<div class="floatleft">(http://static.desktopnexus.com/thumbnails/609779-bigthumbnail.jpg)</div><hr/><br/><span class="bbc_font" style="font-family: arial;"><span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>Name:</strong> Natasha Evans<br/><strong>Title:</strong> <del>Snow Angel</del> None yet<br/><strong>Affiliation:</strong> Neutral<br/><strong>Location:</strong> Los Angeles, Art Museum at the corner of Wilshire Blvd and Fairfax Ave<br/><strong>Tags:</strong> Teletrix<br/><br/></span></span><hr/><br/>Natasha enjoyed Katerina's company as she ate in silence. Even though they weren't saying anything it still felt good to have at least one friendly person next to her. Kindness seemed to be rare in these post-apocalyptic times. From what Natasha recalled, the prison camp had been a cruel place. Even among the prisoners there were the strong that preyed on the weak. Seeing their death coming near, several gang members had joined forces and started raping women. If Natasha hadn't been dragged away by a soldier to the serum givers, then she might very well have ended up getting raped too. The soldiers either didn't notice or didn't care what the prisoners were doing to each other.<br/><br/><em>You'd think that in times of distress humans would at least band together and help one another, but no, nothing of the kind happened. It's just the same old all over again. Perhaps mankind deserves this apocalypse, there doesn't seem to be a lot of good left in the world. Then again, it's not like mutants are much better. The majority are okay, but it only takes a small group of extremists to frighten an entire planet. Nobody should be allowed to have such power, but now... Now I'm one of them as well. I at least get to choose how I use my powers, though,</em>Natasha thought.<br/><br/>When she glanced to her side, she noticed Katerina's weak smile. Natasha's lips curled up in a smile of her own, and she rubbed the teenager's thigh with a comforting gesture.<br/><br/>“So um, why did you decide to be a doctor anyway, Natasha? In that outfit you look more like you're ready to rob a bank,” Katerina asked.<br/><br/>The sudden question caught Natasha off guard, and she couldn't help but giggle, “I suppose it does, huh? I found this wonderful outfit in a survival store. According to its description it offers protection from various elements, including bullets, fire, and electricity. My wardrobe at the time consisted out of torn and tattered clothing, and I figured this suit would look nice on me, so I tried it on. It fit well and I decided to keep it. But to answer your question, why I decided to become a doctor...”<br/><br/>A sigh escaped from Natasha's lips, as she went on a trip down memory lane. It had been such a long time ago that she had made that decision.<br/><br/>“My parents escaped from the Union of Soviet Socialist Republic, probably better known to you as the USSR, in the late 1970ties, before I was even born. My father was an engineer who worked on propulsion systems for the Sputnik missiles, while my mother was a biologist who worked in a lab on experimental body-enhancing drugs. They never told me much about life in the old country, but over the years I learned enough that she was involved in a program that was supposed to be the Russian counterpart of Captain America. I never learned if she had succeeded or not, but they were always afraid that the KGB would find them, and kill them for the information they had given to the government.<br/><br/>“My interest in medicine came from my mother, after hearing about all the misery and poverty in the USSR. That was right about the fall of the Iron Curtain, and seeing the sickness and helplessness of my people on television tore my heart apart. It was at that moment that I decided that I wanted to become a doctor, so I could someday go there and help my people.<br/><br/>“Lately, however, the political situation has been too instable to go there. It simply isn't safe for people who look like Americans. I might speak fluent Russian, but my parents had taken an American surname so we'd better fit in with the population. My original surname was Yevtushenko. Additionally, the last three years I was also very busy with setting up my own practice in a suburb not far from Los Angeles.<br/><br/>“Even though I'm officially an American, I can't ignore my roots either and I feel that I'm as much Russian as that I'm American. I still intend to go to the old country someday, but with the way things are going now my chances have diminished quite a bit. I can only imagine how bad the situation must be over there.”<br/><br/>Natasha sighed, and said, “I'm sorry. I know you tried to cheer me up and then I turn it into such a heavy topic.”<br/><br/>She was lost in thought for another minute, when she pulled herself out of it, and suggested the skull massage.<br/><br/>“Whatever you say, Doc,” Katerina replied.<br/><br/>Natasha enjoyed the girl's weight against her chest, somehow it felt comforting to have somebody so close against her. She put Katerina's hair behind the girl's ears so it wouldn't be in the way, and rubbed her hands together for a moment to warm them up.<br/><br/>With a gentle touch, she caressed the teenager's temples with her fingertips. Natasha closed her eyes and slowly exhaled her breath, as images of Katerina's brain formed inside her mind. The electrodes were buzzing with activity; she saw blue and red energy light up and it was as if she was in the middle of an intense thunderstorm, with lightning flashes running from left to right, up and down. In her mind, she followed one of these flashes, until she encountered a red node, where the energy separated and split up to travel down various other paths. The red node felt wrong, as if the energy here was blocked and not flowing in the right direction.<br/><br/>Her fingertips massaged Katerina's temples, and when she touched the red node with her gift, it turned it into a blue node instead. Various other red nodes also lighted up, and Natasha focused on healing them one by one, until they all disappeared. She had no idea how much time had passed while she focused on her healing. It could have been minutes, but it could have also been hours.<br/><br/>After a while, however, all the red nodes were gone, and Natasha zoomed out, seeing only a beautiful blue image in her head of a properly functioning brain. Her lips curled into a smile when she located Katerina's pleasure center, and she wondered if it'd be a good idea to have some fun with the girl.<br/><br/><em>This could be a useful and fun experiment. I wonder what would happen if I used both my abilities at the same time and touched a node with a feeling of pleasure?</em>Natasha asked herself, contemplating whether or not she should take it any further.