xp_logs | The Nora Project

Following his encounter with the EM field, Kevin wakes up without his powers and feeling a little different.

"Doc? Red? I need a consult." The tone and words were certainly Kevin, but the voice that carried through the medlab was a warm contralto, different from his deep voice. Kevin walked into the office, finally finding Jean going over her files. "I'm in a bit of a situation."

The redheaded woman definitely wasn't Kevin.

Jean glanced up curiously, pausing for a long moment.

"Okay. I'm guessing this has something to do with...?" she motioned toward his current form. He didn't have a habit of wandering around the mansion using a different face.

"Ran into an EM field yesterday. Scrambled me pretty good. Tried to sleep it off and woke up like this. It's my primary female alt, but..." She sat down across from Jean. "I can't access my powers now."

Closing the file Jean was working on, Jean tilted her head. "Hmm," came the reply as she glanced her over.

"When you ran into this field, were you thinking of or using this form for some reason? There has to be something behind this form that is keeping you locked inside of it."

"No. I was shifting back to my normal... Kevin form. Ugh, I'm a form." She said with a disgusted sound. "Maybe it damaged it and this is a recuperative response?"

"Wait, you were shifting when you ran into the field? As in, mid shift?" Jean said curiously.

"Close enough. It only takes a second or two but the field hit me unexpectedly. I'm not sure if I was fully shifted. Second I hit the field, I became the Amazing Melting Man."

"Hmm," Jean said thoughtfully, rising from her chair. "For how long? And when you reformed you were...this?"

"Hours later. When we got back, I just crawled into bed. Figured I'd sleep it off. Not only did I sleep twelve hours, which I never do, but I woke up as Nora."

"So you remained in your inbetween state for hours?" Jean said, walking closer to glance over her form. "The human body contains a series of small electric currents. The introduction of the electromagnetic current mid-shift could have disrupted your cells and basically reset them. But the question is, why didn't you go back to your Kevin form? What's the significance of this alt? Perhaps it...subconscious?"

"Maybe I secretly want to be a redheaded woman?" Kevin said dryly. "It's possible. Although, Nora is the form I use regularly more than anyone one body other than my natural one."

Jean nodded. "Hmm," she said thoughtfully. "Well, I can run some tests...MRI, Cat Scan, blood work, etc. See if anything's different than your regular base line."

"Everything will be different from my baseline. Nora is a DNA based alt. Means the second I switch to her, I'm her down to the genetic level." Kevin said. His powers had been of considerable frustration to the medical staff, since they were so complete in the morphing and he refused to assume the alien-like body that was thought to be his true form. "I'm more worried about the lack of powers. I mean, I've got nothing working at all, even the normal subconscious expressions of it."

"I'd rather have the readings and have them show nothing, than not take them at all on the off chance they do," Jean said, picking up her iPad and a stylus to jot down some notes. "Sometimes after a trauma or the introduction of a new stimuli the body needs time to recover. If you are still able to walk, talk, and think, I have hope whatever it is is temporary. Are you in pain?"

"Yes, but it's mostly my back is sore and I have a slight headache... two things that I have not felt since my powers manifested years ago." She said. "My body typically auto-corrects so minor aches and pains disappear immediately."

Jean nodded, making notes on her iPad. "Others have been affected by EM fields before. It can impact people in different ways but the most prevalent is causing power burnout. EM fields have a way of disrupting the body's natural electric currents. It can be especially hard on those with physical powers. When you were shifting forms, it likely scrambled and stopped the shifting process. Sort of like turning off a computer. When your body wasn't able to reassume the main operating system...the Kevin form... due to being scrambled, it reverted to the most familiar other form as back up."

"That's reassuring. What do you think I might be looking at. A few days... weeks? If you say years, I'm going to just get hammered and go straight back to bed."

Jean tapped the stylus against her bottom lip. "Hard to say," she admitted. "It differs with each person. With the others, it usually only lasted a few days. Maybe a couple of weeks at most. So it'd be relatively safe to guess the same, give or take."

"That sounds doable. So what's next? Schedule some tests?" Nora said, smoothing her dress against her legs.

Jean saluted. "You got it," she said. "If you start feeling any differently, or like something is wrong, call me or think at me with your location. I'll come to you."

"I need to go into the office, get the next week or so re-organized. Figure out what you need and call me? We can figure out when to do everything." She stood up. "Appreciate the reassurance. I'll buy you a thank you brunch if you've got time."

"It's all part of the job, but I wouldn't say no to waffles," Jean said with a smile.

"Sounds good. If you want, we can have the cafe talking about your new 'girlfriend' for weeks." Nora winked.

"Or my sister," Jean said, glancing up at Kevin's hair with a smirk. "Either way should be interesting."