We were now well out of the house and in a fairly unpopulated imitation of a Central Park-like backyard. Gazing down, I took in her well-above-the-knee-length dress.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAtsBHkPygWS
"202?" she said it like she didn't hear the last four times I called her.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAW8qVYJiQRO
I folded my arms. This should be good.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAiKQOTSYxcm
"I didn't notice you before!" she said. Like hell. "What a surprise! Fancy seeing you here!"
870Please respect copyright.PENANALtIRuJarBC
Right. Because I was the one partying in a frat house.
870Please respect copyright.PENANATX6bGcntwQ
I tried to smile, but gave up after the first few muscle tearing efforts of attempting to lift the zygomaticus majors of my mouth.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAJljrEkiUy7
"How are things at MIT, Miss Reynolds?" I couldn't go as far as smiling, but you could bet I managed a smirk.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAEmZdYMVpjE
Her face paled, rewarding me with slight satisfaction, but the next time she spoke, she sustained the the artificial tone in her voice. "Sorry?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAEOl63ciWLx
"MIT, Gemma. MIT. You're a college student, right?" My eyebrows lifted in amusement.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAQroer8gVse
"Whatever do you mean?" She even added a giggle. "I left that place a year ago."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAIJALZM7jud
Funny, how she had just referred to a world class university as "that place."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAptCysGfs2D
"Really?" I gasped.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAipqNtuIcBe
"So... uh, how did you find me?" There was bitter honey in her voice. "Not that I had anything to hide in the first place; I'm here on important business matters," she quickly added.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAvpZQR7z6ee
"I'm sure. Nothing to do with the fact that you haven't yet graduated, or anything."
870Please respect copyright.PENANA4050eysIkg
Her face contorted. Finally. Some realism. "What are you talking about?"
"I think you know what I'm talking about," I sang
"Okay." She looked as though she took in a furious breath. "Look, I don't know who fed you this nonsense, but it is a well known fact that I graduated from college last year."870Please respect copyright.PENANALm3ct3hJ2o
870Please respect copyright.PENANAFyetMvFFGO
Lying clearly came as a second nature to her. I, however, believed it was her first nature; my girl Gemma probably learned how to lie before she could speak. Hold on, that wasn't right. She couldn't lie if she couldn't speak... That's it, case closed. Gemma must be immortal. I always had a feeling— going off topic! Focus, Emerald!
870Please respect copyright.PENANAkNGD6f7y2i
"Really, Gem? Then, you don't mind me asking what you are doing in a frat house of all the places in this small, small world?" I smiled a smile that, I was sure, would sting. "So small..."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAQKI51CpiaE
"I told you," she practically bit at this point, "I'm here carrying out a longitudinal study on the life of young adults living on college campus. My father's associates assigned me to it."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAgPBwr8WQ2V
Definitely first nature.
870Please respect copyright.PENANANkqm6PjzBu
I placed my my fingers on the corner of my eyebrow and looked, as if in deep thought. "Oh. I just remembered," I looked back at her, "I don't care!" I laughed.
870Please respect copyright.PENANASdEmaav0IE
The scornful look she gave off demonstrated bluntly that my humour wasn't appreciated. Perhaps toying with the only person who has the potential to save your life isn't very wise, Emerald? I didn't really understand what was up with me. This was supposed to be a serious conversation after all.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAF8lYgA0sGY
She narrowed her eyes. "What do you want?" she asked in a more serious tone.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA8hbAq5k4GW
Fun's over. Time doesn't come unlimited, I reminded myself.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA60GKJWp3Pm
"I need something from you," I confessed.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAuX8rhTmKsi
She raised her eyebrows. She already knew what. "Oh, really? What's that?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAJBX4O4OGwo
I struggled. "You..." I scratched the back of my head, "...created a thing for a thing," I spoke deliberately vaguely. "And, I need that thing."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAslpdcGVtMv
"Specification would be appreciated," she replied, clearly amused, a glint playing in her eye. "And speak up, I can't hear you quite well over all this music."
870Please respect copyright.PENANA5WM3g6Sucm
I mentally groaned for the second time, revolted by the idea of having to ask her for something.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAWKPUE0RDEf
Here goes nothing.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA71hHLfjkXd
"You... created a cure. For..." I released a breath. "202," I let out, and as soon as I did so, her eyes widened, a juxtaposing her previously narrowed eyes.
870Please respect copyright.PENANASSSZBWTh4V
"So, it's true?" Her voice dropped at least octave.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAC9rIugB3DH
"Is what true?" I played dumb, just in case she really didn't know. Although, the chances were thinner than hair.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAQU7kDaHjfP
"You know what I'm talking about. 202, the drug. They got it wrong, didn't they?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAL5wqF4S8O8
Something about the slight triumphant in the way she asked the question made me briefly contemplate whether telling her, or drowning her in that pretty pool, would be better. And, truth be told, I wasn't very keen on giving her the satisfaction that 202 was, indeed, wrong. I mean, she already knew, but it didn't feel exactly safe, either, to confirm it, especially with her of all people. And if I did, the stakes of her belittling me would be as high as her company's skyscraper. But, I had to. How stupid to choose ego over my life. Over everyone's lives.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAF4B82bdAR2
I took a deep breath. "Yes." One small word, that held one measly syllable, made my stomach flip.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAuGF2FecMGa
Her eyes widened even more than they already were.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAmf3xlH79Ut
I pulled a face. "Stop it. That's scary."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAZgsa2af8Qw
She ceased the notion immediately, blinking, as she did so. "I always knew – which obviously is why I developed my cure... but understandably the Front always told me otherwise. But hearing it from you, 202, that's something else. That proves... my invention works."
870Please respect copyright.PENANARktBPRxzla
"Yeah, yeah, listen, I need your cure," I deadpanned.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAZwXhlC7FD5
Now, she definitely looked triumphant. Amused, even. Such a sickening sight.
870Please respect copyright.PENANArvNFDrx5Cj
"Oh, you mean, GOD?" she blabbered.
870Please respect copyright.PENANADjS5mTgndY
I stared at her. "What?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANA6raoXVXva0
"GOD."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAK9bwt0pDx2
"GOD?" I repeated, blinking a few times.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAuCgReHrXPq
"GOD. It's the name of my cure."
870Please respect copyright.PENANA2C7JgrajbK
"GOD?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAYRcvHo9nZp
"Yes," she responded somewhat impatiently. "Gemma Olivia Drug."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAZj5uzjrMHz
And now I was really confused. "You what now?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAsYhXAghg7g
"GOD, you dense girl, it stands for Gemma Olivia Drug," she clarified in a patronizing tone.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAjQZ4lgaUAc
Irritated, I narrowed my eyes a bit. "I knew that. What the hell is Olivia? And, don't call me 'girl' as if we're aren't the same age," I scolded, pointing at her.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAD0TrnxUpQ6
"Olivia is my middle name. Also, it's sort of a play on words. O–live–ya. Get it? Because my drug lets you live after you take the catastrophe that is, 202."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAImBiWiA0hM
My eyebrows frowned, relaxed, frowned, relaxed and frowned again. "Gemma O-live-ya Drug?" I repeated, slowly. "You didn't... somehow inhale any... nitrous oxide whilst naming your cure, did you?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAiw6e6m7VYh
"Say what you want, but I'm not the one named after a drug," she sang.
870Please respect copyright.PENANATmn3rtDm7Z
"The name's emerald. Like, you know, Em-er-old," I mocked. "And, don't you think you're going to piss off a few billion religious believers by calling your drug GOD?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAzROXSu9tEV
She scoffed. "Please, they'll worship my drug once your train wreck of a medicine is released."
870Please respect copyright.PENANA5KWAAUSrjS
Your existence is a train-wreck in itself.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAHQDDtJEXk1
A thought provoked me, then, to ask. "How has someone who's created a powerful cure for a test subject gone wrong, still not graduated university?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAUZ3CZ26iNd
Something flashed in her eyes. Or maybe it was just my delusion, I was feeling a little light headed now, for reasons unknown. Whatever it was, she covered it up quickly. "I told you, I'm here on a longitudinal–"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAAFxj5oH5VC
"Oh, put a sock in it. A reliable source has already told me all the gory details. How Reynolds Corporation isn't technically run by a special someone at this current moment of time, because a special someone hasn't graduated from MIT yet," I said smirking. I spared Arya's name out, because judging by the expression on Gemma's face, Arya probably wouldn't have lived to see the sunrise tomorrow, if I hadn't.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAkL8VF9ImEM
"Who?" Gemma demanded in a tone that proved my hypothesis.
870Please respect copyright.PENANApQ3bpXuVjv
"You're drifting away from the subject," I said. "You've just been confirmed a vital piece of information, that the Front wished to be kept hidden from the world. 202 doesn't work. The least you could do is speak truthfully. There's no point in denying it anymore – as humiliating as it is," I added, with grin. "How, Gemma? Regarding all the fortune you've got, something like going to university must be minute. And you haven't even accomplished that. So tell me. How has someone who's discovered one of the most powerful cures for an already powerful – but incorrect – drug, still not have managed to finish school?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANA2w5k4J0Yzs
That was a complexly phrased question.
870Please respect copyright.PENANADXEz4U6UFH
She regarded it for a moment. "That's..." and then, she looked away. "Don't worry, it's not important."
870Please respect copyright.PENANApFDf5U133s
I was about to argue, when I realised, she was right. It wasn't important. What was important, was getting her cure. Or, GOD, I guess I should say – as embarrassing as it was.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAlfkkZnmdpQ
This was either going to be easy or painfully hard. For her, if she didn't give it to me willingly, that is. I took deep breath. "I need you to give me your cure."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAhYRxHzY9Vy
"I figured you'd come back to that," she said gleefully.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAqlJADluAqk
"Really? Because my other opinion was to obviously tell you that I'm going to die, for the fun of it, and then enjoy the rest of this party."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAWFgLfE0Stv
"If I were you, I'd have realised by now that sarcasm wouldn't be the best option to approach the only person who can save your life."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAP2uVHLs56S
She had a point, even if she went about it in a self-centered way.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAMj8Y6UhN73
"I'll keep that in mind," I muttered for the sake of her pathetically named cure. "So, is that a yes or a no?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANA0wfTPoJSbq
"It's not as simple as that."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAuUUUBBljvz
"It's a closed question. So, uh, a yes or a no?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAuTTgPujIiW
She smiled an unsettling smile. "Why do you think I developed the cure in the first place? What do we do at Reynolds? We do exactly what the Front does: we research and create herbal and clinical drugs. I invented a cure, alright. But, it was not for cancer. It was for the mess the Front made. Do you know why I did that?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANA8g4JwiH5mi
I knew the answer to all of these, but I wanted to hear her say it. "Enlighten me."
870Please respect copyright.PENANABfPsi9QNSQ
"To ruin them."
870Please respect copyright.PENANA0n7i4Zi84i
By "them", I was quite sure she meant the Front. Frankly, I couldn't care less what happened to them, by now.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA5IkW9aJyks
"But that's not all," she continued. "Once 202 is released, undoubtedly there will be issues." That part, I did care about.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA5gFMqJXiwM
I scoffed. "Don't you think referring to it as "issues" is quite an understatement?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAsKq48mH8vF
"Alright then; it will cause chaos, it will cause suffering," her expression contorted into a maniacal one. "But, it's going to put me in the spotlight."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAesdSGyXbly
It was like she was reciting exactly what I said told Leonardo Sterling in his office, from a fine piece of parchment. I hate to say I'm always right. But I'm always right.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAj8byFYldkW
"When people realise what the Front has done," she went on, with a sickening glint in her eye. "I'll be their salvation," she glanced into nothingness, smiling slightly. "You see, father went about it all the wrong way. Instead of physically destroying the Front with fire, all he had to do was let the Front destroy themselves."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAt0274UIPuM
My jaw clenched at her her words. No, Emerald, you don't want to tear her eyelashes out, Amanda's ghostly voice calmly advised me.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA5P5PfWpJFa
She's not like her father, they said. You can't judge her based on Robert's evil, they said. God, this was precisely why those idiots should have listened to me!
870Please respect copyright.PENANAjQjQW9Zi5P
I had half the heart and fully the fury to tell her that the cure actually had been found, and would have remained found if it weren't for her nails-on-blackboard father, but I chose suppressed it for Everest's sake. Knowing the Reynolds' rich history with explosions, it wouldn't be a surprise if they decided to light up Everest himself in order to destroy the Front's original cure. Although, it occurred to me that his coldness would pose quite a challenge to the idea.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAEljGtWiYXJ
"Listen, I'm not asking you to give me seven billion dosages of it," I clarified. "I need one.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA5kKP8wJ31p
"Yeah, but we've got a problem there," she replied casually. For her next sentence, her voice plummeted down a few notes, all sinister-like. "Why do you think I came to 202's launch evening?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAB3ucS6yX0f
I shrugged.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAWrVSGFJ7LP
"Sometimes," she said, "I understand where your anger comes from. Yes, my father blew up the Front. Not his wisest decision." Although the pool was a while away, that steaming barbecue seemed close enough.
870Please respect copyright.PENANATlIgJWMEJ8
"He didn't even manage to destroy the 202 drug," she continued, and at that moment, I realised something: Gemma thought 202 was the only cancer cure the Front made. She didn't know that her kind father did manage to destroy Original Cure. She didn't even know that the Original Cure had ever existed! In other words, she knew nothing about Everest. She had been told the story in the twisted way that I had been told it. But why? By who?
870Please respect copyright.PENANAO6hRRy54h5
However there wasn't time to be contemplating futile details. I came here for her cure and that was all. I decided to ask her something else, instead. "How did you know that there was error in 202?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAixL9LLaSke
She expression leaked a hint of pride. "Us Reynolds, we have eyes everywhere, Emerald," I assumed she chose to call me by my actual name, not out of courtesy, but to avoid confusion. "It was few of years back, when I was rummaging through my father's old work, that I discovered 202 was wrong. Of course my father knew there was a fault with 202, for as long as the Front had known. But I had only found out that year. I bet you didn't even know. I was younger, ignorant – didn't really care about any of it. But only last year, it just so happened that the quaking announcement of the launch of 202 on the news."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAnfEdiu1J5G
The Front announced the launch evening of 202 a year before it actually took place. A little bit of heads up for the scientists, hospitals, media. But a part of me provoked the idea that Director just wanted to be able to rub it in their faces for an entire year. Why someone would take pride in a failed project, I wouldn't know.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAaSpa5fNdmi
"People treated it as if it were the second coming of Jesus, or as if Michael Jackson were coming back from the dead. It rocked the world. That was it. That was the motivation I needed. I fell in love with it. That...that..." power, I thought, with iron certainty. That was what she fell in love with. But the word never came.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAfgC7BtdXga
Instead she abandoned that unfinished sentence, and continued, "the whole world saw 202 as a miracle. Only we knew it for what it really was. A failed experiment. My father and I worked until our bones cracked. We made our employees work until their bones cracked. And we made GOD."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAGnd3SjZdSY
In a sense, I didn't know who were the bad guys; the Front – who were willing to release a deadly drug which they have the nerve to call a 'cure' – or, Reynolds Corporation – who started the fire by destroying the Front. However, the world's last hope lay in the palms of the latter company.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAvMHRW9Fsba
"It's a terrible name," I responded simply. But, honestly? I didn't know to respond. Because, admittedly, there wasn't a single sentence I could have made out courageously. And although her very existence made me want to tenaciously strangle and decapitate her, simultaneously, anything I could said or did would have ended disastrously. And inefficaciously, I had no more rhymes. Wait, why am I rhyming? What is the point of this, I wonder curiously.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAn77vr6YNWN
But what Gemma said next promised me that both organisations were just as bad as each other.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAeJHU6KHGMY
"I can't afford to have you cured, just yet," she spoke. "You're the only one, asides us at Reynolds, who knows about the truth about 202. Once you're cured, I'd bet you my Louboutins that you are going to head on back to the Front and stop them from releasing 202."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAo3Gsm4kOVJ
I folded my arms. "Naturally."
870Please respect copyright.PENANANRzDrbDTqc
She stepped close to me. Her height levelled with mine. "That is the problem. I need to keep you occupied. I want 202 to be released."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAQ6EemmJRY6
My heart was pounding. "I advise you to step away. I have a lot of upper body strength and I'm betting you don't."
870Please respect copyright.PENANA95GikdbJa8
"Please," she scoffed, "you couldn't do anything even if you wanted to. That is, unless you want to kiss your life goodbye."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAtc0umcTcx5
"By the looks of this conversation, giving me the cure doesn't sound like your number one motive. So, I don't think there will be much to lose on my behalf."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAMSPPIImby6
"Oh, I'll give you GOD," she said, suddenly. "Think of it as an apology for what happened to your parents."
870Please respect copyright.PENANANcBrucXbfQ
I already knew there was more.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAGgfVFGaIbw
"But I should probably tell you that I only plan on giving you GOD around the same time I release, to the world, my father's reports on the formula and effects of 202. The fabric of 202, he called it. You'll get GOD after the truth comes out."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAfxgei6jT0F
And then:
870Please respect copyright.PENANAAcQHdJvn5D
"In other words, Emerald, I'll save your life after 202 is released. Less than a month, is it?"
870Please respect copyright.PENANAhResGY7fE5
She was... she was... an evil genius. And I was beginning to get dizzy. The alcohol!
870Please respect copyright.PENANA6MvzvvtXmU
"I can't have you ruining my plans. So let's make a deal; you go about your life, and I'll consider giving you the cure if everything goes as I plan it to." Gemma clearly was the kind of girl who thought 'deal' and 'blackmail' were synonyms.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAzjclF6FHno
I stared back at her expressionlessly. I tried being nice; I guess I would just have take the cure by force.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAwtYz9z3JLE
She read thoughts. "Oh, and don't try breaking into my building. My father had been studying you for as long as you have lived, right up until his passing."
870Please respect copyright.PENANAGAZwAuLelp
I was getting uncontrollably dizzy now. In fact, Gemma's own face kept blurring.
870Please respect copyright.PENANAel2fupjgrq
"He had double agents, medics, former Front employees..." she went on. "We have mapped out every nanometer of your genome. It would be within your best interests to not break into a building that's been made one hundred percent 202 proof." With that she flaunted away, and I didn't stop her.
870Please respect copyright.PENANA8lWJPd52sG
***
870Please respect copyright.PENANAknkUWGOP7d
Author's note:
870Please respect copyright.PENANAkBjOsvdsqC
I used about seven puns in this chapter.
ns18.191.165.252da2