Aberrant

Previously, on Aberrant:

Our heroes grappled with dramatic discord in the group as Alexa was caught up in a scintillating sex scandal! Can they see their way through this

and

defeat the Yakuza blackmarket technologists that have Sean's cousin ensnared in their trap? Stay tuned to find out!

Starring

Lucithana

as Vanessa Stacks

Kitty

as Gillian Haynes

NathanRavenwood

as Alexa Fairchild

Jason

as Sean Toulman

Guardsman Griffin

as Jared Vance

Mexico City was a nicer place than the six of them expected. The streets were clean, the buildings gleamed, and futuristic touches seemed to shine from every corner - from the self driving cabs to the holographic projection pillars that provided maps and on the go translation to, hell, the fact that the whole city seemed to have free (if slow) OpFi. In fact, the whole place seemed to be a radical turn around from the United State's stereotype of Mexico...but...

That's what happened when the headquarters for Project Utopia and it's immense amounts of money, influence, and nova-power transitioned from the United States to another place.

The Utopian offices were near the center of the city, and required a short trip through a security scanner - a grinning guard with a rather shockingly detailed Santa Muerte tattoo on his face explained: "Sorry, but after San Paulo, no need to be too careful, eh?"

San Pualo, Brazil, had been devastated by a suitcase fusion bomb back in 2006. It was the largest terror attack ever, definitely the worst in South and Central America, and was definitely a good reason to crack down on blacktech, as only a nova could have built the device...or at least, that was the theory.

But after all that - the teleport, the security checks, the browbeating that Vanessa had laid out to get here in the first place...and the meeting was an anti-climax.

"Of course," Director of Public Relations Maria Villareal spoke with a musical, Spanish accented voice that was slightly at odd with her square jawed, chunky, somewhat dumpy frame. But if she knew that she was unattractive, she did not let the world think so. She dressed in a finely cut dress, had earrings that sparkled, and acted with utter confidence as she welcomed the six novas into her office - snacks already laid out (a mixture of cheese, crackers, and some Mexican delicacies, including some Mexican Cokes - the ones with real sugar, not HFCS.) "You are absolutely right - this is a unique public relations opportunity, and Mr. Cheddar will have his job back immediately - once we spin it properly. Miss Fairchild, are you interested in giving any interviews, or would you rather we be keeping your involvement private?" She smiled. "And, of course, if any of the rest of you wish to stay private, please, tell me now and I will be sure to spin the story so that you are nowhere near it - beyond maybe an incidental mention or two."

"Cooookies," Alexa said, popping three into her mouth. She had her priorities.

"I'd rather not be in any kind of press release I don't set up myself," Jay made plain and clear, otherwise content to let the anti-climactic meeting be just that. He didn't quite feel up to the sudden task of trying to match wits with half the world's political influences.

Vanessa shrugged slightly, "I'm okay either way.." She said sighing slightly, "I just want to make sure people don't get abused now or in the future.."

"I'm good for now I think, in terms of 'spin'." Gillian said before resuming sipping from her soda, enjoying the taste between snatching little bits of cheese.

Maria chuckled, quietly. "Well, I can understand you all wanting to leave yourselves at the...edge of things..." She watched as Alexa popped cookies into her mouth. "Miss Fairchild, though, I do need to know how hard we should be ensuring reporters don't bother you..."

Sean blinked at the comment, found speechless for the moment. Which for him might as well have had his jaw on the floor- he hadn't expected the situation to just flip so easily. He expected atleast some counterpoint and pushback, the need to go through every single item on a mental list he had constructed about the breach of contract and conduct on Utopia's part. Instead it was being handed to them on a silver platter. Instead they were being offered a way out of the spotlight.

"I mean," Alexa said, munching on another cookie. "As long as they're not parked out in front of my house bothering me and my dad when we wake up I think I'll be okay. At the very least my dad should get some peace."

Maria nodded, then smiled. "Well," she said. "I'm sorry that the local offices hit the panic button and mishandled this so badly..." Her eyes crinkled. "Or did you think your friend was the first nova to, ah...let their exuberance overcome them?" She sighed. "I admit, Utopia did write ourselves into a bit of a corner with the squeaky clean image...but...we're getting better at handling this kind of thing." She nodded.

Jay was... reserved, as the conversation went on. He had his own opinions, quiet though they may be, about the abrupt ease in the political process. Vanessa shrugged, "Honestly I just figured it was decision handed down by someone who didn't put the thought into it they should have." She said honestly.

Sean nodded. "Well using a bit more strictly defined language in some parts of the contract, like the morality clause, would help tie the hands of those that would panic in the future." He said, keeping his thoughts that conflicted with Vanessa's statement silent.

Alexa blushed. "I mean, I didn't exactly put much thought into things either. I should probably apologize to Arkansas or whatever her name is."

"Arkansas?" Maria asked, looking slightly confused.

"Alaska..." Gillian whispered before taking another sip of her soda.

Sean chuckled. "If you're going to tease her, call her Snow White."

Alexa snapped her fingers at Gillian. "Right. Her."

Maria snorted. "So..." She said, rubbing her chin. "Is there anything more you wish to discuss? If so, I will need to start making phone calls." She smiled. Apparently quite the silent one today, Jay shot a look over to his friends. -Was- there anything else they needed to discuss? In particular, he seemed to be mulling over their own recent misadventures.

"Would it be possible to have your business card, should something arise like this in the future that we can bring to your attention so it doesn't run nearly this far out of control?" Sean asked rather casually.

Maria nodded, tugged a card out. "Don't overuse it," she said, seriously. "I'm a very busy woman, and if there weren't six of you, I definitely wouldn't have gotten involved...no offense, but we want any group of six novas on our side." She smiled. "That may sound cynical...and maybe it is, but..." she shrugged, spreading her hands. "Imperfect or not, Utopia is the best choice for a better future."

Vanessa frowned slightly, "Well.. I suppose we should get out of your hair then.." She shrugged slightly.

Sean gave a smirk and pocketed the card. "I won't call unless it's urgent, and no offense taken. Not every day the genetic lottery reveals a new grand prize."

Maria nodded - and with just as much anti-climactic speed - they were hustled out to the lobby - a huge, airy room, with immense windows looking out at Mexico City. Cars puttered by, as did well dressed people on the sidewalk. Utopians bustled about the interior of the lobby, everyone seeming to be busy and have a place to go. Once there, Octavia smiled. "So, uh..." She grinned. "T-That went well!"

"About as well as could be expected," Alexa said, looking back the way they'd come.

"Yeah, but now I'm pretty sure they're going to be watching us no matter what we do." Jay sighed. "After all, six Novas."

Octavia snorted. "Like she wasn't already...they...weren't already. Everyone's going to be keeping an eye on six novas. Six novas could, like..." She paused. "Knock over a country, if we tried."

"I'd much rather just make a whole lot of money and live a nice, happy life. Start a few charities or something," Jay said, rubbing his chin.

"Me too!" Octavia squeaked, blushing.

"I'm all for more cash," Alexa said, grinning.

"Speaking of, do you mind if I check your phones?" Sean asked the group. "Nothing serious or anything, just sating my own curiosity."

Vanessa shrugged, holding her phone out to the other nova.

"Bugs?" Jay asked, shooting Sean a curious look. He tosses his phone over casually.

Alexa flipped her phone out and passed to to Sean.

Gillian shrugged and fiddled with her phone before passing it over, "Here."

Sean acted a bit like a juggler with how the rest casually tossed their devices to him, collecting them without looking harried. "Not bugs per say, just wondering if I was the sole target of it or if it was everyone." He explained as he worked each device with one hand, the others cradled to him with the other arm.

"It? Uh...A virus I assume?" Gillian asked, raising her eyebrows.

Jay's phone, thankfully, had a case. He wasn't worried about it getting dropped. He was worried, however, about Sean's admission. "Ho-boy. If I need to get -another- new phone... "

Octavia handed over her phone as well, a mite gingerly. Sean chuckled as he passed each phone back one by one, only spending less than a minute per device. "You're fine Jay- the phones are clean. And it wasn't a virus, just someone prying in a rather odd way- which makes it odder that I was the only target of it." He commented.

Octavia frowned. "Do you know who might be doing it?"

Gillian nodded slowly, "Okaay. Can you give us any details? Pry how?"

"You're also the only tech-wiz Nova out of us." Then Jay nodded toward the others, indicating their questions.

Octavia bit her lip. "Maybe we should discuss this back at our apartment?" She suggested, sliding her arm protectively around Vanessa's shoulder.

Vanessa shrugged slightly, "Suppose we should at least get out of here.."

Sean shrugged. "It's fine, we can talk there and I'll go into full detail about it. But there isn't much to say." He admitted.

"Catch us up while we find a good spot for Gill to get us back home. I kinda don't have a passport, so..."

Gillian nodded and held up her hand. She focused for a few moments before holding her hand out against. Once more the air twisted around them all like a heat mirage before the scene around them changed over from Mexico City to Vanessa and Octavia's apartment. Air cracked out around them as they appeared in the apartment, causing some of the napkins on the table to go tumbling to the floor. "Wait, wait!" Octavia held up her hands - then closed her eyes. Her fingers wiggled...and a humming sphere of light emerged from her hands and hten slapped against the walls. "Boom..." She said. "I...am glad that worked. I'm creating, uh, a sonic field that counteracts what we're saying. So, um...no one can eavesdrop on us."

"So cool," Alexa said, sitting down heavily on the couch.

"Man. You guys are getting all the cool powers, aren't you?" Jay noted, visibly impressed as he looked between both Gillian and Tavi.

Vanessa smiled, "Good job, honey." She said, kissing the other woman's cheek with a smile.

Octavia blushed and giggled. "Well, hey, you have cool powers, Jay..." she said. "Luck's just...subtle!"

"Hey, I can punch through walls!" Alexa protested. "And make myself look like a bombshell babe. Those are cool!"

"Hey, I'll take a bombshell babe any day!" Jay grinned. "And yeah, luck's subtle. But I still gotta drive everywhere."

"Don't you always look like a bombshell babe?" Octavia asked, giggling at Alexa.

"It's how you use 'um," Gillian shrugged, moving to plop down into an empty seat. "Your powers, I mean." One of her clones tossed her a soda bottle and another clone held out the bottle opener. Gillian sipped.

Alexa flexed, muscles bulging out of her arms loke peaks and valleys. "You know it, sister."

"You know, if you wanted, you could easily work your luck theme into teleportation." Vanessa said casually, going to her fridge to grab a drink, only to have the soda-toting clone of Gillian toss her one. She caught it with a grin. "Just being in the right place at the right time, you know?"

"Huh... " Jay mumbles, leaning back against the nearest surface. "Maybe if nobody can see me, they can't hit me. But I mean. Honestly, I'm more worried about making a gun work against somebody who can get shot by tanks and laugh it off."

Vanessa Stacks: "Luck can help there too, Jay. Just focus on getting lucky and hitting a weak point." She snickered, "Any powerset can be powerful as hell if you're creative enough."

Sean nodded. Once he had spotted a lull in the conversation, he coughed to draw their attention and started into his spiel. "Over the last week my digital access attracted the attention of someone, though I don't know who. It was an attempted intrusion on my computer and digital accounts. Though the attack failed in providing full access or active monitoring to my accounts or devices and it was prevented from making copies of anything, it was able to skim through the raw data of everything I had. So, a personal peek into my computer, device locational data, and anything I had uploaded." He started.

"So, worst thing they might have found is just information I had compiled on Takai's points of contact and expansion into the LA area. And when I went to the various restaurants over the last few months. I've already curtailed what information could be gleamed by future attempts like that, but again it wasn't aggressive and they didn't leave any direct signs or calling cards." He finished. "Though, I suppose I may have gotten someone's attention with some of the public data I was accessing at the time." Sean mused.

He shrugged. "So really, nothing to worry about."

"So...a...cyberkinetic?" Octavia asked, her face screwing up slightly as she brought out the exotic word. "In what universe is that

not

something to worry about?"

"Who would be monitoring that?" Alexa asked. "Utpoia? Government spooks? Another nova?"

"It's possible it could just be some dude, you know? And independent nova who just likes knowing shit," Vanessa said, leaning against Tavi - who leaned against her.

"If it was a Nova you could probably count the ones capable of doing so on both hands." Gillian suggested, glancing to Sean. "Poke around any of them?" She leaned back, starting to rattle off nova codenames. "Synapses, Yomi, Neuromancer." She snapped her fingers, "Override? Or if you want to look to Utopia; they have some too."

Jay shot Vanessa thoughtful nod, and then looks over to Sean. "Could be one of Takai's people? Our phones were all on in the room when we made the call. Somebody somewhere's probably found a way to trace phones through phones."

"Takai did say that he was going to get someone to ensure we don't fuck with him," Tavi said, biting her lip slightly. "Goodie. Remember when summer vacation was spent playing video games?" She asked, grinning shyly.

"It could also be an unknown actor. Or an emergent A.I. who's trying to understand the world it's been thrust into." Vanessasnickered, "Lots of options really."

Tavi giggled, then leaned over, whispering in Vanessa's ear. "You just want a chance to seduce a sexy robot!"

Vanessa shrugged, "Just saying as time goes on the idea of an emergent A.I. becomes less sci fi and more potential fact."

Sean shrugged. "Cyberkinetic, or another method of quantum powered computer genius with how it operated. And- I didn't actively poke any of them. Unless it was Synapses acting on behalf of Count Orazai." He paused. "You know what- I would expect that from a bigwig in the Teregen." Sean mused.

"I mean, you poke them. See if how they operate fits what happened to you," Gillian said.

"We are suddenly bouncing around a lot of names I don't know," Jay said, frowning.

Tavi snickered. "Count Orazai is the public face of the Teregen, the real world version of the Brotherhood of Mutants," she said, then paused. "Wait, does that just make things more confusing? Has anyone here other than Vanessa read the X-men?"

She paused. "I mean, does anyone here but Vanessa know what the X-men are?"

"I do!" Alexa's hand shot up. "My dad has

all

those books!"

"Brotherhood of Evil Mutants back when things were less subtle." Vanessa snickered, "That title fitting Teragen a lot better.."

"I doubt it was Takai, otherwise if he knew I had that information it would have him in a panic and he would have done something." Sean admitted. "Though, that's not a bad idea Gillian." He said with a smile while raising his hand to the question. He got a lot of cult following requests for his drawings.

Tavi giggled. "The Teregen aren't evil, excatly. Well...Levithan and Greynon are. You don't kill that many people for no good reason without being evil. But lots of them strike me more like..." She paused. "Like, you know..." She cocked her head. "Those kids who are really sure they're 100% right about everything?"

Alexa flushed and pointedly looked down at her lap.

"So assholes?" Jay asked, bluntly. Then he reaches over to jostle Alexa by the shoulder, grinning. "Don't worry. You're mostly not an asshole."

"The Teragen leadership are evil." Vanessa said, frowning. "They're people who's main goal is to separate novas and baseline humans and paint altruism as slavery. It smacks of the worst Randian philosophies and helps to highlight exactly how childish they all are." She said growling softly.

Tavi opened her mouth, then closed it. "...yeah, I can't...really argue with that..." She giggled, quietly. "A-And not just cause I'm your girlie."

Vanessa snorted, "If you only failed to disagree with me because you were my girlfriend you'd risk not being my girlfriend anymore."

Sean nodded to Vanessa. "Going beyond that they have no functional leadership to guide and prevent problems like the Terat that brought about our eruption. And they believe that absolves them of any responsibility for what someone of their family does."

Tavi giggled, quietly. "Well, for example, I will never, and I repeat never...let you buy a VR chair. It's fifteen thousand dollars for a chair that will just replicate something we can get by just...going out and living real life!"

"How do you know I'd replicate real life things? That's not a very creative way of using VR." Jay looked down mid-snark, realizing he was still holding a bottle of that Mexican Coke. He shrugged and took another sip.

"Oh GOD! Do not get me started on Raoul Orzaiz's line of bullshit about how he's not responsible for what Leviathan does while he's busy doing his best to absolve him in the public's eye for murder. Because

that's

is the way to change the Michealite's minds." She grumbled, "The Terats seems to think we're living in the Marvel universe when it's clearly a better version of DC..." She snickered, "And to be fair at this point I can replicate a VR chair with my powers..."

"Exactly, so, no spending all of your money on it," Tavi said, snickering quietly.

Vanessa snickered, "I have too many plans for my money to get one of those.."

None of them had to ask who Michealites were, considering each of them - at one time or another over the past few weeks - gotten hate mail from them. The followers of the Church of the Archangel Michelangelo were convinced, utterly, that novas were the spawn of Satan and enjoyed stating it loudly. A splinter congregation of their church - disavowed by the 'mainstream' Michealites - had actually gunned down the Houston Tornado, for god's sake.