Waking up to the happy juice was surely more pleasant than without it. Ana Sofía is pretty loopy for a while as she comes to. 'So many things. Whooo... Which body is mine? Whoa...' Unfortunately, everyone within several blocks starts feeling similarly loopy off and on, significantly more so the closer they are to Ana Sofía. Once it starts occurring to the doctors and nurses, it's almost too late. A whole bunch of them who come into the room end up sprawled out in various spots in different states of bliss before one nurse finally manages to reach the morphine drip, and then herself succumbs.

As the morphine works its way out of her system things get back to normal in the area. Other nurses are able to drag the disabled workers out of the room. Of course, the morphine has worked its way out only after Agent Johnson had wanted her on the phone. Not that Ana Sofía really knows pretty much anything about of the person who possessed her anyway.

As Ana Sofía regains her faculties she also feels the pain. The doctors prescribe her significant amounts of Tylenol and Ibuprofen simultaneously to try to manage what the morphine was there for, without messing with her head. Once clearer headed Ana Sofía uses her powers on her own mind, cutting away the sense of pain for now.

By the time John calls her she's more in control. She listens to him and then conveys his message to the team. Until now she's just been trying to regain her faculties. But now that she has a chance to think about things, her memories come flooding back. She starts vomiting, which is really important to avoid right now with all the work that was just done on her. And that brings medical staff back into the room.

In reply to Windtalker (msg # 27):

John shows up in person, handing over flowers and some jello. He could detect what drugs she was on and has the medical knowledge to know thier side effects.

He scans the room, making sure no listening devices where present. Granted, a bit paranoid, but her and him where the ones most likely not to be mentally 'overheard'.

"I am really sorry about shooting you. I just wanted to say that in advance." Even if it did nothing to harm her, he still felt bad.

"Anyways, I got the info needed. You are the only one who can insure the sending the info to the team without much risk of it being overheard. You should be able to detect the telepath if they try something. You have to make sure to monitor Commander Johnson and the others in case the telepath is snooping. I cant even send it via text or email for risk they have a virus on thier devices. We gotta move quick, because the hacker and/or the telepath is gonna go to ground." He then tells her all the info he got, andnwanted to hack the hackers devices, but had his hands tied by the lack of a warrant.

When John arrives Ana Sofía shoos the nurses away. "I promise I have nothing more to vomit." Fortunately the IV is still providing her fluids and energy.

In reply to John's apology Ana Sofía says, "If you hadn't, we would all be dead. So even I'm better off for what you did. But I appreciate the sentiment nonetheless."

While she doesn't look great, Ana Sofía listens carefully to John's explanation. "That sounds like a good plan. It seems like this enemy can control a person but not really have access to their mind, so telepathically shared information may even be safe if shared with someone who is controlled. But I wouldn't want to count on that. Too bad I can't share things with you telepathically. But I do have another way. It's not just minds I can sense. Theoretically we could put a dedicated line to a monitor in a safe, and I could read the monitor if you've secured the line; or something like that. For now, let me share with the others what you've said." Ana Sofía then conveys what John wants sent to whomever he wants it sent to.

In reply to Windtalker (msg # 29):

"I...did not know you can do that." John said, sounding impressed. "So, if I am getting this right, you can see through solid objects? That's very handy. I will whip up a sealed comm unit with a secure channel, and proceed to put it in a vault!"

At first, Gwenyth thinks the hostile telepath has come to finish her and Windtalker off. She stands with a start and readies her rifle, scanning out the windows and up and down the hallways for any sort of hostile intruder. And then, all too quickly, she succumbs to the vapid bliss and isn't thinking about very much at all. At one point she manages to be coherent enough to reason that this must be the drugs working their blissful magic on the friendly telepath in the room with her, but seconds later she rejoins her brain in a giggling puddle on the floor. She thinks she may have traded compliments and/or silly anecdotes with Ana during that time, but she couldn't remember what they might have been.

It was not an altogether unpleasant time. She could see why so many actresses turned to abusing medication to relieve some stress. She could only hope that no emergency situations occurred during that time.

Gwenyth waves to Shiva as the many-glowing-armed techypants arrives, then fades back into the background as the two talk shop. She checks her phone, and then cuts in during a lull in conversation.

"Not to sound like I am eager to leave you Windy -- thanks for a wonderful time by the way, I've never been high before! -- but are you taking second watch? I thought Tank called dibs."
This message was last edited by the player at 19:07, Mon 25 Apr 2022.

In reply to Gwenyth Blake (msg # 31):

"Well, I guess I can do my work from here, but really this was just a matter of keeping the info secure and limited to just the team and Commander Johnson. I need Ana for that. You never know when the enemy might be listening in. Although if what Ana says is true, they can only mind control one target, and then use whatever telepathy they have." Shiva says.

John raises an eyebrow as he looks over Gwenyth's weird behavior. "Sooo...are you ok to get home? Frist time on narcotics should be done under a trained medical professional observation. At least, that's what all the pro-drug groups say..." he grinned.
This message was last edited by the player at 19:03, Mon 25 Apr 2022.

Ana Sofía replies to John, "It's sort of like my mind doesn't fit inside by body. It usually knows this body is home, but it seems to touch everything. Minds are easier than the physical, though. In both cases, senses are easier than manipulation. Between the two of us, we should be able to find just about anything anywhere when we're not held back by regulations. But that is a good reason to have those regulations in place."

"It's fine, I didn't really have any drugs!" Gwenyth giggles. "But seriously Ana, if you ever decide to throw a party you just have to invite me!"

"Anyways, I got a text from Agent Poopypants saying he needs my help interrogating our troublesome prisoners. I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind, let me tell you!" She cracks her knuckles, then races to put one in her mouth. "oh owowowow, why do people do that, ass, tits, bollocks, owww... A-Anyways, I can take your car back to HQ right?!"

---

However it is she ends up getting back to HQ, Gwenyth ends up there. She waves to Tank as she approaches the cells. "Hey. How many bones did you break so far? Have they said anything?"

"Surprisingly, not a one," Frank replied, waving back. He approached Gwyneth so they could talk without the prisoners hearing them. "They've been remarkably well-behaved so far. I had to convince Harpoon to shut up before, but since then they've all been quiet.

"Mistress was thinking that you might be able to convince Harpoon — or maybe one of the others — to say something useful."

In reply to Windtalker (msg # 33):

John waves as Gwenyth leaves, and then turns back to Ana. "It sounds like mental projection of the senses, or maybe even an 'Astral projection'? Granted everything I know about that is theoretical and not hard science. That being said, measuring brainwave activity might be a way to detect telepathic influence. If I could get a measure from when you are using your powers I can use that as a baseline."
This message was last edited by the player at 15:17, Wed 27 Apr 2022.

Kate has been avoiding things, specifically Ana shaped things, but didn't have anything else left to do to put it off for anymore, so even as Gwenyth was leaving, she was on her way in.  It wasn't that hard to figure out how to bus to the hospital, but she did decide she needed to figure out a way to make a carriable bag or something for flight.  It would make travel much easier.

Slinking around wasn't actually that hard, and she found the right room easily enough and listened in at the door, 'spying' on Ana and John for a moment as yet another delaying tactic.

John Nods at Ana's points. "I hope you are right. I really don't want those regulations helping the hacker and/or the mind controller with time to get away."

"Well, I have to use the men's room. I will be close by until Tank gets here if you need anything. Thanks for your help, Ana. Keeping the info secure is our primary goal." He starts to head out, and then pretends to run into Kate. "Oh, Kate! I did not see you there!" He lied, not really having the option of NOT noticing things anymore.

"I have a present for you. A commlink which fits into your ear and clings to the surface. As long as you are mouse sized or bigger, this will be there for you! And it's waterproof! Plus it can pick up music stations and is fully bluetooth capable!"

Before Kate can object, he hands her the tiny earbud looking device and heads off. Making sure he spoke loud enough for Ana to hear him.
This message was last edited by the player at 14:15, Wed 27 Apr 2022.

Of course she noticed him coming to the door and so was six feet down the hall by the time he came out but still she wasn't sure what to do with herself at John's rather overbearing personality.  Kate stands there for a few moments just blinking and looking at the ear thing now resting in her cupped hands as hurricane Shiva continued on down the hall.  Finally though she took a deep breath and slipped into Ana's room trying not to make eye contact.  "Hi Ana... are you alright?"

"Oh wow!" Gwenyth replies. "That's quite a change from trying to kill us. I wonder what their deal is." Striking stereotypical girly thinking pose in three... two... yep, there it is. There's a certain artificiality to Gwenyth's mannerisms, as graceful and cute as they are, and it only becomes more obvious as she makes the same poses over and over.

"She does? Hmm, okay..." She isn't sure where Mistress' confidence in her abilities comes from given that she didn't get a whole lot out of Essex' staff. She can't let that faith down now, though! "I'll see what I can do. This way right?" She vaguely waves in the appropriate direction.

---

Gwenyth arrives, carefully shutting the door behind her before looking around at the assembled baddies with a wide sweep of the eyes, taking the emotional temperature of the room. She fidgets coyly with the pink pearl necklace sitting low on her sternum, resting just above the low cut of her top that reveals the barest hint of cleavage.

General purpose charm check! 1d8 Focused Wits+Psyche, 1d8 Godlike Beauty, 1d8 Mind Control. Rolled 5,8,4 using 1d8+1d8+1d8. Taking 13 accuracy and d8 for effect.

With Gwyneth now in control of the prisoners, Frank heads back to the hospital to sit guard by Ana Sofia.

---

He knocks upon arrival and pokes his head inside. "Hey," he says. "May I enter?"

"Looky, looky, they finally sent us someone to play with"
Harpoon was doubly delighted - 'Tank' was gone, and a pretty woman came to watch them in his stead. Even if she proved to be as irritating as he was, she was at least fun to look at.  He licked his fingers, and ran them through his hair as he grinned at her.

Behind him, Scalphunter was staring at her as well, as did the eight-foot-tall blue giant, who stumbled back to his feet as he held on to his broken jaw.

"Oh, I throw parties, and you'll be invited. But they're much tamer. If I lose control and I'm scared or angry or something, things can get really bad really fast. Think about what just happened and then imagine it with emotion and adrenaline running things rather than focused intent."


"I hope so, too. I could hunt people down so much faster and more easily by violating privacy regularly. I just have to hope the head start not doing so affords the bad guys isn't too much. That's basically the dividing line between us and vigilantes."


"I've felt better, but I'll live, as will the rest of you. If everyone had taken it easy on me much longer, probably none of us would have survived. You did the right thing." She tries to give her best friendly smile in a body that doesn't want to smile right now. "Don't worry. We're still friends, and you can still crash at my place as long as you need." Ana Sofía looks for some sign in Kate's face or eyes that these comments are helping; while they're genuine, they may not be enough for now.


"Yes, please come in. Company is always good, especially when it comes in nice muscles."

Frank slipped into the room and closed the door behind him. While the menace they were most concerned with didn't even need to open a door in order to... uh, be menacing... somehow leaving the door open felt like less protection somehow. That, and privacy was still a thing, even in a hospital.

"Oh, hey," he said as he realized that Kate was there, too. "Am I here too early? I thought—" He thought that this was his turn at keeping guard. But he didn't know if Ana Sofia even knew that she was being watched, or if she thought this was just having visitors. So he didn't want to say it out loud. Besides, it sounded crass. Ana Sofia deserved to have visitors just for the sake of having some company. "—never mind. Oh, these are for you."

Frank had stopped by the hospital gift shop and bought Ana Sofia some flowers. He'd had quite the struggle picking them out, too. The woman running the shop had seen him consternating over the selection and had tried to help, but she'd then told Frank to buy the bouquet of lilies. Lilies felt too much like 'death' to Frank, since it was customary to leave them at graves, so he'd shied away from those. He hadn't liked the tulips much, the mixed flowers looked cheap, and the roses probably sent the wrong message. So eventually (after way too much time and mental effort) he'd settled on a bouquet of irises. He now held these out to Ana Sofia.

"So, how are you feeling?"

Some of the tension bleeds out of Kate when Ana forgives her and after just a moment of hesitation longer she throws herself, carefully, in to give her a hug.  One that is interrupted almost immediately as she catches the sound of Fank's footsteps coming and quickly lets go to scurry out of the way and immediate view of the door when he stepped in.

Honestly she looked like she needed some rest, though of course not quite as badly as Ana did, but that was fair given which one of the two had been badly hurt and which had gotten through the fighting alright.  Grasping for conversational straws she grinned a little at Ana's comment on Frank's muscles and added, "And he brought you flowers."

Her thoughts drifted out to brush those of the other two to see if she could pick up anything genuine worth teasing over or, if they were just friendship flowers, anything worth teasing over anyway just in a different way.

Ana Sofía smiles as Frank enters with flowers. "Thank you." In reply to his query she says, "Oh, well, not so great. But much better than us all being dead. Now that I'm self-managing the pain and off the happy juice, the physical isn't so bad. The memories are worse."

Kate was looking back at Frank for a moment before she laughs and turn's to Ana and sticks out her tongue at her.  "Is too fair, you're leaking all over!"  It's clear that a lot of her attitude is simple relief that Ana isn't holding things against her, but there is a fair bit of honest mirth in there as well as the younger girl banters back at whatever unspoken complaint the other telepath made.

"Táásh'aaníí?" Ana Sofía blurts out in reply. Then she seems to realize that probably wasn't understood. But her glare should still carry the sisterly threat to accompany her rhetorical question.

Frank was still wondering what Kate was talking about when Ana Sofia replied to her, and it wasn't even in English anymore. Navajo, he assumed. There went any chance of Frank actually picking up the conversational thread again.

If the two telepaths wanted to exclude Frank from their conversation, they had the ability to do so without him even knowing. So, this was something else. That didn't help him understand, of course.

"Um...?"

"Sorry, Frank. We're just establishing that Kate is going to play nice while I'm still a little loopy from the remnants of the morphine, or I won't be baking any more cookies for a long time." Her eyes and smile seem to indicate 'Aha! There is a good threat,' in a mischievous and friendly way. "Please, join us. I don't know how long I'm going to be in this hospital bed, so I'm even more happy for the company than normal."

"Cookies! That reminds me, I need to warn everybody." He needed to warn people about cookies? Yes, in fact he did. "My parents are coming to town, because they want to see where I live and work and stuff. My mother is probably going to bake about a half-dozen different batches of cookies, and that's just for starters. She'll even take requests... and might be a little offended if there aren't any."