"Hank?"
Delaney asked entering the lab. She could smell him but the lab always smelled of hank.
Hank picked his head up and looked around. "Wha? Oh Delaney. Good evening. What brings you here at such a late hour of the night?" He scratched his forehead lightly and looked at her
"Hank it's 8 a.m."
delaney said crossing teh room to the desk where he was working
"Oh dear...I must have fallen asleep." Hank replied and rubbed his eyes. "Maybe I should think about taking a vacation...so anyway. What brings you here?"
"Pregnancy test."
Del said bluntly
Hank lowered his glasses and looked at her over them. "Del, we've been through this. Many times before."
"I know Hank..."
DElaney Said "But I have a feeling about this one."
"Are you sure Delaney? We've done this so many times before and the results have no been good..." Hank insisted, trying to talk her out of it.
Delaney slammed her fist down on the desk "DO THE DAMN TEST HANK!"
"Hey hey hey!!!" Hank shouted back to her, catching various vials before they smashed ontot he floor. "If you insist on out bursts of rage in my lab, please be careful where you slam your fist."
"I'm sorry Hank."
Delaney said sitting down. "Seeing that egg last night just pissed me off a bit."
"Give it time, Delaney." Hank said soothingly, taking her hand softly. He brushed the back of her hand with his and smiled gently. "Just give it time. There's nothing wrong with you. Just give it time and I'm sure we'll be looking at a little Kurt Jr."
"Will you do the test?"
DElaney asked "I don;t want to ask Jean."
"I did allt he other ones. Why would you even think of going to Jean, Delaney? Haven't I been a good doctor?" Hank asked her with a grin as he moved over to his supply cabinet
"Among other things too."
Delaney answered as she spotted a familiar looking eyeball stairing at her from a shelf across the room. She remembered loosing it before Kurt proposed.
"Fascinating things, the eye." Hank replied as he walked over and plucked the jar from the shelf. He looked at it and smiled. "Such a small and fragile thing, but remove it, and one's life changes forever." He looked at her, "Well almost anyone."
"It did mine."
Del said looking at it. "So prengancy test..."
"He was so afraid he'd lost you. I've never seen him like that before." Hank said absentmindedly as he placed the eye back ont he shelf and went to the cabinet to fetch a fresh needle to take her blood with
"I want a family with him Hank."
Del said "Maybe it's instinct but I want to raise a child with him by my side. is that too much to ask for people like us?"
"To the world, it would seem so...but at least here, you have that chance." Hank replied and pushed her sleeve up, banding her arm and looking at her. "Ready?"
"As ready as I'll ever be."
Del replied
With that, Hank inserted the needle into her arm. No sense in telling her, Del never was one for flinching.
Del knew the drill. she made a fist and flexed her arm, sending blood into the vial.
Hank took one vial and released the band after switching the vial for an empty. He let that fill and then swiftly removed the needle. "There we go."
del sighed and held a fnger to teh tiny hole. It sealed almost immediatly.
"Now you can either wait here and keep me company or you can go do something while I process this." Hank suggested with a shrug. It really didn't matter much to him
"Somethign change with the procedure?"
Del asked "Last time it took ten minuets."
"Not everyone is patient enough for a ten minutes wait." Hank pointed out and popped the vials into the reader and sat down at the desk. "Thank Charles for procuring some Shi'ar technology for the very basics of medicines."
"For this I an wait."
Del said. She put her hands in her pockets and stood. "Do you eve think you'd be a good father Hank? That one day you'd want kids?"
He leaned back in his chari and scratched his chin. "I would one day like to have a child or two. And I don't see why I wouldn't be a good father. The problem is finding the right woman. One with whom i can converse and one who doesn't mind cleaning up all the blue fur from the furniture..."
Delaney chuckeled "I think you'd make a great father... Do you worry about... your mutation? Abut the kid coming out blue or furry?"
Hank chuckled and shook his head. "Why would I worry about that? however they come out, they'll still be my child. Are you worried about that?"
Del began to pace. "My powers are generational..
." She began "My grandmother was a shape shifter and so was Mom. Now me. With each generation since Logan and Grandmother the powers have gotten worse. more complex, more violent. I don't want my kid to grow up like I did. Scared they might hurt someone."
"But you forget, now you've got Kurt's powers in there. Who knows? The child may produce your powers entirely, but with the cooling mental prowess of Kurt." Hank suggested with a shrug and then looked at her carefully. "Or they may have no powers at all. It is very possible for a child to be born of two mutant parents and have no mutation whatsoever."
"Did you just tell me I hve no mental prowess Hank?" Del smiled she knew what he meant.
"No. I simply meant that since Logan's been entered into the equation of your genetics, you've become more and more savage in nature, but Kurt's telepathy should be able to erase that. But all in all, I believe you'll have a beautiful child, Delaney."
"Yeah one that can rip your head off and hide it n teh shadow relm." delaney daid darkly "Wait... You said "You'll have" nt "You could have or might have." ... is it done?" She looked at the clock, eleven minuets had passed.
Hank nodded and hit print, hopign the results were good ones
Del began to pace mroe eagerly now. She began doubting her instincts. Maybe it was a false alarm.
Hank looked at the paper, reading it over quickly and then he handed it o her. "Here you go."
Del took the paper and looked at it. She then looked at hank nd back at the paper "Oh my god... I'm... I'm... Hank, I'm pregnant! I... I have to tell Kurt I have to tell Logan..." She begn to hurry out of the room.
"Woah wait!" Hank sid stopping her "Your going to need to take it easy and considering that means no missions or shapeshifting. Just to be safe."
"No shifting? Why?"Del asked stunned
"We can't be sure that the baby will acomidate your different forms. I can do tests later but until we know for sure don't shift." He told her wisely.
" Oh I undertand." del said quickly "Can I go now?"
"Just one more thing." Hnk said
"What?" Del asked
"Congradulations." Hnk said with a smile.
" Del gave him hug before saying "Thanks Hank." She then left.
Kari, Jayn, Lyra and William knocked on the door. Jayn was carrying the egg.
Hank opened the door and was a bit shocked to see William. "Welcome back William!" He smiled gently and looked at Kari, rather concerned. "Is something wrong with the egg?"
"Kinda....sorta...not really, but still." Kari told him.
"Come in, come in." Hank said, ushering them inside
Kari was the first to step inside. "We all kinda found out that the egg is showing some....powers."
"What sort of powers?" Hank asked as he grabbed his medical kit
"It like....teleported?" Kari asked the group.
"Curious. Curious." Hank replied as he looked at the egg. "Has it shown any other powers?"
"J?" Kari asked, looking at Jayn.
"I thought it went invisable?" Jayn asked looking at Lyra since she noticed it
"Yes." Lyra said "One moment it was there and the next... it was like it camoflaged it's self with my powers."
"Interesting. Very interesting." Hank mumbled as he set to scanning the egg
"Doesn't happen to normal eggs where I'm from." Kari added.
"Nor does it happen to eggs here, Kari. But because of the uniquness of your egg's conception, I'd have to say that we'll be looking at a beautiful baby mutant whenever it hatches. The mutations are already surfacing within the egg, a very strange occurrence I imagine." Hank said
"That's .....strange. As if taking care of it isn't hard enough." Kari sighed.
"I imagine it must be getting close to hatching." Hank explained with a nod.
"Yes..." Kari nodded with a sigh that only an excited mother to be would have. She placed a hand on her cheek. "Too bad we aren't that prepared."
"You've got an entire school full of helpers, my dear Kari. What more could an expecting mother ask for?" Hank replied with a smile as he handed her back the egg
Kari grabbed the egg gently and wrapped it back into it's blanket. Before anyone knew it, the egg disappeared. "Oh your God! Where is it?!" she freaked.
Hank's eyes shot wide as the egg disappeared
"Can you fix it?" Jayn asked "Or at least make it where it won't disappear?"
Suddenly it popped back into sight, this time in front of Jayn and in his arms. "Phew..." Kari sighed.
"Sounds to me like you need a mutant power nullifier. At least until the child is born...." Hank said quietly. He scratched his chin. "I don't have one of those here....but I know Forge has made one in the past, however it was intended to permentantly remove the mutation and it worked too. but he made another machine to return the mutation. I'm sure he probably has made a temporary nullifier sometime during the last few years or so." He nodded and walked over to the egg. He placed a warm gentle hand ont he shell and smiled softly. "I'll give him a call for you. If he hasn't made one, I'm sure he can whip one up in no time."
"It's not like it's a bad thing that the egg is doing this..." Kari began, "It's just that I don't want someone to not be paying attention and something happen to it."
"What about the belts Sinister made?" Lyra asked "He fabricated belts so his goons could use their powers in teh Savage Land. Is their a way to reverse the effects?"
"That's why it's good to have you back, Lyra, my dear." Hank exclaimed with a smile. "I hadn't thought of that. Yet."
"I figured you'd get around to it." Lyra said with a smile
"Oh. Of course I would have." Hank replied
"The wah...?" Kari asked, clueless as almost always.
"Ah, Kari, I do not believe you had the unfortunate pleasure of meeting Mr. Sinister yet, have you?" Hank asked her curiously. He couldn't remember if she ever had or not. "If not, I would hope you keep it that way. In the Savage Land, mutant powers do not work. The technology that preserves the island, also blocks mutagenic powers. Mr. Sinister created a belt for himself and his henchmen to wear that enables them to keep th euse of their powers. Which gives them a rather distinct advantage." He pulled the belt up on a monitor with a few keystrokes. "This is the belt in question. Now the plan is to reverse the polarity of it, so to speak, so that rather than preserving the mutant powers of the wearer, it will instead, block the mutant powers for as long as the person wears it."
"And how long would this take? Jayn asked
"Sounds expensive." Kari assumed, judging by the description.
"Well...seeing as we've never actually done it before. I have no way of knowing just how long it would take for us to perfect the telemetry of the belt. We wouldn't want to do it wrong and end up stopping your child's mutations altogether." Hank said a little grimmly. "Kari, you know full well that there is no charge."
Kari grinned sheepishly, acting modest, "Thank you very much, Hank. I really appreciate all of this."
"How can I charge for medical assistance? I may be a doctor, but I don't technically have an acting practice. So it would be illegal for me to do so." Hank pointed out with a grin
"Umm....kay." Kari grinned, pretending to know what the heck he was talking about.
"Forgive me. I sometimes forget you are not accustomed to our laws." Hank told her witha gentle smile. "Just try to keep an eye on the egg while I work on the harness for you. Lyra, would you like to assist me?"
"Sure." Lyra answered
Hank smiled. "Splendid! Just like the old days then." He brought his arm over her shoulder and gently pushed her in the direction of the computer console she'd be working on. "Well the rest of you better let us get to work. We'll have a prototype ready in a few minutes."
Lyra chuckeled as Hank steered her to her work station. She st down and immediatly began to type, isung her til to his the space button she increased her styping speed by thrity more words per minuet.
Kari walked over to the side of the room, near the door. She turned and asked Jayn, "You think we should wait in here or out there?"
Jayn shrugged, his eyes still on the egg "Maybe we should stay here, just incase the little guy decides to disapear again."
"Or little girl." Kari corrected with a raised finger and grin.
Jayn smiled "I have a feeling it's a boy..."
"I'm the one who laid the thing. Now THAT'S some feeling." Kari told him wth a poke.
Tom walked in, smiling gently "Hello, I'd thought I'd come give my knowledge, what little I have, to anyone who wanted it."
Lyra saw Tom walk in and opened her mouth to say something. She closed it again and returned to typing.
Tom looked around, smiling happily "Have we figured out why the egg keeps dissapearing yet?" He ran a hand through his hair and flushed slightly as a large leaf fell out of his hair.
Kari turned at Tom, "It's as if the egg has a power of some sort that might not be linked to the children at all. Just something that we are going to have to get used to. It's almost time anyways."
Tom grinned "Oh good, surprises are always fun. Once you get enough nasty ones and you learn to enjoy the good ones."
Stumble!