Emma I:

The lab doors opened to reveal a cleaned up Jaene, dawned in a fresh lab coat. Well as fresh as they could be sitting in storage for so long.

“Morning!” Emma said, her voice chipper and loud.

Jaene visibly winced but nodded softly.

“Morning.”

Emma subconsciously noted she should lower her voice. She was just so excited! A new brilliant mind in this lab, all the built up questions Emma stored were ready to burst from her mouth. But for now she’d let her new partner settle.

“So this is the lab. It’s a bit overwhelming at first but I’m sure you’ll fit in. This area is all yours, but we obviously can share the equipment.” Emma led Jaene to the far corner of the room, there sat a desk complete with its own monitors.

Jaene took a seat behind the desk, the blue light from the computer illuminated her face. Emma noticed the woman’s paling complexion, and her exhausted face. She wanted to ask, but the medic realized how difficult that would be to bring up normally.

‘Oh hey you look like crap, are you feeling like crap? Yeah good luck with that Emma.’ Her inner scolding was cut short when Jaene’s voice sounded again.

“Where’s the serum?”

The younger woman blinked rapidly at the question. How long had she been zoning out?

“Oh your serum’s in there. We separate it from the virus when we realized what it was.” Emma flashed her badge against the padlock on the wall, which opened the glass chamber . The purple vial seemingly glowed in its compartment.

Jaene held the vial delicately, her eyes were hard to read upon first glance. But it wasn’t quite like the captain’s kind of unreadable. He was like a stone statue, no emotion visible most of the time. This was almost like a painting, multiple layers of emotions sung through those forest lens.

Pride? Disappointment? Guilt?

Emma wasn’t sure what she was looking at. Perhaps all of them, blended together in a swirl of emotions. Maybe that was the most logical conclusion. The human conclusion.

Jaene wordlessly placed the vial in the scanner, her eyes fixed on the monitor. After several minutes of silence, Emma approached again.

“How did you make it? All of it I mean. If you don’t mind me asking.” Emma made sure to add the last part quickly. She had entered rather intruding territory now.

“..I was frustrated. The first few times I almost gave up. Then I got angry. It affected my work. I guess it was a bit poetic. My feelings reflected what the viruses would eventually become.“

Emma’s mind flashed to the images of the monsters created in the past. It was hard to believe the woman in front of her was responsible.

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“Did you know the plan was always to make a performance enhancer? The viruses were..mistakes.”

Emma gave her a pensive stare.

“Mistakes? Jaene you can’t be serious. I understand what happened with you, truly I do. But the last eighteen years can’t just be mistakes.” Emma walked over to the decontamination chamber. Another tap of her badge and it opened, revealing the red vial.

“How can you go from this..to that. You clearly know how to make a good serum, regardless of its own flaws. It’s nowhere near this monstrosity, or any of the others.” Emma had tried her best not to sound too harsh.

Jaene lowered her head a little.

“It’s true I was the head researcher. But it wasn’t always like that. At first I was just the adopted daughter, he kept me away from everything. But one day it changed.”

Emma took a seat across from her. It made sense she wasn’t, Jaene was 30 years old, and according to the timeline, would’ve been twelve when she got adopted.

“He came home one day. He was so frustrated. I figured it was related to work. I got into his brief case, and I saw the plans written down. Something in me just clicked that day. I traced over it, solving everything that went wrong. He caught me after that and well..I found myself in the lab.”

Emma didn’t know if she should’ve been horrified or impressed. A child being able to even comprehend bio engineering and being subjected to what she could only imagine as isolation because of it.

“My work wasn’t just mine. It was whatever he wanted, how he saw fit. He wanted something contagious and powerful. And I did just that. This serum..it’s the only semblance of myself through all of that.” Jaene placed a hand on the glass, she peered down at the rotating vial. The computer monitor lit up, a page detailing the results grasped their attention.

Emma could feel Jaene’s anticipation, while she herself only felt worse about pressing her the way she did. There was clearly more to the story, and it only fueled Emma’s desire to get to know her new partner more.

She looked to the screen, a frown formed on her lips when she read the document.

‘Succession Rate: 34%’ and below that, a list of side effects ranging from mild to fatal. One thing was clear. It wasn’t ready.

Jaene let out a sigh full of dissatisfaction. She slumped in the chair, and spun around to face away from the screen.

Emma offered a comforting hand on the shoulder, internally she was struggling to find the words to match her gesture. What could she even say?

Her own monitor rang, which quickly alerted the medic. The gray map of the world made itself visible, the caution symbol crimson blinked rapidly on the screen. Emma knew what that meant.

“What’s that?” Jaene called from the desk. Her voice grew closer, signaling she was approaching.

“There’s a bio weapon active.” Emma responded hesitantly, the orders from the captain were stamped on her brain.

“Keep Jaene out of the case in Mexico as much as possible.”

It seemed simple but how could she do that if they shared a lab that held a map specifically made for finding bio weapons? Weapons she most likely assisted in making no less.

The red dot was large and it sat exactly where she suspected. Mexico, a dozen miles away from Fort Laza. The Mexican armed special forces were sending a signal, which meant this was an emergency.

Emma felt sweat from on her forehead. This was getting worse by the day.

“I have to get the Captain. I’ll be right back.”

She said quickly, not missing a beat as she stormed out of the lab. Jaene couldn’t even get a word out.

Her worries grew increasingly with every step. If they were sending a signal, it meant this bio weapon wasn’t just the average infected person. It was something stronger, and they needed the professionals.