10/5 Instance: Broo: Origins #1

[Svartfreja]

Current.


<Jessica> Jess wasn't sure how she felt about being in a Hydra-owned facility so soon after she'd left the last one. But this one was smaller and there was only three people in it. She hoped it would stay that way and eyed the vaguely familiar shape under the sheet in the middle of the room. Something inside it moved and she wrinkled her nose.

<Broo> "Aaand these files I'm copying now are upgrades to the energy converters. Much more environmentally friendly." Broo told Viper while tapping on his tablet and copying quite a lot of his projects he finished across to the memory stick.

<Viper> "You certainly have been busy," Viper's voice had a note of pride in it, "You are still finding time to attend classes, I hope? I don't like the idea of you shut up in the basement all day." She had, of course, already checked him over from head to toe to make sure he wasn't suffering from malnutrition or anything else.

<Broo> "Of course," he replied grinning, "I was even toying with the idea of lecturing after I get my degrees. The amount of mistakes in the textbooks is startling though. I tried writing to the publishing companies about them, but I guess I could just as well rewrite the actual textbooks."

<Viper> "Rewriting the textbooks seems like it would be more productive," Viper nodded, "I am glad you are still going to classes. It's important to have friends." She offered a smile.

<Broo> "I'm becoming quite good friends with Danger, the artificial intelligence. Well, one of her, her main body and large parts of her programming was retrieved the other day, we're busy putting her back together again. Much like a very technological version of the Humpty Dumpty nursery rhyme. Just more successful." he added.

<Viper> "I meant more... flesh and blood friends, although I realise that with mutants that often isn't a broad enough term." Viper clarified, "But it is good that you are making an effort."

<Jessica> "Unlike me, yes I know." Jess rolled her eyes, "Can we get on with it?" She was worried about spending too much time away from the school when she was out and supposed to be there in case Sebastian showed up looking for her.

<Broo> "Well I do tutor a lot of people as well, and every time they get an A they just seem much more friendlier to me, guess that would count as friends as well." Broo pondered out loud, then got back to reality, "Ah, yes, agreed, I was wondering about the object you have there."

<Viper> Viper nodded, reaching up to pull the sheet down and off the structure beneath it. The creature inside protested being suddenly exposed and chittered loudly to vocalise its discomfort.

<Jessica> Jess took a step back, she was far more familiar with those creatures than she wanted to be.

<Broo> "Oh, so that was what I was feeling." Broo said, cocking his head to the side. Unlike Jess, he actually took a step closer, being much more intrigued than anything else. "He seems very upset. And hungry."

<Jessica> "Why did you bring that here?" Jess pulled her attention from the creature now that it had spotted her and was watching curiously. It made her uneasy. Damned pheromones.

<Viper> "Because it is important to my story... Broo's story." Viper explained, "Take a seat..." she gestured at the scant furnishings in the room.

<Broo> Broo had to tear his attention away from the brood and get to a chair, his short legs hanging down the seat. "My story?" he asked.

<Jessica> Jess had a horrible feeling about where this was going and took the offered seat too.

<Viper> Viper nodded, going to the glass and placing her hand on the pane, "This is one of the last remaining original specimens. Contrary to what seems to be popular belief, I did not create them. They came here, by accident from what we could gather, and Hydra acquired them for study."

<Broo> Broo sat up even more than his little body could, but he managed it somehow, all thanks to his immeasurable curiosity to what Viper said. "They came here? Do you mean like from a different dimension, like the hole in the school?" he asked.

<Viper> Viper laughed and shook her head, "No, my darling, you are a pioneer where that is concerned. They came to us from space. Fell right out of the sky. Some of them survived, most did not. He was one of the lucky ones. It was the study of their kind that your parents so disagreed with but Hydra are not usually concerned with ethics and, at the time, it was not a problem."

<Broo> Broo was nearly out of his seat as he leaned forward, his mouth hanging open, almost salivating at the information. "From outer space? They're from the cosmos? Real alien beings?" he asked, one hand pointing straight up.

<Viper> "Yes." Viper nodded, "Now, let me continue my story." She turned away from the creature to face them, "When Broo was born, we were already in possession of these things and we were learning all kinds of interesting facts about their immune systems and so on. It was an informed decision, albeit something of a last hope, when we decided to try blending their DNA with yours."

<Jessica> Jess' hands went up to cover her mouth. She was shocked, and maybe feeling a little sick but she wasn't sure if that was the topic or her lunch.

<Broo> If he wasn't covered in a carapace, it would have been evident that the blood drained from the boy's face. "You... you what?" he asked, stammering.

<Viper> "We saved your life," she clarified, "At the time it was considered to be an acceptable risk. The plan was to notify your father when we were sure we were successful but things got a little complicated when he ran away with your sister."

<Broo> The boy wanted to ask something but then got a little confused, "Wait... what happened? Was this due to the accident?" he asked.

<Viper> "After your mother died, I tried to convince your father to stay and come back to work for me so that I could keep you all together but he had still not forgiven us for our investigation of this species... I suppose it is somewhat ironic that it was this experimentation that later saved his son's life."

<Viper> Viper frowned a little, "At any rate, it was many years before we were entirely sure you would survive and by then they were quite far away and it took some time to track them down."

<Broo> "Well, I guess it's fine then. I mean, I'm rather happy I'm alive." He said, pondering things through. "Does this mean I'm not a mutant? I guess it does. Guess I can't be a hybrid either... think I would fall under enhanced human then." Ideas kept popping up in his big head.

<Viper> "You do have a mutant gene," Viper informed him, "I suspect this is the origin of your intelligence and your small stature. Your ability to survive in the vacuum of space, however, is from these."

<Broo> "All this time I thought I was smart because of my big head." he tried joking. "So I'm an alien enhanced human mutant. That sounds even more fantastic." he added, starting to warm up to the idea.

<Jessica> "This isn't happening..." Jess bent forward, resting her elbows on her knees and hid her face in her hands.

<Viper> "Oh Jessica, what did you expect, really? I'm sure you knew on some level..." Viper rolled her eyes.

<Broo> "I always thought the psychic connection I have with the Brood was because they were cloned from my mutant DNA, all this time it was basically the other way around!" Broo exclaimed with maybe too much glee in his voice. He tried to stifle his grinning when he realised Jess wasn't taking it so well.

<Viper> "You give our geneticists entierly too much credit, Brooklyn," Viper laughed.

<Jessica> Jess pushed the ends of her fingers into her hair, "Broo... you can't tell anyone this..."

<Broo> "How so?" he asked, "It's quite the jump and triumph in science I would say." Broo added.

<Jessica> "Because, Broo... people were terrified of the Brood... they hated them... and I don't want that to reflect on you, I don't want you to suffer because of it..."

<Broo> "Umm.. I'm not sure how I can break this news to you, Jess, but... I look nearly exactly like them." he told her. "A little too late for that."

<Jessica> "It's one thing to look like them, another thing to have come from them... believe me, I know something about fine lines... plus there's the whole aliens and experiments part..."

<Broo> "I know! It's so exciting!"

<Jessica> Jess facepalmed, appealing to Viper, "Tell him!"

<Viper> Viper's eyebrows went up, "Jessica is probably right, Brooklyn. While I am expert at reading body language and emotional cues in people, I am less good at predicting emotional responses without prior experimentation. What I can tell you is that humans are incredibly irrational about such things and they invariably err on the side of overwhelming stupidity and voilence."

<Broo> "Well now, that's rather a bit disappointing. I would rather like to look more into this, if you don't mind." Broo asked Viper. "How did they get to Earth? Was it via space craft, or some sort of meteor? They seem like the meteor type, seeing that they can live in the vacuum of space."

<Viper> "I will give you all of my notes on the subject, that should answer all of your questions... though you are welcome to attempt communication with this one. I intend to leave him here for you to observe. It is quite safe, I assure you." She directed the last part at Jessica.

<Broo> "That would be quite splendid." he replied, slipping off his seat and quickly making his way back ot the translucent cage, inspecting the creature some more. He grinned when he realized that the creature did somehow look a bit different from the ones he knew that Viper grew.

<Viper> "I do intend to give him a larger space to roam than his little box, though he does seem to rather like small spaces."

<Jessica> "You damned well better leave some people to supervise him if you're going to do that. Just to make sure he doesn't escape."

<Broo> "Well he does seem to want to get out as well, and make himself home in small spaces." Broo said, eyes still on the creature. "But I agree with Jess, I have a feeling he might want to take over the planet when given the chance."

<Viper> "Don't worry, we are constructing containment field generators as we speak. I expect they will be ready the day after tomorrow." Barring explosions, of course.

<Broo> "Do you mind if I go join in... or at least spectate while they build the generators? I might be able to help out." He suggested, only glancing for half a second to Viper and back to the creature. It was staring back at him.

<Jessica> Jess was glad the creature was no longer staring at her and that Broo's attention was drawn by it. She gave Viper a head-shake.

<Viper> Viper gave Jess a curious look but managed to adopt an apologetic tone for Broo, "I'm afaid not. It would be difficult to explain where you are going for such long periods of time and it would interrupt your class schedule. You can supervise the installation, however."

<Broo> Broo looked up with a smile, "Supervising sounds good. Thank you!" he then turned back to the creature, cocking his head once more and stared.

<Viper> "Good. I will let you know when we are ready to proceed. You can remain here for longer or return to the school, though I think Jessica would rather you choose the later."

<Broo> "It's fine, I'll head back with you, Jess. I'm sure I will have more than enough time to spend time with him later on." Broo said without looking back.

<Jessica> Jess nodded, getting to her feet, "Don't mention this to Sebastian either... he has enough to worry about... that goes for either of you."

<Broo> Broo finally turned, giving a salute, "Scouts honor. Well... actually, think that would be Little Stark Scientist Society member's honor then I guess. Back when it was still ongoing. We need to speak with the president about the that." he pondered.

<Viper> "Yes.... but better to keep my name out of the proceedings, perhaps. I do not think I made an altogether good impression."

<Broo> "Will do. Right, I'm ready when you are, Jess." Broo told his sister.

<Jessica> "I'm ready to go now... I'll come down here with you the first few times if that's okay... just to make sure you're safe..."

<Broo> "Perfect, then you can give your input as well." He agreed wholeheartedly.

<Viper> "See you soon, then. Be good, Broo." Viper offered a smile as she opened the door for them. "I will have my notes ready for you when I see you next."

[Chaos]

Well, safe to say I've been looking forward to -this- for a loooooong time.

[steyn]

Had fun playing it as well!

[Slarti]

Brooklyn.