For Honor or Glory

Mass of Complexes

Chapter 40 

Alex's mind was in turmoil. Too many things were all fighting for her attention, and for once, all she wanted was to not think about any of it. She was so distraught that she even forgot to message her brother and let him know she was all right.

Instead of making her way back to the apartment she still shared with her brother, she went back to her lab. She had a cot brought in after her break with Genesis since she spent so much time there, which was part of why everyone had been alright with her decision not to find a place of her own yet. She was hardly ever out of the lab.

Once she was behind the locked door, she threw her papers on her desk and then flopped down on the cot. Her arm covered her eyes as she tried to reel in her emotions. She needed to figure out how to think through this logically. If she didn't, they were all in trouble—well, more trouble.

More than half an hour later, something finally occurred to her, and she sat up with a gasp. She looked over at the clock to see it was already after 22:00. She bit the edge of her lip as she thought through the implications of what she was considering.

If she could not manipulate the DNA herself, it might be best to find people that would be willing and able to help. Certainly no one within Shinra, but there had to be other options. Her head hurt slightly as she pulled on those dream-like memories that she had nearly forgotten. Surely she could think of someone.

She rubbed her temple to ease the pain as she let it go for the moment. That was only half the battle anyway. If she could not do this alone, then the first order of business would be to gather as much information as she could. She already had enough to show the others that they had been experimented on, but not why or how. To get that information, she would have to access the archives.

It would not be the first time, but it would be the first time she went alone. Typically, she had one of the interns to help her search for the data she needed. It might raise some questions if she went this late, but as long as she only checked out information regarding her research, it wouldn't be a problem. However, if she couldn't remove the files, she had to figure out a way to copy them that wouldn't be easy to see on her person and quick to use. That would be the hard part.

Or at least that was what she thought until her eyes landed on her phone. She suddenly remembered she needed to let Geal know she was still alive, but she also recalled that her phone could take pictures and send emails. It was not the best solution, but as long as the images were legible, she could always email them later when it would be less suspicious. Something told her if she tried to do so from inside the archive room, it might not go over well.

Even with all that, she knew it was still a risky plan. She also knew there was no way she could find everything she needed in one night. Somehow, she would have to figure out a balance to keep questioning eyes off of her while she searched. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and clear her head. The last thing she needed was to go off and keep looking over her shoulder. If anyone did happen to see her, it would instantly cause suspicion. She had to act like it was nothing out of the ordinary.

Once her heart rate had slowed, she sent a quick text to her brother to thank him for thinking about her and to let him know that she would be fine. After that was off, she locked all her files away and made sure nothing looked out of place. She knew she was putting off the inevitable, so she finally took one more steadying breath and headed down to the archive.

There was a guard near the door, but it did not take much effort on her part to explain why she was there and gain entrance. It helped that she was a regular visitor, which the man had verified. Once she was behind the door, she immediately went to the index. She wasn't sure where the files would be located, but they had to have some trail. She doubted it would actually say anything about Jenova, but hopefully, it didn't take her all night.