Security Chief Bradley was not having a good day.
Ever since the incident with the previous head of research, there was speculation among the rest of the guards that he might be out of a job soon.
All pointless really.
Since Bradley had blackmail on one of the VPs, that wasn’t happening ever.
Two more years in this dump and with the generous package mister Carmichael left me, I’ll be free of this hell hole.
And hell hole was right, because this place had fucking monsters in the walls as far as he was concerned.
Speaking of.
He was now searching the ventilation shafts for the entire building, because a damn scientist let one of the experiments get free.
Said scientist was now shivering in front of him like she'd just seen a damn ghost.
Apparently, according to the cameras before they had been destroyed, the experiment had made its way towards the vent shafts on the ceiling to escape, tripping the alarms that were there.
However, the bastard had been sneaky after that, no other alarms had been tripped, which meant it either escaped, or was going through the vents that weren’t set with motion detectors.
Which is why he was talking to the shivering mess in front of him.
“Dr. Meg Schumann, lead project scientist on the R series, also colleague of one Sarah Bockman, the scientist who used to be in charge of the experiment. Did I miss anything?”
The scientist shook her head, clearly in pain.
“No, you’re right… Dr. Bockman and I were friends before she was found dead.”
“I see.”
He noted down that tidbit, never knew when info like that might be useful.
Grieving friend forced to take over her friend’s project, and by the look of her she wasn’t at a hundred percent when the damn thing broke out. Fits the profile for a victim.
Bradley had seen that look on victims before, when he used to be a police officer.
She doesn’t look like someone who would pawn off the research, and her motivations don’t match someone who rocks the boat. Wrong place wrong time.
He placed his notes away.
“Dr Meghan, I need to ask you a few questions about the experiment. Rest assured no one blames you for what happened, we just need to catch the experiment.”
“R-Right.”
He pulled out a data pad with the information regarding her clock in, her entering the laboratory, and the restricted section where she housed the experiment.
“According to this data you were inside the facility by ten a.m. and were accompanied by Dr. Hector Swan and Dr Amelia Benson. After having lunch, you all returned to your respective work places, neither meeting each other for the rest of the day. Is all of this true?”
“Y-Yes officer.”
He flipped the slide on his pad, “you had also just recently been at one Sarah Bockman’s funeral earlier that day, yes?”
The doctor nodded, a look of pain on her face.
“Sorry, I understand she was your friend, but it’s important not just for us, but for the report. Anyway, you had returned to the lab, compiled notes on the Crimson R series and were subjecting the experiment to… ‘stimuli of a viscous nature’?”
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The doctor before him nodded, “the Crimson R series is a potential bioweapon that we… Sarah and I… were developing for the board in their newest bid with the Terran Military. It had potential for a… class Z event.”
That made Brad put down the pad for a moment, “Class Z? You’re serious?”
Meghan shook her hand back and forth, “it has the potential, but none of the data supported it yet! Either it just wasn’t interested or something about the makeup didn’t catch on. Either way, it’s harmless.”
She looked down, “at least, it was supposed to be.”
Bradley noted that down and circled it.
Potential Class Z, what the hell were those idiots on the board thinking?
Class Z was a nightmare, a sort of fairytale situation where a virus or some kind of bacterium infected the world, turning people into monsters that ate flesh. Or so the theory went. No one had ever come close to making something like that.
It was as if the human race wasn’t prone to making weapons that could kill their entire race in a month.
Well, except those morons on Earth centuries ago.
On Asta though, that was one of the first laws ever put into place.
Now though… we have a potential zombie plague in the building?
“How certain are you that it won’t create a class Z event Dr. Meghan?”
“99.9 percent, the data shows that the R series is closer to a bioweapon in the form of biological enhancement, like… a skin suit that makes you stronger and faster. It was only thought at being a potential Class Z. My colleague Dr Bockman even stated that the stuff could be used for medical purposes, a potential cure for all of humanity's illnesses.”
Bradley lifted his eyebrow skeptically, “a panacea?”
This seemed to bring a spark back into the distraught scientist, “yes! Potentially, the R series has the ability to sense things in its host that are causing detrimental effects and eliminate them. One of the test subjects we used had their cancer healed instantly. It was… one of the arguments we often had.”
Meghan had a pained look, and Bradley recognized someone who blamed themselves for something.
Typical guilt over things left unsaid, I know that well.
“We were supposed to be making a bioweapon, but Sarah was obsessed with finding a cure for something… I think it was her brother Aden. She never went into too much detail, but I believe she mentioned visiting the hospital at New Terra Medical.”
“Focus Doctor, we need to know more about this R series. What can it do, what should we look for and how do we catch it?”
Meghan nodded, shaking her head as she collected herself, “It’s a bio-recombiner. It takes dead tissue and turns it into something else. Stem cells, blood, brain matter, it can make anything as long as it has the necessary parts.”
“Now the Class Z stuff makes sense. If it got its hands on a cemetery or something…”
The doctor nodded sadly, “it could spread itself, or make a new form for itself that would be practically unkillable. The R series is not sentient enough to think about that option though. It’s likely trying to find food or some kind of biomass it can absorb.”
So burn all the dead cats, got it.
“What else can you tell me?”
She shuffled, “I-It’s something me and Dr. Bockman were worried about, until the board shut down the query. Crimson R series is a lot different than the other R series in one important aspect.”
She motioned for a pencil and paper, which Bradely signaled one of his officers to grab.
As the paper and the pencil met, the doctor seemed to be frantic about the thing she was trying to convey.
“Crimson R is the same as its sisters in the bio-recombination aspect, but what makes it different is the size on which it acts on the dead tissues. The others are only skin deep, while Crimson R goes deeper, into the very DNA of its host. For example, the suit idea we had for the Purple R series is being tested now for a viable option to power armor, capable of increasing a person’s strength almost by ten times the amount.”
She showed a small graph of numbers and different looking power suits, most of it going over Bradley’s head, but he let her continue.
“Crimson R would turn those ten times to a thousand, and it would change the body's chemistry to allow it flawlessly. If it deemed you would be more efficient with four arms instead of two, it would morph you to fit that need. Crimson R is by degrees more powerful than its sister counterparts, but it changes the host to fit those needs. Should someone get their hands on Crimson R and somehow bond with it…
It would be Wrathchet Man all over again…
Bradley pulled out his walkie talkie, “I need every available person looking into this breach at once. Call all of the available personnel we have, even those who’re on break. I can’t stress this enough; we need to find this thing!”
This seemed to scare the doctor, “Officer Bradley, It’s closer to an infant in its thinking process. I don’t think you need to worry about it that much. You should be able to catch it with the decon gas we use in the laboratory, there’s no need to kill it.”
Bradley nodded, turning to his mike, “and get some of the recruits to the lab on Subsection B, we need to grab a few gas canisters.”
He stood up and turned to the doctor, “thank you for your help, Dr. Schumann, you’re free to go home for now, but we may call you later for further information. I’ll be sure to put in the report that this was an accident as opposed to sabotage or the like as well. Get home safe alright?”
She nodded back to him, “thank you Officer.”
Bradely felt a twinge of warmth in his chest, reminding him of the times he used to protect and serve the public.
All gone now, remember that.
He nodded, not trying to show his discomfort as he went off with his men.