ArchivedLogs:Zergio

Zergio
Dramatis Personae Jack, K.C., Kyinha, Liv, Sergio
In Absentia	2015-11-29 "He moved!" (Part of Flu Season TP.)
Location <XS> Medical Lab - B1
Gleaming and sterile, the school's medical facility is all cool science in contrast to the mansion's old-world old-fashion. All stainless steel and antiseptic tinge, the room is filled with the quiet whir-click of the various implements that comprise its medical equipment -- all state-of the art. The hospital beds are curtained off for privacy when they have patients, and in one of the alcoves there is a small operating theatre visible. More heavy-duty equipment is visible in the lab in the back, where the securely locked cabinets keep sensitive equipment out of the reach of teenage fingers. Detached from the rest of the medical lab by way of a polyester curtain, Sergio's slumbering form has not moved of its own volition in what is fast approaching a week. For six days and well through the Thanksgiving holiday, the fledgeling telepath has refused to return to his physical body. However stagnant he may appear, his mind is still very active. It's very likely that he is in the room now, or off quietly haunting some other corner of the school. With more sick every day, and tension on the rise, the Medical Lab is hushed. The steady whirr and beeping of the machines in the room. The air is heavy with the smell of antiseptic and with nothing particular going on, the room is visually quite stale. K.C. is -- not here to check up on any of the sick students. She is here on a /mission/, and that mission is seeking out Dr. McCoy with Very Important News. Her brow is furrowed, pace determined as she beelines through the medbay to the very back to knock, knock, knock on his office door. Which unfortunately at the moment is not giving her an answer. Alas. She peers through the small slit of window, frowning, before taking out her phone to compose an email instead. Probably one of several. Her look of concentration is intent. This room is one of Jack's least favorites in the school. Or any building for that matter. Infirmaries and hospitals make him nervous in general, likely owing to the fact that there are needles around and the general feeling of gloom in the rooms. But someone he cares about is here so Jack is coming in for another visit. He's made a few since rushing Sergio down here after finding him passed out on the floor of the room they share with Cody and every day he doesn't wake up just makes him worry more. Dressed in jeans and a school hoodie, he's got his backpack with him and a fresh pair of disposable gloves on after picking up a new box. Sitting near Sergio's bed, he's not sure where his roommate's mind has floated off to but he's got the recent football game scores up on his phone for Sergio to take a peek at through his invisible eyes if he so wants to. The sound of someone knocking is different enough from the beeping and whirring that he peeks out from behind the curtain. When he sees K.C., Jack just frowns invisibly and settles back into his chair. Slowly walking through the med bay, Liv keeps to herself and her head low as she takes a very focused path towards Sergio's bed. Far from her usual cheerful self, she wears a baggy Xavier's sweatshirt and an old pair of jeans, her green hair hanging limply above her shoulders. In her hands, she carries another bouquet of flowers, this time wildflowers. She's done her best to improve them but, while they're also free from imperfections, their colors aren't as bright as they might be and they droop ever so slightly. Pausing outside the curtain, she takes a deep breath before slipping past. At the sight of Jack, she clears her throat to announce her presence and giving him a faint smile before stepping inside, glancing towards Sergio's comatose form. Sergio is present, though far be it from his disembodied mind to make itself known. Quite imperceivable to the naked eye or any senses other than telepathic, he lingers just over Jack’s shoulder -- brimming with silent frustration at the unacceptable scores. K.C. doesn't look up from her phone -- not at first, though after a while she finishes her email, tucks it away. Her fingers flutter at the air in front of her as she starts back towards the door. But stops after only a few steps away from the office, hand twitching in midair, pausing as though plucking at an invisible string. Tweaking at it. She nods silently to herself. "Why so frown." This is muttered, quietly down towards the ground. The tension in that floating hoodie only grows when Liv makes herself known but it eases when Jack sees who it is. He glances at the flowers and then lifts one gloved hand to wave slightly. He stands though to offer the seat to Liv. The quiet words get his attention easily and he sighs before pulling the curtain aside. Using his TK to float his phone, Jack signs something carefully. 'Should you really be using English here?' he signs towards K.C.. The spoken words also get a jump out of Liv, who suddenly looks on the verge of tears. 'Visited S-E-R-G last week, spoke English, he snapped. My fault he's here,' she signs, remaining standing as she ignores Jack's offering of his seat, quietly looking over Sergio. For now, she ignores K.C.'s presence. Sergio’s residual self-image turns in unison with Jack to glower over in K.C.’s direction, until he catches Liv’s admission. Unmoving, he drifts over to the girl as if to offer comfort. Of course, he is unable. In the hospital bed, his peaceful slumbering form is paled and very still. "Nope. Totally stupid. Not smart like you," K.C. answers, still in a low mutter, head still nodding to herself. Her fingers tweak at the air again. Head bobs further. "Can't feel him." She speaks very slowly, other hand tapping out a cautious beat with each word. "Can't feel him, but he cares." Jack just offers an unseen glare in K.C.'s general direction. His hands twitch like he's planning on signing something but he stops himself. Instead, he turns his attention to Liv. 'Not your fault,' he signs before stepping over to offer a shoulder if she wants it. K.C.'s speaking more has an invisible brow quirking but no comment from Jack. Liv takes a deep breath, continuing to ignore K.C.'s spoken English. She gives Jack a thin smile and shakes her head as he offers her her shoulder. She does however take that chair, setting the flowers down on the table beside Sergio. 'Do you think he'll be ok?' she signs to Jack before gently laying one of her hands on Serg's. Sergio's disembodied mind turns its attention to K.C. Though he doesn't dare telepathically communicate for fear of spreading the illness, the girl's last comment has him regarding her with slightly more consideration. The psionic entity drifts over to her, motioning an invisible 'hand' in front of her eyes as if to test the sight of a blind person. On the bed, the bedridden boy's hand flexes. Open-faced, Sergio's hand curls part-way over Liv before slowly blooming open again. It could just be a motor reflex but-- K.C. doesn't exactly look /up/ at the hand that waves in front of her face. Her fingers tweak at the air, head still bobbing in that same repetitive nod. She does, though, lift her hand to wave back. "Not very polite," she mutters when Sergio flutters his hand in front of her. Though there's a small curl of smile that passes across her face very briefly with this statement. Quick. Then gone. "Makes sense. Your friend also. Not very polite. Don't have to do that. I see you. {Sorry}," this word, out of all her English, comes in Spanish, "you sick. I won't say the bad words. Stop the waving {please}." Spanish, again. "You need anything?" "{You're one to talk,}" Jack mutters in Spanish of his own, attention on K.C. now even while he stands by Liv. The signing does catch his attention though and he pauses a long few moments before signing his reply. 'I hope so.' Suddenly, Liv screams, pushing backwards away from Sergio and reclaiming her hand. "He moved!" she suddenly yells before she thinks not to, raising her hands and signing frantically. 'His hand, he moved. Is he better?' She quickly rises from her chair and makes her way back over to Sergio, taking his hand again. Now she's ignoring everyone equally, her eyes darting all over Sergio's body for any more signs of movement. 'I'm sorry. And sorry about my friend. He is very nice usually, but he's upset,' Sergio signs to K.C. with a lopsided smile. After a thoughtful pause, he continues, 'Would you relay a message? Please? Say I'm over here, beside you? Say Ghost Squad. It'll prove-' If the disembodied mind had an adrenal gland, he would have experienced a jolt from it. It's likely K.C. experiences seeing his expression melt away into one of horror. The hand closes firmly down around Liv's. The tendons in his forearm flex and twitch as if waking up. 'Nice usually. Maybe... maybe. To you, nice.' K.C.'s fingers returning to one point in the air after this. Though after this she pauses, considers momentarily. "... upset. Upset-upset-upset. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, lots of upset. Lots of upset. Sick friends, hard right now. Very hard. {Sorry, sorry.} Oh! -- Yeah supposed to say a thing. Supposed to say I'm over here beside you say Ghost Squad it'll prove, what's that face. You moved," K.C. is /informing/ Sergio of this equably, "Should tell the doctors this." She is reaching for her phone. Invisible eyes narrow as Jack watches K.C., trying to figure out what she's going on about. Those two words, Ghost Squad, have Jack looking up sharply though. "{What did you say?}" he asks. But before he can ask for any further clarification, there's that scream. Jack jumps and the curtain rattles on its hangers from his startled telekinetic 'breeze'. There's a surge of relief as he processes Liv's words but he stops a split second later. The empty hood looks from Sergio and Liv over to K.C. as realization hits him. "{No...no no no...}" he trails off, heart pounding in his chest as he moves over to try to pull Liv back away from Sergio's bedside. "{God please no...}" he babbles mostly to himself. Liv jumps again as Serg's hand clamps down on hers. 'He...he's waking,' she begins to sign, one handed, though Jack's sudden panic confuses her. 'What?' she begins to sign before it dawns on her. She quickly yanks on her arm, trying to pull it away. 'No...no he's not! He's waking up!' she begins signing frantically and sloppily, her eyes wide as she mentally pushes away the truth, holding desperately on to hope. From deep within his chest, Sergio's physical body lets out a low, animalistic growl. Hand clenching firmly onto Liv's, he pulls against Jack's strength. His eyes snap open and as he sits up, he stares into the girl's eyes with hunger ...and cognition. The real Sergio looks on in stunned horror as this evil twin extends another hand to claw at Liv's shirt and hair with the express intention of pulling her closer to his wet, snapping teeth. "Oh... no." Whatever text K.C. was /going/ to send to the doctor is -- derailed by this. "Oh no, oh no, oh no." A low mutter just as monotone as all the rest of her words. "Unusual. You're here. What." She does still hit the panic button on her phone, though her expression hasn't really changed as she freezes, tense, her repetitive nodding ceasing. "What." "Panic button," Jack gasps out in English before he thinks about it, directing it to whoever gets their hands on a phone first to hit it. As much as he doesn't want to admit the truth, he still thinks it’s better to keep Liv away from biting teeth. "{Serg...no...}" he trails off, telekinesis reaching out to grab the hand clawing towards Liv's shirt to push it away while his gloved hands focus on trying to pry open Sergio's other hand. "Sergio! Stop!" Liv screams, also in English, as she continues to pull frantically against Sergio's hold on her hand while twisting her body out of reach from Serg's other hand. Tears begin to burn her eyes as she struggles hold them back, eyes wide in panic as she frantically looks towards Jack for support as he rushes to her aid. The scene at Sergio's bedside continues to escalate. Snarling, the zombie formerly known as Sergio YANKS at Liv's hand. As his other clawed grasp is thrown by Jack's telekinesis he follows it with his gaze ...as if considering. As if in response to being denied his prize, he brings the free hand up to grab at the arm he already had a hold of. All the while, the boy continues to creep onto his knees. He ducks his head down onto Liv's knuckles in an attempt to SNAP into them. From across the room, invisible to all but K.C., Sergio's telepathic avatar watches on with both of his hands clasped to his chest. Unable to process what's happening, he takes a slow step back behind the transducer girl. Kyinha bursts in through the door as they swing open wide, wearing only a dip-dyed blue sarong with batiked fish designs around his waist. He has a long knife held in a reverse grip as he makes a beeline for Sergio's bed. Grabbing hold of Sergio's wrist, he squeezes down while pushing Liv back in a bid to separate the girl from her boyfriend's chomping teeth. His fiery eyes widen slightly when they find the vitals monitor, and he whispers something in Nheengatu. "{Get back!}" he tells the students as he flips the knife in his hand and, gritting his teeth, prepares to strike. "You're here. You're here you're here." K.C.'s voice is still a flat monotone. She hasn't moved from her position by Dr. McCoy's closed and empty office door. She falls silent after this, tensed and still as the zombie attacks and the other students struggle, her breathing a little bit faster but her expression and posture otherwise unchanged. Her eyes do shift to track Kyinha as he arrives, lips moving slowly as though trying to speak. She doesn't, though -- at least not until the knife flips, moves; it's then that she finally manages to get the words out she's been attempting: "/Don't kill/." Cursing under his breath, Jack pushes back against Sergio's head with his TK to keep distance between Liv's skin and those teeth. He's holding back since it's Sergio even if he has gone zombie. The sudden appearance of Kyinha startles Jack but he doesn't look up. He's there to help catch Liv so she doesn't go sprawling...or at least will be landed on if they both fall. Just before zombie Sergio can grab her arm with his other hand, with Kyninha's help she manages to twist her arm free with enough force to indeed fall backwards into Jack, knocking both of them to the floor. Finally noticing Kyinha's presence, she's still too much in shock to really think much of it before she notices the knife. "NO! DON'T!" she screams, beginning to scramble back to her feet. "PLEASE! Don't kill him!" Head shoved back with telekinetic force and arm wrenched free of his meal, the snarling zombie wastes no time in lunging at Kyinha. His teeth snap open and closed as he lurches forward with both body and one free hand in an attempt to assault Kyinha's knife-wielding arm. From behind him, the cords and tubes he's attached to snap free and fling about. For his part, the still aware Sergio continues to back away. << Kill me. >> His risks projecting his voice out into the minds present. At first, it's mousy but he repeats himself with more urgency to speak over Liv. << KILL ME. >> Sergio's astral self looks wide-eyed from the scene to K.C., perhaps the last person he will ever make eye contact with. He takes another step back from the scene. In the chaos, it's hard to say whether Kyinha simply hesitated or whether K.C. or Liv's cries stay his hand. Either way, he delays long enough for the zombie to launch itself from the bed and knock both of them to the floor. Kyinha does not seem /all that/ put out to have lost his footing, though. He twists his body as they fall so that he lands on his side, and immediately rolls over to pin the zombie down. This time, though, it's definitely /Sergio's/ cry that stops him. "{What --?! You are still alive?}" He grabs hold of the zombie's throat with one hand and pins one of its arms down with his opposite knee, leaving one of its hands free to scratch at him. His knife is still poised, though. "{Is he still alive?}" K.C. is staring, frowning, at one spot somewhat ahead of her in midair, her fingers pinching at the air and then spreading open. She shakes her head, shoulders tense. 'Don't know don't know don't know please bad word,' she remembers to add kind of by rote. 'Don't know, still here, still here not happy still here.' Out loud: "Don't kill zombies changing. Maybe this one changing too. Thinking zombies people zombies don't kill people. Kill me... kill me kill me... is that you? You there /he/ there you there he there oh no what to do." Now she is rocking, again, back-forth-back-forth though her husky-low monotone is still very -- even. Air knocked out of him by having Liv land on top of him, Jack can only give a breathless "{No...}". When Liv gets up, Jack starts pushing to his feet. "{I can...can restrain him!}" he gets out in Spanish, hood falling back off his head. Sergio's cry makes him jump and look around but what K.C. says only has him more worried. "{Please...maybe the doctors can help...} he trails off, voice shaky. 'There has to be something else. Something different,' Liv signs frantically, holding back tears as Kyinha is prepared to destroy Serg. Finally, K.C. manages to get her attention and she stares at the other. 'Alive? Is he here? His mind?' she signs, eyes beginning to dart around as if trying to find any sign of his presence. The zombie sneers, flipping so as to be pinned to the ground on its back. Beneath the X-Man, it bucks its hips and limbs in vain, turning its head in a bird-like manner as it appears to quickly consider the hands restraining it and then, attempt to bite at one. If that fails, it tries the other. ...If that fails, it tries the man's face or anything else that may be an exploitable weakness. Sergio bends to face K.C., putting himself between the girl and the gruesome scene. With his brow knit, the boy's avatar brings up two shaky hands. His eyes flare with intention, swelling over with tears that might not even be real. 'Say he is gone. I do not see him.' He gives K.C. a nod of affirmation. Sergio doesn't speak Spanish, but can read a room ...this room isn't doing what needs to be done. "/Changing?/" Kyinha blurts in English, "{What does that even--}" But then the zombie rolls over and sinks its teeth into his hand. He hisses and a barely visible fiery aura flickers around him. Without looking away from his wriggling opponent, he tells Jack, in Spanish again, "{Hold him down. Help me move him to a bed with restraints. Dr. McCoy needs to look at him.}" K.C. rocks faster, her eyes briefly scrunching up and her mouth moving once more, soundlessly. Her hands clench into fists, then relax. "No, yes, changing, different, learn... /I/ learning, I learned, I --" She stops, fisting up one hand again and swallowing. The other hand flicks restlessly at the air. "He is gone I do not see him," comes in the same flat toneless voice all the rest of her words do, her rocking not ceasing. "No, yes, no..." Her hand flicks faster at the air. "What." Without a word, Jack concentrates his telekinesis. He uses his power to hold the snapping-Sergio down much like he did the zombies he encountered in the skate park. Once Kyinha gets up, he'll move Sergio with his telekinesis. With a sniff, Liv steps closer to Jack, standing closer to him for comfort. 'What's going on? What are you doing? Is he...alive or dead?' she signs before lifting a hand to wipe the tears that have broken free from her eyes and are now slowly dripping down her face. Hissing at the fiery Kyinha, the zombie curves its spine and flexes every muscle available to it in any attempt to free itself. As Jack's power takes over, it continues tense here and there as it frantically tests for weaknesses. His gambit failing, Sergio looks on in horror as his evil likeness is kept alive. Wrapping his arms around himself, he shakes his head again and again in a hysterical fashion. He backs up another step as the zombie struggles under Jack's power. Overwhelmed, the teen doesn't think as he takes another step back, this time into the blackness of the empty hallway. Without active minds to glean information off of, he can only guess his location. He starts at a slow pace and continues as it gradually builds, until he is openly running. Kyinha rolls to his feet and sheathes his knife (adjusting the sarong in the process--he almost ended that particular scuffle nude). He looks back at K.C., shakes his head. 'I ear him,' he signs, then taps his temple. 'Meaning, he maybe /not/ dead?' He glances sideways at Liv's signing as Jack helps him strap the zombie down. Shakes his head more fiercely as he steps back from the thrashing but secured corpse. Signs, 'Don't know, don't know,' as he starts herding the (straightforwardly living) students from the room, "No -- no, no, no, don't, don't -- don't --" K.C. is starting to leave even before Kyinha's herding, walking and then running out of the room after Sergio. Unable to walk through walls and with the discorporate teen having a head start, though, she stops in the hall, just staring down the hallway blankly. "Oh no. Oh, no. Oh -- oh, oh, oh no." Her knuckles scrub against her temple, head shaking and shaking and shaking and shaking before she takes off as well, racing for the stairs to head away from the med lab and its new undead occupant and up out of the basement. Jack doesn't answer Liv, too busy concentrating on his TK and moving Serg without hurting him. If there's a chance that Sergio is still alive and can be de-zombied, he doesn't want to miss it. When they finally get Serg's body restrained, he wobbles a little and reaches out to grab onto the nearest person for support. "{What...where?!}" he calls as K.C. goes running but he only gets a few steps before stumbling and almost falling again. He's easy to herd out of the room as long as Kyinha doesn't mind providing some support. Liv remains perfectly still as they begin tk'ing Serg's body out of the room, tenderly rubbing her arm where he had a firm grip of it moments before. As Kyinha begins ushering them out, Liv quickly utters in Spanish I'm sorry before making her way out, keeping her eyes to the ground as she rushes past the others, heading the opposite direction as everyone else. Once restrained, the zombie continues to thrash until prey is out of sight. Although there is a hint of budding sophistication to its behavior, it shows no resemblance to the young man it once was.