VIII-Butcher's Hook (Adele)

[Lucius Kilvayne]

Contrite commercial arrogance, leprosy!
Consume the bitch, the fucker, mindless, like a child!
For pity's sake, I've had all that I can take
We try, but in the end we'll see

Lucius Kilvayne had invited Adele Couteau to his laboratory for a conversation about his plans for the future. He had specifically an interest in developing a cure for Gabriel Constant's conditions, but the method by which he was intending to do this...could also solve a problem they had in common. He would take a precise razor, and cut out the bad genes, and in their place, he would put in perfect ones. But there was more to it than that. He could also replicate what the RSF had managed, in a sense. He could grant powers to people, hypothetically. Whether he wanted to or not was another matter entirely. It galled him a bit, the idea of inviting someone into the elite ranks of the Evolved. But he couldn't deny the potential for exploiting super-soldiers with a reason to be loyal only to him, either. A classic case of a dillemma to be sure.

Before him was a very large flat screened monitor. It was wirelessly connected to his laptop, which took up residence on the desk he happened to be sitting at. On the monitor was a simulated model of a human DNA molecule. And juxtaposed near it was a slide image of the retrovirus that was going to be the key to all of this. Gene therapy, and it was very doable. With his expertise and Adele's it would be so easy. He would have possibly invited Lex to work on the project with him, but Adele was a better choice, being as she was more familiar with genetic diseases than Lex Kilvayne was. Lex was mostly useful for monitoring subjects anyway. Adele would be able to fill multiple roles, and that made her a superior choice. She could be researcher and physician equally. He smiled, thinking that part of it was to work with someone of her caliber. She was a genius in her field, after all.

Lucius had already prepared the retrovirus, and it was sitting in a petri dish on the desk. It was a pink red liquid to the uninitated, but inside was a virus loaded with the DNA of a healthy human. It had been created to replace a specific gene, however. A new batch would be required for other uses. This one was designed to cure Huntington's disease, and it was waiting for a trial. That was a big part of Adele's reason for being here. He wanted her to help ensure this was safe. And she likely had access to a patient or two to try it out on. He wasn't going give the untested virus to Gabe. All kinds of bad things could happen.

He was trying to save his friend, not kill him faster.

[Adele D'Alteau]

Rise in the howl hit me
Cold - supersky - Witness the kill
Explode! Never die - I think I will

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Lucius Kilvayne's Laboratory
Manhattan, New York

[dropcap]As a doctor, it was incredibly difficult for her to get any time off—not when she was usually on call for emergency trauma surgery all the time. Being the only Level 1 Trauma Centre in Brownsville's general area meant that they were kept fairly busy. In keeping with strict regulations that doctors and surgeons both receive enough rest so as to be able to perform their functions adequately, her office sometimes doubled as a bedroom. Ryan even had his own shelf in the cabinet where she kept her scrubs, amidst some other sundry and personal items.

She'd been invited to New York by none other than Mr. Lucius Kilvayne who had a job for her. Although she wasn't sure what knowledge she could impart to him that he didn't already know as a geneticist, it would be nice to spend a few days in New York whilst Ryan stayed in Texas and thought about what he'd done. When she returned, they'd talk, and she'd decide what she wanted to do about Maurelle and the rather unsavoury characters she'd unwittingly brought into their lives. Perhaps she and Ryan's new employer needed to sit down and have a chat, woman to woman.

Lucius had informed her that she would be helping him formulate and perfect a cure for Huntington's disease. Given that genetics and diseases weren't exactly her forté, she would do what she could, and in the even that he needed a test subject, she'd managed to bring a friend along. Doctor Abigail Perrette was more than just another up and coming coroner. She too had a rather amazing ability, though neither of them were certain precisely how her ability worked. Abigail reckoned her genetic structure allowed her to acquire other genes, absorb biological matter, and reform it at will. She'd been an immense help in the past and the least Adele could do to thank her was treat her to a much-needed trip to New York.

“Never thought I'd be spending my vacation in another office, but whatever.” She couldn't complain. It felt weird to admit that she'd never actually been to New York. She was a west coast girl, born and raised. After having graduated from Stanford's medical school, she decided she needed a change in scenery and moved to Texas. It had taken her a while to get over the initial culture shock; Texas was a far cry from the liberal Bay Area she'd previously called home.

Adele entered the laboratory with her. They'd spent the last two days sightseeing and generally being tourists, seeing as how the only place Abigail had ever seen New York City had been in pictures. Adele had lived in Manhattan for several years while studying medicine and had a certain nostalgia for the multi-cultural city that she'd never felt anywhere else. It felt rather strange to pass by her old condominium knowing how many days and nights she and Ryan had spent sequestered in one of the rooms. The city held a number of different memories for her, most of which were quite pleasant. She'd pointed out all of her special landmarks to Abigail and realised that it was nice to have someone in whom she could confide.

“I know you've heard of Lucius Kilvayne.” Every medical student of her generation had to have at least read some of his scholarly articles on modern genetics. Adele had spent much of the five hour flight from Texas to New York explaining the details of Lucius's project to the rather oddly-dressed doctor. Abigail had been more than happy to provide her services for whatever they had planned. If the CDC knew about her, she would have been poked and prodded with more needles than she could shake a pine tree at. Or something that got stuck with needles. A pin cushion would do.

As far as her own wardrobe went, Adele had finally decided upon a plush red velvet three piece suit. While still not normal laboratory attire, it was certainly less showy than what Abigail was wearing.

Adele preceded Abigail into the large laboratory where she spotted Lucius's familiar face gazing at a large high-definition plasma screen depicting the two interlocking sections of a DNA helix. There was a petri dish next to him on his desk. “Good afternoon, Lucius. This is Doctor Abigail Perrette.” She gestured to the pig-tailed young woman standing next to her, looking quite giddy.

“Hi. So, let's get this party started, shall we?” Abby pointed at the petri dish. “How long has that been sitting out here? Don't you have some sort of cryogenic unit here?” God, it was like a lab tech's worst nightmare. “'Hey, man, is that the cure for cancer? It is? Oh, no biggie. Just leave it sitting on your desk. It's okay!'”

Adele glared at her.

“. . . sorry, I'm just used to these things being in test tubes and behind locked doors and having to douse myself with Lysol in a clean room before messing around with them.” Eh, she wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth. If she could get her name slapped on a cure for Huntington's disease, that would be awesome. She'd have to BS her way through how she'd helped to think it up, being a coroner and all, but that was what spare time was for.

“Abigail is a good friend of mine from the clinic where I work. Though I'm sure she can explain her ability in more precise terms than I can manage, she can absorb and transmute biological matter.” She looked at Abby for clarification.

“Well, no, not really. There are some caveats. Dead biological matter. Organs, bones, bodies, blood, genes—restructuring all of their components in my own body is a relatively easy process. Remanifesting them is kind of gross and usually involves me pulling an Exorcist and vomiting up a kidney. I haven't really found a less disgusting way of doing it. Genes and viruses are different. I can separate all that out in my bloodstream and draw it out with a needle. It's a much cleaner process than ralphing up organs all over your desk.”[/dropcap]

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 1102
۵ Mood: Sleepeh.
† Outfit: Abby, Adele
۵ Lyrics / Quote: Cosmic Monsters, Inc., White Zombie
† Illustrations: Included in post.
۵ Comment / Informational links: Bedtime for the BG.

[Lucius Kilvayne]

There Are No More Codes
Only Who Is Shit, And Who's Still Free
I was gonna change the world
With Honor and Aggression
No one listened, no one cared
All they saw was misdirection

"I know you've heard of Lucius Kilvayne."

Lucius looked up from his work, and smiled. They were right on time. He had, of course, been informed ahead of time about the involvement of the other woman. It was his lab, after all. Nothing happened here that he did not allow, and he assumed it was such wherever Adele called home. He was aware that she was involved at a clinic, much like Lex was. It was a different world, for the medical doctors. Lucius spent his time manipulating cells and genes, whereas they interacted with actual people and their ailments. Lucius' work was theoretical, and experimental for the most part. But it was about to make the leap into the real. It was an exciting prospect, really.

"Good afternoon, Lucius. This is Doctor Abigail Perrette."

"Good afternoon, Adele," He said, standing up. It was important to observe the proper etiquette. It was professional, and it reflected well on his upbringing. He was a Kilvayne, and he was intent on honoring the name. Adrian and his kin had done enough to tarnish it, and that was bad enough. Still, even for them there was a purpose. A scapegoat always came in handy, after all.

"Nice to meet you, Abigail," Lucius said with a smile. She was a pretty young thing. He was curious as to why she had been included, but Adele likely had good reason. All in due time, of course.


"Hi. So, let's get this party started, shall we?"

"Yes..."


"How long has that been sitting out here? Don't you have some sort of cryogenic unit here?"

"It is a fresh specimen, actually."

"'Hey, man, is that the cure for cancer? It is? Oh, no biggie. Just leave it sitting on your desk. It's okay!"

Lucius laughed, nodding to concede the point. He had many more such preparations in freezers, and there was a legitimate concern. But this one had been just made, and it would be the first to be used. He liked the idea of running the test with a fresh batch, it just seemed right.


"...sorry, I'm just used to these things being in test tubes and behind locked doors and having to douse myself with Lysol in a clean room before messing around with them."


"You do have to sign a waiver, before you leave," Lucius quipped, " I am sure that was covered, however..."

"Abigail is a good friend of mine from the clinic where I work. Though I'm sure she can explain her ability in more precise terms than I can manage, she can absorb and transmute biological matter."


Lucius' looked at Abby and raised his eyebrow. Adele had done better than expected. She had found exactly the kind of person he would need for this test. That would require another form of waiver, however. Good thing there was a lawyer or two in the family. He had all manner of legal forms necessary to protect himself. Liability, consent, and of course- confidentiality. It was all in the name of good business. And as much as this was science, it was also still business.

"Well, no, not really. There are some caveats. Dead biological matter. Organs, bones, bodies, blood, genes. Restructuring all of their components in my own body is a relatively easy process. Remanifesting them is kind of gross and usually involves me pulling an Exorcist and vomiting up a kidney. I haven't really found a less disgusting way of doing it. Genes and viruses are different. I can separate all that out in my bloodstream and draw it out with a needle. It's a much cleaner process than ralphing up organs all over your desk."


"That will do nicely," Lucius said, " What we are doing here is going to involve both viruses and genes. I have prepared a gene therapy, delivered by a retrovirus, to correct the defect that causes Huntington's disease."

He indicated a highlighted piece of the double helix, glowing a bright blue. It contrasted the rest of the molecular chain, which was rendered in a blood red color. It was Chromosome 4.


"There are many things that can go wrong with the first attempt," Lucius stated, matter of factly. "The virus may go beyond it's intended purpose, and become an infection. The subject's body might reject the gene therapy, causing any number of systemic issues."

[Adele D'Alteau]

”Well, get busy swimmin' or get busy dyin'.”

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Lucius Kilvayne's Laboratory
Manhattan, New York

"You do have to sign a waiver, before you leave," Lucius informed her. Abigail snorted. A waiver? Seriously? Whatever; she'd never been big into the whole legalese sort of things. She barely even read the small print on new software programs when she installed them. As far as she knew, she could have been signing her soul away to the devil without even knowing it. " I am sure that was covered, however..."

“Right. Sure it was.” As far as she knew, nothing biological could really do any damage to her, but that didn't mean she was about to go around knocking back shotglasses filled with ebola haemorrhagic fever to test her theory.

Lucius went on to explain precisely what it was that she'd be doing. She figured that if she had trouble separating out the genes and isolating them in her own body, Adele could probably give her a hand with that. " What we are doing here is going to involve both viruses and genes. I have prepared a gene therapy, delivered by a retrovirus, to correct the defect that causes Huntington's disease."

“Nicely done,” she remarked, looking at the double helix highlighted in front of her. She loved genetics. How she'd moved from that on to dissecting dead people was still a mystery to her. Once she got bored with the medical and/or coroner's profession, she'd probably go become a funeral director; not that that had anything to do with genetics.

"There are many things that can go wrong with the first attempt," Lucius warned her. "The virus may go beyond it's intended purpose, and become an infection. The subject's body might reject the gene therapy, causing any number of systemic issues."

Abigail shook her head. “His body won't reject it as long as you have some of his DNA on you. A phial of blood, a strand of hair—just something for me to work with. I guess you could say that I'm also part chimaera.” The one great thing about her ability was that it enabled her to carry several different types of DNA and bloodtypes within her body without her immune system going berserk and attacking everything.

“Abigail is very skilled at what she does. I can assure you that there won't be any systemic issues.” Adele was confident that Abigail would come through for them. She was always looking for new ways to push her ability to its limits; this was just the latest test to see if she could do it.

She understood Lucius's concern. Gabriel was a close friend of his, and Lucius didn't want to see him come to any further harm than what his body had already endured. Huntington's disease was a very serious and debilitating disease, and it was beginning to exert more of a hold over Gabriel's body than it had in the past. She couldn't blame him for wanting to take every possible precaution to ensure that the gene therapy went as planned.

As far as laboratory tests went, this had to be the most laid back lab she'd ever been in. She just hoped that the syringes they'd be using were sterile. “So are y'all gonna scrub up or . . . ?” The least they could do was put on some gloves. She would have been able to pull it off just fine even with 'contamination,' but she didn't want to make her job any harder than it already was.

“Dr. Kilvayne will be the one administering the serum. I'll be keeping track of your vital signs and the status of the cure.” Hopefully this would be the first of many cures coming from Lucius Kilvayne's laboratory. Once the serum had been perfected by Abigail's own unique bodily processes, they could create synthetic copies of it for mass production to the public. When that happened, she didn't want her name on any of the patents. She'd been trying to keep a low profile and publicity—even for something as altruistic and history-altering as a cure for a chronic disease—was something that she didn't need. The Company still believed her to be dead as far as she knew, and she intended on keeping it that way.

Abigail made herself at home and hopped into a chair set between two trees full of IV bags. She knew they weren't called 'trees,' but that was what she liked to call them. They sort of resembled baobab trees in her head. “Just throwing this out there, Doctor Kilvayne, but if you have any spare parts you need to get rid of, I'm your gal. I'm also part garbage disposal.”

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

† Word count: 829
۵ Mood: LEVEL DINOSAUR. RAWR.
† Outfit: Abby, Adele
۵ Lyrics / Quote: The Dark Knight, HISHE
† Illustrations: None.
۵ Comment / Informational links: FFFFFFFF.

[Lucius Kilvayne]

Fingerprint of God
Your new religions covet
This vessel wasn't built to last
But I will live forever
You'll never have to say surrender
Because you're so part of it

“Right. Sure it was.”

Lucius grinned a bit, thinking about how nice it was to be so close to something so important to him. This girl was going to help him save the life of his best friend. He really should see about paying her for her contribution, he thought. It was only right, after all.

“Nicely done,”

"Thank you," Lucius said. He was definitely proud of what he had a accomplished in his field. This moment was to be his magnus opus, his turning point. If this worked, he could do anything. He could control anything. Lucius liked that prospect. At the end of the day, science was about power. Some people didn't understand that, but Lucius always had.His cousin Archie had always pretended otherwise, but even he had most probably understood that on a fundamental level that his profession was largely concerned with power and control. Over nature and reality. To become as Gods among men.

“His body won't reject it as long as you have some of his DNA on you. A phial of blood, a strand of hair—just something for me to work with. I guess you could say that I'm also part chimaera."

Lucius nodded.He had a swab of skin cells in the fridge prepared for just this purpose. He needed DNA samples himself, to work on what he had accomplished so far. But knowing this woman Adele had brought in would be able to absorb Gabriel's DNA into her own- that was a pleasant surprise in itself.

“Abigail is very skilled at what she does. I can assure you that there won't be any systemic issues.”

"I trust that is the case," Lucius said simply, wanting to move on with the work at hand.

“So are y'all gonna scrub up or . . . ?”

"Yes," Lucius said, as he turned to do so. He donned some latex gloves after washing vigorously, and drying his hands. The hypodermic needle had been prepared, and was waiting on the table for the moment it would be used. He picked up the syringe, and proceeded to fill it with the gene therapy.

“Dr. Kilvayne will be the one administering the serum. I'll be keeping track of your vital signs and the status of the cure.”

Lucius dabbed her skin with alcohol, and lined up the needle for the injection. He wasn't usually the one to do this, but his lab technicians had been sent away for the day. The less talk of a presumably dead physician in the building the better. He would have to give the honor of credit to someone who was never in the building. A shame, really. The Company was to blame, as far as he was concerned. They never did fully appreciate the talents, or the nature of Doctor Couteau. And for that, all hell had broken loose. But, that had lead her to Lucius, and for that, he was thankful. A Kilvayne never squandered opportunity or resources. well, maybe one would...

But this wasn't about that one. This was Lucius, and Gabe, and the Future.


"This is it," Lucius said,injecting the serum into her bloodstream, the needle breaking her skin. When it was all inside of her, he pulled it out, and pulled forth a piece of cloth to staunch the bleeding hole.

"Hold that in place until the bleeding stops," Lucius said, " Now we can only wait and see."

[Adele D'Alteau]

Truth serum is in your veins
You're saying things I can't explain
Tell me more or I'll shove you around

†††
۵ ۵ ۵

Lucius Kilvayne's Laboratory
Manhattan, New York

[dropcap]She'd paid most of her way through college and part of graduate school by volunteering as a guinea pig for new drugs or by selling her blood and plasma several times a week at different locations under different aliases. It was a little time consuming, but it ended up being lucrative enough for her to pay part of her tuition, room, and board, so she sure wasn't going to complain about it.

She held out her hand as instructed and didn't even flinch as the needle penetrated her skin. “I'd say something about you sticking me with a little prick, but I don't think you'd find the humour in it.” But she did, and that was all that mattered.

Adele busied herself with monitoring the various pieces of equipment hooked up to Abigail's body. Thus far, everything looked fine. “How are you feeling?”

“Fine. It hasn't hit any of my major organs yet. Part of it's going through my heart right now.” She closed her eyes as she was hit with a spell of light-headedness; a side effect of her ability that she'd grown accustomed to. The last time she'd used her ability had been to clean up a really . . . bloody mess Doctor Couteau and her fiancé had made which required her immediate attention. She'd gotten a handful of organs out of it that she was able to cough up (quite literally) and sell to the highest bidder. Sometimes urban legends about waking up in an ice bath and having your kidneys removed turned out to be slightly more realistic than people would have believed. “ . . . think I need to lie down.”

She pressed the piece of gauze to the inside of her arm as the world started to spin around her and felt Adele gently guiding her head onto a pillow. “I'm fine. Just going through my brain now. This is normal.” Abigail was still conscious enough to feel the serum charging through her veins as it eventually navigated its way through the tributaries of her blood vessels and gradually filtered into one of her livers. At last count, she had three. She was probably going to have to give up one of them soon to make more room. “Any chance you can hook me up to . . . two bags of saline? I can't really drink anything right now or I'll puke. Starting to feel a little nauseated.” Again, not an unusual reaction. Having new DNA introduced into her system always made her feel a little woozy.

Adele retrieved two IVs from a nearby cupboard as she'd been instructed. She strung the two bags of saline-filled solution from the hooks on top of the IV tree. She took what she needed to make two shunts into Abigail's arm and prepared her appropriately, rubbing down her skin with a tincture of iodine and alcohol. After placing the shunts into her veins, she set up one IV and then the other and adjusted the flow to a steady drip

“Er . . . not really sure how to say this . . . ” The IV solution was making her arm go numb, but the feeling would go away once she acclimated. “ . . . 's kind of embarrassing. The serum's sort of heading to my bladder, so . . . probably gonna need a cup to go pee in in a little while.” Abigail felt her cheeks flush and cracked open an eye to look at Lucius. “If you could sort of leave out the part about where the serum came from when you're explaining it to your friend, that would be great. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to be told you shot him up with pee. Even though it won't be pee.”

They were all doctors here. Even so, Adele couldn't help but laugh. There really were no secrets in the medical profession. She'd encountered young women in the emergency room who refused to remove their underwear prior to a surgery because they had their period and men who'd somehow ended up with boils on . . . particularly sensitive areas. A little urine was nothing to be afraid of. “Just let us know when you're ready.”

“Hey, it's all in the name of science, right?” Abigail grinned and closed her eyes, feeling the serum worming its way through the lobes of her liver. It would find its way to her kidneys soon enough, and then she'd have to make a mad dash to the loo.[/dropcap]

†††
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† Word count: 834
۵ Mood: They see me trollin'.
† Outfit: Same as previous posts.
۵ Lyrics / Quote: Truth Serum, Dishwalla
† Illustrations: None.
۵ Comment / Informational links: Short post is short.

[Lucius Kilvayne]

My Present, Future, Tense
It doesn't make much Sense
I'm coming after you, Fuck you all
I'm the only point of view!

“I'd say something about you sticking me with a little prick, but I don't think you'd find the humour in it.”

Lucius considered the woman's mockery for only a moment, and dismissed it. She would never really know, as she had crossed his path after he entered into a relationship with Dakari Johessman. And that was likely to stick, so his days of exploring the nubile bodies of women such as Abigail Perrette were over and done with. No matter, Dakari was more than enough for him. She was the complete woman. Beautiful, dangerous, intelligent, powerful. Perfection. The love of his life.


"If you could sort of leave out the part about where the serum came from when you're explaining it to your friend, that would be great. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want to be told you shot him up with pee. Even though it won't be pee.”


Lucius had to work at remaining professional at this point, as the notion of the serum's departure point being a source of embarrassment or other concerns showed how little she knew the man this was meant for. Gabe would be amused rather than offended, as would Lucius. As was Lucius. It was Alexandria who would likely disapprove. She would never know, though. Confidentiality agreements were a two way street. The basics would be explained, and the result would bear out. No one need know the particulars.

“Hey, it's all in the name of science, right?”

Lucius nodded. And in the name of friendship, power, money, in the name of the future. In the vision of the future shared by Kilvayne, Constant, Johessman, and many other powerful families. Special families, ancient bloodlines who played a part in so many of history's key events. No less important was this moment, when Lucius Kilvayne made a monumental step toward divinity. That was the goal, after all. To be exalted above all others. But there was more at stake. Order, peace, prosperity. These things would be the way of the world, when he ruled. It was the dream he had come to envision, the dream he had always been working for, unknowingly. But now it was clear.


"In the name of progress," Lucius said dryly, "In the interest of building a better future for all mankind." He looked back and forth between Abigail and Adele, with a sincere smile on his face, "Thank you for this, I cannot conceive of how to repay the debt you have put me in on this day."