Upgrade - A RWBY + M/C Story

Marcus Aurelius - A History.

10 Years Post Cure.

Arguably the most famous doctor in history is Marcus Aurelius. This is not to diminish the work of his colleagues, but much of the credit for curing the Creeping Plague goes to him. Even so, his Protégé, Jake (of which no last name has been recorded in any medical or legal record) argues Marcus should get more credit, citing that his research was based from the work of his mentor.

I stepped away from the plaque, above it, a picture of Marcus working diligently to find a cure. The picture was taken by myself. I still remember the day Marcus died, and I retrieved his work for Jake. I visited this museum of great thinkers, scientists, and engineers every year. Always on the same day. April 10th. I'd heard the exhibit for Marcus was expanded to resemble a more proper view of his whole life. I came right away, even though it was still some weeks until April. I knew Marcus as an acquaintance, a colleague, but nothing more than that. Jake was Marcus' only friend in the lab. Indeed, there another plaque in this section that has the names of everyone in the lab, including myself, etched in gold plated steel.

I moved into the next room, and was... surprised to say the least. Inside, in a glass case, was a large automatic rifle. The thing must have been twenty pounds. Though what shocked me was the large chainsaw under the barrel of the gun. I rushed to the display, I'm curious as to what this strange instrument of war is doing in a doctor's exhibit. Though my confusion was short lived. "Of course it is..." a smirk formed on my face.

This weapon before you is called a 'Lancer' and is from a 2006 video game, 'Gears of War'. The protagonist and military faction he serves, the C.O.G. (Coalition of Ordered Governments) use said Lancer as their main service rifle. Dr. Aurelius mainly enjoyed games and media from the years of 1990-2020, and would frequently reference different songs, games, and, less frequently, anime, from said time period. Marcus is quoted in jokingly saying "If I go down in history for anything, I want that period to be named the 'Golden Age'. Get it? Golden. Aurelius."

I certainly remember that moment, it was awful. His puns, when he made them, were never really funny. Then again, he wasn't really a joking type. Outside of the puns, when he said something meant as a joke, he'd easily get everyone around him laughing. I knew everything that the rest of this section wanted to tell me anyway. Marcus was many things, and many words could be used to describe him. Brilliant, if you're wanting to be honest and nice about it. Eccentric, if you knew him and wanted to be nice. To everyone else, a bit of an ass. Not to any fault of his own, he was simply... vulgar. Though I'm not sure that is the best word for it. Rocky exterior, heart of gold maybe? I'm not sure. However, it all made sense to me. He was interested in things that happened up to 50 years before he was born, he was eating that stuff up right outta the crib. The rest of this particular exhibit told me this. I continued walking through, and it was almost like he was born in the wrong time. Every situation recorded, he'd always go to this old stuff. He maintained he'd never listened to any song that was released after 2019, and I could believe it.

Much of Marcus' expansion went over this kind of information, it was all about what he did before he was "Marcus the Doctor". An interesting take, not much was known about his early life, strangely enough. He was an experiment, I knew that. There were 20, and he was the only success. He was born to Italian parents from Rome, in what used to be America, before it fractured into an alliance, ironically more stable than the previous "United States".

The genetic enhancement program was codenamed 'Spartan' and was illegally performed in the hopes of creating the perfect human. 20 eggs were modified and implanted into unknowing mothers. (The modifications were performed on eggs chosen at random from a facility that provided in-vitro fertilization services. The perpetrators are unknown, and have never been seen since the incident.) The rumor that it was a government operation has never been proven, and is likely untrue.

In the case of Marcus Aurelius, it was a success. He matured and grew at a rate double that of a normal child. Walking at six months, and nearing the size and mental capacity of an adult by 7. He was incredibly physically strong, and needless to say, intelligent to an extreme. According to his parents, he'd always acted as if this was normal for him. If he'd experienced any anxiousness, he'd never shown or mentioned it his whole life. Whenever questioned, he'd always reply with a shrug and a statement resembling "I'm not bothered by it, I was born to be the perfect human after all. Of course I recognize this isn't how it was meant to happen, but it did. I'm made better for it, and I will use these gifts to the best of my ability."

In the case of 18 other children, they failed. They were all stillborn, or hideously deformed, dying shortly after their birth. The 20th couple went missing the day before the mother was due. They were never heard from again. Speculation says that this couple gave birth to Jake, though the doctor himself has denied such claims.

Again, more of how much he'd studied through his early years. Reading about engineering and the sciences at college levels, while still being the kindergarten age. Whenever he wasn't doing so, he was playing those ancient video games and listening to music from his parents' childhood. Once again, this fit with what I knew about Marcus.

Marcus wasn't known for any great feats of engineering. That makes sense to me, at best I'd likely call his studies a hobby. He seemed to just recreate whatever fictional item drew his fancy. Lucky his parents had the money to keep up with this crazy kid. Heh, he'd hate it when we said that. I personally never meant anything by it. It was simply weird to work with a doctor half my age that I knew was actually a super genius.

Before he was afflicted with the Creeping Plague, (named after how it killed slowly, at least those who received treatment. Those who couldn't afford to be treated were killed in a few months, times varied.) Indeed, a homeless man was on record being afflicted with the disease and being around other sick people for over 4 years, and yet, he lived long enough to receive the cure, and now lives comfortably. I cannot recall his name however. I've reached the end of the exhibit, talks about some guy that Marcus was really interested in, a writer of something. A Japanese man named Araki. Maybe I'll look into his works some other time. It seems the museum is closing for the day.

I should get home anyway, or I'll be late for the meet up between all the doctors from that lab way back when... it's January 24th after all.