Bumming a Ride

Three days down the road from a bumble in Minnesota and a concentrated effort to get Tyuki back from whatever dimensional vortex swallowed her up began to take place.  Unfortunately, none of them knew how to get her back, nor did the trio think of any good ways of get to where they needed to be.  

Ruffling and shuffling, Elaine decided to take lead after Imena failed to understand how many changes happened to transportation in one-hundred and fifty years, and Amethyst wanted to fly in a plane older than Imena.  It went almost as badly as the previous decisions, but getting most of the way to Louisiana, Elaine retained her rights over travel decisions.  

Along the way to the future, something odd happened.  Not odd in a traditional sense, but more in the way something odd happens to this trio in most circumstances: Amethyst got a feeling in her dowsing rods.  Ringing from inside of her backpack, she felt no remedy other than to take them out and demand the trio investigate such a peculiar investigation.  Elaine and Imena both said 'no'.  So, acting on her own accord and seeking adventure on her own, Amethyst started to venture towards a rundown section of the hamlet riding the outskirts of a once prosperous part of Louisiana that saw its economy wash away with the tides of a hurricane.  

Not entirely heartless to the situation, Imena began to wonder about her new comrade and looked into finding where she wandered off to while Elaine stuck to pilfering through a hardware department in search of means to create more devices for mass irritation.  Knowing her way around the navigation of lines of power and energy pulls.  

When Imena came to an old railway substation she could feel an immense pull from her gloves.  Something down there, she thought amidst the ruins of progress.  Most of the tracks could barely carry the weight of rust upon their broken treads, let alone the impasse of economy needed to keep the station in working order.  Among the many oddities of the area rested in a spiraling stair case descending into the depths of the overgrown ruin.  Any lowering into the subterranean lurking of Louisiana came with a certain fate of running into the danger of flooding.  

Locking the straps on her gloves into a more secured position, Imena began to move past the open storm door and peer down the well with a light in her glove powered by her inherent electric ability.  The light peered down to break away the shadows running down the stairs.  As they ran into nothingness, Imena spotted a light beaming from an open doorway.  "Something's down there."

The lair of a little known scientist hid among the ruins of the train graveyard. His machinations and mad inventions taking advantage of the scarcity of travel and the rampant overgrowth brought on by its departure. Building works of menacing power and not taking particular good care of trespassers, his infamy stayed just as buried as his laboratory.

It has been a month since lafiana ran away from her adoptive fathers home, and she was in an entirely different country. Far south from her old home. All she had was her only outfit. Black jeans, black combat boots, a white and black shirt as well as a light jacket and a back pack with a few small items. A gun, a small dagger, and a tiny bit of food. She was looking for a place safe to stay for another night alone.

In the darkness of an old railway system, lafiana crouched on rafters above the rusted old tracks. Her eyes digitalized as she scanned the area, trying to find use of what little energy was available here in the middle of nowhere. Suddenly she rose her left arm up and a screen popped open from thin air, vaguely transparent. Using a virtual keyboard in the air she typed for a moment and she turned her eyes to the screen. And with a soft, but strangely disturbing voice she spoke out loud. "Interesting... What is that I wonder..."

The screen vanished from under her fingertips and silently she jumped down. She stayed crouched for a moment in the low light. Her white eyes hidden under her long black hair. When she deemed it safe, she sprinted along the walls, making about as much noise as a mouse. In her mind, a map was projected into the corner of her vision. Something technological was in the area. Something hidden away from everyone. Just when she was about to reach the entrance to the general area of what she felt, she spotted a light, causing her to stop in her tracks and blend back into the shadows. A figure was standing above the entrance. Lafiana cursed to herself and slowly drew her small dagger and gun out of her backpack. she had to remain hidden.

Nothing more than a darkened stairway kept her from venturing forth.  Each step echoed more than the masked woman would want, but her boots fell to a more softened blow upon the stone.  Assuming the worst of whatever light shone so bright in an area no one with good intentions would dare stay, Imena pulled the top and bottom part of her staff out and kept them separated, dual wielding them as clubs in both hands.  

Turning the glow from her flower off and cutting the flow of electricity to her gloves, she surged some power into her clubs and stepped forth into the hallway.  Away from the technology of modern times, she needed other ways to keep her own line of vision manageable in such dark quarters.  All the luxuries of modern night vision would amaze her if she ever learned of the device, but first she needed to explore what could end up turning into a one way stop for her.  

Clad in black with the bristle of electricity shooting off of her clubs, Imena surveyed what she could of the hall before seeing a bristling display of electricity accompany the low hum of generators from a gap in the wall on the other side of a stairwell running into what probably used to be the power generator for the station.

Once again Lafiana cursed to herself. She had to get in there. Just the feeling of the energy from that room made her fingers twitch with excitement. She did the only thing she could in this situation. She didn't think too much into it. Sticking to the shadows, she bolted towards the hole. Along the way sheathing her knife and putting the gun in the back of her pants. Then grabbing a long chain that was attached to the wall. The noise would alert them for sure. However she didn't think too much of it. With the chain in hand she hopped over the edge of the hole and started sliding down the wall of the hold, grunting in pain when the chain snapped her about 20 feet from the ground as it reached it's full length. she let go and landed in a crouch, not moving her right arm. As she rose she spoke and looked straight at the figure across from her. Unfortunately she had nothing to say, just a glare from her bright white eyes.

On the outside she was calm, but on the inside she was trying to calculate everything that could happen. She reacted more so on instinct and techno lust. She didn't know how dangerous this person was. nor what they looked like. Just the figures outline. Her hand regripped her dagger and drew it slowly.

A burst of noises came from all around Imena.  First the bustle of a chain from the wall above her gave her a noisy reminder of the dangers she moments before only raised suspicions about.  Knowing her moments of stealth passed her by, Imena reignited her glove and illuminated the crawlspace where the chain stayed, swinging in quiet admittance of the action just moments previous.  

As she heard the footsteps break upon the ground, she tossed her club towards the woman.  The club carried a slight charge and would send a non lethal jolt to anyone it touched.  "Who's there?"  Imena's accent called to the dark as her glove turned down to shine brightly on the young woman standing across the hall from her.  

This woman looked more menacing than any simple lost vagrant.  Brandishing a weapon, Imena could only act in the most sure action she found suitable.  Anyone hiding out in such a location would surely hire guards to defend it, or possibly this young woman could own the propriety of this location and not be too excited Imena trespassed upon her laboratory.  If the young woman held no ill feelings towards Imena, she could admit them after Imena took control of the situation.

Or, so she hoped.

Lafiana saw the club in the air only because of her own ability. She could sence the electricity running through it. she reached up and caught it with a grin on her face. Before she made contact the club was dismantled on the inside. Now useless except as a blunt weapon. Her voice soft but creepy in the low light with the small grin on her face. "I don't know who you are, but I highly recommend you leave. Whatever is in there is mine." She reached out with her mind and the generator in the room behind her clanked and shut down. She could restart it later. She drew the club and dagger up in each hand and blended back into the shadows, causing noises all around the strange woman in hopes of confusing her. Psychological warfare was her only chance.

"Yours?"  Imena watched as the woman faded into the shadows.  "As in not yours as of now?"  The order of events soon to happen showed the path of how this woman got here.  A thief with a knack for the expensive electronics of well hidden lairs- and the ability to turn off the lights.  This would not end peacefully, but Imena knew it would end.

Taking a quick step forward with a special jolt of electricity, Imena recovered her staff and pumped some old fashion electricity into the metal conduit.  Her technology took a mystic approach with her powers on items with no real special qualities to them.  While most of her gadgets remained fairly outdated, a good old fashion electricity manipulator worked just fine- until the electricity went out.  

And so did her clubs.  

Now she stood back on her heels to prepare for any noises coming from any direction.  While she knew fighting this girl would present many problems, she could not just turn back now.  "So, you're a thief, huh?"  Small talk could assist her while she locked the two pieces of the club into a single staff.  "Must be something pretty important down here."  She pressed the staff against her back and held in with her right palm pressed against her hip.

"To be honest, I am not sure." Her voice came from everywhere around the woman. Lafiana leveled her gun a foot to the left side of the womans head and steadied herself. "I just got a... Feeling that something was down here. Nothing more." She pulled the trigger and just barely missed her head. She jumped into a new spot and spoke again. "Besides... This is something out of your league. You wouldn't know what to do with what could be down here." She cracked her neck, looking directly at the woman. She could feel it. The electricity she was using in her weapons. It felt somewhat unnatural.

Lafiana had to figure something new out. In an attempt to drive the woman away. Maybe she could strike a deal. Use the woman for a short amount of time and toss her aside when she could offer nothing of value. "We could make a deal. Split whatever is there 50/50. we both know this will end in a bloody way otherwise."

Once the bullet blew past her head, Imena no longer could take a chance with this girl.  Taking a knee to try and gain a more defensive position on anyone coming against her.  Then the claim came to her.  In all honesty, Imena probably would not begin to know where to start with examining anything down here, but she knew she needed to reacquaint herself with the technology of modern times.  "I just got here..."  In a jovial manner she addressed the truth of her unfamiliarity with everything around her.  "But this deal sounds like something I could use."

It could benefit her, but focusing all of her attention on the problem ahead of her blinded her to the dangers of the very place she infiltrated.  With the lights darkening the area and the boisterous sounds of gunshots and thrown weapons, a shadowy figure had crept into the vicinity under cover of dark.  Before Imena could stand to try and try and see the young woman come out from the shadows, a thick cloud began to pour into the room.  A wire snapped in the distance and the doors to the hallway snapped shut, sealing the two in with a gas seeping into the room from two hoses on either side of the hall.

Stumbling back, Imena placed her hand over her mouth to try and cover herself from the knockout gas, while attempting to find some means of escape from the trapped corridor.  Her head began to slip as she coughed, the gas mask in her backpack going untouched as she hit the ground.  

Monitoring the situation from the catwalk Lafiana used to enter the room, the masked man held his position with a nasty looking dart gun.  Taking advantage of the surprise building upon the confusion, he fired a dart towards Lafiana before turning his attention to Imena to make sure both girls fell into a more manageable state.

Lafiana growled when the doors slammed shut and the gas began to seep in. She calmly pulled her shirt over the lower half of her face and grabbed the woman she was arguing with and dragged her along the corridor. She was completely oblivious to the fact that she only just dodged a potentially fatal dart. "Keep moving if you want to get out of this alive." She spoke close to the girls head, following a map she had in the corner of her vision. It was getting hard to see as her eyes began to water. "Tear gas..." she thought. "Whoever is doing this is not trying to kill us."

After a couple moments she stopped, and looked up. A clear vent leading into the venting system. The only way out. Taking one look at the girl she jumped up and climbed. Saving herself first. She wasn't going to give up her own life to save this random bitch. "Take my hand lady. That gas will only get more painful."

Coughing from the gas seeping into the room, Imena reached to grab Lafiana's hand.  With a concentrated effort to not gag on the toxic fumes, Imena finally wrested a reprieve for long enough to close her breathing off without the carbon threshold tearing her effort asunder.  Moving with the grace of a cornered animal, Imena pressed her toe against the wall and pulled herself to Lafiana's level.  

On her way up, a dart flew into her glove, shattering the lamp she built so many years ago.  Nothing could draw her attention more than someone harming one of her beloved creations.  Breathing out the bent up air from her lungs into the gaseous air of the hallway, Imena blurted out the location of the shady figure as he let loose another dart towards Lafiana.  "The doctor is in!"  After sharing her observation through a concentration of pure agony, Imena attempted to return to her plan of breath holding as she reached the vent.  

Digging through her bag, she exhumed an antique looking gas mask and secured it around her face.  Air moved into the leather bag upon the bottom of the mask and the fairness of the air began to filter to a more breathable level.  Feeling her lungs lessen from the previous state of fire they burned with previously, Imena felt a darkness all around her.  Her companion remedied the area of all light, putting the archaic gadgeteer at a disadvantage.  "It's rather dark in this tunnel and I believe my flash light did meet a rather grisly fate..."  Caressing with the regal sound of her accent, Imena tried to begin scurrying through the vents after Lafiana.  "...Blast, I only built that thing a few years ago in my lab back in London.  Or was it the lab in Switzerland?  Let's see, it was three years ago, so that would make it Eighteen Eighty-Three?  Eighty-Three sounds about right."  

The vent shaft would take the duo through the heart of the facility, unfortunately, the vent came as no surprise to the figure pulling the strings from behind the curtain of this facility.  Well versed in dealing with spelunkers, he devised a plan to smoke them out of the ventilation shafts and into the open of his lab.  

Battered down with vats of chemicals spewing forth nauseous fumes from the shut down of the filtration systems Lafiana forced, the lab spanned a large enough space to distill and store a vast amount of chemicals within the facility.  A number of machines sat dormant in the dark reaches of the lab under a localized system installed within their chest cavities.  Each unit utilized two "U" shaped hands to skip into the sides of vat to lift them, but given the speed they could utilize with their treads and the lack of any visible head, they could prove quite dangerous to interlopers.  

Gas began to seep into the ventilation shaft as the small exhaust runoff above them slid closed.  On either side of the vent began the cycling of fans to create a terrible crosswind within the vent.  Shadows rose and fell with the narrow light beaming through the fans blades, lighting up small vents akin to the one they escaped through along the sides of the narrow passage.  "Shall we?"  The English outsider suggested.

In the darkness of the vent the white eyed girl listened to the english accented person she dragged along into the vent. As they always say the enemy of my enemy, is my friend. So at this moment we had to work together to win. Lafiana could hear the gas entering their current vent. So she took a deep breath and accessed the deepest parts of her mind. How could she turn that gas into a weapon for herself? She needed to figure something out. Then she spotted the fans and couldn't help but grin. "Wait here. Ignore the gas. It will be gone soon enough."

Lafiana bolted forward as fast as she could and stopped in front of the first fan. The smoke was thick here. She had to figure it out fast. Raising a hand to the fan she closed her eyes and focused on the parts. It was a simple matter for her to reverse the direction. She ran over and did the same to the opposite one. Soon the gas was pulled out of the vent and they have clean air to breathe. "Good. We are safe for the moment. What do you know of the man who was attacking us?"

Raising a hand, her screen popped out under her fingers and she typed on the virtual keyboard. Some light was produced by the screen. She was trying to figure out anything possible on this mysterious person. All she was finding was more and more news articles of odd sightings and mysterious explosions in the area. Nothing much more.

"Oh..."  Sparks of inspiration normally shined the brightest when shrouded in darkness.  While Imena found herself at odds with her distinct disadvantage to the loss of both lighting and electricity, she suddenly gained the epiphany of how her younger counterpart could maneuver so easily.  "...I do believe I could be of more assistance with a little aid."  She came to a loss.  Certainly this girl must use some form of electricity; she isn't, well... "Gifted girl."

Imena's words fell softer into the air as her companion moved across the vent to reverse the air direction of the fans.  Powerful gusts created a harsh suction throughout the dim vent.  Taking advantage of the tight compartment, she pressed her back against the curve of the vent and tightened her heels along the opposite side.  "No..."  She admitted to the return of the Lafiana.  "...I only came in search of a missing companion."  The harshness of the winds made for an increasingly dangerous waiting room.  "I only found..."  In between the conversation she waged with Lafiana, she took a proactive approach of placing her feet against a grating to attempt to dislodge it from the ventilation shaft.  "I only found a light at the bottom of a tunnel you shut off."  

Breaking the grate from the shaft forced her departure quicker than she would wish.  Motion pulled her forward and the hesitation of descending to darkness put her in conflicting realms.  She caught herself before entering a hapless freefall towards whatever may lie beneath her.  "Well..."  A quick release of her grasp sent her down to the metallic floor.  "Fortune favors the bold."  Soft soled boots broke gently against the floor.  

"If I could just get a spark..."  Each generator still held on to some level of electricity.  Their sequester only acted as a forced state of dormancy, eagerly awaiting the sweet pull and caress of someone wishing to control them.  Draining just what she wanted from the storage inside of the generators, she pulled enough to light up her club.  Now with a little bit of light shed on the area, Imena lifted her gas mask only to feel the intense warmth of an egregious swelling of chemical runoff in the air.  Pulling the mask back in place would help her for the mean time while they began to pilfer through any semblances of information pertaining to the identity of this man.

Staggered through the dormant databanks of the computers within the wall outlined the findings the man slowly began to muster together.  A decade in the darkness began to take light.

April 2, 2009

Compounds mixing together.  A gap in the formula but looks promising.

January 16th 2011

Funding pulled.  Said results did not reach standard promised.  Explained we needed missing element.  Explained the element needed to be created.

May 6th 2011

Legal filings of misleading the investor went through.  Judged ruled in favor of the plaintiff.  After settling court proceedings have begun processing for a Chapter 7 Bankruptcy.  Sorry Alan.

September 22nd 2013

Breakthrough today.  Took one massive step forward today with creating element 9.  I just need to find a way to bridge the compound.  

December 3rd 2015

Towns become a ghost town.  Chemical plants all moved out; too dangerous to operate in areas prone to flooding and severe weather.  Took advantage of poor book keeping and gained a few drums they'll never miss.  

November 11th 2016

It was all for nothing.  Thirteen years for what?  It doesn't make sense.  They don't make sense.  

July 4th 2018

For what it matters, it's within grasp.  I've come this far.  Everything I've done is in this.  I can feel the bonding of compounds lined with fear and hope.

May 2019

I've only fooled myself.  Everyone was right, but it doesn't matter anymore.  I could never bring Alan back, so the fool will become king.

Lafiana listened to the woman admit to not knowing what was down there. All this time she was not a threat in the slightest. Still, she didn't regret approaching her. Otherwise the two of them might not have been quick enough to get out. The sound of the metal grate giving in echoed throughout the vents. Their pursuer would figure out they were still alive and on the move. With a quiet sigh she watched the other girl vanish down the shaft and she jumped down with far more confidence then the other seemed to show.

"My name is lafiana. What is yours?" She asked the girl while reading some note clippings on the wall. She realized that the power generators were all off now, and there was only onw person who could easily turn them back on. "Your done powering your little toys? good. Now lets get the juice flowing." She placed a hand on the machine and something clicked inside. Moments later the lights were all on and the area was bright.

With her jaw dropped she looked at the north wall. It was covered in one massive computer. she ran to the nearest chair and brushed the dust off. The computer turned on without lafiana needing to find the power switch. It was booting up. It was old, rusty, and keys were missing. But this was her specialty. The air around lafiana became covered in her virtual screens and a couple opaque keyboards floated in front of her. Her fingers gliding across the keys as fast as her eyes across the screens.

Keeping quiet as they strolled through the darkened laboratory, Imena felt the need for the exchange of formalities came to a threshold.  "Imena.  I don't think I've heard the name Lafiana before..."  She started on the course to discover the origins when a resurgence of light came back through the laboratory.  The filtration systems began to come back into operation with the high resistance metal rods mixed the vats.  All the excess fumes began to whip up in the suction of the exhaust fans pulling the nauseating gases away from the intense concentration hanging around the floor.

"I'm feeling a little better with this..."  Feeling the pull of energy all around her, Imena felt her hopes dashed as a robot jammed its arm into her back, throwing her to the ground.  As the treads came closer to trampling her, Imena jabbed her club into the machine and created a circuit to overload the menacing machine.  More of the deviant machines swarmed towards the computer console.  Rolling backwards and conjoining her clubs into a singular staff, Imena prepared to defend the position against the headless machines.

"I'll buy you sometime."  Dropping her staff down onto the body of the machine, Imena continued to exercise what worked.  Faltering circuits did the rest of the work for her.  She spun around and jabbed her staff in an alcove cavity that gave more fight than her strength would allow offense against.  A pressure in her elbows placated the pain of defeat in her assailing assault.  Forced with the option of keeping her staff and keeping her head, she ducked and rolled around her staff, coming out behind the machine with no weapon.

Balling her fist up, Imena turned back to face the onslaught of machines with a groip of electricity and the best gadgets the 1880's could muster.  

Concerned with what Lafiana could find, forces focused to keep her from ever finding out.  Three pellets of concentrated acid flew out from a rudimentary looking, plastic device.  Behind the grip of the gun stood a man pushing his mid fifties and wearing age like a wrinkled bag.  Years of chemical exposure did him no benefits outside of his control, but in his control, he planned on leveling the odds against the duo who attempted to take anything from him.