Aberrations

DISCLAIMER – As far as I know the words Aberrant, Project Utopia, Project Proteus, The Directive, and many others are copyrighted by White-Wolf Gaming. The Aberrant game upon which this story is based, is their sole ownership; I only claim rights to the Persona/Characters in this story that are my Original Creation. Some characters within this story are the intellectual property of some of my friends, and I am using them with permission. White Wolf, don’t sue me, I don’t have money anyway and you guys get free publicity for your game Aberrant and your awesome games; besides, do I look like I am making money off this? No I do it because I love to tell stories.
Enjoy the ride; you do not need to know anything about Aberrant or its game world to enjoy this story. However, the plot will be a little clearer if you are aware than if you are not, but I will attempt to describe things in a manner that will eliminate this gap.

Session One – Memories, Ahhhh Yes, Memories.

The sun had set low in the horizon, a spattering of brilliant hues spread across the evening sky. Not far off in the distance a large ship blew its horns, signaling its departure from the nearby port.

A resounding explosion shattered the serene scene; just off a cliff near the edge of the city of Sacramento California a medical research lab belched forth fumes from its eastern side. A clamorous din of alarm bells signaled the immediate evacuation of the facility and the surrounding area.

Following a second explosion, this one sounding from deeper in the building, the sound of the fast response emergency vehicles could be heard. Inside the laboratory, scientists and researchers alike rushed to escape the endangered building. The entire scene was stricken with an air of confusion and panic, as the people attempted to flee from the unknown cause of the explosion. Elsewhere, deep within the bowels of the building, a man stirred.

Groggily he lifted his head; slowly his eyes came to focus on his surroundings as the drugs effects were purged from his system. Floods of memory assaulted his reawakened mind; memories of the past six months however remained fuzzy and indistinct. Still half dazed from the drugs intoxicating effects and the sudden onslaught of his memory the man attempted to focus.

Heavy metallic bands held his arms and legs to the cold metallic wall; an intravenous drip apparatus lay broken on the floor before him. He yawned and stretched reflexively, as he did so the metallic bands restricting him stretched to their breaking points and promptly snapped. The facilities lights flickered on as emergency power was restored to the building. Florescent light reflected off of the man’s body, while he looked much like an Olympic athlete he was visibly different from the men fleeing the facility. His skin was silvery, much like the bonds that not so long ago held him, and his body seemed to have every aspect of the metallic substance it was formed of. His mind finally reached the point of full remembrance, a single unified thought struck to the core of his psyche; I am Chromium.

~~~

He remembers now, his memory floats back to his past, in the space of a few seconds; years of his life flow by his mind’s eye. Reliving each of his most prominent memories, he is driven through his pain once again.

He remembers his family, his twin brother Gavin, his little sister Eliza, his mother Catherine, and his father Ezekiel… Wonderful happy memories flow into his mind only to be shred asunder by the flow of pain. At the early age of nine his mother died of a previously unknown form of brain cancer, a genetic disorder that supposedly was going to kill him and his siblings before the age of forty. His mother had died at the age of thirty-nine, his father was only five years older than she was and never fully recovered from her loss.

Even through the pain of loss, his father had instilled important values and morals into the children. Ezekiel worked eighteen hours a day, six days a week to be able to provide his children all they needed. Alas, the life was not to remain so complacent, at the age of fifteen, three months prior to Gaelin’s sixteenth birthday, his father died in an accident at the metal foundry he worked at. A boiler malfunction caused a catastrophic explosion which destroyed a goodly bit of the plant, Ezekiel died slowing the imminent failure long enough for the other workers to escape. Gaelin recalled his father’s death, Ezekiel’s noble sacrifice that saved hundreds of others lives; he could not help recall the words his father had read to him.

“My sons, this life is hard enough on each person; you must work to help your fellow man. The good book says that any man who saves his own life above another’s loses his own eternal life, but he who gives his life to save another’s gains life eternal. God rewards the brave, strong, and righteous men who fight for others. Remember always, to be those men who stand up for the rights and freedoms of others, it is our family’s way.”

They were parentless then, no family members could take them in; they were either too old or too far away. The owner of the plant that his father worked at adopted them, but Gaelin and Gavin refused to live off of him. Gaelin forced Michael Vera, his new legal guardian, to allow him to work at the plant full time to provide for his family. Gavin worked after school at a local dinner to ease the burden on Gaelin, each took part in raising Eliza in the manner that they were raised.

Yet again, tragedy struck the Guinness family, early one afternoon a boiler began to show signs of critical failure. Gaelin did all that he could to stop the repeat of his father’s demise, but instead ended up following in his father’s footsteps. He managed to slow the critical failure long enough for others to escape, but he himself was at ground zero of the explosion. He remembered it well, the force of the explosion assaulting his body and the sudden flare of heat around him; all preceded his descent into blackness. He awoke three days later covered by tons of concrete and rent steel, yet he was alive and felt ok.

He remembered the last few years, coming to grips with his new form and trying to deal with his new abilities… but before he gained full control he was abducted by a government agency for study. Here he stood nearly a year older since his original incarceration, free, and very pissed off.

He stood straightly up and placed his hands upon the large, thick metal door, one slight shove and the massive door ripped free from its hinges and slammed into the wall across the hall. A familiar voice resounded nearby, “Where the fuck did you trap my brother, God help me, I will beat your asses seven ways till next Sunday if you don’t show me where he is right now!!!"

“Gavin?” Chromium muttered.

Even at the distance between them, with all of the other noises involved, Gavin’s hearing immediately picked up Chromium’s words. Gavin dropped the man he was threatening to the ground and ran towards the sound of his twin. The two met in a crushing embrace, tears flowed from both of their eyes.

“Brother, the family is whole once again. Did you hear all of this Eliza? Our informant was right, we finally found him.”

“It is so good to see you, I feel like I have been in there forever…”



“Eliza, since when can you talk telepathically? I thought I was immune to that as well…” Gaelin queried.



~~~

Thus it was, the family Guinness reunited once more, but alas their fates had not yet been fully cast and their future was still uncertain. As they returned home to a quiet small town in Northeastern Texas, other people were surveying the damage done to the facility.

“Agent, what have we lost?”

“This facility is compromised sir, structural damage is too severe for repair. No important equipment was damaged, and the computer data files are still intact and show no signs of tampering. All personnel evacuated the facility in time, save a few guards who sustained moderate injuries while attempting to stop the two responsible.”

“Well aside from the loss of our prized subject, the data is still secure… We have not lost this day. Agent, send a team to eliminate this aberrant and his siblings; we do not want them to start getting the idea that there might be more to this facility than previously thought. Oh, and Agent…”

“Yes, sir?”

“Set explosives in the basement of the building, after removing what we need of course, and send this scathing piece of evidence into the waves below. Make it look like the brothers did it, that will make their deaths at the hands of military police easier to explain.”

“Yes sir.”

“Well? Get to moving Agent. With luck we can be home in time for dinner.”

A/N – Well there is chapter one of my newest craving done. Hope someone enjoys it enough to review and comment.