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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jun 5, 2017 17:33:54 GMT
"I did it! I finally did it!"
Anna's words echoed off the tiled walls of the BPD labs as she looked down at the sample of blood she had just been studying. Her voice was filled with an almost crazed joy as she jumped up and down in triumph! Her face was radiate with happiness and there was even a hint of moisture in the corner of her eyes as she realized all her hard work had finally paid off.
She had finally finished her serum!
She paused in her celebration to once more examine the blood sample under the microscope. Yes, it was true. She could see that the serum she had added had altered the cells to match those of Others but were already starting to revert to their normal, human state. She glanced at the large packet of notes sitting next to the microscope on the table and began to check off things to make absolutely sure she was correct.
The fume hood where she kept all her samples was wide open, scientific materials scattered about on the table she was working at. She herself wasn't nearly as well-kept as she normally would have been, the bags under her eyes clearly displaying all the sleepless nights she had spent working on her crowing achievement, a serum that would finally be her way to truly help the people of Bellerouge!
Up to this point she had been so careful to keep what she was doing concealed, but her sudden success had made her careless. So great was her excitement, her joy at finally realizing her goal that she didn't hear the distant sound of footsteps fast approaching the lab.
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 5, 2017 17:44:29 GMT
"Let's hope this doesn't blow up in my face..."
Shadow was not exactly certain of this. He had bumped into Axel at the Bourbon a few nights ago. The bartender was, well, at a boiling point. Not only had his former boss, Cruella D'enfer, tried to steal one of his employees, but he had been snapped at by Anna.
Normally, Sunshine was the type to dispel awkward situations. But after the checkup with Anna, Shadow had a feeling something wasn't right. The only way to get this taken care of was have them talk. So, he asked Axel to come y the station for them to talk together.
The pink doors beckoned, and he opened them slowly
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 5, 2017 18:02:00 GMT
Meeting Shadow had been pure chance. The man hadn't been into the bar since he had been temporarily human. Easily moved past for the demon. Since he wanted to speak to a police officer about what Anna was doing. He had tried his best to express his concern for Anna. What she was doing was self destructive and dangerous. Not only to herself but to the city which was one powder keg away from a second Black War. She was going to get herself hurt or worse. The city was already suffering from the remnants of Sapien. Adding some magic serum to make humans into Others wasn't a good idea. Not in this sort of social climate.
Axel trailed behind Shadow. He felt odd being in the police department, especially considering what he was and how he wasn't in handcuffs. The pink doors almost made him laugh. Almost. It was very much an Anna touch. His hands were in his pockets, mostly to keep him from kicking in the door and storming in with volcanic fury. He was surprisingly calm, considering the situation and how he felt about this. He just wanted to see this stopped.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jun 5, 2017 18:11:48 GMT
Anna had checked off the last thing on her list, the giddy smile still in place as she bent over to look through the microscope once more. However, she suddenly heard the double doors behind her slowly swing open and someone step in. Thinking that it must be Dorian, she turned around with an exclamation of her success on her lips. However, as soon as her eyes landed on the two figures standing in the doorway, her mouth went numb and the words died.
"Shadow? Axel?"
She stared at them blankly for what seemed to be hours upon end, completely thrown off by their sudden presence in the lab. Why was Shadow here so early at the BPD? And why was Axel with him? And suddenly she felt a flood of panic start to build in her.
"What are you doing here?"
Her words were almost an accusation as she spread her arms behind her, trying to hide what she was doing behind her white lab coat. She could feel a cold sweat starting to spread across her body and her breathing was far too fast. She had to get herself under control. After all, they didn't know what she was doing.... right?
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 5, 2017 18:17:40 GMT
Shadow folded his arms slowly. Okay, here came the part where things were going to get awkward. She was looking at them with wide blue eyes, like a kid who had gotten caught with her hand in the cookie jar. A look of guilt.
A criminal's look.
Shadow fumbled wth words in his head. In the end, he kept it light to avoid suspicion.
"Axel wanted to check on you. I said I knew where you office was, and, here we are."
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 5, 2017 18:25:42 GMT
"Quit the bullshit. You know why I'm here." he sighed.
He was tired. He was angry. He was not in the mood for her to play coy and pretend that she was innocent. He had this rattling around in his head for days before he managed to get into contact with Shadow. He might not have been the most eloquent about it but he had never done things like confrontations with grace and tact. He bullied his way through conversations like that. Him doing this put Anna at risk, her friends, her job, her lab. All at risk because he was exposing what she was doing. She could get in trouble alone for using her work's supplies for a personal project. Let alone one that could very well border the lines of ethical.
"Why don't you tell Shadow what you've been working on?" he asked. "Your change the world little project."
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jun 5, 2017 18:36:12 GMT
Anna flapped one hand at them, feigning a smile and trying to act as if it were just another regular day for her. However, she kept herself positioned in front of the fume hood so that she was blocking the blood samples from their view but there was no way to hide the mess that was spread across the nearby table.
"Well, here I am! But a morgue and medical lab really isn't a good place to have a conversation so why don't we step outside?"
She said all of this with the smile frozen across her lips. However, when Axel suddenly stepped forward brusquely the smile flickered, briefly showing her true feelings under the false grin. Anger, fear.... and betrayal. However, it only lasted for a second before she let out a little laugh, higher then normal in pitch.
"Why, I've been working on my usual cases for the department, of course! And I've been..... learning about a new technique we'll be implementing in the lab here soon! It's pretty tricky and I've had to try it multiple times to get it right, hence the mess! But really, why don't we go upstairs and grab a coffee or something?"
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 5, 2017 19:20:25 GMT
Shadow's eyes became shaded. Oh, now she wanted to talk outside of the morgue. This was the same expert who stored string cheese in the same area body parts were stored. Caring about what people thought wasn't in her book.
But, with the way she was acting, he pulled the cop card.
"Funny. You and I had a great conversation the other day, didn't we? And you weren't caught up with work then..."
He was about to continue when Axel stepped forward and made Anna flinch. In normal circumstances, shadow would have reprimanded him. But for today, Axel and him were at an agreement. Anna wasn't acting like herself.
"The commissioner never told us about this new technique. Usually he lets everyone in the department know when procedures change." He looked at Anna long and hard. "We're not leaving until you give us the scoop."
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 5, 2017 19:36:30 GMT
"The project of yours you told me about at the bar. Something about... an unfinished formula and magic powers for all." Axel bit sarcastically. "All the people you'll help."
She had asked him not to say anything. But he couldn't just sit back and let this happen. Someone would take her noble intentions and twist it so far from what it's original purpose was. Same thing could be said for any weapon. Just a sharper, pointer and more painful way of killing each other. Just like emeralds against demons. He was breaking his promise to her, but he was also a demon. She should have expected something like this. Even if he had selfish reasons for doing it - her safety over the project that she harbored so much adoration for. Hate him as much as she wanted but he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jun 5, 2017 19:55:06 GMT
At Shadow's words, Anna's smile cracked and she couldn't help but gulp in worry. The homunculus was staring at her intently, his expression nothing short of suspicious. When he then demanded that she tell the truth, she felt herself starting to shake every so slightly as she continued to block the fume hood and all it contained from their view. They stared at each other, blue eyes into red for an unknown length of time and she might have eventually caved in and told him, but then Axel spoke.
Immediately, Anna's head whipped around so that she was looking at the fire demon. For an instant, the look in her eyes was one of renewed hurt. He had promised not to tell anyone about what she was doing. He had promised and she had believed him and now what had he done? Immediately turned around and ratted her out to a fellow officer.
Her fake smile finally fell away and the look of betrayal was there for all to see. However, in the next moment her expression had transformed into something else. There was no fake smile and no sorrow. There was only rage. She turned her gaze back to Shadow and glowered at him as she spoke.
"Why don't you just ask your new friend? He seems very eager to tell you everything anyways! You two can go and have a nice long chat about me behind my back but I don't have to tell you or anyone else anything!"
The anger in her voice as she steadily grew louder was directed mostly at Axel, but Shadow was getting plenty of the fallout in turn. She wasn't about to back down no matter what they said or tried to do. She had finally created her serum after so much blood, sweat and tears and she was damned if she was going to just let them try to bully her into giving it up to them.
Crossing her arms over her chest, she stood her ground in front of the two men, determined to protect her achievement.
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 5, 2017 23:14:23 GMT
Well, good, he managed to get her to crack. Now all they had to do was get her to move away from the fume hood. Whatever she was working on, it didn't need to have any kind of safety gear. Otherwise, he would have stormed into the closet, grabbed hazmat suits and waltzed in. She just stared at him for the longest time, and he returned the hard gaze. She was about to say something...
Axel distracted her before she could confess. Now Axel had mentioned Anna was working on the project, but he left the details out of the blue. When it came to head what was really going on, he was just as taken aback as Anna was.
"What did you have to get in order to make this possible, Anna?"
A formula that, in the right hands, could be benificial. But say fanatics like the Grey Dawn got it. It could go horribly wrong. Yang had expressed concerns about something like that happening again, and it may have been, right under his very nose. Anna was no doubt upset about her secret getting discovered, but Shadow was just as angry. She knew better, and yet she did it anyway.
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 6, 2017 0:59:59 GMT
"You think I like doing this?" Axel snapped. "If someone finds out about this, they could kill you over it."
She didn't see that he was doing this to protect her. She only saw the big bad demon swooping in and smacking her hand like a parent for doing something naughty. Her tunnel vision made him want to grab her and rattle her until common sense was back in her head. She was smarter than this. It was agonizingly painful for him to sit there and watch this happen. This was a first for him. Normally, he would listen to his patrons whine and moan and complain about this or that. That would be the end of it.
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Post by neverlandlostgirl on Jun 6, 2017 5:56:12 GMT
Despite the anger, the resentment and determination that filled her in that moment, Anna couldn't stop the color that filled her cheeks when Shadow questioned where she had gotten the materials to make her experiment possible. And she certainly didn't like the look that came into Shadow's eyes as he asked this.
However, once again her attention was diverted back to Axel as he snapped at her. It was easier to get angry at the fire demon simply because he was angry right back at her. That somehow made it easier to look him in the eye and yell straight back at him. She knew exactly how he felt about what she was doing, whereas Shadow......it was hard to tell what he was even thinking right then and there.
"What's it matter to you? Why do you even care if I get hurt or not? It's none of your business in the first place so just back the FUDGE OFF!"
As she practically screamed this last part at Axel, she stopped her foot hard against the ground in her anger and struck the metal front of the chemical hood. A single vial that had been closer to the edge then the rest jiggled in its stand until it slid off the edge of the counter. The glass vital hit the floor but didn't shatter and instead rolled along the tiled surface until it came to rest against the homunculus' foot.
The substance in the vial was bright crimson. And written on a tag around the vial, clear for all of them to see, was a name.
Blood Sample: Shadow.
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Post by Zuyuri on Jun 6, 2017 6:12:16 GMT
Anna was about to answer him. Again. But, then, Axel intervened, yelling at her. Anger made people lash out, and if this was going to be what Anna was givign Axel, he was in for a long investigation. They were shouting at each other now, and the officer knew best not to get involved in the scenario.
He winced at the hood rattled. This was followed by the tinkling of glass. Uh oh. Had anything been on the edge of the counter, it was going down. A small vial did, and much to his surprise, it didn't break and spill its contents onto the floor. The vial rolled to him and landed at his toe. The vial was filled with a dark substance that was thick, smudging the sides when it was turned. Shadow picked up the vial, turning it. An iron-heavy smell was wafting subtly.
Blood.
Not just anyone's blood. The tape on the side said it was his.
"Anna..."
Shadow just looked at the examiner, his hand clenching onto the vial. The way he said her name, complete with his expression, spelled everything he was feeling towards her. Hurt. Frustration. Sadness. and nost imporrtantly, betrayal.
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Post by skyeknight on Jun 6, 2017 14:06:51 GMT
"I care because... I just do. The world would be a whole lot shittier without you in it."
Axel scrubbed a hand over his face. He had to calm down. He had been steaming (quite literally) over this for almost a week now. Who knew what flammable things Anna had in the lab? As a demon, his mind always drifted to the worst case scenario because he knew humans. He knew what they would think of Anna's work. No one would take it as seriously as Anna would. Bratty rich kids would buy it to get powers and 'be cool'. The elite would use it as a symbol of wealth and power. No one would see the benefits of it except for Anna. But she was so caught up in the good it could do, she wasn't seeing the whole picture.
The demon looked over at the vial in Shadow's hands. Red and dark with Shadow's name on it. A blood sample. He felt his heart sink. He knew Anna said she was close to figuring things out but she was actually using Others as a base for her serum. He sighed as disappointment washed over him. He had thought so much better of her. He had warned her, this was just like Sapien all over again and he had been right. It started with blood samples then there were the rumors of the organization that made it tested it on unwilling Others they had snatched off the streets during the war.
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