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Governor's Island had settled some following the crazy incident the day before. The green mist, now encased in a thin layer of pink energy encasing it in a bubble — thanks to the alien crystal used to power the prison — remains. The prisoners, mostly still held in the floors below are not quite as protected as the crystal's energy has been far stretched beyond its initial capacity.
And, added to the prison, is one Sam Sterns.
A series of tests has been run on the pink bubble with Leo Fitz trailing around its perimeter with one of the DWARFS in tow. The pressure is considered as is the scope and air pressure surrounding the bubble. He scribbles some notes on a clipboard and wrinkles his nose. His concussion hasn't exactly done him any favours. The dull pain behind his eyes turns sharp as she moves around the bubble. "Looks like it'll hold for awhile, yeah?"
*
The day before, Hulkling merely did what any good mutant with chaotic good tendencies would do. He heard explosions, he went to help. What he got in the middle of was nowhere near what he expected and after it was all over, he flew off since there was nothing else he could do to help. But he couldn't help but wonder what exactly had happened. Figuring they wouldn't try to shoot him out of the air since he was just there the day before (not that bullets bother him anyway), he circles the island once before flying down to ground level, detouring over toward Fitz when he spots someone he recognizes. Landing in front of the scientists, the green bat-like wings shrink down into nothing as he lands. "Hey man."
*
Leo shoves the clipboard back into the DWARF following him around the bubble. His chin lifts at the circling Hulkling. He squints and his nose wrinkles as the fellow lands. "Woah," he watches in awe as the other man soars and then lands in front of him. "…yeah, if I could do that I wouldn't walk anywhere. Ever." He shrugs and then finally realizes he's being rude. Concussions do little for resolving such things and so he manages a somewhat delayed, "Hey — welcome back." His lips twitch upwards, curving at the edges into a near-smile, "To the disaster zone. Project isn't dead, but a major setback…"
*
Teddy nods and looks around. Disaster zone seems like a good description. "So umm, just what happened here? I mean, I'm guessing it's all top secret so I'm not asking for details or anything but things blew up, your alien Director was killed, some girl was making earthquakes and you hit her over the head and I might have been exposed to gamma radiation so if you could kinda check for that so I know I'm not going to die, that would be pretty cool of you."
*
A vague nod follows the words. "Aye, probably worth getting checked out. I'd suggest you talk to Simmons 'bout that, but — " Fitz peers around the area " — she's not here. Dealing with the fellow who really did get the gamma radiation." His eyebrows lift and he shrugs. As far as what happened, "Uh… an accident," the flat way Leo says the word implies that's not entirely true. "Transporting materials for some experimentation, and… they got out of hand." He rubs the back of his neck and offers no comment about the rest. "But yeah, let's get Doc to check you out… take some basic readings."
*
Hulkling holds his arms out and looks down at them. "No radiation burns or anything." he points out. "And I don't think I got too close but…" He doesn't want to turn into the Hulk. At the explanation, he looks dubious. "Sure, an accident. With people trying to kill each other." And in one case succeeding. "Got it. Lead the way." As he falls in next to Fitz, he glances sidelong at him. "This is the place they're building that super prison right?"
*
Fitz's lips hitch up on one side, but it's not quite a smile. In fact, it lacks the hallmarks of a real smile. Instead he merely nods, "A very bad(?) accident," he chooses to clarify. "Look, none of it was planned on our part, yeah?" even if it had been planned on someone's part. He inhales a slow breath, "Yeah," he treads back to one of the few still-intact staircases leading downwards, and as he moves, the DWARF trails close behind. "Medbay is one floor down. We should be able to find everything we need to test for radiation sickness. Doubting you got it, less you ended up in the green mist, yeah?"
*
"I didn't think you'd be trying to destroy your own prison." Hulkling agrees. "That would be kind of dumb. It's a lot easier to just not build it in the first place." As they walk, he casts looks back over his shoulder till he asks "What is that thing following us?" At the question, he hesitates a moment. "I don't /think/ so. But it got kind of crazy there for a minute."
*
The notion of something following them causes Fitz to turn quickly and frown… until he notices Doc. "Oh," he motions towards the bot trailing on the ground, "that's just Doc. It's one of the DWARFs. Uh… my fri — colleague — Simmons and I made seven of them to help investigation. Incredibly helpful," he begins to tread down the stairs, and, the DWARF follows at a much slower pace, taking only one stair and finding balance on it at a time. "Good. Think you'll be alright, then. Worth getting checked anyways. Rather have people checked and treated, yeah?"
Leo leads them down through the stairs, and punches a few digits into a keypad before opening a door into a very white hallway. "Not very occupied, 'fraid. Most the med staff now at the hospital in Astoria taking care of anyone that got hurt here." The finally reach the actual main clinic area. "I'd like to draw a blood sample. And, if you're amenable, one a week from today. Your exposure'd be minor if you are at any risk. We can monitor any changes to your DNA in that time. Simmons and I can both take a peek if you're okay with that?"
*
Teddy slowly grins at the explanation. "You named them DWARFSs. And made seven of them. So does that make you Snow White?" He follows Fitz down the stairs, looking around curiously. "Yeah, better safe than sor…" What? "A blood sample? I… don't know. YOu can't like, track me or anything with it can you? And would you admit it if you could?"
*
"Everyone thinks I have some grand ulterior motivation," Fitz clucks his tongue as he treads to one of the cupboards, opens it, and extracts a pair of blue disposable gloves. "I'm not that devious." He actually shrugs, "Any around here would tell you as much. I'm a scientist, not a spy." He motions towards the DWARF, "And… try to keep that Snow White bit to yourself, yeah? All I need are more folks around here asserting as much."
*
Teddy considers Fritz then shrugs slightly. "Well, if you can tell just by looking, I suppose it would be okay. I can take it with me after you look, right?" Cause Fitz is SHIELD and SHIELD is a super secret spy agency no one knows anything about which means you can't trust them. QED. "So, sure go ahead."
*
"Yeah… you can keep your blood sample if you want," Fitz offers with a shrug. "It's just a sample — we really don't have use for it. Besides to, you know, check that you're not going to turn into the Hulk." Leo's lips twist to the side, "I still think we should've made this place a labyrinth instead of a triskelion. So much better. Plus, people in the prison would be like minotaurs," in this case, he's specifically thinking about the Hulk as a minotaur.
He reaches into one of the drawers and extracts an elastic and a hypodermic needle in plastic wrap. Fitz ticks his head to a chair, "Have a seat? It'd be helpful if you rest your arm on the rest."
*
Teddy looks around as Fitz gathers the equipment. Glancing down at the chair, he considers its size then shakes his head. "Think I'll stand." He's a bit large, thick and green to be fitting in that chair. Instead, he gets down on one knee and puts his arm on the rest. "Okay." Pause. "Wait. Is that a super needle?"
*
"…no." Fitz cringes and sets it down. "It's not going to work, is it?" His gaze turns up to the ceiling. "It's possible this isn't the way to do this. We need stronger metal… and a new process for this." Leo sets the package down on the counter and shakes his head. "We need better ways of getting any of this done. Can you even prick a finger for me? We can put the sample right on a slide?"
*
"Wait. Just… hang on." Hulkling stands up and runs a hand through his hair, chewing on his lower lip as he looks down at his other arm. He doesn't usually do partial changes. In fact, he never thought about trying it before. But he can do different things so why not? After half a minute, the green forearm starts to fade to a more normal flesh tone though without losing any of its mass. "Try now. I think it worked."
*
Wordlessly, Fitz gapes as the arm turns more fleshy. His nose wrinkles and his eyebrows draw together. "Incredible," he inhales a sharp breath. "Truly amazing. No matter how long I've been with SHIELD and studying science I can't — " he shakes his head, the thought isn't worth finishing, even if its true. He reaches for the elastic and ties it around Teddy's arm. "Alright, so it might sting a bit. I'm not a physician, alright?" Which is as close to a warning as Teddy is going to get. Carefully the arm is inspected and after a few beats, Leo chooses a vein. "There we go. Nice juicy vein … uh… not that I'm into…" he frowns slightly and shakes his head again while opening the needle from its packaging.
Carefully, he spies the vein again and, finally, draws the blood.
*
As Fitz fiddles, Hulkling kneels down again and puts his arm on the rest to make things easier. "Don't worry about it. I've been hurt worse than a little needle." He snorts a little at the talk of his vein. "No, Snow White wasn't a vampire." Watching the syringe fill, he asks "Does mutant blood look different than human blood?"
*
"A bit," Fitz offers as he pulls the syringe. He actually grins now. "The DNA looks different under a microscope. Has to do with the chemical makeup of those genes. Of course, it's on the X-gene, which is why experts say it goes through a person's mother." He shrugs. The blood in the syringe is then moved to a separate counter where Fitz pulls out a couple of slides. "And, remember, I'm still no Snow White," his eyes reflect good humour as he preps the slide. "So you're a mutant then?"
*
Teddy stands back up once Fitz is done and walks over to look over his shoulder. "Cool. I've never seen blood before. In a microscope, I mean." The question gets a nod. "Yeah. No radiation involved despite the name. It's just sort of a…" Homage to one of the worst walking disaster areas in history. Why'd he pick this name again? "…thing."
*
"Interesting," Fitz offers towards teddy as he finishes prepping the slide. "Want to see it under a microscope?" he motions towards the microscope. "I can get it in focus and let you have a peek," he shrugs. It's not as if he's apt to get into trouble. His boss ended up being an alien. Not a lot of people to get in trouble with around anymore. The slide is placed in its spot and he carefully begins to fidget with the scope to bring it into focus.
*
"Sure. How do you tell if it's been exposed to radiation?" Hulkling asks curiously. "I was just expecting you to use one of those geiger things that click. Wouldn't that have been easier?" He stays where he is for now so he doesn't bump and break anything.
*
"Geiger counters are good if I know you've been exposed. To be honest, we're in an exposed area. I'd have expected other symptoms if it'd register on the Geiger counter," Fitz replies easily. "You'd have been nauseated and vomiting before coming here. And, I'd think, you'd have been around sooner." Logic. "I didn't want to ask about them, mostly because if you ask someone if they're nauseated, suddenly they feel nauseated, especially when they think they've reason to be."
He shrugs slightly, "Your exposure would be a lot lower than that. In this case, I'd like to do comparison. So I'll know what it looks like today. If you can come back in a week, I can look at a new sample, and if there's no obvious change, we can assume you're in the clear. I'm doing this for all the employees who might've been exposed but had no obvious signs of radiation sickness."
*
"Oh, no. I haven't been throwing up or anything. I feel fine." Hulkling assures the scientist. "I'm just a little nervous around gamma radiation." For obvious reason in a world with the Hulk in it. "Yeah, I can come back in a week. You'll remember what it looks like just by looking at it?"
*
It's then that Fitz wrinkles his nose and stops adjusting the microscope. "That… " he frowns and peeks over his shoulder at Hulkling. "It's not…" he swallows hard and squints harder as he backs up from the microscope. "This doesn't look… are you… there's not way…" his frown deepens. "I need Jemma."
*
Teddy's arm went back to green as soon as Fitz withdrew the needle earlier and now he's standing right behind the man, peering down at the slide which, naturally, accomplishes nothing since Fitz is the one with his eye to the magnifier. "What? It doesn't look what?" he asks, puzzled.
*
"It's not normal," there. Rip off the bandaid. Leo Fitz isn't a physician, so beside manner isn't something he really has. "It's… not what I would expect. But it doesn't… it's not mutating DNA either. Not like we'd anticipate seeing in someone who has been exposed to radiation. I see no indication that you're exposed, but I also don't see what I would call normal human cells — not even mutant human cells."
*
Teddy frowns at that. "Well, I am large and green right now. It probably looks different when I'm not." Which makes perfect sense to him so he doesn't sound particularly concerned. "But you don't see any radiation problems? That's good."
*
"…no. Not what I would expect to see with problems," but Fitz doesn't exactly sound convinced. His lips purse and he hums about something. "And… anything is possible, I guess." Fitz squints at him. "Don't think there are any issues with your blood from a gamma radiation standpoint."
*
"Good. So let me see." Hulkling says. "And tell me what I'm seeing. Can I see your blood too so I can see the difference? This is kind of interesting. I never cared much for science in school but it's different outside of class. It matters here."
*
"I'm happy to do so, but am not the most adept at taking my own samples. I can certainly try," Fitz offers. And as he makes the offer he peels off the gloves and retrieves a new pair, a new syringe, and a new elastic before actually sitting in the seat.
"Alright, take a peek at the sample," he instructs. "You'll see that the cells are sticking together tightly. That's the structure. It's hemoglobin drawing them together. What I find unusual about them is there are two centres. In a regular sample, I'd anticipate a single dip in the cells. A single centre; yours has two."
And as Fitz explains, he is drawing a sample of his own blood. It's not the most graceful procedure, and involves pulling the end of the syringe with his teeth, but it's done soon enough. He then goes about prepping a slide.
*
Teddy looks into the microscope, squinting a bit but keeping his hands behind his back cause his fingers are just too thick to adjust the damn thing. "Uh-huh. Okay, I can see that. Huh. I'd expect them to be green." Because he's green.
*
"Not green, but not the usual red either. It's kind of… blue-r. Almost like deoxygenated blood cells, but not quite right there either," Fitz offers in turn. Carefully he steps towards the microscope once Teddy is done. His own slide is put on the machine and brought into focus. "And this is typically what we expect from blood cells." His eyebrows lift. "You have two nuclei at the cellular level. Which… it's not something I've ever seen."
*
"Well, two ie better than one." Hulkling says as if it's a truism. After all, a pair beats a garbage hand. What does he know? Stepping back, he lets Fritz swap out slides and then looks again. "Huh, yeah I can see the difference. Weird. I guess that's what lets me change."
*
Fitz's head waffles a bit. "Not… impossible." Although he doesn't find it terribly likely either. That said, science offers some strange explanations to strange and unusual things, and the unusual isn't wholly beyond him. "But it is different than expected. That said, no signs of radiation sickness."
*
Teddy steps back and nods. "Good." He seems happy at the answer and his curiosity has been satisfied too. "So who's Jemma you were going to get? She's also the one you built the robots with, right? Girlfriend?"
*
"Oh! Jemma… pffft. Nah, not a girlfriend. I mean, she's a girl, and she is my friend, but not like girlfriend," Fitz's smile turns lopsided and he rubs the back of his neck. "She's a biochemist and my best friend. We went to the Academy together. Competed all the time, and then realized we didn't have to compete." He grins. "More powerful together than apart and all that. So we divided and conquered all science topics of interest. I'm the engineer. She's the physician and biochemist." He shrugs.
*
Teddy nods. He reaches for the slide but then pauses. "You promise you can't track me or anything from that? If so, I suppose you can keep it and let her see if it's so interesting. You probably need it to compare the next one to also, right?"
*
"Certainly helpful to keep my hands on it," Fitz replies, "and useful to have Jemma take a look." And he lifts a hand into a two fingered pledge position, "Scout's honour, I can't use it to track you. And I won't let anyone else, besides Jemma Simmons, take a look."
*
"Okay then, go ahead and keep it." Hulkling decides. "You're doing me a favor after all. So, now we knew I'm not exposed, just why do you have all that radioactive gas floating around? If it had been really windy, it could have been blown into Brooklyn and that would have been bad."
*
"It's actually contained," Fitz offers in return. "At least, temporarily. We need to get a more permanent solution." His cheeks puff out irritably. "The prison emits a low-energy field around its occupants. Which is what we've mirrored above ground to hold in the gas. To be honest, I think we'll need to try to get it to a different state of matter and then cement it. Concrete or something of the like…"
*
"It's contained now. It wasn't contained then." Hulkling points out. "So you're not actually using it in some super top secret experiment that could destroy half of Manhattan? You really intend to get rid of it?"
*
"It was for an experiment of containment below ground that wasn't meant to ever see the light of day," Fitz replies earnestly. "And it was contained in a van that proceeded to be assaulted by — " he lifts a hand and shakes his head. Secrets. "Regardless, we do actually plan to come up with a permanent solution. Gotta consult an expert on it though."
*
Hulkling watches Fitz as he answers but he's neither a shrink nor a telepath so it sounds like the truth to him. "OK, I guess that makes sense. There's nothing I can do to help or I'd offer. Not less you get it in concrete or something and need it moved. So, I should come back in a week? Should I call ahead or something? I'm kind of surprised no one tried to shoot me down since it's all top secret."
*
"Yeah, probably call ahead and make an appointment. I think some of the more trigger happy agents might try to shoot you down, especially in a week's time when the dust has settled and there's less of us above ground." Fitz issues Hulkling another lopsided smile followed by a shrug. "Just… ask for Fitz. Er. Leo Fitz. That's me."
*
"Okay, I'll ask for you." Hulkling agrees. "Should I ask the operator for the super secret SHIELD base on Governor's Island?" Is there a shoe phone he should use?
*
"…probably not…" comes Fitz's answer. "Here, just a sec." He tugs the gloves off his hands and then reaches into his pants' pocket to retrieve a card. "This is the number to one of our offsite labs. I'll try to get Jemma there too and we can meet you. Call the number and pop on by. Should be easy enough to find, and a lot less armed guards around. Just a couple of quirky scientists who talk too fast for their colleagues."
*
Teddy takes the card, looks at it, and tucks it into a pocket. "Cool, I'll do that. I guess I'll let you get back to work then. Thanks for the medical stuff. It was interesting and I'g glad to know for sure I wasn't exposed. That stuff is nasty."
*
"The worst," Fitz agrees. "We'll make double-sure next week, but so far, no telltale signs." He shrugs. "Glad you stopped by, and thanks for letting me keep the sample!"
*
"Sure thing. See you in a week, Leo." Hulkling gives the man a nod and heads out of the lab, pausing to get his bearing but it was a pretty simple route. Mostly up.