week 10 - tuesday

[refactor]

[ Here's the Scooby Gang (Jack is definitely Scooby), down to the bio lab in the middle of the day. Granted, they're definitely a weird group to be hanging out together, but Jack figures that if someone walks in, it's probably less suspicious as compared to if they had done this in the middle of the night. Probably. It's what he's hoping, if nothing else.

Jack himself heads over to the controls for the CAT scan, giving them a look over with a smile. ]

Man... This shit is so old. Don't think I'll ever get over it.

[ He looks up towards the rest of the group, and he snickers. ]

What, for us either being here willingly or otherwise, you think they would have at least stolen some tech. I mean- They came and stole me, the friggin' CEO of on of the biggest tech manufacturers in the galaxy, and this is the best they can do? Pfft. Amateurs.

[ He leans on the machine, then nods to the CAT scanner itself. ]

Anyways. Who's up first?

Comments

[baptizer]

[ Elizabeth has her own concerns for the week. She's been trying to do damage control with comforting others and keeping people calm. Everything has been stressful, so she channels her energy into doing good.

She looks over the machine, feeling an odd sensation creeping through her bones. ]

Ego, Jack.

[ She's coping, but Elizabeth's fingers trace against the mattress of the CAT scanner, looking at it with an intense stare. ]

This won't blow up or set someone on fire, so I think Jason and Luke are less inclined to get involved. [ Shooting those two a glance, Elizabeth slumps her shoulders down. ] I could test it first, I suppose? Being a specimen is in my nature.

[ Her eyes look so sad, so reflective as her eyes match contact with Jack.

If no one else is going to oppose, she hops up onto the scanner and lays down flat. If someone wants to purposefully stop her from doing so, she won't fight you - she'll just stand off to the side to watch. ]

[chiseler]

[Jack, Luke has quickly learned, thinks incredibly highly of himself. But then again after the things he's learned he can't help but have some vague respect for the guy. It's awful, terrible even. But while Jack's ragging on the poor technology, Luke's already moving toward it to poke at it carefully and try to examine it as best as he can. Raise your hand if you've probably never been to a hospital!

Yet, he looks at Elizabeth and he can't help but allow his lips to draw into a thin line.]

Contrary to popular belief, I do like things that don't explode. [Jeez. It's the rest though that's unfortunate but he's not going to immediately stop her.] You really think going first is a good idea? [It's kind of an argument, but Elizabeth is pretty strong-willed. Look, one of you can stop your not-girlfriend or not-daughter or whatever the hell relationship you guys have. He's leaning against the machine to watch instead.]

[antagonize]

[If this is the Scooby Gang, the Jack is definitely Scrappy. He shouldn't even try to convince anyone otherwise. It's just another irrefutable fact of life. Accept it. Embrace it. Learn to live with it.

Jason is looking over the machine itself, as well, but with a sense of familiarity unlike Luke. The CAT scanner piqued his interest since the week the bio lab became open, but it took him a couple of weeks to figure how to work it. Now that he has, he's down here again with the most unexpected ragtag group of survivors. Or, better known as "someone save the teens (+ Luke) from Handsome Jack".]

Well... Third time's the charm, isn't it? [He's referencing Elizabeth's comment about explosions. Weird response, though. Who the heck knows what that's supposed to mean? It's a mystery. Either way, a little more sharply:] Don't call yourself an specimen.

[He's not stopping Elizabeth from hopping onto the scanner first, though. He opts to watch her instead, frowning but not exactly protesting. There are some possible benefits to letting his not-girlfriend go first, okay. Alien related benefits. Hush, Luke.]

It's a CAT scanner. Not a death trap. Does it matter who goes first? In fact— I volunteer you to go second, Luke.

[refactor]

[ What would ever give you the impression that Jack is an egocentric asshole? that doesn't sound like him at all, gosh. He ends up shrugging helplessly when Elizabeth scolds him, but he does get to work with taking a better look at the machine to figure out how to operate it. ]

Yeah, shouldn't be a big deal. I mean, it's uh- computerized to-something, I remember that. Just a bunch of x-rays you slap together to get slices of your body. Real common, not invasive.

[ He tries powering up the console to see just what he's working with here. ]

Buuuut med stuff, super not my specialty. If I could connect with it, no problem, but, eh. So, any of you know how to work this thing better than me randomly trying?

[baptizer]

[ Hello, there's a girl with her head half inside of a weird circular dome here. Don't make her doubt herself, Luke. ]

Actually, I'm the one who was infected. Wouldn't I have the highest chance for turning something up? Even if it's completely unrelated...

[... Honestly, when she thinks of it like that, her fists ball at her side and her ankle starts tapping her foot nervously. What if it's... what if it's still there...? Jason's scolding makes her calm a bit. ]

Someone just turn the damn thing on before I have a panic attack in here!

[chiseler]

[Gods there are so many things he doesn't understand and this just adds to it. Elizabeth's starting to panic a little, Jason's acting surprisingly protective and he's kind of glad for that and Jack is Jack and none of this makes sense to him. So he knocks on the side of the machine and shakes his head.]

I'll go second. May as well check the infected and the already dead because she does have a point...unfortunately. [But he's rolling his eyes anyway.] I don't know how this thing works though. All of our means of testing and healing are on a whole other level. [A quick glance to Jason.] But I suppose you do?

[antagonize]

Kind of. Never operated one of these machines before I wound up here, but I've been told I'm a fast learner. [Teen side-eyes adult for having a big ego, and then proceeds to gloat within the span of the same conversation. Good job being a hypocrite, Jason Todd.] Might have dedicated some time to learning how this thing works. If the three of you can't operate it, I'll do it.

[Except that means that nobody will be able to man the CAT scanner when it's his turn, so he glances at Jack.]

You know more about technology than these two fossils. So watch. You'll be in charge when it's my turn.

[Throwing the two technologically challenged members of the Scooby Gang under the bus. Thanks.

Anyway, if they're all set, he'll do his thing. Insert murder mystery medical science here or whatever. Maybe if they're super unlucky, the machine will go up in flames. R.I.P., Elizabeth.]

[al2955]

[ Elizabeth has a long and sad time inside the cat scan. It takes a while to actually start up, so she'll be sitting in there doing nothing for a while. After it starts up, though, it takes about as long as you'd suspect it to take — that is, about 45 minutes.

When it ends, the screen on the cat scan displays two separate images. One is her brain, and the other is the rest of her body. Given that they aren't doctors, they won't be able to tell anything too specific, but..

Everything looks like it's supposed to! She has a brain, thankfully, and it looks like how you would expect. All her bones are there. She's got what you could presume are all her organs. And there's nothing crawling around and no, like, gears or anything. Not even a pacemaker for her gentle heart. ]

[refactor]

[ To his credit, Jack does a valiant job at trying to be attentive, but. After about five minutes of just sitting there doing nothing and waiting, he definitely just sits in a chair and goes the fuck to sleep. Wake him up when it's his turn or something cool happens. ]

[baptizer]

[ Okay. She thought this was going to be a brief examination. The first five minutes and her foot is shaking. She stays strong - making idle conversation with Jason and Luke since Jack passed out. They can see her fingers clench, her nails scratch against the cushion below her. Every now and then there's a gasp for air that's a bit too deep.

Her eyes shut tightly, refusing to look up to the light. Near the end, there's a flinch - her body jolts and she luckily finishes the scan before flashes in her mind take over.

It's a girl, one monitored with a giant metal bird that she's absolutely afraid of. Bits and pieces in her mind - the lights, the tentativeness of people yelling and a female voice insisting to keep testing. It was a bad dream she always had since she was as young as three.

Specimen echos in her mind and she scrambles with a heavy breath. ]

I'm - I'm fine!

[ She insists frantically when rolling off the bed and directly onto the ground below with a sickening thud, yelp and groan. ]

[chiseler]

[He's fascinated in the way one would be when facing something new. He's trying not to lean on it, trying to keep his hands to himself and not drum on the machine with anxious fingers. He's fine keeping her company and keeping up with conversation with her and Jason even if his eyes are locked on the monitor to see if he can read anything.

Strangely, he recognizes the slowly mounting panic. He doesn't say anything, doesn't know how badly its escalating and probably reads it as discomfort. But when she scrambles away and falls he's not fast enough to grab her, and maybe he's too startled to do so. Maybe Jason can try to catch her but whoops.]

Hey! [But he freezes, torn between reaching for her and reading the results. That…was strange. But if nobody else moves he'll extend a hand to help her up even if his eyes are staring at her results.] …what's it mean?

[antagonize]

[He might try to catch her, but. "Whoops" is right. At least he's crouching down to help her up after she's gotten all nice and acquainted with the floor. It's #romantic.]

Fine my ass. Get up and sit down. You've done your part.

[He'll bully her into sitting down if he has to. It's time for her to take a page out of their resident senior citizen's book and chill? Take a breather. She's earned it. Either way, he looks at her results once again after he's made sure she's okay. Or... okay-ish, anyway. It's highly unlikely anyone is Okay in this mess.]

So. Disclaimer time. I have medical knowledge, not a medical license. [Which means he can't pick out anything subtle.] But it looks like all her organs are there. Bones are fine. Brain looks normal. I don't see anything that rings any obvious alarm bells. For now, anyway. We can compare all our results once we're done, and take the prints to the archives. If we're lucky, there should be a document we can use for reference.

[refactor]

[ Jack may have been deadass asleep, but he is also a very light sleeper. As soon as Liz starts to stir and struggle, Jack is quickly awake, even though the quickness of how he jerks awake is probably comical. It's about a half-step from falling out of his chair, but not quite. Good job, asshole. Though truly hilariously, Jack's concern ends up being much gentler. He doesn't quite kick Jason out of the way when he approaches Elizabeth, but there's a sense that he's probably close to doing just that... ]

Woah, Liz, take it easy— You okay?

[ Jason is already helping her up, so he won't try and steal that away, but his concern is definitely more open. Also he doesn't seem to care as much about the results here, since he doesn't respond to that, but it's more like he can get to that in a second. Again, good job, asshole. ]

[baptizer]

[ It was embarrassing more than harmful, honestly. The thud leaves a slight strain on her wrist and bruise to her knee but - she's getting up with Jason's guidance. ]

I just - okay, I just don't like enclosed spaces. Be happy I lasted as long as I did.

[ Elizabeth is formal - dusting herself off putting a favor at rubbing at her wrist. A look to Jack and then Luke, she's scared to hear the results. ]


There's nothing abnormal? [ Maybe she expected there to be. She didn't know why she had powers, after all, so something had to have been different. ] I suppose it's the little things.

[ Sarcastic, she takes a seat in the nearest chair. ]

Luke, your turn.

[chiseler]

[Again, he's awkwardly out of place as he watches both the way Jason and Jack react to Elizabeth. It's strange to him how they can all be worried about her in different ways and while he's still studying the results with little clarity, nodding to Jason's suggestion, he turns with wide eyes to face her.]

...guess it's the least I can do since we put you through it first. [He's not sure how this'll pan out, but sure. Into the machine he goes.]

[antagonize]

[Jack might have joked about them being a clique, but — let's all be honest. They're more of Elizabeth's posse. It's sad but true. There's no way to deny it.]

Nothing abnormal that I can tell. Like I said, medical knowledge. Not the same thing as a medical license. [Which means that he'll have to pour a couple extra hours in teaching himself how to properly read these things? If there are any helpful texts in the archives, that is. They should probably cross their fingers for that.

But he nods at Luke as he begins to slip into the machine. Once Luke is inside, he'll turn towards... whatever controls the cat scan. Medical science is a helpful eldritch abomination.]

Try not to move. Not unless you want to start from the top again and again.

[And, here we go. Machine on. Is today the day they learn that Luke is as brain dead as he acts?]

[al2955]

[ Luke looks much like Elizabeth does. Nothing strange or out of place that they can detect. ]

[refactor]

[ Since Elizabeth is okay, Jack at least withdraws, though he does give Jason a look like he's a disapproving, shotgun-toting father... He can't help it, so don't judge him too much. ]

Well, how friggin' hard can it be? It's just pictures. It's just a matter of figuring out what's what, right?

[ Jack shrugs, since it sounds pretty simple to him! But he's also... Jack... So he tends to overestimate his abilities pretty frequently. Regardless, this time he at least doesn't fall asleep, but he probably does spend the whole time telling Jason and Elizabeth either terrible jokes or terrible stories. Maybe both? He has to keep himself entertained here.

Though once Luke is done, Jack will start to undo some of the straps and fittings for his hand. ]

Guess I'll go next, since you're the one that knows how to use this thing, sugartits.

[ And of course, the person he'll pass it off to is Elizabeth, so have fun with that, I guess? Or just set it aside and be like "Jack why are you the way you are" ]