Aberrant - The Meeting outside Addis Ababa

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Jerry and James took Lee Tang and Shan Chao with them in a taxi to the nearest hospital.
However they soon realised that their patients were completely unharmed, despite the danger that they had been in.
James was feeling hungry, unwell and had a headache, whilst Jerry just had a headache and an appetite. So instead they went to a nearby restaurant and bought dozens of rice-based dishes. 
They were concerned that both Lee and Shan would be blamed for the dam failure, so contacted the Neptune foundation to help them escape before the authorities realised what had happened. Neptune couldn't spare a plane of their own, but were able to get them tickets on a commercial flight to their centre in Indonesia. 
Making their way to the airport Jerry and James caught themselves up on the news. Among all of the disasters and reports of people with powers they found mention that the Prime Minister of Ethiopia had gifted a small portion of land near the capital of Addis Ababa for the newly empowered people and the Aeon Society had offered to help host and provide support for the newly arrived people. 
They contacted Nadia and Stephanie, who were on their way to New York following their studio announcement and agreed to meet in Ethiopia together.
When James and Jerry arrived in Ethiopia at the Addis Ababa Bole International Airport, there were a lot of photographers waiting at the airport, but they clearly didn't know what they were looking for, so they were bypassed with relative ease. Hiring a car they drove through the city and went North until they arrived at the meeting point, which was not yet much to look at. A steel-fenced area of barren farmland. 
The guards demanded a demonstration of their abilities before anybody could be let through. James levitated some water which seemed to impress the guards, but they were told that his "assistant" couldn't come in, as they had instructions to only allow Novas inside to prevent journalists and curious people from getting in and ruining the event. Heading in James came across three figures crouched around some recently dead withered plants. A dark skinned man in a suit with a neat goatee, a woman with slender vines crawling up her neck who was crying and being comforted by a white woman with red hair. 
The goateed man came over and introduce himself as Count Raoul Orzaiz. The woman was Bene Manata, a recently erupted local Nova. She had tried to use her powers to turn the area in to a garden. She had wanted to show off both her powers and her country, but the land was so dry that the plants withered almost instantly when she created them. 
James drew down a cloud above the city, but the large cloud only yielded about a barrels worth of water. Which Bene turned in to a small area of greenery 
Around the same time the redheaded woman opened a portal and stepped through. 
By this time Jerry had been able to gain access as well showing off his abilities to move Earth to get past the guards. 
He instead chose to reach under the Earth, the water table around here was already low, but he was able to redirect an aquafer to supply the rest of their needs. 
The red-headed woman who introduced herself as Jenifer Landers came through with an androgynous Japanese woman, a fast talking genius Tetsuo Susumu who had developed a fusion reactor. 
Over the next few hours people arrived at the site by Jenifer's warp portal or driving up, including Nadia, Nan and Stephanie. 
In addition to Stephanie, Nadia, James and Jerry and those who had already arrived, there was also: 
* Deborah Ahmed - Daughter of the Prime Minister able to transform matter and create it from nothing. 
* Elizabeth Barton - The London weather manipulator who had blanketed her home city in fog recently and whose hair seemed to have become a thig fog. 
* Jonas Kincaid - A fellow native of Detroit who had been tazed by police on video and could now absorb energy as well.
* Randel Portman - The Fireman from New York who had made the news as the first official Nova sighting in public (Or at least the most recorded one.)
* Dr. Spencer Balmer - A Brazilian scientist with green skin able to move but not grow plants. 
* Anna DeVries - Owner of Executive Solutions, a talent/employment agency. She was coy about her abilities, but did mention she was fast. 
* Janos Karagian and Janice Karagian - Turkish twins with the ability to fly and with a penchant for space exploration. 
* Sam Williams - an older Scottish sounding Nova with the ability to fly and blow things up by looking at them. 
* Violet Chao - A Chinese woman with the ability to attract violence towards herself and then withstand it.
* Radu Szlaniskovich - A Russian man with powerful claws and armour
* Anibal Buendia - A laid back Costa Rican fibre manipulator capable of making clothes. 
* Anansi - She only made herself known by way of a four legged drone with a screen atop of it. She claimed to have an unnatural control over technology, but this couldn't be verified as she stayed clear. 
* “Traveller” - A shapeshifter with an Indian accent, not ready to reveal their real identity. 
As Bene improved the garden, Jerry was asked to make a few simple stone structures like a kitchen table . Tetsuo got her generator to power the place and Elizabeth made the weather more overcast and moderated the heat. Jennifer gathered some supplies and the count began to cook an delicious paella for everybody to share around. By nightfall the arid plain had become quite a cosy camp site. 
Nadia was looking at her sponsorship options and consulted with Anna DeVries, she said that it would take some time, but that she could manage the contracts and get a better sponsorship package. 
As it got dark they got to know each other and Jenifer was able to bring in some alcohol and they relaxed. Anibal was able to conjure up some bedding and people joked about wearing capes and costumes. Anibal started creating costumes for people as a joke, a good version and an evil version, even Anansi's drone got its self a rabbit costume. 
Nan was being rather cautious and at the end of the day Jenifer warped her home. 
In the morning, the Prime Minister Dr Abiy Ahmed, his wife and a group of scientists and representatives from the Aeon Society and the UN turned up. Their pre-fab buildings at the rear of the site seemed quite crude in comparison to the tropical Oasis that they had created. 
The spokesperson for Aeon was a Margaret A Mercer, a composed and professional looking woman. She began by introducing a pair of scientists Drs Henri Mazarin, a Psychologist, and Farah Rashoud a Neurologist.
They confirmed a few things that many of the Novas already suspected:
* That the "eruption" of superpowers come at moments of great stress
* The golf-ball shaped nodes in their brains are somehow involved in manifesting their abilities. They are not tumours, but dense clusters of nerves that flare with high levels of activity when their abilities are actively used. 
* Almost everybody (with a few notable exceptions such as Sam) who gained powers, is 25 in September. 
* Whilst Novas do emit more radiation than normal, it is well within safe levels, akin to the amount you would experience if you flew by air regularly, or ate a diet rich in potassium. 
Margaret Mercer came back on the stage and suggested that they could organise under the Aeon Foundation to help new Novas and allow them together build a better future.
She was however interrupted by an imposing figure with red hair and piercing eyes. Who introduced himself as Dr Priomoris. But asked for the courtesy that people accept his alias.
However Jerry asked Anansi to look him up and whilst they couldn't find anything on facial recognition, the name Dr Primoris was associated with some old records of the Aeon society. He went by the name Dr Michael Donighal. He glared at Jerry for revealing this, but carried on regardless. 
He said that the Aeon society had worked with "Talents" people like Jake Danger in the past and had not treated them well. Turning on them in favour of keeping the status quo. Supporting historically wrong-headed ideas like communism and prohibition.
This rather took the wind out of Margaret's sails and she discretely called off one of her troops who had used their initiative to grab a rocket launcher. Those who knew about Violet Chao's power edged away from her. 
Dr Primoris suggested that they make a society of their own rather than one run by baselines. Jerry agreed and suggested that Deborah be their leader. Which came as something of a surprise to Deborah and everybody else. 
Margaret reassured them that the Aeon Society would still try to be involved in helping them liase with world powers. 
They were thinking about what to do next, several of the smarter Novas got together to brainstorm how something like that could work. 
Meanwhile they needed good will, so decided to look for major disasters. 
They found that there was a major wildfire currently raging in Brazil and with Jennifer acting as transport, Dr Primoris and Dr Balmer coming along to support them, Nadia, Stephanie, Jerry and James went together through a portal. Margaret meanwhile got on the phone and got authorisation for them to enter Brazil to help. 
Next week: The Wall of Fire.Back to main page: