Realistic or Modern Uhlrich Syndrome

[ArchAngelLexi]

Kira had been skeptical when she had found the burner phone. That night she had stared at her bottle of pills for nearly an hour, contemplating the absurdity of what was being suggested. Was it really so dangerous if she stopped taking them like her therapist suggested? What truth might be revealed if she stopped. There was so much she was already running away from she wasn't sure if she even wanted to know the truth about herself.
She ultimately agreed to stop taking the pills; the anxiety causing her to drink more than usual the first 2 days. It was a haze but it was a different haze than the one usually caused by the pills. She felt a warmth well up within her that wasn't caused by the alcohol. The other night her curiosity got the best of her and she went out to test her powers in one of the areas on the "local shadow map" to test whatever her powers might be and finally leaving the bottle behind.
"This is insane," she had said to herself as she reached deep inside feeling the surge of warmth. "What am I even doing," she continued before flames burst forth around her body. As she panicked the fire began to spread around her. "Oh shit! calm down Kira... deep breaths," She said in an attempt to force herself to calm down. It took a second but she finally calmed down enough to extinguish the flames. Luckily there wasn't really anything around to worry about having been burned. ground was scorched but the situation was fairly under control. Feeling to freaked out she didn't dare give it another try and opted to just go home instead.
While she was home she had stared at the bottle of liquor on her coffee table before just pushing it away for the night. Though the moment of sobriety didn't last long as she had a drink before leaving to go to the meeting place.
There were others already there when she arrived. It an attempt to appear more socially confident she stood up straighter as she approached. "Yeah, I had to take the blue pills too. this is all really weird," She chimed in. As she observed the table she found the spot for 'smokin'" causing her to nearly choke on her saliva at how ridiculous this all was. reluctantly she took her seat, reaching into her pocket for her flask, taking a quick drink in a feeble attempt to help her cope with the number of emotions she felt. Adding on to her lost sense of control the random stranger descended from the ceiling looking even more insane. "Excuse me what?" she asked, her expression clearly showing how absolutely lost she had been feeling.

 

[Jessie_Ackerman]

June 21, Monday 2021 1530

Alan tapped his fingers on the kitchen desk, chain smoking and drinking beer, while his eyes glared at the zippo. His eyes were evidently tired and his reason muddled. For a while now Alan gazed at his palm, then back at the metal lighter, pursuing some fantasy that he didn't know was real. Was it? It was all so confusing in his own mind, a jumbled mess. Jessie, his older sister, was about to come home any minute from her shift, but that didn't stop Al from trying his best to indulge his curiosity.

His finger outstretched towards the zippo, Alan concentrated hard on the metal object, trying to move it even slightly. His veins pulsated, as he felt the rush of blood surge through his head; a strange tingling sensation touched the tips of his fingers, they became numb for a second. Quite Frankly, Al didn't know what that meant and giving up wasn't an option. Clenching his teeth Alan strained his palm; fingers shaking from the rigidness. In that moment, out of nowhere, he felt something flow through his hand. The man could feel the weight of the lighter - ever so slightly moving his palm around, the zippo moved a bit on the table. That moment was abruptly interrupted by the door slamming shut. Alan jumped up and dropped his cigarette on his pants.

"God dammit!", he looked over to find his sister pacing through the room angrily. She threw her bag onto the sofa and brushed her hair with her fingers.
"God dammit is right! Shit!", she went over to get a glass of water. After getting hydrated, she took off her shirt and threw it on top of her bag, laying back on the sofa.
"What is it now? Something at work or?", he took the cigarette and pressed against the ash tray.
"I've got fired...", Jessie said, with her face buried in her palms.
"Alright, alright. It's not the end of the world Jessie. Besides it was a long time coming. I mean you hated that job, you'll easily find another---", Alan was cut mid sentence.
"I hated it but it paid the bills. Alan...I've bought this place from the money I got by selling our old house. I can't just get evicted. And don't begin about ' I will pay for it ', we both know it won't be enough to sustain us both. I need to think.", Jessie was getting frantic.
"You need to sleep, rest. Look I think our luck is about to turn alright? Just...promise me you'll stay on the positive side. I'm going to ask around, hell I'll get another job. No matter what...you won't lose this place. I'll get the money."

That was the thought that haunted him that Monday night at work, where he was visited upon by a stranger. The things he was informed about were about people like him. It was a wild shot, but he was desperate. If this was going to be a robbery of some kind, they can't get much from him. Alan knew he needed to find a way to get some money, or Jessie's dreams about a place to raise kids will be ruined. She had a string of bad luck and wasn't even able to find a steady relationship. With him around how could she; somewhere deep down Alan knew she wanted him out of there. Maybe this was his ticket to something new - something daring.


June 23, 2021 2345 hrs Wednesday night


He was still smoking as he entered that eerie place. It was big and empty, except for the people already there. Alan took his time down the stairs, clenching his cigarette like it was the last thing he'll ever hold. He wore his dark jeans and a gray shirt with his long black leather trench coat and military boots. He'll look like a crow himself, but the coat did look awesome. The silver rind on his right hand, ring finger, had a red ruby embedded into it. Jessie told him that it was his fathers, but Al wasn't sure of it.

Approaching the people, Alan felt anxiety creeping up on him. He found a chair named Tesla, but wasn't sure if he should sit on it. After a few turn around's, he nodded to the people that his eyes met and sat down, faintly pointing his finger as if to ask them if it was taken. Al sat down still sucking on the cigarette; that's when he saw the Random Stranger. It looked like another being from an alien world. "Fuck me...", he muttered in awe. When that thing said 'powers', he looked at his palm again and thought of the scene that Monday afternoon. At his work he did try and lift the zippo, it worked for a second and he was too frightened to try again. Was he truly holding some sort of strange force power? Alan hoped his questions would be answered as he slouched over, his elbows on his knees.

 

[nohbdy]

Daniel stared at the burner phone in his hand. He had acquired it a few days ago, when he had found the phone underneath his pillow after some random person on the street told him to check. It still felt odd to him and he still didn’t necessarily believe everything the other person texted him. However, after being off his medicine for a few days, Daniel did feel better. He didn’t have a constant headache anymore and he found he could gather and organize his thoughts a lot better.

What he hadn’t expect were powers manifesting. Daniel understood now how he was getting shocked so often recently. It wasn’t the objects themselves, but it was him; he was generating the electricity that was shocking him. As the days pass, Daniel did his best to try to control his abilities. That one point he had gotten excited at work and cause a small power surge. Luckily no one thought much of it and continued on. However, as soon as Daniel got off work, he went to a location that supposedly wasn’t under surveillance to test out his powers. After a while, Daniel was able to generation a few electrical arcs in between his hands without shocking himself.

Despite everything RS not lying about anything yet, Daniel was still a little skeptical about this meet up. How many other people were supposedly like him? Were they really not being tracked or are they going to end up in the asylum again because someone figured out they weren’t taking pills anymore?

Gathering up some courage, Daniel stepped into the abandon theater. He noticed that there were others already there and gave a shy wave. Looking around, he noticed that they were sitting in seats with monikers on them. Noticing the chair with the label “Sparkplug”, he wondered if this was his chair and if everyone who was already present sat down in a chair that reflect what their abilities were. If so, what the hell did Ms. Bubbles mean?

Walking over to his chair, Daniel sat down, letting everyone else make small talk. He raised an eyebrow when Random Stranger descended from the ceiling and introduced herself. What the heck was going on?

 

[Mitheral]

(OOC: I neglected to mention that Lori uses a voder to disguise her voice. However, she has a female form. She is just paranoid about allowing her voice to be recorded. And she knows that none of you have much training about cybersecurity.)

Everything about her new acquaintances screamed trouble. She was already regretting trying to help them, exposing herself like this. It could get her killed - or worse. But she wanted to help - if she could.

She landed center stage and walked right through some debris, allowing it to pass through her. She studied them all for a moment. She didn’t want to come off sounding condescending. In their current state, some of them were juvenile in temperament. Perhaps the most recovered pair were Duncan and Diane. Diane had always been more organized despite her medicated state.

“First, let me get to business - financial business. Coming here at midnight is costing you time from work. Some of you may be behind in your bills. I will say this - do NOT use your powers for financial gain - and never to break the law. Worst case scenario would be to use it violently. But back to money. Each of you will find an envelope taped to the underside of your seat. Inside that envelope are three things.

“The first is cash - 5 stacks of 20’s. There are one hundred bills to a stack. That means $10,000. That is an emergency fund. Do not go flashing it around. It is to buy yourself a little time to catch your breath - or live off the grid. The second thing is a false ID and false passport. It is a felony to have those. Third is an extra burner phone.

“I am downloading a Shadow Map of the region to your cell phones. It is a map that shows where there is no coverage from video surveillance. However, some of you hav powers that can be detected from orbit. Heat, magnetism, electricity - all detectable as anomalies under the right circumstances.

“So … what now? Good question. None of you has any idea how to live off the grid. And the instant you try, you are going to be hunted. As soon as you are late for your next appointment you will be hunted. Bottom line: you need to get ready. Or … you can go back on your meds.”

Duncan finally spoke up. “I notice you avoided names - yours and ours. I am going to guess you KNOW our names.”

“Right. I have left the decision to get to know one another up to you. I did hint at what I noticed about your powers. No, I do not know what all of them are. Some were obvious. Others were not. Yours, for example, I haven’t figured out. Do you mind me discussing it?”

Duncan shrugged. “Go ahead.”

RS nodded. “Well, what I uncovered were reports that you were some sort of siphon of electricity - very destructively. You caused an electrical fire in your home. You caused a transformer to explode. Car batteries exploded. You were struck by very long arcs of electricity - thousands of volts - and were relatively unharmed. Yes, they had to rush you to a hospital. You had, in fact, suffered considerable stress. But noone knows where the energy went.”

“Until now. Mr Bubbles?”

“Right. I have no idea what the bubble does.”

Duncan seemed to think hard. “I may have an idea. But it is pretty weird. Reminds me of a physics theory I read about once. Thing is, I really don’t knw much about it. I never took even half the math I would need.”