Doctor doctor, gimme the news

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

After the meeting, and after some bickering with the Emergency Medical Hologram, down at the bottom of the Hub, Brainy is arranging the MedBay to his liking and familiarizing himself with the medical equipment and its functions.

Right now, for instance, as anyone walks in the door, he's wearing some sort of scanning goggles and a rather sinister-looking surgical glove with micro-scalpels, little lasers and surgical saws on the fingertips.

This makes him look like a green-faced Freddy Krueger with mad scientist goggles. For anyone that walks in like he instructed him to at the meeting, this is the first thing they see.

"Hmmmm."

Comments

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Formula One's a sport. Pause. Kin'a. Involves racin' cars. Ain't really my cuppa. Jono's a footie man and always will be.

He glances at the stool, still not entirely certain what to make of Stacy's furnishings before he nods and takes a seat. Yeah. Reckon I'm 'bout as non-standard as you get an' still basically call yerself human in me world.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Metahuman?" he asks. "May I scan you?"

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Mutant. He didn't know it was basically the same thing in Brainy's world. At the second question he shrugged, rolling his shoulders a bit. 'Ave at.

Frankly, Jono was a little interested in what it would find. Not that he'd ever say that out loud.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Most metahumans are mutants, provided they aren't powered because their entire species is. After all, mutation is a base-pair sequence change in the DNA that results in new traits. There are a multitude of ways to create that effe--Sweet muses! You're an energy-based lifeform."

That's not horribly surprising, it's just the mostly-human-looking thing and--damn. This is...damn.

This is interesting.

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono had...actually started to space off a bit there. It wasn't Brainy. It was just that he wasn't all that scientifically minded and it was pretty much all over his head.

Right up until the exclamation. Jono blinks, eyebrows raised. Beg pardon, mate?1

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Can you remove your cowl?" He adds, "Please."

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Yer startin' t' remind me of Dr. McCoy. He didn't say it like it was a bad thing. And it wasn't. He kind of liked Hank, after all.

Still, it took a moment for him to reach up and start pulling the cowling away. Which was a lot easier with the plant stuff than it was with normal cloth. He had to give Stacy that, at least.

He also turned a bit, putting Brainy out of the immediate line of fire.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

He goes back to scanning, and the more he sees, the higher his eyebrows raise.

"Has anyone properly explained your condition to you before?"

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono tilted his head slightly. No more'an theories. Nobody's too sure what it all means.

They didn't HAVE twelfth-level intellects on Jono's world. Though Hank McCoy probably made up at least five of Earth's combined levels himself.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Would you permit me to take more extensive scans with Stacy's equipment? I have a very strong theory, but I'd like to verify."

He stands and gestures to a sort of upright scanner thingy.

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

This is all pretty weird. Jono pauses only a moment before he shrugs, standing again. Awroight. But if I blow it up, it's yer fault.

He isn't likely to blow it up. But the little bit of snark helps keep him on an even keel right now. He doesn't LIKE having his chest exposed like this.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"If you blow it up, I'm sure Stacy will grow another one," he says, both joking and serious.

"Stand on the circle."

And when he as, he runs the scan. A flat plan of light passes up and down his body and he likely feels a slight tickle, as much as someone like him can feel. There might be a slight flare of energy in his body, but no boom.

Brainy is standing back of course.

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

He's not exactly got the greatest sense of touch, no. Even so, the tickle is a little surprising. The flare of energy is slightly worrying, but it doesn't go out of control. Which is definitely good.

He closes his eyes, though, trying not to be nervous. Nobody's ever been able to tell him more than theories about his powers. So the idea of finding out more is a little daunting.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

When it's done, Brainy signals for him to take a seat again.

"I'm collating the results now."

Forget the computer. It's faster in his head.

After a moment, he looks up at Jono, wide-eyed again.

"Give me a moment to discern how best to explain this..."

He's even going to try to dumb it down and not be too sciencey, if he can, because it's a lot to take in.

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono pulls the cowling back up once he's able to, relaxing a bit once it's in place. Maybe it isn't the most protection available, but it makes him feel better. At soun's ominous as all fuck, he replies once he's sitting, leaning forward a bit.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Not ominous. Not necessarily good, either. Incredible, all the same. Unusual. Those are better terms."

Okay, he's going to give this a whack.

"In the course of evolution for organic lifeforms, there's something...of an upper threshold. As beings become more and more evolved, they tend to start evolving into energy manipulators of some kind. There is, however, only so much energy that an organic body can contain, store, and redirect without that body being damaged."

He waits to see if he's following.

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono considers that for a moment. Mos' mutants seem t' do somethin' with energy a lot of the time. I mean, got a lot of 'em what don' seem t' make much sense, but...guess maybe a lot of it could be considered energy manipulation.

Even Angelo's could have been, in a weird way. He isn't certain he wants to think on that one too much, though. He does reach up and rub at his chest. Or, rather, the cloth over where his chest should be. Reckon I get the 'damaged' part of it.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Just from the scans, I can hazard a guess that your transformation was quite sudden, correct?"

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono nods. Most of 'em are. Mutations come on durin' the teens an' without much warnin'. Gayle...me girl, back then. She thought I was runnin' a fever. 'At was jus' a few minutes before it happened.

He can still see it all too clearly. Gayle just in front of him, wondering if they should get him to the doctor. Then the power spike and knowing that he'd hurt Gayle...

He shakes his head a bit, trying to clear the memories away. If I'd've known it was comin', I'd've been far away from people when it happened.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Your mutation essentially kicked you up a tremendous step on the evolutionary scale. In a way, rather than giving you a new, altered form, it used your body to catalyze a reaction, something that propelled you far beyond the need for DNA. You can no longer be classified a human being. Or even organic."

He goes on, "That energy your body produces--seemingly endlessly and in as large an amount as your form can contain--isn't actually being produced. That energy is you."

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Jono stares. Because that's the only thing he can think to do. It doesn't make any sense. Not really. Not to him.

Though Hank... Doctor McCoy said it was a possibility. I mean, not 'sactly the way you said it, 'course. Jus' reckoned me mutation got caught part way. Actually, he'd likened it to a butterfly coming out of the cocoon. Which had set Jono's snark meter to high. Then again, there hadn't been much that hadn't set it to high back then.

He rubs at his chest again, not entirely certain how to handle this.

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

"Your actual mutation is complete. You are what you are, what your DNA made you. Your true form is simply trapped in the remains of your body, connected to its vital systems to sustain it and gain sensory information."

He takes a deep breath.

"I know this must be alarming and uncomfortable, but I do want to reassure you--your personality, though likely still guided and regulated somewhat by your brain function--is largely what it is. Who you are is exactly the same as it always was, and would likely remain the same were you to cast off what was left of your body. What you are is the issue here. There are both benefits and limitations to what's happened to you. In this state, you still get to maintain a largely humanoid form, access at least some human sensory information, and are able to maintain at least some normal human bodily functions. Obviously, you were born human and remaining so is likely more comfortable than completely discarding your organic form."

He goes on, "However, your capabilities an an energy manipulator--and your psionic abilities could be near-limitless without your body hindering them. You're also likely limited from other, more thorough forms of perception that would allow you more sensation than your body's damaged nerves are likely providing you now. The state you are in right now is not meant to be your natural state."

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

It's a bit disturbin', at the moment. Jono reachs up, rubbing at his face for a moment. Dunno why this is comin' as such a surprise, though. Got drafted t' play fairy battery for a glamour machine, once. Should've guessed there was more t' this.

He's reeling at the moment. It'll sink in eventually.

After he's done being scared out of his wits.

Guess this is what they were talkin' 'bout when the doc said I could be an Omega. So many things Ev could do with his powers that he couldn't. Because of the body limitations?

[cabbage-butt.livejournal.com]

He's about to ask if 'Omega' is some kinda of power rating, but...

"Fairy battery?"

[psi-flames.livejournal.com]

Erm. Well, sorta. In that they were fairies an' needed a power-up t' the machine what kept people from seein' 'em. His Gen X years were so very, very strange.