The Other Symbiote

Genetics 101

"Now, Ms Brock, despite Councilman Ross' claims of the symbiote species having destructive properties, what else are they capable of?" Lena's voice was soft, Raiva calming at it whilst she looked up at her.

"Well, Nemesis was gentle, not like Riot. Riot wanted to eliminate humans and bring other symbiotes to Earth. That's why he wanted the rocket."

"To fly back to Klyntar and gather more of his species?"

"Yes."

"Ms Brock, what do you suspect would have happened if Riot had succeeded?" Lena folded her arms in her suit, looking very casual but her lawyer face was on, not her big sister one.

"Well, if Riot had come back, nobody would be able to have free will. They would be controlled by their symbiotes, some even dying if they had no compatible match. Your Honour, may I step out of the witness stand?"

"Are you going to try and leave?" The judge asked, turning to her as she looked her in the eye.

"No."

"Very well." 

Raiva was confused at the mechanism of the witness stand so she just jumped over the front of it. 

"I need a marker of some sorts." 

"Here." Kara held out a whiteboard marker, pointing to the whiteboard Ross' photos were still on. 

"Thank you, Ms Danvers." 

Raiva walked over and began to draw out dozens of letters, some odd since half were human and the others were Klyntarian.

"A person with a basic understanding of genetics would recognise these as the human nitrogenic bases; Adenine, Thymine, Cytosine and Guanine. A matches with T and C matches with G." She circled the two pairs. 

"Ms Danvers, do you have another colour?" 

"Of course." Kara threw her a red marker, just what she needed. 

"Everybody knows about GMOs - genetically modified organisms. Corn, papaya, mice, et cetera. These all have their genes altered, like..." She drew a small strand of random genes in a break of the current strand she drew. 

"Like that. Now, that could code for anything, I don't know. I just made that up." A small ripple of laughter came from the crowd, a motherly smile on Nat's face. 

"Ms Brock?" The judge called her back from her thoughts. 

"Right, sorry. Like all species, they have genetic information. So, if you don't know me, I have a couple of PhDs to my name, mainly in genetics and science. I studied Nemesis' genes," She circled the odd ones, "and found something truly remarkable." 

"Ms Brock, if you could hurry up your explanation. I'm pretty sure none of us came to hear you give a college introduction on Genetics 101." Ross chuckled deeply, Raiva rolling her eyes as she turned back to the board. 

"Nemesis' genes match mine. Base to base, nucleotide to nucleotide. Like a yin and yang." 

"Ms Brock, are you saying you've mapped out an alienated species' genome?" Lena asked. 

"Indeed, Ms Luthor. If someone had a couple of bases off, like..." she swapped out multiple pairs of bases. 

"Like that, they would slowly die a painful death. I've seen it happen. But, this can be overridden."

"How so?" 

"Well, there was an incident back in Sokovia where, unfortunately, I almost died. Ms Romanoff, which I'm pretty sure you are all aware is sitting in this courtroom, was able to take Nemesis."