(no subject)

[seekevolution]

If there was one thing that Mohinder Suresh was good at, it was getting into trouble. He did it to himself, falling into patterns that placed him in dangerous situations and in league with dangerous people. Yes, he always meant well, chasing after research that would save mankind from and for itself, but the personal toll to himself and those around him tended to be extremely high. This time was no different. A distraction and a slip of a normally very careful hand left a jab through a double layered glove that had him throwing down his tools and heading to the sink to see if he had gotten through the skin. He had only torn off the latex when the first wave of dizziness hit.

Mohinder woke up over an hour later, sweat soaked and shivering on the floor of the lab. Nothing felt broken and for a little while, he forgot what had happened. He sat up slowly, pushed the hair back from his eyes, and glanced down at one blue hand and one skin-coloured palm. Memory rushed back to him and he leaped to his feet to call the company whose drug it was that he was testing and perfecting. There was just a dial tone and a friendly voice telling him that the number had been disconnected. He glanced up and the little red light that usually signaled he was being taped (standard procedure in this lab) was off. The door was unlocked and he shivered again, feeling something move through him.

He should be dead. The catalyst in the drug was enough to kill a man twice his size, the purest form of the component that would make the medicine work against the virus affecting evolved humans. No, he shouldn’t just be dead. He should have exploded all over these walls…and he did not.

The cell phone in his pocket didn’t have reception until he stepped, shaking, into the loading dock. He called the only person he knew might be able to help him. He hadn’t seen Bruce Banner in years. He’d become a consultant for the Avengers in the time since doing humanitarian work in Calcutta, or so the internet said, a frequent guest of Tony Stark of all people. Mohinder didn’t actually have Bruce’s number so he just called the Stark Relief Foundation, where Banner was supposed to be working. It took an hour for him to track down his old acquaintance from his time volunteering with Banner in the slums of Indian. “Doctor Banner? I don’t know if you remember me… My name is Mohinder Suresh. I interned briefly with you overseas?”

Comments

[aggravated]

That was a name he hadn't heard in many years. It wasn't like him to forget a name or a face, and just hearing those smooth tones started to pull at his memory before the name pulled an image out of his mind - young man, handsome, curled hair, dark eyes, Indian. To hear from Mohinder again, so very out of the blue, on the heels of a rushed conversation with a hurried and confused young lady who had no idea who this insistant man on the phone was... it was all incredibly strange.

Still, he had only good memories of Mohinder Suresh. Eager, resourceful, and incredibly intelligent, he had been easy to work with even if it had been awkward on his end with no idea what to do with an intern. Tony had thought the idea of him with an intern was amusing. Maybe it was. So why was he being called now? Thoughts of a job reference floated through his mind, though he wasn't so certain his name would still carry enough weight to matter.

"I do remember you," he replied as he removed his glasses, rubbing his brow. The time difference put him at quite early in the morning, though late enough that the phone call hadn't been completely missed or ignored. "It's been quite some time." He'd assumed the young man was still- interning? Finishing school? There was a momentary guilt as he couldn't remember. So many things had happened to put simple things out of his mind. "I have to admit, long enough that I'm surprised to hear from you again."

Somehow, he doubted this was a call for a friendly chat, given the edge of tone he could hear in Mohinder's voice.