You wake up. Bright sunshine on your faces. There is a deathly silence around you and the wind blows constantly from one direction. Getting up the setting around you appears unreal - you see skeletons of former skyscrapers around you - levelled city blocks for miles in every direction. There is no life around you, just the five of you. You feel healthy and unscathed yet changed.

(ooc: apply your 40 NP template and everyone please note 8 temporary taint on their sheets // for the terats - no you can't channel that into temp. chrysalis)

Callum sat up and looked around. "What the hell?" Looking around at the others he noted that none of Newton's crew appeared to be with them. He stood up, swaying slightly as blood rushed from his head. All around was blasted earth and ruined buildings. He rubbed his eyes and looked again, "Seriously, what the hell?"

"The Singularity," says Gray. She sits up gingerly, reaching around to touch her own arms, face, as if feeling hurts.

"I think the Singularity is Fong. Somehow they found a way to separate her...energy, whatever you want to call it...from her body in Chrysalis. Newton could then use his machine to tap into limitless quantum power. As long as he could keep ahead of her roaming quantum 'ghost,' constantly seeking to reunite with the rest of her. If that happened, she'd awaken from Chrysalis...and I doubt Newton would get another chance."

She looks around dully.

"This could be some kind of psychic projection. Or we may actually have been blasted through time. Or we're dead, and this is the Hereafter."

Gray gets to her feet.

"Could have been worse."

Callum is stunned by her words, his legs go wobbly and he crashes to the ground, "No ... no, no, no ... " He looks up at her and the others, "We cannot be dead, we MUST not be!"

The sunlight felt alien and hostile. For a vampire, sunlight meant death. Because Nosferatu still lived, it meant that his ascendancy to vampire was not complete. Eventually through Teras, he would achieve immortality. Not even Omaega would stop that. In fact, they encouraged him to evolve. They felt his 'talents' would grow into increasing lethality as he evolved.



Gray was mistaken in her final point. Nosferatu knew, that as a vampire, he could not go to the hereafter. He thought he would reassure the others. "This is not the hereafter. You are not dead." He flashed them his fangs, while he shielded his eyes from the sun. "I am denied entry to the afterlife because I am undead. This place is either an alternate reality or a future we have somehow found ourselves in."

Quoting Descartes, Nosferatu continued. "Cogito, ergo sum... I think, therefore I am."

Cherub says,

"The question is whether or not we're still on our Earth. Did Fong or whatever it's called do this leaving us as survivors? Will T2M show up pretty soon? Or is this some place altogether? A thousand years in the future or whatever."

Cherub looks around for a newspaper.

Sean considered the situation looking around and even doing a quick internal checklist of whether he was ok or not. This was weird whatever it turned out to be. More than that. He felt different. During that split second when the tendril of energy touched him he felt it again... the limitless power of the quantum opening new channels inside him expanding his potential, it was like a second eruption almost. No wonder Newton was trying to harness it. Damn! Give me another hit off that quantum bong. He couldn't remember who'd said something like that just before all hell broke loose, but he'd second that.

"Whether it is our own future or that of another alternate universe, we're in it. I'm wondering how far in the future it is and how long things have been like this. Other questions that come to mind are, Is this the result of the singularity or of some kind of nuclear war. Is it just this city that's dead or the whole world? Oh, and of course can we get back to where we were." With the last question he looked down at his wrist to see if the teleportation device could give him any clues.

From somewhere nearby, those present become aware of a someone softly sobbing.

A few feet away is a dusty haired man noone recognizes, collapsed onto his knees with tears streaming down his cheeks from hazel eyes. He is dressed from jawline to toe in a slick silvery-gray bodysuit covered in honeycombs of tiny interlocking hexagons.

"Ohmygod, ohmygod, ohmygod..." he whispers faintly to himself.

As the others approach he looks up, helplessly, from the white faustian mask cradled in his shaking hands.

"What have they done to me?"

Your device seem to work but has difficulties in pinpointing your location or connect with the OC-Uplink which it needs to teleport you back on the set coordinates. Just as you take in that information you realize that something must be wrong with the build in watch or you've spent the last three days doing nothing.

Looking around you take in more of your situation. You stand probably in the center of the crater which caused the massive destruction to the surrounding buildings. Slowly you recognise from a few ruines that have not completely been levelled that you must be in New York... probably Manhattan. There is a leftover of a large brazen sign which has been bend to a half circle that reads "Four Seasons Grand Hotel" just a few feet away from the ruins you stand in.

She is watching Callum react to her words.

She is surprised. His reaction seems out of proportion to the situation. She feels a stab of remorse. She is surprised by it. She feels a curious urge to twist the knife and invent cruel fates for his son. She is surprised by this as well. And there is something else.

She is looking at her hands, at the simulated skin of them. Something has changed. She is waving a hand around in the still air, and realizes what it is. The sense of touch has become more nuanced...it feels more like smell now, or taste. She is sensing the air, its composition and concentration. Nanocytes are taking samples, she is realizing. Taking samples and analyzing them.

They'd never done that before. She is not sure why they're doing it now. It is surprising.

She is deciding to try to ease her remorse by assisting Callum.

Her hand comes gently down on his shoulder...momentarily distracting her with a blast of insight as to his sweater's materials...and she says in a kindly, if somewhat detached tone, "I think the idea of this being an afterlife is the weakest of the theories I've heard so far."

Sean looked up from his teleport device disguised as a watch and looked around at the others. Callum looked like he could use a distraction and so could The Fool, "Hey, anyone else have a watch that has the date on it? I'm wondering if mine messed up or working. I think this thing is telling me that only three days have passed. I don't think we are going to be dealing with monkey's on horseback here, but we might be dealing with the government coming to investigate if it really has only been three days. In fact, if this thing is right, I wonder why we didn't wake up in cells being questioned by Mr. Smith."

Seeeing The Fool in tears was an odd sight, and Nosferatu wondered what happened to him. The changes in him looked to be extreme. Nosferatu wondered what exposure to the quantum singualrity did to him. Time would let him know what they were.

"Not sure?" Nosferatu said to Sean. "It could be that we are the first one's here. We could have appeared here immdiately after the explosion of the singualrity. I'm going to get out of this crater and look around."

Nosferatu started towards the rim of the crater. About halfway there, he realized that he was not touching the ground. He was flying upward to the rim. My evolution progresses He said to himself. What else is in store?

As soon as he realized he could fly, he rose straight up into the air, until he was a hundred meters up. From there, he began to survey the blasted landscape for signs of life.

Inside though, something was nagging at him. His mind kept focusing on a singular thing. He needed to feed.

Cherub said,

"Me too. But it will take a moment for me to get started."


Fiddle, fiddle, fiddle. Tom played with his "flashlight" until it didn't spread the light and it was back on it's laser setting. Then it was back and he placed it back within his Eufiber and triggered it.

Finally he was done and the option to transform existed again, and he did so. Cherub became a "heavenly" glowing form of light, perfect for attracting attention.

ZOOM

Tom rocketed off and paid as much attention to his mental "someone is watching me" radar as to the surroundings.

(MC to as much Flight, HyperFlight, and Armor as he can handle).

While he would not be seen by any normal eyes, the entity that was known as Shiva was quite actively roaming the ruins. Its limbs and his ability to command the strange hairlike eufiber substance to do his bidding made brachiation through and between buildings and broken skyscraper skeletons ludicrously easy. With all the devastation, it was rare that he could not find a handhold.

In the midst of the crater, he spotted the rest of the arrivals. Recognizing them immediately, but not sure why they were here, he observed from a distance, the equipment he had been issued allowing him to remain invisible and to teleport away if he received a less than friendly receptiion.

Such a reception was common when dealing with a furred individual with 4 arms who was known, at least among OC operatives for being a true predator. Not in the sense that one like Nosferatu was, but in that he was devoted to one task, hunting and killing, and he was very good at it.

Shiva called back the eufiber from his hands, where they had formed razor sharp talons, very useful for making hand holds where there normally were none.

From the elevated position you can see the extent of the devestation. In the far distance a skyline can be seen and from the debris and skeleton ruins of the skyscrapers in your vicinity you are quite sure that what you see are the leftovers of Manhattan. There are no survivors as far as you can tell.

Scanning the sky for any incoming targets you make out nothing. A creepy silence overcome you. It feels like being the only survivors of a nuclear holocaust. The sky is clear and the sun shines oblivious of the horror under it.

Cherub locates his observer and then fails to see him. He continues in the direction he was going and says over the com link,

*We've got an observer. I can't see him so he's invisible or something, probably a nova.* Cherub tells the rest of the group where the observer is then continues,

*And other than him, I don't see ANYONE or sense anyone else looking at us, and as I'm a sight they should be. Anyone see any bodies?*

*Let me look around for him. Was Nosferatu's reply.

Like a telescope, Nosferatu's vision closes in on the rubble surrounding them. He begins spinning his body, slowly. He looks for any shimmering or alteration of the surounding background as well as any disturbances due to moving rubble or stirred up dust. Any dead bodies are also noted.

Tom replies,

*Good. I think I'm the fastest so I'm going to fly to the edge of this effect and see how far it goes.*

Pouring on the speed Cherub flies inland into New York state.

"Get away from me," Callum fairly growled as he roughly shrugged off Lily's hand. Callum stood and surveyed the area. Finally he took off walking. Good god I have to get away from here, I have to get home ...

In the general direction Cherub pointed at Nosferatu can actually make out an alien looking shape which he can't really identify. It seems to be lingering between the debris watching you. As soon as you drift just an inch closer the shape dives for cover almost disappearing from your sight.
(ooc: Nos had 7 vs. Shivas 5 successes)



With the blink of an eye Cherub covers several miles almost instantly breaking the soundbarrier as he reaches the edge of the crater. Looking back from where you came you realize that basically the complete Manhattan Island has been levelled to the floor. You can't make out any survivors or bodies amongst the debris and the rubble - not even bloodstains. But there seems to be awefully much dust and ash over the whole place.

At the edge the buildings are barely standing and police and firefighters have already started helping people and evacuating those that have lost their homes. It seems as if the catastrophe has just happened. Everyone is in panic and there is complete chaos everywhere you look.

Cherub cruises around for a bit then sends back,

*As far as I can tell Manhattan Island is flat, and it just happened. I STILL don't see any bodies or blood. It's like something just made everyone vanish right before the buildings came down. I'm on the edge of things and there's people panicking and emergency crews just getting involved.*

*Odd, I feel a lot smarter now. My medical knowledge has increased a lot, I could probably do the doctor bit without supervision. Maybe pass my exams now.*

*Unless someone has something important right now I should probably put on my Utopian Doctor hat and take part in this.*

(hee...not Lily. :))

Gray takes her hand back and holds it as Callum stalks away. It was hard to know what to feel without the context of previous memories. Would she feel angry? Insulted? Sad? Forlorn?

Cherub's communication distracts her for a moment as she realizes something.

"It was us. We did this."

Catching sight of the transformed 'Fool,' Gray goes over to him to see if she can apply the lessons learned from Callum.

"Are you all right?" she asks him, a bit diffidently.

*I can see it. It doesn't look human. Nosferatu sent back over the link. *I am going to fly over to where it is. Maybe it can tell us what happened. If not. I will have a snack. That last part came out almost in a joking manner. Almost.

Nosferatu starts flying to where he saw the figure. Realizing it was quite a distance, he added a little vampiric speed into his flight.

(OOC: Enhanced Movement for the scene)

Tom sends back,

*You wish. Pax we ain't. It might be that thing they talked about. That might be why there's no bodies.*

Tom moves in to talk to the police.

"Where are you sending the injured? I'm a medic and a healer, that's where I should be. And what the heck happened here?"

A police officer looks up at Cherub and waves at him, "Am I glad to see you around here, Sir! The medics are having a problem getting there ambulances here. The whole city has gone berserk, all blocks from here to west and north are without electricity. I think it's the end of the world and it picked my day off that I had, for christ's sake. I'm Sargeant Harris, let me take you to our emergency sick bay. Utopia should be here any minute, been wasting my time for the last hour..."

Sargeant Harris leads the way and speaks into his radio, "I've found myself a Nova here. He wants to help, says he's a healer. I think I saw him on TV the other day. What's yer name again, Sir?"

"No," Gray demurs. "I meant that whatever event brought us here, it seems like it also caused this devastation. We're in the middle of the crater. Some kind of massive explosion of energy must have accompanied our materialization."

She leans over to tentatively pat The Fool's shoulder.

"Hello? Are you...you have his mask...are you the one who called himself The Fool?"

Looking up at Samantha, the man's oh-so-human eyes are wide and dilated in shock.

"They...what did they do to me? I...I don't know who I am...but I...I remember things, horrible surreal things, like a dream...a nightmare..."

The man trails off, obviously overwhelmed by his return to humanity.

Tom answers,

"I'm Cherub. I'm with Project Utopia, I'm not sure where anyone else is, I got cut off from command when... when it happened."

"Sargeant Harris, other than Healing my other power is super speed flight, we should probably get me to your emergency sick bay right away. I can stabilize pretty near any blue tag."

Tom thinks,

*We'll just skip any unpleasant facts or questions right now. I can get what day it is from someone's calendar.*

(heee...my character's name isn't Lily, darn it. :))

Gray considers that response.

Interesting.

"What is your name?"

Shiva watched the flying 'vampire' make his way towards his location. He had a few seconds to decide what to do. He could go with what his instincts said to do when another predator entered the area, and destroy it. Or he could take a gamble. He didn't know why these people had arrived in the middle of that crater, but if they were still loyal to the OC and hadn't been assigned to Siberia for the past few decades, they would know who and what he was.

The air shimmered for a moment as Shiva stepped into the open directly in the path of Nosferatu, but still far enough out that he would have time to stop without much of an issue. As Shiva crouched down, bracing himself with his upper two arms, his eufiber extended in a random-seeming liquid pattern down his arms to form talons again. If he was going to get in a fight, he would do it right. In the meantime, he simply stared at the vampire, almost challenging him simply with a look.

Physical Appearance Note: Shiva isn't the tallest man around, especially now that he's hunched over. The parts of him that aren't covered by what are effectively eufiber BDU's are covered in a thick yet painstakingly groomed and maintained gray fur. His extra arms are seemingly pure muscle, with four fingers on each one, foregoing the uselessness of the pinky.

Reputation Note: Shiva is a killer like few else in the world. He has never been captured and has never failed a hit either. While the OC base operatives do not know of his existence, he's one of those things that agents discover as they advance. Shiva's rank is such that he could probably influence policy if he ever decided he cared enough. As it stands, he likes what he does and is good at it. He has no cover identity. Shiva is a weapon for the OC. Otherwise, he doesn't exist. Rank: Commander.

He gets a far-away look in his eyes.

"Jack be Nimble. Jack be Quick..."

He looks back down at the Mask again.

"Once upon a time, I dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly, I awoke, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming that I am now a man..."

Returning to the present he becomes aware of himself once again.

He opens the palm of his hand and turns it around, in awe of its skin. "I...I'm not burned anymore. What happened to me???" A look of surprise comes over him. "They did this. The Company. They made me a killer. And somehow...I could see...and, and the music! Now...all is quiet."

Callum listens to the talk back and forth over the wireless, Manhattan? Destroyed? Dad! Now aware of his location in a broad aspect Callum is able to orient himself via fallen signs and the remnants of unique architecture. He picks up speed running toward where he hopes his father's precinct building still stands.

Gray surveys the devastated area again for a moment. Soon she would have to ventur