Chapter 32 - The lab
He patted the dead Luca's shoulder almost apologetically. "It's a shame you had to die, Luca. I would have liked to have some more time with my first scion, but… well, I can't leave a single sign of my survival behind, you know? Anyway, I hope you take comfort in the fact you were a scumbag, and your death served a purpose."
Picturing the face of his silver-haired beloved, he shrugged. "I know Luna will, at least."
After telling Luna about the need to run a test of his kintype's awakening, she'd made him promise to at least not use an innocent, and Damian had easily agreed.
Why wouldn't he? It was an easy requirement to fulfil. Eryndor was filled with millions of people, and its underworld was rife with all sorts of scum. All he had to do was ask his genius little sister to engage her rumour network and out rolled a name: Luca.
"Anyway," he muttered to himself as he cocked his head thoughtfully. "I'll remember your name, Luca. If for no other reason than you were the first."
With that, he engaged the AI in his head. "Nova? Call my mother."
No answer came, but a small square of static appeared in front of his eyes, soon replaced by an image of his mother. "Dami!" she smiled gently, seemingly having completely forgotten her earlier anger. "How did it go?"
"Completely fine, Mom," he answered, sighing wryly because he knew what was coming next.
And he was right.
The smiling face of his loving mother twisted into smug satisfaction and a return of her anger. "I could have told you that, you brat! But you had to go and risk your life to make sure!"
"Pah!" she scoffed, her expression turning into one of theatrically pained sadness as she covered her eyes with one of her hands. "Whatever did I do to deserve a son who doesn't trust his own mother's capabilities?"
The corners of Damian's mouth twitched, yet he also felt some relief. His mother would only pull something like this if she wasn't truly mad at him. In the end, she did adhere to her own teachings about not manipulating loved ones, but… this couldn't be called manipulation, even if it did have some effect on him.
He sighed helplessly, knowing what she wanted to hear. "You're right, Mom. You are amazing and fantastic and always right. How could I forget?"
Lavinia's mother-persona was very different from the one she projected out into the world. This Lavinia was playful, and desired the recognition and love of her children. It was the Lavinia she preferred to be.
"Hehehe," she immediately chuckled, uncovering her eyes again as all previous anger and sadness were gone. "That's a good boy!" she grinned. "And don't you forget again!"
After Damian nodded obediently, Lavinia finally looked satisfied. "Good! Now, bring the corpse here. I'd like to examine it."
Although Damian had never told her his plans, it didn't seem like there was any doubt in Lavinia's mind about Luca's fate. In fact, she would have been disappointed in Damian if Luca was still alive by now.
Suddenly, Damian blinked in confusion and cocked his head. "You… wanted his remains, Mom? I was under the impression I did something unnecessary, so I just destroyed the body after I was done…"
Immediately, his mother's eyes narrowed dangerously, and Damian couldn't help but gulp a little. "If you're expecting me to even suggest your outing was not a pointless risk of your life, then forget it! I'm just trying to make the best of this situation, but if you—"
"O— Oh, look! Turns out I hadn't destroyed it yet!" Damian quickly coughed and interrupted her. Inwardly, he sighed depressingly. He could count on one hand the number of times he'd gotten one over on his mother, with the kiss he managed to steal just earlier today actually being one of his greatest victories.
"Where should I bring it to?" Damian asked, having returned to the picture of charm and confidence that was his default setting.
"Hmpf, hmpf," Lavinia snorted a few times, narrowing her eyes at him as if wondering whether she should hammer the point home a little longer. Finally, however, she decided to move on, which… actually caused her to become a little uncomfortable. "You can uh… bring it to my lab."
Immediately, Damian raised an amused eyebrow. "Oh, right… The lab you've kept secret from us for all these years. The remnant from your years as a scientist, which you never told us about. That lab? Where was it again?"
Lavinia sighed wryly, knowing this situation would likely cause her to eat a few more losses in the future… but, surprisingly, she couldn't be more ecstatic about that. There was no blame or anger in Damian's voice, just amusement, and that filled her with enough joy that she didn't even care to fight back.
"Let me give you directions…"
***
A mere ten minutes later, Damian walked through a door that had previously been nothing but wall and looked around curiously. The first impression was very similar to the medical wing, with the room being very dominantly white and sterile.But rather than medical MedPods, the walls and tables were stacked with various pieces of equipment, some of which he recognized and others that might as well have been alien devices.
Some were relatively normal, like an advanced quantum computer and a 3D bioprinter. Another carried a nametag that read: 'CRISPR 5.0 Editing Station', and its function completely eluded him.
He noticed his mother in the middle of the room, still wearing her alluring black dress and caressing her chin as she inspected the holographic image of a DNA sequence.
When she noticed him, she smiled and waved him over, unbothered by the bleeding corpse slung over his shoulder. "There you are, Dami! Come, come! Honestly, you don't know how good it feels to finally show you this part of my life."
Earlier, when Lavinia was telling her story, she'd admitted to having put down the lab coat after Damian showed up in her life. At first, because she'd been too busy, but later, to her shame, because she didn't want to give Damian any reason to suspect something.
Damian chuckled and walked over to her, his eyes still panning across the various strange sights he noticed in this room. "I'm afraid this stuff might be lost on me, Mom. I don't have the brain for science, but I'm sure little Lili will love this room."
"Don't knock it till you try it!" Lavinia immediately exclaimed, her gaze travelling fondly across the room's machinery.
Shaking her head, she interrupted her own thoughts. "But, fine!" she sighed before waving in the direction of something that looked like a surgery tube. "Come put the body in there, and let's see what we can discover!"