The Right If Not The Responsibility
A/N: Okay so here is the third instalment of this story, now this one is shorter than the last one. Likewise this is a slower, calmer and overall more reflective chapter when compared to the last. I thought it would be a good idea to give the characters some breathing space and take a look to how they react to these changes. Now I hope you enjoy reading it, and I'm sorry if its not as good as the previous chapter.
Just a heads up, this chapter gets more than a little dark in a few places. Enjoy.
Chapter Three: Yesterday's Eve
Getting off the Bus, Holt and Rosa casually walked down the street, taking a left they crossed into an alley way. Several thuggish gentlemen looked up at them as they past, but said nothing. Coming out of the alley, they took another left turn and came to stop before number 52. Walking up, Holt grabbed the key from underneath the fifth fallen brick and opened the door.
After three flights of stairs they finally arrived. The third and fourth floors of the building, where they only one's which were still inhabitable. 52 Riker's used to be an apartment building, but over the decades it had fallen into disuse and then disregard. Due to a complicated matter of its three different owners all dying in the same car accident, and them leaving no specified heirs or direct relatives, the matter over who actually owned it had gone on for years, before eventually everyone just gave up and left the building to collapse.
As such the Nine-Nine had been free to use it for surveillance on a possible drug smuggling route a few months earlier. The investigation had gone nowhere, and honestly everyone had been happy to leave number 52 to the rats.
Opening the door to the largest room, Holt and Rosa walked in. It looked much the same as they had left it. Several upturned chairs, a broken chest of draws, an old blackboard still hang on the wall and a forgotten mattress. Propping up one of the chair's Holt sank down in it and stared at his watch, the rest of the Nine-Nine had twenty-three minutes left to get here before they were late.
Rosa just stood there. "I'm going to clear my head," she said.
Holt simply nodded. Heading up the stairs Rosa made her way to the building's roof. The bright sun lit up the decayed mess that it was: complete with chunks of broken brick and stone lying randomly around, moss growing everywhere, a pile of broken mirror shards and the rusted remains a flag pole. Walking to the ledge Rosa stared at all the other miserable buildings around stretching off into the distance. There was no sign of the others. She knew that expecting to see them from the top of a five story building was a bit silly. But that didn't stop her.
Sighing Rosa slumped down on the part of the roof which looked the cleanest and stared at the brickwork. Slowly her gaze turned downwards, until she found herself staring at her black shirt. Slowly she poked her finger through the hole the bullet had made and touched her stomach. Then getting to her feet, she walked over to the shards of the broken mirror. Picking up the largest shard, Rosa pulled off her shirt and held the shard over where the bullet hit. Not even a bruise.
Pulling the shard back Rosa admired her chest, it looked exactly the same. Her muscles and biceps hadn't changed. Her torso wasn't any different. Her figure was unaltered. With her free hand Rosa felt her legs they were as they had been before. Her entire body felt exactly the same, and yet it wasn't. In every sense of the word she knew that it wasn't.
Tossing the shard over her shoulder, Rosa began to feel her stomach. It felt soft, firm and warm just like it normally did. Putting her shirt back on, Rosa walked back to the edge and got up on it. She looked down the pavement looked so far away. "'If I jump, will it kill me?" Rosa asked, "Will knock me out? Will it hurt me? Or will I just get up and walk away like nothing happed? Can I be hurt anymore?"
Stepping off the edge she looked around. Spying a particularly large chunk of cracked stone Rosa grasped it with her left hand. Then casually she hoisted it above her head. It was such a strange sensation. She could feel the stone in her hand. She could feel its uncomfortable rough texture. Its jagged points still pricked her hand. Yet it just wasn't even a remotely heavy, in fact it was as light as a feather.
Sighing she dropped it to the ground, before setting her eyes on one of the roof's slabs. there was hole at one of its corners. Temptation setting in, she placed her hand into the hole and grasped the slab. With one huge tug she heaved. There was a great crack and Rosa went staggering backwards onto the floor. Getting to her feet she realised she was now holding the broken corner in her hand.
Groaning she tossed it to the side and got back to her feet. Having had enough she headed back down the stairs to Holt. During her time on the roof Terry had arrived, he was now sitting opposite Holt. They had set up the seats, so there were now seven of them organised in a U shape. On an eight chair they had placed the medical files they had taken from the hospital. Hitchcock and Scully looked like they had passed out; they were lying there on the mattress, as if it was a four poster bed.
Rosa rolled her eyes, Holt and Terry looked up as she entered.
"Ah detective Diaz, I trust you managed to give your head a thorough cleaning?"
Rosa just shrugged.
Terry was about to speak when bellow them; they heard the sound of the door opening, then the creaking sound on the steps. All eyes turned as Amy and Boyle walked through the door, both were panting heavily.
"Are you two okay?" Terry asked.
"Had to run the last few blocks," Amy replied. She put her file upon the pile.
"Apparently this neighbourhood isn't that friendly to men who only wear hospital scrubs." Boyle added, following Amy's example.
Terry nodded and gestured to Scully and Hitchcock. Both were still wearing nothing but the light green gowns.
"Yeah, do we have to do this meeting with them only wearing Hospital gowns?" Rosa asked.
"Would you suggest they go back to the hospital for clothes?" Holt asked, "Likewise we cannot consider heading back to our respective homes. That is the first place they would look for us. Anyway, now that Santiago and Boyle have arrived, we only have to wait for Peralta and Linetti before we can begin."
"How much time do they have left?" Terry asked,
"Seven minutes." Holt replied.
"What happens if they don't make it?"
"We'll be forced to assume to that they were recaptured." Holt said sadly, "Though we will certainly wait longer to ensure they are not simply delayed. It will mean that we would be forced to alter our plans so that our next actions compensate."
"Plans? Next actions?" Rosa asked, "What plans? What next actions? How do we go forward following these…changes?"
"With all due respect sir," Terry interjected, "I have to agree with Rosa, where exactly do we go next? I mean this isn't exactly an ordinary case, we've gained super powers!"
Holt gave Terry a look, "Jeffords if you please, could we refrain from use that term. I would much prefer it if we referred to them as enhancements, or alterations. This is not a comic book; this is real life after all."
"Sir, I think are understanding of real life has been irreparably changed in the last few hours." Terry said.
While they continued discussing this, Amy looked down at her watch Jake only had five minutes left now. She knew him arriving late wasn't definitive proof he had been a captured. Honestly she expected Jake to be late, but it would make her feel a whole lot better if he wasn't.
Boyle was also checking his watch. "Don't worry, he'll be here." Amy said, trying to sound as sincere as she could manage.
"But what if he's not? What if they got him? What will they do to him?"
Amy gulped; she tried to push the images of Jake being forcibly strapped to an operating table out of her mind. Sighing she broke off from the conversation and walked over to the window. 'Where are you Jake?' Suddenly her eyes opened wide. "Oh you've got to be kidding me!" She murmured. "Um, Captain Holt…"
"Santiago, what is the matter?" Holt asked.
"I think Jake's arrived." She said,
"Splendid, as such when Peralta and a Gina get up here…"
"No sir," Amy interrupted, "down here." Confused the entire Nine-Nine quickly crowded around the window, everyone's jaw hit the floor.
"Everyone roof." Holt yelled.
Scully looked up as the others ran out, "should we join them?"
"Nah, their fill us in when they get back." Hitchcock replied.
As the squad ran onto the roof, they also ran into the sound of Jake and Gina screaming. Jake was circling around the building's edge he was at least fifteen feet in the air above it. Gina who was still over his shoulder was clinging on to him for dear life. All eyes stared upwards in disbelief; it was the most unusual sight anyone could imagine seeing Jake soaring through the air like a missile.
"Peralta," Holt yelled, "get down from there before someone see's you."
"I don't know how to land," Jake yelled. "And I don't want to crash or it could seriously hurt Gina."
"Yes, yes don't crash." Gina yelled, "I can't die, my followers would have no reason left to live."
"Jake, can you at least stop…moving?" Amy yelled.
Spinning in mid-air Jake crossed over the roof, and then back. "No! I can only pick directions. I have to keep moving." he yelled.
"Well come closer, we'll catch her." Terry said.
"I can't slowdown," Jake shouted back, "If I try dipping to much, I'll crash."
"Jake, drop Gina." Rosa yelled.
"What? No don't drop Gina," Gina yelled, "Gina doesn't want to die."
"Trust me Jake, drop her."
Jake looked at Rosa, "One thousand push ups?"
"One thousand push ups!"
Jake nodded, spinning in mid-air he once again crossed over the roof.
"Bending her legs, Rosa crossed her fingers hoping this would work. Now," Rosa yelled. Jake let go, Gina screamed the whole way through. Suddenly Rosa shot upwards; the force of her legs caused the ground to crack beneath her and catapulted her ten feet into the air.
Grasping Gina in mid-air, Rosa arranging her in arms as you would carry a bride. The upwards force expelled, the two of them plummeted down to earth. Gina didn't stop screaming. Rosa landed upon the roof with a loud crash. Pain seared through Rosa's legs.
Gina opened her eyes, and looked up into Rosa's. "Oh my god, you saved me! You saved me!"
"Okay don't overdo it," Rosa groaned. She collapsed to the floor still holding Gina, and let out a yell of pain. At least now she knew some things could still hurt her.
Looking down Jake breathed a sigh of relief, now it was his turn.
"Okay Peralta, now go find somewhere softer to land." Holt yelled, "We'll meet you there."
"I can't," Jake replied.
"What?" Amy yelled, "What do you mean you can't."
"I mean…well I don't know how to explain it, I just know if I won't be able to maintain this for much longer. I'm going to fall if I try to fly off."
"What are you talking about?" Holt yelled.
As if to answer, Jake suddenly shot downwards towards the building.
"JAKE!" Amy yelled.
Using whatever energy he had left, Jake again tried to slow down, but he had no control over his speed. Seeing the floor gear up in front of him Jake burned the last of his will to shift his course towards the piles of moss hoping it would someway cushion the blow, and braced himself for the pain.
He hit the roof with a loud thud.
Panting for breath the Vulture sat up in his bed. Looking around he let out a groan, "Always hatted hospitals." He choked. Eyeing a jug of water on a table opposite his bed, the Vulture ripped off the wires and got out bed. Pouring himself a glass, he swallowed the contents in one gulp. Eyeing the room, he saw two other people lying in the beds next to his.
"Great, so I have to share a room." Sighing he walked towards the door, casually dropping the glass back on the table. Hitting the edge, the glass toppled and fell. Almost without looking, the Vulture spun around and grabbed it before it had even fully left the table. His eyes opened wide. "Wow!"
Suddenly the door opened, a young woman stood there. She had mid length blonde hair, fair skin, not bad face, alright breasts and figure. She was wearing a white lab coat, that didn't really fit with her body. She looked surprised to see him up.
"Um sir, what are you doing out of bed?"
"Where am I?" The vulture grumbled.
"If you have any questions I'll be happy to answer them, but first you have to go back to bed."
The Vulture stared her, "listen sweetheart," he snapped, "I just go up. I'm not tired, so please either get me a doctor or tell me what's going on."
"Sir I am a doctor."
The Vulture rolled his eyes, "sure, whatever love. Then answer me, where am I?"
"Sir…"
"Oh shut up with your demands!" the Vulture snapped.
The doctor tried to reply, only to find her mouth wouldn't open. Her eyes opening wide, she rubbed her hand over her lips and then tried to pull it open. Looking up she stared at the Vulture in horror. Looking at the Vulture stared at her in disbelief, 'did...did I do that?' Curious the Vulture tried again.
"Freeze," he said. Nothing happened. "Freeze," the Vulture repeated. The doctor's eyes opened wide, turning she tried to run away. 'She's getting away!' shot through his head, "I said freeze!" the Vulture yelled. The doctor stopped mid room, one leg still outstretched before the other.
"Now come back to me," he said. Again nothing happened. Annoyed the Vulture walked over to her. The doctor was completely motionless, but her eyes were constantly darted around the room. Confused the Vulture stared at her, "why does this only work some of the time?" he murmured to himself.
Pausing he tried to think back, the first time she had obeyed it had been when he was annoyed. The second time, he had been worrying because she was about to get away. Could it be, it worked only when he felt strong emotion? The Vulture paused to think for a moment. Strolling back to the table, he calmly lifted his hand and slammed it down upon it.
He let out a yell of agony, "okay…okay," he groaned, "now you doctor what's your name?"
"Doctor Mary King." She whimpered.
"How old are you?"
"29,"
"Turn around so I can see you." Nothing happened. The Vulture groaned, the pain was already beginning to fade. He needed another emotion for this to work…Whatever this was, he would figure that out later. He paused to think, he needed an emotion that was strong, but also wouldn't wear off so quickly.
Dr King knew if she could move she would be shaking. 'RUN! COME ONE RUN!' but no matter how loud she screamed inside her mind she couldn't move. Behind her she could hear the patient breathing softly. Why could she move? Why was she obeying him? It didn't matter what she thought, she simply had no ability to disobey. It was like she was puppet on a string.
"Turn around, slowly." the Vulture said. Mary felt her body respond, she was forced to casually spin on the spot. The patient stepped in closer so he was now looking directly down at her. "Look at me," Mary felt her neck straining as looked up at his face. His dark eyes looked back at her, the glint inside of them made Mary want to tremble. He was now sporting a smile that looked like it had been stolen from the big bad wolf.
"Take off that nasty lab coat dear," Mary obliged. The vulture licked his lips, underneath she was wearing a lovely tight light green shirt, he placed his hand on Mary's shoulder. "Now I want you tell me everything about what is going on here, but first I think we can have a little fun." A tear ran down Mary's face, "oh don't cry." The vulture said, "It really puts me out of the mood."
Groaning Jake slowly opened his eyes, his vision was a bit fuzzy, but before him he could make out the long lush black hair of a woman lying beside him. "Amy," he groaned, "I had the strangest dream."
"No, that wasn't a dream," Rosa replied.
Jake sat up; he was lying on an old mattress in a rundown old room. The entire squad was there. Amy was sitting to his left side, Boyle was standing behind him and Terry was right behind Amy. Rosa was lying beside him. Gina was sitting in a chair holding her head with one hand, and Holt was standing over both him and Rosa. Scully and Hitchcock were shooting them dirty looks from the corner.
"Hey mister!" Gina groaned, she forced herself to her feet, causing her to sway slightly to the side. She staggered over so she was standing over Jake, "Don't ever do that to me again. I've never been so afraid in my whole life. Never take me flying ever!"
Jake sleepily nodded, "sure…sure, next time I'll drive," he groaned. Gina pretty much collapsed into the nearest chair.
"Thank goodness you are okay," Amy said, she embraced Jake into a warm hug. Jake let out a yell of pain causing Amy to jump backwards.
"Sorry Amy…everything hurts." Jake groaned.
"Well you did take a very serious fall," Holt replied. "If you want to rest, we can carry on without you."
"No, no, I'm fine." Jake replied, using his arms he forced himself to sit upright "How long was I out?"
"Only about five or six minutes," Amy replied, "we had just laid you down when you started to stir."
Jake turned to look at Rosa, "why are you lying down?" he asked.
"I twisted both ankles catching Gina." She replied. Casually Rosa also sat up.
"Dude, what happened up there and how did you, well you know do that in the first place?" Boyle asked.
Jake sighed, "I just couldn't keep it up any longer, I knew couldn't something told me. I can't explain it, it's like when you know you can't run anymore, but without the physical signs that you can't. I just knew. And as for how I did it, honestly it was not easily," he replied, "I only just figured it out at the last moment. A few seconds longer and we would be dead."
"Well it looked awesome. Well until the end…"
"Awesome!" Gina yelled, "it was terrifying. Do you have any idea what it's like to open your eyes and see that you're falling off the side of a building?"
"You jumped off a building!" Holt and Amy yelled.
"Those soldiers trapped us inside, the only way out was the roof." Jake replied.
"But, how did you know you could…well…do that?" Holt asked.
"When I woke in the hospital, I was in mid-air." Jake replied, "at the time I couldn't explain it, but when I was on the roof it occurred to me, and well is flight anymore unrealistic than anything of other super powers?"
"Jake, the captain prefers not to use that term." Boyle quickly said.
"No," Holt replied, "I've been worn down by the changing face of reality. Now Peralta you took an extremely dangerous risk. You could have easily killed both yourself and Gina. Likewise I expect there be no more…flying, in the near future."
"Sure Captain," Jake groaned, "Right now I couldn't if my life depended upon it. And really I never want to do it again."
"Still I am glad you both made it mostly okay."
"I have to say it's amazing that no one noticed considering all the noise you were making, and the fact you were…well defying the laws of physics." Terry added. "Guess it says a lot about this neighbourhood and what they regularly see. By the way, if you could well fly, why did it take so long for you get to here?"
Jake looked up at him, his eyes were still somewhat glazy. "It took me about twenty minutes before I figured how to change direction, and after that well its quite difficult to read a buildings address from up in the sky. Thankfully it got easier the more times I tried. Plus all the screaming didn't help."
"Hey, you screamed just as much as I did." Gina replied.
"I wasn't talking about you,"
"People, can we please get back to the matter in hand." Holt said. He turned to the black board and walked over. Using some chalk that he had found earlier, he began to write upon it. He calmly divided the blackboard into three sections. "Now in accordance with are present situation there are three main questions we need answers to before we can move forward. First, what has happened to us? Second, what is the consequence of what has happened, not just to us but to everyone else? Third, who were those people after us back at the hospital?"
"Shouldn't the forth one be how we undo it?" Terry asked.
"We'll get to a solution once we understand the problem." Holt replied, "That is assuming that one exists."
"Um why would we want to get rid of this?" Jake asked, "We've got superpowers. What kid doesn't dream of that?"
"This one," Terry replied, "So far these super powers have led to us nearly being imprisoned, attacked by soldiers, forced on the run, staying in this awful building in which Terry is sure he saw a rat earlier, and you and Gina almost getting killed."
"Indeed," Holt replied, "likewise we have no idea what the long term effects are. These abilities could be a sign of our bodies beginning a state of perpetual mutation which will continue until the changes become too much for are bodies to take and kills us."
Everyone looked at him, "it is only one of multiple possibilities." He added, "Now as I was saying, question one is what happened to use, and how?"
"Well it had to be that lab accident," Jake said, "when that large machine exploded it released that…wave of energy. That must have been what caused these changes."
"Indeed," Holt replied, "that is certainly the most likely source, but that doesn't explain how these changes could happen. How could mutations in our bodies allow us to defy the laws of physics? Last time I checked there is no logical way that that it could allow a person to defy gravity, as you so clumsily did a mere few minutes earlier."
"Sir," Terry said, "Professor Hirsch said that his experiment was to try and prove the existence of quintessence."
"Yes, I remember Jeffords," Holt replied, "now I pride myself on being well read, but you'll have to forgive me if I am not up on the latest theories of particle physics."
"Yeah what the hell is Quintessence?" Gina asked.
"Quintessence is a theories fifth fundamental force," Terry replied.
"A fundamental what?" Jake asked.
"You know a force that holds the universe together like Gravity or Electromagnetism. Well remember in his speech how he described Quintessence as potentially being able to explain away things like dark matter."
"What?" Gina, Jake, Charles and Rosa all said simultaneously.
"I've got this one, sarge" Amy said. "Dark matter is a hypothetical substance that is believed to make up the majority of the universe, it and its relationship with Dark energy are used to explain why the growth of the universe has accelerated since the big bang, generally no one has any idea exactly what it is only what it not is, but it's generally agreed to be something where the normal laws of physics don't quite apply to in the same way they do to regular matter."
"Okay, so if we somehow managed to absorb this quintessence then the normal laws of physics wouldn't quite apply to us as well?" Jake asked.
"Assuming its real, you shouldn't be able to absorb quintessence," Terry replied, "I mean we can't absorb gravity or magnetism. And absorbing radiation would kill you over giving you amazing powers. Likewise even if we were somehow able to do it, it shouldn't manifest like this. Our bodies require the laws of physics to remain constant for us to live. That is the most basic laws of the universe. Even the slightest change should kill us."
"Well we're not dead," Holt said, "so it appears that something else has changed. Tell me Jeffords is it theoretically possible that this quintessence as you say could have somehow altered our atomic make ups, creating a sort of singularity that could explain us surviving?"
"I'm really not qualified to even think about that question," Terry replied, "I've just read a few physics articles in my spare time. We would need to see an expert. But then again, as it's only theoretical, virtually nothing is known about Quintessence, so I suppose we can't say it's impossible. But even if it's not, Hirsch's particle accelerator's intent was to detect the effects of quintessence, not to capture it or generate it; you can't just capture a fundamental force in a particle accelerator that's not how physics works."
"We'll assuming that Professor Hirsch was right," Rosa said, "but what if he wasn't. What if there is no such thing as quintessence or whatever else you mentioned. What if his experiment instead accidentally stumbled on to something altogether different?"
"Rosa's got a point," Jake said, "I mean that wasn't a controlled experiment, it was basically a sabotage event gone horribly wrong. The machine was hopelessly out of control long before the explosion happened, it could have done anything for all we know."
"Indeed, without the data gathered during the experiment, we have no way of knowing if the experiment was even remotely a success or not." Amy said.
"Well assuming some of the data even survived the explosion," Terry said, "We wouldn't be able to interoperate it. I think Professor Hirsch is one of a very small number of people who could have even the slightest idea how to explain this, and he's not going to be giving us any answers."
"Very well," Holt said, "it appears for the moment we will have to put the question of what happened to us on hold, until at the very least we have more information. So shall we move on to are second order of business namely how does have these…super powers, affect us."
There was a pause; no one was quite sure how to answer. However Holt very calmly wrote out everyone's name. "Now I want you to think of any abnormal attribute or ability that you have displayed in the last three hours, anything no matter how small or slight. If we are to continue it is important we have some idea what we are now capable of, then we can get concerned with how to control and minimalize it."
Holt took a pause, "Starting with myself, I have displayed both enhanced strength and inadvertently caused a glass of water I was drinking to freeze."
"Cryokinesis," Jake quickly interjected.
"Yes, thank you Peralta," Holt said. "Now Peralta, you have displayed similar levels of enhanced strength, superhuman hearing, and…flight."
"Don't forget X-ray vision," Charles quickly added.
"Yes," Holt said, begrudgingly writing it down, "now Peralta is there anything else?"
Jake paused to think, "well I'm not tiring as quickly as I normally do," he said sleepily "and now I think about it back at the hospital when a guard pistol whipped me across the head, he had to do it a second time to keep me down, and afterwards I more or less shrugged it off and carried on. My head didn't even hurt for more than a minute or two, well not until the crash that is."
"Enhanced durability," Holt muttered. Writing it down, "Diaz, I can add your demonstrations of nigh-invulnerability and clear superhuman strength, is there anything else?"
"Nothing comes to mind, certainly not enhanced healing." Rosa grumbled.
"Very well, Santiago?"
Amy looked up, "um well back at the hospital I somehow managed to cause a bed to move without touching it,"
Everyone stared at her, "Oh come on, why do you suddenly get sceptical when it's my turn."
"Are you saying you have telekinesis?" Jake asked,
"I don't know," Amy replied, "I just know something happened."
"She's right," Rosa added, "it was the strangest thing, the bed just suddenly jumped forward and collided with the guy who had her pinned against the wall."
"Wait someone pinned you to the wall? Are you okay?" Jake yelled.
"I'm fine," Amy replied, "don't worry I dealt with him."
"Very well," Holt said, "in light of what we have all seen, being sceptical of anything, while still reasonable, is no longer a certainty, is there anything else Santiago?"
"Um what about back at the hospital, how did you know that doctor was trying to hurt Rosa." Gina asked.
The others looked at her, "Oh yeah," Amy replied, "I had forgotten about that. You see what happened was, well it was… it was strange, when I touched him I could…well I could hear his thoughts."
"His thoughts? You read his mind?" Terry asked.
"Well not outright read," Amy replied, "its just the second my hand brushed across his face I suddenly heard something about how the injection would knock her into a coma, and how that would make her manageable. I didn't understand most of it and that's all I got. But it was enough."
"Tactical telepathy?" Jake asked, "Wow! That's incredible."
"How do you know what all these...abnormal abilities are called?" Terry asked.
"I've been reading comic books since I could read." Jake replied.
"Okay, moving on." Said Holt, "Jeffords how about you?"
"I feel normal sir," Terry replied, "honestly I can't think of anything."
"Really Terry?" Jake asked. "I mean you're the biggest, strongest and most impressive of all us, by all rights you should have enhanced something or other, are you sure its nothing?"
"Yeah," Terry replied. "I don't feel any different, and to the best of my knowledge I haven't done anything that I couldn't do before this accident in the last few hours."
"Well logically there is no reason to assume that all of us would have been effected by the energy discharge," Holt began, "as we do not know nor have any way of assessing how whatever it was that occurred has caused us to change in these, assuming it is a certainty is quite illogical. Having said that, all of this did only begin three hours ago so assuming we automatically know all the abilities we now possess is equally foolish. I want all of you keep to an eye for anything that might manifest in the next few days. Now has anyone else not manifested any powers?"
Scully and Hitchcock put their hands up. "Though we have been getting hungry faster than before." Scully said.
"How much hungrier could you two possibly get?" Rosa snapped.
"You would be surprised." Hitchcock replied.
"Okay! Gina what about you." Holt asked.
"Well…" Gina paused, "I managed to take a Taser to the chest and didn't feel a thing."
Silence fell, everyone turned towards Jake, "no even I don't know what that counts as." He said
"Why do you all get better powers than me?" Gina huffed. "This accident should have made me a goddess."
"Okay Boyle your last," Holt said.
"Well I became invisible temporarily," Boyle said, "and I think I fell through a solid door earlier."
"So intangibility then," Jake called. Gina gave Jake dirty look.
"Okay," Holt continued, "now that that has been made clear, are next step is to ask how does this extend beyond us? Logically there is no reason to assume that is only us that are demonstrating these alterations; after all there were multiple other people in the blast radius. Now we have no idea how many got out in time, or if they all survived the accident. But their being more people effected seems most probable."
"Well if we follow is present ratio of six out of nine that means two thirds of them could be affected. And that's assuming that are ratio is anywhere close to correct." Amy said.
"Indeed Santiago, we have no idea how many others have been affected. Nor in what way their changes manifested themselves. But I very much doubt that we will find that all these alterations are limited to only us. Now how its effected them we presently have no way of knowing, likewise how people are reacting to these changes we also do not know at the present. Which brings us to our final question, namely what happened back at the hospital?"
"Yeah, what kind of hospital has armed soldiers?" Rosa asked.
"Well they weren't regular soldiers," Jake said, "They had a weird symbol on their suits."
"Weird? How? Describe it to me?"
"It was like a rod with snakes entwined around it, with a hawk perched upon it."
"Sounds like Asclepius's rod," Terry said, ", but with a hawk perched upon it? I've never heard of that before."
"Neither have I." Holt replied.
"Wait a minute," Boyle said, "I've seen that symbol." He paused clearly deep in thought then suddenly he grasped one of the medical files of the chair and started flipping through it "Here, take a look." He said. Several of the documents were stamped with the same symbol.
Terry walked over and grabbed another medical file, "here it's in this file as well," he said.
"It's in all of them," Amy said, holding up several files.
"So whoever these people are, they aren't just soldiers, their doctors as well?" Jake asked.
"Makes sense, the rod of Asclepius is the traditional symbol of medicine in the western world after all." Terry added.
"Something about this feels wrong," Rosa said. "Why would a medical organisation have armed soldiers? Last time I checked the public health agency didn't get its own military."
"I don't know," Holt calmly stepped back from the still mostly empty blackboard "At this point there is far too much that we don't know. As such are first order of business is to change that. Santiago, Jeffords, I want you to go through all these medical files, and see if they have anything useful relating to are present condition and alterations. Peralta I assume you didn't lose yours?"
Reaching into his jacket Jake handed the file to Amy. Holt reached into his pocket and took out his wallet, he handed Charles a handful of notes, "Boyle, you take Scully and Hitchcock and go and buy some actual clothes. Also get some food while you're out I imagine everyone is feeling a bit hungry by now. Gina if you're feeling up to it, I want you to see what you can find out about the accident."
Holt tossed Gina a cell phone, "I don't care where you look: news sights, websites, social media etc. get any information that has been released to the public. Anything could be useful to our cause. Oh and see if you can turn up anything on that symbol as well. But do not post anything. I mean that, not one single letter. Until we have a better idea of who is after us, we are to remain completely incognito. No outside contact whatsoever! No exceptions! These people whoever they are have already proven to be willing to kill. Likewise considering our present situation the last thing we need is any attention."
Holt paused, "Now Peralta and Diaz, you just rest. When you're feeling better join Jeffords and Santiago in there investigations. Boyle, Hitchcock, Scully when you get back I want you to join Gina and see what you can all dig up."
"Sir, where are you going?" Terry asked.
"I'm going to see what I can dig up on that hospital, and see how long it actually has been a hospital for."
"Yeah, did anyone else notice it looked more like an office building than a hospital?" Amy asked.
The others nodded, "Very good, well we're meet up in three hours and determine what we have found out." With that the Nine-nine cleared out. Holt, Boyle, Hitchcock and Scully left. Gina headed off to the roof to see if she could get wifi. Terry picked up the files and walked into the other room. Amy kneeled down by Jake "get some sleep. I'll be here when you wake up." She whispered and walked off.
Sighing Jake lied back down. Rosa gave in and lied down beside him, "well this sucks." She groaned.
"Yeah, it does a little," Jake groaned. His ribcage felt especially sore.
"So," Jake said, "your nigh-invulnerable, what's that like?"
"Not too bad," Rosa replied. "You can fly, what's that like?"
Jake didn't even hesitate before answering, "Terrifying."
Sighing the two just laid there, Jake slowly shut his eyes. Despite it being only mid-afternoon, he felt exhausted. In moments he was soundly asleep.
Rosa looked over at him, pausing she looked up at the celling. She was tired, but her legs still hurt too much for her to get up. Sighing, she decided to simply let her mind wander.
Amy looked back across the hall, "Do you think Jake will be okay?" she asked.
"We checked him over, nothings broken," Terry replied, "I think he's more tired and surprised than hurt to be honest." Amy didn't reply, "relax Jake will be fine, you heard what he said this incident enhanced his durability when it gave him enhanced hearing and the ability to fly, he'll probably be jumping for joy by the time he gets up."
"What about Rosa?"
"Oh, she's just strained her ankles; she just needs to rest for a little while and she'll be back to her normal self." Reaching forward Terry put his arm on Amy's shoulder. "Relax; everyone is going to be fine. We're tough people, we can take this. And that includes you."
Amy looked up at Terry, "Thank you sarge,"
"No problem, now let's get to work with these medical files and see if they have any secrets to spill." Nodding, Amy joined Terry at his desk and got to work.
Panting heavily Wunch shoved her key into the door, and slunk into her Condo. The familiar sent of organisation and cinnamon wafted to her, partially nulling the horrible one that now stuck to her. Groaning she shut the door and closed all her curtains. Walking into her bedroom Wunch calmly began to strip off all her clothes. She needed a shower, escaping that hospital had been harder than she had expected. Much much harder.
Wunch tossed her wet sticky shirt and filthy torn trousers to the side. She then clambered into her bathroom, and let the water trickle. Wunch felt the warm water running down her skin, and watched as it turned red before it drained down the plug hole. Diverting her eyes Wunch first stared at the white tiles, then just closed her eyes and simply enjoyed the pleasant sensation as the warm water washed down her body. She spent the next twenty five minutes just standing in that shower enjoying the warm comforting sensation it gave. Hoping that it would wash what had just happened from her memory.
Finally beginning to feel a little better, Wunch clambered out of the shower, and let her luxury soft towel caress her naked body. But then she made the mistake of looking at herself in the mirror, and all at once it all came flooding back over her. Shuddering Wunch walked back into her living room. Turning to the fire place, she quickly built herself a fire.
It was soon happily crackling away, walking back into her bedroom, Wunch picked up her bloodstained shirt and dirty torn trousers. Strolling back into the living room, she tossed the ruined garments into the fire. Then turning to her drinks cabinet, she poured herself a double shot of whiskey. Drinking the whole glass in on gulp, Wunch poured herself another then slumped down into her favourite black leather chair. She watched as the flames consumed her unclean clothes.
Holt looked down at his watch, already two hours had past and he had found nothing. According to the cities plans, the building was simple a state owned municipal office. However there no direct links to specifically which municipal department it was for, nor could he find any record of management or even employee's he could contact for information about it. The official listed phone number had been disconnected and there was no email.
Every way he looked at this building the more suspicious it got. Pausing Holt decided he wanted a black coffee. Leaving the the library Holt walked into the café across the street and gave his order. Taking a sip Holt tried to let his thoughts settle. 'what was it about this building? What was going on?' He had no idea, and that wasn't even getting into the big questions, 'who were these people? What did they want with them?'
Sighing Holt looked around, the café looked normal. People were happily sitting together eating and drinking, outside mothers were walking by with their children; teenagers were glued to their phones. How could everything seem so normal? Why was everything so tranquil? How could everything feel so much the same after all the alterations? How could it not be different now that nearly everything had changed?
Holt knew that the people around him probably didn't know about all the alterations yet, but somehow it still felt wrong. There should be signs, indications, reactions etc. There should be something that reflected how different the world had suddenly become. Even if it was only a minor thing, their should be some sign or other. Yet there was nothing! Absolutely nothing.
Holt took another sip of his coffee; his eyes fell on a young couple holding hands together in the corner. All at once his thoughts turned to Kevin. The doctor had said that their love ones had been informed, but he had been lying through his teeth about everything else, how could Holt be sure he wasn't lying about that as well?
What if Kevin had no idea what had happened to him or where he was? Holt's hand to trembled causing him to spill a little of his coffee. With a napkin, he mopped it up. 'I can't contact him; he would just want to join me out here and that would put him in danger. Besides he'll be safe. This is America, whoever these people is they can't just take people at random. Especially not Kevin, he would noticed missing in less than a day.'
Pausing Holt began to wonder how would he tell Kevin about the changes that had happened to him? How we he react to the fact his husband could now throw grown men around, and turn water into ice? Pausing Holt silently said a thank you that no more dramatic changes had occurred to him. He wasn't quite sure how he himself would react if they had, never mind Kevin.
Holt knew he had to tell Kevin about all this, but he couldn't contact him, not at the moment at least. That meant he would have to put it off. 'Maybe we will find a solution to this matter before I see him next, then it will be easier.' Finishing his coffee Holt left the Café and went back to the Library. He had thirty minutes until he had to head back to the others. He had to find something concrete to present in that time.
Sitting there Wunch looked at her fire, it was beginning to die down now. She drained the remains of her glass, then got up to put another log upon it. However she forgot how long her towel was, Wunch's foot caught its edge and she was pulled down. Letting out a yell her hands fell into the fire.
Frantically Wunch pulled them out; she flipped them over to inspect the damage only to see they were unburnt. In fact they did even hurt. Confused Wunch grasped another log and tossed it onto the fire. Then gently she stretched her hand out and placed it back into the fire. The flames wafted around it, she could feel their warmth through it but it didn't hurt, not even slightly. Temptation seizing her Wunch grasped a hold of the burning wood. It felt so hot, yet at the same time it wasn't painful. It wasn't even uncomfortable to hold. The rough wood was more uncomfortable than the flames were.
Standing up straight Wunch let her towel drop to the floor, then bringing up the burning log she pressed it against her chest. Wunch felt a brief warm sensation pass through her, then nothing. Calmly she rubbed the smoking wood up and down her body. Still nothing, no pain, no burning, just a lot of soot. Placing the wood back in the fire, Wunch leaned forward and let her hair fall into the flames.
When nothing happened to it, she leaned further forward until her whole head was in the fire place. The smoke still made her choke and the soot still hurt her eyes, but nothing was burning. She could feel the heat, but it felt...good. It wasn't even making her skin feel dryer. Pulling herself out, Wunch rubbed the soot from her eyes. "Interesting," she muttered. Her mind wandered back to the spectacle she had seen earlier this afternoon, and to the words Detective Peralta had spoken. Was it possible that the incident that had altered them in that way, had also altered her in this one? If so how far did this go?
Wunch placed her hand back into the fireplace, ready to test again when suddenly the flames rose up at it. Quickly Wunch scrambled backwards. The flames went down again. Slower this time, Wunch let her hand back into the flames, this time though nothing happened. "Come on, come on work!"
Still nothing happened. Letting out a sigh, Wunch got to her feet, she needed another shower.
"Here sarge, I think I might have found something." Amy said,
Terry looked up from his own file, "really who's file do you have Amy?"
"Rosa's," Amy replied, "listen to this, it says here that Rosa broke her collar bone when she was fifteen, however her most recent X-ray shows no signs their ever was a breakage."
"When was that X-ray taken?" Terry asked,
"Two days ago," Amy replied.
"Say how long where we in that hospital?" Terry asked.
Amy shrugged, "I don't know. The files don't actually include dates, just how long it been since the last examination or procedure."
"Yeah that is strange. Say you probably should hear this," Terry said, he began to read from a report in the file: "Through a series of MRI and MRS scan's it is clear that patient 47 has suffered from a variety of significant developments in both the patient's frontal and parietal lobe. There are no other records that come anywhere close to these recent mutations. Said mutations appear to presently have stabilised. However exactly how they will affect the patients thought process and body regulation will not become clear until after they wake up."
"Whose file is that?" Amy asked.
"Yours Amy," Terry replied. The two of them sat there in silence. Slowly Amy rubbed her hand over her head, but still said nothing.
Suddenly the door opened Gina came rushing in. "Um guys," she said, "Look what I found."
She placed the phone down on the table, it displayed a news video. Gina turned the volume up as far as it would go and hit play.
"In are most recent update surrounding the tragedy that was the explosion of the University of New York's experimental particle accelerator last week, the final saboteur was found in his home, his wrists slit. His death has been ruled a suicide. Arthur Kington was a technician working for the University, for reasons that are not yet quite clear he was involved in sabotaging Professor Alexander Hirsch's experiment causing the explosion which killed Professor Hirsch and multiple other innocent people who were present at the time."
"The casualty rate caused by this act of sabotage has most recently been given to confirm a total of sixty-five deaths. These deaths include Professor Hirsch, General Anderson, four university technicians, six university security guards and forty-nine members of the NYPD who had been assigned to guard the building and were heavily responsible for the evacuation during the disaster that prevented more lives being lost. Today at a service to honour the fallen, Police Commissioner Griffin said these words:"
The scene cut to showing Commissioner Griffin standing on a podium "It is always a tragic day for us to loose even one member of are noble organisation, and though we all know the risks that this job does bring, it never lessens the tragedy that is the loss of the brave men and women who dedicate their lives to serving and protecting the civilian population from harm and injustice. As such the tragedy of so many deaths is a disaster that is near unmatchable. I have here a list of the names of officers that are confirmed to have died trying to prevent the disaster, and I would like to read it to you to although that each member may be given the respect they deserve."
"Captain Raymond Holt of the 99, Captain Warren Pembroke of 87, Officer Toby Jameson of the 87, Detective Jake Peralta of the 99, Officer Elizabeth Princely of the 98, Officer Harry Burkhardt of the 87, Detective Amy Santiago of the 99, detective Rosa Diaz of the 99, Officer Charles Scott of the 98, Officer Thomas Scott of the 87, Sergeant Terrance Jeffords of the 99, Detective Charles Boyle of the 99, Detective William Smith of the 98, Detective Norman Scully of the 99, Detective James Baker of the 98, Detective Michael Hitchcock of the 99…"
Gina quickly skipped ahead to the end of the list, "Are hearts and prayers go out to these brave men and women, and today we commemorate their sacrifice, and offer are most sincere support to their families. To all of you poor souls, you honoured everything being a police officer stands for, New York will miss you, as will all of us."
All eyes three pairs of eyes stared at each other, "we're dead!" Amy whispered.
Okay I hope you enjoyed reading this update, now Chapter Four will probably not be released for a little while. I'll try to be as quick as I can, but the next chapter is going to be a little complex.
Please review.