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The Things Inside of Us; Beast, Sonny, Nat'ren, Freakshow
Topic Started: Jun 24 2012, 01:08 AM (518 Views)
Freakshow
Unregistered

Late Evening, after A Defense of Intuitions.

Aided from the battlefield that was once the lawn outside of Utopia, it now resembled a graveyard, the towering skeleton of the monster the Brood had made him still in death. What had once been the embodiment of the vitality of an entire species now lay in strands of misshapen deposits of calcium and taut leather over bone and tendon. In the aftermath, the Genoshan was exhausted, a little worse for wear, but himself.

And that was the most important part, wasn't it?

He had not yet mustered the strength to alter his head, the burns and bruising of the combined assault of Cyclops' full powered beam and the plasmic blast of Sunspot leaving their mark. One eye had been swollen shut, the other painful to open, but the sedatives that had been given to him reduced it enough to open one eye when needed.

Kevin did not like this room. Makeshift as it was compared to the other at the mansion, it still resembled something Kevin did not like. It was too clean, too unnatural. He remembered some place like this in Genosha, a place where they were brought in and tested for mutations, deeming them worthy of a life of servitude or no life at all.

His stomach was unsettled when he saw Beast with the platter of syringes.

He hated needles.

And he wanted another sandwich.

"I missed the meeting," Kevin said. While he had a proper excuse, part of him still felt like he should have been there. He had been part of the problem, part of the Brood. "Yeh all think of anything? About why..." he almost said 'we', the imprint of the Brood still lingering even after the fact. "... I turned back? I remember... There were so many voices. I tried yelling but I could barely hear my own thoughts. It was like what I... what I normally deal with, sort of. I don't really know how to say it."

Words had never been something he knew how to use all that well. And after what he had been through, he wasn't really sure if he was actually saying what he thought.
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Beast
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Since the meeting he had asked for a few to meet with him as per Scott's suggestion, Kevin Zaan aka Freakshow, Sonny Bean aka Grendel, as well as the Skrull impersonator of Artie Maddicks, Nat'ren. The latter told them that his species had devolved to become immune to the infectious Brood's control to become something between man and beast, something that Hank believed he was intimately aware of, as well as several other mutants were. However what was it in the genetics of those who could walk the lines of both man and animal that made control difficult for the Brood to master? A regressed resilience or immune system? It was true that many of those kissed with the feral blessing seemed to also gain an inhuman healing ability that was not even found in neanderthal cousins of homo sapiens with their atavistic evolution. Perhaps that was the key?

There were few in number of ferals on Utopia, especially with Rahne and Jack's infection. He contemplated the reason why they were infected if they had this ability to shift between man and beast and what was between? What he figured, it was due to the fact that they were infected while in their human state, transformed and their mutations were shut off prior to their ability to change into a state harder, if not impossible. Then again there was the issue that Kevin Zaan's own infection and later reversion to his normal state that conflicted with that theory. Perhaps the feral mutant's already regressive state was not regressive enough? It only merely offered a limited capacity to resist or revert compared to those who possessed no animal traits?

These questions would need to be answered by comparative genetic tests that he planned to run between the three he had gathered, including himself.

"A few theories Mr. Zaan." Hank responded to the young man's questioning, briefly looking over the outer recovery of the megamorph from the ordeal. "The current theory is that your mutation is likely the reason why you were able to revert to your normal self after infection. Your bestial side and ability to change likely saved you." He looked at the syringes for a moment before back to Kevin. "It is unfortunately still a theory and not yet a fact, which is why for the sake of everyone I need to run tests on you as well as..." Hank turned around and looked at the door.

"Boys come in please."
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Sonny
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Throws One Mean Tantrum
Sonny felt a weird mixture of regretfulness and annoyance as he walked in just in front of Naturn, or Natree or however you said his name. He'd maybe gotten a bit rough with him, when he'd shown up, but then again, the thing was trying to kill him.

Sonny'd had enough of people trying to kill him. That was why he was only kind of regretful.

Still, this kid had been a friend to him since he'd come here, even if it was only for fake. There was something in that, maybe. And Beanie couldn't get it out of his train of thought that just maybe he wanted friends more than he wanted to betray them, else he would have done it like a ninja and killed them all while they weren't looking instead of trying it while they were.

That's how real ninjas worked, right?

When he'd been told to go to Beast in the doctor's office, he'd been worried, especially when he found out he'd be going with Nat'ren. He didn't particularly like the doctors. He got bigger needles than most, his skin harder and tougher to poke. And that was fuel for grumpy thoughts that people like Miss Rahne and Miss Jean thought it would be best for him to avoid.

But now Miss Rahne was in trouble. What kind of trouble he wasn't really sure. Sonny wasn't slow but he wasn't the brightest bulb in the box, either, and he tended to believe what he was told, so when Mr. Scott had said it'd all turn out well, he nodded, bucked up, and trudge off with him to fetch Nat'ren and go to Doctor McCoy's.

"Okay, we're in." he said. "Can I just get my shot and go?"

He looked to Kevin.

"Holy CRAP!" He shouted. "What happened to you? Did you get beat up by those things?!"
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Artie
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Holographic Projection
Nat'ren was still a prisoner, but now he was a valuable one. Not that the X-Men had treated him badly, no not at all. They were honorable, and strangely compassionate, and young Nat'ren was puzzled by it. He didn't know the words or the reasoning. The moralities and intricacies of superheroism escaped him because it was not the way of his people. His people who had turned the evolutionary clock backwards in order to save themselves. The Queen had told them that they were the rightful rulers of this planet, but how could they be when they were less than they were before? It was all very confusing to the young warrior.

He had been escorted here by Sonny and as the other boy came for him, Nat'ren looked up at him, "I'm sorry I tried to hurt you. I... probably wouldn't really have killed you, you know, you or Molly. I had orders not to be discovered and that stupid rose... " He bit his lip worriedly, "Did the rose die? Did I kill him? I didn't want to. This is all just so messed up."

They entered the infirmary and Nat'ren saw Kevin. He was very very beaten up. Mr. Scott had said that Kevin had somehow beaten the Brood, turned back into a person. That was impossible, but then look at him here. He was bruised and battered, but he looked like himself again. How was that possible? Mr. Scott thought there was a way to make a cure. He thought many things. How come everyone thought that he was right? These X-Men... they were so confusing to the little warrior. It was one of the main reasons he convinced his queen to let him seal them in here.

Of course, he never would have done it if he knew that they were going to unleash the Brood.

This was all too complicated for words.

"Am I going to have to go back into that tent, Dr. McCoy? I promise, I won't run away or anything. There's nowhere for me to go."
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Freakshow
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The Genoshan's brow furrowed into a knot. His powers were suspect, but honestly he didn't see why. His powers had only ever made him bigger and until recent months, they did not often give him the baser instincts of the monster. They were strong, they could eat, they could devour and move boulders with ease, but this sort of thing was different. The Brood were a disease of sorts, a parasitic legion uniformed minds that twisted whatever they infected into abominations. He remembered being that thing, the titanic Brood that tried to destroy the temple. He watched it all, stuck inside of his own body, unable to do anything to stop it.

He looked down at his hand, flexing his digits, just to make sure they were still under his control.

"Hn..."

Kevin looked over to the door when Beast spoke for the other boys to come in. Sonny, the young Morlock that had come to them just before the biosphere locked itself to Earth, was first. Grendel, he was also called. Like Kevin himself, Sonny shifted into a sort of monster, albeit not in the variety of his own.

The boy shouted, the sound making a pounding in Kevin's head rise up. "Sort of," he replied. "I guess I was one of them. I turned back for some reason."

Behind Sonny, however, was the green-skinned imposter. The Genoshan tried to hide the glare from his one good eye at the little green thing. Seeing it put a foul taste in his mouth.

Kevin took the liberty of rolling up his sleeve to expose his elbow, tensing his hand repeatedly to find the vein. He knew what to do.

"Fokkin' hate needles," he grumbled low, just waiting for it to be over with.
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Beast
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The boys entered and Hank greeted both of them with a warm smile despite the dark situation that the inhabitants of Utopia were facing. Even Nat'ren was welcomed with the smile the doctor was known for when dealing with his patients. While Hank still treated the young alien boy with caution, he could not condemn him for his actions, from what the X-men have gathered since the reveal, it was not of Nat'ren's own will to do what he had done. He had been quite helpful with the coming of the Brood however, if a bit unsure or uneducated compared to these "old guys" he kept mentioning. Hank put it away for later to make a note of asking the young boy more about that.

"Yes, Kevin here did become one of the Brood momentarily, yet as he stated he was able to revert back to his normal self that you see before him. It is partly the reason I asked for you two to come as well." Beast explained to the young boys. "But I suppose with something as horrible as needles dancing in front of us all we should cut the suspense and get it over with. I promise it will be the least painful expierence with needles you have ever had, they are special needles that I designed myself less painful and able to get through even some of the thickest of skin." He explained to the three children who at least two of them showed anxiety about the procedure.

Hank went to grab the first syringe, which he had already labeled Zaan, K.. "Normally I would offer a piece of candy or a twinkie...but I am unfortunately fresh out." He attempted at making some joke to ease them, but with what was going on, even he had trouble finding humor in his own attempts. Hank looked at Kevin's arm, wrapping it with small piece of surgical tubing to highlight the vein before lightly pressing the needle of the syringe which was a bit shorter than the average medical syringe's needle, and like he had said earlier it went in with a fraction of the pain. The design of them were based off of a Japanese medical supplies new design which was modeling their syringes off of a mosquito's proboscis which had microscopic edges along it which allowed it to slip easier between the skin cells undetected. Beast began drawing blood from the young man until it was half way full before removing it and quickly dabbing clean and bandaging the entry wound.

"That wasn't so bad was it? Sonny you're next." Hank said and would begin to preform the same treatment on the young Morlock boy. He used a little more pressure than he had with Kevin to get the needle in but it was still less than a typically shaped needle would have been. Finally Hank turned to Nat'ren. "You're next if you wish to donate a sample of your blood to see if we can find a way to transfer your species immunity to the rest of us here. It would be very helpful, but if you do not wish to do so I understand." Hank said offering the green scaled boy the opportunity to choose for himself what he wanted. He had the feeling the boy would choose to stop the Brood after the story he told the X-Men earlier, but the chance to decline was there as well. "As for going back to the tents since I seemed to neglect your question earlier...It is Scott's decision, but I do think with how things have changed recently I don't think you will. If you help me in any way you can I will make sure I can put in a good word for you Nat'ren, I promise."
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Sonny
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Throws One Mean Tantrum
On the way in, Sonny'd forgiven the green kid, even if he wasn't sure he one-hundred percent meant it. He had tried to kill them, even if he said he wouldn't have, he was gonna.

"I dunno," Said Sonny about the Rose. "Maybe you should ask his friends." It was smug and not exactly friendly, but Sonny didn't feel particularly friendly towards him. He was supposed to be nice to him, Mr. Scott's orders, but he could be nice without being friendly, he figured.

Once inside, childish spite faded though, and after some brief introductory boring sciency-blahblahblah from Doctor Hank, he began to prick arms. Sonny reluctantly gave his arm up, wincing as the needle punctured his extra-tough skin. Despite the things design, his skin was designed to keep things from getting past it. As much as it hurt, though, it probably hurt less than what happened to Kevin.

Sonny was nowhere as big or strong as Kevin could be, but he still didn't want to imagine what would happen if that big mean thing inside him turned into an even bigger, meaner monster.

Beast moved on to Nat'ren, trying to speak nice to him, telling him he was probably on their side by proxy now. Grendel nodded with certainty. "He's right, if you're cool then you'll help us anyway. Who doesn't wanna be an X-Man, right?"

He used to want to be writer, now he wanted to be an X-Man.

Sonny moved over to Kevin, looked him up and down. "Does your eyeball hurt?"

It was kind of a dumb question, but it was really all he could think of while they waited for Doctor Hank to do whatever it was he was going to do with their collected blood.

"I mean, er, sorry."

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Artie
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Holographic Projection
Nat'ren watched as Dr McCoy worked, and his eyes locked on Kevin's battered face. When Dr McCoy asked him to give blood, he held out his skinny little arm and waited for it to be over, as sad expression in his yellow and black eyes. "Do you think it will work?" he asked, quietly, biting on his lower lip at the sting of the needle. The Doctor said it wasn't supposed to hurt, but it did. It was a needle. Needles always hurt.

"You know that I don't hate you, right?" he asked the other boys, asked the doctor, "You know that I don't hate your people. It's just the way things are, the way they have to be." He looked down at his toes and he said, "Maybe if you kill the Brood, the Queen will let you live. You can be part of us. It'll be good, I promise. The Queen isn't really as scary as everyone thinks, if you're loyal."

But there was a note of trying to convince himself more than anything else. He didn't believe that even if they all cured the Brood Virus, even if they gave everything they ever could, if they saved the whole race of Skrulls, it was mostly going to be that they would be killed, and Nat'ren was pretty sure that he was going to be killed too.

"Do you think you can save them?" Nat'ren asked, "Save Miss Rahne and... and Marrow... the others?" There was a slight hitch in his voice, and then he said, "Maybe if you cure everyone, we can stay here in the Savage Land, and you can get all of your people back and you can live here where it's safe. You wanted to be safe away from the humans right? Because they want to kill you? If you all stay here then you are safe, and my Queen can have the rest of the world, because once you cure the Brood... then there's nothing else that is scary here, nothing that you can't fight."
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Freakshow
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That was probably the only issue Kevin had here besides needles and the Skrull child, no candy or food. His stomach grumbled, his endless appetite groaning in protest about sitting there and being subjected to shots. While he was sure Hank would do his best to make it easier, it didn't help Kevin at all as soon as the surgical tubing was wrapped around his arm. Palm tightening, the vein bulged, waiting for the sharp needle to draw blood.

He felt sick as soon as the syringe was lifted and pressed to his arm. It didn't hurt much, nothing more than a minor pinch, but over-all it wasn't too bad. Seeing the needle was always worse than actually having it in there. Accustomed to pain, it was an easy procedure. Just knowing that there was a little sharp thing impaling through the skin and drawing out blood was the problem there.

"Hn," he grunted in response as soon as the needle was pulled out. A bit of blood pooled where the wound was, no more than a droplet. The doctor wiped it away and bandaged it, the last bit being something Kevin could have lived without. Every band-aid only served to be annoying as all Hell later when it got tugged off, ripping out the hairs and everything. Then those dropped off into a rubbery, limp thing usually found in the shower. Even Kevin found that gross.

Rubbing his hand over the bandage, Kevin sat up and shifted off the cot, turning his one good eye back at Sonny.

"Who doesn't wanna be an X-Man, right?"

Kevin didn't offer an answer to that question

"Yeah," Kevin responded dryly with a wince to Sonny's next question. "It feels like Cyclops blasted me in the face and like that other guy gave me a bad sunburn. When I'm not tired I'll fix it."

Kevin's face curled a bit in distaste of the Skrull. The kid claimed not to hate them, yet he had taken Artie and replaced him and, from what Kevin knew, there were many others doing the same all across the world.

"I don't feel like living on a 'maybe' that yehr Queen I ain't ever fokkin' heard of might let us live. She comes anywhere near us with her prawns, I'll eat the lot of them," the Genoshan growled. "Yeh took Artie yehrself, Nat'ren. Even their kids are being used as soldiers. Doesn't matter if yeh don't hate us, yehr people do. Just because one of them might be..." He searched for the word. "Might be someone who isn't that bad, doesn't mean the rest are. We won't stay here, either. Utopia isn't our home and we've got people who need the X-Men. Bad enough we came here to stay away from the Purifiers, I don't plan on staying and leaving my home the way it is."

It was pretty obvious Kevin was not comfortable around the Skrull, or maybe it should be the other way around. Folding his arms over his chest, Kevin watched as the other boys had their blood drawn as well.

"How exactly do yeh think taking our blood is going to help?" Kevin asked Beast. "I know its got the -- what did Miss Sinclair call it... -- DNA and such, but how do yeh expect to take the monsters I turn into and making them a cure?"
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Beast
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Blood was drawn from the three boys, the doctor marked each individual sample with their names before taking a fourth syringe, prepping his own arm and taking a sample of himself. He did not exactly have the same qualities of the other three, but if atavistic genetics were the key, then it was best to have a broad search for what could save everyone's life from the Brood. Especially with two others he would have used in the search were now a part of the Brood's army. For now.

"Sonny, while I admire the sentiment, being an X-Man is not something everyone should look forward to becoming. The X-Gene does not mean one must be an X-Man or even a member of the Brotherhood. You could be anything if you wanted, though I'm sure you, Kevin or anyone would make a fine X-Man." Hank explained with a half smile as he took the gathered samples of blood to a machine and began connecting one sample after another before beginning to press a few keys on the computer.

Then he reached into one of the bags he had with him and pulled out a bottle, opening it and shaking it once to get a pill out. "Take this for the pain Kevin, it's not much but it should help some." Hank offered as he mentioned the blast from Cyclops and Sunspot.

"Kevin is right however, Nat'ren. The X-Men only came to the Savage Land because our true home was destroyed, though currently in repair. While it is a wonderous place filled with beauty up until recent events... it is not our home, and I don't think anyone could ever really view it as such while there still remains the foundation to Xavier's School." Hank explained. "People need us, all across the world, and we will be there. To protect the rights of mutants, humans, and anyone else who needs us."

Hank looked back at the screen for a moment to see if there were any results yet, there were not, but he suspected that it would be too soon considering he was running for comparative results between four different samples.

"Yes I do believe we will find a cure, and there is the potential for that cure to lie within our genetics. The four of us, more like the three of you." Hank explained. "Each of you posses a similar ability, shape-shifting combined with more regressive traits not found in humans let alone most mutants, or in your case Nat'ren, the Nuwali as you explained earlier." He explained. "What I am looking for is a specific trait within the four of our genetic coding that is common, something that I can use to create a cure that can be distributed to the entire population for immunity or at least a resistance to the parasitic Brood." Then he looked at Sonny. "I have been meaning to ask, have you felt any symptoms, headache, nausea, anything at all, since this started earlier today?"
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Sonny
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Throws One Mean Tantrum
"Nope." He said to Beast's question folding his arms in a huff. "But I did feel a little sick when Miss Rahne went nuts. But that was just sick because it was scary. Callisto calls it bubble guts."

Sonny nodded sagely and looked around as Beast went into his speech. Sentiment. Meh. He wanted to be an X-Man and he knew it. Anything to stop bad people from doing bad things. Besides. What else was there? He turned into a big monster when he got angry. It wasn't really something that one flourished at the thought of telling other people. That he had friends here at all was a testament to how nice the people here were.

X-Men. Stomping evil and spreading niceness. He could live with that.

Of course learning a bit of History and (ugh) Math on the way would help too. He'd always been a reader, but never much of one for the maths, for the sciences. As such, sitting here in the shrine of science where McCoy spent seemingly all of his time (looking at microscopes and stuff for so long had to get boring; he knew he couldn't do it), he was getting pretty bored. He wanted to go hang out with Molly and get Franklin to show him that magic trick with the thumb thing again. He couldn't get his hands right to work with it.

He looked back at Nat'ren.

"Hank can do anything. His brains bigger than all our brains together and then some. And he doesn't kill little flowers to make himself feel better."

It was snappy and mean but he didn't care at this point.

"Can I go yet?"
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Artie
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"I don't feel like living on a 'maybe' that yehr Queen I ain't ever fokkin' heard of might let us live. She comes anywhere near us with her prawns, I'll eat the lot of them,"
Kevin grumbled before telling Nat'ren in no uncertain terms that he was not going to allow himself to serve at the Queen's pleasure. The little boy didn't understand, he was not capable of understanding, all ideas of individuality were genetically bred out of him, though what was developing out of his experience with the X-Men was making him question it. He wasn't ready to take up arms to defend them, but he was beginning to think that there was maybe something he didn't have, and that it might be something he wanted.

The little boy sat down on a stool, as Dr Hank tried to explain why the X-Men weren't going to let this happen. He propped his chin on his fist, thoughtfully and said, "I just don't...."

But then, Sonny said something mean, and angry, and Nat'ren looked up, his oddly colored eyes wide, "I didn't hurt the rose to make myself feel better. I was scared, and the rose was going to tell on me. I didn't want to be bad... you over and over tell me that I have a choice, act like I can just say no or do what I want, but I can't. I can't say no to the Queen or I will die. All I can do is try not to be killed by the others before I can..."

He clamped his hands over his mouth and looked over his fingers at the others. Then, dropping his hands, he said, "You knew about that already though, right? About the others? There are others but I don't know who they are, I promise. They didn't know me either until I..." He looked back down, "Make the cure, Doctor, and save Marrow and Miss Rahne. Maybe I will do something good for someone before they kill me for being caught."
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Freakshow
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The Genoshan made a face at the Doctor's response to his question. The shape-shifting, inhuman transformations and features was something he could deal with no problem. That's just how his powers worked. It was the regressive trait that Beast spoke of that was unsettling. If that was the word for acting more like what you transformed into than who you were, then that was the cause of what he had been experiencing for months now. It had been getting worse. So maybe that was the reason the Brood was rejected from his body.

"I don't think symptoms are going to show up in everyone. They didn't in me. The Brood Queen started talking in my head and made me change. It... It felt like I was on fire. Every part of my body hurt. Maybe it was just me that she could force the change in because my change seemed different than the rest. In size, at least..." Kevin shrugged.

Shifting off of the cot, he stood on his two feet. He was still sore, his bones aching, but he had grown tired of sitting and waiting for needles. Now that the procedure was done, he wanted out of this infirmary as fast as possible.

"I'll go with yeh," he said to the red, chitinous boy. "I don't plan on staying in here till I'm unable to walk." Giving a stretch, a process that he winced through -- which hurt his face even more -- he grunted and gave a look to the Doctor again. "Let me know if yeh need more of that, sir. I can always make myself bigger for more... Yeh hungry?" he asked Sonny. "I'm going to go find a sandwich or something."
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