[CBE-177/"Anna"]

Morning. Blue-tinited light creeping in through the windows. She awoke as she always did, suddenly and without a hint of grogginess. Rising, she put on gym shorts and the pink shirt with the rabbit symbol that Cory had given her, paused to splash her face with water and pull her hair back into a braid, and went downstairs to the weight room. She did a hundred pushups balanced on her left forefinger, then a hundred more balanced on her right forefinger. Then she buckled on a weight belt and worked the bars, the horse, and the rings. When she was done there was a sheen of sweat on her face and she went to the mat to work on her forms.

Americans called them "kata". That was a Japanese word and she refused to use it.

Punch, kick. Jump, spin, land. There was a rythym to it, a way of honing and sharpening your mind into a single point. Punch, jab. In the moment you didn't have to think, didn't have to feel. You could be pure motion, pure action, swift and clean as a mountain river. She found she preferred it to the alternative.

Jack Fontaine

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + CBE-177/"Anna"

Jack awoke to the arrhythmic sound of 177 in the gym. It was a sound they should really have become accustomed to, but somehow hadn't, although perhaps their body was also objecting to sleeping face down on a workbench three nights in a row. They slowly peeled their skin away from the sticky metal. There was a soldering iron lying on the bench about three inches away. Jack gingerly felt their nose, it felt tender. They'd left the iron on and had clearly just narrowly avoided burning themselves with it. This would not be the first time they had found themselves in such a position, sleep often become a secondary concern when they were in the grip of an obsession. Groggily Jack stood, seizing the heavy metal mug from where they had abandoned it. Pouring the cold coffee out into the work sink, they crossed to the coffee machine, pouring what was left of the jug into the heavy mug. They grimaced at the taste, the dark liquid was decidedly not fresh. Sinking heavily back into their chair, they turned their attention back to the multiple screens mounted on desks, walls and even one or two on the ceiling. Jack focused on one in particular. It was playing an early morning TV channel, the current show followed metahuman events. This clip was familiar, mainly because Jack had been there for the situation itself. A blurry video showed a diminutive woman stooped over a fallen man, before standing and unleashing a blast of light that whited out the footage. It cut back to a black woman. The screen was muted, her lips working carefully through the questions and theories that had been posed by this latest meta-sighting. They stood, leaving the abandoned project where it was. It could wait, which meant that it would likely never be completed. Still, they had a new project they wanted to explore, and they already had a few things they could use. Jack didn't bother to knock on the door of the gym, merely wandering in with a small box under one arm and their still steaming mug in the other. They dropped the box of supplies heavily onto a table, then turned, leaning against it as they watched 177 complete their workout.

© seadra of gs

[CBE-177/"Anna"]

Spin, kick, land... and done. 177 held her position for another moment, then relaxed and began unbuckling the weights she had on, turned and Jack and nodding in acknowledgment. Jack didn't seem to be demanding immediate attention, so she replaced her weights before returning to Jack. From the looks of it, Jack had been sleeping in the laboratory again: wrinkled clothes, a slightly unwashed scent, too-old coffee... well, that was Jack's affair. It was none of her business, even if she found it slightly distasteful. Cleanliness was one of the differences between humans and animals, and 177 kept herself well clear of the line in that respect.

She glanced at the box Jack had dropped on the table, wondering what was in it and feeling just a bit of trepidation. Jack wore the usual bored expression, but she thought she sensed a kind of hunger in it as well. Jack was a scientist; the thought of a hunger being there unnerved her. Still, she owed Jack something, so she set aside the trepidation and kept her face a still mask.

Thanks to Cory, she now had a much easier method of communication. She hadn't been surprised that Jack understood sign language, but it had been extremely convenient. She signed, “Good morning. Do you need me right now or is there time to clean up?”

Jack Fontaine

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + CBE-177/"Anna"

Teaching 177 sign language had been an unusual stroke of genius for Coryelle. Jack had learnt it some years ago on a whim. They would have taught it to 177 themself, but didn't have the patience to actually do so. It was fortunate that Cory understood ASL well enough to pass it onto 177, and that 177 was a quick learner. Still, using a phone might have become very irritating very rapidly. Jack answered as they dug through the box. "Morning. You can clean up, but there might be more cleanup required afterwards. It seems wasteful to do so twice." There were a few things in there, mostly things that they were planning on using, but also a few things that they'd packed just in case they came in useful. Jack usually packed things that might just come in useful. They frequently didn't. They eventually found what they were looking for, their long fingers brushing, then fastening on the slick, cold plastic they were looking for. They pulled it out, several more plastic bags spilled out onto the tabletop. Each of them was cold, condensation beading on their surface, and each one was filled with blood, the dark red liquid moving thickly within the transparent bags. "Shit." Jack grumbled, before sorting through the different bags. They'd acquired them, somewhat questionably, from the MNRU. Each of them was from a confirmed metahuman, and Jack definitely shouldn't have it. A little creative coding had seen their delivery redirected to a PO box owned by Jack. Eventually they found a suitable one, turning to face the old Soviet super-weapon. "So, would you rather drink from a mug? Or just straight from the bag?"

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

When Jack opened the case, she smelled the bags before she saw them. Her eyes locked on the blood, like a pointer indicating a hidden bird, and her body became tense- ready.

It wasn't as though Jack deprived her of blood. She got enough to keep herself satisfied, and to suppress the urge to kill for it. But there was a greed in her desires, and seeing fresh bags of blood before her was enough to trigger it. She knew, on some level, that wanting the blood so much made her vulnerable- easier to control- yet she would not make any effort to change her desires. The hunger was part of who she was; if Jack used it to control her, so be it.

It took her a moment to respond to Jack's statement about needing to clean up again. When she did, she nodded. She was staring at the blood. She must have looked like a hound waiting to be released. Jack asked if she would prefer to drink from a mug or the bag. Directly from a vein, actually, but that didn't appear to be an option. She stepped forward, snatching the bag from Jack's hand, tearing it open with her teeth, crouching and holding it to her mouth as she drank.

She was halfway done with the bag before she noticed the tingle. There was something different about this blood. It tasted like... Where had she tasted it before? She couldn't remember... Wait! The sunbeam terrorist. His blood had tasted like that. Somehow it was even better than other blood. She glanced at the bag, wondering now what Jack was up to. But she didn't stop drinking, not till the bag was empty. She shot up to her full height, dropping the bag on the floor, turning to face Jack with a greedy light in her eyes. More!

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + CBE-177/"Anna"

The reaction was expected, yet still unnerving. Jack, thanks to their status as one of the handful of metahumans predating the Event, had a great deal of experience with a wide variety of different metahumans. They had never seen one quite so animalistic as Anna seemed to be. Her entire body was quivering like a bow string. If she’d really wanted the blood, Jack knew, she could have thrown them aside without a second thought, or gone straight for the blood in their own veins. Something about the risk made this experiment so much more interesting. Jack smirked as Anna snatched the bag from their hand, crouching over it like the animal she so often resembled. They cocked their head, expecting an instant result, but surprised to find that she didn’t seem to notice any difference until halfway through. So there was some difference in flavour, but perhaps it was not quite so obvious as they had thought. They raised an eyebrow at the look on her face. There was definite hunger there, even greed. Could it be that metahuman blood stoked her appetite? Or was it more like an addiction. They wagged a finger disapprovingly. ”No, we don’t want to spoil your appetite yet, and you don’t want to go through this whole stash straight away. Better to make it last.” If it was an addiction beyond her normal need for blood then it would offer another way to control the diminutive woman. They leaned forward from the table, staring into Anna’s eyes. ”What feels different?”

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

She hissed in displeasure at Jack telling her she couldn't have more blood, even though intellectually she knew it was probably the right choice. It didn't feel that way, though. It was good, for Jack's sake, that she was kept well supplied. She was satiated enough not to lose control of herself, even if part of her mind was plotting to get the rest of the blood. She took a few breaths, calming herself down, and adopted a parade rest stance.

What felt different? It wasn't anything obvious. She tilted her head and frowned, trying to pay attention to what might have changed. Something... a feeling in her chest. Had it been there before and she was just now noticing it? Or was it new? Her frowned deepened. It was like there was a shape inside her... but not a shape she knew. It was spindly and meandering, with many tendrils. And it was connected to her, somewhere, though she couldn't feel where.

She felt the shape twist and turn. It seemed to respond to- yes! She was making it do that. Nothing seemed to be happening. Suppose she pushed harder-

She hit the ceiling. One second She was standing on the floor, frowning, and the next she was falling, the world rotating so that the ceiling was suddenly beneath her. She managed to turn enough to catch herself on all fours and stood up. Jack was now above, peering down as she walked on the ceiling.

She took a few steps, then hopped a few times. It felt very ordinary. She did a few gymnastics tricks, flipping, standing on one finger, running across the ceiling and long the wal before returning the ceiling. It was exactly the same as before. The only difference was that her down was what had been up. She put her hands on her hips and glanced up at Jack, raising an eyebrow as if to say, "Well?"

Hmm. That was odd. The shape in her chest had left a kind of trail when she had fallen to the ceiling. It was still connected to her. Could she move it? Yes, she could. Suppose she moved it to where Jack was. There. She waited to see if Jack noticed anything. Then she pushed on that end, and sent Jack falling to the ceiling with her.

She covered her mouth and laughed her silent laugh. This was fun!

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + @lukaspope

Jack had not expected to find themselves suddenly flying, no, falling upwards. That was where they found themselves however, crashing into the ceiling with a grunt of pain and ending up in an undignified heap on the… ceiling. After a moment of contemplation on the hard surface they pushed themselves to their feet, standing upright, and upside down, on the ceiling. They certainly weren't impressed when the looked up to see Anna with a hand over her mouth and a twinkle in her eyes. Jack scowled at the indignity, but at least their theory was developing. Types of abilities did not seem to be an issue, Anna was able to do this as well as utilise a blaster ability only a few weeks ago. It had also only taken her a few moments to start utilising the power, some additional sense that informed her on how to use her new ability? Or perhaps it was just a simple ability to visualise. "Ow." They rubbed ruefully at their forearms, which had taken most of the impact. "Thank you for the warning. Can you tell when it's going to run out? Or do you have any idea how long it lasts?"

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

Jack was, of course, slightly displeased at being rudely thrown against the ceiling, but that was all right. They tried far too hard to be dignified, anyway. She took her hand from her mouth and made a snickering noise. The sound of laughter was beyond her reach, but by putting her tongue just behind her front teeth and blowing in short bursts she could make a noise that got the same point across. Just for a moment, though. Too much and Jack might get really angry instead of just annoyed.

At Jack's question she tilted her head for a moment, considering, and then held her hands spread wide apart before slower bringing them closer together. Yes, she could feel the power diminishing, she thought, though it felt like they had a while. She stood on the ceiling with hands on her hips, head cocked, trying to feel out the new space in her mind this power represented. It was like a knob she could twist and turn, she thought. What if she-

Abruptly she fell started sliding along the ceiling, but this time she was ready and caught herself on the wall as she landed. She stood up, now perpendicular to Jack on a neighboring wall. This was what had happened with the woman with the heat blasts, wasn't it? She could gain more than strength from drinking blood, it seemed.

The implications of that escaped Anna. She was too focused on the present, and not given enough to imagination to think through what was happening.

Instead she focused on the internal dial again. Suppose she didn't pull so hard-

She fell again, but more slowly this time. Carefully she worked her new power. Her fall came to a stop, leaving her floating in the middle of the room. This turned out to be inconvenient, because there was nothing to grab on to and no way to maneuver herself around. She floated in midair, feeling somewhat foolish. Glancing at Jack, she brought them halfway to the floor so that they floated next to each other.

Her expression said, Well?

Jack Fontaine

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + CBE-177/"Anna"

Anna didn't respond, at least not with sign language. Instead she made the sound that she made instead of laughing. Actual laughter would have been less annoying, as it was she sounded like Mutley from wacky racers. Jack's only response was to scowl meaningfully at the diminutive assassin. They would let her have some fun at least, irritating though it might be. Machines were much more respectful when testing their limits. Her head cocked as if in thought, then, still without fully responding, Anna started to move again. Jack started as the woman started sliding away from them, was this the ability running out? Were they about to find themselves falling once more. No, perhaps not, only Anna had started to move, she must have adjusted her own gravity, not Jack's. Then Anna started floating through the air. No longer touching the floor, or the wall, or the ceiling. That she'd developed such fine control of the ability so quickly was impressive. Jack would have made a note here if their phone hadn't been on the table above… or rather below them. It certainly indicated some degree of instinct guiding the ability itself. Still musing on this, Jack felt their stomach fly up as their feet suddenly left the ceiling. They expected to fall once more, but it seemed that Anna, at least for now, had ceased their fun. They found themselves floating in the middle of the room, feeling almost totally weightless. Clearly Anna wasn't defying gravity, she was manipulating it, and clearly could do so independently for at least two people, perhaps more. She gave them a pointed expression. "This… is very impressive. That you can control this ability with such precision so quickly is beyond what I expected, it is far more complex than the one you utilised during the attacks." They had little control over their movement, no matter how they waved their arms or legs they did not shift. Clearly this 'flight' was entirely under Anna's control, though no matter, as it would eventually wear off. "I wonder if it is possible for you to replicate more than one ability at once…"

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

She let herself down to the floor again, restoring her normal downward pull. Jack was trying to gain purchase against the air by flailing limbs and not accomplishing much, and the sight amused her. She felt a little proud at exceeding Jack's expectations. Going over to the table, she picked up her phone, typed a message, and showed it to Jack.

It is like there is a shape inside my mind. I push it one way, and down is up. I push it another, and down is to the side. I turn it down like a radio dial and down is less. I push it outside of me into you and now down is up for you as well.

A thought struck her and she gave a mischievous grin. Reaching for one of Jack's ankles, she gave a slight pull and watched her employer continue to float, rotating slowly midair. At Jack's question about if she could replicate more than one ability at once she turned and went back to the bag Jack had brought with the bags of one. Choosing one at random, she showed it to the rotating Jack before tearing it open with her claws and guzzling it down. She stopped once to lick a bit that had spilled around her lips. She knew the unusual taste better now (or was it really a taste?) and was expecting it. She set the emptied bag down and wiped her mouth.

She stood in a ready position, waiting for what would come next. For a moment she felt nothing. Then she suddenly felt like someone had struck her in the gut. The shape in her mind that had been Jack's altered gravity dissolved and Jack fell to the floor (feetfirst, thankfully). She snorted. She hadn't been expecting that. There were new shapes in her mind now, but neither was as sharp as the one had been originally. She tried the first, falling upward to the ceiling. Yes, it still worked, even if it felt more slippery, somehow. The second...

She tried it. For a moment nothing happened. But her hands felt strange. She frowned down at them, not understanding, opening and closing her fingers. They seemed to tingle... then they seemed to burn. She tried to wipe them off on her jeans and ice exploded out from her fingers. She jumped in surprise, slipping on more ice and catching herself on the ceiling More ice spread across it, spiderwebbing out from where her fingers touched. She tried-

She glanced at Jack.

She couldn't turn it off!

Jack Fontaine

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + CBE-177/"Anna"

That Anna resorted to her phone suggested that what she was experiencing was of a certain degree of complexity. Her grasp of sign language, though confident, clearly wasn't enough to express exactly how the power felt. Jack rolled their eyes once they felt a grip on their angle, and a pull that set them rotating gently in the air. Upon one rotation they saw Anna wiping her mouth clean, clearly having ingested the contents of another bag. That brought a frown to their face, they hadn't intended that she might drink as much of it as she liked, it would hardly make her more controllable after all. A moment later and Jack's stomach jumped as their body fell suddenly in the opposite direction. They landed awkwardly, stumbling, but keeping their feet, just. They were surprised as Anna fell upwards towards the ceiling once more. So ingesting the fresh blood had interrupted her stolen ability somewhat, but not removed it entirely. Had it come with an additional ability? Ice exploded across the ceiling. Apparently so. The ice continued to spread, spiderwebbing with abandon from wherever Anna's fingers made contact with something else. It was impressive, until Anna shot a worried glance in their direction. No matter what she did it seemed, the ice continued to spread. Jack backed away, getting cocooned in ice was not something they had planned on today. Unfortunately it seemed that Anna did not have an immunity to the power she had manifested. Annoyingly though, she was still on the ceiling. Jack wasn't exactly tall, and they certainly weren't athletic. They gestured to her quickly, "Get off the ceiling. It's spreading from contact, float in the air like before." Hopefully that would at least slow the spread of ice and give them more time to think.

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

She focused, trying to adjust the shape in her mind so that she floated. It was harder then it had been before. Slowly the ceiling began to drift away, till she floated upside-down in the middle of the room, arms spread crucifix style, hair streaming down towards the floor. She looked at Jack helplessly. Now what? Mist began to form around her palms, like breath forming on a hot day. Being able to gain new powers from blood could be useful, but not if she lost control like this.

She tried to think. She had been fine with only one power, both here and at the fight where she'd taken the sunbeams. It was after she had a second that her mind seemed to become muddled. There were too many shapes in it, all fuzzing together in ways she couldn't pick apart. That was the problem. And that, she realized, suggested a solution: she had to get rid of one of her borrowed abilities. But how?

She drank the blood, and from there it went into her stomach, so if she cut open her- no, she wouldn't do that. Not unless it was a real emergency. What had happened to the sunbeams? They had faded, grown less powerful over time. Gone after a few hours. She didn't want to wait that long. But the shape it had put in her mind- had it grown smaller only with time? Hadn't it also grown smaller with use of the power? If she drank a certain amount of blood, and it gave her a certain amount of power, then when it was used up-

She gritted her teeth and concentrated, trying to find the power from before. It was harder. Her mind kept slipping. She fell upward, landing on her feet on the ceiling. There! Was it smaller then before? Not by much, if anything. It would have to be bigger to make a difference. She had pushed Jack with the power before. But what if she-

Focus. She closed her eyes, diving deep within herself. Yes! A well there, one she hadn't known before. Now to push. And push. And push-

She threw her head back in a silent scream. A wave went out from her, tossing loose items in the room upward. Then down, a wave of gravitation slamming them into the floor at two or three times normal. And another wave. And another. A table hit the ceiling with the sound of breaking. The windows on the other wall crashed. There was no control, no precision, no ability to target some objects and exclude others. Other the burning out of power by use. Another wave, and the far wall became down for everything except her. More crashing. And Another wave.

Then, nothing.

She opened her eyes, flailed in the air for a moment, then hit the floor with a thud. She landed wrong- it hurt. She hissed, hopping upward on one foot. That was when she felt the difference inside her. The old shape was gone. What remained was clear.

The room was a disaster. It looked like it had had the attention of dedicated disaster crew, or possibly an unrestricted group of five-year-olds. Anna went over to a fallen table and touched one of the legs. For a moment, nothing happened. Then she focused, and ice spread along the leg. She stopped, and it stopped. She smiled.

She turned towards Jack, looked around the room once more, then gave a sheepish grin and two thumbs up.

Jack Fontaine

[Jack Fontaine]

Nobody Don't you know who I think I am? + CBE-177/"Anna"

Jack, on the other hand, was not smiling. Instead they looked less than impressed. Their t-shirt was torn, and the jeans they were wearing weren’t in much better condition. Worse was the blemish on their temple which was already starting to colour. It would be bruised black before the end of the day. They rubbed at the blemish, wincing as it stung at the touch. They had hit the floor, or the ceiling, at least three times. It was hard to keep track of, after all, each time they had been flung into one it had felt like it should have been the floor. Anna had clearly lost control of her ability, or had intentionally allowed it to go haywire. The latter seemed more likely, as Anna had regained her feet. The room looked like it had accidentally strayed into Kansas. One of the tables, and both of the chairs had been reduced to matchwood, while the other leaned drunkenly at an angle, its contents had been strewn about the room however. At least it wouldn't be too much effort to pick up, though 177 and Cory would have to reassemble several of the now toppled pieces of gym equipment the room had been furnished with. They glared at Anna, "A little warning would have been appreciated." Still, at least they had an idea now of what had gone on, it seemed that the blood had provided Anna with a specific reservoir of power to use. In her panic she had used up all of that reservoir, seemingly allowing her more control of the second power she had replicated. "So you have control now?"

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[CBE-177/"Anna"]

Anna winced. She hadn't meant to hurt anyone. She'd just been trying to regain her lost control, and she hadn't really considered that she might hurt someone. Looking around the room, maybe she should have been more worried about property damage. Well, freezing everything wouldn't have been any better, right? Right?

Jack asked if she had control, and she made a “so-so” gesture with her hand. Perhaps best to stay with one at a time from now on, she signed. She stared at her hand, flexing it. Reaching for an upturned table, she touched one of the legs, making it turn white with frost.

It was fascinating. Not since the day she's become what she was had she imagined there might be more to her power. She had never before tasted the blood of another person with powers; no, it was the weak that were to be eaten, not the strong. Or so she had been told in her brief stay among the others. She could only imagine what would have happened if she had discovered this sooner. Such power... but it was limited. It needed blood, and much of it. Already she could feel there was not as much as there had been. She could become stronger like this, but not for long.

She signed, Should take tests you want before runs out.

Jack Fontaine