Disclaimer: Ownership is relative really. It's all a matter of opinion. Someone can think they own something when they really don't. But that is not the case right now. I know I don't own the rights to these shows. But I sometimes dream that I do…isn't that enough to have ownership? No? Well, fine. Be that way…
"You know, human medicine has never really agreed with me, but you seem to be doing a wonderful job of adjusting to my unique physiology," said Smith, wincing as Magnus put the final stitch in. "Well, I guess that goes along with the whole abnormals thing doesn't it?"
"Hold still," she responded tying the knot and snipping off the extra. "There, you should be fine if you don't stress your wounds again. May I remind you I don't have a match to your blood type and if you lose anymore you could go into peripheral hypoperfusion. I would like to prevent that as much as I can, since you seem to be the only one that knows what's attacking my abnormals."
They were once again in the infirmary, Smith was back in bed, and Magnus was back to stifling her curiosity in order to focus on the problem of the Cerebrivore. She longed to ask him the questions that were filling up her head like a flood plain. Why did he seem to know so much about what was attacking him and others? Why it was attacking him the first place? Why did he refuse to see himself as an abnormal but still not human? And more. But there was a time and place for those queries, and now was not it. The abnormals under her care were in danger.
"Right," stated Smith with a sigh. "I always seem to be the one with all the information."
Magnus nodded. She could relate, and that was part of what made this situation especially worrisome. It had been a long time since she had to rely on someone for information, and she was uncomfortable being in dark about the dangers of this creature. She was now dependent on a complete stranger, an enigma whose knowledge was in slight doubt.
"Exactly, which is why you need to help us capture this Cerebrivore or whatever it is. I can't risk the safety of the abnormals in this facility any longer," Magnus responded.
"Trust me," Smith replied. "I want the exact same thing. I brought this to your doorstep and I'm going to do whatever I can to take it away from here and everything you've built. This place is brilliant and I'm not going to let the creatures in here stay in danger."
"Thank you," Magnus said, slightly relieved to hear his willingness to help. "So how do we go about capturing this creature?"
"Well in simplest terms…strong electric field of some kind and a lot of power."
"That can be arranged."
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"Mr. Smith, this is Henry Foss. My in-house tech specialist," introduced Magnus as she rolled Smith in.
He was sitting, not without resistance, in a wheelchair. He had insisted that he'd be there to help Henry put together the electric field and placing him a wheelchair and wheeling him to the tech lab was the only thing Magnus could think of that would satisfy him and her want to keep him from killing himself before he could help them.
"Right, nice to meet you!" spoke Smith cheerily, holding out and hand for Henry.
"You too." Henry grinned in response, taking the hand and shaking it. Magnus could detect a hint of excitement in his eyes, as if he still held on to his absurd theory of Smith being an alien. "So…um…the boss said something about an electric field?"
"Well…it's a bit more complicated than that," replied Smith, rolling himself around the lab. "Oooh…is this what I think…Ha! It is! A sonic stun gun! I love sonic devices. So useful yet practically harmless. That's why I carry around one myself. Don't leave home without my handy-dandy sonic screwdriver."
"Dude, a screwdriver?" questioned Henry, incredulously. "A gun is way more useful."
"Oi! Don't diss the sonic. It's gotten me out of quite a few pickles in my day, including one only a few minutes ago."
"I take it that was the pen-like device Will was telling me about."
"Yup. It does much more than put up shelves."
"Anyway," pointedly began Magnus, pushing back even more questions that had popped up in response to Smith's words. "Mr. Smith, I trust you'll be able to help Henry with the construction of this electric field without popping any more of your stitches. In any case, Henry, keep an eye on him. I would like this field done as quickly as possible before anymore of my abnormals are attacked."
"On it boss," replied Henry seriously.
"Don't worry about me," added Smith with his quirky smile.
Magnus nodded, doubting whether to take the stranger on his word, and making a mental note to radio in every half an hour while she was out with Will trying to figure out where the Cerebrivore was most likely going to be, based on Henry's information on the recent power surges. She took one last look at her employee and patient as they headed into an enthusiastic conversation about technology and electrics, and headed out.
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The halls of the Sanctuary were their normal mixture of peaceful quiet and animalistic noise. Everything at the moment seemed to be in place. After checking the upper floors, they were currently down in the catacombs, stalking the passageways filled with crates and dust. Will was on the tablet, making sure they were covering all the areas Henry pointed out that had power surges, while Magnus was checking the voltage readings from the panels and sockets on the walls. So far nothing was out of the ordinary.
"So…why do you think Smith knows so much about this Cerebrivore or whatever it's called?" asked Will causally, almost more out of need to break the silence than true curiosity.
"Well, he said something about working with 'dangerous creatures,'" replied Magnus.
"Yeah, but how come we've never heard of a Cerebrivore before, and he has? There's something fishy about that."
"There's a lot of odd things about that man."
If she was truthful about it all, she had attempted to put the mystery of Smith out of her mind. She was trying to focus on the situation at the moment and she couldn't do that successfully if she was lost in her ponderings. There would be plenty of time afterwards to think about that man. Right now she needed to work on the present. She didn't want what happened to Sally to happen to anyone else. Right now Big Foot was tending to her, and from what he had told her through the radio, Sally's vital signs were normal and it looked like she would be relatively fine. Magnus thanked the powers that be that the mermaid was alright, but she didn't want anything worse to happen.
"Yep, he sure is one hell of an enigma, that's for sure. Do you think there's any truth in what he says about not being an abnormal?"
"Will, what else could he be? He has two hearts, anomalies in his blood, and nonhuman DNA. There's nothing he could be beside an abnormal. And there is no way he's an alien," replied Magnus, checking the power box on the wall next to her with the voltage meter in her hand. No irregular voltage. The moved on down another hallway.
"Well…I don't know. He could be a human experiment. Or some kind human mutation."
"That doesn't explain his DNA. And anyway, I thought you were set on your theory that he was just in denial about his abnormal state."
"I was…I mean I still am, kind of. But his knowledge on this Cerebrivore and how to deal with it makes me doubt that theory a bit. He's not like anyone else we've met. There's something about him that's…different. You know what I mean?"
"You have no idea how much…wait." The voltage meter was detecting a slight irregularity, an irregularity that seemed to increase in magnitude the closer they moved towards the back up control panel. It was from panel that in an emergency if they lost access to the main control panel, they could manually control the electric system and basic security of the Sanctuary.
"How many power surges that Henry recorded originated from here?" questioned Magnus, turning to her employee.
"Well, they pretty much happened everywhere but…wait," replied Will, checking the tablet. "They may not originate from here, but they all seem to be centered around here. It's like one big bullseye if you lay everything out two dimensionally. We were looking at it by floors before, that's why we didn't see it."
"So this must where the Cerebrivore has been coming from. Where its 'nest' is, so to speak," said Magnus slightly amazed that they didn't figure it out before. It would make sense, though. The whole Sanctuary electric grid was accessible through that control panel. It also got direct power from the city, unlike the rest of the building whose electricity has to be passed through the Sanctuary's system. It seemed so obvious now that they'd figured it out. She felt slightly idiotic for not working it all out sooner. Part of the reason why was because she didn't have all the information that she needed before hand, but nevertheless, it was something she should've caught up on earlier.
"Well, now we know where it's hiding out, we can tell Henry and Smith so they can set up the trap," stated Will.
"Exactly. But for now let's vacate the area, we don't want to lure the creature out with our human psychic abilities, however slight they may be."
"Yeah…probably for the best…"
And with that they both rushed out of the area and back towards the tech lab as fast as they could.
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"Dude, that's so simple. I don't know why I didn't think of it before!" exclaimed Henry as Will and Magnus walked in.
The tech and Smith were gathered around a work desk where the overhead lights glared down on a pieced-together device on the table. It made up of two things. One was roughly the same size and shape as 1980s cell phone and the other was similar to a stereo speaker. They were attached together with some kind of exposed thick silver wire.
"Well, the Cerebrivore is a pretty basic creature. A trap for it is pretty simple, you just have think differently," replied Smith.
"But that thing you did with the changing of the polarity-" However Henry was cut short by a loud yet polite cough from Magnus.
"I trust that you two have successfully built an electric field to trap and contain the Cerebrivore?" she questioned, double checking what she inferred from the snippet of their conversation.
"Yep," replied Smith as they both turned to face her. "These devices should be able to generate a sufficient electric field to draw it out. Then once trapped in the field, the larger device will suck it in. That'll be able to hold it long enough for me to figure out what to do with it."
"Man, I'm telling you, this dude a genius," interjected Henry. "Once I told him where to get things he basically put this field together like a child's puzzle. I'm telling you, he could give Telsa a run for his money."
And the mystery thickens. Magnus wondered just how intelligent Smith was. He was obviously very smart, but just how much? No, she thought. There was no time to ponder. There was only time for action. So with that, she pushed away those musings to recall when the situation was less dire.
"'Telsa'? As in Nikola Telsa?" questioned Smith, obviously intrigued.
"This one and only. I'm telling you, I would pay to see those you two face off. It would be totally wicked!" There was a glint of wonderment in his eye.
"Anyway…," began Magnus, tired of the tangent. "We found out where the Cerebrivore is hiding."
"It's at the back up control panel in the catacombs," added Will. "That's where all the power surges have originated from, and it appears to be where the creature has…'nested' so to speak."
"Alright-y then. This baby is ready, and there's no time like the present," said Henry, picking up the device.
"Right, allons-y!" responded Smith, rolling towards the door.
"Oh, no," stated Magnus holding back his wheelchair. "You're still healing. Plus, you would be in the most danger of being attacked, considering your self-proclaimed psychic capabilities."
"Well, I could-"
"No," stated Magnus forcefully, cutting the man off. "Mr. Smith, you are my patient and I can't let you risk your health again. I thank you for your help, but you can't come with us."
Smith opened his mouth to retort, but stopped and fell silent. It seemed, to Magnus at least, that his mind had finally registered the risk he was taking in his recovery and how stupid it was. The man nodded in acknowledgement of his epiphany and gave a short, halfhearted wave good-bye.
Glad for having to deal with less of an argument from Smith than she expected, Magnus led the way out of the lab and down towards the catacombs, her employees following faithfully behind.
)))
"All set, Doc," said Henry.
It didn't take long for them to reach the back up control panels and arrange the electric field devices that Smith had made. They were both plugged into nearby electrical outlets, and quickly powering up. The larger device was set a few feet to the right of the control panel, and the smaller one sat a few feet in the opposite direction. The silver wire made a half circle between them, surrounding the control panel. Everything was in place and ready to go.
"Then, start it up, Henry," ordered Magnus.
The tech nodded and pressed a button on the side of the larger device, and then backed up to where the other two were standing at a safe distance. From there, they all watched as the electric field bloomed before their eyes. Starting from the two devices and then traveling down the wire, a web of electric fingers shot up and curled together to weave a wall of electric energy. Almost simultaneously, they notice a simmering cloud being pulled out of the control panel like there was a vacuum sucking the Cerebrivore out of its current home. When the creature hit the field, there was brilliantly bright burst.
And then everything went horribly wrong.
Violent sparks erupted from the two devices, while ominous smoke streamed from the outlets. Then the electric field started to fade.
"Henry, what's happening?" exclaimed Will, backing up from the sparks.
"I don't know. I think the devices overloaded the outlets. Now it's not getting enough power," the tech replied.
"I thought you hooked the outlets directly to the city's electric grid," responded Magnus.
"I did, but I forgot how old the wiring is down here. It's the wiring that can't handle the power," said Henry, yelping slightly as a spark hit him.
It was not looking good. The field was fading at an exponential rate, and the sparks were getting worse. Soon the field would be gone, and the Cerebrivore would be back in the electrical system of the Sanctuary, probably off to find somewhere else to nest. It would take even more time to find it again, and then who knows who it could attack by then.
Almost as Magnus thought this, the electric field blinked out. In the sudden gloom they could see the Cerebrivore zoom away, but not towards the control panel. Instead it headed straight for the group. The last thing Magnus saw before she collapsed and the pain began was the creature's malevolent glimmer and Smith rushing out of nowhere to help.