Society of Justice 3: Crisis on the Earth

[CounterAttack]

"You say that now, love... but if anything insane happens, anything at all, I blame you for jinxing what could have been a peaceful day," Katie half-jokingly chided, her smile vanishing at Garrus's heads-up. She had wanted to spend a bit more than a week with some downtime; she felt that the whole Society needed it. Nonetheless, she kissed Leland goodbye for the moment and left the lounge to grab her gear.

You never knew with mad scientists like Mordtoten. Katie began to speculate what he had done this time... maybe he had taken DNA from past encounters with the Society and combined them to form a bizarre hybrid with everyone's abilities. Or faked an alien invasion of his home to spice up his day... or invented some kind of laser grenade that, when detonated, shot lasers everywhere.

Amused by her own imagination, Katie wove herself a fresh suit of plant armour which once again incorporated the two special plants in her possession; she worked the healing Bimini into one leafy hand and razor-sharp leaves in the other. Ready to fix whatever Mordtoten had screwed up - even though she really didn't want to have to deal with him that day - she began to head back to the lounge.

[hr]

"Our 'favourite' mad scientist?" Rowan asked, slightly confused by Garrus's description. "I do hope you mean that crazy whackjob Mordtoten, the one who built that mind-swapping device. 'Cause I don't want to find out someone's gone and resurrected the other mad scientist I know..." Rowan shuddered as he remembered the confrontation with Cadizki, and how he had nearly killed the shapeshifter with a new strain of his virus. Such things tended to stick in one's mind.

The shapeshifter cleared away his plate before hurrying out to his room to grab his communicator, just to be on the safe side. He did have to remove it every time he shifted, though, which was a minor annoyance. Still, communication was an important part of both Society life and the acting that he had studied for many years.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson sat at the table quietly and ate his breakfast as everyone talked. Upon hearing the announcement Tyson doubled his eating speed to finish his food with enough time to get into his newly rebuilt armor. It took him three days to remake it after all the plate supports got destroyed during the zombie attack. Despite focusing n his food Tyson saw Rowan running back to his room and couldn't miss a chance for another shot at him for sleeping through the whole attack.

"Rowan! Are you going to go take a nap or something? Considering what happened the last time we went to Mordtoten I won't really mind it if you slept through this one." Tyson yelled after the man not sure if he heard him or not since he was already down the hall before he could choke down his current mouthful of food.. Quickly shoveling the rest of his food into his mouth before putting his dishes into the dishwasher and headed off to his room in order to get changed into his armor and grab his weapons. Tyson returned to the lounge waiting for the rest of the team to get ready as well.

 

[Pm0n3y]

Levi's encouraging words caused Jason to crack a small smile. The fact that he knew that their was someone on the outside willing to help put Jason's mind at ease.

"Thank you. I...really needed to hear that." He replied, making eye contact with his teammate. Almost immediately after, Garrus made his announcement. Jason looked into the kitchen.

"Maybe this mission'll help me clear my mind. Thank you again Levi. I would tell everyone about the Keybeast, but letting the others know would just make me a liability, or force them to lose their trust in me. If my father taught me anything, it would be to put the team before myself." He said to Levi, looking in his direction once more before going into the kitchen. Upon entering, Erebus spoke out to him.

"So, where do we go from here?" He asked.

"Someplace good, I hope. Levi's willing to go that extra mile, and because of it, I'm able to continue my day."

"Ok cool, Because i'm hungry." Erebus replied bluntly.

"But you don't eat."

"Doesn't mean that we don't share the same body." He interrupted. An inconvenient truth, Jason agreed with his inner protector as he felt his stomach begin to rumble. Quickly, he prepared some toaster pastries before trotting back to his room to prepare for the upcoming mission.

 

[socialtangent]

"You're welcome, Jason," Levi replied with a sincere nod.

"Listen up, we have a mission. Seemingly our favorite mad scientist is causing a ruckus over in Kent".

Activating his comm, he replied promptly. "Roger that. I'll get the Merriweather ready for takeoff". Mordtoten never ceased to make a day interesting, that was for sure. As he made his way over to the garage, Levi wondered briefly what the scientist had in store for them today. Hopefully it's not another body switching machine. Or something that mutates pet lizards.

Once at the garage, he quickly entered the Merriweather and settled himself in the pilot's chair. It had been a little while since she had seen any action, so Levi ran the pre-flight diagnostics three times to make sure all systems were green. Although he and Taryn performed routine maintenance, it never hurt to be careful.

After confirming that everything was running within acceptable parameters, Levi activated the comm again.

"Levi here. We're clear for takeoff as soon as everyone boards".

 

[CounterAttack]

When Tyson's jeer reached his ears, Rowan paused in the hallway, biting back the harsh response that sprang to his lips. He was sorely tempted to put a bolt through the other man's face, or at least his food just to prove a point, for bringing that up again. He had already apologised more times than he cared to count: why did people have to keep jabbing at him every chance they got? Rowan despised bullies and their kind; people who made themselves feel better by picking on others. Their own weaknesses drove them to provoke others and bring them down to their level.

One more joke. Just one... that's all it'll take, he mentally seethed. Hands clenched into tight fists of anger - he could feel his fingernails digging into his palms - the shapeshifter stormed into his room, grabbed the earpiece on his bedside table, and headed out to the Merriweather, purposefully taking the long way around to avoid the kitchen. Specifically, Tyson.

Upon entering the garage, Rowan promptly boarded the ship and took a seat in silence. To help calm both his nerves and his anger, he began to cycle through a few of his favourite appearances. Nathan Fillion in his many guises was among them, as well as his girlfriend Sabrina, Jean-Luc Picard, a blue-skinned asari from the Mass Effect video game series, a couple of other disguises he usually used, and David Tennant.

 

[RBMidknight]

"Not more Godzillas." Taryn muttered as exited her room for the second time that morning. A quick circle had allowed her to pick up the rest of her gear. The weight of her laptop, secured in back of her jacket, was just barely noticeable. Her third set of Indestructopants were as clean as ever even in their altered state of having been colored dark to match her jacket. Finding something that would actually color all of the material had been an interesting task.

Her brief bout of reminiscing continued until Taryn reached the garage. Levi's voice over the small comm headset announced that the Merriweather was ready to go. "All aboard." Taryn said with a grin as she jogged up the ramp. Like a child with a favorite toy she was becoming excited to be on the ship again. The routine cleaning and upkeep was nothing compared to actually having the ship in the sky. Taryn paused at the doorway to run her hand along the polished metal. Minute vibrations traveled up from her fingertips. The ship was thrumming with potential; Its hardware, software, and fuel were working seamlessly together to power the ship.

Taryn was surprised to see Rowan, or rather a series of people she assumed were all Rowan, already seated. She offered a brief wave to her teammate before moving to the co-pilot's seat. The soft leather chair provoked a quiet sigh of contentment. Many an accidental nap had occurred in the chair. Taryn shifted to grip the harness loosely in one hand. She glanced over at Levi as she secured the heavy straps.

"Everything look okay?" Taryn asked. She'd noted the green lights across the console but it never hurt to ask. There was more to the ship than the ability to fly.

 

[NeoAC]

Brian didn't feel like getting up today. After the rush of helping defeat the mass of invading zombies, he was feeling on top of the world, but then his old nemesis had to appear and show his ugly face again. The Doctor had spirited away his wounded comrades before he could even attempt to do what he was brought in to do, and he was reminded that even with all the shuffling creatures back in the ground, there was still one that wanted him dead. Even as the healed people emerged from the sick bay, he still felt that cold specter looming over him, as if he always had to be on his guard.

The fact that the Promenade was now converted into an open-air facility until construction would be started back up again didn't do much to help matters. At least the rooms were still untouched. Brian resumed his pattern of holing up in there, playing Xbox with occasional quick trips for food when a crackling came over the communicator on his desk.

"We have a mission. Seemingly our favorite mad scientist is causing a ruckus over in Kent."

"What the hey?" he asked tossing his controlled to the ground. "Oh great. If I end up in the body of a cat or something, I'm going to be right ticked there."

He grabbed his jacket and scythe and headed out the door towards the garage where the ship was already up and running. Walking up the ramp, he took a seat and started getting strapped in. "Will be good to get out of here for a little bit, eh?" he said to the members assembled on the ship, which would be a changing mass that had to be Rowan, and either Taryn or Levi in the front seat, possibly both. At least for a little bit from that bastard. Maybe the place will be stormed or something while we're gone. And then no more Doctor Evil.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson waited till a few more members made their way over to the ship. In the time that he waited he was trying to zone himself in encase he had to use his powers. Worry was constantly being washed on and rinsed off of him at the question of whether or not he'll be able to stop the Vesper from taking over and exactly how far he can use his powers before losing it. Still he had a job to do and sucked it up as he followed people out to the ship over hearing Brian's comment about not wanting to become a cat.

Soon Tyson was on board the ship and took a seat at the back before spotting Rowan still inside the ship. Not sure if the man had heard his previous remark he still wanted to get another in and he figured he could Brian at the same time as well. "Hey Hypnos, Rowan, could you fall asleep on the way over so that Ice Princess over here can stop pissing himself over being turned into a cat?" Tyson yelled pointing to Brian to indicate by who he meant as the Ice Princess.

 

[CounterAttack]

Rowan snapped.

Tyson had pushed him too far with what he assumed was simple joking around on his part. But he would put up with it no longer. Reverting back to his original form, he clapped one hand to the side of his head and pointed the other just short of Tyson's feet. The shot was meant as a warning than an actual attack on his teammate; it impacted on the metal floor of the ship with a loud bang, leaving a scorch mark.

Within a second of launching the bolt Rowan was up and out of his seat, storming over to Tyson and completely ignoring the concept of personal space in doing so. "Shut up, listen hard. You've been pushing that far more than you need to. Yes, I have made mistakes in my time here, but that gives you no right to keep calling me out on it time and time again. I don't care if you're joking around or deadly serious, I will not tolerate these constant jokes being made at my expense. Do I make myself clear, Tyson?"

Rowan didn't care that he was making a scene in front of the other Society members aboard the ship. He wanted the taunts and the thinly disguised insults to end. That was all he thought about at that point in time.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson stood up from his seat when the bolt was fired at his feet and was ready to one punch Rowan but decided to wait to hear what he was going to say. Tyson instantly regretted not punching and was disgusted by the arrogance of his words and decided to let Rowan have it with no holding back. "You naive fucking child. You think I want to hear this bullshit about what you will or will not tolerate. Are you so conceited that you can't take a few fucking jokes? Do you not realize what your actions so far have even led up to or are you blinded by the foolish concept of apologizing makes everything better?

So far you have switched everyone's minds around putting a lot more people at risk than you could possibly realize. You wanted to just lock Levi away and watch what happened to him when he was fighting Victor for control of his body, a concept of which you have no clue what it feels like. Finally you sleep through a massive zombie attack in which almost every other member of the team got injured in. Anyone one of those things that I just listed would have gotten kicked out of most teams if they didn't seriously injure you or kill you instead. If this was my old team." Tyson paused in his rant. He had gotten too worked up and brought up something he wasn't ready to bring up. Still he had to finish what he started before it lost all meaning.

"If this was my old team you'd be hospitalized for the same time that it took ever other member to recover combined if you slept through an attack. Wanting to condemn a teammate would of had you condemned. Fucking with something that you have no clue what it is would have gotten you a straight line punch across the face for doing something that little children are taught not to do. Any repercussions would have to be dealt on a case by case scenario. Swapping everyone's minds would have had you on shit detail for a year because you literally compromised everything at once. So the fact that I only make some stupid fucking jokes at the fact that you do so much stupid shit that puts so many people in jeopardy should make you feel like you've gotten a blessing.

Above all else the most important thing that you haven't realized is that you are part of a team. Times will come when other people will have to rely on you to do something. When that time comes I don't want to have to worry that you'll fuck with something you shouldn't be, or that you'd just watch me have to dig myself out of some wayward corner of hell instead of helping me, or face the chance that you fell to sleep somewhere and someone can't get you to wake up in order to help in a situation that could very well mean the death of everyone else.

Basically right now I won't be able to trust you to do anything. It could be pushing a button, it could watching a door, or it could even be you having to jack off to save the world. I would always have this voice in my head yelling at me that you could easily fuck up and screw over anybody else. Do I make myself clear, Rowan?"

 

[Captainguy42]

Tommy rushed to his room and quickly changed into his suit. He grabbed his elemental MMA gloves, his extending chain, indestructible vest, and finally his knuckle-dusters, which he slipped into one of his vest pockets. He briefly paused to regard his calendar and the time of year before running into his closet dimension and grabbed a short spear that was wrapped in cloth. He went straight to the Merriweather from there and ran inside.

He saw Rowan and Tyson arguing inside and stopped. He hated watching team-mates fight but honestly had no idea what to do. On top of that he still felt that everyone still harbored some resentment from the 31st. He decided that the dispute was best left to Rowan and Tyson, or someone else. So Tommy sat down, strapped in, and immediately closed his eyes. He had spent every-night since Halloween awake, helping to clear away the debris and securing the Book so no one could their hands on it again. It was hard describing how he felt, it wasn't exhausted, it took more than a week of all-nighters to make Tommy exhausted. Rather it was a kind of malaise that began to set in, something that he had been trying desperately not to show. Letting his body relax Tommy settled into a comfortable position, even with Tyson and Rowan fighting he found it surprisingly easy to fall asleep.

 

[CounterAttack]

"The mind-switching was sheer accident and you know it," Rowan shot back, infuriated. "I remember being told to shut the machine down. There were two switches, it was a fifty-fifty shot. I just happened to get unlucky and compromise the team. I didn't know the fucking Union was going to show up and trash the Promenade. And I'm pretty certain none of us had any idea that there was going to be a god-damned zombie invasion, for Christ's sake.

"You're damn right I have no idea what it's like to have a voice in my head that isn't my own. Sorry, Levi," he added, shooting a glance at the magnetic before returning his glare to Tyson. "But I wasn't going to fucking watch a teammate, and a friend, suffer. I'm not that cruel. I just didn't know that there was more to it than what I had seen myself.

"And don't you even think I don't know what it's like to work as a team. I led Alex and Richard into Cadizki's laboratory with no clue what he had in store. I was responsible for anything that happened there and we would have all been perfectly fine if that bastard hadn't shot me at the last second. I didn't know he had planned that.

"Long story short: there is a difference between ignorance and genuinely not knowing something. I hope you realise that." Rowan spun on his heel and made to leave the Merriweather, having no desire to travel with someone who clearly thought him a severe liability to the team. He would, however, remain in the garage to watch the ship go. If people think me a failure, then it's better that I just don't fucking bother. Some people just don't get it.

 

[socialtangent]

Levi quickly stood from his seat and whirled around to face Rowan and Tyson. "Hey, cool it!" he pleaded to the both of them. He didn't think very highly of Rowan's dereliction of duty and thought the shapeshifter deserved the reprimand he received, but Tyson's constant hounding on the subject was entirely out of line. In any case, Levi wasn't about to have a fight erupt on the Merriweather. Especially when they had a job to do.

"Tyson," he continued slowly. "This isn't the time or the place to bring this up. And Rowan, I'm not about to have you start something on this ship. I suggest that the two of you stand down and save it for another time". Levi let his words sink in for a moment. "Now if you'll sit down, we'll be taking off in a minute".

 

[blaze96]

Richard had gotten into his suit at this point and walked out to see Tyson and Rowan fighting.

"Both of you shut the hell up. You two fighting will solve absolutely nothing. Did Rowan screw up, yes. Does he know it, yes. Does he deserve to be constantly ridden about it, no. Now can we please all shut the hell up and start acting like a god damned team. Rowan, just don't back out again, and Tyson stop talking about your old team. You aren't with them anymore, and for all your talk of teamwork how does treating him like shit make this any better? If you two can't get along then stop fucking talking to or about each other. Fucking newbies." Richard was getting sick of the new guys never being able to work together.

 

[elementsoul]

Fuck this is going to be put on my ass too now isn't it. Plunge my mind into the depths of insanity twice for these guys, let alone risking my life in a foreign body in order to save Garrus' kid. This shit's really making it hard to stop questioning joining this team.

After a few seconds of thought Tyson started to follow Rowan out of the ship but stopped beside Richard on the way. There were several things Tyson could have picked apart from his little blurb but one thing stuck out that he wouldn't let go. "Say another word about my old team from that mouth and tongue of ignorance again and I will rip your helmet off and break your jaw. Your suit is far from resistant to my power. Keep that in mind." A cold bitter tone left Tyson's lips as he finished his threat before simply continuing his walk outside before Exiting the ship a few feet away from Rowan.

"Things you need to improve on next time you try to make an argument. Number one bringing up topics about things the person you're arguing against has referenced or in anyway related to your fault is a terrible way of defending yourself. It just makes it seem like you are trying to cover your ass on the topics the person did bring up and reference. Number two when you are trying to make a statement about genuinely not knowing something compared to ignorance only works if you don't display ignorance in your defense for one of your actions. However because other people don't know how to keep their opinion out of this and I now have a different person to pick a bone with so I'll be willing to make a deal.

We call that mind switch incident Garrus' fault because of his own stupidity and attribute your part to new guy syndrome. Seriously, who tells a new guy to turn off an unknown machine when you have a technopath on the team?

I'll leave you alone about the sleeping through the zombie attack because you'll likely end up with that as your identifying event by the public in the near future.

Finally you have to admit to your ignorance about wanting to lock up Levi instead of attributing it to 'genuinely not knowing something.' You made your statement about how you wanted to put him in a cell and hope that he overcomes it himself. Several people who've know him for longer said that that idea wouldn't work and yet you still stuck to that idea before being told we were going into his mind. I would excuse the first idea but when you stuck with it after being told it wouldn't work it became ignorant.

That's it. Seems beyond reasonable to me but probably barely reasonable to you. Your choice if you want to rejoin the team for the mission now or are you going to let one person make you run away from helping out? Oh yeah and if you want to settle this in a more physical fashion when we get back I won't argue." Tyson finished his statement and walked back into the ship.

 

[blaze96]

"I've faced worse than you hotshot, and lost to better too. Even if you kill me that holds true, because at least most the people I faced actually knew how not to be a complete ass. Also, let me put it this way, whatever the fuck you did before doesn't apply here. You're Society now. You don't like it, the door's right there, but you stick around then you play by our rules. I've met people in this group before who were all piss and vinegar, they never lasted." Richard replied with equal ice in his voice. The other wanted to punch him then he didn't give a crap. To him all it proved was that this man wouldn't be truly fit for the Society as far as Richard was concerned.

 

[Captainguy42]

A stabbing pain in his bad eye that corresponded with Tyson's last word, woke Tommy. Bleary eyed he looked around, Why the fuck are we still here. He instinctually reached to rub the bleariness from his eyes only to hit his wounded one. FUCK! He cursed silently and rocked back and forth only to disturb the spear that was in his lap, causing it's razor sharp tip to cut through the cloth and cut Tommy's cheek. DOUBLE FUCK! Tommy suddenly stared at Tyson and Richard, an entire weeks worth of misplaced frustration was about to erupt, and then, Tommy took a deep breath. Don't get mad Tommy, you don't have that luxury, just relax, just relax.

Tommy took a deep breath then said, " So I'm thinking every second wasted is potentially a civilian lost, so why don't we just strap in and go. If you feel the forever reason you can't work with another member of the team, why don't you just stay behind for now."

 

[tsatoma]

"I'll pick him up once he's done here. Thanks for coming on such a short notice," Garrus told the babysitter before telling his son that he'd best behave with the babysitter, "I'll see you later on buddy. Love you." With that Garrus waved goodbye as the two drove off to the daycare center, turning around and jogging over to the garage. He figured that they'd only be dealing with Mordtoten for an hour or so before coming back, enjoying the thought of relaxing once they all got back. His happy thought was cut short when he turned back on his communicator and heard the last bits of an argument of some sort.

He sped up slightly to get there sooner, entering the garage and noticing Rowan away from the Merriweather. A few thoughts ran through Garrus' head, ranging from a simple talk with everyone involved to a beatdown scenario. In the end he decided to take a middle route, walking over to Rowan and picking the man up and carrying him onto the ship before ropping him into an empty seat on the ship.

"I want no more talking or anything while we're on this ship. I don't care about whatever some of you were arguing about; now is not the time for it. I want complete silence on the way there, understood?" Garrus said sternly, not waiting for a reply before taking a seat himself and telling Levi to just get them out of there.

 

[socialtangent]

Levi returned to his seat and sighed. This wasn't the first time that tensions had boiled over, but it was never a pleasant experience when it did. "You got it," he said in response to Garrus. "About time we get a move on". With a deft series of button presses, he started up the Merriweather's engines and did one final check of her systems. Once he confirmed that everything was working perfectly, Levi closed the boarding ramp and hit the control to open the garage door.

With the way clear, he carefully maneuvered the ship out of the garage and brought her up to cruising altitude once they were clear of the Promenade. Finally, he activated the autopilot and set course for Mordtoten's residence. The silence in the cockpit was rather uneasy, so Levi decided to speak. "Okay guys, we're on course. Should only be a few minutes".

 

[Captainguy42]

Tommy laid back into a comfortable position, and closed his eye. His right eye was still throbbing with pain but it was rapidly diminishing. Then he lowered his comm volume. As he relaxed he tried to let the bustle of the world fade to the background. Just one decent minute of sleep,please.