[log] The Great Anomaly Round-up [closed]

[jumpthegun]

Characters: OTA (regular characters plus anomalies)
Location: Power Plant
Date: Day 440
Summary: Here! In brief: It's time to capture some anomalies in the Norfinbury power plant!
Warnings: Please add to subject lines.

[The Norfinbury power plant is a large building that is one of the few with reliable electricity. Going inside reveals a warm, metallic interior. Immediately upon entering is a small reception area--there's a door labeled EMPLOYEES ONLY, but you can also go into a door to the right for a small museum-like area intended for young children that explains the basics of thermal energy. Visit the gift shop and get a fun t-shirt!

Entering the employees only area, it gets warmer, though it's far from unpleasant.

Here is where it will happen. There are multiple offices before the hallway opens up into a large, open area with countless shining machines and a sealed off central area. The air in the central area is hotter than the rest of the facility, almost uncomfortable. There's a door requiring a key card to enter the central area, and the door displays a warning: INTENSE HEAT. DO NOT ENTER WITHOUT PROTECTION.

A keycard left by those who have come before sits atop one of the shining machines, ready to be taken and used.

This is the place where the anomalies will be trapped. Where the groups converging on the power plant will attempt to trap the anomalies. Messages have been put up around town, trying to draw them here. It's now or never.

Perhaps you're an anomaly that's already here. Perhaps you're one of those seeking to capture them. Perhaps you're one of the late and unexpected arrivals. In any case, enjoy the free-for-all. There's technically a plan, but mice and men might have something about things that go awry here.]

Comments

Pre-Anomaly Meeting

[jumpthegun]

[Before heading into the power plant, there's some last minute planning or maybe some information to share about reconnaissance for those souls who want to risk it.

On the other side, perhaps you're an anomaly already inside the power plant. Say hello to your fellows!]

Anomaly!House | OTA

[rubikscomplex]

((cw: body horror, broken bones, bone sticking out of flesh, blood, potential cannibalism discussion))

So, when do you think this shindig is actually getting started? [House's anomaly had seen the messages around down, the variety of messages said this was a set-up, but it's something to do. And if the copies--or originals--are gathering them all here, then that means some of them are probably coming.] I'm thinking I'll hang around for another day or two, then I'm heading over toward the Bunker to see if I can catch anybody.

anomaly!Ecks

[ecks]

What will you do when you catch them?

[She ought to know the answer to that by now. In contrast to Doctor House, Ecks is whole. Ecks is perfect. The patchwork has been transformed into a perfect gradient of skin tones, mathematically exact in their placement. What little inflection the false Ecks had learned over the months is gone. It is not needed.]

[rubikscomplex]

Got to taste the one that looks like you. Figure I'll see if the rest are any different. I wouldn't mind knowing what they're actually made out of. With everything shutting down, maybe Evie'll finally drop the last curtain and we'll see what kind of biogel everyone is.

Strategizing | OTA

[jumpthegun]

All right. [John has those he thinks are going to be here gathered together. He looks around at the people who have joined them, nodding to each in turn.]

I sent out a list of known anomalies that we're aware of, but we need to be prepared for some of the ones we don't know about. Or at least be prepared to react to something unexpected. Reckon the most dangerous we'll be dealing with are Mr. Gray's, Mycroft's, and Flynn's anomalies. Mr. Gray is electricity, so make sure you have some rubber with you. Mycroft's is invisible, but that doesn't mean he's a ghost. I've got flour I've been saving from the grocery store. I'll be spreading that out on the ground. Be aware if any of your MN Poisoning symptoms spike up, too. For Flynn... do not insult his flowers. We're going to want to direct his attention to areas that he can plant himself and grow more. Have we got anything that can substitute for soil? Set that up in one of the offices. We can lure him in there and hopefully get him out of the way quickly. Alternatively... I'm thinking he's one of the ones who might be best to get inside the central area, if we can. Flynn's anomaly has a hell of a body count. Be careful.

I think our best bet is to run a bit of reconnaissance to see who's already in the building, then make a few more plans, accordingly. I'd like at least a pair so you have some back-up. We'll also want a look-out here at the door in case any other anomalies arrive that we need to be aware of. There might be a few anomalies we can reason with, too. But be very careful of that. Some of them might not have their minds altogether there.

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen lets John speak, his own gaze roving over the gaggle of people who have collected for this endeavor.]

Anyone who doesn't have anything made of rubber, talk to me and I'll give you some condoms. The insulation isn't great, but a few layers of them should at least make it harder for Gabriel's anomaly to harm you.

[cahooted]

[Flynn is unusually quiet during the mission recap, especially when it comes to his own anomaly and the body counts.

He's glad when Stephen brings up a point that moves away from that and opens his mouth to chime in. Pauses. Clears his throat awkwardly, rubbing the side of his chin and shuffling his feet.]

I have some left, too. I mean, what I mean is, I have some. Just, if you need... yeah.

Anomaly!Stephen | OTA

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen's attention span isn't so great anymore. Everything hurts and everything is wonderful.

Oh, and he's a roiling cloud of magical energy that's somehow simultaneously a man, a hundred men, a thousand eyes. And somehow, quite simply, Stephen.]

What do you think they want?

[He's forgetting that he needs to speak with only one voice, that the overlaid voices of every person the listener has ever met tend to be incomprehensible to human (or inhuman) ears. Whoops.]

[termineur]

[ Sylar's attention span isn't exactly all there, either. He can't blame magical energy and unending dimensions, though- it's more the constant, pervasive sense of loneliness, and the determination to do something about it.

Being around the still-human people is the best, but he's found that his anomaly friends do help a little. Of course he's here at the gathering, and of course he got distracted by the continuous changing that Stephen's doing. He's staring rather closely, occasionally zapping from one spot to another to get a better view. ]

What they want? I don't know, does it matter? They're doing something here. Maybe it's a party. Or a fight.

Anomaly!Flynn | OTA | cw: body horror, potential cannibalism or parasitic growth discussion

[cahooted]

[Flynn always loved to explore and now that the cold isn't bothering him, now that he has a purpose and isn't just stumbling around the town helplessly, he's almost in a permanently good mood. It's about time, too, really, he was just so done being sad and downbeat? Losing the Library, losing Nicole, not to mention all this torture and death and callousness, it's so much easier to deal with now.

And if he can help some other people along the way, all the better. So when he finds the messages, of course he sets out to see what it is all about.

He's leaving a trail of woodland wildflowers here and there as he walks. He'd love to grow bigger things, maybe start working on the greenhouse, but he knows that will leave him hungry and he'd rather conserve his energy until after this meetup.

When he comes across his fellow anomaly companions he greets them; either enthusiastically, waving a papery arm at them, or more reserved if their relationship is strained.]

Guess you saw the messages, too.

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen, too, leaves a trail, but not one of flowers. Wherever he goes the rubble and snow under his feet melts under his feet and re-forms behind him, twisted into unnatural arrangements. It's irregular and unpredictable; in some places he leaves hardly any trace at all; in others an errant thought leaves impossible twists and spires of unidentifiable matter, dizzying concentric arrangements of ice crystals, or the disembodied faces of people he has known and loved sculpted too perfectly from rubble, looking almost alive.

He wanders in a perpetually distracted state, but even so he's noticed the trail of breadcrumbs designed to lead them all here and come to investigate. He finds another trail as he comes near and follows it until it brings him to Flynn. Stephen is everything and nothing, a roiling thundercloud but also a man, also a set of watching eyes, also a thing that ought only appear in dreams or from the corner of your eye. He still has the bad habit of speaking in dozens or hundreds of voices all at once.]

I found the messages, yes. What do you think they mean by all of it?

cw references to frostbite, freezing to death, hypothermia, mood manipulation, potential cannibalism

[holmesice]

[There's a burst of wind, like someone opened a door and let the snow in, even though there was no actual door around. There's frost creeping around, and faint footsteps in the frost.

Hmm, it's Flynn. Except not. How amusing.]

I did. I'm not entirely unconvinced that it's altruistic, but I suppose we'll find out eventually. It's not like there's much else to do in this town.

[He sounds bored, but then again, he's bored by most things. He accepts it though, just like he accepts his state of being, and not wanting to leave the town. It was simply the way things were.]

Anomaly Encounters

[jumpthegun]

[It's anomaly-hunting time.]

ota 8U

[phaseshifter]

[ After much fussing and angsting and wringing of weird clawed bony hands, Angelnomaly shows up to the party late. She's been debating with herself over whether she should show up at all - mostly because Squalo is against the idea, and he's not exactly someone who tends to baby her or doubt what she's capable of. If he thinks it's a bad idea, it's probably a bad idea.

That guilt complex, though. And shouldn't she show up just to prove that she is still herself, and that no one needs to be scared of her?

Assuming people don't have to be scared. Because what if she loses her temper or forgets herself and gets all touchy with someone? That would be awful.

But running away from problems doesn't solve them. And this is definitely A Problem.

Her thoughts go around in circles for a long while before she finally decides to at least check things out. She's definitely too late to warn off her fellow anomalies en masse, but maybe she can keep any atragglers like herself from getting caught? Or she might be able to convince some of the unchanged to stop trying to lock everyone away? She has to do something, right?

She's sure as hell not entering the power plant, though. She can be found hanging out a few metres from the entrance, floating around in anxious, erratic patterns that leave trails of glowing purple liquid in the snow. Get too close to it and she'll warn you off: ]

Don't touch the slag. You'll get sick.

[ That's not a threat! She's being careful!! ]

Stephen's joining in, as well!

[jumpthegun]

Yeah, I know.

[John's aware he might not be... Angel's favorite person. He suspects this anomaly knows what's going on. When he gets word she's outside, he heads out to confront her with Stephen--the closest person to him at the time--as back-up.]

If you could sort of... stay there. That would help.

[He means permanently.]

OTA!

[clowngirl]

[AnomaHarley's mind is a swirling vortex of chaotic thoughts, each half-baked idea being quickly usurped by the latest thing to cross her path. She's losing herself inside it. She aches as she tries to force her concentration on the past. She was doing something, just before. What was she doing? She vaguely remembers looking for someone, then getting distracted. Was it a friend? The friend of a friend?

She thinks she sees other creatures in route to the Power Plant. Maybe it was one of them. If she can find who she was looking for, maybe she'll slip back into her old self again. That was a good feeling, a brief feeling. Back when she was looking for... whoever.

The strange shape that now makes up her body approaches the plant, arriving later than others, but still like a moth to the flame. There has to be someone inside. If not the being she was looking for, then surely a new playmate. An excited squeal escapes just one of many mouths her body has formed. Long, black and red limbs of different animals scramble inhumanly fast towards the building.

What will she find?]

OTA

[godsspeed]

[ Castiel, the Angel - the proper Angel, not the one still confined to a dull human frame - has been in the same spot for days now, a blinding, glowing beacon in the middle of an empty snowfield. He's too painfully bright to look at, burning like a fallen star, though if anyone makes the mistake of trying they might find the silhouettes of wing-like shapes burned into their retinas.

He hovers above the snow, emitting a piercing, melodic ringing, like tinnitus crossed with a symphony. Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Hosts. Exaltation and meditation, seeking revelation. He'd made the mistake of letting his faith waver, when brought low and made something like mortal by this place, but now he's been returned to some of his former self. With his wings and his holy fire has his certainty of purpose been restored.

The whole Earth is full of His glory. ]

OTA

[cahooted]

cw: body horror, blood, potential cannibalism or parasitic growth

[While Flynn is undoubtedly changed – his body count and the fact that he murdered his best friend might be an indication – he remains the same in a lot of ways. One is his friendly nature; he doesn't look aggressive at all as he walks, his origami body folding and unfolding, the flowers on the papery edges in bloom.

Another is his tendency to get perpetually distracted, his mind scattered, fascinated by anything new and unfamiliar. Yes, he came here to help people but he's also never been at the power plant before, so he circles it curiously a couple of times first, exploring it from the outside.

He leaves a few outgrowths here and there before he considers venturing inside, drawn in largely by the promise of warmth. Not that the cold bothers him but it might help his plants grow even faster, better, stronger. Maybe this could become the new greenhouse? He really prefers it in terms of size!

When he runs into one of the 'copies' he doesn't attack right away and, unless he really doesn't like that person for one reason or another, even greets them with one of his bright, slightly goofy smiles.]

Hey! I saw your messages! What's going on?

Sherlock is joining!

[jumpthegun]

[John knows that Flynn's anomaly is in the building after a bit of reconnaissance, but coming face to face with it freezes him in his tracks for a moment. He can feel roots wriggling beneath his skin, ripping him apart from the inside, tracing through his veins-

Snap out of it, Watson.

The doctor glances to Sherlock at his side before starting. They need to do this right and they need to do it quickly.]

Hey, Flynn. Sorry... sorry about what happened before. Bit stressed, you know? Wasn't thinking right. Think we might've found a way out, though. But we're having trouble getting access to one of the machines. Think there's a keycard in that office. Can't get the drawer open. Could you maybe...?

cw blood, references to body horror, mouth/mud horror

[zunesareawesome]

[Oh man, it's him.

Peter knew that it was possible to run into him. At this point Peter has a semi-permanent nosebleed especially from hanging around 'himself' for so long, and he mindlessly wipes his nose with his sleeve as he backs up slightly.]

Uhhhhhh...nothing's going on. Nothing at all.

[Despite Peter's reservations and outright antagonistic attitude to the people that wanted to trap the anomalies, he has absolutely no qualms about sending this dude to a terrible fate.

God, why did he have to sound so bright and cheerful, so much like Flynn?]

They weren't my messages, anyway, so...

OTA!

[termineur]

[ Sylar, for as awful as he'd been to House and Will, has decided that he'll be amenable to whatever 'human' people arrive here. For a while, anyway. After all, talking sounds nice. He doesn't do it a ton with the other anomalies.

Besides- he's half here to see what it is they want, if it's a fight or a discussion. Or maybe there really is something at the power plant. There's still a part of his mind that would like to figure out the mysteries here. And maybe he can do something about the power. Maybe he could find that data collective!

This is why he'll be found looking at the various bits of machinery and poking a blue-sparking hand onto or even through them. So far, no luck. ]

Sheenomaly OTA

[ninjainviolet]

[ Just as the "other" Sheena had predicted, the true Sheena responded to the messages asking for help. Yes, she had seen the other notes, but her desire to aid and protect others overrode the threat of a trap.

However, that doesn't mean she's totally lowered her guard upon entering the power plant--trailing poisonous gas and burned footsteps into the ground with every measured step. She looks around, totally oblivious to the effect the sight of her moving-like-molten-lava might have on people.

Of course, since she's there to help, she makes her presence known. ]

Hello? I saw the message asking for help, and I'm here. I can help you get warm!

Day 441 - Arguing the Fate of the Anomalies

[thewarningafter]

[Stephen gets it. He does. Miller has always been a bastard, and Stephen will go to the grave knowing he was personally responsible for making the bastard's plan possible. He's just...not as convinced as John seems to be that letting it happen is the wrong course of action. He's been saying for weeks, perhaps months, that he only hopes they can shut this whole thing down and prevent any further cycles. Now that they have a way to do that...or to let Miller do it....

He seeks John out in person, unwilling to have this conversation on the network, even more unwilling to have it in front of Miller even if good old Bobert can probably pull up a nanomachine feed and spy on them anyhow.]

John, we need to talk.

[It's John again now rather than Dr. Watson.]

[jumpthegun]

[John's rearranging his pack for something to do with his hands while he thinks and tries to figure out what to actually do about the anomalies. About Robert. They're back out in the gas station near the power plant. It had only been meant to be a brief stop to give everyone an update out of the danger zone, and then that message from the bastard had come through.

When he looks up at Stephen, the weight of almost a year here shows. There's more white and gray than blond in John's hair, the lines on his cheeks are deeper, and there's a definite gauntness about him that haunts everyone here after a few months of constant travel and insufficient food.]

We can't let him win. Not like this.

[thewarningafter]

What he's done is monstrous. We have--you have every right to hate him. But this isn't about whether Robert Miller wins or loses. This is about whether, a hundred or five hundred years from now, someone else is in our shoes.

I wouldn't wish this on anyone else, John. Not even--

Well, alright, I'd wish it on Miller. But not on any of the people who are going to come after us if we don't let this happen.