Rosetta Chapter 14
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Rosetta - Chapter 13 free porn video
Rosetta: A MORFS Universe Story
By Joreymay
Part 13
As the morning wore on, the snowfall started to slack off. By late
morning, it was light enough that the neighborhood children were out
playing in it.
Of course, there are children and then there are children. Rose was
startled by a knock at the door. Even with her MORFS augmented hearing,
he hadn't heard anyone walking up to it. The mystery was solved a moment
later, when she caught a glimpse of a familiar form standing on her front
porch.
"Hi, Robin!" she greeted the 'porter as she opened the door to let her
in. She was even more surprised when Lena, David, and Angel followed her
in. After they exchanged greetings with Rose and her family, they invited
the sisters to join them for some traditional snow day fun outside.
They didn't have to ask twice. Rose quickly changed into her snow clothes
and beat Tara back downstairs by about 5 endless seconds. With much noise
and hand waving, they all trooped outside.
All but Lena.
*We need to talk.* She "said" to Rose's parents. *And I don't want Rose
to hear what I'm going to say. The others will keep her too busy to worry
about where I am or what we might be discussing, so feel free to talk
normally.*
"What's this all about?" Rose's mother asked, more puzzled than anything.
*You two are heading for a very big fall, and all of you are in danger.
Again.*
She waited a moment for their mental chaos to subside, then went on. *How
old is Rose?*
"Thirteen. You know that - you were here for her party." her mother
indignantly replied.
*And since that party, have you seen her interact with her peers?*
"We've seen her with you and your friends, and she seems to be doing just
fine."
*That's just it. We're not her peers. While a few years' difference in
age is all but meaningless to you, it is critical at her age. And not
much less so at our ages.* She sensed their urge to interrupt, and
disrupted it before she continued.
*At school, she faced down a girl who was at the top of the school social
order - a girl who used to intimidate her by just looking at her.* she
went on. *She slapped her down like a vaguely annoying 8 year old, and
didn't even notice she was doing it. She has no sense of connection with
her school, or with the other students. Since her change, she has been
spending her time with older teens and adults and doing so as a peer. And
you've been encouraging it.*
*Sit! Down! Now!* While her powers couldn't really control them, her
mental "tone of voice" was enough to startle them into obedience. Almost.
"What's wrong with that?" Rose's mother demanded. "She's acting maturely
for her age - better than Tara was at that age, and she was better than
most."
*Exactly. She was acting* Lena put extra emphasis on that word *like
someone older and more mature. But she isn't. She's 13 years old and went
through MORFS. Everything about her has changed and will continue to
change for some time. Her body, her brain, her social situation, and
especially her hormones... they all are doing things she has never
experienced before. And on top of that, she has been in the middle of
things nobody should experience. Especially anyone that young.*
They still didn't get it. *Think about it. She is a 13 year old who is
getting used to the privileges and power of an adult. Of a well placed
adult. But she is going through everything Tara did and more. When you
get into it with her, when her hormones drive her to the emotional states
Tara went through, do you really want to be facing someone with
exceptional abilities and an illusion of adulthood? Someone who is so
dissociated from her peers that she doesn't really see that they are
going through most of the same drama and finding ways to cope with it?*
The man of the house finally jumped in. "What do you suggest we do?"
*Remember Tara's thirteens. Be prepared for what you know perfectly well
is coming. Treat her like the talented young teen she is, but prepare for
the inevitable. And remember one thing: she can spot a lie a mile off.
Even a well intentioned one like "it will be fine, you'll see" or the
like. Protect her like the daughter you know and love...*
She went "silent" for a moment, then *Shit!*
"What?" they both asked.
Aloud, she said "More trouble. I'm calling them in."
Seconds later, five snow covered figures came laughing through the door.
Lena faced them. "Cassandragram." was all she had to say. The group
sobered up immediately.
While they quickly shed their snow covered outer clothes, Lena was in
full Radar mode. While she gathered more information from Cassandra, she
started "looking" around the nearby streets and yards. Once they were
done, she turned a part of her attention to them.
"Another attack on your family is coming soon... I think." She told them,
while keeping up her mental conversation with Cassandra and scanning the
area. "Two men from Japan are, or were, at the airport. One of them had a
brief malfunction of his shield, due to a bored traveler. In that time,
brief images came out - something about taking you two," she indicated
Rose and her father, "and finding out what you had to do with the
destruction of their organization. They're supposed to be meeting with
two others, who are already in place."
David spoke up. "Why the 'I think' part?"
"Cassandra says it doesn't feel right," Radar replied. "She feels like
something is missing. Something vital. And she doesn't have a sense of
when it would happen."
Radar was so focused on her "conversation" with Cassandra and with her
scan of the neighborhood that she was as blindsided as everyone else by
the response.
"NOOOOO!" Rose shrieked. "No! It's not FAIR!" As the tears started
flowing from her eyes, she turned from one to another of her older
friends. "Make it stop! It's too much! It's not fair! Make it stop!" She
threw herself into her mother's lap, sobbing into her shoulder "Make it
go away. I don't want it anymore," came the muffled complaint.
Her mother automatically wrapped her arms around her shaking daughter.
She looked from face to face of the others there, clearly out of her
depth. Finding no help there, she drew on her "mommy wisdom" and gently
said exactly the wrong thing.
"It'll be ok." she murmured. "Everything will be ok."
Rose jerked upright, like she'd been slapped. "NO IT WON'T" she shouted
in her mother's face, then all but jumped to her feet. "Nothing will be
ok! You don't get it. They'll keep coming and coming until they kill you.
Until they kill all of us! and it's all because of me!" She turned and
ran up the stairs to her room, slamming the door behind her.
Eyes wide with fear, her mother turned to Radar. The teen nodded her
understanding, then reassured her.
"I'll make sure she doesn't do anything foolish, and help her wind down
safely. Too much of a change would hurt more than help right now. She
needs to cry it out."
For the first time since Rose's reaction started, her father spoke up.
"But what about...?"
"David can keep an eye on the perimeter, and Robin can back him up. All
of you'll be safe enough. But right now, she's got to be my first
priority." She sat back and closed her eyes, effectively blocking off any
more conversation.
After a moment, Tara got up. Radar opened her eyes and nodded at her. "Go
ahead and try." Radar told her. "It might help."
Tara went up to Rose's door and gently knocked.
"Go away!" came the muffled reply.
"It's me... Tara. Please let me in."
There was a moment of silence, then the door cracked open. Tara slipped
in and closed the door behind her. Wordlessly, she wrapped her little
sister in a hug which was slowly returned. After a moment, they sank to
the bed, still wrapped in each other's embrace.
For what seemed like days, Tara hugged her sister and let her cry herself
out. Finally, her sobs wound down and her breathing deepened. After she
felt her body relax, she lowered her the rest of the way. She lifted
Rose's feet, removing her shoes, and straightened her out. After loosely
covering her with a blanket and giving her one more gentle hug, Tara
slipped out of the room and downstairs.
Radar and David, drink cans in hand, gave the impression of looking
around the room. Robin was talking quietly with Tara's mother on the
sofa. Her father was not in the room, but the door to his office was
open. She joined her mother, quietly leaning up against her.
"She's asleep" Tara explained, then let them go back to their
conversation. As they talked, she took quiet comfort in her mother's soft
warmth.
Lena took no pleasure in being right. Instead, she was annoyed that she
had not been able to prepare them earlier. But they should have known
better. Rose was thirteen, for crying out loud.
After a fruitless hour of scanning the area, Radar noticed something odd.
A car was driving down the street, but it didn't seem to have anyone in
it. She called David's attention to it, and he saw almost the same thing.
When he concentrated, he could tell that there were two men in the car...
barely.
They had heard about very high end shields which could completely cloak a
person from their enhanced perceptions, but they had never encountered
them (as far as they knew). They alerted Robin, who got back into her
snow things and ready to jump as needed.
When the car pulled up in front of one of the rental houses down the
street, Robin did one of her patented invisible flits to a spot nearby
where she could see what was going on without standing in the snow (and
giving away her location). Two men in expensive looking suits got out of
the car and walked to the door. One of them knocked, but nothing
happened. The other pulled out a com, and seemed dissatisfied with the
results of his call. He shook his head at the other.
Finally, one of them passed something in front of a concealed sensor
plate and the door opened. After a brief glance up and down the street,
they went inside. Robin waited until the door closed, then flitted in
after them.
While she was relaying her observations to Radar, Radar and the Captain
were busy "searching" the house themselves. For the most part, it seemed
just a little off without there being anything in particular. There were
clothes and shoes belonging to two men (none of them the right sizes for
the two from the car), food in the kitchen, the furniture that came with
the house, and that was about it. Nothing personal. The sort of place an
agent might maintain. Or an assassin.
Or a couple of single traveling salesmen on a short assignment.
The issue seemed to be resolved in one of the bedrooms. Captain Peeper
saw it first, then notified Radar and Flit. There, under a dresser, was
what looked like a small detonator. Flit quietly made her invisible way
to the room, then 'ported the object back to the others.
And then followed it back.
At first excitedly, David gave the device his best Captain Peeper
examination. It was a detonator, all right. No doubt about it. The only
problem was the dust. It had enough dust on it to make it clear that it
had been sitting there before the current renters moved in.
For the rest of the afternoon, David and Robin alternated keeping an eye
on the men. And David also alternated with Lena in the process of
watching the neighborhood. And learning from her earlier mistake, Lena
kept a psychic "ear" on Rose as she slept.
Nerve wracking as it was, the afternoon passed without further incident.
Rose eventually woke up, and grumpily rejoined the others. Nobody said
anything about her earlier pyrotechnics. Tara had put on the tube, and
without being asked she turned it to one of Rose's shows.
With promises to keep watch, Flit sent the other teens home and then
followed them.
Late that night, Radar woke Rose for some quick translation. The men,
still alone in the house, had gotten a call. Flit was there to listen in,
but they were speaking another language. Radar got one side of the phone
conversation from Flit, but needed it translated as they went along.
It was fairly short, in Japanese, and mostly consisted of "We haven't
made contact," "Yes," "No," and "I understand." Luckily, the one who had
been on the phone turned and spoke to the other after finishing the call.
"They are either running or dead. Knowing Nakamura, I would bet on dead.
This assignment is not important anymore, and we are to return at once."
was her translation of his remarks.
The other acknowledged the remarks, and they quickly removed all traces
of their occupancy. And that of the men who had rented the house. They
got into the car and left.
They returned the rental car, took a shuttle to the airport, and there
the three friends quickly lost them.
"I don't trust this." A tired and frustrated Radar commented. "I just
wish I could read them."
"I have an idea about that." Flit answered. "The big problem is their
shields, right?"
Everyone agreed, so she went on. "We need to disable one or both of them,
but they are self protecting. I can't flit anything in or out of them or
reach through intangibly, CP can't transmute anything in them... in fact,
there's nothing we can do at a distance. And we can't really confront
them either. Is that about the size of it?"
Again, everyone agreed.
"Their shields aren't force fields - they don't provide physical
protection."
CP spoke up, a light sarcasm coloring his voice. "But if we hit them with
something strong enough to have a chance of breaking them, I think they'd
notice."
Radar elbowed him in the ribs, then nodded for Flit to continue.
"Right. But physical force per se isn't our only option. What if we had a
solvent, something that could eat through the case and mess up the
electronics?"
"How would you get it there?" Rose asked. "You just said you can't flit
anything in or out of it. And they'd feel something like a needler."
"Leave that to me." Flit assured them, then turned to CP. "Captain, can
you make up something like that?"
"I've been looking at solvents and stuff like that, so I probably can.
How much would you need? I'm kinda limited in the volume department."
He blushed and turned toward Radar, in response to a thought the others
didn't hear. She just grinned and wiggled her eyebrows.
Flit, struggling to suppress a laugh, went on. "O... k... I'd only need a
few drops. I have something to carry it in." She vanished, then
reappeared holding a small, stoppered vial, with a glass rod extending
from the stopper. Lena recognized it as part of the equipment Robin had
gotten during her brief flirtation with making her own perfume.
CP took the vial, and in a slightly distracted tone said "This should
do." A small amount of liquid appeared in the vial, filling it about one
third.
After he stoppered it again, Flit took it and vanished.
Unknown to the others (except Radar), she stepped back in time to just
before the men left the house and arrived invisibly and intangibly.
Standing behind one of the men as he made his final preparations, she
opened the vial and made the rod tangible. She carefully moved it inside
his collar and positioned it over the main shield module. Making the vial
and its contents tangible (but still invisible) she carefully poured a
few drops of the liquid down along the rod and onto the module.
Satisfied, she withdrew the rod, capped the vial, and made them
intangible again. She watched him for a moment, to make sure he hadn't
noticed anything, then returned to the place and time she'd flitted there
from.
"It worked." Radar announced as Flit reappeared, then turned to Rose "May
I?"
Rose nodded, and felt the familiar connection with the translations
flowing through her brain almost too quickly to catch. She got some vague
impressions, which Radar confirmed a moment later.
"Our man doesn't think much of the two missing men. He respects their
skills with weapons and things, but considers them too prone to
unnecessary violence and somewhat lacking in subtlety. Still, they were
professionals and he finds their disappearance somewhat troubling. He
wonders whether they fell victim to one of their rival organizations."
She got a look of deeper concentration for a moment, then smiled.
"Cassandra says she gets the feeling that the danger is over. She also
says that I woke her from a great dream, and it's my fault if she has
problems in school tomorrow."
With that, everyone said their goodnights. One by one, the team
disappeared as Robin sent them home. She waved goodbye to the family,
then vanished to her own home. With their usual loving rituals, the
family retired to their own bedrooms and beds.
Despite the strain and excitement of the earlier part of the night, Rose
dropped off to sleep as soon as she was in bed. As she drifted off, she
had a pleasant sense of someone watching over her.
That done, Lena threw herself in bed as well. She was a little too keyed
up and paradoxically too tired to go to sleep easily, so she did her
"sleep trick" and put herself to sleep.
Unfortunately (as far as Rose was concerned), the roads were clear and
the schools were open on Tuesday. With the weird schedule the school used
for finals, she only had two classes per day. And that day's classes were
Changes and History.
Before class settled in, she heard some people talking. In the short time
she'd been gone, three kids had come down with MORFS. She didn't notice
any absences in her Changes class, and there were no obvious changes in
anyone.
The Changes class mostly went smoothly, with the test covering material
she had studied well. And she had gotten an A on her paper, which made
her confident of a good grade in the class. The only hiccup was near the
end, when her teacher got a note from the office and passed it on to her.
After class, she was to report to the dean's office.
"What now?" she wondered, silently. Or, at least, she didn't say anything
verbally.
*Don't worry too much about it.* came the silent response. Lena almost
sounded amused. *You're not in trouble.*
Rose finished her class, dropped off her books at her locker, and
dutifully trudged to the dean's office.
When the secretary told her to go in, she was surprised to see that the
dean was not alone. There was a woman she didn't recognize, and a female
pekingese dog morf who looked vaguely familiar (but who Rose couldn't
place). She was about to apologize and leave, when the dean waved her to
an empty chair with an almost pleasant "Have a seat, Miss Reid."
When he used her last name like that, she was sure something was up.
Once she was seated, the dean continued. "While you were gone, Miss Moore
here went through MORFS."
Rose gasped and thought "Miss Moore"? There was only one student named
Moore that she knew about. She turned to the girl and asked "Missy?"
The girl, her one time nemesis, nodded miserably. The smirk didn't even
make it to Rose's face.
*Don't say it!* Lena advised her. *She has been hearing the "bitch"
comment all day, and is very fragile.*
*I wasn't going to say it.* Rose retorted. *I was just going to think it
real loud.*
The dean cleared his throat. When Rose turned her attention back to him,
he continued. "We find ourselves in an... awkward situation. The changes
to her face have rendered her unable to talk for the time being. With
therapy and practice, she will be able to regain that ability, but for
now she is effectively mute."
"I guess I understand, but what does that have to do with me?" Rose
asked, genuinely puzzled.
"While she has acquired some special writing instruments to accommodate
the changes to her hands," he replied, as Rose turned and noticed Missy
hiding her hands in her lap, "she will need to be able to deal with
classes which require verbal presentations and responses. She needs the
kind of help only you can provide."
With the help of her abilities, she was able to understand what he was
getting at. "I can't be with her day and night for the rest of the school
year."
"We understand that. She only needs to get through this week, through the
semester finals. After that, she can get the help she needs to regain her
speech."
"What about my finals?"
"You will be excused from them."
*Tell him you want full credit for them.* Lena mentally advised her.
*Make it understood, but not said, that you mean that you get the
equivalent of acing all of them. It's the most you can get for this.*
"I will need full credit for all of them." Rose stated, filling the word
"full" with meaning that the dean would not mistake, and clearly
including her English class in the "all" part.
"That can be done." His tone implied continuing negotiation. "You will
need to accompany her throughout her school day." His own emphasis told
her that he was including lunch, before and after school activities, and
between class times, as well as the in-class time.
Rose didn't like that, but she understood it. Luckily, virtually all
before and after school activities were done for the semester so she
wouldn't have those to worry about. She gave him a look which asked what
else was in it for her.
"As you know, the law prohibits us from paying you for your services.
However, I can assure you that this office will not forget this favor."
He was offering her a "get out of trouble free" card, and that was as far
as he was willing to go. She turned and looked at the woman, who she
assumed was Missy's mother. She didn't need her abilities to read the
plea in the woman's face. Or the tension.
With just the right show of adolescent reluctance, she agreed to do her
best. Missy made a sound like some combination of a mumble and a yip,
which Rose understood as "Thank you". The woman's words required no such
effort to be understood. "We really appreciate your help. I don't know
what we would do..."
Her meaning and subtext were a different matter. That was a woman used to
getting her way, and one who knew how to use emotions and social
conventions to accomplish that. Rose began to understand Missy a little
better.
"You two should go and get some lunch. I will notify your teachers about
the arrangement."
It didn't take long for Rose to see that the dean had been had, and had
taken her along for the ride.
Missy used the lunch period to re-establish her social position. Speaking
through Rose, she pointedly reminded her peers and competitors that MORFS
had not robbed her of her memories or her contacts. And she had not lost
a bit of her manipulative cunning. Or her attitude.
Rose faithfully translated words, nuances, and implications. And she hid
her own growing distaste for the process. By the end of the day, she was
more than ready to go home. They had faced down challenges, reassured
allies, and generally acted as Missy apparently did before her
transformation. To her relief, she wasn't asked to translate any acts of
picking on someone.
The next day, she had to respond to an unexpected attack. And she needed
a lot of help in doing it.
Rose never found out the why, whether they were people Missy had insulted
or otherwise stepped on, or associated with her rivals, or were pures, or
just immature jerks who thought it would be funny. Or something else
entirely. And really, it didn't matter.
What she did know was the what. And at least some of the whos. For
whatever reason, some people in and around Missy's two classes for the
day were carrying electronic dog whistles. While they were clearly aimed
at Missy, there were others in the school (including Rose herself, with
her MORFS augmented hearing) who could hear them to some extent. Her
first clue was in the morning, with brief, apparently random high pitched
beeps. On their way into the first class, Rose and Missy were briefly
overcome by loud, high pitched sounds from the hallway and from within
the classroom. Missy stumbled, and the sounds stopped. Rose shook her
head to clear it, and she noticed a couple of other people in the class
looking puzzled and uncomfortable. More to the point, everyone else
looked unaffected.
About half an hour into class, the shrieks were back. This time they
seemed to go on forever. Rose, who could only hear some of it, found it
somewhat painful and very distracting. Missy was collapsing on her desk,
in obvious pain. Rose did the only thing she could think of.
*HELP!* she mentally yelled.
Lena sat up in class as though she had been slapped. A quick "glance" at
Rose and her environs quickly told her all she needed to know. This was a
job for The Captain. She held a brief conference with David, and between
them they came up with a plan. Radar would sweep Rose's school (starting
in the room where she was) for people thinking about the devices, and
make sure they actually had them. David would "go inside" the cases and
change the values of some components to change the pitch of the sound.
Two boys and a girl in the classroom found themselves the center of
attention - very hostile attention - as their toys became painfully
audible to everyone in the room. After they were sent on their way by an
annoyed teacher, class settled back down.
The rest of the day was punctuated by loud beeps and outraged trips to
the Dean's office.
By the end of the week, she was mildly horrified by the whole thing. She
had only played her designated role in one class, and that was French. In
two other classes, she had answered the roll call but had the impression
that the original "Yip" would have been adequate. If this had been one of
those moralistic "young adult" adventures or romances Rose sometimes
read, she probably would have ended the week as a new lifelong friend to
Missy, with an appreciation for the complex layers below the surface she
had judged Missy by.
Life wasn't one of those books.
Rose left school Friday afternoon with a different attitude about Missy.
Before, Missy was just an annoying part of the background. Now, she was
someone Rose actively disliked. She wasn't stupid - far from it. But Rose
couldn't accept her focus. Missy had a plan for her life, one her mother
apparently encouraged. She would spend her middle school and high school
years establishing herself at the top of the local social structures of
the schools and networking with the sons and daughters of predictably
important people. She would also be building her academic and
extracurricular records to qualify for entry into a top tier university.
Once there, she would again work her way to the social elite and would
find and attract the most socially promising husband possible, and once
married would guide him through the rest of his schooling and his career
while building the family's social standing. Her entire life was mapped
out. So were those of her (eventual) children.
Outside of those ambitions, Missy was shallow and dismissive. Not to
mention rude, thoughtless, and narcissistic. Try as she might, Rose could
not find one thing to like about her.
And she couldn't really understand her. She knew people who were socially
far above anywhere Missy could hope to reach - heck, she even knew a
queen - and none of them were anything like that. How could anyone live
like that? Maybe Lena could help her understand.
But before she could even think out a request, a familiar "voice" was in
her head.
*We need to talk.*
End part 13
Nadene
- 18.04.2020
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