In the lab

[forge]

"Thanks,"

“No prob, glad to see the things work, actually.” Forge responded, walking with Bobby towards the medical lab.

"Did you see the news? About the cure?"

“Most definitely – I have it on loop on all the X-Men’s televisions right now, but something tells me it’s too early for most people. It’s the alternate reason I sent that message, we’ve really gotta discuss this thing.”

The med-lab was another marvel of modern engineering and science. It’s surfaces gleamed with the same blue-steel look the sub-basement had as décor, and it was loaded with monitoring equipment and machines unknown to most professional doctors. Forge had checked it out last night when he toured himself around, and had taken a few moments to examine the machines, but didn’t completely absorb all of their functions.

He wondered if they had an on-site doctor, then realized that, given time, he could assume that role. The human body was no different than a machine, albeit one you can’t keep rebuilding if you get it wrong, and thinking on his powers – they could easily work on the body. He could see inside it, alter it with telekinesis, fuse parts of it with small amounts of heated electricity… he just needed the knowledge.

Of course, gaining knowledge was easy for Forge. He could only read as fast as a normal human, even though his perfect photographic memory would never let him forget a detail, however, if the information was in electronic format, he could absorb it almost at the speed of thought – assuming he had a computer to fuse with. Essentially, if he were reading medical journals online, or loaded into a computer, he could do it at nearly twenty times the speed.

He mused on this as he sat his new assault cannon gingerly down on a far table, and walked over to Bobby and Hannah, whom Bobby had just sat down on a comfortable bed.

“Sorry to interrupt you, Bobby, and that was Rude of me Hannah. Yes, my name is Forge, it’s very nice to meet you.” He had the smile that had warmed hearts – and melted a few – in full gear, as he was genuinely affectionate toward this little girl. He had to wonder if one of her mutant abilities was sheer cuteness likeability.

[phase]

(ooc Sorry Bobby, I thought that description might have been a bit of a stretch. Me getting wordy again. Phase does not have regeneration. I was indicating that she wasn't frightened by her injuries because they have happened so often, and they'd always healed eventually, and she's paid close attention to them because well, she has little else to do in that closed environment. Sorry again if that wasn't clear.)

Hannah looked at Forge, with a smile that at first was a bit shy. Then she broke out in a grin, her nose wrinkling a bit, and her small hands popped up to cover it as she giggled.

Forge was likely the happiest person she'd ever encountered.

"Hi!!"

[Iceman]

Once inside the lab, Bobby walked to one of the tables, leaning over and setting Hannah carefully on it's cool steel surface, so she could sit or lay down as she pleased. He then looked around the lab and took a deep breath and releasing it heavily. "Okay..." he said, thinking as his eyes scanned the room.

He looked at Forge for his opinion. "D'you think we should wait for the others?" He didn't know where anything was in all the drawers and cabinets of the lab.

(ooc: Ah, understood, 'Hannah'. And to everyone--Do we have anyone with medical training? Lol.)

[phase]

Hannah's feet pointed at each other, dangling down from the edge of table. She looked around. This was a bit more familiar.

Her fingers fiddled with the hospital band around her wrist, then she tugged the medical-green shirt down on her tummy.

She could nap here, but they would probably want to put on the sucker things again and do tests. Then maybe Miss Jenny would come back.

[forge]

“That depends on what the problem is, my good Iceman.” Forge responded, and looked Hannah up and down. “What’s ailing you, sweety?”

He passed a glance back up to Iceman, and wondered just what the hell was going on. Did he know this little girl or not?

Back to Hannah: “Are you sick, or did you hurt yourself? Lose any blood? Let the bed-bugs bite?”

[phase]

Hannah giggled, but it kicked her into a coughing fit. She used both hands to cover her mouth, looking over her fingers at Forge.

Then she shook her head as her hands fell to her knees.

"It's cause I phased too much. It makes me tired, and then I get sick." She pointed to her chest, tapping her sternum a few times with a small finger. "And it hurts in here, but that's never happened before. Use-urly I just go take a nap."

She nodded as if agreeing with what she'd said. "My doctor said if they wanted to teach me new stuff, I would be sick for a while but they would stop and then I could get better for a while. But I was purty sick yesterday and I tried to find Miss Jenny? But I couldn't stay there and I got pushed back here-" she points to her chest again. "-and it hurted all over!" she makes a gesture with her hands that is apparently the mime version of all over. My bones hurts a lot but this time it hurts a lot a lot."

Hannah touches her shoulder, taps her elbow, taps over and over on her hands. She points to her knees in turn, and gestures to her ankles. She taps the back of her neck. Then she yawns. The animated explanation seemed to take something out of her, and her eyes drooped a bit.

"Ohh."

[forge]

Forge looked at her, eyes gleaming from the pure adorability, and then scratched his chin. It seemed as if the fatigue must be a side affect of her mutant power, and someone was asking her to push herself to a degree where it really hurt. This Miss Jenny perhaps? Maybe she was a teacher here? That thought seemed strange to him, and he seriously doubted it. Storm didn’t seem the type to let her teachers push the kids too much, nor had anyone he met seemed like they’d let it happen either.

He smiled at Hannah. “Well, okay honey, how about you just take a nap for now then? Is that the best way to make you feel better? Did you want something to eat or drink?”

Then, while she thought it over, an idea struck him. He said to Iceman: “Is she from this school at all?”

[Iceman]

Bobby listened silently as Hannah explained what made her hurt, and what hurt--everything, it seemed. He was deep in thought, and made no sound until Forge turned to him.

"No," he answered with a shake of his head. He dropped his voice and said more quietly, "'Miss Jenny' dropped her off sometime during the night. I found her on the front steps this morning."

He couldn't help but quickly fall back into what he'd been thinking about before. If Hannah had been in a lab, as some kind of test subject...What had made them suddenly so urgent to get rid of her?

[phase]

Hannah watched them, her face slowly going somber. She could feel their unease, and clutched her small hands together nervously. She felt bad for making them feel icky.

Patting her tummy briefly, she nodded and added with a half-whisper "Yeah. I'm hungry."

[Iceman]

"Yeah. I'm hungry."

Bobby turned his head and looked at Hannah. He glanced across the lab, at the fridge. He knew it was probably mostly used for medecine and the likes, that needed to be kept cool, but it might have some food. "Lets see if we have anything down here..." he said as he started for the fridge.

Opening the door, he was glad to see that the bottom shelf was reserved for food. Crouching down to get a better look, he relayed what he saw over his shoulder. "We've got some yogurt...And fruit, and--" Bobby pulled out a container and opened the lid to see what was inside. "Macaroni salad," he said in a tone that said he reccomended it. He then ducked his head down to see what was behind the container he'd pulled out. What he found was a twelve-pack of beer.

A sly grin creeped onto his face. He knew exactly whose beer it was--Logan's. He remembered clearly Ororo telling him, kindly but firmly, that he could not keep his beer in the kitchen fridge, which all of the students had access to. He and Logan had had a good time discussing ridiculous places to hide the beer. When Bobby had pointed out that he needed to keep it cold, Logan had argued, "No, I could just find you when I want one, you could cool it off." Bobby had laughed and responded that he'd gladly do so in return for one, which had incited a challenge that Bobby would never find where Logan stashed his beer.

Well, it looked like he had. Bobby laughed under his breath, shaking his head slightly. He then turned, lowering one knee onto the tile floor as he looked at Hannah. "Anything sound good?"

(ooc: Forge, is that okay about Logan? Let me know, I can change it if you want. We should flashback that sometime lol)

[Shadowcat]

Kitty was one of those strange people who generally woke up, perfectly on time, at around six thirty every morning. It wasn't as though she tried; she didn't even set an alarm, which meant that some mornings, she'd randomly sleep until ten without reason, though the underlying hustle of the building would usually rouse her if she got to bed too late or something. She was just a morning person: it occurred naturally in some, though it was rare. Sort of like albino squirrels, or diets that actually worked.

This morning had been no different, and after showering and throwing on her workout clothes, which were a white tank top and pink biking shorts - though she'd just have to shower again later, Kitty hated doing anything if she wasn't clean - she headed down to the exercise room on the first floor, hoping no one else had mysteriously woken up early enough and that she'd get it to herself.

She ran through her positions neatly, beginning a few plies to stretch and moving into the spins she could accomplish while still in her soft flats. Kitty didn't like getting into pointe too early in the morning; it tired her out before class, which was never a good way to start the day.

She was almost to the start of her basic jumps when the PA system blared through the building, startling her out of her precise rotation and into the side of a treadmill. Rubbing her arm where it had hit, she glanced up at the ceiling, wondering what was so important and whether she qualified as a real X-Man. Kitty wasn't sure herself some days.

Anyway, she should probably know what was going on. Well, actually, she just kind of wanted to know what was going on. She might be able to help a little bit, if it was math or something.

She took the elevator down to the basement and found her way to the med labs easily, familiar with the lower levels after all the training she'd been doing in the Danger Room. Kitty pushed through the door to find...

Bobby. And a new guy, and an adorable little girl. She waved at the little girl first, a habit from extensive babysitting experience in Deerfield.

"Bobby, what's up with the alert?" she asked. "And I don't think I've met you," she added to the new guy. "I'm Kitty."

[forge]

Forge was looking the girl over, using his limited knowledge of general health in a useless attempt to discern any other issues Hannah may have, when Bobby mentioned the food. Forge smiled, knowing that she wouldn’t have to wait hungry in such a strange new place, and marveled at how not-freaked out she was. If he’d been dropped at such a young age in a place away from home, he’d still be screaming and crying, wanting his mommy. He filed the thought away in his impeccable memory.

Then the other girl came in. Forge glanced up at her, tank top and pink workout shorts giving Forge thoughts he knew he was too old to have… but good god, she was so ridiculously cute. He uploaded most known laws from his impeccable memory, just for a fresh reminder, and shook his head clear.

“uhhh… name’s Forge. I’m the new X-Man. This is Hannah, she’s – well, that’s complicated. I think everything’s okay though, we’re just getting her some food. I did the all-call thing because I think we need to discuss recent events in the news - and we're unsure as to how well Hannah's doing - I was hoping I'd get the doctor around here. I hope it’s not too early for everyone.” He added the last thing as an after thought.

[phase]

Hannah focused on Bobby, nodding hesitantly with a small smile. "Yogurt's yummy." There were a lot of different emotions churning about her now, and it made her look a little distracted, like someone reading when their eyes were too tired.

She waved back to Kitty, watching her as she moved into the room. As everyone paid attention to something else, she began to think of the lab. She wanted to go look, just look there and see if anyone was there, or if it had only been her imagination. But she knew if she did she might become even more sick.

Hannah picked at the edge of her shirt quietly.

[Iceman]

Bobby replaced the macaroni salad in front of Logan's beer, making a mental note to hide it elsewhere later, and stood with a yogurt in hand. He turned as he shut the fridge door, smiling at Kitty. To his credit, he didn't even glance at the shorts. Let alone make a smart remark. "That was fast," he commented as he began to search drawers for a spoon. When he found one, he took it and the yogurt over to Hannah.

"Did you see the news?" he asked Kitty as he stood by Hannah and peeled the cover off the top of the yogurt. He stuck the spoon in and held it out to her. "Here you go," he said before licking the yogurt from the cover.

[Shadowcat]

“uhhh… name’s Forge. I’m the new X-Man. This is Hannah, she’s – well, that’s complicated. I think everything’s okay though, we’re just getting her some food. I did the all-call thing because I think we need to discuss recent events in the news - and we're unsure as to how well Hannah's doing - I was hoping I'd get the doctor around here. I hope it’s not too early for everyone.”

"Oh," Kitty said. Data dump. "Well, um... hi! And hi, Hannah."

Did she actually need to be here? No, probably not. Bah humbug. Making a great impression on the new X-Man. (Who was kind of ridiculously cute, even if he was probably, like, 30, and seemed to follow the X-Male trend of being annoying far, far taller than she was.) "What are we discussing?" she asked, curious about what it was that she now knew nothing about.

Well, whatever. Kitty leaned a hip against the table on which Hannah sat and propped her elbow on the surface itself, despite the fact that it was really freaking cold. She knew where she stood with kids, at least.

Hannah picked at her little shirt, maybe nervously, so Kitty reached out and gently prodded her in the stomach, at the tickle spot that at least 75% of kids had. "Is Bobby being nice to you?" she asked seriously as Bobby himself rummaged through the fridge. "I can beat him up if he's not."

"That was fast."

Kitty looked over at Bobby as he searched through drawers for an eating utensil, yogurt already in hand. She wondered if he was planning on feeding Hannah. "I was practicing," she said simply. "I was already on the first floor."

"Did you see the news?" Oh, good, he was going to feed the kid. Maybe he wasn't totally hopeless.

"Nuh-uh," Kitty said. "Why? And you totally just stole the best part of that yogurt. Everyone knows licking the lid is like ten times better than the rest of the cup. Hannah, he stole your lid. I'm serious. I could beat him up for you."

[phase]

Hannah giggled softly as her tummy was poked. It was a little sore to touch, but it seemed no kid could resist a smile when someone hit the magic button. Her nose wrinkled a little as she smiled, the reaction definitely subdued by her health.

Her fingers curled around the yogurt and she carefully pressed the bottom to the table, making sure not to spill. She looked at Bobby and bit her bottom lip with a smile as she realized Kitty was right. This made her burst out into a sudden giggle.

"Bobby's a yogurt cheater," she smiled, pushed the spoon into her yogurt and managing to get it into her mouth with only a small dot of it falling on her pantleg. She wiped it off with her finger, watching the two younger mutants interact.

[Iceman]

"And you totally just stole the best part of that yogurt. Everyone knows licking the lid is like ten times better than the rest of the cup. Hannah, he stole your lid. I'm serious. I could beat him up for you."

Bobby grinned good-naturedly and made a point of rolling his eyes. "Somebody call the yogurt police," he said, poking fun at her emphasis on the importance of the lid. He turned and went back to the fridge, and opened the door. He scooped up an armful of the little yogurt tubs and stood, letting the fridge door drift closed as he walked back to the medical table and set his load down. He slid one across the table to Kitty in case she wanted one.

Laughing as Hannah called him a 'yogurt cheater', Bobby picked up one yogurt and peeled off the lid. He would have let her take it off, but he was wary of the deep bruises on her palms and fingers. He held the lid out to her with a grin. "Here, you take mine. Then we'll be even."

Thinking back to what they'd been talking about before he'd been attacked for stealing the yogurt lid, Bobby recalled Kitty's question. "A company in Baltimore has a stockpile of the 'cure'. They announced it today, or last night. They're going to ship it all over the country."

As hard as he tried to keep his tone light, he couldn't help but feel his cheeriness dampened a bit as he thought back on the news. "I hope we don't have another Worthington Labs incident on our hands," he said truthfully. One such battle--and not just the fighting itself, but the whole ordeal--had been enough to last him a lifetime.

[forge]

Forge nodded as Bobby relayed the information about the cure, but added immediately behind it: “Also, the cure is only going to be available in that one spot. Which means we can pretty much guarantee there’s going to be trouble there. Which also means we can pretty much guarantee the government knows the same, and so does the Brotherhood – assuming they are growing weary of knocking off banks. Looks like a shi-” He cut himself off with a nervous glance down at Hannah, “A poop storm is going to be brewing.”

As he spoke, he walked over to the far table, and slung his new assault cannon over his back, into a make-shift Harness that was held there. He looked back at the others, and smiled as Hannah carefully ate her Yogurt.

“Hey sweetie, who’s Miss Jenny? Is she your babysitter? Do you know where your parents are?” He asked the young girl as gently as he could, speaking softly. He had no real experience around children, having pretty much never grown up himself. He hoped he didn’t upset her too much.

[phase]

Hannah licked the underside of the lid, her pale eyes looking up at Forge. People were nervous. And curious. And worried. She didn't know why, but she hoped she hadn't caused it.

"Miss Jenny is my teacher," she said, wiping a bit of yogurt off her nose. "From the lab."

She took a moment to think about the question about her parents. She wasn't really sure about parents in the first place, though she'd had basic concepts of family introduced, it wasn't in a context that would have given her reason to suspect anything about her enviroment. So the look on her face was a mixture of thought and confusion.

"I don't think I have parents." She tilts her head a bit, and licks the rest of the yogurt from the lid, setting it down precisely next to the container. She takes another spoonful, and busies herself eating.

[forge]

Forge nodded, eyebrows furrowing worrifully. No parents. Could've been abandoned as a child... could've been raised in a lab environment. Could've been a hundred things.

He looked at the other X-Men, trying to gauge their reactions. He was the new guy, and he had to keep reminding himself of that. He was sure Storm had to have some idea of what was going on here.

Drawing a doughnut out of his shoulder-harness, he munched on it thoughtfully.