Mondo and Forge - The Making of Things

[x-mondo.livejournal.com]

Mondo goes to Forge to get some additional help on what makes his power tick. While there, he gets a new accessory and destroys one of Forge's chairs.




Mondo knocked lazily on the door to Forge's office. He'd meant to make this visit for weeks now, he really had, but there had always been something else to do. Either Crystal'd want to study or he'd get tired and want a nap or he'd just be so _tired_ of America and so homesick he couldn't see straight. But he was here now, and the thought of actually _using_ his mutation cheered him right up.

"Come in," Forge called, not looking up from his desk. A set of blueprints were unrolled across the surface of his desk, held down on one side by his phone and by a stack of technical manuals on the other. Since someone had made the offhanded comment about 'so many fliers, we might as well be zoned as an airport', Forge had been looking over the mansion's blueprints and the lengthy permits and zoning exceptions the Professor had provided him with.

"Just leave them on the-" He stopped as he looked up to see Mondo filling his doorway. "Oh, I was expecting someone else. Mondo, right? What can I do for you?"

Mondo smiled his best friendly smile and waved a little wave at Forge. "You're Mr Forge, right? The science guy? Doctor Moria suggested that I should talk to you about my power, since Paige is leaving us to go to England." he said cheerfully. "So here I am!"

Forge blinked a few times before it set in. "Right, I am often the science guy when it comes to powers issues..." He patted his desk absently, looking around before lifting a corner of the stack of blueprints and pulling his laptop out from under the mess. Opening it up and accessing the medical database, he typed in a few commands, gesturing Mondo towards the one chair in the small office that wasn't occupied by stacks of electronics catalogs, schematics, or partially-dismantled computer equipment.

"Ah, says here you're recovering from a knee injury... not powers-related. Ah, transient metamorph... wait a minute, these readings don't..." He glanced over at the large Samoan, eyebrows arched in curiosity. "What do you do?"

Mondo sank into the proffered chair - it was too small for him, but he shoved himself into it anyway. Wouldn't want to be rude, after all. "I'm not sure I can explain it. I just ... borrow the properties of stuff I touch." he said with a self-depreciating shrug. "It's not all that exciting, really. Would you like me to show you?"

Musing for a while, Forge nodded. He reached across his desk to pick up a large iron bearing he'd been using as a paperweight and tossed it to Mondo.

Mondo grabbed it and then tossed it back after a moment's concentration. "OK. Nice iron." he said appreciatively. "Very thick and solid." He was getting better at asking materials quickly for permission to synch to them, and so far not one of them had refused him. The iron was cool, heavy, and solid. Mondo rather liked it.

Forge moved around his desk to get closer to Mondo. "Hmm. Okay, no obvious physical change, not visually anyway. Which is what interests me, since Moira's classed you as a metamorph..." Experimentally, he poked Mondo's bicep with one finger, then opened his eyes wider at the lack of give, almost as if he were touching solid metal. "Now that," he announced, "is fascinating. May I?"

He produced a small multimeter from a pile, touching the leads to Mondo's arm and watching the needle jump. "Fascinating," he repeated, "you're exhibiting the conductive and tensile properties of the iron, without mimicking its actual molecular structure. I'd bet..." he pulled out a small probe as he spoke, touching it to Mondo's arm, then watching it hang there. "Yep. Magnetic properties as well. Wow. What's it feel like?"

Mondo giggled. "It tickles!" he said, just before the chair beneath him groaned ominously. "Ummm - help?" he said, just before the chair gave way and dumped him unceremoniously onto his rather ample butt. Seems office furniture just wasn't designed to hold Mondo-sized lumps of iron in them.

Forge laughed sharply, hooking the multimeter onto his belt and extending a hand to Mondo. "Don't worry about it. These chairs are old and rickety anyway, I've been meaning to order new ones." He heaved, but it was about as effective as if he'd tried to uproot a fire hydrant one-handed. "Um. You're a bit heavier than I am. Did you hurt your knee?"

Mondo wiggled his knee experimentally, tearing through some of the debris of the chair like it was tissue-paper. "No, it feels fine." he said. "I just don't have much leverage..." he said, which he didn't as his legs were stuck resting on the outside rim of the chair while his butt was on the ground. He was jackknifed through the chair, and it really wasn't very comfortable.

Forge thought for a moment, then grabbed a piece of packing styrofoam from one of the boxes, handing it to Mondo. "Try this."

Mondo grabbed it and concentrated, then hoisted himself out of the ruins of the chair with the most godawful squeaking noise imaginable. "Ta-daaa!" he said, proud of himself, and let the Styrofoam go. He got kind of an odd look on his face for a moment, then handed the Styrofoam back to Forge. "Thanks!" he said gratefully. "I appreciate that."

"Think nothing of it," Forge said distractedly, tossing the foam over his shoulder into a wastebasket. "It seems you drop the qualities of one form of matter when you synchronize with another. Styrofoam, of course, being a lot more malleable than iron. Ever tried mimicking a liquid, or do you tend to stick to solids?"

Mondo paled at the idea. "I've ... never tried." he said, but every fiber of his being was screaming about abomination, about _wrongness_. "I don't think I want to."

Understanding the unspoken trepidation, Forge nodded, walking back around his desk to make a few notes in a file. After a moment's thought, he reached into a drawer to bring out what looked like a large digital watch. Popping the back of the case off, he deftly started rearranging parts and reconnecting wires and connections. "Tell you what," he offered, "you can help me help you learn more about your power here. You're not actually changing your mass, it just seems you're changing how the atoms in your body act - have you taken any chemistry courses on the physical properties of matter?"

Mondo looked at him like he was speaking Farsi. "I don't think so." he said diplomatically. "Geology's fun, even when Ms Dane gets all scoldy at me for talking to the rocks directly."

"Talking to the rocks," Forge repeated, reaching over to type on his laptop. Instinctive tactile deep-sensing. Suggest complex compounds once baseline established.

Flipping the wristband closed, he extended it to Mondo. "This might help figure out how you do what you do. It's a nonreactive polymer, so you won't have to worry about synching up to the scanner automatically, any more than you do your clothes. But over the next week or so, when you synch up with something, hit this little white button and just say what you're in contact with. It'll take some scans like I just did, and we'll get a good variety of readings to work with."

Mondo just looked amused by the whole thing. "Okay." he said, taking he wristband and putting it on. "Thanks! So - you have any ideas yet?" he asked expectantly. Forge was a genius!

Forge laughed, holding up his hands. "I have theories. But I want to get some data first. Keeps from forming any preconceived ideas about things, that's one of the first rules of scientific research. Don't assume you know anything until you've measured it." He took one more glance at Mondo's file, then shut his laptop. "Yours is a stable mutation, anyway. Not maladaptive. That means it shouldn't hurt you in any way. I mean, when you synch up to iron you don't suddenly pass out or anything. Once you get a handle on possibly controlling what properties of something you can mimic, you've got an incredibly useful ability there, Mondo."

Mondo beamed at the praise. "That's great!" he said with real joy. "Thank you, Mr Forge, for all of your help!"

"Hey, it's what I do," Forge said humbly, reaching out to shake Mondo's hand. "Now, just remember I'm not a doctor, so if you're having trouble with your powers, Doc Moira or Doctor Voght's who you need to see first. But so long as everything's going well, we'll see if we can't figure out how you tick, eh?"

Mondo nodded earnestly. This was Important Kahuna Stuff and not to be trifled with. "Sure thing!" he said, and then surprised himself with a yawn. "Wow, sleepy." he said. "I think I'm going to go lie down for a while. Thank you again for all of your help so far, Mr Forge!"

Forge just nodded and went back to perusing the blueprints. When he heard his door shut, he looked around, then reopened his laptop.

Recommendation: Switch him to decaf.