Society of Justice 3: Crisis on the Earth

[RBMidknight]

Cold. Why is it cold? Oh, not again..."Who's been messing with the thermostat?" Taryn grumbled as she slowly regained consciousness. She frowned at the rough sound, still not quite awake. 'What happened to my voice?' Taryn wondered as she slowly sat up. And up. 'Did I get-' She looked down and gave a strangled yell.

"What the-?" This was-she was-how did? What?

'Calm...calm...calm down.' Taryn shut her eyes tightly and latched onto her silent mantra. Maybe it would go away. Maybe it was a dream. But she had to stay calm. Because if she didn't then things started to- 'Wait. No. No, no...'

It was the aching sense of loss that brought reality crashing down. For so many years there had been the constant hum, the constant whisper of sensation that was her electrical power. Even when controlling the energy the feeling was still there. Every day. All day. She'd come to simply associate the feeling as a part of her life. Part of living. And it was just...gone. There was nothing except this sense of cold. Something...something inside was...cold.

'What the heck is going on?' Taryn slowly opened her eyes. She braced herself for what she'd seen a glimpse of earlier. Or rather, what she hadn't seen. For some inexplicable reason she was male. Male and without powers. Trying to take a clinical approach Taryn began mentally listing what she saw. It helped a tiny bit.

Boots. Slacks. Shirt. Vest. 'Oh my-' With an uncoordinated lurch Taryn stood up. And immediately experienced vertigo. Her arm flailed out as she stumbled sideways. Taryn's hand slammed down on the nearest object. Some weird looking half-table half-machine thing. She gripped the edge to regain her balance. With a shaking hand Taryn reached into the front pocket of her vest. And pulled out the pocket watch she'd given Levi.

'This is just so wrong. On so many levels.' Taryn closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She opened her eyes again and fumbled with the straps to re-secure the pocket watch in place. Taryn felt the initial stirrings of anger. It overrode the last traces of panic. She turned to look around the lab. 'Where is that stupid freakin' scient-woah.'

Society members were everywhere. Tyrell was next to Garrus, Rowan and Eric were threatening Mordtoten, and over there. Over there was 'Me!'. Mordtoten seemed to be surrounded and about to have pain inflicted upon him, which suited Taryn just fine. She surged forward into an awkward gait. With a frown of concentration Taryn approached her body. Her steps smoothed out as she focused on putting one foot in front of the other. Taryn's new goal was figuring out who had gotten her body. And get them to stop panicking. 'And if I'm in here, where's Levi? Dangit. One thing at a time.'

"Hey!" she called when she was within range. Taryn flinched subtly at her own voice.

 

[tsatoma]

'That could work creepy voice in head! Though I actually like talking to you a lot, you're like a camp counselor..like Coach McGuirk! But with the voice of Marcus Fenix! And with better advice!' Ethan replied cheerfully before noticing that his own body was up on the opposite side of the room, making his way over there by jumping over everyone else.

"Hey me! How are you doing? Please try to not delete my bookmarks or anything else that has been saved. Also try not to use the X-ray vision...just don't. Infrared is a-okay though!" Ethan said to his own body, giving it a thumbs up sign as best he could.

----

"Look you're the exact opposite of weak in my body. You're basically a 10.5 earthquake ready to go at a moment's notice. You just need to relax as best you can, if not then you can accidentally trigger a seismic wave by simply blinking. And don't think you're safe if you manage to get the vibrations to stop, you can literally trigger one from any part of your body...so perhaps you should stay standing and try not to move at all," Garrus-Tyrell explained to him, himself trying to be as calm as he could be.

----

"Hmm this was some interesting data that I've collected. Now sound off for me, who is in who's bod- oh never mind. Half of you aren't even up yet and the rest are freaking out. Just sound off once you guys are acting cool, calm, and collected," Mordtoten said as he turned back around in his chair, rapidly typing on his computer before getting up and taking a look at The Juicer's condition.

 

[NeoAC]

"Why do we need to-" Brian-Alex caught himself. Calm down. Like Alex said. Just let the flow hit. That idiot caused all of this, he can likely fix it. Just go with what he says for now and play the nice girl...guy. Wait. What the fuck am I now? Am I still a guy? Yeah, yeah, I have to still be a guy, just temporarily picked up some different equipment is all.

"Fine. Well, it's Brian in here. Sorry if the language from before threw everyone off."

 

[Lizmichi]

"I'm Alex." Alex-Eric said seeming to be the only one that was fine with the body she was in. "Luckily we won't be in these bodies for too long." she said to Brian-Alex. "As I said never get mad. You'll kill us all." she said.

Eric-Richard got back up and looked at Mordtoten. "I'm Eric." he said and blinked hearing his voice say it was Alex. "Holy shit Alex you look good in my body, well you'd look good in any body." he said smirking.

"God Eric that sounds odd coming from the voice of my husband. Oh yea that means your married to Brian." Alex-Eric smirked.

 

[NeoAC]

"What? No no no. I think we can all agree that's null and void considering the current situation," Brian stated. "I...no. Just no. Not happening. No." He crossed his arms. "Never."

God damn right never. I'm the one who goes on top damn it.

 

[socialtangent]

Through the indiscriminate blue haze that was slowly fading away, Victor could make out the gray stone that made up his sealed-away portion of Levi's mind. As he was coming to grips with what has happening, he felt cold water trickle down his arm. Looking up, he saw that the ice encasing the majority of his extremities was...melting? Victor, seeing a slight chance at freedom, fought against his frozen restraints with what strength he could muster. His efforts were rewarded with the faint cracking of the melting ice. With a distorted grin, Victor broke his right arm free in an explosion of ice shards.

In short order, his left arm also broke loose. With his arms free, he shattered the ice restraining his legs and collapsed onto the stone floor in a small puddle of water. Groggily bringing himself up to his feet, Victor was greeted with an even more interesting sight. The Wall keeping his consciousness from Levi's was now transparent, almost glass-like in appearance. Tentatively placing his hand on the transparent surface, Victor looked out to pick up on the flow of Levi's thoughts. It became immediately apparent that the thoughts he was observing were not those of Levi. They were of an entirely different mind.

Projecting his consciousness out just beyond the transparent Wall, Victor cautiously explored this unfamiliar mind in an attempt to find out who now seemed to take Levi's place. It was obvious from the way the thoughts flowed that this person was female. Victor was in uncharted territory. He knew Levi's mind like the back of his hand, but this woman's was entirely unfamiliar to him. Probing a bit deeper, he heard the faint whisper of this woman's thoughts. As Victor strained to listen, he made out the words "...if I'm in here, where's Levi?"

He recognized that voice. It was Taryn's.

Immediately, he withdrew his consciousness back behind the Wall. Some way, somehow, Taryn Foundre was now inside Levi's mind. Now, she was in the perfect position for Victor to take his vengeance. He wouldn't kill her. He would condemn her to a fate worse than death. Victor would seal Taryn away behind this dark prison.

Forever.

With a renewed vigor, he started smashing against the transparent Wall with all his might. Cracks began to form as his fists smashed into it with extreme force. 'I'm coming for you...'

[hr]

Levi flinched as he heard another familiar voice call out to him. His own. Facing the source of the voice, he came face to face with his own body. This is weird as all hell. "Wh-wha? Okay, who are you and how did you get in my body?" he asked in Taryn's voice. And that's even weirder, he thought as he heard himself speak. Levi stepped back a bit, as the increasingly random arcs of electricity were still traveling up and down. He had no desire to electrocute...himself?

 

[CounterAttack]

Rowan looked around Mordtoten's lab for some means of non-verbal communication. Aha, he thought rather than spoke as he grabbed a clipboard and a pen, flipping the pages over to avoid writing on the forms and sheets of scientifically-oriented paper. He didn't want to try to talk again; he had no idea how Tyson managed to speak without wrecking something.

Scribbling down a quick note, he stumbled over to Eric under the weight of Tyson's armour. The alchemist had claimed that he was Alex, so Rowan tapped him - her? - on the shoulder, showing his teammate the note.

I'm Rowan, not Tyson. Don't wanna try speaking 'cause I think I broke something with his sound power. Do you know which of us Tyson is?

 

[blaze96]

Rowan walked over to the suit that was rightfully the belonging of the consciousness currently stuck inside his body.

"Eric. It's Richard. You are now in a suit controlled by specialized brain patterns designed to interface with the nanites in my blood by wireless communication over a secure channel. If you think certain keywords the brain patterns for those words will cause the suit to react. You obviously discovered the flight and stop or halt commands, but there are more and it will be very easy for you to kill somebody considering you don't know the Friend or Foe system installed. Whatever you do, do not think about activating the turrets and then a name, you will target them and without the qualifier immobilize you will kill them."

------------------------------

"Alright, who is Katie here? I really want these plants to retract, and possibly grow an apple. All this talk of them is making me hungry." Lillian said.

 

[Lizmichi]

Eric looked at Richard. "Yea I noticed that." Eric said looking up at the hole in the roof. "This thing's kinda heavy." Eric-Richard said looking at his arms. "Hell the only one that got lucky is Alex. She already knows how to use my powers." he said to both Alex and Richard.

Alex-Eric walked over to Richard. "Yea but I'm in the body of someone I've seen as family for years. It's odd." Alex said. "But hey tasteful clothing." she added then looked at Rowan-Tyson's note. "I'm sorry I don't know where Tyson is." she said.

Eric sighed to him self and looked at Alex. The fact was he loved her and hated him self for it. She was already married and happy with another man but he still wanted to be with her.

 

[RBMidknight]

Taryn abruptly stopped walking. There was that weird coldness again. Stronger this time. Spreading. With a scowl Taryn raised her hand to the back of her head, where the feeling seemed to emanate from. But as her hand made contact with the back strap of Levi's googles the cold began to recede. Back to 'normal'. Whatever 'normal' meant.

'That is so odd.' Taryn shook her head and lowered her hand. She focused on the person in her body. Who had apparently stepped back a pace. What had they said again? Ah.

"Okay, who are you and how did you get in my body?"

Taryn laughed quietly at the question. "I could ask you the same-" 'Wait...my body? My body...but this is Levi's body...oh-'

"-you've got to be kidding...Levi?" Taryn asked. Her voice was hesitant and wary.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson found his balance with the new mechanical limbs. Whoever was in his body had already tried to speak and broke a machine. Luckily whoever was inside his body didn't break the machine that switched them. Tyson watched as his body picked up a pen and a clipboard and struggled over to Eric or whoever was inside Eric. Tyson turned only to see Jason jump over to him and start talking to the body and himself. Tyson paid no attention to him as his main goal was to get over to his body and pushed Jason out of the way.

Tyson reached his body just as whoever in Eric's body said, "I'm sorry I don't know where Tyson is." Tyson ripped the pen and clip board from his body's hands and read it, finding out it was Rowan in his body from the note. Tyson then wrote down, "I'm Tyson. He already broke one machine. I'm not waiting till he slips up and breaks the one that switched us. This is completely justified. Also, who is in each other?" Tyson then shoved the clip board into the hands of whoever was inside Eric's body.

Tyson then ripped the bottom three inches of Requiem's shirt off and rip that in half. Tyson then gagged his body's mouth so that Rowan couldn't use his power. Tyson then grabbed his gun off his body. Checking to make sure the safety was still on Tyson ejected the magazine and pulled back the bolt ejecting the chambered round as well. Catching the previously chambered round in the air Tyson inserted it back into the magazine before putting it into one of the ammo pouches. Not wanting to stand in his current body anymore Tyson sat down.

 

[CounterAttack]

Forcibly gagged by Tyson - Rowan despised being taken advantage of by others - he ripped it down to hang around his neck. Gesturing to the clipboard in order to receive it from Alex/Eric, his lips still clamped together by force of will, he took it from Alex, passed the page of notes back and angrily wrote down a new one, which he promptly handed to Tyson.

What the fuck, man?! I know when to keep my fucking mouth shut, alright? You don't have to go and gag me just 'cause I fucked up! Don't go thinking you're superior to me or anyone else here, alright? 'Cause you're not.

 

[elementsoul]

Tyson was getting annoyed and wrote down, "Its not about Superiority. Its about you gaining a body with no control over a power that can bring down a city's collection of skyscrapers in a few minutes. You fuck up, you could break the machine or cause this building to collapse on us killing the better part of the team. Be happy I didn't just knock you out like I was when I first got my power. Its my body, so my rules. Either keep the gag in or be knocked the fuck out. Your choice. You should also be happy you didn't go past the point of no control." Tyson shoved the clip board back into Rowan's hands before redoing the gag.

Tyson didn't want to say it but he was truly scared about someone being in his body. It wasn't just his powers being in the hands of someone who couldn't control it but also; if his body was attacked and whoever was in his body died because of it. Tyson wouldn't know what to do with himself. Or his life.

 

[CounterAttack]

Alright, fine. But just so you know, 1) you should learn to trust people a little better, and 2) I know all about self-control and how to master myself. That's why I didn't yell at you when you gagged me the first time, and why I said nothing after I accidentally ruined that other machine,

was Rowan's written response as he allowed Tyson to retie the fabric over his mouth. He loosened it by a fraction of an inch to avoid it being too tight.

For the record, I'm really sorry about all this,

he added.

I messed up, and I know it.

 

[Pm0n3y]

"It's Jason in Garrus' body." Jason-Garrus called out to Mortoten as he took Garrus-Tyrell's advice and tried standing still, taking a deep breath as he did so.

"So...how long did it take you to perfect your powers?" He asked, wondering if meditation might just be a easier alternative.

[hr]

"Don't get used to this kid, i'm sure that evil scientist guy that you used to work for is gonna come up with some type of antidote for this." Erebus reminded Requiem as Tyson ignorantly brushed past him.

"The fuck's his deal? He does realize that he's in your body, right?" He asked immediately.

 

[tsatoma]

"Uh..." Garrus-Tyrell started, looking down at the floor and scuffing his shoes against it. "Around...five years to get it to the point where I was sure I wouldn't accidentally do something horrific," he replied, letting go of Jason-Garrus' shoulder now that he knew he had calmed down, "I know that isn't the best thing to hear, but I was also a lot younger at the time so it might be easier for you to atleast get it to the point where you can control it relatively well. Also Mordtoten, Garrus in Tyrell's body. Um...so how much longer do you think?"

"Hmm well I do want to give you all brain-scans so that I can see if there is an correlation between a few things...that could potentially take awhile," Mordtoten responded as he quickly wrote down who was in who's body before going back to tinkering with The Juicer.

----

'Oh I won't get too used to it. I'll just enjoy it while I can,' Ethan replied as he was pushed away by his own body, 'What a meanie!'

"Hey you! Person inside my body! Be nice to it alright, I'm just here to help. There are numerous functions my body can do that are programmed inside of it. And I was just saying that I would very much appreciate it if you were a bit kinder to my body and also to those around you," Ethan explained in a calm manner.

 

[NeoAC]

"A while? What do you mean a while?" Brian-Alex asked curious as to why the doctor would go with such a long time frame. It was a little unnerving, actually. "How long is this going to take? Don't tell me we're all going to be stuck like this!" More water poured out as Brian couldn't keep his emotions in check, completely soaking Alex's clothes. "Ugh, this is going to get really annoying if I have to change clothes every time my mood goes above faked politeness. Of course nothing's going to fit me now."

 

[socialtangent]

Levi nodded. He opened his mouth to speak, but held back for just a second. Although it was his voice he was hearing, the tone sounded almost...hesitant. It occurred to him that there was only one person he knew that spoke with that reserved quality. Levi tilted his head to one side. "...Taryn?" he asked incredulously. This was becoming more and more like a bad dream the longer it went on. Talking to his own body was a surreal experience, to say the least.

 

[RBMidknight]

Taryn raised her hand, which was really his hand, and waved. "Yeah..hi." she said quietly. Looking down at people was weird. Looking down at herself was...she wasn't even sure what to call it. Taryn started to say something else but then she noticed that her, that he, that Levi still had electricity running along his arms. 'Gotta fix that.' Taryn thought. She frowned as she tried to think of any easy way to explain what Levi needed to do. 'Well, first things first.'

"Put your hands together." she instructed. To demonstrate she clasped her hands together and held them out in front of her. "You need to calm down." Taryn smiled slightly after she spoke. Even though it was still hard to grasp that Levi was in her body...as least she knew where he was.

 

[Lizmichi]

Alex-Eric looked at Tyson-Ethan. "It's Alex, Richard is in Rowan's body and Eric is in Richard's." Alex said to the beeping Tyson. "Oh also Brian is in my body." Alex added "But he's not having much luck with my powers."

Eric looked around and sighed. "This is a fucking mess." he said taking off the helmet, well trying to at least. "God how do you get this off?" he yelled.