by Sonja, GoozX, T5 and Tobias Christopher
Sonja Ljzavek was still lying on an infirmary bed in the white-lit room. And sleeping, she began to think. She thought about the past, about the days in the National Institute for Paranormal Investigation in Minsk, her graduation, her enlisting in the ESP section of the Russian army, the creation of the F.A.U.S.T. Project. She remembered her first descent into Hell, the quest for the Grey gateways, the second trip into Hell and the meeting with Belieel, the Putlin fiasco. And finally, she recalled the Malaysian incident investigation, many days spent on a little island, under the radioactive fallout of an atomic experiment gone bad, without finding any true clues to previously seen demonic and angelic apparitions. And then, she remembered her superiors assigning her to a mission to Western Europe.
But if she tried to think about it, she felt her temperature quickly rising to an unbearable level. So she stopped thinking and fell into a dreamless sleep.
Test 12M189B001L02
Simulation: Level 3 -- city streets, New York City, year 2002.
Participants: Daniel Hearn, Sonja Ljzavet, Peter Glover, Naecken, Marv Velo, Lance Lorenzo, and Tobias Christopher.
Note: All participants have been placed in a virtual reality much like the one they came from. Each believes that someone or something is after them. Hearn is very unstable; we believe his recent time traveling, combined with the chip in his head, is reacting badly. A close eye must be kept on him.
Begin.
Naecken awoke in a pile of trash just outside a Chinese restaurant. A few rats scattered away as he moved. His now-stained yellow trench coat had been torn. A vague memory of a chase went through his mind. Someone had tried to kill him. Why?
He rose and brushed the filth away. Looking around, he saw the lights reflected in the rain puddles on the streets.
A can clattered further down the alley. He had been found! He began to sprint, looking backward at intervals. He reached the street, where people made frowning, annoyed faces at him.
"Look at that! Disgusting."
"Mom... is that a bag man?"
"It's called a bag lady... and no, that's just a bum."
He stopped in front of a store window and looked at himself. His coat had certainly seen better days, and his trousers were beyond hope. The legs were blackened by street mud and other filth. He certainly needed to shave. Luckily, his dark skin made him look cleaner than he was.
"You better move on, sir!" a hard voice from behind commanded.
He turned and saw a police officer opening his car door to walk up to him.
"Uh... sure, I mean no harm. I'm just... uh..."
"Maybe you should head over to St. Anna's. They will help you out, get you cleaned up some."
"Yeah, I will do that. Uh... where is that?"
"Just follow this street straight ahead for about three blocks. You can't miss it. There are more of you in line there," he said with a smile.
"Thank you."
"Toby, wake up."
Tobias Christopher opened his eyes and looked around. The room was dark, but hauntingly familiar.
"You were having a bad dream," a familiar voice said. He looked over and saw Rebecca staring at him with those beautiful blue eyes. He didn't say anything. He just embraced her. It was all just a dream.
Trees. Many trees, and behind them a meadow, and a lake not far away. Where am I? thought Sonja. Then her sight wandered over the tops of the distant trees, where she saw many skyscrapers towering above.
There was only one place like this on Earth. New York City! thought the woman. She had been there many times, but for her, raised in Communist USSR, being there was always an uneasy situation.
What I am doing here? she thought. She remembered being assigned to a mission. Where? A place in Western Europe... Greece, maybe... no, it was a small nation... Andorra? Lichtenstein? San Marino? Monte Carlo? No, it was Mandelovia!
But the memories of the last weeks seemed to be gone, and trying to bring them back made her sick. So, instead, she concentrated on the present. And suddenly she knew. There were people stalking her, trying to kill her, metahumans with uncanny powers. She smiled. If only they knew.
She ran among the trees of Central Park. She felt them. They must be here.
A green ray blasted from behind the thick cover of dense bushes. Sonja jumped away, but not enough quickly to avoid the blast. But the ray was reflected, and she was not harmed by it. She ran to find cover. More rays were shot at her, but each one was reflected away, hitting branches of various trees, which exploded into many pieces.
Sonja hid under a little stone bridge. But the glow of the rays was moving away. The metahuman was clearly very far, distracted by something.
Sonja took a deep breath, thinking that she was finally safe, when out of the stone wall behind the woman came two arms, and the hands closed over her neck, suffocating her.
But the hands of Sonja closed over the wrist of the man and made him roll over her head, falling on the ground in front of her. But then the unexpected happens: the young man phased into the ground, disappearing.
And then a hand sprouted out of the soil, grasping her left ankle, and making her, in turn, fall down. The man then knelt over her, and his right hand dematerialized inside her chest, ready to smash her heart from inside.
Suddenly, the man was thrown away by an invisible force. And when he stood back on his legs, the same invisible force hit him with incredible pressure and, lastly, ripped open his head, sending blood and gray matter all over.
From around Sonja, New York City disappeared, replaced by an all-white environment.
Claxons pierced the silence, and a metallic voice was heard just before gases kicked in, making Sonja unconscious: ALARM, ALARM, SUBJECT LORENZO TERMINATED.
A few minutes later, while the test continued for the surviving subject, a few men in lab coats surrounded the sleeping Sonja.
"Have you repeated the genetic test?"
"Yes. She has no active metagene. Absolutely no powers."
"It's impossible. How do you explain the occurrence?"
"I can't. It's like she has repulsive powers, but there is no explanation for them."
"Repeat the genetic test!"
Only then, when they were about to leave, one noticed something, and ran toward the lying body. He stopped for a moment, then ripped apart her vest. Her naked body was perfect.
"The tattoo! Where has it gone?"