| Cold News | |||||
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| What: Shift brings Iceman up to speed on what has happened with their friend, Kurt. | |||||
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Xavier Institute - Staff Quarters - Bobby Drake's Office
This is Bobby Drake's office and bedroom. It tends to be a mess and on the chilly side almost all the time.
Bobby's office was always a bit chilly. Kwabena came prepared, wearing his leather jacket, for he suspected that once Bobby was made aware of what's been going on, things might get even colder.
There was a lot of unease around the school today, given the quarantine and lockdown that took place last night. As Kwabena and Bobby head for a private place to talk, the African is carrying a grim expression upon his face, his bootsteps falling with a reluctant determination.
Once inside Bobby's office, Kwabena lets out a deep sigh. He reaches to rub at the back of his head, then turns his eyes upon Bobby with a look that expresses his deep gratitude that he responded to Shift's summons. "What have you heard?" he asks.
When Bobby had heard the news about Genosha, he set out for the school to see what was happening. Part of him had to wonder if his friends managed to get themselves hurt and killed every time he left them alone. He was relieved to see Kwa in one piece when he met him a few steps into the mansion but news of a quarentine just last night had him demanding some answers. He's a little surprised that his room's as untouched as when he left but he pushes that aside for now. The usual joking smile is gone from his face for now at Shift's question and he crosses his arms over his chest. "That you all blew up parts of Genosha, killed Magneto, and that apparently the entire school almost died last night due to super sniffles or something."
The joking isn't completely gone.
For a moment, Kwabena just... shakes his head. It's all so much more difficult than that. He finds a chair and sits down, seeming for a moment to just be... tired. He is tired. He's been working hard, not sleeping, even sneaking adrenaline shots from the medical lab. It's bad news, but, it's not what he's most concerned with now.
"It's worse dan dat," he begins, finally looking up and fixing Bobby with an expression that is both apologetic and stern. "It's beyond Magneto. Beyond Genosha." He knows a lot of explaining is in order, but he'll get to those details in a moment. "Jean and Magneto, neidah of dem ah dead. Dey survived what happened at Genosha. But some of our friends, peopah we know, haven't been so lucky." He leans forward a bit, wrenching his hands together worriedly. "It's Kurt. And one of de would-be students, a young woman named Monet. Kurt's daighter, Talia. Dey've all been taken and altered. Changed." His brow furrows, etched with deep-knit concern.
Bobby stays standing for now, watching Kwabena. He'd probably have words for his friend if he knew about the lack of sleep...and a punch if he knew about the shots. When Shift starts speaking, Bobby tenses. Worse is not what he was hoping to hear. A brow arches at the mention of things being beyond Genosha but he stays quiet to let Shift speak. The news about Kurt and TJ has frost crawling up Bobby's arms and the room getting colder. "Taken by who and altered how?"
"He goes by Doctah Milton." Kwabena's voice is dull, worn out. "Also known as Mistah Sinistah. He's a geneticist. And a psycopath." Beat. "That part is my own judgement, but I think it's pretty accurate. He's got some kind of..." He raises his hands, gesturing about as if it would make more sense that way. "... living laboratory. A place crawling with, well, skin. Flesh. Gross stuff like dat. And, according to our telepathic friends, de laboratory itself has an essence. A soul."
He shakes his head, dismissing the irrationality of such claims. It was information people on the team, people he trusts, provided.
Noticing the frost on Bobby's arms, Kwabena looks up slowly, seeking the man's eyes. There is worry. A warning not to grow too angry... a look ironically that Bobby may have given Shift in the past. "He's calling dem his Harbingers. Horsemen of de Apocalypse. Kurt... is... now... 'Pestilence'. He's spreading disease with every 'bamf'. Dat's what all de quarantines are about... many of us have come into contact with him. We've been lucky enough to have de resources to find treatment, but dis stuff's weaponized, Bobby. When I was quarantined at Muir Island? De diseases came on far too strong, far too hard."
Looking away, he pinches his nose for a moment, frowning. "He's calling Monet 'Death', Talia 'Famine', de oddahs? 'War' and 'Conquest'. Like something out of de Bible." He looks up. "We've got to do something, you know? We have to stop dem, and we have to help dem."
Those names get filed away quickly, Bobby making a note to ice whoever owns them on sight. They could always been thawed out later if they needed them. "Living lab?" he makes a face at that. It's just a gross idea to him and one he hopes stays away from Hank lest his friend get any ideas. Not that he thinks Hank would go for flesh and skin...but some kind of living robot thing maybe.
The warning look makes Bobby pause and he gives his arms a little shake to knock the ice off. The room stays cold though. He tenses and the room grows colder as Shift explains what happened to Kurt and the others. "He did something to their minds too then..." he trails off. "Pestilence and Conquest were the same horseman in the Bible," Bobby mutters, remembering a little of the things drilled into his head when he was still a little kid. Before he became Iceman and his left got flipped up and turned upsidedown. "Do we have a plan to help them?"
A slow nod of confirmation is given; their minds were altered. "Revelations Six," he echoes, knowing the verse well. "I think, somewhere in dere, Kurt is alive. He knows what's going on, and he can't stop it."
Do they have a plan? Sort of. Rising to his feet again, Kwabena walks over toward the window. He warms his arms with his hands, though he's not about to ask Bobby to stop putting his chill on the place. "We're working on one," he admits. "We have blood samples from dose of us who were infected. I am using every resource I have to see if a cure, or a vaccine, or some kind of antitode can be made. Oddahwise, every pahson who comes in contact with Kurt will be dead within days if dey don't receive treatment. In de meanwhile, we need to find him and track him." He turns to face Bobby. "Do you have any idea where we might start? Where he was living, what he was doing before all of dis?"
"Not every person," Bobby replies. He takes a breath and changes himself into his organic ice form. It's different from his usual ice armor, even visibly. "Nothing to infect right now," he says. It still kind of freaks him out that he doesn't even breathe in his organic ice form but now isn't the time to be freaked out by his own power. "And what about changing our friends back?" he asks, a little bit of guilt in his voice for being more concerned about that than people infected. He's confident they can help them of course. "I know where he was living and some of what he was up to but I didn't get too many details," he says. "Does Daytripper know about this? Has anyone contacted her?"
A renewed sense of purpose comes over Kwabena's face when Bobby changes his form. He doesn't have to breathe when his own body is successfully transformed, and it brings a sense of familiarity between them. "I don't know," he answers. "But we'll find out. We have to find dem, subdue dem, take dem to Muir Island where dey can't hurt any more peopah. Den we'll have de time to find out what was done, and reverse it. I know we can, but we have to stop dem first."
Stepping closer to Bobby, not minding the cold (at least for now), a look of urgency comes over him. "Daytrippah?" Seems he has yet to meet this one... and it's a safe assumption nobody has called her yet.
"Then we find them, put them in cold storage," Bobby with the bad jokes. "and cart them to the docs. He frowns when Shift asks about Amanda though. "Yeah, Kurt's sort of girlfriend. Amanda," he says. "She was living with Kurt and TJ."
"Cold storage." Normally, he might have laughed, but there's simply too much weight on Kwabena's shoulders to really get the joke, dry as it might be. "You sure dey'll survive dat?" he asks. "Can we get Amanda on de phone, see how she can help?" He breaks for a moment, letting loose a bit of a sigh. "I'm sorry, Bobby." He walks back over toward his friend, meeting the icy gaze. "So much is going on, and Kurt's out dere, killing peopah against his will." He shakes his head. "I want to end dis, and fast." That just might explain the determination in his eyes.
At first Bobby gives Shift a 'really?' look, wondering why anyone would take his jokes seriously. "I can...I'm pretty sure. I did some reading up on cryogenics while I've been staying with the FF. I can pull it off if I have to," Bobby replies, rubbing the back of his head. "Of course. I've got her number, I'm surprised no one's tried her yet...if this bastard took Kurt and TJ, he could have her too," he says. "You're not the only one that wants it to end."
Kwabena did not know that Bobby had connections with the Fantastic Four. A grin crawls across his face, and he says, "Dat reminds me. I've got a case full of hazardous materials I'd like to get to Doctah Richards. Blood samples from infected patients. Maybe he can do something to protect peopah from Kurt until we get dis fixed?"
In the back of his mind, he's wondering just what it might look like (or feel like) to be cryogenically frozen. Another time, perhaps. "Call her. See where she is... tell her it's urgent."
Bobby's been friends with members of the 4, Johnny especially, since he was a kid. When Shift mentions stuff for Reed, Bobby smirks. "I'm sure he'll appreciate having new things to science with," he remarks. Changing back to his flesh and blood form, Bobby nods. "Alright. I'll try to get in contact with her."
"He's helped me before," notes Kwabena. "If he doesn't rememba me, I'll just mention, Victah Von Doom, nanites, and he should remembah." Reaching out now that Bobby is back in his natural shape, Kwabena claps the man on his shoulder. "We went to Genosha to save Monet. If we hadn't, we wouldn't know about Kurt, Talia, and de oddahs. Whatevah happened in Genosha... I have to believe it was de right move. Oddahwise dis would have all taken us by surprise. Let me know what you find, okay?"
"He'll remember. He just needs someone to distract him away from whatever he's working on now," Bobby replies. He doesn't seem convinced Genosha was the right move, especially since they were already there before Monet showed up but he keeps it to himself. "Yeah, I'll let you and the others know."
"Saving lives ought to do it," he murmurs. "Oh, and... one last thing." Now, a very thick frown comes over Kwabena. He's not sure how he feels about this at all. "Magneto has... Jean and he are... well, they've brokered an alliance. For now. To put these peopah right and stop Mistah Sinistah from doing what he's doing. Soon as it's ovah, who knows. Bets might be off, and with us having infiltrated Genosha, he might be salty."
-That- is an understatement.
"So, be careful." He sets a dubious look upon Bobby. "Watch yourself. I don't trust him. But I wouldn't put it past him to kill Kurt just to make him stop. I don't know."
"And if he starts trouble, I'll frost him into the next ice age," Bobby replies with a scowl. "Things are more important than whatever Saturday morning cartoon villain crap he wants to go on about," he adds. "If he or any of his people try to kill our friends..." well...they say revenge is a dish best served cold. "Is Mystique still with him?"
"I don't know," he answers, truthfully. "Pahhaps she is, pahhaps she remained in Bastion to put things back togedah." His eyes narrow. "But one way or anodah, he is going to have to accept dat I'm involved. I don't care if he considahs me a traitor for spying on him. Bottom line is, if he wants dis alliance to work, he's gonna have to set dat aside." He pauses. "And I'm not sure he likes what happens when he does try to kill me."
Kwabena can't really demonstrate here, for even if he was able to attain his plasma phase, it might burn down the entire office wing.
"If she is...we probably won't have to worry about anyone killing Kurt without her getting in the way," Bobby mutters. He doesn't understand it but from what Kurt told him, Mystique does care about him in her own crazy way. He snorts a bit, forming up a little ice-Magneto in his hand. "Like I said, he tries to kill any of my friends..." and he crushes the little sculpture into ice flakes.
"Sure," answers Kwabena. "Dat would keep -Kurt- safe." And... what of the other four? It goes unspoken but it's there in his eyes. He watched Bobby's trick with the little ice-Magneto, and smirks wryly in response. "I need to get some rest... call me. Soon as you know anything." And then he turns, making for his quarters. Bobby would be right to punch him if he's gone anywhere else.
"And TJ," Bobby corrects. Granddaughter and all. "Yes, you better get some rest," Bobby replies. "I should hunt down some of the others before I make that call...make sure they know I'm here," he says, deciding to head into the hall himself.