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| Mind Over Machine; Madison on the Shrink's Couch... | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 11 2009, 04:14 AM (296 Views) | |
| Box | Aug 11 2009, 04:14 AM Post #1 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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Timeframe: August 11th, @ 3 pm Things were changing, and they were changing fast. X-Factor had become deputized by SHIELD, and along with that came infrastructure changes and schedules and quite a bit else that had yet to fully been initiated. Needless to say, this along with his own recovery, Madison Jeffries's plate was full. He had been trying to do quite alot since recovering his missing humanity and rejoining the human race. He had attempted to be more freely conversational, to be honest and open about how he felt (to certain people of course - discerning readers can guess who), but sometimes he fell short of that goal, as tends to be true of human beings. Oddly enough, that occasional failure was as much a relief as it was a frustration, because it meant that he was capable of humanity again, with all of its flaws and defects. He worked less often, making certain to allot himself recreational time, even lifting the restrictions on Ilsa's programming that confined her to the headquarters. He would take her out for walks, leisurely walks, not just a patrol disguised as a walk, and gave open invitations for his teammates to join him... when he would gather up the nerve to ask. Overall though, Madison Jeffries was more sociable these days than his teammates had previously known him to be, and significantly so. That wasn't to say he neglected work completely. He made certain to keep regularly scheduled maintainance on the Headquarters, the Med Center, and the living quarters next door, making certain that X-Factor's civilian guests were comfortable and security was tight enough so that they could sleep sound at night knowing they were safe. Other times, inspiration struck suddenly and he had to work on it then and there. This was one of those times, and during those times, Madison had the tendency to forget the rest of the world, namely appointments with psychiatrists. |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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| Doc Samson | Aug 11 2009, 06:36 AM Post #2 |
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Gamma radiated strength, stamina
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This wasn't going to be an easy assignment, Leonard Samson decided. Not that there was ever anything easy about working with the complexities of the human mind. Samson, of course, did not agree with this 'mutants are not human' school of thought. Baseline, mutant, mutate, they were all the same when it came to their minds. Even the strongest telepath had the same mental foibles and follies as any other person, and such was how Samson viewed the world. He was a giant of man, with hair a brilliant green, and a healthy dose of gamma radiation in his blood, yet, he preferred the battlefield of the mind. He had a feeling he was going to have a fight on his hands when it came to Madison Jeffries. After all, though the man's affiliation with Alpha Flight was known to SHIELD and thus to him, Samson doubted he had told his teammates. His Alpha Flight file revealed an isolatory nature and a tendency to be close mouthed. Good things for the work he was doing with them, but SHIELD was not going to be satisfied with secrecy. Samson could frankly care less what SHIELD was satisfied with. He was not, contrary to Hodge's belief, owned by the organization. He did what he did because he was a doctor, and because it was how he felt he could help the world. Madison Jeffries might not belief it, but he needed help in reconciling what had happened to him. Hopefully, Samson would be able to give him that help. He knocked on the door frame of the basement workshop the man used, and grinned a disarming grin that lesser men had to practice to make seem so genuine. "Mr. Jeffries," he said, "You've forgotten our appointment." |
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| Box | Aug 11 2009, 06:47 PM Post #3 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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"Huh?" Madison looked up from his little project, startled at Samson's entry. It wasn't that he was snuck up on, but rather he had been so wrapped up in his work that he didn't notice. "Oh, oh right... Sorry. Having a hell of a time with an invisibility field generator here. I can get the invisible part to work just fine, but it also makes the user blind while it's active." Madison set the small cubish device down onto the table top and turned fully to face Samson. The man was gigantic, frighteningly so. Not the largest man he'd seen, but close to it. "Heh," he couldn't help but chuckle as he got to the man's hairdo. "Same barber as Miss Dane? Sorry, sorry. It was funnier in my head." He folded his arms at his chest and let out a sharp huff of breath. Psychiatry. Or psychology, whichever this was. He could never remember the difference. Either way, it was never a concept he felt comfortable with. "Guess you're here to make sure I'm not an evil minion of Apocalypse still? That I am who I say I am?" he sighed, and shrugged his shoulders. His tone was not confrontational, even though his words may have been. "Well, might as well just get it over with, I suppose, diagnose me so you can go tell Fury or Hodge or whoever's in charge up there that I'm not the bad guy." |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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| Doc Samson | Aug 11 2009, 09:48 PM Post #4 |
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Jeffries apologized and explained the problem he was having and Samson gave a light chuckle. "That's still a hell of a lot farther than I would ever get. I have a genius IQ and I can't figure out Facebook, that's how technologically inept I am." It was an exaggeration. He was actually not the shlump with tech as he played, but he knew that next to Jeffries, he was still banging rocks together to start a fire. "I have always found though that when I was stumped on a problem, that taking a few minutes to focus elsewhere helps, though, I'm sure that's not a suggestion you haven't heard before." Madison made a joke about his hair, and Samson smiled, "It's a side effect of gamma radiation poisoning, along with my size and associated powers. I used to be a brunette, 98 pound weakling. Who needs Charles Atlas when you have industrial accidents in this day and age, right?" The older man didn't seem to find the humor and he rather abruptly, though with a tired note to his voice, started in on his suspicions that he was being monitored and Samson raised his hands in the universal motion of surrender. "Slow down, Mr. Jeffries, you've entirely been misinformed about the reasons for my visit. I don't think that you're a bad guy. I understand you were examined by the X-Men's Phoenix before you were released, and that, as I've been told, was part of SHIELD's concession for not dealing with you and the others who were affected by Apocalypse's conversions. If you're walking free, then I'm satisfied that you are who you say you are. I'm just here to talk with you, to make sure that you're able to transition into the government sanction without incident or concern on either side. We're not trying to take over X-Factor, we're attempting to strengthen it, and since Hodge has the physical side handled, I'm just making sure that the mental is ready as well." |
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| Box | Aug 11 2009, 10:53 PM Post #5 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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"Facebook?" Madison asked, enough out of that particular loop to not quite be aware of the program. Sure, he had probably heard of it, but when something doesn't concern a person one way or another, they tend to forget all about it. "Gamma radiation... You mean like The Hulk..." Madison pursed his lips to the right side of his face, pondering that particular but of information. There wasn't a single person in civilized society who hadn't heard of The Hulk, and if this psychiatrist had the same affliction as The Hulk, well... This was a conversation that had to be handled delicately. The last thing anyone needed was "DOC SMASH PUNY HUMANS!" erupting from this basement. "Alright," Madison offered in concession, offering a small shrug of his shoulders. "Though I'll say this, you might be here for one reason, but SHIELD is going to use whatever information you get here for anything but that. I've had enough experience as a part of a government's pet superhero team that for everything they tell you, there's three or four things they don't tell you. And it inevitably makes the shit hit the fan once the superheroes find out what they've been not allowed to see. I'm not opposed to working with SHIELD, I just know enough to know how badly they can bungle this partnership." Perhaps he was coming across as paranoid, but he had, after all, found out not too long ago that Alpha Flight members, himself included, were being more or less lent out to Weapon X as retrieval agents under the pretense that their targets were dangers to society at large, which most of them were not. It seemed that for every Sabretooth, you had two or three escapees who were earnest and heroic, and to take that away and return them to mindless weapons was just wrong. "So ask your questions, Doctor." |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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| Doc Samson | Aug 12 2009, 03:30 AM Post #6 |
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Gamma radiated strength, stamina
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Facebook didn't ring a bell, but gamma radiation did. Madison looked at him with a look of suspicion that was barely disguised. Clearly visions of rampaging sugarplums were dancing in Box's head, at this moment and Samson slipped his hands, casually into the pockets of the jeans he was wearing. "Well, yes, my abilities do stem from the same radiations as caused the Hulk, but there is a difference there. The curious thing about gamma poisoning is that it has the strange effect of transforming the afflicted's outsides into a representation of what their internal desires or fears happen to be. The man who is the Hulk, in his normal form, is a man of tightly bound angers, stifled beneath great intellect. His gamma poisoning causes him to be a rampaging brute because he has no true understanding of who he is inside, which is a shame. I, on the other hand, have a complete comprehension of my mental state, and therefore, was able to dictate my gamma form. So. while, yes, my abilities have the same origin, the differences are vast." Madison went on to reveal his true feelings about the government sanction and Samson nodded, "Oh, I completely agree. Director Hodge is a driven man, but he lacks the diplomacy of Colonel Fury, god rest him. He's... going to take some getting used to, but his intentions remain to make the world a safe and secure place. How we work together will dictate how that happens." "So ask your questions, Doctor." was Box's reply. "It's not a survey," Samson said, "A question and answer. We're having a chat, that's all. Though I will ask how you're feeling." |
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| Box | Aug 12 2009, 03:44 AM Post #7 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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"Mm-hmm," Madison said once Samson started explaining the nature of his... 'poisoning', though what type of poisoning left a man stronger than anyone could possibly get with a human physique? Must be one hell of a poison. "We'll see about that. I'm not entirely convinced that most people get to positions of power out of a sense of philanthropy. They get to positions of power because they want power. Because they like power. Making the world a better place tends to be an unexpected byproduct that is then just used to gain more power. 'I saved the world, vote for me'. 'I saved the world, promote me'," Madison casually strode over to a pile of scrap on the floor as he spoke, picking out a few pieces of sheet metal and warping them until they became two wheeled chairs and then gently pushed one in Samson's direction before wheeling the other back to where he was by the table and then sitting down. "I'm doing as well as can be expected, I guess," Madison said with a shrug of his shoulders. "I mean, it's been tough, adjusting to a physical form again. Had to relearn a few basic things, like how to hold a pen, how to eat food, how to fall asleep... but I've had support even when I haven't asked for it, but things are alright, I guess..." |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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| Doc Samson | Aug 12 2009, 04:08 AM Post #8 |
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Gamma radiated strength, stamina
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"Rather like coming out of a coma, perhaps, muscles atrophying from disuse," Samson mused, "Clearly there was no intellectual impairment, though, so that's a definite bonus. Seems though that my information about was wrong. I was told you tended to be closed mouthed, and hard to get to open up, and yet, you've basically just told me that my job is shit, my boss is a dictator, and that even what makes me a mutate is a load of bull puckey. I'd hate to see what you would be like if you were a vocal sort of person." Samson looked around the basement and said, "How large is this basement? It seems to me that your workshop here fully takes up half of it. I've been told that Madrox and Carosella also have rooms down here, so I'm thinking your own living quarters have to be fairly sparse. Not a man who lolls about in comfort and luxury, then, are you? I can't say as that surprises me. You strike me as old military, do you get me? Career soldier. Interesting, don't you think that as the world becomes progressively stranger and more difficult that our soldiers and heroes are now men and women with super abilities? Is that a result of the dangers being greater, or are the powers the cause of the danger themselves?" He took a seat cross his legs, right ankle over left knee, clasped hands on his right calf. "Or we could just talk about your childhood. Tell me about your mother." |
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| Box | Aug 12 2009, 04:46 AM Post #9 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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"There's an intellectual impairment alright - maybe not, but it feels like one. There wasn't much I couldn't have instant knowledge of when I was... that thing. I wasn't much aside from cold, calculating intellect, so yeah, I'd say I took a hit there too," Madison was a bit surprised at the assessment that he was chatty, and thought about it for a moment. "Huh. I guess I'm talking a bit more than I usually do, then. Not sure why. I think you're getting me wrong on what I've said, though. Your job is, I'm sure, useful to some people. SHIELD I think, is really looking for you to find things they can use against us if they have to. It was Gary Cody's tactic back when he was Alpha Flight's liason. Pay minute attention to us and then use that as leverage when he wanted something... questionable. As far as your power, you tell me gamma rays and I think of The Hulk. That's not exactly dismissing you, is it?" Madison glanced around as Samson asked about the living arrangements. "It's big enough. It's one basement stretching underneath both buildings, really. This one and the Boarding House we own and manage next door. Honestly, I could spare more space if I had to. That's my quarters right there," he said pointing to the hammock hanging between two support beams. "Save a little bit of space for personal effects and everything else is viable work space." Now the doctor was delving into personal history. Madison shuffled in his seat a bit, and leaned back into the chair. "Not really old military, just... well, my dad was army, grandpa was a mountie. I picked military on a whim. Probably wouldn't have mattered too much because my powers manifested once I got to basic training and I got swept up into Hudson's little project, Department H. And I don't think the powers are the threat. Not our powers at least. The threat's stuff like Apocalypse, like people willing to strap bombs to their chests and blow themselves up so long as they can take a whole lot of their so-called enemies with them, or people like the Hellfire Club, playing along with the good guys until they get their dirty hands on something that they shouldn't, something that could destroy this entire planet. That's the threat. Powers are just the universe's way of evening the odds." His eyes narrowed slightly at the mention of his mother. "Not much to say about my mother. She was good to me, didn't like me following in dad's footsteps, but now they've got a nice place to retire in thanks to my years of service, so she doesn't complain. Haven't talked to her in a while." |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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| Doc Samson | Aug 13 2009, 04:24 AM Post #10 |
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"Powers are the Universe's way of evening the odds," Samson mused, "An interesting theory. So, then there is some sort of fate? A predestined order of things. That would explain the rise in mutantism, maybe, an evolutionary boost brought about by a natural need for immense leaps in physical design, but how does that explain mutates? After all, most of us received our powers via accidents, or mistakes. I would hate to think that there was some kind of cosmic puppeteer dictating my life and that I was destined to have my very dna altered to make me simultaneously more and less human. It might make me start questioning all those years I spent in a scratchy pair of short pants getting my knuckles rapped by Sister Mary Michael." He spread his hands and said, "Besides, if you think it is all the universe's doing, then why fight it? Why bother to try and make a difference? Just sit back and let the powers take care of everything. But then it comes up to the problem of how we would stop people like Apocalypse, like the Hellfire Club. You clearly believe that what you do matters, or else you wouldn't do it. So then, you tell me, Mr. Jeffries, where does that leave us? Does the Universe even us out, or do we do it ourselves?" |
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| Box | Aug 13 2009, 06:08 AM Post #11 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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"I don't know about destiny or anything like that. I just think it's telling that the more dire things get, the more superhumans show up. I mean, when do we have the first documented case of the superhero? World War II. It just seems like the two go hand in hand. Global peril and super powered champions ready to save the world." Madison took a deep breath, and brought his right hand up to his mouth for a moment, and shook his head slightly. "But we are the powers. If we sit back and do nothing, who's gonna step up? It's... a responsibility. Like that one superhero guy you have here in the states... the one in the red and blue... name eludes me... like he said in that news show they had the other night... 'with great power comes great responsibility'. Don't really recall what he was doing on the news, but I remember what he said. Put the concept into focus. It's what it all boils down to, really. If you've got the power, you've got the abilities, then it's your responsibility to do something good with that power. Whether it's kicking the crap out of a 'super villain' or just helping people who need a place to live." |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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| Doc Samson | Aug 13 2009, 10:09 AM Post #12 |
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Gamma radiated strength, stamina
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Samson folded his arms and said, "Sounds like you're one of the good guys, after all, Mr. Jeffries. Who woulda thunk it?" He smirked, "It's a good philosophy, I think. One that I think sums up this growing culture of superheroism. It seems to me that you've got your head screwed on pretty tightly, even if you believe there was some damage," He rose and offered the man his hand, "I think I should leave you to your work, but I would like to talk to you again, sometime. Perhaps under less regimented circumstances?" He turned to leave and said, "SHIELD will try to use you as you let them use you, Mr. Jeffries. It's the nature of the government, any government, to exploit in the name of the 'good of the people.' Remembering Spider-Man's motto might help you keep your priorities clear, even if they try to manipulate you as you fear. Good day, sir." He headed up out of the basement, making notes in his head as he went. His job was not to judge, despite what those who were reluctant to see him expected. He was simply to observe and see what was really being said. And, sometimes people spoke volumes without realizing it. |
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| Box | Aug 13 2009, 06:54 PM Post #13 |
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Mechanical Interaction/Merge
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"Um... Well, thanks then..." Madison said, standing up as Samson did and reaching out for a quick handshake. The meeting hadn't gone as expected, but in this case, that was a much better thing than if expectations were met. He just hoped that Samson really was as straight a shooter as he claimed to be. He found himself concerned over some things, though - clearly, the man was evaluating the entirr team, and that could prove problematic in some cases. The twins, in particular, Summers, even Miss Dane... Was he here to suggest restructuring? Make sure only the most level headed and stable members of the group were on hand and the more off-kilter ones were removed? What of the ones who worked for Magneto? Would that be held against them? Madison shook his head lightly, in a physical manifestation of "Don't worry so much about it" and, as Samson suggested, he got back to work. Perhaps realigning the central light refractor lens could work, shifting its placement five degrees to the left... No, no. Might have to settle for partial invisibility. Or perhaps that was the wrong way to go about it... Instant camoflauge? The prospect required more thought, planning. |
![]() Signature mock-up made by Heather, the greatest Heather I know. :) Oh it's tough bein' a Box, but I'm livin' it up, livin' it up - doot-doot-doot-doot-doo - livin' it up, livin' it up - BOX! | |
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