"Judgment": A Dishonored Fanfic

Chapter 7

In what was easily the longest meeting yet, a late breakfast soon morphed into lunch and the quartet relocated from the rose garden to the dining room after eating and sending the servants on errands to other parts of the castle.
First to speak was Elaine, who started after breakfast and reported on the results of her study of the weepers.
   "I'll be as brief as I can." She said. "In short, what I've seen in those weepers is exactly the same sort of thing that happened to the rats. There's been evolution on a frightening scale. The only real difference, is that weepers only get one shot at it- and believe me, they don't need another."
   "Are they that bad?" Corvo asked.
   "Worse. And the reason is two-fold. First, because humans are far more complex creatures. Their tricks are the stuff of nightmares, and in respect of Emily I'll not say them now. You can look at my notes any time you want to, but I warn you, it's not for the faint-hearted. The second reason is, simply, cos' humans take far longer to breed than rats, and while rats can still breed even when plagued, weepers can't. All of that is gone."
   "Wow." Daud said. "So I guess that also means that the rats haven't finished evolving, and they'll get a lot worse yet."
   "That's right. They'll take far longer to do it, but before long they'll get as well-endowed as weepers are. That's bad news."
   "No wonder you wanted the other dead ones gone today."
   "Yeah. And at some point after I left yesterday, the living ones must have finally woken up. Quite the chorus this morning."
   "Oh great. Do we still need those too?"
   "Yes but again, not for long. I reckon I've gotten enough information but all I really need to see, is how they behave. Once I've had enough of that, I'll be glad to hand them over to you."
   "Just say the word." Corvo nodded grimly. "Was there anything else you discovered before the Outsider visited you?"
   "Not much, without better equipment. I'm puzzled by something, though. It hadn't occurred to me before, but this type of evolving plague doesn't seem to be something that Dunwall would have. It's extreme, and seems more like a disease from Pandyssia rather than here. There was a similar plague there once, a little over a year ago now, but that only affected a couple of animal species. It was also eradicated."
   "How did they manage that?"
   "Every animal with it was killed, then burned to ash."
   "...ugh. You wondered if it were the same?"
   "I did for an instant, yeah, but it can't be. That plague didn't manage to get into a human, wasn't compatible. And of course, all the animals were disposed of. But it still made me think for a while, I have to admit."
   "I'm wondering if we should keep it in mind anyway. If it's that similar to our plague, it could still be related and any information you have on that might also help us here."
   "Okay. I'll dig out my notes and see what's there. It's been so long that I can't remember...or didn't want to. After that, I decided to leave it there and then he turned up."
   "Are you feeling better now?" Emily asked her.
   "Yes, thank you." She smiled. "I think that it hit me hard yesterday cos' I was tired, I'd got lots of things in my head from the weepers, and it was also a shock. Just one thing too many. I thought about it again today, and there's not much I can do there either. Really, he was just making himself known to me. It was my own fault that it turned into a huge theological debate, and I'd got no idea of his personality. If I'd not tried to ask him for help, or questioned his reasons despite not knowing them fully, he'd have just stuck to his hello and then left much sooner. Or, he'd have given me his mark and then left."
   "You believe that he will, then?"
She nodded. "Yes. That's the only reason why he'd visit me again, other than to talk. And not even I have that much interesting stuff to talk about. He's going to mark me, I know it."
   "How'd you feel about that?" Daud asked her.
   "...unsure. I'm not like you two. I'm not an assassin, or any kind of warrior. I'm a researcher, a scientist. What do I need powers for? I don't see a good reason, but then again, I don't have his far-reaching field of vision. He'll know why. I don't need to yet."
   "Yours might be completely different to ours."
   "That's what I'm thinking. But, things don't seem to be as simple as they first appear whenever he's involved."
Daud grinned. "Welcome to our world. They didn't to us back then, and if I'm honest, some things still aren't now."
   "Miles more interesting, though." Corvo smiled.
   "And that, is the key word. Interesting."
   "Well, looks like we can't think anything more until there's another visit, whenever that is. Hopefully, at a good time."
   "Be soon, I reckon. He doesn't leave it long."
   "At least we found you something else to research that's far more pleasant." Corvo said. "The elixirs."
Elaine smiled. "They sure are."
   "There were a few things that we didn't get round to mentioning last night, so now, it's our turn."
   "Okay, I'm all ears."
   "You already know that there's no plague notes to be gained from the Academy. We tried, but they're not into it. After that, we looked for something else to bring back here."
   "I happened across something called a genetic research kit." Daud told her. "Lots of odd stuff that would help you look at whatever building blocks you wanted."
   "That's fantastic!" She enthused. "Was it complete?"
   "Yeah. Everything from jars of odd chemicals, stands and dishes, right through to a microscope."
   "You two have just made my day. That means I've got a lot more work to do now."
   "...oh."
   "It's good news, honest. With that kit, I can now study the plague cells themselves as well as elixir chemicals, and test out reactions in order to start making a better antidote."
   "Okay then." Daud smiled. "Breaks?"
   "Yes, I'll take more breaks. Learnt my lesson there."
   "So what do those chemicals do?"
   "Each one reacts to different things, but their purpose is the same. With those, you can take any organic substance and break it down into separate building blocks, then do tests with them. When only one thing might be that cure we're after, you don't want anything else there that would alter the results."
   "Clever." Corvo said. So you'd be able to discover which bits of the elixirs actually do the job?"
   "That's right. Then, I would hope to take those things and look for a way to get much larger amounts of them, then make them easily administered. Doesn't have to be another elixir; all things considered, people here might be sick of looking at them. Other options are an injection or tablet."
   "Then we raise money, mass produce and give out."
   "Fingers crossed."
   "Sounds very promising, I'm glad we could help."
   "And then," Daud continued, "we ran into an old friend."
   "Who was that?"
   "Anton Sokolov, waiting for his wine partner. But, I have to say that this is the part where things turn not so happy."
The two men explained, recounting what Anton had said, and everyone was definitely very somber afterwards.
   "...Piero never mentioned it?" Elaine asked, wanting facts before judging as she'd not met him as yet.
   "Piero sold to someone else," Corvo said, "who then sold it to Campbell. Could easily have been a lackey, specially if Campbell had been to see Anton at round about the same time. But his reaction at finding out about the ultimate owner was just the same, once I'd told him. Piero never wants to talk about it again, now, by the way. Best to avoid him for a while, until he calms down. He didn't take it well."
   "Anton wasn't much better." Daud said. "Tried to fob us off at first, thinkin' that we didn't know he'd sold on. I soon robbed him of that misconception."
   "You verbally punched, this time. Hurt just as much."
   "That's what he gets for tryin' to think we're stupid. But after that, he didn't want trouble and he just came out with it. All of it. He was bitter, I'll tell you that. He wants blood."
   "He's not the only one." Corvo said quietly.
   "So at some point, we need to find Campbell and get the location of the recipes out of him. After that? I wanna do a lot worse than excommunication, and pretty much everyone in Dunwall would pay good money to see it once they knew the things that we know now."
   "They can get in line." Elaine said. "I want a stab myself."
   "So all in all, what we gained was far better than just notes."
   "I'll say. Lots of next moves now." She mulled it over in her head. "While I'm fiddling around with genetics, you're probably going to start looking for him. Once we've got those original recipe notes, I can soon see if what Anton says is true, as well as start to make a strong antidote."
   "It all hinges on Campbell again." Emily said. "He always wanted that. Thought of himself way too much."