"Sadly, most of the studying I do is not for leisure, though I have heard of Spiderman;" he breathed as he reclined into the seat heavily.  Am I actually out of breath?  "I may be quite taxed for a time while the suit..." What was the word it used? "... recharges."


"What was the result of the space suit story for Spiderman?"

Well, unfortunately its still going on, but the original wasn't good, long story short, the suit made him do bad things, tried to take over his person, then split and created an arch-nemesis that nearly kills him all the time, and took his powers and made them even better. But that is fiction and nothing like the real world," Orlando sad sarcastically.

The sarcasm was picked up and Aeviternus nodded at Orlando in acknowledgement of the tale in and of itself.  But he couldn't resist his mind wandering at the parallel; he'd seen too much over his many hundreds of years to discount some of the similarities to his particular situation.  He had his own abilities, the suit was picked up from space, it had a symbiotic nature, there was little to no information about it... should he read the comic?  That seemed absurd.  Not to mention the suit came from what he felt was a trusted source.  Malcohm would surely not intentionally put him and the group in harm's way especially when the alien was so dependent upon their help for his cause.

But still... the suit felt good when it wasn't draining his own energy to replenish itself.  Aeviternus couldn't bring himself to verbalize any of these thoughts, instead opting to play out how drained he actually felt with the suit sapping his life force for its own purposes.

Orlando's earlier comment about needing to go shopping got Kirby thinking. He missed the Avery’s suit display because he had retreated to look through the packs the team had carefully hauled aboard after their dramatic exit from the plane earlier in the day. A few minutes later he returned with a handful brown packages under his arm.

“We won’t need to shop, we’ve got plenty of food. Three weeks worth.” He passed them out to an takers before sitting down to open one up for himself. “Dis be a bean burrito, with peaches and a pound cake on the side. We’ve got lots a flavas though.” He took a couple bites of the buritto before getting serious again. “Des might not be da Queen’s tea and pastries, but they’ll do. Truth told, aye don’t think we should make landfall for awhile.”

OOC:

Your guide to an Army MRE. For every time he says "not that bad" take a drink

http://www.todaysmilitary.com/...y-food-inside-an-mre

Max considered Kirby;s last statement, pondering a question.

It seems that Tibbs did have a flair for the dramatic. Max knew the Marvel Villain Tibbs was speaking of, Venom indeed.

Max's father while always encouraged the growth of Max's imagination, found it best to balance it with subjects more in touch with reality. Max had his share of comics, Secret Wars being one such run he had collected. Max laughed at the sense of irony the suit situation held.

"Cap what's your thought on our first port of call?"

Kirby shrugged and Max's question and looked to Xuan before replying. "Not my boat, Cool Hand, how far doya tink wes can make it, without petrol, Tsunami.?" He squeezed his peaches into a bowl he found. "If we don't make landfall, we can't be seen..."

Without halting his tour of the yacht, Xuan responded as he moved past, almost absently.

"As far as necessary. We are not using fuel now, nor have we been since we hoisted the sail. It is more a question of timing." He paused briefly as he studied something near the mast. "The trip can be made entirely without fuel, as our forefathers once had. However, this leaves us subject to the will of winds. No wind, no progress. Not to mention it limits our power supply."

Stepping back amongst the group, Xuan seemed thoughtful. "Of course, we could always trade with pirates should we run into any," he offered wryly. "Though I have never negotiated with them personally. I suggest we stick to small, less used ports. We won't need to stock up for a while anyway. You and I can go over the map tomorrow and plot a course if you like, when we have some daylight. Now, I need to go below and finish my inspection. Captain, you have the helm. Try not to run into anything. Just keep us pointed to one hundred and sixty-five degrees and you should be fine."

With his best imitation of an American salute, Xuan stifled his amusement and made his way to the cabin.

"I like that plan, stay in the water for as long as we can. Xuan, you should be able to turn on the lights and everything else...if it isn't fried. The batteries on the boat won't work, but they will be rechargable...anybody have electrical abilities?" Olrando said jokingly.  He quite a bit about everyone, but he was sure the military reports were incomplete on many levels.

"What are we going to do about time...rough calculations...we have lots of time to travel before we make it to South America, let alone Nepal. Would someone like to open that can of worms?" Orlando had been afraid to bring it up, but he wasn't sure how we would accomplish both tasks in time.

Aeviternus had already brought his thoughts on their destination to the table, so he opted instead to address Orlando's first question.

"Actually..." he started, and brought his right hand up in front of him, held out for all to see with his palm up and fingers spread as though he were about to catch a small ball.  Each finger tip glowed briefly before sending a tiny arc of electricity towards the center of his hand, each little bolt meeting in a ball of energy, dissipating upon contact with each other with a sizzle and snap of sparks.

Glancing over at Orlando he summarized; "I may be able to assist with the electrical needs."

With the help of Xuan Aviternus was able to charge the battery and get the lights and instruments working on Xuan's ship.

As the group talks and discusses various topics, they continue to talk and work on ideas.  Time goes by as the group travels and makes head way south.

The group passes the peninsula of Monterey the next day, Kirby notices off the distance a plane, which he has identified as coast guard. The plane doubles back a few times...

"John do you have a auto-pilot type devise for the navigation of this vessel? The reason I ask is I have some visionary insights I need to share with the group. I think it best shared below decks. If not I guess I can share it here."

Max pondered how to explain his latest vision and wondered if the group was tried of Max not knowing the answers to the puzzles in his mind. How would he react to such a conundrum?

Max thought back to Doctor Gosuami last lecture at IONS. He stated "The all is the mind and the universe is mental." Max wondered regarding the mind, what comes first the conscience or the brain?

Xuan turned a pair of dark circled eyes to Max. It had been a long night and it wasn't fair to ask anyone else to pilot the boat throughout the night. Much easier to navigate during daylight.

"No auto-pilot. Just the tired kind. Probably best to speak your mind out here, Max. The only trackers or bugs I found were fried by Orlando last night, so unless that plane up there has one hell of a microphone, I think we will be alright. Speaking of which, we will probably need to be prepared for boarding, just in case the Coast Guard want to see how we are or who we are. But we have a few minutes before that happens, so go ahead and speak your mind."

Max stood silent surveying the oceanic horizon. Why and where do these thoughts and vision come from? Max was always about the whys.

With the league of amazing gentleman gathered he began.

"Let me describe my latest vision. Again I'm not sure how to interrupt it. But there are some good clues. I think with some intelligent brain storming we can achieve positive results.

At first I saw the slick black haired man alive. The one that turned to goo." Max winked at Tibbs. "He was boarding a boat searching for someone, he is looking for us, but something more...

Next I saw myself in a plane, flying east, avoiding a narrow escape...

Then I was heading East to head south to bring me closer to God's mysteries, the apostle is the key, a man who was a torturer of men and saw god's light holds the secret...he awaits our journey.

Lastly I felt a power surge, more powerful, my power seemed to come from Aeviernus's body, which light filled my mind, my energy flashed as well surging out of my body, it was pure and holy, it holds mysteries."

Max looked down brow sightly furrowed.
This message was last edited by the player at 18:36, Mon 06 May 2013.

"Let me get my kit, he's possessed," Orlando said with a chuckle, then his grin turned to mirth, "that ass is going to be the death of me. I can't wait to put him in the ground for good." Orlando was referring to the slick haired man. His uncanny way of coming back from the dead was annoying.
This message was last edited by the player at 12:55, Wed 15 May 2013.

Aevitnernus wondered if the reference was to the man the group of thugs were calling "padre" when he had hijacked one and used it to end the menace.  If so, the threat was clearly not removed with a bullet through the occipital.

He turned to Orlando; "The man you speak of, is he the one you all saw the fat gangster shoot at the church?"  He was tiptoeing around the now common knowledge that he had pulled that trigger, or at least his will had.  No sense in rekindling anybody's earlier tension on his willingness to extreme action, their sense of life and death was comparatively youthful.

Yes, that is the one and the same guy, and he was at my house as well. He has a dieing problem," Orlando said.

Without really knowing what to think about Max's vision, Xuan decided it was best to consider as he prepared. To him it was like fortune telling, giving enough riddles and clues to allow some truth to slip in no matter what the outcome. Crafted as a puzzle, and a possibly ever-changing one at that, it didn't seem of much use. Not that he thought Max was making it up. He just didn't find the value in something like that unless it could literally tell him that his enemy lie in wait at the next port. Allowing that he could be wrong, he decided to keep his mouth shut about it. For now. Admittedly, he was no detective. He was a weapon. And weapons worked best with a clear purpose.

To ensure they were ready for boarding, should it come to that, Xuan was making himself busy with making the boat appear like a civilian vessel merely cruising along the coast. In a hatch almost hidden on the deck, he stowed 3 of the packs they brought with them and then stored the other two in the cabin in a small closet he could lock. Purposefully, he left the small messes around to allow it to appear normal, then made his way back up to the deck to make sure there were at least a couple of life jackets being worn.

When he made it back to the helm, he caught the last of what Orlando said as he switched on the radio, just in case there was any valuable information that happened to pass through. He kept it low, but loud enough to catch any communication.

"Excuse me. As a precaution, I think it best that we appear as civilian as possible if the Coast Guard decide to investigate us. Orlando and Max will not have a problem, but that black suit Aeviternus is wearing could be suspicious. So. Who is Dai Ying?"

Picking up on Xuan's linguistic understanding of Orlando's last sentence after a beat, a chuckle began to escape Ace's lips.  To disguise it he rose from his position, making a little noise about it and made his way below the main deck to address the ship captain's astute observation about his attire.  He hadn't really considered being boarded amidst all the excitement and was glad Xuan's wits were about him, because the suit had certainly been a topic of conversation and yet had somehow managed to evade his urgency to hide it.

Once below, he removed enough of the top half of the suit to allow access to his satchel which had formerly been covered by the suit stretched tight over it.  He pulled it over his head and fetched the street clothes he'd packed into it and replaced the suit, deciding to keep it on underneath the baggy urbanwear.  Fully dressed to look normal again he threw the strap over his shoulder and rested his bag lovingly at his back where it belonged, providing easy access to Lotus if necessary.  As always the final touch came with the hood of his coat being pulled low over his eyes.

A thought occurred to him and he was inspired to look at his feet where he'd pulled the suit on over his sandals.  They now stuck out from beneath his jeans as if covered in thick, black rubber socks, conspicuously contrasting the rest of his ensemble.

Thinking of how the suit had writhed and reached when Max had made contact, he found himself musing; I wonder if it needs to be removed in so conventional a manner...  Concentrating on the second skin around his feet and footwear, he shut his eyes and created an image that seemed to better suit the overall purpose.


When he again opened his eyes he watched in fascination as the suit acted as it was bid, revealing his sandaled feet, the tendrils unravelling and folding in upon itself until it was hidden beneath his pants.  Simultaneously he could feel the suit's hood reduce to nothingness beneath his coat's hood as it and the material covering his hands did the same retreat to expose his flesh as he saw it in his mind.  He mentally assigned this appearance a name and made his way back up to join the group.
This message was last edited by the player at 17:03, Sat 18 May 2013.

---The Next Day---

The wind was good and made for a fast pace, Kirby's note of the plane yeilded a boat on approach hours later.  With his hawklike vision he was able to announce its approach ever before the human eye, he noted that it was "Coast Guard."

The group had minutes before the coast guard would be able to see them with binoculars...

Aeviternus has already started to prepare for the boat that approaches.  What is everyone doing?

As Max sips his morning tea and his mind works on the puzzle of his last vision. He realizes that the slick man will continue his pursuit. The fact that slick is derived from some type of cloning platform will allow 'it' to do so, until the cloning platform is terminated.

Max knows slick is close and that the vision was a warning that if the group doesn't take precautions it could be the end. Could slick be on the coastguard ship?

Max turns his attention to the team. "Morning gents. After a good nights sleep and thinking through it more this morning. I've come to realize that 'slick' is some type of clone. According to the data gathered at Arsenal. This means that he won't stop until the cloning platform is terminated. My vision tells me he's close and if we don't stay on guard...well lets just say it won't end well for us."

"My thought is he might be part of the coastguard team heading this way. So lets be ready for anything!"

Max gave  Aeviternus a look of needing to speak with him.
This message was last edited by the player at 23:47, Sun 19 May 2013.

We really are in an episode of Star Trek. Clones... sure. Why not? There was a part of Xuan that yearned for the good old days; of simple fights with bad men and Demons.

"I agree with Max. We should be prepared for the worst. It makes sense to attack us in open water, where most of us are at a disadvantage. These people must have a lot of resources if they have access to the US Coast Guard. But if it is just the standard Coast Guard, we should be ready with a cover. Unless anyone has a better idea, we are all members of the San Francisco Yacht Club. My boat is registered there and can be traced back to dock in Half Moon Bay. It may just be standard protocol to see if we are smugglers, in which case we will show them through and allow them access to all parts of the boat except the hidden places I have stowed our packs. Do not be afraid to let them know you are new to yachting. This will explain why you know little about it. Primarily, they are search and rescue. Orlando's magic may have somehow triggered a distress signal, though I have seen no sign of this.

If it is the enemy, however, I would not mind taking the advantage from them by going underwater and sneaking on to their boat. I would very much prefer not to let Slick escape this time."

As he spoke, Xuan allowed his tea to go cold in one hand while the other filtered through the various channels on his radio to see if communication was coming from the Coast Guard. VHF Channel 16 and 22A were the most frequented. 16 was common for emergencies and maydays, 22A was the Coast Guard's channel. If they were the real Coast Guard, they would try to hail him first to announce their intentions. If no hailing came, they could likely expect an attack, real Coast Guard or not.

When John finished talking Max stepped towards Aeviternus. "Ace, at some point in time, fore-which I'm not sure, we'll need to head east. This will 'help' you. Again 'help' you with what I'm not sure. Maybe you could shed some light on the 'help' part? I know we'll be using a plane to make this travel."

Max then turned to Kirby. "Capt. do you have a strategy for a possible attack from the coastguard?"
This message was last edited by the player at 18:48, Mon 20 May 2013.

Aeviternus felt fairly confident he knew exactly what type of help Max's vision implied as the only thing on his personal agenda, aside from helping this group in any way he could, was to go to the only place that could aid those he sought to assist.  That place was definitely east of here, depending on which direction you traveled along the globe to arrive.

However Max's abrupt turn to ask another of the group a very pertinent question stopped whatever conversation he had attempted to start with Aeviternus.  Deciding this must not be the time, and agreeing, Aeviternus took one last look over himself and the boat to see if there was anything that would seem strange to law enforcement aside from an unlikely looking group of friends.

Approaching Xuan he offered what assistance he could.  "If you decide to board the other ship in secret, I may be of assistance.  Though if your swimming-to-walking ratio is like the turtle, perhaps you wouldn't mind helping me keep up, if that's possible.  You wouldn't need to worry how long I can stay underwater."

....Mean while at Coast Guard Station Golden Gate Park a poor Petty Officer was accosted on his way to work, a non leathal injection into the neck would render the victim incoherant for quite some time. He was left in the trunk. Stretching skin like molten latex slip and slide over the man's features, within seconds he was a complete duplicate of the Petty Officer, armed with the security badges the intuder walked in early for a days work a Golden Gate Park Station just a few short miles of where Xuan's ship had left port....

Xuan almost laughed. Almost.

"Sure. We can get some skis and a rope." His face remained passive. "Do you not need to breathe?"