A Hidden Secret

[Till Doyle]

((Zis post iz continued from page two of Burnt Offerings - in character, none vill know of ze events happening here. Out of character, feel free to obzerve))

With that, he turns and leaves the office, heading out of the door, and into one of the lifts. Entering it, he presses the button for his floor, and ascends. Quietly waiting, a slight warmth grows over his face. As he reaches his floor, the door pings open.

He steps forwards, and sees his door slightly ajar, walking towards it, with the tap, tap, tap of his cane, and gently and slowly pushes the door open with his free hand.

Suddenly, a small yell, high pitched, as if from a young girl can be heard. Closing the door behind him, an automatic EMP field that only interferes with none-specified items within the room, especially created to stop any bugs and spyware from listening in on his private conversations.

He kneels down, placing his cane on to the ground as the girl, aged six, runs up to him, and hugs him, wrapping her little arms around his neck and shoulders. Till hugs her back, holding her tightly.

"Little vone, how are you? I have not seen you all day. I vas beginning to believe you'd gone to a fairy land."

Giggling, "Nooo daddy. Silly. I've been to all my classes."

"You have? Vhat a good girl. I zhall have to make sure you have pudding." Letting her go, and holding her in front him, hands on her shoulders, "Vhat did you learn today?"

"Weeeeell, we learnt some maths. I don't like maths. It's boring. We had reading time, and the teacher read more of the borrowers. I wish I could be small. I could go into aaaaaaaaaaaaaaall th sweetshops in the world, and have anything I wanted." She grins cheekily.

"Really? But if you vere zo small, I vould not see you. Aaaand, you might get eaten by a hungry lion.." He gives a mock growl as he tickles her for effect. She giggles, trying to wriggle free, and then covers his eyes, "Ah, vehre are you, I can't see."

She runs off and climbs onto his chair, and spins herself around, as she comes back to face Till, "You're fired Daddy. I'm the boss now."

"But being the boss means you have to do lots of maths. I thought you didn't like maths?"

"Aw, really, then, can I, errrrrr, have dinner now?"

Till makes a note of looking at his watch, "Vell, I zuppose zo. But I don't know if you'll like it though....."

"Why, what are we having?"

"Weell, I told the cook to make you fish fingers, mashed potato and beans...."

"Really daddy. I love that!" She pushes herself of the chair and runs to a small room adjoining Till's room, "C'mon Daddy, I'm going to push the button." Till stands up, slowly, making sure his knee is alright. He also checks his mouth, as it feels sore thanks to Laurs surprise uppercut.

Walking into the small room, his daughter pushes a button, and they are warped to a small restauraunt of sorts, no one appears to be in there at the moment.

((More to come later))

[Laur Doyle]

((Right, I have requested permission from Till himself to post in this thread. No-one is to know IC what happens to me, but just like Till, OOC feel free to observe... Also continued from Burned Offerings))

*Laur swiftly and respectfully turns on her heel and makes her way out of the hangar bay, through a door this time rather than the lift Till took. She walks a little way through the corridors and takes a lift down into the bowels of Corporate HQ*

*As she descends in the lift, Laur slowly smiles. She was looking forward to seeing the report and progress for Project Stop and its effects*

*The lift doors opened at the bottom to reveal a lab with many scientists working round several tables, and along the wall are several cages with mostly people inside them. There were a few magical creatures in some of the cages too, that had been caught since they'd got here. The people in the cages were mutants, just like Laur. This place reminded of the Humans Against Mutants facility where she'd worked before*

*As Laur approaches one of the scientists he looks up at her, a clipboard with results in his hand and approaches*

Miss Wilkins, we didn't think you'd be back so soon... What happened to your face?

*Laurs eyes narrow slightly as she touches the scab that covered her lip, courtesy of Till*

It's nothing, an accident that is all. You were saying about not expecting me?

*The scientist stands up straighter and starts fiddling with his clipboard before answering*

We've almost got it perfect, there's just one problem. Someone, ah, misplaced the blood we were using, and we were so close to finding a way of synthesising the effects

*Laur raises an eyebrow as she watches the scientist, not moving but making sure he can see disapproval in her blue eyes*

The mutant he is, how should I put this, unpredictable? I believe he tried to bite one of us last time...

*Laur folds her arms and regards the scientist, making him even more nervous*

You're saying you cannot handle a teenage boy? Mutant though he may be

No no, of course not! Maybe you should have a look at these results, Miss Wilkins, we still have work to do. I shall ah, discuss the problem of the boy with you later

*Laurs disapproval shows a little more clearly, but she takes the clipboard that the scientist offered her and starts scrutinising the results*

[Till Doyle]

Minutes later, a cook comes around the corner with two plates of food, one for Till and one for his daughter. Grinning, "Thankoo".

The cook smiles and rubs her head as he walks back into the kitchen. Just as she goes to pick up a fish finger with her fingers, "Vhat have I said about manners. Now use your knife and fork." Looking at him she nods, and picks them up, and grips them with her hands, like young children do.

She plunges her fork into the mash potato, and digs a chunk of it out, and engulfs it. Till raises an eyebrow. Pulling back his sleeves slightly, he folds a disposable towel onto his lap, and tucks into his dinner.

About ten minutes later, after they have finished, Till wipes his mouth clean, and leans over to clean his daughters, "Can I have pudding?" she asks, beaming.

"Very vell, vhat iz it you vould like."

"Ice cream. Chocolate ice cream." After Till oreders the ice cream for his daughter, he orders a coffee for himself. As he sips his drink, his daughter merily tucks into her pudding.

[Laur Doyle]

*As Laur finishes reading the results she looks back up at the scientists, one of whom was watching her. Laur raises a brown eyebrow so he could see it just over the clipboard*

Problem?

Um, no Miss Wilkins...

Then stop watching me and get back to work!

*Laur lowers the clipboard and hands it back to one of the scientists, then approaches the one who'd given it to her earlier. He fiddles about with his coat before he starts talking*

We almost got it perfect, but the magic abilities are difficult...

I can see that. You wanted to 'discuss' the problem of the boy with me?

Oh ah, yeah, right. You ah, might want to leave your gun somewhere safe. We ah, don't want him to get a hold of it

*Laurs eyes narrow, this one obviously wasn't telling her the whole story*

What happened to the sedative?

We ah, ran out. We're still waiting for the new shipment to arrive

Hmmm... What did he get a hold of last time?

A scalpel, from one of our pockets, we're not sure how he managed it. And it was after he tried to bite us! We'd ah, like you to supervise us, this time

I see. Very well

*Laur turns and finds a safety cabinet on the wall, keycard locked of course. She swipes her card and with a click and hiss it opens. Laur takes out her simple handgun and stashes it in the cabinet, making sure it's locked afterwards*

*Laur turns back and without a word to the scientists moves towards the cage that held the boy they were all talking about. He was black skinned and looked only around 17 years old, yet standing he was taller than Laur. At the top of the cage there is a piece of paper attached that shows this mutants number and name. The name being Rhett aka Mimic*

*As Laur approaches he recognises her and suddenly going from docile to nasty he spits, the spittle landing just underneath her eye. Laur deliberately and slowly wipes it off before giving him her meanest glare*

Ugh, I see you haven't yet learned anything since I separated you from your friend, freak. No matter, I am only here to watch this time

*One scientist and two guards approach Laur and the cage she was standing next to, the scientist holding an empty needle ready to take blood. Laur nods to the scientist and guards to show she's ready and observing*

*One of the guards slightly opens the cage while the other one grabs an arm and pulls Rhett outside. The boy struggles ceaselessly, not letting the second guard get a hold of his other arm as he somehow constantly slid it out of the second guards grasp. The scientist nervously backs away as he waits for the boy to be restained, and Laur raises an eyebrow at the fiasco she was witnessing*

*As she watches, Rhett somehow manages to free his arm and makes a mad dash for freedom, knocking over the scientist with the needle as he does so*

*Laur quickly gives chase, regretting taking the scientists advice about her gun, the two guards not too far behind her. In front of them, Rhett knocks over a tableful of sharp implements to prevent any would be heroism from any scientists*

*The short stop allowed Laur to catch up a bit more, Rhett was fast but she was quicker. Laur reaches out and grabs an arm, as Rhett turns around revealing he's carrying a handful of sharp implements from the table he'd knocked over earlier. She can feel him suppressing her own power, and...*

*BANG!*

*There is a small noise, as if a controlled explosion has just taken place, and Laur sees a landscape of white nothingness. Seconds later she realises she's gone from being upright and running, to still and lying on her back. There is such a feeling of intense pain in her body, Laur struggles to even open her eyes*

*When she does, she sees the boy has been caught by the two guards and is being led back to the cage. She can only just see this thanks to the fact that many of the scientists had crowded around her, looking at her midsection with some concern*

Miss Wilkins?

*One of them asked tentatively, noting she'd opened her eyes. Laur ran a hand down to where everyone was looking, to find several metallic objects were embedded in her body, and she was bleeding profusely. Laur touched a button on her wristband to send a signal out, to Till Doyle. Just before her strength faded she grabs one of the closer scientists with her now blood soaked hand*

Tell... Till...

*She gasps, before the pain and blood loss caused her to slip into the darkness of unconsciousness*

[Till Doyle]

Till had just finished his cup of coffee, and was watching his daughter struggle with the last of the ice cream. Somehow, she had managed to get it on her nose and cheeks.

Till smirking, removes his disposable wipe, and leans over to clean her face. She tries to move her face, but he follows, making sure he gets every spot. "Did you enjoy zat?"

"Yes daddy, I loove chocolate."

"Ah ha, I can zee. Vel......" he's cut off as his comm device blips once. Checking it, he sees Laur has comunicated. Normally, she doesn't just drop her end of the line. This at first annoyed him, and then, as he tried to respond asking her name repeatedly, he hears the scientists heavy breath.

Looking at his daughter, "Sveetheart, daddy haz to go. A friend iz ill. Iz zat all right?"

"Uhm, okay, just as long as you tuck me in tonight and read a story."

Till smiles, and offers his hand, "You have my vord." She takes his hand, hers tiny in comparison, and shakes it. Letting go, Till stands up, "I'll have you nanny come and pick you up zoon. I'm sure zere are zome colouring books zomevhere around."

Standing up, he walks over to the platform, and dials slightly different co-ordinates, and appears one level above the labs in a safe office. Walking out of it, as some scientists and personnel bungle out of his way, he exits the room, and pushes the button for the lift.

Seconds later, it pings open, and he presses the button for the labs. As the doors ping open, he swipes his key card into the secruity doors, and enters, and sees the mess caused by the unruly mutant, blood on the floor, and Laur being raised onto a stretcher.

A glow of pure evil and annoyance flickers in his eye, he has seen enough in his experience to know a little about medicine. Yelling at the scientists, "Take her to ze healing chambers immediately! YOU! Get logged in, find her blood type, and any who match, vhether zey be freak or not!"

He storms over to Laur, looking into her face, "Hold on, I vill not have you dying! I vill not accept failure!"

The scientist turns and looks at Till, "Sir, uhm, th, the one who did this is, uhm, the closest match....." Till glares at him, slamming his cane on the ground.

"Tranquilise him....."

"Sir, we have run out of...."

"Zen beat him unconscious!" With that, four gaurds storm into Rhett, aka Mimic's cell, and begin to beat him with stun clubs. His screams of pain and 'Stop', can be heard. Moments later, the gaurds drag his unconcious body from the cell.

Walking through several doors, Laur is pushed along on the stretcher, medics alrady awaiting her, she is moved accross to a surgery desk as Mimic is brought in, onto a table next to her.
_____________________________________

After an hour of surgery, the implements have been removed, her organs and wounds stiched to the best ability of the surgeons. Mimic had been strapped down, as a blood transfusion was begun from him to Laur. However the damage was still quite severe.

The healing chamber, normally reserved for those who have at least a personal healing ability was the only option. Much to the protests, and warning of death to Laur, Till angrily orders her to be placed inside.

As she is strapped into position, in her less than fetching patient gown, Till pats his pockets, and pulls out something, a small black box, and puts it into Laurs hand, folding her hand closed, "Have faith, az I do."

The door is shut, a healing period of twenty minutes is set, as not to over bombard Laurs physical and genetic structure. The mutant Mimic, is thrown into solitary confinement, drained of blood, and severely beaten. Till won't let him die yet, there's too much he wishes to do.
_________________________________________________

Heading back to the scene of events, several upper level scientists are investigating what happened, and studying video footage, ready to file a report. As they do so, Till spies Laurs gun, and unlocks the weapons cabinet, and takes it out.

Later on, in his office, awaiting any information on Laur, he carefully studies her gun. Rumaging through his desk, he finds what he's looking for, and replaces the grips with red, smooth grips, thinking it to be Laurs colour, and makes a note to ask her if she wants it inscribed.

Placing the gun on the table, he holds his head in his hands, thinking.

((Hope you don't mind Laur.))

[HisLordship]

(Certainly a fine example of a leading manager. Punishes insubordination and undesirable behavior by Punative means. Yet still demonstrates to his employees that he cares about their wellbeing. He is the very model of a modern middle manager!)

[Laur Doyle]

((Not at all Till))

*Even before and after Laurs unconscious body is placed on the stretcher, and Till comes in, in her body and mind she is fighting. Fighting the pain that she could barely feel in the depths, and fighting for the life she could feel slipping away from her*

*Someones voice just pierces into her consciousness, he wouldn't have her dying. He wouldn't accept her failure*

*Laur refused to fail him, so Laur fights more*
_____________________________________________________________

*During the surgery, Laur though still unconscious still fights. During and after the blood transfusion she starts feeling stronger. Someone was helping her*
_____________________________________________________________

*Just after Till folds her hand over the little black box, Laur shows an outward sign that she is not giving up. Her hand keeps a good grip on the box while the healing process within the room starts, bombarding her body and forcing her tissue to heal quicker than it was supposed to*

*After fifteen minutes inside the chamber Laur slowly opens her eyes, taking in where she was while the cells within her body uncomfortably repaired themselves*

*She was in the healing chamber, strapped down, and she held something small in her hand. She also knew she wasn't wearing her usual clothes, they must've operated on her*

*Laur tries not to make a face as this enhanced healing was uncomfortable, but at least she wasn't in too much pain anymore*

*As the cycle finishes, Laur's still sore but very much alive, and a slow smile spread across her face as she thought of the voice that had stopped her from slipping away in the first place. Till had come*

*Outside, one of the personnel that had been watching the chamber noticed the cycle had stopped, and sends a communication to Till*

Sir, the healing cycles finished. And she's conscious

[Till Doyle]

((Middle management, zomevhat rude. You are yet to zee me in true control.))

Till doesn't know how long he'd been sat in his office, but he lifted his head as a knock came at the door, "Enter.", a scientist nervously bumbles in, and slowly sidles up to his desk, and places a file on it, quicjly retracting his hand.

Till opens his eyes slightly wider, and places a hand on the file, and slides it towards himself. Opening it, he reads every word, taking them all in, slowly turning page after page. He finishes the report, and closes it, leaning back in his chair.

The scientist nervously stands there, and is about to say something as Till recieves a comunication from the labs. Standing up, he tucks the gun into a pocket inside of his jacket. He also picks up the file, and tucks it under his arm and walks around his desk. He doesn't even look at the scientist as he does so.

Finally reaching the labs, he looks at the chamber Laur is in, and looks at a scientist typing into a computer. That look is enough to make the scientist run a status report, some genetic anomalies appear in the statistics, but Laur is almost fully healed. There will be some minor upper layer scarring of her organ tissues, her skin appears to have a scar of sorts.

Till looks at a scientist near the door, who activates the release button. With some hissing, diluted lights switch on inside of the chamber, to help Laur readjust to the lab lights. The door hisses open and the scientist enters, and begins to un do the straps. As Laur steps down, Till slowly appears in the view from the door, almost obscuring everything around it, looking both seriously annoyed, but, a look on his face makes him seem slightly softened.

((You can decide if you have the zcar, and vhat it looks like. Zorry for ze zlight powerplay of you ztepping down.))

[Laur Doyle]

*As Laur steps down, her eyes slowly get used to the diluted light. Laur passes a hand over her eyes as the bright light from the labs flooded in, but she soon found she didn't need to as Till blocked the way by standing in the doorway*

*Laur fights the urge to wince as the injury reminds her it's still sore and rather painful, a scar on her skin looks as though it is in the shape of a withered heart. Laur tries to stand up straight and look as smart as she can even in these clothes*

*She stops as she notices the look on Tills face, seriously annoyed yet somehow softer, and a file held under his arms. Laur frowns*

Till, what is wrong?

[Till Doyle]

"Incompetance. Incompetent gaurds. Incompetent scientists. Incompetance!"

He steps forwards, and passes Laur the file, "Any responzible zhall be punished, however you vish!" This being Till's way of asking how she is.

His eyes briefly flicker down to her hand, he thinks she may not have realised she's gripping something.

[Laur Doyle]

I can already think of three people who should be fired, at the very least

*Laur states, taking the file from him and bring the other hand up to turn the page, she knocks the little black box she still tightly gripped against it*

Hmm, what's this?

*Laurs attention turns away from the file so her eyes study the black box, then move back to the file. Laur starts to read it, before she's even halfway down the page her own self loathing shows itself again*

*Laur looks back up to Till, her blue eyes show a sort of desperate hope that perhaps she was still unconscious and in a bad dream, though it is very slight*

No... This isn't right... Tell me this isn't true... I've mutated again...

*Laur sits down on the bed she'd previously been strapped to heavily, a hand on her head and the other one holding the box in front of her eyes*

Where did this come from?

[Till Doyle]

Till lets nothing show on his face as she observes the box. As she sits down, now visibly loathing herself, Till steps into the room, and turns to all of the scientists, "I zuggezt you all leave now. Take a break, and conzider you apologiez!"

As the scientists leave the room, Till sits down on the bed next to Laur, "Az I underztand it, ze blood of Project Ztop haz merged vith you DNA, mutating your X-Gene. Az it iz zuch, you are able to locate mutants."

Pausing, he takes the file back, and mindlessly turns the pages, "It iz not unusual for trackers to have more zan vone ability, zat iz linked, occazionally not linked to ze tracking ability.

It, appears az zo zat tracking freaks, goez hand in hand vith copying or dampening zere abilities. Vhich, ze latter, you zeemed to have gained. How much control of zis power, and its range, haz not been specified. You vould, require training."

Closing the file, and placing it on the bed, to his side, "Az I see it." He pauses for a moment, "You now have an advantage upon others. You zhould no longer be, outpowered by ze freakz."

Standing up, "I have been advized to allow you recovery time. I do not vish to put you in an early grave. Take az long to rezt az you need. I have, matters to attend to. I zhall ze you shortly."

With that, he begins to make his way through the room, stopping, over his shoulder, "Zis file iz classified. Only you and I have accezz to zis file." He reaches the door.

[Laur Doyle]

*Laur listens, taking everything Till says in. But it'd take her a while to get used to what has happened, especially after the shock of getting stabbed like she had been*

*Laur nods to his statement that the file would only be allowed for them to see, it made sense*

*Just before Till makes it to the door, Laur opens the little black box. Inside is a simple gold band with three small rubies encrusted into it. Laur takes it out, holding it carefully, and looks back up at him*

Till?

[HisLordship]

(Do not mind me. But Mr. Rawlings is our Chief Executive Officer, is he not? That makes him top level manager. Middle level managers work under him, and to forth the power structure goes. Or has my career as a corporate organizer failed me?)

[Till Doyle]

((It iz Micheal 51%, myzelf 49%. Pure zemantics. Zomezing zat vill change in all eventuality.))

Till stops, he had heard the slight click of the box being opened. He pauses, lowering his hand from the door, and slowly turned to face Laur. As usual, his face let nothing slide.

"Take your time and zink about your optionz vhile you take time to recover. No...? If, you need me, az alvays, my comm iz on. You know vhich channel."

With that, he turns to the door and leaves. Eventually making his way back to his office, he lets out a deep, long sigh as he approaches his transport platform, entering co-ordinates known only to him, he transports to a small house.

Navigating his way up the stairs, he's in time enough to see his daughter emerge from the bathroom. "Ah, zere you are. I promized I vould be back to tuck you in. Off to bed vith you now, and I zhall read you a story."

As he tucks her in, "I love you daddy." Till pauses, his mind obviously quite heavy with thoughts, "I, love you too dear.". Tucking her in snugly, he sits down on a chair in her room, and picks up a book, seemingly about bears or such-like, and begins to read.