Sensors

Sensors Chapter One

Rachel

Rachel was in an overload. Every sense of hers was drilling though her consciousness. The noise, the lights, the tastes, the feelings, the smells, all of it was killing her body and mind with the total amounted force of a firing tank. 

She was scared. She had heard stories about sensebreaking but she had never felt it herself. It hurt like hell. And the situation she was in was more frightful than the actual process. This pain, this injury was caused by the central source of the people outside. 

The Sense Riot outside was hurting her so. A group of people marching against the Global Unitarian Government, the GUG. Marching against her mother, the  Governess. Except this was turning into more. A bloodlust for anything that sat under the name of GUG.

Even her. That is why she was perched on the roof of her mansion. She tried to drown out everything. 

But she could still hear every heartbeat from each person in the crowd, and that's excluding the curses and screams each of them were shouting at her. She could still taste the anger fueled musk that the people were stomping up and the copper tint of blood that was drawn from her now feral teeth. She could still see every detail on every persons face even if the lights were dimmer than they were now. She could still smell every alchohol tainted breath and unbrushed mouth. She could still feel every molecule of air around her and the inhuman strength the touch sense gave her.

The worst part, though, was that she could still see what those mean people wanted to do to her because of her lineage.

Her instincts screamed at her to run. Escape. Flee before the crowd got to her, or worse, what she knew as Stage Two kicked in. Stage Two was a complete mind and body shutdown from the senses overloading. She wouldn't even know if she died or not. 

Fear held her to this perch on the roof, and not even the sudden smouldering heatwave the improvised alchohol bombs generated as they smashed against the sides of the walls and through the windows of the villa would move her.

She was going to burn alive if she didn't move somewhere, anywhere, and soon.

They had surrounded the house, screaming for change to a Goveror that wasn't even home. To a Grand Ruler that wasn't even in there in the sector, or even the region!

The flames were catching fast. Soon the entire house would be caught in flames, and she had three choices at this point: stay there and burn alive, jump from the roof and be torn apart by the bloodthirsty crowds below, or stay and pray to the Grand Ruler that the Riotsuits will come to save her.

The Riotsuits will come, she thought semihopelessly, It's their job to, isn't it?She clenched her eyes closed. The flames were licking the edges of the roof and the harsh light emenating from them was horrifically painful to her eyes. The smoke and ash were choking her breathing. 

They will come soon, she thought desperately, They HAVE to. 

Then, her head snapped to attention as she sensed the helicopters with her overdriven sixth sense, the Spirit sense.  The near-silent whirlwind of helicoptor blades whipped over her head and she knew they had arrived. 

Though the radiance of the flames and the thickness of the smoke had clouded her vision superlatively, she could see the Riotsuits leaping the cabins of the velicles with a stunning accuracy and grace. 

She smiled and looked up at the single coptor above her and spotted a single Riotsuit. Then, the house shuddered with an earpeircing groaning noise as the strains of the collective weight of the house pushed down on the practically burned away supports. The house was about to collapse. 

The Riotsuit leaped out of that helicopter with equal grace to the other Riotsuits and landed beside Rachel with the natural balance of a cat and the instinctual bravery of a lion.

 Scooping the girl in it's arms, it barreled towards the closest edge of the rapidly collapsing house. The roof began it's cave in at the point which she was standing not moments before, and was quickly spreading in a ripple-like motion: the roof was practically falling beneath it's last footstep as they made their escape.

The two of them jumped with agility as the house gave one last groan, and as the Riotsuit grabbed ahold of the helicoptor before him, the entire house collapsed, sending searing hot ash and smoke everywhere. 

Rachel smiled, tears pooling in her eyes, and she looked up at the person in the Riotsuit. "Thank you," she managed to whisper, "If you hadn't shown, I possibly would've-" the sound choked to a stop as her taste sense fell into the abyss first, and soon, the smell sense cliffed away, as well as her hearing. 

NO! She thought as her grip slipped away with her touch sense and she watched as she fell away from the Riotsuit before that too left her. 

Rachel's mind fell into darkness as her limp body began to fall back into the hell below. 

Sensors Chapter Two

Colton

The man in the Riotsuit wasn't an ordinary Riotsuit. In fact, most Riotsuits were Thugs or Cats, that is, Touch exclusive or Sight exclusive people. No, Colton, like Rachel, had been born with all Six senses that were broken at the age of ten. But, unlike Rachel, he had another passive sense. There are actually seven senses. The aforementioned six, and Mind.

He leaped after Rachel's falling body, adrenaline fueling the Three senses he had already driven into overdrive. He had Touch, Sight, and Spirit enhanced, thus the other three are practically benefitless. What happens is that after sensebreaking, the senses act as though on a giant scale: if one puts more weight on one sense, the others are less effective until useless. He HAD to save her. If she died, he would be responsible, and worse, he would be executed. 

He couldn't let that happen; it would ruin all of his planning. He wrapped an arm around the waist of the girl and maneuvered himself in midair to land safely on his feet, and then rolled in the landing to protect himself from breaking his legs.

Then, his combat skills kicked in when he realized that he fell into the middle of a bloodthristy mob. He struck out with his elbow behind him, feeling the presence of someone there. It connected with a crack as Coltons enhanced strength broke several ribs, and Colton spun around with a roundhouse kick, knocking the enemy to the ground, and Colton scambled, with Rachel in his arms, over the body and that much closer to safety. 

He barreled through the crowd, smashing people out of the way as the two got closer and closer to the Riotcars. Safety is right there, he thought to himself. I CAN MAKE IT!!! He gritted his teeth in frustration, which invariably drew blood, and threw himself through the line of Riotsuits, and they in turn fired upon the crowd that charged after him. 

Colton breathed a breath of relief, the girl safe in his arms and fortunately still alive. Her senses must of broke earlier today, he thought, No wonder too. That much stress can break them easily. 

He picked himself off the ground and climbed into the nearest Riotcar and drove away from the burning house.

He looked at the girl beside him, pulling off the helmet with one hand. She's fervorous, he thought as he ran a hand along her face to brush away red hair. And I'm too young to be doing this. He looked up, into the mirror, and into his unnaturally hardened sixeen year old storm grey eyes. 

What is it keeping me to this cruel fate as a tool of the Grand Ruler? He shook his platinum blonde hair. I should concentrate of driving this thing.


Rachel -

"She should be awaking soon." a male voice said, unnaturally breaching the stupor that she was in. "She's perfectly fine: her side-effects of the sensebreaking are perfectly normal. The only thing unnatural was the patterning of her brain waves about 4 hours after she arrived. Usually it flatlines out until they waken, but there was unusual amount of activity that possibly couldve disturbed the process for better or worse," the man, she assumed it was a doctor, said, "There's only been one other recorded instance of this happening."

"For the better, I presume?" Rachel recognized that one.

"Mom!" Rachel bolted upright, acting as though she had just awoken. 

The Governess bolted to her daughters bedside, embracing the girl of ten. "Oh honey, thank God you're alright!" She allotted herself that exclaimation, and then went back to leader mode, straightening before the doctor. 

"Miss Terin, I'm afraid your daughter must stay here for testing and training of her newfound powers," the doctor said in a formal tone, although his eyes were apoligetic. "Surely you understand, you've had to go through the process yourself."

"I will allow the training and the testing, but there is no way in HELL I will put my own daughter through the next statement," Terin said coldly. 

"But of course Miss Governess," the Doctor said. "Will you follow me, Rachel?" The doctor beckoned for her to follow, "I have someone I want you to meet."