[Plot] Kids with Guns

[Will Stanton]

Will's power could apparently not shift the hard-light platform, because, well, it wasn't "real". The clay was slowly creeping up the rest of his body, so presumably, whatever it was the science boffins had done was working.

[Natalie Denisov]

More hardlight moves upward from the edges, turning the "wall" into more of a "shallow tray" as Guardian elevates it slightly off the floor. "Just in case," the modulated voice says from the armor.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"It looks like his original powers are past fifty percent recovery."

Satisfied, Tosh moved back to the scanner.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Very good. His brain getting converted might be a critical junction but it's looking promising."

[Will Stanton]

Will gave out a moan as the clay overtook his chest and head, his body losing form and definition as he sort of melted into a big ol' clay blob.

Tosh's scanner seemed to show everything going well, Will's readings steadily approaching his baseline ones.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Almooost theeere..." Tosh said expectantly. They were past the most likely point of failure but he was still afraid something could go wrong.

[Will Stanton]

Will groaned, moving one hand to his head as he regained consciousness. "That...sucked. Unpleasantly so."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"How are your powers doing? Back to normal?" he asked with more concern than clinical curiosity. He was never very good at scientific detachment.

[Will Stanton]

"Well, let's see here," Will said, reaching out and touching Tosh on the shoulder.

Nothing happened.

"Well, that's a good sign, at the very least."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Not so happy I was the test, but I am happy you seem to be back to your old self," he smiled.

"But to be sure, do something shifty."

[Will Stanton]

"What, like sign you up for a multi-level marketing scheme?"

But, to assuage Tosh's fears, Will ran through a few basic shifting exercises, just to show that the process had worked.

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh gave him a thumbs-up, "We'll need to be on the lookout for side-effects, but this is very promising."

[Will Stanton]

"So," Will said, turning to the Science Boffin Team.

"What the fuck was all this? How on earth did someone...I mean, to figure out how to do this, they must be lightyears ahead of us on our research of mutations, yeah? We're playing catch-up, if we're going to prevent this from happening to anyone else."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Those unscrupulous enough will always be ahead simply on account of disregarding any potential damage done. And Conduit took a sledgehammer to something to observe the cracks. That will always be easier than fixing something."

"That said, if she has the resources she could do this again. Or worse."

[Natalie Denisov]

"And worse along these technological lines would invariably involve the Citadel," Clarion chimes in.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Am I correct in assuming that that is a scenario we would want to avoid?"

[Natalie Denisov]

“Let’s just say that they have countermeasures if a dimension gets out of hand or threatens the other dimensions. Those countermeasures might not fit a conventional definition of proportional response.”

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Yeeeaaah, let's... try to avoid that totally un-gnarly fate," he said, not noticing the Bruce-like surferism.

[Ashlie Minamida]

Ashlie quirks an eye at Tosh.

"Well, hopefully it won't come to that. In the meantime, we have a lot of data crunching to do if we want to adapt this method to help those we do not have a convenient 'Before' sample of. Let's reconvene here with everyone who needs help and is willing to take the risk of experimental treatment in 48 hours."

[Toshiro Narumi]

He stifled a yawn. "Well then, my first order of business is to take a much needed nap. I'm beat."

[Drake Martin]

48 hours later...

Drake arrived a few minutes early, anxious to get himself put right, dressed in his school-issued training suit in preparation for whatever unexpected thing might happen.

[Narrator]

Following shortly after Drake is an unfamiliar face, walking unsteadily and rigidly, every step careful and deliberate. Anything more than a passing glance makes it obvious that under her clothes, her entire body is that of a plain mannequin with just her head flesh and blood. Everything below her neck is a mass of thin tendrils that extent into the prosthetic body, operating it and constantly twitching and flailing against it's confines. She offers a nervous smile and with some effort manages to lift up the body's hand as a kind of wave.

Behind her Danny is awkwardly shuffling forward on her snake body, looking extremely grumpy.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That's almost everyone. I believe Miss Crusek will be joining us as well, but in the meantime, let me give you a quick explanation." Ashlie says from where she's standing in front of a workbench with several vials and syringes on top, as well as a complicated model of a protein slowly rotating on the screen. "This is a model of Mutant Growth hormone, in short the molecule responsible for the manifestation of mutant powers. It comes in countless subtle variations, linked to the particulars of a given power. I won't bore you with the details, but the presence and shape of this protein is responsible for your powers."

"When you were hit by the energy beam, it warped existing powers and manifested new ones, rewiring your biology. We were able to undo the damage in Will Stanton because we had data on his original MGH available. That is not the case for you, unfortunately. I do believe we have come up with an approach, but it might be... tricky. From all the data available from your samples, Will's, the drug circulating in the streets and what little I could piece together from Lippincott's lab, we have determined a sort of 'neutral' MGH Prion. In theory this should strip the specific form of your mutation and give it a chance to re-manifest in a more natural way."

"Based on what we know this will be dependent on a number of factors. Mental state, your surroundings and even religious or philosophical believes. For those of you with pre-existing powers we believe it will help to focus on your former power, surround yourself with things that remind you of it and perhaps even recreate the circumstances of when the first manifested. For Miss DiScivolare and Miss Karelia I'm afraid this won't work, but I do believe it will alleviate some of your problems with controlling your powers at the very least. Being forcibly mutated like this I suspect it did not grant you the instinctual reflexes and muscle memory that usually come with mutations. You would still have to train those new instincts, but you would no longer have to try and steer a non-human body with reflexes meant for arms and legs."

[Haley Crusek]

Haley stood rigid with her arms crossed over her chest. She looked like hell, her hair unwashed for... Probably quite some time and put into an extremely messy ponytail, and dark circles under her eyes.

"So there's a chance I could screw this up and wind up with different powers?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Possibly. Evidence is more and more pointing towards there being certain... striations to powers that run along lines of similarities dependent on factors we've yet to fully understand. For you telekinesis, ranged manipulation, destructive properties and raw power at the cost of control seem to be some of the touchstones, but truthfully we don't know for certain. It is unlikely it would deviate significantly but I can't promise it will return to exactly how it was either. I cannot stress enough how highly experimental this is."

[Haley Crusek]

Haley's face fell. "Well...can't get much worse than randomly disintegrating things that I touch," she grumbled to herself softly.

"So do we...bring this stuff home, and wait until we're ready to re-create our powers and then take the stuff?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"That is up to you, but I would recommend using the Danger Room or at least some kind of supervision. The counselor is on stand-bye if you feel you need to be more emotionally prepared as well. One thing we know for a fact is that music has an effect in mood, metaphorical and literal interpretation, but ultimately it's context. Imagine an energy of near limitless potential trying to find a shape, a way to purposefully affect the world and latching on to whatever it can find. And that seems to include unpredictable leaps of logic or interpretation that extent as far as fairy tales and make-belief if the amount of mythologically inspired mutations that exist are any indication. Or it might go for the painfully literal."

"Simply put, you should do what you feel is best for you."

[Drake Martin]

"I'll just load a dragon's lair and crank up some Dragonforce. That should do it," Drake said.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I'd recommend some personal touches as well. If not recreating the circumstances of your powers emerging, then at least a reminder or two," Tosh supplied from the sidelines.

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Right, yes. I've earmarked you for priority Danger Room access for this. If you want I'll be present to supervise, as can be a counselor if you want."

[Drake Martin]

"I'll be fine. But I suppose an additional safety net in case it goes pear shaped won't hurt my pride."