Chapter 9 - The New Normal? Part 2
After hearing Declan's description of what he had seen of the creature they determined that the file that Magnus had found was right the creature had evolved. The good news was that even though it had escaped again Henry's scanner had worked so they would be able to try and track it down again. After going through the evidence Will was thinking that this wasn't going to be the creature last stage of evolving and that he also thought that it would be looking for a place to cocoon, meaning that if this was the case they would need to work fast before it went quite on them. They decide that they would need to split up to cover the area quicker so they divided into two teams and went seperate directions
…..
Back at the Sanctuary Natalie and Henry are sitting in front of Henry's computer.
"Were you able to transfer the data from Walter's medical scan?" Natalie asked
"Yeah, but it's no use. Walter corrupted it."
"Walter?" Natalie questioned,
Henry went on to explain as to how Walter knew to try and corrupt the file as he would have read it in a comic book just like he had once. Natalie gives Henry a curious a look, this makes Henry stop his rambling and get back onto topic, he clears his throat and continues,
"I've been trying to recompile the image using raw data. I don't think we're going to find anything, Walter wasn't in there for very long."
"Well, let's see."
"Yeah. Right there. You see? That's what I was afraid of, there's a shadow."
"Do you mind?" Natalie asks pointing at the computer.
"Be my guest."
Natalie hits a few buttons on the keyboard,
"I'm just going to magnify the image."
"You can magnify away, Doc, but I don't think you're gonna find... What the hell is that?"
"That is Walter's suit."
"Walter's suit is made of bugs?"
"Billions of them, it makes perfect sense, Walter isn't an abnormal, he's wearing one and I'll wager it's what's giving him his special abilities."
"The bugs?" Henry asks.
"Think of them more as a collective rather than individual beings, and yes, I believe they're what's allowing him to fly."
"How?"
"I'm not sure. I mean he must be controlling them somehow. I need to take another look at his blood work." With that they head off to the lab to go through the tests again.
Meanwhile back with Will and Declan they have had no luck with finding the creature, they are unsure on what else to try. Little do they know the creature made its way into a warehouse and has cocooned itself in there.
Natalie and Henry get to the lab and begin to to through the results of the tests on Walter's blood,
"Are you sure this is the right sample?" Natalie asks Henry
"Absolutely, why? What's the problem?"
"His CPK3 and creatinine levels are through the roof."
"So what does that mean?"
"It means we need to talk to Walter right away."
Henry understands what she means by this and sets off back to his lab to set another trap for Walter using the police scanner again. While Henry does this Natalie takes the time to inform her mother on what is currently happening with Walter and to also hear how her case is going, unfortunately her mother is also not having any luck as she has been unable to find out any other information that could help Will and Declan find their creature. Back with Will he decided that there wasn't much that he could help Declan with so he made his way back to the Sanctuary to see if there was anything he could do regarding Walter. When he returned he went and found Henry in his lab to see where they were up to, Henry explained that he was just about to send out another fake response call on the scanner to try and get Walter back here. He also went on that Magnus had said that Walter was in trouble but he didn't really understand why and that he should speak to Magnus about that one.
"Alright then can you tell me where Magnus is so I can catch up with her before we head out to get Walter?" Will asks.
"Ah yeah, sure let me just check."
After bringing up the cameras it showed that Magnus was in two different places, one was in the Medical Lab and the other was in the Library.
"Oh no, not again" Will said,
"Anyway that you could tell me which one is Magnus." He asked Henry.
"Unfortunately they seem to be wearing the same clothes, but by judging that she is in the med lab my guess is that this is Magnus." Henry says pointing at the monitor.
"But she look's to being going through her father's old paperwork about the creature we have been searching for." Will points out looking at the women in the library.
"How about you try Magnus's phone they can't both have that can they?"
"Good idea Henry" Will grabs his phone out and dials Magnus's number watching both women on the screen to see who answers the phone.
"There we go, that's Magnus there." says Will looking at the women in the library whose phone just went off, that when Henry interjects saying that the women in the lab's phone also began to ring. This shocked Will to the point that he had forgotten that he was still on the phone with Magnus who had answered her phone and was trying to get his attention,
"Will, Will are you there?" Helen asked.
Still unable to decide who was who, Will and Henry discussed how else they could figure this out. But little did they know that both women could hear what they were saying as the phone was still connected, the reason that they both could hear was that when Natalie had decided to give them a hand that day she had create a program on her mothers phone so that when every her phone rang it would also come through to Natalie's so that they would both be informed as to what was going on without having to repeat anything. This also made it easier so that if someone had called in regards to the creature Helen would do the talking, but if it was regarding Walter the Natalie would take over the call. After hearing that neither Will or Henry had noticed that they were still connected on the phone Magnus hangs up after telling Natalie to recall them a have them meet her in the lab. So once the current call was disconnected Natalie dialled Will's number and waited for him to answer, the sound of a phone going off brought Will and Henry out of their discussion. Will sees that it is his phone that is ringing and promptly answers it without seeing who was calling,
"Hello?"
"Will are you back at the Sanctuary?" Upon hearing that it is Magnus he looks to the screen to see which one is on the phone, again seeing that both women have a phone to their ear. Getting a little frustrated he almost forgets again to answer Magnus's question but it's when he hears his name come through that phone that he snaps back to the phone call.
"Ah yes, I just got back a few minutes ago."
"Oh good, can you meet me in the medical lab. I need to run through with you what i found out about Walter?"
"Sure I meet you there soon." With that he hangs up the phone,
"That one is Magnus she just told me to meet her there." He says to Henry while pointing at the women in the medical lab. Will then heads out of the room and make his way down to meet Magnus or so he thinks.
Once he arrived in the Medical Lab neither Natalie or Will mention what had happened in Henry's Lab, instead Natalie went on to explain what she had found in Walter's blood sample. Just as she had finished explaining it to Will she gets a call from Henry, expecting to hear him telling them where he was sending Walter. Instead it Henry telling her that just after he sent out the response message, reports quickly were coming in of a man in a super suit falling of a building. With this information Natalie and Will head out to go pick up Walter from the location Henry sent them. Quickly getting him back to the Sanctuary. Walter comes to and wakes up on a gurney in the Medical Room he was in earlier he looks to his side and sees Natalie and Will next to him, he asks how he got back here and Will explain to him what had happened. After hearing this he tries to get up and leave but Natalie stops him telling him,
"Before you go knocking another hole in my wall know this, you are free to leave whenever you like."
"But you might want to hear what we have to say first." Will adds.
"Your suit's not really a suit, but you knew that already." Natalie asks.
"What you may not know is that it is actually a parasite, and it appears to be feeding on you." Says Will.
"Your latest test results show the signs of early organ failure. Your body is shutting down." Explains Natalie.
"No. You're lying. This is just another one of your super-villain tricks." Walter says, not believing what either one of them is saying.
"Really, how are you feeling? Do you have any dizziness or shortness of breath?" Asks Will.
"Walter, we need to get this suit off you, immediately." Natalie tells him.
"But...I can't." Walter confesses.
"Walter, this is a matter..." Will begins to speak when Walter interjects,
"No! You don't understand. I can't take it off. I'm telling you, I tried dozens of times. Nothing works. It's stuck. Which means I'm a dead man."
"What do you mean... stuck?" Natalie asks.
"Stuck, glued, impossible to remove." Says Walter, this make Will ask
"Hold on, so, you've been wearing this suit since..."
"Since about 8 days ago, yes."
"Well, how have you managed to, you know..." asks Will
"I have no idea. All I know is I feel lighter after meals." Natalie glances at Will who is making a face she then asks,
"How did you come by the suit in the first place? We need the real story, Walter."
"Right, uh... Well, as I mentioned before, I used to work for an insurance company, by the way, if you guys need any kind of coverage..."
"We're good." Natalie says
"Right, well, every year the company took us on a team building retreat to this dude ranch in the mountains. I was leading this team through the forest on a pretty cut throat game of "capture the flag"..." He then goes in to explain what had happen out in the woods that day,
"The shorts and gloves I added myself. The chest plate I had from before. Don't judge."
"When did you get your super-powers?" Asks Will.
"That's the beauty. I already had them. All I had to do was think "fly" and I popped out of the hole, just like that."
"Telepathic communication of course, the suit's living off you, in exchange for giving you these powers." Says Natalie
"I soon realised that I had speed, super-strength, x-ray vision." Walter looks over at Natalie who straightens her stance and looks over to Will. Will's mouth has fallen open but then he recovers and smiles at Magnus.
"It was like my greatest wish come true!" Walter says.
"Well... Be careful what you wish for." Will tells him
"We'll help you get it off, Walter" Adds Natalie.
"Yeah..." Walter asks.
After moving Walter from the Medical Lab to the main lab Henry has Walter stand isolated as he sprays him with a cryogenic blast. Natalie frowns as she stands behind the protective shield as it seems to have no effect on the suit.
"We are all ready in here. Alright, here we go." Announces Henry. Henry next uses a chain saw which has no effect. Natalie, Will, Walter and Henry all have protective head gear on. Henry tries sonic sound…still no effect.
The head gear has been replaced by dark glasses as Henry next tries a laser….still no effect.
Henry next uses some sort of vacuum that cause Walter to collapse.
"Walter!" Natalies say worried, as she and Will rush out behind the protective barricade.
Henry and Will get Walter transferred back up to the Medical Room he was in previously while Natalie goes and runs some more tests. Soon after getting Walter settled Will heads up to find Natalie who is now in her mother's office going over the data on Walter. Natalie is sitting at the desk as Will knocks and enters.
"How's Walter doing?" She asks.
"Uh, he's stable. How's things going with you?"
"Take a look." Natalie moves to the computers.
"They're dead." Will asks.
"I believe so. I was able to create a toxin that attacks the suit creatures' specific DNA."
"Well, that's... good."
"Is it? I have no idea what kind of impact this will have on Walter. At minimum, be sick for weeks as he undergoes treatment and there's no guarantee he'll ever fully recover. Not to mention we killing an abnormal who exhibits untold abilities, the likes of which I've never seen before."
"Well, we knew that going in."
"Yes, but our job is to be smarter; to come up with a brilliant clever way to save both human and abnormal."
"Right. But have we got time for that. I mean, this thing is killing Walter. At least we're saving him." Natalie nods, now all that's left to do is to speak with Walter.
Back down in the medical lab,
"I wanted it off, not kill it!" Walter says.
"Walter." Natalie pleads...
"Come on! It's my suit. You can't do this to me."
"You're gonna die, Walter. Do you realise that?" asks Will.
"I don't care. Do you realise what this suit has done for me? My whole life I've been scared to do anything, not even hobbies. Do you realise how many people die each year in Renaissance reenactments? The statistics would blow you away. But now thanks to this suit, I don't even worry about it. I fly around saving people. It's pretty incredible!"
"I realise how exciting it must be but, is it really worth risking your life for?" Natalie asks.
"You risk your lives every day doing what you do. Look, I may not have a lot of time... So I want to use it for what I was meant to do. Not sit around on the sidelines anymore."
That's when Natalie's radio goes off,
"Magnus, it's Henry I heard from Declan. He tracked the Coleanthropus to Kennington Row." "Alright. Think about it. Please." Natalie asks Walter. With that they head out the door to get ready to meet Declan, Natalie uses this time to switch places with her mother.
Soon after Magnus, Will and Biggie are entering the warehouse. Declan walks up to them, Magnus asks Declan where the creature is, Declan replying that it was at the far end of the warehouse and that he had men on each exit and a couple keeping watch. Will then went on to tell them about the weapons that Henry had modified for use on the creature, hoping that it will be able to disorientate the creature long enough so they could get the upper hand. With that they began to move cautiously through the warehouse, that's when Magnus noticed Declan's men were no where to be seen,
"Declan, where are your men?"
"I left them here." Declan said.
Biggie finds fluid on the floor and touches and sniffs it.
"Blood." He says, the team looks around and Will spots something. He gets everyone's attention to see what he spotted, they all look up and see the cocoon, suddenly the creature moves very fast past where they were looking. It stops and looks at the team as they raise their weapons, as the team slowly move towards the creature it suddenly leaps to the floor in front of them. Magnus tells them to bring it down, so everyone begins to fire their weapons on the creature, upon being hit the creature goes to shriek Magnus quickly warns everyone to watch their ears and to spread out.
Henry is back at the Sanctuary talking to Walter about what his catchphrase should be, while discussing this Henry's radio goes off. It was Magnus, the team needed backup the stunners weren't working. Henry turns around to tell Walter that he needed to go and that he needed to put him back in his room first but as he turns he sees that Walter is no where to be seen. Sighing Henry knows exactly where he has gone, so he gathers all that he will need and makes his own way to the warehouse.
Magnus is running along the racks. Declan and Bigfoot are above next to a very large box. They shove the box off the rack and it falls on the creature. Declan asks,
"Did we kill it?"
"I'm thinking we just pissed it off." Will says walking up to check on the creature, the creature moves and gets up.
"I got him!" Will shouts as he fires his stunner onto the creature luring it to chase him. Will runs but finds himself trapped.
"Okay. Easy, boy... Easy now... Take it easy." Will says to the creature. Magnus is running to catch up to Will. Will is still speaking to the creature,
"What, this thing? It doesn't work anyway." Will indicates the stunner. Just then Walter crashes through window and lands on the creatures back. Surprised Magnus says,
"Walter?" Walter throws punches and head butts the creature.
"Come on! You like that? Come on!" Walter is still fighting the creature. Will sneaks past and joins Magnus.
"Tired? How about one of these?" Walter asks the creature.
"Do you think he's got a shot?" Will asks Magnus.
"Not without help. Will!." Magnus has noticed a crane above. Will looks to see what she sees,
"Yeah." He says noticing the crane as well. Magnus runs over to the control for the crane as Bigfoot, Declan and one of his injured men joins them. Henry arrives.
"Hey, what did I miss? These things don't work?" Henry asks Will as he arrives.
"Uh, ...ish." Will replies. Magnus moves the crane into position above the creature as Walter continues his battle. The creature manages to dislodge Walter and then bat him away. Henry and Will start firing at the creature.
"Fire! Keep firing! Magnus, now!" orders Will. Magnus pushes the control to cause the crane to drop on the creature, grab it, and raise it up. The creature is restrained and unable to move.
"Go, I've got it!" Declan says. Declan takes the control from Magnus and she rushes to Walter, who has collapsed to to the stress he put on his body.
"Hey, buddy." Henry says, coming to check up on Walter.
"We need to get him back to the Sanctuary right away." Magnus tells them.
"I'll take him." Will offers.
Arriving back at the Sanctuary, Magnus who has again switched with Natalie as she has been with Walter through the whole process and understands his condition more than she does. "He's breathing. Henry's getting the toxin. We need to get this suit off him right away." She tells Will as they wheel Walter into the medical room.
"No." Says Walter, still adamant that he doesn't want to kill these creatures just to save his life
"Walter, we have no choice." Natalie tells him as Henry enters and hands her a syringe.
"No, wait, please!" Again Walter pleads, that's when the suit starts to dissolve and the substance falls away from his body.
"Whoa." Will says as he sees what is happening.
"It's leaving." adds Henry. Natalie grabs a glass cage and takes the lid off. She sets it on the ground near the collective. They move into the cage and Natalie replaces the lid.
"What the hell just happened?" Asks Will.
"I guess I just... wished it off. I didn't want it to die. For the first time since I got it I truly wanted it off. I guess it was just granting my wish." Walter says. Natalie has pick up the cage and is holding it. Walter motions to her.
"May I? Thank you." As she nears him with the container, Walter raise his hand and presses it against the glass. The collective has mirrored his action.
"I'll miss you, little buddy." Walter spreads his fingers in the Vulcan greeting. The collective also mirror this.
"Live long and prosper." Walter says before passing out.
"Get him to the infirmary." Orders Natalie.
"Yeah..." Will says as he and Henry push the gurney out of the room. Henry rushes back over to Magnus.
"It just did that because of the heat of his hand, right? Well right?" he asks. Natalie doesn't answer and rolls her eyes and walks out of the room.
"Come on..." Henry says.
Later that evening the team are having a meeting to discuss all that had happened that day, Magnus finishes by thanking everyone for all that they had done and that she couldn't have done it without all their help. Declan, Kate and the Big Guy got up and left the room, Will and Henry both began to make their way towards the door when Magnus stopped them,
"Will, Henry will you please stay for a moment."
"Ah yeah sure." Says Will, Henry on the other hand began to panic.
"What why? Are we in some sort of trouble?" This made both Will and Magnus laugh.
"No you are not in trouble, we just wanted discuss what you discovered today."
"What do you mean we?" Asks Will, that's when Natalie enters the room. When Natalie walked in Will and Henry realised what Magnus must have been referring to. Natalie who had changed back into her own clothes after finishing up with Walter goes on to explain what had happened that day,
"So you see, I was beginning to get a little bored with having to hide from so many people the last day or so. So when I saw that you guys could use my help with all that you had going on, I offered to mom to take one of her cases so she could focus on the other."
Magnus went on to add,
"We noticed that you two got a little bit confused at one point trying to figure out where each of us were." Will and Henry nodded, a little ashamed that they had been caught trying to figure out who was who.
"We just wanted to make sure that you two understand that if this happens again, we need you to not be so noticeable with what you were doing. Just in case someone walks in and sees what you are doing, we can't have that." Natalie tells them with her mother nodding to show that she agreed with what was said.
"We also understand that it is partly our fault that this also happened, so we are going to try and work out that if we ever do need to have a time where we are both working as me that this doesn't happen again" Magnus tells them.
"Does everyone understand? Any questions?" She asks all of them. Henry jumps in,
"So who was doing what today?" He asked.
This question makes Natalie laugh as it is so a Henry question to ask,
"Anything that had to do with Walter was my doing." Natalie tells him, this made the most sense as her mother was way better at working out what the older unknown creature could have been. She would have never have thought or to look into the story about the creature her grandfather had come across.
With all the questions now answered they all decided that it was time to call it a night, they all made their way to their rooms. Magnus and Natalie heading one way and the boys heading the other, upon reaching their rooms Natalie turned to her mother,
"I think I'm going to be heading home tomorrow." This surprised Helen, she wasn't expecting her daughter to be leaving so soon.
"Are you sure?" Helen asks.
"Yeah I need to get back to work."
"Ok I understand you have been gone for a while. You just need to promise me that you'll be back as soon as you can."
"Of course I will be, I'll be back at the first chance I can."
"Alright sweetheart, have a good night but don't even think about leaving tomorrow before I get the chance to say goodbye."
"I wouldn't dare." With this they both headed into their rooms, Magnus didn't want her daughter to see that she was a little upset to hear her daughter was wanting to leave, it seem like she had only just got there. Natalie went into her room and started to get her things together, she didn't want to tell her mom the real reason that she wanted to get back to work. That was that she wanted to begin her process of leaving her job so that she could move back home to be with her mother.
….