[MM3]Sunstormers IC

[Tony Jones]

"From texting with my compatriots here," Khemis tells Albert. "We don't think it's a good idea for you to go back to your place tonight. Your watchers might be extra alert after what's happened. But we might be able to pick up some of your stuff, and the evidence you have. Do you have a key hidden somewhere they could use? And where in your place is the evidence?"

"I don't think anyone has any ideas how these powers work," she continues. "I was speaking to someone with a bit of medical knowledge a while ago, and it's pretty clear that whatever is going on is way outside biology as we know it. Maybe way outside of physics too!"

----

*With my powers, I think I may be the best option to get into Albert's place,* texts Khemis to the group. *No breaking necessary. Though leaving him where he is may not be the best idea too...*

*He'd like some fresh clothes. Any clothes at all really! And his wallet and credit card in a set of pants there somewhere.*

[Neo-Paladin]

" My neighbor, Mrs. Willis, has a spare key", Albert says, " she's a sweet older lady and she knows about my condition. My notes are in my desk. Left side, second drawer from the top. They're under a stack of old bills. My other set of pants is on the bed."

[Tony Jones]

Khemis passes this information on to the others.

[kenmadragon]

Sunny
HP: 3, Condition: Ok

In Sunny's defense, Khemis texts him and Deborah and 'Charger'... a lot. So he can probably be excused for not reading her messages immediately and responding with all haste.

This isn't to say that she texts the other Sunstormers constantly. No, it's just that -- in Sunny's opinion, anyways -- she seems to text them updates on anything and everything that catches her eye regarding Sunstormers, legal options for safeguarding the rights of those affected by the Sunstorm, and various other problems that might affect those so blessed with superhuman abilities or who were negatively affected by the changes, etc etc.

It's a constant reminder that Sunny is now acquainted with a journalism student and makes him wonder if the profession is accompanied with an obsession with sharing news... News Sunny isn't always interested in at all times. Much of it is just another source of frustration for him -- Charger had made the point that patrolling the skies, looking for trouble, was a terrible way to go about being a vigilante. But all that information Khemis would keep sending him... all of it stuck around in his head and made him think that he should be doing more. That Charger was wrong and that he ought to be going around the city, knocking skulls together and cracking down on crime with superhuman fists. Instead, he did his best to content himself with just doing what he could in his vicinity. Rather than look for trouble, he disciplined himself to just let it start... and then end it before things went truly wrong.

So yes, Sunny didn't pay attention when his phone started blowing up out of nowhere. He'd glanced at the "sender" line, saw it was Khemis... and just told himself he'd get to it later. He was busy after all; not with work, but with cartoons. It was a Thursday afternoon and he'd already done all the prep-work for his meeting tomorrow, so he was relaxing and watching cartoons -- thus, he was very busy taking some time to himself. His phone would ping. He'd glance at the sender, see it was Khemis, then tell himself he'd read 'em properly when the episode was done. So on and so forth.

*Ping*. Sunny glanced at the sender. It was Deborah.

Sunny paused the episode and opened up his messaging app.

A few moments later, brow furrowed, Sunny taps into super-speed for a few moments to think about how to handle this. When he drops out of it a half-second later, Sunny sighs.

">>Omw. Will pack AJ an overnight bag. Which neighbor is Willis?<<" he texted.

Putting his computer to sleep, he blurred into super-speed again to get changed and set-up everything he needed to make people think he was still home when he'd really slipped out the window (something he'd gotten pretty good at over the last month). Mentally, he was plotting out a rough flight-map to circle the city a few times to obscure his start and end points. He knew where the other man lived, the question was about making sure he could get into the house undetected.

But, Sunny mused as he slipped out, moved a couple blocks away before taking to the skies from a side-alley, he had several ideas for that.

[quote="OOC']Sunny will be keeping Superior Senses active while flying to Mrs. Willis' place to get Albert's key. Sunny plans on getting close to the area before dropping to street-level and walking the rest of the way like a normal person. He has a routine-Perception of 15 if it matters (unless I need a roll for whatever reason).[/quote]

[Tony Jones]

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine

"Which neighbour is Mrs Willis?" Khemis asks Albert in response to Sunny's question.

*If Mrs WIllis wants confirmation that you are acting on Albert's behalf, then ring me so he can talk to her,* Khemis texts him, along with whichever number if Mrs Willis'. *And if you see any suspicious cars or watchers, if you can take photos, write down license plates or whatever that would be good...*

[Neo-Paladin]

" When you're standing in front of my apartment, the next one to the right", Jun says.

[Tony Jones]

Khemis passes this information on to Sunny.

[kenmadragon]

Sunny hears the ping of his phone as he circles the city. While he could have just blitzed his way directly to Albert's place, the unfortunate truth is that the city is full of cameras, and not just those found in smartphones. Stop-lights, ATMs, offices and private apartments buildings, and even individual homes... All of which installed high up and pointed down.

But since the Sunstorm and the events with Harold (God rest his soul) proved there were people in Chicago who could fly, Sunny's found that there were now plenty of them pointing up. Most of them were just from people who wanted to get a glimpse of a Sunstormer and put the video online for the likes and follows. A few seemed to belong to the Chicago Police Department. The latter were the ones Sunny was still learning how to avoid. Thankfully, he was blindingly fast when he chose to be, and the CPD's surveillance cameras just weren't up to snuff... but it still paid to be cautious.

Sunny touched down upon Palmolive Building (formerly the Playboy Building), deftly avoiding the wiring put up to stop birds from nesting on the roof's alcoves. He checked his phone, tugging at his thin gloves to type out a response.

">>Will do. Give me<<"

Sunny paused, estimating. It would take him a couple minutes to get to Albert's place if he continued to fly pseudo-randomly to obfuscate his destination, then however long it would take to get the key from Mrs. Willis (supposing she was even home in the first place), and then a couple minutes to pack Albert's things in an overnight bag using Super-Speed (and maybe tidy up before he left), then a few minutes to... Where did Khemis live, anyways? He'd ask her later. Longest issue was probably getting the key from Mrs. Willis, but the rest would take maybe five or six minutes, seven at best...

">>Will do. Give me 20 min<<" he texted the group.

And with that he was off again, darting around the city before circling to drop down a few blocks from Albert's place and walk the rest of the way at normal speeds.

[pathfinderq1]

>Fast Forward (Part 2):
(Yes, I know it is late- been busy. One more section coming- had to end this bit where I did because I kept hanging up on the next part. This way I get at least another chunk posted. Also a bit more up in the Writing Room thread.)


The second week (or so) was even MORE Work. And it was not helped by the surprise announcement that her roommate (and one of her few close friends in town) had decided she wouldn’t be returning to UChicago for the spring semester. Rashida had been a first-generation college student, but the elaborate Rube Goldberg-style financial construction which had allowed her to attend a very expensive school like UChicago (including a partial athletic scholarship) had been flimsy, and the societal chaos of the Sunstorm had been the last straw. Even with student loans, it was just too much- she was going to work part-time and push through community college instead. That particular slice of drama had taken up most of a day, and an hour or two here and there over the week (and likely to continue for the foreseeable future, as Vickie and Rashida were still friends, which had earned her a standing invite to just drop by whenever- and which might be an opening for some summer lodgings later). The announcement had also reminded Vickie just how precarious her own status was.

Even if Sunstormers were not officially barred from athletic competitions (if someone figured out a way to detect those who had been changed), Vickie wasn’t sure if she could continue to compete once the season got started up- from an ethical standpoint if nothing else. Could she be absolutely certain that she wasn’t, even subconsciously, boosting her own speed, or oh so slightly draining away the speed of a competitor? And without her own partial scholarship, UChicago was a very expensive school to attend- a very good school, but expensive. Her family could probably afford it and there were loans and so on, but would it be worth it? Should she give in to her parents, and their subtle but relentless pressure to go to Princeton or Rutgers instead? This, of course, led her into further research- she had filled out her initial FAFSA on her own last year, so she was perfectly capable of running the numbers. The deadline wasn’t until April, but she could start working on it, and looking into work study jobs or other possible scholarships, as well as examining the options for schools her parents would like more- UChicago was expensive, but they knew they were expensive, and there were a lot of ways to get help from a financial standpoint. She really liked living in Chicago though- and she hated to fail, hated even the idea of giving in and moving back home. So what were her options, and what did she need to do to reach them?

She kept up with her studies in physics- with no other classes in session she was really able to focus, and while the subject was new to her, she was pretty smart, and she knew how to study effectively. There were also a lot of resources to draw on, besides the course packet she had downloaded- practice tests, video demonstrations, online tutorials… After the initial round of study, she backed off on the legal theory- at this point she had only needed the basics. Someone, somewhere, was working on updating all those laws and legal precedents to the Post-Sunstorm reality- until that actually happened, she knew enough for her own purposes.

She kept up the pop-culture research though, but turned it into less rigorous, more recreational activity- something she could do in her free time. She had always had a bit of an interest in comics and so on, so it was kind of fascinating to learn how much she didn’t know, how many things she had never even heard of or considered- things like how superheroes were portrayed in other cultures, like Indian films or Japanese manga and anime. Would a post-Sunstorm world evolve to have superhuman schools, like My Hero Academia?

She had been thinking about indulging a bit in compiling some information about what powers had been observed in those who had been affected by the Sunstorm. Were there common “power sets”? Anything really novel or interesting? Were there powers which were part of pop culture superhuman experience that HADN’T been expressed, at least not as far as the general public was aware? But after a bit of thought, she realized that there were probably already a LOT of people working on similar data collection projects- some just students or interested amateurs like Emily, some professionals (both corporate and government-affiliated) all of whom were likely to have better resources and more relevant experiences. She could just read up on the collected material once it started making its way to peer-reviewed journals or other reputable media.

Even with all of that work (And it was a lot, a real grind even for a smart dedicated student who didn’t need much sleep), the biggest project of the week wasn’t WORK precisely. It was personal, and something she had already put off for far too long.

She had to tell her parents.

It had been a few weeks since the Sunstorm, and she had probably talked to her parents more in those weeks than she had in the four-and-a-half months since she had headed off to college- as much as the Sunstorm-damaged communication networks had allowed. It was only natural- personal changes aside, the Event had been a massive global incident. It had, quite literally, changed the world- even more than the 9/11 attacks had done for her parents’ generation. So of course, she had reached out to her parents, again and again, and they had reached out to her- email, phone calls, a few short Zoom interactions. But it had been… Well, not distant, exactly- they were her parents, and she loved them and they loved her. But she was growing up, making her own life, her own decisions. After they had recovered from the mild COVID cases that had derailed their Christmas plans, there was the unspoken invitation that she could come home at any time- for a brief visit, until the semester got underway, for good. Without it being said, she knew they would gladly spring for train or bus fare (Nobody was ready to hop on a plane yet, certainly, after the Sunstorm had brought down so many flights, caused so many deaths). Her father would probably have driven out to Chicago to pick her up. All she had to do was ask.

But she wouldn’t. She couldn’t. Especially since they still didn’t know.

She had to tell them. But it wouldn’t be easy. Every time she thought she was ready, she just couldn’t do it. Even telling them she had failed out of school (which she would never do), even telling them she was a lesbian (something she wasn’t even remotely sure of herself, despite some stirrings)- those would have been earthshaking announcements, but still easier than this.

But it still needed to be done, the words needed to be said. And it would need to be in person.

>(TO BE CONTINUED)

[Tony Jones]

Khemis
Hero Points: 3; Current Condition: Fine

Khemis posts a few more articles over the three week period:

• Sunstormers are people too. We may look different to normal people now, and have powers, but before the Sunstorm we were just the same as you. Even if we look different on the outside, people need to remember we are still the same people on the inside.
• I mourn for Harold's victims, Sandra and Victor Hollinger. And wish that the CPD had not failed to keep him from (so we are told) killing himself before he could face an actual trial. Perhaps if he had we would better understand why he did what he did, and perhaps use that to prevent more such tragedies in the future.
• Extremism benefits only those who instigate it.
• Hooray, things are returning to normal!
• If the authorities come for Sunstormers then what makes non-Sunstormers think they are safe from being treated the same if those in power feel the need?
• Sunstormers need legal protections like other groups, and I am helping with work to make that happen.

[Neo-Paladin]

Pretty soon, Sunny is inside the apartment complex where Jun lives. Things are somewhat clean and he can see the supervisor on a ladder, fixing the lights. As he sees Sunny, he looks down with a smile. " Hey there. Never seen you around before. Looking for someone?"

[kenmadragon]

Sunny

Sunny's first thought after walking into the apartment complex is that he's glad he's not sneaking in around the back. After all, that alleyway is where he first became acquainted with Albert Jun and had frantically tried to stop the other man from bleeding out. Taking the front door would allow him to avoid having to revisit that memory in some depth...

This enthusiasm rapidly turned to a despairing awkwardness at the thought of a stranger trying to be friendly and conversational.

"Oh, hi. No, I'm just visiting a friend upstairs. Haven't been by in... a month, I think." Sunny gave a bashful grin. "I won't be long, just checking up on him. But it looks like you're busy with those lights, so I'll get out of your hair." And with that, Sunny made his way for the stairwell -- taking the elevator would mean waiting for it in the lobby where the building super might try to engage him in further small talk.

[Neo-Paladin]

" No problem! And good thinking on the stairs! The elevator works but sometimes it gets stuck...got fried like everything during that damn Sunstorm. And guess who has to fix it all...."
He keeps talking, apparently either really needing someone to talk to or liking the sound of his own voice, not even really noticing that Sunny quickly leaves the range of ordinary hearing...

[kenmadragon]

Sunny just makes his way up the stairs, double-checking his phone for Albert's address so he can get to Mrs. Willis'. Once there, he runs a casual sweep with his super-senses, just to be safe, and then knocks on Mrs. Willis' door while pondering what he's going to say. It takes him a moment to realize there's a door-bell button, distracted as he was by his thoughts, and Sunny feels a little foolish when he presses that instead.

[Neo-Paladin]

Immediately, he hears a dog bark, followed by a female voice asking, " Who's there?"