SHIFTER ─ marvel

XXX. A New House

Chapter Thirty
Alex

God this is taking forever. I feel like a human pin cushion right now. We're eleven hours into this whole thing. I've had so many blood samples taken it looks like I have polka dots on my skin. At the eight hour mark we had to get IV's put in and about a half an hour ago the oxygen masks went on.

I glance over at Soroya, who looks just as exhausted as I do. Bucky's trying to get her to eat some french fries, because apparently salt will keep our blood pressure up. I think if I try to eat something then I'll throw up. Soroya seems to feel the same, because she is refusing to eat anything.

"Shuri are we getting any closer?" I ask.

I think she's about to pop a brain cell, because she has an unhinged exhausted look in her eyes. "I think so. I have been using the ingredients Remington used as a temporary solution to try and find a permanent one. I'm trying to see where that goes."

Soroya leans her head against Bucky's shoulder, letting out a deep sigh. He puts the food down and wraps his arms around her, rubbing her back in gentle circles.

"I think we need a new strategy." Bruce announces.

I glare at him, laying myself down on the table. "You think?"

I hear footsteps on the stairs, sensing Khari and Scott long before they make it to the lab. As he reaches the last steps, I instantly feel better at seeing him.

Soroya is still leaning her head against Bucky's shoulder on her table, and I'm curled up in a ball on my side on mine. Khari crouches down so we're at eye level, leaning forward and kissing my nose. "It will be over soon, my love."

I scoff. "Sure it will. I wish we were on our honeymoon right now. Just imagine; the two of us lying on the beaches of Barbados, drinking margaritas, and looking hot as hell."

Khari smiles at me, slightly shaking his head. "Barbados sounds nice. I'm not a fan of margaritas though."

I sigh. "Neither am I. It's like drinking flavored bleach. Can you even take time off for a honeymoon?"

Khari pushes strands of my hair away from my face. "Probably not for long, but certainly enough time to drink disgusting margaritas with my husband in Barbados."

I can't help the grin that grows on my face. "I like the sound of that."

Bruce slaps his giant hands together, the sound so loud it scares me. I sit up on the table, watching as Khari stands up and sits next to me on the table. We both watch Bruce look to all of us in excitement.

"I got it! Cancer!" He says, looking between Soroya and me.

I shake my head. "Nope, I'm an Aquarius."

Bruce rolls his eyes. "Cancer like the illness. What if we target the animal cells in Remington like one would target cancer cells. We could use radiation to kill the cells."

Shuri nods her head, knitting her eyebrows in deep thought. "We would need more than just radiation though. The radiation could make things a lot worse."

"You're right...doctors use t-cells to attack cancer cells also. They are designed to only attack those cells and not the healthy ones. What if we take t-cells and engineer them to mirror the genetic code of the animal cells in Remington's genes. Then the t-cells we inject her with would only target her animal DNA, not her human DNA. Then the cells would destroy the serum in her genes."

"We would need both though, and there's no way we could do radiation therapy on her at the Siberia base. If this theory is right, we would need to inject her with the engineered t-cells, then inject chemotherapy radiation into her, and then hit her with radiation. That would kill the animal cells and make sure they don't replicate."