They're coming to take me away, ha-ha...

[Bjorn]

Bjorn shrugs internally.  Taking Lazarus' suggestion of treating the mindboard as being the shield, he imagines pushing it out to envelop Mikey and himself, and then (remembering his experiences during the test) "flips" it, so that the writing surface faces inwards.

[Brian]

Lazarus looks flustered, and Mikey breaks off mid-ramble.  "Why did Old Man Lazarus get quiet?" he asks, scratching his head.

Bridgett has yet to look up from her laborious manufacture of glass spheres.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn pulls back his mindboard and flips it over again.  I take it that worked?

[Brian]

...yes. Lazarus replies, somewhat subdued.  That was somewhat unexpected.

[Bjorn]

Hm.  One more time.  I'll try to include you in the shield, this time.

As Bjorn says, he repeats the procedure, but this time including all of Mikey, Lazarus, and himself.

[Brian]

While before, Lazarus seemed surprised, he was prepared for it, though you actually feel that he's impressed through the connection.  You notice that now, it actually requires a small amount of concentration to maintain, however.

Fascinating, Lazarus sends.  I imagine this would be quite useful, if used properly.  The doctors have ... no idea that you have this ability?

[Bjorn]

Bjorn thinks.  Jessica Taylor is one of the telepaths, right?  She tried to read my mind when we first met, and had problems.  We'd better assume that they know I have some mental resistance -- but Megan seemed to imply that I'm much stronger with the bracelet, so they probably don't know just how strong I am.  They shouldn't have any reason to believe that I can shield anyone other than myself.

Bjorn draws the mindboard back to himself, and turns it out for communication.  It'd be interesting to know if I can do the same for protection against something like, say, Ashnod's pyrokinesis.  Not easy to check that, though.

So that, hopefully, will let us deal with the telepaths.  Hm.  Could you reach out to someone outside the shield when you were inside it?  And what other metahumans will we have to deal with?

And -- because I'm curious -- do you know what Bridgett is doing?

[Brian]

Jessica?  Perhaps -- I've never known her name.  I link minds, I don't read them.  When inside the shield, it was like being surrounded by a wall.  I couldn't get out, and that was ...  different.

Turning to look at Bridgett, he thinks, I don't know how to test the other, as no one here is that dangerous....

I don't know much of the metahumans that work for the Workshop, as no one's ever gotten that far before.  You can feel his annoyance at this.

I asked Bridgett, and she only said she was making a present.  I'm somewhat curious myself....

[Bjorn]

Hm.  Well, now the question is: do we take the mostly-known challenge of the front door, or do we risk the fountain?  I'm hesitant to take that route, since there's too many unknowns -- but on the other hand, the single biggest obstacle we have is the guards.  If the fountain can let us bypass them....

Hm.  One more experiment, if you'll indulge me?

After waiting for confirmation from Lazarus, Bjorn once again expands the mindboard to protect Mikey, Lazarus, and himself.  Then, though, he imagines a second mindboard, one which wraps around Bjorn's mind alone.

[Brian]

This experiment seems to work, though this one actually makes you feel like you're doing something instead of just thinking about doing something.  You hear nothing from Lazarus, and he's got a slightly anxious look about him.

[Bjorn]

Bjorn drops back to his lowered defense state.  Did that work?  Were you able to contact Mikey, and no one else?

[Brian]

Yes, Lazarus replies.  That's ... unnerving.  I'm not used to it being so 'quiet' around me..

[Bjorn]

Don't worry, I think I'm done with experiments for the day.  But now we know I should be able to isolate a telepath -- if maybe not for very long.  I could actually feeling it take effort to do that trick.  

Now, what do you think?  Front door, or fountain?

[Brian]

If we try anything, they'll seal us in, Lazarus warns.  He ponders this for a moment, and says, We also don't know if there is anything in the fountain ... and Michael certainly wouldn't get through that opening easily -- even if he fits well, it will be dark.  I would suggest that we try the door.  In a worst case situation, they will seal us in here.  We can then re-analyze our options should it become neccessary.

[Bjorn]

Good point.  Dark may not be a huge problem, though.  I think I can get the bracelet to put out light more or less at will.

Front door it is.  That leaves the question of guards -- which, unfortunately, is a big one.  Ah, well.  We need to wait for Megan, anyways, so we have time to think about it.