Flight 265 [IC] - Issue 1 - Awakenings

[The_New_Guy]

[OOC]Kick![/OOC]
The phone rings a couple more times with no one answering it. Suddenly it's joined by a loud, almost angry, knock on the door. On the far side you can hear Agent Andrew's familiar voice shouting: "Open up. Now!"

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

The sound of knocking startles Nathan out of bed. He throws on a robe and answers the door.

[The_New_Guy]

Agent Andrews stormed in, his face a mix of panic, rage and concern. "Get everyone up and out here. Quickly."

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

Robert walks out, rubbing his eyes. "What's going on?" he manages to mumble with a yawn.

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

Daniel came out of his room in a pair of sweatpants with a drawstring that fell a little loose about his hips, showing the defined lines down his torso that ran beneath the waistband. He looked confused, surprised, and concerned at the sudden intrusion, but started rapping soundly on all the doors he passed on the way down the hall when he heard Andrews start giving orders. Something was going on. "What's the meaning of this Agent Andrews?" Daniel asked as he came out into the living room, ruffling his hair and then rubbing the sleep from his eyes, trying to focus despite the morning.

[The_New_Guy]

Arthur nearly went into an apoplectic fit at Daniel's entrance. "This..." he managed to sputter out, throwing pictures from his suit jacket pocket to the coffee table.

The pictures were gruesome in ways that were indescribable - blood and gore were everywhere in them. And in each of them was the remains of a body. Dismembered and disemboweled. It looked like the person/people had literally been ripped apart.

"Those pictures are from a crime scene near here. A person was murdered. Now, if you look closely at those pictures, you'll notice the victim has been torn apart. Not chopped up first, but literally torn apart. Ligaments and bones everywhere. But here's the funny thing. To do that kind of damage, you usually need a team of horses or a locomotive or something. Tie the person on. No way, say the lab guys. No rope was used. All done by hand." He paused and looked directly at Daniel. "By very strong hands. Strong enough to crush bone."

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

Sobering from his early morning stupor rather quickly, Daniel sat down at the couch in front of the coffee table, his hand covering a gag brought on by the first series of pictures. Nevertheless, he forced himself to go through each one despite the way his adam's apple would jump as he swallowed past another gag or tick as something new and horrible was brought to his eyes. He listened to Agent Andrews and knew what was being implied. He even thought back to his flyby of those emergency vehicles the night before. Was that what it was? He couldn't tell by the way the crime scene photos were shot only at the ground, but he had a sickening realization that he could have been at the scene.

He swallowed past a particularly large lump in his throat and managed to ask, "Is there anyone else among the passengers that could have done this? I'm assuming by your tone that I am a suspect, yes? But am I the only suspect?"

Daniel didn't feel the need to proclaim his innocence. His actions thus far and general personality certainly spoke for themselves. He just hoped that if they were intent on pinning this to him they'd let him try to bring in the real murderer first. If anyone was qualified, Daniel and his new friends were certainly at the top of the list. His brow furrowed and he felt his knuckles pop one by one as his hands tightened into fists. The muscles in his neck, shoulders, and torso tightened and stood out against his skin like steel cables. "Whatever your decision about my innocence, it's also my responsibility to bring this murderer to justice. I, we, have the power to do it, so we should. No one else can. Will you allow it?"

[The_New_Guy]

Arthur narrowed his eyes in Daniel's general direction. "I don't have anything to do with the investigation Mr Horton. That's for the local authorities, not the NSA. And right now they're baffled."

He paused, shook his head. "Daniel, I don't know what 'powers' other groups are displaying. Since the incident they've taken the other groups I was handling and gave them to other agents. What I do know is this: there is a body found not five minutes from here that was torn apart by someone strong. You left the apartment last night before the murder is believed to have taken place, and returned after. Without the others. And you were seen near the crime scene last night. You tell me what I'm supposed to think. You tell me what anything in my position would think."

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Eric stared at Agent Andrews in shock. If your timing is right, Daniel was with us - all of us - when the crime was committed. We were on our way back when our bus was stopped by emergency vehicles. I assume those were for, uh, this. He swallowed, trying not to think about the pictures. Daniel left us after that, yes, but by then, the crime was done.

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan quickly looked away from the pictures. While he was good at hiding his disgust, there were limits. Could Daniel have done something like this? He was certainly physically capable of an act such as this, but Nathan doubted the man would ever feel the desire. Though he did seem to anger all too easily... No. A crime of passion would have left more evidence than Agent Andrews had, and a calculated murder would be beyond Daniel. The man was too straightforward. He was obviously innocent.

[The_New_Guy]

Arthur considered Eric`s words very quickly, taking only the briefest moment to consider them. "You all will vouch for him then?" He didn't pause long enough to await the answer. He could guess it. "So either your innocent Daniel, or everyone is lying to protect you."

He paused and rubbed the bridge of his nose. A second glance revealed something perhaps you wouldn't expect in an NSA officer. Fatigue. "I'll take your word for it. Believe it or not, I've got no reason not to trust you guys. But..." There was always a but, and this one sounded like a big one "...that doesn't mean anything. My efforts, my skills in manipulating the situation can only go so far. The local authorities? You've got nothing to worry about with them. As long as you don't reveal yourselves, they don't even know you exist. The people you have to worry about are my people. The NSA."

He paused, and took a deep breath. "People are going to ask questions. The locals? They're going to dither over this for a little while. If it goes away, they'll like as not spin it as some kind of animal attack and sweep it under the rug. If it happens again though? The FBI are real close, and since the beltway sniper a few years ago they're real itchy to call the FBI when they smell a serial killer. And when the FBI looks at something you can be damn sure the NSA is looking over the shoulders. Super-strong killer? The FBI won't have a clue. The NSA will. They'll look at the situation and they will see a meta-human - that's your official designation now, by the way, meta-human - with super-strength and a history of violent behavior - yes, Mr Horton, we know about that - living near the crime scene and all of a sudden they begin to see the puzzle pieces fit together. And they'll do one of a couple of things. They'll blame you for it, lock you away without any trial and send you someplace that makes Guantanamo look like the Ritz Carelton. Or they'll blame you for it and execute you - also without trial. Or they'll decide that each and every survivor of Flight 265 is a major threat to national security. And they will kill you all. And before you say 'they can't do that', let me assure you they can and have and will once again."

He paused, took a break and rubbed his nose again. "Now you asked for permission to track down whoever did this Daniel. Let me explain something to you. I know it was a meta-human that did this. There were hand-prints on her bones for Christ's sake. Literal, honest to goodness hand prints. As if her bones were clay. No human I've known could do that. So that means the local authorities are out - none of you exist as far as they know. The NSA won't get involved until we have to. We have a long, proud tradition of shutting up until our boss notices. So until the director hears about it from a plant at the FBI, we won't be going in. We won't touch it with a ten-foot pole. Not our job, unless the killer was also a terrorist."

"So you ask me, do I think that a bunch of amateurs should start murder investigation? Not on your life. But as long as you play by the rules - or at least don't get caught breaking them, I won't stop you. You want to do nighttime flybys? Go for it. Get caught, or screw with the crime scene or something, and you're all going to find out what it's like to be screwed by the NSA."

He paused, considered for a second. "The murder will be on the morning news now, if you want to catch it. If you hear anything, if you want the local authorities to 'find' something let me know and I'll make sure it gets there. Otherwise, I don't want to know what you're doing. Your private citizens doing private citizen things. With meta-human powers. Go crazy."

With that he stood up and left.

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"Well, that leaves us with just short of nothing." Daniel said as he stood up. He noticed that Agent Andrews had conveniently "forgotten" the crime scene pictures that were sitting on the coffee table in front of him and felt his hands ball up again at the sight of them. Some super-powered psycho had ripped her apart, a woman, left hand prints on her bones for god's sake. What kind of monster would do that to another person? More importantly, would he be doing it again? How soon?

Something else that bothered him was that they thought him capable of doing such a thing as well. Could he really have? Of course he knew in his mind he wouldn't but with his new strength he was pretty sure he could have if he was so inclined. The thought scared him. They had all saw what he could do to a person when Nathan had goaded him in the basement. If he lost control, ever, he could seriously hurt someone...or kill them. There was also the righteous anger, different from his normal fury, about someone who was being faced with the same revelations and decisions and choosing to commit murder. How could they? Did they think themselves above the law? Did they think that no one would be able to stop them?

"Alright guys, I don't know about you but I intend to put this guy down. I'm not doing anything else with my life at the moment besides watching my wife marry another man. I figure it's about time I started fresh." he tried for a grin but only managed a sad sort of smirk. He went on anyway. "If I can help with things like this, then that's what I'm going to do. Besides, he's wiping all of our names in the dirt, especially mine, along with his when he does it. If he thinks no one can do anything about it, he's dead wrong. Who's with me? Furthermore, how do you suggest we start? I'm kind of new at playing cops and psychos."

Well, Daniel, you were looking for a creative outlet for your anger problems. I guess this will work as good or better than team sports...

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

"I'm in. I don't know much about police investigations, but I think we all want to avoid being executed for something we didn't do. We should probably start by finding out as much as we can. Andrews said this would be on the morning news. It sounds like a good place to start." With that, Nathan picks up the remote and flicks on the local news.

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Of course I'll help you. You didn't do it, but some monster did. I don't the thought of that monster wandering around free. He grinned sheepishly. And I'd also rather not be executed for something I didn't do.

[The_New_Guy]

The television flashed to life, to the same news station you saw the previous morning, with the same newscasters - Kevin and Dina. They putter through the basic morning news cast, moving quickly from one topic to another (so that the morning crowd can get their news fix). Finally they come back around to the "top story" of the morning - the brutal murder of an unknown woman in Lynbrook Park. The cover all the basics, including shots of flashing lights last night that are all to familiar too you (you recall them from a different angle, but they are certainly those you saw on your detour home the previous night), the brutal nature of the murder (they don't go into the detail Agent Andrews did, nor do they supply crime scene photos, but they emphasize the brutality) and the call for anyone who might have seen or heard something (anything) to call the police. There's precious little else of any use to any investigation you may be undertaking.

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan frowned. "So, we've got no name, no motive, no way to see the crime scene any closer, and no suspects. All we know is that whoever did it is probably one of the people from our flight. Still, that's more than the police have." The diplomat furrowed his brow. "I think we should call Senator Evers. He said he was trying to get in contact with the other passengers; maybe he could help narrow our search."

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

"There aren't that many other options short of going to the crime scene personally."

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Too bad none of us developed time travel abilities. But I agree that calling the Senator might be a good... He paused. Or would it? We were with the Senator when this happened. He knows where we are staying, and probably knew what we can do. If someone was setting Daniel up, he'd be the most likely candidate.

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"You read my mind." Daniel said. He'd stepped back into his room for a moment after the news broadcast and came back with the cell phone the former Senator had given them to hold onto. He pulled a t-shirt over his head and set to dialing.

[The_New_Guy]

[OOC]Check your inbox CL, there's a msg for you there. And please post your replies in this thread. That way the rest of the characters can pick up on and play off of the half of the conversation they can hear.[/OOC]

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"Hello, sir, it's Daniel Horton. Sorry to make use of the bat phone so quickly, but there's a problem we might be needing your help with. I don't suppose you saw the news this morning...A woman murdered in town? Left on the street?" he prompted, hoping the former Senator would know what he was referring to so he could skip straight to the important details. He hitched his pants up a little at the waist, retying the string to keep them from falling lower on his hips. He'd really have to become a morning person one of these days if he was going to keep getting woken up with these kind of emergencies...

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"Actually, Mr. Evers, its a bit more complicated than that. We were just paid a visit from our friend from the NSA. It seems that what the public isn't being informed about is that the woman was ripped apart by someone or something with incredible strength. There were hand prints on her bones for god's sake. I'm sure someone with your political savvy doesn't need to be told what this could mean for us." He let the implications hang heavy in the air for a moment before continuing. "The agent basically gave us leave to do whatever we can do as long as we don't break any laws or get caught using any abilities. What we need from you is any information you may have on other passengers who could have done this. Anyone who wants to help us figure this out is also welcome to. We'll need it."

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"That would be useful!" Daniel said, looking at the others with his eyebrows raised. "How about this, Mr. Evers. If you could do me a favor and let anyone who would be interested in helping with the investigation to please meet with us around noon at the large park near the center of town? I guess by the gazebo? Would that be alright? That way we could all talk face to face and make sure we're on the same page for this."

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

"I've got a really bad feeling about this."

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

So do I, Robert. The best thing we can do is stay together. He frowned. But I still don't trust the Senator...

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan raised his eyebrows. "Really? How exactly did he earn such mistrust from you?"

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

He appears out of nowhere. While we are with him, at a meeting he set up, a murder that - on the face of it - could only have been committed by one of us happens very near where we are hiding. He is in contact with other survivors of the flight, and Agent Andrews said we're not the only ones with superpowers. He shrugged. Maybe it is bad timing and the Senator had nothing to do with it. And I don't think he actually committed the murder. That would take amazing timing, unless he can control time. Eric grinned to show he was joking about time control. I'm not saying we shouldn't work with the Senator; we could use allies. I just think we should be careful.

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

"Actually, that's a very good point. The murder taking place this close probably isn't a coincidence. And that would mean whoever did it knows we're here." Nathan chuckles at Eric's time control comment. "Now that you mention it, though, I wonder what the Senator's ability is. Maybe whatever it was could explain the weird way he was talking."

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

"As the self appointed group dork, it just screams super villain." He waits.

"What? No cliche 'this is real life, not a comic book' speech?"

[The_New_Guy]

[OOC]We'll wait another day to see if Chronic Lunacy posts his reply to the most recent part of the phone conversation, if not I'll try to NPC him until his handler returns. Now that we're back on track I want to keep this thing rolling![/OOC]