Lloyd Neurus's Story

Lloyd's relocation to Africa had come unexpected to him. He was doing quite alright in ED's facility in Minnesota, but apparently the place was simply a testing ground for new recruits. This was the real thing, and to be honest, all he felt was nervous anticipation during his first few days in his new workplace. He was supposed to study a particularly fascinating mutant, whose powers had somehow developed into even better heights ever since they brought him in to be studied. Which meant a fresh mutation in his genetic code - would that show up differently? Sure they had copies of from when he still hadn't received his second power. That might point him in the right track.

He was right in suspecting that ED was a shady business. What self-respecting company would put their research team right out in an oil rig in South Africa? Definitely one who didn't want attention. But who was he to judge? Here he was getting excited while studying the DNA of some poor soul the ED had chosen to collect. Lloyd didn't doubt one bit that 90% of the mutants who were with ED were far from cooperative. And yet he was doing nothing to alleviate the problem. Hell, he even refused to see the actual test subjects.

Week three of his stay and he'd made very little progress in his research. The frustration was coming off in waves. He needed a breather. With the ocean just outside his lab, why not? A hand instinctively reached into a pocket for a cigarette, but came up empty. Oh right. Smoking was banned here, which is why he'd left his cigarettes. Something about keeping up with the appearance of an oil rig? Made little sense considering there wasn't anyone around, but he'd listen. They were a paranoid bunch and likely wouldn't hesitate to silence him if he overstepped his bounds. He made do with the stirrer for his coffee.

"Neurus, we need to talk." Lloyd swiveled around to face the head researcher of the rig. An eyebrow shot up in question, but he nodded. Had he done something wrong?

"I'm listening." He leaned against the railing, wondering what it was that had forced his boss to talk to some lowly new recruit. Honestly, the only scenarios he could think of were bad news, and none of the results were pretty. Lloyd Neurus, leading expert in genetics and honest-to-goodness genius, dies in some unknown oil rig off the coast of Africa. What a lovely way to meet his demise.

"You're being transferred to NY." The statement surprised him. A transfer? So early?

"Can I ask why I'm being transferred to the big apple?" A half smile formed on his lips.

"Higher-ups say you'll do more good there than cracking a six year old case." The statement completely removed whatever expression he'd had before. Now it was just baffled curiosity. Just why had he been researching some six year old case? Thames went on his explanation. "Don't look so surprised, chum. It's a standard thing to test if you're really going to work. Truth is, we were kind of hoping you'd crack the damn thing."

He frowned, but accepted it. It was much easier than trying to argue with their silly standards. "No wonder it felt like I was going around in circles. When do I go?"

"Tomorrow. Pack up your things and get some rest." And with that, Thames left, leaving him alone in the rig once again. He broke out into a grin. Looks like he was going to the city that never sleeps. Sounds right up his alley.

Three days. He'd been given three days to settle down in New York and he'd adjusted quite well to the busy pace of the city. Lloyd was a city kid through and through. The work hours in the lab were flexible enough, but he always clocked in nearing twelve hours a day, not because of his workload, but because he simply had no desire to go home. But he did his work and kept mum as to the direct nature his job when asked, which was all that ED really expected of him.

However, unlike majority of those in ED's workforce, Lloyd had been a public figure when it came to the research of power-granting mutation. He was expected to still perform his occasional talks and conferences regarding his research. What Lloyd couldn't tell them though, was that mutants really did exist and his sample re-arrangement of DNA was based on reality. Today was such a day for a seminar, one of the colleges here in NY. Truth be told, there'd been a lot of requests, but ED had to be the ones to screen and pick which one he could go to. Strange that they hadn't chosen one of the bigger name ones, but he supposed they had their reasons.

The conference didn't start until the afternoon so he was free to stay in his apartment, working on class notes. Lloyd winced at the reminder on his schedule. He'd never been good at public speaking, but he'd learned how thanks to to his need for funding before he'd been recruited to ED.

Pale fingers laid to rest on the keyboard, the room faintly smelling like cigarettes. A pack of the said item was sitting right next to his computer, lacking one roll. The missing roll was between his lips and unlit. He'd been trying to break his addiction, but it was a slow process. Lloyd still needed something in his mouth while he worked, and candy just didn't cut it.

"I really can't do anymore, this will have to do." He sent the file of the handouts to the college, who would be the ones to print and distribute copies during the lecture today. Stretching his arms above his head, he stood up and looked out. Far from being ideal weather for a walk, it would have to do. Lloyd had been doing nothing but work the past few days and he needed a change of scenery. He grabbed his lighter and a light coat on his way out, thinking of where to go. The library? More work. A mall? Too crowded to feel comfortable.

Taking his wallet, phone and keys and stuffing them into his pockets, he continued to muse as he locked the door behind him, tipping his hat towards the guard on his floor. After making his way down, Lloyd had finally reached a decision. His only competition at this time was tourists, and it was the off-season. The New Yorkers themselves would be at work. It was a lengthy walk, but whatever, the brown-haired man had asked for it.

After sufficiently having killed time in Central Park (it had certainly gone down over the years, much to Lloyd's chagrin), he slowly made his way to the college. Key slowly, as a rock had a better sense of direction than he did. Eventually he broke down and hailed a taxi, giving him the address to the college. He didn't doubt one bit that the cabbie overcharged him, but there was little he could do unless he wanted to miss his own lecture. Which was an enticing prospect to be honest, but he had his duties.

Unfortunately, unlike some folks, Lloyd didn't possess any sort of charisma or authority that commanded attention. So when he finally stepped into the auditorium, he was immediately dismissed as another listener. It was only after he'd tapped and cleared his throat into the microphone that it finally occurred to the attendees that the man in front wasn't a technical tester but the man they'd come to listen to. He saw the disapproving glances when they gauged his age and appearance and... his scent to an extent, as he smelled like cigarette smoke. But Lloyd pretended not to notice, or he was liable to walk out on lecture.

"A-alright. What's the first thing you think of when you think of the word mutant?" The lights dimmed down and now the focus went to him. Lloyd then wrote out the word in the tablet in front of him. His handwriting showed in one of the screens behind him, projected by one of the two video projectors at the back of the room. He called the attention of a rather homely looking kid, who gave an answer that wasn't quite what he was looking for. The scientist still wrote it down though, connecting it to the word with a line. "Think of it outside the scientific and medical setting."

The college crowd quickly picked up on the nuance of the question. "Those superheroes and villains from the comics! People with cool powers?" He nodded in affirmation, writing down the answers as they came. Circling the ones he felt was relevant

"Now, switching to the first slide, we've got what the example of a normal DNA sequence. Now what happens if I do this..." He brought out the stylus and proceeded to scribble on the slide, rearranging the sequence and adding extra lines to the double helix. Silence filled the room as they watched him re-do the pairs, cross out a few of them completely and linked new ones. When he finally finished, he saw that a few of the heads were looking at their copies and had copied down what he'd written on their copies.

"If we translated what I just made, we'd have this --" The screen slowly morphed and got to the next slide, which was a proper representation of what he'd written down earlier. He continued when he saw that everyone had figured that out. "These shouldn't even be theoretically possible, but doing the math and association, they are. What are the effects?"

After that, he launched into detail about his theory on the link of genetics to powers, expanding from DNA to chromosomes, and then corporeal manifestation of what could happen. By this time, he'd shaken off the quiet doctor act, too absorbed in his discussion. He barely even noticed his audience; right now he was more talking to himself than speaking to a listening group. He kept his pace fast but used the simplest terms and the least jargon possible; it was Lloyd's own habit that made him speak that way. Soon though, the discussion came to an end, and he was forcibly brought back to reality as his audience gave a polite applause.

"Open forum for ten minutes, I guess. Ask your questions, but I won't be able to answer them in detail." He wrote the word ten minutes, stressed it with a double underline. The lights came back on as this was announced. "If you have a question you feel like can't be answered in two minutes, I'll be around for private discussion for the next few hours." As usual, academic appearances required some sort of social gathering in the evening. This New York college proved no exception, and he'd rather stay around than leave and risk getting lost again. Lloyd would rather spend his evening answering honest questions from a young mind than making small talk with the professors.

Kaya was enraptured by the lecture. By the time it was over she had written eight pages of notes and made multiple notations over the presentation slides. It was absolutely thrilling listening to someone who believed in the possibility of people like her. She checked the time once the lecture was over and found that she still had a few hours until she had to leave. Delighted, she fully intended to take the opportunity to try and talk with Dr. Neurus.

For now, though, she just listened patiently to the questions asked in the forum.

Nodding to the girl who had almost knocked him over in acknowledgement Jayce smiled and said, "Don't worry about it." Before he could continue the speaker came up and began his presentation. Jayce was intrigued by all that the man was teaching about. Surely something this close to the truth must have the ED involved in some way, shape, or form. So when the speaker announced that he would be around for discussion after Jayce knew he had to investigate.

Looking over at his notes he saw a student of his from that morning. She had a shock of green hair and was easily recognizable. Jayce casually got up and moved over to a seat near by her and said. "Now what is a freshman in highschool doing in a college level lecture?"

((double post))

When their lecturer called for a ten minute open forum, Leila didn't take the chance to ask her questions. The number of people within the lecture hall made her uncomfortable. The ten minutes passed by fairly quickly, most folks just clarifying bits of jargon he'd used and a few follow-up questions regarding them. She wanted to ask much more in-depth question, such as sporadic appearance of mutant abilities or if it could be developed at some point beyond the womb (by natural and not radioactivity or chemicals). However Lei's questions were much too specific and most would question her motives.

Much like the green-haired girl that her seatmate was now patronizing. Her brown eyes remained focused at the task at hand, neatly folding the slide show copies into a precise rectangle, but she had on ear on the conversation. Ah, being superhuman had its uses. Despite the general noise from the lecture hall, she could still pick out their voices fairly well. Finally though, she finished packing up. She stopped paying attention in the middle of the green-haired teenagers speech, having lost interest. Pushing her chair back, she stood up placing her tablet into her bag when something lightly bumped into her.

Although -- she frowned as she looked towards whoever'd bumped into her -- it was hardly lightly for the girl. Behind her was the man who'd she'd sat beside. However, Leila had a rather less positive opinion of him now that he'd heard him speak.

A small smile decorated her face as Lei responded to his query. "No, I just have both feet firmly planted on the ground." The subtle jab at his overconfident aura and patronizing words probably wouldn't go unnoticed, but she inclined her head to indicate that that particular line of conversation was over. A polite smile still remained pasted on her face though.

"It's fine." The young girl with the green hair had piqued her interest; just why was the charismatic man so interested in her. Leila's eyes followed after the girl, taking into account the general surroundings. She turned back to Jayce, whose smirk was irritating her. "I guess we'd better follow after; I think Mr. Neurus would be a lot more considering of our questions if we approached him as a small group."

Waiting with the rest, she watched as the rather young and awkward-looking scientist talk to the last of the current round of questions. When he finally said goodbye, he turned towards their group. "I hope you don't mind us borrowing your time for a bit, Mr. Neurus. I've got a number of questions and so do these two." She did her best to smile and make him feel at ease because quite frankly, the man looked ready to run. "I'm Leila Tan, by the way." She turned around as she heard a chair scrape against the floor, her eyes briefly meeting a certain black-haired girl at the back. Leila gave a small smile as greeting and inclined her head as a gesture to join if she wanted to, then turned back to her current conversation group.

The lecture was a success, despite the judging stares he'd received from colleagues, students and professionals alike. It was lucky he'd developed a defense mechanism against public speaking, or Lloyd would never have received any funding for his earlier exploits. The small talk, the subtle smooching and flirting made him sick and tired. He much preferred to be back at home, rendering his next model. Maybe super strength this time around?

His current company consisted of three professors of the college, but they were standards ones which he'd answered many times before. Lloyd let his mind wander. ED had never managed to successfully catch an animal morph mutant, which was baffling considering they were probably the easiest to spot. It would be interesting to study their genes and compare it against both human and the animal they had combined with. Maybe he should ask later again today; ED was always--

"I hope you don't mind us borrowing your time for a bit, Mr. Neurus. I've got a number of questions and so do these two." Oh. His eyes widened fractionally and Lloyd instinctively stepped back, raising an arm in defense. He slightly relaxed as the female who'd spoke smiled at him, but Lloyd felt wary. He hadn't noticed when the three old men had been replaced by these much younger individuals. They were more his age, but honestly? The scientist had never felt comfortable with the youth. He nervously fiddled with the cuff of his dress shirt; by the gods, he could use a smoke about now. Unfortunately there was a strict no smoking policy within the school building.

"Um, of course." His gaze unintentionally wandered to the teenager with a shock of green hair; wasn't she a bit too young to attend? He internally shook his head, unaware he'd done the action physically as well. Lloyd cleared his throat and then turned to the other two individuals. If he were being honest, all of them looked too young for their current status in life. That was including himself.

"Yes?" His eyes jumped between all three sets of eyes. This was uncomfortable; older people were more likely to drown him out as well. But individuals like these? They were sharp. They'd pick up if he was giving a default answer. Before they could ask their questions, he gestured to some of the seats near the front, taking one for himself. "Take a seat, I feel your questions will take a bit of time."

Lloyd himself took the seat in front and dragged it over, wincing at the noise he'd made. "What're your names by the way?" He asked as he took his seat, taking the files from his desk as well so he'd have something to fiddle with in awkward silences, such as now. "And of course, what kind of questions do you have?"

The scraping of the chair made Emilien jump somewhat and her wings spread slightly out to the sides. The sound of anything with a sharp ring or something else like as bad of dog whistles often cause her pain, like the sound of this chair. She turned to see what was going on, being able to hear perfectly from where she was and was only really there was listen, not speak.

She noticed someone down in the front, someone who had noticed her. She looked to her left and then to her right, confused. 'she probably thinks I look still look human. I blow my cover in front of these people, the cops may come shooting.' she thought to herself as she waved back to her in a 'no thank you' manner and sank back down out of sight.

The bat could feel herself getting nervous, listening for the foot steps of the others when they would finish and start walking up. For the moment though, this hall was cooler on her fur and out of the sun. Something that, sleeping in New York parks and carrying a duffle bag large enough that it should be a camping haul with everything to make a mini-apartment outside with the expection of internet access, but even then she has had problems in the past with people. And they did seem nice. The shock of green hair on one of them made her think of someone who she had seen at conventions. Maybe some hair dye that never came out.

She looked around again, making sure that no one wasn't around. She soon crouched on all fours, pushing her duffle bag across the floor and around the corners of rows and trying to be as quiet as possible and as quick as possible. The curve of her wings could be seen over the seats and the flash of her tail could be seen behind her as she moved from row to row.

Kaya held back a wince at the scraping sound the chair made. It was hell on her ears, but she had schooled herself to keep her reactions down. Normal people may dislike the noise, but they weren't typically pained by it. Kaya pulled up her own chair, making considerably less noise and sat herself across from him.

She held out her hand saying, "My name's Kaya. It's very nice to meet you Dr. Neurus, I've read your work, and I'm very interested in the advancing mutations to the human genome."