Mutant Watch [IC / Started / Not Accepting]

[Quiksilver]

[center][url="http://forum.yugiohcardmaker.net/topic/252460-mutant-watch-not-started-not-accepting/"]OoC Thread here[/url][/center]

[b]Subject 41- Silica Manipulation and Generation (doubts expressed).

Subject 42- Cryomancy and slight Aquakinesis.

Subject 43- Gravitokinesis.

Subject 44- Unknown. Illusion and Materialization abilities detected.

Subject 45- Aerokinesis.

Subject 46- Psychometry, Probability Prediction, and slight Enhancement.

Subject 47- Telekinesis.

Subject 48- Electrokinesis.[/b]

They were a strange group, that was for sure. By far the strangest test subjects Doctor Ezra Klein had to study for a long time. But, they were also the most promising. The most promising choice for solving the "mutant problem".

Ezra Klein lowered the clipboard with the subjects and their powers written on it and watched the young mutants themselves as they interacted in the room beyond, his sharp green eyes tracking them through the one-way window. They were a medley of all America had to offer, with Asiatic and African and all sorts of racial influences mingling together in the group. They seemed completely different from each other in nearly every way, except for one fact; they were all mutants.

They came from all over. Most from within the American borders, but one was Canadian. They had all joined the program, though most had been forced. A tight-lipped smile stretched over Klein's face. With the subterrean surroundings, the days after days of study and experiments, there would be very few who would have joined the program willingly. A good majority of the populace of the U.S.A. would be outraged to learn that these young men and women had been forced here, but this outrage would be tempered and undoubtedly overcomed by a bigotry and fear for all mutants that most of the U.S.A. citizens shared, except for those who were mutants themselves, of course. But they were a minority group. What could they do?

Ezra himself had no opinion on the human v. mutant debate that was currently raging throughout the country. A German by birth, he had no care on the effect mutantkind would have on the U.S.A.; instead, he was here for the science. For the chance to study the mutant gene, this fascinating little miracle of nature. How he was able to do that did not matter to him.

Still smiling his tight little smile, he turned to the guard next to him. The young man was fit and tanned; a pang of jealousy ran through Ezra as he considered his own elderly, withered body. But, at age 70, what could you do about that? It was a source of personal pride for Ezra he was still moving as vigorously as he had 30 years ago.

"Prepare the test subjects for testing." He said, his voice a low buzz. The guard nodded and exited the room. The scientist turned back to his test subjects and continued studied.

***

Subject 43, or, as he was better known, Nick Keating, shivered as he considered the dark, dank room he was in.

"Man, I am seriously regretting signing up for this program. Not that I had much choice, but still...I mean, they could at least install a heater." Nick got off his metal chair and began to walk around the room, folding his arms in an attempt to stay warm. As he did, he took a look at his fellow inmates. They were a motley bunch, most between the 15-25 range but with plenty different in a lot of ways.

"So." He said, finally sitting back down after completing two circuits of the room. "Anyone know what all this testing if for?"

[TotalObelisk]

Cheryl, or as she preffered to be known, Winter, was leaning against the wall with her arms folded and a dark frown on her face. She handed been here long and yet she was already convinced that the people running this 'project' where scum. Almost as soon as she arrived she'd been poked, prodded and all sorts just to make sure she was fit for this so called testing, adding insult to injury they had even seen fit to label her, 'subject 42', something which irked her to no end. If it weren't that her powers where best used when she was calm and not in a fit of rage she might have had an easier time breaking out, as it was she'd been caught almost immediately and taken back inside.

The silence was borken momentarily by one of the other occupants complaining about the lack of heat in the room, although Winter herself wasn't particularly bothered by it and hadn't actually noticed. She chose to ignore him for the moment until he spoke up again.

[b]"Nothing good I would imagine,"[/b] Winter replied bitterly.

She shot the boy a cold stare for a brief moment before looking away again. She herself was also regretting signing up for this, albiet unwittingly, but she wasn't going to make that obvious to anybody else, her first priority was to get out as soon as possible.

[Naimo]

There was something about being at the top of the list as Subject 41 that made Ione feel a little bit special, despite the undesirable circumstances she was in. Her unspoken concern, however, rested in those brackets - "doubts expressed". She was trying as hard as she could to make it seem that silica manipulation was indeed her real power, but she was also worried about what she was doing wrong.

She glanced at her fellow subjects; she wondered whether they had been captured back here, like herself. She didn't know what to think about her mother - was she OK? Had she been blackmailed into betraying her own daughter? Was she doing it entirely on her own freewill (oh please don't let this be the right question)? If so, why? Ione thought her mother loved her; so why? Why did she ultimately betray her?

She was promptly snapped out of her gloomy thoughts when Nick spoke. She didn't know who they were, save for that each of them were mutants. This was somewhat making Ione nervous; if she was going to be trapped in here for a year, what if her powers manifested, and she accidently copied one of theirs instead? The scientists would find out! They'd know her real powers! She couldn't let that happen. After a brief pause, Ione said, "I have no idea either." She didn't know what else to say; then again, one of the girls hadn't really spoken either.

[Spartan919]

Subject 45, Johnathon Kitsboro, or as he was better known, Kit, said nothing after the three had spoken. He sat in a corner, where there were no lights; he had pulled the chair over there almost immediately after being put in the room. He just stared at them, and wondered what they would do. He had learned by now that they, like him, were being...tested on by the guys in the lab-coats. At least, he thought that's what they were doing. They had poked him, prodded him, made him do...things. Kit cast his eyes over the other six kids in the room. He didn't know who he could trust, or if he should even trust any of them. His gaze lingered on none of them, in case they might lash out at him. Or laugh at him. People did that a lot; if it wasn't his hair, it was his awkwardness, or his...mutation.

Kit had no idea what was going to happen to him now. He was in this room, with these other children, and...nothing had happened yet. They had talked...well, the others were talking. Kit was completely silent, his eyes now down on the ground, protecting himself in case anyone didn't want to be looked at by him. Even looking at others had caused Kit pain. For a moment, his mind flashed back to his parents, and how they had always loved him, no matter what happened to him when he was away from home.

But Kit's parents were gone now. He had killed them when his powers had first emerged. He had realized that as they were studying him; it wasn't an accident that his parents had been killed. They were driving, and while Kit was...being a child, his powers had been unleashed, surprising his parents, causing them to drive into the other lane...right into the path of another car. They had died instantly, of that Kit was sure. His eyes moistened, the world blurred around him, and he felt a tear run down his cheek as he thought of his parents.

[Hydra of Ages]

Oneiro shuffled a little bit, clinging to the wall so he didn't risk tripping over his own unfamiliar feat. He had tied his manifestation to the girl near the wall for that exact purpose, and as such stood no farther than three feet from her. Since she had yet to object and seemed relatively silent, he deduced that by loitering on the edges of the chamber, he might be able to avoid conversation.

Not that he wanted conversation not to happen, though. Oneiro loved listening to the chats between the other servants, and found the pressing silence discontenting. His ears itched and he could feel a strange pain in the bottom of his heel, possibly as a result of his awkward posture- he needed sound, some sort of stimulation for a sense that he lacked. For lack of anything better to do, he tapped the back of his shoe against the wall, making a dull sound that never the less served his purpose. Silence was a barren void of sound; he would have none of that. He was human, after all. Humans had sounds, so he had sounds. Human sounds.

A sudden flash before his eyes- a pair of humans, one female, one male. A single word: [b]parents[/b].

Oneiro felt uncomfortable again. He recognized the concept, but couldn't quite place it- it was on the tip of his tongue. Intellectually, he knew that a parent was the biological relative directly responsible for the reproduction of one that resulted in a human being, but emotionally it just barely escaped him.

He made a picture and looked at it for a couple seconds. He didn't recognize either of them. It held no relevance to him. He let it fade away into oblivion again, then suddenly filled with a lack of things to do with his hands, wrung his wrists.

[Yu Hansung]

Nicole Minera shivered in the cold of the room, sitting as far away from the other mutants as was possible. She tired to ignore the light conversation being made but she was failing. Maybe because it was the fact that there was nothing else to focus on. She may have been labelled as Subject 48 by these so-called scientists but she knew the nickname they had for her. She didn't really protest though, it wasn't that far from her original name. It was probably for the best though. The name Nicole reminded her of her parents and she had a habit of hitting the closest thing when she thought of them. She looked around for a moment, wondering who had signed up and who was forced here. It probably didn't matter. She glanced at the ceiling for a moment before speaking up.

"Oh, maybe they're just letting us cool down, letting us prepare for a nice workout," Niki said, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She stretched her hand, small shocks briefly travelling between her fingers, lighting up the room for a second.

Her teeth started to clatter from the cold before she clamped down on her mouth to stop it. [i]I hate this cold,[/i] She thought to herself in anger. [i]If they don't hurry up I'm gonna blow out that bloody cooling vent.[/i] She closed her eyes, breathing deeply to calm herself.

[GreyCat]

Rafe only shrugged. He didn't want to comment for a different reason. Mostly because of his sporadic powers. Thanks to that, in some ways he knew more about the place than the others, yet even less in others. The tiles, floor and rest of the inanimate he had access to were determinately less than helpful in terms of what they knew, and as for the equipment... he really didn't want to know anymore about them and what they saw than he already did. As it was, he was try not to think too hard about them. Stuff had an annoying habit of yelling out randomly if he focused on them too long.

Instead, he turned to the rest of the group. Human souls were a more difficult to read, so it gave him a bit peace of mind. Now he could say something. "My guess; some one wants to see what use they can get from us. Without upsetting any human rights folk. It they care anyway."

[Naimo]

Ione perked slightly at Rafe's words. Her cynicism was kicking in again - and before she could stop herself, she said to him, "Of course they don't bloody care about human rights, let alone groups of people vouching for it. If they really did care, would we really be in -" She stopped to glance around; it seemed that she could find nothing positive about their situation, or any descriptive words that didn't count as a swear word, and after a brief pause, she finished, "- this ... place. I mean, look at it." She loosely flapped her arm around the room; a description was unnecessary, not when everybody was sat in the same boat (metaphorically).

[Hydra of Ages]

"Very eloquent," Oneiro responded dryly. As it felt strange to him to simply leave his quip there, he continued after a moment. "Perhaps they don't consider mutants human," he mused for a moment, recalling conversations that would happen around his crystal. Certainly, they never believed that he was truly human- and he was. Oneiro knew that he was human. He could think, he could speak... their doubts were simply an expression of them being bad people in and of themselves. Oneiro had to believe that, for his own sake.

Oneiro shuffled a little bit, then wrung his wrists again. He shifted the focus of his projection a couple times, and took the opportunity to walk slowly around the perimeter of the room. He felt the tendons in his legs stretching, pulling, the synapses going to his brain and recoiling in order to shape movement... was that being human?

[Quiksilver]

"Now that is the key question." Nick murmured after he heard that one weird kid, Oneiro, talk. He seemed to come and go, disappearing and reappearing. They had only been a group for several days, and Nick had to assume Oneiro was some type of illusionist. "Are we human? Well...I have two arms, two legs, and two eyes. One mouth, a brain...aesthically, it would seem so. But...what about in other ways? Is it a natural power for humans to manipulate gravity." Nick's eyes flashed, and for a second his chair, and, by extension, his body, floated up into the air. Then it settled it back down like nothing had ever happened, except Nick was now panting slightly.

"That is clearly not a common trait of humanity. So, it remains to be seen...are we human? Or something...different? The next step in human evolution, or perhaps simply a genetic cousin to Homo sapiens. Or, perhaps, just mistakes. Stains on the human race...or at least that's what our testers would have us believe." By the end of this, Nick's voice had taken a slightly cynical edge. He realized how cold he sounded, and forced a small smile onto his face. "But this is a bit too deep for me. I think I'll stop thinking deep thoughts and find out how to get out of here, eh?"

"I don't think that is going to happen soon." A flat, baritone voice spoke. The door had been opened, and a tall, sturdy black man in a army uniform stood there. He was the one who had spoken, and he continued to talk in his rumbling voice after the group had recovered from their shock of being interrupted.

"Come with me. It's time for the first test." Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away. He obviously wanted the mutants to follow him, and Nick dreaded thinking what would happen if they didn't. Catching eyes with several of the other mutants, Nick took the plunge and was the first to stand up and begin following. Though he had been tested before, Nick couldn't help feel a sinking feeling over what would happen next. A thought ran through his head, mirroring that in the minds of everyone else in the room-

[i]What's going to happen?[/i]

[Yu Hansung]

Niki got to her feet first, anxious to get out of the freezing room following the tall man. She hurried after the man, remaining silent, glaring at the back of his head. The lights flickered above her as she moved outside of the room, her ambient electric field already messing with the wiring in the walls. She ignored it though, just wondering what was going to happen. Whatever it was though, she would survive. She might have a problem if they wanted to wash them down first. She had troubles getting in the shower with out getting hurt sometimes. As a light bulb above her exploded from her power she finally spoke up to the man in front of them.

"I would've thought you'd have insulated your wiring more. I'd hate to not be able to walk through the bloody halls without glass falling on me," she said in exasperation. She continued to glare at the back of the man's head, awaiting a response.

[TotalObelisk]

Winter stood silently as the conversation continued across the room, going off on a slight tangent near the end. Eventually the boy who had broken the silence spoke again, voicing something that had probably floated around the minds of everyone in this room at least once. Winter hated to admit it, but he had a point, after all even if her appearance when normal she knew cryomancy was not a natural human trait.

The silence didn't have time to settle again before another voice boomed into the room, turning heads as the door opened to reveal a black-clad man framed in the doorway. Winter's eyes narrowed instinctively and the temperature in the room dropped slightly further. The man beckoned them to follow and, while reluctant, Winter obeyed, she wasn't going to have any chance of breaking out by confining herself in this room and certainly not if she openly defied the staff on a regular basis. She kept an eye on her surroundings as the group proceeded, however, trying to memorize as much as she could about the layout and structure, attempting to identify weaknesses or blind spots for the cameras. She found none.

She was distracted when a bulb blew above them, the result of interfeirance from another person's abilities, causing her to look ahead as the person in question complained to the man ahead of them. Winter hesitated slightly, not expecting the man to be the sort to take such a complaint standing.

[i]Now you've done it,[/i] Winter thought.

[Spartan919]

Kit stood after the two girls had, and followed them, albeit at a farther distance. He had learned a long time ago that it was best to be in the middle of any group, not at the beginning or the end. [i]What kind of test is it?[/i] he wondered. He'd been tested before, in hundreds of ways. He had enjoyed none of it, and was sure he wouldn't enjoy this either. His eyes swept around, watching the other people. [i]And why are we all together for this test? Are they going to make us work together...or maybe fight?[/i] Kit desperately hoped it was neither. If it came to a fight between all of them, he would probably lose. And he was fairly certain he would be useless if they all had to work together.

Maybe this would be the opportunity to escape, though. Kit shook his head as he walked. No...unless they were...He shook his head again, clearing it of those thoughts. Those are the kinds of thoughts that got people killed...or got people to laugh at him and harass him. He shuddered, and looked at the girl in front of him in fear. Would she hurt him? He cast a glance backward. What about her?

[Hydra of Ages]

Oneiro kept quiet when Nick spoke. The boy brought up an interesting question, though Oneiro forced himself no to believe it. Small details like that were insignificant when you determined if you were human or not, weren't they? For certain, he may have certain abilities other humans may not, but many humans were good at things that others weren't. Ability didn't forbid his participation in humanity.

[i]Though lacking a body might,[/i] a nagging thought told Oneiro from the back of his nonexistent head. He ignored it the best he could.

Oneiro followed the others, not really focused on his position and thus flitting in and out of reality without even noticing it. One moment he headed up the front, while the next he was following from behind, the source of his projection switching through the entire group as he visualized some of their most recent thoughts; at some point, a rough hand-drawn map depicting the surrounding areas formed. He blinked at it for a second, wondering what one could do with such obvious information, then dispelled it from his hand as the unimportant symbol that it was. Strangely, a second later he found himself holding a lightbulb- an item he regarded with confusion for the moment, until he glanced up and saw the shattered bulb in the ceiling.

[Naimo]

Ione silently sat up and followed the group to wherever they were being led. She was staying very silent, and was barely disturbed when the lightbulb above them blew up; her mind had once again collapsed into her self-dug pit, her own personal, troubled thoughts darting like racing cars across the forefront of her brain. They were definately going to make her generate more glass - but they were already in disbelief that that was her power, what if they saw through her disguise this time round? Admitedly, it would still take a while for them to really get the right information, but she couldn't spend a year or two cooped up in here like battery farm hens!

She almost ran into Onerio, and after mumbling a brief apology, she darted her eyes towards the other mutants; it seemed they were just as nervous as herself. In fact, she was so busy looking ahead, she hadn't even noticed that Onerio was holding onto a lightbulb.

[GreyCat]

Now Rafe was having an headache. Between Nick, Nikki, Winter and Oneiro, too much was changing in the room and too much was noticing and noticing them noticing for him not to notice in that confined space. Argh. Even thinking about the cause of his head ache was making it worse. In the limited space of the room, any change was enough to get the souls started. With Nick using his power, the ground grumbled about the lack of gravity, then everything thing that remembered lacking gravity before perked up in response. Winter kept chilling the air, and every time she did, the air protested the change to those who would listen, namely; him.

Nikki on the other hand, had the walls a buzz with activity. Worse when the bulb blew. It was like a brief scream of pain that sent a shudder down his spine. Then the shards were remembering when they were in one piece and the part still in the socket complaining that it had no more purpose in life. He carefully stepped around them as he walked. Normally, he had a better cap on his ability, but Oneiro (what kind of name was that anyway?) was the cause of that. The dude wasn't even really there. He still didn't understand that guy. He could see him, but his soul didn't feel like a normal human, as normal as a mutant could be anyway, and the places around him didn't remember him like a human either. That and the popping back and forth around the room like that confused him and the souls of the floor and air (which in turn annoyed him even more.)

All that disturbance basically meant his power was straining his leash and refused to back down. So, until he either understood Oneiro and the anomaly he represented, or he (and maybe Nikki) left, he would have to deal with the pounding. It would make for some interesting test results, so at least someone would be happy about it and benefit from his discomfort. Of course, that thought didn't make him feel any better. He sighed. Maybe they could give him an aspirin or something.