12558/The Cure: The daily download

The Cure: The daily download
Date of Scene:	15 December 2020
Location:	Medical Lab - X-Men Base
Synopsis:	The X-Men go to check on Jeremy and the New Mutants. They discover exactly what Jeremy was able to steal from DAMT.
Cast of Characters:	SpyderByte, Nightingale, Phoenix, Siphon, Pixie, Wolverine, Storm
Tinyplot:	Mutant Cure

---

SpyderByte has posed:
Yesterday was an exciting day for The New Mutants (and Megan.)

With Magneto attacking the clinic during one of the protests, the New Mutants decided to watch from afar and sadly, unfortunately, get tangled up in the action. Everyone escaped mostly unscathed, even if they were down one laptop.

Jeremy is currently in one of the medical beds, staring at the ceiling with a glassy eyed expression. His phone is sitting on his chest, laying face up with a blank screen. He hates these hospital gowns. They provide far too much ventilation on the backside.

Someone at least put some TV on which is playing some type of current cartoon. He has access to the remote, but he hasn't bothered to touch it yet.

Nightingale has posed:
     In a place that normally either had little to no smell, or that of medicines and disinfectants, there was an oddly homely, comforting smell. It seemed to be wafting in from the hallway, as someone approached with measured steps, as if bearing a precious payload. It was a familiar, ooey, gooey aroma. Yes, it was the panacea of pasta.

     Mac 'n cheese.

     And it was borne into the medbay by one familiar winged resident of the mansion, who peeked in, her arms full of a tray that had a couple plates, forks, a serving spoon, and what looked like a fairly sizeable covered dish. "Hey, Jer," Shannon said, her voice oddly subdued. "Feel up to a little lunch?"

Phoenix has posed:
The X-Men got the call last night but they were seconds too late. Magneto was gone and the damage was done. It's unlikely any of the leadership has slept since. Reports, calls, meetings; a parade of reacting versus preventing. Because that seems to be all they're good at lately. Cleaning up increasingly large messes, and not the kids were involved.

The bitter, sullen anger in Jean precedes her. There's a faint flickering of the television screen, a momentary cascade of colored lines and fine static before it returns to its current programming. The door opens a few seconds later as the woman walks in, still in her black and gold uniform because she hasn't had time yet to change. Or maybe she was just waiting to get the call to go back out.

"Jeremy." She says quietly as she looks towards the technopath on the bed. "Ah... lunch. Hi, Shannon. I was just coming to check on you, but if you'd rather a few minutes to eat in peace I can come back."

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha has been getting very familiar with this part of the building the last few weeks. The first trip determined that a long lasting and increasingly painful body ache was caused by her body no longer naturally draining her energy intake. All the subsequent visits have been to make use of what she privately refers to as The Nightmare Freezer.

    She enters a few minutes behind Jean wearing a big white fluffy hooded robe and her banned-by-the-Geneva-Conventions toxic dayglow neon green bunny slippers. She moves like she's gone six rounds with Logan. A quick wave is sent out and when she notices the Mac 'n Cheese she lets out a quiet groan. Such glory would be wasted on her current copper state.

SpyderByte has posed:
The eyes of Jeremy continues to flicker now and again, followed by a slight twitch of his body. He takes in a deep breath, then lets it out as he hears voices, followed by the scent of Mac and Cheese. Placing his hands on the railings of the bed, he pushes himself to a sitting position as he glances over towards the three. He looks groggy.

One of his hands reaches out to pick his phone up and gives it a squeeze. He reaches up with his other hand to rub at his temple a few times. He glances down at the device, then looks back to the others.

"Haa. Haaaaa.. llo."

Looks like he is not currently using his phone to speak. His voice has that usual stammer, but more drawl and drawn out. He gives a few slow blinks of his eyes, one after the other. One-two.

"I-I-I'm ff-fffffff.. ffffiiiiine."

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon had heard Jeremy's stutter before. That was nothing new. But to hear his words drawn-out like this, and to hear them at all when normally he would reach for his phone? That had her furrowing her brows with concern.

     Turning to Miss Grey, she smiled faintly and shook her head. "No, it's okay. Kind of guessing you might be a little hungry too, by this point. I can run back upstairs and get a couple extra plates, you're welcome to use mine if you like. There's plenty of mac 'n cheese for all of us."

     Finding one of those little over-the-bed tables nearby, she sets down the tray, and rolls the table over so it is positioned roughly over Jeremy's lap. Tabby's entrance has her lofting her brows, the coppery sheen to the girl's skin not lost on her. Nor are those bunny slippers. That actually makes her smile just a bit. "Ooof. You having a rough day, too?"

Phoenix has posed:
"You're not fine." Jean says quietly. She stretches out a hand to pull over a trio of the nearby stools to arrange themselves near the bed. She sits on one situated at Jeremy's shoulder. "None of this is fine."

There's a shake of her head towards Shannon's offer and a gesture of her hand towards the mac. "You all eat, I'm not hungry. Hello, Tabitha. Come on over and sit."

She reaches up to run a hand over her face and back through her hair, tucking a fistful of red back behind her ear. "I'm sorry the New Mutants got caught up in this. You weren't supposed to. Magneto warned us. He told Scott, Logan, and I that if we didn't share a sample of the cure with him that he'd go finding his own. He refused to work here with us and we didn't trust him alone with it, and now you all got caught in the crossfire."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn hadn't been seen since Magneto had collapsed the building the other day. Fortunately, she had eventually escaped the wreckage, albeit clearly bruised and cut up, and favoring one leg as she limped into the medbay late last night, wings grey and droopy, before collapsing.

She hadn't woken up since the ordeal, or explained where she had disappeared to. Until now. She groans in the corner under the blankets of her medbed, rubbing her eyes and looking around groggily.

"Ugh.." she groans.

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha nods to Shan, "Yeah. Time for my regular torture session to drain the batteries that won't drain themselves." She shivers dramatically and goes over to sit with the group. "But any excuse to put it off..."

SpyderByte has posed:
Continuing to slowly blink, Jeremy gives a glances over towards Megan's bed, then back over to the others. He worries his fingers about the phone in his clutches. He squeezes his phone tighter, then drops his head back against his pillow again with a thump. Several screens around the room flicker.

Fine.
Fine.
Fine
Fine.

He is obviously fine. Really. This is normal behavior.

Letting out a light grunt, he reaches up to rub his hand along his nose, then gives it a squeeze.

A screen closest to them and biggest flickers rapidly for a moment before it becomes a bright green screen, followed by white text: F:/SpyderByte/PhotosOfCats/CuteCats/FluffyCats/SoMANYCATS/thebigcat.pkg

Coughing up a sputter, he slides his hand over his mouth for a moment, lifting a hand up to point at the screen. His finger is wiggling. Point. Point. Point.

"I-I-I-Iiiiiii." Cough. "I.. G-got it aaaahll. I-I-I sssh..ssshhhhut it d-d-d-down. T-T-Took eeeveryt-t-thing. The c-c-cure. Mmmm..Mmmmmmaaaag--Mmm-aaagneto haaaaas a eh-emmmmpty c-c-c-omputer."

The screen's font tightens for a moment to be more clear.

Nightingale has posed:
     Shannon's eyebrows quirk, flicking upwards briefly. A smile very nearly appears on her face, but surely that was a trick of the light. "Oooo, he's gonna be hella pissed when he finds out," she says. "Still... gotta admit, that's pretty impressive. But you're lucky you didn't fry yourself entirely. Please... please be careful?" The worry just rolls off of her now. She'd seen him overextend his gifts before, but never enough to land him in the medbay before. What could be next for the technopath?

     Turning to Miss Grey, she simply reaches over and, if not put off, wraps arms and wings around her briefly in a hug. "Everyone did the best they could. He's not someone any of us wanted to tangle with. Pixie did her part telling us to get out of there and we listened. Sure didn't expect him to follow us, though." A light little smile tugs the corners of her mouth upwards. "The things we've been learning here from you and everyone helped get us out alive. We owe you all a lot for that."

     Letting go of Miss Grey, she turns the moment she hears Pixie, her brows furrowed. "Oh hell. What happened to you? The last I saw of you yesterday you were going back in after that one doctor."

Phoenix has posed:
"Things may be a bit delayed today, Tabitha, but I'll find someone to assist if need be." Remarks Jean. There's a moment of distraction as there's movement in a neighboring bed which brings Jean to set out a quiet sigh of relief. "Oh good. You're awake, Megan." But she doesn't get too much time to check on her as Jeremy begins speaking.

Her eyes take in the screen and after a quick study she nods her head to Jeremy to indicate that she understands. The look on her face is saddened still, but there's a smile of pride that threatens to tug at the corner of her mouth. "That was one hell of a risk, but good job."

She reaches out to smooth his hair down with her hand, "Now your job is to *rest*. You did a number on yourself. Try not to use your powers for awhile and just let your mind rest and heal. Trust me on that, you don't want to overdo it and risk something permanent. The mind is powerful, but it's also delicate."

At the hug from Shannon, she sneaks out an arm to give the teen a hug in return as she says. "You all did the best you could given the circumstances and I'm proud of you all for keeping your heads. I'm just glad you all got out of there in one piece. I just wish we'd have gotten there faster, we should have had more eyes on the place."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn blinks slowly, rubbing her temples. "Ughh....Major headache.." she mutters. They always seem to use extra strong medication on Megan when there are no healers around since she doesn't seem to react well to medicine in general.

Which of course means she's usually pretty zoned out. Like now. Although she did get a bit of rest in her, enough at least that she struggles to sit up in bed, peering around at the others, a worried expression crossing her face. "Shannon? Jeremy? Thank goodness you're okay...Indi? Did she get out ok? Dr. McCoy?" her marroon eyes flicker with worry, wincing at a stabbing pain in her wounded leg which forces her to lay down again.

"Oooh.....I'm...I'm soo sorry...This is all my fault.." she murmurs, wings drooping.

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha nods to Jean, "I can wait another couple hours before the build-up becomes painful. The torture is easy enough now, though. Just sit in the freezer chair, set the timer, put in my mouthguard, and hit start. Doctor Hank even lets me keep Thing One and Thing Two on." She gives her feet dangling off the chair edge a wiggle, causing the ears of her Nuclear Deterrant Class toxic dayglow neon green bunny slippers to flop around.

    She reads what Jeremy puts on the screen and listens to the remarks the others make. Then she waits for a natural break in conversationn to speak up. "So... it's real?"

SpyderByte has posed:
The mind of Jeremy is like a broken dial-up connection from the 90's era of modems. It's all white noise full of screechy beeps. He has a hell of a headache. He slumps down in the bed and gives a nod towards Jean, giving another wet 'snuff' before he reaches for a tissue. Blowing his nose, he crumples it up to hide the blood, dropping it in the can next to him.

He gives a few motions with his finger towards the screen as if to make a tapping motion. Tap it. Taaaap it.

He scrunches his face up a bit in frustration, then goes about visibly frowning at the screen with the long hyperlink.

Nightingale has posed:
     Was that a brief smile of pride? No. It had to be an illusion. Whatever it was, it is gone from Shannon's face as quickly as it appeared, as she turns towards Megan and heads over to her bed. "Hey," she says, keeping her voice low. "None of this was any of our faults. You did your part in making sure everyone got out alive. So thank you for that." The bruises, scrapes, and pain that Megan was going through was not lost upon her. She knew all too well that her friend did not respond well to traditional medicine.

     And she knew what that was going to mean.

     But it was worth it.

     Smiling to Megan, she nods towards some of those injuries. "Please, will you allow me to help you?"

Wolverine has posed:
It's a bit counterintuitive that the X-Man who should have the least use for medical treatment ends up spending about as much time in the Medical Lab as anyone else. But then, Logan's recklessness is directly proportional to his healing factor.

So it might come as something of a relief that his visit today doesn't seem to be related at all to needing any foreign objects removed from his body or the reattachment of any limbs.

When the doors woosh open to reveal the Lumberjack Samurai, he's holding some sort of satellite phone that looks like it might be from the eighties. In one of his least-soiled flannels, the X-Men's resident grouch seems to be in a mood nearly as bad as Jean's, though much more externally obvious. He doesn't do the best job concealing anger or frustration, after all.

Pushing the very long antenna back down into the phone, he makes his way into the Lab with the easy familiarity of a frequent patient.

"Heard you kids had yerselves a tussle, eh?"

Phoenix has posed:
"Doctor McCoy may be occupied for a bit." Jean says with a faint darkening to her tone, but she doesn't elaborate. There is a quick glance of her eyes towards the arriving Logan before she looks back to the copper-skinned girl. "But we'll get you taken care of, Tabitha. I can pull up the details on what to do if needed."

"Megan, shush. This isn't your fault. You did what you could given the situation. That was something we'd have had a whole team involved with, not just an X-Man and students," But she's not the only one being shushed right then.

"Ssh, wait a second." Jean lets out a quiet sigh as she keeps her hand resting on Jeremy's head for the time being. Empathy can be a subtle thing. There's a nudge towards more contented and happier feelings to help boost serotonin production which can help with pain. She doesn't influence much and keeps it light enough to ebb off the worst of things, stress included, while leaving still 'himself'. Only then will she stand up to follow his instructions to walk over to the television screen and reach out to place a hand against it.

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn frowns, shaking her head at Shannon. "You're wrong..You guys were my responsibility, if I hadn't gone back for Dr. Brightman..And the others trapped..I could have prevented you guys from getting hurt, even killed!"

She frowns as she notices Jeremy's stuttering and frustrations. "Is..Is he okay? He seems worse than normal..What happened? What about Indi and Dr McCoy?"

She squeezes her eyes shut, wincing again at the pain. "Oooh, it hurts..These meds.." Megan nods to Shannon, "Yes..Please."

She only briefly notices Logan and sinks further in her bed. He'll probably be especially disappointed in her, probably sic more ninjas on her orr something...

Jean's response does calm her down a bit though, and she nods wordlessly. "Thank you Miss Grey..I hope you're right.."

Siphon has posed:
    "I can do it myself, Miss Grey. No need to add to an already stressful day." The tiny copper skined teen hops down from her seat and is heading towards the corner where the bespoke medical device is to turn words to action.

    She pauses to give Shannon and Megan what she hopes is an encouraging smile then continues over, hanging up her robe then sitting in the chair sized just for her.

SpyderByte has posed:
When Jean reaches out to tap the television screen with the glowing hyperlink that leads to folders full of 'cat videos', numerous windows begins to launch across the massive LED surface. Jeremy was not lying when he said he got 'all of it'. There are thousands upon thousands of files in the directory, and none of them are videos of cure adorable fluffy cats.

As Jeremy lays in the bed, he lifts his finger upwards, giving it a wiggle to launch one particular file, which launches into a video. It's a camera feed from what appears to be some type of testing lab. Test subject: 45.

"Hi Michelle, how are you feeling today?" The voice of Doctor Brightman can be heard from somewhere off camera, most likely from behind a reinforced glass wall. The small room is sterile and there is a young girl no older than possibly fifteen curled up in a ball with long brown hair and in a hospital gown. It's a sterile room with a large steel door as the only entry.

"I... I'm fine. I want to go home now. I want to see my family. Please let me go."

"In time, in time. Now, we gave you the second version of Neutron-X. Can you please try and use your powers?"

"It hurts if I try.."

"Just try harder for me, please. This is very important data. If everything goes well, you should be free to go home."

The young girl rises up to her feet and lets out a heavy, distressed breath. She looks pale, tired and agitated. She holds her hands outwards and starts to focus. There is a flash of light, followed by a loud scream as the entire room erupts in flame. The camera catches everything. A young girl on fire, flesh melting, her voice a high pitched wail before it cuts off and the camera feed goes dark.

"WOO! HELL YEAH! She burnt like a piece of toast!" That's a new voice. Thick and Southern. "Good job, Doc!"

"What? No! That was not supposed to happen! What did you do?! It was supposed to remove her powers, not.. amplify.. not that! We ran all the data.. "

"Yeah, well, I wasn't happy with your data so I had my boy Lester tweak it some. I think that's a more positive outcome of removing the mutant gene don't you think?"

"General Cracken! You were brought on to help finance this department, that is all. Not meddle with my business! She was a girl! She was someone's kid!"

"Yeah, well .. " The sound of a lighter can ber heard clicking on. "Now she's someone's mess to clean up. Guess we can say this one's a bust. Get back to the drawing board, Doc."

The audio cuts out. Jeremy is staring at the screen with large, dark eyes, pressing his lips tightly as he gives his phone a squeeze. On the screen reads: DAMT: Department Against Mutant Threats. It even has a fancy logo upon it.

Storm has posed:
    The doors to the Med Bay open calmly in direct contrast the the recognizeable woman bursting through them. Breathing ragged like she'd been running a marathon and looking worried. Blue eyes shifting quickly before falling on Jeremy and Pixie, worry suddenly shifting to shock as she moved closer to see and be certain that while hurt, they were mostly okay.

    Everyone had known Storm was in Kenya, until just now. Since the news, Ro's reaction to the news that some of her students were hurt was easily read in the clouds. Which loomed dark and ominous and standing proof that Ro was doing everything in her power to keep control over her emotions but not doing the greatest job of it.

    Blue eyes snapping to the video screen as her fingers grip into the back of the chair she's standing behind, knuckles going pale. The entire mansion rumbling with the thunder, the entire North Eastern Hemisphere would be shaking from the storm building in reaction to the horror and rage filling Ro's very lungs.

Nightingale has posed:
     "Megan... we're talking about Magneto here," Shannon says, reaching over to briefly squeeze her friend's hand. "If you hadn't gone back for Dr. Brightman, chances are good he'd be dead. Instead, you got him out of there, and none of us got killed. It was your order for us to get clear that saved us. So please stop coming down so hard on yourself. You did what you could with the hand we were all dealt, and we all came home alive."

     A wry smile curled her lips upwards as she hears Logan coming in, glancing briefly over his way, and giving him a nod, before turning back to Megan. "Someone wise and sometimes a little grouchy told me once you can't save 'em all. One in five if you're lucky most times. Just focus on the one and not the others. You did better, so be proud."

     Turning back to Logan briefly, she runs her fingers through her hair and lets out a bit of a sigh. "Yeah, you could say that. Ran into Magneto and some of his acolytes. I wouldn't recommend either." Pausing, she smiles briefly at him, reaching over to rest her hand on his shoulder for a moment. "Thank you for working with me all this time. It helped save our bacon out there."

     With that, she turns her attention back to Megan, also giving Tabitha an encouraging smile and a thumbs up. She closes her eyes then, resting one hand on Megan's forehead, and the other on her lower leg, which was left exposed by the hospital gown. Her breath becomes slow and even as she focuses, allowing the connection to form and the healing process to begin. Bruises on Megan begin to fade away, as does the egg on her head, each injury soon finding its counterpart in the young winged healer. She doesn't make a sound, well accustomed to this process by now. A line of angry red blooms upon the front of the upper right leg of her jeans, leaving little doubt as to what had happened to Megan.

     The whole process only takes a couple of minutes, with Shannon opening her eyes just in time to witness the fate of the girl named Michelle. She goes deathly pale, then looks very green around the gills. "Oh god..."

Wolverine has posed:
There will be time for berating the children later. And when the time comes, oh, such a berating they will receive. There will be expletives aplenty, and turns of phrase not heard in America since the last time someone said 'there's gold in them thar hills' without irony.

But for now, better to let the little troopers rest up. They'll need to be fully recuperated before their next training session with Logan.

Setting the satellite phone down on a piece of medical equipment that looks like it's important, Logan watches the adorable cat video with perhaps less shock than any of the others in the room. These are, after all, exactly the sorts of things that he has nightmares about most nights. In some of the dreams, he's the experiment, in some of them... he tries not to think about those.

But just because he doesn't find the video surprising doesn't mean that it doesn't cause an angry growl to build up in his throat, and the hairs on the back of his arms and neck to stand up.

Fortunately, he's wearing a flannel, or Shannon might have gotten poked by the hairs raising up on his shoulders.

"Looks like I'm gonna have to add some names to my Christmas List this year."

Phoenix has posed:
Green eyes widen as Jean takes in the video of the girl burning alive, but even as the flames of Michelle extinguish the glow of them doesn't leave Jean's eyes. Metal trays on carts begin to rattle where they sit. Bedside monitors hiss and crackle, flickering back the replay of the video in real time but in inverted and nightmarish colors. By the end of the video, Jean is visibly shaking and quiet while she focuses on breathing. A med lab filled with people and flammable substances is no place for her to lose her cool, even if the reflection of Ororo's rage outside mirrors her own internal fury. The room may settle, but there's no further peace to be found on her face.

"They're not making it that far." She says on the end of Logan's updated shopping list. "Where is this facility?"

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn bites her lip, and nods slowly to Shannon, "I know, I guess you're right..At least casualties were minimal.." she closes her eyes, and relaxes as Shannon does her work, knowing better than to try and pull away as she heals her wounds. Being that medicine doesn't seem to work so well on her, Megan is ever grateful for the winged healer's intervention.

But when she opens her eyes, she too, witnesses the horror on the tv screen and gasps. "No! Why!? That's....Horrible..." tears stream down her eyes, feeling all sorts of feelings: Pity and extreme sadness for the girl, confusion at Dr. Brightman, rage at DAMT. "How dare they! WE gotta stop this! This is...This is horrible.."

Siphon has posed:
    When Shannon is finished taking in Megan's injuries, Tabitha says simply. "Your room, cocoa and brownies night while you process all that." Then she puts in a mouthguard, sets the freezer's timer to three minutes, closes her eyes and hits 'start'.

    The chair's panels close around her from the shoulders down. Her breath is visible right away, then a few seconds later a cold mist rises around her head before being vented away. The purpose of the mouthguard is made plain about a minute in as her teeth start to chatter.

    The downside of this proceedure is obvious, but the upside is that the too-bright copper tone of her skin fades as her energy stores are rapidly drained by the cold. The other upside is that by the time the cycle ends and the chair hits her with a short burst of intense heat before opening is that going through the treatment meant she didn't see the video.

SpyderByte has posed:
The next file loads up as Jeremy gives a small 'blink'.

Doctor Brightman's voice can be heard again, this time it's just audio only.

"Finally! After almost two years, I finally perfected Neutron X. I went back to my old colleague's research notes. Doctor McCoy nearly solved the puzzle, he was so close, but I was able to finally remove the mutant gene completely! Now that our final trials have passed without issue, and without /interference/, we can have our drug greenlit by the FDA. I can't believe how exciting of a day this is. My daughter is cured! She can live a life free of harm to not only herself, but those around her."

On the screen there is a before and after picture. A young girl maybe ten. She is surrounded by what appears to be black smoke with dark glowing gold eyes. She's frail and wearing a pair of jeans and a simple shirt with a cartoon logo on it. All around her is decayed plants and she most likely has been living in a plastic bubble like room. The other photo is that of a normal girl. Bright blue eyes, blonde hair and a happy smile. She is outside standing next to a tree on a perfectly sunny day. She looks older, about two or three years. 2025 and 2028 are the dates on each photo. Glory Brightman. Age 9, age 12.

As he shifts himself on the bed, he gives a motion with his finger as he drags it through the air. He reaches up with his free hand to wipe some blood away from his nose. He launches a couple of more files. Financial backers. Testing site locations.

His phone finally chirps: << Doctor Brightman isn't a bad man. He loves his daughter. She decayed organic manner >>

Storm has posed:
    Ro closed her eyes for a moment before straightening. Running her hands down the front of her Kenyan dress. She was in full 'goddess' regalia and looking every inch of it. White hair down in hundreds of braids, gold chocker and arm bracers, the white dress form fitted to her torso but billowing around her legs and feet clad in delicate looking laced up sandals.

    She and Jean both mastering their outward appearance while inside were two entirely different maelstroms of wrath. General Cracken and DAMT had made some very real enemies. Storm stared at the screen as the world outside was being forced to brace against the biblical storm raging overhead. Glancing to the tray when it stopped trembling angrily and then looking over to Jean. Jean did not need to be a psychic to have a silent communication with Ro, there were few closer in friendship than the two Omega Level Mutants. Storm nodded her head just slightly before returning her gaze to the screen.

    This was what the 'Cure' should be for. For those whose mutations were harmful to those around them, to give them the choice. Yet...she could not help but agree somewhat with Magneto. Though, that did NOT excuse the Master of Magnetism from his actions. Not even a slightly. There would be...words had between the X-Men and the Brotherhood. "He does not need to be a bad man for this to become a bad situation. The Cure can be weaponized against us." Her calm voice soft.

Nightingale has posed:
     "You got it, Tabby." Shannon's voice is unusually thin and soft, as she continues to watch the screen. A heavy sigh that should never come from one of her younger years escapes her, shoulders and wings drooping. What must Glory have gone through, being so isolated, hoping and praying for help? What torment must her father have gone through, struggling to save his daughter from herself?

     "That's how something like the cure -should- be used," she murmurs. "God... I can't even begin to think how Dr. Brightman must feel, seeing what's becoming of it. And I can't even begin to think how Dr. McCoy must be feeling." Tears of grief for them both trickle down her face, as she gathers up a few small things to tend to her injuries in her own dorm later.

     But not even Miss Munroe can escape a hug. Fury of nature or no, Shannon moves over to both her and Jean, unafraid of either one. Unless prevented from doing so, she gives them both a brief hug. "We're all here with you," she says softly. What more was needed?

Wolverine has posed:
"Hell, I've got a whole pile of decayed organic matter that your Doctor Brightman can eat..."

There are times that Logan really needs a Molson. Then there are times that he really needs some Canadian Club. This is proably going to end up being a Canadian Club day, which roughly doubles the chances of a Bad Decision happening sometime before tomorrow.

Fortunately, his teammates have such a good track record talking him out of things.

Catching the vibe off of Jean and Ororo, Logan seems to take some amount of comfort in the realization that he's not the only one contemplating some sort of rampage, though in his case 'contemplating' is probably a bit of an exaggeration.

"Looks like the Big Purple Drama Queen mighta been right about this one, much as I hate him. And his cape. And half of his kids."

For a second, it looks like Logan is about to go into one of his semi-literate tirades, but when he looks around the room at the traumatised children, he thinks better of it.

"You kids done good. Rest up now, it's the adults' turn to get their hands dirty. Got me a feelin' we're gonna need a whole mess of Gojo when all this is done."

Phoenix has posed:
"Maybe he isn't, for all his - and Hank's - best intentions are turning into nightmares." Jean says with a tight voice as she echoes the sentiments of Ororo. "Like the inventor of the gun. It's a tool to hunt, to protect; but also to kill freely. It's all dependent on the hand that holds the tool, and now people like this General have it. We were only worried about it being used to remove our powers, but this? Used to kill us, or for people like Magneto to try and boost their own power to cause mass destruction." The thought of herself hit by a drug like that brings Jean to loose a few shades of color, but she doesn't give voice to that particular scenario. The hug of Shannon doesn't seem to appease her much, but she's not lighting anything on fire. The degree of heat coming off of her is not normal, however.

"This has to stop before it goes further. The risks are too much, even for the benefit to some. There may be a way to help mutants who truly need it, but this isn't it. It's too easy to abuse. Given what we just saw, there's no telling what long term impacts of those who've already gotten this may face. We tried to hold out some hope for the ones who needed this, but it's time for the X-Men to end this. And if any of the other teams who claim they're allies want to help us, then they can. Or they can stay out of our way."

Pixie has posed:
Megan Gwynn sighs and squeezes her eyes shut, still tired but quickly recovering from her wounds. "Well dammit, this just makes me angry! I mean, we're gonna storm down their headquarters and destroy them and all their drugs, before anymore people can be harmed..Right?"

She looks around at the others, then her gaze rests last on Jeremy, frowning softly. "Jeremy, this..this is amazing, all this information..But you really need to rest now. I'm worried about you!"

Siphon has posed:
    Tabitha may have been getting flash frozen for the start of this, but now that she's back in her robe annd warming up even she can read the room. The obvious charged emotions and conversation give her all the answer she needs to her earlier question about whether or not the cure was real. Being around angry adults is bad enough when they're not powerful enough to literally change the face of planets. Fortunately, being small and out of the way is something she is well built for.