An expansive underground complex underneath Weston and filled with bleeding edge technology. The Headquarters of Strike Team Beta

The Portal emerged into an underground operations room. The walls were lined with screens with scrolling a variety of information, surveillance footage, maps, threat monitors, and the like. There were a number of desks adorned with computers, about half a dozen people sat scattered about the room hunched over their screens. A native american man in his late 20's sat at a desk at the front of the room towards the wall screens, staring directly at them. The man had a buzz cut, a thin but muscular build, and blue eyes. He was slightly below average height and wore jeans, a pair of combat boots, and a plain white t-shirt. The man looked up as the Portal appeared, nodding towards Ethan before turning back to the screens.

Ethan smiled at Dane as they stepped through. "Feeling alright? First time teleporting's little problematic for some people. This is our base of operations, safehouse 17. This is where we monitor situations, analyze data, and run ops. We also have an armory, an infirmary, a multi-purpose laboratory, and barracks for when operatives don't have time to go home."

Dane nodded. "I feel fine, sir. I've found that a lot of the little things that send to be bothersome no longer are. A brief feeling of nausea is all; passed quickly."

He looked around, slowly taking in everything, committing it to memory. "Impressive, Director."

Ethan smiled. "Good, I like to impress people." The Director waved the native-american man over who stood up from his desk to join them.

"'Lo Director, new recruit?"

"That's right, Dane Sinclair, this is Mike Jones a.k.a. Cyber-Shaman, our resident technopath. He deals with cyber-security, data mining, and runs support on ops. Mike Jones this is Dane Sinclair, Former Special Forces offices with a Champion Class powerset."

"How's he compare to Excelsior?"

"I keep telling you, NO ONE compares to Excelsior, he literally has no limits."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 4):

Dane shook Mike's hand. "Good to meet you, Mike. I'm glad you have the tech stuff covered, because that's not really in my wheelhouse."

Then he turned to Director Sharpe, and he asked, "Sounds like this Excelsior fellow has the rough play all sewn up. What do you need me for?"
This message was last edited by the player at 11:34, Wed 12 July 2017.

"Because he doesn't work for us, or anyone at all really. He's just the high-end of Champion-Class Paras so the Cyber-Shaman here keeps trying to compare people to him. We actually don't have anyone on the muscly side of things in STB at the moment so you'll be a welcome addition."

The well dressed man turned back to the Native-American technopath. "If you don't mind Michael, help him get a lay of the land and bring him down to the Doctor for testing. I've got another appointment to attend to."

Ethan tapped his ear again. "Door to [Coordinates]" Another portal appeared and Ethan stepped through it.

>>To Apokryphal Apartments>>

Dane nodded and Director Sharpe's explanation, and then at his exit, turned to Mike. "To what type of testing is the Director referring?"

"Power-testing, find out your limits and how you're powers work, how much you can lift, how fast you can fly, things like that. It's a mix of physical evaluations and medical tests, mostly bloodwork and scans on the last one. Follow me, I'll give you a tour on the way."

Mike left the operations room into a long hallway, naming places as he lead the way to the lab. "Over there's the armory, it's got gadgets as well as weapons, some built by our people, some the Director has 'acquired' over his very long life. That way is the infirmary filled with bleeding-edge medical tech, and if we can't get you there in time, Director Sharpe has a 'niece' with healing powers he occasionally calls in for fieldwork. Barracks are down there, mess hall over that way."

Dane said, "Interesting. Frankly, I have zero idea how any of this works. I was a soldier, and this... power... came to me when I needed it to to save the lives of my men. My friends."

There was a pause, and he said, "I felt myself getting really, really pissed off. And there's more. I'm a little quicker to anger now than I was. Truth be told I'm starting to feel a little like the Hulk, except I don't turn into a big green killing machine."

He squared his shoulders. "I'm actually super interested to find out how all of this works. I'm not a scientist, but I can tell that lifting a locomotive should shatter my bones. But it doesn't. Honestly, I should be tearing my arm right out of my socket, but that doesn't happen. I find it all... confusing. So having some science behind this, or at least SOME sort of explanation, would be super helpful."

"Well I'm not one either but we've got someone here who is, and happens to be the foremost expert on parahuman physiology. " Mike stopped at a door which opened when he looked at it. Inside was a medical lab with a young woman sitting at a desk as she reviewed some papers. She looked up as the door opened.

"'Lo Mike, new subject for me? Guessing by the lack of cuffs this is a new recruit and not a prisoner." She wore a long white lab coat over a skirt-suit, had black hair she kept in a bun and green eyes framed by a pair of stylish glasses.

"You would be guessing right." Mike Replied. "This is Dane Sinclair, the Director just brought him in."

In reply to Cyber-Shaman (msg # 10):

Dane nodded. "Ma'am. Good to meet you. Can you explain the testing process?"

The woman smiled as she stood from her desk, indicating for Dane to sit on an examination table. "Well first is a standard battery of medical tests, there are certain physiological differences caused by different types of abilities that we look for. Then we have special machines for testing physical capabilities, we have what the technicians have dubbed "the bench tester" which is designed to produce pressure to simulate a variety of weights, we essentially start at a low weight and add more until you reach your maximum, things like that."

What followed were a series of tests similar to a very extensive physical. The doctor listened to Dane's heart and lungs, examined his ears, throat, and eyes, took blood and urine samples, and even subjected him to a  CAT scan.

In reply to Justice (msg # 12):

Dane was in remarkable physics shape. Lean, working muscle, built for speed and power. His heart was strong, his blood pressure and other measurables well above average. It was also clear from the his blood tests that he had the stamina of a triathlete.

Interestingly, there were few of the hallmarks of traditional super-strength in his test results. His skeleton was only slightly reinforced, his muscles were no more dense than the normal person, so his height and weight were normal for his age and general physical condition.

He said, after the tests were complete, "I get checked regularly so I assume my stats are still in tip-top shape. You see anything unusual?"

OOC: Edited to add content. I'm trying not to make this too much work for you.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:21, Mon 17 July 2017.

The woman looked over the results via the holo-display, typing in notes as she talked. "A few, some of it we'll need to wait for the tests to come back, but our equipment can have those done much quicker than a standard hospital. I should have everything done once you return from the physical testing, Mike will show you the way."

Cyber-Shaman lead Dane down the hall to a series of rooms filled with strange equipment. They had him use what appeared to be a mix of a weight bench and a hydraulic press, having him push against it and slowly adding weight till he could take no more. There was a large open room, where they strapped a strange device to his chest and had him fly around for a few minutes. Finally they had him stand on the end of what look liked a target range while a device oddly reminiscent of a baseball auto-pitcher fired objects of increasing force at him. Once he had finished he was greeted by a medical technician who explained Mike had been needed in ops and lead Dane back to the doctor.

It was curious.

As the weight increased, Dane felt no additional strain on his muscles. He was pushing with force, but with none of the accompanying fatigue a hard workout should entail. In fact, lifting a huge weight felt exactly as difficult as flying fast, which defied logic, once he began to think about it. He did not sweat, nor strain, but force was exerted and things were moved.

Curious, again.

During the drill where heavier and heavier objects began to strike him harder and harder, he noted, curiously, that the laws of physics seemed not to apply. He assuming the "equal and opposite reaction" law would have knocked him backwards, but it did not seem to be in play. He stood, flat-footed, and observed that although he should have been knocked backwards a country mile by the forces that were being sent against him, he remained comfortably upright, to the point where he could not even feel the push backwards.

He mentioned all of this to the Attending, and said, "This is all quite curious."

The attendant chuckled. "Sir, that just about sums up every day I come to work." The attendant dropped you off at the med bay, where the doctor was waiting at her desk. She gestured for Dane to seat himself. "Well the first thing I should tell you, is your not champion class."

In reply to Justice (msg # 16):

Dane furrowed his brow. "Hard to be disappointed when I don't know what that is. And, if I'm not that, what am I? Sounds like you're working on a theory?  Care to share?"

"Different powersets have different classifications, which are then given a level denoting strength of the abilities. Those with strength and durability based enhancements are Bruiser Class, those that can turn into a steel or rock form, those with personal density or gravity manipulation, or just plain old superhuman strength and durability, fall into this category. Blaster class are those able to manifest various types of energy or other ranged attack based powers. Defender class posses defense based abilities, force fields and the like. Thinker class posses mental based enhancements, those with hyper intelligence, psionic abilities, enhanced senses and/or reflexes, are all Thinker class abilities. Mobility class is fairly self explanatory it includes speedsters, teleporters, and those with superhuman agility and other movement based abilities. Manipulator class manipulate a particular element or energy field, telekinetics, gravity manipulators and the like. And champion class is usually a mix of Bruiser and Mobility class with sometimes additional abilities unique to the individual.

After going over the test results I've found that your body itself possesses no differences from an average human of your background and training. However upon reviewing your cat-scans and the results of your physical exam I noticed results similar to what we've seen in telekinetics we've viewed in the past. It appears you have a very specialized version of telekinesis, but instead of emanating a force at a distance, it instead responds to whatever you touch. In Laymans terms, while you must physically touch whatever you are lifting, you are lifting it with your mind and not your muscles."

In reply to Justice (msg # 18):

Dane considered this. "Well, that certainly is interesting, although... does that distinction make a difference? Are there limitations to this that are different that if it was actual muscular strength? Or, conversely, are there advantages to this? So far I've just lifted things."

"There are a few, for one your abilities are not static, but turn on and off based on what you intend to do and whether or not you are threatened. This can leave you vulnerable to surprise attacks, as well as anything that may interfere with your brain activity, such as drugs or psionic interference. However this also means your abilities are not at any set levels, but rather rely on your focus and strength of will. Essentially this makes you as physically strong as your are mentally. The greater your determination the greater your power.

The real significance with this however is not in the differences, but in it's uniqueness. We have one other 'specialized telekinetic' on file, an expert marksman able to manipulate an object or persons movement. The most common use of this ability was to change the force and trajectory of his bullets, but he was also capable of slowing down an enemy's movement, or speeding up his own.

But even while his abilities could fall under the mobility and blaster classes they still follow the basic tendency's we see in other telekinetics just in a more specialized form. An ability that appears to be another is something we have not encountered before."

Dane nodded, taking it all in. It was clear he was a fairly linear, logical thinker, working through the various potentials and pitfalls in his mind.

"Interesting. It'll take me a while to work through all of the questions in my mind, I think."

Then, he added, "Thanks, Doc. I appreciate the testing, the work up, and the information. Does the fact that I'm a telekinetic instead of a just a real strong guy diminish my usefulness to the team in any way? And, what now?"

"Not at all, while there are differences that you need to keep in mind there is no loss in functionality. Also, as the director likely explained members of strike team beta primarily operate solo, there are some exceptions like the Agents Pride, but for the most part you will be on your own in the field.

Now I put your data into the database, and when the Director returns from his meaning he will review the file then come to speak to you. In the meantime you can familiarize yourself with the base and those you'll be working with. I would also like to do some additional tests for study, but that would be your decision to participate or not. Due to the direct correlation between your physical strength and mental state I would suggest setting an appointment with a mental health proffesionall simply to monitor your mental health, but again that is your decision."

In reply to Justice (msg # 22):

Dane frowned slightly. "Well, it seems there are a few drawbacks. First, as you mentioned, telekinesis can be nullified. Strength, so far as I know, cannot. Second, if my mental state becomes compromised, my powers fade, and third, if I'm surprised, or asleep, I'm toast. Those seem like moderate significant disadvantages. And with not much in the way of positive trade-offs."

He shrugged., and then smiled. "Still, I got along just fine without them, so I'll just have to be mindful of the limitations. No beer for me."

He added, "I'm happy to participate in any tests you deem necessary. As for training, do you have any suggestions as to how I can train up an ability that no one else has? Or am I on my own?"

"For a civilian yes, those would be very significant drawbacks. To a soldier that has been trained to read his environment, evaluate threats, test ones food for tampering and sleep lightly, I would find them much more minor. The chance of being surprised is slight and the activation is instinctive meaning the threat needn't necessarily reach your concious brain. Your biggest worry would be snipers, which is one of the most effective ways for a human to eliminate a good 80% of paras, so it's something a good deal of our agents must deal with. One of our most effective agents possesses a personal force-field that absorbs and redirects kinetic energy. Many drawbacks can be overcome by those with the right training, and not training in the powers specifically but people like soldiers, covert operatives and martial artists.

For drugs you mainly have to worry about hallucinogens, heavy sedatives, and poisons. Which are things that one can encounter during covert ops, and again is a disadvantage shared by many agents. Your abilities being mental and nature also give you more protection against an enemy psychic than most, and we have devices designed for protecting our agents from psychic attacks.

I would also find strength only limited by ones determination and mental fortitude, especially in the hands of a soldier, to be a highly significant advantage. As long as you're strength of will holds, your physical strength will adapt to whatever you need it to be. Not only do you not have to worry about ripping doors off their hinges like most with enhanced strenght, but your abilities essentially have no limits. You can be as strong, fast, or durable, as you need to be, as long as your will is strong and your convictions stand."

The woman shook her head. "Not neccessary tests, simply for study. Parahuman biology is still a very new field, and while I am at the top of it there is still much to learn, and a unique ability like yours is a great opportunity for learning.

As for training we have some facilities here where you can learn fine control over your strength, I would also suggest meditation and confidence building exercises as well."

Dane repressed a smile, and said, "I was United States Special Forces, ma'am; confidence is not the problem. On the other hand, if my mind keys my abilities, then to be the best I can be, I have to train it like everything else."

Then his repressed smile became an actual smile, and he said, "I'm happy to assist your research, Doc. Let me know the time and place, and I'll be there."

A slight pause, and then he finished with, "Thank you for all of your help. This is been an eye-opening experience, to be sure."

Another glowing blue portal appeared and Director Sharpe stepped out of it. "Doctor Simmons, have you finished your examination?"

The blonde woman nodded and took Ethan to a separate part of the medlab to speak with him privately. A moment later the two of them returned.

"Agent Sinclair it seems you are fit for duty." The immortal spy said with a grin. "If you're willing to get right into things, I have a matter for you to look into."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 26):

Dane stood in his usual, ramrod-stiff position, and nodded. "I am, sir. What do you have for me?"

"As you may or not be aware, when parahumans first began appearing, Antonio Bertelli began heavily recruiting them for his operations, this allowed for him to take sole control of the city's criminal activities. He was killed by a vigilante name Shadowstrike, his son briefly took control but is now serving a life sentence in a maximum security paraprison. After that his employees scattered, joining a variety of smaller criminal outfits and breaking the monopoly.

Lately we have received intel a criminal organization known as the Lavish Legion, has been somehow producing cybernetic footsoldiers. I need you to infiltrate their organization, find out how they're creating these cyborg criminals and stop their production."

Dane nodded. "Roger that. Observe, infiltrate, disrupt, report."

He chuffed a laugh. "The 'Lavish Legion,' eh? Who names these people?"

Then he shook his head, his brief amusement gone, back to all business.

"Any leads on where to start looking? Contacts on the street? Other resources?""

"We've assembled a file for you. It contains what we know about the Legion, known hangouts, prominent members, known activities. It will take a few days to assemble a cover identity for you, you can spend that time familiarizing yourself with your targets, I would also suggest taking some leisure time, as it will likely be the last you have for a while."

Dane nodded. "Questions. First, will I be going as as a powered asset, or undercover as a well-trained normal? Second, operating in the US has operational challenges. An op in Pakistan is military, and is governed by military rules. Here, it's a law enforcement operation, which has completely different rules. What are MY rules? Am I allowed to sanction targets, for example?"

"It's an undercover op. First and most important rule is keep yourself alive, the next three are all direct related. . Keep your head, try to avoid suspicion, and learn and record everything you can. Those are the only rules you need.

Your primary objective is to find out how their making these cyborgs and arrest whomever's responsible for making them. Your secondary objective is to hamper their operations and gather as much information on the Legion as you can. There's a number of ways to go about this, the most popular being either pure stealth, performing sabotage without being discovered, and creating a masked persona to confront the targets directly, we have a number of support staff standing by to aid you, including specially trained and outfitted agents who serve as body doubles. Based on your abilities I would suggest the former, this has the added bonus of distracting the Legion from your investigation." Ethan spoke clearly and concisely, obvious a practiced speaker, he also had a charming nature about him though his manner turned serious when he emphasized the importance of keeping himself alive. He smiled as he finished. "Any other questions before I send you on your way? We'll have a full briefing once we have your identity ready."
This message was last edited by the player at 21:15, Thu 24 Aug 2017.

Ethan was in his office, sitting behind his desk. In there with him was an older man with an impressive amount of gold braid and the stars of a general, he had a bushy white mustache above his lip. Also there was another man in dress uniform, who was instantly recognizable as Col. Daniel Thompson, more popularly known as Freedom Fighter, one of a handful of successful super-soldier projects. Freedom Fighter was the leader of Strike Team Alpha, the governments parahuman task force and also was known for some domestic work, mainly thwarting terrorist attacks.

Ethan smiled as Dane entered. "Sergeant Sinclair, good to see you, may I introduce General Robert Hatcher and Col. Daniel Thompson. They'd like to speak to you about your encounter with the alien invaders."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 33):

Dane snapped to attention and it looked like he was going to salute until he remembered he was no longer in the service, and he shook hands with both of them. “General. Colonel. Director.”

After the greetings had concluded, he said, “What can I answer for you that wasn’t in my original mission report?”

"While on the ship, were you able to get a look at their sensor suites? What sort of information they were looking for?" The colonel asked.

In reply to Clnl Daniel Thompson (msg # 35):

Dane shook his head. "Not in any useful way. Meaning, the language of the aliens was not any Terran language I have ever seen. Definitely a different alphabet, and most likely different rules as well. I saw examples all over the ship, in various consoles, so while it is likely that I looked at a sensor suite, I had no way of determining its purpose at the time. It could just as easily been a coffee maker or a karaoke machine."

He spread his hands apart, palms up, in a gesture of mild culpability, and he said, "My self-assigned mission was to defend the Earth. Alien spacecraft were sending attackers to our planet, and to be brutally honest I was not confident enough in my ability to stop them before more innocent people got hurt to be able to perform any meaningful recon. In my judgment, destroying the attacking fleet was the top priority. Sir."

The General spoke up next. "You said in your report that the invaders used energy weapons, both melee and ranged. How would you rate it's capabilities and how far would you say it is above our own?"

Director Sharpe suddenly cocked his head, as if listening to something. He stared into space for a few seconds then returned his attention to the meeting at hand.

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 37):

Dane considered the question carefully. “Their energy weapons were formidable, significantly more advanced than anything we have now, or even anything I’ve heard of in development. In short, we seem to excel at firing small bits of things are our enemies, but we simply have not made any advances in energy projection.”

Then he said, “Their melee weapons were equally as powerful, but as luck would have it, I captured one of them and used it against them. It cut through a steel bulkhead without much resistance.”

A barest hint of a smile crossed his face then, as he added, “I brought it with me. Would you like to see it, General?”

The general nods. "I would like to see it, and hand it over to the lab boys for analysis. If those folks over at the 'Brain-Bank' can reverse engineer it, we might be able to even the odds a little. Your report also mentioned that one of the attackers had rock-like skin, and was rather strong. Would you say he possesed enhanced strength like yourself, or was it due to him being larger and more muscular than his fellows."

In reply to Justice (msg # 39):

Dane nodded. "I assumed you would, which is the reason I brought it. Outfitting our soldiers with these would be vital part of our defensive strategy. However, since I fought an enormous alien, disarmed him, and sliced him in half with his own weapon to get it, I would like to have it back, when you are done with it. Sentimental value, if nothing else, and of course the ability to slice through steel if I need to is pretty damned useful, and fits generally within my motif."

Changing topics, he said, "To answer your question, I think the creature I fought was just an unusually large member of their species. His strength was not close to mine, given the speed with which I removed the weapon from his hands. "

The general nodded. "I can arrange that." At his answer to the superstrength question the general looked visibly relieved. "That's good to hear, our scientists weren't able to get much from the alien dna but they were able to determine they were all the same species though he was the only one with the rock like complexion. As you may or may not be aware humans are the only known species capable of producing parahumans. His strange skin had us concerned but if it was some kind of alien skin condition or something similar to earth ethnicities then that makes this paras versus advanced technology which means we might stand a chance."

The director looked at the two visitors."Any further questions gentlemen?" They both shook their heads. "Well if that's all I need to brief Agent Sinclair on his next assignment. Agent Jones will arrange transportation."

As they left Ethan passed a folder to Dane. "This is the identity we've arranged for infiltrating the Lavish Legion. Please take your time to familiarize yourself with it."

In reply to Ethan Sharpe (msg # 41):

Dane stood as the general and the other man left, with a respectful nod. "Sirs."

Once the door was closed, Dane accepted the folder without looking into it. "I'll need an hour or two to commit this to memory. Circle back this afternoon for further instructions and questions?"

Ethan nodded. "Take your time, I have a personal errand to attend to in the meantime. I'll meet you back here once you're done." After Dane stood to leave Ethan summoned a door and stepped through it.

>>TO Aprokyphos Cafe>>

Dane slipped the folder into his backpack, and headed out. He left the building, and then found a local coffee shop, where he could relax and enjoy a delicious mocha, while committing the facts in the dossier to memory.

OOC: No need to create a new location unless something is going to happen there. However, if you have a plan, feel free.

Dane returned to the Safehouse in probably 4-5 hours once the details of his new identity were known cold.

The new identity was a career criminal by the name of Steven "Brick" Brown. Brick was originally from the west coast acting mostly as a low level enforcer. He had superhuman strength and durability, and had been imprisoned in THe Honeycomb twice, once for assault and once for armed robbery.

In reply to Justice (msg # 45):

OOC - is he a real person whose identity Dane is borrowing, or is he entirely fictitious, invented for the purposes of the cover?

Ooc. Entirely ficticious. Feel free to make up any additional details behind what I've stated.

Edit: also the appropriate records have been added into the system
This message was last edited by the GM at 23:45, Sat 18 May 2019.

In reply to Justice (msg # 47):

OOC: What about appearance changing? Sinclair is pretty distinctive; special forces tattooes, etcetera...

They have technology for the tattoos, millitary servic could also be worked into the background, was intending to add that but forgot.

In reply to Justice (msg # 49):

OOC:

Dane is a decorated military hero. His face, background, and fingerprints would be on file. So he'll need a pretty thorough makeover and new fingerprints.

I'll craft his new personality, but assuming the physical makeover and background makeover can happen I'm ready to go.

They employ a technopath, records can be dealt with. They Also have a sub dermal implant that functions like an image inducer.

In reply to Justice (msg # 51):

OOC: Good. So, assuming a complete background, cover, and appearance alteration... I'm ready to go.

Well Ethan's in another scene right now, but you can got talk to Mike and he'll get you set up.

Dane headed over to see Mike. "I'm set to go. What's the plan for insertion?"

Mike was watching a set of monitors when Dane walked up. They displayed what seemed to be a mix of, surveillance cameras, police body cam footage, and news footage. They depicted some sort of robbery commited by a mix of cyborgs and paras, and the timely intervention of some local parahumans, as well as one of those parahumans escape after a misunderstanding with the police.

Mike smiled as Dane approached. "Well first, good news. Looks like a team from the Lavish Legion got nabbed by some local vigilantes. That'll leave them looking for new recruits. Bad news it might set them a little on edge, so be careful. As for the plan." He turned back to the monitors and a slight green glow came from his eyes as the monitors change to show a seedy, run down bar's surveillance cameras and online listing (which simply held the name, address, and phone number for the place.)

"This is a criminal hangout with the very original name of 'Joe's Bar'." One of the monitors brought up the photo of a rough, but handsome looking man with dark short hair and blue eyes. "This is Tommy 'Thunderclap' Bellevue. He possesses the ability to produce a deafening sound that produces a shockwave when he claps his hands. Because his abilities are only really useful for loud, public confrontations, he spends most of his time as a recruiter for the Lavish Legion. You go to the bar, let it be known your new in town and looking for work, with any luck, you'll catch his eye.

We have a holographic device to implant under your skin, you'll have to see the doc for that, the device will also allow us to monitor your vital signs. You can also pick up any gear you might want from the arsenal. We've secured an apartment for your cover, and properly furnished it and anyone looking 'Brick' up will only find what I've planted for background. Any questions?"

In reply to Cyber-Shaman (msg # 55):

Dane shook his head. "Seems pretty simple. Get hired, be valuable, learn all their secrets and contacts, report back. And yeah, one question; what if they have a mind-reader? Do you have anything for that?"

"The implant will send off a signal that will make it difficult for a telepath to get much beyond surface thoughts. This sort of telepathic resistance can happen in both parahumans and humans naturally, so it won't be cause for alarm. Just keep yourself focused on basic emotions, happiness, lust, anger, things like that, and you'll be fine. If you're all set head down to the med bay and the Doc will get you set up with one."

In reply to Cyber-Shaman (msg # 57):

Dane nodded, and said, "Thanks." He turned and walked off, headed toward the Med Bay.

He footfalls barely echoed in the hallways. He was trained for stealth, and it was his natural default. He noticed everything as he passed en route to see the doctor, filed away for future reference.

He knocked on the door. "Doc? You have something for me?"

  The doctor turned to look at him, and smiled as she said "Yes I do.  Please come over here and have a seat, we can do this with a little local anesthetic and it shouldn't be too hard.  The Director sent me the information that you're to have the sub-dermal holographic kit and the telepathic-shielding implanted.  Do you have any questions about the procedures?  We can also give you the top line comm implants, providing you don't mind being a cyborg to a degree?"

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 59):

Dane chuckled. "I had two things on my bucket list when I was about fifteen years old: date a supermodel, and become a cyborg. If you know any available supermodels, you'll have fulfilled all of my childhood dreams. So yeah, I'm fine with that."

He sat down in the chair, and laid his arm across the table. "I'll have to watch you or else you'll never be able to slice into me. Hazards of the condition, if 'hazards' is the right term."

He added. "Oh, please find a place with no tattoo. Some of those are special forces tattoos, and are earned with a lot of hard work, sweat, blood and sacrifice. I'd rather them not cut into, if you don't mind."

 She smiled, and moved to feel his upper arm, in the large muscle there, as she said "It's actually done like a needle punch, except the punch leaves the hologram emitters in your body instead of taking something out.  I can put one in your arm, here, and if there's any tattoos, I can also use the back of the shoulder.  The comm implant goes in the corner of your jaw, it's a slightly more complicated one, but again, local anesthetic, so I just have to numb your jaw to do it.  Almost like getting a tooth implant. The telepathic shielding is just a couple small slits in the scalp and I slide the implants in.  Unfortunately, we don't have any supermodels on staff, but one of the other doctors probably could pass for one if you wanted.  I just don't know if you'd want to date her."  Clearly, this Doc was flexible and had a sense of humor.

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 61):

Dane chuffed a laugh, and said, "Yeah, probably not. My life is not conducive to happy relationships. Never home, real threat of an untimely death, always a kidnap target. You know, the usual stuff. Although it would be nice to have someone to watch NCIS and Navy Seals with... who is also a supermodel. Maybe a supermodel cyborg? That would be an interesting twist!"

Then he grinned, and asked, as the doc worked on him, "So, the other supermodel doc... not right for me? Too smart? Two heads? Divorced with seven children? Blind? Pacifist? Hippie?"

 The doc shook her head, and said "No, she's under a 'death sentence'.  Nobody knows why she isn't already dead, she volunteered to participate in a limited human trial of a new medication, and she is literally the ONLY one of the volunteers who lived.  Every other person who actually got the drug they were testing, died in less than 24 hours.  And they can't get blood samples anymore to figure out why.  So she works with us.And she's got an unknown life expectancy, so she tends to be a little weird about being sociable."  She got out a tube of some sort of medication, laying it on a tray that held two large 'syringes' and several other items of high tech, and said "Okay, let me wash up and put on my gloves, and we can apply the locals so the skin goes numb, and then I can punch in your holo setup, then the shielding and comm sets.  You'll probably feel like you got a root canal done when I am finished, but since it's all done with the local anesthetics, you can watch everything I do, even if it is in a mirror."

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 63):

Dane’s eyebrows rose. “Sounds like a perfect match. Two people with no expectation of living past the end of the day. I think I’ll look her up on the way out. What’s her name, and where can I find her?”

 She chuckled, and said "Kerry Thompson, and she usually works for the University, covering Sports Medicine, but she works for us as needed."  She applied the gloves, having scrubbed her hands up to the elbows, then picked up the tube of local anesthetic.  She said "This is topical anesthetic, it will just numb the area I apply it to.  It will do for the holo implants and the shielding, but the comm implants will take a little more, so I will need to give you a small injection of local anesthetic.  No generals needed."

Dane chuckled. "Just so as you know, I have an extremely high pain threshold. You don't really need the anesthesia."

Then he added, "Is Dr. Thompson here today?"

  She chuckled, and said "She's at the campus today, but you could stop over there.  And I don't like taking a chance to cause pain when I can numb the spot and do it without making you hurt more."  She put a dot on his arms where she wanted to put the holo units, and then picked the tube up.

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 67):

Dane grinned. “Sounds perfect. ‘Hey, I’m Dane. My motto is, ‘For those about to die, I salute you.’ I hear you may be a short-timer too. Dinner tonight?’ Short, to the point, gives her a little glimpse of who I am, allows her the space to back out if she isn’t interested.”

He chuckled and shook his head. “Man, I should bottle this charm.”

  She said "Worst she could do is say no.  Give it a whirl.  Let me just get these implanted first though."  That said, she collected the 'punch' that she would use to pop in the holo units, applying a little bit of the numbing agent to his arms before she 'punched' them in, with the topical it didn't even hurt at all.  Then she asked "Ready to do the telepathic shielding?"

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 69):

Dane nodded, and replied, sounding unconcerned, “Sure. Go for it.”

  With his permission, she applied the numbing agent, then made small incisions in his scalp in four places to insert small, flat looking items which, he discovered, made his head feel a little like it had some sort of cotton not in it, but around it, almost muffling something he had never noticed being there before.

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 71):

Dane cocked his head, as if trying to hear something, a faint sound, and then he looked at the Doc. “That’s strange. When you put those things in, it got a whole lot quieter in here. Any chance you affected my actual hearing? It was like driving with the window down, and the quiet the follows when you roll it up. Anything I need to know?”

  She smiled, and said "Most humans don't have innate mindshielding, even if they aren't actively telepathic.  But most humans are slightly 'receptive', which is why a LOT of 'schizophrenics' aren't actually schizo, they're just very sensitive receptives.  They really ARE hearing voices, just not imaginary ones.  The active projective telepaths are a lot rarer, and any real range requires power, but that is why we offer the mindshields, so that if you ARE a latent, or low powered receptive, it gives you mental privacy, possibly for the first time in your life."

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 73):

Dane nodded. “Well. I suppose that adds up. The director told me my abilities are mentally based. So it’s possible other abilities are buried too.”

  She nodded, and said "Precisely.  Now, if you ARE any sort of active telepath, the mindshielding will keep you inside your own head too, so you won't be able to practice with it and make it stronger unless you develop innate personal mindshields."

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 75):

Dane considered this for a moment, and then said, “I’ll speak with the Director about some sort of less permanent installation. I think I would like to be able to work on those defenses, as you mentioned, but putting those strips in and taking them out again like contact lenses seems like it would be pretty annoying.”

  She shrugged, and said "Not for me, but you might get tired of it.  But you'll need your mindshielding for this assignment, because if they have a telepath, and you aren't shielded, they WILL get you.  So we can take those out later, but lets keep you alive until later arrives."

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 77):

“Obviously.” He thought dryly to himself.

When the Doc was done, he stood up, ran and hand over his hair to cover the scars, and said, “We good?” It was clear he had exhausted his ability to sit in one place, and needed to move.

 She nodded, and said "The essentials are done, you're good to begin if you're ready."

In reply to Staff Doctor (msg # 79):

Dane nodded, and hopped lightly off of the table. “Then I’m outta here. I’ll see you in a few months, if all proceeds as planned.”

He gave her a tight smile. “I appreciate your help, Doc.”

==> exeunt (to the mission control and/or the college).