#0 - Terrapin Under the Mountain, Comet Above

It was too good to last, the fact that the past couple of months had been relatively quiet at Murder Mountain. Terrapin had had to put up with the stream of second-rate powers that sought to make a name for themselves by finally apprehending the last member of the Aces. To be sure, the lair was built to last, formerly a secret base for Windfall and her associates to run their gauntlet of death matches, to be broadcast to ultra-wealthy viewers with jaded tastes and a penchant for bloodsport. The multitude of cameras installed for this macabre purpose were still fully operational and allowed Terrapin to keep tabs on the exterior of his hideout, the amusement park itself, as well as the tortuous trap rooms below.

The most recent supers to give him grief were the pair of alien twins, Wash and Were. He had recently discovered their surveillance of the place: for one, there seemed to be more wildlife, more critters cutting through the park than usual, and for the other, the artificial stream which used to be part of the rapid water-ride that cut into the mountain itself was rising in its water level. Terrapin had never tangled with them before, but his innate self-preservation concluded that it had to be them. Perhaps it was just as well it wasn’t one of the Super Sept who decided to finally take care of the remaining member of the Aces once and for all; Solaris for example, would’ve leveled the entire mountain without much ado.

There was one more phenomenon that had caught Terrapin’s attention, but it was something he couldn’t quite make sense of. Just two nights ago, the three rides nearest the Viking ship ride inexplicably activated themselves for a whole two hours, before returning to its derelict state. A small section of it appeared to have its peeling paint job entirely refreshed.

What do you do?

The quiet months were the worst, even if Terrapin wouldn't admit it. Even if he did, who would he admit it to? The infrequent attempts on his life, if he were forced to admit to it, were the highlights of his self-imposed exile. They were all to brief glimpses of truly living. The race of adrenaline, hammering heart beat and razor-sharp mental focus that accompanied the tooth and claw struggle, that look on an opponent's face when they knew they'd lost and all confidence drains out of it with the sudden realization that their next few moments would be their last... The post-fight shakes were the worst, the body-wracking jitters as adrenaline fought its way out of his system, but those were the moments that made him feel alive. He didn't seek out death but it came right to his doorstep and he enjoyed that more often than he'd like to admit.
His self-imposed exile had started after the rest of his team, the Aces, had been ambushed by the Super Sept's junior league. The relative safety of Murder Mountain gave him time to recuperate and recover but he knew if he poked his head out for long there'd be a price to pay and attract the Sept's attention. That price was looking better and better the longer he stayed under the mountain.

The recent attack by Wash & Were had left Terrapin on a bit of high alert. The sudden activation of a section of the park's rides did little to quell the nagging anxiety that things were afoot that he was unaware of. He didn't like being unaware...

The old park had been named Mystery Mountain Amusement Park and it had lived up to it's name even before its dark and sinister secrets were revealed to the world. The section of rides mysteriously starting up again before becoming dormant again just added to the mystique of the park. After reviewing the security footage, he was relieved that at least the rides involved didn't include the old Dungeons&Dragons ride. From all reports that thing had been trouble from the day it was installed into the park back in the mid-eighties.
Ostensibly a PR gimmick, the Dungeons&Dragons rollercoaster ride was a refurbishment of an older wooden coaster that was original to the park when it opened in the late 1950's. Enclosed areas filled animatronic likenesses from the then-controversial game were built to turn it into a combination roller coaster & haunted thrill ride. The 80's zeitgeist of Satanic Panic made the ride something of a notorious feature of the park and the publicity made it one of the more popular attractions. Some riders claimed to experience vivid hallucinations during the thrill ride sections but that was mostly ascribed to hysteria and mild seizures brought on by the ride's numerous strobe lights. The reputation of the park and the ride changed after six local teenagers disappeared while on the ride. The incident was downplayed and buried in the newspapers of the day but had started a domino effect of scrutiny that would eventually lead to the discovery of the illegal metahuman bloodsport arena housed beneath the parks signature Mystery Mountain.

Terrapin flipped through the park cameras from deep inside the mountain's control rooms. Cajun Cove, clear. Deadwood Ghost Town, clear. Mighty Mites, clear. Village of Tomorrow, clear. Midway, clear. he muttered to himself as he cycled through the numerous park zones twice, still unsatisfied. As dangerous as it could be, he'd have to go out for a look with his own eyes before it'd stop bugging him.

Terrapin's physical wounds had healed. His emotional ones? Well, let's just say that the sheer nonchalance and callousness at which the Super Sept had killed Dynamo and Ninjack revealed their true nature to Terrapin. The watery grave the Lord of the Tides had enveloped Dynamo with had caused Dynamo's own electrical powers to short themselves out, blacking out an entire city block in the process. And Solaris had simply snapped Ninjak's neck, and that was after his bore two holes into Ninjak's skull with his heat vision. What he knew about them was at entirely at odds with what the world believed about them. The disconnect was jarring; it was unjust, and Terrapin was currently helpless to do anything about it.

His wandering thoughts returned to his surveillance. The Runaway Rapids were clear as well, but needed maintenance. The artificial stream that the pontoons rode on had flooded, threatening structural damage to the west zone of the theme park. That wouldn't be a problem, given the run-down nature of all the fixtures and equipment in general, but if the underground cabling were damaged, that would undermind the security of his hideout proper.

It was the Lofty Love skyride that was the aberration. There was quite a bit of footage to go through, given that the park security cameras still functioned on hard drive backups that were never converted to solid state digital media, a throwback to when it was still state-of-the-art when it was upgraded in the 90s. Thankfully they weren't still relying on the extinct video tape format. Terrapin had to play it back from the point where he saw the ride light up again, its couple seats slowly circling upwards around a vertical core before dropping suddenly back down in a thrilling rush.

The closeup revealed an ordinarily-dressed young woman in her twenties sitting on one of the seats, the decorative lights surrounding it lighting up in its former glory, with enough electricity to power up and propel the skyride upward. She sat there for half a minute, maybe more, before disappearing from the camera's view, leaving the seats to circle back down in fits and starts. This happened twice, in two successive weeks. If there was going to be a third incident, it would be any day now.

Both of these necessitated Terrapin to get out and investigate more carefully what the hell was going on if he wanted to solve them.

It was an eerie feeling wandering the rundown park but not for the reasons normal folk would consider eerie. The limmal weirdness of existing alone in what was meant to be an area devoted to social gatherings unnerved most people but for Terrapin that was a bonus. It was the needling feeling that somewhere above, unseen in orbit, an automated satellite was blinking an alert to someone in Sept HQ and recording his actions and movements. It could be just paranoia or an over-inflated sense of importance but the feeling remained nonetheless. Defiantly, he produced a 'double-bird salute' to the sky...just in case anyone was watching.

He took a tour of the affected areas,taking note of the damage Wash had caused to the Runaway Rapids. Clean up and repairs would take time and a bit of effort but it shouldn't be anything he couldn't handle with time. Maintaining the rundown park had been a crucial part of recovering his mental powers after escaping the Sept's ambush. Nothing was in top shape but it wasn't unserviceable either. Ten-plus years of idle time gave him time to keep the place from completely disintegrating back into woodland. The only bright side to the alien twin's recent attack was to give him a few ideas on how to plug a couple of security holes the former owners hadn't anticipated.

The apparition at the Lofty Love ride required a deeper look than did the damaged flume ride area. Constructed in the 90's, it was one of the last attractions added to the park before it closed. When operational, it had been at best a tertiary tier attraction mainly targeting couples who wanted to share a low thrill ride in the moderate privacy of the dual seated cupolas ringing the riser. Capitalizing on the relative popularity of Billy Ray Cyrus' Achy, Breaky Heart single at the top of the charts the year it was constructed, the Lofty Love ride cycled that song every fifteen minutes while it ran.
The (once) bright white pillar had faded and spiderwebs of brown rust crawled across the welded edges of it...except for the strangely revitalized patches of brilliant white paint that had recently appeared. The upholstery of the ride's cupolas had long since decayed to a rusty patina but made them no less serviceable. He inspected the ride, inside and out, for any other unusual signs of activity. The one question that nagged him more than how the event happened was why it happened. Why this particular ride?

The cupolas were numbered on the underside for easy reference when maintenance or repair was needed. There were twenty-four paired seats, each pair nested in a half-cabin connected to the central riser which would spiral the cabins slowly upward to the top before dropping them at some speed as they spun down back to the base. Closer inspection marked the one specific seat in number 11 as being entirely pristine: the taupe upholstery appeared as fresh and stain free as if it was newly installed. Radiating from that seat was restored material; its neighbouring seat, the corrugated floorboard below, progressively miraculously renewed from that central spot. The inner hinges of the door, for example, were rust free and shiny, compared to the slight patina of the outer hinge. Even the riser post showed the effects of the change, with its refreshed paint job.

On much much closer examination, something the park cameras would not have been able to pick up, Terrapin noticed ...

... but at this point his sixth sense prompted him to look outside of the cabin. Outside, still some distance away, he saw one, no two, no, a couple more coyotes, and they seemed to be wandering in his direction. Sure, the fact that the abandoned park could be home to random wildlife wasn't surprising, but Terrapin had a feeling it was likely to be more than that.

Mysteries and coincidences went together like peanut butter and SPAM. The sudden regeneration of part of an amusement park ride and the appearance of a coyote pack watching him investigate weren't isolated incidents. Coincidences didn't exist, at least not to Terrapin's mode of thinking. Everything was the result of a thousand details, decisions and events that cascaded across a pattern of probabilities to put reality into motion. He could see patterns in those probability functions others usually couldn't. It kept him half a step ahead and that's what's kept him alive this long.

Wildlife in the abandoned park rarely took interest in anything that didn't directly affect them. Over the years he'd enjoyed seeing the occasional forays of deer, racoons, wild dogs, feral cats and birds that lived in the surrounding woodlands. Coyotes weren't out of the ordinary for the region and he'd seen them before around the park. After all, they're attracted to the outskirts of human civilization for the free food and shelter often found there. This, however, didn't feel like it was a natural occurrence.
Terrapin eyed the pack as he stood up from inspecting the regenerated cupola. As long as they maintained their distance he didn't mind them watching since he was watching them just as closely.

The cameras couldn't pick it up, but Terrapin being physically there and giving the cabin a thorough once-over meant he could spot it with his own eyes. The seats, the floorboard, etc, were all brand new, and so was the metal support under the seat, except for the fact that it retained a scrawl of graphitti, a child's handwriting in on top of the fresh paint. It said

Holly was here

in bright purple, written in what looked like crayola, with a small stick figure of a girl in a polka dot dress next to it. And that was it.

Terrapin didn't want to duck his head under that seat for too long, given that he already figured out the reason behind the coyotes. The Aces fought Wash and Were once, a year ago, maybe two. The media touted them as aliens who found Earth a welcoming home after having escaped from some galactic overlord, at least according to the popular nova tabloid 'Innova', although they appeared to be indistinguishable from the human race, possibly due to the fact that they were bodymorphs of some kind, that much he knew. Were could take the shape of any animal, and Wash could change himself into any form of water and its constituents. Together the Aces had defeated the pair, but now Terrapin was bereft of teammates.

The coyote in front of the pack had to be Were, but she had paused as if she was waiting for something, or someone. The answer arrived shortly. It was a reasonably fair day, blue skies and all, except for a small dark cloud which float very gradually towards them, in between where the pack leader was, and where the Lofty Love ride was. The cloud brought with it a very gentle drizzle, hardly wetting the ground, but enough to fill the air with a slight petrichor. That was the last clue that Terrapin's brilliant mind put together: he knew Wash and Were were most effective when they worked in tandem, and now they were in the vicinity of each other.

Terrapin narrowed his eyes and set his jaw as he regarded the duo, the trembling edge of power flowing through him set the gravel at his feet vibrating. He tamped down the rising surge of adrenaline and the railings of the Lofty Love ride stopped swaying in the unseen breeze of his power. I'm getting real tired of The Seven sending a bunch of child soldiers down here to do their dirty work.... He shot another 'double-bird salute' into the sky, Buncha cowards too lazy to come finish what they started. His voice echoed at the sky, loud enough for the twins to hear.
He took a deep breath and shook his hands like old gunfighters used to in the movies. He took a deep breath and felt the power inside him uncoil like a rattlesnake waking from a slumber. Look. I get it. I really do. he called out to the Twins. You feel like you want to belong to something. Something bigger than you are. Something that can shield you since neither of you can pass as human. Thing is...it's a lie. All of it. The Seven will use you up and spit you out when you finally disappoint them enough...and they're easy to disappoint.. He let his words sink in, of they were even listening. You're in a bad spot. A Rock and a Hard Place. You can't go back to them unless you kill me, right? And I told you last time if you came back I'd kill one of you and let the other live with the guilt that it was your fault the other died. I let you go last time because you were just kids caught up in a poor decision. That and you two were just adorable, really. This time, you get no pass.

A thousand scenarios flashed thru Terrapin's mind, winnowing down the most likely tactics and strategies the Twins would take and how to most effectively counter them. They were inexperienced the last time they tangled but had two years, minus healing time, to train and prepare for a two-on-one battle... probably with training help from the Sept. Power flowed through him, hardening the air around him, Either way, The Seven get what they want. I kill you and cement the idea that there are evil, child-killing villains out there that only the Sept can save the normals from OR you kill me and they get the result they were to cowardly to take for themselves. Make the smart choice. Leave now, while you still can.

Wash appeared the cooler-headed of the two, but perhaps that was simply what he was made of. The fine drizzle began to coalesce into bigger droplets as the rain got heavier and heavier until it appeared to be a torrential downpour, albeit a very localised one that encompassed first the ferris wheel, then swept over the open space where the bumper cars used to be, and continued to make its very threatening way towards the Lofty Love ride. His voice sounded like the susurrus of liquid vibrations traveling through water rather than air. "You talk big for an old man with no friends left, cowering in your little hidey hole. Make it easy on yourself and just surrender."

The alpha coyote was not so pleasant. An angry series of howls filled in the air, and they were joined by a chorus of similar ones from the rest of the pack. The lead broke into a fast run straight at Terrapin, and he could see Were transform from a lithe coyote into a larger beast; with each step it grew larger, broader, and seemed to slow down a little in its new form as Were took the shape of a massive kodiak, rearing up more than 12 feet in height with a raging growl of words "And we said we'd kill you the next time we met. Don't need the Sept to finish off the likes of you."

Even so, Terrapin's warning gave them a slight pause. As Were closed in, she began to make a wide circle to go behind Terrapin, avoiding Wash's heavy storm that was approaching, but not yet reaching, Terrapin head on. It was a good tactic on their part so that Terrapin couldn't keep an eye on both of them at the same time. While this was his home turf, they had nevertheless been familiarising themselves with the ins and outs of the entire compound for a long while. They were being ultra circumspect, which meant that Terrapin had the advantage of either choosing to take the fight to them or perhaps find a means of escape before they could take action.

Were's gaping maw was caught mid-snarl by the thrust of Terrapin's telekinesis, as if the insides of her mouth were being smashed. She quickly snapped her jaws shut, and lunged at Terrapin with both her claws. Terrapin had anticipated this, and took flight up and away from the cabin of the park ride before she could reach him.

The twins had an inkling of how Terrapin might respond to Were's charge, as Wash was present and waiting for Terrapin to fly up and right into his storm. He enveloped Terrapin with a torrent of water from every angle, attempting to disorient his intended direction.

If Terrapin were to turn his head, he would see Were slowly change out of her ursine shape, transforming into a larger-than-life bald eagle, claws still extended to attack Terrapin the moment she closed in.

I'll get to a full post later in the day.

Terrapin had almost forgotten how impervious their alien bodies were; it was very much the case that their shapechanging abilities enabled them to endure lesser forms of damage. Terrapin did manage to telekinetically twist Were's bear tongue, but closing her mouth blunted the force of his thrust. Before he could see what she did next, he was engulfed by a big wave crashing not just on him, but nearly on Were as well! The weight of the water pressed down on him; the personal aura he generated which also powered his telekinesis held, but he could still feel its crushing effect holding on to him even as he tried to fly away from the liquid form of Wash.

Mental Prodigy: Tactics (3 successes, rolled earlier)

*Edit: That's 5(?) successes to try to break out of Wash's Clinch attack.