“You just let her go? Just like that?” Cain asked indignantly.
“She was smarter, faster, stronger. Always a step ahead. And that was before the injection of the nanocells. But after, she became something more. She disappeared off the face of the earth. That was until our newly formed CSSA team detected some unusual activity in one of their servers some fifteen years later after the time of Amiko’s escape. Someone had been monitoring everything that had anything to do with Zonos and Psi-Corp. It was a stroke of luck that this person was even discovered, really. The Net Code address led to a small settlement town called—”
“Integro,” Lt. Daav interjected yet again. He was surprised that he remembered this. A flash flood of memories stormed his mind at an overwhelming pace.
“Lieutenant?” General Cain asked.
“I found her. She had been living in Integro, before it became West Andromeda. She looked different, but somehow, I knew it was her. There was an explosion and she was at its epicenter. There’s no way she could’ve survived that,” Daav said as he began to remember fragments of Amiko’s death.
“I’m not entirely sure what happened, but word had it that she died while fighting off our forces, which somewhat corroborates Lieutenant Daav’s patchy memories, hm? Yes, indeed. But there was something they overlooked; they never found the body of her son,” Volda stated excitedly.
“What in the world does any of this have to do with the Adriel Project, Stein?” General Cain asked.
“That picture, yes, that one on your holo-feed behind the White Knight. It appears we have a common interest in that picture, good sir,” Volda stated while rubbing his hands together.
“Explain. I’m losing patience,” General Cain said.
“Eye color mutations within our general populace have rarely varied over the years, save for cybernetic vision enhancements like that of the Lieutenant’s, or other Hybrids per se. The range of eye color here is rather basic from dark and light brown, to hazel, amber, blue, even your atypical grey or green here and there. But never, since the Fayte bloodline came to be, have I ever seen such brilliant opaline shimmer in anyone’s eyes. She had luminous golden eyes that had a nuanced, polychromatic glow to them, especially at night. They were simply hypnotic, as if they could peer deep into your heart of hearts. She had the most powerful, soul-bearing, intimidating glare,” Volda said, almost chanting.
“Stein,” Cain uttered impatiently.
“That young man in that picture is the son of the legend! The holy grail of anatomical science! He represents a complete rewriting of the human genome! A walking, living, breathing, thinking, sentient, techno-organic, human-born man-machine of pure wonder and delicious discovery! He is the path to the future!” Dr. Stein Volda exclaimed with a flourish, finding himself on his feet.
“How in the world do you know for sure?” Cain asked.
“Oh, yes. I ran into him some days ago while I was, well, you know, satisfying my undeniable instinct for unchaste, beautiful carnage. There, this young man stood, in the flesh; glowing golden eyes and all. His features were just like his mother’s. Amiko Fayte’s offspring! Can you imagine?” Volda exclaimed.
General Cain was hardly amused, but engaged all the same. “You’re certain the same man in this picture is the one you saw that night?” Cain asked.
“Why, yes, Vladimir. I could never forget those eyes, even if I wanted to. He looked to be in phenomenal shape. I could sense a power deep within him. It’s monstrous, but dormant. I initially released the Adriel Project to further my aim of reaching a new step in human development by collecting data. I’ve been trying to recreate Amiko’s infamously impossible formula, to no avail. She and Dr. Sendo went to great lengths to conceal their research from me. They defied me! Me! Even though I was the head of the government’s science division! Their co-conspiring resulted in me losing access to their formula when they passed," he said.
"You mean when you had them killed, right? I'm no scientist, but doesn’t that kinda mean this little ordeal here is your fault?" Daav abruptly interjected.
Stein gave Lt. Daav a chilling glare, unwilling to admit fault in any way. Yeah, real fuckin' creep show you are, huh? Daav thought to himself about the strange Dr. Stein Volda.
"What about this formula you spoke of? You're telling me there is absolutely no trace of these experiments?" General Cain asked.
"None. They got rid of everything. Not a single piece of equipment was left behind. Amiko was two steps ahead of us, but as luck would have it, I have found what we need! Ever since I ran into that young man, I’ve had the White Knight trail him, but he has proven to be an extremely difficult person to track. It was a miracle that the White Knight re-located him near the Clone Farm,” Volda revealed.
“So, you knew! You’ve tested my patience long enough, Stein. Your bullshit ends here! I regret to inform you, but I’m going to have to put in an order to revoke your scientific license, the rights to your funding and research, and your position as president of the Science and Research Development division of Zonos,” Cain said.
“Or you could, perhaps, not, hm?” Volda replied.
“Stein, you have no say in this matter. You have clearly violated enough rules in your time. It ends here,” Cain said.
“General Cain, it is my understanding that your soldiers in the regular Psi-Corp ranks have begun to suffer greatly from the side effects of the now failing ScioN serum provided to you by C.E.L.L., yes?” Volda alleged. “And it has also been rather heavily implied by the brand ambassador and senior faculty board member, Layne Marling from C.E.L.L., that their company will be officially excluding Zonos and Psi-Corp from the private auction of the new, upgraded, side
