the wet-haired woman was of the forgetful bunch, Tetri figured she couldn't be all that harmless, so she decided perhaps she'd stick around her. Besides, maybe she'd make a new friend in the process and ask the woman to help search for her long lost husband. As Alyssa introduced herself, Tetri nodded along slowly to her words and observed her groggy behavior, wondering exactly what had happened to her before she was brought to the common room. Tetri bit at her bottom lip some, counting the mixed thoughts that swirled around in her fried brain. She couldn't come up with a reason, but remained content about it and turned her attention elsewhere.

She glanced around the common room, taking note of another unfamiliar face that had just risen from a knocked out state. Admiring the silver locks of the new face, Tetri tilted her head and observed her as well. She was kind of pretty. "Mmmmnnnnn...." Tetri hummed along with her disinterest in the girl, and then shifted her eyes towards the direction the woman was now looking. Curious as to whom she was staring at, Tetri laid her misty eyes upon the two fellows who now seemed to be working up some sort of conspiracy in the common room.

Between those two acting seemingly shift, the silver haired girl on the other side of the room watching them, and Alyssa's faint comments about getting out of this place, Tetri didn't exactly know what to think. Her mind was spinning. What was going on here, and why were these people all exchanging glances?! This was madness. It didn't take long for her to realize that the dark haired man looking through the book case was up to something. Tetri narrowed her eyes and chewed on her bottom lip, peeling off a small piece of skin in the process. Her eyes then quickly shot open, following a book that was now flying through the air at a vast rate. Slightly taken aback by this action, Tetri darted her attention to the second man who was spouting off about dragons and mean sky people. "YOU MEAN ROGER?" Tetri shouted to the man, attempting to gain his attention so that she could not only find out what was going on, but to also ask for extra assistance in locating her deceased groom.

Alyssa just blinked at the chaos around her, unsure what was going on. For the moment, she decided to just stay out of it, though, the urge to cause some shenanigans of her own was pretty high, especially since after the bastards had done to her earlier. Crossing both arms against her chest, she watched the two books flying and arched a brow when one of the other males started talking about dragons, sky people, and adventures. She draped the skirt piece over her shoulder and couldn’t help but smirk. It didn’t take much to read between the lines of what the dark haired male wanted to do and something told her the book throwing individual was thinking along the same line.

Shifting her gaze back over towards the woman that seemed to enjoy screaming, Alyssa really hoped she was finished shouting, because it was beginning to give her a headache. Well, more than the one she currently had at the moment, which was getting pretty bad. Squeezing the bridge of her nose, she took note of another female, one with silver hair and wondered just how many people were in the room that she didn’t recognize. Maybe she should take the time to get to know them better. Then again, if she was planning on leaving, then that was sort of a moot point. Sighing, Alyssa cringed when the lady next to her shouted something about Roger, the volume enough to cause her to move away.

“Do you want to walk over and talk to those guys? I can go with you so you don’t have to go… that way you don’t have to keep screaming. You’re hurting my head…” Alyssa asked gently, not wanting to offend the woman.

(Sorry it took me almost a month to post. Personal issues, motivational issues, mood issues, time issues and all the issues came up. I'll start posting again but my next one after this won't be 'til friday at the least. Might be sooner, but don't hold your hopes up for that.

EDIT: Don't reply here. I wanna move the scene to another random location in space in order to avoid having to make these guys retag all their shit every time they need to post.)

Vallen took another book as the boy rambled on about dragons and adventures; listening but not reacting as he span and hurled the hardback issue of Relative Motion, Speed and Velocity with a mean overarm swing right at one of the two guards who were stood several meters back and looking over the room. The book didn't miss, and almost knocked the guard over when it hit him in the side of the head.

In response, the magnetic plates within the sleeves of his jacket activated, slamming his wrists together and stopping him from causing any more trouble as the second guard pulled a small handgun with military precision and fired a taser wire into his chest. Vallen crumpled to the ground under the shock of the electricity, as the other guard recovered and quickly leapt over to the downed psychic to kick him in the side.

He wasn't sure how well it would work, but he imagined the others in the room wouldn't take too kindly to one of their own being beaten on by the 'establishment'. Hopefully they would seize the opportunity, just like he wanted.

][OOC: Continued from: roleplay/the-multiverse/places/orion-spur?start=75#activity Nevan said this was where he wanted to move it.][

Alyssa watched as a book was hurled right at the guards. Blinking, she realized that it was being done on purpose. Was this guy staging a revolt in an attempt to escape? Watching one of the guards get knocked in the side of the head, she snickered softly, but that sound quickly turned into a low growl – well, as well as a human could make that sound when the male’s plates were activated before he was zapped with a taser. She flinched a little, remembering how badly those things hurt, but she didn’t take her eyes off the action. When the second guard, the one that had been booked moved over to kick the boy in the side, she made another growling sound and turned around to grab the wheelchair that she once was sitting in.

Without warning, she hurled it at the guard doing the kicking, intending on it hitting its mark, which it did. The moment the object left her hands, she was sprinting across the room and picked up another chair, leaping off a table towards the guard that had tazed the unknown male. Why she was coming to his aid wasn’t clear to the redhead, especially since she didn’t know him. Perhaps it was due to the fact that he was one of their own and the guards were once again abusing their power. Whatever the reason, she swung the chair down towards the second guard from above him thanks to the extra height that was gained from the leap off the table,

“Stop abusing us, you fucks!” She shouted, knowing that any minute her plates would be activated and she would be tazed as well. Before that happened, she planned on doing as much damage as possible.

Casper could see that there was more to this then meets the eye. And this might be the once chance they would have, so he needed to make sure that this didn't fail. And the guards had unwittingly given him the means to supercharge. They thought he was drugged after all.

He grabbed the taser wires, and intercepted the circuit. Instead of the electricity going into Vallen, it went into Casper. Converting it into pure energy that he stored inside him. Absorbing it into him. By the time the guard realized it, it was too late. Casper's magnetic braclets tried to activate, but his powers were in full effect now. The energy in them drained empty, making them completely useless. One of the guards started to report in, only his radio's power drained too. Draining energy wirelessly had a toll of its own, but it would help.

"Shit! Subject is out of control! Powers are active!" he yelled, as Casper's magnetic braclets fell off. Casper quickly put his hand on him, and he seemed to be in pain for a moment before passing out. Then, his collar fell off next, opening after having been drained of power. Casper focused, and he could see the powerflow in the walls and floors and ceilings. All the braclets and power using weapons and everything else. The people who worked this place, they did everything they could to keep him drugged or make sure he didn't drain any power at all without their say so. Now, he was free, clear headed, and charged.

The next thing he did was putting his hands on Vallen's collar and plates, draining them dry until they were useless and removable. He looked at the others, and let loose an energy pulse that would disable their collars and other safety measures. He did not have the time to go to each one and free them, especially the ones that were already or driven psychotic. Then he looked at the door. He was actually smiling, he had not felt this good in a long time, and not been this charged. Was it affecting him slightly? Probably.

He blasted the door open with pure energy, because he had plenty to spare now. He should probably ration the rest of his energy in case he did not have another chance to recharge again, but judging on all the power he could see, he had a good feeling recharging might not be an issue. Getting shot probably was though. "So, new guy, I assume you have a plan, right? Because honestly, I might be supercharged right now, but I have no fucking clue how to escape this".

Fortunately, the precognitive nature of Marlene's mind allowed her to anticipate some of the hiccups, and buffer her mind to protect itself against the incoming onslaught of data. Marlene's mind processed it quickly, by buffering it out, and focusing her own thoughts. Marlene also managed to keep her own consciousness relatively isolated, while focusing on the mental 'White room' that she tried to keep them in.

But the sadness was overwhelming, the woman sensed a lot of pain, a lot of sadness in the Princess's mind, and it had a profound, and intimate effect on her own psyche.

Halena let her into her mind, and Halena took the first step towards the path to enlightenment, so now it was time for Marlene to open up to the other, to let her own mind cascade fourth.

Marlene smiled, and telepathically spoke.

"There's more, I'm going to let you in." She wanted to see if Halena could truly comprehend the steps she was about to take, but she knew that she would be completely opening her own mind to the child before her, Aschen state secrets, everything. It didn't matter, the Asylians could wipe the Aschen out, and so she took a gamble.

Marlene closed her eyes, and opened her mind to Halena. The Child would be bombarded with a sensation of pure agony, but it wasn't her own, the agony she felt was that of Marlene, the agony of being separated from ascension, but there was more, there was thousands of years worth of memories.

Marlene's childhood was the most traumatic, memories of the Aschen Confederation invading her homeworld of Yellowstone, memories of Aschen soldiers moving through the streets, door to door, dragging people out, the memories were clear, and they were vivid.

Yellowstone gave way to the lush, verdant green of Langara, and the emotions of sadness, and hatred followed. Hatred for a man that was a father figure, a man that visited unspeakable evil that left the child scarred, there was pain, a great deal of agonizing pain.

The memories were like a maelstrom, some were significant events in Marlene's life, like her first kiss. Others were the minutia of her day to day interactions on Langara.

Marlene was standing in front of a strange man in a black suit.

"Do you solemnly swear to protect and defend the interests of the Aschen Confederation of Planets, as an Agent of the Langaran Defense Agency, with every fiber of your being?"

"I do."

The Chaos of memories shifted, a memory of Marlene standing in a large room overlooking a console, and a massive device of some kind.

"They call it the Potentia, Project Shimshon, a device that, if activated will wash clean all life from this galaxy. If our society falls, we'll take this galaxy with it.."

Marlene looked down in the memory, taking a small, yet technical looking crystal into her hand, She worked quickly to suppress it, but the memory had already flowed fourth.

Another memory followed, they were in a bar of some kind, arguing passionately over someone, the woman in Marlene's mind was named Ari, they were arguing over a Randin Kaye before Ari stabbed Marlene in the chest, searing pain followed, followed by more emotions of agony, and then calm, as Marlene gazed upon a being enrobed in a brilliant white light, another ascended being.

"The success or failure of your deeds, does not add up to the sum of your life. Your spirit cannot be weighed. Judge yourself by the intentions of your actions, and by the strength with which you faced the challenges that have stood in your way. The Universe is vast and we are so small. There is really only one thing we can ever truly control... whether we are good or evil."

There was a warm light, the feeling of peace, an absolute, and overwhelming flood of knowledge, and understanding that was now being shared freely with the child. Marlene's own ascension, as she shed her physical body was a unique sensation, as she lay there on the bar floor, dying.

The white realm returned, Marlene having stemmed the flow from her own mind. Physically, the blonde was holding her head, exhaustion had begun to set in, as she relived the last few thousand years in her mind, her fragile psyche overwhelmed. One thing Halena would learn, was a hair's breadth kept Marlene from true insanity.