nysalogs | In her element

Entry tags:

In her element

Who: Moira (

ukase)
What: Time to show Moira the fun tricks he can do with these new powers of his
When: Backdated to the day after Moira's post
Where: Moira's home
Warning(s): Possibly gorey-related due to the nature of Brock's powers

After a fascinating conversation with someone who seemed to have developed powers while in this place, she had made preparations. Little items for collecting samples, for measuring, for...a number of scientific purposes really. Not everything here was quite as quality as her supplies had been in her own world but she wasn't about to let that hold her back in the pursuit of science.

And so, with coffee ready (largely for her but she was willing to provide a cup for him), she waited for his arrival, casually making notes on some of her own theories for what this could be. It was clearly quite a powerful energy if it could alter the state of a body so drastically. Perhaps it could do more on a wider scale? Well, she would have to find out just what she was dealing with first before she looked into that much.

So when the knock came to her door finally, she smiled and rose to her feet to go answer it. "Rumlow, I assume?"

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She was an odd duck, probably brilliant but rubbed people the wrong way. He was used to that; most of the egg heads he dealt with were plain and simple, ready to help and provide knowledge but very few wanted something more. There were some that knew how to push the limits, and they were truly exception in HYDRA. That she seemed to have a similar mindset to some of the more... productive medical people that he knew or at least had heard about was cause for investigation.

And yeah, if he let slip the oddity of his new developing powers, it was for a specific purpose. It wasn't like he could control it, not really. It was trial and error, something TJ still laughed at. At least he wasn't pissing glass shards or sneezing bullets or something. Maybe that would come later.

He arrived five minutes before the stated time, knocking and waiting. When the door opened, he tilted his head and gave her a quick assessment. "The one and only," he replied agreeably. "I hope I'm not too early." He really didn't care, but you know, pleasantries and all that.

"Not at all. I prefer someone a touch early to someone who runs late." She tended to detest when things did not run on schedule. It meant that things were slowed down and any progress there was to be had was lost. Something that was more than a little irritating to say the least.

She wasn't wearing her Biotic Grasp currently, simply dressed in a pair of well tailored slacks and a button down shirt with the sleeves rolled up. Because of this, the purple color to her right arm and the way the veins stood out was all the more obvious. As were the vastly long nails on that hand as she waved him to come in before closing the door behind her.

"Shall we begin? I would like to see your abilities for myself."

"Well another thing we apparently have in common," he murmured, not expecting that it would go too much further than the usual pleasantries. Very few people could be as dedicated and determined for a cause as those who actually believed in what they were doing was the necessary course. So maybe she said the right things to pique his interest, but so far, he had been disappointed on how far some people were willing to push their limitations.

He noted her odd hand, wondered what had happened to make it like that even as he walked into her place and looked around. He wore simple clothing - military-type fatigues, boots and a tight fitting shirt - and he moved was confidence as he examined how she kept her space.

"Well, you're going to have to wait a bit," he said as he turned to her. "They don't manifest because I want them to, which is annoying." He crouched and punched the floor. Nope, just punching this time. And again. He shook out his hand and rose again, thinking this wouldn't work. "You got a place we can sit and chat while I, you know, work to make this happen?"

The dramatic punching of her floor had her lifting a brow. Not quite what she expected but she wasn't about to be bothered by it.

As for her current home, it was simply decorated but very classy. Everything was clean and perfectly organized. Even the table where it was clear she'd been working on some experiments was flawlessly in order. There seemed to be only one bare location in the home. As if she were specifically reserving that area for something that she hadn't obtained yet.

On one chair was a harness with a device that had tubes and chamber filled with what seemed to be plasma like energy swirling within. A pair of gauntlets rested there too, clearly attached to the harness. This she paid no mind to as she went to sit down at her table, waving that he could have the full range of her floor. Or he could sit in the other empty chair if he needed to.

"Are these powers brought about by injury?"

Well, that was the problem with his power. It seemed to be in its infancy and no one technique worked all the time when it came to causing it to make an appearance. He was at least able to identify the difference in sensation in his flesh when it was about to happen or actually happening, but right now, it was all experimentation. And yeah, he should probably keep his fledgling powers to himself, but he was quite honestly fascinated by them.

He followed her to the work area, noting and appreciating how clean and tidy it was. He made a mess of things, but he was also honestly good at keeping his stuff in order and clean as well. Military life would do that to a man. He eyed the odd looking harness and attachments from a distance, not about to invade her business.

"No, but that more often than not causing it to happen," he remarked as he took the available chair. "I mean, I've sneezed once and had it happen. That was a mess. Snot glass shards everywhere." He shook his head at the memory and then went about his business and cracking his knuckles, sliding his hands over his arms, knocking his hands on things, stamping his feet on the floor.

After about two minutes of giving it a go, he felt something detach, if that was the right description. "Oh, finally," he said as if to announce that it had happened. He smoothed one hand down his fingers and then pulled off his previously normal fingernails, but they slid out like elongated fine knives, edges sharp. They were about four inches long when they finally detached to fine points and he had four of them. Perfect for slipping between ribs. His fingernails appeared perfectly normal, if a little longer than before.

Crossing her legs, she watched him continue to try to activate the power. It seemed to be rather problematic that he couldn't activate it willfully so she took note of that mentally. To see about finding a way to help him use it more freely without having to bother with this great effort to activate it.

When it did activate though, she watched what should have been a horrifying and grotesque sight with great interest. Leaning forward, she took note of the nails and how he pulled them out like that. Something that should be quite impossible. Then again, she did deal in making the impossible a reality. So why not have whatever this was be a thing.

"What do you feel when you get this to work? Is it painful?"

She would start with these basic questions. There were more to come but may as well start small.

It was such a pain to get it to work, but he figured it was so new to him that he didn't exactly understand all the subtleties of it yet. He was gradually working on that, but now that he had it active, it was easier to do again. He turned his hand over to show her the nails that were now blades he could likely use rather effectively.

"It's a combination of feeling like something is ripping and letting go," he reflected. He was used to being questioned by egg-heads about how he was doing, usually after an injury. It was also SHIELD policy to that STRIKE was given quarterly physicals because they were the worst for hiding injuries to keep on working. "It isn't painful, but it can be uncomfortable if I don't remove the part that's decided to let go."

He dropped two of the blades into his lap, then tossed one at her before using the last one to spin around his hand as if this was the most normal activity in the world.

She caught the blade with ease despite the fact that blades were not her preferred weapon. They simply could get so messy and could leave quite a bit of evidence behind. Still, they had their uses and she'd used them for other things in the past. Of course not one made of keratin. That was a new one for her.

As she listened to him, she tested the flexibility of the blade and even filed just a little off so she could run tests on it. She even used it to cut paper and hair and even to see if it would leave a mark on stone.

"So this is something that can happen throughout your body?" That would imply that these were parts of his body coming free. Or perhaps coming free and being replaced? A good question actually.

"Do you need to return these pieces to your body after they have been used as weaponry?"

She was more dexterous than most of the egg heads he knew, so that was a point in his favour as far as he was concerned. He played with the other blades for a lack of anything else to do while she examined the one he had tossed her. They were strong enough to get a single job done, but beyond that, he had little doubt that they would last.

"Apparently," he replied airily. "I've had some hand bones pop out when I was clapping too hard." It had been a little more than that, but the idea was about the same. So far smashing his limbs together didn't often produce results. "Thankfully for everyone else, my hair is too short to make proper garrotte."

He shrugged his shoulders. "So far, no. If I practice too much, I can get tired and hungry, but both of those things are relatively easy to find. What's the word, doc? Am I gonna die?"

"I am not a physician." She rose to her feet and extended her hand towards him. "The hand you pulled these from, if you would."

She wanted to see the state of his hand up close. To see if the nails had truly been replaced or if perhaps they were still regrowing. Not to mention the fact that these blades were somehow too long to have been inside his hand which meant some other process was taking place inside the body.

Now if she could figure out a way to get him to use this ability consistently...

Clearly she wasn't bothering to decide if this would kill him or not. She was far more interested in how it worked and how to make it work better.

"But you do have a PhD I imagine with the way you talk," he remarked as he sat back in the chair that he had decided to occupy. He offered out his left hand to her, and it was in great shape, though plenty of hard earned callouses from a lifetime of being a soldier and living harder than a few people he knew.

He was waiting to see if she had any suggestions on how he could possibly tap into this ability on a more consistent basis. Right now, it was trial and error and rarely made its appearance when he wanted or needed it to. He was slowly turning his attention to putting effort into learning his new weird ability now that it seemed to not just be a random freak accident.

"You seen anything like this before at least?"

"Do all scientists have a Doctorate degree where you are from?" Honestly she was amused by the line of questioning at this point with how she smirked. It wasn't often that one wanted to know her educational background. Most were content to settle with putting her in the brilliant but controversial category and leave it at that.

Moira's right hand came up. It was even easier to see the purple color to her skin on it, the veins popping out, the exceedingly long nails. She clearly wasn't trying to hide the fact that her right hand was decidedly different from her left.

"I have not tested this particular ability. However, I believe that there is a way to trigger it at will. We need only learn what that trigger is so you can use this freely."

One of those long nails traced his hand as if to look for some indication of injury but clearly nothing was there. And of course she noted the callouses. Specifically where they were located. A soldier's callouses. A life of using weaponry.

"However, I have altered genetic structure in the past to give more then one person new abilities of sorts." Herself and Gabriel are fine examples. "How many times have you used this ability since receiving it?"

"No, some have Masters degrees," he remarked with a shrug of his shoulders. "Most that are doing the real hard work are working towards a PhD though." That was the way that it worked. One had to have the appropriate funding, and that was hard to do if the research wasn't interesting enough for someone to invest in. Everyone apparently wanted more letters behind their name to show the world their brilliance.

He watched her hand, noting the differences now much more close up than before. He wondered what had happened to it and if she had caused it herself. It didn't seem to bother her with the way that she moved it, fingers moving smoothly even with the veins standing out on it and the nails seeming far more sinister.

"It's happened about four or five times since that last stint in cryo," he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. "I don't think I've had it go off the first time nor the way that I've intended it to. I don't even know what the limitations are? Like, is my heart going to come bursting out of my chest at some point?" That would be terrible, wouldn't it?

And the fact that she admitted to altering genetic structure made her think of Zola and the Skull. Both had pushed the limits, one in robotics and the other genetics. "So you know what you're doing or you just make it up as you go and wait to see the results?"

"Most wish to have something to make themselves look more impressive since their work isn't interesting enough to be taken seriously otherwise." Moira knew that her work wasn't the same. She could strike at the hearts of everyone around her just by waving a hint of her research their way.

Of course plenty would call upon the morality of it all too but they were tiresome and a waste of air.

"It would seem that even if your heart did burst out of your chest that you would somehow replace it. You show no signs of damage nor loss of the part that you pulled out of your fingers." A telling sign really. Almost as if he was replicating and replacing all at the same time. Rapidly regenerating what he was pulling out so there was no need to go about figuring out how to put it back. There didn't even appear to be blood loss either.

"So the real matter at hand is figuring out how to get you to use this willfully rather than having to force it every time."

Sitting back, she made some notes about her findings. Only to pause at that question. She smiled slowly before looking at him. And then she faded from sight. Simply vanished. When she reappeared it was like she faded back into place directly behind him, a hand coming to rest on his shoulder.

"You will never have to question if I know what I am doing. I am no fool who fumbles about until something sticks."

"Yeah, where I'm from, the more extra letters you have behind your name makes you feel better about your failings in the rest of your life," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He was certain some of them were happy, but then again, they were probably so buried in research and shit that they wouldn't know half of what made up happiness if it was written in their textbooks.

Well, that was nice to know, real convincing to. He looked at his fingernails and flexed his hand. So far, he hadn't had any organs shift, so he had no idea if it was just bones, tendons and nails that would simply be replaced again. He was not entirely eager to do the 'what if' when it came to important organs like his heart just yet. It seemed like messy business.

He smirked and then the expression froze on his face when she literally disappeared in front of him. That was a neat fucking trick.

He expected her to reappear in some dramatic fashion, but he hadn't thought that she had enough time to get behind him. He jerked from her grip and jumped up from his seat, twisting around and grabbing at the table to keep from upending himself in his own momentum. That sensation came immediately and his radius seemed to jump from his forearm like a sword.

"Shit!" He made a grab at it, knocking it from trying to impale her face. The spear of bone clattered across the table and onto the floor. He looked over at it. "So, shock apparently works," he remarked dryly.

Her eyes widened but it wasn't in shock. Some part of her had known that he would attack. Perhaps it had only been a small part that wanted to test to see what would happen while the rest of her was proving her worth but it had been a large enough part that the results brought her satisfaction. Here she had nearly been gored through the face by a bone sword that had flown from his arm but her reaction instead was to smile and to reach to pick up the bone off the floor.

"Fascinating."

Some would probably panic over having possibly nearly dying but not Moira. She was running her hands along the length of it as she tested to see how sharp it was. How heavy it was. The length of it and even the balance of it.

"Shock does indeed work."

Her mismatched eyes lifted from the bone in her hand to look at his arm. "Your arm please."

And she held out that purple hand so he could put his arm into it. She wanted to see the state of it now that this bone was in her hand and not inside him.

That probably should have been the response that he should expect from her, based on the limited conversation that they had had thus far. She didn't seem at all intimidated by the idea of pushing the limits, and her methods were much more... direct. She put herself in the line of fire, which was dangerous but that only made him respect her.

He relaxed when it seemed that she wasn't about to disappear again, though he would be far more ready this time. It reminded a bit too much of how the Asset could move, but he actually wasn't certain she had moved or just... blinked or something. He was a fascinated of her ability as she seemed to be of his.

Slowly, he extended his arm, which had all of its bones in place still. Nothing was displaced and the only indication that anything had come to pass was a small smear of blood but under it, the skin was unbelmished.

"You going to try to put it back in there again?"

"That would be pointless since your arm shows no sign of missing the bone. I want to measure it against your arm to see how much of the bone was used."

And she held it against his arm, noting the length of it in comparison. Then she set it aside so she could study it more later. Leaning forward, she ran he fingers along the length of his forearm, pressing now and then to see if there were any faults in the bone that she could feel this way. She would need proper equipment to be sure but this was a start.

"There is blood here so there was an injury that rapidly healed. How did it feel when the bone pierced your skin?"

He flexed his hand and could feel the normalcy of his arm, like nothing had happened. It tingled a little where the spot of blood was, but beyond that, he couldn't even tell anything had come leaping from his own flesh with the intent of murder.

The length was perfect from his rough estimations, and he figured the size was to boot if any of his previous radiographs were anything to go by. There was no pain when she moved her fingers along his arm, but he hadn't expected anything either.

"Maybe a small bright spot of pain? I think I was more surprised by your magic trick that I compartmentalized the pain. I'm no stranger to it," he said with a shrug of his shoulders. He rubbed at his arm but really, it felt no different.

"It isn't magic. It's science. I've altered my own DNA to prove that my methods work." When they wouldn't allow her human subjects? Well, she was perfectly human. She only had to use the mechanism on herself. Alter her own DNA to prove that it was possible. And now she had Gabriel as well. Perhaps her most successful subject to date.

"The reaction time was impressive. A sign that perhaps you will be able to activate it on your own if we give it enough work."

She fetched a cloth from nearby and offered to him.

"You can wipe up the little bit of blood with this." She would happily look at that later.

"Because altering your DNA isn't dangerous or anything," he replied with a soft chuckle. It was amazing how humanity was never content with what they had, that they felt the need to change and advance even the most basic part of themselves. The super soldier serum was a thing of the past, but it worked on the same principle. "Are you always so willing to go to extremes, even if it might cost you everything?"

He nodded his head, glancing to the bone she was still holding in her hand. Yeah, so maybe he could someday control it. He was a soldier; reaction time was something that kept them alive.

"It would be inconvenient to walk around throwing bones into the faces of anyone that surprised me," he agreed as he took the cloth and wiped the smear of blood from his arm.

"Oh it's extremely dangerous. However, little that is worthwhile comes without risk. So yes. I am willing to always go to such extremes. After all, there is always someone out there who wants what I am capable of doing."

Moira took the cloth once he had cleaned his arm. She would study that later when she was alone. See how it differed from normal human DNA. Well, it would be easier once she had more technology but she would get there. It would just take time. It always did when she had to start over.

"We will need find a safe location where things are less likely to be valuable when they break for testing your abilities. As a soldier, I'm sure that you can find something like that then let me know?"

At least they were on the same wavelength when it came to what kind of extremes that they would go to for necessary results. It was rare to find that person in the sea of bleeting sheep just wanting peace, love and harmony without willing to give up anything to get it. They just expected that the world would come down become perfect with all the people that existed, even if they deserved to be shown a door right off a cliff. So, she might be more for science, but he had to wonder if she had ever come up with any interesting and subtle... ways to keep certain people from being a nuisance to current and future generations.

However, he was also aware that letting someone else have his DNA who clearly had a knack for tampering with it might not be the smartest idea in the world. They had barely met after all, so he would likely be taking all parts of himself out the door with him after this first meeting. She could take samples later, when he thought she wouldn't completely ruin him for fun.

"I know a few places that would likely work," he reflected with a shrug of his shoulders. He kind of lived on the streets right now, so he had an increased awareness of all the quiet safe places to settle in for a few hours. "Anything in particular you need from one of these places?"

"An open space away from prying eyes. Somewhere we can set up potential targets for you to hit."

And she folded the cloth up and actually slipped it right into her pocket as she went to sit down again. Picking up her drink, she casually took a sip of it. She was already formulating ideas, things they could do to test this ability of his and so on.

She was looking forward to it even.

"You will not need to worry about my safety for this location. I can take care of myself and will bring what I require to attend to any possible injuries."

Obviously she meant for herself since he clearly could heal his own.

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In her element

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