Microstory 152: Drummond Breckenridge

This is an experimental Bellevue Profile microstory. The introduction can be found in Microstory 101. More to follow.

There was only one survivor of an extremely famous plane crash. It was famous for having crashed on The Day of No Death, and also because a second plane fell at the exact same spot a year later, for a somewhat related reason. It was Drummond Breckenridge’s ability that kept him alive. Just before the plane started falling, he noticed that every single other passenger fell asleep all at once. He had assumed this to be the cause of the crash, but chose to tell no one of his suspicions. Drummond’s body has an enhanced survival extinct, capable of neutralizing a threat in four separate ways. He was always known to have a silver tongue, and could convince anyone of just about anything reasonably believable, but there were three defense mechanisms that he did not yet know about. While the plane was tumbling from the sky, a protective shell formed around his entire body, freezing him in place until the danger had passed. This cocoon is virtually impenetrable, and will only reopen once it has completed its job. Fortunately, it reopened before medical responders had arrived on the scene of the crash. Drummond discovered his third defense at a moment when he was overwhelmed by the media. They were hounding him, and trying to figure out why he and he alone survived, and why on that day. His body reacted and sent him nearly a kilometer away at superspeed. He could never run as fast as Luka Drake, but no other human could match his land speed. The final defense was the absolute most dangerous one. The government department that had been protecting the mutants on an island uncovered evidence of Drummond’s ability, and attempted to read him into the situation. He felt too vulnerable and trapped to respond using his first three defenses. There was no talking his way out of this one. If he formed his cocoon, they would just be able to wait him out. There were too many agents for him to run from. His body reacted with its only choice: fight. Drummond transformed mentally, but not physically, into a wild beast. He tore through the team one by one, killing most of them, and injuring what was left only because he wasn’t in control enough to realize that they were still alive. He eventually recovered, and a smaller team went in using a different tactic. They urged him to control his abilities, especially the violent one. His flight response kicked in after the conversation, however, and the government never caught up with him. He made his way to Bellevue before they revealed themselves to the world, despite not being contacted by them. But it was a dark time for them, and he immediately felt just as alone as he had for the last several months. It was not until later that he found his place as a physical education teacher.