Thriller The Reckoning

Anna Talbott
TARC central

So true. Steven replied and that gave her little comfort.

She felt Paul tap her shoulder and wondered how long all this friendliness would last. She was naive, but no naive enough not to understand these people had plans for her. Farmer smiled at her. There was something wrong with that smile. There was something terrible wrong with all of this. As Paul approached him, he gave her a last look that was almost sad. Then it happened. So fast she could barely see it happening.

Paul collapsed. Dead. He was dead! The man had killed the man who had talked to her a second ago! Steven stepped between her and the scene. His eyes. She could see it in his eyes something terrible was about to happen. Worse that one man's death. Opening her mouth she wanted to say something, but did not know what.

Then it just happened. She could not see it, but she heard it. The screams, the gasps and panic and then the sudden burst of tables and the death screams of the people she did not even know. And then life vanished from Steven's eyes.

"No." That was all she could say as she understood he had saved her life by absorbing the hit that would have killed her. The screams continued and Anba did the only thing she could. She joined the screams, as she threw herself to the ground covering her head with her arms.

"Nooooooooooo!" She yelled out, crawling behind the nearest desk. Anna had never seen anybody dying. Today she had seen so much violence. Death, suddenly death was a reality.

Tag: @Iteration, @HanSolo29, @SirakRomar, @Mitth-Fisto

 

Maria Liang
Streets, D.C.

The report was incomplete. But the Germans were feverishly compiling what they had. The building was part of the Mansfield Institute. A server farm actually containing a copy of the database of Mansfield. Maria leaned back and gave this fact a moment to sink in. Why destroy a database like this? Stealing would make sense, but blowing it up? What could possibly be so important and dangerous to the attacker they would prefer to wipe it out.

The attack had been executed by one man easily by-passing security and killing two guards in the process. Armed guards. They never got to drawing their guns. Then a bomb was placed right next to the server farm. The power of the explosion was immense. CL-20 the Germans suspected. US military explosives. Even rare among the US own operatives. The Germans would suspect them, probably. Not without reason. This kind of explosives were hard to cone by and dangerous. No terrorist cell in the world had access.

So a man entered the building at 11:30, killed the guards and blew up the
building in broad daylight and in downtown Berlin. He had known exactly what he had been doing. The target had been properly scouted, the assault carefully planned and executed with absolute precision. Confidence and operative excellency. Everything about this shouted military. Had Adrian still be around he would have been her prime suspect. Maria leaned back. Eye witnesses talked about a black haired Caucasian male moving at incredible speed. There had yet to be found any footage of him. She doubted they would ever find any.

This had been a top-notch professional embedded in a team of equally well-trained experts. How many people were out there who could pull something like this of? How many were in Europe?

She logged out and accessed the Shadow Network database, entering the search parameters for the potential attacker. A freelancer with intelligence operations background and a history with the US military and potentially the use of CL-20.

Maria wasn't even surprised when the system spit out only two names ...

Tag: @HanSolo29, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Doctors Office, TARC central

The shuffle gate down the hall after the Doctor had let him go was a bit of a slow going amble, the halls all looking the same no matter which way you went unless you knew where you were going. In some ways the fact he just left a doctor's office was not a piece of irony that was lost on him. This TARC facility in many ways had left him wondering if it was originally supposed to be a small hospital instead of a government agency. The talk about lab results hadn't helped matters either.

Still, Kawin had dragged, wheeled, and shuffled his way down this corridors so many times he knew where he was despite the lack of visual cues. Just up ahead was the OP, and if he took the side corridor he could cut over to his office and swap out his cane for his polio crutches. That was foremost on his mind when he heard the screams and shattering of objects. Something that brought him up short as he stared ahead for a moment before trying to go faster.

He heard it then, the gun shots rang out and as he tried one last valiant step he caught his left leg brace on his right and collapsed in a heap upon the ground. Groaning at his own pain and situation he stared up, just barely far enough along to see something red dripping down the window to the room.

Closing his eyes his fingers rasped upon the floor as he dug his nails in and focused on death. A five minute dirt nap. Of pulling out his phone and calling a building wide emergency at OP. He had to do it. For whomever that was, every moment just might count.

TAG: @HanSolo29

 

Laura Changte
TARC HQ

Laura hissed in frustration as her magazine emptied to no effect. He was too fast. He simply was too fast for her to hit him.

Her hands began reloading as her mind raced to consider her options. Chaz wasn't here. Kawin was not present. Sarah was dead. Paul, too. The room was in panic. Could she draw him away from any more potential victims? No, she would probably be dead before even getting one step away ... could she corner him? No.

Before her mind could find any solution her thoughts were ended abruptly by Farmer appearing right in front of her. He grinned and asked how it felt ...

They needed to activate their powers. That was what all of them had in common. None of them had the power "on" always. His power was not activated right now.

Without another thought and knowing she could not use her hands that were reloading her gun, she kicked out, aiming for his knee. At least she could make the fast man slow down. Perhaps the pain of the kick would give her another second to land a second. Maybe that would give her a third to fire one damned shot if her hands had her gun ready by then. Three seconds ... all she needed were three seconds, now!

Tag: @HanSolo29

 

Anna Talbott
TARC central

Dead. They were all dead. Every passing second more of them died. Bodies everywhere. Crashing furniture. Shattering wood and metal at the speed of bullets. Anna was not trained for anything like this. She had no experience with violence at all, certainly not with combat and no way with combat involving super powers!

She did not even have a gun or any power herself. Everybody talked about it, but she felt no power, she never felt less powerful to be precise.

Should she flee? The man had not yet targeted her, also she had got his attention earlier. But where would she go? This building was a maze! No, she could not run.

Then there was a voice. His voice. He talked. Which meant he did not kill. Slowly raising her head above the desk she was hiding behind, she saw the man right in front of Laura, the last woman standing from what she could see. Laura would die, if the man attacked her the way he had attacked the others. He would kill her like he killed Paul. Anna felt she had to do something. She had at least to give Laura a chance. So she gathered what little courage she had left and for Steven, for all those people she had never got to know ... she did the only thing she could.

She shouted.

"HEY!" That was all she could say. Just hoping it would be a distraction, an irritation that would probably give Laura a chance. A tiny change to stop the madness that had come here to kill them all!

Tag: @Iteration, @HanSolo29, @SirakRomar, @Mitth-Fisto

 

Anna Talbott
TARC central

They had him. Laura had him and then ...

Paul collapsed. Steven moved and blocked her sight.

Kawin! Kawin had reset time again. Anna watched in horror how Steven died a second time and all she could do was ... nothing. Save him meant her death and she was too afraid to die to use the one second that could have made a difference.

He collapsed, Paul died. This time she was behind her desk taking cover before the second wave of shrapnel hit the room. But it had changed. Shots. Loud and fast. They thundered through the room. But from Laura there were no shots coming this time around. The man was a Gifted. Just like her. Anna remembered that he would remember Laura getting him, too. While Laura had no idea ...

She crawled to the next desk and tried to make herself as small as possible.

Then the man answered with another "Hey." ... Anna felt the fear as she realized he turned his attention to her. It probably meant everybody else was dead.

"Life is all about second chances, is it?" The man mocked her and she heard his steps now at normal speed combing towards her. Anna kept her breath and looked around. Where was Paul? He had a gun on him, had he? She actually did not really know how to use those. A security lever had to be somewhere. Then aiming and pulling the trigger ... no she would not manage to do this in time ...

She felt her body tremble with fear. But also with anger. This man was so proud of killing these people. He enjoyed it. He was a monster. Regrettably there seemed to be nobody around to slay the monster. Maybe Laura was still alive. Maybe she could defeat him again. All Anna could do was buy her time.

It took all her courage to raise from the ground and stand up, facing the mass murderer. "Hey again." She simply said and stared at him, wishing she had sounded more confident. She forced a smile on her face and breathed out. "Alright then, let's ..." She felt her voice fail and cleared her throat. "... let's get over with it." Staring at Farmer she realized she had made her probably last mistake of her life.

Tag: @Iteration, @HanSolo29, @SirakRomar, @Mitth-Fisto

 

Laura Changte
TARC HQ

Laura did never shoot this time as the 9mm bullet hit her chest. The vest probably saved her life, but the impact was painful and wiped her off her feet. Before she realized what had happened the desk came crushing down on her and landed on her legs.

She inhaled as the pain hit her and then released a short scream as she gasped out.

Shots. Desks crashing through desks. Parts hurling around like shrapnels from a hand grenade. Her colleagues died. They had no chance. Sarah and Steven never had a chance. Chaz could have stopped Farmer, but she left him behind to do paperwork. No. Through the pain she realized they would not be able to stop the man with any of the present Gifted.

Paul was dead. The guards. The agents. Probably even Anna.

Then she heard the man's voice bragging about second chances. What had been his first chance? Did it matter? He was talking to someone. So someone was still alive.

She had to kill Farmer or die trying. If she did not he would probably kill each and everyone in this building. They stood no chance against him. Not the agents. Not the security.

Then she heard Anna's voice. Anna! He was after the girl.

Pushing herself up through the strength of her abdominals she raised the gun over the desk and fired into the direction Farmer's voice came from. She emptied the magazine, hoping for one lucky shot.

Not Anna, you can't have her you bloody bastard!

Tag: @HanSolo29, @RachelTyrell

 

IC: Jane
Underground facility, Black Rock Desert, Nevada

"No, we weren’t close...and for good reason." Jane nodded her head seeing Ambrose's reaction to hearing the name. "You want some?" He asked putting coffee grounds into the machine. The freelance was about to say yes, even though she didn't have whisky to put it. However he didn't give her the chance. "I’ll throw in some extra…The man was a leech…" He continued, "he wasn’t serious about our mission here. The guys up above caught onto that early on and arranged for an early departure – that’s where you came in. We take the Work seriously."

"Clearly." Jane replied looking around the base appropriated by this group. With the way Ambrose was talking he'd clearly drank whatever Malcolm and the 'Superiors' were serving.

He offered the coffee that was just started getting brewing. She took the hint and starting making her cup.

"It’s a delicate matter," he said from the couch, "but you’ll soon understand its importance...if you manage to stick around long enough to experience it." There was a scoff and slight shake to his head.

"Well, that's the plan, keep alive long enough to get a paycheck."

"You saw part of it in the lab. It may look like we are simply building an army of Gifted to wreak havoc on an unsuspecting world, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth."

She took a sip of her virgin coffee. She didn't know when she started mixing cheap whiskey with her morning coffee it had become one of her many bad habits. She took a seat across from him at the table setting her cup upon it.

"Malcolm and his superiors are trying to better mankind. These powers, the opportunities they bring, that is our future. Can you imagine a world where we are all living in harmony without fear of oppression? Of being hunted like savage wolves? We can’t afford to repeat our past transgressions…instead, we must learn from them." She couldn't stop her head from shaking. Seriously superhuman civil rights, a utopia of peace and harmony? That's what they're after? "Through the Work, we hope to achieve that. The ultimate goal is to find true peace and stability."

After he stopped she let the silence hold while she held her warm cup in both hands. What had she gotten herself into this time?

"Ambrose, those are some lofty ideals." They both had been on each side of ideals wars, in her experience they've lead to nothing but, death, destruction and destabilization. Did he think that they could use force, use powers to usher in their New World? That won't change the fact that once it goes public the people will be afraid of people like her, and now Ambrose. "But, I'll have to see more of this Work to be convinced you can pull it off." She didn't think she'd ever be convinced, she'd seen too much, done too much to think that the world could be changed through force. If it could be changed at all.

TAG: @HanSolo29

 

Matt Andrews
The White House, Washington D.C.

Matt sighed. The Black Doctor. EU had been on the brink of collapse in some parts he imagined.

"My agents know the risks." He then simply said. "But we are ready to take it, because we know you need help in this and because any Gifted - that is what we call them - is a weapon against who we do not stand a chance. Their abilities are frightening Harald. I am honest with you. We are scared. Much like you are probably. But we are prepared, too. You are not. Containment obviously failed and the challenges your country probably faces will not make it any easier to act effectively against a threat unknown and complicated like this." He sighed and decided to play a joker. Tell him something the German did not know. "There had been an attack on our special division. There has been this attack in Berlin. If there is a connection, we face a common enemy who could easily use this moment of historical weakness the Black Doctor cause to do even more harm." He entered his office now again.

"Two agents. That is all I ask for. Two agents I will send to investigate." Then he played his final card. "I would consider it a personal favorite."

Tag: @HanSolo29

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Doctors Office, TARC central

Hearing the shots again and muffled noises of damage after he collapsed onto the ground and started calling caused him to drop his phone as he trembled on the floor. Oh stars, that took a lot out of him! Next person to complain about a headache or something trivial he would have to refrain from going on a tirade. He could just make out the voice on the end asking how security could help. He hoped he had done something helpful, yet he felt like he had not done enough. "Shooting in OP!" he cried out to the phone as his pain and agony found an outlet for a moment. The true problem was, he had already reset. It brought a pause a moment freezing panic and fear in the pit of his stomach that numbed the screaming pain in his backside.

The shooting was sooner. Destruction still came. He had caused this. He did this. This was the hotel all those days and years ago, only this time he couldn't see. He was blind and he had reset it without knowing. It had changed. But it did not sound the better. With a shaking hand he pulled out the small pill box and opened it, spilling them with his shakes upon the ground. Not wasting the time to pick one up in this state he simply leaned forward and sucked one in off the ground. Nasty business, but in a moment it would have not happened and he would be five minutes backward in time again, possibly farther than he had been with the rush of the try earlier.

Now if he was truly lucky the message had been broadcast somewhat and someone in security was gifted. A situation that would make sense, but then this being a government facility that did not always go hand in hand together. Hopefully there was and that voice was or had relayed the call to someone that was.

Time for more time, and he had to hope that this would change something, was changing something. And while he was at it. . .For the better.

TAG: @HanSolo29 , @Iteration , @RachelTyrell , @SirakRomar , @TheSithGirly

 

Laura Changte
TARC HQ

The second the alarm sounded the gun virtually jumped into her hand. A traitor was one thing, this was intruder alert.

"We need to secure the Gifted. I take care of them and you go to security." Laura said, just to keep Paul from even thinking about doing another heroic act. She knew he was a field agent by heart. A real spook.

Turning she made her way to the next elevator and opened a channel to security. "Report." Was all she hissed, making sure Paul was with them in the line.

Tag: @HanSolo29, @RachelTyrell

 

Steven Alden and Anna Talbott
TARC HQ, Coffee Kitchen

Steven stared at Anna. "This is wrong. This is not what was supposed to happen."

Anna stared at him, for a moment still expecting to die by Farmer's hand before realizing he wasn't even here. Not yet.

"We need to stop him, before he kills anyone." She jumped up. Steven was pale now and looked at her. "Anna ... I ... the scenarios I played out was the one with the least casualties. Every other scenario ..."

Anna looked at him and understood. Steven had chosen a future in which he died, but most of the others lived. Now he was alive. And Farmer was still out there.

"We need to find Laura." Steven finally said. "And Kawin." He finally stood up too. "Your power ..."

Anna almost screamed out at him. "I don't have any power!" She saw Steven's eyes widen in shock.

"But ... you are the one who stopped him ..." He mumbled. Anna shook her head. "Laura did."

Steven closed his eyes and concentrated for a moment. He could not loose any more time. "You warn them about Farmer, I find Kawin!"

Anna looked at him and shook her head. "Warn who, Steven?" Steven looked at her and realized she was neither able to communicate as they had given her no radio nor did she know where security was. He sighed. "Just find Laura or Paul. Okay? Tell them what we are dealing with."

Anna nodded. Then she took Steven's arm. "We can stop him, can we?"

Steven gave the question some thought answering. In that second he considered all kind of answers before he settled on the truth. "I don't know, Anna."

Tag: @RachelTyrell, @HanSolo29, @SirakRomar, @Mitth_Fisto, @DarkLordoftheFins @Iteration

 

IC: Jane
Underground facility, Black Rock Desert, Nevada

Jane didn't break eye contact with Ambrose as the silence settled in. She wasn't going to appear apprehensive, or worried. At best her face was one of defiance or indifference. When he didn't seem to react angrily or blow up at her she took a sip of her coffee. That was good, he wasn't too fanicial.

"I know it may sound as if we are a group of radicals scrounging around in the desert," he explained slight grin on his face, "But I assure you, it’s not like that at all. Hell, I was skeptical myself at first…" He paused looking off into the middle distance reminiscing maybe about the point that turned him, made him buy in fully.

"And don’t worry, you’ll get a chance to see what we’re all about. In fact, Malcolm already has something lined up."He got up setting his coffee down as he did so. Her eye didn't leave him as the old soldier picked up a news paper and tossed it to her. "We got some trouble out in Wesco, Nevada. Ever hear of it? That’s our target…"

She hadn't heard of Wesco, Nevada she'd never really cared about the little towns in the middle of nowhere. Turning the paper she saw the photo Ambrose wanted her to see, an older man in a sheriff's uniform, the distinctive brown setting it apart from the blue of the Police. The paper itself was from a year ago but, they'd held on to it for a reason. She'd guessed it had something to do with this Sheriff Robert Jackson.

Idaily she read the editorial seeing if it was connected to this little group.

"So you want me to take out a local sheriff?" She asked with one brow raised still reading. "Seems like something you guys could handle on your own…" She tapped on the date of the paper, "A while ago...unless he's more than just a small time lawman." the Freelancer had assassinated people before, some important, some not so much. She wasn't squeamish about the killing, she was just curious why they were doing this now? And why they needed her to do it?

TAG: @HanSolo29

 

IC: Kawin Muthurangu
Doctors Office, TARC central

He was back again, this time a little further. That was the hardest part of this position, chain deaths were murder, literally suicide but it seemed to negate the mental point. Seriously though, killing yourself just after killing yourself so that you die before you killed yourself to be further before you killed yourself the second time to distance yourself from the first was simply terrible upon the body.

When he had first discovered his powers he had died several times in a row to get to a growing weakness and bleeding before he survived the encounter, but dying on purpose to go further back to an earlier event than he could naturally force himself to in a single death was terrible upon his health. After all how healthy can hemorrhaging blood from your face be?

Luckily he was looking at someone this time, the feeling of the blood and vision of the good Doctor both swimming into view at once, and then that image started to shift even as sound came to his ears. It was a brief moment of confusion as his mind failed to keep up with past events that were now current again, he was collapsing. The Doctor fortunately looked back in time to help keep him from hitting his head on anything on the way down, not that his head wasn't killing him at the moment. Figuratively thankfully. If it was literal he wasn't sure how terrible he would feel.

There was one theory that as he traveled back in time he gathered temporal tension within himself, like a spring being pressed into another object to hold it back from being where it wants to be and that that stress was expressed in physiological symptoms that would lessen as time approached and passed the point of tension followed by a time of recovery for the spring (himself) from the ordeal. If that was true, then he was pretty sure that his spring was nearing capacity of strain at this rate.

"Kawin, what is it?" the Doctor asked as he made sure Kawin's head did not smash into anything and gently guided his patient to the ground.

"Attack. . .OP. . .Gifted?" he made sure to speak each word clearly, but to be honest the last really deserved a discussion. Only trouble was with his body imitating jello and his mind felling like it had just sat through a Klingon Opera at max volume for a few hours didn't make the notion for conversation exactly appealing. The one reason he suspected a gifted was what had happened when he had reset the first time, there had been a commotion and then shots and then commotion, next there had been shots and then commotion. If the reset had really given anyone warning then it should of been merely shots without commotion or commotion with just shots and then silence. He might of been, would be, was wrong, but he had to put it out there as the worst case scenario. Making a call sign with his free hand he motioned to the Doctor to call it in. Honestly, he needed to take a few to try and pull himself together at the moment.

"Let me. . .know if. . .again." he grunted out as he patted his pocket with the death pills.

TAG: @HanSolo29

 

Anna Talbott
TARC central

Anna nodded at the answer and she felt as if she had failed. Her power ... everyone kept talking about it, but it simply wasn't there anymore. Steven ran out and she closed her eyes for a moment.

They had taken stairs, then Kawin and the Doctor had taken the elevator with her. Laura and Paul had stayed up there. They were probably still at the top level. Anna ran out and saw the people she had died seconds ago. "The other Gifted you brought in here today is the attacker! Lock up this room and someone needs to get me to Laura Changte!" She yelled and looked at the elevator. "He is super fast, so do not try to confront him!" She had seen none of them had a chance. Maybe nobody had. Only another Gifted could probably stop the killing machine. Anna hoped they had the right one here.

Tag: @Iteration, @HanSolo29, @SirakRomar, @Mitth_Fisto

 

Matt Andrews
The White House, Washington D.C.

Matt smiled. The answer was all he expected. "The paperwork and memos are on their way." He nodded to Jeff who would take care of this. "But you are right. We did not see this coming. Neither did you. These people have abilities ... that make it impossible to see them coming. Believe me, I speak of personal experience." He sighed. "That is why we need to stop them, together." He leaned back into his chair. "Thank you." He hung up and looked at Jeff, his Chief-of-staff. "Inform Roberts, the agency shall send the stuff on Maria Liang to their cousins across the sea. We need to sell the operation as a Langley gig." He sighed. "The President agreed on this." He looked at his Chief and then remembered there had been this other event today. "I send Maria Liang to investigate the Berlin bombing." He sighed and folded his hands.

"And just in case you were looking for a new job already in case I get axed for the second term ... you can stop updating your CV now and begin thinking about my campaign route. Against everybodies expectations it looks like I finally will have to get a job through election." It sounded like a joke, but he did not deliver it like one. Actually he had been in many campaigns. Most with Kurt. This time he would be a candidate and that would be something different. "I need someone good to prepare me for the TV duel. I think I will hate that one."

His mind wandered of to TARC for a moment. The attack on them was a bit too much of a coincidence. "But first things first." He nodded more to himself than to Jeff. "I need Roberts, Liang and Paul on the line in that order. Oh and the Germans seem to really suffer from the Black Doctor. The word pandemic is now used widely. Could I get a full report from HHS and CDC on the matter? We were incredibly lucky, were we? But there must have been cases."

Tag: @HanSolo29

 

Deklan Casey
Skid Row - Los Angeles, California

Deklan halts with an aggravated sigh as Bill once again presents logic to a predicament that is messing with his mind much more than he would like it to. He turns and glares at Bill, his annoyance evident, then he looks at the dead man and suddenly feels a strong urge to run up and kick his lifeless body. He has not felt anger of this magnitude in a very long time and the impulse is a hard one to resist, but he tries to focus on what his friend is suggesting instead of giving in to his frustrated rage.

“Ugh. You’re right. Getting the cops involved is stupid,” he sighs, dragging his hands down his face, “But somebody has to come take this carcass to the morgue. An autopsy wouldn’t hurt either. The only way for us ‘lowlifes’ to get that kind of help down here is to flag down the authorities. And for the record, I’m starting to think I may need to be locked up after this. It’s insane!”

He begins to pace in agitation, trying to calm down and think sensibly. Ironically, all his levelheadedness he had maintained on the frontlines seems to have slipped far from his grasp right now. Static’s liquid brown eyes follow his every move, but the dog remains where she had been commanded to stay. Suddenly, Deklan breaks out of his pacing and runs to the corpse of the man who had pretty much bombed his life. Dropping to his knees beside him, he searches frantically for some form of identification—a wallet, anything!

“Nothing,” he growls, slamming a fist on the man’s chest in anger before grabbing his shirt collar and shaking the man who seems to mock his search for answers, “Who the hell are you, you son of a—“

He stops, realizing his anger is steadily slipping beyond his control. Releasing the dead man, he backs away again, looking to Bill with eyes betraying fear and desperation as his friend suggests finding an individual who may or may not be able to help.

“Where is this guy, Bill?” he asks, “And I don’t think ‘we’ is a good idea. I won’t have you getting mixed up in this crap. You stand to lose too much. You’ve got a family somewhere that you want to see again and this is a surefire way to completely stop that from ever happening for you.”

Tag: @HanSolo29

 

IC: Mira Morton-Kai
Black Star nightclub, Las Vegas

Mira was shaking visibly, partly due to lack of proper clothing – she was still wearing the skimpy spandex number from her shift – but mostly due to her frayed nerves. Ava Jean was cradled in her arms, the girl’s tiny hands clinging to neck. She felt cool to the touch.

“Goddammit, this is important!” Damian demanded as his associates fled the office at his order. She looked up into his dark eyes as her daughter began to wheeze against her chest.

“Not long, she said. I think…” Mira shook her head quickly, confused. “I don’t know!” A few tears broke free of her eyes as she moved to the leather couch against the far wall. She sat down carefully and repositioned Ava so that her husband could better look at her. “This isn’t normal, it… Gloria showed me… do you think she has…” She couldn’t get the words out, bile rising in her throat at the mere thought of what she had intended to say.

“Tell me what to do,” was all she managed to put together. Her eyes pleaded with him to somehow calm her worst fears and make everything alright, an impossible task that she hardly expected him to be able to handle. But she relied on him wholly when it came to protection and most importantly, when it came to her child.

TAG: @HanSolo29

 

Maria Liang
Streets, D.C.

For a long moment she stared at the two names.

Michael McNamara and John Collins.

She actually knew both men. They had been operatives for Adrian Simmons. Black Ops specialists for clean up operations in the old world. Whenever an involuntary source needed to be extracted for "extended interrogation" or an ISIS agent had to be taken out of the picture permanently ... these two had been the operatives on the ground. Shadow Network had half a dozen operation files attached to both. They were members. They were their boys.

Of course they were also freelancers and worked for the highest bidder whenever the chance presented itself. But this? This was a death mark. They would know.

Of course non of them had ever shown any indication to be a Gifted. Maria could not imagine what professionals like these men could do with powers.

But how great was the chance among six billion people that one of those guys actually was among the chosen few dozens? Close to zero.

Something was very wrong here.

Tag: @HanSolo29, @DarkLordoftheFins

 

TARC Headquarters, Fairfax, Virginia

Paul knew he had to ensure his survival. As much as he hated it, he let Laura go and turned to run the opposite way. The elevator there was just arriving and one of their accountants stepped out visibly shaken by the loud and unnerving alarm.

"Go to the roof. No time for explanations." Paul said and took out his own gun as he pressed the button for the ground level. "Shots at OPs were reported by Kawin." The head of security reported. "He might have done his thing."
Paul hissed out air in frustration. "Team 1 on me at security. Team 3 and 4 to OP." He commanded and then opened a line to Laura. "Secure our guests. Bring Cary and Miles up there asap." Cary was the one with the ability to slow down objects and Miles had the ability to turn back time for three seconds. Both were trained in combat, at least a base training ...


Laura probably knew right away the order would not be followed. Cary was the first body she found. Nailed with a knife through his chest to a wall. He was dead. They all were. The does to the quarters were open. The living room looking like a slaughter house. Many had multiple wounds. Some where literally ripped apart. In the twenty seconds since the alarm had rang the attacker had killed every Gifted not at work. Which had been the majority. Guards and civilians looked no better. Some still had their guns holstered. Barely any of them had time to draw. There was no indication any had shot at the attacker.


A young woman stepped to Anna and gave her the key card. "Damn protocol." She said and then turned to the others. "Heard her! Lock the room!" Sarah yelled at them and the people began to spread. "Laura is probably at security with Paul. Ground level, just follow the signs." She gave Anna a radio set, assuming she would know how to use it.


The Doctor looked at Kawin and it took a moment for him to understand. He quickly moved over to the desk and picked up the phone. "Shooting on our level. Possible Gifted attacker. Please send the guys up." He hissed and then took out a key and opened the drawer to get out his gun. "I barely know how to use this thing." He sighed and looked at Kawin. "I am not sure how often you can reset in your condition until your brain takes damage." He was afraid of the "infinite loop", a problem they discussed often. What would happen if Kawin died from a cause they could not repair in the time won through the reset? They were at danger of ending up in an endless loop, basically destroying time as the universe knew it. The scientists had worked hard on a solution of the problem, which was basically the question how to kill Kawin without reseting time.

The Doctor looked at his gun and then quickly brought it up when someone burst into his office. He sighed in relief when he saw that it was only Steven Alden.


Maria Preston looked at the screen for the security cams at the sec center and saw the man called Farmer covered in blood vanish from the next camera as he activated his power again. "Where is he heading?" She asked. The man next to her sighed. "Here?" He guessed as the cameras in the stairs went dead.

TAG: @SirakRomar ; @RachelTyrell ; @Mitth_Fisto @Iteration

 

Steven Alden
TARC HQ, The Doctor's office

Steven ran through the corridors without addressing anyone about the imminent danger. He had kept silent for weeks, knowing any hint would make the outcome uncontrollable to him. When he finally arrived at the office of their chief medical officer Dr. Julian Dunning. The Doctor raised a gun at him, but Steven ignored him completely. Instead he found Kawin on the floor and knelt besides the organizations first and arguably most useful Gifted.

"Stop." He exhaled. "The attacker is a Gifted. He remembers." He catched his breath. "Oh my God, this took quite something out of you, did it?" Should he tell the man what he had done? Probably not. There was no reason to burden anyone with his knowledge. "Every time you reset, he get's better at this." That was as much as he was willing to tell.

Finally he turned to the Doctor he had completely ignored for now. "Can we transport him? We need to get him and Anna and everybody else vital for our operations out of here."

Tag: @RachelTyrell, @HanSolo29, @SirakRomar, @Mitth_Fisto, @DarkLordoftheFins