Hank's Lab, Covert CIA Base

[tobenormal]

Hank had been thinking about his lunch (turkey and swiss on rye, a coke and macaroni salad as always; though maybe he'd get a Twinky today) when he heard the facility's Director enter his lab. "...Capable of super sonic flight!" The Director was saying proudly, making Hank guess they had some more Washington brass to impress. He stood, straightened his lab coat and adopted his casual yet serious stance.

"You should see the real thing if you want to be impressed," he said when the group finally turned around a corner and into view. The group was odd as only one person was in a suit. Washington Brass always wore suits and there were two woman with them. Agent Mactaggert he recognized, though he didn't know her name, but the blonde....she took his breath away. He stood frozen in awe and swallowed.

Comments

[tobenormal]

"Yeah. Flight control is another problem," Hank adds as she works. The clamps are heavy and take a little effort. Once she's done he steps away and turns to face her. Flicking a switch and pushing a few buttons on the harness, he says, "You'll see in a minute, it takes a little bit to warm up."

A high pitched whine begins and the harness starts to glow a bit. "It's okay," he says remembering the agent who pulled his weapon on him when he demonstrated this device before. A few seconds later and Mr. Black flickers to life over lapping Hank. At first it's easy to see Hank through Mr. Black but soon enough Hank is nearly invisible beneath him except when the image of Mr. Black flickers.

Hank leaves the device on for only five seconds before turning it off. "It gets overheated quickly," he says with a hopeful smile.

[andproud]

The noise is a little disconcerting, but she's not going to step away - instead, she steps in closer, curious, until the image pops into view and then she starts visibly, surprised but not scared.

"You know, I just realized that I never showed you what I can do," she murmurs, the tech enough to resemble her own mutation in her mind.

Her eyes flash yellow, briefly, skin rippling and changing - and then it's a mirror image of Hank staring back at him, glasses and all.

[tobenormal]

"I was curious but didn't want to be rude," Hank starts to say but stops when he sees himself. His eyes widen but he doesn't jump or pull away. He's just fascinated. She doesn't have it, well him, quite right though as he doesn't look that attractive. He's not about to criticize though.

"That's amazing." Then because he realizes he's just mimicked her, "You're incredible. Can you change into anyone?"

[andproud]

She doesn't know him that well, otherwise her imitation would be a little closer to accurate, but from a distance, it could be convincing enough. The near-mirror copy of Hank blushes and smiles a little broader than he might before turning into Mr. Black, and then Charles.

She knows him the best. If one didn't know any better, she could almost be the real thing.

"Anyone," she replies, in Charles' voice, and then it's Raven staring back at him again.

[tobenormal]

Oh she likely had Hank down perfectly, he just doesn't see himself that way.

"Fascinating. I wonder if you produce extra mass to grow larger or if you just stretch your tissues," Hank muses without a thought to how that might sound.

[andproud]

She tilts her head, a questioning look springing onto her features as she tries to decide whether or not she should be offended.

"Tissues?" she echoes, slightly confused.

[tobenormal]

"Tissues. Your know, your skin, muscles..." Hank says before a look of dawning horror crosses his face. "I didn't mean anything by that. I was just wondering how you became taller for Mr. Black. You're beautiful, not mass..." He stops himself before saying finishing that last word. He did learn some things at college.

[andproud]

Her lips are already twitching to form a slow smile before he even finishes talking, making her amusement at his backpedaling more than obvious at this point.

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asks, voice soft.

[tobenormal]

"Well, yeah," He says a little confused. How can she not think she's beautiful? Then a thought occurs to him and he asks carefully, "Is this your natural form or your powers?"

He hopes he hasn't gone too far in asking. He really does like her and wants her to like him.

[andproud]

"No, this isn't - I normally don't go walking around unless I look like this," she admits, gesturing to herself. But he still hasn't seen the real her.

She takes a breath, and in a blink, yellow eyes stare back at him as she lets go, normal skin rippling away to her blue form.

"And now you know why," she adds, resisting the urge that pulls at her, the urge to change, to cover up her true self.

[tobenormal]

As she changes a look of wonder overcomes Hank. There's no fear or distaste evident, just fascination. His hand's twitch a bit at his sides as he wants to touch her, to see how she feels, but that would be too forward. Still she is so far out of the ordinary it's hard for him to find words. She is still beautiful in a way but it is so different from what he knows.

"Sorry," he says feeling a little guilty for asking her to reveal herself so fully. "I wish the world was better so you could be like this all the time. You're still beautiful though."

[andproud]

She glances down slowly, briefly, allowing herself a small smile before she finally looks back up, and as she does, red hair spills over into long blonde strands down her shoulders and her eyes return back to brown from yellow.

"Unfortunately, it's not," she says, briefly flat. Her own parents had disowned her when they'd found her looking like this after her mutation had manifested her. As far as they were concerned, she was an abomination, a demon. Charles is her only family now.

"But thank you," she quickly adds.

[tobenormal]

Hank fights the urge to promise to make the world that better place for her because what can he do? He's just one guy with hands for feet. Instead his growling stomach reminds him it's lunch time and so he says, "Are you hungry? I could show you the cafeteria and buy you lunch."

[andproud]

She nods in reply at first, a small and brief movement, and then takes a step closer to him, feeling the lift of an invisible weight off her shoulders if for no reason other than his knowing the truth about her.

"I'd like that," she agrees.

[tobenormal]

It's a relief he shares. As she steps closer he can smell her hair and it sets his mind to buzzing again. He lifts his arm and offers his elbow, all the while not believing he is doing it.

"Then allow me, fair princess, to escort you and show you the delights of governmentally funded cuisine."

Okay, he may have gone to far with that one.

[andproud]

She doesn't roll her eyes or make a face. She just laughs and slips her arm through his, fingers gently curling against his forearm.

"Lead the way," she says, her eyes finding his through the lenses of his glasses.

[tobenormal]

Hank's face feels hot as he opens the door for her and he doesn't care. A girl is not only wanting to have lunch with him, she's touching him in a friendly way.

"I hope you like sandwiches cause we don't have much else."

[andproud]

"I love sandwiches," she promises, ducking through the doorway first before waiting on the other side for him to follow.

She knows Charles won't have to search for her thoughts to know she's alright here.

[tobenormal]

"There's Twinkies and Coca Cola also if you'd like. I'd stay away from the tuna fish salads though, they don't make it often enough so it can be scary sometimes."

He follows along with her, lost in the moment. Still he is curious about her. "So where did Mr. Black find you guys?"

[andproud]

"In a meeting with the director," Raven replies, as though it's no big deal at all.

"He was the only one who wasn't completely surprised after I turned into one of them to prove a point."

[tobenormal]

Hank laughs and holds open the door to the cafeteria for Raven.

"I'm not surprised. You were probably like Christmas to him."

[andproud]

She looks down as they walk, gaze descending to her boots for a minute.

"He's the first human I've met who was actually excited when we revealed what we can do."

[tobenormal]

"It's really hard," Hank says quietly. "Growing up like that I mean. I don't know if Professor Xavier or that other guy would really know that. Unless I missed something." Which is quite possible considering he didn't know her mutation.

[andproud]

"Charles, Erik - they can hide in plain sight," she murmurs, glancing up at him.

"Some of us aren't so fortunate." She has to constantly be focused, constantly paying attention. One slip and she could reveal herself.

[tobenormal]

He wonders then, what it's like for her. His feet are awkward and uncomfortable as he essentially walks on knuckles but do her powers stay on or does she need to think about them all the time? Definitely a question for later though as they are now in the cafeteria.

"We should be careful of what we say now. This is the CIA and we're the best with secrets but unless you want the whole facility to know about...us," it feels good to be able to say that, "then we shouldn't talk about it here. Spooks are terrible gossips."