Charismatic Alchemic Reaction

"You are far more than that. You have the potential to be of a higher level than most Mutants can ever dream to be. You got in the way of our assessment of Pandemic, and have become a consistent distraction. That is something that needs to be rectified… Now stop struggling."

"That’s good," she said with a smile an a quick nod.  Her hand shot out and grabbed hold of the one that dangled by his side.  "You can help me."  She turned on her heel and drug him off to a corner of the library she had found earlier.  It was pleasantly quaint.  The table was round, and small enough to make their sitting at it an intimate encounter. 

She spun around into the chair she had chosen for her own as she let go of his hand.  “Have a seat, Doc!” She grinned at him with a bottom lip that was playfully held between her teeth.  She let the smile fade into a look of confusion.  “I mean, certainly you’re a doctor, right?  You definitely look like a doctor.”  Her eyebrows waggled a little.  She shook her head at him, her look telling that she thought she should think better of her words before she spoke them aloud.

"I mean, that’s personal and we’ve just met."  She pushed the chair out beside her.  "Help me with passing chem class first, and then we’ll talk history."  She patted the seat and then cracked open the text book.

"I bet this is going to be child’s play for you, but I seriously can’t grasp the concept of 1SP and and whatever orbitals."  She watched him as he circled around the table.

"Look at who you’re talking to Thomas. If anyone can find out anything it’s me."

Anyone that knew Richard knew for a fact that he had eyes and ears everywhere. How? Well that was his own little secret. He didn’t fight Tom’s small grasp on him, if anything he relaxed into it. A firm but caring squeeze was returned, hoping to ease his boyfriends nervousness. His head unconsciously tilting to the side just a bit as he listened to Tom’s need for reassurance. Did he care about him. For a moment he didn’t say anything, quickly realizing that in a normal relationship silence like that after a question so important would only raise his nervousness. 

"Ignore the dramatic pause," he stated waving his other hand in a discarding motion," I do, and I know that you know I do. You just want to hear me say it. I love you. And I do care about you. More than anything. I may not make it obvious but I do. If I didn’t this conversation would have never come about and you probably would have been fired by now." His last phrase spoken somewhat jokingly. He didn’t really know what it would be like if he really didn’t care about Tom, would the man have given up and left already? Or just stuck around still trying to get Richards attention. It was hard to tell with him sometimes.

His grasp became slightly tighter, Trying to get Tom out of his own head.

"Your powers aren’t even functioning on a conscious level. Fighting on instinct when in danger. A systematic fallacy in your reasoning. It is surprising no one has killed you yet." 

The facade melted away and Tom was faced with a sleek, semi-humanoid form of sheer white. It had few features from the neck down, no signs of joints or even muscles, just smoothe white surface on a slender humanoid shape that was almost seven feet tall. Instead of feet there were simply flat pads - the hands were also smooth but had seven fingers in all. The face had blank, black-and-red pupils, clearly mechanical sensors, no nose, and a small mouth. But as the pressure increased on Tom’s neck, starting to squeeze the breath out of him, the lips curled into a smirk and opened. The teeth resembled a predator’s, unfit for a human’s mouth; each tooth ended in a sharpened pointed and was almost an inch long.

"I have heard quite a lot about you in the years since you left the institute. From what I have heard, your spirit and passion for changing the world has only increased. The Professor said you were working with SHIELD and making some great breakthroughs in the area of Mutant Genetics…

If it would be possible, could I see some of what you’ve come up with?”

A smile lit her face, “Oh yes.” She almost bounced toward the microscope, she was so excited. She never thought she would ever get to see what she was made up of… Well she had never actually thought of it before. 

OOC: This para will start off with The Spectre, just so his whereabouts are accounted for during this para.

IC: 

The Shadow Spectre concluded his meeting with G-96, satisfied with the results. The cyborg had seemed almost glad to hear of their mutual success… Not that the damn thing was capable of emotions. He stepped out of the shadows and into his own abode, dwelling on what they had discussed. His ‘partner’ had given William the identities and locations of six separate individuals, all disgruntled SHIELD employees who were close to a breaking point according to the cyborg’s data.

Despite his ‘occupation’ The Spectre was far more concerned with the fact that two of them worked with Thomas, and if they did in fact break, it could involve an attack on Thomas himself. That was simply unacceptable, and they would have to be dealt with… Violently, if necessary.

-Meanwhile-

G-96 materialized into the Genetics Laboratories in full cloaking mode, staring down the one known as Thomas Jones. His plan had gone flawlessly - Agent Pandora and The Punisher had been exposed to his employer, who had ensured they would be erased from existence shortly. The Spectre would be occupied with the perceived threats to his favorite Chaotic Focal Point, giving G-96 all the time he needed to kill the worthless meatbag before it became more of a complication.

As Thomas tinkered with something on a computer as the other remaining employee got up to leave, the cyborg felt a great degree of satisfaction. He had anticipated The Spectre’s obsession and twisted the reported information, knowing the man would occupy himself less with his own work and more with what could be perceived as a threat to the Doctor. A convenient distraction.

It simply came down to a waiting game, as G-96 knew that leaving a trail in the labs would spell trouble… So with silent steps and still under cloak, he followed Thomas down the halls to the bathroom and sealing the door by melting the frame’s metal while his target urinated in a stall.

When Thomas turned back around, he was met with a very friendly and familiar face… Solely for his assassin’s amusement.

"Hello, Thomas."

The only places Ridley found bearable in the modern mundane world were libraries.  Especially well-to-do New York libraries that were named after people.  She liked the smell of the worn leather bound tomes, the aged paper and long-ago printed ink.  She often liked to peruse the cookbooks.  They were the spell book of house wives… And she had to admit, mundane food wasn’t completely unpalatable.

She also liked to visit the chemistry books.  Another mundane spell book of sorts.  It was in this section she sat in the middle of an aisle, a large text book spread out in front of her when she felt his presence.  Ah, she crooned to herself.  She looked up an over the rims of the glasses she wore as part of her new disguise.

In all honesty, she had no idea what she was doing.  William was so stricken with this man’s well being that she had began to think she had overlooked something.  If his worth was so undeniably grand, she wanted to know this man in and out, on an intrinsic level.

She had, after all, been instrumental in his creation.

"Ugh," she lamented audibly as he stalked close by, nose in a book.  "Chemistry will be the death of me…"  She looked up at Tom, a look of complete boredom and self-loathing evident on her face.  She would play the part of college student well, she thought.  "Does anyone understand this stuff?"

The Spectre grew quieter. There was only one person who he knew of in that realm of possibility… He’d have a visit to make later, but for now it was important to maintain the illusion of his job.

"Well, that is… Ah…"

He swallowed and tilted his head at Thomas.

"That is… Well, I work in SHIELD for a reason, right? Ah…