Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:34 pm

Argent was thinking hard about what the doctor had said about the tumor. She'd done some tricky teleporting in her time, actually removing alarms from the boxes they were wired into without touching any other wires.

Removing the tumor shouldn't be that much different... should it? Argent eyed Blackheart thoughtfully. His heart and lungs have been compromised... they'd need a way to keep them functioning until...

... SAIBOT, WHERE ARE YOU?" Blast hollered

"Excuse me, Doctor..." Argent said. "I have to go remind someone this is a hospital..." She expanded into her shadowdragon form and slipped into the nearest shadow, reappearing instantly in front of Blast.

"What *are* you doing? Blackheart and..." she sees Gravitas is being dragged along with him. .. "... Well, it seems Grav *isn't* resting now." her voice was low, but pointedly sharp. "Now, why are you screaming for Saibot? He was in the waiting room with you a moment ago."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:43 pm

"No he wasn't! Look I think we got a way to cut the tumor down to size but I need Saibot, his ring, it does what he tells it to do and well... I figure it can handle keeping a pair of lungs and heart going don't you?" Blast said.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:51 pm

"Steady on." Gravitas spoke. "You don't have the doctors on board for this, do you? We do not go cutting open teammates without doctors. I may be an egotistical maniac, but I know we need doctors for this sort of thing."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 7:55 pm

Argent, still dragonshaped, stared into the eager 18yr-old's eyes unblinkingly. Even thru her shield she could feel his emotions, which echoed her own *there's gotta be someway to help him!* feeling.

"The doctor has already nixed the idea of cutting it out. The symbiote seems to react... badly... when that's tried. Even if Saibot would be able to offer life support, the symbiote may well try to take Blackheart with it." she stated simply, and her silver eyes soften, one wing draping gently onto Blast's shoulder. "I ... have been told that even teleporting the symbiote out may kill him."

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:00 pm

"He told me once that the damn thing is running alot of his internals. But I'm talking about just cutting the parts that are getting into his spine, we can try that right? Slice it down to size, buy some time or something." Blast said.

Post by **Dark Silver** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:05 pm

Garth walked out of the bathroom down the hall, and heard Blast screaming for him.

"What does that kid want now.." he muttered, making his way languidly towards the source of the voice. Tankfully, Garth was used to imbibing large amounts of alcohol, so his hangover wasn't as bad as it could have been. He was mostly functional, and no headache.

As he walked into the room, he looked towards Gravitas and Blast, "What the hell are you screaming about?"

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:05 pm

"It may suffer sufficient damage to cripple or kill him." Gravitas sighed. "A cruel decision thrust upon us all. Let him die or let him become other than himself."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:07 pm

Argent's eyes looked to Gravitas, not able to answer Blast's teenaged eagerness. Has she ever been that way?

No... no that had been Ember. When everything could be done, could work out. The dragon's head lowered, so she was more eye-to-eye with Blast. "And what then, Blast?" she asked gently. "It is growing faster than the doctors have expected. This was brought on by the attack on Blackheart ... what happens in the next battle? It grows again? Or does it just regrow because we attacked it, cut it?"
The silver eyes half-close as she sighs. "The only way to save him is to remove it totally... and then ... he is only David." The silver eyes open, driving her point home. "He does not want to be David, ever again, Blast. He wants to be Blackheart, he wants the power to help people ... and he knew the cost years ago."

Charon · Post by **Charon** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:19 pm

Almost on que to Gravitas's comment on Blackheart becoming something other than himself Legacies turned the corner, the silver figure looked tired still, and the limp was more apparent now.

"How is Blackheart?"

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:24 pm

Blackheart groaned. "What in Hades hit me?" he grumbled. He looked around. He was in medical and they were about to stick him with the needle. And then he saw her. Cavanaugh. Fuck.

"What hit me?"

"It appears that your symbiot decided to merge with your spinal cord."

"Its already in my spine," said Blackheart irritatedly.

"Not like this. Bring the monitor screen over." She pointed at the image. "See this? Its braided itself into your spinal cord. Probably hundreds of connections, if not more."

"So it set up shop with a vengeance," said Blackheart. "We both know it likes to do that. I guess it took a little while for it to get the hang of being directly linked to my nervous system."

"You don't seem to be worried David."

He shot her a glance. "Its hooked into my arteries and veins, colonized part of my lungs, and tapped into my lymphatic system. I'm not going to start panicking because it was a bit bumpy when it was jacking my spine."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:25 pm

Argent, in shadowdragon form, answered Legacies. "His symbiote reacted badly to the last fight, and it has wrapped itself around his spinal column. The doctor is that way..." helpfully pointed out to Legacies with her tail. "Blast has an idea to cut the symbiote out, or at least away from the spine with Gravitas and Saibot's help ... but it could kill Blackheart. I asked about teleporting the symbiote out ... but it would leave Blackheart's organs unable to support him."

Her voice lowers. "And if he did survive, what reason would he have to live?"

Post by **Dark Silver** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:36 pm

'The same reason he would have no to live without those powers. The same reason I would."

Saibot walked towards the door, deciding to leave them all be, he wanted to get back to his place, "Not a damn thing."

With that, Saibot glowed blue, lifted off the ground, and still standing upright, floated down the hall, he wasn't going to be apart of a operation which could kill Blackheart.

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:40 pm

Gravitas looked to Blast, sighing softly. "This is the problem with being us. There's a price. There always is. Some of us go willingly, some are offered, and some.. One day you just wake up and you're able to. The problem is you'll never be like everyone else."

The elder superhuman shook his head. "If Blackheart truly knew what he was getting into.. He knew this would come. He knew it was the price."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:40 pm

"Saibot's backing out, Blast...." Argent told him, watching Saibot leave quietly. "He doesn't want to kill Blackheart, no matter...." The dragon's head snapped, looking off in the direction she'd pointed to earlier. "He's awake. Let me check with the doctor, see if we can see him...."

She slipped into the shadows again, swimming through them rapidly and sliding out behind the doctor, in view of Blackheart. "I see he's awake..."

Charon · Post by **Charon** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:48 pm

Legacies simply shook his head at the others and walked past them, even as Argent once again disappeared

"We are going to rest for awhile before we collapse."

The silver figure limped down the opposite hallway to the one Argent had just raced down, eventually finding an empty room where he lied down and fell into a light sleep.

frigidmagi · Post by **frigidmagi** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 8:55 pm

"He doesn't want to kill Blackheart, no matter...." The dragon's head snapped, looking off in the direction she'd pointed to earlier. "He's awake. Let me check with the doctor, see if we can see him...."

"The whole idea is to avoid killing Blackheart lady. Why do you think I needed him to run life support in the first place, shit and giggles?" Blast replied crossing his arms. He had a headache slamming his skull into pieces, a dry throat and now she was accusing him of trying to get Blackheart killed. Somedays it just didn't pay to get out of bed! Er... Couch.

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:02 pm

Blackheart slid of the slab. Normally clothing got cut off people in these kinds of situation, but the titanium wires in his armour made that impractical so his clothes had survivied. He began to change.

"Your friends are talking about playing hero," said Cavanaugh.

"How so?"

"Emergency super powered surgery."

"Good."

"Dav-Blackheart. You know that if there was a way we would have tried it."

"You can't poison it, because its tougher than me. Harder to injure, harder to cut. Can't rad it. Cut it away and it grows back. You can only excise it and that means excising chunks of lungs, cardiovascular, and lymphatic system. Can't teleport it, it doens't want to go. Even if you could muslce it, see above. Its now merging with my spine. I know. I know the only way its going away is to cut everything away and totally regenerate my organs at the same time. No one alive that can do that, far as I know. So I go forward." He finished fastening his armour. "So I'm not going to get cured, but my team is coming together. If they are working in unison and not taking no for an answer, then that's a good thing."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:05 pm

"That is an interesting way to put it, Blackheart..." Argent said, her silver eyes watching him dress unblinkingly. "Of course, the part about it not wishing to be teleported would not matter in my case. It would be removed whether it wished or not. The problem would merely be the task of regeneration ... although Saibot believes you would not want to live as a norm."

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:15 pm

"If you think that what it cares about doesn't matter your brain isn't working Argent," said Blackheart. "Do you think my flesh is naturally bullet proof? You know the physical mechanism for my flash vision? If so, write a paper because no one does. Scramble had some very nice teleport based organ wrecking powers that didn't work very well on me. And super tumour is harder to work on than the rest of my body. As with everything else, super tumor is the hard one to kill. As for live as a norm? To have a lover rather than one night stands. To have a good chance of making it past thirty. To own a god damn pet without it growing to hate me. Yeah, I'd take it."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:22 pm

The shadow-dragon's eyes half-closed, hearing the pain and frustration that Blackheart tried hard to hide from everyone else as clearly as if he shouted it. Whether it was Blast, or just the general 'Make It Better' feeling surrounding her, she reached for ideas, something... anything that might help...

"Then ... if it is acting intelligently, maybe Legacies can speak with it." Argent offered. "Symbiote to symbiote...." Her eyes glance to the doctor. "Although, Legacies was a little wounded when saw him last, but he is in the building, not far away..."

SirNitram · Post by **SirNitram** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:24 pm

frigidmagi wrote:"The whole idea is to avoid killing Blackheart lady. Why do you think I needed him to run life support in the first place, shit and giggles?" Blast replied crossing his arms. He had a headache slamming his skull into pieces, a dry throat and now she was accusing him of trying to get Blackheart killed. Somedays it just didn't pay to get out of bed! Er... Couch.

"The problem is we will eventually have to turn the hard light off." Gravitas spoke softly. "And we do not have the medical technology, here, to regenerate his organs. Sure, I could try bouncing him sideways to find a world that does have it, but I might never make it back here. It's risky business, moving Sideways."

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:33 pm

"Well, that's the trick, isn't it?" said Blackheart. "How smart is it? It seems to like surviving which means staying snug inside as powerful a host as it can make. That's not much proof of intelligence. Of course, one of the fun theories is that it might grow to be intelligence as it takes over my brain." He shrugged.

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:38 pm

"Cheerful thought..." Argent had to say. "Shall I find Legacies to try it, or do you simply wish me to teleport us all ... elsewhere?" Once again, those silver slit-eyes slide to the doctor. "If you're being released, that is...."

Cynical Cat · Post by **Cynical Cat** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 9:42 pm

"People have had bad experiences trying to talk to super tumour. It's a bad risk. Nothing good has ever come of it."

LadyTevar · Post by **LadyTevar** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 10:02 pm

"And how many of those talking to it were symbiotes themselves?" Argent asked, amused. Without waiting for more debate, she merged again into the shadows, swimming away to find Legacies...

... who was resting, not that far away. Argent rose out of the shadow and looked down at him through those silver eyes. "Legacies?" she asked, wondering if he was asleep. "Legacies? Could your symbiote talk to the one inside Blackheart?"

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Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

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