Chapter 1.2.40 — [Title Removed]

Emmett woke up on the couch Sunday morning and rubbed his eyes. Every other time he’d crashed on the couch in the lab, Dr. Venture had been sitting nearby, enjoying his morning coffee.

Emmett sat up and glanced around the living room, but today the doctor was nowhere to be found. Clara was presumably still sleeping.

That was fine by him. He still had work to do.

“TINA, is the biolab available?”

“Yes. Will you be continuing your work on the countermeasures for Mutagen-X?”

“Yes… But coffee first.”

~

Together, Emmett and TINA made solid progress on the Mutagen-X countermeasure.

They started with three different batches of nanites. All were similar in that they were mildly self-propagating—once injected into the bloodstream, they would cascade through the target’s veins, causing clots in their wake while making more of themselves and fending off the few white blood cells in their path. Like a surfer riding the crest of a wave.

They alternated between simulations and molecular testing—which Emmett watched via monitor. After each test, TINA would refine her models, adjusting dosages, nanite replication speeds, or making refinements at the molecular level.

Though TINA tried to walk Emmett through the process, it was admittedly hard for him to follow the more minute details.

At several points, TINA showed Emmett walls of chemical formulas, updating them in real time. Each time, Emmett’s eyes glazed over.

“TINA, I’m an engineer, not a chemist.”

“Just keeping you informed.”

Emmett rubbed his temples and tried in earnest to understand what looked like a foreign language on the screen.

“Dr. Venture would probably understand all this, wouldn’t he?”

“He would understand most of it, but even Dr. Venture needs assistance. Why do you think he made me?”

Emmett nodded. “Fair enough.”

~

Even with TINA’s immense processing power, it took time to run simulations and make updates. Dr. Venture stopped by once for a quick update, and Clara stopped by twice, but she seemed almost as preoccupied as her dad did.

Were they as worried about this mission as he was? Emmett hadn’t really thought about it, but this must be a big deal for Venture and Clara, too.

Emmett had assumed that Clara had done all kinds of missions as a super, but that was before her confession about her powers. He’d had her figured all wrong. This might be her first big mission in years. Venture was probably worried for the same reason.

Emmett pushed the thought from his head. He couldn’t think about that now. Sure, a lot was riding on the mission, but dwelling on it would just make him even more nervous.

Instead, Emmett looked over the information on Mutagen-X again—mostly to make sure he hadn’t missed some other angle that they could exploit. Emmett checked it twice before he was satisfied.

During an afternoon calibration, he opened up the psychology profile for Mutagen-X subjects—

His jaw fell open.

Emmett hadn’t really known what to expect. For one, he’d never read a psychology profile or report before. And two, he hadn’t expected it to be even longer than the biology and combat data. There were brainwave scans, reports from psychologists, clips from test subject interviews, psychological comparisons with other mutagen subjects—Emmett spent twenty minutes just skimming over the reports.

He spent the rest of his idle time that afternoon reading the reports in more detail:

In addition to all the physical abilities that Mutagen-X gave the subject, it also allowed them greater control over what they felt and experienced. Test subjects could dampen and experienced subjects could completely turn off their pain receptors. This was partially responsible for the ability of X-subjects to fight through grievous injuries like losing limbs.

“During development of Mutagen-X, it was necessitated that subjects should have greater control over their bodies. These subjects are often chosen from the pinnacle of human soldiers, and so should be afforded autonomy, not just in accomplishing their mission, but in dominion over their own feelings and sensations.” — [Citation Removed]

Most of the quotes and excerpts had their citations blacked out.

“TINA, is there a way to recover the citations for these sources?”

“No. The information was already expunged on Gnosis’s servers before this copy was made.”

Emmett’s ears perked up. “Gnosis’s records were corrupted?”

“Not likely. Citations were selectively scraped from this particular server. It is likely that their central server would have the unaltered records.”

That sounded… odd. Emmett’s face wrinkled as he struggled to word his question. “TINA, do you know how Dr. Venture got these records?”

“I do, but don’t bother asking.”

He chuckled. So that explained it. “For a second, it sounded like Dr. Venture was keeping their source from you.”

“I know everything that Dr. Venture knows.” It sounded like there was a hint of uncertainty in TINA’s voice, but Emmett decided he must have been imagining it.

Emmett turned his attention back to the data on Mutagen-X subjects. As it turned out, turning off pain receptors was just the start.

“Psychological decline was a significant hurdle in first generation Mutagen-X subjects. The sheer number of changes to the body, demands of training, and… subject matter… of the missions, were ultimately too much for 76% of test subjects. An unacceptable rate of asset depreciation.

“However, those 24% of acceptable test-subjects were discovered to have a mutation that would lead to the final formulation of Mutagen-X… The ability to turn off psychological pain, as well as physical pain.” — [Citation Removed]

Emmett continued reading, equal parts scientifically, tactically, and morbidly curious. Though the longer he read, the heavier the pit in his stomach.

“Psychological trauma… Post-Traumatic Stress… Flashbacks… Night terrors… functionally non-existent in the final generation of test subjects.

“Rates of satisfaction with mutagen testing increased sharply before leveling off.” — [Citation Removed]

“However, problems began 3-4 months after final dosage…

“Emotional satisfaction in non-mission critical aspects, including subject’s personal lives, take a sharp decline… Subjects begin to regulate emotions during non-mission activities. Emotional control degrades, creating a negative feedback loop…

“Emotional regulation degrades until subjects are forced to dampen ALL emotional responses, not just trauma responses.” — [Citation Removed]

“43% of Mutagen-X subjects continue to function satisfactorily up to 1 year after final dosage… 21% of subjects function after 2 years… Complete cohort loss before 3 years due to psychological degradation…

“Acceptable rate of asset depreciation.” — [Citation Removed]

“Once subjects show signs of emotional degradation, active monitoring should start and disposal protocols are readied.” — [Citation Removed]

“Emotional degradation deemed non-salvageable. Once lack of emotional connection begins, subjects begin to experience psychopathy, psychosis, and disconnect… psychotic breaks… resulting in a complete break from reality. Imminent violence.

“It is in [Name Removed]’s professional opinion that Mutagen-X subjects be terminated once the first signs of emotional degradation begin.” — [Citation Removed]

Emmett slumped down in a nearby chair and leaned on the holographic table. He couldn’t decide whether he felt more disgusted or hollow.

A part of him knew that he was reading scientific papers and that they were written to be sterile and unemotional—ironically, like the test subjects they were recommending for termination.

These were people. Every one of those statistics was someone's sibling or child.

A part of him couldn’t fathom how a corporation, even one like Gnosis, could have such a casual disregard for human life. But that was just the smallest sliver of their crimes—Gnosis was a bioweapons company that supplied most of the world’s armies.

It was like a giant machine digging through the earth, each bucket tearing hundreds of tons out of the ground, then pulverizing boulders bigger than houses like they were styrofoam. Except Gnosis wasn’t some industrial digging machine…

They were mining people. Destroying people. Throwing the chunked up remains of them away once they were broken.

It was almost too much to comprehend.

It was too much.

Emmett knew that he could look through the data and find out exactly how many, but putting a number to the suffering wouldn’t change a thing.

No. Gnosis was too big.

Gnosis was so big that they continued to operate unimpeded by the likes of world powers or even the Summit of Heroes.

Gnosis was too big…

Instead of the incomprehensible scale of tragedy, Emmett focused on the mission at hand.

Taking out this manufacturing plant might not change the world and it probably wouldn’t hurt Gnosis, but it was a start. It would get rid of the knock-off mutagens, and maybe even make the streets of Belport a little safer.

It was a start.

There was a bigger thought weighing on Emmett though, even with his newfound resolve:

It had been almost a month since the last confrontation with the Mutagen-X super. They’d sounded sane enough that night, but who knew how long they’d been in the program and how much sanity they had left.

“I’m not your enemy…”

A part of Emmett had hoped that he could go through with the mission without accidentally killing this super… But now, Emmett might have to kill him.

There might not be any other way.

~ ~ ~