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 Posted: Sun Jul 19, 2009 7:48 pm
Foundation
The year is 2010 and with the economy falling apart and the world turning into mass chaos, world leaders sought out to make things right. With new diseases and illnesses spreading like wildfire, the only idea that seemed to make sense was to find a cure. But what kind of "cure" can stop the insanity and help heal the sick and the weak?
The Institute was designed to find that cure. The Institute was an organization of scientists to research and conduct experiments to discover a cure, or a way to make humans invulnerable to all of the viruses spreading. A human that could defend themselves from the crime infested streets and the world that was taking a turn for the worst. They wanted to enhance the five senses, perhaps even create a superhuman like being. These scientists were looking for a serum that would make any human almost immortal.
The first of their subjects were the homeless forgotten ones awaiting death on the streets. Horrible experiments were performed on these forgotten souls, and none of them were successful. The lucky ones died from their injections while a few others mutated into awful creatures that the Institute saw as "failures" and killed immediately. For ten years the Institute came up empty in their search for the cure.
Finally, in 2021 they created a unique creature. It still held the appearance as a human being, yet it could lift items off tables and counters without physically touching them, but with his mind. Items would fly through the air with his command and he wouldn't have to lift a finger. A telekinetic, as they would come to be known.
This was as close as they were going to get, but with the same serum given to different test subjects, different results came out. Some of these creatures could move from one area to another in the blink of an eye, or teleportation. Some could read minds while others could manipulate elements such as fire or water. The Institute decided that it was as far as they were going to get, and so they worked with the subjects that they had.
Of course, their subjects weren't exactly treated like royalty. The scientists treated their experiments like animals, keeping them in cells underground. Abuse, starvation and fear was common throughout the subjects.
The year is now 2025. Although the Institute still has their special serum, they've been getting greedy, and the need to improve their serum is great. People are still being taken in to be experimented on and the Institute still has the idea that they can create a superhuman race. While the scientists continue to look for an improvement, their experiments dream of a free life. The Institute is in power, and the Altered are imprisoned.
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:39 pm
Erica was thrown back into her cell with such force that it knocked the air out of her. A guard laughed as she struggled to sit herself up and she pulled her knees into her chest and put her head down. Everything around her was spinning and her head felt as if it was on fire. Another guard came upon her cell and watched with the other guard as she focused on not throwing up. The first guard laughed.
"Hasn't said a word yet. According to doc, she's one of them reporter things."
"You mean teleporter." The second guard said, looking sympathetically at Erica. "My daughter was her age."
They watched a few more moments in silence as Erica shivered in the dark and occansially coughed. When they finally left her in her cell, her pain ended and she sighed, relieved that she was done for the day. Today's experiments had been even more painful than usual and she had almost given up. Life seemed pointless at this point, and freedom was simply a dream. She hoped her brother hadn't had it as bad as she had.
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 12:55 pm
Gabe was strapped down onto a bed and two guards blocked both exits, which was the usual procedure for the everyday injections. The "doctor" made his way past both guards entering the room. He grinned wickedly at Gabe.
"Hello there." His voice sounded like death, but it didn't bother Gabe anymore. He had survived a few weeks in the Institute and today he felt stronger than usual. Something was wrong with him, and he couldn't quite pin point where the strange pain was coming from.
The scientist had in his hands a vile with a strange green liquid in it. "Anything strange happen recently, Gabey?" The scientist was preparing everything including the needle and the green liquid that would be swimming through Gabe's veins in a few moments.
"Not that I'm aware of." He grinned. "What is that stuff?"
"My gift to you." The scientist grabbed Gabe's arm and inserted the needle into the vein. Pain shot up from his arm and Gabe yelled out. He could feel the liquid moving throughout his body and the pain went with it. He started to shake uncontrollably and his eyes rolled into the back of his head. After five long minutes of excruciating pain, Gabe passed out. The scientist sighed and stood over Gabe, inspecting him for any strange markings or any signs of mutation. There were none. "Put him back in his cell."
A large man in a suit came pushing past the guards and he looked down at Gabe with disgust.
"Nothing?" He asked. He was clearly one of the heads of the Institute. "Let him rest. Then after a few hours we'll let them out of their cages for a bit." Edited!!!
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:16 pm
((I hope I'm right in posting here))
In the corner of his own cold, dark, cramped cage, Shoden ignored the passing scientists, he was bracing for the routine tests and analyses for which he was due to receive. Day by day he could feel his body changing. As if an ability, a knowledge gained with the tampering of his DNA by these injections. He had kept his changes silent from the scientists for the last few days but for how long he could keep quiet for without being thrown away as a reject, a failed experiment. He did not know.
He thought he may as well get it over with by taunting these monsters.
"Come once again to give me pain that compare to those trapped within the 7th circle of hell? Monstrous bastards." Though he said that, he said it in his mother tongue. If or if not they could understand him was something he did not know. He knew the language they spoke, he could speak, understand and even translate to his own. 3 years trapped in here, listening, deciphering, slowly gaining understanding.
One of the scientists turned
"Oh? Found your tongue now have we? Its such a shame I can't understand you, more reason not to feel pity, remorse or regret. Now get ready for your injection. There will be no routine tests today but a stronger dose of your usual is what you're getting. Oh yeeeees. You can't understand me now can you."
Under his breath Shoden muttered in the same language as the scientist.
"I'd get none anyway."
The scientist grabbed a syringe from his labcoat and then grabbed Shoden's arm. Without hesitation he shoved the needle in Shoden's arm, quite viciously as though he had heard his whisper.
As the dose was injected Shoden took a deep breath bracing for the pain.
Again under his breath but in a grunting voice he muttered "Evil shall burn." Why he said burn he did not know but he lost conciousness soon after. still lying against the wall.
The Scientist grinned. Though as he was about to reply he walked off.
"Keep an eye on this one. He seems to be the type to hide things."
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:20 pm
Hours past and Erica was just started to accept sleep as the only option as escape where her cell door was opened and a guard came in. She pulled away at his touch, but his large hand latched around her small arm and pulled her up. She movement brought up bile in her throat and she winced as she was forced to swallow it back down. Had she thrown it up onto the floor of her cell, she would be the one cleaning it up, and cleaning all of the other cells for that matter.
The guard said nothing as he led her down a hallway and into a large rec room. Other Altered wandered around aimlessly, resembling ghosts. She bit her lip and made her way over to a table and a few chairs. Gabe was no where to be seen, and this was their usual place to "hang out" as Gabe called it. She sat silently in the chair and watched as other Altered conversed and played cards. Erica realized that this room reminded her of prison, but she had done nothing wrong. ((Your post is right where it should be and a good one at that.))
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:36 pm
Awakened from possibly another strange dream, they have occurred timelessly one after the other, Shoden got to his feet and walked around the area. His cage was open, clumsily at that so it seem as if it was deliberate.
He limped across the hall past a few guards.
Whispering amongst themselves evilly how long he'd go before passing out again, how long he'd last in general.
He came to a door leading to a large room. As his mind slowly pieced back together he recalled this was the shabby excuse for a recreation room for the other altered. His eyes bloodshot and the bags under his eyes larger, his skin pale he walked into the room looking just for somewhere to sit.
Observing the movement of everyone and noticing a few guards as well as noticing the CCTV cameras around the area. Even socially they were prisoners, every one of them. Including himself.
He began listening to the conversations taking place, raspy, deathly voices, mixed with the guards laughing, the movement of the cameras and his own heavy breathing.
((Before you try to interact let me warn you I'm going to go to sleep now, I know it seems pointless setting up thus far but its something))
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 9:45 pm
Bid my blood to run...Before I come undone...Save me from this nothing I've become.
"Don't touch me!" Bori's hiss echoed off the walls of her cell. One of her own 'personal' doctors was there to give her, her daily dose. They should have been the ones to take it. They should be the ones suffering in her opinion. 'It's for the greater good.' She had heard one of them say at one point. What good could come of this? None which she could see. "Now my dear don't get yourself worked up..your little heart could burst." He said mockingly as he drew the needle from his coat pocket. That was a mistake. Bori glowered at him, her good eye narrowing, while the other remained shut out of habit.
The shadows were called forth from inside the cell and engulfed the good doctor. Temporarily blinding him. All he could see was darkness, "You little-!" He snapped while attempting to wave the shadows away. This was Bori's typical behavior, he should have expected no less from her. And yet she always seemed to catch him and the others off guard. As he continued his vain attempts the young woman was up off the floor and throwing herself against the bars of her cell. Her face remained devoid of emotion, no desperation was there, and she continued to beat herself against the bars in hopes that they would swing open. The sound was awful. And then her head collided with the bars.
Once. Twice. Blood dripped onto the floor. Her vision blurred and she stopped. Her shoulder and arm were raw, blood seeped through her hair and slid down her temple. The shadows dispirsed from the doctor then seeing as her concentration faltered as she slid to the floor. "Tsk tsk...You're quite violent today." He sneered at her before wasting no time in giving her the injection. Calling a guard a moment later Bori was removed from her cell without a fuss. Her mind was hazy and her red eye slid open to observe what was happening but it saw next to nothing. The guard propped her up against the wall in rec room and left her there.
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Posted: Wed Jul 22, 2009 11:48 pm
Security system bypassed
Firewall disabled
Logging in... username ADMIN
password ACCESSWL4309
Welcome, ADMIN
Bright green eyes dart from end of the screen to another, scanning not only the words but the information buried underneath the booting sequence. Today's task was to invade an artificially created server and retrieve all files within, important or not. Failure would result in an injection of corrective liquid -- failure meant that something in his mind was malfunctioning. Failure was not tolerated.
C razz ROGRAMFILES
A list of all available programs and their corresponding files display on the monitor, the reigning majority of them useless. There were few unmarked files protected by passwords. Instructions clearly read not to open them. Retrieve the data, wipe the hard drive, exit. A simple, straight-forward mission. Now, were this a matter of urgency, the men overseeing the assignment would have simply had the young man store all of the data within his own personal memory. Seeing as there was nothing here of real consequence, a flash drive was provided.
Moving 322 files to ExternalDriveC...
Transfer complete
Shigekazu removes the small device from the USB port, handing it to the supervisor behind him without a sound. He did not take his eyes away from the screen; to do so would to lose his concentration and thus his connection with the computer's server before successfully cleaning it out. "Proceeding with server deletion. Please stand by." Moments of near silence pass, the only sound being the noisy keyboard. Finally the computer displays a message stating simply DATA CLEARED and shuts down at the technomancer's command.
He leans back in his chair, eyes closed calmly. Being forced to carry out these meaningless tasks on a daily basis was beginning to wear him down. Though simple, digging through data and dodging security could easily become time consuming. Not only was his entire body sore, but he had not slept in three days. Whenever anything in the facility begins malfunctioning, he's called in to fix it. It doesn't matter if he was trying to sleep or having dinner. They had no problems dragging him to where his services were required. Rarely did he hear a "thank you". His thanks was living another day.
The man behind him nods, passing the flash drive to someone else for delivery to whomever the big boss was. "Good, you're done. Could've been faster though; work on that. Take him to the others."
Shigekazu opens one dull golden eye when his chair is suddenly spun around and he's dragged to his feet by two other guards. None of them look particularly happy, nor kind. By now he's used to being dragged around and has learned that struggling only results in unnecessary pain. He's so tired, but manages to drag his feet across the floor (alternatively, he would have been dragged period). At the end of a long hallway, a door opens to a room filled with bright lights and squirming masses of others like him. The next thing he knows, he's on the floor and the door slams shut.
So many voices... He crawls over to the wall and sits against it. So many voices, and all he can think about is sleep. Living conditions were poor. The Altered were given what they needed to survive, but they may as well be dead anyway. They were all toys... toys to be used and thrown away, broken.
Just a few minutes of sleep. That's all he wants. Even twenty minutes would be welcomed at this point. Yes, twenty minutes. Shigekazu's eyes droop downward slowly until they're closed entirely. From a far-off distance, he'd look rather like a discarded ragdoll. Or dead. If it weren't for the gentle sound of his breathing, or the rise and fall of his chest, he may actually be declared deceased and tossed away. Oh, if only he were so lucky.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:32 am
Hours of complete silence and peace surrounded Gabe and almost felt like protection, something he needed in order to survive. He couldn't move any part of his body without it hurting. Every inch of skin felt as if it was on fire and sweat rolled down in drops off his forehead. If death has a sibling of close relations, this would be it.
Then something broke that silence. A voice? Movement? Gabe was so far away it was unclear now. He felt as if he was floating up in the sky. Sky? Had he ever seen the sky? Of course he had, when he had been free. Freedom, something he would never know again. This was his cage, he was trapped here for eternity. He was becoming a monster in here. He was born here and he would die here.
Jumbled thoughts continued to pour into his buzzing mind. He wanted to pass out so bad, but he could feel something happening. Something he knew he would have to be awake to go through. He knew he didn't have the energy to do this, but the pain prevented sleep.
Two of the guards that had picked him up tossed him into the same recreational room as everyone else. He fell to the floor and sat, staring off into nothingness as the pain grew worse and worse. A few small voices wandered by him and he could smell the fear in the room. Was it his own?
Suddenly, the pain managed to grow worse and Gabe fell to the floor and started screaming. The pain was unimaginable, noting he had ever experienced here. Most the people in this room understood his pain: He was changing. There was no stopping it now. He had to survive the transformation or die.
The guards stood back a bit and watched as he clutched his head and rocked back and forth. He looked like a mad man, but still no one did anything. He then started to change and Gabe watched in horror as his hands turned into hands that didn't belong to him. He grew a few inches taller and took the form of a completely different person. Once the transformation for complete, the pain stopped abruptly, and Gabe was left lying on the floor, staring at hands that weren't his.
One of the guards laughed out loud. "Look, it's me."
And it was. Gabe had copied the guard's form into every last detail. The only different between Gabe and the guard was that Gabe was lying on the floor looking helpless and exhausted. But he had survived the pain, and he had become one of the creatures like his sister. She had been telling him about the different "types" of mutation. This was one he wasn't quite looking forward too. He had become a shapeshifter.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 6:40 am
Erica watched with a look of horror in her eyes. If Gabe died here, there would be no moving on. Everything that had ever worked for would be destroyed in one single moment. He was her only hope of survival, which meant that Gabe couldn't die here. A few moments passed of Gabe being the main event for the day while he clutched his head and tried to hold out while the mutation consumed him. Finally, within minutes of his arrival, Gabe copied one of the guards figures and she knew right away what he had become.
One the guards had backed up and took there place over by a door leading into a separate hallway, Erica stood slowly and walked over to her brother, trying her hardest to stay calm. She kneeled down and lifted his chin up to look at her face. He was barely conscious, and he was still shaking even though the pain had died off. He smiled weakly at her and managed what sounded like to Erica as a, "Hi sis."
She shook her head, not wanting him to waste any energy talking. He would have to save up as much as he could for the walk back to the cells. It was a miracle he had survived, the transformation had been taking many lives lately and Gabe's chances of surviving were very little. Still, she didn't want to think of the other outcome and was quite content with this one. Yes, it was selfish of her to want her brother here with her, but she didn't want him dead. Not when there was still a chance at freedom. That's why he had to stay alive, because freedom was coming. She could feel it.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:18 am
Observing the events that took place before him, Shoden began to wonder when the time would come his own power would manifest and how.
He noticed his body temperature was rapidly rising from the point he walked into this room, to the point where steam was emitting from his arms and clothes. As if to compel him to explode.
He managed to ignore this so far and began walking to one of the empty chairs, he collapsed into it and a sigh of relief at some form of comfort. Strangely enough the chair began to heat up as well. The smell of burning fabric slowly started to fill the room.
In his own tongue he spoke aloud to himself "Now. This isn't good."
Just as soon as he said that the chair burst into flames and suddenly disappeared. Leaving Shoden lying on his back on the floor. Blank, confused and in a state of thinking.
"So. I'm fire..."
THough barely a taste of manifestation it was obvious what his power was to be be. The ability to conjure and control fire.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 5:23 pm
Screaming monsters calling my name. Let me stay where the wind will whisper to me… In my field of paper flowers….I lie inside myself for hours and watch my purple sky fly over me.
The world was coming back into focus. Bori’s good eye stared blankly out at the room and the rest of those he currently inhabited it. This was a first, generally they never let her out of her cell for ‘free-time’. But that mattered very little now. The serum was taking over her system and it was all she could do to contain herself from screaming like the boy on the floor. His screams filled her ears, and mingled with her own, but she realized she was only screaming internally. The young woman started shaking uncontrollably then and she bit her tongue to keep from crying out. The pain was almost worse than all the other times. And Bori refused to give in and express it. But the shaking wouldn’t stop and soon her hands made their way into her hair as she gripped the sides of her head.
It was a vain attempt to keep herself under control and her body from convulsing due to the excruciating pain. Her shaking only got worse as the seconds went by, she could no longer see the room, or hear the boy. Suddenly her pupils shrank to the size of a pin and her shadow on the floor became briefly something hideous. Then in an instant it was three dimensional, sitting next to her on the floor it was thrashing about wildly. It’s mouth open as if it were screaming in agony but no sound came out.
Bori did not see this however, she was lost inside herself it seemed trying to keep herself in check. What she didn’t realize that her powers were coming full circle now with that last dose. And her inner battle with the pain had manifested in her shadow. It alone, silent and fragile, showed what she was trying to hide. After what seemed like an eternity, when really it was only a minute, the shadow froze and sank back down into its original state. Blinking, Bori’s vision also returned and the shaking had stopped. It was done. Slowly she released her head, staring for a moment at the blood on her one hand, Oh it’s stopped bleeding… Were her only thoughts.
A deeply relieved sigh left her now that the pain was gone and she took another look around the room. She saw a girl now crouched over…a guard? Only it wasn’t the guard. Because that guard was in another part of the room. That perplexed her. Shifting her gaze it traveled in the direction of something she could smell. Something had been burning. But all she saw was a man lying on the floor with what appeared to be the remnants of a chair. And lastly she actually noticed someone leaned against the wall next to her.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 7:13 pm
Shoden painfully crawled back up to his knees and slowly his feet, his body still searing hot and getting hotter. For now physical steam was emitting from his flesh yet the heat didn't hurt, what was hurting was his changing body.
To evolve to withstand and contain such heat its entire chemical structure would be changing, forcefully.
as he put his feet down to the ground the carpet around him began to heat up as well. He muttered himself
"This. This... Is not going easy... its not going to go well"
The guards were now keeping an eye on him and the others and reporting everything happening to what he assumed to be the monstrous scientists.
Noticing the others changing around him, handling it differently with manifestations much different to his own. This was one of those rare times he had seen the others.
He leaned against a wall which instantly turned black and began to burn as well as the carpet below his feet.
His entire body was as though it was igniting. Internally and externally.
"Got. To. Keep. Control."
He closed his eyes, concentrating on doing what he was hoping to do, to turn his heat down. His entire left side burst into full, blazing flames for what had seemed a second, lighting the entire room, momentarily pushing away all darkness. The only form of light in this room. For a second.
Next minute he knew he had burned through the wall and was stuck inside it. He had fallen over a piece of wood inside.
"What, the hell..." The guards simply laughing at all this did nothing but stand by.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:11 pm
Erica looked down at her brother. Gabe was out, his figure remained identical to the guards and then once his power was drained, he changed back into his original form. Erica sighed as the two guards made their way back over and hoisted Gabe up and dragged him out of the room. He had survived, but the pain had done a number on him and Erica predicted he would be out for a few hours.
She had barely realized everything happening around her. One female had something dark surrounding her. It would take Erica a few minutes to piece together that this was her shadow. Then a male, who she had thought she saw sitting on a chair was now, burning things? Her eyes grew slightly wider. She had heard of this, but only briefly. She might not say much, but she had always been a good listener. The guards that strolled past her cell constantly talked about the different abilities that different people were getting. What was it again? Something with kinesis? Pyro! Pyrokinesis. This was rare and this was dangerous. She knew she had to do something before the entire room was devoured by flames. She knew the guards weren't going to do anything.
But she hadn't mastered her powers yet, so she got up to her feet quickly and almost ran to him. By this time he had already burned through a wall and had fallen through it. She reached him in no time and swallowed her nerves. It wasn't like her to talk, but she had to help this guy.
"Relax." Her voice was soft and she got a bit closer to him, trying to calm him down. She didn't dare touch him, the flames were everywhere now, threatening to slap out and burn her skin. "Your power will subside, but first you have to calm yourself. Will the power to back down, and try not to panic." She realized the irony of her statement, seeing as this man was on fire. How was he supposed to stay calm? Still, it was the only option. If he didn't calm down they would all be in danger.
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Posted: Thu Jul 23, 2009 9:24 pm
In a very agitated and fluctuating manner Shoden replied "I'm kinda StUCK HERe. if I MOove I'll EXPlode. BUt... ITS HIGHLY uncOMFOrtable so CONCENtrating Is HAAAaaaRD. Calm down you say? Calm dowN!?? WELL!!? Ok, worth a try..." Just as he began to relax the flames subsided and Shoden managed to begin to budge free, not right before a sudden relapse of panic as he got stuck again caused him to literally trigger an explosion inside the wall. The explosion sent him flying across the room landing on one of the guards, knocking him out.
Awkwardly looking round afterwards he backed away with charred pieces of wood and debris falling from his singed clothing.
"I think I've CAused A BIT too BIG a SCene."
His voice was still fluctuating in tone and volume, he was holding back the rapidly pulsating heat inside his body. Waiting to adapt.
A scientist walked into the room, clapping his hands, laughing.
"I see. Your powers are starting to manifest now. So this project was far beyond a waste after all. You've all caused quite the scene here and believe that its soon time to return to your cages. Though I'm not the one in charge here. Do try to survive and not cause too much damage as your abilities evolve and manifest."
Mainly it was pointed at Shoden. Who was physically and mentally at breaking point. His usually calm, relaxed persona had been broken. Even he was afraid of the maybes of the future instead of the now.
He took a deep breath and instantly collapsed to the floor.
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