Sept 26th - Beast's Lab

[Kaylee Williams]

After getting decked out for the mission with Jayda she skipped into Beast's lab cheerily. She was still wearing the body armor.

"Dr. McCoy! Are you here?" She called out. She loved Dr. McCoy. His classes were interesting and she always paid attention. He was so smart too and best of all...

fuzzy.

[Hank McCoy]

McCoy is indeed in his lab, currently hunched over a microscope as he analyzes a few more samples. At Kaylee's call he straightens up and looks over with a smile on his muzzle. "Ah, Ms Williams, do come in. What brings you to my humble laboratory?"

[Kaylee Williams]

"I was called in to help on the raid tomorrow and my team and I needed to know if the vampires would still be vulerable to my ability. We're not sure if there's something about them that would make them immune or less likely to work. Constatine also suggested trying out things on a vampire corpse that's supposed to be here?" She asked, not quite sure if she'd get the pass on that one or not. She wasn't too happy about the idea.

"Oh! Nina will probably show up sooner or later too to ask about the same thing." She walked up beside him and leaned to the side, looking at the microscope curiously. "We were hoping maybe you had something we could use against them too."

[Hank McCoy]

"I have good news and bad news on that front. The good news is, they do not have any particular immunity to conventional pathogens. The bad news is, their healing factor does allow for a rapid recovery. As such, your power should function but I would anticipate it will be more challenging to afflict them."

"Of course, a rather less-than-discerning diet of blood may have exposed them to above average levels of pathogens." He gestures to the microscope should Kaylee be interested, "This particular subject had a particularly nasty strain of influenza in his system, apparently held at bay by his healing factor. If others fed from the same source, they may carry it as well."

[Kaylee Williams]

She listened intently to what the Doctor had to say. The bad news wasn't as bad as she thought. She smiled. "I see. Well, I am not that worried then. I mean, their healing factor was helping them with the normal stuff. Mine is a little over the top..if not skyrocketing depending on how long I keep in contact with them or using a super killer strain." She said with a nod and smiled brightly. The tone of her voice quickly growing with more confidence as her mind worked on various things she could use. "I'm just glad that I'll be able to beat them down eventually, even if it takes a little more work than normal."

As soon as Dr. McCoy offered her a view of the scope she took it quickly, taking a peek. What Beast said made her smile turn into somewhat of a demented grin. "Oh really?" she asked to no one in particular. "That means some are just a ticking time bomb of fevers, headaches and diarrhea. Good to know. Makes my job easier."

[Hank McCoy]

"Indeed. I would caution you to hold some of your power in reserve. A virus powerful enough to overcome their defences may spread rapidly among your team-mates. I am confident you can pull the punch in time, so to speak, just watch for the breaking point."

[Kaylee Williams]

"You're right Dr. McCoy. I'll be careful and at least provide the team mates some anti-bodies before things get started. At least, for the ones that are working closely by me."

Now that she knew her more basic powers were in the clear. "Did you ever find out..why they are like they are? Or what's made them change?"

[Hank McCoy]

"My working hypothesis is still that this is the result of a mutant power rather than a technological process. The captives and samples all possess an active X-Gene but the alleles show remarkable homogeneity. I suspect that the perpetrator practiced refining the technique before moving on to the more exotic iterations. I would be surprised if there are any true surprises waiting, but I would anticipate meeting either earlier attempts or more sophisticated refinements. I am not certain which is more dangerous."

[Kaylee Williams]

Kaylee frowned, wondering what kind of mutant power could cause something like this. She glanced up, twirling a strand of hair as she thought about it. "That's no fun. Anyway, if you ever have something you want to try out or test that invovles my speciality then by all means, let me know! I'd like to get to the bottom of this. Maybe I can even come up with something to fight off whatever's changing the people."

She decided to stray away from that subject. "Are you healed up now by the way?"

[Hank McCoy]

"Conventional genetic engineering often utilizes viral vectors for modifying genes or inserting new ones. The lack of these vectors is the primary evidence to support the hypothesis that the changes are a result of a mutant power rather than conventional science. That being said, it is possible to have the body reject the modified cells, at least in the case of an incomplete transformation. I need to establish a better baseline before I can be certain, but should we wind up with any partial 'vampires' in need of restoration your power might be of assistance to me."

McCoy stretches briefly, then does a fast standing backflip, agilely landing on his toes in spite of the confined quarters. "Indeed I am! The medical staff here is excellent, and my own modest healing factor has completed the job. I will be joining some of the other teachers in the field on Monday and I look forward to the re-match."

[Kaylee Williams]

She clasped her hands together and placed them under her chin. "So, this person's ability actually just rearranges or alters a person's cells? Wouldn't such a power just fully take over the person all the time? I'm really interested in what's so different about one person that can be fully transformed compared to another that's only partial. Genetic makeup of some sort? X-genes or mutations that don't go along very well or try to fight off the infection?"

She pondered. "They were focused on telepaths for awhile. Perhaps it's easy to turn mutants that don't have physical alterations caused by their X-gene. I wonder if that makes it easy..or if that's just the type of mutants they want."