Eyes are afraid, but hands do all the work. Some sayings never lose their relevance over the years.
Only when I realized the extent of the damage Jubilee had sustained from her close encounter with the brick wall did I truly get confused, unable to figure out what I could possibly do. Fortunately, I wasn't the only young and handsome one with occasional flashes of brilliance. Blade carefully assessed the situation and proposed the only viable solution at that moment.
Honestly, I had to work my ass off to sort everything out. During the process, I felt like a writer trying to type a book on a smartphone. It's possible, but trust me, you'd get my respect!
I didn't have the ability to heal someone in the traditional sense, but I could swap organs and tissues between the girls as I saw fit. And that's exactly what I did. Starting with the most critical areas for Jubilee, I gradually replaced the damaged parts of her body with donor parts from Blade.
At first, I transplanted what I had taken from Li's body into Erika's, but I quickly realized that was a bad idea. The healing ability of the half-vampire worked better if I just took what I needed and left a "hole" behind.
The thing is, with Masquerade's powers, blood type and all that didn't matter. Neither he nor I had ever had problems with organ rejection—until today.
For some reason, Erika's body was extremely hostile to the transplanted parts from Jubilee. Her regeneration stubbornly refused to "accept" the new parts. It was better if they weren't there at all, and then everything was fine, with Blade quickly recovering. At least the reverse situation didn't occur, and my young Asian friend's body accepted the new parts without issue. That was the case at first.
However, once I reached a critical mass, Li's body began to gradually change, becoming more like Erika's. The process was slow, and it threatened to stretch over several days at least. It wasn't something that thrilled me. In the end, she would become a half-vampire, which wasn't so bad. Hm… that's not bad for me, or for someone who seeks power by any means. But what does this mean for Li herself? How will she react to this news?
I don't know.
Just imagine, you get hit by a brick, and when you wake up, you see a two-meter-tall guy in the mirror. On one hand, you've become stronger, bigger, and cooler—don't get me started on the size of your… well, you get the idea—but damn it! I highly doubt you'd accept that easily, especially if you've never had something like that before.
People get used to many things, but sometimes at the cost of their mental health. I remember well the time I woke up in a robot's body—that was quite the experience!
Unfortunately, I had no idea how to reverse the process. The best I could do was finish the "treatment" and observe. The process was slow. First of all, I didn't want to rush and gave Blade enough time to regenerate the damage before moving on to the next area.
Secondly, I had to periodically recharge Masquerade's power and give myself a moment to take over and shake off the accumulated tension. Yeah, my main power is quite aggressive and is very reluctant to give way to others.
And then there was another reason: we couldn't stay in one place for too long. New York isn't just home to smart people, but the police are pretty quick on their feet too. None of us wanted to explain to the authorities what had happened.
Once Morbius and Storm had searched the kitchen, helped the few injured in the café, and turned off the gas, they returned. They were the ones who conveyed the idea of the police to me. We all managed to squeeze into Ororo's car, and drove to Blade's van. That's when I could continue the treatment.
"Hey, I won't take up too much time if I ask a couple of questions?"
Unexpectedly, the one who wanted to talk to me was none other than the vampire scientist. Honestly, I was surprised he hadn't run away—or flown off, rather. What was the point of him staying with us?
"No, I'm finishing up. The worst is already over."
"Great, then I guess we should start with introductions. Michael Morbius."
"Marius Carlisle," I introduced myself, mentally making a sour face. If you go by the name, I'd be much better suited to play a vampire than some Michael. Though, looking at the broader picture, what am I if not an energy vampire? "Just call me Rascal."
"Nice to meet you, Rascal," my companion tried to smile warmly, but with his distorted face, it looked quite frightening. "Listen, I wanted to ask… um, what exactly are you doing? I mean, I understand that you're trying to help this girl, but how?"
"Well, Michael, the thing is, I'm a mutant, and this is one of my abilities."
"A mutant?" the man seemed surprised. It was hard to tell his age by his face. "Are you sure? I always thought that was just an urban legend!"
"Seriously?" It was my turn to be surprised. What reality was he living in if he thought mutants were just rumors?
"I know, you won't believe me, but I've always dreamed of becoming a scientist. It's not easy for a man, believe me. Along the way, I faced a lot of prejudice and outright discrimination. All these women in white coats, even the professors at the university, they all thought I was just a walking penis who had learned to talk. They genuinely don't understand why I need all this! But I never gave up and always pushed toward my goal. That's probably why I didn't pay much attention to all the mystifications."
I was dying to stop what I was doing and touch Morbius just to convince him that I was real, made of flesh and blood, not some phantom mist of urban legends. But the treatment needed to be finished, even though the greatest danger to Li had passed.
"Believe me, my friend, I'm very real and definitely not a myth!"
"Yeah, sorry," the man closed his eyes tiredly and rubbed his temples. "Lately, so much has been piling on me, and it's not easy to process. My world is falling apart before my eyes, and it hurts like hell to realize that it's way more complicated than I ever thought."
"I understand," I said gently. "So, you wanted to know how I do what I do? Alright, I'll explain…"
I had to practice my eloquence and try to convince the stubborn scientist that mutants are actually a normal, scientifically justifiable phenomenon. Well, in this reality anyway.
I couldn't help but be astonished at how narrow-minded my new acquaintance was in some aspects. No, no, judging by his slip-ups, he truly deserved the title of highly educated person, but Michael refused to accept certain ideas, which limited his worldview. Still, I recommended he read a few works by Charlene Xavier to convince himself of the truth.
You're wondering why I bothered with all this? Well, on one hand, it didn't cost me much, but on the other hand, I was curious to know how Morbius had ended up in this situation and how he became a vampire. I just wanted to understand his motivations.