Arise X-man || Everything I wanted
Oct. 26th, 2021 04:30 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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xp_logsTrigger Warning: General Warning for Future Emotional and Physical Manipulation. General Adult Themes. Specific warnings will be given on logs as they arrive.
Laurie attends an appointment and meets an unexpected ally.
Lowtown in Madripoor...
It was far from the glittering palaces of Hightown, their well-manicured lawns and patrolled streets, but still not 100% lawless, or rundown. This was the tourist mecca, with its 24-hour pubs and clubs, and its tourists sampling street food from night markets. Laurie had made a reservation at an out-of-the-way Hostel, not wanting to draw any particular attention to herself beyond what the pinned sleeve of her missing arm would engender.
It was from this relatively civilized section of Lowtown that she made her way down to the nearest cross street and hailed a cab to take her elsewhere.
She was dressed much like any tourist, sandals and a pair of cargo pants topped by a lightweight shirt that allowed her skin to breathe in the oppressive heat of approaching summer. It made her long for the mansion, with its Fall foliage and the shortening days leading up to Winter. She wanted to see the snow and listen to Kyle bitch about how his feet were always too cold.
But she'd put herself on this path, and she was determined to see it through. She'd convinced Darcy to go back, to check in with X-force and cover for her for this part of her journey. She knew that her friend would stop her if things seemed too sketchy and she couldn't, she didn't want anyone to stop this.
She needed a result, and she'd do just about anything to claim it.
The 'clinic', for lack of a better term, was located between a thriving pachinko parlor and a massage joint all but openly advertising the availability of sex from the masseuses. She followed the directions she'd been emailed to a door and stepped through into a surprisingly clean and bright waiting area. There were several couches, a reception area, and several halls that led away into examination rooms, presumably. It looked like her dentist's office, which reassured her. There was no one at the desk though. Just a doorbell-like device installed facing towards the door.
Laurie shrugged and headed to the bell, pushing it once before she stood back to wait. She wondered if they’d be long, but shrugged off her impatience almost immediately. Whether they were long or short, it didn’t matter.
What mattered was getting what she came for.
"I'm afraid Doctor Chung will not be available for your appointment. Which would have been fruitless regardless. His advanced gene therapy was largely opiate-based - make the subject feel like something is happening while he siphons off their bank accounts or occasionally harvests the isolated ones for their organs." Laurie was stunned for a moment, as Nathanial Essex stepped out from the hallway. "However, that doesn't mean a consult is not available."
“Dr. Essex?”
It was an indication of the level of her desperation that she didn’t immediately turn tail and leave. She'd been aware of just how desperate this last hope had been. She'd traveled here anyway, only it seemed to be disappointed once again. How many more of those could she take?
Laurie sighed but didn’t do what most of the other people at the mansion would have considered a better choice, that of running the fuck away.
“No Kwannon?”
"She's available if needed." Essex walked over and settled himself on one of the couches, utterly relaxed. "Is she needed, Ms. Collins?"
“The smartest answer I could give would be yes. We both know I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t left smart behind some time ago.” Laurie joined him, taking a chair across from the couch. It was surprisingly comfortable given the clinic setting. She supposed doing rich people out of their money required a certain degree of class. “I take it this isn’t a social visit to the good Dr. Chung for you?”
"No, I'm actually here to see you. Your increasingly desperate search for a solution to your nerve damage crossed networks of mine, and I decided to replace Dr. Chung for a consultation. He's... no longer going to be practicing his form of... medicine, you might call it."
“I’m glad to hear it.”
You didn’t spend so long being friends with the people from X-force or dating Mercenaries without losing a certain degree of squeamishness over particular realities. A bad person was possibly gone from the world, that was a net positive in her opinion.
“But I trust the cost of your help will be suitably high and damning for me? Unless you’re here to tell me that you’ll help me out of the goodness of your heart, of course.”
"You X-Men. So certain of your moral superiority and the turpitude of everyone else." He said amused. "No, I have no Faustian bargain for you. No damning contract."
He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. "I am in a position with a patient that is having physical issues integrating their rather significant developing psionic abilities. I theorize that your particular powers could serve as a sort of therapy to help his body adapt. If you're willing to work with the patient, I will develop a real solution to regrow the damaged nerves and return functionality for your prosthetic."
“Fascinating. Will this patient be a threat at any stage to the mansion?”
Laurie studied Essex, weighing up her options. If he answered yes, would she still go ahead? Yes…God help her, she would.
"I don't see the future, Ms. Collins. I can't promise that any more than you can that the mansion won't be a threat to them one day. But you know if I truly wanted the mansion to be harmed, I could have done significantly more by now." He said, utterly unfazed by the question.
“Did you ever expect me to say no?” It was not a question she needed the answer to as she nodded her head and stood from her seat. Laurie had no need for idle chatter and once she’d made up her mind, she saw no reason for staying here any longer. “Where is your patient, Dr. Essex?”
"Much closer to home. I'll be in touch with the details, Ms. Collins. I anticipate between six and eight weeks should be sufficient, which will give me the time to develop your specific therapy."
“It's Dr. Collins, Dr. Essex. I did not spend thirteen years of study and struggle to be referred to as Ms.”
Laurie attends an appointment and meets an unexpected ally.
Lowtown in Madripoor...
It was far from the glittering palaces of Hightown, their well-manicured lawns and patrolled streets, but still not 100% lawless, or rundown. This was the tourist mecca, with its 24-hour pubs and clubs, and its tourists sampling street food from night markets. Laurie had made a reservation at an out-of-the-way Hostel, not wanting to draw any particular attention to herself beyond what the pinned sleeve of her missing arm would engender.
It was from this relatively civilized section of Lowtown that she made her way down to the nearest cross street and hailed a cab to take her elsewhere.
She was dressed much like any tourist, sandals and a pair of cargo pants topped by a lightweight shirt that allowed her skin to breathe in the oppressive heat of approaching summer. It made her long for the mansion, with its Fall foliage and the shortening days leading up to Winter. She wanted to see the snow and listen to Kyle bitch about how his feet were always too cold.
But she'd put herself on this path, and she was determined to see it through. She'd convinced Darcy to go back, to check in with X-force and cover for her for this part of her journey. She knew that her friend would stop her if things seemed too sketchy and she couldn't, she didn't want anyone to stop this.
She needed a result, and she'd do just about anything to claim it.
The 'clinic', for lack of a better term, was located between a thriving pachinko parlor and a massage joint all but openly advertising the availability of sex from the masseuses. She followed the directions she'd been emailed to a door and stepped through into a surprisingly clean and bright waiting area. There were several couches, a reception area, and several halls that led away into examination rooms, presumably. It looked like her dentist's office, which reassured her. There was no one at the desk though. Just a doorbell-like device installed facing towards the door.
Laurie shrugged and headed to the bell, pushing it once before she stood back to wait. She wondered if they’d be long, but shrugged off her impatience almost immediately. Whether they were long or short, it didn’t matter.
What mattered was getting what she came for.
"I'm afraid Doctor Chung will not be available for your appointment. Which would have been fruitless regardless. His advanced gene therapy was largely opiate-based - make the subject feel like something is happening while he siphons off their bank accounts or occasionally harvests the isolated ones for their organs." Laurie was stunned for a moment, as Nathanial Essex stepped out from the hallway. "However, that doesn't mean a consult is not available."
“Dr. Essex?”
It was an indication of the level of her desperation that she didn’t immediately turn tail and leave. She'd been aware of just how desperate this last hope had been. She'd traveled here anyway, only it seemed to be disappointed once again. How many more of those could she take?
Laurie sighed but didn’t do what most of the other people at the mansion would have considered a better choice, that of running the fuck away.
“No Kwannon?”
"She's available if needed." Essex walked over and settled himself on one of the couches, utterly relaxed. "Is she needed, Ms. Collins?"
“The smartest answer I could give would be yes. We both know I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t left smart behind some time ago.” Laurie joined him, taking a chair across from the couch. It was surprisingly comfortable given the clinic setting. She supposed doing rich people out of their money required a certain degree of class. “I take it this isn’t a social visit to the good Dr. Chung for you?”
"No, I'm actually here to see you. Your increasingly desperate search for a solution to your nerve damage crossed networks of mine, and I decided to replace Dr. Chung for a consultation. He's... no longer going to be practicing his form of... medicine, you might call it."
“I’m glad to hear it.”
You didn’t spend so long being friends with the people from X-force or dating Mercenaries without losing a certain degree of squeamishness over particular realities. A bad person was possibly gone from the world, that was a net positive in her opinion.
“But I trust the cost of your help will be suitably high and damning for me? Unless you’re here to tell me that you’ll help me out of the goodness of your heart, of course.”
"You X-Men. So certain of your moral superiority and the turpitude of everyone else." He said amused. "No, I have no Faustian bargain for you. No damning contract."
He leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. "I am in a position with a patient that is having physical issues integrating their rather significant developing psionic abilities. I theorize that your particular powers could serve as a sort of therapy to help his body adapt. If you're willing to work with the patient, I will develop a real solution to regrow the damaged nerves and return functionality for your prosthetic."
“Fascinating. Will this patient be a threat at any stage to the mansion?”
Laurie studied Essex, weighing up her options. If he answered yes, would she still go ahead? Yes…God help her, she would.
"I don't see the future, Ms. Collins. I can't promise that any more than you can that the mansion won't be a threat to them one day. But you know if I truly wanted the mansion to be harmed, I could have done significantly more by now." He said, utterly unfazed by the question.
“Did you ever expect me to say no?” It was not a question she needed the answer to as she nodded her head and stood from her seat. Laurie had no need for idle chatter and once she’d made up her mind, she saw no reason for staying here any longer. “Where is your patient, Dr. Essex?”
"Much closer to home. I'll be in touch with the details, Ms. Collins. I anticipate between six and eight weeks should be sufficient, which will give me the time to develop your specific therapy."
“It's Dr. Collins, Dr. Essex. I did not spend thirteen years of study and struggle to be referred to as Ms.”
