Stanky Blue Bastard

[Haven]

Haven woke up on the far side of the genetics-lab from Hank McCoy. The doctor had either been up all night, or had gotten up early and begun his experimentations. 'Was he still looking at that piece of glass?' Niki wondered as she rubbed her eyes and stretched. The only good thing about her confinement in this "prison cell" was how great she slept, but it didn't feel right to her to be without her power. Her forcefield had been her only constant companion through all the years and she missed it terribly.

"Hey doc! You wanna be a champ and fetch me some bacon and eggs?" Haven had decided she might try a little strategy in getting fed and let out of her cage today. Yesterday she hadn't been very successful yelling at everybody that passed by, and she was hungry and bored of fluffernutter sandwiches, she only had one left in her brown paper bag from last night anyway.

[BEAST]

For the entire night, the strange fragment that Cyclops had brought back after his trip with Aideen had consumed Hank's mind. It was positively extraordinary, he had never in his long years come across something like this. It fascinated and intrigued him, only fueling his will to find out what exactly this was. In between he had only gotten maybe an hour and a half of sleep before he awoke and went right back to his research, with several hypothesis and little fact. In other words he didn't find out as much as he would have liked.

Dr. McCoy was examining the fragment under the microscope when the two bit pain in his rear-end spoke. As much as he respected Emma and Scott, he cursed them for making him stuck with the whelp most of the day. Of all the things... will that whining louse ever shut it? And why is it always about food that troubles her. Lord knows she eats more than some of the students here do. "I am not here to serve you. If Ms. Frost comes down you may ask her for rations. I am in the middle of more important issues at the present," Hank answered still looking at the moving cells under the microscope trying to determine exactly what they all consisted of, seeing as there was quite a combination.

[Haven]

"More important? What? That piece of glass?" Haven sat up in her cot. It was little more than a military cot, it had a little bit of padding and some flannel sheets, because the lab got really cold in the night. "You know how cold it is in here? You have all that fur, I don't! Can you turn up the heat a little I'm freezing."

She wrapped her sheets around herself and reached for the brown paper bag. Pulling out the sandwich she realized that it hadn't kept too very well at all. It hadn't spoiled really, but it had gone sort of stale and hard. She bit into the leathery texture of the fluffernutter sandwich and grimaced. "Man, this is not cool at all. This sandwich is hard and all you can do is look at that thing? You don't even know what it is you're looking at do you. Can't you call up to the kitchen or something? C'mon, you gotta be hungry too."

Haven was doing her best to deal with her situation. She didn't know how close she was to the proverbial 'edge' and so she tread casually. She was trying to appeal to Dr. McCoy's bestial, all-consuming hunger, or at least what she hoped was his level of hunger.

[BEAST]

Hank sighed and looked up from his observations. The little deliquent is right on the hunger part. I do still have several sandwiches in my refridgerator. I could give one to the miscreant to keep her quiet for a bit longer. Then I could get some work done, he thought as he set his notes down and turned the light on his microscope off.

"Very well. A sandwich might be in order. Perhaps I need some time to reflect and think of this oddity from a different perspective," Hank said more to himself than then Haven.

He walked into his office and took out two of his hearty roast beef sandwiches out. He walked back out and over to Haven's stasis cell to give her one.

Hank ate his sandwich as he racked his mind, trying to figure out that one factor he was missing. He knew he was missing one big pice of this puzzle, but he just couldn't figure out what.

[Haven]

"Thanks, but I really wanted some bacon and eggs you stink ball. What's your problem anyway? Why do you look like somebody just peed on your favorite tree?" Haven chomped down on the roast beef, wishing she could have something other than a sandwich.

That was all she had had for weeks now. That was all they had at the Brotherhood compound and that was all she had eaten since she was under house arrest here. 'Freakin sandwiches! Damn, I want some eggs and bacon, or better yet lasagna! Something HOT for a change!' she thought.

[BEAST]

The annoying whelp's voice interrupted his contemplation as she again complained about the food. "Take it or leave it. If you have a quandary with the food, take it up with Ms. Frost. I am a servant that will cook you whatever you may have an appetite for," he snapped at the juvinille.

Hank finished his sandwich and then walked back over to the microscope, switching on the light and going back to his research. He was quite set on finding the missing pieces to this mystery. He had always been one to continue till he found what he was looking for, and that wasn't about to change now.

[Haven]

"Did you just say you ARE a servant?" Haven giggled a little at how she had gotten him all flustered. "Well then Jeeves, I'll have a fillet minion. I always liked that kind of fish, almost as good as a fillet of fish sandwich. BUT I'M SICK OF SANDWICHES! Fetch me some lasagna or something my good man." she rolled out of her cot laughing.

"Oh- OH, ooooohh. I am too funny. Whooo..." she caught her breath after a minute of laughter. "Seriously what is that thing you keep looking at anyway?" She was getting more and more curious as his attention was consumed by it and she needed to know what had the furry doctor's panties in a bunch.

[BEAST]

Hank rethought his words and realized that this fragment was bothering him more than he thought. He rarely blundered on his speech. I really should sleep more. And perhaps venture away from here for a bit to get myself together. A steaming cup of java might settle my mind. But bother, I feel like I am close to finding that missing piece. Though it is tough with the whelp nearby.

"Pardon the blunder. Unlike you, I have more important issues on my mind then food. You should consider yourself fortunate that we feed you as much as we do. You eat more than some of the students who have free range to food," he said as he watched the moving cells through the microscope. There were definately plant life there, those were fairly easy to recognize. The others howerver were proving difficulty, though he had several theories.

"As for the object that is plaguing my mind, it is a fragment of an unknown object that Cyclops and Aideen found last night in their ventures that I am unable to identify fully," Hank replied hoping it would satisy her curiousity for now. The brat reminded him why he saw no children in his future, among other reasons.

[Haven]

"Yeah, what's wrong with Ember anyway? She seemed so drained of her personality last night. Did that stuff have something to do with that?" Haven cared about few things in this world, she had been through the foster care system and it had made her focus on two things her belly and keeping herself protected from everyone and everything that could hurt her.

The one exception to all of that was her friend Aideen. She was an anomaly that BEAST might find interesting if he cared at all about Haven's psychology. "Hey I'm trying to help you. I'm totally bored, what else is there to do. Plus, if it messed up my friend I want to help you find an antidote. So, can I help?"

[BEAST]

Dr. McCoy sighed as the broken look of the young firebender flashed in his mind. The poor girl. I hope she snaps out of that defensive stage soon, or we might lose her forever and have nothing more than a robot in her place. It figures one of the more unique students would go through such a tragedy.

"I'm afraid that after last night's discovery and the events of the last couple of days your friend has overwhelmed herself to the point where her mind was unable to process. It is my hope that she will come out of it soon, for if not it may become permanent," he said as a foul taste formed in his mouth. It would be a terrible waste on someone so young and bright. He would not wish it upon anyone. Even the miscreant that was a pain in his rear end.

"I do not know if there is much that you can do. There are some interesting materials in this fragment. Several I have identified as plant and earth life and the rest are so mixed that it is quite difficult to determine them. I believe it may have been caused by your explosives that Kurt had to get rid of, but I am not sure what the combination of the explosives was, which therefore leaves many of the biological materials unknown. Also leaves an inconclusive factor as to what type of energy is causing this heat," Hank said, answering her solely for the reason that she showed a general interest in this if it meant helping Aideen. Perhaps she was more human than he gave her credit for.

[Haven]

"Oh" Haven looked at her sandwich. Suddenly she didn't feel hungry. She realized that she had caused so much more damage than she had ever hoped to and none of it was where it was supposed to go. The damage was supposed to hurt Jumper, and Ms. Frost. Those were the people she hated.

How come for all of her life she never could manage to like anyone and then when she finally found somebody, a friend, who treated her as a person and not a burden or a thing she nearly destroyed her. "You - you mean I brought her to this? She's like that because of what I did, isn't she. I didn't want to hurt her. Please let me help you to help her."

Haven looked over at BEAST and placed her sandwich back down on the plate. She stood inside her cell and said "If you figure out what that is then can you fix Ember? Pretend I'm your assistant, like on a TV show and tell me what you know and what you've done to test it so far. Then we'll work through it together cause you are totally beat and look like you haven't slept and smell like you haven't bathed either you stanky blue bast-" she stopped mid sentence checking herself in mid insult "...no, just kiddin'. Let's go tell me, It'll help you to hear it out loud."

[BEAST]

Hank looked up from his observations and studied the miscreant in the cell across his lab. So there is a bit of compassion in her. Particularly in Aideen's case. As well she should be. But I suppose it is about time she realized how one's actions affect everyone in one way or another. He remained silent, which probably answered her question as to her responsibilities to Aideen's condition.

Dr. McCoy studied her for a moment longer and noted how this affected her to the point where it caused a miracle of losing her appetite for the first time since he had known her. And here he was thinking she was a bottomless pitt.And she stopped an insult. Miracles do happen.

"There is are definate plant life and Earth life present in the fragment. It is mixed with a several other substances, some I have found to be traces of cells and matter from what seem like common substances found in explosives. There is an unidentifiable energy mixed with matter that is too intertwined with the identifiable and the unknown ones for me to be able to know exactly what it is. It is most definately some sort of life though, the heat energy is more likely one from something alive than any sort of radioactivity or unnatural substance. The heat isn't one thats common or even uncommon for I tested it with all my instruments," Dr. McCoy told the young girl who truely looked concerned for the welfare of her friend. "I cannot promise you anything about Ember, but I do hope it will help," he said in the gentlest voice he had ever used with the girl.

The shared concern, though not wholey on the same level, about the young Pargon Leader was probably the only reason he told her his research and was allowing her to assist. Not quite a bonding moment but close enough.

[Haven]

"What do you mean 'life'? The stuff in that glass is still alive? Like it's like swimming around and stuff? Wow, that sounds weird." Haven got up to the edge of the nullification field which both held her powers in check and prevented her from leaving the cell, and stood on her tip toes to look at what BEAST was up to.

"And you said something about heat and energy? Is the energy from the living matter, or is it from the glass, or can't you tell? Is the glass really glass or is it" and she did that little thing with her fingers to make quotation marks in the air " you know, 'glass' ?"

[BEAST]

Hank picked up his clipboard and studied his qauite messy and hard to read notes, for anyone other than himself of course.
"Though it may appear to be glass, I knew from the moment I saw it that it was not. There are none of the usual materials or compounds in this fragment that is found in every type of glass. It seems to be the matters of the forest all fused together. Strangely enough, it is denser on one side than it is on the other, which I hypothesize that the denser side was closer to the explosion. My conundrum deals with the fact for any type of living substances that are trapped in this medium shouldn't have life, and as you see there is indeed life in this fragment which defies all logic. What I find most interesting is that the evident heat, though it can be measured to be quite eminent, is unidentifiable as to what the source of this heat is, for it is certainly not the living matter inside of it. As I said it is quite complex and rather frustrating for me to comprehend and even more frustrating that my development has not progressed as much as I would have liked it to," Dr. McCoy related to young Haven as the crease in his blue furry brows deepened in frustration as he reread his notes, trying to figure out what he missed.

Hank flipped through his notes, sighing in deep thought.

[Fleet]

Jumper strolled into the lab. His usual smile in place, but any that knew him would notice the spark in his eyes just wasn't there. He saw Beast looking at notes and then he noticed that Haven was acroos the room in a smaller room. This is obviously where they had been holding her, and why he hadn't seen her around. He normally wouldn't come down here, but since he had been pushing his power and the implants, he thought that Beast would want to do a check up on his implants. So walking up and clearing his throat so Beast would hear him. "Ummm, hello Mr. McCoy. Its been about a week that I have been with these implants and I have used my Power up to level seven. I was hoping you would give them and me a check up?" He glanced over to Haven again and only shook his head looking away. He knew she hated him, and during the attack she had gasses him. All he could wonder was if she still hated him. He would not instigate her though. Especially with Beast here.