Institute Issue #1: Fire and Flesh

Summer 2006, Monday

San Diego, University of San Diego, 10h23

Jeremy Fletcher takes a fish from a small pond. He carries. it over a table and take a scapel. He cuts the abdomen and take out some eggs. He put some few eggs on a small strip and starts to look at it with his microscope.

"They seems contaminated. That's make the third fish out of four. On 8 eggs, six of them have apparant deformations."

He looks at the women siiting next of the computer. Even if she is made entirely of water, it seems not to disturb him.

"It is impossible. At this rythm, all the west coast will be contaminated. The government should do something. Make some industry control. The San Fransisco bay will die in twenty year. There will be no more life, and next it will be Los Angeles coast. And when the two area will join up, more than a thousand of species will be death."

If it wasn't an habit for him to shout at the scandal every times something goes wrong, it could be a possibility to listen to him seriously.

He stands up and open the TV. A morning talk show is finishing, and is follow by some publicity.

"They are suppose to talk about the University at that scientific show they will pass. It is a replay of yesterday. I heard they mention our research."

Los Angeles, MCA Labs, 10h27

Gerald Hartfield show to Paul Hamilton and Anthony Parker one of the latest gadget he has made up to now. It looks like some kind of bulky collar.

"It is the next step in the mutant incarceration. The person who wears it will be unable to use his powers. As mutation affects the body, all electrical signals coming from the brain will be intercepted by the collar. If the collar considers to be a normal function of the body, it will let the signal pass. If it is a mutation signal, it will not pass. That's way, no mutation can be use.

In theory, it's works well, but we still got some problems. First, it's slow the reaction of the person wearing it, and a bit too much. We have seen some reaction being slowed by 1 seconds, which can be dangerous for the wearer. We want to reduce it to a fraction of that. A tenth would be a big minimal, a thousandth would be a good objective.

Second, some mutation are just permanent, and don't need to be activated by an electrical signal, we are looking for something else for them, maybe including a micro nullification field, like the one install at Alkatraz.

It is not that easy to analyze the electrical signal in the spine. We need to analyze the spine for about an hour, with some stimulation, to be able to set it correctly. What we want, it is to simply give a DNA sample to the collar so he can set himself, and to take only a moment.

Finally, we need to include a psi-shield around the wearer so he can't use any psionic powers. So it's make a lot of job to do, and we are lacking the number of scientific to finish it as fast as we would like. As you are already both member of MCA, and you both have a scientific formation, we would like you to join the project. What do you think about that?"

Paul seems lost in thought as Gerald describes the collars abilities.

"Hmm, interesting. The 1 second delay is definately a major problem. I suspect the person wearing one would constantly suffer minor seizures when the brain is unable to send an inhibitory command fast enough, prolonged use would probably result in sever muscle and nerve damage. Perhaps if you limited it to screening messages from the cerebrum. That would block most power-activating commands and still allow the bodies autonomous nervous system to function normally. Of course that has the problem of seperating signals from the higher and lower brain centers."

"Still the device has potential. Perhaps a refined version would even be able to stop the drake from taking over. I would be glad to join this project."

San Diego, University of San Diego, 10h23

Jeremy said:

"They seems contaminated. That's make the third fish out of four. On 8 eggs, six of them have apparant deformations."

He looks at the women siiting next of the computer. Even if she is made entirely of water, it seems not to disturb him.

Click to expand...

Jessica looks up from the ocean current model she is developing on the computer to see what has gotten Jeremy into a tizzy so early in the day. She admires his passion for his work, but she finds his tendency for exaggeration and vocalization a bit wearisome at times.

She elongates her neck so that she can take a peek through the microscope without having to get up from her chair. Strangers tend to find her disturbing at best when she alters the shape of her body, but Jeremy has known her long enough not to notice any longer. "Mind if I take a look?" she says.

She looks at the eggs and can clearly see that there is a difference between them. How severe the problem is, however, is a little outside her realm of expertise.

Jeremy said:

"It is impossible. At this rythm, all the west coast will be contaminated. The government should do something. Make some industry control. The San Fransisco bay will die in twenty year. There will be no more life, and next it will be Los Angeles coast. And when the two area will join up, more than a thousand of species will be death."

Click to expand...

Jessica starts to retract her head back to her body while maintaining eye contact.

"If you say so," she says with some forced sympathy. "You're the marine biologist. I'm just the oceanographer."

It was one of the reasons for and problems with being part of a multi-disciplinary team. Each of the specialists brought something to the table, everyone wanted to share what they knew, and not one could understand or fully appreciate the others. Jessica knew oceanography - the weather of the sea as she liked to call it. When Jeremy went off on his contamination kick, it was like an ornithologist trying to explain the evolution of bird migration tendencies to a meteorologist.

Jeremy said:

He stands up and open the TV. A morning talk show is finishing, and is follow by some publicity.

"They are suppose to talk about the University at that scientific show they will pass. It is a replay of yesterday. I heard they mention our research."

Click to expand...

"Oh yeah?" she says, returning her attention to her own work. "Hope they say something nice."

Every now and then she takes a peek at the television. With the ability to see simultaneously in all directions through her own body, she doesn't have to bother with turning around.

Anthony looked at the collar and then tossed it back to his friend. "I can't see where that would stop mutations like mine. Enhanced physical strength for example is not going to be hindered in the least."

The back pack sitting beside Anthony parker makes a strange humming sound and metalic insect legs telescope out from the sides. "Queen I need a drink can you get me a beer?" He says to his robotic aid.

"now there's an Idea! It we set up a monitering AI device in the collor it would help greatly. I think I should start work on that angle. Ant (as his friends call him) pulls out his PDA and starts jotting down notes.

"True, the collar wouldn't be able to stop a mutation that is permanently on, that kind doesn't require mental control. For those we probably will need to find a way to drain them, or create a nullifacation field like alkatraz."

"But even if we can't stop permanent powers with it, it has a lot of potential for people with uncontrollable mutations. It would allow us to go about life as normal without presenting a serious threat to others."

Summer 2006, Monday

San Diego, University of San Diego, 10h31
"Well, they even explicitly talk about you. It isn't every University who dare to recruits mutants. They always fears to fall on one unstable, you know." say Jeremy.

NBC 10h32
Welcome to Life and science. Today subject, the marine life of the american west Coast. For over a century, our way of life have polluted and destroyed the rich ecosystem of the west coast. We will see how have evolved the situation...

Los Angeles, MCA Labs, 10h34
"I'm happy that project interest both of you." answer Gerald "Include an AI? That may be interesting. It would allow the collar to adapt himself to change into the subject status without having to maintain it."

"For the Alkatraz field. It is a pearl of technnology. Not only does it neutralize the powers of people, but it drain them too. So, even your mutant strenght would be drained. It takes about a minute to fully recover from the field when you get outside it. The biggest problem, it is his size. It is huge, but it must be able to cover all the island. We think it may be able to create something more personnal of the size of an insect and include it in the collar, but we will need to work hard on that one. If you want, I'll make an appointement with the alkatraz director, so you can take a look at it.

As usual, it will first be for military and security use, but public use. For the ones who want to neutralize there powers and live a normal life, it is something we can think about in about 20 to 30 years if all goes well, maybe a bit sooner if..."

Gerald Hartfield havn't the time to finish his sentence when the interphone starts to speak.

"Hamilton, Parker, I want to see you on the roof in one minutes. That's an order."

It was the voice of Sergeant Campbell, the leader of the MCA shadow team. He is the most zealous guy in MCA, but he know what he does, and you know, that if you don't show in one minute (and the roof is about two minutes of walk), you'll have some trouble.

NBC 10h39
...government have decide to act. He gave the mandat to analyze the situation to the San Diego... *the show is cut by the news introduction* We are sorry to interrupt this show. We have just learn that the San Fransisco High Technology Park is presently burning. *image of San Fransisco burning. The camera zoom, and it shows Psykin flying over the fire, when a fire ball pass just next to her* Some source tell us that a platinium fire elemental would be the cause of this...

San Diego, University of San Diego, 10h41
"Great, he couldn't have waited 10 more minutes. They cut half e pub that show was giving us. Fire mutant. As I would be interested in fire mutants."

Jeremy close the TV with some frustration. He turns to Jessica.

"So, what your analyze of the water stream tell us. Let's check that, and we will find the next place that the poison is going."

"Hold that thought Gerald. It appears that we have another job to do right now."

Paul moves to leave the room but before he gets to the door a wild idea came to him. He moves to the window and jumps out, even as he begins falling his body changes into that of the drake. With a single beat of his wings he reverses direction and soars up to the roof.

Anthony just shakes his head and says, "Stealth is not his strength. I gotta get moving."

The robot ant skitters up the stairway as quickly as it can while it's "master" runs along the walls trying to bypass as much traffic as he can. Once on the roof the robotic ant converts to a "backpack" and helmet. and Anthony Parker AKA Cricket is ready to go. (even if he is sipping a beer.)

Jessica watches in stunned amazement when the television cuts to the breaking news of fire in San Fransisco. A fire elemental, she mutters to herself. And a platinum level one? That can't be good. Sounds like my evil twin or something.

Jeremy said:

"Great, he couldn't have waited 10 more minutes. They cut half e pub that show was giving us. Fire mutant. As I would be interested in fire mutants."

Jeremy close the TV with some frustration. He turns to Jessica.

"So, what your analyze of the water stream tell us. Let's check that, and we will find the next place that the poison is going."

Click to expand...

Jessica stands up. Her tank top and shorts fall through her body and are left in a puddle on the chair.

"I think that water analysis is going to have to hold for just a little bit," she says in her smooth, liquid voice. "My do-gooder gene just started getting twitchy."

Jeremy blinks at her, then realization dawns on him. "Wait, the fire? You're not thinking of going up there to help, are you? It's some four or five hundred miles up the coast."

Jessica gives him a quick grin on her way out the door. "You have no idea how fast I can swim, do you?"

She doesn't wait for an answer. Fortunately, the University's Oceanographic labs are located on San Diego's Pacific coastline. Stretching her body and bounding end over end like a giant water slinky, Jessica reaches the invigorating surf in short order.

Having grown up in California, she knows the entire length of the coastline intimately. And at her amazing swimming speed, she figures it'll take her just under a minute to reach San Fransisco Bay.

When she gets past the Golden Gate Bridge, she will slow down long enough to look for the plume of smoke from the fire.

Los Angeles, Roof of the MCA Labs, 10h42

Sergeant Campbell is waiting on the roof when you arrive. An helicopter is waiting there, ready to leave.

"We are wainting for..."

He doesn't have time to end his sentence that a shadow pass throught the roof and end sitting in the copter.

"Come on in!"

Sergeant Campbell jump into the copter, quickly follow by Hamilton and Parker. The shadow form transorm into a man in a black camo suit. Known as Shade, he is the first member of the shadow team. Only members of the MCA knows his identity, and some criminal organisation knows his existance, generally having been victim of him.

"OK, here the situation. What I will tell you is classified, as usual. We have a platinium on the loose. He is burning all the High Tech Park in San Fransisco. Psykin, Space Bender and Strob are already there."

Psykin is the telekinetic of Alpha team. She is strong, the strongest gold known, but not quite enough to be considered a Platinium class. Space Bender is a teleporter from Alpha team. He has the ability to teleport anywhere on earth. He is a master cook, and generally buy his food all over the world. The governement doesn't like this border crossing, but seems to tolerate it. Strob is a speester of Beta team. He is the weakest of Beta team in combat, but his super speed allow him to handle everything needed.

"Alpha are presently in New York, and are already handling some trouble over there. Beta is in Florida. Both have send the people who could reach the site in time. Psykin try to fight him, while Bender and Strob are trying to evacuate as much people. You three, you'll help Psykin. We are already dispatching someone to get a water elemental who has served the army, that will make 5 against 1, which should be enough to handle him.

His known power are energy control, fireblast, energy field and fire immunity. But some recent events make us think he may have more, so watch out."

San Fransisco, San Fransisco Bay, 10h43
As Jessica slow down in the bay, she feels a bit strange. It is there she saw she is nearer that she thought of Alkatraz. She looks around and see the smoke. She swim in the direction and land on the shore, as near as the smoke she can. Just as she get out of the water, a man make sign to you.

"Corporal Lorne, please to see you here." He walks to you. "I am happy to see you come here by yourself. My men should arrive at this moment to your office. We are facing a class platinium. He is wild. He is in the center of the park. Some reinforcement are on there way, so don't go head down into that hell. I'll fetch you a lift. Bender!"

"No need to shout!" say a voice behind you. You see a man, an oriental. He garb you. "Later, boss!"

San Fransisco, San Franssco Sky, 10h45

"We won't be able to land, near, so we will drop you off over, it's not like any of you havn't a way to land with our help."

The copter stabilize itself about 500ft over the area in fire. You see Psykin who is figthing the Platinium. Bender just appeared with a water elemental mutant on a roof, about 200ft of the fire elemental. A fireball fly near psykin, which explode just behind her. She seems to have been hurt, but she is still flying there.

OOC:
Initiative: Strob(19) - Fire Elemental(16) - Naiad(13) - Cricket(13) - Psykin(8) - Bender(7) - Drake(3)

Initiative starts Naiad. Strob is no where to be seen, and the fire elemental just made his fireball.