Log:Blackout

2008/11/06 	 Jennifer Spirit Ferryl Al Coleman 1

''Scene: Battlefield District, just outside the Solsys solar power station''

It's a clear and sunny day, the ideal sort of day, one might think, for the solar power station. But despite this the city has been experiencing brownouts - at least until compensated for by bringing in more power from the nuclear plant.

Dorian lands, having been contacted by the police to check it out. Being a publicly known registered metahuman has advantages sometimes. He lands on the street, leaving a trail of light behind himself. After he touches down, he changes into his civilian form in a flash of light.

Annoyed that her reading time was interrupted, Ferryl went on a snooping investigation to figure out what was causing it, and the night turned quickly into day when she had her answer. The feline woman headed toward the purported source of the bothersome brownouts.

Jennifer is chuckling quietly to herself as she rides on her motorbike towards the Solar Plant. She can't see any reason to have been asked to visit here. Probably, she thinks, it's a classic class of run the rookie around a bit and make the point about who's in charge. Still it's a decent day for a ride on the bike.

As you approach the plant you find the police have surrounded it. Police cars form a barrier at the entrance, and it looks like they may formerly have taken cover behind them, but one of the cars is now aflame and they appear to be regrouping across the street.

The power station itself looks wrong. Normally the solar reflectors aim the sun's rays at the central tower, which appears surrounded by a nimbus light. Today the tower looks dark - in one area even inky black.

Dorian raises a brow, "Halcyon went nuts? I hope not." He heads over to the police, changing back into Spirit form, so they realize he's not a civilian.

Jennifer slows as she comes into sight of the plant. . o O(Mm... So maybe not a case of run the rookie around.) That's a lot of power if someone can make use of it. Changing from casual to serious she heads towards the police presence for the latest available update.

The officer in charge looks sees Spirit and Jennifer approaching. "I'm glad to see you! Whoever's in there just started tossing energy bolts at us. Trashed a car and made a damn great crater to boot!"

Spirit nods to the officer, "Do you know what type of energy? Electricity? A laser?"

Jennifer nods to Spirit and gives the officer a reassuring smile.

"Some kind of heat ray, I think. Too wide for a laser as such."

Spirit nods to Jennifer as well. Due to the lack of facial features, it's hard to tell what his reaction is to seeing her.

Jennifer says, "Has he or she made any demands or attempt to communicate, officer?"

"No. I tried asking him - or her- what he wants, but that's when he started shooting."

Jennifer looks to Spirit, "You figure whoever it is in there is soaking up the rays? Getting powered up for something big?"

Ferryl lands by Jennifer. "What's the good word? Pie? I hope it's pie." She grins.

Spirit says, "No idea, exactly. I'd say it's a safe bet whomever it is, is using the power station to power their abilities."

Jennifer nods to Ferryl, "Hi. Could be pie. Need to be careful. Could be well cooked pie if we're not."

Spirit nods to Ferryl, "Heat rays from inside. I don't think negotiation is going to be an option." His eyes glow a bit as he watches the station, "It definitely looks like the sunlight is getting absorbed, from what I can see. The wavelengths just disappear."

Jennifer asks Spirit, "I wonder if we should wait until night? If they're not storing up power that could put a crimp in their sails."

Ferryl asks, "Want me to check it out?" She looks to the building, sniffing at the air lightly.

Rather unexpectedly, another police car is struck by an energy beam, partly melting it, setting it alight and tossing it into the road.

Spirit thinks about that, "Yeah, but I'm an energy battery, too..." He starts to continue with that thought, initially sounding totally confident. He then hesitates. "Huh. If he or she is absorbing sunlight, he might be able to absorb my energy blasts."

Spirit covers his head a bit as the police car is struck. "I don't want to wait, though. Here's a plan...let's assume he can absorb my blasts. I draw his fire, being relatively resistant to energy myself. You two pound him."

Jennifer says, "Did you see that? When he blasted I saw him for an instant."

Ferryl draws an arrow, eyes on the dark spot. She moves to higher ground, taking cover in structure while preparing to let loose a shot.

Spirit nods, "Yeah, I saw him." He shakes his head, "I can't allow the police to just get shot at as we wait for nightfall." He looks around, "Let me see if I can get him to talk. Get into a good position to try to take him down if he just shoots repeatedly."

Spirit chuckles. "I expect at least one shot at me. Hopefully I'll deflect it, and he'll stop at that point."

The dark spot moves round the tower a bit (seemingly walking around a catwalk, if people remember what the tower looks like normally), toward the south, Harrisburg-facing side.

Jennifer nods, planning a route into the spot of darkness using cover where possible. "Okay, I'm moving."

Jennifer calls back, "Hold on a second. I'm overlooking something. Give me five minutes."

Spirit nods, "Alright...let me know when you're ready."

Jennifer changes direction heading not for the tower but the solar plant control room.

Ferryl suggests, "make him expose his position again..." though none save herself hear it. She continues her aim at the dark spot.

Spirit takes off, leaving a trail of light behind him as he moves. He slows to a stop, floating a good distance from the building, but hopefully draws the attacker's attention to himself. As he stops, a series of flickering light shields come up around his body. "You there! What're your demands?"

The figure says, "What makes you think I have any?" and blasts at Spirit...

Spirit gets slammed into by the beam...flying backward, spinning over and over. He slowly comes to a halt, and rights himself. "That was a mistake."

Spirit tilts his head a couple of times, back and forth, stretching. "Hits about as hard as Yellow Jacket did."

If he's spotted Jenn, there's no sign. Indeed, he starts heading round to the south again.

Ferryl lets loose with an arrow, aimed for the briefly visible man in the dark patch.

The arrow knocks the figure off the tower. He starts falling groundwards, and briliant light returns to the tower.

Already with another arrow in hand, Ferryl watches the figure fall. "Bull's eye." She hops from cover, headed for the man to check on him.

Jennifer sees what's happening with the tower goes bright and hurries over to where the villain is falling to.

Spirit doesn't take the time to catch his breath, streaking toward the building. Well, as fast as he flies, which is only moderately so.

"Thanks for the assist," Ferryl says to Spirit. "You okay? That looked painful."

Spirit nods. "I'm fine. I'm pretty resistant to energy. Otherwise, I wouldn't have tried that."

The figure smashes hard into one of the solar mirrors, trashing it.

Ferryl heads for the fallen point, hearing the shattered mirror. "Seven years bad luck, isn't it?"

Jennifer is surprised to see how young the perpetrator is. She reaches out with her whip to bring him down off the mirror to ground level.

Jennifer lifts the boy down off the mirror with obvious care and gentleness. But she maintains her grip on him. "You're awake, which surprises me. Are you injured?" she asks him.

Spirit continues flying toward where the boy is, full speed.

The boy says, "No! let go of me!" and fires a blast toward Jenn.

The boy misses. The mirror behind Jenn, caught on the nonreflective surface, is now a white-hot puddle.

Ferryl notices something bad happening, heading for the high part of the tower and nocking another arrow.

Jennifer shakes her head, "Not going to happen, kid. In a few seconds you'll have Spirit and Ferryl here too. So just rest easy. What's your name anyway. I used to hate being called kid myself."

"Al. Al Coleman," he says. "Come on, hit me with all you;ve got! I'm not afraid of you!"

Jennifer chuckles, "Al, I've fought power absorbers before. Sorry, no freebies from me."

Ferryl waits, glancing over the general area for a distraction she can cause by explosive thing. "At least one of us is already here," she says. "Al, what's the deal?"

"What's wrong with you people? Won't you even f***ing fight me? Won't you -" He sounds pretty despairing. "I'll - I'll destroy the power station!"

Jennifer says, "What's the real hurt here, Al? Something is tearing you up. You know we do more than just knock down bad guys. We help to build up the ones who have the potential to be good."

Spirit flies closer, but stops short, hovering and bringing up his shields again. "Listen, your blast didn't even rattle me. There's no point in continuing this. I don't care how much you want to. If this keeps up, you go to jail for a long time. A long, long time."

"Do you think I CARE? Do you think it MATTERS if I go to jail. Nothing matters....."

"What happened, Al?" Ferryl inquires, relaxing her bow but staying behind cover.

Spirit tilts his head, considering. His voice sounds...empathizing. "Did you hurt someone you didn't mean to? I know I did when I first got my powers years ago."

"I hurt Pat - I hurt PAT! And now she - she doesn't - it doesn't matter. Nothing matters..." He wriggles in the whip to aim his hands at the base of the generator tower. "End it - END IT! Or I'll blow up this power station.... burn down Harrisburg...."

Jennifer steps calmly into the line of Al's shot. "Al, hurt isn't dead. You want to think how Pat will feel when she finds out about this. The sensible thing to do I stop this nonsense, then tell me where Pat is so we can start healing her."

Jennifer adds, "Or you can try to blast through me and hurt someone else as well."

Spirit nods. "You have the chance to be a stronger person than I was, when I was in your shoes, Al. I made the wrong decision back then, at least initially. It made my life difficult for a long time. You have the chance to set things right here."

"It doesn't matter! Don't you understand? SHe hate me! Hates me!"

Jennifer thinks. o O (Understandable. I hate you and I've only just met you. Teenage boys, yuk!)

Spirit looks to Jennifer, realizing that he's personally so far removed from the teenager mindset. He looks back to Al, "And yet, it's not the end of the world. It isn't. It might feel like it, but it's not."

Ferryl rolls her eyes, unseen. "Who's Pat, Al?"

"I wish it was - I want it all to end!" And instead of the tower he blasts the ground under him.

Unfortunately for him the small crater he blasts isn't enough to free him from Jenn's whip.

Jennifer looks at Al, "You don't look like a coward. Guess appearance is deceiving. You want to put your death on someone else's shoulders, and don't care how many others you hurt doing it. When you were soaking up the solar energy did you think of patients in the hospital watching their life support machines coming to a stop? Huh? You want Spirit or Ferryl or me to lay awake tonight knowing we killed a stupid boy; who didn't have the guts to fight to regain Pat's trust and affection."

Ferryl asks again, once the smoke has cleared, "Who's Pat?"

"She hates me - and she called me a freak - and - she's everything - she's all that matters to me. There's nothing else, not in Harrisburg..."

"So she's your sister?" Ferryl asks, presuming she's incorrect.

"No!" he shout at Ferryl. "Are you stupid, haven't you been listening?"

Spirit says to the kid, "Al, if she calls you a freak, she's not the person for you. Trust me, I know this from experience. I've been called a freak many more times than you have."

Ferryl responds, "I have been listening. You haven't said who she is."

Jennifer asides to Spirit, "With me the term was weirdo."

Spirit chuckles quietly to Jennifer. "You ARE a weirdo." There's genuine affection in his voice, though. So, it's clearly meant to be good natured teasing.

"She's - she was - my girlfriend. She -" He puts his head in his hands. "What can I do? There's no way out...."

Ferryl asks next, "What's the best thing about her?"

Spirit looks to Al, and starts to speak. But hearing Ferryl's question, he stops, curious how Al is going to answer.

Spirit does land though, and walks over closer. The energy shields still flicker around his body slowly.

He's rather taken off-guard by the question. "Her smile - I mean... not just the smile, but when she smiles and how - I can't explain..."

Ferryl slides the arrow back into her quiver. "What was meeting her like?"

"Like - it was like my heart stopped, or - why are you asking all these questions?"

Jennifer says to Spirit, "This is an over reaction though. I mean, when I thought my guy was seeing someone else I just went out and pounded about ten tons of rock into gravel." . o O(Okay, when she found out Matt preferred me she tried to slice me into salami with a sword. But that's different.)

Ferryl relaxedly replies, "Do you think what you were doing here was rational? I'm not one to judge. I just shot a kid with an arrow. Just wondering what you think of what you're doing here."

Spirit shrugs a bit, and speaks quietly to Jennifer, "It's an overreaction, yes. But not unexpected. I was the same way at that age. Full of anger."

"I don't know. I don't care. I was trying to end it - I don't want to live. But I can't kill myself.... I tried..."

Jennifer says, "Do you want to die? Do you really?"

Ferryl nods. "So let's talk other options. You think Pat was thinking rationally when she said what she did, or do you think she was just hurt by something you didn't mean to do, and given time to think it over, might see a different light?"

"I - " Ferryl's question seems to have stumped him.

Spirit looks to Al, waiting for a response, letting the wheels turn.

Ferryl smirks, again unseen. "You caused a lot of damage today, Al. But you're a minor. You have a lot of leeway. Heck, I did, and I did pretty horrible things. What do you say we see where this ends up?"

"I didn't want to hurt anyone - not really - I just - dammit what am I going to do?!"

Ferryl grins, "See where it ends up. You have a lot of time ahead of you. There's going to be counseling. But since you aimed to avoid really hurting anyone, this won't be such a big deal in a couple of months."

"I guess.... I guess I really don't have a hell of a lot of choice?"

Ferryl thinks. "You have a lot of choices. If you want to make the right choice, you pretty much know what to do."

"I can't see any choices."

Ferryl explains, "The wrong choices all involve more violence. People get hurt. You don't want that, by the sounds of it."

"I just want to stop hurting."

Ferryl hms. "Well, I suppose a couple of wrong choices involve passive-aggressive refusal to answer questions or a lot of sarcasm, but the right choice involves cooperation. There are people who can help you, Al. They helped me, and I used to kill people because I was told to."

"How can anyone help me?"

Spirit looks at Ferryl, considering what she just said.

Ferryl replies, "The difference between us before I was helped? You already want to make the right choice. Why go against what you want to do?"

And to that, Al has no answer.

Ferryl stands up, retrieving her arrow that was launched. "Congratulations, by the way. You're the first person to stay conscious after that kind of direct hit. If there's ever a trophy, I'll put your name in the runnings."

Jennifer shrugs, "It's a long story, Spirit." She says with a nods towards Ferryl. Jenn puts out a hand to Al, having released him from the whip, to hoist him onto his feet. "Most folks seem to think being a meta is all cookies and cream. It isn't. It can be tough. That's why we help and look out for each other. We're on your side."

Al shakes the proffered had a bit awkwardly, like he's ashamed to have been acting like and idiot. It's a start.

Spirit considers the situation silently. o O (That's two, in something like a week. Young people having new powers manifest. Huh. I wonder if it's a coincidence. Two might be. A third, not so much.)

Ferryl slides the arrow into her quiver. "I'm Ferryl. That's Spirit, and the handshaker is Jennifer."

"Uh. Hey.. Um..." Awkwardness takes the place of despair and anger, at least for the moment.

Ferryl adds, "Look me up sometime. My P.O. will probably get in contact with you if this goes far enough into bureaucracy. When you and Pat are talking again, I wanna meet her." She grins, "trust me, this is all going to be pretty funny in a couple of years."

"I hope so.... I really hope so..." says Al.

Spirit changes back to his civilian form in a flash. "It'll all work out. Be patient."

Ferryl leans against a demolished section of the tower, letting the police do their job with taking Al into custody. "Funny how one can apply training in unusual situations."

Dorian looks to Ferryl and smiles, "Nice job. On many counts."