Connected: a Newtxreader

23

At WICKED

Ava Paige sits down at the head of the table, tapping her files on the wood and placing them down in front of her before looking out at her peers. They all have the same blank, unreadable expression. But by now Ava can tell how they're feeling, mainly because she feels the same. The same mingled guilt and joy.

"Well, I think we can conclude that the Maze Trials were a complete success", Ava says in a monotone voice, "ninety percent of the subjects from both Group A and Group B survived and will be moving along to Phase Two.
Ms. Isaa, how are the subjects holding up?"

The nurse looks down at her files, "Physically they are well. Vitals are stable, and they escaped with no major injuries...." she seems to hesitate.

"Except?" Ava urges and the nurse swallows.

"Untitled No.1. She is extremely famished and accumulated severe head trauma from her fall. Possibly concussed, and I fear it could affect her memory"

Dr. Paige keeps a strong front, but the news shatters her slightly. Y/N wasn't meant to get hurt, she attended to that; but she couldn't save the girl from herself.

"May I suggest removing the memories?", Janson suggests, causing Avas head to snap in his direction.

"What do you mean?", she demands, her voice harsher then intended.

"Well, if we artificially remove her memories prior to her forgetting then there will always be the possibility of re-instating them later on", Janson explains, seemingly proud of himself, and Ava gets an idea.

"Would we be able to remove a particular detail of her memories. A person, for example"

"Ava...", Janson warns, his cocky grin completely wiped away, "we can't meddle with the subjects anymore. We've already possibly damaged our results"

"But Untitled No.1 was an accident in the first place, why not make use of that mistake? It would add another variable to the Trials", Dr. Paige explains and Janson gives her a warning glance.

After a moment of silence the nurse continues, ".... Well yes, technically we could remove someone from her memory, as long as it's from the affected area, which in this case is the left frontal cortex"

"I say we proceed then. Remove him from her memory", Ava commands, her face scrunching your in disgust when she said 'him'. The nurse seems to understand who she was talking about.

"Dr. Paige, I feel like you may have a minor conflict of interest here, are you sure you are able to make a professional decision?", another nurse asks.

"I'm the Chancellor and what I say goes. Now, perform the surgery, wipe her memory, then save the removed data to her file for later recollection. Thank you", Paige gives a slight nod of her head, signally for her colleagues to leave, but Janson stays seated.

"What is it?", Ava sighs.

"Ava, I really think you're taking this too far personally. Yes it will benefit the experiment in some senses but it will also emotionally damage the subjects, including Untitled herself. Your original goal was for her not to get hurt, correct?" .

Dr. Paige stands facing the window with her back to Janson, "he has hurt her more then I ever could"

"He's not hurting her and you know that", he says firmly but Ava snaps.

"Enough! I know what I'm doing. It will add another variable, and therefore give us another opportunity examine their responses. This is a win. And as for Untitled, she is spare-able", Ava says it with such confidence it almost sounds true.