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Character Name: Matches Alternate Identities: Abby Carr Player Name: NPC |
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| APPEARANCE | |||||
| Hair Color: | Red | ||||
| Eye Color: | Black | Height: | 4' 8" | ||
| Weight: | 98 lbs | ||||
| Description: | |||||
| Abby is a petite young woman, with shoulder length fire red hair and deep black eyes. She has a beautiful heart-shaped face and a slender body. Her normal attire is an almost ridiculous 'candy striper' costume she wears when at work at the Candy Cane, a store in Basin own by Hank Gregory. | |||||
| BACKGROUND | |||||
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I opened the door and saw a different form of cage, this one of thick plastic. Inside, lying on the floor in an open backed hospital gown was a woman. Heavy, rhythmic breathing came from a man dressed in a lab coat that lay asleep on a cot. Before the plastic enclosure a bank of electronics seemed to be monitoring the cage’s inhabitant. In a blink I stood over the man and watched him for a moment. His eyes danced behind his lids. REM sleep. I moved over to the console, at the top was the logo GENO CORP. One of the displays traced a green line that bounced with a regular beat. A heart beat I gathered. Frowning I looked at an identical monitor below the first. It, too, traced a line, this one faint and very fast. Scratching my chin, I considered. Almost, but not quite, I snapped my fingers as a realization came to me. Glancing back at the sleeping man I grinned. “Rude awakening or something sweet?” I murmured. I stepped over to the man and squatted down beside the cot. “I wonder what kind of dreams a techie has.” Slightly louder I continued “You might want to wake up . . . I really prefer people to see me coming . . . like the headlight on a train.” The man stirred, changing positions. That would never do. My hand blurred, forefinger held under strain by my thumb. Grinning I plucked the man’s nose. With a gratifying yelp he sat bolt upright, his hands covering his offended proboscis. “What the HELL!” His eyes focused on my face. “Who the hell are you?! What’s with the Halloween costume?” He squawked as I gripped his throat and forced him back down on the cot. “I don’t want my dazzling beauty to blind you.” I replied with more than a hint of humor. “Why is the girl in the cage?” His hands grabbed my wrists and tried to pull them from his throat “You’re choking me.” “Am I?” I said it with a touch of surprise then let up on the pressure slightly. “Answer my questions and I might stop choking you and I REALLY hate to repeat myself.” “She’s a research subject,” he sputtered. “That is what, not why.” I increased the pressure. He struggled for breath “We are studying her!” I eased up on my hold. “I just record the data! “Why? Did she volunteer?” He looked at me as if he had never given it a thought before “I guess so.” “Guess?” I growled “How about I let her out and ask?” “You can’t do that,” he protested. “Wanna bet” “It will jeopardize the study!” He whined. “You cannot observe without affecting the results” I reminded him. I came to my feet, pulling the techie up by this throat. His toes just managed to touch the green industrial tiles of the floor. “I am not a patient guy . . . my parents always tell me that . . .” He held onto my wrists, struggling harder to break my grip. I moved and pressed his face against the transparent cage. “What happens if I let her out?” I asked the reflection of his eyes. “She could die.” I eyed him skeptically “Why?” He was gasping for air. I relented and let him draw a deep breath. “Because she is in a pure nitrogen atmosphere,” he replied in a shaky voice. “Why?” “Because she can be no threat in there.” “How does she live in pure nitrogen?” I’d never heard of such a mutant. “We don’t know,’ he confessed. “That’s one reason she is being studied.” “How does her body process nitrogen, how can she survive without oxygen . . . “ “I only record the data,” he reminded me. “Can you communicate with her?” I set him on his feet and released my hold. He rubbed his throat and took several deep breaths. “Yes,” he said at last “but she’s a nut case.” “Let’s wake her up and have a chat then,” I suggested. He backed away from me. “I am a little faster than you so don’t get any ideas.” Then I added “And if you hurt her, I will use you to sand the corridor . . . with your face.” With a sigh of resignation, he turned to the console and toggled a switch. “Abigail?” I was surprised at his tone, it was actually gentle. “Wakey, wakey. You have a visitor.” She made no move “Fuck you!” “Sweet mouth,” I muttered. It must have been the fact my voice was new. Slowly she lifted her head and stared at me with eyes as black as the Void. I smiled “Hi, I am here to get you out, if you’d like.” There was resignation in those obsidian eyes. “You guys mind fucking me now, too?” “Nope,” I shook my head. “I am serious.” “Fine,” she said with a sigh. “I want the fuck out. Happy?” The tech became a minor irritant as I move close to the cage. “I want the fuck out,” She covered he face with her hands. She was crying. “He said you were in a nitrogen atmosphere,” I tried to keep my voice friendly. “If I wasn’t I would melt that plastic.” “Can you survive in normal air?” She sounded indignant “Of course I can!” A scuff of a shoe on concrete alerted me to the approach of others. Glancing at the tech I saw he had wedged himself behind the console. I held up a finger to Abigail “Just a sec.” In a blink I reached the tech and grabbed him once more, pulling him to his feet. The next blink, I was behind the door. I hissed in his ear "You've been very bad . . . I guess you get sandpapered" The door was kicked open and four armed men dispersed into the room. I grinned under my mask. “Behind the door!” the tech blurted. As they were trained the four spun to face me. “I’ll take those,” I blurred and held all four of their weapons. “Call for backup!” one screamed. The one who appeared to be in charge spoke into his radio “We have some kind of speed thing in here!” Flipping one of the weapons into the air and catching it, I fired four quick shots, hitting each man. Silently they crumpled to the floor. I glanced over at the tech. He was shaking and had peed his pants. “Let's see . . . you let her out and I won't sand the corridor with your face.” The tech nodded and started turning a series of knobs on the side of the cage. “Good boy . . .” He tapped a gauge and it began to rise. Nervously he glanced at the four men on the floor then wiped beads of sweat off his forehead with the back of his hand. From the corridor came a loud clang, as if something very heavy and very metal had been dropped. “You know,” I suggested “You might wanna tell your friends and bosses . . . I am not a normal helpless type . . . I have a LOT of experience fighting your type.” “Yooou yooou just did,” he stammered. “Cameras, huh? Guess they’re closing off the area next?” He nodded. I chuckled. “She free yet?” “As soon as the pressure equalizes.” The lights chose that moment to flicker out. I sighed. “How are you doing in there?” I directed my question to the girl. Dragging the tech along by the collar I made my way over to the cage. “The air ventilation system is not blowing in any fresh air.” He said with a tremble in is voice. “This glass or plastic?” I growled. “Stand back!” The girl’s voice was muffled but clear. I moved over to one side, my fingers trailing along the plastic. I dragged the tech along since he and I were becoming such good friends. “Go for it!” I yelled with a chuckle. The cage erupted in light and flame as the girl inside became a living torch. “Let there be LIGHT!” I laughed. Thick black smoke roiled inside the cage as the girl directed a stream of fire at the barrier. It lost its clarity and began to sag where flame met plastic. I shook the tech “What’s the fastest route out of here?” “There as no ways out!” He blurted “We are locked in with no air!” “Yo! Matches! Can ya turn it down a little?” I held one hand up as if to shield my face from the inferno. She reduced her flame and stepped out of the cage. Looking at the puddle of melted plastic at the girl’s feet brought the tech to his senses. “There are only two ways,” he said. The Cove and the elevator.” "You been sweet,” I said to him with a pat on the cheek “but I think we'll be going now. And as for 'sealed'.” I grinned “You have no idea what you're up against.” Casually, I shot the tech with one of the weapons and he joined the response team on the floor. The heat was getting unbearable and the smoke making it a little difficult to breath. “Can you turn that down a little more?” The girl doused her flames and gave me momentary flash of her naked body before the light totally died. “Sorry,” Her tone of voice had softened and she sounded very tired. “I just needed a little oxygen. Who are you?” “Most people call me Blurr,” I moved closer to her voice. “How about you?” “Abby.” She said quietly. “Hi, Abby.” “So how do we get out of here and where IS here?” she asked from the dark. “We are on Isla del Oro, in a cave under a cove on the western coast.” I told her. “My God,” she said, her voice almost amazed. “Usually women call me that AFTER the sex,” I quipped. “Dream,” she replied and I could hear the smile in her voice. “We are still on the island. Which way out?” “Take my hand,” I said ‘but you find it, I might get a hold of something you don't want me to get a hold of on such a short acquaintance.” Abby’s hair burst into flame and floated around her head like a red gold halo. Her hand found mine. It was a normal temperature. Looking down at her I said “Can you burn through steel?” “Never tried anything like that,” she said with a small shake of the head, the flames moving in response. “I imagine if I can take out the hinges . . . “ Giving her hand a little tug I lead her out into the corridor and turned toward the Cove exit knowing the elevator was out of the question. Ahead Abby’s glow lighted a slab of steel sans hinges. I inspected the wall on one side as the light began to fade. “Looks like it slides down from the ceiling,” I commented. “Can you give me a little more light?” I can’t . . . I think they are sucking the air out, I don’t have enough oxygen for much flame.” A certain shortness of breath told me she was right. I had to hurry. Placing a finger against the steel I began to vibrate so fast the molecules of the steel began to lose cohesion. The steel just turned to dust leaving a hole about an inch or so across. Immediately I could feel the power of the pumps that must be trying to void the atmosphere. The air rushing through the hole seemed almost solid. “Hurry, please,” Abby’s teeth chattered. “I am getting cold.” “There’s an air hole for us.” The brilliance of her flame blinded me. “Okay, you better stand back, hot metal hurts most people!” I muttered “I ain’t ‘most people’.” But I stepped back all the same. It was like standing in a blast furnace. Even as tough as I was my skin began to smoke but the steel door finally sagged, the metal parted and a great gust of wind pushed the heat deeper into the corridor. Grinning in the glow of molten metal I said “Bet you are really hot in bed!” Abby licked her finger with a tongue of flame and touched her hip, it sizzled. “Real hot stuff!” I waited for a moment, letting the steel cool. “Let me take a look right quick,” I said, peering out into the opening. Moving to fast I was invisible, I made a quick circuit of the cove. It was deserted. Everything had been stripped out, including the ship I’d seen earlier. Streaking back up to Abby, I reappeared behind her. I couldn’t help but give her the once over from behind. It was hard to pass up looking at a naked girl. Her flame was low, a ruddy red. She spoke as if she hadn’t noticed my round trip “Okay, this time I don’t mind a gentleman going first.” Gentleman, I thought to myself. If she only knew just how gentlemanly by thoughts were running at that point, she’d slap me. Her flame burned lower. “Not easy getting the temp just right.” She said, looking at me. “Try 98.6,” I suggested, hoping I hadn’t drooled a wet spot into my mask. “You want to be totally in the dark?” She frowned in the low light. “Now,” I looked her up and down “if you don’t mind my feeling you up, I can get us out of here a lot faster if I carry you.” “Well . . . ‘her voice was dubious but her flame totally disappeared, “as long as you are a gentleman about it.” “So I guess throwing you over my shoulder is out?” I grinned under the mask. Not waiting for a reply, I scooped her up like a baby and stopped about fifteen miles away in a secluded stand of trees. I set her on her feet. “Now,” I said, considering her again, “about clothes.” “They would be helpful.” She didn’t appear to be in distress about being naked but it was the gentlemanly thing to do. In a flash I had dressed her in Noah’s shirt and buttoned it to the top. The shirttails reached mid-thigh and the clothing just made her look sexier. “Best I could do on short notice,” I said. I decided she didn’t need to know I’d had the clothes all along. “Is there any place I can take you?” She fingered the shirt and said “It’ll do until I get back to Basin.” “How far is Basin,” I looked around, trying to spot a landmark I might know. She, too, looked around “Well, I haven’t gotten my bearing either. Where are we?” “Pirate’s Cove,” I told her. “Well, fifteen or so miles back that way. “I pointed to the west.” “The cove is due west of Basin so we are about thirty-five miles away.” “Is that all?” Again I scooped her up and a second later I set her on her feet in the middle of the town on stilts called Basin. “You are FAST!” She said to me, her eyes wide in surprise. “Not in EVERYTHING,” I grinned under the mask and got a look of exasperation. “There someplace I can use a phone around here?” She pointed up the ‘street’, the sleeve so long it covered her pointing finger, “The candy shop. Or the bar. Or the theatre. It has a pay phone.” “I should tell the Queen about you,” she said as they walked toward the candy shop. “If Marinea hasn’t.” She glanced up at me out of the side of her eye. “I am making a hobby of pulling you people out of that cave.” She stopped and looked directly at me. “Well, thanks.” “You might wanna check on your baby too . . . “ “What baby?” Puzzlement filled her face. “Have a local doc do it not some . . . “I paused, realizing she didn’t have any idea. “Okay, so get an EPT first . . . I might have read the monitors wrong. Hey, is the mermaid pregnant too?” “Morena is,” her eyes looked distant “but she doesn’t know if she is going to keep it.” “There must be something in the water,” I muttered. “You, her, Chase . . . crap!” Dusty? She shrugged “It happens, goes along with having sex so I can’t be. I would have had to have ‘done it’ to be.” “Hasn’t this world figured out birth control?” I asked her. “Sure you can use it but it doesn’t always work, like condoms,” she said. “I am sure a stud like you has used them.” I shook my head “We’ve got a better way to stop it.” I didn’t really hear her last comment because a terrible thought had struck me. “You don’t suppose Geno Corp was messing around with genetics?” “I don’t know,” Abby said. “I had thought they’d taken me off the island. What better way?” Absently I said “Have to ask Dusty . . . when I find her.” “Who's Dusty?” she asked “Your girl friend?” We’d reached the candy shop and she pushed the door open to the jiggling of a bell. I was so lost in thought I didn’t bother to answer her last question. Abby greeted the man behind the counter with a smile, "Hey Hank, just need the phone and do you happen to have my pants in the back room still?” “Hey Abby!” The man came from behind the counter and picked her up in a huge bear hug. “Still?” I raised an inquiring eyebrow at her. Then I couldn’t resist. “Lose them playing cards?” “They’re right on top of the licorice whips,” Hank said, jerking a thumb at what I assumed was the store room door. Abby turned so fast the shirt tails lifted in the breeze and gave Hank and me a good view of her bare ass. “I don’t gamble,” she said airily, “I win.” “So do I.” I said recalling the easy of winning at their roulette. From the door Abby points to the phone on the counter then snatched the pants off a stack of boxes and proceeded to thrust a leg into them. She didn’t bother to close the door. I lifted the handset and tucked it under my chin then pulled out the slip of paper I’d found in Dusty’s hat. A female voice answered “Hello?” “Hello,” I returned, adding nothing. “How can I help you?” “Not sure,” I began, “I found this card in a hat and decided to call to see who was on the other end.” “Oh?” The voice didn’t sound all that puzzled. “Do you know the owner of the hat?” “Yes.” Here it comes, I thought to myself. “So you are wishing to return the hat to her?” “Yes.” I repeated, drawing the word out. The voice continued “and let me guess ... you seem to have missed placed her.” “I think she was misplaced involuntarily,” I offered. “That might be so,” the voice said all business now, “but she walked away willingly enough.” “Then she can walk back willingly.” I suggested. “Well . . . “the word was drawn out and sounded a little hesitant, “it's not that easy. I want you and maybe a few others I find to get something for me and than I will be more than happy to find the one you have misplaced.” “Oh, really?” I said dryly. “What might that be?” “There is a shipment of gold bullion coming into north town in 2 days, I want you to heist the shipment,” She made it sound all so simple. “Look to the gully for help and sleep tight.” (click) I sighed and hung up the phone. “Never changes from world to world . . . You can't get away from Uppers and Lowers.” Abby was sitting at my elbow on a swivel round stool wearing a pair of tight ass jeans and Noah's shirt.” “So you get through?” Hank set a soda in front of her and she took a long pull on the straw. Turning away from them I said “Keep the shirt” as I reached the door. “Thanks!” She called to me then her voice was gentler “I do mean thanks a lot.” I stopped, the door half open, and looked back “you might wanna tell those you know like us to stay in Basin. Seems there are those outside that don’t care much for us.” “No one gets into Basin,” she said confidently. “Someone can,” I said, “I got YOU here.” “Well your one of us,” she said with a shrug. “Now I have to go save another of us or steal something for the kidnappers. Same as it ever was.” I growled with growing anger. “You mean like in the comic books? Maybe someday it might be like that in real life.” “Why do you think I wear this?” I said with a gesture to my costume. “So no one knows you.” She made it sound very simple. “But who has the balls to stand up against wrongs,” Hank interjected. Abby added “The Queen can only do so much.” “It's what I've been doing all my life . . . “I said with a sigh “standing up for the little guy.” “Being a vigilante is dangerous,” Abby observed. “You get both sides hunting you down and the others might not like us but they have us out numbered.” I folded my arms across my chest. “Enough of them coming at one guy and your taken down,” Hank said sourly. “I can kill a hundred people in about one second . . . it cuts down on the odds a bit.” I’d never actually tried it but I suspected it wouldn’t be that difficult for me. “Besides . . . can't hit what you can't see.” “Why kill them?” Abby scowled “For up holding the laws of civilization? Then you make yourself a murderer and they will hunt us all down looking to take you out.” “'I’ve lived all my life on a lawless world where only the strong made the laws. You think your little code of laws on this world is going to bother me?” Abby looked shocked but Hank eyed me hard. “You are ONE rebel,” she said softly. “One that can be just about everywhere I want. Hit hard, hit fast and don't leave anyone standing.” I let my arms fall to my sides. She smiled slightly “Be careful but thanks for being there today. I really don't want to know what they had planned for me.” After a moment of further speculation I said “If you are pregnant, I'd say using you for a breeder for those like us they can control from birth.” “I'd fry any man that got near me,” she said in a vicious tone. “Yep,” Hank said with a nod “I can attest to that.” His comment broke Abby’s mood and she laughed then tossed a wadded up napkin at the counterman. “Then I won't make you jealous by telling you I had her naked in my arms.” “Hell you say?!” “Oh, GREAT,” Abby rolled her eyes. “Now you hurt my feelings. She pouted, looking at Hank. Hank held up a hand “Okay, okay, want me to pound him now or later?” He gave me a hard-ass look. “Let’s take it out back. He rolled up his sleeves revealing surprisingly beefy arms and winked at me. I sighed deeply and headed for the back door muttering “Women all want to fuck me, men all want to fuck me up . . . What a world . . . “ “Okay guys!” Abby grabbed Hank by the arm. “You men are so . . . What do you mean all women, what am I? Cheese cake?” Hank barked a laugh and clapped me on the shoulder, nearly knocking me off my feet. “How about an ice cream soda?” He said. “I promise, no arsenic.” I blurred over to her and put an arm around her waist the whispered loud enough for Hank to hear “You are WAY beyond cheese cake.” She kissed me on the cheek “Thanks again for saving my hide.” “What’s you name?” Hank set a soda glass on the counter. “Blurr, with two ‘r’s. “Well what kind of ice cream soda do you want?” Abby asked. Yeah, you name it,” Hank urged. “Sorry, I have another little problem to solve,” I said wistfully. “Rain check?” “Sure but too bad,” Hank said “Fresh made.” “Let’s see . . . Ice cream soda or Life and Death?” I rubbed my chin as if in deep thought. “Guess I’ll take Life and Death for a thousand, Alex.” Hank chuckled and said “Here” and offered a card. “Too bad I am not being funny,” I said. “Catch ya later, Abby.” To them I vanished and took the card with me, tucking it into my tunic with Dusty’s hat. |
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| POWERS/TACTICS | |||||
| Abby is endowed with a small number of 'fire powers'. Among these are her 'Blow Torch' and 'Fiery Shield' | |||||
| PERSONALITY/MOTIVATION | |||||