Hey readers! So, life's been busy… yeah. I actually wrote this chapter about a week ago, maybe more, and I realized I wanted to change the end and it took me until now to do that. So here's the finished version of chapter 11!
Enjoy!
Cathy's POV
"Define dangerous," Sam asked, watching Vel warily. The man twisted his fingers together nervously, trying to piece his words together. I took a step closer to Chris and Sam.
"Well you see, I didn't want to alarm you children earlier," the man began, his dark eyes watching the floor as he spoke. "But there is a possibility of a condition known as Magneto Poisoning that can result from the Imra being in an organism for an extended period of time. This condition has proved fatal to other species, and we aren't sure yet exactly what it will do to humans."
I glanced over at Sam. The leader's eyes were trained on Vel, whose eyes had met us again. I still thought it was weird that he had that red circle on the outer part of his irises. I guess that was just a cool trait from whatever planet he cam from.
"So you think we have a risk of contracting this Magneto Poisoning?" Sam asked, taking up her role as the spokesperson of the team.
"Possibly. You humans have a complex physical organism, but it may not be complex enough to combat the effects of the substance," Vel replied, shaking his head sadly. "Not to mention the other adverse effects that Imra can have regardless of possible poisoning…"
"Wait, other effects?" Grandpa asked, taking a step towards Vel with surprise in his eyes. "You didn't tell me about any other negatives!"
"I know, that was another mistake on my part in order to decrease the worry on you," Vel answered, looking at the floor with embarrassment. "I didn't want to worry any of you…"
"But you said that Imra wasn't of any real danger to living beings," Chris pointed out. "That was one of the first things you told us when we met."
"I know, I know. I made a grave mistake in betraying your trust," Vel replied, looking at us pleadingly. "I just wanted to start out on a positive note, not bombard you with the scary details."
"Well that definitely would've effected out decision if you'd told us earlier about these adverse effects," Sam said, her hands on her hips. "Now, what are these other defects you didn't tell us about?"
"So you see, there is always a risk of what had been called Pryde Syndrome, which happens once the Imra has run its course and dissipated from an organism," Vel began his explanation, talking big time with his hands. "Once all of the substance is gone, the withdrawal effects the organism like a withdrawal from an addictive drug would. The organism grew dependent upon the Imra and has forgotten how to function without it. Then there is also Wagner Syndrome, which is when the Imra reacts negatively with another substance already within the organism. The results can be deadly. And thirdly, there's a very rare occurrence that has been named Phoenix Syndrome. This is what happens when the powers gained from the contact mutate into even stronger powers and can eventually destroy the organism because they cannot control the power."
A tense silence fell in the room. If you ever want to get a large group of people to stop talking, just bring up deadly side effects to something that all of them associate with daily, like maybe tell them oxygen can mutate into poison in your lungs if you breath too much!
"And… you think this could happen to us?" Sam asked quietly, processing all of this.
"It is indeed a possibility," Vel said, taking a step towards the three of us. "Now you understand why it is so crucial that we extract the Imra from you."
"Yes, now that makes sense," Chris said with a nod. "So how exactly do you plan to extract it out of us?"
"There is a special machine that can accomplish this task," Vel explained. "It works like this," he continued, extending his hand and motioning for Chris extend his arm out. The tech did so and Vel then took hold of his arm and squeezed right on the wrist. Chris' shoulders tensed at the pressure. "The machine incarcerates your wrist, then produces a signal that will have the Imra moving to that location. The machine will then suck away the substance through osmosis." Vel let go of Chris, who immediately clasped his other hand to his wrist.
"Do you have the machine with you?" Sam asked.
"I do, but it requires a little more time to charge," Vel answered. "So you are willing to let me extract the substance from you?"
"I think that would be the smartest decision," Sam said, looking at Chris and me for approval.
"I agree," I said.
"Excellent!" Vel exclaimed, grasping my shoulder with an encouraging squeeze. He then turned and did the same to Sam. "We can commence with the extraction tomorrow!"
"Great," Sam said halfheartedly. "Now if you don't mind, we were in the middle of a very important discussion for school…" Vel's eyes widened.
"Oh yes! My apologies! I forgot! Please, return to your work," the man said, nodding to us as he turned to leave. "Thank you for cooperating with the extraction!"
"Anytime!" Sam called after him as he disappeared out into the night with Grandpa. We listened as the two men walked back towards the house, and we didn't say anything till long after we heard the door click closed.
"Do you guys believe him?" I asked. Two pairs of questioning eyes met mine. "I just… I mean… why wouldn't he tell us right away? It just seems… fishy to me."
"I feel it too," Sam replied. "If there were consequences this serious, he would've mentioned them right away. No one holds back such vital information just so people don't worry."
"I agree with that too, and I say we do a little research on our friend here," Chris said, moving towards the computer. "Sora and Reese checked out fine. Might as well check Vel too, just to make sure."
"Great plan, Chris," I said, moving over to him as he started to type in the codes to open the databases we'd been scouring just minutes ago. "Let's see if this guy's really telling the truth."
"And suddenly we've become Charlie's Angels," Sam commented as she joined us by the computer. "Except we're not secret agents, we're monster hunters. And we have one guy instead of three girls."
"And it's a completely different time period," Chris added, not even looking at his fingers as they ran smoothly over the keys, activating a search for Vel Afsou.
"I wonder what Danny'll think when we tell him about this tomorrow," I said. "Do you think he'll agree with us, or over react a little bit first, then find his senses, or…"
"He'll over react. Calling it now," Sam replied. A beep suddenly emitted from the computer and an image of the Commander appeared.
"Oh! Hello there, MBC," he said, sounding surprised. "I didn't expect to find you here at such an hour. Don't you have school tomorrow?"
"Yes, we do, sir," Sam answered with a nod.
"Then perhaps you should be getting home," the Commander replied. "And I must speak with Smith alone right away. It's urgent. Is he around?"
"He's right inside the house. We'll go grab him," I replied. "It was great to see you, Commander!"
"Nice to see you three as well," the Commander responded with a nod. "By the way, where's Daniel?"
"Sports," Sam answered. The Commander nodded again.
"Yes, that sounds like him. Well, thank you for delivering my message and please hurry," he said, to which the three of us nodded and scurried out of the clubhouse.
"So I guess no more research tonight," Chris muttered quietly as we reached the back door.
"I'll tell you all about it at school tomorrow," I whispered back, pulling the door open and stepping inside as though nothing was going on. I planted a cheerful smile on my face as Vel and Grandpa looked up as we entered the room. "Grandpa, the Commander's calling you. He's on the computer now."
"Oh my," Grandpa exclaimed, standing up quickly. "What's wrong?"
"He didn't say, but he doesn't seem too frazzled," Sam answered this time. "He says it's urgent though." Grandpa nodded and turned to Vel.
"I'm sorry, but I have to take this. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then," he said, shaking the man's hand.
"Yes, tomorrow," Vel repeated. Grandpa then started to move towards the door, but then stopped and moved back to me.
"I don't know how long I'll be, and I want you to get to bed soon," he said, kissing my forehead gently. "Goodnight, Schloumba!"
"Goodnight!" I replied as he moved towards the door and disappeared into the night.
"Well children, I will see you tomorrow evening," Vel said with an air of finality. "Thank you again for reconsidering my offer."
"Thank you for finally telling us the risk we're at," Sam replied as Vel shook her hand. He moved to me and extended his hand. I shook it and Vel smiled.
"Warm hands. Must be from your fire powers," he said. I nodded, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable around him. We hadn't gotten to finish our research, so now I was questioning his character. Vel let go of my hand and moved to Chris, holding firm to his hand while a quiver ran through his body.
"And, as expected, you're hands are freezing, young man," the analyst said. "Perks of ice powers, huh?"
"Yes," Chris replied with a nod. He still looked apprehensive to Vel's touch, probably remembering the machine simulation earlier. The man smiled at each of us one last time before moving towards the front door.
"Goodnight, MBC. Until tomorrow," Vel bid us goodbye, closing the door with a loud click behind him. Silence fell on us once again.
"He freaks me out," I said after a few moments."
"Me too. Promise you'll get us that information right away, so we know if we have to stall this extraction thing or not," Sam instructed.
"Oh, cross my heart and hope to die," I said, shaking my head so hard my hair flew around with it. "And his hands feel so weird!" I shuddered just thinking about it.
Suspicion is flying, and so is danger. Or is it? And what will Danny think of all of this?
Find out, in the next few chapters that'll be coming soon!
Just a note, I used X-Men references for my negative defects. Magneto is an x-men character, Pryde and Wagner are the last names of two of the characters, (Shadowcat and Nightcrawler or Kitty and Kurt), and then one of the characters at some point becomes the Phoenix. I know nothing about that, but yeah. Yay X-Men!
Review please! =)
Read on!
