P.A.R.A.

Quiet One

Quiet One

My God! It's full of Stars.
Original poster
LURKER MEMBER
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Invitation Status
Genres
Scifi, some fantasy, Mature. Anything that gets my gears going. Not opposed to Yaoi or Yuri.
Vincent Ferrara sat in his office. One of the few perks of being the head of a secret organization was that he got a big office. His desk was a curved masterpiece of hand-carved mahogany with brass handles. On the opaque glass wall opposite him was his office door and his flatscreen TV, which was almost always on the news, just in case any of their media operatives missed anything. On the wall to his right was a peaceful waterfall built into the construction, with a fake plastic cliffside along each end of the fall. The rest of his room was one long curved wall. Despite P.A.R.A.'s headquarters being a building shaped like a giant glass cube, there wasn't a single square or rectangular room in the building. That was because studies had found such rooms counter-productive; they prevented the proper flow of energy.

Director Ferrara had a few files at his desk, but most everything was on his computer. Another perk; P.A.R.A. received technology three years ahead of what was commercially available. He liked his job, he liked his office, and he liked his sharp navy blue suit. What he did not like was what he knew would be arriving at any moment today.
Suddenly a very small window appeared on his computer. In it was an anime woman's face with small eyes and long dark hair.

"Attention, Director Ferrara," the picture said in an even, emotionless voice. "Satellites have located the bus. It will arrive in 10 minutes, 27 seconds. Would you like me to inform the lobby?"

A.N.N.I. was P.A.R.A.'s artificial intelligence computer. Her job was to monitor every form of communication on the planet - a task too great for people. Her programming was specifically to search for unusual cases to investigate; she couldn't access any of the building's security system.

"What does the EMF look like?" he asked the computer.

"No change in the local electro-magnetic field."

"Inform Security then. Don't want these new recruits shot on the first day," he ordered. He didn't like these new recruits. Some of them were normal people who had served their country. He had no problem with them. But some of them were freaks. Recruiting Anomalies hadn't been his idea. It was the fault of Dr. Landel, who had gone over his head to study the phenomenon of supernaturally affected people. "Get Dr. Landel up there, too. This was her idea, afterall."

"Apologies, Director Ferrara," A.N.N.I. replied, "but Dr. Landel is currently unavailable. She is in the Artifact Room."

"What's she doing there?"

"She is utilizing your permission to view the item designated 'The Rock.' Her experiment is not yet finished."

Out of all the items kept in the Artifact Room, The Rock probably made P.A.R.A. agents most nervous. It had been in government custody for ninty years, and they still knew almost nothing about it.

Ferrara sighed. "Alright. Find Crossfire, then. Most of the recruits have already met him."

"Yes, Director Ferrara."

The anime woman was off of his computer. Director Ferrara then opened a file, and observed on video as the pale blue bus drove down the street.
 
John was the first one off the buss, he took a step out into the blinding sunlight but it didn't seem to faze him much. He slightly looked around seemingly impressed and took a couple of steps before looking back and watching the others get off. It was a bit strange for him to be back in civilian cloths, he was so used to his uniform that he forgot the comfortable feeling. He had a rugged old pair of hiking boots, a loose fitting pare of jeans (not baggy), and a white T-shirt with a bud wiser logo on the front. Over his shoulder he had an old green duffel bag that was poorly stitched together holding a couple of valuable and changes of cloths. In his boot he carried a small pistol that he always kept with him for safety reasons and in his pocket was an old leather wallet holding no more than 40$ in it.

He was a large, well shaped man that could have been a football player and was the 'cats meow' before he received the large scar going down his face. He was a bit off today, a bit angry at the world remembering why he was forced to come here in the first place, he was not in his usual talkative mood... that could change after a couple of beers though.
 
Ev'r hopped down off the bus and stretched, slinging her black standard military issue Kevlar backpack over her shoulder. She twisted once more, hearing things pop and looked around, eyes darting everywhere, watching everyone. She had on a well fitting but sturdy black tank-top, khaki capris and her usual black combat boots. She could feel her dagger gently pressing into the inside of her right calf and she took comfort in the familiar feeling. There was a large man, built enough to be a football player but with the rigid discipline of the military standing near her and she kept a careful eye on him. Her duffel had mostly weapons in it, her bow, arrows, several spare daggers, shurikens, another set of nunchaku... but also held her spare clothes and some of her many books and only a bit of cash and very few personal belongings.
 
Issac had almost no time to prepare, not like he had things to prepare. He only took with him the essentials: food, clothes, entertainment, and a weapon all packed into a messenger bag. The food was a couple granola bars and chips that he had bought at the stores. He was sure that he'd get some food when he arrived. Hopefully.

He was dressed in a dark grey hoodie, his snow white hair just barely peaking out. It was another sign of his 'individuality'. He sighed brushing them under his hood, out of sight. He seemed to be the youngest of anyone on the bus, which served to drive him further away. He took solace in a small plushie in his bag about the size of his fist. He kept it deep in the bag so no one would ever see it.

As the other people had gotten off of the bus, he too followed suit and hopped off the back. He shields his face with his hand to get away from the sun. He followed the rugged giant of a man. He wondered if it was a good idea to really join up with P.A.R.A. He doubted he could be much use anyway. Nevertheless, he went further down the rabbit hole, his curiosity killing him
 
Crossfire was waiting for them in the lobby. Of course, Crossfire wasn't his name. He was special agent Crossfire, alias Paul Smithfield, but his real name was...not important. He had met a few of them during the events that had brought them here, but there were a few faces that were new to him.

He was certain, however, that they recognized him immediately. He had a very signature look. His suit was usually a dark grey, he always had a red tie, and wore sunglasses at all hours. On his hands were scars shaped like X's. His clean-cut appearance remained completely impassive as they entered the lobby.

"I'm here to give you a brief tour of P.A.R.A.'s headquarters. You won't be going anywhere today. Some of you have already met me. The rest of you, just call me Crossfire," he turned, making a beeline for the elevator. "Don't ask why."
 
Ev'r turned and followed Crossfire, glancing at the other boy. She was most certainly the youngest here, only 16. She wondered how many of the other were anomalies like herself and how many were normal. She guessed mostly normal, and grinned, hitching up her bag and glancing around. Nothing seemed normal here- everything was curved. She shrugged but didn't question it. She considered P.A.R.A a bunch of crazies, and had only joined up under the recommendation of her commander. And the fact that that she was likely to kill someone if she got really, really mad again and she didn't want to risk that.
 
John glanced around before following Crossfire. He just hoped for a cold bear when he got inside. He slowly followed as they started their tour of P.A.R.A.'s headquarters. It was strange to him, not a single room was square or rectangular... not even the hallways. He didn't question it however, he knew these P.A.R.A.'s were professionals and consisted of more bucket heads than the military and government combined. He figured it must be to confuse intruders, the hallways were very confusing to him.
 
Midnight followed near the back of the group. He was by far the strangest one of the group. Being from another planet, however, he wasnt entirely surprised. He had been on that planet for a long while now, so long he couldnt really remember when he arrived. All he knew was that he was stuck. Completely. Every attempt he'd made to get out had failed miserably. He had attempted to live among the humans at one point, but they shunned him like some sort of plague. That had left him with the forests, his place of refuge for the last many years. He had overheard information about this group, P.A.R.A., and had decided to give that a try. Maybe he would have a better time of things here.
 
"Up here we mostly keep office records, old case files, and the like," Crossfire said as the elevator doors opened. It was without a doubt the largest elevator in the world, with enough room to fit seventy people. It was basically a room that travelled up and down. "Everything else is downstairs."

Everyone got into the elevator and the doors quickly closed behind them. Then an emotionless, feminine voice spoke.

"Good afternoon, agent Crossfire. Do these guests have proper authorization to visit the lower levels?"

"Yes, A.N.N.I. You were informed they were coming," Crossfire replied, with almost the same amount of non-emotion.

"Apologies. I was following protocol."

The elevator began to lower into the inner workings of P.A.R.A.'s headquarters. When at last the doors opened again, Crossfire continued with the tour. These lower levels were designed just like the upper ones; with lots of exciting curves, while still maintaining the feel of an office space. Crossfire tried to consider what room to show them to first. He'd never really been a tour guide before. There was the Power Room, the room where they kept A.N.N.I.'s processor, the Artifact Room, the Philadelphia Room, the Demon Room...This place had far too many rooms.

After some debate, he decided that the Artifact Room would be a good place to start. Dr. Landel would want to meet them, and he would get to see her.

"We'll start in the Artifact Room," he told his flock. "It will help acquaint you with everything you're likely to run into while working here. A word of caution," he turned to glance at each of them in turn. "This is not a museum. They tell you not to touch things because they're valuable. I tell you not to touch things because you'll die."

P.A.R.A. had no ridiculously high-tech doors. The door into the Artifact Room was made from simple aluminum and opaque glass, with the words Artifact Room writting on it in small black letters. Crossfire was just about to swipe his access card when the door opened of its own accord.

On the other side was Dr. Landel. She was almost as tall as Crossfire, with a bun of dark hair on her head, almond-shaped eyes, and an attractive figure for someone in her late thirties. To be as indespensible as Dr. Landel was, she had to have a little knowledge in virtually every subject. She also had to have a white lab coat.

"Agent...Crossfire. What are you doing here?" she asked. She sounded a little flustered by his arrival.

"Giving the new recruits a tour. Apparently, it was supposed to be your job," he replied.

"I know, but I just got permission to perform a few tests on The Rock," Dr. Landel explained. "I had hoped to try using chemistry. I've run through nearly every element; still no reaction."

"You know Ferrara won't be happy about that."

"Well, he should at least be used to it," Landel countered. She looked over at the arrivals. She tried to keep herself warm and friendly, and still maintain a look of professionalism. Secretly, though, she felt like jumping for joy. After all her badgering, Anomalies were finally joining P.A.R.A. as members, instead of just guinea pigs. That's not saying she didn't still want to learn all she could from their abilities.

"Hello. I'm Dr. Landel. My primary jobs are studying the unknown, and providing information to help irradicate certain threats. I'll sometimes be out in the field with you. I understand that a few of you are here under...special circumstances."
 
Ev'r trotted after the little group, just sort of following along, not really listening to Crossfire as she took in her surroundings. Her head whipped around and she growled low before she could stop herself as a strange woman came out of the lab. Crossfire introduced her as Dr.Landel, and she eyed the woman warily, listening carefully to the conversation. She snorted in amusement as Landel talked. Special circumstances... She had almost killed one of her fellow students at military school and now she was here as a freak. She ran a hand through her short white-blond hair, pulling the longer parts in the front back off of her face.
 
"Right... special circumstances..." He looked away, at the artifacts and The Rock that the doctor was examining. He was oddly fascinated by it, something was off about it. It seemed to give off a faint aura about it. Different from what he usually sees, but definitely not normal. He wondered if anyone else could see it. His memories drifted back to his first run-in with P.A.R.A.

He remembered vividly how tired he felt, running across those rooftops and trying to get away from the monster that was chasing him. When he couldn't run, P.A.R.A. stepped in and saved him. Why had they saved him? How did they even find him? It puzzled him. Maybe they knew the answers to some of his questions.

"How did you guys find me? I'm not exactly someone who gets noticed a lot." He asked the woman in a white lab coat. She was bound to have some answers, unless they would slap him in the face with the "It's confidential" phrase, which he kind of expected them to do.
 
"Special Circumstances? Like what Doctor?" McNeil cut in. It didn't matter to him regarding how the organization found them but if all of them were recruits it was more important to him to know what to expect, especially if this group grabbed up some kid girl as well as himself.

McNeil had been part of the group from the start but had stuck to himself. When the bus had come, he was the first one on. He had sat alone, didn't talk to anyone, and slept most of the ride. His uniform was gone and civilian clothing he was wearing was hastily assembled outfit consisting of a bright blue Hawaiian shirt, light cream colored pants, a black jacket, and a pair of Converse sneakers. The fact that it all was a bit ill fitting but it didn't matter and the only thing he had left of his past on him was his tags that still hung around his neck under his Hawaiian shirt.
 
Ev'r looked up as one of the guys started talking. She was curious as well, to see what else they would consider special circumstances. She half-expected him to get the "That is confidential information we cannot release at this point in time" jargon. She was also wondering as to how many of the others were Anomalies and how many were just normal military guys who saw something freaky and had to join P.A.R.A. Half of them were built like tanks and the other half were lean and lanky. She grinned and shook her head. There were only a few other girls in the group, and all of them were older than herself.
 
Midnight remained near the back, where he was less noticeable. His wings were a dead giveaway to his different nature, and most of the people he'd met before hadnt responded well to that. He didnt want to muck things up with these humans before it even began. He listened intently to the woman as she spoke. His attention kept trying to veer off to the item behind her. It looked small from where he was standing, and he could easily tell it was levitating. He could feel some kind of energy radiating off of it. The energy he felt from it intrigued him. His attention was drawn back to the group when one of the men asked about the 'special circumstances' she had mentioned. Did that mean he wasnt the only odd one here? He looked at her waiting to see how she would reply.
 
"Well some of you are a phenomenon we've only discovered recently," Dr. Landel explained. "We call you Anomalies, because you don't all fit into what most people consider ordinary human. You can do things normal people just can't do. One of you isn't human at all."

There were a few looks exchanged at this reveal, but she pressed on before anyone could speak. "Before I got here, all Anomalies would have been either locked up or killed. The closest thing to an Anomaly before now has been vampires and werewolves, so you should understand the hostility. I think your abilities should be preserved, understood, and utilized - if that's what you want."

"As for how we found you," Crossfire added, "we can explain that later."

The pair walked into the Artifact Room, and it was clear the others were meant to follow.

The Room was the size of a football field, and was probably the only scare room in the entire facility. Items perched on concrete pedestals littered the floor. On one wall was a vast collection of lab equipment. There was also what looked like a car under a silver sheet, protected by a giant glass box. Two armed guards stood on either side of the door. Their guns looked like ordinary assault weapons, with a few unusual modifications.

"It feels odd starting a tour with our crown jewel, but here we are," Dr. Landel gestured to The Rock. Beneath it was a claw-like base to keep it's round surface steady on the pedestal, but it didn't seem to serve any real purpose as the thing simply levitated a half-inch above it. "It was found off the shore of Alcatraz Island in 1923. That's one reason we call it The Rock. The other is, well..."

"Because it's indestructable," Crossfire completed.

"Well, so far," Landel agreed. "This object has been in government possession for 90 years, longer than P.A.R.A. has been around, and we still know next to nothing about it. It has some sort of powerful energy shield around it, and we can't figure out how it's being generated. All available scanning technology reveals nothing. There's no indication of any moving parts."

"Everything has been tried to get through the shield and open the Rock," Crossfire said. "Absolutely nothing has worked. In the days before Landel, our methods were crude. We even put it on Bikini Island during a nuclear bomb test, to see if the blast would do anything. The damn thing didn't even notice."

"We've tried varying radiations, sonic frequencies, vibrations, and just today, chemical tests. All useless," Landel said. "It's as fascinating as it is frustrating."

"It makes us at P.A.R.A. nervous," Crossfire added. "This object is indestructable, and so far we think it's inert. What happens if it ever turns on?"
 
Eden had remained quiet, taking in everything until now. On the bus she had watched the others, and built a map in her head of where they had been. Now that they had come to the Artifact Room though, she was bursting with questions. She felt drawn to The Rock, pulled to understand it. She glanced away from it to look at Crossfire and Dr. Landel. "You think it has some other function? Something that hasn't been activated?"
 
Ev'r smiled. Now that- The Rock- was fascinating. She could hear a slight, incredibly high-pitched whine coming from it, thanks to her canine hearing, and her ears twitched involuntarily. It was starting to give her a headache and she shook her head, growling low. She could easily tell who the one who wasn't human was. The guy in the back, near her, who had tiny wings sprouting from his back.
 
Crossfire spared a glance at Eden.

"Yes. Nothing is this heavily defended without it being very important or very dangerous," he told her.

Dr. Landel's eyes lingered on the Rock for a few minutes before she said, "Okay that's enough of this artifact. There's quite a few here we do know a little about."

She walked over to another pedestal. On this one was a red stone carved into the shape of an egg.

"This is a curious little piece," she said. "It's made out of solidified human blood. And while it appears perfectly smooth and polished," she gave it a quick poke and came back with a bleeding finger. "It draws blood from whatever it touches. I'm sure it's a piece of dark magic, though I can't think of what it'd be used for."

She pointed at what looked like a bunch of foil sitting on another pedestal. "That's the famous Roswell wreckage. It's a strange type of memory metal, that unfortunately has limited tear resistance. We're still trying to figure out how it continuously sheds electrons without losing mass."

Landel then turned her attention to three vases whose tops were corked up. They all sat together on a raised pedestal more like a table.

"We call these Dragon Urns," she said. "They were found during an excavation in China in the late 1800s. However, we don't think they're Chinese because of the design of the dragons painted on them. Written in red on each of their corks is the Chinese character for danger, so we haven't opened them."

She gestured briefly at the covered automobile. "James Dean's cursed car. It's kept under a fire proof-blanket and bullet-proof glass."

"We had to steal it off the back of a truck," Crossfire added deftly.

Landel pointed at various golden boxes stationed all around the room. "We have five different Arcs of the Covenant, all very powerful. Why there's five, we're not quite sure. Don't touch them, or you'll disintigrate...Oh! This we call the Big D."

She pointed to a large black object that was shaped like the giant letter D turned on its side. "It's some sort of temporal loop," here, she took out a penny and flicked it through the opening. It emerged on the other side dull and worn down. "One side accelerates time on an object, the other side reverses it. And that," she pointed to the business end of a spear hanging up on the far wall in a glass case, "is the Spear of Destiny. Also dangerous. Also don't touch. There's a couple other things laying around here, but I think you get the gist of it."

Dr. Landel looked at Crossfire and briefly removed her glasses. "Now, if it's alright I'd like to accompany you for the rest of the tour. In case there are any questions, of course."
 
"I'm sorry Doctor but perhaps I missed heard you. What are you are talking about... Its to fantastical to be true." McNeil spoke up sounding rather agitated. If anything the fact that it seemed like one large charade meant to lead him on. He was beginning to feel like the center of a sick joke. A very well put together sick joke. And his tone was starting to show it.
 
John glanced at the rock she was going on about and the red egg, neither of which spiked any curiosity, though, it might have if he listened to what she was saying. He was more interested in the guards and their guns. He waited around looking at everything that was locked behind glass and what not waiting for a good time to ask her about the guns. Now that they were about to leave he decided it was the best time however another man spoke before him. It was best to wait and let his answers be answered.
 
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