xp_logs | Kevin & Hank | Friday morning

Kevin meets up with Hank to discuss what results the doctor has for him after the blood tests he ran, if any.

After having been out half the day scouring for metal bits and pieces and sheets Kevin had come back to his suite for find a message for him from Dr. McCoy. Apparently there were results from those blood tests or something because he had to head down to the labs to see the doctor. Honestly, he was a little anxious about it all. His mutation had been acting funky for the better part of six months now and while he didn't think the situation could possibly end up worse than it had already been with his mutation Kevin wasn't ruling that possibility out. After all, whatever could go wrong generally would.

He couldn't find Dr. McCoy in the medlab or his own labs so Kevin found a nice comfy spot on the floor of the hall where he could see most of the doorways and sat down. All else failed, he could probably entertain himself there for a while. Hopefully Hank had just gone to find a sandwich or a twinkie or something.

Hank had, in fact, been in the kitchen, refilling the various flavors on HB2.7. Now, he was headed back to the lab with a piping hot cup of flavored tea in his large hand. The other hand had today's paper pulled up on his touch-pad as the doctor reviewed the various news articles of the day. He headed down the stairs, taking the long route toward the lab.

When Kevin spied Hank coming down the hall he pulled himself out of his own head and stood up. "Hey, doc. You said you wanted me to come down?" He dusted himself off and wondered if the results were more or less nothing. Maybe there wasn't anything detectable even with Hank looking. Or worse, maybe Hank just hadn't figured it out yet.

The blue doctor had been in mid-sip when Kevin called out to him and the surprise caused him to jump a little- his agility saving him from a rather embarrassing coffee stain on his otherwise pristine suit. When he finally recomposed himself, Hank smiled, "Ah, Mister Ford. Yes, I needed to have a word with you, care to join me in my office?"

Spotting the near stumble, Kevin gave himself a point for tripping up the agility-aided grace of Dr McCoy. After patting himself on the back for that he replied, "Yeah, of course." He still hadn't announced his mutation weirdness to the general population so having a chat in the hall wasn't exactly the sort of thing Kevin was after anyhow.

The pair made their way down to his office slowly, taking the staircase to the lower levels as Hank continued to review the news. "What do you think of this Egypt situation?"

"Ah don't really know much about it," Kevin admitted. There were some people his age in the mansion who were very aware of international current events, but Kevin wasn't really like that. He picked up bits of information here and there, but since he didn't really know much about politics he didn't seek out the information for himself. "It's kind of messed up that people are being attacked and hurt and killed - Ah think - by the cops just because they're protestin'. Ah mean, if you can't handle people protestin' your rule and gotta answer that with violence then your probably doin' like eight dozen things wrong right there, y'know? But stuff like that's happened in our country, too, where the police were went out and got violent with protesters. Just not on that scale Ah don't think."

Hank nodded as they strolled into the med lab, "You would be correct in that, Mister Ford. People always seem to leap toward satisfying the lusts of the id before engaging their higher brain function when they feel their power is threatened. But as a great man once said, 'Power is never surrendered willingly.'" The pair walked into his office and Hank motioned for the younger mutant to sit down.

Kevin nodded and sat down. "Makes sense. People who want power spend a lotta time and effort tryin' to get it and keep it. Why would they give it up unless someone made 'em? That's why they call 'em power hungry, Ah figure. 'Cause no one likes starvin' and that's probably what it is for them without power: starvin'."

"Speaking of powers," Hank said as a way of poorly segueing, " I've run all the tests I can on the blood samples we collected and have run the data through every analysis I can think of- but the results are inconclusive at this point." The doctor leaned forward, "But," holding up a large blue index finger, Hank smiled, "the good news is that we ruled out a great deal at this point with those tests. We simply need to shift our focus off the cellular and turn toward, I suspect, the hormonal impulses of your brain."

"My hormones are making my mutation funky?" Kevin considered what that might mean, but mostly he came up short on any earth-shaking revelations. "Does that mean like I have morning mutation," he asked, drawing an obvious conclusion that if you got morning wood via hormonal stuff that meant morning mutation as well. Kevin, clearly, wasn't one for scientific thought.

The blue doctor chuckled and shook his head, waving his hand dismissively, "There is more to your hormonal chemistry than the endorphines associated with the fancies of youth. No, I am postulating- and this is just that, a guess, at this point anyway- that neurotransmiters may be to blame in some way for this change."

"So how do you monitor my neurotransmitters? Is that like a brain scan or somethin'?" When he was at Muir Island Kevin had undergone numerous tests so the folks there could try to figure out the specifics of his mutation. Unfortunately he had no idea what tests did what or checked for what.

"Actually, no. Well, I suppose if you would like, we could do a CAT or MRI scan of your brain tissue to ensure there is nothing wrong there- but it's rather expensive and I would rather start off with another set of blood and saliva samples, if you're up for it."

Kevin shrugged his agreement. "You're just gonna swab my mouth and stick me with a needle, why wouldn't Ah be up for it? Do Ah gotta be using my mutation or like have just used it before you do that? Y'know, since last time it was before and the decaying didn't wanna work right away."

Hank's eyes waffled slightly as he let a small sigh out, "It's not quite as easy as that- and yes, it would be best if we took samples both while you are and are not using your abilities. I will need you to come back on a daily basis until at least Friday to construct a true picture of what is going on."

"Right." Kevin didn't look nearly as gung ho about this now. Daily poking with a needle? Was this is karmic kick in the shin for all the good stuff that had been happening lately? Karma just couldn't let him have life be awesome for a while, could it? "So like a standing daily appointment for like a week and Ah sit in here and do powers training stuff and you swab and stick me as needed? How long would these last a day?"

"Five," Hank shrugged, "maybe ten minutes at the most. I can't see it taking much beyond that unless you wanted to stick around for some other test of some sort...or to organize our medical supplies." Hank's serious veneer cracked slightly and his lip curled up to a half-smile. "Ten minutes a day, tops- seems like a fair trade for some answers, no?"

"Yeah, Ah can suffer through ten minutes a day." He could even use the time to further work on a wood carving he was attempting with his mutation. He had been avoiding powers training as much as possible since the strangeness began. Partly that was because he didn't want anyone finding out until he had his freedom and partly it was because he'd get so frustrated with it. "Is this my cue to roll up my sleeve, then?"

Hank got to his feet and motioned for the door, "Let's adjourn to one of our sterile exam rooms first, shall we?"