ic Paige-ing Dr. Steel [IC]

[Geez3r]

May 29^th, 2014 10:30am

Rennamex research lab; A Grant Conglomerate's subsidiary

 

The building at the listed address was rather unassuming, with the exception of the security checkpoint at the main gate. Besides the sign plastered on the front of the building, there was little to differentiate it from many of the other industrial office buildings in the area. It was relatively small, compared to its peers, at only 5 or 6 stories. It was tall, blocky and corporate, with next to no aesthetic qualities.

 

The main lobby did very little to dissuade this feel. There was a receptionist behind a desk, that blocked them off from the rest of the lobby, the only way to enter was from a door on the other side of the desk, and like the three other doors in the lobby, required a keycard to access. At least two security cameras surveyed the scene. There was a small waiting area with a handful of chairs, and a coffee table with a few scientific periodicals and local newspapers.

 

The only interesting bit was the scientist in a lab coat practically bouncing off the walls, only pausing long enough to look out the window into the parking lot. “They aren't due for another 10 minutes Dr. Steel. I can page you when they arrive.†said the exasperated secretary to the young scientist. “Not gonna happen Randy.†replied Cassandra shaking her head frantically. “They're a 16 year old kid with oblivion running in their veins. They're going to be scared coming here, and I have to put them at ease. Besides think of all the science! Do you know what Terminus exposure normally does to the body? Trick question! You don't, because nobody does, and I get to try to find out! Oh this should be fascinating!â€

[RobRX]

As it turns out, Cho's family arrived fifteen minutes late. And what a sad picture it painted, with the mother looking anxious and her stepfather equally anxious with an added side of stress and a younger child clinging to either parent, depending on the moment. Towering over both of the adults was the teenager in question, who frankly looked as if someone had just shot her dog or something equally depressing. It was clear that, given the awkward silence and gnashing of teeth that this whole situation was tense for all of them.

 

Arriving, the family confirmed who they were and what their business here was, while Cho seemed to have become utterly fascinated with counting the tiles on the floor. She was also wishing she could somehow melt through the floor to dissapear. 'They want to take away my powers...' She thought to herself, unsure what to think about that when she had just started to understand what her place was in the superhero community. Or, at the very least, her place in Claremont.

Edited May 29, 2014 by RobRX

[Geez3r]

Cassandra had gotten a bit lost in her thoughts while she was waiting for the family to arrive.  It was probably for the best, as she might have tackled them the moment they set foot in the door if she was paying attention.  As it was, she was able to collect herself for a moment while the family checked in with the receptionist.  Striding up to them, Cassandra offered her hand to Cho's parents.  "Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Benjamin?  Thank you for making the trip.  I'm Dr. Cassandra Steel, we spoke on the phone?"  she said just a little too fast, like she had mentally recited the line a few hundred times.  "I guess that would make you Naomi..." she continued offering her hand to the youngest daughter.  "And our guest of honor, Cho." finished Cassandra, saving her biggest smile for Cho.  "Thank you all for coming.  I'll be the one overseeing all of today's proceedings, so feel free to ask me anything at any time.  Before we begin, do any of you have any questions?"

[RobRX]

At the mention of the 'Benjamin' name, Cho couldn't help but grunt. If one would have paid attention, they would have noticed a chunk of her sleeve dissapearing in a tiny spark of light and one of her veins glowing every so slightly as she clenched her fist. Unclenching the fist, a small wisp of smoke rose from up her sleeve.

 

"Thank you, Doctor Steel." said John, shaking her hand. "I am glad to meet you. I hope you will be able to do..." The man glanced to his step daughter. "...something for her. Thing have not exactly been easy since the changes. I hope you might be able to do something to help her."

 

"Don't beat around the bush, okay?!" added Cho, spiteful, before sulking in while her mother shook her head, putting an arm around her daughter. "Cho. C-cho, listen to me; this isn't a...cure, okay? We're not at this point yet, I promised you and even if there was one we wouldn't force it on you." Seeign her teenage daughter looking away, the woman reached out to grab Cho's chin and force her to look her in the eyes. An astute eye could actually see her strain just to move the head against her will. "This is not a forced treatment. We just want to see what's going on and see if you can't control it more easily. We'll take it one step at a time."

[Geez3r]

Cassandra's smile faltered for a moment while the family had their little blow out.  Notes to self: "Benjamin" is likely a point of contention.  Likely, these two are not Cho's biological parents, or rather one of them isn't.  Closeness of touch, to the mother and abruptness of conversation with father suggests, the mother is the biological parent and remarried.  Assumption matches correlation of recessive traits displayed between daughter and presumed mother vs presumed father in 3:1 ratio.  Furthermore, puff of smoke likely resulted from some form of energy discharge, likely uncontrolled.  Safe to conclude that energy output may still be tied to emotional responses; perhaps tied to treat assessment and/or flight or flight response?  Uncontrolled energy output may be tied to family's unease of Cho's current situation.  surmised Cassandra as she took note of the situation internally. 

 

"I'm going to be blunt, so we nip this in the bud right now.  Cho, I am not here to take your powers away; for all intents and purposes, that option isn't even on the table right now.  I am here so you and your family understands your powers, your strengths and your limitations.  The truth of it is that until you understand them, you powers are a double edged sword; understand them and they become a shield." stated Cassandra matter-of-factly.  This was also coincidentally a rehearsed line, Cassandra meant every word.

[RobRX]

"I know, I know it's just they're a little too eager to have it all taken away." That didn't take long for a response to that beign heard.

 

"Cho, I have already told you won't force it on you. I don't think we could if we wanted to. We are just here to better understand what is hapenning to you." replied John, with a sighs. "Yes, we would prefer you stay out of all this, as it is a dangerous world. We won't force it on you but we would really like that you reconsider your descision. Doctor Steele should be able to provide more information and input since she likely knows more than I do. And if it can't be taken away, at least get a better grip on it. I don't want you to hurt anyone."

 

Cho's mother spoke up, trying to reassure everyone and calm them both before things spiraled out of control. "Accidents can and do happen." she explained to her daughter. "A-allright, allright...fine." Cho immediately started to sulk again, which frankly did not help that rather horrible first impression she gave to Cassandra.

[Geez3r]

While the debate most certainly wasn't finished yet, it at least seemed to pause.  Seizing this opportunity, Cassandra started to lead the family into the facility proper.  "If we can get started, just follow me."  said Cassandra as she started walking to the security door on their right, swiping her ID card as she does so.  "So just a few ground rules, and things you should be aware of.  For security reasons, I'm going to have to ask you to stick with me or a security escort while you're here.  We've got some projects in development that need to be kept under wraps.  You're also going to notice security cameras and keycard access areas, as a heads up.  If you need to use the facilities while you're here, speak up."

 

She leads the family up a floor and down a few hallways, to what appears to be her personal lab, judging by the plaque on the door.  The lab itself is covered in high tech machinery, half of which the lay-person wouldn't even recognize.  In the corner of the lab, she has a plain wooden desk with a collection of chairs that seemed to have been grabbed from where ever they were available.  "Please have a seat." says Cassandra as she takes her own seat behind the desk, pulling out clipboard with notepad as she gets settled.  "Why don't we start off with you telling me what you yourself know about your powers Cho?  And feel free to be as detailed as possible."

[RobRX]

"Sorry about the scene." was the first thing that came out of Cho's mouth. "I-I know, they don't mean it like that. Anyway..." Despite the scene with her family it seemed she was still willing to defend them, even when both had cause a very small scene. Mentally, she took note that it actually went fairly well, all things considered.

 

"Um, it started with what I'd say is close to growing pains. Some, um, pretty intense one I guess and it's still going." she explained. "Must have gained a good foot by now and maybe a bit more. I got a lot stronger, tougher and faster. Not...well not super-fast but still a lot faster. I don't really feel much, um, not even bullets and lasers, that just bounces right off. Then there's, well, that." The teenager rolled up her sleeves before clenching both fists. Once again there was a build up of energy and her fists became engulfed in orange-red light with a some eerie glow, the line even exposing the shape of her bones on the inside of her hands, something akin to putting one's finger close to a bright light.

 

"You don't want me to fire that, I-I might break something. W-well, not so much break as just make it dissapear." With a grunt, she made the light dissapear and began moving her fingers. "It's pretty painful to use, actually."

Edited May 31, 2014 by RobRX

[Geez3r]

"You don't have to explain or defend yourself.  Family is always a bit complicated." said Cassandra with a wry smile.  Cassandra otherwise keeps her comments to herself as Cho begins to explain their powers, however Cassandra is writing furiously on the notepad.  While the pad is kept in plain view, she seems to be writing in shorthand, either that or technical jargon.  When Cho was finished, Cassandra finished writing her last thought or two, before setting down the pen, reviewing her own notes. 

 

"Well, from what you've told me so far, it seems like a few of my hypothesis may hold water.  In this world, there is matter and energy.  This is also dark matter and dark energy.  X and Y, and then by extension, not-X and not-Y.  Two sides of the same coin that are diametrically opposed to one another, and in fact cancel out one another should they come into contact with one another.  And then there is the Terminus.  By all knowledge we have, rather than not-X or not-Y, or even not-Z, the Terminus is simply not."  explained Cassandra.  "It is oblivion embodied, and can yet somehow interact with matter and energy and not negate it.  It's a paradox, and one I wish to investigate.  I believe it could be a literal new dimension in science.  The human biology is a frail thing; infused with Terminus however, it becomes something very different.  Tell me, have any of these energy flare ups occurred without conscious effort on your part?  And how have you reacted to other elemental hazards, such as fire, lighting or lasers?"

[RobRX]

"Um, yeah." Cho was far from an idiot but that still sounded like compete and utter technobabble. Because it was. With only highschool, those kind of subjects might as well been said in an alien language humans can't even speak. That said, some of it did seem to make a certain sense. "So, what; despite having powers fueled by...probably non-existence, it still...exist? And you mean like energy-to-mass and mass-to-energy stuff?"

 

Once again, she shook her head. "Okay, I-I'm not going to lie half of that makes no sense to me. Hazards? Most don't do anything, so, nothing noteworthy that affect me in some weird way! Now the flareups? Those can and do happen at random and it's rather painful. Just using that disintegration ray is painful, really; it feels like having needles jabbed in my bones and the needles are on fire."

[Geez3r]

And again the pen came out as Cassandra went to work writing her notes.  This time, however she strikes out a few lines from the previous dialogue out.  She also writes for quite a bit longer after Cho is done talking, seemingly doing some sort of calculation.  "Well... I want to run some tests first, but I think I've got a pretty good idea of what is going on here.  You aren't the first individual to have been infused with Terminus energy, and thankfully, not the first to have been reviewed by scientists." added Cassanda as she jabbed her pen in the direction of a stack of papers and folders sitting on a nearby shelf.  "You bear quite a resemblance to one subject in particular as a matter of fact.  Increased size, strength, toughness and the ability to project Terminus energy, and you're a bit fuzzy on the control aspect on that last one; another commonality.  My initial assumption is going to be that the Terminus energies in your body are continually mutating it, to better conform to its needs.  Your growth spurts and hardened musculature could be the result of your body strengthening itself against its own internal burden.  You likely feel pain because the process is not yet complete." said Cassandra sitting back, waiting for Cho to absorb the news. 

[RobRX]

"So what, there's actually a rhyme and reason...sort of, to all that? I thought this stuff was, well, random. From what I understood, it wasn't exactly something that had some sense or something you could get roughly the same result off of twice. I really wasn't told much and I didn't feel like bringing the subject up because I didn't want to remind people of...it." Her voice got weaker and weaker toward the end of that sentence, turning into almost a whisper.

 

"It hasn't been a very pleasant change. I-I don't really recognise myself sometimes. Sure I was in good shape, but I was more thin and wiry. The spurts were painful, especially at first. First ones were the worst and I could actually feel them. I still feel sore and constantly hungry even when it slowed down." Cho leaned back in the chair, staring at the ceilling. "So what now? You can basically guess exactly how my powers work? Because there hasn't been any new one since the discharges...but um, I don't know, it might not be over yet."

[Geez3r]

Cassandra's face softened quite a bit as that day was brought up.  Her eyes instinctively glanced over to the picture frame on the shelf.  On it was a picture of her mother standing in front of the AEGIS headquarters, the same building she was in when Omega laid siege.  "As of right now, I've just been forming hypothesis.  I can't say most of this for certain.  A lot of these super-powers are inherently random, but commonalities do exist, especially among shared origins.  Those infused with Terminus energies tend to be resilient, while those with psionic abilities also tend to inherit increased cognitive abilities.  But lightning doesn't strike twice as they say.  Those closest match we have on record for you for instance, that person could also fly, and the Terminus energies would leak out of themselves whenever they started to really exert themselves." explained Cassandra.  She paused for a minute to collect her thoughts. 

 

"The one thing I can say for certain right now is that your mutations are not over yet.  You will likely either refine your current powers and physiology, or develop new ones.  We can start running some tests if you'd like to get some clearer information, but anything too detailed will take time to process." said Cassandra.  She didn't want to get Cho's hopes up that they might have an answer that very same day. 

[RobRX]

"I-I...I don't fly." muttered the girl. "That would be pretty cool! But I can't do that. I don't think I can, anyway." All things considered, her mood didn't seem all that gloomy. One could only muster so much teenage angst.

 

"Don't think I hate my powers or don't want them. Well, maybe I did a bit at first. People my age have to deal with zits, I have to worry not breaking everything around me. I know that, when someone is granted powers, it's up to them to put them to good use. It's just my family worries about the danger." Clenching a fist, Cho seemed to get a bit more fired up at all that. "Beside! I'm not going to lie, this is the coolest thing ever! So to hell with danger! I'm sure no hero ever backed down just because 'it was dangerous', right?"

[Geez3r]

Cassandra grinned from ear to ear as Cho made her declaration.  "That's the spirit!" she cheered gleefully.  "Well I think I just about talked your ear off here, so hows about we go ahead and put some of this expensive equipment to work here and see what you can do?" she asked, but not really waiting for an answer, suddenly seeming pretty animated.  She got up and went to a nearby closet, deciding to ditch her labcoat, which showed off her well built frame.  She also pulled out a barbell that seemed to have, for lack of a better description, Tron-lines running its length. 

 

Cassandra pushed a button on the wall, and a section of the floor pulled away to reveal a large metal plate with the same sort of lines running its length.  "So, I've made this company a lot of money in my day, but that means I sometimes work insane hours.  As you can probably guess, I'm a bit of a health nut, so I wasn't too keen on missing out on going to the gym.  The company compromised and got me this set up here.  It's basically a set of linked electromagnets; the bar and the floor only attract one another.  But since this technology was originally developed by ArcheTech, it was over-engineered beyond belief, which is good because it can even give people with super-strength a workout.  Controls are in the bar itself, I'll set it to progress mode, which means it'll just get heavier and heavier until you tell it to stop.  Squeeze once and it'll stay at that weight, squeeze twice and it'll enter into repel mode, where it'll just hang in the air." explained Cassandra demonstrating the function of the machine.  "Oh and the screen on the wall over there will display how much you're lifting."

[RobRX]

Cho glanced at the whole thing, as her brain began to tick and...pretty much put the pieces together fairly easily, as it seem this Doctor Steel wasn't very good at hiding things. 'Wait, does that mean she...' is what ran through Cho's head as the doctor rambled on, perhaps a bit too much and with a bit too much 'fun' about a machine supposed to be able to allow even people with super strength to have a workout. Turning, Cho asked, flatly; "Do you use that too? I mean, if you have that thing set up there, does that mean you have powers too? N-not that I'm saying you're secretly a superheroine! Even if there wouldn't be anything wrong with that! Even if I'm not sure how you'd manage that and your job..."

[Geez3r]

As the gears in Cho's brain began putting together the pieces, Cassandra flipped a few switches on the wall, sealing the door, blackening out the window and disabling the security devices in the room.  The system was intended for working on confidential government contracts (at least that was the official line, Grant had these systems in place for conducting their shadier operations), but it also quite handy for the working super-hero to get in a little workout while they were waiting for data to process, or for code to compile. 

 

"Oh of course I use it.  Everyone knows I'm a regular at the gym." said Cassandra innocently enough as the last of the security systems shut down.  But with an impish smile, she took a knee on the ground before her body suddenly grew and expanded into an amazonian frame that dwarfed even Cho.  Cassandra's clothes were seamlessly replaced by a blue and white singlet by some device she was wearing, the lab coat probably was abandoned so it didn't get ripped.  Standing to her full height, the good doctor extended her hand to Cho.  "I don't think we've been properly introduced.  The name's Maxima."

[RobRX]

"Wgoa, you're huge!" Was the only thing that could some out of Cho's mouth. She quickly covered it, however. "I'm...Im...no actually I don't really have a 'name' yet." She explained, before returning the gesture and shaking Maxima's hand. At least that would be someone she wouldn't risk breaking all the fingers in her hand. For all she know, that would possibly be the opposite. For all Cho knew, Maxima could possibly break her bones with just one hand.

 

"Heh...heh...health nuts." giggled Cho. "I'm not sure THAT count as health or fitness nuts anymore, or were you planning to go to bodybuilding contests before they told you you'd win by default?"

[Geez3r]

Maxima had a big smirk plastered on her face as Cho stumbled over her words a bit.  She's a good kid.  thought Maxima to herself, giving Cho's hand a little squeeze.  "I initially got my powers when I was a bit younger than you were." explained Maxima, as she was glad was no longer looking up at Cho.  "Though they weren't as... prominent as they are now.  My powers are inborn mutations to my genetic code.  My baseline powers were low level strength and toughness, but my brain's congnitive ability was also enhanced.  Over time with continued mutation, and some... prodding along the way I got to where I was today." explained Maxima.  She felt it was only fair to even the playing field so to speak between them, with Maxima knowing (or soon to know) quite a lot about Cho's abilities. 

 

"And as for the weight lifting, I started doing it before I had a lab to test myself.  And as I said, my powers were pretty weak to begin with, so I needed to give myself an edge.  Now that I can do this..." she said gesturing towards her new stature "I've found that my strength increases proportionally when I change.  Stronger Cassandra equals a much stronger Maxima."

[RobRX]

"Oh, this is so cool! But a little big, I'd feel a little awkward if I reached that size and couldn't shrink back. But ha! So cool! Sorry if I sort of busted your secret identity, I promise, I won't tell anyone! Don't worry, your secret is safe with me, I promise!" At the very least, Cho was rather excited by all this (maybe a little too much?). By that point, she had mostly dealt with superpowered individuals of her age and never with an established superhero who was also an adult. One would think Cho would be heavily into a rebellious teenage phase but deep down, she probably needed a little bit of guidance and support from an adult that would understand. Even if, considering how easily Maxima's identity got uncovered, perhaps Doctor Steel wasn't exactly the best option...

 

"Well, that makes me feel a whole lot better, really. I didn't want to get slapped to a table and dissected. I mean, I could have ran away but..." Her shoulders slumped a bit. "I know they just want to help me. Truth be told, I don't really want this to end in some stupid 'well I can prove you I'm right' situation. I don't want to feel like I'm just drowning them out because I'm trying to prove them wrong." The teenager shook her head. "I don't want to fight them."

 

Slamming a fist into her palm eagerly, Cho said; "So! What do you got for tests? I mean, if we're going to do this we might as well do the whole thing and then some! I've never pushed myself at my complete limits, not at Claremont."

Edited June 1, 2014 by RobRX

[Geez3r]

Maxima just shrugged as the topic of her not so secret identity came up.  "If you're willing to put yourself on the line to help others, you've got the strength of will needed to keep a little secret." she said calmly.  "I figured that not matter how accomodating I might be, there'd still be some doubt lingering in the back of your mind as to how pure my intentions were.  This was the best way I knew how to dispel them.  I got into this business to help people." she concluded sincerely. 

 

Clapping her hands together, she continued "Now before we get to the fun stuff, we need to get one more boring bit out of the way first." Maxima reached down and tossed the aforementioned barbell to Cho.  "This place really isn't built for the two of us to duke it out, and it would be better if we got a handle on your strength limits before we did have at it."

[RobRX]

The barbell seemed to weight nothing to Cho. "Um, I don't think that's heavy enough." With one hand she tossed it into the air and catched it back. That thing might as well be weighless. That thing couldn't possible be the test, right?

 

"You'll have to get me something heavier if you want to test it out. Oh and I was wondering; is there really no way to test out if there's not any power I just don't know I have? I don't know, something like a full body scan? I guess you probably have that. And no, I wouldn't want to brawl it out with you; last time was almost a stalemate but you're probably a whole lot stronger than me!" Once more, Cho weighted the thing. Nope, still pretty much weightless.

[Geez3r]

Maxima just chuckled as Cho complained about the weight.  "Well I'm not gonna throw a semi at you unless I know you can catch it now am I!?" she asked shaking her head, still suppressing some laughter.  Maxima looked over at the display on the wall for how much was being lifted, which was a little over 2,500 lbs now.  Well there's the class one threshold passed with flying colors.  She's probably a high class three, maybe a low four.  thought Maxima to herself as she took a step back into the scientist role and evaluated Cho's performance. 

 

Maxima again chuckled as the full body scanner was mentioned.  "Funny you should mention that." she replied as she hit a few buttons, and long machine like arms descended from the ceiling, arrayed with all manner of lenses and cameras, and more than a few doo-dads that emitted some kind of light as the whole arrangement slowly orbited around Cho.  "Best way to see if you've got any unknown powers is to observe the ones we do know about in action.  Be careful now, the bar will begin to add weight at an accelerated rate.  Remember, squeeze once to stop the weight gain, and twice to shut it down entirely." cautioned Maxima as the readout now said Cho had over 4,000 lbs. in her hands. 

Edited June 1, 2014 by Geez3r

[RobRX]

"So..." said Cho, feeling more pressure now, if slightly. "How many people did you study, anyway? Do you also work with the people at Claremont? Did you study other students, too? I mean, your expertise could help them." The weight kept piling on and on. And on. Cho managed to last for a while, until the weight eventually reached a rather heavy load, where she was clearly struggling yet kept on holding onto the weight as much as she could. The weight reached around a 100 tons when she then quickly squeezed it twice, panting.

 

"Aagh...huff..puff...okay that's a lot, I think?" The girl breathed in. "Okay, I'm done with this, can't go further."

[Geez3r]

"You're actually the first person I've studied face to face." replied Maxima offhandedly as they were looking over the readouts of Cho's activity on the computer screen.  "I usually get brought on for consultations, a second opinion, or to crunch data.  I tend to work in more in the lab room than on the front lines.  While I do enjoy the work, it's nice to actually get to know the people by talking to them, rather than looking over their chart.  Most of the data is anonymous as well.  I just have patient numbers.  Your files will be the same by the way.  Wouldn't want too much data falling into the wrong hands."

 

While Cho went about the workout, Maxima stayed pretty focused on the computer screens, but did occasionally look back at Cho, practically as if Maxima was looking through her, though with all the fancy gizmos in the room, she just might have been.  "I'd say you did quite well.  According to the North American Standard Force Application Measurement Method, you would be a low end Class 4.  The NAS-FAMM doesn't really mean much to most people, so don't go quoting that stat to people expecting a huge response.  The scientific community is still trying to hash out a measuring system.  Class One starts out at 16 times the average human lifting capacity, each successive class covers a range up to four times the previous benchmark cutoff, so Class 2 is 64 times average human, and so on and so forth.  As since you're going to ask, I just scrape over the threshold for Class 5, and the highest measured was Centurion at Class 9."