Welcome to Gaia! ::

Mercury smiled at her sleeping pet, he was oblivious to the world and the needle she held. Tampering with a creature's spine was always a tricky business, and she did so enjoy the successes achievable by doing so. She waited for the slow exhale, moving the soft tissue of the Neko's delicate organs from her working area. the space between the spinal columns was very small but after working with DNA base codes the distance was nothing and she easily slipped the Genetic Cocktail into the spinal fluids where it would most easily enter into the central nervous system and brain to begin correcting her slave's maleficent DNA. She began to withdraw, thinking to merely check the mid-spine area where Aingel had reported pain. Perhaps a torn muscle or a bone-spur would be an easily correctable side-effect to his recent conversion. She had half expected to find a Bio-implant as the cause, but she frowned bitterly at the small self-destruct device.
"Stupid, paranoid, bio-retarded, degenerate..." She mumbled her litany of curses on those who had so carelessly built the boy and his weaponized augments. Annoyed that they would have the gall to try to destroy what was rightfully hers, conveniently forgetting that he had most likely been stolen technology more than once. Still, "Did they really expect to use such a creature on front lines? One well-placed shot would kill not only him but everyone within a 5-foot radius! Suicide bomber more-like." She ranted as she backed from the boy, snapping to her wolf for her more specialized tools. This Sucker was coming out -NOW- If the boy died of blood-loss she would put him on ice to bring him back later...nothing she hadn't done before.

Mercury swore in an arcane tongue, as the boy thrashed. The bonds held his movements fast but for such delicate work she needed perfect stillness. The detonation gel had turned an alarming shade and quickly deepened as she put her specialized tools to the task of removing it. Then, Aingel spoke. Mercury frowned puzzled, as it was not Aingel's voice. well...it was but it wasn't, it lacked inflection and tone -life- it was hollow. and so she forestalled her obvious answer of stating 'I am you Mistress' and replied more calmly, "I am Mercury. Who are you?" she could feel the boy's mind, slightly, in sleep he had no real surface-thoughts for her to read. But questing she found no foreign presence, at least, no natural one. Whatever it was had halted the detonation, the gel had yet to trigger and had paused in it's deepening red. She cautiously continued to work, if she could keep the thing talking perhaps she could do this without killing her slave.

Mercury scowled at the order to stop, muttering under her breath. "the Idea is to get it out...without touching" But she let her annoyance fade in the face of the AI taking over, curiosity surfacing as he seemed to gain control over many of the boy's nervous functions. His eyes turned grey and looked about the room as the device entitling it's self "Sven" took control. Mercury watched curiously as she listened to the computerized version of Aingel's voice explained the device threatening her slave's life.
"Fascinating..." she commented absently, the control computer seemed to have developed an anomaly for emotion, attaching it in a symbiotic instead of parasitic relationship with the boy's subconsciousness. She wondered briefly how far the extent of his control over the boy went -and how long he would be able to maintain it under different conditions. The question about the Neko's mental status distracted her and she replied slowly considering her options. "The Subject Aingel, Trans-human Neko 2.
displays increasing digression of independence, mental status diverting to animal and instinctual reactions to various stimuli. Intelligence has yet to be tested in the new Feline state but previous tests show average UN-trained potential." She paused leaning to com level with her patient. "Subject Sven. seems to be in mild control over My Neko's brain and central nervous system...Could he perhaps tell me why those morons at EnteCom put a bomb in the chest of a boy little more than a child? and more importantly how to remove the damm thing before it kills him?" She knew Aingel's mind was deteriorating with the progression of his transformation, the cocktail she had injected into his spinal fluid would hopefully halt that with the stabilization of his genetic code along with his other faults caused by his haphazard creation. "I'm going through some pretty serious effort to save the boy's life, I'm ...'mildly irked' to have my efforts thwarted now." the last was said through clenched teeth, her fangs showing longer than was normal and her eyes flashed their pale lavender of her hidden rage.

Mercury considered the entity before her, she didn't make it a habit to lie to her subjects. Not that what she told them often made any difference in their ability to stop her. This one did. Still she figured it would probably not believe an outright lie, so temperance was needed...and she had some skill at lying by omitting. "I am rather reluctant to remove you...though the bomb absolutely has to go. But to answer your question, I will attempt to bring Aingel to his full potential. He is young still, there will be a good chance he will have a long life, with as little further degradation as possible. I like my subjects to be able to think for themselves as well as be able to obey complex instructions." She tilted her head and raised an eyebrow. "I already swore to Aingel that I would cause him as little pain as possible. Even should I kill him he will feel nothing of it. Not that I plan to. Nor as I also told him, do I plan to make him into a weapon of anykind. Neka don't make good weapons, they're too small. Bodyguard will probably be the most dangerous he will ever be. Assassin if I can improve his cognitive functions." She didn't add that the AI might see all of this take place if she had her way about it, he merely controlled a bomb...but there were ways around that. Still..."What will you do once I remove you? Will you wait for me to carry you clear of the boy and then kill me?" She asked it shrewdly though she already had an Idea of the answer.

Mercury looked dryly at the greyed eyes of the AI, Coux-Joux behind her letting go a soft growl as she made herself clear. "Aingel is mine. Till I release him to death he will remain mine...as will you. What's mine is mine, Slaves of mine do not escape, are not stolen, do not get sold. I am a creature with whom one does not ********. If the EnteCom Idiots want my Neko, they should have thought of that before they let him slip through his fingers, Because they'll need an army to pry him from mine."
She was growing impatient, the bomb made her nervous, and Aingel was not profiting from the prolonged surgery. She could already see his face turning pale as her slowly bled-out on the table, waiting for her to finish her task and sew back the wound.

Mercury nodded, "Touch you..." She smirked, returning to the surgery. It annoyed her that she had to negotiate for what was her right to do anyway, but at least now she knew of a new toy in her possession. She would get hers later, for now she turned her attention to her task at hand.
The device had resumed it's non-threatening glow and her eyes narrowed to slits as she sharpened her vision. It was very much like brain surgery, removing a redundant brain from her pet. It was really the work of only a minute and a half to sever the thin adhesives attaching the bomb to Aingel. A tiny set of padded tongs caught it neatly as she detached it, and she slipped the bomb out from her pet. she smiled depositing the intact contraption into a dish of liquid coolant. "That should keep you comfy Sven." she chuckled setting down her micro-tools for needle and thread to begin sewing Aingel back. The drug would be wearing thin soon and she would be able to bring him safely out from it within a few short hours. She wondered if he would be able to notice the lightness in his chest...Probably, she considered, humans were after all very sensitive creatures and he had dealt with Sven's presence most of his conscious existence. Now that it was gone he would be feeling it. With the effects of the genetic correction, He would heal from it quickly and be ready for another surgery in a week or so...she wanted to give her pet some time to heal the void she had left and be able to pull his stitches out before she opened him again.
After all, she did need the time to figure out how to use her shiny new piece of technology...

Mercury rubbed Aingel's head gently, already working on loosing his restraints. "Hopefully in more ways than one." She answered freeing him, and helping him to sit up. "Don't pull on you're stitches now, I had to go deeper than I had thought I would and you'll be a little tender for a day or two." She had hidden Sven from him for now. Better not to trouble the poor creature with the thought of his close-call.
"The gene correcter will take effect over-time. Hopefully you'll begin to notice the difference, more energy, clearer thought, likely your system will flush it's self out. Clean of the pollutants and redundant waste it's been collecting." She sat next to him... Another offering of food with her, thick soup and cream- vitamin-rich items that would aid the slower change-over of health in the boy.