Chapter Text
Sipping her warm coffee, Eva Stratt watched as the the large vehicle reversed into the loading bay, the men around her were on edge. The driver was going as steady as he could but from where she stood she could see the sweat running down his forehead. The cargo inside was very valuable but was also extremely dangerous, many of the men were hesitant to get near it despite being made out of a strong alloy. Even she couldn’t deny that there was a hint of concern in her subconscious.
It was late and this was her fourth cup of Columbian dark roast coffee, she was practically running on fumes but she was determined to make certain that their precious cargo was safely put away. They had worked hard and risked much to get this specimen, and there was so much they could learn from it that would benefit humanity. There was that cult to worry about but she would deal with them later.
The vehicle finally stopped and there was a tense silence in the loading bay.
The bay doors were sealed shut, the driver jumped out of the vehicle and moved away from the vehicle with a remote. He approached Stratt, wiping his sweaty brow.
“Any issues on the road?” asked Stratt, taking another sip of her coffee.
The driver gulped but shook his head. “None ma’am. It did act up a little but it’s alive and kicking back there… or swimming.”
He made a chuckle to make the mood a little light but Stratt just glared at him.
“Just hurry up and get it out so we can get it to the labs.”
The driver nodded and pushed a button. The vehicle made a loud noise as the rear end began to open. Everyone was holding their breath. A woman was taking deep breaths as she hopped into a forklift and carefully drove it towards the open vehicle. The others were already barking orders at others, some of them getting into position with their tasers.
As the forklift began to position itself outside the vehicle to unload the cargo, a man approached Stratt and she mentally cursed at him. She really didn’t want to deal with him right now.
“Eva, so glad you can be here to witness this!”
God he sounded so full of himself.
“That’s ma’am to you, Strickland,” she muttered, her eyes piercing at him.
He smiled smugly. “Apologies ma’am,” he said that with a hint of sarcasm. He dragged a hand over his ageing hair. “Can you believe I managed to capture this monster? All by myself I might add.”
“That monster is a scientific discovery,” came another voice.
Straft groaned, not realising he would be here.
“I thought you would be in bed by now Dimitri,” chuckled Strickland, combing fingers through his beard.
Dr Dimitri Komorov was clearly tired but he stood there with a determined stance. “Dr Strickland, you may have been the one to bring the fascinating creature in, but to use such a derogatory term such as monster is beneath men like us.”
Strickland scoffed at this. “I’m more concerned with what we can learn from it rather than what we call it.”
Stratt had to agree with him on that.
“According to what we salvaged from that cult, this creature has mutations that have properties that are beyond our comprehension.” She took another sip of her coffee. “Properties that will help mankind.”
“Indeed,” agreed Dr Komorov, folding his arms as he watched the forklift start to back up. “My team is ready to conduct numerous tests on this specimen.”
“As long as you don’t kill it,” muttered Strickland, “I don’t want my hard work to go to waste.”
“I can imagine that setting off a simple trap must’ve been so exhausting for you,” sneered Dr Komorov, staring at Strickland from the corner of his eyes.
“Behave you two,” snapped Stratt.
The forklift had now fully back up and was carrying a large sealed container. It was covered in chains and Stratt noticed the claw marks and the dents, as if something on the inside was trying to get out.
“I’m surprised you didn’t lose anyone on this mission,” said Dr Komorov, his eyes staring at those claw marks that almost looked unreal.
“I almost did,” admitted Strickland, still sounding like he deserved an award. “The real challenge was locking the damn thing up in-”
The metal box violently shuddered almost causing the forklift to topple over. The driver shrieked and clung to controls for dear life. Everyone raised their weapons as if the box was about to burst open. Even Stratt almost dropped her coffee. Komorov jumped where he stood and Strickland took a small step back.
Then they all heard a rumbling growl coming from within the box, followed by an uncomfortable silence in the room.
Stratt recomposed herself quickly and barked, “get it into containment now!”
Everyone started moving again, a little more faster now.
Stratt downed the rest of her coffee and made her move, leaving the two scientists behind. “Once it’s in containment I want a full plan on the sample collecting and all safety measures. I do not want that thing escaping.”
Both Strickland and Komorov watched her as she left before they returned their attention to the metal box as it was carefully manoeuvred through the loading bay and into a long tunnel that lead deeper into the facility, armed guards following it with weapons at the ready.
~~~~~~~
It had been a week since their specimen was securely contained and they were already having issues. The first being that collecting samples had proven to be a challenge. Any attempt to gather any resulted in injury or near death experiences. The specimen was proving to be far too dangerous. The second was that one of their scientists who Stratt had hired to be part of the team ended up getting killed. They got a little too reckless to try and get a small sample and it cost them dearly.
They were still cleaning up the mess in the specimens chamber.
Stratt stood before the large table in one of the meeting rooms, the team of scientists already looking exhausted. Even Strickland was looking fed up. They should have been in their labs studying what they gathered by now but they had squat. It didn’t help that one of them was dead, Stratt had to get creative with covering that one up.
“What exactly is the problem,” demanded Stratt, flicking her red hair out of her face. “Why haven’t any of you manage to get even one drop of blood?”
Dubois sighed and raised his hand before he answered. “The specimen has proven to be evasive during the extraction process. Any attempt to subdue it have been… unsuccessful.”
“Tranquillisers don’t work, we tried to shock it but it only aggravates it,” mumbled Komorov as he rubbed his eyes. “We tried to get it in a net but it tore right through it. We tried to get it out the water but that was what lead to… you know.”
Shapiro had her head buried in her hands, still a little upset over the death of one of their colleagues. “We thought we had a good method to collect the samples but… as you can see that was a failure.”
Lokken glared at Strickland. “Given how hard this has been, I’m still wondering how you managed to capture the damn thing.”
Strickland scoffed at her. “I had to get that cult involved, but we have it in our hands now.”
“A fat lot of good if we can’t even sample it,” muttered Lokken, folding her arms.
Stratt sighed and held up a dossier. “Regardless we need a new scientist on the team, one who is an expert in molecular biological.”
Komorov made a grunt upon hearing this. “Already replacing our lost comrade?”
“We need results and to get those results I need a team of the smartest minds I can get,” snapped Stratt, throwing the dossier on the table, “and I happened to find one who wouldn’t dream on passing up an opportunity.”
Strickland was now curious and he glanced at the dossier. His eyes widened and he made a disgusted sound upon seeing the name.
“Him!?” He glared at Stratt. “You’re considering him!?”
Stratt returned the glare. “I’m not considering, I have decided. I’m going to personally invite him tomorrow at the school he works at.”
“School?” Sharpiro appeared confused. “We’re hiring a teacher?”
“Yes and no,” replied Stratt, rubbing her brow, “he happens to have a phd in-”
“Absolutely not,” snapped Strickland, slamming the dossier onto the table. “I refuse to have this joke of a scientist involved in this. In fact he doesn’t deserve to be known as such!”
“You sound like you know him,” mused Dubois, raising an eyebrow out of rare curiosity.
Strickland glared at him. “He had the gall to call me a staggering waste of carbon after submitting his ridiculous theories back when he worked for me. He is a disgrace in his field and doesn’t deserve to be recognised as a man of science.”
Lokken made a small gasp of realisation. “Oh… him.”
“I like him already,” chuckled Komorov, actually smiling at the thought that someone had the balls to insult the Dr Strickland.
“He’s a joke,” snapped Strickland starting to get more aggravated, “and I refuse to-”
“That is not your call Dr Strickland,” hissed Stratt as she slammed her hand on the wooden table. “I need the best in this team to get what we need from that thing, and this man might be what we need. Despite his ridiculous theories, his knowledge on microbiology is impressive on its own and maybe his theories will help us see what you are all failing to see.”
There was a silence in the room. Strickland looked like he was about to burst a vein, clearly very sore about this new scientist Stratt was planning on hiring. She looked down at the dossier, the photo of the man with blond hair, a scruffy face with a pair of glasses over a pair of blue eyes stared back at her.
“Let’s see if you are that man, Dr Ryland Grace.”