Do to recent unexpected and very unpleasent developements I will not be able to continue this thead for the foreseeable future. You are welcome to use Omega as you see fit. It was built as a Guardian and primarily to protect his people againt the coming Rikti. There is an organic soul that has been imprited onto its circuits as an operating system but it is subservient to the Primary Objectives. It was built by a race whos tech. was as far above Star Trek's Voager and Next Gen. as there tech is above ours. He will obey the law to the letter in most cases. His combat abilities are not the most powerful but they are very accurate and efficent. (1 SO damage 2 SO Accuracy 2 SO End. Red. - only attacks are Energy Bolt, Energy Blast, Sniper Shot, and Force Bolt <1 SO Acc, 1 SO End. Red.>
. Ordinarily the only time he will run low on energy is just after erecting 4 or more sets (2 bubbles per person) of shields or if he is running the Repulsion Field.
Sorry to let you guys down. Be back when I can.
((OOC: Sorry to see you go. I hope what ever is wrong works out alright for you."))
Harris buried his head in GG's shoulder and continued to cry.
"He was out of control......... We couldn't stop him......... He was hurting people........ He thought he was better then normal people........ because he was a mutant....... then he turned on us.............. and now my wife has been in a coma for six years........because he but her there.......... I couldn't stop him......... I wish I had never had a son.................. *beep* My *beeping* hand. You broke my *beeping* hand."
[ QUOTE ]
"He was out of control......... We couldn't stop him......... He was hurting people........ He thought he was better then normal people........ because he was a mutant....... then he turned on us.............. and now my wife has been in a coma for six years........because he but her there.......... I couldn't stop him......... I wish I had never had a son.................. *beep* My *beeping* hand. You broke my *beeping* hand."
[/ QUOTE ]
There were no words of comfort that Penny could find for him. "Oh, Mr. Harris... I am so sorry he did that." She just held him, and let him cry it out.
Omega turned and addressed itself to Dr. Sanstead, as Girl Genius and Harris seemed to be occupied. "You are welcome," it droned. "However, I cannot accompany you further. The hypothesis of other Rikti transmitting units has a 97.6 percent chance of being correct. I must search for the remaining units. I will also hinder the criminals present in this area to aid your escape."
It reached inside its chest unit, and handed him several things. Some were tools: the largest was a small box with four cables ending with large clips. "Good luck, heroes of Paragon City." It inclined its head, then walked down the tunnel and was gone.
OOC: We were very uncomfortable with the idea of playing someone else's character, so we are having Omega exit stage left. He could come back later, if you smooth your problems over. We hope that you do: but good luck in any case!
Jen 8)
Slowly Harris let go of GG and moved away so he was sitting with his back on the wall of the tunnel. He wiped away his tears with his good hand while his broken hand rested in his lap. He watched Omega leave.
There was a silent pause. Then Harris shock his head as he spoke.
Do what ever the hell you want with me. I dont give a dam anymore.
He truly looked like he did not care. His face was emotionless and imposable to read, it was spooky. He looked like a man who had nothing left to lose and had simply given up which in the current situation could be dangerous.
[ QUOTE ]
Do what ever the hell you want with me. I dont give a dam anymore.
[/ QUOTE ]
Penny looked from Harris to Erik, but Erik was examining the equipment that Omega had given him. "Well," her voice was not quite steady, "I do. Give me your hand." For a moment, she and Harris stared at each other. "I mean it, Mr. Harris."
Penny took the hand when it was offered to her and pulled out her small med-kit, expertly bandaging and splinting. "I get a lot of hands," she said, after a few minutes, at the surprised look on his face. "The Mark III isn't my only suit. I have others, the Mark II, the Mark IV, and so on..." She shook her head. "Sometimes I make arrests in the Mark IV, and these stupid guys... they always try to punch me in that suit. I don't know why, stupid thing for them to do, it is this great big thing... they always end up breaking their hands. Just like you broke your hand when you punched Dr. Sanstad."
Her voice was neutral, holding no blame, but it was firm: she was too much the scientist to permit Harris the statement like, 'Dr. Sanstad broke my hand,' when the correct statement would have been, 'I broke my own hand by punching Dr. Sanstad.' She was fully aware that Erik had healing powers, but wasn't sure if he could mend broken bones, or even if he would want to use them on Harris, after he had acted so poorly and put his family in danger.
"Now then," she said, after his hand was properly bandaged, and gestured to a nearby rock. "Sit down."
"I don't - "
"SIT DOWN ." Penny's voice was not loud, but there was a note of steel in it that a wise man would not ignore.
Again, she and Harris stared at each other. After a few minutes, Harris sat down.
Penny sat down opposite him on a nearby rock, gesturing at Dr Sanstad to sit if he wanted. "I believe," she said firmly, "That we should get a few things straight before we attempt to proceed to the surface. If you disagree or feel that I am incorrect in my analysis, now is the time to say so."
She took a breath. "First of all, Mr. Harris, you should consider yourself on probation. I realize you are under a great deal of stress, and that this must be a very frightening situation for you. I am also aware that you have not always been yourself. I have made what I feel are reasonable allowances for these factors. However, should you attack either Dr. Sanstad or myself again, you will be placed under sedation, carried to the surface, and taken to the nearest authorized medical facility. "
There was a pause as she considered what she wanted to say. "Secondly, it is my belief that we can all get out of here - yes, Mr. Harris, that does include you - if we work together. Part of that means that we take responsibility for our actions: Dr. Sanstad did not break your hand, you broke your own hand. I came down here voluntarily. Of the three of us, it is only Dr. Sanstad who might be considered a victim - he was taken down here and his family is in danger because of your actions, Mr. Harris." She paused. "But there is a difference between responsibility and blame. What has gone on before cannot be changed. We determine what comes next, our attitude and our actions. And that means," She narrowed her eyes, "That you are NOT going to give up - because I am not going to let you."
She sat back. "Finally, Mr. Harris.... we need to know what information was in that notebook. All of it. NOW."
Jen 8)
Erik stood there rubbing his jaw for a a good moment letting everything he had heard sink in.
He sighed deeply and let go of the anger. It was something he had learned to do a long time ago. SOmething his wife taught him to calm down when stressed and worried. He did that a lot... worry.
He walked close and sat on a pile of stones nearby and listened to the sounds of battle in the distance while watching Penny and Harris talk.
He fiddled with the item Omega gave him and charged it with some latent radiation. He made sure to do it quietly however, last thing he wanted was to upset Harris more.
Once Penny had finished Erik looked at Harris and shook his head.
"Look. I'm mad at you, and I think I have every right to be. But right now that's just not going to work. You've had bad stuff happen to you and your family. For that I apologize for whatever it may be. I spoke out of anger and fear for my family. I'm sorry you hurt your hand, and I'm sorry I called you a monkey-humper, but you have to realize my wife and child is in danger. If what you just said about your family is true then you of ALL people should know how terrified I am right now and how desperate I am."
Erik looked at Harris and nodded simply.
"I'm sure to your mind this changes nothing, and I'm still not too fond of you. But for my WIFE and CHILD Harris... we need your help. I... need your help..."
Erik dropped his head and sighed. His fist flared with green fire as he punched the wall out of fustration. Stone chips hit him in the face.
"My God... I swore I'd protect Enid and Cassie... I promised that I had plans for this..."
Erik inhaled deeply and exhaled and shook his head before sinking to the floor...
[ QUOTE ]
Want to be a hero, do you? Surrender - or we kill every student in here. Starting, its arm tightened around Crystal's throat, with this one.
[/ QUOTE ]
Wild-Card winced and paused for a moment. Sighing he shook his head and raised his hands. It looked like for all the world he was going to give up.
And that's when his mouth kicked in.
If Paul ever had a weakness, it was that he never knew when to shut up. It was almost involuntary, he HAD to get what he was thinking out. Unfortunately, given his additude that often meant some comments have come out better left unsaid... And that was putting it nicely.
"Look ragman, lets get a few things straight. First off I'm not "playing" hero, I AM a hero. You know your buddy Patchwork? The twit who tried stealing bodies from Paragon's cemetaries? I busted him. Scritcher? That was me too. The gang of Morts who kidnapped that surgeon? Well I didn't do that ALONE but I did kick several in the head when it was over." As he walked forward he gave a swift boot to the head of the downed Mort. "Kinda like that."
"And now, you come in here startin' all kinds of ruckus. Bringing in buddies you had to make cause you're too damn ugly to HAVE friends. And last time I noticed pal... I'm not the one leaking green crap out of their head."
Wild-Card looked at the remaining abominations. There were at least six, but most of them had severe plasma burns and one had so many caltrops buried in it's flesh it looked like a pincushion.
"So, Mr. Raggety Andy... Lemme ask you something. You're wounded, your gang of home made buddies are hurt or in bits, and as a last desperate move you grab a student to use as a sheild. Man... I had no clue "Doctor Vahzensetin" was making such wimps now! I mean look at you! Hell you're even ACTING like a rag-doll! Hiding behind a woman because you can't fight for yourself!"
By this time Wild-Card had entered the room and grabbed a seat on a lab-bench nearby. He put down the basket next to him and looked at Crystal. His eyes were filled with sadness but he mouthed... "It'll be O.K. Stay Calm..."
Looking back at the now, VERY pissed bag of patchwork parts Wild-Card gave a disarming grin and shook his head.
"Look man, you need to go in for a tune-up or SOMETHING. I mean what next? If you're the BEST "Doctor Vahenstein" can offer what's he gonna do for an encore? Send out teddy-bears to rough up school kids?"
Wild-Card reached into the basket and pulled out the bottle of wine and pulled out the stopper. He took a sip and then shook his head again.
"So why don't you put the nice lady down, go back to whatever toy-chest you escaped from, and tell the good Doc to go drink kerosene and piss on a brush fire."
[ QUOTE ]
She sat back. "Finally, Mr. Harris.... we need to know what information was in that notebook. All of it. NOW."
[/ QUOTE ]
Harris felt like he was back at school being told off by a teacher. It annoyed him but he simply did not have the energy to argue any more and he didn't much like the idea of being placed under sedation when in a dangerous situation.
He knew it was true, if it was not for them he would already be dead and he needed them to get out of here. He didnt agree with what GG was saying but he nodded his head anyway, it was just simpler.
"It was Roberts the head of our legal department. He had a kid in Dr Sanstads class who got failed. He found the information his your wife and kid, his home address and his wifes job. He said something about he had to pay money for the information."
Harris was looking at the ground as he spoke then he added as an after thought, "I was only planning to interview them."
[ QUOTE ]
"Look. I'm mad at you, and I think I have every right to be. But right now that's just not going to work. You've had bad stuff happen to you and your family. For that I apologize for whatever it may be. I spoke out of anger and fear for my family. I'm sorry you hurt your hand, and I'm sorry I called you a monkey-humper, but you have to realize my wife and child is in danger. If what you just said about your family is true then you of ALL people should know how terrified I am right now and how desperate I am."
Erik looked at Harris and nodded simply.
"I'm sure to your mind this changes nothing, and I'm still not too fond of you. But for my WIFE and CHILD Harris... we need your help. I... need your help..."
Erik dropped his head and sighed. His fist flared with green fire as he punched the wall out of fustration. Stone chips hit him in the face.
"My God... I swore I'd protect Enid and Cassie... I promised that I had plans for this..."
Erik inhaled deeply and exhaled and shook his head before sinking to the floor...
[/ QUOTE ]
Harris did not look up from the floor. His tone of voice did not change. He still didn't like Sanstad but he felt he should say it, even if it was just to make things easier for himself.
"I'm sorry."
[ QUOTE ]
"So why don't you put the nice lady down, go back to whatever toy-chest you escaped from, and tell the good Doc to go drink kerosene and piss on a brush fire."
[/ QUOTE ]
The Eiledon shrugged. Suit yourself.
A number of things happened, all at once. The hands of the Eiledon suddenly flared green. It certainly had the intention of killing the student, dropping the corpse, and going for the new, loudmouthed hero. Crystal's body was bathed in an eerie greenish haze. Her shriek was not a thing to be forgotten as all of the geiger counters, neatly lined up on the shelf beside the Eiledon, suddenly went crazy, sounding like machine guns.
The Eiledon dropped her, intending to turn from her and attack the hero. But she did not fall like a rag-doll, as he had expected her to, as she ought to have done considering the burst of radiation that had just been pumped into her body. Her hair and clothes were still smoking. Her screaming did not stop. For a moment he stared at her, puzzled.
Everything glass within a thirty-foot circle of Crystal shattered simultaneously. The windows blew out. Every test tube, pipette, and beaker burst. The bottle of wine that Wild-Card was holding exploded in his hand. The monitor of Dr. Sanstad's computer burst outwards in a shower of sparks from glass-sliced wires. "NOOOOOOOOO!" Crystal screamed.
The Eiledon was blown backwards into the wall. The abomination nearest to her simply dropped, like a puppet with its strings cut. Two others abruptly started staggering in blind circles, with their hands over their ears.
Through his mind slipped - briefly - a cacophany of noise: the voices of everyone in the building, all the terrified students, reporters approaching the building, the wierd, non-dead, unthoughts of the Abominations, and the green unworldly hum of the Eiledon's mind, as if he had been plunged into a vast, chattering crowd, all screaming at him at the top of their lungs.
Then Crystal ran, straight out the window, dropping two stories onto the grassy lawn below, littered with glass that twinkled like stars, and took off, screaming, her hands over her ears. The mental "noise" faded with her passing.
The Eiledon was staring after her, confused, its back to him, its guard down. The abominations just staggered towards him: they were not bright enough to realize what had just happened.
Sarah and the remaining two crew men were being taken across the campus towards the class the students were being held in.
There was a sudden flare of green light from one of the windows two floors up from the building. The windows exploded outwards and shattered glass rained down. Sarah and the rest of the crew shielded their faces with there arms from the falling glass.
A student suddenly jumped out of the window and ran across the campus screaming and holding her ears. As the girl ran passed Sarah heard what sounded like the sounds of a hundred voices talking and screaming at once.
"What the hell?" Sarah thought to herself.
Suddenly among all the noise of voices she heard one that sounded like her own.
"What the hell?" It said.
[ QUOTE ]
"What the hell?" It said.
[/ QUOTE ]
Sarah got it. Immediately. She deliberately stilled her own thoughts in the hopes that they could not be overheard, and reached into her purse.
The taser, placed at the back of the neck of the Eiledon, delivered 5,000 volts directly to the base of its skull. Staggered by Crystal's passing... it fell.
Sarah didn't stop to see whether it had fallen for good. "Time to scoop the competition, gentlemen," she called back to her camera crew, and took off across the lawn, running in the opposite direction from the screaming college student. None of the men at the station took her seriously but... she had a plan.
Wild-Card sat there... What the hell else was there to do? Crystal had run screaming while every bit of glass in almost a one hundred foot radius had exploded! His hands were fine for the most part thanks to his nanotech bands but a lot of the other students were pretty bad off.
Worst of all... his sunglasses had broken.
"Crystal..." He muttered. The voices screaming in his head from the aftershocks suddenly went quiet. The logic side of his brain began shouting orders, and quickly Wild-Card sprang into action.
"You stupid arrogant peice of trash... You were going to hurt MY DATE!" Wild-Card stomped over to the prone Edi while waving his arms at the remaining abominations. A wave of energy sprang forth and blew them out the open windows. The smell of cooked flesh filled the room.
Wild-Card stomped on the Edi's neck and grabbed the things face with his hand.
"You know those heroes who would glady arrest you and put you up in a jail or a lab to see if what your freaky Doc had done to you could be reversed? Know them? That's not me."
At point blank range with his hand wrapped around the Edi's head, the high energy sniping blast caused a splatter and spray akin to Gallagher hitting a watermellon... Only smellier.
Wild-Card tossed several bags to the students and then his cell-phone. "Use those! Those are healing nanites! They'll patch you up quick! And for the love of God call the COPS!"
Quickly he vaulted out the window and began charging the direction where Crystal went. He saw the reporters, and for the first time in his show-boating life, he didn't care.
"Get a REAL job you vultures!" He shouted at them as he ran past.
His sunglasses were useless, so tracking Crystal was out of the question. Still, he ran, hoping somehow he would find her.
"Damnitt damnitt damnitt... Crystal!!!" Wild-Card stood in the quad and shouted again... "Crystal!!!"
He shook his head and began to breathe deeply.
"Think.. Think stupid think! She's emitting mental waves... triggered by stressful onset... Defensive capability... Mental assults... Mental... She'd need a place to find quiet... Total quiet... The Library! No no no... This is Crystal... Backstage at the theater..."
He looked up again and then set off at a dead run. Wild-Card had no clue what he'd do when he found her, but he had to know... He had to know she was O.K.
[ QUOTE ]
He looked up again and then set off at a dead run. Wild-Card had no clue what he'd do when he found her, but he had to know... He had to know she was O.K.
[/ QUOTE ]
Crystal's trail wasn't particularly hard to follow. There was no blood in it, thankfully, but occasionally he would pass things like burst windows, or pedestrians sitting on the sidewalk with stunned looks on their faces.
This time of night, the theatre was pitch black. All of its front windows were shattered. Inside everything was quiet... but he could hear the strangest, whining, whimpering sobbing... it was indeed coming from backstage. As he got closer he could hear the voices again, but more quietly, as if they were coming from farther away. His guess had been right: Crystal was here.
After a few days of more interviews, Experiment 2.0 was jumping from rooftop to rooftop. "Gotta love super jump." He thought to himself.
"Yeah." said his PDA.
"You can read my mind?"
"Duh. Im attached to your suit, which...which....which..." and the Hand-Held started sparking.
"Agh! Hey, whats up man!"
"Pri.....ma...r...y func..tions deac..t..ivat...ing" and the screen shut off, but not before it blew him off the roof.
He started screaming as he fell.
"IF ONLY I WAS A CAT!!!" he shouted at the top of his lungs. He hit the ground with tremendous force, and there were cracks up to 10 feet away. "Ugh... The floor.... its... CRUMBLING!!!" he shouted again, as it broke, and he fell right into some sewer water, and the splash could be heard through-out the sewer on his level.
(OOC: Sorry for the lack of action. I don't write fight scenes very well.)
[ QUOTE ]
Back up plan, the other Reaper replied as he picked up the chart at the end of the bed and looked at it. He looked up at the woman in the bed deep in her coma, Hello
Amy Harris.
[/ QUOTE ]
Noise of a fight could be heard from down the hall of Amy Harris's room. From what the two Reapers could hear, their Cadavers had incountered some would be do gooder. Soon the sounds of combat stopped, which seemed to in dicate to the two human Vhaz that thier undead had been successful at stopping the intruder.
Then they heard a knock on the door. Both of the Reapers knew that none of the cadavers were intelegent enough to be able to do that. Cautiously one moved towards the door, but all his caution did him little good as the door was launched from it's hinges and crushed the unlucky human against the far wall. There, framed in the doorway was a lanky seven and a half foot tall pink haired man wearing bright green shoes and shirt, pink tie, slacks and double breasted jacket and pinked framed glasses with bright green lenses who seemed to be quite deliberately taking the time to pose dramaticly with his hands in halfway into his pants pockets, wearing the cockiest and most arrogant grin on his face.
"What's up doc?"
The reaper that was still conscious stared at Master Wonderful in disbelief. He wasn't sure what was more bizzar: this man that kick a door across the room who was wearing a PINK business suit, or the fact that he used such a rediculous quip when he entered the room. He was pretty certain the former won hands down.
"You must have been really lucky to make it here, seeing that you are dressed as you are," quiped the Reaper, smirking. "Your boyfriend pick that out for you?"
Master Wonderful continued to grin. "What can I say. It takes a real man to be able to wear this get up."
With that the Reaper shot his cross bow at the pink hero, the bolt piercing the suit but seeming to have little effect upon Master Wonderful. In response Master Wonderful rushed forward, grabbed the Reaper and pinned him painfully agaist the wall. The hero spoke in a hushed tone, still wearing his trademark glinting grin, "Now tell me, what are your plan is. Why the intrest in the comatose woman?"
The Hospital:
The reaper struggled to free himself from the hand around his throat. Realizing it could not so it stopped and look at the hero who held him.
"What is it to you?"
He felt the grip tighten.
"Alright, alright......."
The grip lessen but he still had trouble talking, grabbing breaths between words when he could.
"We were sent here to take her.......to use her as a bargaining chip....a hostage. We can bring her out of her coma..........that would mean a lot to...........someone we have been tracking. We could get him to do what we want if...... we gave him his wife back."
The reaper paused then smiled when it spoke again.
"One other thing hero.............you forgot about my partner."
The reaper started to laugh. The curtains were blowing in the wind coming from the open window. The other reaper and the body of Amy Harris were long gone.
************************************************** ****************************
The Sewers:
Harris didn't speak for a while after his apology. He was not sure how Erik would take it.
"So........ what do we do now?" He finally asked.
[ QUOTE ]
Harris didn't speak for a while after his apology. He was not sure how Erik would take it.
"So........ what do we do now?" He finally asked.
[/ QUOTE ]
"We get out of here," Girl Genius replied, getting to her feet wearily, and re-checking her suit reserves, shaking her head at the power readings. "I propose that I scout as I cannot be detected. As Dr. Sanstad and I are in communication, I can warn you of which ways are safe to go. It will be slow going... very slow going... but I think in the end we can manage it."
She didn't know that one of the devices that Omega had left Erik was meant to recharge the stealth suit, which currently only had the power to run in stealth mode for a few minutes, if that, though power reserves of the suit itself were very slowly beginning to recharge.
"You should have had a communication device too," Penny said regretfully to Harris, "But in the excitement of getting down here... I dropped it. I'm very sorry."
****
IN THE SEWERS, LEVEL ONE:
****
The first thing that Experiment noticed was that the sewers were sparsely populated today. His noisy entrance should have had the denizens of the sewers climbing all over him, particularly the Vahzilok. Yet when he squelched to shore, there was no one there, and no one came running.
This was highly unusual, given the typical state of the sewers, but there was apparantly no one within hearing distance.... no one within sight.
Why, then, did he hear someone talking? It was thin, far away, but he could definitely hear a voice.
Looking around, he spotted a glimpse of something with enough heart left to sparkle a little in the dim light. Upon investigation this turned out to be a radio unit, the sort worn in the ear, with an ear piece, a tiny antenna, and a short, stubby microphone.
Through it he could hear a woman's voice, saying:
[ QUOTE ]
"I propose that I scout as I cannot be detected. As Dr. Sanstad and I are in communication, I can warn you of which ways are safe to go. It will be slow going... very slow going... but I think in the end we can manage it."
[/ QUOTE ]
+++
OOC: OK, tag Experiment - and don't worry, excitement will be coming for you. 
OOC: Thanks
Experiment picked up the small object. "PDA, description?" he asked the hand-held, but he then remembered it had a blowout. "They never make them like they used to..." he thought, and he looked at the transmitter again... maybe he could contact someone? He put the device in his ear, and made sure the mic. was near his mouth. "Anyone down here?" he said through the mic.
[ QUOTE ]
"You should have had a communication device too," Penny said regretfully to Harris, "But in the excitement of getting down here... I dropped it. I'm very sorry."
[/ QUOTE ]
Erik looked at Harris and then at Penny. He shrugged and smiled.
"Looks like you're stuck with me for a while Harris. And don't worry Penny. I'll relay everything to him. Oh, and here. This little gadget Omega gave me should be fully charged now. Hope it fits with your suit."
He tossed the small box to Penny and then felt his ear. Amazingly the communicator was still in tact even after the battles they had been through.
"Um Penny? could you fix this little guy up before we head out? I don't know how much damage it can take but I'm sure I may have fried it when dealing with... Adam."
"Sounded like someone was trying to talk on it just a second ago but it was mainly static to my ears."
Erik looked back at Harris and walked over to him. He offered his hand but watched the man warily.
((OOC: Credit for the first part of this goes entirely to Jennifer8... Who rocks!))
Crystal had fled to the network of catwalks above the theatre area. A light had fallen in the haste of her passage and shattered in center stage. She had curled up in a sort of hunch, sitting with her knees up to her head. She had no fear of falling, having often worked on the catwalks, and had flown here in search of solitude.
Her head snapped up when she "heard" him enter the theatre.
"Paul... is that you?" Inside his head he could hear the same voice: Paul.... is that you?
Crystal had always had red hair, but now it had changed shades, becoming as bright as a newly-minted penny, and her eyes, for the moment she pulled her hands away from her face, gleamed eerily. "Paul.... what is the matter with me?"
Paul... what is the matter with me?
She wasn't fully aware of where she was, had only the vaguest idea of what had just happened - she only knew that when she needed him... he had come.
He was her hero.
__________________________________________________ _
Paul walked slowy into the theater and stopped when he heard Crystal call his name. It was REALLY strange hearing her say it, then FEELING in his mind her hear him hear it.
"That has got to be the coolest reverb effect I have ever seen."
He could see her up in the catwalks of the theater. He smiled remembering the time he snuck into a show she worked backstage for and hung out in the catwalks with her the entire time.
When she asked the obvious question, Paul was not surprised.
"Crystal, hun, you work in Doctor S's lab. You of all people should know what happened. You defended yourself kinda like he did. The ragman tried to hurt you and your body responded..."
He walked over to the ladders and looked up.
"Mind if I come up?" Suddenly he grinned and struck a melodramatic pose as he began to acend the ladder.
"Actually Crystal... I..." Paul paused and then began rubbing his neck. "I... I'm... Jeeze why can't I find the words now?"
When he finally got to the catwalks, Paul looked at Crystal and then smiled. "I like your hair." he stated... and he meant it.
"I should have... I should have shut the hell up. I should have just walked in and gave up like the ragman wanted. But I could not DO it! I HAD to say something and it almost cost you your life! Oh God Crystal I'm sorry... I'm so sorry. I just wanted to save you, to show you how much I..."
He looked at her and smiled gently. His bright blue eyes sparkled, a sight rarely seen because of his sunglasses.
"I love you..."
The Sewers:
Harris was still looking at the ground as Erik approached him. He saw Erik's feet stop in front of him. When Harris looked up he saw that Erik's was holding his hand out to him. Harris looked at Erik's hand, then looked up at Erik's face, then back to his hand. He took Erik's hand but didn't know what to say.
[ QUOTE ]
Harris was still looking at the ground as Erik approached him. He saw Erik's feet stop in front of him. When Harris looked up he saw that Erik's was holding his hand out to him. Harris looked at Erik's hand, then looked up at Erik's face, then back to his hand. He took Erik's hand but didn't know what to say.
[/ QUOTE ]
Erik took Harris's hand and helped him up, and looked at the man dead in the eyes.
"I'm sorry for being such an arrogant [censored] in your interview." Erik sighed and then rubbed the back of his neck.
"But trust me, being a scientist means having a deep distrust of the media. However, I should not have taken that out on you."
Shrugging he looked about and then checked out the rockslide behind them. As Penny was working on the box Omega had given him and Erik's fried earpeice he gestured to Harris.
"Look... If you want... I may be able to help your wife. I'm not going to promise any miracles but I have been able to help people whom the hospitals had given up on. Hence why i'm in a grad school and not a medical school... they hate it when a researcher knows more about healing someone than they do." Shrugging Erik looked at Harris and grimaced.
"I might be able to do something if you'll let me try... If we get out of here that is..." Erik looked up again and then inhaled and exhaled deeply...
"Can you tell I'm also trying not to go nuts thinking about my family?"
"Someone must be on the other end..." thought Experiment.
"Your right there." replied the PDA.
"Your back! So... can you scan the sewers?"
"No, most of my functions are still broken... I can scan the mic. and tell you who is on the other side though."
"OK, scan away!" and the scanner touched the ear-piece, and the reply came very quickly.
"Dr. Sanstad, Professor at Paragon University."
"Thanks... can you scan anyone around him?" after a little while, the answer came.
"Harris, the guy who-"
"-Knows who I am... I will still keep my word to him... if he tells anyone... Oh no, my mic. is up!" Experiment shouted, glad he didnt say who he was.
[ QUOTE ]
So whos first to see the doctor? He knew he was taking a big chance, but at least now these things were focused on HIM and not his date. He hoped they could get out of there But he also kinda hoped that Crystal saw him acting all heroic and stuff.
That would be even BETTER than the candlelight dinner
[/ QUOTE ]
The abominations closed in, and for a moment all was swinging fists and grunts.
Then the normal sounds of battle were shattered by a piercing shriek. The Abominations backed off.
The Eiledon had grabbed a student at random - Crystal. Now it held her two feet off the floor, one arm around her throat, the other hand at her temple, already glowing green. ENOUGH! spat the Eiledon. Green light was leaking out from holes in its outfit: it was badly hurt. Want to be a hero, do you? Surrender - or we kill every student in here. Starting, its arm tightened around Crystal's throat, with this one.