“Wait, you said ‘projects’—as in more than one,” Sloan pushed. She’d had no problem keeping up with the conversation and was anxious to hear the whole story.
“Yeah, I did.” Evan began with a deep breath. “The nanoweapon is in the blue vial. The other project is the golden one.”
“What is it?” Margo asked her son.
“Payback.” Evan’s face hardened. Evan stared at the gold liquid before continuing. “I used my blood as the base.”
“You recreated the original serum? But I thought you already did that?” Theo asked.
“I did. This time, I didn’t want to replicate the Infinite Serum. I wanted to dismantle it.”
“You created a neutralizer.” Alik’s face paled.
“Oh, it doesn’t just neutralize. It leaves the subject in a weakened, susceptible state.” Evan nodded solemnly, “In my mind, I’ve called it Winter’s Revenge. Creating it was far easier than the nanoweapons and was actually done as an afterthought. I really didn’t have time to thoroughly test it, but preliminary tests on Groucho and Harpo—more lab rats—proved promising.
“I just knew the nanoweapons weren’t going to be enough. I wanted a way to strike fear in them—in a demoralizing and life-threatening way. They have more than earned this.” He glanced at his mother’s facial expression. She looked deep in thought, an internal struggle clear on her face.
“Mom, any one of the things these devils have done, not just to us, but to other innocent souls, warrants this. This is poetic justice.” Evan nodded at the gold vial in his hand.
“How likely is death?” Margo asked, her voice level.
“Groucho and Harpo both lived, but they were on death’s door for five days. To be honest, I don’t know how miraculous their survival was. But during those five days, the exaggerated strength and intelligence they had gained from becoming meta-rats three weeks before, was stripped away.”
The family exchanged glances.
“Can both the nanoweapon and Winter’s Revenge be used simultaneously?” Theo asked.
“In theory, yes. Each will target different parts of the body. The nanoids simply travel to their predetermined location and lie in wait. The Revenge attacks on a cellular level—stripping the DNA strand of its metahuman mutation. Again, I didn’t have enough time to test as thoroughly as I would have liked, but the science is solid. I poured all my knowledge into these projects. It’s all I did the entire time we lived in Cairo.”
“How would they be administered?”
“I fill one syringe with half of each. We inject Arkdone and Williams. The hard part is going to be getting near enough to them to dose them.”
“Well, I like this idea!” Cole blurted. “Winter’s Revenge sounds wicked cool!”
“We need to make sure it never falls into the wrong hands,” Meg’s voice sounded haunted through the cellphone speaker.
“Agreed,” Evan carefully placed the vial full of golden liquid back into its case and closed the lid carefully. “You can imagine how careful I’ve had to be during its creation.”
Everybody stayed quiet, waiting for Margo to weigh in. She held still as stone for a moment then began slowly shaking her head.
Evan’s heart sunk. He had spent so much effort trying to find a way to control and punish the men who hurt his family—hurt thousands for that matter—that he hadn’t given much thought beyond creating the weapons. His mother’s disapproval smacked bitterly.
“Mom, c’mon. Be reas—” Alik started in his brother’s defense.
Margo held up her hand, silencing him. “Alik, please,” she gently chided her oldest son.
“Evan, these ‘projects’ of yours. They’re brilliant—absolutely brilliant.” She reached out to hold Evan’s clammy hand.
“While I was wheelchair-bound, I had a lot of time to think. I saw you all struggle and fight. Sometimes your struggles were against the enemy but more times than I’d like to remember, it was with one another or even yourselves. I felt helpless. I couldn’t help you the way I knew how. I couldn’t take-up weapons and command a strike against those who dared harm my babies and it infuriated me! I am as much a fighter as I am a woman of faith. Having a huge part of what makes me feel like a good mother taken away from me, left me more than just physically crippled. I was emotionally crippled, too.
“Your work in the lab, that’s your way of fighting, Evan. Using your brilliant mind, solving problems with complex science, that’s how you show your love. It’s the most powerful ‘gift’ you have. If this is what you designed to help your family overcome these monsters, who am I to deny you? I will not cripple you the way I was crippled,” Margo shook her head emphatically.
“I think your forethought and planning was genius. We have tried to handle matters peaceably and neither Arkdone nor Williams will allow it. Evan, you were right to see the need for weapons.”
As Margo spoke, Evan’s smile grew until it was wide enough for his honey eyes to crinkle adorably at the corners.
50 This Is It