Aedus walked into the interview for a paid internship at Faust Pharmaceuticals blazing with a cold confidence, He knew it was his if he took it. He was dressed to the nines and he had even brushed up on his keystone paper. He didn’t need to, he had his brain and that would get him through the door.

It was a group interview, personally he liked group interviews it suddenly became an observed contest against peers, it wasn’t the typically ping pong match of an interview. He was their earlier than any of the others and happened to sit down across from Ms. Leaner a portly woman he recently made a delivery to, she had suggested the job to him. She looked pleased to see his arrival. Three other’s came in after him and then a steady stream filled the remaining seats, after that the door was shut and a pair of stragglers were sent away.

Aedus followed the presentation of what Faust Pharm represented in the industry and its ideals championing a cutting edge solution to medical problems. All in and all it wasn’t the worst company video he had seen. QuickTrak had used tapes from the seventies…and a video exhibiting messenger biking shorts from the seventies was not something he would wish upon anyone.

He paid careful attention to the video and then was handed a packet and answer sheet. He flew through the mathematical and scientific problems with ease, the psychological section was a breeze, and he knew the answers people wanted to hear. The essay question of what first gained your interest into the field of biochemistry caught him off guard. He answered honestly and was soundly pleased that he had studied his thesis paper on the x gene. He rattled off accurate information concerning the finer points of Dna and showed an interest that bordered on obsession.

The Essay unbeknownst to him was what would push him from the front of the class, to the unchallenged victor of this process. He had stated a simple sentence that increased his odds of receiving the job a hundred fold.

~Within the scientific world there is nothing more fascinating than the x gene, a simple step in evolution that has an infinitely massive ability to change and improve our world, I currently posses an inactive x-gene that through scientific channels I hope to activate synthetically.~

He acquired more paper as they said he could as he rewrote an essay that he perfected over the course of his lifetime. A Passion took him over, one that let other’s finish first when he had completed the Q&A portion of the test before any of them. He finished his paper last and when he handed in the fully thought out twenty page essay. He was a bit abashed when he realized he and Mrs. Leaner were the only ones left.

She basked in his embarrassment, taking what pleasure she could from the wait she had already received due to his need to answer thoroughly. Fourteen of the fifteen other packets of paper rested precariously near the waste basket, one other paper set on the desk in front of her.

She raised her eyebrow at him. “If this is worth the energy you put into it, we will be calling you tomorrow.”

Aedus nodded and turned to walk away. “I’ll talk to you then.”

There was a paper on her desk. That wasn't unusual, Lori got to wade through all kinds of crap in the space of a day. What was unusual was that it was a portion of an essay. Not the whole thing, not even the whole paragraph. Just a page ripped right out of context with a couple sentences highlighted.

A little sticky square said "What do you think?"

She read it and it all became clear.

"Julia." The blonde poked her head out of her office to the secretary who sat just outside her door. "Call Mrs. Learner for me?"

"In regards to...?"

"Her newest intern. I think I'd like to meet him."

Aedus almost answered the phone with ‘I accept’ but he decided that he didn’t want to come off as cocky, at least not right away anyhow, he would impress them and then be cocky. Yeah that was it. When Ms. Leaner said that Ms. Faust herself wanted to meet with him after orientation, based on his essay, her tone said that he could go ahead and be skip strait to arrogant, she was already impressed. Ms Leaner had called his paper an enlightening and fresh view and when she sent it upstairs she had expect a positive response, but hadn’t realized Ms, Faust would want to meet him right away.

Aedus dressed in his finest clothes, the owner of a company he hoped to move up in deserved the best, and when he decided to Google Ms. Faust to find an image of who he would be meeting he was astounded by the fact he wasn’t looking at the older frumpy German pharmaceutical company owner he had expected, he had in fact found a rather attractive blonde at the head of the company. He couldn’t say he was displeased. He hung his suit coat in the locker they had assigned him and replaced it with a lab jacket with the FP logo on it.

He was oriented, as if they hadn’t subjected him to enough company propaganda the other day, then he signed a gag contract meaning he couldn’t talk about the work he did here, mainly due to recipe leaks he would assume, you had to tell the fda everything that was in it but that didn’t mean you had to tell the competition, so many patents get stolen and debuted by other pharmaceutical company’s it was ridiculous. But he was loyal so they didn’t have to worry about him. He was impressed by the benefits he would receive.

He had no Idea… The day went on and all and all it looked like he would be assisting for awhile before he got to run the show, he had expected as much, that said he was excited to be on the right track.
He put his lab coat in his locker refreshed his deodorant, washed his hands, applied a bit of cologne and went to see the Boss.

It was dead.

Lori caressed the last withering leaf of a potted plant who'd had a good run. Plenty of water. Plenty of sunlight. Why was it dead after only a week?

"Natalia?" Lori only hired female assistants. They looked much better in skirt suits and were far less distractible. "Why is it dead?" The Order Leader opened her door to reveal her office which was small, spartan and certainly not located on a corner or with a CEO's typical pomp and grandeur.

"What's dead, Miss?"

"My plant." Lori was really just trying to put off returning a call to the EPA. Those guys were such tightwads. The secretary went in to inspect the health of the plant and Lori took a seat on the edge of her secretary's desk.

A copy runner came back with a legal sized manila file folder and stopped short when he saw electric blue heels that would make any hooker proud. If Lori had to wear her corporate powerhouse skirt suits, she wasn't going to give up all her fun.

He cleared his throat. "Ms. Faust? Legal wants you to make sure you uh, there's a NDA and waiver in here for the administration of the test." He was nervous, but Lori tried to be gracious as she accepted the folder and took a quick glance. Pages and pages of signatures and initials and the legal covering of Faust Pharmaceutical's butts for the stunt she wanted to pull with the new intern. She appreciated the work they did, but she didn't have to like it.

"I'll be sure to get this filled out. Thanks."

He grinned, apparently unaware that his tail was wagging behind him. It was fun to hire the really obvious mutants.

The elevator dinged as someone arrived at her floor. There were other offices here of managers and the like. Nothing unusual. Lori flipped a page over to check… Yep. These pages were totally double sided. She needed a drink.

"I'm so sorry, Ms. I don't think it can be helped. Dead as a doornail. We'll remove the remains from your office right away."

A young man that Lori didn't recognize was looking their way when Lori looked up from her papers. "You must be the new intern." Lori offered her hand and some skin to skin contact. He wasn't a mutant yet and that meant it was safe for her to assume he didn't yet have any power to make a handshake dangerous.

But she did. And she wanted access to that juicy little brain of his to make sure of his reactions.

"Walk with me." Lori smiled her most charming flash of teeth and indicated a direction for them to walk with her overlarge folder. The hall was essentially a large circle, but this floor had access to a maintenance elevator. maybe she could talk him into it before they got there?

"I'd like to ask about your day and make you feel all at home here, but I'm going to cut right to chase instead." Why did she not have some whiskey right about now? "Your essay presented a very intriguing opportunity. You mentioned a desire to work on a synthetic catalyst to activate an inactive x-gene? It just so happens that we have one. It's not FDA approved, but I wanted your opinion specifically, as a mutant with a latent gene…" She stopped in front of a set of double doors marked "Danger! High Voltage!"

"Would you like to be a mutant?"

Aedus came to the management floor and while he was still exuding confidence he was tempering it with a bit of reality, He was an intern, he was going to be their go for, for quite some time yet, And while his paper might have carried some weight with Leaner, He doubted that it was going to give him much leverage on this floor. He nodded to a man that passed him on the way back, He was pretty sure the guy sniffed him, Odd, but no big deal, so long as he didn’t mark him, it was all good, besides, he did smell good.
As he walked down the hall following the little cues put up on the wall to lead him towards Ms. Faust, He was thankful that he had taken the time to find a picture of the woman he would be talking to, She sat down the hall in front of him on a desk in awesome shoes and a suit just professional enough to not being in a a film that would have made this encounter something else entirely, she looked good. A song popped in to his head that seemed to fit her. She was obviously sharp enough to run a business; she was a fox, good taste, She had a calculating look in her eye as she looked at the papers in her hand, Her Legs crossed at the ankle modes,, but misleading according to her choice in shoes. She turned on a smile that he mirrored as best he could without leering as much as he was internally.

“Pleased to Meet you Ms.Faust.” He replied respectfully, he shook her hand firmly but not crushingly so, He had been working on a hand shake that was respectful without being crushing or insulting a female coworker, It was much easier to not worry about hurting males. And was pleased to meet her, he somehow regretted that he had to first meet her under these circumstances, this would base their relationship on strictly business. unfortunate, but necessary he supposed..

Aedus didn’t respond orally but merely fell in step with the C.E.O. He did his best not to still any glances at his new employer, The Cake song faded from his thoughts as he heard her cut to the Chase. She was no nonsense, he hadn’t expected her to be, but still it was a a relief that she hadn’t wanted to sit and have an awkward getting to know you chat. A lust that made his appreciation for the women in power next to him fades in comparison. He could be great, He would no longer be the odd man out at the Teague family reunions, and He would no longer have to worry if he could do what he needed to with his soft human hands. Everything Jude showed him would come true. And she was a blonde, If he hadn’t signed that gag order he’d would of told him, he found his Blonde.

“ Absolutely.” He paused to let his answer stand on its own merit before he continued. “ Second, I would like to review whatever information is available. I assume that not much could be done with animal testing as they lack our makeup, more than likely staying the FDA’s hand on any kind of approval. Based on your company’s mentality, I’m sure it is unrelated to this street drug that is making the same claim?” The last was more to show he was informed, it seemed like the two would have a curious connection, but then pharmaceutical success were often perverted by those that didn’t quite know what they were doing. Information aside he knew it would work, He knew because he saw it.
Bolstered by the fact that she obviously was not racist to mutants, if canine ones He proceeded to divulge some information that might make or break the trial. He took a deep breath “Ms. Faust I’m not a superstitious man. But I am confident that this will work based on another mutant’s ability…If the prediction comes out to be true as the rest of them we will need a room that is tolerant to extreme heat…let’s say 1400 degrees.” He had studied lava since he learned of his ability and found some information informative and other parts disturbing.

As a scientist he had trouble founding the claim, but trial and error had proven that future sights tactics of prophesying was accurate. So it was semi scientific at least. He turned toward his new employer to see what she had to say about his response.

He hardly stopped to think. Instead, he had an answer ready.

Aedus flipped through topics so fast in his mind, Lori had a hard time keeping up. Some of it was clearly testosterone driven, that could be ignored. But the fact that he'd been looking for a blonde was... both interesting and frightening. Lori prided herself on being slippery and largely unknown.

He mentioned the drug, also frightening, but a suspicion easily diverted. "Quite unrelated. Our research is focused on activating the gene." Well, now it was anyway.

She wanted to know his source. Know it and shut it down.

He was confident that it would work. Another mutant's ability? She let the thoughts trickle in and it all clicked into place. The future teller. The one that was also interested in Sebastian. It was impossible to stem that flow of information without jeopardizing a potential ally and equally stupid to think that she could stop them from giving accurate predictions. From what she'd heard, they couldn't pick and choose what to show and what not to show.

"I know it will work." She was nervous before. Now she wasn't. He was going to be glorious.

" Legal sent that over for you since the catalyst isn't yet officially approved. You'll have to agree to take responsibility for any injury or death that might befall you." Lori slapped the folder against Aedus' chest so that he would take the stack of papers and smirked. They both knew this would work. No reason to sugar coat it.

"Seems you've been to see the Oracle. There is a place that will work." At least, she thought it would work. She didn't sound entirely happy because she wasn't. Now that her hands were free, Lori opened the warning laden doors. It didn't look all that dangerous. It was just a service elevator.

She pushed the button and it whirred like an old rickety bucket. This was left over from the original structure and it was mostly safe. Once the doors opened without a ding to announce them, the Order leader shooed him into the elevator and followed after. The space was close, hardly enough room for three people to stand without touching. "I can't show you any information to review, but ask a question and to the best of my knowledge I'll answer it."

Lori hit the SB button. Sub-basement. The elevator made it's whining, rickety way down.

He kept his mouth shut with anything else he had to say about anything based on the carefully calculating expressions that would cross her face as she listened, He would wager there was a respectable brain behind those eyes. ~a mind like a diamond.~

Taking the stack of papers, he stated. “I’ll see that everything is in order, typically I look over things more thoroughly, but I don’t mind what it says in here, the payout is too much to worry about what I have to sign.” The word unstoppable echoed through his head.

He mentally. Hmm’ed at the answer. He waited to address the subject until they were both in the pleasantly close corridors. “I wasn’t implying that Faust is officially connected or intentionally even. As you are aware I am interested in activating my genes to their full potential. So when I heard about this M. I was curious to study it. I talked to some of the users and decided against it based on their short lived reign. But the ingredients seem like they would come in handy for activating the gene in earnest. It wouldn’t have even occurred to link the two accept that I know of the existence of this.” He held up the folder for a moment and then shrugged lightly.

“My suggestion is that you might have someone look into whoever is working on this and insuring everyone is keeping their mouths closed. Though if someone has helped the dealers concoct a bastardized version of the real thing, the cat is already out of the bag I suppose.” it didn't make sense for a pharmaceutical company to risk trafficking in illegal substances. if they wanted money all they had to do was stamp a label on a cod medicine and mass produce.

He didn’t care what the effects or consequences of the development of the official drug were; this was one of the few things in his life that he needed to achieve. He wasn’t whole, his whole family every single one had some form of mutation. Most were subtle, his brother could account work with numbers in ways that would make Einstein scratch his head in wonder. His mother could give you a look at any place in the world and if she was willing to exert herself she could show you the moon, all and all a dull landscape, but watching the sun’s affect on the earth from the moon was a view that everyone should see. His father’s left and right hands worked like matches. Nothing wildly dangerous, everything could be controlled, excused made to keep quiet if needed. But his genes denied him. They would no longer.

He conceded to the oracle lightly, if they didn’t want to be known for their abilities they were going about it all wrong.

“As for the information I was curious to see ingredients, I’m aware of what a lot of chemicals will do alone and most in what they do in combination, there is a reason that I felt qualified for a position here. It would be hard to say as the gene is such an unquantifiable variable, I suppose the question I would like to know most is based on what you have developed, what should I expect?”

He realized that it was taking them longer to go down then it had for him to come up from the lobby. He also couldn’t help but notice that this was a very private, very snug little room.

Oh that was his suggestion was it? Lori indulged him with a smile that clearly spelled out how well she had things in hand and how little he knew. How cute, the intern wanted to tell the boss how to do her job when he knew nothing about the situation. "The parties responsible will have their just desserts." Like power and control and revenue... yep. She'd earned all that.

And as the descended, Aedus went through a useful list of his family's abilities. His mother sounded the most useful.

As the doors opened, Lori filled him in on some of the more recognizable elements of the drug. She'd presented this a million times and so she at least knew the technical high points even if the actual concoction was out of her understanding. "It emulates the chemical balance of the body at the moment of activation. Your heart will palpitate like a mother ****er plus sweats and anxiety."

She motioned for Aedus to lead. There was only one hall with several glass windows and doors. Each room boasted nothing more than a ledge built in to the wall that was about the size of a single bed. Everything was clean and smooth and seamless, but somehow still sinister.

"These are containment rooms. They're meant to withstand a power's full force in case of emergencies." Or something like that. Lori pulled a solid metal pen out of her breast pocket and offered it to Aedus. Paperwork first before he went in.

He nodded to the statement, happy that whoever leaked the information would be in trouble if he signed a gag order other people should have to abide by it to. If that was even the case, He might have been wrong but it seemed likely to him.


“That makes sense. I imagine that it will be particularly intense as there will be a major physical change initially as well.” He was confident that he would be able to change his features on command eventually, but who knew how it would go at first. He took a deep breath. He didn’t care what it took, he was in. Aedus took the lead looking, in each window for signs of other mutation activations. Struggles, what might appear sinister to some, seemed sensible to him, A controlled environment was all a scientist could hope for, the repetition and simplicity were perfect.

He bent over the paper work and put a tick mark everywhere he needed to sign. He then went through it and signed each with as little flourish as possible. He had never anticipated anything more in his life.

He handed Ms. Faust the stack of papers. "When do we start?"

"As soon as you'd like, we can begin. I'll have to get the paperwork in place to get the serum. Would you like to make any calls first? I'd like to keep you for observation until you can responsibly control your mutation." And that could take more than a few hours... or days. Anything less would be just plain old irresponsible.

Aedus shook his head and couldn’t fight a grin anymore. “I took two weeks’ vacation from my other job. And everyone else has been made aware that I am going to be off the map for a couple of weeks getting settled in here.” He then looked down at his clothes, he was wearing his favorite tie and shirt, the rest could be replaced but he really liked what he had on. He looked at her and pondered for a moment. “If my tip was accurate I’d like to leave the majority of my clothing on this side of the wall…if that’s not just completely inappropriate, I just don’t think they will be up for what is about to happen. And the result is likely me nude either way, except that I will have something to change into after the observation is done.

Aedus stepped into the cell where he was perfectly aware that she could still get a perfect view of him if she wanted it, if she did, she did she would find a man who obviously worked out with an enthusiasm. He turned down the offered lab coat as they would have to take the time to procure one and it would likely meet the same fate as his clothing an unnecessary waste.

Unbeknownst to him, Lori would also realize that while his reasoning was the majority of his motive, he also didn’t mind the CEO getting a good look at what else he had to offer, women sometimes flaunted features that they had when they wanted to move ahead, He certainly didn’t mind putting his workout obsession to a productive use.

He folded his dress shirt and pants, rolled up his socks and stuffed them in his shoes; he put his tie in his coat pocket along with his watch, cell phone and wallet. He was down to his Volcano boxers, and he had of course bought them after he found out about his potential ability, the fact that he had been wearing them on the day he was getting the power was just a fantastic coincidence. He handed the stack of clothing to the first lady of Faust Pharm.

“I’m ready.”

"While I... wow. You're really enthusiastic, aren't you?" And naked. Now he was naked. "I won't take this away from you. But I want to do it right." He was so cute all nekkid and waiting in his own little cell. If only all the prisoners were so accommodating.

"I have to get the serum. It won't take but a second more to get you a coat too. I have every intention of collecting data on this as well so just... strap in. I'll be right back." She couldn't help but be entirely too amused as she accepted his pile of clothing. This one wasn't shy so his nudity might not keep him here.

All the same, she took his clothes with her as she went for the elevator. "Five minutes. I'd say you could time me, but I've got your watch." She jiggled the wrist watch at him as the elevator arrived. Lori had to juggle the paperwork and the pile of clothes in order to punch the appropriate floor level button, but she managed.

The paperwork went to legal. Once she'd gotten the okay, the Order leader went to the vault for the serum. Aedus' clothes went into a bag as did some portable testing equipment. Two lab coats and a change of shoes later, Lori was ready. Mars would have strangled her if she missed this opportunity to mine some cold, hard data. Science in action. This was her favorite part of the job.

The elevator dinged and the doors opened to a soft and haunting lullaby that echoed down the halls. Baby momma was singing to the twins again. Lori wrinkled her nose and shrugged into her lab coat.

Aedus' clothes she left by the elevator. The bag and the serum she brought with her. The blonde tossed the second lab coat at Aedus as she entered his cell. "Comfy?"

She put jelly on each diode before they were affixed to his skin and the CEO worked with the cold efficiency of a dedicated scientist. "If you're right about your mutation these will burn up, but up until they melt, we can get some data remotely." There were sensors to monitor heartbeat, respiration and brain activity.

Lori reeeeally hoped these rooms were rebuilt as thoroughly as she'd specified. Up until now, no other mutation had really tested the limits. "I'm going to lock you in and watch, but if it gets hot enough to melt whatever polymer resin glass whatever we've got down here, I'm not going to stick around and see if it'll melt me too." She would grab her baby momma and run. "I don't expect you to control your mutation right away, but I do expect you to control yourself. Don't leave the premises before you've got some control at least." There. He was wired up good.

"Last chance..." She didn't think that he would take it, but she felt the need to offer. Lori had seen what they had done in the development of this drug and not all of it was pretty. The Oracle said this one would work, though. She wanted to believe in that.

At long last the moment had come. Lori drew out the vial and a large gauge syringe. Maybe she should have asked if he wanted to back out after he'd seen the needle? The compound was thick. I just didn't work in a non-painful capacity.

Expertly, she drew in the entire vial's worth of serum, flicked the air bubbles up and pushed them out.

Lori glanced at Aedus, so eager to change his life. She leaned over and planted a kiss on his forehead that left a smudge of red lipstick. "I hope you don't live to regret it."

Needle in vein, she pushed the plunger home delivering the drug that would activate his latent X gene.

Aedus smirked, if somewhat Sheepishly. He thought by ‘as soon as you’d like' meant that now was a possibility. “I couldn’t agree more, I’m quite pleased to have a stable and private environment to do this in. No need to feed the media any mutant out of control propaganda.”

“Fair enough. I’ll do my best to keep track of my experiences as well, I don’t promise anything as it sounds like I’m going to have my hands full with distractions, but I’ll try.”

Aedus sat down and started working on the straps, He had everything but one hand put away and couldn’t help but feel like he’d stepped into something a little bit kinky.

He smiled to Ms. Faust’s witty remark and returned with. “One one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand…” the counting would make an otherwise long five minutes go by quicker. Besides he knew how to count to three hundred.

“two ninety eight, two ninety nine, Three hundred.” He waited five minutes and then some apparently; he realized that legal might be taking longer than expected, But it wasn’t too long until he was listening to a woman sing, He was curious about who else was down here, but Aedus wouldn’t risk his chance at mutating.

Aedus caught the coat with his free hand and draped it over his lap, He could respect that she wanted to keep it a little more professional then his enthusiasm had prompted him to be. “Couldn’t be comfier.” He quite honestly didn’t care about his comfort at the moment, He was thrilled to be in this seat and while the sterile metal on his butt was cold He wouldn’t pick anywhere else to be in the world.

He nodded to Lori’s assessment. “I feel like they won’t be long lived, but hopefully they get you some useful data, I have to say I’m impressed.” He moved to make his side easier to access. “I half expected you to come back with a team of scrubs, but you know your business.” He watched as she placed the little circular pads on him.

“So long as the serum doesn’t push me beyond self control then I will stay in the room without protest.”

“I’ll pass, I’ve never been one to back down.” From a fight, from a challenge, from Godhood. He eyed the serum and needle with interest, it could have been bigger and he still would have seen it as a necessity, his need to become a mutant brinked on obsession. His resistance of using M was a close thing the short term temptation was there, but the stress it put on those when denied access to their x gene made them crazy. Anticipation was what crashed around his mind at the moment. He had to resist telling her to hurry up.

She leaned forward and kissed his forehead. He liked his blonde, Ms.Faust had just met him, she’d seen him naked, she was giving him access to greatness, a job in his dream field, and a kiss to top it off. “I intend on living to enjoy it.” He then opened his mouth in awe of the pain of the large needle; he forced his mouth closed without as much as a yelp. He watched Lori walk away, noting that the fantastic heels were gone, in place were sneakers, was she really that concerned that she would need to run?

9:08:23

The influence of the serum was less than subtle; Aedus drew in a deep breath and ignored the sting of his arm. The lights amplified, the walls seemed to press in, and he was trapped in the chair, trapped in the room, trapped underground.

A fat bead of sweat rolled down his forehead but as it went it began to sizzle and steam off of him. It was so hot in here and the walls were closing in, his skin was dry even as he started to sweat profusely, like water trying to break through the sun baked cracked ground of the desert. The air around him wavered. His eyes dilated and came unfocused, he winced in pain and tried to resist the restraints, his free hand was captured when Lori put on the little sticky monitoring diodes. What was she really after?

9:08:36

She trapped him, tricked him! she said it herself, she hoped he didn’t live to regret it! She wanted him dead! his fingers scratched at table he was attached to. He wanted to scream, he wanted to yell at her. He wouldn’t give Faust the satisfaction. He didn’t realize he was moaning in pain already. The lullaby had stopped for a moment, but it picked up more loudly as if it was meant to be comforting to him.

9:08:54

Small puffs of smoke spouted from his nose and mouth as he panted from the exertion of trying to escape. His skin took on a red that would have looked normal on him, had he taken his pale white Irish skin to the beach. His eyes focused on Ms.Faust who at least in his drug induced state seemed to watch with a fascinated interest, His eyes pulsed, it hurt like hell. Hell that was all too accurate for the heat that he was being subjected to. Somewhere his mind reminded him he was to be a lava god, it was like the dream where he dealt out justice, in a black sleek form and a molten hot glowing one. His head rocked as his insides seemed to be pulsating as well, each massive beat of his heart shook threw his body.

9:09:13

He let out a wail at the top of his lungs, his body raised off of the table and slammed back down, The color in his eyes seemed to change hue with each pulse, from a dark green to a brown, brown to a dull orange, and from dull Orange to a nearly glowing shade of the same.

9:09:25

Time seemed to stop, His heart pounded and collapsed, his body crashed to a stillness and lay there for an achingly quiet moment his neon orange eyes rolled up and ashy spittle ran from the side of his mouth.

9:09:39

Aedus sucked in a long gasp of air, the current pushed the oxygen to his lungs, his lung put the oxygen in his blood stream and like a lit fuse, the blood carried it to his heart, his heart scrapped itself and sparked his blood stream. His blood seemed to catch fire the lab coat across his lap started to crumple up and turn brown and crispy as if left under an iron; his skin was glowing brighter than his eyes. Lava began to pool in his mouth and run from his eyes, burning tears left tracks of blackened skin behind. It was too much, He groaned, as his pores began to erupt in flame, ash and debris. The lab coat caught fire as fountains of lava poured over Aedus’ chiseled features. The straps joined the other flames and melted; the metal slab under him was blackening.

He rose to a sitting position and moaned, his flesh stopped resisting, and the monitoring equipment fell to the ground in little pools of smoking plastic. He heaved one last moan as his body transcended into the semi solid lava Mass that he would call a body. The serum had done its job and any after effects of paranoia melted away with his flesh and adrenal glands.

9:09:45

All of the pain fell away, but so did so much else, the lullaby was barely audible in the background, He stood up and looked around everything was in sharp perfection, the world was in HD. But everything else, was muted, the lullaby, the burning plastic, the burnt and charred coat and leather straps, he could smell them remotely where he thought he should be coughing uncontrollably.

He could tell he was standing on a surface that was hard but the texture was vague, the Glass that Lori was concerned about seemed to be changing shape, but not out right melting, even so. He wouldn’t press his luck by getting closer. He raised his perpetually flowing arm and waved. He was like one of those tiny fountains with a pool at its base, the lava would flow to the ground and then get sucked back up to the top to flow back down…

He peered at his arms and legs, they maintained their shape until they joined with another appendage, and then it seemed to disappear in the mass until he needed it again, He sat down wondering how to get it to stop, Jude had shown him his naked body laying on the ground, so there was a way to stop it, if he hadn't seen the prophecy he would be terrified at this point as it was, he was pleasantly pleased..

9:10:00

The heat stayed contained until the glass started to warp. Once it started to change color from blessedly see-through to a misty white, Lori took her first step back. Aedus' transformation didn't take as long as it could have and, though he screamed, it didn't seem all that terrible.

For her.

That was until the heat started leaking out.

She went from comfortably air conditioned and cool to a flop sweat before the first bits of glass had melted far enough to touch the ground. Someone was going to get an earful about the glass standards down here. She wanted them to withstand everything. Clearly they did not.

The heat was oppressive. The air units, as powerful as they were for such a building, were not built for this. Lori was suffering, but even worse, the singing had stopped. Lori did not want her little buns to get overcooked. Weren't there cautionary tales on overheating a pregnant lady? The Order Leader should have moved her before this.

But, it had worked at least.

Lori tapped at the electronic lock, mistyped, slammed her first on the door and tried again. The door whooshed open on the most comfortable looking prison cell ever. Blankets and pillows were heaped away from a deflated looking Maya who was sipping water from a cup. Her water cooler had quite a bit of condensation on it.

"Mutant emergency." Water had never looked so appetizing. It was cooler in Maya's room, but the open door brought a severe heat wave. "You do wind, right? A little convection cooling could go a long way right about now. Come on."