Gamma Emission: Unintended Side-effects

[Terrenceknight]

Moar Sweno! Your Ficlets are so full of awesome and win, that We must have Moar *grin* I deffinatly have to agree with Spud on that particular phrase..it was a
nice shot at Sailor Moon *chuckle* It probably Is a really good thing Lisa has connections and knows who to talk to about what to get the Radiation sheets. I
can't imagine how things would go if Terrence tried to get said sheets..odds are he'd probably find one of the magical factions of Villans..and begin
inflicting gratuitous amounts of violence on them untill they finaly make a set of sheets for free and quickly out of fear of their lives and a chance to be
left alone for a while.

"If Violence isn't solveing all your problems, Your just not useing enough of it"

[Sweno]

Much of Lisa's support structure before meeting Terrence and Rhea was the hospital. And it tends to be the first place she turns for answers. This has
worked in her favor when it comes to diagnosing and understanding her powers, but has severally limited the number of contacts she has made outside of the
hospital. Asking around at MAGI or SERAPH (had she bothered to build up the amount of contacts she has at the hospital) may very well have resulted in a
similar deal. There are always people willing to barter on the side for things that are hard for them to acquire.

-Terry

---------

"Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor, and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds
that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and freedoms."

- Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Sweno]

Sofa, Terrence and I have been hashing this out for the past few days, now it's ready for public consumption.

---------

Gamma Emission:

Pair Production (pt 4)

The three of us crashed back at my apartment after our trip to the bloody bay. Not that I expected any celebratory action. I was worn out and, if the way
Terrence and Rhea looked was any clue, so were they. A backpack with three Shivan skulls clinking around inside was left by the door as we trudged to the
laundry room. I didn't even bother attempting to salvage my clothing, it went straight into the hazardous waste container. I was liberally covered in
shivan goo. Terrence only looked better because his armor offered better skin coverage, though his hair was still a mess. Terrence's armor was stacked in a
corner, to slowly drip goo onto the tile floor. Rhea had actually been the smart one and stayed out of melee range. Though her clothing couldn't be
considered clean in any sense of the word, it was at least salvageable.

The walk from the laundry room to the bedroom would normally have been enough to get my libido to sit up and take notice, but now I didn't have the energy
to even make a playful quip. And the exhausted silence was mirrored by Rhea and Terrence as well. Terrence was pushed into the shower first, by virtue of being
the quickest to get clean. I would have joined him, or goaded Rhea into trying to fit in with him, but I didn't have the energy for it. While the shower
was a tight fit for two, three wasn't even close to possible. And I wasn't about to leave Rhea out of the fun, or sit on the carpet myself while they
used all the hot water. I just wanted to get clean and go to sleep as quickly as possible. So I sat against the wall near the bathroom and tried not to fall
asleep.

My metabolism had been going on the equivalent of a bender for the past four days. Multiple times each day I was pushing myself either in how much radiation I
could take, or how much I could give off. And after the battle today it had decided enough was enough. Curling up and not doing anything strenuous for the next
thirty six hours sounded like a wonderful idea.

I don't remember much of the fight itself. I remember getting woken up around six by Rhea. She had made sure that any harm the couch had done to my lower
back wasn't a problem, and sent me stumbling towards the shower. Fifteen minutes later I was clean, awake, dressed, and sitting down to another excellent
breakfast courtesy of Terrence. Breakfast conversation revolved around what the plan was, and what do when it went wrong. I at least remember enough to know
that it didn't go wrong in the ways that we planned for.

We arrived via helicopter and after a brief talk with local warzone agent we headed off to the nearest meteor. Upon reaching it, the shivans seemed to coalesce
themselves out of the ground. I used to scoff at the idea that they had a central intelligence behind their actions. But after seeing them rise out the cracks
around the meteor, pulling bones and rock fragments together to form their bodies, I'm no longer so sure. Things went well with the first group, despite
the fact that most of my attacks did little to hurt the shivans. It seems like their radioactive nature made them naturally resistant to my powers, though I
was able to disorient them if I concentrated on one at time. Their attacks were about as effective, as the most theirs managed to do was raise my pulse.

The battle was a little slower than I'm used to, as the most I could do was distract them from Rhea and disorient the ones Terrence was pounding on. Rhea
was able to heal any cuts or bruises that the shivan's concrete claws delivered, but her attacks seemed to be as useful as my own. Terrence was able to
beat them into submission, and when they lost cohesion we were met with our first setback. I seems like their hasty construction meant that the skeletons they
were built around dissolved with the rest of them. We took shelter in one of the surrounding buildings, discussing various ideas on how to get the skulls out
the shivans without damaging them, when the meteor decided that we hadn't left fast enough. The shivan that crawled out of the ground was easily twice the
size of the preceding ones, and contained a much more complete skeleton in addition to a chunk of the meteor itself in it's chest. I remember hitting it
with as much radiation I could force into a coherent stream. My attack did force it back a step, but the shivan decided to return the favor. It raised one
concrete claw glowing with energy and all I saw was green light. It felt like someone had stuck my head in the Terra Volta reactor. Things get kinda fuzzy
after that.

I remember that the skeleton of the large shivan stuck around after we defeated it. And that more shivans failed to materialize. So I guess we moved onto two
more meteors, judging by the number of skulls we collected, though I can't remember any specifics. I do know that we weren't harassed by any of the
villains. I'm not sure if that was due to the early hour, or the generous green glow the three of us acquired by the end.

Rhea poked me in my shoulder, rousing me from my musings. She had sat next to me with Mr Whiskers in her lap, seemingly more concerned with my addled state
than our total lack of clothing. "Lisa, you ok?" She asked after I looked at her.

"Yeah, I guess so." I said as I rested my head on her shoulder. "I'm just worn out. Let's avoid doing that in future. They pack more of
a punch than I realized at first."

"Deceptive piles of space goo." Rhea agreed after a moment. "But hey, your new sheets are going to be worth it right?"

"Definitely. Actually being able to sleep in bed is something I will no longer take for granted." I took a minute to sleepily study the rest of the
furniture. "I wonder if I need more than a new bed." The carpet looked ok, mainly because it was shielded from the heavy radiation by the bed itself.
but most things above above the level of the bed probably needed to be replaced. The walls definitely needed to be stripped down and repainted, but getting on
the hazmat style gear to strip and apply three layers of paint (lead based, bright red sealant, and normal) would have to wait.

"I kind of like it." Rhea said. "The bed is a bit bright, but the walls are neat."

I nodded my head as much as I could while snuggled up to her side. "Repainting the walls will be put off as long as possible." I heard Terrence shut
the water off, but right now I wasn't in any hurry to move.

"Couldn't you put up some wards to help?"

"I don't know, I don't get magic. I'm not sure I'll ever be conformable around magic the way some other people are. Besides, big glowing
wards kinda freak me out." I said, trying not to remember my first few days after discovering my powers. Rhea decided she knew the best way to take my
mind off of those unhappy memories. Her hand, which had been resting on my knee, began to make it's way up my thigh. At any other time I would have happily
crawled into her lap, but now the thought of emitting and absorbing the amount of radiation this would lead to didn't sit well. My protest of
"Can't you wait five minutes? I want to get clean before I get sticky again." was half hearted at best.

"Can't we do both? Yesterday was fun." She said as her hands started to glow softly. Rhea's glowing hands between my thighs would normally
make me a happy camper, but all they did now was give me a sour clench in my gut.

"No! Just, not now. Ok?" I snapped at her. I didn't mean to, but I was exhausted and Rhea's insistence was rubbing me the wrong way.

As soon the words left my mouth I felt Rhea tense besides me. I turned to see what was wrong. She was smiling, but it didn't reach her eyes. The smile
looked strained, nothing like the happy expression that she normally wore.

"Oh. Ok." Rhea's voice was thick with something I couldn't identify. "You can have the next shower. I'll just -I'll ..."
Her voice trailed off as she tried to get up. I grabbed on to one of her hands, struck with the sudden fear that if I let go I wouldn't be seeing her
again. Some small part of my mind recognized the sound of the bathroom door opening, but that wasn't important right now.

"Don't leave. I couldn't take it." I curled around the hand I had grabbed hold of. I had to make her listen, had to make her understand.
"I don't know if we can make it work out, the three of us. But I want to try. I NEED to try. Because I don't think I could be happy without both
of you." I took a shuddering breath and looked at Rhea "I know I messed up somewhere, planning isn't something I'm used to doing. I'm
just asking for a second chance. This is best thing that's happened to me. I love you guys."

Rhea made a strange little gasp and she tugged on her arm lightly. I couldn't stand to look at her, I'd come on to strong and scared her. I let go of
her hand and just stayed curled up on the floor. I'd tried to catch a butterfly and ended up with a bloody mess on my hands, only the mess felt a lot like
my heart.

"No one is leaving." Terrence said. His voice rumbled in my chest. A small part of me felt better already, he would save us. Even from my own
screw-ups. "Not until I understand why both of you are crying." The bed squeaked a bit as someone sat down on it. I uncurled a bit to look at where
his voice was coming from. He stood just outside the bathroom, hair a half-dry mess, and a towel around his waist. His face was a mixture of concern and
insistence, he wasn't going to let this topic drop until he was sure that no one misunderstood anyone else.

I figured since it was all my fault I may as well start. "It's my fault. I shouldn't have been so selfish." I said while staring at me feet.
I couldn't stand to see Rhea reject me. "I should have had an idea about how this all was going to work before letting my hormones get in the way. I
was the one that brought Rhea into this relationship, I should be ok with whatever commitment she wants to make." I paused to wipe the tears from my eyes.
"I'll be ok if she doesn't love me back." There was silence for a few seconds and I hugged my knees, waiting for the recriminations.

*****

I couldn't believe my ears. Lisa was the confident one, the one who knew what to do and when to do it and never, ever hesitated. To see her so unsure...

... I couldn't believe it.

It must have been the blow to the head in Bloody Bay. I was a trained medic, I knew how much that could affect the mind. She --

(Stop it, Rhea.)

I blinked. "Stop what?" I said, holding Mr. Whiskers up in front of my face. He stared back at me.

(You're overthinking it again.)

"Rhea, what's wrong?" Terrence asked softly from the bathroom door. I shook my head and squeezed Mr. Whiskers to my chest, closing my eyes.
"But it won't work, furball. You know that."

(Did you hear what Lisa said?) Mr. Whiskers demanded. He sounded angry. He never sounded angry. (Did you HEAR her?!)

I thought back on it. She had said for me to stop, and then I... I must have let it show too much, obviously, because Lisa had started to try to smooth it
over. She didn't need to do that, I'd still be her friend, but --

(I've never called you crazy before, Rhea, but I will if you keep thinking that way.)

My eyes widened and I stared at Mr. Whiskers in shock. Dimly, I was aware of Terrence moving closer to the bed, but that wasn't important right now.

(She said she -loves- you, Rhea. She doesn't want you to leave. Neither of them do.)

"You.. you love me?" I asked Lisa. She tensed, then nodded, without raising her eyes from the floor.

"You shouldn't love me," I said. It was like I was watching it happen from outside, like I was hovering in the corner and not really
participating. My voice was hollow and I was petting Mr. Whiskers. He really needed a good brushing. Lint was starting to form another layer of fur.
"People who love me go away. I'm like a curse."

"Rhea, no!" Terrence said.

"I didn't want to mess you guys up too," I added. I really needed to work on my composure, because I was crying all over the place and getting
spots on Mr. Whiskers' fur. He's a cat, they don't like water.

"Do you love us?" Terrence asked softly from beside me. I blinked at him and shook my head. Didn't he get it?

"That's not important," I said reasonably.

"Do. You. Love. Us?" Terrence repeated, his voice deeper, more commanding.

(Answer him, Rhea. Answer him honestly. -Please-.)

I stared at the floor, at the wall, at anywhere but Terrence's face... and finally my gaze came to rest on Lisa. She was still hunched against the wall,
knees drawn up, head tucked, ever-so-slightly rocking back and forth. I looked at her for what seemed like a long time.

Then I closed my eyes and lowered my head. "I... I do. I love you guys... and I shouldn't. I don't want to lose you too...."

Terrence picked me up -- even in my current state I enjoyed it, I never got tired of his affectionate strength -- and carried me over to Lisa. He settled back
against the wall, cradling me in his lap, and pulled Lisa into a hug against both of us.

"You won't, Rhea. I won't let you. We're not going anywhere, and neither are you."

My hand crept towards Lisa's of its own accord; she let me fold my fingers into hers. I squeezed her hand tightly.

"Promise?" I asked.

"Promise."

I closed my eyes and hoped that this time, it would be true.

*****

I'm not sure how long we stayed curled up on the floor together. I know it was long enough for my tears to dry and the shivan slime on my back and legs to
dry and itch terribly. I tried to scratch at it discretely, but Terrence must have felt me move. His hand gently squeezed my shoulder. I turned my head to look
at him over Rhea's shoulder, his expression was a mix concern and puzzlement. Instead of breaking the comfortable silence that had enveloped us with a
complaint about itchy skin, I figured a gesture of acceptance would be better.

"Rhea?" I asked while giving her hand a light squeeze. "You still up for that shower together?"

"Huh?" She answered drowsily. "But I thought you said no?"

"My libido isn't up for what happened yesterday, but getting clean would be an improvement." I said. "I'll wash your back if you wash
mine?"

"Oh, ok." Her voice wasn't quite back to the happy playful tones she had before this whole mess, but it was a vast improvement from before.

Terrence waited in the bathroom, holding Mr Whiskers, while Rhea and I got each other cleaned up. I'm not sure if he thought he would somehow fit in the
shower should something go wrong, or if he was just enjoying the view. But I appreciated his presence anyway. He had towels ready for us when we stepped out,
and the giggle that escaped Rheas lips when she noticed the bulge in the one around his waist was music to my ears. He blushed and muttered something about a
'perfectly natural reaction'. I was in too good of a mood to bother teasing him about it. It was a short trip to the bed and the three of us collapsed
in a happy, semi-damp pile. No more than five minutes had gone by before Rhea was curled up at Terrence's side softly snoring.

I poked Terrence in the ribs to get his attention before he joined Rhea in unconsciousness. "I still need to drop the skulls and the rest of the salvage
off at the hospital today before my contact leaves, so make sure she doesn't worry if you guys wake up and I'm not here." He gave me a solemn nod
before closing his eyes again. A glance at the clock told me I had about three hours before I needed to make my delivery at the hospital. Even if I
couldn't fall asleep, I intended to lie here and be happy until then.

----------

ETA: Minor grammar fixes that I missed the first time round
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Wiregeek]

like sodium through the cooling coils, These Are The Days of Our Lives..

good stuff, guys. : )
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Sweno]

Ok everyone, here is the last bit of this story arc.

There may be more from Gamma in the future, but for now I'm going to be shifting gears to focus on Smoldering Decay (and I dread trying to write the
interaction between the two).

Anyway, onto the story!

----------

Gamma Emission:

Pair Production (pt 5)

Dragging myself away from the warm bed to make a little more than a delivery run down to the hospital wasn't easy to do. Only the thought that I would soon
be able to actually sleep in my bed kept me from curling up for a few more hours.

I pulled some clean clothes out of the lead chest and got dressed by the glow of the bed. There are some benefits to having a glowing bed, I might be tempted
to just let it be if I could sleep in it. After a quick stop in the bathroom, I hit the kitchen to start a pot of coffee while I checked on laundry room. The
washing machine hadn't lost it's battle against the shivan slime. As I transfered Terrence's and Rhea's clothes to the dryer I made a mental
note to check on how much they cost. If I ever moved out of here it is definitely something to think about getting. The cube of formed metal wasn't pretty
or quiet, but it hasn't failed once to get various stains and substances out of whatever gets tossed in. A thin trail of slime led from Terrence's
armor in the corner to the drain in the center of the tile floor, but I decided to leave the final cleanup of that to him. I still wasn't sure how all the
pieces fit together.

I swung by the front door to pickup the Shivan skulls and the bag of salvage Terrence had dropped off earlier. A final check of materials was done in the
kitchen while I waited for the coffee to finish brewing. The skulls were the first things into the duffel bag. I don't like looking at them. Even after
they have dried off, their hate at the world seems to echo from the empty sockets. By the time I had made sure that everything on the list was accounted for
the coffee was ready.

So for the second time in an many days I was just another pedestrian, walking to the hospital with a duffle bag of salvage over my shoulder. I noticed a few
local street toughs loitering near one of the parking lots. I'd have to check on my way back and see if the loitering had escalated to attempted grand
theft auto. Other than that, the walk to the hospital was pleasantly quiet. The hospital on the other hand was not, apparently the hellions had attempted to
set fire to one of the local buildings. The third floor lobby had quite a few soot covered heroes suffering from minor cases of smoke inhalation. The general
attitude was upbeat, if a little wheezy, so I assumed that the fire had been put out without loss of life.

My skill at navigating around the magical departments must be getting better, because it only took me fifteen minutes to track down Marcus. He was in one of
the labs again, scribbling into his notepad while a cauldron simmered on the table beside him. I set the duffel bag down next to the table with a muffled
thump.

Marcus glanced at me, then at the bag. "The rest of the supplies I assume?"

"Yup, and your day tomorrow is free." I said as I dug an envelope out of my inside jacket pocket. "Here's your fee." Laying it down on
the table. The envelope was quick to disappear into the folds of his lab coat.

"Good. It should be done around this time tomorrow, you'll find me here or across the hall." He said while turning back to look at the cauldron.
I nodded at him and made my out of the hospital. I planned on stopping by the hospital much earlier than five o'clock tomorrow, mainly for two reasons.
First, I still hadn't talked to Dr. Shaw about what had happened on monday. And Second, I needed to Julie to explain what happened in Terra Volta in nice
understandable terms. The inevitable sidetracks into my love life that conversation would take had become a little more of a mine field recently, but I still
didn't know know how to safely broach the topic. I know she thought that my romance with Terrence had progressed a little fast, adding Rhea into the mix
would definitely swing her from 'amused' to 'concerned'. I just needed to make her understand that getting bombarded by rads was more akin to
alcohol than ecstasy, even if it wasn't true. Alcohol impairs coordination and fine motor control, reduces inhibitions, and makes you forget why something
is a bad idea. Getting bombarded by rads ups my metabolic processes, is mildly dissociative, and acts like an aphrodisiac. But somehow getting smashed is more
socially acceptable than getting horny.

My internal rant against social norms was put on hold as I passed the parking lot I saw earlier. The outcasts from earlier were no where to be found, and a
lack of broken glass on the concrete gave me good odds that nothing had happened. If they were learning to behave in this area or just to clean up after
themselves I couldn't say, but without evidence of wrongdoing I wasn't going to go looking for problems.

When I got back to the apartment I decided to crawl back into bed. Even if I couldn't get any sleep I wanted to be there if one of them woke up. Right now
being together was worth a sleepless night.

-----

I'm not sure how long I spend curled up next to Rhea before she woke up. But it was long enough to for my lazy planning to sketch out ideas on my next
Terra Volta excursion, possible clubbing locations, and tentative birthday gifts for Terrence or Rhea. I was contemplating some of the more obscure places for
a picnic when Rhea slowly regained consciousness. She made a confused mumble as I nibbled on her neck.

The first intelligible word out of her mouth was a sleepy "bathroom."

I untangled myself from her and sat up as she made her way out of bed and towards the bathroom. The door was shut before the light came on, but I still heard
her muffled curse at the bright light. It wasn't very long before the light was shut off and she was standing in the bathroom door blinking at her loss of
night vision. I propped myself up on my elbows and admired the view while her eyes adjusted to glow the bed gave off. Rhea smiled at me as she made her way
back to bed. "You should be sleeping." She scolded lightly as she crawled in between Terrence and myself.

"I wanted to be here when you woke up. Besides, I can afford to sleep in a bit. I don't have anything planned tomorrow before noon." I said as
she settled herself in. After she had laid down I pillowed my head on her shoulder and continued "I'll move to the couch around three."

Rhea responded with an exaggerated sigh "I guess that will have to do." I didn't need to see her face to hear the smile in her voice.

I smiled and gave her stomach a one armed hug "I'll make this work out somehow. The three of us. I love you guys too much not to."

Rhea was silent for a moment, and I wondered if I had made a mistake mentioning my feelings again. I wasn't given much of a chance to worry though. Rhea
gave me a quick squeeze with the arm wrapped around my waist and kissed the top of my head before correcting me. "We'll make it work out."

I hummed happily in response and let my mind wander back to it's lazy planning. Soon enough Rhea fell back to sleep, and I was once again alone with my
thoughts and a silent Mr. Whiskers.

-----

It was a little past eleven by the time I managed to extricate myself from the tangled mess of sheets on the couch. I detoured through the kitchen to start a
cup of coffee brewing before heading to the bathroom to take care of business. By eleven thirty I was clean, dressed, and sipping on a fresh cup of coffee in
the kitchen. Terrence and Rhea were out 'taking care of a few things' according to a post-it I found on the coffee machine. I grabbed a frozen burrito
and some fruit for lunch. Tossing that and the dvd Dr. Shaw had given me on monday in a backpack I made my way back to the hospital.

I tracked down Julie in her office/lab in the radiology department. Technically the small room was supposed to be used for the repair of various heavy
machinery the radiology department had. The unofficial office was tolerated since Julie and Christopher (the other tech hotshot) could pretty much take apart,
diagnose, and put back together any of the equipment on the 5th floor quicker than someone could track down the dollies and move said equipment to the repair
room. The room itself was only 8' x 6', but somehow the two of them managed to cram two desks, shelving units, chairs and even some overhead bins into
the small room.

The door was open, if only a crack, and the light was on. So I knocked on the door and stuck my head inside. Christopher was somewhere else currently, Julie
had taken advantage of the extra space to scoot her chair back and put her feet up. I didn't know how she found room on her desk to put her feet. The
computer screen fought for space with piles of papers, books, and half assembled electronic components.

"Hey Lisa" Julie said with a smile, "have you come to save me from one more hackneyed attempt at a paper explaining how to get quantum physics
to play nice with magic?"

"If by save you mean distract, then yes." I said as I dug the dvd out of my backpack. "I've got the data from Terra Volta."

"That'll do." Julie responded. In surprisingly short order the paper she was reading joined the others on her desk, the dvd was snatched out of
my hands and slotted into the computer, and Julie was perusing results. Not more than two pages in her happy smile turned into a frown. "Well those
didn't last long."

I looked the graph the screen was displaying, a third of the lines ended before they got halfway across. "Dr. Shaw said that some of your sensors burnt
out." I said, drawing some conclusions from her expression and the lines on the graph.

"Well yeah, I expected to loose some. Especially after you decided to get up close and personal with the reactor." Julie teased.

"Hey, that was my first time dealing with that many rads. The whole point of the experiment was to figure out how I would react." I said. I knew she
was teasing, but it was a bit of a sore point for me. "Besides, Dr. Shaw wants to run a few more tests in the coming months. You'll get plenty of time
to test new versions then."

"Fine, Fine. But in the mean time we can work on your control." Julie said as she started to rummage through some of the overhead bins.

"My control is fine." I protested. "I haven't tripped the sensors in months. And I always make sure I'm someplace safe if I'm going
to let my guard down."

"Just because you haven't made a mistake doesn't mean you can't get better." Julie said as she tossed some sensors at me and checked her
computer. "Besides you need to be doing something while I translate these numbers into something you can understand."

I managed to catch all of the sensors without dropping them and deposited them in my backpack for the time being. "I thought we just agreed that we
aren't going to test your sensors."

"We're not, we're going to test your control. Those sensors are the same type that you wore into the reactor, so I would appreciate it if you keep
the power levels down a bit." She finished a quick bit of typing and handed me a large bundle of wires. "Lab 17 is free for the next two hours, lets
see if you can last that long."

I got out of her way as she left her office and followed her towards lab 17. "You still haven't said what I'm doing for two hours." I
reminded her, sometimes I really disliked this habit of hers.

"Think of as superpowered tai chi."

"what does that even mean?" I asked. Somehow I was missing the connection between the eastern martial art and my radioactive tendencies.

"One of the physical therapists in Brickstown thought it up. And I think it's worth a shot with you." Julie said as she opened the door to door
to the lab. The lab was similar in layout to any of the other shielded rooms on the floor. One small control room that held a variety of computer gear to
record and analyze the data gathered from the actual test area. Julie started to turn on the equipment as she explained exactly what she wanted me to do.
"The goal isn't to put out as much power as you can as fast as you can. It's to move slowly and be in control. Lets see if you can keep your
emissions within 5% of the target as we move it up and down your recorded range."

"Oh yeah, this sounds like tons of fun." I said as it sunk in what she wanted me to do. I was tempted to bitch about the run in I had yesterday with
the shivans, but something my dad had once said stopped me; 'Life isn't fair, only children and fools expect it to be. Which one are you?'. With a
sigh I placed the coil of wires on top of a computer tower and dug around in my backpack until all of the sensors joined it in a precarious pile. My clothes
formed a small pile on top of my backpack in the corner of the room. I shivered at the chill air and shot a mild glare at Julie. "You know, if I
didn't know about your repeated failures to seduce Christopher I might suspect you had voyeuristic tendencies."

"Har de har har." Julie responded in a deadpan voice as she started to affix sensors to me. "I never said you had to strip, the sensors will
work fine on top of clothing. Maybe you're just an exhibitionist."

"Ha. Don't you wish." I said as I turned around so Julie could fix some sensors to my back. "You'll be one of the first ones to know
when I can convince Hero Corps to expense my clothing bills."

"Yeah, let me know how that turns out." Julie said as she attached wires to the sensors that now adorned my body. We both knew what the end result of
such an attempt would be.

I snagged a lab coat as I followed Julie into the testing area. I'm not sure why I bothered, there were no windows and only one door. Julie hadn't even
bothered to turn on the cameras. She would have plenty to look at from the sensor data. The test area was a white room with thick wall and single bed in the
center. A small collection of sensor gear was pilled on a cart in one corner, but I suspected that Julie's sensors were better at detecting the energies I
put out. Above the bed hung an oversized robo-surgeon, though instead of the traditional injectors, scalpels, and dermal sealers this one was festooned with
sensors and even had a monitor affixed to one of the larger arms. I settled myself into a crosslegged seat on the bed in the middle of the small room; while
Julie plugged the wires I was trailing into the robo-surgeon.

"Now remember, this is about control and precision, not melting the bad guys." Julie said as she pulled the monitor into a comfortable viewing angle
and turned it on. The monitor displayed a simple graph with three lines on it. "The red line on top is the maximum output for now, go above that and the
sensors might burn out. The line on the left is our lower bounds for now, the right is the upper bounds. I know you've gone higher and lower before, but
pushing your limits can come later."

"I get the idea." I reassured her. Power-wise this wouldn't be a sweat, it was barely a quarter of what I could do. Range wise didn't worry
me too much either, the lower bounds was in the visible spectrum, and the upper bounds was well within the xray range.

"Uh-huh, just let me know when you want to call it quits." Julie said as she went back to the control room. Shortly after a skinny bell curve
appeared in the middle of the screen and Julie's voice crackled over the intercom "Try to keep it inside the curve."

I ignored Julie for the moment and relaxed my control a bit. A much fatter and shallower curve appeared on screen. After a few seconds of concentration I got
my curve to match what was on screen. The target curve flashed green and then started a slow progression up the spectrum. This wasn't so bad. All it took
was a little focus.

A little over an hour later I was sweating and cursing at the screen. I had just finished my second lap up and down the spectrum. The bell curve flashed red
again as my emissions fell outside it's bounds. "I give up!" I shouted as I flopped back against the bed. I ignored the way one of the sensors
dug into by back as I relaxed and let myself emit across the spectrum.

"How do you feel?" Julie's voice crackled across the intercom.

"Like I want to find whomever came up with this idea and use them as a personal shield when fighting the Vahz." I answered without opening my eyes.

"Well you lasted more than an hour, which is better than I thought you'd do."

I could hear the smile in her voice, and for a brief moment I contemplated somehow getting her powers, just so she could feel this firsthand. "So why did
you book the room for two hours?" I asked as I sat up and brought my emissions back down to a 'people safe' level.

"Cause you wouldn't have pushed yourself this hard if I hadn't." Julie said, content at achieving her goal.

I kept my grumbling to a minimum as I took off the lab coat and used it like a towel to wipe the sweat off my face and neck. The sensors came off next and I
gathered them together in a rough bundle as I made my way into the control room. The colder air of the control room evaporated any perspiration left on my
skin; I repressed a shiver as I climbed back into my clothes. "Are you going to be nice and make the numbers make sense now?" I asked Julie once I
was dressed.

"Sure. And since you lasted longer than an hour, I'll even treat you to coffee." Julie said as she shut down the equipment.

"That's a plan I can get behind." I said, feeling better already.

We made a pit stop at her office to drop off the sensors and Julie put up her 'At Lunch, call me if something blows up' sign on the door. At the
reminder of lunch my stomach decided to protest it's empty state. Julie raised an eyebrow at the noise but chose not to say anything. I decided to use a
little of the control I had just spent an hour refining and put one hand inside my backpack as we walked along. The burrito was done when it was almost too hot
to hold. As I pulled it out and started to unwrap it Julie looked at the burrito, then at my backpack, then back at the burrito.

"You didn't." Was the only thing she said.

I swallowed the hot mix of refried beans, cheese, and (supposed) beef before responding. "Yup."

"I don't see how you can eat those. You know what's in them." Julie said, her disgust of all massively preserved things was nothing new.

"Cause they taste good. Besides, look on the bright side, normally they are glowing by now." I said indicating the steaming burrito with my free
hand. It looked like it had come out of any other microwave. That wasn't quite true, but I couldn't resist the chance to poke fun at her. I was proud
of the fact that I had cut down significantly on the amount of visible light I gave off when doing that trick though.

Julie did nothing more than sigh in defeat. The nearest coffee shop that deserved the name was a five minute walk from the hospital. I had finished the burrito
by the time we arrived, and the addition of good coffee improved my mood by leaps and bounds. Julie spend the better part of an hour sipping coffee, nibbling
pastries, and injecting some sense into the collection of numbers and long technical sentences that made up the report.

Julie left at two o'clock to go back to the hospital, but I spent the next hour and a half savoring another coffee and going back over the explanations she
had given. I figured I'd be able to get a little bit farther on my own the next time one of these was put in front of me. One of these days I might even be
able to understand them without any help at all.

It was a quarter to four when I found Marcus again. He was in the same room as yesterday, leaning over a neatly folded pile of cloth inside a magic circle. The
cloth was gently steaming, but Marcus didn't seem to be actually incanting anything so I felt safe interrupting him.

"Those the sheets?" I asked as approached the table he was working on.

Marcus was started for a second before answering. "Yes. I didn't expect you this early."

"I'm an impatient girl." I noticed a smaller pile of cloth folded off to one side, this one wasn't inside a magic circle and wasn't
steaming. "Those already done?" I asked pointing at the second pile.

"Yes, and if you had been able to wait a half hour longer this batch would be as well." He responded.

I ignored his annoyance at my early arrival and grabbed the top item off the pile. A pillow case; that would work. I put the pillow case over my hand and
walked back to the door. Putting my hand right up next to the control panel for the door, and one of the rooms radioactive sensors, I gathered enough power to
cover my hand in a nimbus of glowing energy. The only thing that happened was the pillow case started to change colors like some sort of tie dye effect on fast
forward. No alarms, no blinking red lights. "Works for me." I said with a smile. The amount of energy I had gathered should have at least tripped one
of the warning lights from half way across the room.

Marcus gave a snort of disproval at my actions. I'm not sure if it was because I didn't implicitly trust his ability or because of the attention I
would have attracted had the alarm gone off. I responded with a cheery "Back in half an hour then." and stuck the pillow case in my backpack. One
quick stop by Dr. Shaw's office and I learned that he was out of the office until monday; that suited me just fine. I left him a message asking to schedule
an actual appointment. I didn't expect the talk to take very long, but being able to nail down a time slot in advance did have it's benefits. I spent
the rest of the half hour playing with the pillow case, but I was unable to get back to a solid color. Oh well, tie dye sheets were a small price to pay for
not having to replace the bed on a weekly basis.

When I went back to see Marcus he had all the sheets in one of the duffle bags I had used to deliver the salvage.

"Anything limitations or special care I need to know about?" I asked as I picked up the duffel.

"No, the spell should last as long as the sheets do. Should they rip or develop a hole I would be glad to patch them. For a fee of course." He said
with smile.

"Of course. Pleasure doing business with you." I said as I made my way out of the hospital.

I fully intended to break in the new sheets as soon as possible, but in order to do that properly I needed company. Terrence didn't show up on the
Legendary roster. Which meant he either had his comm turned off, or he was harassing the Banished Pantheon again. I left him a message and made my way to
Independence Port. Rhea was there for one reason or another, and I fully intended to convince her to change priorities. I would even be willing to get out my
box of toys from under the bathroom sink if Terrence hadn't responded by the time I tracked her down.

----------

Thoughts? Ideas? Criticisms?

ETA: fixed grammer
-Terry
-----
"so listen up boy, or pornography starring your mother will be the second worst thing to happen to you today"
TF2: Spy

[Wiregeek]

to turn on the camera's.

Turn on the camera's what, exactly?

; )
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies

[Terrenceknight]

*Grin* Excellent work Sweno, and I think its pretty safe to say that Terr -will- want to be the first to break in the sheets with Lisa with Rhea there of
course heee, He'd check to see if he missed any call after each..round of beating the hell out of banished *shifty eyes* Or Romans

[Matrix Dragon]

The Burrito scene was win, and I couldn't help but snicker at the mention of Terrence harassing the Pantheon again

[Terrenceknight]

Honestly With how much I do harass the Banished..I'm surprised they don't just roll over and defeat themselves at the sight of me to save me the effort
of doing so since we both know thats whats going to happen anyways ala Austin powers Father vs nameless goons