Butterfly Apocalypse: The OT%

The Library at Home is quite a sight to be seen. The entire place is painted in a light blue with white undertones. The floor has a matching blue carpeting that is so comfortable, most Butterflies care to walk around barefoot on it. The ceilings are three stories tall and the walls lined with books that go all the way to the top. Seeing as how communication and therefore the internet is mute in Home, the books serve as an old fashioned tool for information gathering. As such the entire area is spread into three levels with a series of categories. When Beat first discovered the Library she found the seemingly old room to have no real identification system placed for the books. As she spent her time there she found that no matter what the subject, she could find it in the Library. Something that she originally figured was oriented around the convenient nature of Home. But when the others tried to do the same, it was near impossible. It was clear this was a part of her ability. Beat had connected with an eidetic memory associated to Home. If she didn't know something, she knew how to find information on it. Between that and the Hivemind they all shared, Beat had become the Butterflies' walking internet. As such she spend most of her time in the Library looking up anything she could find. Especially information on Help3r or Roivas.
On this particular day Mesay was helping Beat analyze the logs they had gathered from the past year. The two had poured over them all day. Pages and pages spread out over a large table between two of the bookcases on the first floor. They were interrupted by Izzie, running into the Library and up to where they were working.

"Beat! Mesay!", Izzie hollered. She had stopped just short of them and tried to catch her breath. Mesay rose from her seat.

"Izzie, catch your breath. What's going on?", Mesay insisted.

Just then an odd sound came from around the corner of the nearest bookcase. It almost sounded like the combination of a breeze and roaring flame.

"That.", Izzie finally offered.

The three quickly rushed over to the origin of the sound and found a taller man in his early thirties. He was in a simple t-shit and jeans and was surrounded in an odd oval of burnt carpet. Curled in the fetal position he coughed and shook.

"Paul!", Beat and Mesay yelled.

"Yeah, Paul. He's a butterfly now.", Izzie explained.

Beat and Mesay helped him sit up. Paul looked around wide eyed and shocked. His eyes glowed a bright blue before dimming down to his natural color.

"Beat? Mesay? Izzie? Where the hell am I?"

"Home.", Beat responded with a smile.

"Paul, what possessed you to become a butterfly?"

"Mesay!", Izzie scolded. "Come on, its Paul. You can't tell me you aren't super excited to see him."

"Well yeah but....This is still a dangerous gig Banana. I was hoping not to have to worry about anyone else.", Mesay confessed.

"Hey...", Paul started to get up. "Don't think you were the only one who was worrying." Paul wobbled and almost fell again. Beat and Izzie caught him and helped him over to the table with the spread out logs. Mesay lingered for a second and knelled examining the scorch marks. She had seen a number of butterflies transported via Roivas power. But never like this before. Mesay stood up and walked to the others. Paul was sitting in one of the chairs and grabbed his head.

"So that's the catch huh? Dizzy as hell and I'm not even tipsy.", Paul quipped. "Where am I again?"

The three caught up Paul to the situation and to his new home.

"Wow. Well....that explains a lot.", Paul said.

A blond, long haired woman with a hat and glasses ran into the Library. Followed by A dark, short haired woman with various tattoos and thick gloves on her hands.

"We came a soon as we heard.", Joie said as she adjusted her glasses from the run.

"So, Paul. Now your just as screwed as the rest of us huh?", Xuch jabbed.

"That's what I was saying.", Mesay agreed.

"What do you mean you heard?", Paul asked. "Oh...hivemind. For real huh?"

"Yup!", Joie smiled.

"Well isn't this just peachy. We got the old gang back together. One more trip into hell right guys?", Xuch asked.

"I sure as shit hope not. I got better things to do.", Mesay answered. "Paul, can you walk? You should have something to eat. Your going to get really hungry soon. Trust me on that."

"Yeah, the dizziness if fading a bit."

"Let me help you.", Xuch offered.

The six of them left the Library and escorted Paul into the Mess Hall. In the kitchen they all decided to fix a little something for themselves. Paul was amazed at the availability of nearly anything he wanted. But everyone was fixing sandwiches and he still too confused to bother being picky. Izzie handed him one as the others started to talk about their current situation. As Paul bit into the sandwich he didn't feel satisfied. In fact it wasn't anything like he really wanted. Something warm like comfort food would of set him right. As he took another bite he nearly spit out his food. The cold cuts were now hot, and the bread soggy from warm melted cheese that dripped on his fingers. Paul put down the sandwich and got up to grab a towel. Wiping the mess off his hands he wondered what happened to his food. Suddenly the towel smoked and singed where he was touching it. Izzie first noticed the odd behavior. It wasn't a moment later that everyone else did too as Paul panicked at the now burning towel in his hands. He dropped it quickly as Beat ran over to help. She stomped on the fire until it was out then reached out to Paul's hands to inspect them for burns. She grabbed his hands then in the same instant quickly pulled away. She looked down and saw her now burnt fingers.

"Get to the sink! Put your hands under cold water!", Izzie was already at the sink as she yelled and had the water running. Beat got there first and started to cool her hands. Paul followed but as his hands hit the water there was a loud hiss. Izzie and Beat both backed off to avoid the hot steam now pluming from the sink.
They all stood in amazement for a moment.

"Paul! Take you hands out of the water!", Mesay yelled. Grabbing a pair of hot mitts from the oven she walked over to Paul. She put the mitts on and when the steam had mostly dissipated, started inspecting Paul's hands. No burns, no singeing, no black, no damage at all. She removed her hands when the mitts started to smoke.

"Guys...what the hell is going on?", Paul demanded.

"Calm down Paul.", Mesay insisted.

"How can I calm down when everything I touch gets burned!" From Paul's hands grew two small fires. They licked and encircled his hands. He didn't even notice it.

Mesay motioned for Izzie and Beat to back off as she did the same. "Paul, just listen a second. There is something we didn't tell you about yet."

"What?", Paul desperately requested. The flames dissipated and fizzled out. Paul looked at his hands again and saw the smoldering heat rise up from them.

"There is another odd circumstance to being a butterfly. Apparently we all have received some kind of ability or another. When you enter Home the way you did. They tend to be a little more intense.", Mesay explained.

"Are you saying I got here differently than you?", Paul asked.

"Not me.", Mesay answered. "Some of us got here by plane or train or car. Others were transported here. By Roivas. Do you remember anything that happened before you got to Home?"

The imagery flashed though Paul's mind. He didn't remember much.

There was black.
                                              Then little points of light.
                                                                                                        Some odd form watching.

The next thing he knew he woke up in this strange place with all his friends surrounding him.

"I don't....not much. I don't remember much.", Paul tried to use words for the memory but it was too far out of reach.

"It's alright Paul. None of us do really.", Mesay comforted. "I know this is a lot to take in but I promise, you have everyone here to help you with whatever you need. And Home provides the rest. In a way, it's kinda fun."

"Yeah I mean come on guys. We basically have superpowers. We're fucking superheroes!", Xuch proclaimed.

That made everyone pause a second. Real superheroes. Real abilities. It really wasn't until now that they had grasped the full extend of their situation. Everything came so easy at Home that they found themselves not questioning much. And that scared them more than anything. One of the biggest fears they all had was becoming some kind of mindless puppets of Roivas. What better way than to give them all a treat. Something for their trouble. What exactly was the endgame here? And when would they need to do something more than just sit around and wait?

Mesay broke the silence. "Beat why don't you go find Blue and get that burn fixed up."

"Alright." Beat walked off in search for Blue.

Mesay took one hand out of a mitt. "I'm sorry Paul." She took her hand and tested it against Paul's. When she found it cool she took the other mitt off, grabbed his hands, and squeezed giving a soft smile.

"Sorry?", Paul asked. "For awesome superpowers and a trip through space and time? I should of signed up sooner. It figures you guys would be having all the fun while I sit at home and go to work."

Paul's quip took any heaviness off the group and made it disappear.

"OT% for life right?", Paul offered.

Mesay smiled, "Damn strait."

They all laughed and hugged at that. Even Beat could be heard laughing and joking along with them.

"This actual Hivemind thing is going to take a while for me to get used to though.", Paul admitted.