What A Day It Has Been

[Mimi]

Part One: Homecoming

This morning, just before lunch, a middle-aged woman arrived on campus with an extraordinary entourage. Along with several well-dressed lawyers, she was accompanied by a priest, one or two reporters and a few officers of the Paragon Police Department. Their arrival seemed unexpected, as no one was immediately present to greet them, but within moments, the group was led into the administrative section of the main school building, then into Sir Arthur’s office. They are joined by Gemini.

Spoiler: During their short wait, any students present, passing by, or having super-senses or telepathic mental abilities would have been able to overhear or detect the following.

The woman is Deborah Green, and she is here looking for her son, William. She believes something has happened to him and that the school is covering it up, or worse, responsible. She says William has been missing for almost two years, but something has recently happened to make Mrs. Green suspicious.

Some students would remember William Green from two years back. He could control electricity at a quantum level, absorbing, redirecting, or even destroying protons, electrons or ions. With his powers he could not only “fire” electrical bolts by redirecting nearby current, he could control the operations of an electrical appliance simply by touching it. He showed a lot of power but very little control.

Those who remember him would also remember that he was deeply unhappy and prone to tantrums. His powers were largely uncontrolled when he arrived at SJS, forcing him to wear a restrictor suit to avoid catastrophe. He resented it immensely and on several occasions, he would intentionally damage or deactivate the suit as a way of acting out. Most times, this would only result in a localized disturbance in the power grid: blacking out his dorm room, or causing a nearby appliance to burn out. Sometimes, however, his tantrums would do more serious damage, shorting out most of campus or wiping the files on the computers in the MECCa.

Billy Green wasn’t at SJS too long. After a few months, like so many other students, he was just gone: his bed empty, his personal effects were boxed up and shipped off. Everyone simply assumed that he hadn’t been able to handle life on campus. Everyone simply assumed he’d gone home.

[Mimi]

Ten minutes later, there is a flurry of activity around the main building: any students with counseling appointments that day receive word that their appointments are cancelled. Similarly, any students waiting to see Gemini or Sir Arthur are told their appointments will need to be rescheduled. Work-study students with student jobs in the main building (such as the cloakroom) are told to return to their dorms or classes. Within just a few minutes, there are only a few students left in the main building, and no students left in the administration wing at all.

The reporters who initially accompanied Mrs. Green to the building are now wandering outside, trying to interview students. They are rebuffed by several faculty members, who urge the students to move along with their day and remind the reporters that they are on private property. Still, the reporters shout questions: did you know Billy Green? Do you know what happened to him?

[Mimi]

Minutes later, several of Gemini’s twins are seen leaving the main building: one goes to the athletic center, one vanishes into the boys’ dormitory, and one is seen heading towards the Bunker. The other twins appear to leave campus.

At the Athletics Center, Gemini arrives and pulls the Coach aside in the middle of gym class. After a brief conversation, Coach Waters apologizes to the students, hands class over to one of his assistants (or possibly even to a reliable student) and accompanies Gemini into the elevator. The elevator goes down.

At the boys’ dorm, Gemini is seen speaking with Scruffy. The two of them walk to the second floor and look around one of the quads. They seem to be looking for something. After a brief search, Scruffy heads towards one of the maintenance outbuildings and Gemini returns to the main school building.

For the next couple hours, everything seems to return to normal again.

Some announcements are made over the PA system: in honor of Saint Joseph’s Feast Day, the cafeteria will be serving a special lunch; there will be a pep rally this afternoon, followed by a special mass in remembrance of Saint Joseph; attendance at the pep rally is mandatory, but attendance to the mass is optional; et cetera. If it weren’t for the events of the morning, it would be almost exactly like September 18th last year.

[Mimi]

Spoiler: Students asking questions of faculty in class or at lunch in general would hear the following.

The faculty seem pretty much in the dark about the events surrounding Mrs. Green's arrival, and they are obviously concerned.

One teacher turns to another: several students went missing during the Second Rikti Invasion, there was so much confusion-- was Billy Green one of them? The other replies: no, that was right at the end of the school year in 2007, I remember Billy from one of my classes that fall.

Other students provide rumors: Billy died when his suit restricted the flow of bio-electricity in his brain and he had a stroke; Billy went bad and fled to the Rogue Isles; Billy's fine, and his mom is just trying to get rich; Billy is at the Bloodvine Academy now; Billy made MEG go haywire and her security systems killed him; Billy's in the Zig.

The priest accompanying Mrs. Green is tentatively identified as a representative of the Archdiocese of Hartford, which oversees the Church's interests in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and a small part of New York.

[Mimi]

In the middle of the afternoon, another PPD vehicle arrives, escorting a civilan car. Another suited lawyer emerges, accompanied by two noteworthy individuals: an Awakened PPD officer with the traditional Kheldian sash around his waist, and a super-powered mercenary from Hero Corps with a full facemask covering her head. They enter the administration wing.

A few minutes later, the entire group—Mrs Green, the Hero Corps mercenary, the lawyers, the priest, Gemini, and even Sir Arthur—leave the main building and walk to the quad.

Spoiler: Any student they pass or with heightened senses or Telepathy would learn the following as the large group walks to the quad.

The lawyer brought a federal court order allowing them access to the Alpha Omega Bunker. The warrant specifies that the PPD are looking for William Green. Other legal documents they have suggest that William Green is being held on campus against his will and demand his immediate release.

Hero Corps has been engaged by an anonymous benefactor on behalf of Mrs Green as a guarantee of her safety, which she feels is threatened. The mercenary is her representative.

[Mimi]

Sister Mary Constance makes an announcement over the PA system, instructing faculty to keep students off the quad until further notice. Of course, many students (and even some faculty) immediately move to the windows of their classrooms to look out as the scene unfolds.

There is a standoff building on the quad between armed Longbow operatives and the PPD officers. The Hero Corps mercenary stands in front of Mrs Green, ready to shield her from any possible violence. The argument seems to be primarily between the Awakened PPD officer and a Longbow Sergeant. Even from far away, the Kheldian’s voice can be heard, demanding that the Longbow Soldiers stand down.

[Mimi]

Coach Waters appears from inside the bunker with one of Gemini’s twins and the Longbow Commanding Officer for Alpha Omega. The Coach looks confused and worried, more worried than most students have ever seen him. The two Gemini twins remove their gloves and touch bare palms, one shimmering out of existence as they recombine. The Longbow Commander and the Awakened PPD officer confront each other in raised voices about who has jurisdiction. Sir Arthur and Gemini seem content to stay out of the argument, though Mrs Green occasionally interrupts by shouting at the Longbow Commander.

After a heated exchange, and a lot of waving the court order in the air, two of the lawyers, a few PPD officers, the Awakened, and the Hero Corps operative are escorted into the bunker by Gemini, Coach Waters, and a few of the Longbow operatives, led by their Commander. Sir Arthur, the priest, two lawyers and Mrs Green remain on the quad, still surrounded by Longbow and the PPD.

As they vanish into the Alpha Omega Bunker, Sister Mary Constance announces over the PA system:

"Systems in the Alpha Omega must be taken offline for routine maintenance. This will affect the commlink system as MEG will need full resources for the maintenance. The Medivac system will also automatically divert any incoming teleportation signatures to local hospitals. Students are advised that the facilities in the Alpha Omega are temporarily offline and out-of-bounds until the maintenance cycle is complete. Thank you."

Her voice is shaky and uncertain.

Tense minutes pass.

Spoiler: On Live TV, the following scene unfolds.

Someone in the group being led into the Bunker has brought in a camera. It isn’t clear immediately who has it, but the angle of the shot and the occasional obscuring of the lens seems to demonstrate that the camera is somehow concealed. There is no audio with the feed, but that seems to be due to a malfunction, not by design.

The camera shows the group, with the PPD Awakened and the Hero Corps mercenary at the head, being led into Alpha Omega. There is a great deal of confusion in the Bunker, with Longbow agents continually trying to stop the group from descending further, and each time they are ordered to stand down by the Longbow Officer escorting the group.

[Mimi]

Mrs Green nervously paces, occasionally shouting at Sir Arthur, who is beginning to shows signs of stress, wiping at his forehead or repeatedly checking his pocket-watch. Once or twice, Mrs Green makes a motion as if she intends to charge Sir Arthur in anger, and PPD Officers interpose themselves.

Spoiler: On Live TV...

The group in the Bunker is led past several rooms which students would be familiar with, such as the mess or the Medbay, and then they take a right turn into an area of Alpha Omega which is restricted access. No student has seen these rooms and corridors.

The camera is shaky and occasionally obscured. It is difficult to mentally “map out” the corridors as they turn and fork. The first room the camera clearly shows appears to be part of the inner workings of MEG. The next looks like some sort of Longbow briefing room. After a few more turns, the camera focuses in on a large vault-like door at the end of a short hallway.

[Mimi]

Faculty and students are now trying to figure out how to get a message about the live video-feed to Sir Arthur or Gemini with the comm system offline.

Spoiler: On Live TV...

The Longbow Commander enters a complicated code and a light scans over his face, then the circular vault door opens. As it swings open past the camera, it can be seen that the door is two feet thick. Beyond is a short and brightly-lit hallway filled with technicians and large instrument panels, and beyond that, a darkened room, illuminated largely by a soft glow. The technicians seem startled by the appearance of the group, and again, move to block the way, before the Longbow Commander again intervenes and the technicians back down.

The camera shows the group passing into the large room. On one side the camera slowly tracks past a row of huge amber crystals, hovering a foot from the floor. The crystals are lit gently from within, with a solid, dark core. Each crystal has several instruments surrounding it, connected to dozens of gel-pad electrodes attached to the crystal’s surface, as if the crystal was a living thing. Observers trained in medicine would recognize an EKG and a brain function monitor among the instruments surrounding each crystal.

The camera moves past them, revealing the rest of the room. Some of the students watching the live feed shakes their heads in disbelief, or loudly exclaim a profanity. Others ball their fists in silent anger. A few confront the nearby faculty, demanding to know what they know.

On either side of the aisle, standing in two neat rows are large, cylindrical tanks, each filled with an iridescent blue fluid and each containing the weightless, unconscious body of a child. While their faces are largely obscured by the fluid and by a sort of breathing apparatus, it is clear that some of the floating bodies are as young as ten, while others have nearly reached adulthood. Wires crisscross their bodies, terminating in IVs, probes, or electrodes. Each of the tanks is connected in turn to a complex array of medical equipment.

The camera pans swiftly. It's hard to count precisely, but there are at least two dozen tanks here.

[Mimi]

No one is trying to figure out how to get a message to anyone anymore. Everyone's just watching TV.

Spoiler: On Live TV...

The camera is jostled suddenly, and the audio feed crackles and is restored. There is some sort of interference, but the audio is there.

“You don’t understand,” Gemini is saying, off camera. “These children are here for their own good. They’re dangerous. A kind of dangerous you can’t even imagine!”

On camera, the PPD Awakened gestures at a tank holding a young girl of perhaps thirteen. “You expect me to believe that she’s dangerous enough to warrant this?”

Gemini’s tone is remorseful but defiant. “That girl you’re pointing at warps reality with her emotions. She cries, or gets mad, or scared, people can die. When she was told she needed to be fitted with a control device to help get it under control, she got angry, and she nearly killed three people. She wouldn't wear it, so she had to be subdued. Don’t you understand? There wasn’t any choice!”

A stern male voice off-camera adds, "these subjects possess extinction-level event potential."

The Kheldian frowns, but before he can answer, another off-camera voice says, “here. He’s here.”

The camera pans around and comes to rest on a single tank containing a teenage boy. One of the two lawyers is standing in front of the tank, looking back and forth from the boy’s face to a photograph. He looks back towards the camera and nods, and it becomes clear that the second lawyer is the cameraman. “It’s William Green.”

[Mimi]

Spoiler: On Live TV...

“Open it,” the Awakened PPD insists, looking off-camera, back towards the brightly-lit hallway.

A single technician comes on camera and begins toying with the instruments connected to William Green’s tank. Occasionally, he looks up and makes eye contact with someone off-camera. The fluid level begins to drop in the tank as a deep, mechanical thrum grows in volume. On the medical monitors, smooth curves and steady lines begin to jump into spikes and waves as the boy’s torpor is reversed. Soon, the boy is no longer floating, but hanging from a harness inside the now empty tank. With a pneumatic hiss, the tube itself begins to slide into the ceiling. Remnants of blue fluid drop down and splash on the floor.

The Hero Corps mercenary steps forward into frame; someone has given her a towel. She wraps it around the still-unconscious body of Billy Green and unfastens the harness, catching him as he falls forward into her arms. The mercenary removes one of her gloves and smoothes his wet hair away from his face. She looks up at the Awakened PPD Officer.

“Yes,” says the operative.

“Yes,” replies the Kheldian. In a smooth motion, the Awakened turns, raises his sidearm to his head, and pulls the trigger. Almost instantly, a dark form unsheathes itself from the collapsing body. Anyone familiar with them instantly recognizes it: a Nictus.

Panic erupts, both on the live TV feed and among those watching.

The Nictus swirls quickly to one side, and the cameraman follows as the shadowy form engulfs Coach Waters. The Coach extends his hands, trying to suppress the creature, but it is already upon him. The Coach lets out a strangled cry as the camera swings back around, showing Gemini moving towards her friend and colleague, now wreathed in darkness. From behind her, the Hero Corps mercenary appears, grabbing her and wrapping her bare hand around Gemini’s exposed throat.

“Finally,” says the mercenary.

Gemini’s eyes go wide for a moment, before her form shimmers and is absorbed into the woman in the Hero Corps uniform. With a barking laugh, the mercenary tears away her mask. It is Gemini, but her face is badly scarred on one side. “Finally,” she repeats, barely able to contain her pleasure, as identical copies of her start to spring forth from her outstretched hand. The twins, all similarly scarred, quickly move off camera as the sound of conflict rises.

The Gemini that remains turns from the camera and steps to the nearest console, laying her hand upon it.

And using power stolen from William Green, the scarred Gemini shuts off the power. Behind her, the tanks go dark as klaxons sound. Her voice is clearly heard above the din as she shouts, “absorb them all, sisters! Let’s see what extinction-level potential can do!”

The TV feed cuts out to static.

There is a muffled boom deep underground, and the campus goes dark. A section of the quad collapses downwards into the bunker below.

Panic begins to sweep over the campus.

[border]To be continued (and concluded) in Part Two: All Saints Day, which will begin later tonight in this thread.

EDIT: My evening plans ran very late. All Saints Day will not be posted until tomorrow. Sorry for the delay. Thanks for your patience![/border]

[Mimi]

Part Two: All Saints Day

Panic begins to sweep over the campus.

On the quad, Sir Arthur, Mrs Green, and the representative of the Hartford Archdiocese stumble back away from the collapsing ground as the remaining PPD and Longbow try to protect them. Even as several students and faculty rush the quad to help, there is a second explosion underground, sending a large plume of dirt and shrapnel into the air, sending everyone diving for cover.

As more ground gives way, the first of the scarred Gemini twins flies up from below. With a sweep of her hand, a shockwave tears up the ground and sends several Longbow soldiers sprawling. Nearby, there is a flash of light as a second twin teleports to the surface. In her arms, she carries the semi-conscious body of a girl, her body still wet from the blue fluid. The new arrival drops the girl to the grass and then disappears in another flash, her destination unknown. Within moments, several more scarred twins appear from the collapsing underground bunker.

Smoke begins to pour up from below, escaping the burning bunker through the rents in the quad.

Near the Athletic Center, a large section of the ground is blown upwards as a teenage boy inside a glowing sphere of energy rises from below. He is screaming incoherently as arcs of energy zigzag from the sphere to the ground. His face is twisted in a visage of rage. Following him through the hole he created are others: a girl whose body seems to randomly swell and warp; a boy wreathed in green fire; a young woman who psychically distorts the air around her, rippling like heat off a highway.

With a roar of turbines, several Longbow Chasers, flying in formation, swoop down over the campus and open fire. While one of the scarred Gemini twins is torn apart by the gunfire, a second spreads her arms and creates a green fiery shield, while a third raises her open hand towards the jets. After a moment, she closes her hand into a fist, and one of the Chasers, a hundred yards away, is crushed like an empty aluminum can by a massive invisible force. It drops from the sky and explodes into a fireball on impact.

Several faculty and more than a dozen students have drawn their battle line on the quad. With grim determination, they face down the growing threat as Gemini and the former prisoners of the Tank Room advance. With a roar, the battle begins.

[Mimi]

[border]All Saints Day: Story Options

The next part of this story is left purposely open. While several events needed to be set into motion by fiat, and while certain events must and will come to pass,it is at this point in the story—the indistinct middle—where the choices and actions of the student body of SJS can matter for the future. Some of you may want to continue your SJS characters into other groups and tell other stories with them. It is especially for these characters that the next events to transpire are left open to interpretation.

Threats are coming from all sides, and there are lots of people who need help. Your character can fight, rescue, evacuate, protect, be defeated, even die—whatever you choose. Whether you choose to write a story involving your character in these events, or roleplay about it in-game, or make an Architect Arc about a small section of the larger battle, or even just sit and imagine it for yourself, this is your moment.

There is really only one ground rule: while an individual character can prevent some things, and a group of characters might prevent lots of things, no one can prevent everything. Not even the combined might of SJS can save the day entirely; tragedy and loss are foregone conclusions. Opposing you are some of the strongest and most uncontrollable supers that have ever come to Saint Joe’s, coupled with Gemini’s evil twin, now once again able to duplicate herself. Keep this in mind.

There are a thousand opportunities for heroism on All Saints Day, some big, some small. However, here are some ideas to get your juices flowing. Please note—any or even all of these events could happen because of the choices of students. But they will not all be accomplished by a single student, or even a single team of students. There is too much to do, and not enough time. There is enough crisis to go around.

• Not sure what to do, you grab a Longbow technician and ask him what you can do to help. He gives you a task: venture into the burning Alpha Omega Bunker to retrieve MEG’s memory core;
• There are dozens of students who have just begun to learn how to use their powers. They don’t stand a chance in this fight. Help evacuate newly-arrived seventh graders;
• Sections of the quad are falling into the bunker, and the Longbow Chasers are sweeping the battlefield indiscriminately. Rescue Sir Arthur from the battlefield;
• Many Longbow will die today, and they will keep on fighting to the last man. Heal and protect wounded Longbow;
• The last time we saw the Coach, he was locked in a struggle for his very soul. Did the Nictus prevail? Was he able to fight it off? Is he trapped under rubble? Determine the fate of Coach Waters;
• In this great moment of tragedy and loss, your mind shuts down, and you can only think of one thing: rescue your goldfish as the dorm collapses.

These are just ideas; think about what your character would likely do, and follow through. Live or die. Fight or flee. It's up to you.[/border]

[Mimi]

[border]All Saints Day: What Can’t Be Stopped

As you think about what your character did during All Saints Day, keep in mind that there are a few immutable events which cannot be changed. The following will come to pass; no action on the part of any character can change this.

• There are SJS students, sisters of Cupertino, and SJS faculty who will die fighting the Tank Room children and the evil Gemini twins. No amount of Empathy Defenders can prevent casualties against foes of this caliber.
• There will be unintended casualties. Longbow soldiers will gun down innocents in the swirl of battle.
• The Alpha Omega bunker and a large part of campus will be destroyed and/or badly damaged.
• Mrs Green will die on the quad, and Billy Green never emerges from the bunker.
• No matter how many casualties they take, the evil Gemini twins will hunt down all remaining good Gemini twins hiding on campus before being forced to flee. At the conclusion of All Saints Day, their positions will be completely reversed from where they began: there will only be one good Gemini twin remaining, unable to duplicate, living in fear of her sisters.
• Some of the Tank Room children will escape being recaptured. Certainly, the most uncontrolled and dangerous will be defeated, because to leave them at-large would damage the larger CoX continuity. But some will get away.
• The majority of the SJS community is successfully evacuated to safety during the battle.
• Longbow will eventually pacify the campus and cordon off the area. Any remaining students or faculty will be roughly escorted from the campus by armed Longbow operatives as they establish the perimeter.
• The exact numbers and identities of the prisoners in the Tank Room are never made public.
• Officially, the Sisters of Cupertino are disbanded by the Hartford Archdiocese. The sisters living at the Residence are shuttled off to other convents.
• Saint Joseph School does not reopen during the 2009-2010 school year. Students will be placed elsewhere on a case-by-case basis.

There are probably other things not on this list that will logically need to happen and shouldn't be prevented; this list cannot be (and is not meant to be) totally inclusive. Use common sense. If necessary, this list will be amended.[/border]