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Post by mutantx on Oct 12, 2004 17:13:47 GMT -4
Excruciating pain.
It was infinitely better than oblivion.
The reconstruction of his natural body seemed to pull the creature that had been Kevin MacTaggart like he was chained by his wrists to a speeding locomotive. It drew him and threw him headlong like a leaf caught in a typhoon and pulled him screaming back into the physical world.
It crossed his mind to wonder if the journey from the womb of his mother might have felt the same. And then it didn’t matter.
He was born again.
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Post by mutantx on Oct 13, 2004 12:59:59 GMT -4
Dim light cut through darkness and a haze of dense smoke and grey glass. The confusion of displays and indicators from outside the glass flashing white and green caused it to blink to shield its sensitive newborn eyes. It took a ragged first breath that sounded like a startled gasp. Hesitantly, it looked around with open mouth, taking in everything with an expression of utter astonishment as its brain struggled to grow accustomed to the input from a thousand new sensations and it learned to breathe once more. It moved slowly, drawing its hand up before its eyes. Rotating its wrist, it considered the fingers and the flesh with such amazement that it didn’t at first acknowledge the opening of the glass enclosure that surrounded its naked form. The smoke began to dissipate as it escaped the confining space. It almost seemed to flee from the figure inside. For the first time in years…for the first time since the universe that spawned him ceased to exist….for the first time ever….Kevin MacTaggart looked out upon the world with his own eyes.
For a different perspective on these events, check out X(r): Multiple Mistakes:
xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=medlab&action=display&thread=1089087764 |
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Post by mutantx on Oct 13, 2004 14:04:22 GMT -4
Then, everything began to change all at once. Pain and an intense sensation of vertigo spun the room around. At the same time, its eyes lit with glowing yellow intensity. Its skin began to shrivel and crack. It burned from inside, turning the color of its body to utter blackness.
Mere moments after his birth, the creature once called Proteus was dying. It began to panic. Curse ye, McCoy, an’ yuir betrayals, it thought.
Its skin began to rupture, burning up from the radiation inside it. Yellow light seeped out of the wounds.
“Who are you?”, said a voice.
Proteus looked up. Its face turned into an awful smile.
[glow=yellow,2,300]"I…"[/glow], it said as it tried its voice for the first time. [glow=yellow,2,300]"I need you."[/glow]
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Post by mutantx on Oct 13, 2004 16:23:57 GMT -4
It turned to look at the twisted remnants of its own corpse as it fell to the floor. It smiled again using the face of another. Pleased ta meet ye, Mr. Madrox, he thought to himself. His victim didn’t have a chance. As Proteus entered his mind, Jamie Madrox never guessed he was in any danger. It was over before it began. As he basked in the strength of this new body, Proteus began to laugh. It was a pity that his first victim had to be a male – it was so much less interesting – but Madrox’s body would serve just fine for now. There was all the time in the world. And so many girls. He looked forward to meeting them. He laughed again. The universe… this universe… It hadn’t learned to hate him yet. Something finally went his way. The doctor’s plan to kill him hadn’t worked.
That happened here.
xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=revolved&thread=1097016364&start=19 |
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Post by mutantx on Oct 13, 2004 18:25:55 GMT -4
If he had only been stronger he would have killed the blue-furred freak weeks ago. But the fact was that without him Proteus’s energies would most likely have drifted apart as they had before.
But now he was safe. And growing stronger. He needed to find his mother and his sister.
But first things first. Jamie Madrox had brought him a meal.
It was time to find McCoy and get revenge.
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Post by mutantx on Oct 14, 2004 16:26:23 GMT -4
A twisted smile crossed the face that now belonged to Proteus. He would enjoy making the doctor pay for what he had done. Resistance. Delays. For weeks, Proteus virtually lived within Henry McCoy’s mind. He couldn’t take over McCoy’s conscious mind directly, so he had to plant suggestions and lies. And wait.
He was so tired of waiting.
The infuriating doctor had fought him every step of the way. He knew he needed to keep McCoy as much under his control as possible, so Proteus made his dreams utter hell.
Dr. McCoy had done everything he could to avoid sleeping. It worked against him. The less he slept, the more fatigued it made him. His ability to avoid Proteus’s manipulations only got weaker. And when he fell asleep, his mind belonged to Proteus.
Still, the doctor fought on. While Proteus thought he was in control the doctor did everything within his diminishing power to stop him. And that wasn’t all… even in his weakened state, the doctor began to read his tormentor’s thoughts as well. Locked alone in the medlab for weeks they fought each other, while McCoy made everyone within the mansion believe he was searching for some kind of cure.
McCoy built that absurd and flawed body that he knew Proteus would never be able to use. What was worse, in some kind of defiant twist the doctor had made it to resemble something he knew would enrage his captor. It looked just like the doll Kevin’s little sister had loved so much.
Proteus tortured the man called the Beast with unspeakable horrors after that, but something unexpected began to happen. Instead of losing hope, the visions of dead and dying loved ones, the terror actually made McCoy stronger. He might have even grown strong enough to rid himself of Proteus for good.
But a well-meaning Jamie Madrox had fixed all that with a simple mistake. Now Proteus was free to walk the world outside, choosing his prey whenever he felt like it. He was looking forward to meeting more girls like Jennie Banks.
As Proteus prepared to leave the medlab he paused to look into a mirror near the door. To fix his hair. To look at his unknowing savior’s face once more and offer his thanks.
It was then he discovered that McCoy had betrayed him once again. Instead of the face of Jamie Madrox staring back at him, it was the twisted, obsidian face of a walking nightmare. A nightmare with lamp-like yellow eyes.
Proteus shrieked his rage.
He could never get near other people looking like this. He was still trapped.
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Post by mutantx on Oct 14, 2004 18:57:07 GMT -4
For weeks Proteus grappled with the mind of the Beast. He tried to get McCoy to cure him of the radiation poisoning that was robbing him of his freedom. Proteus tormented McCoy’s nightmares. He clouded Beast’s mind every waking hour. Made him believe in a thousand different lies. He succeeding in getting the doctor to duplicate the energy fields that his mother Moira and Xavier had used to keep young Kevin MacTaggart alive. Proteus had waited for what felt like an eternity. He could wait a little longer. As the two mutants held each other captive for many weeks, Proteus slowly came to a realization. There was no cure. The Beast had beat him. He could change bodies easily, but the radioactive mark would go with him. He would never pass as human. He would never be able to walk free. Instead, he was stuck with hiding, and waiting…sneaking up on his victims under the dark of night. This universe did hate him after all. And more than any other thing Proteus hated Henry McCoy. He had made his decision. He was going to kill him. Even better, he’d make him kill himself. As soon as the doctor fell asleep, he’d have his revenge. Make him walk in front of a bus, or drown himself… the possibilities were endless. And then quite suddenly, Christine was there.
xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=medlab&thread=1092414749&start=0
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Post by mutantx on Oct 14, 2004 19:35:16 GMT -4
He was afraid for her. He was afraid of her. He wanted more than anything to look at her, to touch her mind. He wanted more than anything to touch her skin. Instead, he hid. He changed reality around himself and watched her, though she never knew. He couldn’t resist it. He ran a hand gently across her shoulder. He stepped into her mind. Years of practice kept her from detecting him as he crept silently through her memories and her emotions. She was immensely powerful. She was no longer a girl, but a young woman. And she was something else. She was beautiful. Proteus quickly withdrew and for long moments after he left her the corpse of Jamie Madrox was in tears. He learned a great deal in the moments he spent in her mind. He understood many things that had happened. She had to go. He needed her out of the way. He whispered a powerful suggestion to her mind. “ Go play wi’ yer dolls, Chrissie.” Though it shouldn’t have made any sense to her, she couldn’t resist it. It sent her across the world in search of a dead man. Before she left, Proteus made both her and himself a silent promise. As soon as he could leave the mansion, he would find the man named Jason Wyngarde and make him pay for what he’d done to her with his life.
Christine’s search began here…<br>xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=garage&action=display&thread=1091369550
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Post by mutantx on Oct 15, 2004 15:09:02 GMT -4
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Post by mutantx on Oct 15, 2004 16:28:11 GMT -4
And then all at once, there was an army attacking the mansion. Men with so much metal Proteus was forced to leave his hiding place and find refuge in the tunnels that led to the hangar. Without the energy fields to feed him, he quickly began burning up the final remains of Jamie Madrox. But he caught another lucky break. The soldier that happened onto him in the tunnels was a fitting replacement.
That was here.
xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=lowerlevels&thread=1094037136&action=display&start=13 |
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Post by bamf on Oct 15, 2004 16:40:15 GMT -4
Bamf was hiding in air ducts when the bad men came. But the nasty smoke drove him out. He stuck to the shadows and he ported out of the way. Then he was hiding in the tunnels when the bad men came walking through with guns. Bamf was quiet so they wouldn’t find him. He saw the monster eat the bad man. It scared him half to death.
Bamf tried to tell Wolverine about it.
xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?board=rooms&thread=1095453011&action=display&start=34 |
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Post by mutantx on Oct 15, 2004 16:51:17 GMT -4
He stayed out of sight until long after the soldiers left, then he returned to the medlab. The office was a total disaster. He found the book. He had heard the soldiers talking and he knew that the infernal doctor had been…taken care of. Now, no one would ever suspect what had happened. Proteus burnt the doctor’s journal and set the room on fire.
The book burning was here.
xevolved.proboards35.com/index.cgi?action=display&board=revolved&thread=1097016364&start=23 |
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Post by mutantx on Oct 15, 2004 19:26:22 GMT -4
He watched the fire with a vengeful gleam in his eyes. Proteus hated that blue idiot. It gave him great satisfaction to destroy not only Dr. McCoy but everything the man represented.
He couldn't help but tip his head back and let go with an uproarious laugh.
An unexpected sound cut his laughter short. The mocking grin was quickly replaced by a look of panic. He cursed himself for a fool.
Proteus barely had time to hide before the door to the medlab opened and he could hear someone come rushing inside.
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Post by Logan on Oct 16, 2004 11:34:06 GMT -4
After Logan left the room, he moved back down the hall toward the darkened parts of the sub-levels. His eyebrows were knitted down and a sort of scowl was painted on his face. What had happened in the Med Lab bothered him on many levels. For the first time that he could remember, he had...reservations about what he knew to be true.
Moving down through the empty hallways, Logan kept his ears sharp. Nothing could be heard from any of the rooms, or up ahead. Sniffing the air, he could not pick out anything but old scents.
Approaching the hangar, Logan suddenly had a very bad feeling. The fluorescent lights flickered overhead, and a cascade of tiny sparks fell to the floor in front
of him, hissing as it hit a sickly looking smear of red. Squatting down in front of the crimson puddle, Logan put two fingers in it, swabbing it up and bringing it up
to his nose.
He had to do a second smell. "I think it's Hank's blood," he said in a low voice. Think? You think it's Hank's blood? What tha hell's tha matter with you, bub?
Yer losin' it. Absent-mindedly wiping the blood smear on his jeans, Logan stood up, his scowl deepened.
Furious at himself, he moved back down the hallway at a quicker clip, walking past the various shut doors, and was just about to pass the Med Lab again when he could have sworn he heard laughter coming from inside. Sniffing the air, he smelled nothing. Putting his hand on the knob, he opened the door and rushed in quickly. There, in the middle of the floor was one of Hank's books, thick tongues of flame leaping off of the torn pages. Ashes and sparks had jumped off the burning book and set some of the loose pages on the floor aflame.
The room was filling with a thick, black smoke.
Coughing lightly, Logan quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher, spraying the white foam into the heart of the fire with a hissing roar. Logan dropped the metal canister to the floor and stared numbly at the charred remains of Hank's book.
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Post by mutantx on Oct 16, 2004 11:52:39 GMT -4
Far too close. He escaped detection, but only barely. Something about this man put Proteus on edge, and he wasn't sure why. Best to avoid him.
There was no time to waste and nothing more to keep him here anyway. Despite his blackened flesh and glowing eyes it was time to move out into the world.
Time to feed.
As he slipped silently from the medlab for the final time, Proteus turned back with an amused grin on his charred features.
With a wave of his hand he made certain he would not be followed.
Then he turned and made his way down the empty corridor.
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