Panic at Home

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Those left behind: Viti, Melinda, Guardian Dragons, X-Force, Team 3, Martha, Emma
WHAT: Defend McCoy’s lab, aid McCoy in any way possible
WHERE: District X
WHEN: Shortly after the recovery team’s departure; early evening
WARNING(S): Violence, mentions of medical procedures

"...confirmed reports of uncontrollable fires, electrical surges, and other instances of apparent uncontrolled mutant powers coming from District X, the largest concentration of the afflicted in the city..."

"...a tragic event where a busy intersection collapsed into a massive sinkhole, swallowing dozens of cars. A known mutant was spotted near the scene; we will keep you updated as the situation unfolds..."

It was barely hours since the Blackbird had left, hours, and in came thundering the next crisis. A critically ill mutant’s power had not only hastened the illness, but raged out of control—killing innocent bystanders in the process.

Protesters had sprouted up since the virus had been found—human and mutant, sometimes even both in the same crowd, demanding that the infected be shipped out, sent away, put anywhere but here. Now, they were quickly galvanizing into riots, and worse...

Get to the District. Secure McCoy’s lab, protect the sick there. Control the damage.

And see if the reports of Sinister’s soldiers in the crowds are true.

Comments

[soccerwhisperer]

Tenma, on the other hand, had a Subway run. Luckily, he made everyone write down their orders, so it was only a matter of matching a similarly wrapped sandwich to rushing and panicked science people. He weaved his way around people, tables, and computers instinctively, using his telekinesis to keep the bags of not-as-fresh-as-you-think sandwiches hovering over his head.

He ends up at the workstation across from where Ken was delivering coffee.

"Sandwich??" He blurted as he telekinetically juggled the bags around. While the frazzled volunteer rummaged for their sandwich, he looked back at his teammate, only offering him a weak smile. This was not what he had in mind for his team, after all.

[griot]

"Sandwiches!"

There were loud footfalls on the floor as Viti charged to the floating sandwiches.

He jumped and swiped his Chicken parm sandwich, his bologna with lost of vegetables, his turkey with even more vegetables sandwich, and all the bags of chips that came with them. Viti's arms were full, but he had cash in his hand.

"Could you use your telekinesis to collect your tip?"

[soccerwhisperer]

"Uwaa!"

Viti's sudden arrival nearly broke Tenma's concentration, and all the bags nearly let gravity claim them. Luckily he was quick in slowing the descent and raising them back up before they hit the floor.

"W-we're not really taking tips!" He answered that unexpected question. They had been given wads of cash beforehand for these runs after all.

[griot]

Viti blinked. "Well if you insist. Anyways could you use your Telekinesis to feed the chicken parm sandwich in to my mouth. That I way could eat, and still have my hands free to work."

Viti seemed oblivious to the sigh that said, "no eating in the lab."

[soccerwhisperer]

"E--Ehh??"

This time Tenma did drop the bags in surprise.

"I still have to deliever these to other people." He lamely finished, picking them up again. "Can you use one hand to write?"

[griot]

Viti nodded. "Yeah sure, no problem. Let me know when you're done." Viti ran off with his arms full sandwiches and snacks.

[soccerwhisperer]

Tenma gave him a nod before slowly backing away to deliver the not so fresh sandwiches left. Luckily, he had taken pictures of everyone who did order and was done relatively quickly. By then, he had forgotten about Viti's request and was wandering around, searching for more to do.

[griot]

Viti shoved his turkey sandwich into his mouth, opening his jaws so wide he looked like a python swallowing a goat, making muffling sounds in the process. After eating, he turned back to his work space, covered with boxes of microscope slides, and containers of chemicals that had just a hint of magic marker smell. He was about to dip the slides into them, when he saw Tenma scouring the lab for work.

"Hey could you join me for a few minutes? I have alot of slides to put together before I run some test with medicines. Also what's your name?"

[soccerwhisperer]

Tenma nearly felt dread crawl down his spine when Viti found it, but suppressed it. It would be rude to judge someone who can do something he could not.

"O--Okay..." He reluctantly agreed. "I'm Tenma."

[griot]

Viti leaned back, almost enough to fall of his chair.

He held up a slide to the light, where the slab of pink flesh could be seen. "These tissue samples have been subjected to various drug test, to see if the experimental anti-viral venoms we've been using causes too much damage. Fear not, none of the samples contain the virus. Normally research like this has to be slow, but today we are operating under a time constraint therefor... "

Viti hopped off his chair, and looked directly into Tenma's blue eyes. "...I challenge you to a race."

Viti grabbed several boxes of half slides and chemicals and set them on the paper towel covered counter in front of Tenma. "These slides need to 'painted' so people can see them under a microscope. First we transfer the slides like so..." He transferred the slides from one box to a metal frame with many slots. In a minute it was full, and the slides clapped against the metal. "Then we dip the metal frame into this chemical that is light red, then dip the frame in the chemical that's dark red, repeating the process three times.

Viti dipped the frame in once in the first bin of chemical, then dipped frame in another bin of chemical, then went back to the first, then back to the other batch, repeating the process three times.

"Ok now lets see who can get the most of these slides 'painted' first. Feel free to use your power."

Viti didn't even bother to ask Tenma if he wanted to race. He just assumed he would cooperate for the good of humanity. He placed his hands on the slides.

"Ready...set...Go!"

[soccerwhisperer]

"E--Ehh!??"

Tenma was completely caught off guard once again as Viti began to dip slides into chemicals like a hungry college student at a salsa party. The other boy had finished a frame before Tenma got his bearings back, and another for him to understand the process.

He decided to be careful with it at first. While he liked competition, the slides seemed fragile and if anything went wrong, he would have to count on his reflexes then to bail him out.

[griot]

Viti had just finished the second dipping of his second batch of slides, when took a second to check Tenma.

"Caution is nice, but you can better."

Viti dived back into his slide dipping.

[soccerwhisperer]

"I don't want to drop it." Tenma said quietly albeit huffily. He was far better with his feet than coordinating with his hands. While he could fill a goal keeper position, keeping his arms and hands out of play was what he excelled at.

[griot]

Viti dipped the second batch of slides for the last time.

"You certainly handled those sandwiches well. Your telekinesis might be just enough."

(ooc note: I'll leave it up to you to decide if Tenma wins or looses.)

[soccerwhisperer]

"That's different. Those weren't so heavy and don't break." Tenma pouted as he grabbed his next set for dipping. The glass slides in the tray clattered noisily as he moved, making more more nervous. So called 'samples' were in them which meant bits of people. He really didn't want to drop them.

(ooc: most likely lose he's not really thinking of this as a competition)

[griot]

Viti reached for another batch of slides, but all of them had already been dyed. He saw his pile was a few boxes higher than Tenma's. He had won. He scowled.

"This isn't how it was supposed to go." His scowl faded, and he scratched his head.

"Hmmmm. Give me a second to check on your emotions."

Viti pulled out a device that looked like a small plastic box. He aimed it at Tenma.

"My friend, professor Shulk, made this for me, because I have trouble reading people's emotions. This will help me communicate with you."

He stood anticipating what the device would tell him about how Tenma was feeling.

[stophamatime]

Definitely...not what Ken was planning on, either.

Still, it's not as if he's surprised; at his age, of course nobody's going to clear him for real field work. (Ken is perhaps the perfect person to be bringing the lab their espressos. He too is so tiny and so bitter.)

He matches Tenma's weak smile, though - no sense in showing it - and sidesteps carefully as he hands off drinks to a few more people. Once everyone's got their stuff, maybe then they can...talk for a few minutes until the next minor crisis (that isn't really enough of a crisis to justify anyone important handling it).

[soccerwhisperer]

Once Tenma was done delivering sandwiches by more or less throwing them or dangling them in front of everyone who bothered to order, he weaved around to find his teammate.

"Ken!" he called quietly. "Let's take a breather too."

He jerked his head in the direction of a small kitchenette on the floor they were on.

[stophamatime]

"Let me just finish with this one -"

Which, as it turned out, took no time at all, because while he was still doing a full turn in place trying to spot the last person he'd talked to, one of the scientists moving from one end of the lab to the other simply reached out and snatched that last cup mid-step as she walked by.

"- I guess that does it."

[soccerwhisperer]

"Alright, let's go!" Tenma announced in a whispered shout. He hooked his arm with Ken and immediately dragged him to the mystical land of the break room.

The room itself was small but had enough amenities to be considered a kitchenette. The refrigerator was terrifyingly loud, the microwaves had seen better days, and the coffee maker seemed to be in as much need of a break as the two boys. Tenma pulled up a chair by the ever present water cooler before dispensing some cold water for the two of them.

"It's not, er... what I thought it'd be."

He knew full well he was sidelining his team when he specifically asked to never be cleared for field missions, but coffee and sandwich runs were never in his visions of what could be.

[stophamatime]

"Me neither."

He took a cup of water from Tenma and took a seat with a sigh. "I thought there'd be something more important they needed a few more hands for than coffee."

[soccerwhisperer]

"I'm sure every bit helps." Tenma said, trying to remain optimistic about the situation. There really wasn't much they could do as two boys who weren't on the same level of knowledge as the others working on the actual virus. However, surely there were other things they were capable of, physical things. He heard in hospitals volunteers had to run blood bags and 'other' samples between labs. It wasn't brain heavy, but it was just as integral.

"We just have to be patient and ask the right people who need help."

[stophamatime]

"And hopefully they'll need help and not just a sandwich."

Not that it isn't technically a kind of helping, but it's a pretty weak kind of helping, in his opinion.

[soccerwhisperer]

"That's the spirit."

He raised his cup of water in a half-hearted cheer.

"At least they won't need food or coffee for a while. We have time to really help out now."

In theory, everyone was fed and caffeinated. If they had wanted more, then that would be unhealthy, and they were trying to prevent any further sickness.

[stophamatime]

"Yeah. We just can't let them forget we're here, I guess."

Not that everyone didn't have plenty to think about, but there were surely other things they could point them towards that weren't just coffee.