[CLOSED] Tiny Intruders from Another World

[sixthdeadliest]

Who: Six sixthdeadliest and David Alleyne helpdesk_hero
What: Six and David Alleyne meet in person to start running tests on Six's nanites.
When: Not long after their chat on OurPowers. Maybe a day at most.
Where: Six's room at the Diadem
Content Warnings: SCIENCE and Six submitting himself as a human guinea pig.


To say Six was unused to accommodations like the Diadem Hotel would be a massive understatement. He was a man used to motels that didn't bat an eye when you paid in cash for a room for a week, a night, or even a few hours. Honestly, his simple quarters at Providence -- a basic private room with bed, closet, and bathroom -- were plenty for him, reminding him somewhat of his time being raised by One while still maintaining that impersonal "hotel" feel.

The Diadem's lavish accommodations made him twitchy, and he did his best to spend as little as possible from the money the Guilds allegedly freely gave displaced people like himself. (He needed to find a steady source of income that was independent of them...assuming he didn't just join up out of necessity for someone to monitor his nanites. It wouldn't be the first time he'd traded his autonomy because of the microscopic devils.) He certainly didn't eat from the menus provided. Room service was expensive for one thing. For another, he was pretty sure that the rich food would only succeed in making him sick.

He stuck the extra sandwich and bottle of water he'd picked up at a deli down the street into the minifridge, ignoring the small sample bottles of liquor provided.

Then he sat down in a chair at the small table and waited for his "guest".

Comments

[helpdesk_hero]

Magnets. That's... So brilliantly simple.

"You're saying these things are made of a ferrous material? Shit, where's Magneto or Polaris when I need them?"

Still, if they can be affected by magnets, then he's got options for controlling them while he studies them. Which means...

"I need your land line. The one here in the room. Get it for me. I'll pay to replace it."

He needs to make an electromagnet and he needs to do it fast.

[sixthdeadliest]

Six gave the young man an odd look but went to retrieve the telephone. He brought it back to the prodigy, sitting back down and watching.

Honestly, he wasn't sure what tests could be run in a hotel room. Providence had plenty of specialized equipment. Though if an MRI was suggested, he was going to put his foot down: There'd been plenty of accidents in the early days after the Event with the once-benign piece of medical equipment.

He'd seen pictures. It wasn't pretty.

[helpdesk_hero]

There's need of a screwdriver, and so David just holds his hand near the phone and a screwdriver forms in his hand of golden light. He soon has the screws out and then the bottom off.

"How did this nanite thing happen, if you know."

[sixthdeadliest]

"The only people who know the details are either dead or not talking due to the trauma," Six answered, watching the conjured screwdriver with raised eyebrows. "The only thing we know for certain is that a group of scientists were working with nanites, presumably for medical purposes. There was a massive explosion which scattered the nanites across the globe within hours, their programming unfinished.

"Kiev was particularly hard-hit due to Earth's magnetic field concentrating a large number of nanites there. Almost every living thing transformed. Those unchanged were evacuated. The UN caved to public pressure and encased the entire city in a massive forcefield. Nobody's allowed in or out, not even Providence, the organization I work for which is the largest operation dealing with the nanite problem. Nowadays it's referred to as 'the Bug Jar'."

[helpdesk_hero]

That's horrible. David sighs and takes the wire out of the machine and, from his bag, pulls out a metal bar. Then he starts twisting the wire around it with careful focus.

"Well, now there's another question. Whether when you bleed, you release nanites that would infect others. That's a serious terror."

[sixthdeadliest]

Yeah, he came from a charming little sci-fi hellworld.

"I'd imagine I do given blood samples back on my Earth usually have them."

Though, boy, was Six going to be in for a surprise. David would find that the blood came out clean. Though any sort of scanning device he had would confirm that Six did possess nanites and a lot of them.

[helpdesk_hero]

Yeah, charming indeed. And distressingly so. This man would have to be kept safe if he could unleash a nanite apocalypse. For now he finishes wrapping the wire and moves to turn it on. This he puts next to the vials of blood.

"In my bag there should be a microscope and some slides. I will need to see what is going on with your blood."

[sixthdeadliest]

Six nodded his understanding. "I've had blood samples taken before. You could've asked for worse."

For both their sanity, he wasn't going to elaborate.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I meant could you get them out," David said, wincing to hear the rest. He's afraid of what it means.

Then again, he's a mutant, and his people had often been... 'studied'.

[sixthdeadliest]

"Oh."

He reached into the bag and set the items down on the coffee table.

[helpdesk_hero]

"I wasn't clear enough," David countered, it's not the man's fault in his opinion.

With the vials of blood 'controlled' in his opinion, he goes to inspect the slides. These he carefully cleans before gathering out pipettes.

"Is there any details from your last medical evaluations that I should be aware of? That might affect what I see here?"

[sixthdeadliest]

Six thought for a moment. "I was poisoned by a cobra EVO two weeks ago, but there shouldn't be anything lingering in my system."

[helpdesk_hero]

Wait, what? David just stares.

"Why would someone do that? You know what, don't ask. I'm sure you have a long story about it. Geez. So, what have the Guilds said to you so far."

With that he cleans a slide and, with exceeding care, starts to prepare one with a few drops of blood.

[sixthdeadliest]

"It was a cobra before it changed. And it was angry."

And really that pretty much summarized it.

"Just the basic introduction to this world and that it'd be in my best interest to join a Guild. Each emphasizing that they're the better option."

[helpdesk_hero]

Ouch. That sounded quite unpleasant. He settles his slide and put it on the scope. Time to get looking.

"You can really get mixed results with the guilds. Which I know I'm not supposed to say, but I'm not a native Meta, so I have opinions. That said, if you're going to need serious regular medical help with all of this, the guilds might be your best choice. Not to mention public opinion on Metas isn't the highest right now."

[sixthdeadliest]

"Sounds like the general population's opinion on EVOs. Not that you can really blame them given most of them are out of control and violent."

He watched the young man go about his tasks.

"And it might not be a bad idea to at least get some outsider opinions on the guilds. Someone who came in from the outside might have a perspective the natives don't have."

[helpdesk_hero]

"Except that's not the case here," he sighs as he puts the slide in place and leans in to look it over.

"I'm sure if you ask on OurPower, you'd find some opinions. A lot of them even. Even some of the non-aligned have accounts and talk about it."

Though they walked a far more careful line than Society or Alliance members.

[sixthdeadliest]

"Then this world should count itself lucky."

He listened quietly for a moment before asking, "What are your thoughts on the guilds?"

Might as well start with someone he could talk to face-to-face (so to speak) so he can study their body language.

[helpdesk_hero]

"If only," he says, mumbling to himself. Though he is shocked over the question for the guilds right at this moment. Still, he has to pause, because he's not finding anything but blood in the slides. Which meant they could be even smaller, or the sample isn't enough. He takes the side out and then goes to prepare another.

"They don't care about us as much as they claim to. If you've followed the news you might hear about the issues Excelsior Metas are having. I'm an Excelsior meta."

[sixthdeadliest]

"I've been watching the news but I'm not sure I fully understand why there was a sudden outburst of anti-Meta sentiment in that area. From what I understood, Excelsior seemed to be at least Meta-neutral beforehand."

The additional slide didn't escape his notice, but he held his tongue for the moment. Perhaps it was just something that needed to be done.

[helpdesk_hero]

"It was," David agreed with a shrug. Then he focuses on preparing the next slide. "We weren't liked, we weren't hated. But then there was the whole AI attack,a nd they wanna blame that on us in general. And the whole power outage. Like, we FIXED those things."

He's not enjoying the state of it all.

"It's becoming distinctly hostile. Made me happy I was keeping to the whole 'hidden identity' thing."

[sixthdeadliest]

"Doubt I'd get away with the same."

The green suit did attract people's attention away from his face so they learned to look for that in a crowd, making it easy to go "incognito" by wearing something else, but he didn't wear a mask.

"You said that the guilds didn't care about EVOs...Metas...as much as they claimed to." Small slip of the tongue there. He'd been doing well so far, but it took active concentration not to use "EVO". "I didn't get the impression that they promised any sort or protection at all, just certain boons as long as you were more or less 'on call' to assist with their goals. The Society in particular only seemed to offer assistance as long as a Meta didn't go outside of certain guidelines." He tilted his head to one side. "Did the propaganda change?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"Oh, there are protections, just quietly so. PR is a protection in some ways. Society, though..."

He has been considering them indeed. They seem to care for their own more, in a weird way.

"It definitely changed. Now the Alliance seems like some ad campaign, and nothing else."

He frowns and considers the latest slide. And then sets it aside. Time to make a third. This is weird.

[sixthdeadliest]

Six was about to ask for more information before seeing the young man start to put together a third slide.

"What's wrong?"

[helpdesk_hero]

"I think my microscope isn't strong enough, because I don't see anything."

And what he doesn't see, he can't address.