Difference between revisions of "Template:Featured Articles/52-2021"

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<td valign="top">[[Image:MoA Wallflower.png|left]]'''Moment of Awesome - [[Laurie Collins|Laurie Collins/Wallflower]]:''' ''[[Arise, X-Man|Driven to extremes]] in her quest to replace her lost arm, [https://xp-logs.dreamwidth.org/4167234.html#cutid1 Laurie finds herself faced with just how desperate she is].''
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<td valign="top">[[Image:MoA Wallflower.png|left]]'''Moment of Awesome - [[Laurie Collins|Laurie Collins/Wallflower]]:''' ''[https://xp-logs.dreamwidth.org/4187368.html#cutid1 A broken and bitter Laurie] meets with [[Nathaniel Essex]] after [[Arise, X-Man|her quest to regain her arm]] - and takes her final step away from the light.''
  
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She was dressed much like any tourist, sandals and a pair of cargo pants topped by a lightweight shirt that allowed her skin to breathe in the oppressive heat of approaching summer. It made her long for the mansion, with its Fall foliage and the shortening days leading up to Winter. She wanted to see the snow and listen to Kyle bitch about how his feet were always too cold.
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"A bit of advice. Revenge is always self-defeating. The best way to make them pay is to leave them behind for a better purpose." He looked up as a cool gust swirled in off the ocean. "I have a need for an assistant. Your medical background isn't necessarily the best suited for my needs, but I do know your character and your intelligence. I'm certain I can teach you the gaps in your knowledge."
  
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But she'd put herself on this path, and she was determined to see it through. She'd convinced Darcy to go back, to check in with X-force and cover for her for this part of her journey. She knew that her friend would stop her if things seemed too sketchy and she couldn't, she didn't want anyone to stop this.
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“How?”
  
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She needed a result, and she'd do just about anything to claim it.
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Laurie hated the slurring that made speech so difficult, and the amount of time and energy the previous attempt had taken. She’d have said and asked so many things. But how was the most important right now. As she was, she couldn’t possibly see any way in which she could do what he wanted her to do.
  
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The 'clinic', for lack of a better term, was located between a thriving pachinko parlor and a massage joint all but openly advertising the availability of sex from the masseuses. She followed the directions she'd been emailed to a door and stepped through into a surprisingly clean and bright waiting area. There were several couches, a reception area, and several halls that led away into examination rooms, presumably. It looked like her dentist's office, which reassured her. There was no one at the desk though. Just a doorbell-like device installed facing towards the door.
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"You are a unique mind, Dr. Collins. My solution is...extreme. And dangerous. But I might be able to change your life and... my son has asked me to do everything I can do for you. And I can do much."
  
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Laurie shrugged and headed to the bell, pushing it once before she stood back to wait. She wondered if they’d be long, but shrugged off her impatience almost immediately. Whether they were long or short, it didn’t matter.
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They had been working together for months, and he had trusted her with not just his son’s life but with his ultimate purpose. She couldn’t do less than trust him to help her now. And if the secondary benefit was to prove to everyone who couldn’t see what she was doing needed to be done, then that was just as well.
  
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What mattered was getting what she came for.
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“Yes, then. Whatever is needed.”
  
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"I'm afraid Doctor Chung will not be available for your appointment. Which would have been fruitless regardless. His advanced gene therapy was largely opiate-based - make the subject feel like something is happening while he siphons off their bank accounts or occasionally harvests the isolated ones for their organs." Laurie was stunned for a moment, as Nathanial Essex stepped out from the hallway. "However, that doesn't mean a consult is not available."
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"What if I told you I could fix all of this? The damage, even your arm? Are you willing to risk it?"
  
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“Dr. Essex?”
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Laurie’s eyes closed, a grimace of pain crossing her features as she moved herself to a slightly more comfortable position. She’d lost so much, Hope especially. What he offered…Could it be?
  
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It was an indication of the level of her desperation that she didn’t immediately turn tail and leave. She'd been aware of just how desperate this last hope had been. She'd traveled here anyway, only it seemed to be disappointed once again. How many more of those could she take?
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She opened her eyes as tears glittered but didn’t fall from her lashes, and the desperate hope there was almost painful to behold.
  
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Laurie sighed but didn’t do what most of the other people at the mansion would have considered a better choice, that of running the fuck away.
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“Don’t promise me anything you can’t do. But, if you can. I would do anything, be anything. Please.”
  
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“No Kwannon?”
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"It's extremely risky. I can't promise you'd survive it. But, there is an option there."
  
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"She's available if needed." Essex walked over and settled himself on one of the couches, utterly relaxed. "Is she needed, Ms. Collins?"
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“It can’t be worse than this.” Laurie waved to all of her, including the cane, the sunken face, and drooping skin that she couldn’t bear to look at in the mirror anymore. “Death would be a release.”
  
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“The smartest answer I could give would be yes. We both know I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t left smart behind some time ago.” Laurie joined him, taking a chair across from the couch. It was surprisingly comfortable given the clinic setting. She supposed doing rich people out of their money required a certain degree of class. “I take it this isn’t a social visit to the good Dr. Chung for you?”
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"No. I've beaten God once. I can do it again. If you trust me." Essex held out a hand.
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Laurie’s hand gripped his tightly without a moment of hesitation. She knew he would do everything in his power for her. If there was anyone she now trusted other than herself and Nate, it was Dr. Nathaniel Essex.
  
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"No, I'm actually here to see you. Your increasingly desperate search for a solution to your nerve damage crossed networks of mine, and I decided to replace Dr. Chung for a consultation. He's... no longer going to be practicing his form of... medicine, you might call it."
 
 
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Latest revision as of 13:23, 27 December 2021

MoA Wallflower.png
Moment of Awesome - Laurie Collins/Wallflower: A broken and bitter Laurie meets with Nathaniel Essex after her quest to regain her arm - and takes her final step away from the light.

"A bit of advice. Revenge is always self-defeating. The best way to make them pay is to leave them behind for a better purpose." He looked up as a cool gust swirled in off the ocean. "I have a need for an assistant. Your medical background isn't necessarily the best suited for my needs, but I do know your character and your intelligence. I'm certain I can teach you the gaps in your knowledge."

“How?”

Laurie hated the slurring that made speech so difficult, and the amount of time and energy the previous attempt had taken. She’d have said and asked so many things. But how was the most important right now. As she was, she couldn’t possibly see any way in which she could do what he wanted her to do.

"You are a unique mind, Dr. Collins. My solution is...extreme. And dangerous. But I might be able to change your life and... my son has asked me to do everything I can do for you. And I can do much."

They had been working together for months, and he had trusted her with not just his son’s life but with his ultimate purpose. She couldn’t do less than trust him to help her now. And if the secondary benefit was to prove to everyone who couldn’t see what she was doing needed to be done, then that was just as well.

“Yes, then. Whatever is needed.”

"What if I told you I could fix all of this? The damage, even your arm? Are you willing to risk it?"

Laurie’s eyes closed, a grimace of pain crossing her features as she moved herself to a slightly more comfortable position. She’d lost so much, Hope especially. What he offered…Could it be?

She opened her eyes as tears glittered but didn’t fall from her lashes, and the desperate hope there was almost painful to behold.

“Don’t promise me anything you can’t do. But, if you can. I would do anything, be anything. Please.”

"It's extremely risky. I can't promise you'd survive it. But, there is an option there."

“It can’t be worse than this.” Laurie waved to all of her, including the cane, the sunken face, and drooping skin that she couldn’t bear to look at in the mirror anymore. “Death would be a release.”

"No. I've beaten God once. I can do it again. If you trust me." Essex held out a hand.

Laurie’s hand gripped his tightly without a moment of hesitation. She knew he would do everything in his power for her. If there was anyone she now trusted other than herself and Nate, it was Dr. Nathaniel Essex.

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