Heroes: Shadows over Millenium

[Cynical Cat]

"Alright," said Mary Cavanaugh. "He seems stable. Let's get him into the imager and see what the symbiot has gotten up to. Or if the damned thing could be dying, but if that's the case then somebody call Flashback because we need to hit Vegas pronto. Either way lets zap him and take a look."

The other two doctors nodded and the gurney containing Blackheart's strapped down body was maneuvered towards the door.

[LadyTevar]

Argent stepped back from the door, out of the way. She was still in her 'working clothes', so she stood out from the hospital staff plainly. The look of concern on her face as Blackheart was pushed by was clear, even if she herself didn't notice it.

Without knowing why, she reached out and touched Blackheart's arm as he passed. Despite the shield she'd raised, skin to skin contact broke thru. The tumor was still giving out the same background humming. Oddly, there was a breath of malice underneath that she'd not noticed before. Blackheart himself was fully unconscious, feeling no pain whatsoever.

She pulled her hand back self-consciously and watched them pass, not noticing the woman doctor still within.

[Cynical Cat]

"Excuse me," said Cavanaugh, "do you have something to contribute?" The woman strode out after the gurney. "Because we don't need gawkers."

[LadyTevar]

"The Malice seems a little stronger... but Blackheart himself is in no pain..." Argent stated simply. "I was ... concerned when he collapsed as quickly as he did. Sudden intense pain to his spine, then he dropped. I barely had time to catch him."

[Cynical Cat]

"The Malice? Oh, the empathic emissions." Cavanaugh was quiet for a moment. "Was he subjected to any kind of attack that might have caused serious injury?" she asked.

[LadyTevar]

Lei nodded to the woman, facing her fully. "There was a meta with a sonic attack. Low frequency, I think... it was vibrating the building we were in and caused deafness in at least one of the team. The other, Gravitas, could tell you more since he was also in the direct line of that attack. I brought them both in just before Blackheart collapsed."

Her eyes drifted to the way Blackheart was taken. "It's grown, hasn't it. The attack made it shift."

[Cynical Cat]

"Of course its grown. Its always growing," said Cavanaugh. "But it never inflicts pain on him. It'll increase adrenaline and endorphin production so he could fight with hernia. Possibly literally.

"So either the attack hurt it so bad that its not behaving normally or its doing something abnormal which means its probably reaching his brain stem ahead of schedule or hooking into his central nervous system en masse. Either case would be consistent with his collapse and increased empathic emissions. Or I could be wrong. That happens occassionally."

[Charon]

Legacies had realized only after Argent had left what he'd gotten himself into. The media had been pulling up even the others left. The police got to work at keeping the media at bay as a pair of black helicopters came over the building and a number of black suited agents came out of them. The first few went to collect the culprits, another went to go deal with the press, to which Legacies was thankful, then one came towards him.

"Agent, what has happened here?"

"We do not know all the specifics. But the team has stopped the robbers. Gravitas, Agent Ryan, and Blackheart were in need of immediate medical attention and were brought to HQ through Agent Argent. If we are no longer needed here, we sustained injuries and require rest to recover."

[LadyTevar]

"Of course its grown. Its always growing," said Cavanaugh. "But it never inflicts pain on him. It'll increase adrenaline and endorphin production so he could fight with hernia. Possibly literally.

"So either the attack hurt it so bad that its not behaving normally or its doing something abnormal which means its probably reaching his brain stem ahead of schedule or hooking into his central nervous system en masse. Either case would be consistent with his collapse and increased empathic emissions. Or I could be wrong. That happens occassionally."

"In short, you know nothing about it, and can only make guesses..." Argent translated for her. "He mentioned that a telepath tried to make contact with it once."

[Cynical Cat]

"I know quite a lot about it," Cavanaugh snapped. "I've been studying it since the beginning of the case. The symbiot is without precident in metahuman biology. A unique entity found midway through its development process and no evidence of its origin or inception. We can only make educated guesses as to its future development because that's all we have. This is-never mind. As for telepathic contanct, avoid it. It doesn't have much more of a mind than a spider, but an experienced empath found attempting direct contact extremely traumatic." The gurney reached the scanner room.

"Here comes the fun pit. Strip the armour off and get him in there. Place your bets now."

[LadyTevar]

"How used to malice and hatred was she..." Argent asked rhetorically, staying with the Doctor, but out of her way as much as possible. If she was placing bets, she'd say it reached all of his spine... if not his brain.

[Cynical Cat]

"The empath worked for military intelligence or one of the three letter acronym agencies. I would say he was probably experienced in dealing with unpleasantness. I would like to think that the symbiot was injured, because that would give us some means of controlling its spread without killing the patient. Unfortunately, it is far more likely that it has instead extensively compromised Dav-, Blackheart's, central nervous system."

[Cynical Cat]

"Thank god we no longer are stuck with MRIs" Cavanaugh muttered as the machine was powered up and operators began setting the scan perameters. "Lets get this thing set and stick him in."

It wasn't quite as quick or simple as that, of course, but soon enough Blackheart was on the table and getting a full body scan. Cavanaugh and the rest of the doctors were clustered around the monitors.

"Jesus Christ," one muttered. "Look at that."

"Time to revise when it hits brainstem," another said.

"What happens then?" said the first.

"We all find out the hard way," said Cavanaugh. "If it colonizes his brain the way it does the rest of his body, he'll live. But he won't be the same."

"And there's no fucking way of killing it that won't kill the patient first," said the second doctor. "And its completely merging with his spine. Look at those fibers. If it does that with his brain he'll be lucky to be a vegetable."

"Maybe," said Cavanaugh. "Its colonization of the spine is different than its previous growth. The brain might be different as well."

"You want to place a bet?" said the first doctor.

Cavanaugh pointed at the imaging machine. "He's betting his life."

[LadyTevar]

"Have you tried to teleport it out?" Argent asked absently.

[Cynical Cat]

"Yes"Cavanaugh replied. "It's bonded with his flesh, in some way we don't completely understand. which makes it damn near impossible. And even if we could succeed, its compromised his heart, lungs, and arteries. If we had caught it earlier . . ." She shrugged. "But we didn't. Had no reason to until he took that fall and not only lived, was half healed by the time he reached the doctor's office. And by then . . ."

[frigidmagi]

Blast looked around the med-bay, his fucking head hurt. He needed some water. It didn't take very long to find a water cooler to gulp from. On his 3rd drink he heard a pair of techs talking.

"So he's got a tumor that gives him power? Fuck man that's losing the super hero orgin lotto there."

"It's worse damn thing has grown to the point where it's curling around his spine."

Man that sucked, who above did you have to piss off for that? Unlucky... Wait a minute...

Realization hit Blast like a hurricane hitting a certain US city on the Gulf of Mexico. He looked down at his hand and caused a beam to run from his index finger to his thum... Yeah... Might work... Sure...

He dropped the cup and starting running, he had to find the doc working on this.

[Cynical Cat]

"Well gentlemen," said Cavanaugh, "the symbiot is growing faster than predicted, which isn't that surprising, and is demonstrating new behavior. Let's get the needle and give him a shot of adrenaline to wake him up. We're at the point where patient feedback is going to be potentially useful."

[LadyTevar]

As the doctor's assistants went to find a needle strong enough to pierce Blackheart's skin, Argent opened her shield just enough to give Blackheart her own version of a 'morning-wake-up'. It was something she'd used on Ember many times, since her old friend had a tendency to oversleep.

Think of it as the proverbial hand in warm water trick, a need to get up and attend to certain bodily functions. It would be far less embarrassing than ramping up his sex drive and having him wake up that way.

[Rukia]

Em didn't know what to do, other than stay out of the way. She looked around at all the techs and the equipment. She looked at her arm, she'd been in this place one too many times since meeting these people. She sighed just as Blast ran past her. "Hey, is something wrong?" He didn't hear her so she followed him to where they had taken Backheart. She looked from one tech to the other, they were so easy to read, they didn't even try to block her. Reading their minds she got the utter feeling of heartlessness. They were making bets? She shook her head.

[frigidmagi]

Blast skidded around the corner, he needed... Who did he need? Who.... Right! He needed Saibot and Gravtis. Saibot's ring was suppose to do whatever he told it to do and Grav... Well here was hoping. He caught sight of a sign at the end of the hall way Observation Room, one of them should be in here!

Grav was gazing out of the glass wall, Blast ran up and grabbed him.

"I got an idea, I need your help, first we gotta find Saibot and then Blackheart's doc, come on move, I'll explain it on the way!"

[SirNitram]

Gravitas shifted, getting up slowly. "What are you up to?" He murmured. He looked at the machine measuring his vitals.. All well outside Human norms, but all stable. He gestured and it began to float after him. "Let's go then." He said, following Blast at a brisk pace.

[frigidmagi]

"Look the tumor is growing into his spine right? We need to cut it without killing him right? A concenrated beam of energy can do that right? I happened to be carrying a beam of energy in my fucking pinkie here, I remember reading something about gravity being able to shape energy, so I need you. Saibot's ring does what he tells it to, he can keep lungs and heart going, or he should be able to. You and me cut, Saibot keeps him going, we save the day. But first I gotta find Saibot... I saw him dragged in here somewhere... SAIBOT, WHERE ARE YOU?" Blast hollered... AAAAHHH That fucking hurt! Later, for that later. Blast winced and private promised not to drink himself senseless next time.

[SirNitram]

"I've never tried doing that sort of thing on someone else's body, admittably. We're talking about needing massive reconstructive and regenerative therapy afterwards." Gravitas commented. "But it should be possible to isolate the creature, yes."

[frigidmagi]

"I'm not sure I want to, but I'm not seeing to many options here. SAIBOT! ow that hurts, SAIBOT!" Blast called again wincing, maybe this could count as part of his penance.

[Charon]

Legacies was dismissed from the scene and on his way back to HQ as fast as he could, quite certain that along the way a few windows had been smashed by roaming tentacles. But such details were ultimately unimportant.

A few minutes later the silver figure landed on the grounds of his new 'home' and walked in, albeit showing a small limp and looking rather haggard.