Prierium Saga #3

Continued from Prierium Saga #2.

For those who are wondering about Baby Thor, he's still not born, but there are less than 2 weeks to go.  There will for sure be a post when he is born.

            Jenny helped herself to her feet. 

            “So why didn't you change?”

            “Shielded coat.  Keeps the P-rays from getting through to me.”

            Jenny stared at the stranger with a puzzled look on her face as they started leaving the pool and began to walk south.

            “P-rays.  Like X-rays, but from prierium, got it?”

            “So the P-rays are what made me change?  You could have shielded me a little, you know.”

            “There wasn't enough time.”

            “So, which government agency do you work for?  There's no use in hiding it from me.  I can see that you are an agent of some kind.  It's like your brain is screaming it at me.  Plus, only an agent would look out for their own safety before letting me know about the dangers of P-rays.”

            The stranger stopped walking, turned, and stared at Jenny, trying to make out if she was bluffing or not.  If she was, it was the best bluff he had seen in a decade.

            “Alright, I am Agent Brock Anderson.  I am a government agent for an organization called the Terrestrial Homeland Executive Mission, or T.H.E.M. for short.  We are in charge of all the cases where conventional tactics and thinking simply aren't good enough, like prierium-related incidents.  We try to keep a low profile; the public wouldn't react very well to threats from people with superpowers.  Of course, I assume you know I will have to kill you if you tell anyone about what I just said.”

            Jenny looked at him, unsure of whether or not he was serious about killing her.

            Anderson continued, “Now let's get back to finding this other change-ling so we can go home.”

            “Wait a minute.  What are you going to do to this 'change-ling' when you find him?” Jenny asked, even using air quotes around the word “change-ling.”

            “The same thing we do to all change-lings: try to convince them to work for us, or obliterate them.”

            “Obliter... You can't do that!” Jenny stuttered, then yelled.  “He's a person too, you know.  You can't just go around killing people.”

            “Well, that's my job.  I keep normal people safe from superpowered psychos.”

            “What about people like me?  You made me a change-ling and I didn't even have a choice!  Wait, I'm a change-ling.  That means...”

            Jenny suddenly realized that Anderson was going to make his offer to her eventually.

            “That's right.  After this mission, you belong to T.H.E.M., or us, dead or alive.”

            “Oh...” Jenny said in a quieter-than-usual voice.  There wasn't much to talk about after that.  Jenny was too busy contemplating what her future was going to be like.

            Jenny could barely get the words out of her mouth. “We're here.”

            They both looked around and realized they were in the industrial part of town – on Ironton Boulevard.

To be continued...

△A35B1-8.3

Prierium Saga #2

Continued from Prierium Saga #1

            Jenny and the stranger made their way to the swimming pool.  It was fairly easy to sneak in.  The majority of the university police had already gone home for the day; the night shift had to split their time between watching the pool and patrolling the football stadium.  The stranger looked down at his radio, which had started making clicking noises.  He paced back and forth for a minute and then declared, “We should move up to the balcony.  The signal seems stronger up there.”  As a sidenote he added, “Just make sure that you don't change.”

            “That I don't change?  What do you mean?”

            “If you get too close you might change.  Just don't get too close and you won't have to worry about it.”

            “Hold on just a minute,” demanded Jenny, as they made their way up the stairwell.  “I knew that I might get hurt following some weirdo like you, but I wasn't prepared for this.  You better explain what 'change' means or I...  I...”

            If Jenny had gotten to finish her sentence, it would probably have ended with some unbelievable threat, like throwing the stranger off the Empire State Building.  Instead, she quietly whispered, “I don't feel well.” 

            “You got too close.  It's the changing.  It'll be over in a minute.  Just try not to get too excited about it,” the stranger muttered, still fiddling with his radio.

            Jenny fell to the ground in a crumpled heap.  She could feel her head spinning with the room spinning in the other direction.  Her vision alternated between blurry and black, and she couldn't hear anything around her.  Jenny's vocal cords tightened as she tried to scream; nothing but a whimper came out.  Then, just as suddenly as it started, it was over.

            “...will do that to you, you know.  Rather unpleasant process,” Jenny heard the stranger finish.

            “What will do what to me?” Jenny groggily asked.

            “See that light blue powder on the ground?  That's prierium.  It will change you.  That's what started the fire here.  Someone was changed by it.  I'm surprised there was any active prierium left though.  Must have been reactivated by the high humidity.”

            “It made someone start a fire?  And I don't feel any different at all.  How did it change me?”

            “It probably gave someone pyrotechnic capabilities.  It's different for everyone.  It might still need a couple of seconds.  Here, let me help.”

            As he finished his explanation, the stranger slapped Jenny hard in the face.  She was taken aback at first, and then angry.  Suddenly, she felt her mind open and her skin tingle.

            “I can feel something,” she started out.  “Wait, not something, someone.”

            “Who do you feel?”

            “Someone with the ability to shoot fire out of their hands.  He's still close by.”

            “Well, then, take me to him,” the stranger said as he carefully swept up the light blue powder into a canister.

To be continued...

△A35B1-8.2

Prierium Saga #1

MUU is proud to present a serial story. Please enjoy...

The Prierium Saga

It was an unusually warm April day at Henry Eyring University.  Jenny was sitting in her math class struggling to concentrate.  It was a beautiful day and she could see students sitting on the lawns outside through the classroom window.  How she wished she could just enjoy the sunshine!  As if that wasn't enough of a reason to be distracted, Jenny was graduating at the end of next week and this was her last lecture before final exams.  “I wish I hadn't put off taking this stupid math class until now,” Jenny muttered under her breath. “I just want to get my degree and start making some money.”

Even though it felt like an eternity to Jenny, the math lecture did eventually end.  The professor was giving the students last minute advice for the final, but Jenny didn't care.  She quickly made her way to the exit and started on her way home.

She decided to change things up a little, since it was such a nice day, and walk home down the hill on the south side of campus.  On her way down the hill, however, she noticed someone that stood out just a little bit.  Jenny had never had a reason to be afraid of anything or anyone, so she walked right up to him and noticed a strange device in his hand.

“What's that?” she asked.

“The best word to describe it is a radio, but that's not quite it.  You are very curious; do I know you?” he replied rather sternly.

“I'm Jenny.  You're very curious yourself, dressing like a detective with such a warm overcoat on a hot day like today.  What's your name?”

“Well, little girl,” the stranger started out.  That's how he saw her, even though she was in her early twenties.  “I'll have you know that what you call an overcoat is not just an ordinary overcoat.”

“What is it then?  It's not some sort of invisibility cloak, like in Harry Potter, is it?”

“No, it's nothing like Harry Potter.  We stopped using magic a long time ago, after we discovered prierium.”

“Prierium?  Is that like an element?  Are you some sort of chemist?”

“Well, I'm not so much of a chemist as I am a...,” the stranger began, interrupted by Jenny's high-pitched voice.

“And who's we?  Are you part of some organization?”

“Fine, I'm part of the local chemists' union,” he replied in the hopes that she would let him get back to his search.  But the stranger underestimated Jenny's persistence.

“Look, mister,” said Jenny in a very serious tone, characteristic of a person with her high level of self-confidence, “I don't know who you think you are, but you can't just creep around a university campus, looking super-weird, and acting very suspicious with explaining yourself to me.”

“And who put you in charge of the universe, little girl?  Are you the weird police?”
“The weird police,” Jenny thought to herself.  “That would make an awesome band name.”  She then replied aloud, “No, are you, Mr. McWeirdpants?  You're weird enough to be the captain of the weird police!”

The stranger in the not-magic overcoat began to walk away.  “I've really got a job to do, so if you'd leave me alone with my weirdness, that would be wonderful, little girl.”

Jenny had to run a little bit to catch up to him.  “Would you quit calling me a little girl!?” she yelled, almost at the top of her lungs, loud enough for people walking past to stare at them.  She lowered her voice a little and said very sternly, “I'm twenty-one.  That hardly qualifies as little anywhere in the known universe.  Plus, I'm getting my bachelor's degree next week.”

“Oh, so you think you're smart, little girl?”

Jenny's eyes glared back at the stranger. “No, I know I'm smart!”

“What are you studying again? Some soft science I bet,” he quipped.

“Psychology,” she asserted.

“Like I said, a soft science.  Not smart.  Goodbye, little girl.”

The stranger turned around and went on his way.  About a block later, he realized he was being followed.

“You know,” Jenny called out, “I'm just going to follow you around until you tell me what you're up to.”

Jenny was still right behind him.

“Okay, little girl.  If I tell you what I'm up to will you leave me alone?”

“Maybe.  It depends on what you're doing.”

“Fine.  I'm looking for things that are out of place and unexplained.  Prierium usually has that affect on humans.  Have you seen anything out of the ordinary lately?”

“No, but...”

“That settles it then.  Your stubborn streak and thick-headed nature will be entirely useless to me, little girl.”

“Would you let me finish?” cried Jenny.  “I haven't seen anything unusual, but I heard that the police were having a hard time finding the cause of a fire at the university pool.  The pool has been closed for a week or so until they determine if the pool is safe.”

“An unexplained fire?  Well, little girl, maybe you and your psychology degree will come in useful after all.  At the very least you know how to think.  I'll make you a deal.  You can come with me to the pool and help me investigate, but after that you leave me alone.  That means no following, no stalking, no acknowledging that I was even here.  Deal?”

“Deal… for now,” Jenny smiled.

To be continued...

△A35B1-8.1