Unhappenings

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

—Small time skip about half an hour to an hour—
As time moved on in the alternate dimension Topher started to get a headache which ended up being a full blown migraine. Evey time he’d close his eyes and rub his head to try to make it stop nothing would seem to help. ”We need to stop...” ”Nope.” ”Well then my head is going to f*cking explode and you can carry me.” Jack instantly stopped and spun on Topher. ”When and how long?” Topher felt a spike go through his head and nearly collapsed but managed to stay standing though barely. ”A little over an hour. Started with a headache, now… ow f*ck…” Gritting his teeth another spike of pain went through him though his vision blurred as well and he stumbled to his knees.

Jack glance to Ciara as the same thing happened to him a few years ago when Jenny tried to force a link to him. ”She’s still active then.” Topher grabbed his head as pain kept shooting through it and blurred visions moved around him. ”Tell me… these aren’t visions, if so this is horrible to deal with.” He wasn’t sure how Chris handled it all the time if this was how hers were. ”Why would I get them now though?” Jack sighed and tossed a bottle of strong pain killers and water to Topher and sat down. ”We might as well take a break. He pulled out a few ration bars and tossed one to everyone and started chewing before explaining.

”Best I can think of is alternate timeline could be alternate dimension or energy flows differently somehow. Some of the Maxwell’s are stronger here as well then their own timeline, so your normal lower abilities might be a bit stronger.” He turned to Chris and looked her over, ”Why aren’t you affected by it, the timeline here is f*cked with all the Maxwell’s messing things up.” Topher took the pills with the water and laughed at the question before biting into the ration bar and looking at Chris for her own explanation, the pain was still there, his vision slightly blurred from time to time and as long as he didn’t stand up he would be ok. He sent her a mental message with a light tap, knowing a full impact would annoy her. I may need your help before we get back to moving again. He was sure she’d probably feel some of the pain if he didn’t control the link right so cut it really quick. [[ooc: head pain being hard to not share when doing that stuff if they aren’t careful]]

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Jack had the urge to smack Lexa for her comment but held his hand. Time travel was a fickle thing and dealing with it meant consequences. He was thrown into it bluntly and he believed that by her first outburst she was already punished for doing that anyway. He knew Jenny wouldn’t forget someone doing something like that regardless of for how long it was even if they were time traveling from your own damn family. He didn’t even blink when Frederick handed him over a berretta pistol right in front of Barbara, knowing she’d probably wonder about him having a weapon seeing as they have security for that but wouldn’t be the first time he’d handle one, just in front of people. ”So how exactly did Maxwell get his hand on the time travel technology in the first place?” He cleared the chamber and popped the clip checking the gun expertly while talking to Lexa and glanced to Jenny noting to see if she wanted a gun as well or not.  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Jack nearly shouted at Ciara for her comment but held his tongue, fighting now was not the time. ”Yes the ranking will be different here, though usually your strongest stays the same, sometimes your weakest will jump or just go null though most cases I’ve heard it jumps.” That being the various Maxwell’s which is generally a bad thing. One a*****e is bad enough to deal with, having a few of them stronger in other areas is a ******** up equation all together. Which brought up Ciara’s other comment. ”Maxwell is rank A in Telepathy so he can mess with s**t so keep up your guard.” Topher just smirked and continued to eat his ration bar not caring whatever was in it knowing they needed to eat. ”By that response I take it you are too.” ”More or less, I haven’t officially been tested since we were both kids, mom got pissed and well once we were teens she became a politician so her connections and Frederick kind of made that stop.” He gave Chris the finger for the stronger twin remark, maybe in some things, most things, their parent’s never really let him go full out for safety reasons.

Topher glanced to Ciara and wanted to glare at her but kept calm. ”Stop with the attitude, I’m a cop back home, I deal with s**t daily, I’ll whine but go along, part of my job. Chris just goes.” He was sick of her s**t and wanted to get it out of the way before they started to blow up in each other’s faces for something stupid. ”I’m not used to visions, plus this timeline is f*cked up anyways, when we move I get like twenty or more of one scenario blurring in front of me, mom gets hers in dreams, this real-time s**t is annoying as hell, so give me a little break.” How the f*ck do you deal with that or can you make more sense of it? He shot the last bit towards Chris hoping they wouldn’t get right back to moving, staying still helped to keep the visions to a minimal and he was fine now, when they were moving he could barely see what was actually in front of him.

Jack looked about and was about to get up but decided they needed just a few minutes of time. ”We need to move, staying in one spot for too long isn’t a real good idea but I have a feeling that Chris needs to give you a few more pointers on how to deal with the visions.” He started to check on the gear to let everyone do their own thing and made a final check on the ammo as well. They were running a bit low and would need to find a cache soon, steal some or go full hand to hand.  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Topher glared back at Ciara, and was about to say more but stopped and calmed himself. Frederick had brought in a few martial arts guys to train him and taught him to center himself in situations like this and he used the breathing exercise now so he didn’t blow up at her. It was his point anyway not to fight so he better shut up about it as well. Speaking of exercises he thought back to his own. He knew that his mother knew about Frederick’s little training with is men, she didn’t say much because the aspect of the training was actually helping so he thought back to putting up blocks. If blocks on telepathy work he could blo… no Chris told him not to, was there a way to push the real to the front and bring it into focus though?

He stood up, not caring if any of them watched him fumble about for a bit, nearly tripping as he walked around. ”Don’t help, I’m trying things.” The visions kept coming and he stopped closing his eyes, he could feel his heart beating again rapidly, well that wasn’t helping either. He shook his hands out a bit after moving the rifle to his back, luckily the strap was still in tact and decent. For now he’d leave it there so if he did trip he wouldn’t damage it. He could feel a mind constantly trying to connect to his which was part of the problem. He wasn’t used to his telepathy being so vast and filtered everything else out using the family connection he felt with Chris, he could sense this Jack and Ciara as well right next to him and another far off. He turned in that direction and once he did the connection to him stopped.

”Well f*ck me… never knew that would work.” He opened his eyes and pointed the way he felt the other. ”That way.” He moved to another position face away from them so he couldn’t see where the others were, closed his eyes and turned. ”Jack, Ciara, Chris.” He turned around moving farther away a bit with things in the way and did it again before Ciara could call it a parlor trick. The visions kept coming but less fuzzy, apparently the connection was making them come quicker than he could handle and his mind could process them out on his own more. ”Apparently family appears very clear to me, other minds are just static. One is feint, that way, surrounded by a bunch that have a different feel, not static but not sure. Most likely Maxwell if not a few of him. Probably a trap.”

Jack just stared at the boy holding the bag he was going through, he knew telepaths were strong but never knew of any reported to have that ability. ”You might be over rank A.” ”I could give two f*cks about ranks, I just want to go the f*ck home, and my gut is telling me to go that way for some reason.”  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Jack was about to comment about Ciara instantly agreeing to go the way that Topher pointed. Usually she wasn’t this agreeable but perhaps where Jenny was concerned the woman had other ideas. He wasn’t about to protest the change since he wanted to get Jenny away from Maxwell and maybe with a little added psychic help they could. Though four against however many he had now was still quite dwindling and the odds were never in their favor. However the boy’s telepathy level might come in handy if he could outpace Maxwell in that. ”We need more ammo if we’re going that way.” They had enough to deal with the small groups outside the main compound but if that was still where Jenny was then they really would need to find a cache or steal some.

Topher nodded noting that his gun only had the one clip as well as one spare. Though if he had to he could go full out hand to hand. Frederick, Nate and Matt had been training him and he was qualified in a few martial arts now even black belt in more than one. Though only Frederick recently knew that he could throw a kinetic punch or kick with his attacks. The idea was the old farts, at first things went badly everything around them was knocked down but Frederick made Topher practice for hours on his days off when he could get to the army base. He was able to target a small area and throw the punch even a few feet away. At first Frederick only had him use targets to practice with but eventually had his men get padded up and go at it to see how close they could get to him.

Within an hour over of intense fighting only one of them who was the martial arts expert landed a few blows on Topher. The rest were knocked away before they could even get to him, though a few were extremely close. Topher kept wanting to call it but Frederick made them keep going to keep him on a exhausted state. Eventually after an hour and a half his power exhausted out and the martials arts master knocked him down and got him into a choke hold which is when Frederick called it off, knowing Topher would most likely use Telepathy at that point. He wanted to move though, as Frederick always said, a bored telepath was never a good thing. ”I normally just wing it, but knowing how Maxwell is at things, I’ll go with what you say and plan something out. Especially with having this many of them involved. It’d be better to be prepared than rush in.” That’d make Chris think he’d hit his head most likely. He never planned anything unless it was needed. His instincts were usually what he relied on. But Ciara was a aspect he never dealt with and he didn’t want to piss her off right now by just “winging it” as normal.

Jack started to gather things back up and nodded. "We need a plan and my plans are usually your first thought but things here work a bit different." He put his pack back on gathered what he needed and headed out towards where the boy pointed. "We'll make our way as you said, if anyone is along the way, shoot first, ask questions later. Take what ammo you can if it fits. Most in this area aren't friendly." Most of the people this side were with Maxwell so they'd either shoot first if their group didn't get the upper hand to begin with.  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Topher gritted his teeth at the name yet again, well apparently this Ciara had a problem remember them so he wasn’t about to get into an argument over it anyway. He was sure if their grandmother was alive in their timeline she’d be completely different. Well ******** this timeline was ******** up as it was anyway. That and he picked up that she meant it more teasingly anyway than before but it still kind of pissed him off that she couldn’t remember their names, hell they were in a way related even if on a different timeline. When she started to split them up Topher got a weird feeling that went away, usually in this situation he’d stay close to Chris, with her clairvoyance it’d help out a lot but with his acting up maybe they’d be ok. Keep your guard up… He sent the last mentally to Chris before following Ciara to where they were going.

Along the way his dress shoes started making his feet hurt like hell. Normally they would’ve been questioned but apparently things weren’t so random here that it didn’t both them. About ten minutes away he got a violent vision that made him stop it was one that he couldn’t flush out so he had to pause for a minute as it moved quickly. It was brief enough that it was only a few seconds pause in their walking but enough that he was sure that Ciara would notice. ”Just a headache.” He lied. The gun was useless after a bit, it would shoot maybe three or four times then jam completely. That was fine with him, he wanted a physical fight with Maxwell anyway.

About another twenty minutes later he had to literally stop as another vision hit him hard, one of him fighting Maxwell in Chris’… mind, apparently. There was way too much going on as well. He was not only doing that but fighting physically, well that was a new trick, he’d have to figure that out before they got there. Then wait… ”F*CK!” The vision blurred so fast ahead that he stumbled to the ground not caring if Ciara was yelling at him for being a baby again. That was, not this timeline’s Jenny but their mother. ”God damn it, why… mom…” He gripped his hand into a fist in the dirt and just sat there for a minute. Things were about to get very ******** up. He was sure that Chris already saw this coming and said nothing, god damn it, and now the visions were blurring, again.

Jack waved as Ciara and Topher made their way to wherever it was Ciara was going before they went to the compound, most likely a hidden cache she knew of. He started humming a old song he liked cause he was sure exactly what to do with Chris. He didn’t have a daughter here and never really knew what it’d be like to have kids. He could sense her hesitation with him as well, apparently their Jack wasn’t so close to her either, god damn him. ”Change that. Don’t talk about past, I hate what I deal with here so he’d probably not like that as well. Talk about music, inventions, whatever he does. I can sense you’re leery to talk so HE probably has some issues, just talk to him about whatever you can.” After a while he shouldered the pack and made his way towards the direction Topher had pointed.

”By the way, what’s with the outfits? I’m guess you two came from something fancy when Maxwell nabbed you?” He didn’t normally talk so much small talk but didn’t want her to feel too uncomfortable while they made there way to the compound. ”I’m not too…well I’m guessing it’s Jenny that has the ups there as well.” He smirked a bit and chuckled. He was generally more hands on, he could sense the same in the boy, smarts, but less patience. Chris on the other hand had the same sense that Jenny did and would probably do well in whatever she chose to. ”When you get back, which I’m sure you will, do what you want to, don’t let others even your own parents push you into something you don’t enjoy.” He was speaking from experience, college is not for everyone but he could feel that she wouldn’t mind it, but whatever field she chose would be her own.  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Topher groaned a bit but got up reluctantly, he would have to deal with it. He was sure something was happening with Chris though his visions were muddled even more when he tried to focus on her for some reason. He wasn’t sure if there was a way people could do that or if it was something to do with her clairvoyance blocking his own. The visions kept blurring as they moved making him naucious but he kept moving anyway keeping a focus on Ciara. As long as he maintained focus on something instead of trying to look at everything he could still walk without having everything blur in front of him. He started to work on the problem he saw in his vision. How could he fight mentally while fighting physically? He had never done that before, nor heard of someone doing that besides maybe Maxwell for that matter.

Split your mind… Topher nearly stumbled as he heard his own voice from somewhere but kept going so Ciara wouldn’t worry about him. Now that was odd, was that a clairvoyance thing or his subconscious talking to him or both? The visions blurred yet again until he focused back to Ciara and tried something. He had some training with others or at least heard of people using this to do things when their IQs were so high that they had to process and give information at the same time so he gave it a shot. He sorted the visions into parts and kept his physical movement onto one side and finally was able to walk without having blurred visions. He almost shouted in triumph which made the exercise falter instantly and probably would’ve startled the hell out of Ciara.

Working his way back he managed to get into his metative state as he called it and was finally able to catch up with Ciara. ”So, our mom will show up, just so you aren’t alarmed, just don’t want things to get all f*cked up and out of hand. You’re used to a bunch of Maxwells but having two Jenny’s might get weird and out of hand, just wanted to give you fair warning.” He at least wanted to do that for her, she was trying to be a bit less harsh to him so he was trying to help her out too. He used his mental split to scout out and look forward from where they were. There was a few small parties but no Maxwell’s. ”I think a few small scout or what you’d consider gorilla groups, we’ll need to be a bit tactical moving or take them out quickly.”

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Jack nodded as Chris explain about their mother being a senator, would explain a few things. Why Maxwell was after them for one, bringing them here, the outfits. ”Males in the family generally do look good in a tux, your gramps was a sharp one.” He paused a bit at that, the memory of a few times his father wore a tux instead of his Army Dress Uniform was very minimal. Jack on the other hand at least here only had few occasions to wear one until everything went up in flames when Maxwell ******** things up. He turned when she stopped talking and more so sensed the gun on him and continued. Before he could even have a say in the matter she kicked him with the shoes they had found her. Damn it… Was the last thought he had before his head hit the ground and he heard clapping before everything went dark.
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Maxwell smirked and stopped clapping as he stopped Chris from entering the compound any further and looked down at Jack. ”His sentimental talk was getting on my nerves, glad you knocked his annoying a** down.” This was the same Maxwell that kidnapped them so he was still in their security guard outfit. He motioned and a few more of his copies went to pick up the motionless Jack. ”Where are your brother and that annoying Grandmother of yours? They should’ve been here by now.” He turned and walked forward as another Maxwell got behind Chris and pointed a shotgun at her, by this point they had already disarmed her. His control over her made sure she couldn’t do any real harm with the weapon anyway. ”Funny question, every wonder how we knew where you were, how to get you, when the opportune moment to get you was?” Now they were surround by about a dozen of the other Maxwell’s as another came up, this one though was different, near identical to their own father and Maxwell smirked as he stopped next to the other one.

”Your father probably didn’t mention that well in your timeline, Maxwell and he are identical twins. It was easy to bluff him as your father past some of the people. We got him out of the timeline a long time ago and threw in a decoy.” Maxwell continued into the compound grounds as he kept explaining. ”But now you’re wondering as well, is your father actually your father and not this man. How can you trust him once you get back to your own timeline.” Maxwell shoved the glove off to show the same injury their father had on the same hand, just to throw some thoughts into Chris’ head without actually being in her head. ”Your own mother is with him right now, how is she safe?”  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Topher stopped after a while as they came up to the boundaries of the bunker Ciara was speaking of. Before they were spotted he scoped it out mentally again and felt his mind connect to almost everyone in the area. ”Actually, I think this may be easier than expected.” He didn’t want to alarm Ciara but they needed to hurry because his mind had expanded out even further and he couldn’t connect to Chris at all, something was wrong. His split mind focused in on all of the people down below and they could instantly hear shouting and confusion. Some tried to block him out and even to control him but with this new split mind he pretty much was able to just stand there and control others without even worrying about backlash from other psychics.

Before too long there was one shot after another. No need to waste all the ammo. He directed all the men below them to aim for the closest persons head and pull the trigger the last man standing he forcibly blow his own head out. The mental backlash of the minds disconnecting made him stagger a bit but he gritted his teeth and moved on. He had never done that before. Was never allowed to, Frederick had allowed him to control his men in controlled exercises but no physical harm was ever done, so the mental backlash of forced disconnection was new to him. ”Get what you need and lets go.” His voice was cold as he processed what he just did. He didn’t want another weapon regardless if she handed him one, he didn’t really want to kill anyone if he had to, but knew it’d come to that, though he also knew he’d be able to stop them before anything serious happened. He face the direction of the compound and didn’t pay attention to Ciara after that. They needed to get to Chris and Jack, and Maxwell for that matter.

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Maxwell smirked at her discomfort, of course he was manipulating her without even having to plant thoughts directly in her mind, he was good at that. He turned as something caught his attention a bit aways from the compound where his men knew a hidden bunker was. Probably one that Jenny’s family built previously to everything going wrong. ”They’re here. Your brother… might be just the challenge I want. You on the other hand, tsk tsk, your mental blocking is so weak I could use you to kill him if I wanted. He’d trust you completely like he did the moment you were here. Hell I could’ve had you kill them all if I wanted but there is no fun in that. Now THIS, is going to be fun.” He motioned for the others to get the preparations ready and everything started to move like a madhouse. The psychic battle was about to begin.  

[Sl1pstr3am2010]

Topher centered himself as Ciara went into the bunker and took a few ammo clips regardless of knowing the gun itself would jam. He didn’t want to tell her otherwise at the moment, he could tell what he did had shocked Ciara and she was trying to process it so he didn’t want to stir the pot at the moment. It seemed that his emotions were shutting down at the moment regardless though and all he wanted to do was get this over with and get back home. He knew for a fact that his mother would show up and cause even more mayhem and that annoyed the ******** out of him. She didn’t even think that they could handle it, well know of course she’d come to get them, there was no denying that but she just, he sighed but continued on, there was no avoiding that.

Before too long they were in the compound. Topher felt the static sense again and knew that Maxwell, well a bunch of them were nearby so kept his guard up. At that time he got the mental note from Chris just as Ciara spoke to him as well and he glanced in Chris’ direction. ”Stay here.” If it was a trap he’d negate the need for Ciara to be captured as well, at least one of them would be safe. He knew she’d protest but kept going, ”Something isn’t right, I want one of us to be safe.” Before she could protest he ran off in Chris’ direction putting up a kinetic barrier behind so Ciara couldn’t follow.

As he entered the area she was in he noticed she was alone. Which wasn’t right, well she had mentioned Jack was taken somewhere else. He paused before continuing up to her. Her lip had been busted open and now bleeding and her hair was down. He gritted his teeth trying to control his anger, that ******** a*****e was going to die. ”Chris? He walked up slowly to her not wanting to startle her, she seemed very out of wits though he knew she knew he was there. He hugged her and pulled her back to Ciara. ”Lets go.”

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Jack had woken up during this and was trying to get free but Maxwell had bound and gagged him securely enough that it was nearly impossible. He could tell that things were happening as everyone else that wasn’t guarding him were moving around him. The Maxwell that was in the security uniform walked up nearly dancing and giggling. ”He took the bait the silly boy.” ”Go to hell..” Jack tried but all was heard was a mumble. Maxwell grabbed Jack and pulled him up violently to his feet and glared at him. ”I’ve been. Mental hospitals aren’t always what they seem. Electroshock therapy… tsk tsk, doesn’t work, makes me… ANGRY.” Maxwell tossed Jack to the ground again and bounced around a bit. ”The boy though… we’ll see what it’ll do to him, he shows promise, killed a dozen of my hardened men almost instantly without hesitating.”

Jack tried to trip Maxwell but his “brother” merely danced away and laughed. ”AND… AND…” He leaned down pulling Jack up a bit to be face to face. ”His sister… HA! Blood relative and trusted sibling, will bring him right to me. IMAGINE! Two, nay, all of us, though I can say he is, or has potential to be stronger than me. A Telepath army reeking havoc across time, and because you…” Maxwell lifted Jack up again fully, ”You trusted me to save Jenny, gave me the technology I wanted. And I… BETRAYED you… again. FOOLISH BROTHER WHEN WILL YOU LEARN?!”

He tossed Jack back to the ground and clapped his hands together. ”Now, time for phase two, or is it phase three, ah, who the f*ck cares. Chris darling…” Once you’re armed, shoot your brother, not fatally, then that annoying Grandmother of yours, I don’t care if she lives or not. Then bring your brother to me. Maxwell sent the COMMAND to Chris mentally, knowing she had to follow it, knowing the two would arm her soon stupidly, well hell, they didn’t know she was a puppet. ”Prepare for whatever the f*ck stage we’re on now, the boy will be ours soon.”