[All four of you are awakened from sleep by the sound of a klaxon going off.] [You each find yourself in a darkened room, about eight feet by six feet. Light is coming in through the door, faint and red tinted, providing the minimal illumination you each have.] [The door is creaking open, automatically. It is heavy and reinforced, and has a large electronic locking mechanism.] [The rooms each contain nothing but you, a mattress on which you are lying, and bedding.] [You are dressed in loose fitting blue pajamas. You have nothing else on you. There are slippers beside the bed.] [I'm not bothering to start you in separate channels because you'll fairly shortly realize all your rooms are next to each other.] [Oh, one more thing... You all feel slightly dizzy and nauseous, as if recovering from the flu. You also feel muscle stiffness.] [Also, as everyone was warned, you can try to use powers... but they won't work.] [Begin.] (THE MATRIX!) * Theodore is fairly handsome man in his late twenties. He's got a well trimmed mustache that matches his kempt black hair. He looks fairly serious, but he has a slight trace of humor in his brown eyes. * Theodore sits up stiffly and quickly glances around. He frowns and then looks at the electronic locking mechanism. (I'm assuming we're talking 20th century or later tech?) (Late 90s or early 2000s, yes.) * Miya's eyes open the moment she hears the klaxons, and she wastes no time in getting up and off of the bed. Or she tries, as the combination of something or other means she ends up falling out of her bed, yelping as she hits the ground with a tangled thump. * Terry is a short, skinny kid in his early teens. With short brown hair that's currently messy and a slightly lighter shade of brown on the top, the tops of both his ears and his nose are sun burnt pink and peeling slightly. He has brown eyes and is currently wearing a blue set of pajamas. * Miya works on untangling herself from the sheets. She somehow manages to find the slippers and pull them on, and she manages to get to her feet, taking two more steps before she crumples to the ground with another surprised cry. [The four doors all finish opening. You may now all exit into the dimly lit corridor when ready.] * Terry yawns and attempts to roll out of his bed. When his feet hit the ground much sooner than he expected, he stops moving and rubs at his eyes. * Eui-Tae is about 5'3", 16 years, and of obvious Asian descent. If you're from the area you'd also realize it's more like Korean descent. He's short, as stated before, and fairly skinny, and as he gets up from the bed he stretches in an almost half-daze as he takes in his surroundings. * Theodore gets up. "I will be most put out if whoever has brought me here neglected my luggage." However his swift albeit stiff movement to his slippers and then out into the hall belie his calm tone. [Theodore is the first to reach the hall and gets rewarded with description.] (Theo will share the description with others for a reasonable price.) [The hallway is illuminated by red emergency lighting. The normal overhead lights are out. The walls are white- reddish in this light.] [There are six identical doors on the wall from which Theo emerged, all of which are open.] [There are two regular doors on the other side, both closed. At one end of the hallway is a set of double doors.] [The hallways contains nothing else at the moment except a radiator.] [The klaxon is louder in the hall.] * Miya closes her eyes for a moment, then opens them and looks around, then tries again, and looks around again, her eyes wide with panic. She nearly screams, but instead she latches onto her bed, using it to prop her shaky self up. * Terry wakes up enough to realize that the klaxon probably isn't some new alarm clock his parents are trying out, he's not in his room, and something bad's going on. So he walks to the door and looks around. "Yo! Is there anybody else here?" [Theo emerged from the door fourth from the end with the doors; Terry from the fifth.] * Eui-Tae walks out the door, blinks, then looks around with much wider eyes, then goes back into his room to search the bed and the room for anything and everything. [Eui-Tae was at the sixth door, the last one down the hall.] * Miya starts to cry. * Terry looks at Theo. "Hey mister! Do you, like, know what's going on?" * Theodore looks over at Terry. "No, I don't. I take it you don't either?" * Terry shakes his head. "Nu~uh. But I bet that noise means there's something real bad goin' on." Alarms are all bad. * Theodore nods. "We should leave." He quickly glances into the other rooms. * Miya sniffs, rubbing at her eyes, and then starts crawling for the door. She manages to do *that*, and then she freezes, wide-eyed, when Theo looks into her room. Which way's out? [Eui-Tae finds a mattress label that includes the date 1999. That doesn't say what year he's in, but this mattress does not look a century old.] Oh crap. There's gotta be something going on... There's got to be a connection. [There are six rooms. PCs were in four; two are still in their room. Two rooms were empty.] [The two rooms at the end of the hall nearest the double doors are identical to yours.] * Theodore looks down at Miya. "Do you need help?" * Eui-Tae hears voices! And walks out of the room. "Hey! Where the heck are we?" * Terry waves at the new kid. "Dunno yet, think we're gonna leave as soon as that guy gets back." * Miya is young, maybe twelve or thirteen, and very small at 4'8". She's Japanese, with dark brown eyes and an ordinary, chin-length haircut with bangs, and she's flat as a board. She's also, though, *extremely* fit. * Miya stares at Theo like a deer caught in the headlights, and then she manages to respond in the same language (though heavily accented), "I- I can't walk." (... 12 year old Japanese girls with chests only happen in anime) (Nah, it actually happens in real life.) * Theodore frowns for a moment. "We're evacuating. Shall I carry you?" * Miya sobs. She shakes her head, climbs to her feet, and takes another shaky step. This time she makes two before she stumbles and falls. * Theodore flinches as she falls. "We may be hard pressed for time. Perhaps I could just lend you some support." Uh... uh huh. * Miya reaches a hand up. * Theodore walks quickly over her by her and carefully helps her up. Once she's standing, he offers her an arm to put her weight on. * Miya is helped up, and she smiles shakily. "Thank you." She starts trying to walk, relying on Theo heavily for support. * Miya is awfully light, though that's given for her size; still, she's not squishy at all. Evacuating from WHAT? Where the hell are we?! [No one hears anything but the klaxon and each other at this time.] * Theodore walks out to the hall. If Miya ever stops him or staggers he'll interrupt what he's doing to assist. He's reasonably fit so he's not particularly strained by the weight. In fact, if he's strained at all he's hiding it. * Terry looks at Theo. "Hey guy, I found another kid an... Whoa? Is she 'kay?" * Miya sniffles as she's helped out. She doesn't look like she wants to answer. * Theodore looks puzzled at the 'kay but figures it out quickly enough. "She's a bit drained, I believe. And for future reference, my name is Theodore." * Terry nods. "'Kay." Then he points at the double doors. "I'm Terry an' I thinks out's over there an' stuff. Maybe it's quieter'n stuff." * Theodore looks over Eui-Tai and then looks back to Terry. "Right. Let's go then." * Theodore leads Miya towards the double doors. * Terry looks at Eui-Tae. "You comin'?" * Eui-Tae nods. "Yeah yeah." He follows Theodore. (So, you are ignoring the two closed regular doors on the other side of the hall, and heading for the double doors at the end?) (Theo is, yes.) * Terry nods. "Cool." he hurries after the rest of them. (The 14 year old said go that way. You have to listen to the 14 year olds; they're always the main chars. ;p) (I know. I am one!) [The double doors at the end are the sort with a metal push bar to open.] * Theodore comments as he walks. "From what you've said, none of you know what's going on here. Yes?" He pushes open the right door. I don't know and I want to find out! * Terry nods. "Yeah." [The room on the other side is large, about fifteen square feet. It has two couches, a table with four chairs around it and a game of checkers laid out on it, and three other doors out. There is also a window. It's night outside, and you're several floors up. There are no city lights outside.] [Closer inspection of the window may tell you more of the view.] [There are also some magazines on a coffee table.] [And a coffee mug, empty but unwashed.] [The lighting in here is also the red emergency lights.] [Sorry, one more thing. There is a cupboard mounted on one wall. It is one of the ones suspended high up, at about five feet off the ground. It has a lock. It runs about four feet wide.] * Theodore glances at the window when initially entering. He doesn't approach though. After that he looks down at the magazines. (Is Theo looking at the magazines carefully or just down at them?) (Just name and front image.) [Theodore sees several magazines he wouldn't recognize. Time, People, Cosmopolitan. Cover dates seem to be 2003 through 2004. The people on them are contemporary real people: Bush, Brad Pitt, etc.] [There is one magazine with a cover shot of some military personnel in Iraq.] * Terry runs to the window and looks out. It's the first bit of quick movement any of you have seen from him. [Terry sees... what was already in the opening description. Night, no lights, several floors up.] (Do we have a moon?) (It's not visible from that window. Whether you are on a planet with a moon or not is unknown at this time.) * Miya looks around. She swallows. "Where... where are we? Why can't-" She shuts up. * Eui-Tae looks out the windows. "So what year is it?" [Eui sees that you are three stories up. There seem to be wooded grounds immediately surrounding that side of the building.] * Miya doesn't seem to notice. She just looks totally freaked out. * Theodore heads to the rightmost door. "I suggest we each take a door. According to these publications the year is 2003 ::he says the date fairly blankly as if it doesn't mean much to him:: We should probably take them with us. * Theodore is doubtless moving slower than the two boys. He's trying not to further strain Miya. So what the hell happened? See any computers? * Terry blinks at Theo. "Ya know, those could just be old magazines an' stuff. I mean there's no reason for it be two years ago 'n stuff." ('N stuff!) The mattresses were dated 1999. And they do NOT look like they're almost hundred years old. * Miya opens her mouth, then closes it, then squeaks out, "A hundred *years*?" * Terry looks at Eui now. "Dood! that was only six years ago!" * Theodore nods. "Ah. It appears we're from different times. I suggest we compare notes on the matter after evacuating." It's 1993! It's supposed to be 1993... I have to... (Because Miya failed her task in 1993, the moon has been destroyed!) (Boo Miya.) (Darn.) (Dammit, the king of all cosmos is going to be pissed.) * Miya tries shoving herself away from Theo and running on her own. She's not even sure *where*, but she wants to go somewhere. * Theodore lets her go, but prepares to catch her if she falters again. (And do we still have the alarm going?) (Yes.) (I will note when it stops.) Three stories up. Damn. So, this is like, one of those weird sci-fi things with time travel an' all that? Man, wait till Meri hears 'bout this. * Theodore blinks at the term sci fi. Although he's slowly adapting to the fact that Terry speaks in nonsense. * Miya misjudges her balance and falls over. * Theodore moves swiftly to try to catch her before she hits ground. * Miya is caught, then, and she starts crying again. "Why won't it *work*?" Ah! Hey, you, like, need to sit down. Like maybe on the couch or something?" * Theodore looks to Terry. "Am I mistaken, or does that sound not mean we are in immediate danger?" [Klaxon goes "Wahhhh Wahhhhh Wahhhh Wahhhhh..."] I got no clue. It's supposed to be 2076, dammit. And China is supposed to be a freakin' bunch of capitalists. Well, probably, but like, if she's falling all over the place wouldn't it be better to have her stay put and us look 'round or something? * Theodore seems to take some comfort at the mention of the word capitalism. "Fine. You seem more familiar with this world. But we should be prepared to move quickly." He helps Miya to a couch. (Were there bedsheets?) (Yes.) (Bedsheets, covers, and pillows.) * Miya sniffles, sinking into the couch without a fight. "Why won't it work?" she asks again, not that anyone necessarily cares. * Terry nods. "Wish I knew where my 'tech went. Mom doesn't like me usin' them inside an' stuff but it'd be faster 'an walking." For the record he's still barefoot. * Miya has her slippers on, SO THERE. [The floor is tiled and somewhat cold.] * Theodore doesn't care at the moment. He quickly moves to check the rightmost door that he never quite got to. [Theodore finds a room containing a sink and a toilet. No bathtub.] Okay, we should get the bedsheets in case we need them. I, um... Hey, what's in that cabinet? I have no idea. Dunno. * Miya wipes at her eyes and lets the guys figure stuff out. Her gaze falls on the magazines in front of her. * Terry walks over to it and pulls on the handle. [The cupboard is locked.] * Theodore studies the room for a moment and lifts the toilet lid. "Ah. Advanced." He then moves to check the middle door. [The toilet was flushed by its last user. Or someone since the last user, possibly.] [The second door Theodore opens leads to another hallway. The lights are totally out in this one.] [Theo sees that the hallway goes on for quite a ways, with doors on either side. And there's a man in a dark blue uniform lying on the floor near the other end.] It's locked. Like, anybody seen a key? * Miya shakes her head. She picks up the top magazine on the stack and opens it, starting to flip through the thing for interesting pictures, articles on mutants, and so on. Maybe we should unlock this thing. Anyone got something big and heavy to bash the lock with? * Terry shakes his head. "Gotta table, but I dun think that's gonna help." [Miya finds no articles on mutants. She does find an interesting article on 8 Ways To Keep Your Man Happy.] (#3 Slip uppers in his food.) * Miya stares, and she starts to blush. She throws it on the floor and picks up the next magazine, giving it the same treatment. And the next, and so on. [Miya notices that, buried in the stack, are a pile of beaten up comics. X-Men comics. Ooh, issue #350: The Trial of Gambit. The story's not that good.] * Miya blinks a few times, and then she picks up the comic! And she starts looking at THAT, reading it this time. [Miya reads a poorly plotted story in which the X-Men accuse Gambit of having worked with Mr. Sinister in the past.] * Miya furrows her brow and tries to remember if that actually happened. And Gambit looks kinda dumb in that panel. * Theodore looks down the hallway. "Brute force is not my spec-" He then quiets. "There's a body in this hall. Keep your heads down. I'll see what I can find out. If there's trouble, be ready to hide or run." * Miya starts looking for more comics. [Miya finds a half-dozen more. All are X-Men related. She isn't in any of them, nor are any of her friends. They are "real world" versions.] * Miya starts reading them, too. * Terry stops walking to the bathroom door. "There's a wha?" Huh? * Theodore moves down the hallway. He attempts to move quietly to the best of his ability. [Theo isn't entirely quiet as he moves down the hall, but there is no immediate response. As he gets nearer, he sees that the man is lying in a pool of blood.] * Miya casually ignores everyone else. Mwaha. * Terry gives Theo an odd look and then walks back over to the couches and the table full of magazines. How come Remy's in a comic book? And Scott, and Jean, and Wolverine, and Kurt, and Mr. Xavier... [Terry's not quite sure who Scott and Jean and Kurt are.] (But I bet he knows who Wolverine is!) [Terry does know who Wolverine is.] [A character in the movies.] Those sound like the old-skool X-men. Isn't that kind of... ancient? * Theodore winces at the blood. He wavers for a moment, and then strongly taps the body's shoulder in case he's still awake while saying "Wake up," in a loud whisper. [The body moves slightly at the tap.] [Theo can't detect any signs of life from his investigative "tapping" method.] Nah! They've had movies out an' everything. Yeah, the kind my parents watched! * Miya looks at Terry blankly. "Movies?" * Terry nods. "Yeah, I think the second one just came out. S'bout these people who're mutants an' have powers an' stuff." So... They made, like, ten of those movies, you know. * Miya looks excited. "So they're in a *movie*?" * Theodore repeats in a more forceful tone. "Wake up." He puts a hand on the guy's chest over his heart to see if he has a pulse. [Theo doesn't get a pulse. He does see a hole in the guy's shirt, a bit above the heart, where the bloodstains are thickest.] * Terry nods. "Yeah! Betcha we can find a place that's still showin' it when we get outta here." That's so cool! I didn't think they'd actually be in a movie! Why not? I mean the comix are all popular an' stuff. Me 'an Meri read them for a month or so, but then they got all angsty 'n stuff so we stopped. Comics? Like online? * Theodore winces again at the bullet hole. He mutters "Blast," and then swiftly checks the body for any keys or weapons. [Theo notices a holster on the guy's belt, but no pistol.] * Terry shakes his head again and points at the pile that Miya has. "Nah, paper ones. See?" When did they make the comics? Are they still making them? There weren't any comics in 1993. Not about them. Are there any with me in it? [At the other end of the hall that Theo is in is a window. There is a quarter moon visible through it. Moon accounted for!] [There are also, once again, a large number of other doors in the hall that Theo is in, on either side.] * Terry blinks at Miya. "Uh... No? An' like, they've been making them since the beginning of forever an' stuff." * Theodore keeps checking him for any keys or the like. Rummage through the pockets and such. If he can snag a pen or anything metal while he's at it he'll take that too. [Theo finds keys. And a wallet. It has money in it, and a library card and VISA.] * Theodore takes both and mutters under his breath. "Sorry. I'll see that these are passed on to your family with interest." He then tries to open the door closest to him in the hallway. ... Oh. I guess I'm not that important. Um. Does this mean mutants are okay now? * Eui-Tae goes back and picks up a bedsheet, taking it with him to the main room and folding it up there. [Eui gets +1 bedsheet. Penny would be proud.] [Also, a reminder that there was one more door in the lounge room that everyone is in which Theo did not open yet.] Maybe? I kinda thought they were only in comics an movies 'n stuff. Wait! Are you one? Man, Meri's totally missing out on this. Mutants? You mean the giant kind that eat Tokyo ten times a week while singing Goodbye Doggie? [Theo is puzzled by the door closest to him. It is grey and recessed, and appears to be double doors with no handle, which only together are the size of a normal door, or a bit wider.] Um. * Miya blushes and looks down. "Yes." No, I mean, um... people with powers. 'Cause of genetics? And stuff, and... yeah. * Theodore tries pushing at the door. If that doesn't open it he looks around for any other doors he can open in the immediate vicinity. [Theo finds the doors are quite heavy and metallic, though they don't *quite* meet in the center.] [Theo also notes that these doors aren't on hinges; they apparently slide apart.] And I thought- I mean, if there's comics and movies, it must be okay to be one now. Dude, superpowers! That'd be awesome! But, uh.. No, we don't have those. No, I mean, other mutants? * Terry shakes his head. "Maybe they're all hiding and stuff. It'd be cool if the comics were real. Well, the good ones anyway; it'd suck if the bad parts were real too. Ya know?" Yeah, that'd suck hardcore. (Actually, it would still suck if some of the good ones were real.) Um, yeah, but... I mean, maybe the stuff in the comics happened, after I left? * Theodore attempts to slide one open. He doubts he'll have the strength, but there might be a pulley system or mechanical device to help. [Theo fails to open the door. Is he inspecting it?] [Theo notices that there is an identical door next to it, and between them, two buttons mounted in the wall. He can't make out any further details.] * Theodore hits the top button. [Theo's button hitting yields no results. He stands in the darkened hallway, hearing the distant klaxons, bathed in indirect emergency red lighting.] I dunno, I'd have to go ask the people at the card shop. They'd totally know who you were if you were in any of them. * Miya folds her hands. "Oh. Um, it's okay. I never did anything, really, just went to school and, um... answered the door. And once Sabertooth attacked and... stuff." I have no clue. I bet I could find out online, though. Oh. Okay. * Theodore tries the other button. "Mechanism is probably broken like the lights." [The other button causes the sudden happening of absolutely nothing. Theo is right!] * Miya brightens. "Oh! My name is Miya Yoritomi." She nods her head, since she can't bow. "It is nice to meet you." * Terry nods. "Yeah, an... which one's Sabertooth?" Um, he's really big. * Miya waves with her hands. "And scary. And he growls a lot. And, um, he has fur and claws, but he's not *blue*, like Hank..." * Terry holds out a hand. "I'm Terry Phelps. Glad ta meetcha. An' he sounds all scary." * Theodore quickly walks back to the main room. He quickly scans it in case anything changed. (He sees three kids happily chatting away!) [Theo sees... yes.] He does sound scary. I'm Eui-Tae Kim. * Miya shakes Terry's hand. "He, um, almost killed Max and Delia." No way. And Sam, too. I had to get them to the sick room. I've got no clue who you're talking about, but killing people is scary shit. * Theodore nods and glances at Eui. "Bed sheet... that will do it." He closes the middle door and opens the left most one. [Theo finds a hallway that is the mirror image of the one where you four came from: six open cell doors, two facing wooden doors. There's another body in the hallway there, also in a blue uniform. The red lighting fits with the red blood that's emerging from where his neck was torn open.] [The body also lacks its gun. There is a bullet hole in the wall. If Theo looks into these six cells, they all have mattresses and are all empty.] Yeah. He threw me across a room. * Terry nods. * Miya blinks up at the grown up. What'cha need it for, chief? Um, what's going on? Dunno yet. That guy, think's named Theodore, lookin' round an stuff. I'm going to need you three to stay calm, alright? Kaay. * Theodore's tone is the cautious one of a guy not exactly sure how to handle kids when people are dying. * Theodore notes if this body has a gun. He then swiftly closes the door. * Theodore takes a few steps back and pales. "There's a dead body in the hall. You don't need to see that and he deserves some dignity." So what's it like in, well... Way back when? (The kids totally, totally don't care, Theo.) It's like- * Miya stops when she hears that. She looks up at Theo. "What?" * Terry blinks. "There is? Can I... aw man." * Eui-Tae blinks and looks at Theo. "There is?" * Theodore goes to the cabinet and quickly goes through the keys to see if he has one to the cabinet. "Yes. It looks like something broke out of the cells behind this door. We should get out of here, but first I'm going to try to find something to protect us." * Terry nods. "That's all bad. Uh, hey Miya, can you, like, do something maybe?" Um. Like what? * Miya looks pale. She starts to stand, a little shakily, but she manages to do it. And then she tries to walk to wherever Theo was just looking. [Theo finds a key that looks like it might work.] * Theodore tries the key. He looks to Miya. "I don't think you want to look in there." [Theo unlocks the cupboard!] * Terry follows Miya. "I dunno, you're like a mutant right? But I guess if you can only sorta walk it's no good, huh? Uh, you wanna hand?" * Theodore opens the cabinet. "I suggest someone check the doors at the end of our hallway. There may be supplies. [Theo finds inside: some kleenex, pads of paper, pens, a clipboard, a bunch of little pill containers with labels, a box of syringes, a box of rubber gloves, and some vials and bottles. And a deck of Yu-Gi-Oh cards. * Miya succeeds, and even starts looking a bit natural as she does it, but she keeps it slow. "Um, no. I think I can handle..." She looks down the hallway and pales. [The body is still there! Is that more or less creepy than it being gone?] Hey! What's in there? * Miya is practically white now, and she stares. "There's- there's-" She swallows. "He was right." I don't think- I think maybe... (Was his throat literally torn open?) (Torn or cut. You need to examine for more detail. That was the obvious cause of death, though.) This isn't cool, c'mon lets go back. (And no, he hasn't looked.) * Miya *doesn't* go back. She starts creeping into the hallway for a better look. * Theodore frowns and moves to close the door, but doesn't since Miya moves past. "Be careful." Okay. * Miya puts a hand against the wall for possible support and keeps going. She's not shaking, at least. * Eui-Tae doesn't bother looking. * Theodore grabs the paper and pencil. He then looks at the labels. "Looks like medical supplies." Medicine? * Terry takes a few steps after Miya and sees the body. "It's... he's ... he's really. I, oh maaaaan." [The body that Miya is approaching has a large and nasty looking cut in his throat. It wasn't literally torn out, but it was slashed pretty viciously by something.] * Miya crouches and peers, trying to figure out what. [This guy is an African-American in his mid-forties. He looks fit, but not elite. His uniform has a badge on it, saying "SECURITY" and matching shoulder patches.] * Theodore mutters to himself, "So much for the bed sheet." As he continues to look over the labels on the vials and pills. He's skimming, not studying them in detail. [Theo can't understand the actual content labels, but he gets from the warnings and directions that these are indeed medical in nature.] I mean 's not bad as that one manatee, or that gator but this is ... was a dood. 'S jus' not right. (Can we tell how long ago he was killed?) [The body has been dead for about a half hour.] I- I don't think it was claws or teeth... probably... it's not torn? * Miya stands up, slowly, and starts making her way carefully back to the others. * Theodore looks to Eui. "Could you gather these up and use the blanket as a sack to hold them?" * Eui-Tae nods and gathers up the medical stuffs, taking brief glances at the labels as he puts them in the bedsheet. "Okay, let's see..." * Theodore heads down the original hallway where their cells were. He goes to open the doors at the end. [Theo opens a door to a janitorial closet. It has a mop and a broom and cleaning solutions. And Windex!] * Theodore grabs the mop. * Terry turns around and walks back to the other room. "Uh? Guys? That guy? He's, like, only been there like half an hour or something." * Miya looks around when she gets there. "So, um..." Wait, what? Oh shit man. Did that start the alarm? Yeah, so like, maybe whatever did that's like, kinda still 'round ya know? Which'd totally be all bad. Um, like Sabertooth, and I can't even... I mean, I can't teleport. So, le's jus' not find what did that, kay? O- okay. Yeah, let's. * Miya looks around. What's the room look like now? [The lounge now has an open cupboard.] * Theodore walks out to the lounge again, mop in hand. (These pajamas have pockets?) [The pajamas have one breast pocket.] [Theo's pen is amazing and futuristic, from his perspective.] * Theodore puts the pen and paper in the breast pocket. So, um... did you find anything about why we're here? And wearing blue? Medical supplies, a mop, and Windex. Oh, and some playing cards from some CCG. CCG? * Miya blinks. "What?" * Terry blinks. "My cards? Cool?" Where? * Eui-Tae picks up the deck. "This yours?" (That his deck box?) [It is Terry's deck.] (Except that the most valuable card was stolen! The bastards.) Oh, the odd playing cards. Yeah! Cool, it'da taken me months an month to get these all back. I've gotta coupla real rares. * Theodore looks at Terry oddly. "You mean aces?" * Terry shakes his head. "Nuh, uh, there's like, hundreds of different cards and some of them only have a few printed. I've got one that I've got the only one of! Lemmie find it for ya." He opens up his deck and starts digging. * Eui-Tae hands Terry his deck. "Never got into them much myself. Always playing online instead." * Miya looks around Terry at them. "They're pretty." But, um, maybe we can keep walking? Going... somewhere? [Terry notices that a couple of cards he recently acquired are missing. And there's one in there he could swore he lost a month back.] * Terry pauses at a card. "Weird, I thought I traded this on off." Then he keeps going and eventually pulls out a card with a picture of a landscape made entirely out of six sided dice. Across the top of the card is the phrase Fields of Destiny. "This one." Hmm.. could sell those for much more than regular cards. ::He gets out his notepad and makes a quick note.:: To summarize, it appears we were one set of prisoners here. The other set broke out, took the gun of the first guard, killed the second with it, and took his gun as well. Their objective is likely escape, so we should try to lay low and avoid them. But- huh? But... if it's... I mean, if it's ten years later, why am I still fourteen? The same reason I'm actually here. * Miya looks a little flustered. "We need to get out. Or, um... find a phone! There should be a phone." [Not in this room!] I missed something 'gain didn't I? We may find an exit in the middle hallway. ::He goes to open the door again.:: [The hallways is unchanged.] Let's get going then! * Terry puts his card back in its box and then the box into his pocket. And how come I can't teleport? Or balance. Walking's so hard now. [The klaxon suddenly shuts off. The silence is now as noticeable as the noise was at first. The emergency lights stay on.] * Miya does manage to do it, though, following Theo. And then she freezes as she hears all the sound shut off. * Terry looks up, but doesn't say anything. [The hallway still is dark. It still has a body. It still has seven doors on either side, including two elevator doors on the right, and a window at the end showing the moon.] * Theodore stops for a moment and puts a foot against one of the walls. He frowns and then resumes walking. "I also lack the full extent of my abilities." * Miya blinks at Theodore. "Are you a mutant, too?" They were saying, um, that sometimes they use collars to stop mutants... but we don't have any collars, so maybe it's something else. I'm afraid that word doesn't mean anything to me. * Miya 's face falls. "Oh." * Terry walks. "If he's one an' you're one does that mean I'm one too or somethin?" [Miya remembers many other ways mutant powers can be suppressed that the X-Men have told her about.] [These range from other mutants with powers that negate your powers, to surgical procedures, to chemical injections, etc.] [Apocalypse, Mr. Sinister, etc. can all do it.] * Miya blinks as she starts remembering. "But... oh, wow, I guess... um, there are a lot of ways to do it, like..." * Miya starts looking herself over for stitches. [Miya finds no scars she didn't have before.] [Those who made the see in the dark rolls can read the plaques on the darkened doors. And Eui-Tae notices a bullet hole in one of the non-functional emergency red lights, tiny electrical sparks dropping from it.] [The doorway plaques on the doors seem to have names of them, always accompanied by "Dr." and "M.D" or "PhD.") * Terry watches Miya. "You find somethin'?" I just, um, want to know how they stopped my powers. Talent suppression was possible to my knowledge. ::He frowns and then looks resolute.:: But the success of the Godspeeds is not dependent on mere talent. ::He then starts reading the plaques.:: This would seem to be a hospital. Perhaps we were to be studied. ::He checks the doors. Left first.:: [Theo finds the door locked, but not securely. Just a normal locked office.] Oh, I didn't learn anythin' bout that sorta thing in the first aid class. Sorry. Oh. ... What's a Godspeed? * Miya tries to ignore the body. [The body ignores Miya right back.] * Miya finds the feeling mutual, then! (The body is so snubbing you.) * Theodore takes out his pen and checks if it's the sort that can be dismantled. "My family." Oh crap, that sounds like... * Miya looks at Eui-Tae, suddenly more alert. "What?" It's a conspiracy I tell you. There's someone making money off this. Huh? Why? Like wha... Huh? Dood? * Eui-Tae looks around for security cameras. [He sees one!] [It looks like it's inactive, though. No blinking red light or rotating.] * Theodore shrugs. "Normally people don't kidnap other people to lose money." * Theodore then blinks and checks if the door can be opened with the keys he found earlier. Well, yeah. That kinda makes sense. [Theo opens the door.] * Theodore enters the room to look around. [Those who made on body see that the office contains a large oak desk with a plush chair behind it and two less plush in front. There are four bookcases, all full of books, and one of those rollable blackboards. There is a small object on the desk.] They're watchin' us. ... Okay. ...Why? * Miya goes about looking in the room just opened. Do I look like a super-secret government conspiracy to you? Why would I know? I dunno, never saw a secret gover'ment conspiracy before. * Theodore goes to check and try to unlock the next door. "How are they watching us?" [Theo finds another office. This one has only got one bookcase, and piles of papers on the table. It also has a less plush chair.] * Eui-Tae steps into the room, looking in. "Cameras." Can someone hit a light? * Terry looks into the first room and then reaches for where the light switch should be next to the door. [The light switch is there. But it doesn't do anything.] Sorry dude, the lights dun work. * Miya walks in and looks around, approaching the desk. She tries to see whatever it is. Maybe it's a phone! [Miya sees what she would consider a very expensive walkman.] [Terry would consider it outdated, since it's not even a CD player.] * Terry then walks into the room anyway. "Whatcha got?" Cool. * Miya picks it up and looks for the play button. She hits it! [Miya gets empty tape noise.] Yeah, do that. * Miya stops the thing and checks if there's even a tape in there. [Miya sees a tape in there, midway wound.] * Eui-Tae tries to find his way to the tables, looking around at whatever he can discern in the darkness. * Miya closes it again and rewinds the tape, then hits play. * Theodore rolls the papers into a tube and stores it under his mop arm. He then goes to check the next room. Oh, hey a walkman, cool. Haven't seen one them in years. Huh? Yeah. I wonder what's in it. [The tape rewinds, then plays. A man's voice can be heard. "Continuing dictation from previous tape, Marge." He clears his throat. "We'll see tomorrow the results of the neuro-chemical inhibitor matrix on the five subjects."] * Theodore stops on hearing the voice. He then walks over to the first office to listen. ["Jenkins says I should expect only mixed results, but I am confident that all subjects will respond."] ["The bastard's just bitter about the grant I got in '94- Don't transcribe that part."] * Theodore chuckles at that. * Miya counts on her fingers. There's four of them. ["I will begin testing the results in the morning. I believe that there should be measurable results by then. Okay, that's it."] [Empty tape noise resumes.] ...Kay, so that's 'bout us right? Um. * Miya stops it. "Maybe?" * Theodore holds out the roll of papers. "I'm going to open the other offices. Any one want to read these papers?" But there's only four of us. What's a neuro-whatsit matrix? Uh... Dunno. Maybe it says on the other side of the tape? Well, Neuro is relating to the brain, so... Inhibitor. That keeps something from working. Perhaps our special abilities. Something that stops chemicals from going to the brain? Yeah, that'd probably do it. * Miya blinks. "Oh, so it stops our powers." She takes the tape out and turns it over. * Miya rewinds the other side and hits play. But, um, you guys said you weren't mutants. ["I'm too sexy for my car, too sexy for my car, too sexy by far. I'm too sexy for my..." plays.] I said that word doesn't mean anything to me. I don't think I am. I mean, like, wouldn't I have notic.... Dood turn that off! Strange... Is that some sort of incantation? It's bad 80's music! Hey, I know this song! ["I'm too sexy for my shirt..."] * Miya stops the tape, though. [CLICK!] Wow, that's REALLY old. Good thing Alex wasn't in the room. Who? Um, Alex. His power is, um... Songs make things happen. * Theodore walks to open the third office. "Can't say I'd want to listen to that." He'd probably start stripping. (You would be too sexy for your stuff! Sexiness would ensue. Like in UD!) * Terry thinks about that. "That'd be bad." Um, yeah. Kinda stinks. He can't just listen to music. * Eui-Tae goes to check on the second office. [Eui sees what Theo saw. Similar office, fewer books, lots of papers on the desk.] (Theo grabbed the papers.) (All of them? I was talking big piles. Messy desk. Not a few scattered papers.) (He's up for grabbing like twenty five.) [The desk has only got 253 pieces of paper piled now, not 288.] * Miya follows, hanging onto the walkman. It looks like she's getting a hold of this walking stuff. * Terry is the last one out of the room. [Terry leaves last. Because of the fond memories causing him to want to linger. Hey, remember when they heard about the inhibitors? Those were the days.] (Like, I remember way back, like five minutes ago, before I heard that song 'gain... Man, it was awesome) (Dude, you wanna listen to it again, just for old time's sake?) (Like, no! Duh.) (Psh, whatever.) * Eui-Tae takes some random papers then walks to the third room, trying to read them on the way. (He's the geek. He'd totally try.) * Miya has no papers. She must be lazy. * Terry pokes his head into the second room, sees paper and decides that'd be too much like work. [Office number three is a doctor's office with more of an examination room side. There's one of those bed things and a shelf with rudimentary medical stuff, like blood pressure measurers and knee mallets and a stethoscope.] [It has a much smaller desk off to one side.] [The room's also got charts of the human body on the wall.] [Oh, and the doctor's examination room contains a scale and height thing.] [And there is a little glass jar full of lollipops.] * Theodore goes to unlock the forth room. He comments to Eui as he goes "If any of that looks medically useful, add it to the sack." * Eui-Tae shrugs and looks at the random stuff, figuring out if any of it's useful. (Want to know blood pressure or temperature? You're golden with this.) (Useful for general-use, or possibly to knock someone out.) (Not used to know someone out, unless the knee mallet was used with a lot of force.) (Grab the mallet then. And the blood pressure and stethoscope.) [Door number four is another office full of books. And there's a box of pizza open on the desk, with some slices remaining, stone cold.] [There is also another of the blackboards.] [On the blackboard is a complex chemical equation. Oh, and this door had "Dr. Marty Jenkins, PhD" on its plaque.] [Theo thinks it has something to do with hormones or chemicals in the body.] By the smell there's food in here. Don't recognize it. * Theodore goes to the fifth room. * Terry moves on to the third room. "S'just a doctor's office right?" * Miya peeks her head in the doctor's office. * Miya sneaks over and grabs a few lollipops before joining the others. "I'm hungry." * Miya holds the lollipops out to Terry. "Um, lime or orange or cherry or lemon?" Uh, like, lime's good. Thanks. * Terry tries to figure out which one's green under the red light. * Miya looks too, then selects the one she thinks is probably lime and gives to Terry. * Terry takes it. "Thanks 'gain." Then he pulls off the wrapper and puts it in his mouth. * Miya takes the wrapper off the cherry one and puts that into her mouth, too. She looks around, then walks back into the doctor's office, looking for anything really obvious concerning what happened to them. * Miya spots the scale, brightens, and actually goes to stand on it and find out how heavy she is. [Miya weighs... 93 pounds.] * Terry *doesn't* watch. He's been through that one before. I lost weight! ... I think. I'm not sure. * Miya looks confused now. "Maybe I gained weight." * Theodore carefully copies down the formula. * Eui-Tae takes up the mallet, blood pressure thingy, and the stethoscope, then moves onto the next room. [Eui sees Theo copying down equations from a blackboard.] [Eui recognizes the names of various hormones and neuro-chemicals. Serotonin, dopamine, etc. He can't understand the full implications of the formula.] * Theodore is still copying. He's being careful. Once he's done he goes to open door #5. Wow, that's... really something. Wonder if they've got a book on this stuff. ... Uh... you can kinda only weigh more or less or the same right? Um... no, my weight sorta changes from about half a kilogram to, um... about eighty-six? So I guess this is how much I'm supposed to weigh. * Terry blinks. "Half a kilo? Wouldn't you just kinda float away if there was a breeze or somethin?" * Miya giggles. "Um, no. I can't do that yet." Ah, well that's good, otherwise somebody'd have to keep a string on you or somethin'. * Miya gets off of the scale and walks to the others. "I didn't get that light very much." She looks in office number four. "Anybody want a sucker?" [Door number five is... an unused office. Desk and chair and empty shelves.] * Terry follows Miya and then sniffs. "Hey, pizza!" * Miya makes a face. "It's cold." [Cold and vegetarian. Evil all around.] (Vegetarian pizza can be good) (Theo dies.) Still good, less it's like chicago style. Then you're kinda doomed after the first hour. * Miya blinks. "Chicago style?" * Miya looks around, realizes the other guys aren't there anymore, and goes to find Eui-Tae and Theodore. * Miya walks very carefully! But, like, if it's California or New York, or Italian, it'll last for days. An Chicago style's like three inch thick pizza. Good stuff when it's hot, but you can't heat it an', like, you can pave roads with it after a few days. You're writing this all down, Theo? * Theodore goes to check door #6. He also responds to Eui's comment. * Eui-Tae follows after Theodore. [Door number six is an office with a large number of books piled on the floor. There's a couch on one end of the room. And there's a television and VCR set up.] [There's also a desk and chair.] [And a shelf with more books.] [There's a video on the VCR.] I doubt there's any books on the inhibitor itself. Sounds like the research isn't that far along. And just the important looking things. And, it's Theodore. ::His tone isn't prickly at the correction. He then looks at the TV with a puzzled expression.:: Oh. ... That's got to have a lot of grease. * Terry gets the box of evil pizza. "Yeah, so it's totally bad for you, but it tastes good." I guess I'll pass unless I get really hungry. * Eui-Tae picks at a few random books. [Eui finds a book called Chemistry of the Brain, by Vanessa LeClaire. It looks advanced.] * Eui-Tae takes it with him! Yay book. * Miya finally reaches room number six. "Hey, a TV!" She goes to see if she can turn it on. [The television doesn't turn on. Darn power failure.] TV? Uh huh. * Miya looks to see if there's a tape in the VCR. * Miya sucks on her sucker. Yum, cherry. [There is no tape in the VCR, but there's one sitting on top of it. In its box.] What does that stand for? Um, television. * Miya picks up the box and looks at what the tape's called. [The video is called "Captain Planet and the Planeteers: Toxic Terror."] [Terry hasn't heard of it, apparently. Miya knows the basic premise, but couldn't name random Planeteers or sing the theme.] * Terry walks out into the hall with the pizza. "They've got TV here?" * Eui-Tae finally gets to the last room. "Hey! That TV working?" Uh huh. But it's not working. * Theodore nods and goes to open door #7. "Ah, what does it do when it does work?" * Miya looks more excited. "And this is a Captain Planet episode. I didn't think doctors liked Captain Planet." It's a cartoon. Do doctors watch cartoons? Captain whazzitz? * Miya hangs onto it. And the walkman. And a few comic books. You know where her priorities lie. I believe all this is technology from after my time. Could someone please elaborate. Captain Planet! Like, um, magic rings and save the world. * Terry rubs his head with the hand without the pizza box. Otherwise that could get messy. From pollution. And stupid people. * Theodore keeps working on finding a key to open the door. Pollution? Hmm.. perhaps you should just fill me in later. Huh, that so sounds like something Meri'd watch, but I'm totally blanking on it. Um... like, if you don't recycle, and... um... [Theo opens the last door on this side of the hall.] [In room seven on this side is another office. With more books and a single notepad on the table. And a window. And a potted plant.] Pollution, man, that's pretty nasty shit. Cars! They make pollution. And throwing things in rivers. So in the video, some kids get rings with elements and save the world from it a lot. Well yes. If you fill a river bed it couldn't be used for shipping. And genetically splicing salmon DNA with mosquito DNA. * Terry nods. "All that junk winds up in the ocean and stuff an' then all the fish die an' stuff." * Miya looks confused at what Theodore said. "Huh?" Wait, elemental rings? Yeah, like water and fire and stuff. If there was too much material at the bottom of a river it would interrupt the flow of commerce. (Wait, didn't Theo go to room seven?) (Yeah, but they can still hear one another.) * Theodore grabs the notepad. "I'm going to read these papers. They may mention something useful. I'd welcome help as there's much about this time I don't know." He then walks to the lit room. [Theo walked back to the lounge!] This sounds so familiar. * Miya follows Theo. There one for wind too? * Miya nods. ... Cool. * Terry takes the pizza to the lounge. I saw an episode of it. Some girl used it to, um, catch a falling person. * Miya puts her stolen booty on the coffee table, rewinds the tape, and listens to the dictation side again. [Theo's pad contains some point form notes.] [The point form notes read: "Meredith is key. Six years ago. Lonely? Attractive- friend or sex/love figure? Card game means what? Clearly also important, but unclear significance."] * Theodore spreads the papers out but looks at the notepad first. "Meredith. That name mean anything to anyone?" * Miya shakes her head. * Terry puts the pizza down on top of some magazines. "Yeah, that's Meri's name. Why?" ("That's Meri's name!" Hee.) * Theodore reads the note aloud. No clue, here. * Miya stops the walkman. She goes to sit by Theo and help pick through papers. * Terry blinks. "That, like, doesn't make any sense." Who is she? (It's someone dissecting logs from a literary standpoint.) [Miya finds a piece of paper she might find interesting. It's in Japanese, with a typewritten piece of paper attached with an English translation.] * Miya blinks. She picks it up and starts reading the Japanese. [Miya reads the autopsy report of a Japanese boy of fourteen who was run over by a train.] [Miya does notice that she knows the train station where it happened.] * Miya 's eyes open wide. She looks for a date. * Eui-Tae puts down the books and papers and starts looking through them. * Terry blinks. "She's my next door neighbor, an' we've been friends since my parents moved six years ago. But it's not like I didn't have any friends back in Cali, an I definitely don't feel like that. She's my best friend!" * Theodore nods. "I should hope not. You barely look old enough for sex/love interests now." [Miya spots the date. She probably finds it significant... it's the day she first teleported.] But- but- * Theodore checks if there's any more pages with notes. [The notepad is otherwise empty. A bunch of pages were already ripped off. This is the fresh one; the others behind it are blank. There's still a pile of notes.] * Theodore hands the notepad off to Terry. "They seem to know an odd amount about your life." He then starts looking through the other papers. * Miya stares at the paper, then crumples it with one hand and throws it across the room. "That didn't happen!" She practically screams it. * Theodore looks to Miya. "What?" [Theo finds a piece of paper detailing the falling stock of Godspeed Ltd. after an embezzlement scam in the early 90s. The company was bought by GM.] * Terry looks at the note. "How could they not know the ... Wha?" * Miya jumps to her feet; she doesn't fall, and she points at the paper accusingly. "That didn't happen! That was me!" Who was who to wha'? Nobody died! That was me! It what?! * Theodore frowns. He reads it more carefully checking for names he knows. "What didn't happen?" That's *supposed* to be me! * Miya is practically shaking at this point. * Terry stands up an walks over to Miya. "Like, you're you. Whatcha talking about?" [Theodore finds that the embezzler was the Vice-President, a Ms. Miranda Godspeed. There are no further details on this paper; it's just a footnote to a graph of a stock price.] * Eui-Tae blinks and looks at the paper, reading the transcribed version. "No way. It's a conspiracy. It's *got* to be!" * Miya looks at Terry, still pointing at the paper, and half-yells, "Some kid got hit by a train instead of me!" * Miya takes the sucker out of her mouth and swallows. And he died! * Terry takes a step back. "That's _not_ cool, but, like, it's not your fault n' stuff either. Ya know?" I *know* that! Don't you think I know that? * Theodore frowns and says very quietly. "Misty?" He then looks over to Eui-Tae. "I suggest you look at these papers for any notes referring to yourself. But you may not like what you find." Yeah, really. * Eui-Tae blinks, then looks over at the papers for anything that might pertain to him. "Anything from 2076?" Doubtful. These papers all seem to think we're from this time. I don't know if I'll find anything then. It's a bit of a stretch, isn't it? Give it a try. You may find it useful to know who they think you are. * Miya throws the sucker at the autopsy report, decides that didn't do enough, and just kicks the table next to her. Her tentative balance gives way, and she falls back onto the couch. * Terry shakes his head. "Nah, see, I think if you knew that, like, you totally wouldn't be yelling. I mean if you got hit by a train that'd be one thing, and like, if you'd pushed him that'd be 'nother, but him gettin' hit an not you? Totally nothing. You didn' even know 'bout him right?" * Eui-Tae is giving it a try. * Theodore sorts through more of the papers. ( You're all actually brains in a jar.) ( And the jar... is filled with pickle juice!) (Aw, do we have to SHARE a jar?) (What, you think jars grow on trees?) (Dood! How am I supposed to play inside a jar? This's totally boring!) [Miya finds a further piece of paper in Japanese. It says, quote, "Due to Y2K problems, the previously supplied form had an incorrect date." It then lists a corrected date, exactly ten years later.] I didn't, but it... just... It wasn't supposed to... * Miya blinks. "It wasn't..." And then she looks puzzled and gets to her feet, walking slowly over to the crumpled and now sticky paper. She picks it up and uncrinkles it, looking again. Look, you didn't do anythin' wrong. It's that simple. And I bet if you saw somebody falling now you'd totally go save him an stuff. Right? Right. I know, but- It's the same date, and- * Miya stops, then adds, "Same time, just..." Different year. What year? It's, um, 2003. * Terry blinks. "Uh... right. See? Absolut'ly, positiv'ly and in no way having anything to do with you!" But I was almost hit in 1993. Fourteen years old. Maybe this guy's exactly the same age. Kay, now that's stretching it. [Theo finds a news report on a toxic waste spill in South Korea. It killed a bunch of people. The company responsible paid a minimal fine.] Toxic spill in South ::He carefully sounds out the word.:: Korea. More of this pollution talk. That ring a bell for anyone? (Unless there was some endangered animal that Meri heard of somewhere involved I've got nothing.) * Terry shakes his head. "I got nothin'." [Eui finds another news clipping on the Godspeed scandal. Ms. Godspeed apparently fled the country, leaving her family to take the fall. She's now living a life of luxury in some country that doesn't extradite.] * Miya shakes her head. She seems to have calmed down, more or less, and looks for anything else about the kid. I'm from South Korea. * Theodore hands the article to Eui. (What's the kid's name, Nic? And I doubt it'd be there, but is there a birthdate or anything?) (Name is... Ken Watanabe. He was born several months before Miya.) * Miya spots that and breathes even more easily. She walks back to the table, sets the sticky papers to one side, and starts looking for more Japanese stuff that's easier to read than English. [Eui notes that the toxic waste spill happened within miles of where he and his family live.] (Eui never knew it, but he IS a mutant.) Hey, something on Godspeed? * Theodore looks to Eui. "Over here please." * Terry moves the lollipop around in his mouth and then goes to join the search for news clippings. * Eui-Tae passes it to Theodore, taking the article that pertains from him and reads through it. [Eui finds that there was a massive toxic waste spill near where he lived, and it killed hundreds of people and wildlife. No mention of specific names.] That can't be right. There was never a toxic spill near our town. * Eui-Tae looks for the date on the article [The article is dated mid-2003.] [Theo recognizes the woman in the photo as his sister, albeit with difficulty. She looks modern in hair and clothes.] * Theodore reads the article. "She wouldn't..." He then looks up. "There seem to be two possible logical explanations for this." Huh? * Terry looks up. "Whatcha got?" The people in this hospital seem to think that we have lived lives similar to the ones we think we've lived. But the timing and the details are wrong. And ordinary. ... I'm not a guy. An, like, I've always been ordinary 'n stuff. Kinda lucky, but not so much. Ya know? * Theodore looks to Miya. "So you didn't die and he did in your place." He looks to Terry. "They seem to be puzzling out what Meridith means to you. As if she's some sort of odd symbol rather than a person." But I- I mean, I didn't die anyway; I teleported. * Miya looks confused. Uh... no? She's totally a person. I mean I've met her parents and everythin'. All they got on me is this toxic spill, which I don't remember ever happening. My mom wouldn't get a house on a toxic dump. * Theodore nods. "Ordinary. So, there's two possible explanations." What's the other one? Well, we've either jumped into these corresponding lives somehow or we're insane. I tend to think the former, but I doubt the doctors believe that. * Miya nods. She looks down, picking through papers some more. Uh... Could you, like, try that again... Maybe with more words? [Miya finds something else in Japanese. It's a police report. There's an attached English translation of this as well.] * Miya picks that up and starts to read it. [Miya is reading a police report, but it's so thoroughly blacked out that it says little, except that was a homicide investigation relating to the dead boy the train ran over, and no charges were laid.] * Miya blinks. She flips to the English translation to see if that tells her more. [The English translation has gaps due to the blacked out sections. Not blacked out: gaps. It was blacked out before being translated, apparently.] * Theodore looks to Terry. "They believe we aren't who we think we are. Which would be consistent with the absent powers." He blinks. "That wouldn't explain the inhibitors. And either way, there's still a very dangerous person loose." Yes, Uhm, but isn't the person they think Miya should be kinda dead? Or am I confused? [Miya's also uncovered another piece of paper in a foreign language, this one in Korean.] * Miya peeks under it. "Um, Eui-Tae? You're Korean, right?" Yes, Miya, I am. * Miya pulls out the Korean paper and hands it to Eui-Tae. "I can't read this." * Eui-Tae takes it and reads it. [It's another fun autopsy report! For Jae-Eun Kim. She died of cancer in 2004.] They, um, the police think maybe someone pushed him in front of the train. I can't really tell. * Miya holds up the paper to the light. [Miya sees nothing new.] * Theodore chuckles to himself. "And to think I was afraid this might happen in my own world." He looks to Terry. "In this universe Miya didn't teleport away. She doesn't have powers here. Something else happened instead." * Miya pouts and puts the paper with her autopsy one. But if I don't have powers, how come my body wants to use powers? And how come they have power-blocking things? Oh. That kinda makes sense. * Terry picks up a random paper from the pile while he thinks that over. [Terry reads an article from a right wing parent group website, about the evils of Yu-Gi-Oh cards and how your kids will become obsessed with them and start worshipping Satan.] (Terry's a SATAN WORSHIPPER.) * Terry reads. "An' this makes even less sense." * Theodore looks to Miya. "Perhaps the world hopping. I'm not sure." * Miya nods and goes back to slowly looking through more paper. [It is apparent by now that all the papers in these piles are various documents and articles. There are no notes per se.] * Terry sets it aside. "The people here are, like, all crazy an stuff." * Miya gives up and puts that down. She picks up the tape, rewinds it, and plays it again. * Eui-Tae reads up on the paper. "2004... Jae-Eun isn't dead. Can't be. It's just a story." * Miya listens, then stops it. She rewinds and plays again. Who? Jae-Eun, my sister. Paper says she died of... cancer. In 2004. ... How old is she? * Eui-Tae looks for the age on the article. [The autopsy lists Jae-Un as one year younger than Eui-Tae thinks she should be.] [Should be in his time, I mean.] She's a bit younger than she should be. * Miya nods. "Okay. That's creepy." Ten years it says, but she should be eleven. * Theodore frowns. "It seems our counterparts in this world had hard lives. Let's see if we can find more about these inhibitors." * Miya looks down at her walkman, then stands up. Um. There should be five of us. * Theodore looks to Miya. "Good point. I'll look for more records; some of you should look for anything on the escapee." * Terry looks at Miya and then points at Theo. "But didn't, like, he say a while ago that there was another group?" He said maybe, I think? I'm gonna check where we came from. * Theodore points to the door on the left. "Someone escaped from over there." He then goes to the elevator hallway and starts opening the other doors." Let's see what's behind door #8. [Door number eight contains... stairs going down.] * Terry nods. "Maybe there's something here 'bout him. I mean we're all in here right?" You want to look? I'm, um, gonna go check, okay? * Eui-Tae nods. * Miya heads down the hallway they first came through. Stairway out of here. Good to know. * Theodore checks door #9. [Door number nine holds... a cat scan machine.] * Terry nods and sifts papers for things that aren't in Asian languages, about big companies, or cards. [Terry finds police records.] Hey, maybe I got something. ::He reads.:: Huh? [Terry reads about the police records of a Derrick Manchester, who was arrested for the triple murder of his neighbours.] [Mr. Manchester was apparently convinced they were aliens.] An this guy's whacked in the head. [Break.]