12189/Blue Screen of Death

Blue Screen of Death
Date of Scene:	17 September 2020
Location:	Jeremy's Room (West Halls), Xavier's School
Synopsis:	Indi and Ted check up on their teammate after he didn't show up to any classes. They learn what he was up to and why.
Cast of Characters:	Faraday, Ted Gammage, SpyderByte

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Faraday has posed:
It doesn't matter how super secret your school is. When it's full of teenagers, news gets around. Some of it, at least.

After Jeremy pointedly failed to show up for any classes and the only answer from the teachers was 'he's not feeling well' with their eyes looking to the side, Indira knew something was up. So once the house was quiet and things were mostly clear, she started creeping down the boy's hallway. She'd pinged Ted and Adam ahead of time to cover for her appearing in the hall in case of nosey hall monitors. Also, teammates. They were in on this too by default and just so happened to be in the correctly gendered hallway for the job. Lucky them.

She's got her backpack on and it looks stuffed with things for some reason or another, and she stops outside Ted's door to do a tiny rap of a knuckle on his door. "...ppsssst, you up?"

Ted Gammage has posed:
"No," comes Ted's reply, obviously amusing himself at the very least. He does open it up a bit, then just steps out and closes it behind. "You think he's got more than the flu or somethin'?" he says, just starting to walk toward Jeremy's room, knowing she'll follow along. "Hall monitors are out for the moment, no need to worry too much. Unless they turned invisible which, 'round here y'never know." A few doors down, he does stop and give it just a little rapping on, "Hey Jer, y' in here?" he asks, slowly turning the knob and, if its unlocked opening it just a crack.

SpyderByte has posed:
The door is unlocked and easily opens up. The room is dark, save the glow of the laptop open on his bed, and the five displays mounted on a wall above his computer desk where his 'rig' is set up. Each of the screens have a different camera angle on it in some place or another. One could be Russia, another in China, another in Iraq. One screen has lines of code zipping along at a frantic pace, while the last has a YouTube video up of 'cute cats being silly'.

Sprawled out in bed on his stomach is Jeremy. He is hugging a pillow to his chest as he sleeps. Shirtless, some of the scars on his back can be seen, as well as the brand new tattoo of the spider on his shoulder. He's dressed in a pair of black boxers with one leg dangling off the side.

In the trash there has to be at least ten energy drink cans, and a half one on his nightstand. The room is 'hot' with so much technology running at the same time.

Faraday has posed:
"Hah hah, funny." Indira drawls at Ted before following along as expected. "No way he's just sick. Do mutants even get colds? Besides, there was too much action last night. It's all over the news. Even if he was sick, you don't think he'd be texting us nonstop about it? He's been radio silent all day. Not even a barf emoji. That ain't just weird, it's plain unnatural."

She peeks around Ted as the door opens and pulls a face at the oven-like blast of air. "...maybe not dead, but baking. Need to crack open a window, geez." Indi mutters as she'll step in after Ted to do just that. At least it's dark out, so she's not letting in a blast of sunlight and the early fall air is cool. "...Jeeeeerr, you with us, buddy?"

Ted Gammage has posed:
Ted was going to explain how he occasionally gets ill, and how its more a problem now that he cannot get a flu shot, but then he too feels the high-level temps of an improperly vented room. "Ah think he may melt," Ted says. He does, in fact, step in to, if nothing else, assist his teammate in de-heating of the room. "How does anyone sleep like this," he mumbles, "And ah'm from Louisiana..." He steps back, letting Indira do all the Jeremy-prodding for the moment.

SpyderByte has posed:
There is a light noise from Jeremy as he hears the voices tingle at the back of his head, followed by the poke of their cell phones as the new signals enter his living quarters. He gives a visible stir, then twitches rather violently as his eyes shoot open.

There's a moment of fear as he gives a scramble in the bed, pushing himself up against the wall. With a wheeze, his eyes adjust and he visibly relaxes as he slaps a hand to his face. Groaning, he reaches out for his phone, patting about his bedsheets.

"Issss it-t-t mmmorrrning?"

Faraday has posed:
"Easy, it's just us." Indira says as she makes sure there's some cool air coming in and then walking over towards the bed. She drops her pack off of one shoulder so she can reach into it, fishing around what looks like pliers, rope, and a miniature set of bolt cutters for a large bottle of cold water which she holds out for Jeremy.

"It's almost midnight. Didn't see you in class, teachers said you were sick, and I kinda figured that sounded like a load. Or maybe half a load, you do kind of look like shit. Didn't hear a peep out of you since last night, so figured I'd drag some help in to make sure you were alive in here."

Ted Gammage has posed:
"Quarter load at least," Ted comments. " She convinced me t' break rules and we come check on ya. From th' looks of it, she was right, this ain't a normal cold is it?" He frowns, starts to ask if its a Computer Virus and then just shuts up without saying anything. "Y'need me t' bring a fan in here 'r somethin'? Or a....uh... I dunno man. Whaddya need? How can we help?"

SpyderByte has posed:
After fumbling about in his bedsheets, Jeremy finally comes up with his phone. He taps the screen on, blinking at the light as it stings his eyes. They look red, dark and sunken. Who knows how much sleep he was really getting. Giving a rub at his face with his palm, he lets out a loud yawn.

<< I am not sick. I was working on a secret mission for Miss Grey since yesterday. I just overdid it. Had to push myself farther than I ever have. Miss Frost and Miss Grey ordered me to bed and told me to not leave until I feel better. >>

He rubs his hands along his face a few times, then reaches for the water that Indi offers. He takes a long sip, swallowing tightly.

Faraday has posed:
"Well you're gonna be sick sleeping like this. It's the Sahara in here." Indira says as she just plunks herself down on the side of the bed and keeps fishing through her pack to pull out a tupperware container that looks to have a few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in it that she plops down beside the technopath. "What Ted said. Need us to help cover for you? Do your homework? Anything? We can, uh, ya know leave too if you need to get back to sleep. Just worried about ya. Silent channels of communication aren't really You."

Ted Gammage has posed:
"Secret mission? That did this to ya?" Ted frowns, that sounding something like getting a kid to do black-op work and nearly killing himself. "Hell, that ain't right." He rubs his neck, "Yeah, man, jus'...whatever yah need. Y'look like y'got hit by ah car."

SpyderByte has posed:
Shaking his head, Jeremy lets out another yawn. He peeks one of his eyes over towards the sandwiches, licking his lips.

<< Last night when Magneto showed up at the Mutant Town concert, the police started shooting the place up. They were shooting innocent people, humans and mutants alike. The X-Men were there and they had to fight back against the police. I spent all night erasing all the evidence. Cell phone videos, street cameras, police body cameras, police reports, YouTube videos. I just over did it with my powers. There was thousands and thousands of cameras and feeds and tweets and I had to make it all go away. It would put us at danger. Miss Grey is a public figure. It was making mutants look like terrorists. But it was the humans that shot first and for no reason. >>

He reaches for a sandwich and takes a small nibble. << I just didn't sleep. My nose was bleeding and my head was hurting really bad. >>

Faraday has posed:
As Indira listens to the story, her hands come to ball up into fists in her lap. Hands there don't accidentally touch computers, not when the news clearly has her blood pressure rising.

"That's such bullshit. I saw the news, how they kept claiming the mutants were starting a riot. One of the real out there sites even claimed that they were trying to amass an army to march downtown or something. It's insane. My family came to this country to escape this stuff, not find more."

She gives her head a shake as she tries to put a lid on her anger, "Eh, you don't need ranting right now. You've probably seen it all anyway. You need rest. Just if you need anything, ask us, okay?"

Ted Gammage has posed:
"There's so many wrong things in alla that," Ted says, agreeing with Indira. "But yeah, ah never thought about yer power havin'...physical effect on ya. Yah definitely need t' heal up ah bit. Sounds like it took ah lot outta ya." He isn't quite sure what else to add other than "Yeah, y'know how t' get us, just let us know what y'need and we'll bring it on by."

SpyderByte has posed:
Giving a nod of his head, Jeremy takes another bite of his sandwich as he chews upon it.

<< Powers can hurt us if we push too hard. They're an extension of us. It's easy for you, being that you're strong, but for mutants like us who's powers are psionic based, we have to push ourselves mentally, past our mental dams that hold us back from taking the next step. I had a little bit of help last night. It was not recommended, but it was desperation. >>

He lets out a soft sigh as he scratches the side of his neck, then licks his lips. << I will be in class tomorrow, then we can hang out and play. >>