Origin Part One

Dr. Michelson was discharged from the hospital three weeks later. He shielded his eyes from the sun as he stood in front of the hospital waiting for his driver to pick him up. A black Mercedes soon pulled up as a tall gentleman in a black suit exited the driver's seat. He quickly walked before Dr. Michelson, saluted and opened the car door for him. Dr. Michelson responded to his greeting and took his seat in the car. The driver returned to his seat behind the wheel and sped off.

Dr. Michelson returned to the hospital a couple of days later for the bodies of his wife and son and organized a funeral for them. After the funeral, Dr. Michelson was left alone as he knelt before their headstones and wept bitterly for hours on end. The sun soon set and the sky darkened. The weather got colder as the sky started shedding tears of its own. The force of the rain increased and soon turned into a full-blown storm, forcing everyone currently visiting the graveyard to take cover.

Even with all the chaos of the storm, Dr. Michelson seemed not to notice. Allowing the rain to mask his tears for hours, he continuously stared intently at his wife and son's headstones. Lightning suddenly struck a headstone close to him, stopping his weeping episode and granting him an epiphany. He took a deep breath and finally said, "Rebecca, Elijah, I will find a way to honor your deaths".

He stood to his feet and looked towards the sky, allowing the rain to wash over his face. "I couldn't save you, but I'll do my best to prevent anyone from going through the same ever again", he declared, and walked back to his car astonishing the observers. Before them stood a person who held no fear for lightning. Either that or he was a genuine crazy person. "Take me to the Institute", he instructed the driver, who nodded and quickly drove off.

He arrived at the entrance of the Institute and was received with salutes from the armed guards who were informed of his coming. He nodded at them as the car dove further towards the main complex. He entered the main complex to see all the staff gathered at the indoor courtyard. He was received by warm greetings and condolences. Though he remained aloof, he still responded to the greetings of these people he had spent years with. His brother, Hezekiah, realized that something weighed heavily on his mind, but he knew not to ask his brother questions when his mind was in this state. After receiving all the greetings and condolences, Emmanuel returned to his office, took his seat and began pondering and making random calculations. Oblivious to him, members of his staff who were concerned about him were staring at him through the transparent glass walls that enclosed his office from the rest of the unit.

For the next five months, Dr. Michelson hardly stepped out of the Institute. One would begin to wonder if he ever went home. The only movements he made were from his office to the lab; to the cafeteria and back to the office. People could see him working busily on a project, but no one was able to guess what that project was. Most were occasionally being called in to aid in calculations that required their expertise. Hezekiah was the only one fully involved in the process. Emmanuel finally concluded the calculations after several trial and errors. Hezekiah inquired about how sure Emmanuel was about the result, but Emmanuel just asked him to wait, and see.

The Institute was closed for the night but Dr. Michelson had continued to stay on and work some more. When the last janitor had left, he continued working on his project. He entered the laboratory with the results of the six-month worth of calculations he had been doing. He called over his brother and other trusted members of his staff who were secretly involved and were still around and began the experiment. They developed a chemical compound based of the calculations and then proceeded to introduced a serum that could make the genetic makeup of the subject of the experiment adjustable.

"The superhuman gene is ready. We can move on to the testing phase", Roswald, one of the scientists said as he studied the readings from the devices. Hezekiah brought in one of the Institute's testing monkeys. The monkey was strapped and hooked to the reading machines as a tiny bit of the serum was introduced into its blood. The effects were almost instantaneous as the monkey's body started to spasm. Its muscles enlarged, becoming well defined as its height increased a few inches. The audible cracking of its bones did well to convey the amount of pain the monkey was in.

"What are its vitals?" Emmanuel asked as they observed the monkey from behind the highly tempered bullet proof observation glass. "Slight spike in the heart rate but still in the acceptable range", Hezekiah reported.

After a few minutes of continual shaking, the monkey's muscles soon relaxed and his heart rate became normal. "Its readings are still normal. There are no unexpected side effects, however, its brain waves show activity greater than what we expected. If we leave it, it could potentially grow smarter than everyone in this room", Roswald reported. "Indeed, that could come back to bite us in the butt", Hezekiah added. "That is the purpose of the miniature explosives in the heads of all the test animals. If we are to guard against that possibility, the best way is to exterminate it", Noah, another of the scientists suggested bluntly. "Do it", Emmanuel instructed as Roswald tapped a button and the monkey's head exploded. After making sure the serum had not given the monkey any surprising regenerative abilities, cleaning robots were released to clean up the mess.

After the cleanup and incineration of the corpse, they returned to the lab. "Since the serum is ready, it's just left with the main component", Emmanuel said as he and Hezekiah walked out of the lab. "Bro, are you sure you want to do this?" Hezekiah asked as they walked. "Why? Are you getting cold feet?" Emmanuel asked. "Not really, I'm in all the way. I just wanted to know if you're having any second thoughts. We still don't know the full extent of the red pearl's power", Hezekiah warned. "Not in the slightest. What we do is basically trial and error. If it turns out for the worst, we'll find a way to handle it. If not, I have nothing else to lose. But I believe it's going to work", Emmanuel said as they arrived at the Institute's most secure vault. He moved to one side of the door while Hezekiah moved to the other, and then by simultaneously turning their keys and scanning their palm prints, the vault door opened.

They returned to the lab with a small, tightly sealed box on top of a trolley. They all moved to another lab used for experiments with violent reactions. After rolling the trolley into the room, Hezekiah returned and the door was sealed. Emmanuel took his seat behind the tempered glass as he took control of the mechanical arms within the sealed room. Using those arms, he steadily opened the box revealing a dark crimson pearl that gave of a little light for a few seconds before returning to normal. He picked up the pearl and slowly submerged it into the serum solution.

The solution bubbled violently as the entire colour changed to match that of the pearl. It took a couple of hours for the pearl to fully dissolve into the serum leaving the final solution similar to the colour of blood. The bubbling stopped as the solution came to a calm state. Waiting a few minutes, Emmanuel then gave Roswald the go ahead to test the serum. a drop was extracted and run through the devices and the results came out as expected.

"We've done it everyone. All these months of tireless work has finally paid off. The ultimate superhuman gene has been realized. Now its time to move on to the final stage", Emmanuel addressed them. "Do you already have the subjects in mind?" Noah asked. "Of course. Due to our enhancements, the serum would not work for a grown adult, only an unborn child. I've selected a couple who are expecting. They should be visiting the hospital tomorrow. I'll have one of my contacts administer the serum. We'll just observe how things go from there", Emmanuel said as he sealed the flask holding the serum and placed it gently in a security case.

A loving couple visited the general hospital for their first trimester check. Upon checking the woman's vitals, the doctor informed the couple that the quantity of blood in the mother's body was not enough and could cause complications for the pregnancy; therefore he placed an order for blood from the bank.

Seeking their child's safety, the couple agreed to the arrangement, and a couple minutes later, the mother was hooked to an Iv with type AA blood; hers and her husband's type. She had long fallen asleep as the process was expected to take a while. Leaving his wife to rest while he got something to eat in the hospital cafeteria, the husband left her with the doctor. After the husband left, the door opened again and two men in doctor coats entered with a dark security case.

The doctor removed the Iv bag with the blood and took out a similar empty Iv bag. One of the two men opened the briefcase and brought out a flask containing some blood-like liquid. It was poured into the empty Iv bag and the remaining actual blood was mixed into it. The doctor re hooked the new Iv bag to the Iv tubes connected to the sleeping mother's veins. After a few minutes, the veins all around her body gave off a faint glow visible on her skin as her temperature increased a little. After a few more minutes, the light converged on her womb and disappeared.

"It's done. Daniel, be sure to follow the plan exactly and report back to me on every situation", the taller man said. I'll do as you have instructed Dr. Michelson. Nothing will go wrong on my watch", the doctor promised as the two, revealed to be Doctors Emmanuel and Hezekiah Michelson, left the room and disappeared at the corner of the hallway.

"Good, the ball is now rolling. All that is left is to prepare", Emmanuel said to his brother as they returned to their car and drove to the institute. "Brother, I'm going to need you to take charge over the Institute for a while. I need to prepare physically and mentally for what is to come", Emmanuel said as his brother nodded in agreement. Following his sabbatical from the Institute, Dr. Emmanuel Michelson enrolled in a special top secret training course, all in preparation for his future mentorship role. As he stood at the top of a hill, covered in sweat, he took a deep breath and sighed, "this is just the beginning".