nextgenerationmarvel | (Un)Welcome Guest at the Pier

It had been a few days since Arcade had managed to kidnap Mary. She returned to the Pier, to her home with the Future Foundation with an unfortunate guest in tow. Someone many people did not want about, and if they did, it was to talk poorly about her.

Alisa LeBeau was Arcade's unwilling puppet. He hacked into her neurological implants, forcing her to kidnap people and force them into a game of death. She had moments where she could take control, but it was barely enough to prevent people from getting hurt. She sacrificed her own intelligence, her own being, to stop Arcade. She would not be allowed to be used to hurt anymore innocent people. It was perhaps the only self-less act, besides saving Reiko, she had done.

After the Future Foundation scientists got a hold of the implants, they determined that it was impossible to save them. Brand new ones would have to be build and that would take time. Until then, Alisa would need to live without them... and no one could expect the state she was in once they were removed.

Her actions were childish, showing a curiosity for everything. She smiled and laughed in a genuine way, not like how she used to for show. Though confined to a single room, she did not dwell. She thrived.

There was no brooding, no pain, no bumbling when it came to socializing, and no sadness at being left alone for too long. The scientists were befuddled by her actions, until a CAT scan of her brain was taken. The bullet that had damaged her brain did not do as much damage as people thought. It was only the implants themselves that had done the real damage. Alistaire Shaw had been tricked into doing more harm than good when it came to his bodyguard, and he never knew it. A sad irony.

For now, Alisa sat in her room, her eyes glued to a TV. From what Mary heard, Alisa never watched TV, she never got a chance to, and when she did... well... Ryan could attest she would try to cover her tracks about her lack of pop culture. She appeared mesmerized by some play that was being televised, her arms about a pillow, hugging it as the show went on.

Threaded | Flat

Unfortunately for Mary, who was self-described as unfit to take care of plastic plants, Remi had forced her to be responsible for Alisa while she was here. She bore the woman no ill-will, of course; she'd been mind-controlled.

She came into the room with a tray. "Uh, hey," she said. "Brought you some food."

The "science geeks" at the Future Foundation labs managed to fit Alisa with new implants after a few days of hard work and some sleepless nights. These would be temporary ones, but at least she would be functioning close to normal. It was an improvement to say the least.

Her speech patterns had returned to normal and gone was the child-like curiosity about everything. The only thing that did not change was how happy she was. Parts of her memory were still missing, but it did not seem to bother her or matter.

Though she knew better than to leave her room without Mary's permission, Alisa had slipped out to use what looked like a gym facility at Pier 4. She wanted to exercise her limbs and and burn off some energy she had. After finding a balance beam, she pulled herself upon it and began to walk across as though it were second nature to her.

"One foot, in front o' de other." She mumbled to herself, before reaching the end of the beam, turning about, and walking back the way she came. Once she found her balance, Alisa started to do more... well... gymnastic quality work on the beam. Cartwheels, back flips, front flips, all without slipping or falling off the beam.

It was almost as though she had never been injured so severely in the first place.

It seemed like there was barely a day that passed by where Alisa wasn't put into some sort of crazy, life-threatening situation. Ryan was hard-pressed to think of anyone who had worse luck than she did.

He'd waited a couple of days before visiting, but he finally arrived with a bouquet of flowers - bright yellow Gerbera daisies, sunny daisy poms, and warm sunflowers. Everything bright and cheerful. He gently set the vase of flowers next to Alisa's bed and took a seat, patiently waiting for her to awaken.

One of the Scientists was curious as to Alisa's behavior, especially after hearing about her reaction to Ryan's visit. Two cards were placed before Alisa, one was red and the other was blue. He asked a simple question: Which color card did she like. What was learned was shocking.

Alisa could not pick either card without appearing to have a bought of anxiety or looking like she was going to be sick. When he asked her about her reaction, she responded in a way that puzzled him.

"I don' know which one is de right answer."

She had no sense of self! She was so concerned with what others thought and what was supposed to be a correct answer, that it was neurotic! It was concluded that Alisa had practically been molded to serve others from a young age, and it has resulted in her wanting to please everyone. From her appearance to how she presented herself. It was like she was living a script for nearly twenty six years and falling outside the script was a crisis.

This was worse than what the Scientists thought. They originally thought it was a blip with her implants, not a complete psychological issue. This complicated matters and meant she was not ready to be unleashed into the real world. Instead, they opted to keep Alisa around to try and see if they could reverse her conditioning with scientific methods.

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Implant installation and some exercise

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Unwitting Science Experiment