Versus Mutations Pt. 2

One

11:14am.

Back in the other room stood the rest of the team. Leo, Veracity, and Harris attempted to give one last go at reversing the affect in the blood. Mack bit her lip in anticipation while stress eating the rest of the donuts. Analysing the substance, Harris walked over to the machine and read over the scanners. Veracity mixed up the rest of the supplies needed for the antidote. Leo went back and forth on making sure they were the right ingredients.

"The blood isn't swirling anymore and I don't see any form of toxins," Harris informed, "but the components are strong and they've been growing."

"What do you mean?" Kenzie asked.

"Well whatever Leo used to create technopathy is enhancing," Harris explained, "it's going to take time for Ry's system to cooperate with it. His cells and bloodstream should be good to go, but his bones and every other part of his body has to learn to work with it."

"So he's not-"

"He is," Harris told her, "just not having the full body fluids or intestines of one."

"He's not an alien right?" Mack questioned a little freaked out.

"No," Leo replied, "aliens are from another planet and they have all kinds of features that a mutant doesn't. Plus, they're more creepy just saying."

"How would you know?" Veracity inquired to him.

"Don't ask." Leo retorted.

Raising an eyebrow, the dirty blonde lifted up the bowl that contained the finished concoctions.

"This looks good." she said.

Leo took it from her while Harris brought the blood back over.

"Ok, moment of truth." The older scientist spoke to the group.

Kenzie stood up from the floor and joined the others. Veracity poured the mixture in, trying to mix it with the blood. Once it was all out, everybody waited. And waited. And waited. And...well...nothing happened.

"How long does it take for it to work?" Harris asked Leo.

"Since I had to test the technopathy on loads of people, the effect is usually within a few minutes," Leo told him, "the reverse affect should do the same. We'll just have to come back a little later."

Walking away, the male brains of the team grabbed the bag of treats. He reached for a donut. He felt nothing. Shaking the bag, he realized it was empty. His head turned to stare at the other female on the team, who gave a sheepish expression.

"I stress eat. It calms me down." Mack said.

Her friend brushed the matter aside with a nod.

"So what if it works?" Mack queried.

"We injected into Ryan and the cure should be able to reverse it in a few weeks," Leo riposted, "days at the least."

"How come Ryan's parents didn't get it?" Mack wondered.

"It passed on to him through them." Veracity told her.

"Oh ok," Mackenzie understood, "wait! Can't Randall and Violet come to Bay City now? I mean, they're cured now and everyone's better."

"Harper and the others are gonna track them down so it's better that they stay where they're at." Harris responded.

Kenzie nodded.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's probably a good idea," she agreed. She seemed a little sad, which caused curiosity in the others, "I just thought it'd be cool to be able to see my aunt and uncle again. Have family barbecues once in a while and get to know each other better...but, it's ok. Long as they're safe I'm ok."

Leo put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed it. Clearing his throat, the nerdy boy gestured for his rival to join him outside of the lab. She did so and followed him. The two noticed the others had left. That was a good thing. They didn't need them to comment on this particular matter.

"Uh so," Harris began to bring up, "remember when we all kind of found out that Harper was Ryan's actual dad and a bunch of crazy stuff happened back then that we didn't uncover until months ago?"

Veracity nodded.

"Well, Mackenzie doesn't know that and she said that Liam and Randall were brothers." Harris added.

"And if Randall was the person who protected Ryan from Seth at the time and isn't biologically related to him then..." Veracity put together.

The both of them had their eyes wide. They looked at one another in surprise.

"How have we not figured this out yet-"

"Well we've been busy with the usual drama that happens in this city so it's not like we had the time to-"

"Still! When they find out-"

"It's gonna crush them, but maybe we should wait-"

"Til 2024 right? Harris they need to know-"

"Do they? How do we tackle two big discoveries like this in one day? I mean it's hard to deal with what we do everyday-"

"No dip! But if they find out on their own, they're gonna ask if we knew. And since we do know, they're gonna get mad at us-"

"Well, Liam had to go into hiding like Randall so maybe there's something else we need to find out. Bomb drops is something I'm not good at Veracity, you know this. It's like saying I had a crush on you for so long because you're the only person who's been able to challenge my academic skills." Harris managed to stop the ongoing cut offs.

The female scientist gave him a strange look. Her rival realized the last sentence he had said to her and zipped his lips. Where that came from is something he didn't even know.

"Uhhhh...." Harris tried to continue. Veracity waited for that response, "yeeaahhh um...th-that, I don't know why I just said that. Must've just been-"

"It's okay," Veracity reassured him, "it was just an accident."

Harris nodded as he coughed to break some of the awkwardness in the silent halls.

"Anyway," he changed the subject, "How are we going to do this?"

Veracity shook her head.

"If this were an equation or an experiment, I'm your girl. Secrets and bombshells like this are tricky," she responded in all honesty, "to be safe, let's make sure the robot has inside shields."

"Why?" Harris asked.

"Timberflake, Ryan is a technopathic mutant and Mackenzie is a technopathic guardian," Veracity reminded him, "I'd be surprised if they left the robot and nothing was blown up or destroyed.

Harris nodded.

**********

Back in another dimension, Morris was walking back and forth, still astonished by what was said to him.

"Okay okay," he started. His partner looked at him, "So...you're not human?!"

The clone nodded.

"How in the world-"

"Apparently my powers did this to me," the duplicate explained, "and since they've been in me since birth, I'm stuck like this for eternity. Thank you Leo."

Morris shook his head.

"So you're some kind of freak?" He asked.

The alternate dimension pilot tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, slightly peeved at that word. His co-worker put his hands up in surrender.

"Sorry, wrong words." Morris apologized.

"Mhm." The doppelganger agreed with him.

"So what now?" Morris wondered.

"We go on with our plans," the kid told him, "and after we get what we need, I have to pay somebody a little visit."