Flight 265 [IC] - Issue 1 - Awakenings

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

Daniel laid his hand against the dashboard and gave it a sharp push. The steering column and everything attached to it promptly wrenched back into more or less its normal position, the plastic and metal warping and cracking. Then he pulled the man out of the car and laid him down on the pavement. He hoped the man didn't have any neck injuries that might have been aggravated from moving him, but he figured out of the car was better than in at this point. The situation under control as far as he could make it, and everyone's eyes turned to the spectacle of the amazing human bonfire, Daniel moved to the next victim.

He went to one of the two cars that was flipped over, figuring the firemen with the jaws of life could handle the panicked middle-aged woman while he checked on the occupants of the one with its back turned towards him. He needed to take a few minutes to make sure no one was in dire need of help with this vehicle before he ripped the woman's car apart. He figured she could wait since her car wasn't on fire or anything.

So, Daniel went to his knees and checked underneath the car where any passengers might be, bracing himself for a scene of crushed bodies and gruesome death and praying that someone was left alive.

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Eric realized that he had to at least look like his rolling was putting out the fire. With a force of will, he imagined the fire burning around him being damped down.

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

With no idea what to do, he grabbed the first blanket he found from an ambulance, without permission, and went over to beat the flames off of Eric.

"Turn it off, turn it off." He whispered to him.

[The_New_Guy]

Daniel moved quickly across the crash scene to the lone car that he could not see into - one that had flipped, and was now perpendicular to the road, with its underside towards the rest of the crash scene.

Meanwhile Eric dropped to the "ground" (although he was actually hovering a few inches above it) and tried to dim the flames that consumed him. He managed to dim the light that was coming from the flames, from that of a roaring fire to something closer to smoldering embers, but as he did he realized, more than being on fire, he was the fire itself.

Robert's attempts to beat out the flames were mostly ineffective. The blanket just passed through Eric as if he were - well, the flames of a fire.

[OOC: ChronicLunacy, check your PM's for a description of what's beneath the car.]

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Eric smiled at Robert. I'm trying to turn it off, he whispered back. In the meanwhile, could you hold that blanket over me to cover what is going on? With another force of will, Eric tried to imagine his body as being made of flesh and bone rather than living fire.

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

Robert leaned over, trying to hold the blanket in a position to where it looked like it was lying on a body.

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

Daniel almost retched at the sight of what was under the car, covering his hand with his mouth and taking several deep breaths to try to calm his nerves before he gave it another look. There had been two people in the car, maybe a couple. The woman hadn't been wearing her seatbelt and had flown through the windshield onto the pavement outside. Her neck had that odd angle to it that made it clear she wasn't going to be getting back up. The driver, however, had been pinned underneath the car but as far as Daniel could tell was still alive for the moment. There was blood everywhere, so he needed to act fast.

"ANNE!! HELP!!" he yelled back at the scene where he thought Lawrence and Anne had been standing a minute before. Hopefully she'd be able to help one or both of these people once Daniel had freed them.

Daniel bent his knees and took the car's frame in both hands as if he was going to do a dead lift. Then, he slowly began to apply pressure to raise the several ton vehicle over his head and flip it onto its wheels. He gritted his teeth and tried not to think about just how much weight he was actually trying to move and how a normal person would have an stroke trying to accomplish the same feat.

[The_New_Guy]

Eric & Robert
Any attempts to "lay" the blanket over Eric fail miserably - it's really as if he isn't there, like he has no substance other than flame and fire. However, after a moment or two of intense concentration the flaming form of Eric McMahon returns to flesh and blood as the fire completely dies.

Daniel
Daniel easily lifted the car from the ground. Righting it was another matter of course - it was one thing to possess the strength to lift a small car, it was another thing to manipulate it. Still, after a couple of careful movements the car was righted, and returned to the ground - wheels down.

The driver, still held fast by his seatbelt, remained in the car for the ordeal, and was jostled quite roughly through it all. He didn't seem to care much one way or the other though - he had long ago slipped into unconsciousness. Seconds later Ann and Lawrence appeared, behind Daniel, answering his summons.

"Sorry..." said Ann softly "...we were using Eric's distraction to look after the people in the ambulance."

Moving quickly to the car she reached her hand inside and laid it upon the mans shoulder. It only took a moment or two, before the man took in a deep breath, and began coughing.

"We should get out of here. He'll come too directly, and then there'll be questions." Lawrence spoke cautiously. "If you want to wait here I'll pop back for you once Ann's back in the Van."

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Eric gave a sigh of relief as his body returned to normal. Thinking quickly, he grabbed the blanket from Robert and draped it over himself, hiding the fact that he wasn't burned. Get back to the van, he whispered. I'm going to play dead for a bit in the hopes that, with all the confusion, people just assume I burned to death.

He rolled himself - still under the blanket - as close to an upright car as he could.

Spoiler

Show

Eric is going to slip under the car, then roll out from the other side and try to pass himself off as a concerned citizen.

[ChronicLunacy]

Moving quickly to the car she reached her hand inside and laid it upon the mans shoulder. It only took a moment or two, before the man took in a deep breath, and began coughing.

"We should get out of here. He'll come too directly, and then there'll be questions." Lawrence spoke cautiously. "If you want to wait here I'll pop back for you once Ann's back in the Van."

"No, wait!" Daniel caught Lawrence's sleeve before he could teleport away again, as if he could hold him there. "There's still one more..." he said sadly, nodding to the woman on the ground with the broken neck. "Anne...can you do anything about her or is she..." Daniel averted his eyes and turned his head away, leaving the rest unspoken. Was she truly dead?

"Besides, there's one more car I need to help with." Daniel said, straightening up and looking over at the last car, where the middle-aged woman was trapped while firefighters attempted to cut her out. "Once I help her we can go. I'll find a way to duck behind that ambulance there and you teleport me to the van so no one sees which car we went to." he instructed, already making his way towards the final car.

Spoiler

Show

Trying to move things along a bit. Tell me if I'm doing too much at once here.

At the car, Daniel ignored the firefighters' protests about keeping back or staying with the crowd and firmly, but politely, pushed past them to the car. He took the crumpled door in his hands, smiling at the woman within. "Just hold on a moment, ma'am." he said reassuringly. Then, he bore down, digging his fingers into the metal, and yanked the car door, and much of the driver's side chassis away from the vehicle. He set the junk down beside him carefully, giving the firefighters a little mock salute as they gaped in astonishment, and started jogging quickly towards the ambulance he told Lawrence to meet him at before anyone thought to stop him.

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

With the crisis averted, Robert tried to casually make his way back to the van without seeming too suspicious...or obvious.

[The_New_Guy]

Daniel
Ann looked at the dead woman and shook her head. "I... I don't think so. With all the others I could feel..." she stumbled, her words laced with doubt "...something. But I don't feel it from her."

Lawrence put his hand on her shoulder, and then nodded to Daniel. "I'll meet you behind the ambulance. Hurry."

~~~~~

Daniel easily brushed past the fireman, despite their protests, on his way to the car. After witnessing what they had seen however, one could probably forgive them if they didn't put their best effort into stopping him. Ripping the car door away and saving the last victim, he ran towards the designated meeting place behind the ambulance, almost running over Agent Andrews in the process. Seconds later Lawrence flashed into existence only three feet from them, and then escorted them back to the van.

The Van (reunited and it feels so good!)
The accident scene was a mess for some time, but the commotion and the vanishing act performed by some people were enough to keep the general populace confused. As traffic finally started getting through, local law enforcement made quite sure that it was the unmarked NSA van that got through as quickly as possibly.

The rest of the trip was as uneventful as the start of the trip, arrival was smooth, and although the suite you were assigned was not as and spacious as the first (essentially consisting of three smaller suites connected by interior doors) it was certainly livable. "I can't stay here for too long - if there's a leak and people are looking for Mr. James, then they'll know to look for me. These suites are surprisingly secure, so if you don't let anyone other than myself in, they probably won't get in. Of course, you can use your judgment too. Now - try and get comfortable. I've got a ton of paper work to file!"

With that, he closed the door behind him, and was gone.

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

Daniel was obviously in a better mood after ripping a few car doors apart and saving some people. That and attempting not to think about what he was going to say to his ex-wife when she got there made him restless. "Can you believe that?" he asked the others. "I mean...Eric turned into FIRE! Can you do that any time or do you have to pull the fire from somewhere like you did with the car?" Daniel asked curiously. "I wonder if they'll let us test our limits with some of these powers. There have been a few things I've been meaning to try." he wondered, looking up at the ceiling. He'd jumped really high back at the bridge, really easily. Was it limited to jumping...or...He thought about what it could mean and shivered with the thrill. Whatever had happened to them at least came with somewhat of a good side along with the big, heaping amounts of bad it had dumped on them. Now how was he going to tell his ex-wife about it? Would they let him? Could he tell his kids their daddy was Superman now?

Wow.

[drawingfreak]

Robert Harrison

"You just had to muscle in on my Fire territory, didn't ya?" Robert joked with Eric.

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan was obviously still very stressed from the car ride. His companions' heroic antics, combined with having to watch the entire trip for the men trying to capture or kill him meant he was only just now relaxing in the secure cell. He hears Eric, Robert, and Daniel chatting about the crash, he joins them.

"Yeah, you guys saved quite a few lives, and that's wonderful, really. But I'm thinking that maybe you should be a little more concerned about the public seeing your little stunt."

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Eric looked at Nathan and rolled his eyes. I went out there with the intention of covering for Daniel's super-human strength. How was I supposed to know I was going to turn into a walking torch?

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan's tone became more conciliatory as he realized he had spoken too harshly. The stress was obviously getting to him, but that was no reason to anger the people he would be living with for the next while.

"I know you didn't do it on purpose, but the fact is that no one really understands why or how you guys can do these things. Until we know what's happening, how to control it, you can't just rushing into situations. I mean, you exploded into flames about a foot away from a tankful of gasoline. Who knows who'll be in the blast range the next time it happens?"

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"He's right." Daniel grinned sheepishly. "We have to figure out the limits and specifics of what we can do as soon as possible. The next time we do that I'd like to resemble someone who knows what he's doing." He got up. "Eric, I want to try something. You want to come to the roof with me and practice your fire thing?"

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan figured that now would be as good of a time as any to start mending fences.

"Mind if I join you guys? I don't actually have any abilities to practise with, but it would probably be for the best if I didn't almost have a panic attack every time you pop those wings out. Though you might want to look for a basement first. Call me crazy, but pillars of flames on the roof might be a little conspicuous, eh?"

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"Well, see the thing is what I have in mind can't be done with a roof over my head. If it doesn't work we'll go down to the basement, okay? And hey, maybe if we get you running around or something your powers will show up, too." Daniel replied, heading towards the door.

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Eric grinned sheepishly at Nathan. I'm sorry I snapped at you. You are right; we do need to tone ourselves down. He turned to Daniel. Lead on, Superman, he said with a wink.

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

"Let's head for the roof, then, but please, promise me that you'll try to avoid anything too conspicious."

Nathan follows the two upstairs.

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

On the roof, Daniel went right over to the edge and looked down at the street below. Then, walking the area, he intermittently shielded his eyes with one hand and looked upward at the sky and then seemed to test the roof underneath his feet. After a few minutes he came back to stand at the center of the roof looking pretty excited. He slapped his hands together and rubbed them together, looking at the other two anxiously.

"Okay, so here's my idea. See, I figure the jumping really high and easily that I did earlier might be a sign that I should try for...well...loftier heights, you know? Maybe I can..." he let the words trail off and settled for just pointing up at the sky emphatically. "Even if I can't...you know, fly....then at least I can see how far my vertical leap is, right? Michael Jordan, eat your heart out?" he grinned. "So, yeah...here it goes."

He waved the other two away a few feet and looked down at his feet, then up at the air, unsure exactly of how to proceed. He tried to visualize himself flying through the air, the wind whipping at his hair and clothing and not how stupid he might look when he failed to pull it off. Then, with nothing better to do, he bent his knees and then jumped UP as high as he possibly could, repeating the word "FLY" in his mind over and over again.

[The_New_Guy]

Daniel's leap didn't seem that extraordinary. His added physical strength added a little to the vertical, but it was not something unheard of among NBA stars. The difference being that NBA stars practiced for years to get just the right jumping technique, and Daniel seemed to be able to do it by pure brute force.

The thoughts of 'fly' didn't seem to do much either, judging by how well it went. When he reached the peak of his jump he seemed to tumble forwards, and downwards, as if someone had tripped him.

It was the landing that was the most interesting. Because he didn't land. He wound up floating about an inch above the ground. As if he were riding on a cushion of air.

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

Way to go, Shaq, Eric said with a laugh, then began miming dribbling a basketball over Daniel's back.

[Green Bean]

Nathan James

Nathan grinned as he heard Daniel try to talk himself into flying. And watched as his jump reached its peak and began to head for the ground.

"Guess maybe you ain't Super-. Huh. I guess I'm wrong."

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

Daniel covered his head with his arms as he neared impact with the roof, but when it didn't occur he slowly brought his head up again. He stared at the ground, then moved his head around, making sure his entire body was indeed out of contact with the roof. "Well, holy sh*t..." he mumbled to himself. He tried to flap his arms a little, trying to gain some height, wondering just how this crap worked.

"I guess it's kind of an instinctual thing. I thought I was going to hurt myself so I stopped before I hit the ground. Maybe I should just throw myself off the roof." Daniel said to the others, only half-joking. "Hey, someone push me up."

[Kesnit]

Eric McMahon

I would say you threw yourself at the ground and missed. Eric leaned down and attempted to lift Daniel. You're the strong one, remember?

[ChronicLunacy]

Daniel Horton

"Ha comma ha comma ha, oh Windsor of witticisms." Daniel replied sarcastically, a smirk tugging at the corners of his mouth. "I just don't want to touch the ground or I might lose it."

[The_New_Guy]

'Lifting' Daniel is not as easy as it might seem. Bending down Nathan tried to lift, but succeeded only in flipping the businessman over - it seems that, although he is hovering here, gravity is functioning just the same in his vicinity - it's just not bringing him all the way to the ground for some reason.

However, under his own influence, Daniel managed to right himself, and propel himself upwards - tentatively at first, measured in inches, but then with more competency and speed.