Spirit Operations Unit Leviathan (L3 | Open | SF/Fantasy)

[Isa-sama]

"Thanks," she smiled at Niko. Clarissa pulled back and kept the coin in her hand. She normally would have put it in her pocket, but one of the others might have wanted to look at the coin like she had earlier. "In return for the coin, can I offer you some potions?" He had some kind of stealth ability, so he probably wouldn't want any of her blackout potions. After everything he said about Black Phantoms manipulating Hunger, she was also sure he wouldn't want the strengthening (hulk) potion. "Perhaps a healing potion or two? I'll warn you that it will sap at your strength depending on the severity of your wounds."  

[Ivaylo_Sai]

Niko gave her a nod for the thanks then arched a brow at the question. Potions? He tilted his head slightly and considered a moment before half shrugging a nod with a muttered, "Sure." Even if it made him weak a healing potion could come in handy, he'd learned that the hard way. A curious glance to the others half asked what odd powers they might have. He'd not had the chance to meet most of them but would probably end up working with them soon. Hopefully not before he had the chance to sleep though.  

[Venom3001]

"What exactly goes into potionmaking?" their sometimes-invisible companion inquired. "Also, what exactly can they do?"  

[umbraja]

"Seriously?" Rachel cut in irritably. "I think we have considerably more important things to ask right now," the doctor hissed as she turned the vehicle down the ramp that lead into the SOUL base's garage. "Aren't any of you even the least bit concerned about the possible, long lasting, potentially devastating physical and psychological effect of dying and coming back to life?" She glared through the rear-view mirror at them, the two resurrected in particular, as she pulled the vehicle roughly into an empty space and slammed it into park before whirling around to glare fully at them. "He's not even been back a week," she pointed a manicured finger at Uso. "No telling how long this second life of yours is going to last. For all we know the both of you could fall apart tomorrow." She paused briefly to let that sink in a moment before going on with a huff, "And we don't even begin to understand how it happened. To be quite honest the options don't look very good seeing that the only sort of magic we really know of is either demonic in nature or from feeding on other peoples' souls. Frankly neither of those are what I would call 'good' things."  

[Venom3001]

"... What, precisely, would you propose that we do? If we know so little, how can we reasonably be expected to counteract hypothetical side effects? We have not the slightest idea where to start," Leon replied after a length of silence. "We are back at base soon. Should we run the same tests as we already did? Surely we will on Niko, but what then?"  

[umbraja]

Rachel rolled her eyes at the sometimes invisible man then shook her head as she turned in her seat. "We are back at the base already and I propose we do indeed run the same tests." She sneered at him then jerked her door handle to kick open the door. "As for what comes after. I'll have to get back with you on that after running those tests." She snapped then turned sharply to slide out of the vehicle and take clipped steps around to jerk open the back seat door nearest to Niko so she could quite literally drag him out.  

[Isa-sama]

Claire had lightly glared at the man who asked about potions. She wanted to say exactly what the psychologist had snapped, but was beaten to the punch. That only made her respect the woman more.

Before Dr. Miles ran off with Niko, she calmly asked, "Would you mind if I went with you? I would like to see the tests being run myself."  

[Ivaylo_Sai]

Knowing full well what was coming, Niko had sank back in his seat and just almost disappeared as Rachel started her bitching. He knew it was only a matter of time before she turned it on him and the temptation to actually disappear was quite a heavy one but he'd chosen to come back, gone through a good lot of trouble to do so even, it would be wasteful to run away now. Still, he gave the others in the car a pleading 'help me' look when Rachel stormed out and started to move around to jerk open his door. That only lasted until the Doctor snatched his ear and gave it a hard pull, then he was too busy scrambling to keep up and biting down a pained yelp. It was no surprise that he didn't get any sympathy from the others - it was more odd that he'd even bothered with the pleading look. Stranger still was that one of them asked to come along. Illuminated didn't usually take interest in tests but then Niko didn't have much experience with the support types - having dealt mostly with field agents who only cared about their next kill. He didn't know what to think about this potion maker (or her potions) but he did know it wasn't his decision so didn't bother with any sort of reply, just continued to stumble along after Rachel, half bent over her to keep the woman from tugging too hard on his ear.  

[Mr. Blackbird Lore]

Jake Uso clambered out, and made to follow the 'good' Doctor and her test subject. He was still far more interested in dredging up the last topic, in his typical arrogant fashion. "I think the implications are pretty clear. If you die the right way, you are virtually immortal. I'm all for it, really. I ********' love this gig." He was smirking, his eyes wandering. It gave him an aloof presence, an air of disinterest and arrogance- like he thought he was too good for the people around him. If Uso had been one of them, he would have punched himself in the face for being such a know-it-all p***k.  

[Venom3001]

Leon followed to watch the tests as well; the results, predictably, were similar to what they'd been for Uso.  

[NativeForeigner]

Richard and Briar had also followed to watch the tests. Richard to confirm that the results would be similar to what they were for Uso and Briar to gain a better understanding of what had happened to Uso because she wasn't around to observe his testing.

After the testing, Briar waited eagerly to question Niko about his experiences in the other fragments. She had several questions to ask. Were the physics in the different Fragments noticeably different? How many types of demons did he encounter? Was time different in the Terminal? How did he manage to survive for so long? The moment the opportunity presented itself, Briar flagged Niko down and approached him.

"Hello! Niko? Dr. Briar-Rose Indigo Colburn. Question. Well, questions really. Do you mind? "

Richard nodded at the expected results and left the room. He made his way to the gym to work out and contemplate his next steps. With countless demons in so many different "Fragments", he had to do something.  

[umbraja]

Rachel was noticeably irritated but that was nothing very new. It was the torn edge of extra tension that was ever so subtly odd about it. She tolerated the tag alongs though and escorted them all back to the labs where she coolly ran the same barrage of tests on Niko as she had on Uso - well, up until the flame thrower anyway. It really wasn't very exciting work, mostly just taking samples and putting them under a microscope or in a spectrum analyzer. Nothing much to look at save Niko's awkward attempts to pretend there weren't others watching as Rachel gave him a good work over.

As expected the results were much the same as Uso with one exception - Niko did have a few scars on his otherwise unblemished new flesh. He explained them as new injuries picked up investigating Empyrea after regaining his body, new injuries that the man he'd helped as a Blue Phantom was able to heal to repay the favor.

Rachel had quite a few questions about that whole situation but she held them back, not wanting to ask with the others watching. When the tests were over she tried to pull Niko away again for questioning but someone beat her to it. Rachel gave Briar a flat look for the questions but chose not to snap, not yet anyway. She just turned a warning glare on Niko and gave his arm a slight tug toward the door.  

[Isa-sama]

Claire watched the tests with obvious interest, but made no motion to talk to either of the other ladies watching the tests. The results weren't much different from Uso according to the reports.

When Briar had spoken up to ask questions, it was Dr. Miles' reaction that perked Claire's curiosity. There shouldn't have been a reason to be so irritated with the other woman. Nor should Dr. Miles look so angry at Niko. The potioneer half-wondered if there was something between the werewolf and doctor. Eh, none of my business.

Instead, she just waited patiently to listen to the upcoming conversation between Briar and Niko.  

[Ivaylo_Sai]

A scout's main function is to operate unseen so Niko was not the most comfortable with an audience. Had he known there were going to be this many eyes on him, rather than just the expected doctor, he would have thought a third time about coming back to SOUL. He knew Rachel, knew how to read her and what to expect, just as she knew him - at least they both liked to think so anyway. Having new people in the mix put too many variables in place, too many chances for them to second guess and look deeper. Niko didn't like that so when one of the new doctors introduced herself and asked if she could ask him questions he reacted with a cringe. It only took a glance at Rachel to tell she didn't like the questions either but she'd not bitched out on the woman so there was some reason Dr Miles wanted Niko to at least attempt an answer. Niko was left wondering just who this Dr. Briar-Rose Indigo Colburn was and just when did Illuminated get to wear lab coats. Again, Niko didn't have much experience with support Illuminated, being strictly a field operative and usually working alone at that he had a hard time understanding why anyone would trust an Illuminated in a lab but then they give him high powered guns so it wasn't all that different from giving them lab access.

His own questions aside, Niko gave the new doctor a wary look then rolled a slow shrug. He wanted to hear the questions before agreeing to answer them but no point in outright saying no - she might not ask the questions he didn't want to answer.  

[NativeForeigner]

"Oookay." Briar said slowly, feeling slightly awkward towards the non-verbal response. "Well, uh, what I really want to know is: these "Fragments". What were they like compared to our world? Visibly and culturally, of course, they were obviously different. But what about physically? Were the laws of nature any different between the Fragments? Time, light, elements, compounds, physics. Anything that you could have noticed during the time you spent there. Was any of it different?"

Briar took in a small gasp of air and waited for Niko to answer.