Splice (first draft)

Scene 44: Talk to Your Doctor to See if Evil Organizations are Right for You

A silver haired woman in a simple doctor's mask and clicking heels moves through the gurneys, a tablet tucked under her arm. The lights are dim, and the roar of the crowds is almost distant. Outside, there are cages and crates and brightly-lit arena or two with several docs standing by, along with feral handlers, chatting fighters, and bored Circus staff-members. Reaching the end of the makeshift hall of the Circus' curtained off medbay, she places the tablet on a cart.

Frogger, unseen: Doctor Cynthist Carter, geneticist and gifted medical practitioner for The Research Institute of Survival and Evolution, otherwise known as Impetus, up until she disappeared almost a decade ago.

The woman rounds on him, leveling a gun. He already has his hands up, seemingly unfazed.

Frogger: Relax, I'm a friend of Reed's...He says you go by Cynth now.

Cynth: [sniffs in disdain] I know who you are, and yes, I do. [turning to face Frogger head on] Typically, people who "disappear" don't care for people like you.

Frogger: The only people who'd care about who or where you are would be Impetus, and we're not exactly on speaking terms.

A tense moment passes.

Frogger: This does concern Reed, so you might to put the gun down.

Another beat.

Cynth: [lowering the gun] ...How?

Frogger: For starters, he currently has Deimos locked in his elevator.

Cynth: [sighs at the ceiling] Reed... [lowers the gun all the way] What do you want?

Frogger: [dropping his hands] The Nasoi Project, what is it?

Cynth: [looking at him, a lil surprised, but only a little] The Nasoi Project was a virus developed for population control. [placing the gun on the cart] Meant to spread quickly and kill painlessly. It was made back during the last land war, before reproduction laws and birth control initiative had really taken effect. [leaning back against the cart] They shelved, at least I'd thought they'd shelved it... [looking back at Frogger] You think they started the plague, don't you?

Frogger: Astute observation.

Cynth: [dry chuckled, crossing their arms] You're asking about a long-dead bio weapon during an epidemic. Easy to put two and two together.

Frogger: Did they?

Cynth: [slight shake of their head] The plague is...different. I wasn't on that project, so I don't know the finer details, but I do know there weren't supposed to be symptoms beyond abrupt organ failure. [pauses] It does seem to spread like it, though. Efficient. [bitter] Impetus is all about efficiency.

Frogger: Did they have a cure?

Cynth: Uh, yeah.

Frogger: [considering that] Hm...

After a moment of silence passes, Cynth starts to pick at the cart.

Cynth: [going for nonchalance] Do I need to worry about anyone else coming to dig me up?

Frogger: Unlikely. You were very thorough, name change aside

Cynth seems a little amused by this.

Frogger: I'm only here because Reed recognized you from Deimos' memories.

Cynth: [impressed, almost proud] He broke the encryption? If they're still using mine, he's certainly improved over the last few years...[Curious] Which one does he have?

Frogger: [pauses in something like surprise] ...Delta.

Cynth: [outright surprise] They fielded Delta?

Frogger: ...Apparently. Is that surprising?

Cynth: They were still on Beta when I left. [dry laugh] Hell yeah, it's surprising, Delta has hemophilia.

Frogger just kind of looks at her.

Cynth: [wryly] I know what you're probably thinking, why didn't we just cure it? Gene therapy is right up our alley, something like that should've been a breeze. [leaning back] You'd be right, it really would have been, if Delta had been a normal person. His predecessor, Gamma, had an immune deficiency, something the designers were a bit overzealous in fixing. They made Delta immune to just about everything, vectors included, so gene therapy was out. [brushing her hair back out of her face] We could barely treat him with medicine, It was honestly kind of embarrassing.

Frogger: I'd imagine.

Cynth: [letting her hair fall] That's probably why they were so quick to write him off. Prometheus had me stop treating him a few months before I left [rubbing the back of her neck] Guess they started treating him again.

Frogger: Delta, Beta...What are they?

Cynth: Paradigms, an attempt to create human perfection...or super soldiers, depending on who was in the room. They sure treated them like soldiers.

Frogger: So Deimos is...

Cynth: Testing.

Frogger crosses his arms and mulls this over. A loud cheer comes from outside, drawing both their attentions.

Cynth: [still looking past him] Sounds like I'm going to have to get back to my job soon, [looking at Frogger] if you have any more questions, speak now or forever hold your peace.

Frogger spends a beat looking back over his shoulder.

Frogger: [turning back to Cynth] Who is Prometheus?

Cynth pauses, debating, then sighs, dropping her head.

Cynth: [almost amused] Well, I guess if I'm telling you everything..."