8268/Undercurrents: Something New

Undercurrents: Something New
Date of Scene:	11 July 2019
Location:	Women's Dorms, Xavier School
Synopsis:	Hank, Jubilee, Doug and Josh check on Sarah and her roomate. They start to investigate a new drug.
Thanks to:	Rogue, Scarlet Witch
Cast of Characters:	Elixir, Beast, Cypher, Jubilee
Tinyplot:	Undercurrents

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Elixir has posed:
Josh rubs his eyes as he comes into Medical with a coffee. He looks tired. He has thrown on jeans, a t-shirt and flip flops and makes his way straight to check on Sarah.

The 15 year old girl lies in a bed. The touchless biosensors pick up her vitals and display them on the wall above her bed. A quick review shows she has not woken during the night, but is in stable condition.

Josh cannot really interpret the EEG map except to know it is not normal. Instead he touches her face to get a sense of how the young brunette is doing.

He steps back and sips his coffee, remembering seeing her on the floor, blue in the face.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy comes in, just back from an X-Men assignment. No jacket, tie loosened and showing signs of having been cut off mid-way by a shuriken, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Also, his color is off. He's a bright purple. "I came as soon as I hard. What happened to her?"

Cypher has posed:
Doug is standing nearby, one hand over his mouth. He had just come in from his morning run, and is disheveled, in a t-shirt, shorts, and barefoot -- he glances back toward Josh, then to Hank, and he opens his mouth to say something, but decides that now is not the time.

Elixir has posed:
"Hank, thank god you're here," Josh says and frowns at Hank's look. He waves to Doug. "James Bond meets Austin Powers?"

"Sarah and Nadia have been doing down, pretty sure she means heroin. They tried something new and it was /bad/. Really bad. She was blue when we got to her and seriously, I've helped some people in my apartment building clean out, but this stuff would not let go. Thankfully Wanda was there or I might still be working on her."

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee is not one usually given to the medical lab, but considering the events of the night before, and the fact that she saw Josh heading that direction, Jubilee can't help following.

The door opens on the three gentlemen, and wide brown eyes peer around the door from the edge, topped by a fluff of ebony hair and a pair of antique brass goggles. The expression conveyed is fear. Perhaps terror. "Is.... everyone....Is everyone okay?" comes a voice from Jubilee, still concealed behind the door. She makes no move to enter, yet.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy lifts a hand and glances back to greet the arriving Doug and Jubilee. "Hi. Uh.. if she's still stable this far along, she'll probably be fine." He comes around to Sarah's bed, checking her vitals, humming. "Josh, have you taken a blood sample yet? We need to check her blood for what toxins may have caused this. It might be a simple overdose, but it might not." He sighs, and drops his face into his hand. "Such a waste."

Cypher has posed:
Doug studies the readouts on the monitor, and then says, "Huh... strange. Heroin... I mean, I'm not a doctor, but wouldn't heroin *suppress* bodily functions? But hers are..." He points, "Well, I don't know. It just seems like they'd be more..."

Elixir has posed:
"I did for the automated tox screen, but it's a bit messed up, because I purged her when I healed her," Josh says. He waves Jubilee in.

"Okay, so she was blue, twitching, not aware, friends admits drug use. Sounds like a rountine OD. So I started working her gently, so I didn't cause shock that I'd also have to deal with. But the stuff hit her harder the faster I healed her. And it was /changing/ her brain."

Josh swipes at the holo-wall display. The auto-toxicology report comes up clear. But the blood analysis is shocking to anyone who knows their stuff. This 15 year old girl has markers of kidney and liver dysfunction of a 30 year heroin addict.

"I don't understand those results," Josh says, frustrated. Hank would know Josh's abilities vastly outstrip his knowledge. "But I can feel something is wrong with her liver and kidney. But I didn't touch them because you'd told me about damage being a clue and I wanted you to see it, Hank."

"And get this, Doug. So Wanda Maximoff was there, she said the drug had some kind of magic or something. If she didn't help me damp it down, it would have taken me all night to purge Sarah."

For anyone who understands these things, automated brain scans show extremely dense, new neural connections throughout the girl's reward centers. An expert would read it well. She has been rewired into a massive fiend.

Jubilee has posed:
The curious and frightened eyes from behind the door, watch Josh as he explains and demonstrates his points. Once she is fairly certain that no one is going to attack her, toss her out, or die the moment she enters, Jubilee slips inside. "Hiya, Handsome!" she replies to Hank. She's in a black sundress adorned with embroidered cherries, and black sandals. Her long black hair is partly pulled up into a twist and pinned. Her turn of the century goggles rest atop a pile of curls on top of her head. "Have any tests been run on the... umm...paraphernalia?" Jubilee nods toward the syringe and spoon. "Probably better be super careful with it, though...."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy raises a finger. "Good thinking Jub." He paces the room a bit, gently ruffling her before taking her advice. He carefully picks up a few of the pieces, and walks them across the room, to begin an immediate series of scans on them. Tapping at the machine. "It maybe these kids were lured into this as part of an attack of some kind. This may even be a drug tuned to attack mutants." Inhaling. "Jubilee, could you please prepare to lock down the floor? Josh, we need to get her roommate down here now. This could be anything."

Cypher has posed:
"An ultimate hot-shot. Anyone who didn't know what to look for would look at her and say she ODed. But why go to all that effort just to kill somebody?" Doug asks, then he says to the others, "I'm going to try something. My power isn't... actually limited to sight or hearing; it extends through all my perceptions. So my *senses* aren't superhuman but my ability to interpret the information I take in is. I might be able to learn something if I can--" He looks down at the spoon with the burnt residue on it, and puts on a pair of rubber gloves, with a snap, before he reaches down and picks it up. He scents it, lightly.

Elixir has posed:
"I'll go find her, I think Rogue grounded Nadia to their room," Josh says to Hank.

"I had no idea anyone here was doing this kind of stuff. You ever heard of anything like this?" he asks Jubilee on the way to the door. Then he snaps his fingers.

"Nadia said they got it from their usual dealer in Bushwick," he adds then takes off to find Nadia.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee squeaks as Hank ruffles her, but she's all business, getting done any task that's asked of her. She doesn't have the abilities to figure this all out, but she will help any way she can.

"I haven't heard of anything specific, but I know that kids these days will try anything that is given or recommended to them. Gullible, most of them. And people will manufacture anything and pass it off as the next new thing. Like that synthetic pot, or bath salts. These kids here are especially vulnerable, because they feel bulletproof, most of them." Jubilee watches Hank...then Doug as he....sniffs it. "I reeeally wouldn't do that if I were you..."

Cypher has posed:
Doug frowns, and then sets the spoon down. "Don't let anybody handle any of this with bare skin. Gloves only. And put it in a sealed container, there's enough people around here with hyperacute senses..."

He takes the gloves off, and then says, "Even the faintest scent of it after being partially denatured-- burnt onto that spoon I mean... is appealing. I could feel it stimulating the pleasure centers in my brain."

He looks to Jubilee, and says, "You're right Jubilation, I shouldn't have. Fortunately I can say 'no, thanks' in any language."

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy pauses after he starts the machine, and looks back at it. Wrinkling his nose. "Yeah..." he grunts, his fur standing on end, his throat moving as he swallows hard. "This is bad. I have a distinct desire at the moment to try the stuff. That 's uh... well Doug, my fear is there's some sort of mind control being set up here. The brain scans on the girl are troubling. I want both students down here, isolated, and secured. Not as punishment, but as protection."

Elixir has posed:
Josh comes back a few minutes later with a terrified looking Nadia. 16, doll-faced, with pleated blonde hair and blue eyes, she is a picture perfect suburban beauty. Except for the puffy red eyes, red nose and rank fear. She smells of it.

"This is Nadia," Josh says. "Sarah's roomie."

Seeing Nadia might jog memories. She and Sarah had histories of very troubling behaviour before coming to Xavier's. They were not unfamiliar with the underage party scene, and Sarah had dabbled in escorting so she could buy the trinkets and bling she wanted. Nadia is an electrokinetic and Sarah has incredibly fast reflexes.

"Is she.." Nadia asks timidly when she catches sight of Sarah. She stands mostly behind Josh and aboids looking at anyone. Though she cannot help but do a double-take at purple Hank.

Jubilee has posed:
Jubilee frowns slightly, moving over to Hank, and she touches his arm, rubbing it lightly. "Hey. You okay? Maybe you should step out for a moment. Just for distance." She looks concerned, as she watches Hank cautiously.

Then enters Nadia - even more terrified than Jubilee had been when she arrived. "She's stable. But we need more information if there's any chance she is gonna be okay..." Jubilee offers, priming her for the information pump that is inevitably coming.

Cypher has posed:
"Yes." Doug says. "Its language is designed from the ground up to be utterly seductive. The absence of pain, bliss, euphoria -- whoever designed this understands more about human brain chemistry and the endocrine system than you." And that means... they are an exceptionally gifted biochemist. He leaves that part unspoken.

"I like the psylocke purple, by the way. It suits you--" He looks up, and then crosses his arms, and steps back a bit. This is the Doctor's show.

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy is nicely distracted, between all the focus on his new color, and Jubilee's comforting. "Thanks." He then snickers and smirks. "I was helping a young mutant family today. One kid, whom I'm sure is going to be a student here someday, had the power to mess with my tint control. I was actually coming down here to find out how permanent it is..." Chuckling, he pats Jubilee's shoulder. "Thanks. I should be fine. That was brief, but intense. Nadia. Please have a seat in the bed on the other end of the room from your roommate. We're going to do some routine scans on you, just for your own safety. You'll both be fine, but we have to do things the right way." Then smiling to Jubilee. "Elevators secured?" THen to the whole group. "anyone want coffee? Might be a long night."

Elixir has posed:
Nadia looks to Jubilee and nods, miserably. Josh steps aside and jerks his head toward Hank and Nadia shuffles over slowly. She moves languidly onto the bed. Despite being obviously frightened and having been crying, her breathing is slow and so is her heartbeat. Nadia's pupils are small even under Hank's light and her eyes are droopy. She scratches idly at her arm.

"This wasn't supposed to happen," Nadia says lamely. "She always does more than me... And Twig said it was safe. It's not my fault."

Jubilee has posed:
"I'll secure the elevators," Jubilee replies, moving to the door, and looking back at Hank's comment. "Good thing I brought pj's." As if that's completely normal. One must always be prepared for a long night.

"Is there anything anyone wants before I lock stuff down? Now's your chance to ask Jubes for anything you want."

Cypher has posed:
"Let me just get a biohazard bag..." Doug gets a fresh pair of gloves, and tosses them to Josh, before he grabs another pair and goes to fetch one. "...Put those in here." He says. The bag seals up airtight. Probably a wise precaution. "My tablet." Doug says, easily, "It's on my desk in my room." He'll shower up down here, and change into his uniform. Does Doug even have a uniform? What does it look like?

Beast has posed:
Henry McCoy starts pouring coffee for himself, and anyone who wants it. He sits in the middle of the room, between the two beds containing the two young students. "Nadia, who's Twig?" He asks gently, flashing her a smile, trying to reassure her. "I'll be honest with you. My theory is someone is trying ot use you to attack mutants. To damage our reputations, or even to harm the school, and you with it. You're the victims, and I need you to be perfectly honest with me."

Elixir has posed:
Josh catches the gloves from Doug and puts them on. He drops the spoon and the syringe into the back Doug holds out after taking a few swipes with sample swabs and distilled water. He labels each and sets them aside in their containers.

"I guess you can teach me how to use the mass spectrometer now?" he asks Hank. "And uh, we gonna be locked down long?"

"What? Really?" Nadia says with widening eyes. "But, Twigs said it was a new down. He just got it, it's like, totally hot uptown and like, everywhere. He wouldn't... We're... He's my boyfriend."

Josh frowns. "Your what?! Twigs is my age! Jesus," Josh says, furious. "I know Twigs. Or thought I did. He hangs out at the Sailor in Mutant Town. I knew he partied, but this is /bullshit/. He's a goof, but..." Josh just shakes his head.

"I'll get on sample prep and Nadia's bloodwork," Josh mutters, looking foul.

Cypher has posed:
"...He hangs out at Evolution sometimes, too." Doug says. "Maybe I'll go talk to him later." He's quiet, downright clinical, as he puts the sealed bag under lock and key. You can never be too cautious with this stuff. "...But if you're right, and this stuff is everywhere..."

He grimaces. "...Then we don't have a lot of time. Just another frickin' thing on our plates! Filo de putino. Dia dia."