Part one of my three part story (it'll take me a while to chug them all out aeuaueaueuaeu. This is the only one I've completed xD). Part one is backstory about Hannah and the beginnings of XL and Nodin. Part two will be about Samael helping Hannah escape and meeting up with the MCC. Part three will be Nodin's perspective on the recent events, reuniting with his family, and finding out about his true potential.
For those who don't remember, Dr. Hawkins is Sam's father, and Cameron is Sam's favored older brother. Note to Kasa: I named Dr. Hawkins' Richard because the nickname for that is Dick lolololol *shot*
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HANNAH
A doctor’s job is to save people; at least that is what I wanted to believe. Throughout my years in medical school, however, I’ve learned that people’s drive to help has turned into a drive to earn money.
I managed to earn a long list of credentials as a young adult, such as a perfect score on the HOSA Pathophysiology Knowledge Test during the year I was in America. While in the UK, I took part in several UKMSA competitions, attended a few Royal Society of Medicine events, and eventually attended Cambridge Institute for Medical Research. My success was achieved only through my book smartness, which is why I decided to go into research. I felt there was too much risk working directly with people. I could either help them or kill them. However, through research, if I were successful I could help the whole world, or at least I thought.
By the time I was 24, I had finished medical school. It was around that time that I that I met Neil on the side of the street passed out and surrounded by recently used needles. I called 911 and stayed with him at the hospital. A lonely, damaged man, he was. He did not even know his name, his age. I pitied him, and ended up taking him in, naming him, as if he were a stray dog. My friends thought I was psychotic and claimed he would assault me and steal all of my belongings, which was probably a sensible assumption, but my ingenuous nature did not grant me the ability to be as suspicious and cynical. I believed that every person had a sense of virtuousness inside, and if I remained resolute, I could change a person for the better. Thankfully, my sense about Neil was not wrong. Though we went through several nadirs, and he constantly struggled with rehab, he too had a resolve to improve his lifestyle. Neil never took advantage of my hospitality, never lashed out at me during one of his relapses, no matter how frustrated or angry he became, . He eventually got clean, worked several odd jobs, and I began to fall for him. The love wasn’t spawned from my pity, however. Being so career focused, a romantic relationship had never crossed my mind. We were roommates, best friends, and eventually lovers. He ended up being the sweetest thing, such as recording himself making one of our inside jokes on my phone that I would discover while on long trips to medical conventions, knowing that I would be lonely and stressed out. He too did not expect our friendship to evolve into romance. Always cautious, suspicious, he would avoid intimacy. Even when we became close I still felt like I didn’t know anything about him. The only thing I was certain of was the kindness and gentleness shown by his actions. A year later, we had our son. Neil wanted him to inherit my last name, seeing that he didn’t remember his own, so we decided to name him Daniel Piers McCalman.
Unfortunately, my success with Neil’s transformation fueled me with too much pride, too much arrogance. I felt like I had a superpower to turn people’s lives around. I believed there was no such thing as a truly evil person, a belief that would soon cripple me and leave me broken. As an aspiring medical researcher, I idolized the work of the young Cyrus Alatum. He was a brilliant scientist, and his research in the creation of artificial limbs could be used to assist amputees or the disabled. The possibilities of such technology could help thousands or millions, but my ignorance kept me from realizing the possibility of abusing the power to create.
At age 35, the chance to work with my idol arose when Cyrus personally sent letters to several scientists and doctors around the world. The opportunity seemed surreal, almost too wonderful. My family had resided in Vancouver as I worked with the Vancouver Coastal Health Research Institute when my ambitions aimed towards the eventual eradication of disease. In Cyrus’s letter, he had requested us to meet in Virginia, one of the states in America, the following year. He was genuine in his letter, his written words filled with aspiration and spirit. I wrote back, expressing how honored I was, and we exchanged some of our knowledge and our ideas. He gave me an idea of the possibility of extracting diseases from people. The concept was farfetched and complex, but he helped develop a conceptual extractor that I had based all of my premature research off of. When I was finally able to work with him and the other scientists, we were able to make the idea a reality. The extractor was built to cater my research, and I began testing its ability to recognize and organize different microorganisms. From there, I attempted to extract a series of plant viruses and bacteria that were introduced to isolated plant cells, and later moved on to blood or bone samples. The prototype was replaced with new and improved versions as I produced more results.
The results of my research were unbelievable; excitement took me at the thought of sharing my research with the world. However, there are always consequences to good things. Viruses could survive without a host cell, whether it is seconds or days. Once extracted, the device put out a certain waste made up of these surviving viruses. Even when these viruses “died”, the waste still had the potential to spread the diseases of those viruses. Thankfully, the samples I had were small enough to not cause a serious threat.
During this time, Dr. Richard Hawkins had taken a significant curiosity to my research, and pushed me to perform my research on human subjects, bribing me with money to produce the results he wanted, disguising his true evil under a mask of friendliness and benevolence. In my early years, I quickly trusted him upon our first meeting. He flashed me a smile, and helped me feel more comfortable and accepted within the large gathering of scientists. The way he talked about his son, Cameron, seemed so down to earth and bona fide. He wanted to achieve something great with Cyrus, so he could be someone his son could look up to. He wanted to show his son how the hard work has benefits, and he hoped that what Cyrus and the other scientists achieved would help promote that ideal. At the time, he was still curious and eager, but as we saw how working together expedited our results, he became more engrossed with his research, more obsessed; the same happened to several other scientists. It made sense to me; we had all dedicated years of our lives to medicine. Many of us were still in school while our friends had already graduated and found substantial jobs, even making a name for themselves. All of our hard work, the constant studying and testing, that’s all we knew. We were use to the arduousness and progressiveness before receiving satisfying results. Now, products of our research seemed almost instantaneous. Mindsets and morals began to distort and deteriorate. There was so much power at our hands; why not have more?
As a couple of months passed, a few scientists began to disappear; many of them had been good friends of mine. I was confused and dismal of their sudden absence and lack of good byes. Richard told me that they had quit because work was too demanding, or had ventured out to do some field research. No matter how out of character it seemed to be for my friends, I believed Richard due to my inability to conjure up any other reason they could’ve gone away. I remember spending more time around Cyrus, simply job shadowing him, admiring his work. He was still as enthusiastic as he was the first day we all gathered. Despite being so young, I would always get nervous around him, so nervous that sometimes I wouldn’t speak out of fear of saying something silly. Whenever we weren’t working, he’d go off and tell me about all of these mythical creatures he’s studied: fairies, nymphs, demons, shape shifters, etc. It was through him that I learned that about Aericos and other disease-based creatures, such as the Kala, Kanshaku, Gyochu, and Haishaku. However, out of all the ones he mentioned, his favorites were the winged creatures. Cyrus was fascinated with the idea of personal flight, to be free in the sky.
It was after I had a week off for Christmas and New Years. I had already been running late to work that day and when I arrived to my lab it was gone. The waste I had been collecting was gone. I reported the news to Richard after not being able to find Cyrus, worried that there was a break in or a mistake in exchanging samples with the other scientists during my absence.
“There’s no need to worry Dr. McCalman.” He said. “I’m excited to tell you I’ve figure out how to dispose of the disease waste.” To counter my disbelief, he took me to a part of the lab I've never been to before. It was eerily danker and I heard strange noises as we walked, as if the floors moaned in pain with each step we took. Before stepping into one of the rooms, we put on some sterilized suits. "Better safe than sorry," he said. That's when he showed me the results of his experiments. That's when I realized what a despicable and horrid man he was. That's when I saw that he had disposed the waste into the missing scientists, my friends. They were in a clear container, piled up on each other and covered in boils and vomit and mucus. Some of them had lost their limbs, which rested on a bloodied table beside the box. Immobilized by terror, Richard refused to let me take my eyes off the sight. "These beings were incompetent to begin with" he said, his voice suddenly cold. "Not only that, but your research would have stayed stagnant without human test subjects." When he noticed me looking at the table, and heartless chuckle came from his throat. "Where do you think your most recent samples came from? I thought getting them from these people would help ease you into experimenting live subjects."
My eyes widened in horror. I screamed. "How could you do this?!" He looked at me, with a look of sick amusement. "Why, I did this for you. I thought you'd be more grateful. They aren't dead after all. I injected them with a serum that will eventually give rise to a breed of super humans. Increased agility, coordination, strength, and immunity, but like your research, there are consequences. Unfortunately, the serum has caused paralysis in all the subjects, so we cannot test their new abilities. However, thanks to the results of the added waste from your research, we can hypothesize that the serum was, in fact, successful. The new serum has been under development the past few weeks, and according to the scientists working on it, all repercussions have been taken care of."
He calmly walked me out of the room, knowing I was no threat to him. It was true. I could have stopped him then and there, but my cowardice kept me from even speaking. He took hold of my shoulders, a wide, crazed smile on his face. "Hannah, join me in this next step. You’ve been a vital asset to this organization, and with the newly developed serum combined with your research, think of all the great things we could do for mankind! We could make mankind better, invincible even! All we have to do is expose subjects to the disease waste, adjust the serum accordingly, and soon, we could raise an army. Simply being human isn’t enough anymore. Think of all the power we could have! Cyrus can no longer get in the way of us adults. A child has no right to get in the way of our research.”
“What do you mean? What have you done?!” Emotions bundled up inside of me: fear, sadness, anger, and confusion. I had been these scientists’ pawn for a year. I was too gullible to see their greed and selfishness. “Why do you think I gave you your own lab McCalman?” Richard said. “Reducing the risk for contamination was a clear reason, but I didn’t want you to know what was going on in the other labs, but you were so stupid that I didn’t really have to do anything. Cyrus wasn’t any different, despite his brilliance. It took little effort to deceive both of you.”
I ran.
I ran away from this Hell.
He just laughed at my petty attempt to escape.
I arrived at the apartment where Daniel and Neil were staying. Frantically, I ran upstairs. I needed to get them out. We needed to evacuate. When I opened the door, the black coats had already been there. Neil had been beaten senseless. His leg was in shambles, and his face was covered in blood.
Daniel was gone.
“They…they were waiting outside.” Tears swelled up in his eyes. “They took him, Hannah. I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry this is my fault. I couldn’t protect him. It’s all my fault.”
I called for an ambulance, saying that a robber had broken in and kidnapped our son. I knew who the kidnappers were, but I also knew that if I said anything, Daniel might not be alive when I find him.
I rushed back to the lab. Richard was waiting, ready to show me to Daniel. “He was rather complacent. Your kid knows how to respect an adult.” He laughed, trying to make it sound like a casual conversation. “I can assure you that he’s alive, so you have nothing to worry about.” He took me to my lab to the isolation chamber. Through the glass window, I saw my 15 year old son, laying on the floor gasping for breath, exerting a great cough if he breathed in too hard. Whenever he exhaled, a murky cloud came out of his mouth. His eyes were bloodshot and unfocused. He was so riddled with sickness he was not even aware of what was going on around him.
“I was surprised he took it so well,” he smirked. “There are still some problems, such as that unmanageable breath of his, but with some more experimentation, he could be a great addition to our new breed of weapons.”
“Daniel?” I croaked. He couldn’t hear me over his own coughing. I did this to him. This is my fault.
I glanced at the tool table next to me. Instead of taking the used syringes, the scissors, the pliers, the scalpel, I took the instrument closest to my hand, the percussion hammer. Taking hold of it, I turned on Richard, attempting to damage him. I pounded the hammer and my fist against him, aiming at his chest and his arms instead of going to more vulnerable places like his eyes. Even then, even after what he did, I couldn’t bring myself mutilate him. I wanted him to hurt. But he too had a son, a family who loved him. Would I be any different if I took him away from them? He saw a moment of hesitation and grabbed my wrist, gripping tightly.
“You ungrateful shrew,” he sneered. “I granted your freedom, your life; I can easily take that away.”
“Then take it,” I begged. “Take it in exchange for his. Please.”
I couldn’t risk dying. If I were gone, what would happen to Daniel? He’d just end up as a waste disposal for other chemicals and failed serums. He’d just end up as another experiment with another merciless scientist. No…I need to protect him. I need to keep him safe.
“I’ll keep experimenting here. I’ll do human experiments. I’ll do whatever you want just please let him go.”
He looked at me, intrigued. “And how do you expect him to fare out In the open? It’s too risky for him to even leave that room.”
“A good enough respirator should be able to control the breath and prevent contamination. I can develop one if you give me the time. Proper disinfecting and disposal of personal items should also help.”
His hard expression relaxed, as if he was relieved. “If that’s the case, I accept your offer. I could not afford to lose your skill set.” His friendly tone was repulsive. “We’ve made the prototypes for a memory altering microchip. If he’s going to be released, my only requirement is that you erase or replace his memories. You decide.” Before walking out he turned to me with a sinister smile. “You’ve made the right choice, Hannah. I’ll be looking forward to seeing the results of you work. Don’t disappoint me.” With that he was gone.
I couldn’t let Daniel remember this; I couldn’t let him remember me. In his brain, I implanted the idea that he was an Aerico, a disease demon, as well as his dad, and I was killed during childbirth after months of a sickened pregnancy. Before he was sent out, I placed the original files in Daniel’s backpack as well as a note to his father explaining the situation. Neil began going by Samael after I requested him to protect his identity from XL, who is now a powerful force worldwide. I also had to give Daniel a new name to protect himself from online searches and missing children reports.
One day, all of this will be over. Maybe, if God will allow it, time will reverse itself. I’ll ask him how his first day of high school was. I’ll help him on his homework. I’ll hold birthday parties every year and treat him and his friends to a cake. I’ll have him tell me about his first date or his first kiss, and tease him when he gets a girlfriend. I’ll watch him walk across stage and receive his diploma. I’ll help him move into his new dorm. I’ll meet his new roommate. I’ll cheer him on when he succeeds and comfort him when he fails.
I want those ten years back. I want those years back, untainted and pure.
But even if I don’t get those things back, one thing will be true.
One day, all of this will be over.
I’ll have Samael. I’ll have Nodin.
I’ll have my family.
That’s all I’ll ever need.
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Let me know if you had trouble understanding anything<3 Thank you for reading. :)
