taxonomites | [location:somewhere in Taxon][accidental visual] The aftermath

John didn't know what had happened. His head was pounding, leg ached, and he had a distinct impression that he'd been in a brawl or three. He woke on the street in some nondescript part of Taxon. How had he gotten out here? How many nights had passed? Glancing down at himself, he saw it. Blood. His hands and clothes were spattered with it. Memories rushed back. The faces of those people, shoving one off a building, a few more cut badly, twisted bones.

"No." He whispered, his eyes closing for a moment, then louder. "No!" His fist slammed into the stone wall behind him.

Helen had warned him about these glitches, but was that what this was? Perhaps it was his nature breaking the surface. Perhaps Nikola's impromptu and accidental treatment had not taken as well as they had all hoped. Maybe he was a beast too wild to be caged. He pushed himself off the ground. He'd solve this. No one would be harmed for his own sick urges.

He teleported to the top of the building he was next to and prepared to jump, arms at his sides as he thought of all the lives he'd taken. He thought of his family, or what he wished could have been his family. Helen, their daughter. It could have been so beautiful.

[[ooc - John's unglitched! Someone heeeelp him]]

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Henry told himself to not get angry. That this was too delicate a situation to deal with by shouting. He swallowed his words, only speaking after a moment. "She's half you. Whatever Magnus does to fix her? She's still going to be half you. She still has abnormalities she needs to learn to live with."

To be fair, John only knew how to deal with one of Ashley's gained abilities. Her vampiric traits were something so very foreign to him. Teleportation was all he had ever known.

"What if it does the same thing to her?" He'd never voiced the fear aloud. "What if she becomes what I am?" He wasn't even sure if he was speaking to the young man any longer, but the feed was still open. John wasn't sure what he'd do with that knowledge, that guilt. Ashley had already been programmed into a weapon. This was their second chance, but what if this gift was fated to turn a good person into a monster?

That Henry had no idea. But at least he wasn't afraid to admit it. "I don't know. But she has the Doc and me for that. The teleporting is hers, and yours. Even if the Doc gets rid of the other stuff-" there wasn't a nice way to put this, "she's stuck with that."

And hell, "she's never seemed like a homicidal killer to me. A bit rough when it comes to teasing her friends-" nearly her brother, he thought, "but I don't think that is Ashley's problem."

"And you think I exhibited all the signs for this disease prior to the episodes?" John marveled at his ignorance. It didn't matter. John knew he hadn't always been this way, and that it had ebbed once before and now a second time. Helen had said something about this place causing problems. Glitches, she called them. It wasn't as if he understood the concept fully, but there was hope that it wasn't entirely his fault.

He felt bad for even suggesting it to himself. Of course it was his fault. This was his weakness being exploited. John took another step back, pulling himself off the ledge and onto more solid ground.

"We must hope she can overcome this." As much of a danger as he thought himself to be - if he could help any of them for even a moment, it would be worth it. "I need you to promise me something. Henry, isn't it? The next time this happens, whatever it takes, I need you to kill me." He knew it was a big task, all things considered. "Helen. I think she tried. I don't want that memory on her. I can't." He stopped. "Just promise me that you'll stop it before I have the chance to hurt them."

Henry understood more than Druitt might realise. Glitches or not, this place could only be held so responsible for things.

John's question threw him, but considering it, it shouldn't have. Henry's eyes went dark, nodding the once. "Don't worry. That's a promise I can make."

He wouldn't let Druitt hurt anyone again, and he wouldn't let Magnus take the guilt onto herself.

"Good man." He said simply before turning off the feed. His life would not end tonight. He had a purpose, for at least a little while longer.

Henry swore when his screen went black. But it was a promise he intended to keep. He just wondered if he should tell Magnus about it.

[location:somewhere in Taxon][accidental visual] The aftermath

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