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| ＳＩＬＶＥＲ ＢＵＬＬＥＴ |
When Elena heard about the job offer from her husband, the name of the corporate research group caught her attention the most. Something was off, rang like a bell in her mind.
However, like what her husband said, it was a great opportunity—from the fact alone that she could sense something odd was another opportunity in itself. The only way she could discern what sense of familiarity it was that she kept having from the name would be to actually get close to it.
She did try looking it up in secret, however came up with nothing but limited access sites. From the looks of things, the people who handled the web-pages would be able to monitor any unauthorized access and any attempts to hack into it.
Should she have not been married, she would have no qualms in trying to access it—her sister could easily handle herself. As it were, she was married to a wonderful husband and not only that, she had a brilliant, kind daughter and another child on the way.
While, living in their small clinic would have sustained her family enough, this was not only a job opportunity for both her and her husband, it was also a chance for her husband to redeem himself. That aside, there truly was something about the name Karasuma that set the warning bells in her head off.
…
It was… a miracle project.
It should be scientifically impossible, however, right in front of her, the woman just stood up as if getting her heart pulverized was nothing more than a simple slap to the face.
The woman codenamed, Vermouth.
Was (is) a true immortal, she’s simply unable to die.
Well, not quite, accurate. She can die, but she wouldn’t stay dead. She could regenerate and regrow any damages and amputated limb, poisoning would make her stagger. It has effects on her, but none of them seem to impede her permanently.
From this, and the samples given to her and Atsushi, they’re both expected to make a drug that allowed someone else—the woman’s direct bloodline, in this case—to become an immortal like her. As apparently, none of the woman’s descendants attained true immortality like she did.
The woman then looks up from wiping her face free of blood and gathering her hair into a bun—before looking at Elena and her husband, allowing her to get a proper glimpse on the woman’s face and Elena nearly couldn’t breathe.
That face…
She remembered seeing that face in her great grandfather’s photo album, an album that contained her great grandfather’s family tree…
A family tree that occupied the whole album, with her great grandfather on the last few final occupied pages.
The woman on the other hand, looked no older than the age of a woman in her twenties, was on the very first page.
…
The project Pandora, the miracle drug—as her husband has taken to call it—was nearly complete, it just needed a few adjustments and it was ready to go. A final test and it will be ready for mass production.
“I’d suggest you to stop your project, but I doubt you would listen… especially considering the current circumstances.” Elena freezes at the voice she never expected to hear would approach her. Stiffly she turns to look at the ageless immortal behind her, the fact that she is alone in her office while her husband is on the testing room, makes her doubt that this was a coincidence.
(And if she remembered correctly, Tanqueray is on another mission, while That Person would be distracted by other matters, as despite the man’s investment in the project. He’s apparently content with occasional updates and keeping a loose surveillance on them.
Not only that, Elena doubts the security footage would catch every single detail she and her husband are doing.)
Vermouth… or rather Aada (no recorded family name, as far as Emily could find within the organization, and she, herself remembered only the first name), stares at her rather impassively. Despite her statement that alluded to matter of interest on the research, her expression implied the exact opposite. Her body language while closed and defensive also retaliated authority and demand. Yet, despite all that, there was also a contradiction in her vibe that said that she knew what she asked for wouldn’t be met.
“Vermouth…” she trails off, uncertain and rather confused as to why the woman found it necessary to approach her.
“Hell’s Angel.” Aada acknowledges with a half-hearted smirk of amusement, before it drops when she apparently recognizes something in Elena’s eyes. She adds slowly, stepping closer and closer.
“I’ll say it again, you should put a stop in your research… well, if you do continue and manage to succeed, do well in preventing the senile, delusional man that hired you from getting it.” Bending down next to her, the immortal whispers.
“And maybe add a contingency in the plan that works in your favor—also, Aada… that’s a dangerous piece of information to go around here.”
Aada smirks at her one last time, before she exits the office.
-
It was hours later when Atsushi returns to the office, with a cheer in his voice.
“I figured it out! Pandora should work now!” but instead of his wife mirroring his triumph, he is greeted by her frozen back, her eyes focused on the screen in front of her.
“Elena?” he voices softly, curious.
A look past her shoulder and realization immediately slams into him.
…
Now, Elena wasn’t frightened, warily scared, yes. But the warning Vermouth gave her, left nothing but undesirable news for her to decipher. Which actually explained her family’s determination to keep their family line under the wraps. The fact that her great grandfather was so secretive about their shared ancestor and adamant on making her keep it a secret.
Karasuma giving them changes in their research didn’t help matters, considering she could now fully interpret the man’s intentions. She had no doubts that the man would get rid of her and her husband after this.
And from the looks of it, he was likely planning to use their own creation against them, considering the new factors implemented in the project.
Poisonous and toxic if you didn’t have a specific genetic code in your body, but a miracle drug if you did.
What had always been called as the impossible elixir in history.
While she and Atsushi were kept to their stations, she wasn’t blind nor deaf to their surroundings, she could tell what other transactions and dealings this corporate—this Organization rather, did in the shadows. Not to mention, from what she’d seen, the Karasuma clan were practically nonexistent to the public.
A line that had stopped since the incident nearly twenty-two years ago.
(Not to mention, most of the ingredients necessary for this miracle pill, were either hard to find, and in most cases, illegal.)
Then there was also her silent knowledge (from her snooping) of her sister’s own investigations and cases which involved an international Organization that has managed to stay out of the public’s eyes. Then there was a chance that this Organization they’re working for, could possibly be the very organization her sister is hunting down.
Which means… that this drug they’re working on could be the undoing of humanity.
Knowing that she couldn’t possibly sabotage the research back to scratch, she could make it so that it would revert to the halfway progress, and maybe add a progress that would only be for her family’s advantage. As a direct descendant of Aada it will work under Karasuma’s radar, however there was also a risk of it working on his own lineage—but the least she can do is, keep him from attaining it himself.
It would be easy to isolate Absinthe from it too, which leaves the concern of his runaway son—and said son’s children, should the man have a desire of having a child of his own.
This Organization of Crows… needed to be taken down. She understands that now.
While it’s too late for her and her husband, they could still contribute a bit to it. And hope that their children will follow after their legacy—while not immediately, she has no doubts that they can do it. If not Akemi, then Shiho more likely. She knows that the Organization is interested in prodigies, and contrary to popular belief, there was nothing natural about prodigies.
While there are those who are innately prodigious, there are those who are made to be prodigies.
Even without her and Atsushi in the equation, she doubts Karasuma would pass up the chance of cultivating Shiho as his next prodigy to lead this project should it go awry.
And awry it will go, she’ll even leave some surprises for the man to find—though, he’ll only find it when it’s far too late. As of now, Shiho would be too young, and not as much of an asset to the Organization, which means… Akemi will be the one to do it.
Akemi will have to be the one who has to guide Shiho into their plans—well, part of it.
…
Finishing her portion of the new research, a hand wrapping around her own catches attention, and she exchanges a smile with Atsushi, unable to stop it from curling further into her smug motivation.
“It’s done.” he whispers with certainty, and she agrees. This should be enough, glancing at the scrapped Pandora—now rendered inedible with its new casing, the evidence of its research scrapped clean under the guise of another failed attempt—and to the new project. She reverts her eyes to her beloved and agrees, verbally this time.
“It is.”
And together, they turn to look at the new project in front of them.
The project that would hopefully contribute in bringing down the Organization. A project they leave in the hands of those who are hunting down the Crows.
“This can change things.”
Yes, it will.
Their last project.
“Our project… Silver Bullet.”
|End|