Eliza stumbled into the infirmary, where she'd been building her machine for the last couple of months... The moment she got into the room she swayed on her feet, reeling back from the flood of memories and tears that suddenly hit her; she'd been close, closer than she'd dared admit, and it was... gone. She staggered over to a biological wash sink, slumping over the side and starting to dry heave because of the lack of food she had in her stomach.
Rhydian walked in a few minutes after her, giving her some time to herself before entering. "Liz?" He asked softly, not wanting to startle her.
"Ugh..."
Eliza replied, a shudder running through her body as she stopped dry heaving. It wasn't welcoming, but it wasn't telling him to leave, it was just saying that she couldn't be bothered right now and if it was really that important he should get it over with before she decided she had enough strength to punch him.
"I...I know you understand the why...at least I hope you do. You always were the smart one..."
Rhydian started, looking around for a place to sit, difficult things were always easier to say if you were sitting. He found a chair and sat down slowly. "I'm sorry about how I had to capture you...I know the swirling must have been really bad, but I had to keep it moving, couldn't let you escape..."
There was a loud clang, then a soft fleshy noise.
Eliza's knuckles had split when she'd smacked the metal wall in front of her. She remained silent, breathing heavily before saying weakly "Rhydian... I'm either going to cry... or beat you... or kiss you... or all of them. So right now, I don't need to be reminded. Right now I either need you to leave... or hold me."
"I didn't want to be a traitor..."
Rhydian told her, tears forming in his eyes. "I...I just...I needed his help. I've done all I could do, he was the only solution available...he just..had a high price." He said quietly, making the chair move closer to her. He was glad someone was listening...
"All you coul-!"
Eliza's voice cut out in almost blazing rage "I didn't see you come to me! I didn't see you tell me about it! I didn't hear you saying a SINGLE word when I moved in to support you when you almost fell over from holding my machine together! You might not have wanted this Rhydian, but you did this, and there WERE chances." She still wasn't looking at him, just standing there, blood running down the wall now as her split knuckles bled freely "Can you HONESTLY say that this was the only way!"
"I didn't say it was the only way. Just the only available way. I had to go to him, and the opportunity became available. There's one other person who could help me, just one Liz. And it's not you, for all the smarts you have, you're not a geneticist. But how exactly does one get a hold of the High Evolutionary?"
Rhydian shot back. Before, when his powers were weaker, he'd have worried about angering her. But now, his power was beginning to go to his head
"Rhydian! I was building a machine to transverse time and space and puncture other realities to go fishing for my parents! We have a HOLOGRAM containing the greatest scientific mind in all of mutant history and we've got contacts in SHIELD, the Young Avengers and practically anyone who will listen! If you had TRUSTED me, trusted any of us, you might have had at least an excuse to turn to that... that MONSTER! We could have tried. Tried and failed perhaps! Tried and found there was nothing we can do, but still seen that that was out of the way! Perhaps if we'd done that I might find it easier to forgive you!"
Eliza spun on the spot, lowering her arm but bleeding freely from the knuckles, spatters of blood appearing on the floor "That man was a LAST RESORT! That... HEINOUS trick you pulled was a selfish act, there is no other way to describe it! You took what YOU thought was right, acted upon it without discussing it with anyone and then ask us to forgive you! WHY?! Why should I forgive you for making me relive that terrible moment inside Black Pearl again!?" She looked ready to attack Rhydian, ready to knock him off that chair and let him see that all he had truly done is hurt his friendship with those around him.
Rhydian was beginning to lose his patience now. "And every one of those contacts would have a price. Just like Cortez did! If it was up to Fury, we'd be his lapdogs for the rest of our lives for this. Everyone has a price, Cortez's price was high, but...but acceptable. Because I knew that my friends would have understood. I guess I was wrong!" He wiped the tears from his face, "I didn't come here to ask you to forgive me, just for you to understand. I did what I had to do. All this time, I've been straining my body beyond itself. I was dieing Liz. There was nothing any of you could do. I've checked the computers, I've checked the chip in my frellin' head. The only answers that came back were The High Evolutionary or Fabian Cortez. Now you tell me who was easier to get a hold of?!" The room started shaking as he lost his temper
Eliza rubbed her forehead with a shaking hand, blood smearing across it slowly as she tried to calm. Something... small seemed to snap inside, something that seemed to fuel her anger. She slumped down in the nearest chair, which was Rhydian's, and was effectually straddling him. Tears were rolling from her eyes now, fat ones that she tried to wipe away, leaving them to roll down her cheeks again but now bloody, so Rhydian was starting to get red marks over his clothes. "But we would have paid the price together" she said weakly, knowing that he could hear her at this close range "No matter what... it's meant to be together. I know you needed this... I know this was the only way that it could have worked... but that doesn't mean what you did was right. We could have known... we could have been told you were dying. We could have been told that Cortez was the only one... and maybe we would better accept it then." She was shaking bodily, her hands clutching at his clothes when not wiping her own tears away "Is this really... a-an acceptable price? You betrayed us..." She was having trouble not wrapping a hand around his throat "Would you do it again?"
Rhydian wrapped an arm around her waist and then wiped away a tear from her eye. "I couldn't tell you guys...How could I tell you that I was dieing? My only friends, my family...after everything how could I tell you guys that? And then when we were up there...I couldn't let you know my plan. I knew every one of the Acolytes up there. I'd done my research, if I told you, one of the many telepaths would have picked it up for sure. And then where would I have been?" He looked into her eyes and swallowed hard. "Would I betray you again? Not as long as I could help it."
"I would die before I betrayed you all"
Eliza was resting her head on his shoulder now, her entire body in a slump against his own "I... I almost died on the ship. Did you know that? He put a bomb in my machine... I spent the entire time just... sitting there, trying to get it out. I tried so hard... so hard just to get it safe again. So I could get our parents back and things would be back to normal." She seemed weak now, weak against Rhydian's body; this was how she had felt after being recovered from the Black Pearl, in shock, barely able to move because her body just wanted to close down. "Please... tell me these things. I... I can take them alright? Don't worry about the others. It would just be between you and me..." She leant her head slightly placing a gentle peck of a kiss on his cheek "How many friends... how much of a family... do you think you have left?"
"Honestly? I don't know..Phinagin wants to kill me...Jeremy almost did...And you, you want to beat me to a bloody pulp."
Rhydian told her truthfully. "You guys keep trying to get the others back, but what all of you are forgetting is that they aren't
my parents. They're not
my family. I want to help you get yours back, but none of it is mine."
Eliza just sighed softly, she was practically a jelly against Rhydian now, slumped against him in what could only be described as utter despair "I don't forget Rhydian... I know that they're not your parents... But I just have to get them back. And I was close... So close. And he destroyed it." She was shaking slightly against him, the only muscles that seemed to be working were making her tremble against Rhydian "I thought of all the people I could trust it was you... and it's going to be a long time before I can trust you again."
"Don't you think I know that, Liz?"
Rhydian asked her rather sharply. "I betrayed everyone, but what you guys really aren't understanding is that I had no real choice. It had gone too far...I couldn't go to anyone else. After holding your machine together for that trip..that was the straw that broke the camel's back. I know longer had the time to look for another way out."
"I understand"
Eliza said weakly to him "I just... I'm still going to need a while..." She was practically pinning Rhydian to the chair now, a dead weight on his chest "Gonna have to get all those things again... gonna have to start building... gonna have no time cause Fury's going to point out that damn thing we signed is legally binding even though we were just being forced to do it." She groaned deeply as she thought about it "I just... just need my parents back. I just need someone... someone to be there." But no one was there. Ever. And now there was even less of a chance of someone being there with Rhydian's betrayal.
"I'll look into getting us out of Fury's little contract. Trust me, I'm good at finding the loopholes."
Rhydian told her confidently. It was true afterall, he had found loads of loopholes
Like betraying someone while not betraying them apparently. "These are SHIELD contracts. It's going to be difficult to get anything out of them..."
Eliza groaned "And... the moment I leave their service I'm going to have to enter it again... there's no way I can get the pieces needed to create my machine again without some help."
"There are other people to turn to, besides SHIELD."
Rhydian told her truthfully. He rubbed her back softly
Eliza rolled her back, frowning slightly and unsure if she was comfortable with her being touched like that right now "Not many... not for the parts I need. We've got no money and I'm not sure if the Fantastic 4 or Ironman can spare anymore stuff."
"Phinagin is a millionaire, Liz. Money is no longer an obstacle."
Rhydian pointed out, "There are others besides them. True, some aren't the nicest of people, let alone very
good ones, but for the right price...anyone can be bought..."
Eliza let out a weak sigh, her arms dangling down beside her as if they were two useless noodles "Was so happy... so close... then he went and blew up my machine... I wish I wasn't a damn x-man sometimes... Just so I could actually win once in a while. Fully win... Not this damn defeat-the-bad
-guy-but-lose-friends-and-loved-ones thing we have all the time..." She shuddered... it would take years of therapy just to get Kale and Veronica's deaths out of her mind's eye.
The sound of bare feet padded down the hall and Waya came to a stop outside Liz' door. She knew Liz wasn't alone, she could smell Rhydian and his blood. He may not have made the best divisions today but his actions had ultimately saved their lives. She didn't often knock but this time she did, waiting for Liz to allow her entry. She had a feeling Liz, like her, was distraught over the loss of the machine.
"Come in" Eliza called, not bothering to get from the probably quite comprimising position on Rhydian's lap; she didn't care, she didn't care about anything right now. Except her parents, and that was the thing that was making her depressed. Her knuckles were still bleeding quite badly actually... she'd have to wrap them soon.
Waya walked in and saw Eliza sitting on Rhydian's lap. She paused, sort of thrown off by the image. She didn't know why. She'd effectively ruined their relationship by broadcasting that image of Junior into everyone's minds. She didn't blame him for their separation, like everything she blamed herself. But seeing Liz sitting there sort of broke her heart.
"Welcome to the land of the lost!" Eliza's voice cracked as she waved her arms in the air, her eyes a little wile as she stared at Waya "May I take your order? We've got a special order on soul crushing melancholy today..." She obviously didn't see anything up with this position, she'd just needed to be close to someone; this wasn't a proposition or some kind of declaration, she'd just needed to feel a person there for once. If Waya had been here it would have been her...
"I uh..." It took Waya a second to get over them sitting there and she told Liz what she was here about "I had a thought about your machine..."
"Liz, I'll..uhh let you two talk about this in private, if you'll let me?" Rhydian asked her carefully. There wasn't a whole lot he could do to extradite himself from the room with her sitting on his lap like this.
Eliza blinked for a second, then nodded and moved backwards off of Rhydian's lap; she flailed her arms in the air for a moment as she found her legs unable to support her right now, then fell heavily on her ass. It would have been quite comical if it wasn't for her constant dead pan, slightly pained expression throughout the entire ordeal. Once on the floor she just tucked her legs under her and looked up at Waya "Go on."
Rhydian got up from the chair and made his exit. He knew when he was a third wheel. He'd been one most of his time here anyway. He left the infirmary and headed for The Danger Room3 to test the limits of his heightened abilities.
"It may me nothing." Waya said stepping forward to help Liz up. Her hand felt a bit rubbery and Waya figured Liz, like she was tired and probably more than a bit depressed. "But I don't think it's completely lost yet. I figure I should have felt the blast by now and if it hasn't blown yet then maybe there's a chance we could find it."
"So... you want to go into the alternate dimension inside your shadow portals..." Eliza said taking it slowly so she completely understood "To find a machine that might go critical because it's been unplugged for a while now, with a bomb in it, just in case we could bring it back?" She stared at Waya for a long moment before saying "Brilliant. Can it wait until Saturday? By then we'll be sure if it's actually gone off or not, and... well I need sleep..."
It didn't sound like Liz, her wanting to wait, but Waya relented. "It can wait." But she had no real intentions of letting it wait. "I'll leave you alone, let you get some sleep."
The hand that caught her shoulder was Liz's, coming out of a six foot long arm that reached from Liz's sitting position to Waya. She couldn't stand up right now... "Please, tomorrow then... just don't leave me alone in here..." She couldn't be alone right now...
"Then let's go up to your room." Waya told her. After Liz was asleep she could slip into the shadow realm and take a look around. "You can't get a good night's sleep down here on your cot."
"You'd be surprised..." Eliza mumbled, clawing her way upright by hanging onto some pipes protruding from the ceiling and lifting herself upright. She stuck out and arm... she needed Waya's help to get up to her room... "Come on..."
Waya stepped towards her so she could loop Liz' arm around her shoulder and give her support. "Been a bad day hasn't it?" She asked, leading Liz toward the door.
"I hate my life" Eliza said simply in return, trudging along with Waya towards the bed she so longed for.
"I hate mine too." Waya told her and disappeared down the hall, leading to the elevator that would take them to the proper floor and Eliza's Room.
Jeremy appeared, dragging behind him Maribelle; he was looking around the infirmary with a bit of a worried expression on his face. He wasn't exactly sure if there was cough syrup here, or where it was really. He did know there was a hologram, but he didn't know how to activate it.
Maribel hurried behind and looked around as they moved down to the hospital. She didn't even know this place existed! This building was bigger then what she imagined!
"Oh yeah..." Jeremy said as he watched Maribel moving around "I don't think you've been down here. Well... this is the infirmary. It's where people are looked after when they're hurt..." He looked over at the pile of rags on the floor "And where Eliza had been building her machine."
Maribel held up the corner of her ragged skirt as they moved through. This place was probably really busy in it's hay day.
Jeremy hummed slightly and began to search through the cupboards, frowning slightly and biting his lip as his deep red eyes peered at the strange bottles and liquids inside.
Maribel leaned her bum against a bed and whistled along with Jeremy's tune.
Jeremy emerged with a bottle of pink liquid in his hands, frowning and trying to read the label. "Here, does this say one spoon or two?" he asked, holding it out to Maribel to look.
Maribel took the bottle and read it over. Looking at the amount of medicine one should take based on age and weight, she looked at Jeremy and held up two fingers.
Jeremy walked over to the draws, pulling some open before finding a clean spook. Eliza obviously ate down here sometimes as well. Washing it out underneath a sink, just in case, he handed it to maribel "Here, hope it makes you feel better."
With one hand, she lazily signed, 'Me too.' She poured a spoonful and drank it. The taste alone made her hairs stand on end. With a sour face, she poured another and quickly drank it down too. 'I could use that pizza now.'
"Lets go up and see if it's ready" Jeremy said, taking the medicine and spoon carefully. He placed the spoon in the sink and the syrup back where it came from... He hoped that was alright. Turning back to Maribel he smiled and moved up back towards the entrance hall.
Phin lead Maribel down the stairs and into the infirmary. 'Sorry about this.' she confessed, 'I couldn't get myself to show anyone. I have no idea what's happening. The lumps started a few days after we got back.'
"Lets just hope it is in fact your powers surfacing more noticeably and not something worse." Phinagin said, hoping he wouldnt scare her.
Maribel let go of his arm and walked across the room. She was pretty sure there was a holographic instructor down here...she wasn't sure how to activate it though.
Phinagin searched around for the way to activate it, occasionally pushing or flipping a seemingly unimportant switch or button to see if he could activate it. "Hello? We need medical attention." he tried incase there was someone hiding in here they couldnt see."
A big furry hologram emitted after a few flickers and a dim image of Dr. McCoy appeared in the corner "State--State---" Then he/it coughed. "State the matter of your medical emergency.
Phinagin waved Maribel over once the hologram activated. "Not sure really, she may just be experiencing a change due to her mutation or it may have been an mutagenic attack."
"Ha--ha--have any of the rest of you ex--ex--experienced anything s-s-s-similar?" It was obvious the EMH was in disrepair. Perhaps from being worn out over time or maybe Eliza had salvaged a part or two from him for use in her machine. "If m-m-more than one of y- 11100011100-ou have then it could vary well be a 110000011 mutagenic attack. If not ch-ch-cha cha cha chances are it is simply her mutation advancing, but I have eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeequiptment to check."
Maribel winced and grit her teeth, 'Do you think this thing giving me an examination would be a good idea?' she asked Phinagin, uneasy about the faulty merchandise.
"It should be fine." Phinagin said as he brought her closer to it. "It seems that all the important pieces are still intact, and the missing or broken pieces are nothing I couldnt get here."
The things in the sides of her neck squirmed, as if uncomfortable. Her dark eyes blinked unsurely at Hank before she hopped up and sat on a medical table.
"Oh my..." The EMH declared seeing Maribelle. He hadn't met her yet and had no record of her mutation at all, so now came the question answer portion of the examination. He began to shuffle around the lab, locating a syringe and what looked like a bottle of medication. He would flicker out every few seconds and when that happened the "hard" part of his hard light hologram would stop working, so it took him several tries with almost everything he touched. "So what is your mutation dear?" He asked as he prepared a few items and a machine kicked on overhead. He seemed to be the only thing in real disrepair.
Maribel wasn't all sure herself. She looked at the hologram, then to Phin. She assumed this thing was voice activated and signed to Phin, "I really don't know. I can just make thin, stretchy threads come out of my finger tips." She didn't like the look of the syringe.
Phinagin wasnt sure if it could recognize sign language either so he went ahead and relayed the info. "She says that she isnt sure, but she can make thin, stretchy threads from her finger tips."
"I am eeeeeeeeeeeeeeequipped to read sign." The EMH told them. "You will not 11110011010010010 have to translate for uuuuus. I am going to give you an injection. It is a harmles fluid that will mark the x-gene in your blood so I maaaaaaaaaay run ssssssskt further tests."
Maribel rolled up her pajama sleeve and exposed her arm. Looking at the syringe, she looked away and stared up at the lights, waiting for the prick.
it was over very quickly and the EMH discarded the syringe. "Weeeeeeeeee'll let that take hold, for now, lay back and relax." He raised his big blue furry hand and pulled down what looked like a very large scanner face. "This won;t take long he told her and departed to a console in the corner to give her a full body scan. Much like an x-ray this was safer and would give them more information than just a bone scan. A bright light turned on above Maribelle and what looked like the bu;b inside began to zoom back and foth, waiting for her to lay down and remain stationary for the scan.
Maribel looked over at Phinagin with an uncomfortable smile. She would definitely have to thank him for coming down here with her. Maribel wouldn't have had the ambition to do all this alone. She looked at the dysfunctional hologram- or the bravery.
The loight zoomed over her several times and Maribelle was forced to lay there only a few minuets before the EMH deactivated the device and came over to push it back up towards the ceiling on it's hinge. "Leeeeeeeets see 11000110100101 shall we?" HE said and turned on a screen revealing a much more detailed view of what was going on inside of Maribelle.
It seemed that her mutation was kicked into overdrive after her near death experience on the asteroid. The glands that produce her fibrous substance from her fingers seemed to be stronger then they had been previously. Her fingers, toes and eyes were blackened, a mere physical addition. The mass in Maribel's neck was the most interesting however. There seemed to be something underneath her skin, growing and most likely to break through. They were like small appendages, black like her fingers. It was clear that Maribel wasn't done mutating and things were only going to become more extreme. Oddly enough, the screen displayed the word: 'Arachnid.'
"This is certainlyyyyyyyyyyyy interesting." The emh replied. "It appears that you are only 1001001001001111001 mutating. The dnnnnnna markers reveal that your x-gene is effectively in ovvvverdrive. You should be fiiiiiiine in a week or twwwwwwwwwwwo, but expect some discomfort until you've completed shedding yourrrrr current form. I do hooope you are not afffriad of 100100100111010 spiders."
Phinagin watched all this in amazement, seeing the machine effectively scan and then display the body's mutation. Made him wonder what his would look like if he was scanned. "See, it is nothing to worry about. As long as you dont in fact fear spiders."
Maribel gave him a look of distress. 'What the hell is that supposed to mean?!' she signed, unbelieving he was so damn calm about this. Then again, it was probably easy considering it wasn't happening to him.
"Your muuuuutation is strangely arachnid in 1000101001 nature." The EMH replied.
"So, I guess those threads you can produce from your fingertips are really spider web silk." Phinagin said as he walked over near the table. "And those lumps in your neck appear to be something like mandibles, maybe?"
"Right you are Phhhhhhhhhhhhin11100101gn." The EMH brought up the image of her neck on the monitor. "Though it looks as if they are causing some inflammation as they are trying to break threw. It would not take much to assist their immersion." He spoke to Maribelle now. "It would only take a local anesthetic and it would be over very swiftly. Only if you want to though."
The young French woman's jaw was to the floor. Mandibles?! Spiders?! She started to hyperventilate a little and her eyes began to water. Things had really started to shift and she looked horrid...but hearing the cause and result made her sick to her stomach. What was she to do now!?
"Oh dear..." The EMh replied "She'd having a panic attack." He rummaged threw a cabinet for a moment and pulled out a brown bottle. He tipped a cloth against the end and held it in front of Maribelle's nose so she could breath in the fumes. It wasn't chloroform, but it was it's less potent third cousin. "Breaht for a moment. You will feel better.
Maribel gasped and moved to push him away, but the inhale was just enough- if not more then she should've had. Her eyes fluttered and her posture fell backward, as if drunken.
"My..." The Emh replied. He'd not mixed up the bottles... Still he had an idea. "What say we snip those little mandibles an escape rout?" He asked Phinagin. The Emh had picked up a scalpel. It would only take a couple of slits and if she were out cold all the better to get it over with before she had another attack.
Phinagin had serious reservations about this. "I dont know if we should be cutting into her neck without her direct consent." he said as he stood next to her.<hr.
"Your not ffffffffffffffffun." The emh replied.
The mandibles in her neck prodded and squirmed about. If they didn't cut her... those things were going to rip out no matter what the cost. Maribel placed a hand on her head and sat up slowly.
The Emh placed a hand on Maribelle's shoulder and knelt before. "Maribelle... we need your permission to set your mandibles free... It is a very small and fast procedure... Do we have your permission?"
'You will get rid of them?' she asked, wanting nothing else.
"No, but we can make the pain go away." The Emh replied.
Maribel wasn't sure... if they cut her, people would SEE whatever is inside. 'Are you sure you can't remove them? ....please?'
"We have to let them oooooooooooooout first." The EMH replied. "Then we can see what we have to deal with once you stop mutaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaating."
'Are you- able to preform such a procedure?' she asked before going on, '-and can you knock me out?'
"Yes, I can knock you out." The emh replied and he looked at Phinagin. "I don't really need to put her out. It's a rather quick procedure."
"I think it would be better if we made her as comfortable with this as possible." Phinagin said to the EMH.
"Alright." The EMH replied and moved to another cupboard to pull out another syringe. This one he filled with half the dose for a normal girl her size, considering how she'd reacted to the other stuff. "Yooooooooooooo1010010100101u will feel a slight sting." He told maribell. "Count back from one hundred." And he swabbed her inner elbow with alcohol and injected her.
Maribel laid herself back onto the operating table, a bit worried about the whole thing. Instead of counting, she was thinking why he didn't have her sign any papers or anything before doing this- But it wasn't long before her eyes rolled back and shut.
"Ok..." The Emh replied and grabbed a scalpel from the table he'd set up earlier. It took only five seconds to slice two very clean little slits in her neck and her mandibles were free. There was a little bit of blood to clean up but he applied some coagulant and antiseptic ointment. "It's done."
"She is not going to like these." Phinagin said as he looked at the now free mandibles. "I just hope she will be able to handle it."
They looked like little black crustacean claws with an elbow-like joint in the middle. At the ends were pincers for grabbing things. They had a strange, clear goo on them.
"I'm fairly certain if I remove them they will only grow back again." The Emh replied inspecting the new appendages.
Phinagin just frowned and shook his head. "Poor little French girl. Came here and has had nothing but bad things happen. This is going to be a very tough thing for her to adjust to."
"I have seen others with far worse mutations adjust." The Emh replied. "She will have to accept it, far worse things can happen when trying to prevent occurrences such as this. Such as in the case of my creator."
After the EMH cleaned Maribel up and wiped the table clean, she started to stir.
Maribel was a bit startled to be looking up at bright hospital lights, as if she had forgotten where she was. Seeing the hologram and Phinagin, she was quickly reminded. With a wince, Maribel tried to sit up slowly.
Phinagin reached over and helped her sit up. "Easy now. The anesthetic might still have some lingering effects."
"How do you feel?" The emh asked
Maribel was still a bit drowsy from the anesthetic. Her movements were slow, but it didn't take long for her to remember exactly why she was put under in the first place. The black pincer-like appendages on her shoulders quivered inward as she realized her situation. A hand moved up to touch, her hopeful smooth neck. Upon feeling the hard, mandible-like arms, she gasped and shuffled backward, about to fall off of the table. It was worse than she had ever imagined!
Phinagin caught her before she went off the table. "Whoa there, levitation is not one of your powers." He said, trying to make light of the situation. "Its not as bad as it seems."
Maribel shot a look at Phinagin, not believing him. Her appendages moved and bent with her movements. A scared hand reached up, grabbed the appendage and started to pull...but it was like pulling one's fingers off.
"Stop that!" The EMH replied and reached forward to grab her arm, "You do not know theyre purpose and there is not cause in removing them until you have completed mutating. You will only hurt yourself further.'
Phinagin felt so bad for Maribel. He couldnt exactly empathize with her as he had no physical mutation to speak of. "Calm down Maribel. It wont help you any to hurt yourself."
Maribel frowned and started to tear up. Now how was she supposed to face her friends like this? They would learn that she had been hiding for weeks because of this. A scarf wouldn't even be able to hid these big things! 'I'm turning into a monster, aren't I?!' she signed frantically with her long, black fingers.
"Oh no more than Junior or Waya." The Emh told her. Both mutants he'd mentioned had non-typical physical tributes, though Junior's more so than Waya.
'They don't have things growning out of their neck! Who knows where else these things are going to sprout up!' she signed, obviously freaking out.
"I may be only a hologram, but my originator felt much the same way you do now." He produced a photograph from a near by drawer and showed it to her. It was of a pleasant looking man with dark hair and blue eyes. "In trying to prevent his mutation he caused himself to mutate further than he would have. Mutilating yourself would only cause more harm than good. There may be ways to reverse your mutation, but you must let it happen. We cannot assess the situation until your body stops changing."
'All this happened in only two weeks.' Maribel signed, unbelieving herself just how quickly her body had changed. She had never really thought of herself as pretty before, but Maribel was definitely missing her "old" self right now.
Phinagin felt less then useless right about now. He knew that there was probably nothing he could say that would make Maribel feel better about her physical mutation. He just hoped that she would eventually learn to accept it. "We should go talk to the others. If not the whole group then at least Junior and maybe Waya."
'I suppose we probably should.' she signed, feeling the strange additions to her neck. They were a bit sore from her trying to yank them out. 'Why can't my mutation be something useful, like yours?' she asked, not expecting an answer as she slid off of the table, almost falling over. Seems the anesthetic was still in her body a bit.
"If I am no longer needed?" The Emh replied, waiting for the signal so he could shut down. "I should really run a diagnostic on my systems. I managed to overcome the speach impediment, but I must repair."
Maribel looked at the hologram and signed a simple, 'thank you'. She wasn't exactly thankful for her circumstance at the moment, but the procedure went along smoothly.
"Yes, you can go run your diagnostic. If you need any special parts let me know and I will order then for you." Phinagin said as he helped Maribel steady herself. "Do you want me to carry you?" he asked Maribel as she wobbled.
She shook her head. That would make everything even more embarrassing than it already was. Maribel adjusted herself and signed to Phin, 'Thanks for helping me with all of this. I really appreciate it.' After that, she wrapped her arm around his for support.
"Your welcome. I would like to believe that anyone would do the same thing for me." Phinagin said, "Now the only problem is, I dont know where they all are."
'I think the twins and Waya were heading down to Eliza's lab.' Maribel signed as they exited the hospital. She was pretty sure it was down here in the lower levels somewhere.
The twins were the last people he wanted to know about her mutation. He at least wanted the rest of the team behind her incase they said something inappropriate. "Then I guess we start there." Phinagin said as he led her to Eliza's Lab.
Stumble!