Outstanding

Chapter 16

"That..." Danse said, his voice shaking. He paused, then in a much stronger tone. "You're lying, there is no cure."

Virgil eyed him, his gaze unreadable. "It is only for this specific strand and no other." He said. "It is still in it's experimental phase so I do not know if it will even work, nor of it's side effects. I plan to use myself as the test subject."

I was watching Danse closely, while he seemed to have regained some of his composure, he looked uneasy to me. This only confirmed my suspicions, he was thinking about what happened with Cutler, I know I couldn't help thinking about him either.

A cure was possible - slim, but there. Yet the Institute didn't engineer one, only invented more strands of the virus. Though with time, maybe Virgil could create one that could work on all strands. Just one more reason to get him on our side. I knew Danse and Hancock would see it too once their rage tempered off.

"Or..." Hancock said brashly. "Maybe you should stay that way. Don't know if you deserve to be cured if the others you experimented on can't be."

"Hancock!" I gaped sending a glare his way.

"What? Think of all the lives he's ruined! Think about all the people who were either turned into those monsters or killed by them."

I bit my lip, it was a hard pill to swallow, but if Virgil had a cure, we should cure him, even if he had caused it to begin with. Didn't he deserve a second chance, a chance at atonement?

"No." I blinked when I realized I wasn't the one who said that. I turned to stare at Danse, who I thought would take Hancock's side. "No, no one should be stuck as one of those abominations, not even him." He repeated, his eyes glaring sharply at Virgil, his fists clenched forcefully at his side. "Not only that, but he's more useful to us as a human than the way he is now."

Maybe he was learning to push the Brotherhood ideals to the side and listen to himself for once. I was proud of Danse, so much so I wanted to reach out to him, but we had a more pressing topic at hand. "Why are you telling us this Virgil?"

Virgil broke eye contact with Danse to look at me. "Because, you need my help to get into the Institute and I need your help to get the cure."

Through the corner of my eye I tried to gauge Danse's expression. He was staring at his discarded helmet with a solemn expression of regret. I could see why by looking at the cracked metal. We'd have to fix it before heading out. Glancing at Hancock, I wondered how he'd react to my choice.

What choice did I have? I would just have to trust Virgil. "Alright Virgil, I'll help you."

"You sure about that sunshine?" Hancock said searching my face with a dubious expression. "We don't know if we can trust this guy."

Shaking my head, I gave him a smile. "Virgil helped me before." I paused then turned back towards Virgil. "And you said it yourself, I need you just as much as you need me."

Virgil rubbed at the back of his neck before giving me a sympathetic look. I had told him before the reasoning behind getting into the Institute. The empathy he had shown me had led to me to trust him. If there was one thing harder to fake it was sympathy, my acting classes told me that much. "Alright." Virgil said clearing his throat with a muffled cough. "Let's talk about what you need to do. Do you have any ideas on how to get in and out of the Institute?"