Johanna gave John a nod, picking up her datapad and looking over the choices again. After about a minute of debating the pros and cons in her mind she finally decided to choose the second option, the escort mission. She figured the mission's rewards were on par with the risk in involved. The siege mission was a suicide attempt and not worth dying for, and the guard mission, well that just wouldn't pay enough to be worth their time, especially if they got into a gunfight.
Johanna thought that maybe not the group slowly assembling around the galley would start having conversation with each other, she liked to listen to other people talk. She didn't mind when other people were around, she just became really uncomfortable when people spoke to her directly, or god forbid being the center of everyone's attention.
She should have know better though, she was cursed with an appearance that automatically drew attention to her, at least from other humans. Other species hardly noticed the difference, but among her own kind she stood out like a sore thumb. It wasn't long before someone decided to sit at the same table as her. She briefly had the urge to get up and find a different table, but she didn't want to be seen as rude. Instead she looked the boy over, immediately noticing he wasn't entirely human himself, he appeared to have some mechanical implants.
The cyborg suddenly spoke, "You appear to be a form of mutant. Please elaborate." It caught her off guard, people usually weren't so blunt or direct about asking why she was different. He spoke with a precision that reminded her of an artificial intelligence. He wasn't like other humans either, he was different. They had that in common at the very least.
She realised she'd simply been gawking at him in silence for the past minute. With a blush she snapped out of her daze, she decided she had no choice but to answer his question, she reasoned it was better to get it over with now then put it off till later, she had a sick feeling though this wouldn't be the last time she'd have to do this.
"Well I...I was kidnapped and experimented on at a research facility that had been hidden inside an asteroid. I woke up in this strange cell, and that's when it began. Whoever they were, they never spoke to me, or revealed themselves. I don't think I was worthy of their attention...they simply began the...experiments." She couldn't help but shudder.
"I was unconscious for a lot of it. But sometimes when I was awake these mechanical arms would come down and inject me with strange substances, they made me feel sick. Sometimes they'd gas the room too. After what I think was weeks I sort of got used to it. Whatever they were doing...it made me stronger, faster...they were enhancing me for some unknown purpose. After a while the more...obvious changes appeared." She gestured to her ears and tail.
"My hair and eyes changed as well, but I didn't notice those as easily. Whatever they did it changed me down to my DNA. I-I'm not really sure I can even be considered human anymore, at least not entirely...it's like they wanted to create a new...species." She looked down at her coffee mug. "Starfire raided the research facility and rescued me and some others who were held there, and that's how I ended up here more or less." She took a long sip of her coffee, she needed to calm her nerves.
