It was just starting to get dark as Sarah arrived at the door to Paragon Tech's particle physics laboratory. It had been only lightly raining when she left home, and so she hadn't thought to grab an umbrella, but it was pouring down quite hard by the time she arrived at the lab.
"Lovely", she thought to herself, "I *so* needed a good soaking tonight."
She waved to the security guard as she tried to brush herself off a bit under the front awning before continuing on inside.
"Another all-nighter Miss Sarah? Should I tell the night crew you'll be here?", he asked.
She smiled and nodded absently towards him as she swiped in her badge and headed in to her lab.
Once there, she shed her wet shoes and overcoat, turned up a space heater, and started powering up her test systems. She gazed about as everything began to warm up, surveying the clutter. Her eyes were always drawn first to the array of odd looking Rikti artifacts in various states of assembly lining the walls like the archives of a museum. Many of them were hooked up to random seeming combinations of small intruments and laptop computers - testament to the myriad ways they had been attempting to attack the problem. As she glanced about each mini-experiment evoked brief flashes in her mind of discarded theories and still forming hypotheses.
Then, as always, she finally found herself drawn to the large and menacing device which dominated the center of the room. Recovered from the engine core of a downed Rikti fighter craft, it was a form of resonance chamber clearly intended to amplify and project Rikti energy shields. Mad tangles of cables, electrodes, and sensors covered its surface, leading to a chaotic array of computer racks and assorted displays. As the systems finished coming online, a low pitched, throbbing hum began emnating from it - just on the edge of sensation between hearing wuth her ears and feeling through her skin. A familiar green-blue haze formed in the air about the chamber as the startup sequence completed.
Sarah's practiced fingers flew over several keyboards as she initiated the series of tests she had planned for the evening. She then turned off the lights in the lab, leaned back in her chair, and stared at the patterns displayed on the instruments in front of her - lit only by the soft glow from the monitors and the eerie glow from the Rikti resonator.
She grew so entranced by the displays, and so focused on immersing herself in the patterns, that she soon lost all track of time. Hours had passed by the time she was awakened from her concentrated trance by the faint sounds of footsteps in the hall.
"Must be time for the night shift", she thought to herself, as she turned back towards her tests. But then she heard something more unexpected - low whispers outside the door and what sounded like stealthy fumbling at the lock to her door....
Now she was at full alert. Security knew she was here. The guards would *never* approach in such a manner when they knew she was working. If curious they would knock on the door and ask if she was OK. Something was wrong, and she didn't like it. She reached for her phone to call security, but the door began to open before she could dial. She quickly slipped back into the shadows off to the side of the lab and kneeled down - heart beginning to beat hard in her chest- thankful for having taken off her wet shoes when she came in.
She watched nervously as the door quietly opened and three male forms slipped quickly into the lab. She didn't recognize any of them in the low light, but she they seemed to have some idea what they were looking for. One motioned to either side for the either two, and they fanned out along the walls searching her array of Rikti devices. Then they began disconnecting some of the artifacts from their systems...they intended to steal them!
Sarah's fear began to melt into frustration and anger as she began envisioning what would happen to her work with the loss of the irreplaceable artifacts from which she had been learning. This could not be allowed to happen! They had to be stopped!
She had one large advantage over the intruders despite their numbers and relative size. She knew exactly what the majority of the devices in the lab actually did and how to use them...
She quietly reached up and took the two devices within easy reach without exposing herself and took stock. A hologram projector thought to be a teaching aid and...a power source. Hm. There were other nearby devices with potential use as weapons, but she did not think she could reach them without being noticed. Unless....
She quickly hooked up the projector to the power source, and carefully twisted together a few connections her fingers knew almost by rote. She carefully aimed the projector, and then tossed a small screw towards the middle of the room. All three thieves instantly whipped about to face the sound, and she quickly shut her eyes as she completed her last connection.
*WHOOSH*
A blinding flash of light and a loud pop as the projector overloaded and blew itself out. She had been unable to see for several minutes when she had accidentally caused such a thing in experiments earlier that month, so she felt confident the thieves would be at least momentarily indisposed.
"Damnit!!" one hissed, as all three stumbled back attempting to shield their eyes. Sarah dashed towards the opposite corner of the lab. If she could just reach the stun ray in the corner....if her assistant had left it functioning....
"I see you girlie!" another growled just as she arrived at her target. Damn! He had recovered too soon! Sarah saw caught a glint of flashing metal out of the corner of her eye, and ducked under the table with her prize just as the "Pfft" of a silenced gunshot hit the wall behind her.
"You can't get away girlie! And here I thought a few trinkets were all the haul we'd get tonight..." she heard from across the room, as the thief chuckled softly to himself. "Me pals here will want to thank you properly for that little stunt..."
Sarah knew she had little time before the other thieves recovered, and she felt the Rikti stunner warming in her hands. She knew how to operate it, but had little experience aiming such things. She knew she would only get one shot. She aimed carefully around the corner of the table as she heard the thief approaching - her heart pounding as she waited for her split second opportunity to surprise him.
There! Just as his form appeared in view she squeezed the trigger and a bright flash of purple-pink light spat out of the stunner and hit him squarely in the chest. He fell back flailing wildly, crashing into a rack of computers. The resonator jerked madly as several of its cables were pulled - making the soft lights dance crazily about the room.
"Pft Pft Pft" spat softly at the wall as the wildly spasming thief's finger squeezed tightly on his pistol. Sarah huddled back under the table to avoid getting hit, then heard one last oddly dull "Ping". Time seemed to stand still as she noticed for the first time that the background hum of the Rikti Resonator was growing both louder and more chaotic. She glanced wildly over at it - just in time to see a brilliant flash of blue-green light, followed by an oddly comforting sort of warmth. Then she anticipated more than actually felt herself flung backwards into the wall, and all went black.....
************BOOM!!!!**********
"Oh God", Sarah moaned, as she began to fade back in. She hurt all over - skin, muscles, bones, and had a pounding in her head that wouldn't quit. She wasn't quite sure where she was - lying someplace soft - but she really didn't feel energetic enough to open her eyes and see for sure.
After a few moments she felt a cool hand on her forehead and a soft voice asking, "Miss Silverman? Are you awake?"
Sarah managed a half-hearted groan in response.
<The pounding in her head seems...oddly rhythmic. Familiar.>
"Do you know what happened? Where you are? Why you are here?"
She thought about it for a second. The lab, something about a breakin, fear, and then pain. It was all so hazy, hard to think. "Uh-uh" she squeezed out, hoping hearing a complete answer might help her put the pieces together.
<The pounding in her head grows louder. Flashes of sensation, patterns, rhythms, colors.>
"You were in an accident at the University... A break-in and an explosion. A bad one. Several people died."
A flash of anger. A thief's shadowed face. "Thieves!" she croaked. Feeling little sympathy for them.
<The pounding grows stronger. The pattern more insistent. Flashes of blue-green color cloud her vision behind closed eyelids>
"Oh not just the thieves Ms Silverman - though two of them certainly didn't make it. There was a security guard killed by the theives, and another who was injured pulling you out of the wreckage."
"Guards?" she asked, hoping very much one of them wasn't Carl Conley. She'd always liked him in a fatherly sort of way. He'd kept a special eye out for her since she'd lost her parents, always making her feel welcome and thought about when she worked odd hours at the lab.
<The pounding spreads. She can feel it in her back and shoulders. The green haze takes shape - forming the outline of a bed about her and a human figure leaning over her. >
"Yes Ma'am. A Mr. Fizoli was killed and a Mr. Conley was hurt."
She felt an instant wave of relief that Carl had not been the one killed, followed by sorrow that he had been the one hurt and guilt that she did not even recognize the name of the other guard.
<The pounding reaches her arms and hands. She finds herself tapping her finger to the ever more complex beat. Sensations of movement nearby. The flow of electricity. The hum of fluorescent lighting. Flashes of green forming more complex patterns. >
"How...is...Carl?" She asked, still having trouble stringing together words.
"He will recover Miss Silverman, burns on his arms and hands, a minor head wound. He will probably be able to come and visit you before too long."
And then to the question that had been floating pregnant in the room since the conversation began....
"And....me?"
<The pounding grows louder and louder. The rhythm so insistent she can hardly think. The beat of the man's heart above her. The static electricity in the air. The sunlight streaming in through the window. All forming on her eyelids in ever shifting shades of green>
"Oh....I can't deny it Miss Silverman. You're in pretty bad shape. Its a wonder you survived at all. You've got numerous broken bones, severe lacerations from the explosion, and some odd sorts of radiation burns we haven't quite made sense of. The good news is you seem to be recovering remarkably quickly considering."
<The beat has enveloped her whole body. It hurts to move, but she cannot help it - swaying with the pattern - joining with the harmony. Brilliant flashes of green and blue swimming all about her. The pounding of the pattern singing in her soul. She can barely hear the doctor now. But she no longer cares. >
"Mrs Silverman! Mrs. Silverman! Oh god! Doctor! Doctor! Come quickly! What in God's name is that light!!"
-Flashes of Light-
-Pops-
-A Scream-
-The Tinkle of Broken Glass-
-Silence-
"Are we ready?"
"Is everything secure?"
"You're sure the shielding is enough? The room is completely isolated?"
"Is it safe to wake her?"
Sarah could hear voices whispering - fading in and out of her hearing as if from very far away, but coming from all around her as if close by. She felt calm, detached, vaguely aware of being on the edge of wakefulness, but lacking any desire to expend the energy to complete the transition.
Her headache has faded. The pounding seems oddly silent now. She wonders where it has gone - she almost misses its presence. It has so permeated her dreams of late she had forgotten it had ever not been there.
"Sarah?"
She feels a hand gently touching her shoulder.
"Sarah, can you hear me?"
A part of her seems to almost recognize the voice. That odd catch. That familiar crack in an otherwise smooth and confident male tenor. But memories are so hard to summon, take so much to acknowledge. And the silence in her head is so...peaceful.
"Sarah we're both here. We need you to wake up for us."
Another voice tugging at the faint strings of her memories, stirring parts of her mind which preferred to remain in limbo. The odd vowels. The just-too-soft emphasis on the "r"s. The way her name sounded so much more musical from those lips than it ever did otherwise.
More sensations awaken in the shadows of her mind . Quiet! Quiet! Do not disturb the sleeper!
A hand takes her hand. A light touch strokes her arm.
"Please Sarah. Please wake up. We really need you to come back to us."
The voice catches, chokes as it calls to her. And the sound of emotion echoes inside her in surges that can no longer be ignored. Her memories crash in upon her, her pain returns to her awareness, and with a gag and a moan she forces her eyes to open - forces herself to leave her silence for the beckoning world outside.
She is in a stark white room - almost bare but for the bed on which she lies, a few folding chairs, and several odd-looking instruments. She feels tubes in her arms, wires attached to her head and body, but she does not feel energetic enough to look about and see to where they lead.
Two faces looking over her - anxious, concerned. Friends? Co-workers? Yes. Both. Jonathan and Paula, her companions in arms since her earliest days at University.
"You don't look so good Jon-Jon," she chokes out as she attempts a wry grin. "You haven't been letting Paula cook again have you?" Nervous laughter greets her attempt at humour, and her sides hurt as she attempts to join them.
"Do you know where you are Sarah?"
"The hospital...still...I think. But this room seems pretty weird."
"They had to move you to special care because of your....condition..."
"My condition? What's happening to me?"
"Don't you remember? What happened when you woke up the first time?"
"So hard to remember anything. Dreams. Flashes. Green - so much green."
Her friends exchange glances. An awkward pause hangs in the air before Jonathan looks back to her. "The accident did something to you Sarah - changed you."
"Changed me how??"
She wasn't really sure she wanted to know. She had a nervous feeling in the pit of her stomach. She wasn't going to like this.
"We don't really understand it Sarah. You always seemed to understand so quickly - so intuitively...but we never dreamed it could interact with living matter in such a fashion."
Why couldn't they just tell her? It was *her* life after all!
"Understand *what*?!? Spit it out already JonJon!"
"The Rikti energy Sarah. You're suffused with it. Saturated with it. Its energy signature is all over you. And sometimes..."
She is too stunned for this even to register in her mind. She stares at him blankly, then presses on.
"Sometimes *what* Jon?"
"Sometimes you project it. That's why you're in here. That's why the shielded room. We can't tell where you draw your power from - so we cut off all the sources we could. But when you woke up the last time...."
Oh God. A sudden clenching in her gut. A cold shiver of fear runs through her.
"What Jon...When I woke up what..."
He hesitates - clearly uncomfortable - and then sets his jaw and continues on.
"You blew out the windows. Fried all the electronics in all the rooms near you. Threw doctors and nurses down the hall like ragdolls".
She feels sick. She doesn't want to hear any more, but she has to know.
"Oh God. Was anybody hurt?"
He bends closer - puts a hand on her shoulder. Paula gives her hand a reassuring squeeze.
"Not seriously, no. But we had to put you in here to be sure. Any sort of outside energy source seems to stimulate you - start a cascade reaction. We can't let such things near you until we figure out what's happening"
Paula interjects, cutting Jonathan off with a look and sounding hopeful and energetic. But Sarah can hear the edge in her voice.
"But we're working on it Sarah. Really. The whole lab is in on it. Crey Industries itself gave us funding to study it - to figure it out. With all of us working on it we're bound to find a way to fix it - a way to help you".
She's heard too much. She can't make sense of it. Can't process it. Can't digest it. She is so very tired. Too exhausted to feel these things. To confused to make sense of them.
"Leave me alone".
"Sarah...."
"Please. Just leave me alone. I need to think. I need to rest. I need to...I need to..."
She doesn't know what she needs. She just knows she wants to sleep. To shut out this frightening new world and fall back into the peace of unawareness.
"OK Sarah. We'll be right here if you need us. The nurses have all our contact information. If you need *anything* we'll be right here."
She mumbles as Paula gives her a hug and gets up. Watches as Jonathan takes her arm and leads her away. She is too tired to turn her head to watch them go.
It takes her no time at all to fall back into oblivion.
Sarah wakes up once again. She is alone in her room. Still the same white walls - the same sparse trimmings. Though a few scattered flowers and balloons do serve to brighten things up a bit. She smiles faintly.
With her friends' help the hospital has done much to dampen the energy noise around her. She does not feel nearly so overwhelmed by sensation as she did when she first woke up in an unprotected room. But she can still feel the dim pulses of energy around her at the edge of her awareness - the faint humm of electricity in the shielded medical devices beside her, the slight kiss of the dim lights overhead, the muffled rumble of power conduits in the floor and walls. Calling...singing...shades of blue and green.....No!! No!!
She shakes her head furiously as she quickly interrupts the seductive line of thought. She knows all too well where it can lead. Even here it calls to her. No matter how much they dampen the sound they can never entirely silence it.
She attempts to think of something else - anything else - anything to take her mind off of the inevitable. But she cannot ignore it. There has to be an answer - there has to be a way she can be cured. She cannot stay in here forever, and yet she cannot risk leaving the room. Even here she must be careful not to loose control. Not to give in. The call is so seductive, so warm and inviting. And the vibrations feel so good resonating through her, connecting her, binding her to....No!! Dammit! No!!
It seems stronger today. Harder to fight the temptation. Yet she sees no lapse in her room's countermeasures. No change in the dull background of her surroundings. Except....
Outside. She hears something. Muffled strongly by her insulated walls, but filtering through all the same. Pulsing, beating, but not at all like her call. Red, angry, shouting rather than singing - screaming and defiant. She realizes she hears with her ears as well. Faint thumps outside her walls. Shouts? Screams? What in God's name is going on out there?
The pulsing is louder as well. Something is coming closer. Something angry. She can hear her song of blue and green straining to respond. She tightly ignores it, but she is uncertain. And she is scared.
Louder and louder it comes. She finds herself huddled in her bed, squeezing shut her eyes, hands over her ears, straining to block out the mad red chaos. It keeps getting louder! Stronger! Pounding at her from all sides! She barely even hears the yells and thumps outside from the assault within.
Then *BOOM* her door is violently flung open! Flying off its hinges and skittering across the floor. She can clearly hear moans and sirens through the open doorway now, but stares in rapt attention at the eerie glow of pulsing red shining through. Madly swirling in hues of blood red and angry purple. Then she realizes it has a shape - a center. And she sees him step into the room. Not him! They couldn't have held him here without telling her! Not him!
"Ah girlie," she hears him laugh menacingly, "I thought I felt you here. They couldn't hide you from me forever".
"Go away! Leave me alone!", she sobs, crying out from the pain of the Angry Red beat assaulting her psyche.
"Now now girlie. I can't do that. I find I like what you've done to me, but I don't intend to leave any loose ends before I go."
Her eyes widen as she sees his hands begin to glow in menacing shades of firey orange. A yell, a shout, policeman running down the hall towards them. But he turns in their direction and sends them flying crazily back down the hall with flicks of his wrists - great red torrents of energy firing from his hands like twin cannons.
He turns back to her, smiling evilly. "Oh they tried to dampen me like they have you girlie. But they can't drown out the source. Once you give in, its always there. But a scared little birdie like you would never know that."
A gesture from his hand and she is flung out of bed, hitting the wall with a thud before slumping into a heap on the floor. She cannot think. She can only feel Red pulsing pain. Even the pain in her side from hitting the wall cannot distract her from the constant assault of angry color.
"I'm going to enjoy this girlie. I've been dreaming it ever since you put me in here." Another gesture, and she is flung across the room. She slams into a wall, but this time is held there. She can feel the red all about her. Squeezing her against the wall. She cannot breathe. Her sight is dimming.
She sees him approach slowly. Smiling. An evil red glow with purplish haze dancing all across his form.
"And now for the fun part. For me anyway". He laughs. Reaches towards her. Grabs her chin in his calloused hand.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!
She screams. Blue and Green! Blue and Green! She can feel it welling up inside her like a geyser. Erupting. Singing. No more red. No More RED!!!
She feels more than sees as gouts of energy fly out from her in every direction. The red man is thrown across the room like a rag doll - as every piece of furniture in the room smashes into the wall around him. Bright hues of green and blue dance crazily around the area pushing back the red. Coalescing into a ball around her, lifting her, carrying her. She floats in the air - supported by her song. Caressing her, protecting her, soothing her.
The red man growls as he stands back up. "So that's how you want to play it girlie." He sneers, as his hands begin to glow once again. "They always want to do it the hard way."
Flashes of orange as he flings great balls of reddish energy at her, wave after wave of hate and violence. But her song sings clearly in her soul now. She can feel it in every fiber of her being. And she calmly pushes the blasts aside. Watches with disdain as he futilely assaults her warm symphony.
His eyes narrow as he notes the complete lack of effect. "You can't stay in there forever girlie, and I'll be right here when you come out."
Sarah laughs. Feeling the green flow through her veins - strengthening her, sustaining her, guiding her. He knows nothing. He understands nothing. He wields a star as a club.
She prepares herself, and then lets her field of green move outwards. Unwrapping from about her and moving towards him. His eyes widen as it approaches, and he fires blast after blast at it, but to no avail. It wraps itself about him, containing his fury even as it shrinks to envelop him.
"Who's the bird in the cage now?" she asks, an edge in her voice as she allows herself to drop to the ground and approach.
"You can't do this to me!" He screams. Rage in his voice as he expends volley after volley on the unyielding blue harmony surrounding him.
She can feel his power hammering at her song. He may be a crude thug, but his raw power is too much to contain for long.
"Yes. I. Can!" She snaps back, as she sings her song once more. The ball of blue begins violently bouncing back and forth, smashing into walls and tossing the red man about inside. He cannot maintain his assault on her fields, is beaten and battered against it. But she can feel her strength weakening. Her song is stong, but her mind and body are faltering. She cannot continue to channel it at this rate, and when she relents she knows he will renew his attack.
She must get him away, far away, before she weakens any further. She summons all her strength, lets the song flow through her as never before, and *hurls* with all her will. Away! Far away!
Faster and faster the ball crashes back and forth, accelerating crazily as it smashes back and forth between the walls of her room. Then *BAM*!! Great chunks of concrete fly in all directions as it bursts through and out into open air - still accelerating as it speeds off into the night. She watches as it soars out of sight, and then collapses on the floor.
Her song is spent. And she bathes in the soft caress of its blue green afterglow as she fades into sleep.
Sarah stared out the window of her room, lost in thought. She had just finished getting dressed and gathering up her things, as her friend John carried a load down to his car. She would be leaving the hospital today - as her physical wounds at least had fully healed. And despite their gratitude for her driving off the dangerous Red thief, they were not overly sorry to see her go. After all, she herself had destroyed two separate critical care facilities during her stay. She had learned much since first waking in the hospital about controlling her powers, such that she no longer felt a danger to those around her. She could still hear the Song at the edge of her consciousness, still feel its warm echos in the sunlight streaming into the room. But she was still unsettled by it. And she was troubled even more by the other recipient of such abilities.
Even after her "victory" in their confrontation the thief had not disappeared for long. Once freed of restraint he had picked up his old life with a vengeance, using his powers to fuel a string of violent robberies and gang wars in carving out a place for himself among the super-powered Hellion thugs. Now going by the name of "Blast Shield", his exploits had made news several times of late even in the super-power saturated atmosphere of Paragon City. His sheer audacity, ambition, and wanton violence went far beyond the average thugs in this part of the city. And Sarah was concerned that even for all his success, his power was no more developed than was hers. They were still but novices to their abilities, and she shuddered to think what harm he might do as his power grew.
She had the sinking suspicion that she herself was best qualified to pursue him. Her powers in theory exactly matched his own, and she understood their source far better than he ever would. But....she was a physicist! A lifetime lab jockey! She did not know if she was ready to consider herself "super". She did not know if she was even cut out to be a "hero". But she did know this: Blast-shield was in some way her responsibility - and she would never be free of her link to him as long as he was loose. And if she could not neutralize the threat he posed he would surely eventually come for her. She did not know the first thing about fighting crime. Indeed she knew very little about fighting in general. But she knew where to learn.
She had heard a man speaking about Rikti Technology at the University several months ago - a Commander Trasc, leader of a group known as Righteousness. He was a metal giant of a figure, as much machine as man, with a body saturated with Rikti nanobots and cybernetic modifications - the victim of Rikti experimentation early in the war. His body had integrated the machinery to the point that it was a conscious part of him, and he had shown the ability to manipulate it for both astounding medical applications and fearsome demonstrations of offensive power. If anybody could understand Rikti energy, if anybody could teach her to better hone her talents, it would be him.
"Hm. Me as a super-hero", she mused to herself as turned away from the window and left the room. "The girl with the shields from the stars". And her Song of Blue hummed softly at the edge of her consciousness as she set her life on her new course.
"Down Cat, Down!" Sarah laughed as she pushed her cat off the table and out of the middle of the stack of papers she had been studying.
"I just can't figure out the reason for these resonance harmonics!"
She frowned, biting her pencil, as her eyes wandered idly over the table.
She'd been working on this project for the better part of 4 years - ever since her postdoc days at Paragon Tech University. Right out of undergrad she'd been swept up in a join research program funded by Crey Industries to reverse engineer Rikti technology recovered from the war. Her particular background in quamtum physics and nuclear engineering had led her into a project to study Rikti shield generators. They had long since figured out the power source. They understood the controls and general functions of the devices - they had perfectly mapped the energy waves the devices generated - but they couldn't seem to get a handle on how exactly the darned things worked! The energy waves seemed to twist and turn back on each other in crazy, nonsensical patterns - full of wild harmonics and unpredictable frequency spikes. It just didn't make sense how such chaos came out of the seemingly ordered electronics, and how the chaotic energy waves somehow added up to such a stable standing field.
The project's sponsors had been getting restless lately - as despite the rapid initial progress Sarah's team couldn't seem to crack this last obstacle to understanding how to design and build shielding devices themselves. Every attempt to even copy the strange machines had led to explosive failures.
She kept turning the problem over in her head, but just couldn't quite get it to make sense. She needed more data. She needed to see the waves - to hear the harmonic interplay - to be surrounded by the patterns so her mind could fully concentrate on solving them.
"Oh well, looks like another night at the lab." she told the cat, as she stood up and picked up the pizza box and leftovers from the table. She put a handfull of catfood in the bowl, gathered up her papers, and bundled up to go out. It was going to be another long night....