[Plot] Kids with Guns

[Ashlie Minamida]

"It's possible. Or it'd make it worse. Not to mention the ethical implications of creating something that could reliably and predictably edit mutations."

[Toshiro Narumi]

He exhaled. He could, annoyingly, see how his grandfather was tempted into trying to 'improve' on evolution.

"Right. Not worth either risk. Better to trick the protein into healing itself."

[Will Stanton]

"Messing around with quantum also seems dangerous, just on basic levels.

...I mean, the fact that a supervillain used it as part of their plan kind of shows that it's dangerous in and of itself...

..But no, what I mean is, when you start messing about with probability and possibility, you run the risk of poking into, like, the connective fabric of the universe. Creepy stuff, and all the more reason we'll need to take her down.

Once we fix this. After we fix this."


Brown-haired Will paused.

"But then again, we're not really creating something that could edit mutations. That technology already exists; it's here. We'd just be...reverse-engineering it, right?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"If. If we reproduce something to puncture the fabric of reality it will be significantly smaller in scope. But we might yet figure out a less dangerous method. Especially for someone like Will for whom we have the desired baseline available."

She looks off to the side at nothing for a moment, thinking. "Initiating a fresh contextualization by collapsing quantum states is never going to safe. It's a small miracle not more people were hurt or killed thanks to Conduit's meddling. Of course, we might exist in one of the few quantum states that remained stable while countless potential realities were erased on a existential level but... this isn't Philosophy of Quantum Mechanics. Though maybe I should draft up a module on that..."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I had been thinking we could use folded MGH protiens and to trigger a biological repair process I believe my scanner can help customize that to each patient."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Almost certainly for Will. Trickier for anyone else we don't have such an obvious blueprint for, but we might be able to build on that."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"I was going to consult Doctor McCoy about it. If anyone could help us cross that last hurdle, he can."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Certainly. Though to model protein structures we'll need the processing power of the Point, perhaps even the Crystal Computer."

[Natalie Denisov]

Natalie flickers into existence inside the lab, "The Crystal Computer is at your disposal. Given the nature of the situation, I may be able to call on additional resources if you feel it's necessary."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Maybe if we have to dive into the dimensional mechanics of it. I hope we won't because at that point we're dealing with purely theoretical equations. And I can only pray Conduit's little stunt did not do enough damage to draw the attention of the Starlight Citadel."

She glances over to Danny who, at this point, looks equal parts bewildered and angry.

"I do apologize, this must all be a bit much. Rest assured we're doing what we can, which includes substantial resources. We will let you know if we have a solution."

[Natalie Denisov]

"So long as it stays contained to our dimension, they may leave it to our discretion, but I will let you know if they contact me."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"So let's start with Will since we know what will work there. Then we need to run the numbers on the more experimental methods for the others since we lack before data. Though for Dani perhaps we only need a non-mutant baseline."

[Will Stanton]

"Let's get started, then. The sooner I'm gooey again, the better it is for everyone."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Alright, Natalie, I'm sending you two protein structures. You'll be much faster in calculating the folding differences. Tosh, can you modify one of our circuitry fabricators to print amino-acid sequences. Will 2 or 4, one of you run to Dr. McCoy's lab and fetch us..." she pauses briefly. "I will message him to prepare the organic compounds we need, just pick them up."

"In the meantime I'll find us a prion sub-domain that's effective but short-lived, so we don't turn Mr. Stanton into a vector for a potential Mutant-disease."

[Natalie Denisov]

Natalie's avatar flickered and changed, replaced with the multi-armed Clarion. "Intercept and Caretaker are engaged in your calculations. Intercept asked that I take her place in case you needed more."

[Will Stanton]

"Alright, Natalie, I'm sending you two protein structures. You'll be much faster in calculating the folding differences. Tosh, can you modify one of our circuitry fabricators to print amino-acid sequences. Will 2 or 4, one of you run to Dr. McCoy's lab and fetch us..." she pauses briefly. "I will message him to prepare the organic compounds we need, just pick them up."

"In the meantime I'll find us a prion sub-domain that's effective but short-lived, so we don't turn Mr. Stanton into a vector for a potential Mutant-disease."

Will #2 gave a mock salute, and trotted out of the lab.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"On it," Tosh nodded obediently, hurrying to gather the necessary tools.

[Will Stanton]

After various calculations were calculated, compounds were compounded, and tools were toolified, Brown-Haired Will stood in the middle of the lab.

"I guess I've got guinea-pig duties for today; let's get this party started."

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh did a final visual inspection of the autoinjector as he walked up to Will.

"Nervous?" he asked.

[Will Stanton]

"Impatient, more than anything. I trust you.

...I mostly trust you."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"It's okay. I get it. You've only known me for what must feel like a blink of an eye to you, and I haven't always had the best judgment in certain areas. But you can definitely trust me when it's down to science," he said, "Or punching things, but mostly the science."

[Will Stanton]

"I've been in a few labs before, with people who always seemed to know what they're doing.

I've seen enough science to know things CAN go wrong. So, let's just try to avoid that bit."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Fingers crossed then," he said hopefully.

"On three... two," he said, injecting into the shoulder on two with the intention of reducing the anxiety of the full countdown.

[Will Stanton]

Nothing happened.

"So, is this supposed to take a couple of hours, or..." Will began, when suddenly, his arm started pulsating and vibrating wildly.

[Toshiro Narumi]

Tosh hopped back as if Will's arm were a live wire

"Whoah! Did not expect that quick a reaction. Do you feel okay?" he said with a curious mix of concern and interest as he rushed to the scanner to monitor his waveform.

[Narrator]

The readings begin fluctuating wildly, but a discerning eye might spot that the brief peaks being picked up align with Will's original pattern. The scanner is picking up both at the same time.

Will would probably feel the effect more distinctly. His arm tingles and spams though after a moment there's no regular muscles to cramp anymore and it's just the familiar feeling of malleable clay. Well, clay that is twitching and bulging wildly. Trying to control the shifting however feels... disjointed, the more he tries the less control he seems to have and he realizes the two ways of shifting are competing. His new, changed power is sort-of recognizing the arm as something external it can try to shift back into 'normal human flesh arm' while the more familiar clay-shifting is responding the way it normally should. Trying to shift his arm is trying to activate both kinds of shifting and they're competing about it.

[Will Stanton]

Will clamped his arm to the nearby table for support, which caused the area where he was grabbing to pulsate and vibrate as well, as the two incompatable methods of shifting went to war in his body. He clenched his teeth and grimaced as the injection went to work on him.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Try to push through it. It seems to be working," he said encouragingly .

[Ashlie Minamida]

"The shifting is accelerating and counter-acting the change at the same time." Ashlie points out with... mild concern. "Will, you need to stop trying to force it. Your power's impulse to shift what you touch is interfering with the process." she says as she walks over to her personal workstation and rummages through one of the drawers.

[Will Stanton]

"It's...difficult to not touch anything..." Will said, through gritted teeth.

"Push through, or stop forcing? Bad enough to be pulled in two directions from my body..."

[Toshiro Narumi]

"Right. Go with what she said," he conceded, "I more meant try to bear with it anyway."

[Ashlie Minamida]

"I have a solution that'll stop you from accidentally interfering with the process." she says, strapping on a glove that looks suspiciously like it has some kind of weapon built into it.

"This might sting a little." she says as she raises her hand and fires a taser projectile at Will to knock him out.

[Will Stanton]

The taser shot into Will's still-fleshy chest, causing him to twitch some before falling to the floor.

And then, the electric shock reached the clay-y part of his body, and caused that to rapidly and uncontrollably fluctuate, pulsing in and out as it rapidly changed sizes, colors, shapes, materials...you name it.

In other words, he wasn't doing great, and Wills 2 and 4 stood up to protest simultaneously.

[Toshiro Narumi]

"We could have discussed that, Ash!" Tosh protested, rushing out from behind the scanner.

Ash?

[Ashlie Minamida]

"Just wait." she says, holding up her arm to hold Tosh back. "The electricity overstimulated the clay and interrupted his conscious mind from trying to help by using the wrong power. Theoretically."

[Will Stanton]

Was it working? Well, maybe -- the clay seemed to be moving up Will's arm into his torso, spreading notably as Will's conscious mind was, erm, temporarily disconnected.

The floor underneath him was shifting too, however; some kind of instinctual defensive reaction?

[Toshiro Narumi]

He was about to argue when he noticed the floor.

"Shit! The floor!" he exclaimed, "Is there a telekinetic we can call to keep him from touching anything?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"It might not affect hard-light constructs. Clarion?" she calls for Natalie.

"Failing that, I have a Graviton Lance in storage we can use if we find a sufficient power-source."

[Natalie Denisov]

Clarion appears accompanied by the armored Guardian. They note the situation and Guardian extends a hand, trying to slide a thin, shimmering sheet of hard light under Will. Clarion looks to Ashlie, "Shall I try calming him?"

[Ashlie Minamida]

"He's unconscious already. This appears to be an instinctual reaction." she says, eyeing the hard-light platform for any signs of shifting.