Horror #37, Now caught up!
Apr. 9th, 2011 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
realsorienAnd here's the most recent run. Woot, I caught up!
In a situation that fully defines the phrase ‘from bad to worse’, Our Heroes have woken from the false shared-reality of the vampire’s Blood Farm, to to find themselves wired to a bizarre pillar! Tubes and needles pierce their forms, and while they’re awake, they’re naked and firmly attached to the infernal device...
They’re still eight years into their own future, but a lot of the terrible things they’ve experrienced have no longer actually occurred- they may still have a few allies and a number of options- IF they can get loose.
Bill looks around. He sees that he’s about fifteen feet above the floor, and that there is one person below him on the pillar. His friends are on the same pillar he’s on, and on the same level as well. Peering about the dimly-lit chamber, he can see that there is at least one more pillar, and each seems to have three levels with ten people on each tier.
He also notices that Roy is loose, somehow- he has no idea how his friend managed it.
Speaking of Roy, he’s prowling about and scoping out the area. He’s discovered that there are at least 150 people in the facility, or at least in this chamber, and he’s found the staging area where more victims are brought in and prepared. As he carefully moves about, Greg spits to get his attention; this causes him to dive for cover, until he realizes what happened. He waves, then starts to search for a control panel.
The pillars feel like they’re made of some kind of stone, cool to the touch. Roy finds a gap, and between the pillars in the gap there is a card-reader slot.
Meanwhile, Bill has decided to try and rip his arm free. He braces, then pulls hard- his arm is loose, but the pain of the injury he inflicts upon himself causes him to scream! An alarm goes off, but whether its from a tripped sensor or the scream is unclear. Technicians run into the room, and Roy hides. They find Bill hanging limp, playing possum but hoping they don’t notice. Unfortunately, they do. One of the techs produces a card, swiping it in the slot that Roy had noticed. A panel opens, and the man drops the card but dismisses it for the moment. He types a bit, then arms extend from the ceiling, re-wiring Bill to the pillar and drugging him out. The tech also notices that Greg and Jackie are awake, and puts THEM out too. That done, he and his companions file out- forgetting to check on Roy and neglecting to retrieve the passcard!
Roy springs into action as quick as he can, retrieving the card and accessing the panel- he recognizes the panel as a standard QR-17 board, and easily cracks into the system. He starts to wake Bill first, figuring that if something goes wrong Bill will just return to life per his deal/curse with Asmodeus. The arms once again extend from the ceiling.
Bill is in school, faced with a quandry- he’s done the homework, but apparently its the wrong day’s work! He’s planning to talk with the professor to get an extension... And is once again awake. He finds himself hanging above the ground in the grip of the arms, being disconnected from all of the wires and tubes- not a comfortable experience. FInally, he’s lowered to the floor, passing out. Roy turns his attentions to Greg.
Greg’s new ‘reality’ has him watching chop-saki flicks, having a quiet time. He wakes as he’s released, and manages to stay conscious through the process. He sees that he and Bill are both bleeding, and manages to get pressure on the wounds by pressing his hands to his own and partly standing on Bill’s- its not like Bill is awake to complain.
Lastly he works on Jackie. He wakes her before she’s fully loose, and unlike Bill and Greg she’s NOT ready for the experience, and starts to freak out. Her powers trigger, and a chillingly cold mist starts to fill the chamber. The temperature falls from about seventy-five or so to about fifty-five, and Roy knows that the trouble is coming from Jackie- he has the system drug her out, but the mist remains; the other people attached to the pillars start to twitch and jerk oddly where they’re held....
Greg realizes that he’s not using an asset- the healing techniques that Master Gung Dok taught him! He quickly gets his own bleeding stopped, and finds that the pressure has been sufficient to stop Bill’s bleeding. Then the spirits that Jackie has called start tearing bodies free of the pillars and tossing them around!
Alarms go off again, and there is the distant sound of running feet- more techs are in route to deal with the new alarm. Greg and Roy get the unconscious Bill and awake-but-loopy Jackie out of sight as the men charge into the room... Smack into the mist. Things unseen grab them, yanking them out of sight and tearing them limb from limb!
Jackie breates the spirits she’s called- telling them to stop it, as if they were misbehaving children. They pay no attention to her, and their forms, formerly concealed by the mist start to come visible as they absorb the blood of their now-dead victims! Greg tries to knock her out- he fails, tho it does rattle her. She looks at him and says, “
You Fucker!” And the spirits’ attention is drawn towards them.
The four stagger as quickly as possible to the door, clearing it. Roy runs the passcard through a slot, then hits a button- the door zips silently shut. Whether the barrier will matter to the spirits or not is yet to be seen. As they drag themselves from the scene, Jackie once again chews the spirits out. This time they listen, and with a terrible wet sound all the blood they’d stolen splats to the floor when they dissipate.
Following the hall to the right, they are faced with a room- double doors that seem to swing are before them, and the setup looks vaguely morguelike. Entering, they find that in essence that’s what they’ve found- the disposal chamber for those who’ve died on the pillars. On one wall there is a wide, lidded chute. Greg gets a very twisted idea. There is a slight warmth coming from the chute, but he doesn’t know where it leads- it could be a dumpster, or an incinerator. He wakes Bill, then tries to dump his friend down the chute! He’s figuring that if it’s safe, Bill will be okay. If not... Bill will just come back to life. Nevermind the five innocents who’ll pay the price.
However, Bill reacts VERY fast, catching himself on the edges of the chute! He cusses at Greg, but is pulled up short when voices are heard outside the room. One of them is very familiar- his brother James, missing all these years. Thoughts rip through his head, the idea of seeing James again rapidly followed by the realization that if his brother is here... He’s not human anymore, and likely not an ally. Bill tries to call Asmodeus with a pentacle drawn in blood, but it fails. That last, dark option expended, he smears the sigil away and drops. He’s decided that he can’t get vengeance if he’s captured.
Greg sees that Bill drew something while muttering, but he neither hears what Bill said nor can make out what the smeared sigil was. He gets everyone down the chute, lastly himself- barely before the men outside the room get in.
At the bottom of the chute there is a conveyor which leads to an operating incinerator! Bill clambers off, then helps Jackie off- she’s been knocked out by impact. Once everyone is down and off the belt, they look around. Greg spots a pair of work-coveralls, and he and Roy don them- they’re the ones in the best physical shape, and that isn’t saying much.
With a little stealthy searching they find a breakroom. Its for humans, as evidenced by a snack machine and coffee. They don’t know if the workers are collaborators or simply unaware of what exactly the facility is for. There is a loading dock nearby, and they decide that they’ll exit through it, maybe stealing a vehicle.
To facilitate this, Roy decides to give Bill an adrenalin boost by poking one of his wounds- instead, Bill collapses from the pain. He’s pretty much tapped out on adrenalin, and is now unconscious! Sighs go around, and Bill ends up stuffed into a mailbin so they can move him with less trouble. Jackie is also loaded into it, and Roy and Greg roll them into a box-van. While they’re doing this, a man hollers at them- “What are you doing? Where is that going?” Greg shrugs and points at the truck, and the man wanders off grumbling and checking his clipboard. They shut the box door and roll off in their new vehicle.
As they drive, they argue as to where they should go- back to Arkham or to Albuquerque to search for Ariel. The discussions end up being Greg’s choice- he has to find Ariel. Roy has argued that the tip will be difficult at best, what with all their needs being gained through theft, but it doesn’t matter to Greg at the moment.
When they pass out of the Boston suburbs, light returns. They’d thought it was night, but instead Boston is covered by a vast dome of blackness. The time is actually 4 in the afternoon. This generally causes a sinking feeling to take hold in their stomachs. They plan to find a truck stop or other rest area to switch vehicles. They’ll wake their friends when they’re able to stop.
Eventually, Bill comes to, a bit confused as to his location. With the tiniest bit of light coming around the edges of the rolldoor on the back of the box, he can tell he’s in a truck. With the unusual nature of what he’s in, he figures they got loose and his friends are driving the vehicle. He finds his way to the front of the box and bands hard.
His first few tries go unheard, but when he starts using the clasp of the cargo strap like a flail against it, Greg hears if. After a pulsing of the brakes and Bill’s responding bangs, they pull over. Bill and Jackie are brought into the cab and the matter explained. Bill objects, but sees that he’s going to get nowhere with Greg in the mood he’s in. He knows there’s nothing in New Mexico for them other thant the remote chance that Ariel’s people are still there.
Hours and hours pass with Roy at the wheel. Finally, the gas gauge is on empty and Roy is so tired he can barely see. They find a truck stop, and search for another vehicle. They end up with a big LTD-ish car, which Greg hotwires. Soon they’re rolling again, in rather more comfort than a van meant for two, three at most in the cab.
Roy conks out pretty much the moment that he’s no longer behind the wheel. However, Greg discovers that they’re way off course- they’ve roughly been headed for Chicago! He makes corrections and they continue on.
They eventually reach I87 and are free of the turnpike. At about 4 AM they’re once again getting low on gas and need to switch vehicles. They pick a warehouse, and end up with a van. They get a bonus here too- blankets, cokes in a cooler and a toolbox! The four reach the outskirts of Toledo before they once again need to change vehicles. Toledo also has a black dome of false night over it. Before they switch cars, Bill steals a paper from a newsbox- it confirms that they’re still in the future, and its a Wednesday.
Knowing that they desperately need food and other sundries, they choose a grocery store for their next vehicle-switch. THey’ve scrounged up about $2 in change, and send Roy in with it for at least bread. He goes one better, pickpocketing someone for real money, and manages to get bread, peanut butter, water and some other basics including snack cakes! Bill has picked and hotwired another vehicle in the meantime. This one is a newer model car with better mileage- it should last them a bit longer. He picks up Roy as he exits the store. As a bonus, Roy still has enough money for a refill of the tanks when they need it.
With the refueling, they reach the suburbs of Kansas City. Here again a vast dome of night covers the city proper and part of the suburbs; the borders of the dome are visible against the stars in the night sky.
Finally, the arguments that have been stewing break out- its brought up that their thoughts were recorded while they were in the false reality- that information is certainly being gone over after their escape. That information will definitely lead their foes to both Black Cloud and Ariel’s people, if any of those are still where they believed them to be. Bill finds out something he’d not known- Lazlo built the machine that they’d been controlled by, or at least his VR device was the prototype.
They have to stop anyway, so they pull into a grocery store. However, instead of getting them more food and money, Roy calls in to MIB, and arranges to be picked up in thirty minutes for debriefing. He comes back out and tells them to stay on their current course, and that he’ll meet them in two days. This will have him meeting them at the commune where Ariel’s people might be.
The remaining three head back off, worried for their friend but equally worried about themselves. Jackie has remembered Professor Beck, and argues that they should go back to Arkham and try to find him. She figures that, since he can mess with probability at will, he may be able to help them. For the moment they’re staying on their course to New Mexico, although Bill suggests that they find a Salvation Army drop-box to get clothing to wear. He also recommends that they clean up, then find a library so they can research options.
They get the clothes, and manage to do a basic cleanup at a gas station restroom. They then eat and rest, as its pretty early yet- the library won’t be open. Finally, they get into the facility and each start working on the available computer terminals. This early, they’re about the only people inside other than the librarians.
Bill tries to find out more about the world, looking for references to Professor Dane or any of the people he once knew- he has no luck, and spends time making sure his net-searches seem random.
Greg is going through newspapers, seeing what the world is like now- he’s not happy with what he’s learning. The United States seems to be about 60% vampire now.
Jackie is doing exactly what she said- searching for Dr. Beck. There are NO references about the man past his seminar in Arkham nine years ago- he’s totally vanished from the grid. She keeps trying, hoping desperately to find a way to contact him...
Bill is watching TV. He’s in a hotel room, a nicely appointed but not top-level room, the kind you’d find in a Radisson or Sheraton. Greg is there too, as is Jackie... And Dr. Beck greets them. She reached him! ... Not that she’s real sure HOW.
Greetings go around, and Bill calls Beck his ‘god’ when he’s offered the shower; this leaves Dr. Beck nonplussed despite the humor meant in the comment. With Bill in the shower, Greg gets tea and a Snickers bar, and he and Jackie explain the matters at hand to the good doctor.
Using his disturbing abilities, Beck heals their wounds and provides them with food- it might just be fast food, but after nothing but bread and peanut butter, its ambrosia to the trio. Jackie fills him in on what’s gone on with them since they last saw him, and he lets them know that he CAN move them back eight years- especially since the trio are able to damn near pinpoint when they left for fey! What he CAN’T do is take them to a time where they already exist- paradox would occur, with unpredictable results.
Roy is picked up right on schedule by his fellows in MIB. The odd-looking late-model black sedan pulling up silently, then zooming off with him within at impossible speeds. Soon enough he’s back in Arkham in the MIB facility, and explains as best he can what has taken place. He gets cleaned up and rested, then volunteers for a session in the ‘debriefing chair’- he knows that he can’t explain all of this verbally, and it is the best option to help his friends.
Back at the hotel, the discussions continue as people cycle through the shower. Beck attempts to nap several times, but the interruptions are nearly unending. Eventually, with everyone cleaned up he uses his abilities to get a look at Roy where they last saw him, then takes them all to him. Well, almost.
He gets them to the MIB headquarters, but he can’t get inside- they’ve appeared outside the doors. he walks in, the trio following him rather flabbergasted at his calm. They’ve plenty of memories of the place, few of them good.
He goes to the person at the desk, and asks to see Roy Smith; nearly as stunned as the trio following Beck, the agent nods and calls down- not to Roy, but to Zed.
By this time Roy is in the chair, having a terrible time of it though the details are coming out fine. Zed gets the call, and orders a Code three- Roy doesn’t quite know what’s going on as of yet.
Back upstairs, the agent at the desk puts on dark glasses. Almost as one, the trio all say, “Cover your eyes!” They’re fine, eyes closed... But Beck says, “Pardon me... Do I know you?”
And there we break! The next episode is tomorrow!
In a situation that fully defines the phrase ‘from bad to worse’, Our Heroes have woken from the false shared-reality of the vampire’s Blood Farm, to to find themselves wired to a bizarre pillar! Tubes and needles pierce their forms, and while they’re awake, they’re naked and firmly attached to the infernal device...
They’re still eight years into their own future, but a lot of the terrible things they’ve experrienced have no longer actually occurred- they may still have a few allies and a number of options- IF they can get loose.
Bill looks around. He sees that he’s about fifteen feet above the floor, and that there is one person below him on the pillar. His friends are on the same pillar he’s on, and on the same level as well. Peering about the dimly-lit chamber, he can see that there is at least one more pillar, and each seems to have three levels with ten people on each tier.
He also notices that Roy is loose, somehow- he has no idea how his friend managed it.
Speaking of Roy, he’s prowling about and scoping out the area. He’s discovered that there are at least 150 people in the facility, or at least in this chamber, and he’s found the staging area where more victims are brought in and prepared. As he carefully moves about, Greg spits to get his attention; this causes him to dive for cover, until he realizes what happened. He waves, then starts to search for a control panel.
The pillars feel like they’re made of some kind of stone, cool to the touch. Roy finds a gap, and between the pillars in the gap there is a card-reader slot.
Meanwhile, Bill has decided to try and rip his arm free. He braces, then pulls hard- his arm is loose, but the pain of the injury he inflicts upon himself causes him to scream! An alarm goes off, but whether its from a tripped sensor or the scream is unclear. Technicians run into the room, and Roy hides. They find Bill hanging limp, playing possum but hoping they don’t notice. Unfortunately, they do. One of the techs produces a card, swiping it in the slot that Roy had noticed. A panel opens, and the man drops the card but dismisses it for the moment. He types a bit, then arms extend from the ceiling, re-wiring Bill to the pillar and drugging him out. The tech also notices that Greg and Jackie are awake, and puts THEM out too. That done, he and his companions file out- forgetting to check on Roy and neglecting to retrieve the passcard!
Roy springs into action as quick as he can, retrieving the card and accessing the panel- he recognizes the panel as a standard QR-17 board, and easily cracks into the system. He starts to wake Bill first, figuring that if something goes wrong Bill will just return to life per his deal/curse with Asmodeus. The arms once again extend from the ceiling.
Bill is in school, faced with a quandry- he’s done the homework, but apparently its the wrong day’s work! He’s planning to talk with the professor to get an extension... And is once again awake. He finds himself hanging above the ground in the grip of the arms, being disconnected from all of the wires and tubes- not a comfortable experience. FInally, he’s lowered to the floor, passing out. Roy turns his attentions to Greg.
Greg’s new ‘reality’ has him watching chop-saki flicks, having a quiet time. He wakes as he’s released, and manages to stay conscious through the process. He sees that he and Bill are both bleeding, and manages to get pressure on the wounds by pressing his hands to his own and partly standing on Bill’s- its not like Bill is awake to complain.
Lastly he works on Jackie. He wakes her before she’s fully loose, and unlike Bill and Greg she’s NOT ready for the experience, and starts to freak out. Her powers trigger, and a chillingly cold mist starts to fill the chamber. The temperature falls from about seventy-five or so to about fifty-five, and Roy knows that the trouble is coming from Jackie- he has the system drug her out, but the mist remains; the other people attached to the pillars start to twitch and jerk oddly where they’re held....
Greg realizes that he’s not using an asset- the healing techniques that Master Gung Dok taught him! He quickly gets his own bleeding stopped, and finds that the pressure has been sufficient to stop Bill’s bleeding. Then the spirits that Jackie has called start tearing bodies free of the pillars and tossing them around!
Alarms go off again, and there is the distant sound of running feet- more techs are in route to deal with the new alarm. Greg and Roy get the unconscious Bill and awake-but-loopy Jackie out of sight as the men charge into the room... Smack into the mist. Things unseen grab them, yanking them out of sight and tearing them limb from limb!
Jackie breates the spirits she’s called- telling them to stop it, as if they were misbehaving children. They pay no attention to her, and their forms, formerly concealed by the mist start to come visible as they absorb the blood of their now-dead victims! Greg tries to knock her out- he fails, tho it does rattle her. She looks at him and says, “
You Fucker!” And the spirits’ attention is drawn towards them.
The four stagger as quickly as possible to the door, clearing it. Roy runs the passcard through a slot, then hits a button- the door zips silently shut. Whether the barrier will matter to the spirits or not is yet to be seen. As they drag themselves from the scene, Jackie once again chews the spirits out. This time they listen, and with a terrible wet sound all the blood they’d stolen splats to the floor when they dissipate.
Following the hall to the right, they are faced with a room- double doors that seem to swing are before them, and the setup looks vaguely morguelike. Entering, they find that in essence that’s what they’ve found- the disposal chamber for those who’ve died on the pillars. On one wall there is a wide, lidded chute. Greg gets a very twisted idea. There is a slight warmth coming from the chute, but he doesn’t know where it leads- it could be a dumpster, or an incinerator. He wakes Bill, then tries to dump his friend down the chute! He’s figuring that if it’s safe, Bill will be okay. If not... Bill will just come back to life. Nevermind the five innocents who’ll pay the price.
However, Bill reacts VERY fast, catching himself on the edges of the chute! He cusses at Greg, but is pulled up short when voices are heard outside the room. One of them is very familiar- his brother James, missing all these years. Thoughts rip through his head, the idea of seeing James again rapidly followed by the realization that if his brother is here... He’s not human anymore, and likely not an ally. Bill tries to call Asmodeus with a pentacle drawn in blood, but it fails. That last, dark option expended, he smears the sigil away and drops. He’s decided that he can’t get vengeance if he’s captured.
Greg sees that Bill drew something while muttering, but he neither hears what Bill said nor can make out what the smeared sigil was. He gets everyone down the chute, lastly himself- barely before the men outside the room get in.
At the bottom of the chute there is a conveyor which leads to an operating incinerator! Bill clambers off, then helps Jackie off- she’s been knocked out by impact. Once everyone is down and off the belt, they look around. Greg spots a pair of work-coveralls, and he and Roy don them- they’re the ones in the best physical shape, and that isn’t saying much.
With a little stealthy searching they find a breakroom. Its for humans, as evidenced by a snack machine and coffee. They don’t know if the workers are collaborators or simply unaware of what exactly the facility is for. There is a loading dock nearby, and they decide that they’ll exit through it, maybe stealing a vehicle.
To facilitate this, Roy decides to give Bill an adrenalin boost by poking one of his wounds- instead, Bill collapses from the pain. He’s pretty much tapped out on adrenalin, and is now unconscious! Sighs go around, and Bill ends up stuffed into a mailbin so they can move him with less trouble. Jackie is also loaded into it, and Roy and Greg roll them into a box-van. While they’re doing this, a man hollers at them- “What are you doing? Where is that going?” Greg shrugs and points at the truck, and the man wanders off grumbling and checking his clipboard. They shut the box door and roll off in their new vehicle.
As they drive, they argue as to where they should go- back to Arkham or to Albuquerque to search for Ariel. The discussions end up being Greg’s choice- he has to find Ariel. Roy has argued that the tip will be difficult at best, what with all their needs being gained through theft, but it doesn’t matter to Greg at the moment.
When they pass out of the Boston suburbs, light returns. They’d thought it was night, but instead Boston is covered by a vast dome of blackness. The time is actually 4 in the afternoon. This generally causes a sinking feeling to take hold in their stomachs. They plan to find a truck stop or other rest area to switch vehicles. They’ll wake their friends when they’re able to stop.
Eventually, Bill comes to, a bit confused as to his location. With the tiniest bit of light coming around the edges of the rolldoor on the back of the box, he can tell he’s in a truck. With the unusual nature of what he’s in, he figures they got loose and his friends are driving the vehicle. He finds his way to the front of the box and bands hard.
His first few tries go unheard, but when he starts using the clasp of the cargo strap like a flail against it, Greg hears if. After a pulsing of the brakes and Bill’s responding bangs, they pull over. Bill and Jackie are brought into the cab and the matter explained. Bill objects, but sees that he’s going to get nowhere with Greg in the mood he’s in. He knows there’s nothing in New Mexico for them other thant the remote chance that Ariel’s people are still there.
Hours and hours pass with Roy at the wheel. Finally, the gas gauge is on empty and Roy is so tired he can barely see. They find a truck stop, and search for another vehicle. They end up with a big LTD-ish car, which Greg hotwires. Soon they’re rolling again, in rather more comfort than a van meant for two, three at most in the cab.
Roy conks out pretty much the moment that he’s no longer behind the wheel. However, Greg discovers that they’re way off course- they’ve roughly been headed for Chicago! He makes corrections and they continue on.
They eventually reach I87 and are free of the turnpike. At about 4 AM they’re once again getting low on gas and need to switch vehicles. They pick a warehouse, and end up with a van. They get a bonus here too- blankets, cokes in a cooler and a toolbox! The four reach the outskirts of Toledo before they once again need to change vehicles. Toledo also has a black dome of false night over it. Before they switch cars, Bill steals a paper from a newsbox- it confirms that they’re still in the future, and its a Wednesday.
Knowing that they desperately need food and other sundries, they choose a grocery store for their next vehicle-switch. THey’ve scrounged up about $2 in change, and send Roy in with it for at least bread. He goes one better, pickpocketing someone for real money, and manages to get bread, peanut butter, water and some other basics including snack cakes! Bill has picked and hotwired another vehicle in the meantime. This one is a newer model car with better mileage- it should last them a bit longer. He picks up Roy as he exits the store. As a bonus, Roy still has enough money for a refill of the tanks when they need it.
With the refueling, they reach the suburbs of Kansas City. Here again a vast dome of night covers the city proper and part of the suburbs; the borders of the dome are visible against the stars in the night sky.
Finally, the arguments that have been stewing break out- its brought up that their thoughts were recorded while they were in the false reality- that information is certainly being gone over after their escape. That information will definitely lead their foes to both Black Cloud and Ariel’s people, if any of those are still where they believed them to be. Bill finds out something he’d not known- Lazlo built the machine that they’d been controlled by, or at least his VR device was the prototype.
They have to stop anyway, so they pull into a grocery store. However, instead of getting them more food and money, Roy calls in to MIB, and arranges to be picked up in thirty minutes for debriefing. He comes back out and tells them to stay on their current course, and that he’ll meet them in two days. This will have him meeting them at the commune where Ariel’s people might be.
The remaining three head back off, worried for their friend but equally worried about themselves. Jackie has remembered Professor Beck, and argues that they should go back to Arkham and try to find him. She figures that, since he can mess with probability at will, he may be able to help them. For the moment they’re staying on their course to New Mexico, although Bill suggests that they find a Salvation Army drop-box to get clothing to wear. He also recommends that they clean up, then find a library so they can research options.
They get the clothes, and manage to do a basic cleanup at a gas station restroom. They then eat and rest, as its pretty early yet- the library won’t be open. Finally, they get into the facility and each start working on the available computer terminals. This early, they’re about the only people inside other than the librarians.
Bill tries to find out more about the world, looking for references to Professor Dane or any of the people he once knew- he has no luck, and spends time making sure his net-searches seem random.
Greg is going through newspapers, seeing what the world is like now- he’s not happy with what he’s learning. The United States seems to be about 60% vampire now.
Jackie is doing exactly what she said- searching for Dr. Beck. There are NO references about the man past his seminar in Arkham nine years ago- he’s totally vanished from the grid. She keeps trying, hoping desperately to find a way to contact him...
Bill is watching TV. He’s in a hotel room, a nicely appointed but not top-level room, the kind you’d find in a Radisson or Sheraton. Greg is there too, as is Jackie... And Dr. Beck greets them. She reached him! ... Not that she’s real sure HOW.
Greetings go around, and Bill calls Beck his ‘god’ when he’s offered the shower; this leaves Dr. Beck nonplussed despite the humor meant in the comment. With Bill in the shower, Greg gets tea and a Snickers bar, and he and Jackie explain the matters at hand to the good doctor.
Using his disturbing abilities, Beck heals their wounds and provides them with food- it might just be fast food, but after nothing but bread and peanut butter, its ambrosia to the trio. Jackie fills him in on what’s gone on with them since they last saw him, and he lets them know that he CAN move them back eight years- especially since the trio are able to damn near pinpoint when they left for fey! What he CAN’T do is take them to a time where they already exist- paradox would occur, with unpredictable results.
Roy is picked up right on schedule by his fellows in MIB. The odd-looking late-model black sedan pulling up silently, then zooming off with him within at impossible speeds. Soon enough he’s back in Arkham in the MIB facility, and explains as best he can what has taken place. He gets cleaned up and rested, then volunteers for a session in the ‘debriefing chair’- he knows that he can’t explain all of this verbally, and it is the best option to help his friends.
Back at the hotel, the discussions continue as people cycle through the shower. Beck attempts to nap several times, but the interruptions are nearly unending. Eventually, with everyone cleaned up he uses his abilities to get a look at Roy where they last saw him, then takes them all to him. Well, almost.
He gets them to the MIB headquarters, but he can’t get inside- they’ve appeared outside the doors. he walks in, the trio following him rather flabbergasted at his calm. They’ve plenty of memories of the place, few of them good.
He goes to the person at the desk, and asks to see Roy Smith; nearly as stunned as the trio following Beck, the agent nods and calls down- not to Roy, but to Zed.
By this time Roy is in the chair, having a terrible time of it though the details are coming out fine. Zed gets the call, and orders a Code three- Roy doesn’t quite know what’s going on as of yet.
Back upstairs, the agent at the desk puts on dark glasses. Almost as one, the trio all say, “Cover your eyes!” They’re fine, eyes closed... But Beck says, “Pardon me... Do I know you?”
And there we break! The next episode is tomorrow!
