David Perry's The Wildborn: LAST CHAPTER

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

LAST CHAPTER

Meltdown, Orbis & Whirligig

VAGABOND

A tremor, he thought as the stylist made headway through the tangle of his hair. What else could have shaken the earth like that?

Funny that nobody else seemed to notice it. He had been having that eerie feeling all day, that nobody seemed to be noticing anything.

Combed out, it was almost to his waist. He never cut his hair, after all. It had be so long since he had seen the near white-gold shade, he had almost convinced himself he had been a brunette. He had never cut it since since since since since sincesincesincienissccceeeeeeeeneee

And he could have sworn he could still hear that man screaming. It was just off in the distance, like birdsong, or the collective cry of crows. It vexed him—he didn’t know why—while he got his hair tackled.

Clothes, he thought. I’m going to have to get some of them—

OW!

Damn knots. He was still woozy. Still overwhelmed by the senses. Even the most minute things, a bump, a stubborn knot in is hair, was enough to nearly send him over the edge. He saw stars; tried to play it off. Actually it was a miracle he was able to get out the door. He spent half the day just trying to get out of the bathroom. Muscles and sinews that had not been used for….however long it wasSssEEEEEEEEEEEEE…suddenly found commands and bio-electrical impulses coursing down their nerves. And his body woke up. It was too much.

And now he was sure of it: he could still hear that man screaming. No one else seemed to notice, though, in their blithe, accommodating manner. What, is he following me? This has got to stop.

OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod

GOD.

Bo was on the floor. He just…crumpled. He put the key in the lock. He opened the door. And he just…crumpled.

He’s been shot. Oh god. He’s on the floor. He’s been shot. He’s been shot. Oh god oh god oh god. He’s been shot. Oh god. Oh Jesus.

Nash Thibideux, transfixed, could only stare at Bo’s body. This was a Navy SEAL. Weapons specialist. Martial arts master. And he could generate a few inches from his fists spheres of pure, diamond-hard energy that could grind through steel. Deflect bullets. But only if he saw them coming. Now he was spawled, ugly, on the floor of the hall.

Whirligig, who had followed Bo from the day he fell out of the sky and landed in the bay, was in there, in the apartment. Total puppy, but a total blank-slate, a complete amnesiac. Bo even had to give him a name, ‘Colton Grabowski.’ The last name was his mother’s maiden name, the first from Bo favorite porn star. Colton was an “anthroid,” a living being completely saturated with a nearly impervious liquid computer. He could spin around the center of his gravity so fast he could fly or grind his way through anything. But he was out cold. The fight with Vagabond damaged him so badly he lapsed into a stasis-state while his body repaired itself.

And Nash himself, he was MELTDOWN. He was Heat Incarnate. He could fly, could vaporize stone and metal. There was no limit to how hot he could get. He was probably the only female-to-male transgender thermophile. And he could hear his brain screaming. Fire danced down his arms and legs. And he could not move. God help me, I can’t move. He’s been shot. He’s been shot. He’s been shot. He’s been shot. I can’t move. He’s been shot.

That’s when he saw the silencer and barrel emerge from the doorframe.

Move, Nash.

He had been standing off to the side of the door while Bo unlocked it.

Nash, move.

The killer didn’t know another was there. He was coming out to look at the body. The gun was coming out of the door.

NASH! MOVE!

He’s been shot.

He watched Vagabond go through the whole ritual, blearily. He wasn’t even sure if he was really seeing, or it was just some sort of haze. He’s done something to me, he knew. He knew he was terrified, and yet it was all like looking at something from so far away. He knew he had to run. He knew he had the power to do it. But it was all so far away in his mind. He couldn’t reach anything, couldn’t touch anything.

far

….a…way….

So he watched Vagabond. He was vaguely aware where they were. Warehouse. Screaming. Ruined. Burned out. Raining. Screaming. Water falling through the roof. Vagabond, naked, standing in the falling water. Using his power to change his black hair blond. Screaming. Pieces of wood, metal flying, raking through his hair. Took all day. Screaming.

And then Vagabond turned. Looking right at me. Coming up to me help no picking me up with his mind screaming no no things flying everywhere no no help Mirrorball Scepter help help oh god help speaking in my mind

“Time to go, Benji Whitcombe called Tug-of-War. Time to go forever.”

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The Cast

Good Guys

CODENAME: Mirrorball

Finnegan Ulysses Cavanaugh

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’9’’

WEIGHT: 300 lbs

BODY TYPE: Muscular swimmers build

HAIR: Red, buzz cut.

EYES: Blue

COMPLEXION: Freckled.

ETHNICITY: white (Irish American)

BIRTHPLACE: Tempe, AZ

HISTORY: Born to New Age-hippie parents—who met through a shared love of James Joyce—on an Arizona commune, Mirrorball’s power was not a surprise: every other generation of men, through the father, in his family has the exact same power. It is a family secret going back generations, and Mirrorball’s grandfather, himself with “the power,” was instrumental in teaching the boy control of his abilities. Mirrorball came out to his parents at age 13. Mirroball’s powers first manifested when he was in public, and hence, he is well-known to be “empowered. “

Home-schooled, Mirrorball also displayed an enormous potential for drawing and art, and won an art scholarship to the Rhode Island School of Design, where (after finding suitable housing) he graduated a year ahead of schedule, with honors. An in-demand artist, Mirrorball moved to San Francisco, where he met his boyfriend, Bang.

POWERS: Radiating to about a 10’ radius from his body, Mirrorball casts an orb-shaped “aura” of flashing lights, where the ambient electromagnetic field of the planet is at once sped up or slowed down. Within the aura, there is an intense, whirling, disorganized storm of electromagnetic “bursts” of everything from radio to gamma rays. When these bursts occur in the visual section of the electromagnetic spectrum, there is a brilliant flash of colored light. This aura can disrupt radio transmissions, fry computer equipment, and microwave bodies from the inside out.

Mirrorball is immune to electromagnetic attacks. However, if he is hit with such an attack (ex., a lightning bolt) his powers automatically activate and his aura expands exponentially. Mirrorball’s natural state is with his powers “turned-on.” If he is asleep or unconscious, his powers activate. This has created the awkward situation of having to sleep in basements with sunken floors, away from electrical equipment, and to avoid long-haul air flights and any other situation where he might doze off near people or electronics.

OCCUPATION: He is a world-famous fantasy art prodigy.

CODENAME: ROM

Romeesha Armstrong

SEX: Female

HEIGHT: 5’1’

WEIGHT: 120 lbs.

BODY TYPE: Voluptuous (T&A)

HAIR: Neon pink

EYES: Brown

ETHNICITY: African-American
BIRTHPLACE: Compton, CA

POWERS: ROM can extend her consciousness into computer systems she has already hacked into (she is a world-class hacker), instantaneously absorbing into her memory everything in a particular server or database. She cannot implant information from her mind into a system, but once in, she is actively aware of every electronic action in the computer in real time. She cannot physically enter cyberspace.

HISTORY: Gangsta, goth, ghetto, and cyber, ROM grew up in projects of Compton, and only the frighteningly strong iron will of her grandmother kept the young Romeesha in school, where she showed proficiency in computers. ROM discovered her powers completely by chance, when, in boredom, she touched her computer’s USB port and instantly knew everything inside the memory of the system (Had she been born 100 years earlier, she never would have known she was Empowered).

Seeing this as a ticket out of South Central L.A., she threw herself completely into computers, technology and the cybergoth culture, eventually to become a major presence in the underground hacker circuit. She did this entirely out-of-school (ROM never attended college), but still retains her “ghetto upbringing.” Because she has nothing to actively offer on the battlefield, ROM usually plays a supporting role, but carries a gun at all times, plus pepper spray, just in case. She’s used both.

OCCUPATION: ROM works for a Silicon Valley company in the security division. She hacks into their system to make sure nobody hacks into their system.

CODENAME: Paine

Sanjay “JJ” Rai

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 5’11’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular (yoga)

HAIR: black.

EYES: hazel

ETHNICITY: Indian American

BIRTHPLACE: Rahway, NJ

POWERS: Upon skin-to-skin contact, Paine automatically causes all pain receptors in an adversary’s brain to go off. He literally causes agony with a touch, and prolonged exposure can cause an opponent to faint, go into a coma, go into shock, or die. Even a drop of his blood will do it. He cannot “turn-off” this power, and when he “hurts” another, the pleasure centers in his own brain are activated. This can lead Paine to become literally addicted to hurting other creatures. Paine is dyslexic.

HISTORY: Born in Rahway, NJ, to Indian immigrants, Paine not only deals with his potentially lethal powers, but having to straddle two cultures. His parents and siblings do not accept he is gay, and constantly pressure him to return to New Jersey (he basically ran away) and marry “the right girl,” going so far to set up dates with women from India and fly them to San Francisco. Because he cannot touch anything with a nervous system without inflicting absolute agony, Paine is something of a recluse, and uses the excuse that he is a burn victim to explain why he never shows any skin and doesn’t like to be touched.

OCCUPATION Freelance graphic designer.

CODENAME: Bang

Alastair Beauregard Abercrombie, III

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’2’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, surfer’s build

HAIR: Mohawk (brown)

EYES: Brown

ETHNICITY: White (WASP)

BIRTHPLACE: San Francisco, CA

POWERS: Bang can fire beams of electromagnetic energy that gives molecules a hyper-magnetic charge, forcing them to rush towards or away from each other. He makes things explode.

HISTORY: Alastair is one of the ultimate kiss-my-ass stories. Born into old money, Alastair grew up in some of the most fabulous vacation spots in the world, and over the summers, learned to surf. He became so proficient in his early teens that he began to win competitions.

When he, at age 18, came out to his conservative parents, he was immediately cut off, whereupon he held a press conference, told his family to “suck my gay c**k,” and proceeded to win a surfing championship and a hefty purse. He has since become a pro-surfer beach-bum, living off his winnings, and becoming a major, if very confrontational, face in gay culture. He has not spoken to his family since he was 18, and is content with his life. Ironically, his powers were never an issue (he never revealed them). Hit-first-ask-questions-later, Bang is something of an unguided missile.

Bang is boyfriends with Mirrorball.

OCCUPATION: A world-champion surfer.

CODENAME: Tug-of-War

"Benji Whitcombe"

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 5’9’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular

HAIR: Red

EYES: Blue

ETHNICITY: White (Irish-Danish)

BIRTHPLACE: Cleveland, OH

POWERS: From anywhere on the left side of his body, Tug-of-War generates a repelling beam. From anywhere on the right, an attracting one. This ability is tied to the strength of gravitational field around him. No gravity, no power.

HISTORY: Tug-of War is a clone. His "proginator," Sean O'Neil, was born in 1946 and died in action in 1977. Tug-of-War, having extremely dangerous powers--his beams can carry the force equivalent to the mass of the planet he is on--he was en route to a secured training center after his "birth," but the vehicle was in an accident. Tug-of-War, coming out of sedation, was the only survivor.

All memories Tug-of-War had up until that point were implants, fragments of Sean O'Neil. Now on his own, Tug-of-War faces a future in which he is not real.

OCCUPATION: Student

CODENAME: Miss Gwen

Guinevere White

SEX: Female

HEIGHT: 5’9’’

BODY TYPE: Athletic

HAIR: black

EYES: brown

ETHNICITY: Afro-Caribbean

BIRTHPLACE: Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago

HISTORY: Immigrating with her parents to San Francisco when she was 10, Miss Gwen early on displayed her power to invent and build. A tomboy, she soon began working with her father, a mechanic, until her powers fully manifested and she went on a “spree” where she took apart the family car—and then put it back together. Twice.

She’s since learned to reign herself in.

Having grown up with a relatively normal life, she became an independent mechanical engineer for Silicon Valley and NASA. It was through her Silicon Valley contacts that she met her partner, ROM. Her mother, however, profoundly wishes for grandchildren, and at one point, approached Mirrorball to be a donor-dad.

POWERS: Miss Gwen can build anything, and has a rapport with all things mechanical. She has the innate ability to see a pile of raw material and turn it into something, and can deduce the purpose of any given piece of machinery.

OCCUPATION: Mechanical Designer/Engineer

CODENAME: Dandelion

Danilo DeLeon

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’3’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, mixed martial artist

HAIR: black

EYES: green

ETHNICITY: Brazilian

BIRTHPLACE: Rio de Janiero, Brazil

HISTORY: Danilo DeLeon was born in Brazil to a Brazilian mother and a Portuguese-American father. Moving to the United States to teach capoeira and mixed martial arts, tends to have an egotistical bearing, and a slightly flamboyant style. He is very much into the “body culture” and extremely dismissive of people who are not.

POWERS: Dandelion can “charge” any part of his body with super-strength. He cannot charge his whole body, however, and only one part at one time. When his powers are "on" his entire body is invulnerable. When he charges a section of his body, it glows a golden yellow, and throws sparks.

OCCUPATION: Martial Arts instructor

CODENAME: Orbis/Grindhouse

Bo Bronsky

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’0’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, “gym body”

HAIR: Brown

EYES: gray

ETHNICITY: White (Polish)

BIRTHPLACE: New York, NY

HISTORY: Orbis is a decorated former Navy SEAL dishonorably discharged under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell. He later joined the police force until forced to go underground after taking down an extremely far-reaching human trafficking ring, whereupon he becomes GRINDHOUSE. A weapons specialist, he depends heavy weaponry as much as his powers. As Orbis, he was know, and not kindly, as being extremely by-the-book and regimented. As Grindhouse...he isn't.

POWERS: Orbis can generate rapidly whirling, psychokenetic spheres about a foot from his hands (and feet). These spheres remain in fixed positions. When Orbis holds his hands in a fist, the spheres are about the size of a medicine ball. If he holds his fingers out, the sphere splits into five smaller orbs about the size of a ping-pong ball, if he clasps both hands together, a single beach-ball sized sphere results. These spheres are diamond-hard, and weightless and because they spin at near-sonic speeds, Orbis can grind his way through nearly any solid material.

NOTE: Upon finding Whirligig after he crashed to Earth, no-nonsense Orbis now find himself the "designate" of the creature. Whirligig literally follows him wherever he goes.

OCCUPATION: Rookie cop, former Navy SEAL, mercenary.

CODENAME: Whirligig

“John Doe” / “Colton Grabowski”

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’0’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular

HAIR: ?

EYES: ?

ETHNICITY: “White?”

BIRTHPLACE: ?

HISTORY: Whirligig fell from the sky, having drifted through space for an unknown amount of time. While he appears human, his armor effectively blocks all attmeps to monitor his bio-rhythms--he doesn't even have a noticable heartbeat. He is without any memory of who or what he was. He has no memory of Earth, when he left it (if he ever did), or for how long, and because of the amnesia, no memory of whatever it was he was doing. He retains complete rapport with his armor’s passive technologies, however.

POWERS: Whirligig can spin, almost to the speed of light, in any direction around his center of gravity or his “central axis.” This gives him the ability to fly with astounding maneuverability. In addition, his body is completely saturated, inside and out, with an unknown but extremely hard liquid metal. This metal has a opal-like, prismatic sheen, and is in fact a type of “armor computer;” Whirligig would count as a cyborg, but where the organic and inorganic are blended inextricably. The computer aspect to this armor carries all the sensor ability and capacity of a super-computer.

NOTE: He has "bonded" to Orbis, being the first person he saw upon landing.

OCCUPATION: none, yet.

CODENAME: Scepter

Emmanuel “Manny” Sangre Sancti de los Todos Santos de Veracruz

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’0’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, lean

HAIR: black

EYES: brown

ETHNICITY: Mexican-American

BIRTHPLACE: Amarillo, TX

HISTORY: Born to Christian fundamentalist parents, Scepter’s family moved to Nepal to set up an evangelical ministry. Realizing he was gay at an early age, Scepter, though born blind, ran away to a Buddhist monastery deep in the Himalayan Mountains and seeped himself deeply into the monks’ teachings and fighting practices. When his family found him, he came out, and set off a minor international incident where the whole family was deported back to the United States. After his family proclaimed they would rather see him dead than bring shame upon the church, Scepter walked away from his family and became a psychologist specializing in evangelical abuse.

POWERS: Scepter is an empath and telepath. He can read thoughts and broadcast his own, and can tell exactly how many people are in a building just from their empathic resonance. In addition, Scepter has perfected a type of “compulsion” weapon with his voice (this is NOT a mutant power, rather, a technique he learned when in a Buddhist monastery in Nepal). Similar to a post-hypnotic suggestion, Scepter can force another person to do something, even with the victim fully aware of it. When he uses this “compulsion-suggestion”, his Third Eye flares. Scepter is congenitally blind.

OCCUPATION: Psychologist.

CODENAME: Eartha

Amber Sebastiani

SEX: Female

HEIGHT: 5’11’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular

HAIR: Blonde

EYES: Blue

ETHNICITY: Italian American

BIRTHPLACE: Philadelphia, PA

HISTORY: Earth is a “futch”—femme butch lesbian—who as always more into sports than dolls. More reliant on her brawn than her grains, she shoots her big fat mouth off before she thinks of how to phrase things properly. Now a successful model, she was poor growing up, and she favors conspicuous shows of wealth, almost to the point of bad taste. Eartha tends to find herself uncomfortably straddling various identities of being a homosexual woman, finding “butch” lesbians cartoonish and lip-stick lesbians cave-ins. She has a reputation of being wishy-washy and maddeningly indecisive.

POWERS: Eartha can transform her body into a near-indestructible type of organic “stone.”

OCCUPATION: Bodybuilder and trainer.

CODENAME: Unicorn

Kerne d’Brocéliande

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’9’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular

HAIR: White

EYES: VERY green

ETHNICITY: Breton-French

BIRTHPLACE: Brittany, France (exact location unknown)

HISTORY: Unknown, but he has been on American soil since at least the 1600s.

POWERS: Unicorn’s father is a unicorn. What that makes the son, however, is very much a mystery. When Unicorn activates his power, a spiral of silver sparks coils down each arm to form corkscrew-like “swords.” These swords, however, do no physical damage, but can negate evil magics and all poisons on contact. Unicorn can also heal using his power, if the wound was caused by malicious intent. Unicorn is so handsome that all who see him are initially given pause, yet no one can agree on his exact features. He appears slightly different to all who see him.

OCCUPATION: ?

CODENAME: Meltdown

Nash Thibideux

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 5’10’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, lean

HAIR: Black

EYES: Gray

ETHNICITY: Cajun-American

BIRTHPLACE: Shreveport, LA

HISTORY: Meltdown is a transman, having been born physically a woman (Nannette Thibideux) and later transitioned. Finding his native Louisiana too conservative, Fireball, a financial wiz-kid, now runs a gay-clientele financial service in San Francisco. He is permanently wired and too much of a go-getter for his own good. As befits a finance man, he is extremely aggressive.

POWERS: Fireball generates searing blasts of heat (not fire in particular). He has the ability to fly on waves of the heat he creates. He is immune to heat-based attacks.

OCCUPATION: Hedge fund manager

CODENAME: Epicenter

Omri “Ohm” Silverberg

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 5’10’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular

HAIR: Brown

EYES: Brown

ETHNICITY: Jewish (German) American

BIRTHPLACE: San Francisco, CA

HISTORY: Considered a bit “out there” in his admittedly free-associative thinking, tangent-prone Epicenter tends to get so wrapped up in his art that he comes off as light-headed. A dedicated “beauty and sweater” photographer, he is baby of his family, with five older brothers. Epicenter tends to be passive-aggressive, and has an absolutely disastrous dating life.

POWERS: Epicenter generates “concussion blasts.” He can hurl directed waves of “hard air” or “hard water” towards opponents. He can also blast apart solid materials, depending on their density and strength.

OCCUPATION: Professional photographer.

CODENAME: Pitch Black

Kazuhito “Kit” Kitabora

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 5’9’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, pro body-builder type

HAIR: Black

EYES: Brown

ETHNICITY: Japanese American

BIRTHPLACE: Nashville, TN

HISTORY: Originally wanted to play pro football, an arm injury permanently sidelined Pitch Black in high school, whereupon he took up competitive bodybuilding. He is a true Tennessee mountain man, complete with accent and guitar (the accent always throws people who are not expecting “South Mouth” coming out of a Japanese mouth). He is now a respected and award-winning competitor on the world body-building circuit. He tends to be a prima-donna when it comes to his looks.

POWERS: Upon physical contact, Pitch Black can short out the bio-electrical impulses in a body. Short-duration touches can knock people out; long ones can cause arrhythmia or cardiac arrest. When Pitch Black is actively attacking another, the victim fluoresces black.

OCCUPATION: Pro bodybuilder and trainer.

CODENAME: Quartz

Brent Xenos

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 6’1’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular, “bear”

HAIR: Blond

EYES: Brown

ETHNICITY: Greek (mostly) American

BIRTHPLACE: Honolulu, HI

HISTORY: A bear-type, Quartz's life is marred by disappointment. Thrown out of his home for being gay, he crawled his way up into the business world only to lose job after job due to bankruptcies, etc. Chonically depressed, Quartz was the victim of a brutal assault, and has given up on life, having "moved into" a boulder, turning his back on a world that reveled turning its back on him.

Secretly, he has killed every single person who fired him unfairly.

POWERS: Quartz can absorb rock or metal and shoot it out of his body. He can also pass/”fly” through rock/metal, and manipulate rock/metal into different shapes. He can animate statues, and can "take over" whole geological features to great a giant version of himself.

OCCUPATION: Graphic Designer

CODENAME: Saxony

Michael Akintola

SEX: Male

HEIGHT: 5’11’’

BODY TYPE: Muscular

HAIR: Black

EYES: Brown

ETHNICITY: West African American

BIRTHPLACE: Bissau, Guinea-Bissau

HISTORY: Saxony’s parents emmigrated to the USA as refugees from Guinea-Bissau’s bloody civil war. Saxony, though born American, strongly identifies with his African background to a point: his parents pressure him to conform to African societal norms, but being culturally American (he has never set foot in Africa), he can’t. He also feels dual pressure to indentify with hyper-conservative African American culture, which he does not. This leads to a profound sense of insecurity, compounded by the trauma his parents witnessed-- as a child of refugees/war victims is sensitive, distrustful and anxious. He has not come out to his parents, as it would be seen as a betrayal. He has not revealed his powers because he would be seen as a witch.

POWERS: Saxony generates beams consisting of short strands of “inert plasma fibers.” Anything caught in the beam is bound up in the fibers. These fibers, which are temporary, can also be used as netting, or to bind objects together.

OCCUPATION: Student.

CODENAME: Atalanta

Elspeth Yonko

SEX: Female

HEIGHT: 5’11’’

BODY TYPE: Runner

HAIR: Black

EYES: Gray

ETHNICITY: Gypsy American

HISTORY: Atalanta is the activist. However, she is “more theory than practice” and can come off as didactic, preachy, and argumentative. While in a perfectly supportive family, the butch Atalanta lives constantly in the shadow of her “perfect” older sister, a “girly girl” that everybody likes, and feels she has to prove her worth over and over again. This makes the very inexperienced Atalanta a risk-taker, and therefore, somewhat danger-prone.

POWERS: Super-speed.

OCCUPATION: Student.

David Perry's The Wildborn

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Tuesday, October 11, 2011

LAST CHAPTER

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