Society of Justice 3: Crisis on the Earth

[socialtangent]

Levi thought for a moment. "I think I could get started on making the weapon itself, and perhaps you can see about getting the electrical components we need," he said to Taryn. "I can handle the construction for now". The construction would be relatively easy, since Levi was very talented in putting things together. "You're better at that stuff than I am," he added with a slight smile.

 

[blaze96]

"Well it was rather hard not to take it personally, whole damn thing left me feeling useless yet again. In answer to your question, no, I did not see what happened to you." Richard replied as he continued to watch tv.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Alright, I guess," Rowan answered, getting into the car and buckling himself in. "If Eric doesn't have anything else to do, you can get him to have a look. I don't want to inconvenience either of you with this." He examined the inside of Alex's vehicle; it seemed similar to that of his own, the one he had received from Richard in addition to the motorbike. Still haven't decided which to use more often. Should take both out for another spin sometime.

[hr]

"Interesting... I'll have a quick look at some of the books when we get back, find out just how difficult they are to produce," Katie answered, thinking it over as she did so. "If it turns out that even the simplest one looks too complicated, then I guess I'll just use them some other way. Thanks for the offer, hun." She gave Leland a quick peck on the cheek to add to the thank-you.

 

[tsatoma]

"Hey those books were just staying inside the library gathering dust, it wasn't like I was using them. Not really into that sorta stuff, but hopefully it will work for you," Leland replied with a smile, checking his watch and adding, "Hmm we should have enough time to explore around a bit more once we're done here. And hopefully we'll get back before dinner or at least during it; though time seems to fly when fun is being had."

 

[RBMidknight]

"Alright." Taryn nodded in response to Levi. "Sounds like a plan." she said. She moved to unplug her laptop from the wall. Then she turned in a slow half-circle, looking for other electrical outlets. She thought there was several, 'Aha!' Taryn walked over to where the TV and video consoles used to be. Now there was...well it was a TV but not a very good TV. After making a note to look into a new TV for Levi Taryn plugged her laptop in to the nearest electrical outlet. She walked backwards, untangling the extension cord until it reached the sofa. Then she sat down on the damaged but still functional piece of furniture and began working on the electrical design.

 

[Lizmichi]

"Please Eric never has anything to do and I'm going to work so none of this is really an inconvenience. Hell I've wanted to talk to you for ages as well so it's about time this got done." Alex said driving off and into Nova City.

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

Eric sighed and walked out of his room, sat next to Richard in the lounge and glared at Richard. Mentally he was yelling at him for being in love with Alex but when he first met Richard he was happy for them.

 

[CounterAttack]

"We know that one all to well, don't we," Katie said to Leland with a wink in his direction and a flirtatious giggle, leaning her head on his shoulder as she put one arm around his waist and placed the other hand on his chest. "Seriously, though, I'm all good with whatever anyone else wants to do."

[hr]

"You wanted to talk to me? About what? Presumably the shapeshifting or my psychic attack; there's not much to talk about otherwise, unless you want to go into my personal history," Rowan answered, a little unsure of Alex's words. "Unless you're interested in that somehow, don't know why you would be."

Or is this about that time I tried that trick on Lillian and Brian... Nah, it can't be. She doesn't know about that... does she? A mild fear of Alex finding out about that morning began to creep into Rowan's head.

 

[socialtangent]

Looking down at the pile of organized materials, Levi reached for his box of tools before stopping his hand. The space on the workbench where the blueprints normally would have been was empty. Oh, duh. He had forgotten to get the blueprints. Without them, there was no point in starting the construction now. Turning around, Levi spotted Taryn sitting on his damaged, but still perfectly fine, couch staring at her laptop screen.

He walked over to the couch and leaned over the back next to her. "Hey," he said. "We sort of forgot the blueprints..."

 

[Lizmichi]

"About your powers Rowan. I make a point to read the files of every applicant to the Society and you're drew my attention due to the nature of your power. Mine aren't genetic ether, well not my water powers. It was caused by a chemical my father dumped on my mother altering her DNA. Then you add on the fact my own DNA was messed with and I'm just as much a test tube as you where." Alex said pulling into Gentron and parked in her privet garage.

She pulled out a pass card from her bra and used it to open the elevator door. "Welcome to Gentron." said a cool voice from a speaker right about the card scanner. "Please supply a DNA sample followed by a retinal scan." the voice said. Alex obliged and bit her finger water dripping out as a light seemed to scan Alex's eye. "Identification confirmed, welcome Alex Masterson."

The elevator door opened and Alex hurried Rowan into the elevator as the voice of a security guard came on line. "Good afternoon Mrs. Masterson, any guests you'd like to claim?" the man asked. "Yes one guest, the nature of the visit is testing and treatment. He'll be with me at all times so no need for a guest pass." Alex responded using her card again to take them to her lab.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Hmm... See, I don't know how much my DNA has been affected by what's been done to me," Rowan mused as the two of them walked through the building. "For all I know, there could be rewritten cells in parts of my body. That's probably the case when I shift; becoming someone else isn't just an external thing. I'm pretty sure that everything except my brain is transformed into that of my target."

Another aspect of his shapeshifting returned to Rowan's mind; the flux stage, when he couldn't shift into another form besides his own for about ten minutes. That was when he was most vulnerable: if he tried shifting too early, he reverted to his original form and couldn't change again. Even if he tried, it just didn't work for some reason. And of course, he couldn't shift from himself to himself during the flux stage. Of course, Rowan could do it normally to save himself from grievous bodily harm, although he normally used it to do things such as changing his hairstyle or clothes. That was another oddity: clothing and how it changed with him.

Rowan continued to mull these thoughts over as he followed Alex through the Gentron building. So many questions about himself and his abilities, to which he did not know the answers... it was a little unnerving when he thought about it too much, as he was doing at the moment.

 

[Lizmichi]

"Well I'd be surprised if your cell weren't rewritten honestly. Once you mess with powers parts of the body have to change like my blood wouldn't be water if my mother didn't have that chemical dumped on her. My blood is part of how my powers work, I'm part of the water more so then humans really. Hell due to the change in my DNA I wouldn't call my self human but super human. My body temp on average is 80 Fahrenheit and I can never feel cold." Alex added and walked to her lab once again scanning her pass card. "Welcome Alex." that same voice from the elevator chimed in.

Alex's personal lab was the same as her office, which was also the sight of the fight between the Society and Marcus. Before Alex felt odd coming in her knowing it was the same room her sick father worked on altering her DNA. She sat at her desk and used her computer to activate all the equipment in the room. Lights started to turn on and the sound of computers booting up filled the room. "Well welcome to my office, the same room when I was altered and where I killed my father." Alex said getting up as the lights in empty contaminant tubes. She never used them due to the fact of her not liking the idea of locking someone in there for experiments when it's just as easy to do so with testing and blood.

 

[CounterAttack]

Rowan took a brief look around the office, a little worried now for some reason. He put it down to standard apprehension, which he sometimes experienced. "So, um... what happens now? I assume the tests will begin immediately, blood samples and MRIs and suchlike. Oh, just got an idea. If you want I can provide samples from two or more different bodies that I shift into, to see what similarities there are if it's as you say and my DNA has been altered."

 

[RBMidknight]

"We sort of forgot the blueprints..."

'We did?' Taryn frowned and glanced at the printer. Not only was the tray empty but the machine was powered off. "Oh, we did. Oops. Sorry about that." she apologized. Minimizing the new design she was working on Taryn brought up the already established plans on her laptop. "I'll send those over..." She muttered, typing a few commands into the command window. Taryn glanced over at the printer again. She expected the green 'power' light to turn on. But the light remained inactive. A small yellow warning appeared in the bottom corner of the laptop screen.

Cannot connect to printer

was the obvious message. 'That's odd. The wireless wake-up function must need another update.' Taryn sighed and put her laptop on the sofa. She walked over to the printer and waiting for the blueprints to be sent to the now-active machine. It took a while for the full-sized prints to complete. Taryn tapped her fingers against the frame of the machine while she waited. When the job was finished Taryn slid the sheets out of the tray and took them to the workbench. She carefully set them down in the usual 'blueprint spot'.

"There you go." she said to Levi, walking back to the sofa.

 

[socialtangent]

Levi met Taryn's gaze as she walked by him, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Thanks, love," he replied, flashing a smile. Leaning forward, he gave her a gentle, but brief, kiss before making his way back over to his workbench. When he approached it, Levi scanned over the blueprints and withdrew a notepad and pen from one of the shelves.

Jotting down some notes, he began to make an "attack plan" of sorts. A list of which parts of the weapon he would tackle, and in what order. Levi wrote quickly in his trademark nearly-incomprehensible chicken scratch, making additions and annotations when necessary. When he was satisfied with his notes, he clipped the pen to the hem of his pocket and set the notebook where he could read from it.

Alright, let's get to work, he thought as he pulled out the necessary materials from the neatly organized piles.

 

[Lizmichi]

"Well, it's normal to start with drawing blood and then start with taking samples after you shift. Hmmm I'd say shift into me and compare my blood to yours. We can go from there." Alex said as she took out a few needles and took a sample of her blood.

"after that I'll move to scans and work from there." Alex said pointing to her scanning equipment. "I'm interested really to see your blood compared to mine." she added.

 

[CounterAttack]

"All right," Rowan answered, nodding assent. As he picked up a syringe for himself, intending to take his own blood for the sample, the feeling of apprehension grew until his hand started shaking. It was just a quiver at first, but began to become more noticeable after a few seconds. Rowan tried to still the hand holding the needle, but to no avail.

"Ahh... bugger. Can't do it myself, too nervous," he explained. Alex proceeded to take over the procedure by taking the syringe from him and drawing the sample herself. Rowan flinched ever so slightly when the needle pierced skin, having not been exposed to one in a few years.

 

[Lizmichi]

"On now could you please shift into me now?" Alex asked placing the vials on a table and waiting for him to shift. "If you don't mind I'll also take scans of your in my form as well to compare to my own." Alex said.

She was curious as to how he'd look as her and how his DNA compared to hers. Granted it couldn't be right on with hers but something close would be amazing.

 

[CounterAttack]

"Okay, just hold still for a moment so I can get a look at you from all angles," Rowan said before realising his words. "Wait... that came out wrong. Anyways. Looking at someone whom I'm about to change into helps to get a better picture of the form I'll be using." Blushing a little as he explained his comment, he took a short walk around Alex a couple of times, memorising her appearance before he changed over.

The process was simple as always: focusing on the memories of what Alex looked like, down to the tiniest of details. Clothes, hair, jewellery... soon enough the changes began, accompanied by the familiar sounds that were similar to those of cracking and shifting bones. After a few seconds of this, there were two identical Alexes facing each other. Rowan had gotten the details exactly right, from the clothing the original Alex wore to the ring on her finger.

"Y'know, if there was a way to somehow stop those sounds being produced every time I shift, that would be pretty helpful," Rowan/Alex noted. "It'd allow for a subtler approach to shapeshifting."

 

[Lizmichi]

"Wow that's amazing." Alex said looking at Rowan/Alex. "The ring and the necklace is perfect. Now if you don't mind time for some more of you blood. I wounder if it will be water." alex said drawing more blood from Rowan. It was odd drawing blood from someone that looked like her. "My god I look good." she joked.

 

[CounterAttack]

Rowan/Alex blushed a little at the comment, but figured a little joking wasn't a bad thing in the current situation. "I'm not going to comment on that one. But feel free to admire yourself," he said in her voice. Speaking as her was still a little weird, considering that he had only done it once before. And that time had been more a display of average acting ability rather than casual conversation.

"So that's the blood samples done... what's next? Just scanning? I figured there'd be more to it than that."