Royal

[Business Scrub]

The waiting room is crowded, yet like many of its kind it is silent. The only sound is the soft turn of a page, or the nervous tapping of a foot. The room is mostly plain: blue and white modern walls, and a single receptionist at a featureless smooth desk. She looks bored, yet some of the anticipation from the patients has seeped into her, and she taps her pen restlessly against the computer.
Every half hour or so a blonde woman walks through a door and calls out five people, who stand and follow her deeper into the building. You look down at the pamphlet in your hands, anxiously awaiting your turn.

The patients among you wait anxiously. If the pattern holds, it should only be a few moments for the next group to be called...

[EdroGrimshell]

William is one of the people with his foot tapping, but not out of nervousness. He's impatient, "come on, what's talking so long?" he mutters.

[Rhyvurg]

Reginald Barrington checks his watch, sighing perhaps a little loudly.

[bladesmith]

The young girl nearby deftly twirls a pen over her fingers as she reads a magazine. She looks apparently perfect, from her fingernails to the pair of designer sunglasses perched atop her shoulder length ponytail of bright red hair. However, when she looks over at the others, the dull pall of apathy that colors her tone might be slightly off putting. Either that, or the valley girl vocabulary.

"You guys gotta be, like, all zen about it. Its like, it'll happen when it happens."

[Re'ozul]

Frank sits in his chair, elbows on his knees and his head in his hands. The doubt is becoming stronger and stronger now. What was his big idea with this stunt. He had sold virtually everything he had left for this and for what? The fleeting hope that it would help?
He was unemployable now, blacklisted by his old boss. His own damn fault really, cooking the books, manipulating transaction, pusing money into his own pocket. He had thought he was so damn smart, no one would figure it out, but they did. It took giving them nearly everything he had for them not to drag him to court. He only had his small apartment and his car left when they were done and even then only because people would have asked questions about that if he had suddenly lost those.
Now he had no chance to get a job again, well outside of fast food probably. He was not going to go that route. That pride was dumb, but it was his. So this now was his gamble. He had sold his car and most of his belongings, only a barebones apartment to go back to. This would either work, or he would be not only broke but broken.
Now he is sitting here, his upper body rocking back and forth slowly. His thoughts only going one direction.

'Oh God, oh God. This was a mistake I just know it. Crap. Crapcrapcrapcrap...'

[Dienekes]

George sat silently, his eyes glued to a seemingly featureless spot on the wall across from him. He felt like hitting himself, here he was, sinking all his money into another crazy scheme. You'd think he'd learn by now, but no. This was the last one, he promised himself for the hundredth time. After this fails he'd go get some damn desk job and work like a normal person.

[Business Scrub]

Five minutes pass, the silence pregnant with anticipation. Suddenly the door in the back opens: a quiet noise, but in the silent room it's enough to grab everyone's attention. The woman steps out again, dressed in a blue and white company attire, clipboard in hand and tapping a pen against her side. Unlike everyone else, she seems very nonchalant: indeed, she's been shepherding patients into Royal Inc. all day. She smiles a bit at everyone's expression, and reads names off of the clipboard:
"Frank Flannlen. Nina Rayen. Reginald Barrington. William Cooper. George Brant. If you five could follow me please?" She holds the door open for the five, and leads you down a long T shaped hallway. Doors line the sides of the hallways, all innocently labeled: 108 Maintenance, 120 Filing. The hall splits at the end into a left and right, but in the center sits a steel elevator.

[Rhyvurg]

"Well. This isn't ominous at all, is it?"

[bladesmith]

"Finally!"

Nina shoots out of her chair, dropping her pen and magazine on the table beside her. Whatever her comments earlier, she seems supremely excited now. Brushing past the nurse, she breezes into the hallway. Skipping past the boringly labelled doors, she gets almost to the intersection before realizing that she has no idea where she's going, and that the others aren't moving as fast.

"So... Like, which way for the upgrades?"

[EdroGrimshell]

William follows, his impatience alleviated for the moment by movement. He was never good with sitting still, "I'd guess behind the ominous steel doors that we were led to," he says dryly to Nina. His voice sounds like it's raw, but it was always like that.

[Dienekes]

"I like, don't, like, know," George quietly muttered to himself as he followed the rest of the group in.

[Re'ozul]

Frank stands up and follows the others. The chipper attitude of the valley-girl grating on his nerves. As he enters the corridor with the others, his uncertainty and fear starts to ebb away. There is no turning back now anymore without looking like an imbecile. His last chance had been in the relative anonymity of the waiting area.
He takes a deep breath and exhales audibly, then straightens up and walks forward. The fear and doubt are still clawing at the very back of his mind, but now they are insubstantial, irrelevant. His mood returns to its normal indifferenct state, enough to crack a smile at the muttered retort of the man in front of him.

[Business Scrub]

The woman, Gwynneviere Royal now that you can see her name tag, lets out a lighthearted chuckle. "Aren't they a bit ominous? It's perfectly fine though, trust me." She turns to Nina about half way down the hall. "Nina, if you'd follow me please. It get's a lot more confusing down below and I'd hate for you to get lost."
As she approaches the elevator with the group behind, the doors slide open seemingly by themselves. She appears to have expected this and doesn't break stride as she walks inside. Once all six have fit in the large space, the door slide closed and the elevator starts moving downward, again without any input. The inside of the elevator is ordinary, if a little large, with regular door open and close buttons, and floor buttons B4 through 6. The B3 is lit up as the elevator starts to descend.

[Re'ozul]

'This is strangely normal. I expected something ... weirder I guess. Still, going down is not really all that uplifting.'

Having entered the elevator at the back of the group, Frank is now in the uncomfortable position of being right next to the doors, right next to their lady guide. Part of his mind is occupied with thoughts of her, just due to their proximity.

'Gwynneviere Royal, either her parents were really good or really evil. Even written differently, there is enough of Arthur's bride that the last name becomes somewhat redundant.'

For a small moment he considers starting smalltalk with her before realizing that she most likely is subject to people doing just that every day. He subsequently fixes his gaze on the elevator doors again. His back turned to the others in it, he starts to wish he had gotten in early enough to get one of the back corners.

[Rhyvurg]

"So, what exactly is going to happen? It's not a shot is it? I hate needles."

[Dienekes]

Funny name, George thought as he glanced at the name tag, bet she's gonna cheat on her husband. "A bit odd, for a member of the family to be sent as a receptionist."

[EdroGrimshell]

Ugh, I hate long names, Will thinks, "mind if I just call you Gwen? I'm really bad with names."

[Business Scrub]

"I'd rather you did, actually." Gwyn says to Will, keeping her eyes forward. "Most people do."
The elevator begins to pick up speed. "Oh, I'm not a receptionist." She looks a touch offended, but recomposes quickly. "I was in charge of figuring out the groupings for you five, for everyone really, so I'm about the only person that knows how to calibrate things to each specific group."
The elevator slides to a halt, and the doors open. Outside, the hall looks much different than up above. Around you, there are four different halls, many which split into yet more. "As for what the procedure entails, I'm going to let Tomas explain that, he can explain it better then I can."
She starts walking down the hallway on the left, looking back to make sure you are following. On the left and right of the hallway up ahead are large windows that let you see into labs of some sort, though from this angle you can't see whats in them. A few security cameras are scattered around the ceiling: clearly this level is under more security then up above.

[Rhyvurg]

"And this is for real, right? This isn't some kind of elaborate scam?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"This would be one expensive scam if it is, most con artists wouldn't do anything this elaborate," Will says, looking around a little, but never lingering on anything, he knew a bit about Lab security from working in them at times, "though, a mutagenic process is almost as expensive as what we're paying, I doubt you're making much by offering it at the current price other than free test subjects."

[Re'ozul]

Hearing his greatest fear for the moment verbalized, Frank unwillingly flinches for a second. He tries to keep close to the lefthand wall. Close to their guide but far enough away to the side to be less noticed.

[bladesmith]

Nina stayed quiet on the elevator, thinking that it would be a good time for the guys to chime in and say something, which she was only a little disappointed by. That, and she was still trying to remember where she had heard their guide's name before. However, like most seriously long names, it was a lost cause on Nina. But if Gwyn was cool with it being shortened, that made everything easier. Like asking about the bits of info that did pass through Nina's "importance filter".

"So, like, you chose us five to go together, Gwyn? That's so totally weird, 'cuz I like, have nothing in common with these dudes."

[Business Scrub]

The laboratory on the left side is empty save for a few nondescript machines, however the right is bustling with activity. Four men and women in white coats stand around a glass tank watching as excitedly as one of the largest eggs you've seen slowly begins to crack.
"As hard as it could be to believe, I can assure you this is no scam." Gwyn smiles mischievously. "Though if it was, we already have your money, so....
You don't miss much, do you Will? You're right, we could charge ten times the price and be really making money, and people would happily pay it. But they're skeptical: they want living, breathing proof that this actually works. Not to give you the wrong impression, but from a marketing standpoint, you all are our publicity."
When the group is about halfway down the hall, you all see a large metal object float around the corner. Quite literally floating: the roughly three foot triangular prism seems to hang effortlessly in the air.
"Nina, Frank, Will, George, and Reginald, meet Thomas. He's Royal's main computer, and handles of all the high level programming and data structures in the labs here, as well as day to day activities."
Despite being faceless, the machine, Thomas, seems to incline it's head towards the group. "Afternoon Flock 11." The voice comes from Thomas: not exactly human, but pretty darn close. One at a time, he approaches you. On a screen on one of his faces you can see a picture of yourself as well as updating numbers: age, exact height and weight, body temperature, blood pressure, etc. It's clear that Thomas is sizing you, inside and out.
Gwyn continues down the hall talking to Nina. "You may be more alike then you know. But it has less to do with how similar you are mentally and more genetically, and how you could be. I suppose that's sort of the theme of this whole event, isn't it? Finding out there's more to you then what you know now. Thomas, I believe they were wondering about the specifics of the procedure. Would you mind filling them in?"
"Of course. As you may know, the genetic code for humans, indeed any animal, is grouped into introns and exons. In nature, when coding proteins a cell will remove the introns. Yet these still contain genetic information specific to the individual. Over the next twelve hours, you will be administered a form of virus tailored to rebuild your cells, using the intron DNA in ten synthetic chromosomes. The actual difference is based on what exactly your introns code for, much of which remains a mystery at this point. Experiments so far show that the most likely outcome is an abstract form of entanglement with event patterns in the individual's memory, though this trend simply does not hold true for many."

[Re'ozul]

Frank is intrigued at the floating bit of machinery. Having worked mostly with computers for the last few years he thinks himself quite capable at them, but this is far beyond whaever he imagined these people were using.
His hands itch as he wants to take it apart and see how it works, but those thoughts die quickly as he notices his stats constantly updating when it floats over to him.
Interested he leans closer attempting to calm himself and see what effect that has on the numbers.
Looking around for a moment he adopts an unsure expression and speaks up for the first time since the waiting area.

"I'm not sure wether I should be adressing the room or this node, so please excuse me if I am doing it wrong. I'd like to know how you are getting these readings. Sensors in the walls, or in this node? Nanites in the air we breathe in? Considering what I am seeing before me I'm not ready to rule out anything."

[Rhyvurg]

"So, is it a shot?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"What would happen if we were exposed to mutagens before going into the process? I've been around a good number of them and have likely had a few affect me in the past," Will asks.

[Dienekes]

"Oh God, I share a genetic pattern with a valley girl," George sighed under his breathe, "Even my own genes betray me."

That piece of information though was immediately brushed aside when he got a chance to really look at Thomas. "Uhh," George spoke up for the first time. "How are you floating? I don't see any means of propulsion." This was quite possibly the most interesting thing George had ever seen.

[bladesmith]

"There's no way you'd fit in my jeans, nerd." Nina scoffs quietly at George. You decide whether the pun was intended or not.

Trying to put her distance from the creepy robot and the stinky one, she casts about, looking back at the giant egg. Instantly fascinated, she watches for a bit, hoping to see what comes out. However, her own inattentiveness, and the questions popping into her head keep her from seeing it through to the end.

"Hang on a second, floaty bot. So, like, what we get outta this is connected to, like, out memories? Dude, like, if I wanted to be Supergirl as a kid, like, I could fly and have, like, be really strong with laser eyes and stuff? Oh, and like, are you guys messing with animals, too?" She asks, pointing idly at the hatching egg, then finally noticing the display on the robot. "Oh, man, and I'm like, really fat. My manager will kill me."

[Rhyvurg]

"Is is a shot isn't it? That's why you won't answer."

[Dienekes]

George looks at the girl in complete bewilderment. She's sensitive about her weight, go for it! Of course I couldn't, you're nearly bursting out of them yourself, say it, he thinks. Of course, all he actually does is close his eyes for a second and shakes his head as though to clear it of the comment.

[Business Scrub]

Having completed the scans fairly quickly, Thomas moves to answering your questions in turn. First he addresses Frank: "You may speak to either the room or to myself. I can hear and see through security cameras, though I primarily concern myself with activity closer to this node. The floor around you was designed pressure-sensitive to make sure heavy machinery would not break through to the next floor. I simply calibrated it to measure human weight and height. The other sensors have simply been built into me to allow me to see and hear internal functions."
Then he moves his attention to Reginald "The procedure does involve injections, yes. However no patients to date have commented on discomfort from the injections"
And to Will he says, "Since the body structure is rebuilt with the new DNA, it is unlikely that your personal mutations will have an effect. You will, however, be under surveillance for safety's sake over the course of the procedure and for a time afterwards."
Meanwhile Gwyn answers George while turning left down a hallway, and down a flight of stairs. "Electromagnets in the floor and ceiling. It's one of the larger projects that originally took place here, but the engineers wanted him to be impressive, so..." she shrugs. "The field is shaped, though, so unless you press yourself right up against Thomas, you won't feel anything."
Finally Thomas addresses Nina, pulling up in front of the group beside Gwyn. "No. The bonding happening has not been known to be a conscious result. Patterns have been entangled occasionally into a theme of thought, such as 'Fire.' Though instances of fire are limitless random chemical reactions, and frequently have little to with each other, subjects have been known to manipulate many forms of those reactions that fall into their subconscious schema of 'fire'."

After another moment, Gwyn stops at a door on the right hallway. The light on the door blinks, signaling its unlock, and she opens it. The room inside is slightly small and plain, with five bundles of clothes on a shelf, and five changing booths. "The procedure may affect a person more then he or she could normally handle. To keep you safe, and to speed up the process, we designed the suits before you. When you've changed, please go through the doors at the other end of the room, and we can begin."
Gwyn and Thomas leave through those doors, leaving the five of you alone for the first time. Each bundle of blue and purple clothes has on of your names on it, and though they appear to be form-fitting, are tailored to each person.

[EdroGrimshell]

Will takes the initiative and takes his suit first before going off to have some privacy as he changes into the suit.

[Rhyvurg]

Reginald doesn't hear much after "injections". He heads into a booth and changes as if in a daze.

[bladesmith]

"Subconscious schema? Like, points for the big words, but totally fail at speaking english, Thomas."

Nina says as she whips her own set of clothes off the shelf and slides into the nearest booth, apparently still trying to figure out what the robot was trying to say. Still, she is also one of the fastest to change, and when she comes out its with a strut in her step. Taking advantage of any reflective surface, Nina does what little primping she can. Then, with a smile before gliding through the doors,

"Like, totally rock on. Already rocking in, like, the superhero spandex look."

[Re'ozul]

'So this is it, huh? Well, judging from the drone and the tech-speak they seem to have everything prepared.'

As his thoughts wander in circles in his mind, Frank mechanically takes his suit and enters a booth. Trying to put his mind off the impending process, he takes care to neatly fold every single piece of clothing he takes off, finally arranging all of them into a very small but structured pile in the corner.
He quickly puts on the suit. He takes a dee breath and audibly exhales, bringing both his hands into his field of vision.

'Stop shaking dammit. God, you'd think this would be easier at this point.'

Squaring his shoulders he marches out the booth and through the door.

[Dienekes]

"Seems a bit expensive when motors would accomplish the same thing, but I will admit watching him fly around is impressive." He nodded once he was given instructions and grabbed one of the bundles and walked silently to his booth.

He changes quickly, only taking the time to look down at what he was wearing after he was finished. His large stomach hung out for the world to see, only accentuated by the form fitting cloth. Forcing his embarrassment out of his mind he left the changing room and headed to the door that Gwyn had pointed out. He stops once more just standing in front of it. His hands clench into fists and his fingers crack as he takes a deep breathe. "Ok," he whispered as he reached out and opened the door.

[Business Scrub]

The room beyond is darker than you imagined and larger, lit a bit dimly by strips of lights in the floor. Five hollow half-cylinders, about three feet wide and seven feet tall are positioned equally around the room, their open sides facing a tall machine in the center. Hundreds of feet of cable lay across the floor and ceiling connected to the center machine, making the whole room look like some sort of mechanical spider's web. Thomas sits at the top of the machine, seemingly locked into it, and on the left, is a smaller room with glass windows where Doctor Royal and two of her colleagues sit at computers. Gwyn speaks into an intercom as the five of you enter the room. "Excellent! Frank, you are at number 1, Nina 2, Reginald 3, Will 4, and George 5."

[Re'ozul]

Frank moves over to 'his' cylinder. Not sure what to do he surveys its insides, drawing his fingers along the material, waiting for further instructions.

[EdroGrimshell]

Will enters the fourth tube and settles in.

[Dienekes]

George nods and enters the fifth cylinder.

[bladesmith]

Nina prances over into the second tube, trying to fit herself in comfortably and gracefully. She's only partly successful, but her excitement overcomes any fear or self-image issues that might stand in the way.

"Its totally like that movie I once saw! Like, bring on the superpowers!"

[Rhyvurg]

"Dammit, bad things always happen in threes. Why did it have to be 3?" He steps in, already flinching.

[Business Scrub]

The insides have a human shaped indent inside: a fairly comfortable position to rest in. Once the five of you have settled in, three bars slide across the front of the tube, restraining you in place. "Right then. Everyone set? Three, two, -" Gwyn's voice cuts out, and from your position you hear the deep Thrum Thrum of a machine spinning up. The thrumming accelerates, and the lights brighten, then all of the sudden cut out completely, pitching the room into near darkness. Suddenly a sharp stab, long and painful, in the sides of your back. The stabbing quickly recedes, while the thrumming gets louder, filling your ears. Suddenly the machine in the center lights up, a column of blinding white-green illuminating the room. On the machine you can see an arm on the machine pointed towards your pod, the light on the end burning with the same light. In the blink of an eye the light shoots out and strikes you in the chest, waves of heat coming off of where it touches. Suddenly, pain. Unbelievable, excruciating pain like you never felt as the beam moves down to your feet. You can feel your feet change shape, size, consistency. The bones moving against each other, together, reshaping and returning. You subconsciously push against the restraints, curling your feet with the pain. Then, maddeningly slowly, the beam begins to move up your body. As it reaches your legs, you body begins to shiver and shake, twisting as much as you can in the small space. As it reaches your chest you can feel your insides twist, mutate and take a new shape. The pain becomes unbearable; your body convulses in the pod, the rigid metal stubbornly unyielding. The beam rises to your head and any sort of conscious thought leaves. There's a blinding mass of colors, emotions, sounds. Your head is yelling, and you hear a high, bloodcurdling scream from someone in the room. Maybe it was you. You lose all sense of where you are, who you are, all thought turns into a incomprehensible blur. Suddenly, blissfully, you pass out.

[Business Scrub]

Chapter 1: Hard Reboot
---------------------------------------------

Bright lights. Soreness, ringing noises. You look around. This room is not one that you remember. It's plain and off white, with five beds that which you and the others lay in. Your clothes rest on a shelf near you. With a bit of difficulty you manage to sit up and look around the room, your eyes adjusting to the light. There's a pitcher of water and cups on a shelf to the side, and beside it a door.

[Re'ozul]

'Water'

Frank is sure if he was actually speaking it would come out as a croak. Trying to ignore the dull throbbing accentuated by piercing bouts of pain going through him, he shambles over to the pitcher, pouring himself a cup.

So far this seems like a bust to him, but then again he can't really feel anything all that well either right now.

[Rhyvurg]

Reggie groans, rubbing his back. "Needles...dammit..." He gets to his feet and grabs a pitcher...and it breaks. More than breaks, it shatters, explodes. "Crap!" He stumbles back, hitting the wall and denting it. "Crap!" He moves away, smashing a table and almost putting his foot through the floor when he tries to catch his balance. "CRAP!"

[Re'ozul]

Startled at the sudden appearance of Reggie and his subsequent demolishment of his surrounding Frank jumps back and ... falls over the coffee table in his apartment.

Not quite sure what is going on he taps at it to see if its really there. It is.
Confused as to what happened he scrunches his eyes closed concentrates back on the room he was just in.

A dull and weirdly spaced out crunching sound hits his ears and he opens his eyes again. He is in the room alright, but is somehow sitting on the ceiling and Reggie is putting his foot through the floor, very very slowly.

As soon as he realizes whats going on, everything seems to speed up again and he falls to the floor. Not trusting himself with anything, he crawls back towards the bed, hoping that the whoever is in charge will come soon and sort this mess out.

[Dienekes]

"Uggghhhhhh," George moans as his eyes slowly open. "I'm alive then?" he started to murmur to himself more than a little surprised.

"Ok," he sighed as he swung his legs to the side of the bed and stood up, his legs aching and his bones popping as pressure is put on them. "Ughh, God. What... I'm taller." He looked around, everything looked smaller, the ground looked further away, and impossible to not notice when looking at the ground, his sizable gut was gone. "It... worked," he smiled, only for it to falter as his brain nearly exploded from pain. "Oh God, I think I'm going to be sick." Suddenly he heard a crash and a loud thump causing another surge of pain to course through his head.

OOC
Hey Rhyvurg, does the Brick look any different now? Just curious since you didn't write down what he looks like, and it could effect how George reacts to the situation.

[EdroGrimshell]

Will wakes only slightly sore, stretching to get the blood pumping again he stands up and yawns, then watches the chaos. Anyone looking at him would think him a living statue, he's body looking like it's made of metal, "I guess it worked then," he says, reaching over to grab a glass of water and taking a few sips, before his teeth melt through the glass and liquifies it, which gets him to cough it up as an uneven lump of half-melted glass, "well," he coughs out, "that felt wierd," he pulls a small strip of glass off his tongue, which acts more like paper for a moment before resolidifying.

[bladesmith]

The pounding in Nina's head continued unabated. She had tried to think of Supergirl the whole time, but for now her head was filled with that dull throbbing. Then it was interrupted with crashing, and yells, and the sounds of chaos. Which was new.

Nina flipped over and buried her head under the pillow, images of her manager trying to rouse her in time for another one of his early morning self-betterment things flipping to the top first. Then she remembered what she was doing. And that she was probably in a room with four strange dudes. Why were they being so loud, anyways? A few more hours of sleep felt about right to her. Sitting up, but keeping the pillow wrapped over her ears, Nina prepared herself to face the group.

"Guys, could you shut up for like, five more min... What the?"
Which is when she opened her eyes. Some big dude with nasty scruff, a man of metal had replaced fatso and whatshisface, one dude was in the middle of doing some serious property damage, and the last one was on his bed, looking terrified. The pop-star could only gape in horror herself for a long moment, until she realized that her pillow had spontaneously combusted. Which gave her something else to worry about. With a scream, Nina whipped the flaming missile out onto the floor, nearly hitting Reggie while actually hitting a discarded blanket and setting that ablaze. With a string of curses real and improvised, she reached for the pitcher of water by her bed, tripped spectacularly over her own blankets, and sprawled across the floor, directly in the middle of the makeshift inferno. Instead of burning up, though, the fire raced towards her, flowing in through her skin and extinguishing itself.

Which was enough for Nina. Imitating Frank, the normally graceful performer made a very undignified scramble back to her bunk and immediately assumed the fetal position with her back to the wall. For once, the bubbly girl had been struck speechless.

[EdroGrimshell]

Will looks around, "okay, so teleporter, little miss inferno, a brick house, myself, and one that hasn't displayed any sort of 'super ability' yet. This'll be fun to explain to the guys back at the lab," he says with a laugh, "though calming down the pyrokinetic may be a good idea," he mutters, walking over to said girl, "so, you got fire, huh? Seems like a fun ability."

[Rhyvurg]

With a scream, Nina whipped the flaming missile out onto the floor, nearly hitting Reggie while actually hitting a discarded blanket and setting that ablaze.

Reggie screams when a flaming blanket is thrown at him, his flailings shredding it instantly but his shirt is mostly burned off. "OH GOD I'M...not on fire?"

He looks completely normal

[bladesmith]

"Uh, yeah. Like, I guess so."

Nina replied in a daze, slowly pulling herself out of it to look up at the man towering over her. He was like some crazy geek dream all... Steampunk. That was the name. Where everything was made of metal. Brass, bronze, and copper all hard and... Shiny. Nina squinted against the fluorescent light bouncing off his face.

"Just, not what I was expecting. And you, you're totally like, made of metal! And you," She points over at Reggie as she grows more excited, "You aren't on fire!"

[EdroGrimshell]

"Heh, not quite," he says, pinching his skin to show it was normal skin, just with a metallic look to it, "but I did melt the glass I was drinking out of earlier without heating it up."

[Rhyvurg]

"This is crazy! Everything feels so...soft and squishy, and my skin feels funny. Also I totally didn't even feel that fire!"

[bladesmith]

"Weird... Melts in your mouth, not in your hands?"

Was all the response that Nina could come up with. The guy looked like he was metal, but wasn't, and he could melt glass in his mouth. How useless was that? Or maybe he could do something cool but didn't know it yet. Which brought up another question: what could she do? There was fire involved, but could she control it? Momentarily lost it thought, her eyes drifted away from Will and down at her palm. Maybe if she concentrated... A lick of bright flame sprung to life in her hand, almost spilling over onto the bed before she closed her hand and put it out.

"Hey, cool! Like, I can totally control it! Awesome!" Then, in a moment, excitement turned to heated frustration. "Oh, man. That robot totally tripped up my subconscious, with, like, all that fire talk and stuff."

[EdroGrimshell]

"Heh, I have an idea what mine is," Will says, taking the partially melted glass he was still holding and literally biting into it, but it melts on contact with his teeth and he just swallows it, before razor sharp, transparent claws emerge from the middle fingers of each of his hands, "Well, this is interesting," he places the glass claw on the glass and actually cuts a piece off, then flicks his hand and launches the claw as if it were a shuriken into the wall, "very interesting indeed. I was hoping for something, but this is definitely beyond my expectation."

[Rhyvurg]

"Dude...that was really weird."

[Re'ozul]

Seeing everyone experiment with their newfound abilities, Frank focuses inwards. He can feel something allowing him limited control over his surroundings. He focuses on one of the still intact water jugs and attempts to bring it over to him, only having to duck as it smashes into the wall right where his head had been a second earlier.

'Okay, no 'trying my most' then.'

Now knowing that what just happens is actually controlable, though in need of training, elation bubbles up inside him and he decides to be a bit impish.

Concentrating on his apartment's kitchen, he finds himself right in front of his refridgerator. Strangely enough, he is no longer lying down, but standing up. Resolving to figure that bit out later, he grabs a small tub of Ben & Jerry's cookie dough ice cream and a spoon and concentrates on getting back to the room, reappearing on his bed, nearly falling over due to uneven ground.
He sits back down and starts digging into his treat.

[Dienekes]

"Interesting," George says as he steps to Will, attempting to control his general soreness and walk straight. "I wonder how it works in regard to other materials. Maybe have a bite of the metal in the bed frames?"

I wonder what I can do, George thinks, and he starts to concentrate, focusing on his entire body searching for something, anything that feels different.

Nothing happened.

He shut his eyes and tries again, really focusing. He even started to move his arm, stretching out his hand, hoping that it would trigger, something.

"Huh."

[Business Scrub]

Your conversation is interrupted by Thomas's 'voice', flowing in presumably from speakers in the room somewhere. "Good Morning Flock 11!" He sounds excited, or as possible as it is for a computer to sound excited. "I see you've all done a stunning amount of property damage in the past eighty six seconds. Though it's hardly the worst room I've seen. It's good that the five of you are getting along. You may be interested to know that it is Monday, October 3rd, and that you are the thirteenth flock to awaken." This news is a bit shocking, as you went in on a Friday. Though not entirely unexpected: the informational book, if you read it, said to count on the procedure taking up to a week. "Royal understands that you must want to understand your new self, and we have given you space to do so. Your door is unlocked. If you follow the green line in the hallway, it will lead you to an open area. I believe most of the others are there. There is also breakfast down the hall following the blue line. We want to keep you here for the next few days, to ensure you have no side effects."

[Re'ozul]

Spoon still in mouth, Frank looks at the tub of ice-cream in his hand. He suddenly feels a bit embarassed at effectively already having left twice in the last minute or so.

He puts the lid back on and gets up to follow the green line, focusing on it.
The door seems a bit harder to open than it should, but not too bad.
So focussed is he that he has not noticed, everything else slowing down to a tenth of normal speed, the hard to open door simply having been its inertia straining against being wrenched open at high velocity.

[EdroGrimshell]

Will gets up and offers a hand to Nina, "want to get something to eat or go check what our powers can really do?"

[Dienekes]

Mmmm, food. There are few things in life as happy as a hungry glutton being offered free food. He headed for the door right behind Frank who seemed to have materialized a box of ice cream while he wasn't looking.

"What the hell man?" George shouted as he jumped back away from a door that slammed past him, faster than he could even see.

[Rhyvurg]

Reggie follows the green line, it would be nice to learn how to not smash everything...

[bladesmith]

Nina was about to reach up and take Will's hand when she stops, reconsidering.

"Uh... Like, after the glass and fire bit, I think I'll get up on my own."

Sliding off her bed and past Will, she made her way towards the door and down the green line, leaving footprints of flame that quickly extinguished themselves behind her.

[EdroGrimshell]

Will grins as he follows the, literally, fiery woman, "You know that verbal tic of yours is rather annoying, right?" he says, "saying 'like' every few words is an unfortunate one that many teens seem to possess, don't take that the wrong way, it's the tic itself, not the person."

[bladesmith]

Nina turned around, walking backwards easily to face Will.

"Hey, like, have you ever noticed that New Yorkers have a really annoying accent? 'Cuz I'm pretty sure that, like, people don't get on their case for that. It's, like, totally my accent." She noted with a smile.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I've been to New York," Will says, "only students talked like that, and the ditzy blondes that never grew out of it. Might wanna try getting out of that habit or no one will take you seriously."

[bladesmith]

"Right. Like, no one keeps their accent through their whole life, and, like, no one takes anybody with an accent seriously. Or, you could like, totally just wait for me to grow out of it! Sounds like a good plan. Like, you should totally try it."

Sarcasm with a beaming, Hollywood smile. That's what she gave the metallic giant as she turned back around, giving him a last insolent flip of her ponytail. Which threw off little tongues off flame that seemed to dance about her shoulders.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Well, you're definitely on fire today," Will says with a grin, "gotta admit, you're my type, or you would if you were closer to my age," Will actually is still holding the glass from earlier, and he bites into it again, finishing it off in a few moments. It was already broken, why not 'recycle' it?

[Dienekes]

"Saying 'like' isn't an accent," George muttered over his shoulder. "It's more a colloquialism, and is much easier to pick up and drop."

[Business Scrub]

The hallway outside is long and straightforward. Again shaped like a T, the green line leads to a very large set of double doors at the end. The hallway on the left and right is lined with rooms, each numbered. You take note of yours as room 11.

[Dienekes]

"Huh, anyone else want to peak at what's behind the other doors?"

[bladesmith]

Oh no he didn't just... He totally did. She spun back around, her eyes literally blazing, while the heat finally did in the band that held her hair back, leaving it free to wave wildly about her head. She held up one finger to silence George, then pointed one accusingly at Will.

"And I admit that I know your type. I've had creepy old men staring at me since I was fifteen, and I know what they look like. I've dealt with their stupid pick-up lines and their clumsy attempts to see if I was interested because they were the ones paying for the shows." Stalking over to Will, her steps actually carried her up off the ground, leaving a heat-warped trail of green paint beneath her until she was eye level with the tall scientist.
"Not any more. Just because our mutations came out of the same test tube doesn't mean that I have to deal with your crap. You can take your type, and shove it up your @$$!"

Having apparently said all she needed to, Nina stalked back to the floor, past the others, and shoved the doors to the next room open, leaving blackened handprints on the surface.

[EdroGrimshell]

"I don't care much for appearances, hell, I was a complete mess, I admit that, I meant you have the kind of attitude I like, didn't even mean I'd want to date you, I meant as someone I'd like as a drinking buddy or confidant, to be one hundred percent honest, I've never dated a girl, never been married, and never even wanted to. Not even here, don't jump the gun because I say something like the 'creepy old guys' you met in the past because I mean something completely different," Will says, grin dropped and eyes narrowed, "my type is the one that has no need of physical companionship. When I say, 'my type,' I don't mean for someone I'd like to date, marry, or anything of the sort, I mean someone I can get along with as a friend. I do realize I should have worded it better, but I'm not in pursuit of anything you seem to be thinking of. I'm literally not interested in pursuing a relationship beyond being friends, at the most."

Will walks up to her, not really worried about the flames, "I don't want to date you and I'm most certainly not trying to get into your skirt, so calm down before you light the building on fire." The entire speech is said with a complete seriousness before Nina can completely walk away, no lies whatsoever (Sense Motive will reveal he's being 100% honest).

[Dienekes]

George just steps back as the events occur. Letting Nina and Will hash out whatever it was they were arguing about.

He looked to the two remaining guys beside him. "Well, I'm just going to say it then. Watch out for that one, she's a bit of a hot head."

[Rhyvurg]

"What the heck is wrong with you two? We just meet and you hit on this girl? And you, why are you so pissed about some harmless comment about his type? That's not a pick up line! When he grabs your butt get as mad as you like but please try to not set the building on fire. Or else I'll kick both your butts and make you play nice."

[EdroGrimshell]

"Didn't I just say I wasn't hitting on her?" Rhetorical question, "you guys really need to stop with that, I'm asexual (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asexuality)."

[bladesmith]

Nina paused with the doors half open, and with a deep breath the fires extinguished themselves.

"I'm not going to burn anything down. I'm in control of me." Though the last part sounded like some sort of mantra, it was undeniably effective, and when she turned back to face the rest she seemed to have composed herself.
"Look, I might've, like, overreacted a bit. I'm sorry. Whatever. Like, lets just get on with the day."

[EdroGrimshell]

"Don't worry about it, I know people always have that one thing that gets under their skin," Will says, "everyone has them, so just forget it happened and move on."

[bladesmith]

Nina throws her hands up in the air, holding the door open with her foot.

"Seriously, like, that is probably why you haven't ever had a date, you just don't, like, shut up when you're supposed to. I already totally said its all good, so like, the subject is already dropped. Sheesh. Lets just eat already!"

The frustration causes little candle sized flames to dance over her ears, but she also doesn't really seem to be angry at anyone anymore.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Heh, sorry, don't talk to people much outside of work," Will says, walking into the room with Nina, "give me a little time and I'll get better with that."

[Dienekes]

"Well thanks for this incredibly interesting conversation. We've now successfully figured out why Will can't get a date, other than the fact he has already admitted to not wanting one."

George walks past both of them into the door cracked open with Nina's foot, muttering quietly to himself.
"Jesus Christ, we were all given bloody super powers and they're acting like high school students."

[Business Scrub]

The room beyond is huge. In fact, to say it is a room is misleading. Beyond a small glass airlock is a circular space about 300 feet across. Clearly made to look like a natural space, the floor is lined with grass, even hills and a small river flowing from one side to another. Cameras dot the area here and there, and around a hundred people are in the space: enhanced people like you, showing off their powers for themselves or others, some fighting back and forth.

[Rhyvurg]

Reggie briefly wonders why there's an airlock. "So... Shall we go and beat up people for practically no reason?"

[EdroGrimshell]

"I'd prefer getting used to these abilities first, I know the basics from my little experiment, but nothing else," Will says, then grins, "though testing amongst ourselves would be a good idea."

[Re'ozul]

Frank can be seen sitting above the river, his legs crossed, looking into the water. His hands dart in and out of it far faster than should be possible and he seems to be giggling to himself, completely ignoring anyone else.

[Dienekes]

"Now this is more like it," George said as he walked into the room. Walking to the pool of water, he had to jump back as a beam of some sort flashed past him. Turning to face whoever just attacked him he saw nothing, just people frolicking and not acting too carefully with their new abilities. Smirking he started to concentrate, once more hoping that something, anything, would happen.

"Damn," he finally said after a minute. Sitting down next to the water he looked down and noticing his reflection in the water.

Wow, he couldn't help but think. I look good. That will take some getting used to.

[Re'ozul]

Looking up and seeing one of his group move to a place relatively near him, Frank starts forming words of greeting when a beam of light nearly hits his ... friend? companion?

While said companion manages to dodge, Frank finds himself in a problematic situation. He is floating, but his power doesn't allow him to move laterally.

Throwing up his arms, he screams in his mind 'NO! Dammit, not like this now that I ... the hell?'. As the beam approaches his hands, Frank can feel the part of him that allows him to teleport become active and change. The beam seems to slow before splitting into three, all of which flow around him with excrutiating slowness before coming back together on his other side and regaining original orientation and speed.

'Huh so its not that I can teleport ... I can frickin bend space, coooool.'

[Rhyvurg]

"So, do we just do whatever here?"

[bladesmith]

"Except, like, eat. I thought this was the way to breakfast. Whatever, like, I guess we can test stuff out."

Almost reluctantly, Nina brought another small pocket of flame into her palm. Then she started experimenting with it. A little effort, and it jumped from one hand to the other like an animated slinky. Next it started to form shapes as it went. Spirals. Splashing like water droplets. Galloping horses that rode over her shoulders and back down her other arm. In a moment, she had danced away from her... Whatever they were to her, they got to see her perform an ad hoc mash up of some of her favorites, laughing with glee as the fire kept up with her. It followed her over the grass(leaving quite a few scorch marks), swirling, bursting, or forming shapes or people as the situation called for. Eventually, it all culminated in a cacophony of small explosions around Nina as she pretended to lean up against a flaming palm tree.

"So, like, I've decided that my power is totally the coolest ever. And its totally gonna save on, like, my special effects budget."

[Rhyvurg]

Remembering what happened when he woke, Reggie raises a foot and stomps the ground. A shockwave spreads out, and anyone on the ground within 90 feet of him has to struggle to keep their footing.

[roll0] Strength check for trip

[EdroGrimshell]

Will had gone over to a tree and was current testing his power by munching on some maple branches when the ground starts shaking, "Oi, careful!" He exclaims, as he loses balance and falls to the ground.

"Well, that was annoying..."

[bladesmith]

Already somewhat off balance, Nina is caught completely off guard as the shockwave hits her and is dumped rather unceremoniously on her rear end. For a moment she just sits there, rubbing the fresh bruise and looking around. Then she spots Reggie, and the little piles of upset dirt around his feet.

"What the..." Nina looks like she is going to be angry at first, then switches over to excited as she figures out what he did. "Dude, you totally, like, created an earthquake! Can you control dirt?"

[Rhyvurg]

"No. I'm just very, very, strong." He raises his hands and claps, sending a massive pressure wave sweeping over the hills.

[bladesmith]

Nina is to late covering her ears, and for a moment just tries to rub out the headache.

"Okay, like, I get it! Next time, like, yell something before you do that. Hulk smash or whatever."

[Rhyvurg]

"What's a hulk?" He looks around for something heavy.

[Dienekes]

George was still looking at his reflection in the water when the shockwave hits him, making him loose balance and fall face first into the water. Sputtering he drags himself out of the water and tries to shake himself dry. "Alright, I've nearly been hit by a door moving past the speed of sound, a beam of light that does heaven knows what, and an earthquake. I'm starting to think that maybe Royal should try to bring a little more structure to the super power tests. I'm surprised no one has been seriously wounded yet."

[EdroGrimshell]

Will gets back up and munches on the branch some more, it actually tasted like Mable Syrup with the smoke flavor that comes from smoking something, "you know, you should be careful with that," he says, "I'm going to test mine out," he continues before his arms morph into wooden bat-like wings, glass claws where his hands were. He then takes to the sky.

[bladesmith]

Nina picks herself up and makes her way over towards George, conjuring a small flame to help him dry off(keeping a bit of distance between it and George, and keeping plenty of distance between herself and the water).

"Yeah, like, not everyone got a lot of plastic surgery for their power, nerd." She stuck her tongue out at George facetiously. "Though its totally a good thing you, like, got a bath."

Suddenly, the movement of wood and glass catches the corner of her eye, and she watches Will soar off.
"Totally creepy." She shudders as she remarks to no one in particular.

[Dienekes]

"Ok, that's it," George says as he stands up and towers over the girl with his newly gained height. "I just sunk my entire life savings and all I got out of it was the most expensive liposuction known to man. I am more than a little ticked off, and the last thing I need is to be talked down to by some stuck up bimbo who couldn't string together a proper sentence if her life depended on it So please, if you're just going to mock me, would you kindly shut your mouth? You're insults aren't funny, aren't clever, and aren't wanted."

[Rhyvurg]

Reggie pauses in his search, turns, and walks over to George. "I don't know you, I don't know anything about your problems and what you expected out of life. But regardless, you will speak to ladies with respect when you are in my presence, or we may have ourselves a problem."

[Dienekes]

"Then tell your 'lady' to speak with respect to me," George sneered. "You don't automatically get respect because by happenstance you were born with two X chromosomes. That outlook is outdated, not to mention blatantly sexist."

[Business Scrub]

The five of you make enough commotion (through powers or not) that most of the others around stop to look at you. They look around with the same sense of wonder that you all have, but don't really say much until you hear one shout. "Hey new guys! Over here!" Looking towards the voice, you see another group of five standing by a tree: a huge, hulking man, a woman with great bug-like eyes, a bearded man turning parts of himself invisible, a scowling man beside him that looks normal as far as you can tell, and a woman hovering a few feet in the air, clearly the one that spoke, as she is waving cheerily at you. They all look young, in their mid twenties and, besides the man with the scowl, really ecstatic about things.

[Re'ozul]

Not really sure what to think of that exuberant greeting, Frank decides to show off just a bit more and teleport for the first time since he entered to room.
He reappears merely ten feet away from the group, still sitting cross-legged in the air before slowly uncrossing his legs and floating down until he is standing.
Now having actual ground under his feet again, he adresses the girl.

"Hello to you too. Since you called us 'new guys' I'm guessing we are relatively late to the party? How long have you been here, or awake for that matter?"

At a sudden realization, he disappears again only to reappear literally a second later now with his tub of ice cream in his hand, which he resumes eating.

"Sorry, forgot that over there in the excitement. None of you have cold-like abilities by any chance? The stuff is getting a bit melty."

[EdroGrimshell]

Will turns his head to look over before angling over, though he angles a little too low and has to catch himself from hitting the ground about three quarters of the way there, where he simply sheds the wing's and walks over with a wave, "Yo."

[Business Scrub]

The girl is startled a bit by Frank's teleport next to them. "Woah! That's something new! I'm Emily, by the way." She smiles at Frank, and up close now you can see two of Emily's teeth are longer and sharper than the rest: no other real word for it than fangs. "Yo to you too!" as Will shows up a second after. "Not too late, we woke up a few hours ago, and we the second. I guess I'm just making it my job to say hi as new people come in." She looks at the ice cream. "Not that I've seen, unfortunately. Oh! These are my friends. Er, we were all in the same... flock, they're calling us for some reason. Anyway," she glides over to the huge man, "this is John, that pretty lady there is my friend Katie, and that's George, and the ah... the moody guy is Marcus. So yeah, we're flock five!"
Despite Emily's upbeat manner, the other four seem either awkward or not in the mood to talk. John and Katie smile and nod to you, though Katie seems mostly distracted, though with what you can't tell. Marcus and George are wrapped in a quiet discussion you can't quite hear.

[Rhyvurg]

Reggie can't help but size up the big guy.

[EdroGrimshell]

"Will Cooper, should probably be Copper now that I think about it though," Will says, looking playfully thoughtful, "nice to meet'cha."

[bladesmith]

As soon as it was clear that George was taking his nerd self way too seriously, the flame snuffed itself. She was just about to explain to the transformed geek how much liposuction did cost when Reggie took it upon himself to step in. That was enough to start the fire sliding up Nina's hair again. She had no idea who this dude was, and she surely wasn't going to let him be all over-protective. Luckily, before she could really let either of them have it, someone else claimed her attention. Both easily distracted and never one to ignore an audience, Nina left Reggie and George behind to get into a pissing contest of their own, her only expression a simple face-palm. However, by the time she was anywhere near the others, she had pulled together a cheerful disposition, small flames playing over her hands and feet as she swaggered up. If there was anything that Nina knew how to do, was plaster on a good smile and make an entrance. Essential skill in her line of work.

"Hey, Emily. I'm Nina, and I guess we're like, flock 11."

[Dienekes]

"I'm George," said George tersely.

Ok George, calm down, he thought. You're letting the girl get to you. You always let that happen and it never ends well. Just stay calm, and try not to be squashed by everyone with much more deadly powers than you.

[Business Scrub]

John, the huge man that Reggie sizes up, notices. He does the same to Reggie, looking at him curiously. There's an awkward pause between the two, before he starts cracking up, a really deep laugh.

"Will, Nina, George. Nice to meet you guys." Emily finally drops down to standing. She's a bit taller then she seemed flying, a cute dark haired, green eyed girl, if a bit gangly. "So we're, or I am at least, trying to get everyone all together at 4 so we can... Well I don't know exactly, but I feel like we should. Anyway, just spreading the word."

[Rhyvurg]

Reggie rubs the back of his neck. "Yeah, sorry. I've just been trying to figure out just what all I can do, and there's not really a lot of big stuff here to lift or punch, y'know?"

[bladesmith]

"Don't worry, Reggie. I'm sure that, like, they will figure out something."

Nina dismisses Reggies comment while reaching for her phone. The mention of time made her realize that she had no idea what time it was. And then she remembered that her phone had been left with her manager in case someone called while she was out for the week. Awesome.

"Cool, like, that would be fun to meet everybody." Nina looked apologetically at Emily. "Its just, like, don't know what time it is."

[Dienekes]

"Just feeling you should?" George repeated. "You ever get random feelings like that before you got powered up?"

[Re'ozul]

Having finished his Ice cream, Frank looks up at the mention of strenght-testing.

"You could just try to punch a wall. Or if you are okay with potentially eating ground or ceiling I could maybe help. I think I can manipulate gravity somewhat, but so far I have only managed to levitate myself. I only tried moving something laterally a few times usually leading to it smashing into something.
I could try to slowly increase gravity around you. Not sure if thats useful for what you had in mind though."

[EdroGrimshell]

"Sounds like fun, count me in," Will says, grinning.

[Re'ozul]

Motioning for everyone else to stand back a bit, Frank concentrates on Will and pushes.
Immediately, there is an intense feeling of being pushed down on him, that only grows stronger.

mechanical:
Gravity Control slow increase.
Based on the description it can only push by multitudes of strenght score 5, but for the sake of roleplay I hope we can go a bit finer control-wise.
Each round the virtual weight will increase by the heavy load of a medium Strenght score X creature:
1st round = Str 1
2nd round = Str 2 etc.
At the same time, unbeknownst to Frank the radius of the power grows by 1 foot.
Even with people staying a bit away from him, by the 1 minute mark they probably start being affected.

[Rhyvurg]

"Huh, that might work."