Death is Overrated

[deaths_heritor]

[The first thing she does when she wakes up is to check for attached limbs.
Yes.  Four of them.  All there.
The next thing is to listen to some of the calls that have been coming in.  Though she's missed most of the warnings, it's not difficult to tell that things have become progressively worse in her absence.  That, and the men in white were

Comments

[strike_you_out]

[Slugger has managed to return "home" without drawing the attention of the hazmats and is oddly relieved to find Susan in one whole piece.]

Miss Susan...

He never had a chance to tell you about Zemekis, did he.

[Because optimism is far too unrealistic in this town.]

[humandeath]

[Then why is it put in a bag? Clearly bags are for opening. Death nods with a faint smile. The subject of humans and their will to live is something he's rather an expert on.]

YES. THEY ENJOY SURVIVING....IT MAKES OUR MEETINGS RATHER AWKWARD.

[strike_you_out]

[This is one fight Slugger knows he must give up and he breathes a defeated sigh against his shirt sleeves. Whatever. You all think what you will and he'll think what he will.

Besides, he has something to show Miss Susan. Death, you may assume he's already shown you. He pulls two pieces of folded paper from his pocket.]

Miss Susan, I did some research while you were... away. A man with a bow tie was letting people read documents he got from Smirnov.

[And he slides the papers across the table. They're notes Slugger made on the info, nearly word for word plus side-notes. In them, she will find the phrase "greater source of energy" underlined; an arrow is drawn to it with the question "Us?" written to the side.

The words "Great Leader" have been underlined and the term "regulation undergarments" has been circled with multiple question marks beside it.]

[deaths_heritor]

. . . Did he happen to call himself the Doctor?

[There is only one person she knows with a bow tie. Either way, Susan takes the papers with a nod and examines them closely. There is a hint of a smile at his notes.]

Very astute, Slugger. If, somehow, drones are an energy source . . . Yes, it's a clever thought. If we consider that the Americans somehow sustained their town by bringing us here and the Russians were unable to do so, that business about regeneration defects could be explained.

[strike_you_out]

I didn't catch his name.

[Slugger has mentally been referring to the man as Mr. Bowtie but his true identity is, in fact, the Doctor. He raises his head a bit, interested to know Susan's take on the new information.]

But if it's true, why does Mayfield return some of the power it takes? The regains... Could they be accidental?

[deaths_heritor]

I doubt it. They always come directly after major occurrences, and I find it unlikely that they'd accidentally restore things like intangibility or magic.

Perhaps the more powerful we are . . . No, I don't know where I'm going with that thought.

[strike_you_out]

Those occurrences could cause instability. Instability could lead to error...

[With barely a pause, he redirects his thought process to think up a possible end to Susan's unfinished thought.]

--The more powerful we are, the harder it is to control that power?

[deaths_heritor]

Possibly. That might be one way to tap into it. On more general terms . . . the more power we have, the more power they might be able to use.

[strike_you_out]

Point.

[His gaze dips to stare at the surface of the table, momentarily lost in thought. Soon his head is upon his folded arms once again. He's not tired... he's just resting his eyes.]

[deaths_heritor]

[Susan looks down on the boy, turning to briefly glance at her Grandfather with an undefinable expression in her eyes.]

Up to bed with you now. I'm sure you haven't slept all night, and it isn't as if you have school to attend to for a while.

[strike_you_out]

[No school is one small relief in all of this. Alas, he can't deny the need for sleep any longer; it's actually giving him a headache. With some reluctance, he drags himself off the table and upstairs to bed leaving his hand-copied notes behind on the table.]

[deaths_heritor]

[Susan will come up to check on you as soon as she sees Death safely home. As Death does not appear to be checking this topic anymore, let us continue.

The papers, she hesitates before for a few moments, then takes them and places them into a file which she shoves into the bookcase. A few moments later, she is moving silently up the stairs to look into Slugger's room.]

[strike_you_out]

[He's there. Asleep. ...Sort of. After being in auto-alert mode for the past 24 hours, it's hard to terminate it. Any sound is liable to rouse him, but if all remains silent, he won't stir.]

[deaths_heritor]

[She turns to go. After all he's witnessed, she's surprised he didn't collapse earlier.]

[strike_you_out]

[And he'll slip into a dead sleep that will last without interruption until he realizes that the sounds of the neighbor's house being destroyed are more than just a nightmare.]