The Last Daughter of Krypton - IC

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

"Kitties," she declared. "No question. I mean, puppies are fantastic. But I always wanted a cat."

Kyle's hand was larger than Rose's, and as it enfolded her fingers, Rose made a tiny little smile.

Interlocking. Complementary.

Geometrically satisfying aesthetic.

So. Very. Nice.

'Take my hand
Take my whole life, too...'

He was pretty as a beast, but he was lovely as a person.

He straightened, and heightened senses read the tension in his muscles and the agony in his stance, despite all his attempts to contain.

Rose could tell that Kyle was hurting, but she didn't know the extent of his abilities, and she didn't want to embarrass him by being all fawning when this wasn't necessary. (What was the protocol, there? When would she cross the line between being a concerned girlfriend and being clingy and obsessive? She didn't want to cross that line.)

So she would watch him carefully, and if he started fading fast she would airlift him to SMC and the consequences could go screw themselves.

"Roswell," she suggested softly, "was just the opening act. And maybe it could have really been something, if had been given more of a chance. But Smallville is so much bigger. Something small containing something so much bigger, like that stable in The Last Battle. Roswell was okay, but it never could overcome its own boundaries. Smallville... Smallville is going to spill out of its cartography and touch every last point on the globe. Maybe. Someday."

She gazed up at the point in the sky into which "Thor" had vanished.

"Couldn't have been him," she murmured. "Couldn't have been. Just some. Would-be god. With a power-belt and a teched-up hammer and a crazy-person complex."

Rose shut her eyes. "'I Want To Believe.'"

She smiled, though, and shook her head, as she opened her eyes anew. "The Elizabethan-ish was a nice touch. Like Norse was his first language and he learned English by reading The King James Version? (Which I guess would make it Jacobean-ish, even though that's a subset of Elizabethan-ish?) But I dunno. I thought Thor lived in Oklahoma now, not Kansas."

Rose squeezed Kyle's hand and grinned at Kara. "I'm pretty lucky. I guess. For a girl who's been run over by a train."

...but then her face fell. "But I don't think I'm lucky enough to live in a world where actual gods walk The Earth. I believe in magic and miracles-- same part of the brain, dontchaknow --but actual literal gods? I'm not that lucky."

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Wraith

I squeezed Rose's hand back. It was warm, and safe, and wonderful.

"Sweetheart, I have met one you might consider a Goddess, actually I kinda think she may be my boss, and if I can come here, she could too most likely. Every fiber of my being was creaming danger when that guy walked over here, and Zod didn't do that to me. If you want my two cents, that was the real deal. Not the worlds most powerful SCA member, but Thor walking the earth."

I stopped walking then and turned and faced Rose. I looked down in her big blue eyes (which were kinda wide because I was really close to her.) "And one weekend you and me are going to spend some quality time with a stack of DVD's so i will start getting some of the references you use. I got some major catching up to do."

Then, because I was inches from her, because I had been wanting too since the first time, I leaned down and kissed her. Gently,but firmly, I kissed this wonderful girl.

"Now, I do believe that I owe you one date Rose McCrimmon. So, you like Mexican food?"

 

[AmenRa]

Blake limped on down the road as best as he could, and when he got even with the McCrimmon drive, he thought he saw three people standing in the yard near the house and barn. He waved as he trudged into the drive, his gnarled walking stick with its faded runes slopping in the still wet dirt.

"Hey!" he shouted as he ambled towards them. "You guys live here? You guys know what towing company is working now? I'm a doctor," he told the youths, "and I was on my way to Smallville Medical Center when that tornado came up and blew my damn, I-- I--, sorry about that, my car off the road and into the ditch."

He finished as he came into their circle, his jeans all muddy and his blonde hair matted to his forehead. He gave them a big smile, though, as best as he could, despite the fact that he was exhausted and very, very late.

And he knew he had seen them before, met them already. He didn't understand. Perhaps Thor had seen them, but he didn't know for sure. He wasn't so connected with his counterpart that he actually shared all of Thor's memories, but just images and feelings.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

"If you want my two cents, that was the real deal. Not the worlds most powerful SCA member, but Thor walking the earth."

Rose didn't say anything to this.

She just sort of remembered with a quietly contemplative look on her face.

She remembered her mother's voice, quoting Someone Important: '"Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."'

And isn't that just the weirdest thing. The most of folk, they say 'I'll believe it when I see it.' And here I am... I believed until I saw. So weird. So weird.

But then Kyle faced her directly, and Rose's eyes widened at his proximity, as though she hadn't really noticed it before now: "And one weekend you and me are going to spend some quality time with a stack of DVD's so i will start getting some of the references you use. I got some major catching up to do."

She opened her mouth, and then closed it again, and frowned, thinking hard. 'That's going to be tough. Not all of the stuff I reference is on DVD. The Last Battle is a book, a Chronicle of Narnia, and the furthest they ever got making those into movies was The Silver Chair. We could watch that one? It had Tom Baker. (Hopefully the new batch'll get further.)'

She would have voiced those thoughts, and even suggested that they start things off not with Lewis but with Mignola, have a marathon of the Hellboy movies both live-action and animated-- yes, even craptastic Blood and Iron, because sometimes you had to take the crap with the amazing, and Hellboy was still Hellboy even when his creative team dropped the ball --but he silenced her, made her mind go blank...

He kissed her, and this was a little bit of amazing and it made her believe in real living literal gods all over again.

"Now, I do believe that I owe you one date Rose McCrimmon. So, you like Mexican food?"

She blinked. She blinked. And one more time for good measure, and she hiccuped pleasantly. And then she realised he'd asked her a question and her subconscious had to scramble to fill in the blank.

She mumbled, and she blinked, and she couldn't seem to look anywhere straight on and she was like what? ...it was as though someone had interrupted her, apropos of nothing, by divulging to her that her underwear was "pink."

And eventually she found her conversational footing, blushing fiercely because he'd kissed her in front of Kara and Rose wasn't sure this was okay with Kara and on top of that, Kyle had asked Rose out and--

"Yeah," she nodded. "I like Mexican food. Unfortunately for us, the closest approximation to Mexican in these here parts is the Taco Bell/KFC combo place near the Wal-Mart in Granville and seriously that place always makes my tummy poorly."

But then some random guy limped into the driveway, looking mud-stained and forlorn, and Rose instantly liked him because he reminded her of Hugh Laurie.

"Hey!" he shouted as he ambled towards them. "You guys live here? You guys know what towing company is working now? I'm a doctor," he told the youths, "and I was on my way to Smallville Medical Center when that tornado came up and blew my damn, I-- I--, sorry about that, my car off the road and into the ditch."

He finished as he came into their circle, his jeans all muddy and his blonde hair matted to his forehead. He gave them a big smile.

Well, okay, so he was politer and more cheerful than House. But that was probably to his credit, really, rather than points subtracted.

"Frank's on Main Street," she suggested helpfully, "probably has a couple of trucks out right now. I don't know the number off-hand, but there's probably a Yellow Pages kicking around my mum's kitchen somewhere."

She jutted her head toward her house. "Give me about ten minutes, I'm not good at finding stuff, but I can probably dredge that up."

 

[AmenRa]

Blake sighed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said rapidly. "I am so late already, of course the cell service here isn't exactly something to get all juiced up about."

He looked around and noticed the building that had been pretty much destroyed.

"Hey," he asked, "did the tornado make it over here? I saw it skipping across the highway, and then there was another one that was headed to the farm on the other side of the street."

Blake was pretty sure Thor had something to do with the weather being un-weathery now, but he wasn't sure what. He still had a lot of work to do on figuring out how to remember.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

"This so beats hanging upside-down in the rain, or on a table top over cake. Or even, even Bueller. Even Bueller can't top this and that dude tops near about everything... because this is real. This is life. And I am more than ready to live it."

"Thank you ma'am, may I have another?"

She grinned, and shook her head a quick little tiny bit, her eyes dancing up a storm.

"I have no idea what you just said," she admitted. "I mean, speaking as a woman fluent in a couple of human languages and a big ol' bunch of machine languages? It's going to take me a little while to parse that. (I mean. I get Bueller. Everyone knows Bueller. Did I tell you I tried to get my dad to send a money order to the Save Ferris Fund when I was little? I was so worried about him.)"

Chloe arched an eyebrow. "But the rest of it. Hanging upside-down over cake? This, this I shall take as a metaphor. Your words are intentionally so unintelligible so as to remind me, weary wordsmith, that words can sometimes be over-rated. In which case..."

Her lips brushed his, briefly, ever-so-feather-lightly. "...in which case, yes. Yes, you may have another."

And she kissed him for another half a minute. Or another hundred years.

Because actions speak louder than words.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Blake sighed.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you," he said rapidly. "I am so late already, of course the cell service here isn't exactly something to get all juiced up about."

Rose backed up a couple of steps, only cautiously letting Kyle stand on his own, worried that he'd fall. And as she moved, she glanced at Blake.

"Cell service ain't so bad around here," she mused. "Could be worse. Midwest, and all. Probably LuthorCorp's presence has improved our towers somewhat. ...if you have Sprint, it's pretty well hit-or-miss 'round these parts. (Which seems like it should be ironic, though I'm not. Really sure why?) Bear in mind we just had a meteor shower yesterday, and a whirlywind just now on top of that."

He looked around and noticed the building that had been pretty much destroyed.

"Hey," he asked, "did the tornado make it over here? I saw it skipping across the highway, and then there was another one that was headed to the farm on the other side of the street."

She hesitated again at that, and fired glances at both Kyle and Kara, trying to keep her face as neutral as possible.

Executive decision.

Survival and half-truth.

"Tornado didn't quite reach us, Mister Doctor sir," she admitted. "It looked like it was gonna and then... I mean, I know a little science, and I distinctly remember The Weather Channel saying that tornadoes can be the least predictable meteorological phenomenon going. Luckiest thing I've ever seen. (Might even call it an act of god, if you're feeling theological.)"

She glanced at the garage... "As for the garage? Well, I haven't been home since the meteor shower, sir, and I'm still trying to assess the damage. Good thing my parents weren't here to see it, they'd've had a meltdown."

Then Rose McCrimmon wheeled about and jogged for the front door, intending to retrieve a phone book for the man, if she could.

She felt her ears turning a little bit red around the edges, and she wondered how she could possibly have said all of those words in sequence and have none of them technically be a lie?

That was either an extremely useful skill, or an extremely damning one.

She tugged the door open and vanished into her house and tried not to think about this 'till later. Just like a certain other skill she'd discovered just yesterday afternoon.

(She remembered Aethyr again, and shuddered, and ran for the kitchen.)

 

[Abraxas Winterlight]

Kyle

I Noticed the man as he walked up. He was close, but I had time to hide my eyes with my shades....

Which were in a bunker somewhere out in the desert.

Crap!

I close my eyes down to slits and tried to keep Rose between the stranger and me. This was not good. This was very very not good. Glowy purple is not a normal human eye color!

Rose and the stranger (a doctor, even better. He would want to know why my eyes were glowy) traded some conversation while I desperately wracked my brain for a way out of this. Then Rose sprinted off into her house for a phone book.

Think damn you!

I leaned by Kara and waited until she was facing me, then when she was looking at me I whispered, just barely more than breathing "I got to get out of here. Distract him, I am going to say that i am heading to your place to get your dads tractor. He can't see my eyes and my glasses are lost!"

Then I spoke up "I have a Idea, be back soon. Gonna go get your dad and his tractor to pull him out."

Then I took off at a run away from him and toward the Kent farm.

 

[camerindrake]

Damian

Damian sat at his computer in the tube. He ran a finger over a picture of a close friend, Helena Kyle, The current Huntress in his time. He still didnt know if she was a possible half sibling or not. His father only had her referanced once in his journals, To keep her safe he had her placed under adoption for her mother Selena. Though he keep track of her without Selina's knowledge. And Damian did so after his passing. Selena was estatic when Helena contacted Damian wanting to meet her mother.

It was a glorious occasion. One of the few friends Damian had. He wondered what she was up to. He then put it by the pictures of Sin and Grace. He then watched for the notification of the others landing. He would know why com went down with his father.

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick grinned devilishly as he leaned into Chloe and her kisses. He was in complete rapture.

As Merick and Chloe kissed there was a soft rustling from under the stairs.

Once Merick and Chloe finally stopped kissing, Merick, still grinning, thought he caught a glimpse of movement.

"Don't move. Something is down here. Probably just a racoon or something. Just... hang on." With out moving Merick started scanning around the basement.

From the corner of his eye he saw it... a rabbit. A big one. It had just darted toward the stairs again. Merick, on instinct through out a bubble of force and caught the rabbit as it was about to bound up the stairs.

"A rabbit. Hmmm... must have found it's way in here somehow to avoid the meteors and the storm." Merick got up and grabbed a large tote and unceremoniously dumped the contents into a heap. "I guess we can just let him out in the yard..." As Merick got closer and released the bubble he realized that the rabbit was green... "Chloe, you ever heard of a Green rabbit?"

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Gar Logan was petrified. He woke up several hours ago. In the woods, exhausted and hungry. He was only a short way from Dr. Tennylson's. He could go there. He sure didn't want to walk all the way to the office and pick up his car.

Then he realised something was wrong. Everything was so... big. And he was walking on his hands and feet... and... his hands weren't hands... in a panic, he darted to the Tennylson house. No one was home. His heart thundering he desperately tried to figure out what the hell was going on. It took him over an hour, but he eventually figured out how to dial the phone with a pencil between his teeth.

He talked to Merick and the Doc. They told him to hang in there and they would be home later. He could do that... but what if FEMA or someone should up... he couldn't be seen like this...

He managed to get into the basement and was hiding under the stairs when Merick and Chloe arrived. He didn't want to embarrass them... but he thought he should get out.

He had escaped his hiding place... then Merick looked up. His heart pounding he dove for the stairs... He almost made it. Almost.

"Chloe, you ever heard of a Green rabbit?"

Great, just great. A guy is stuck as a rabbit and you decide to mock his skin color? Merick, I never took you for a racist." Gar joked as he looked up at Merick.

Merick jumped and threw down the box. He stepped back and readied a blast as he looked at the rabbit.

"Look, Bunnicula, I don't want no trouble... just go drain a couple parsnips or something and we go our seperate ways... wait... Gar? Oh my god... You ate Gar!!!"

"Merick I am Gar! I don't know what happened... but here I am. This is why I called your Dad. I thought he might be able to help."

Merick looked down at the rabbit in the box that claimed to be Garfield Logan. Something in the eyes of the rabbit looked familiar. And the voice was definately Gar's... Well, if he could meet death, at least two different alien species, and a real life magician... who the Hell was he to argue with a talking rabbit.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

Kara Zor-El had watched as Thor took to the skies, and she was left to ponder everything in her head. A change had come over Smallville, and her once peaceful life would never be the same again. Meeting Rose, Kyle and Var-Sen... it was a lot to swallow. The young Kryptonian smiled and averted her eyes when her two friends began publicly displaying their affections for one another.

Love was in the air.

Suddenly the smile on Kara's face vanished, and she saw an older man making his way towards their tiny little group. He was walking with a prop, a sort of wooden staff that could have given Gandalf a run for his money. Mud covered most of his clothes, and his blond hair was matted down against his face.

Kara tucked her hands inside her coat pockets, and she couldn't help but wince as she felt a slight pang of guilt when the doc noticed, and inquired about, the current condition of the garage. Luckily Rose was quicker on her feet for an explanation than Kara was, and she had already run off to her house to fetch a phone directory. Kyle, meanwhile, was concerned with his appearance, having left his glasses... somewhere else apparently.

"They'll all be... right back," Kara said, not really sure what to say or what to do.

She was somewhat uncomfortable around strangers, but she was not without her wits. She couldn't help but notice his walking stick, and the faded runes that were written upon it. Seemed like a rather strange item to be had by a doctor heading to Smallville Med. Center. That, and given the fact Thor had been in their presence not more than a few minutes ago, caused the young Kryptonian to view this doc with a bit of suspicion.

But then again, maybe she was just being paranoid. Her father had often warned her to be cautious around others, as she couldn't tell for certain who could be trusted with her secret.

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

Once Merick and Chloe finally stopped kissing, Merick, still grinning, thought he caught a glimpse of movement.

"Don't move. Something is down here. Probably just a racoon or something. Just... hang on." With out moving Merick started scanning around the basement.

Chloe blinked at him, and tried to follow his gaze, tried to scrutinise the depths of the basement. Tried not to be too rueful.

That was turning out pretty well. He's a quick learner.

Stands to reason the lesson would get interrupted.

Her cheeks blushed a faint little red, and she grinned with eyelids nearly fully lowered.

A rabbit burst from cover, curious colouration, made for the stairs, Chloe couldn't blame the thing -- huge, though, more like a hare than a rabbit, a jackrabbit...

...with preternatural skill and a modicum of luck, Merick managed to snag the thing with a force-field before it could get away.

"A rabbit. Hmmm... must have found it's way in here somehow to avoid the meteors and the storm." Merick got up and grabbed a large tote and unceremoniously dumped the contents into a heap. "I guess we can just let him out in the yard..." As Merick got closer and released the bubble he realized that the rabbit was green... "Chloe, you ever heard of a Green rabbit?"

'Never outside of children's stories,' Chloe wanted to say, a little slackjawed, but then something. Happened. And it took her breath away, and her speech with it.

"Great, just great. A guy is stuck as a rabbit and you decide to mock his skin color? Merick, I never took you for a racist." Gar joked as he looked up at Merick.

Merick jumped and threw down the box. He stepped back and readied a blast as he looked at the rabbit.

Chloe flinched, eyes wide, and she managed, though bereft of breath, she mumbled: "Holy Frith."

"Look, Bunnicula, I don't want no trouble... just go drain a couple parsnips or something and we go our seperate ways... wait... Gar? Oh my god... You ate Gar!!!"

"Merick I am Gar! I don't know what happened... but here I am. This is why I called your Dad. I thought he might be able to help."

Chloe stared.

Chloe had never been good with the... outdoors. Or animals.

But she knew intelligence when she saw it. Or heard it.

And this was more than just intelligence. This was sentience.

"Cultures the world over," she mused, "have tales of shapeshifters. The Kawatche, in particular, tell of skinwalkers... and Frank's Auto Repair has a mascot cat that has a special place on The Wall of Weird. I'm just saying. For all of us present. This might not be as unprecedented as it seems."

She stood up straight. She stood up straight and tall.

And she smiled a tiny little smile.

"Merick," she murmured, "why are we so surprised by this? I came back today from The Owsla of The Black Rabbit of Inlé, and you can fold space-time like some people perform card tricks. A little lapin therianthropy is tame by comparison."

She hunched down, and she gazed Gar Logan right in the eyes, astonished and disbelieving but absolutely sure of what she saw. "Pleased to meet you, Gar. I, for one, think your colouration is perfectly fetching. (It's been recently pointed out that meteor-rock green must be in fashion, because the whole town is wearing it.)"

"'All the world will be your enemy,'" she recited softly, reverently, "'Prince with a Thousand Enemies, and whenever they catch you, they will kill you. But first they must catch you, digger, listener, runner, prince with the swift warning. Be cunning and full of tricks and your people shall never be destroyed.'"

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick smiled at Chloe as she spoke with... well he guessed with Gar...

"So... ok... ummm... Right."

Merick leaned closer to the box. For his part Garfield Logan was just as impressed by Merick's apparent ability as Merick was Garfield's.

"So.... is there like some possibility that... well... since you can bend space and time or whatever... maybe you could bring me to your Dad? I mean, I sure would feel better if he could take a look at me and maybe give me some answers."

"Damn, Gar, I was... well I mean... we were kinda in the middle of something... but then I guess you kinda killed the moment anyway... Whatta ya say Chloe... should we bring Reepicheep here back to El Paso?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe

"For what it's worth, Merick," Chloe smirked softly, "it was only going to be more of the same. But if that's something you're into, I'm sure we'll have time for that later."

Then she smiled broader, and straightened again, and smoothed out her clothing. "Reepicheep was a mouse, Launchpad. Now, he was a bad-ass mouse, but he was still a mouse. What we have here is a rabbit. If you want to call your friend here after a talking rabbit, and a bad-ass talking rabbit? Call him Hazel. Call him Hazel-rah."

"As for taking him to Texas," she nodded, "between your veterinary dad and Rose's... whatever kind of doctor Rose's dad is, they might be able to restore Hazel to his natural-born species."

Her own eyes flickered down to rest on Gar's rabbity features. "I'd suggest holding onto your cottontail, Hazel-rah. The swooosh takes a little getting-used-to."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Merick hoped they would have plenty more where this came from...

"Gar... you aren't gonna... you know tell Dad we were down here... well... you know... making out or whatever..."

"Your secret is safe with me... I mean totally."

"Sweet. Ok, hang on..." With hardly not another word Merick scoops the box and Gar from the floor. He quickly closes the box and wraps an arm around Chloe as he swoosh's back to El Paso.



------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Merick and Chloe reappear in the room Dale and Marcy both look up.

"What's in the box Chief?"

"A surprise."

With no more ado Gar, more than a little miffed at his treatment bursts from the box in Merick's hand.

"What... why would you do that? I mean... I was in a a box... that was bad enough, then you go and...and... well whatever that was... man... I am so gonna be sick... do you have a license to do that? I mean you could have left part of me behind. Like this one time on I think it was the Twilight Zone. Or worse... The Fly!" Exasperated the Garfield hops onto the bed beside them. "Not cool... really just not cool. Oh. Hi Doctor T. Umm... so yeah... this is the problem I was having."

"Garfield?"

"Gar, sweety... is that you? Marcy forgetting for the moment she was at all tired swoops in on poor Garfield, all but crushing him as he struggles to get away from her fierce embrace. "Gar, are you okay? Let me see... what happened?"

"Dr. Hamilton, I think maybe... your credentials might be needed."

 

[AmenRa]

Dr. Blake nodded his head at Kara's informative that everyone would be right back.

Rose had gone inside to fetch a phone book.

And the boy, the one with the peculiar eye color, just simply ran off yelling something about getting a tractor.

Blake shrugged, and was about to ask Kara something when he really noticed Kara.

The shape of her head, cheek bones, chin, forehead, and that blonde hair reminded him of someone. And those eyes. Blue eyes.

Or did it? Did it at all remind him of someone, or did it remind Him of someone?

Well, for whomever the memory tolled, it was certainly someone close. Kara was younger than the one he remembered, he felt, but the recognition was there. A blonde woman, tall, long hair, blue blue eyes. She wore armor. She held a sword.

Well, of course, then. That explains things. This wasn't his memory at all, but a memory shared by Thor.

But who was she?

Giving up on remembering a name, Blake remarked to the young blonde woman standing in front of him.

"So," he said, "I'm not sure how I got on this road anyway. You know, though, it looks familiar. I had a patient that lived out here when I was in residency. She had some horses, and I came out once from Metropolis and rode with her and her daughter. No, no, it was her niece. I think. Her name was Potter? I think. I'm really bad with names."

Yeah, no shit.

 

[AmenRa]

The Martian Manhunter

In traveling through space, J'onn J'onzz had looked at many worlds that he thought would be suitable for a new start for his friends.

He had enlisted the assistance of Boodika, an Alpha Lantern of the Green Lantern Corps. She was able to give J'onn guidance from the Guardians in finding a world. In return, J'onn assisted her in surveillance of the Green Lantern of Sector 717, who had been reported as taking bribes.

Now, with the knowledge and direction of a new world planted firmly in his mind, the Martian Manhunter headed back to Earth where he would find Var-Sen and Raya and tell them the good news.

He had found a world where they could start a new life.

A distant world, yet close to a singularity that opened near Earth.

This world was vast, and it was cold and snowy and frozen like Krypton, yet held deserts and jungles like Earth.

And, according to the Book of Oa, it didn't even have a name.

Yet.

 

[TearsoftheWorld]

While Kara herself couldn't help but sneak a few looks at Dr. Blake, she was fairly certain he was staring at her too. It wasn't the kind of creepy stare that would have the neighborhood watch up in arms. No... it was the kind of look one gets when someone else thinks they remember you.

Remembers but doesn't remember.

One of those uncomfortable stares that doesn't quite break the ice. But then the good doc mentioned Nell's name, and Kara felt a little more at ease. If he knew Nell Potter, then he probably wasn't out to unearth any secrets that might be buried in a certain storm cellar on the Kent Farm.

"So you know Nell, then? She lives just down the road, actually, so that's probably why this place looks familiar to you," Kara said. She took one more look at the walking stick he was holding, and Kara thought she saw some familiar looking shapes written on it.

"That's a neat little prop," Kara said as she nodded at the staff, hoping she wasn't being too nosy. "Where'd you get it?"

 

[AmenRa]

"So you know Nell, then? She lives just down the road, actually, so that's probably why this place looks familiar to you," Kara said.

Blake nodded his head, a thin smile coming to his face at the recognition of the name of Nell Potter. He had gone riding with them long ago, before the accident, of which Kara inquired about next.

"That's a neat little prop," Kara said as she nodded at the staff, hoping she wasn't being too nosy. "Where'd you get it?"

"I got this in Europe," he answered her, "not too long ago, actually. I broke my leg, fractured my pelvis along the hip socket, and banged up my collar bone pretty well in a climbing accident in Norway. It never healed right, even with surgery, so I gotta use a walking assistant," he smiled.

He left out the part about an avalanche forcing him to fall off the side of a mountain, and him wandering around in rocks and snow for days with broken bones. He didn't tell her how he found a cave, where he went to seek shelter, and inside he found the ancient cane laying on a shelf of rock.

The cane was actually Mjolnir, the war hammer that can only be wielded by Thor. Mjolnir had been placed in that cave that day for Blake to find, and once Blake touched it, he and Thor were bound to each other forever.

"Whosoever holds this hammer, if he be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor".

Don Blake was worthy. And now the thunder god Thor walked among the mortal men and women of Midgard, bound now to Earth to learn the most important thing a powerful immortal must know: humility.

All according to Odin's design.

"That's an interesting design on your bracelet there," Blake said as he pointed to Kara's wrist. "Is that like a symbol or something? Or some designer's trademark? It's pretty cool looking."

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Pete, The Cat, Gabe, Alfred, and Jamie

Chloe grinned softly.

And she stepped away from the bunch of them.

She was smart enough. But she was the Google end of things. She was the one who compiled the reports. She wasn't the one to make the discoveries; she just kept a watchful eye.

Chloe stepped away from the bunch of them. And smiled and waved over to her father, and she walked over to Pete.

"Hey," she murmured softly, as he sat gazing at Deathstroke's weaponry, petting the cat.

"Hey," Pete replied, and he smiled at her, though the smile was half-hearted and there was hurt in his eyes.

She sat beside him on the couch, and she scritched the cat behind the ears.

The cat purred.

But Chloe and Pete didn't say anything. Pete just kind of sat and hurt, and Chloe just kind of sat and hurt for him. They'd be okay. They'd be okay.

Just not right yet.

Gabe stood with Alfred over in the kitchen area, gazing with agony at his daughter. "I need to talk to her. I really, really do. About. Everything. About her mother."

Alfred nodded quietly, but he watched Pete with Chloe, and he placed a halting hand on Gabe's shoulder.

"Yes, you do," he agreed, but then murmured, old and wise: "Just not right yet."

"Dr. Hamilton, I think maybe... your credentials might be needed."

"Hm," Jamie blinked, looking around, "you what?"

He'd been standing there, staring to nowhere, own little world, spinning on his axis, and all of a sudden he heard his name and he was back on Earth in a hurry.

But then his eyes fell upon the contents of Marcy's arms and his face scrunched up in concerned bewilderment. "Oh, 'ello. Martian rabbit."

He trotted up in a hurry, mumbling concernedly, hands in his trouser pockets and glasses on his face... "Mm. We watched 'The Fly' once in school. Vincent Price version, headmaster wasn't a Jeff Goldblum fan. Cautionary tale, that. (I could tell you a cautionary tale, young feller-me-rabbit, about mainlining chlorophyll? But I think that'd be like policing the warren after the kits have scarpered, don't you?)"

Jamie stood in silence for a moment, mouth-half open, and then closed it again.

"'Ello, Gar, was it?" Jamie greeted the small verdant creature. "Jamie Hamilton. Doctor. Pleased as Punch to meet you."

He reached into his inside suit-coat pocket, and he tugged out that stethoscope from earlier, and he sort of stood there for a moment, scope half-in and half-out of his pocket. He shook his head slowly.

"Well," he began, pulling the stethoscope slowly out the rest of the way as he did so, "first of all, there's the notion of trans-species metamorphosis. (Not unheard of.) Second of all, there's the idea that he can still talk, which suggests that his brain can still support human-level intelligence and that his vocal cords are somehow still human. No way a rabbit could produce the range of sounds necessary for English conversation."

He handed the stethoscope to Dale. "(Not sure if his vitals are rabbit standard.)"

And then he reached a hand out towards Gar. "Sorry, laddie-buck, I hope this eh'n't too intrusive..."

He hesitated, his hand hovering in the space scant centimetres from Gar's face, from his fur, and he grinned a slow and delighted and fascinated grin. "(Cor. It tingles. Oooh. That really. That really tingles.)"

He raised his hand up to show Marcy, and the hairs on the back of his hand were literally standing on end. He laughed a near-silent, incredulous laugh, shook his head again, and then, in an apparent frenzy, he backed up a few steps and stripped down to the button-down shirt he wore beneath his suit coat... hastily fumbling with his cuffs, he peeled back the shirt from his wrist, and he leaned in towards Gar again, that Puckish impossible beaming grin of his in full force...

...he leaned in, and he held his arm close to Gar's fur, and all of the hairs on the back of his arm stood on end.

"Third of all," Jamie murmured, giddy as a schoolboy, "you're plugged into... something... you're tapped into something fierce and I... I don't have any idea what. I have literally. No idea. That's not just residual cellular energy from the transmogrification, Garfield, that's... I don't know what that is. That's. That's fantastic."

He looked Gar square in the eyes, adoring and elated. "I think you might have to provide us with a bit of backstory, eh? Don't skimp on detail, either, I love a good backstory."

 

[Lunaramblings]

Garfield Logan shook his head... he was tired. And he was panicked. As Dale reached out and took vitals he looked up at his mentor, his friend, his second father.

"Just don't expect me to turn and cough ok."

Dale chuckled softly as he pulled away.

"Seems like he his vitals are in line with what I would expect. Maybe a bit off, but he is a rather unique rabbit. So, go ahead Garfield. Lay your tale on us... no pun intended."

"Ok, well, see before the meteor shower, I was out in the stable, tending to some of the animals. And I thought I heard Merick yell. And, bein' that I had seen him no long before that I ran out to the road and he was bein attacked by this Huge dog. Well, I ran back to grab my car, figured I could scare it off. Well when I got there, the dog was knocked out, and Merick was gone. So I put the dog in my car and was just getting him to come around back at the stable, when the shower hit. Thing musta been spooked, but he bit me real good. On the shoulder. Then the world was falling apart. A huge meteor crashed into the stable roof and the whole lot of it was pretty much crushing me. Then I woke up in the woods. Like this."

"Yeah. I was attack by a dog. I knocked it out and took off. That dog had to be rabid. It was foaming at the mouth, but the foam had this green tint to it."

"Well, I checked out the office. Someone let all the animals out. No injured or dead animals that I could find. So whatever happened you must have let them out. So this dog... and the meteors. It has to be somehow connected to your condition. Anyone have a clue?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Rose

Glass crunched underneath Rose's feet.

She stood in the kitchen, by the kitchen table, right by the space in the wall where the sliding doors to the back deck once had been.

Most all of the windows at the back of the house had smashed inward, and there was a massive crater in the backyard, not far from the aforementioned storm cellar.

Oh, well, Rose tried to think, and didn't quite succeed. I heard you're supposed to keep a window at one end of the house open during a tornado, because of pressure differential?

So this is. This is probably. For the best.

All the windows at this end of the house being, you know, open.

She feared for her bedroom. She was too scared to look yet.

Her favourite Edward Scissorhands snow-globe was probably a write-off.

To say nothing of the glass... scissoring her books and her carefully preserved vintage VHSes...

She winced.

It's just things. It's just stuff. It's just clutter.

Don't freak out about stuff. Big oul' Buddha statue from that Temple in China, He'd tell you the same thing...

Still.

This was her home. This was the place to which she fled when she couldn't pretend to be courageous, this was the place to which she fled when all those different fears got too too too too much and this was where she hid. But this... sanctuary... this safe place...

It had been dealt a hammerblow by a rock from the sky and Rose was a little shaken by this. Sometimes, sometimes astronomy just hits too close to home.

Putting aside her troubles for now, putting aside her shivery shuddery winces, Rose vaulted the counter and trudged through the glass littering the floor by the kitchen sink, dropping down to a crouch and rummaging through cupboards.

Through drawers.

Through piles of homework and bills waiting to be paid and William Gibson novels and

There! There it was, on top of the fridge!

Rose levitated briefly and snagged the big thick yellow book from the top of the refrigerator before striding purposefully back down the hall with that book under her arm. She emerged back out into the front yard, grinning a lopsided little eighth-hearted smile, waving the phone book.

"Sorry I took so long," she mumbled. "Kind of a mess in there. Hope you guys found plenty to discuss amongst yourselves."

She frowned at Kara, though, glancing about, as she handed the book to Doctor Blake.

"Um," she blinked, "I could have sworn. Hey, am I crazy, or did we lose the fourth member of our Bridge club?"

 

[ChasNicollette]

Chloe, Jamie, The Cat, Pete, Alfred, and Gabe

Chloe closed her eyes, leaning her head against Pete's shoulder. She remembered Merick's description of the raging canine earlier at The Talon, and her brow furrowed. "From Watership Down to The Plague Dogs. What's next, Shardik?"

"Well, I checked out the office. Someone let all the animals out. No injured or dead animals that I could find. So whatever happened you must have let them out. So this dog... and the meteors. It has to be somehow connected to your condition. Anyone have a clue?"

Jamie rolled his sleeve back down and buttoned the cuffs, frowning deeply.

"Yeah, no," he shook his head. "'Aven't the foggiest. Why would getting bit by a dog turn him into a rabbit?"

He paused, though, and donned his now-bedraggled suit coat anew, paused while he plucked his glasses off of his nose, tucking them away.

"I dunno," he mumbled faintly. "Retromutagen? If the rabbit was the last creature with whom he came in contact before the dog... cowabunga?"

Jamie bounced on his feet, bounced on his feet bounced on his toes, his meteor-green Converse rattapattering on the floor of the bunker.

"IdunnoIdunnoIdunno," he chanted, his face all in furrows and his eyes all in shadow. "IdonotknowIdunnoIdunno."

His hands lurched up and clawed through his hair and he scowled. "Egah. Simultaneously the cruelest and most intriguing feeling in the world is not knowing something."

Jamie twirled in a half-circle, one arm flung out, Shakespearean, and then stopped.

He frowned. "Blimey. Six degrees of zoological separation. Rabbity doggy snaky foxy weasely."

He snapped his fingers, chasing down the rampant courses on which his dendrites led him. "Weasely. Weasely. Weasley. In keeping with their father's being named 'Arthur,' the Weasley children were named in allusion to Arthurian legend and/or Arthur's real-world chivalric counterparts. Ginevra ('Ginny') in reference to Guinevere, Bill in reference to William the Conqueror, Ron named for Rhon-- King Arthur's spear --Fred named for Frederick The Great, George named for Saint George, Charlie named for Charlemagne, Percy for Percival--"

His frown deepened suddenly. "Percival. Percy. Percypercypercy..."

"...Sheldrake," he mumbled. "Percy Sheldrake. Nice bloke, knew him in school, has a boy of his own, now, why am I thinking of--"

Jamie's eyes riveted onto the back of Chloe's head. "Shardik? Not a weasel, then. Not a weasel but a bear. Teddy bear. Berenstein Bear."

He blinked, and again he was staring to nowhere, and his voice was all but a whisper: "Rupert."

And then. Explosion. Ignition detonation holy Hell, hands flung up high into the air with fingers spread: "RUPERT SHELDRAKE!"

This startled Gabriel the Cat enough that he scarpered from Pete's lap in a hurry.

Alfred stared at Jamie with eyes wide, and Gabe was rattled from his malaise by the force of Jamie's explosion.

"Is he okay?" Gabe wondered.

"I was afraid of this," Alfred murmured, half-serious, "all that coffee's microwaved his neurons, we'll 'ave to sedate 'im--"

But Jamie wagged his finger at Alfred and shook his head and backed up in a bit of a defensive posture, shaking his head with an exultant look on his face: "Nonononono, King Alfred, don't you dare, don't you dare, just. Just stop for a minute. Just think. Just listen. Rupert Sheldrake! Rupert Sheldrake!"

He paused for a moment, clawing his hands through his hair again, looking horrified and astonished. "No? Rupert Sheldrake? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?"

Chloe grinned, vindicated. "He knows Bueller."

Pete, still mourning the sudden absence of the cat, glanced at her askance: "Doesn't everyone?"

 

[Lunaramblings]

"I read a paper last week for my father. It was some research from a scientist he had acquired. It talked about mutations at a cellular level. Brought on by certain types of radiation. What I was thinking was that, maybe, these rocks, if they were radioactive, which, I don't know, but maybe they could somehow trigger a mutation. Scientifically speaking there is not a lot seperating us from most of the animal kingdom..." Dale scratched his head and looked at Gar. "What I am thinking is that somehow, Gar got his DNA scrambled. And maybe... just maybe... the energy field you felt was his DNA reconstituting itself. Reforming. Trying to make whole was was sundered. Just a theory."

I am not gonna stay a rabbit!" Gar became very agitated as he began to understand what Dale was thinking. "Of all the things... I could have been a tiger, a hawk, a bear but I will not be a rabbit!!!"

As Gar yelled each animal he shifted quickly into it. His body shifting in the blink of an eye, until finally... angry and exhausted, he was a rabbit again.

This was when Dale saw the door to the elevator open and McNichol step into the room.

"Son, put the bunny in the box."

 

[AmenRa]

As Blake was reaching for the phone book that Rose held, his Blackberry warbled in his pocket.

"Guess the cell towers are back up," he said as he answered the call.

Blake's expression changed from one of happy-go-lucky to sudden seriousness.

"How long since the last seizure?" he asked into the phone.

He listened, then closed his eyes.

"That's not good at all," he responded, "and I'm literally stuck on the side of the road here on the outskirts."

He was quiet for a minute, then, "go ahead and load the IV with cryoperyn, and pack her in ice and cold packs on the bed. We need her body temperature as low as possible, that will keep the clot from moving into her brain. I will be there as soon as possible."

He ended the call, and then looked up at Rose and Kara.

"So, I don't guess either of you has a car?"