20° VIDEO

[faceofthe4]

[Johnny's sitting awkwardly in front of the console in his suite.]

Why is no one freaking out about this? From the sounds of it, all of our powers are gone. Just like that. [He snaps. No flame appears. He throws his hands up in frustration.]

Seriously. There should be alarms going off. People should be taking blood samples and looking at ours cells. Someone should be creating some sort of system to track different.. I don't know.. thermal.. geo.. radio... something. Is it a sun spot? Aliens? We have no idea, because we're all sitting around trying.

Something's coming. Great. That might be the cause, but if it's not? We should probably figure this whole no-powers thing out before it gets here.

[He looks down at his hand and shakes it, as one might shake a Nintendo controller when the game glitches. He stops shaking it. Nothing happens.]

Oh COME ON!

Comments

[backinakidflash]

[Bart is at his home console in normal clothes. He seems trepid about saying anything at all.]

I don't know about everyone else, but... I've been freaking out. Just kinda. In private.

Something's definitely coming. Mine's not just something you turn off.

[faceofthe4]

Neither is mine. When did you start noticing a problem?

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[backbiter]

You do know how to survive without your powers, right? I mean... you have other ways of defending yourself. Like hand to hand combat, guns, swords, or ninja skills?

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[faceofthe4]

Of course!..... Sort of.

I know how to use a gun, but the whole superhero thing's pretty new to me.

[video]

[flamingshortshorts]

...You said you weren't born with your powers right? [because wow even Toro isn't freaking out this much about not being able to flame on.]

[video]

[faceofthe4]

Right. But I wasn't a hero then.

[gathersnomoss]

I don't suppose you know anything about any of that stuff?

[faceofthe4]

What 'stuff?'

[angermanaging]

I can take a blood sample if it'll make you feel better.

[Being relaxed due to no Hulk just makes Bruce snarky.]

[faceofthe4]

Will looking at it actually help figure out what's causing this?

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[zerotoawesome]

Yeah, I'll get right on that once I can move my body again.

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[faceofthe4]

Wait, you're stuck?

[Sorry, but that's kind of funny.]

I could try to find a wheelbarrow.

[voice]

[the_other_eight]

[Pepper is doing the best she can not to sound as tired as she feels. Even though she isn't someone who is being heavily affected by this drain, she's being affected in other ways. Namely in trying to keep a certain Iron Man from overexerting himself and possibly breaking the source of power that's keeping him alive.]

Just because we're not announcing it over the network doesn't mean we aren't doing the best we can.

[voice]

[faceofthe4]

Oh, yeah. You and Tony are up in your lab fixing things for him and that's.. that's great for the two of you, but what about the rest of us? I'm not a scientist! We should be working together! All of us. Not dealing with it in our own ways.

Voice;

[subject223]

This isn't the first time any of us have lost our powers, Johnny.

[ Of course, Steve doesn't realize that they're not from the same world. ]

We'll get them back. And if we don't, we'll fight anyway. That's what we've always done. That's what we'll do here, too.

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[faceofthe4]

Speak for yourself, champ. I think I'd remember if I lost my powers before. I'll do what I have to do with or without powers, but I don't have to like it.

[A beat.]

Am I supposed to know you?

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[alpha_squad_leader]

[Vic's voice sounds a bit on the hoarse side right now and he's sticking to audio.]

I'm pretty sure the science types and the magic types are working on it. At least they'd better be.

If you annoy them too much they'll just knock you out or something.

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[faceofthe4]

You really think I'm afraid of getting knocked out or locked up?

[A beat, then Johnny actually looks a little panicked.]

What's up with you? Do you still look....? [He gestures all over at his own body.]

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[traumatizing]

It's probably a safe assumption that the turtle's illness is the reason our powers aren't working.

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[faceofthe4]

I don't like to assume. [This one time.]

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[andaway]

Probably because freaking out about it is a way to tell everyone we're vulnerable now, which is the last thing we want.

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[faceofthe4]

I'd bet they already know.

[cons]

Yeah, I'm sure you'll be fine. I've survived twenty-two years without powers, so I have no doubt you'll all pull through this just fine.

[ Wichita's not bitter or any thing yes she is but she doesn't see what's so wrong about being normal ]

[faceofthe4]

I spent almost twenty-four years without powers and did just fine. But losing them is different than not having them. I used to be a pilot, not a superhero.

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[definingfuture]

Alarms are going off, believe me. There's just not a lot we can do without resources.

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[faceofthe4]

What kind of resources?

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[stagethreeclinger]

Ooor maybe it's just a good time to pick up a new skillset?

[ innocent face hurr :O This is the thing he finds so funny about powered heroes - once said power is gone or doesn't work, seems like they start flipping their shit and forget they're capable of other things. said in a mostly joking manner, though.

:T mostly. ]

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[faceofthe4]

What do you suggest?

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[cmdreffingshepard]

It's not that simple. [Shepard frowns a little, rubbing the bridge of her nose.]

We all have different sources for the things we can do. It's weird that we've all lost them at once, yeah, but without our abilities, it'll probably take us a good long time to find a common source of the problem. I've seen people here who are humans and claim their powers come from genetic mutations - people who say they simply do magic - people who say they're aliens and it's just part of their alien biology. Some people who just use tech. All of them are going screwy. So what's up? Do you have any theories?

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[faceofthe4]

Maybe. I think someone from space might be stopping us.

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[refusing]

What kinda powers do you have? Not trying to be nosy or anything, I just...I don't have any, and I'm still trying to figure out how all that superhero stuff works.

[Of course, the best way to help distract someone that's losing their powers isn't by discussing the power that they lost, so she bites her lip and looks entirely apologetic.]

Sorry. You don't have to answer that.

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[faceofthe4]

Don't worry about it. Normally I can control flame to an extreme degree, including using it to fly. Now I can barely cause a spark when I'm lucky.

At least I'm still hot. [A grin.]

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[trainwrecked]

It's been observed before, whenever those with powers, any sort of powers, have moved away from the turtle. Not inside the city, but with the rationing situation?

Yeah, those who've been around for ether of the landfalls aren't really surprised. That's all. Sorry that I can't bring better news.

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[faceofthe4]

I'm hearing that from others too, but I'm wondering if maybe it has nothing to do with peoples' distance from Clyde and everything to do with this kind of.. dampening technology existing everywhere else.

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[wintershepherd]

It's worse than when we went to the mainland last time.

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[faceofthe4]

That's good to know. Someone said it's from Clyde being too sick. Do you think that's true, or do you think it could be something else?