Definition of Humanity

The Cell

John's POV

           I awoke inside a small, concrete cell, along with Sherlock and everyone else. I am chained to a wall, as well. The cell seems to be mostly underground, except for a small window that is the only illumination. The front wall of the cell is all steel bars, which seem to be virtually indestructible. It is all silent, as no one else has recovered from the drugs yet. As I sit in this cold, dark cell, all I can think is, "Why did Sherlock react like that?" and, "Why did he even give a crap about what his brother said?" When my vision stopped spinning and I could sit up straight, I realized that I was the only one chained to the wall. Soon, after we were all conscious, I broke the silence and said, "What the heck was that, Sherlock? You seemed to act like you knew this was going to happen." He replied, "That's because I did, John. Now, as a fair warning to all of you, except Mycroft, who already knows, by tomorrow morning, your lives will have changed forever. You will see things and... well... DO things you never thought were possible in this mortal realm. Do you understand?"

Okay, NOW I was just plain mad. I wanted to just snap his head off, but restrained myself. Surely he had a reason.

Donovan replied to this, saying, "Wait, you KNEW about this? Why didn't you stop him then? If this is just some trap..."

"That's because it IS, dum-dum! Didn't you catch on?" a sickening, sing-song voice replied to her.

No...

"Oh, and by the way, Sherlock, I have a few little experiments planned for Johnny-boy here-"

         I felt the blood drain from my face, but I was quickly distracted from Moriarty's-quite frankly-terrifying comment when Sherlock did something which I never expected to happen, but was not suprised in the least: He stood as calmly as possible, but clearly shaking from pure rage. His eyes, which had a look that could kill, changed color. They were a golden color, instead of the piercing, icy blue they once were. His fists clenched until they were white, and it was clear that he could no longer hold himself back. He then lunged at Moriarty, screaming, 

"DO-NOT-TOUCH---JOHN!!!"

         Molly let out a small shriek when Sherlock slammed the bars of the cell- and then it began the downward spiral. The unfortunate bar was bent nearly to the point of breaking, and in the middle of that bend was a perfect, fist-shaped dent. From my experience as a doctor, that kind of trauma would surely have shattered his hand and left his fist bloodied and bruised. But not a scratch was to be found- in fact, he continued to slam the bar over and over until it tore clean in half- and during that fit of rage, Moriarty just stood there laughing. Sherlock finally composed himself, but did his best to keep himself between me and Moriarty. After Moriarty finally stopped laughing, he said, "That won't help anything. It's already in his system-it was before he arrived here." 

"You didn't..."

"Oh yes, Sherlock I did. John, you'll know what I mean in an hour. It's 11:00. Tick-tock!" he sang with an evil smirk, and skipped away from the cell.

I felt sick. What did he do to me?, I thought.

Greg, who had been mostly quiet throughout the ordeal (he was very sensitive to the drugs he had been injected with) said, "Sherlock, what the heck just happened? How did you break down that bar? And your eyes, Sherlock, your eyes..."

Sherlock choked, as if he was about to cry. "Through the same thing that was given to John... the Terragen serum. It was-"

I nearly threw up right then and there. Sherlock obviously has some sort of superhuman strength, but what explains the eyes? His eyes had flashed gold before he went for Moriarty. And he wasn't just angry. He was ticked. I couldn't hold back anymore. I had to say something. I needed to know what was happening to me. Finally, I said to Sherlock, "Sherlock, tell me. What is... happening? It obviously happened to you, why it happened to you doesn't matter. But please, I only have an hour until whatever is going to happen... well.. happens."

"John, I am going to sound absolutely crazy-

"I'm all ears."

He sighed. "The terragen is a substance derived from the terragen crystals, the origin of which is unknown but believed to be alien. It changes you, fills in holes in your DNA until you become something you're not. John, I'm not even really... human, anymore. We a-"

"We???"

"Yes, we. We as in Mycroft, and others."

Everyone turned to Mycroft, as did I, at least, as much as I could in my chains. Mycroft glared at Sherlock, his eyes tinged with red, but not the same golden color as with Sherlock. Sherlock, seeing this, says, "Settle down, Mycroft. They would have found out eventually." 

Mycroft relaxed, but stayed silent. Sherlock continued, saying "We are a race all our own. I will tell you more later, but I would need much more time. In short, we nearly died out long ago, but left the crystals so that one day, we may return. The crystals turn you into one of us." Still confused and quite frightened, I said, "But, what are you? I want to know exactly what is going to happen." I looked at the time on Sherlock's watch. Only thirty minutes left. He replied, saying "We are called the Inhumans. Each of us have different powers and abilities, but we all have one thing in common: the crystals alone do not change you enough. The serum contains some other genes that were extracted from the ancient ones of our race. Those allow us to change further, making us stronger."

"What is the difference between the weaker ones and the stronger ones?"

"The weaker of our kind, who are only exposed to the terragen crystals, have only one ability, which can range from telepathy to controlling water to things that are more specific, like only being able to control things that did not originate from something that is or was alive. The stronger ones have one ability that they are strongest in, as well as shape-shifting and the ability to fly. We all have our own forms in which we are strongest. But, there's sometimes a catch. Sometimes, there's a specific need or rather, part of you which you cannot control. We all have the eyes, as you just saw. But you did notice the different colors. The colors reflect what you truly are, what form you are destined to take. That is too complicated to explain now. And, there's one other thing..." He paused. "We are immortal, unless we recieve a wound which is too critical to recover from. That is the worst part of it."

           I just sat there, shocked to the core. Immortal? That's not possible! I checked the time again. Two minutes. Sherlock, realizing how little time I have left, says "John, listen to me carefully. You have two minutes left to prepare. Stay calm, or you will lose control. An out-of-control Inhuman is the last thing we need. Second, it's going to hurt. Your spine reshaping to accommodate wings is not a pleasant feeling. Third, good luck, you'll need it."

"Thanks, I guess."

I began to feel it. It wasn't too bad at first, like an odd tingle throughout my entire body. I decided to have a last look around while I was mostly human. Molly just stood there in disbelief, teary-eyed. Greg looked like a trout, with his mouth just hanging wide open, staring. Donovan had backed into a corner, apparently in fear. Confused, I tried to ask, "Why are they afraid of me?", But all that I could utter was a low, guttural growl. Sherlock grew wide-eyed and said, "John, your eyes. You look like an animal." Uh-oh. 

And then, the change started.