A butterfly that held something inside its body flew through a small clearing inside a forest until a bullet pierced its body and sent it straight into the side of a deer buck. The buck slowly bled to death over the course of a couple of days as it visited fields of flowers and wandered through them. The buck knew that deer liked to eat flowers, but when it bent its head down to eat one on its last day, it collapsed and its blood seeped into the ground and was absorbed by the flowers as the buck futilely tried to eat in its final moments. The flowers were fed on by a swarm of butterflies that began their migration to Angeles City afterwards. It was somewhere along the way that the butterflies began to shed their scales which unknowingly contained whatever the original butterfly had.
What the first butterfly had was something that had been behind the Cumberland College Incident, a virus of the filoviridae family, a pathogen that nearly plunged the eastern part of the U.S. into chaos: the Rosalia Virus. Its unique composition of nucleic acid made it a new organism, albeit one that reproduces like a virus. Curiously, it attacks both healthy cells and cells that have been infected by other diseases. Capable of surviving inside the body of its host long after the host's death, the virus is capable of retaining its virulent nature while waiting for a new host. Having found one inside several flowers that were fed on by butterflies, the virus proceeded to unleash a new wave of infection.
Erhard Muller, known as CR-S01 because he was thrown into prison because of the Cumberland College incident even though he was innocent of the crime, was tracking the swarm of butterflies that had fed on the flowers that were near a dead buck. After agent Holden revealed Albert Sartre's role in the Cumberland College Incident through an audio clip, Erhard was exonerated and became a freelance surgeon, operating on any victims of accidents or diseases on the East Coast along with Gabriel Cunningham. After collecting a blood sample from the dead deer, Erhard found that it had tested positive for the Rosalia Virus and pursued the butterfly swarm along its migration route, eventually coming to Angeles City. It was here that Erhard and Gabriel would eventually become embroiled into the mess involving GUILT and Post-GUILT Syndrome.
While in town near the International Airport one day, Erhard and Gabe overheard some chatter near a bunch of televisions that were broadcasting a news bulletin that went:
"Our top story for today is the sudden resurgence of GUILT. It has been confirmed that the previous victims of the disease known as Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin, or GUILT for short are starting to show symptoms of what can only be speculated as Post-GUILT Syndrome. More details later as we learn things."
Gabe commented, "It seems that things are gonna get hectic around these parts."
Erhard said coldly, "We need to make contact with Caduceus so that we can join them and hopefully assist in any anti-GUILT research."
"I hear that two of their personnel are arriving today at the International Airport along with a new guy. I wonder where they're coming from."
"It's probably Costigar. Last I checked, Costigar was practically tearing its shite apart in a civil war. Also, the guy who's with them is Adel Tulba. Here's a picture of him I snagged off of some site." Erhard then gave Gabriel a photo of Adel Tulba.
"You gotta be kidding me. That's a guy!? He's a dude that looks like lady for Pete's sake" Gabe said, rather surprised.
"Shite, while we're wasting our time bickering here they could have already left! Let's move it, Gabe!"
"You got that right, partner."
As Gabe and Erhard got moving, at another part of the airport, Adel was amazed at the sight of the city around him.
"So this is America. . . I've never seen such tall buildings before. . . wow. . ." Dr. Tulba said.
"You've never lived in a city then, Dr. Tulba?" a blonde woman asked.
"No. This is the first time I've ever left my country. I wonder if I'll fit in here. . ."
"Well, we spent half a year in Costigar without running into any major problems, so don't worry. You'll get used to it in no time." a brown-haired man said.
"Besides, you're very well spoken, even in English. But if you do happen to run into any trouble, I'd be happy to help." the blonde said.
"Thank you, Angie. I'll try to stay positive." Adel said to the blonde woman.
". . .Then again, they're going to be keeping you so busy, you won't have much time to find trouble." the brown-haired man said.
Erhard happened to see the three of them close by as did Gabriel and Gabe predictably called out, "Hello there, Dr. Stiles."
Dr. Stiles noticed Gabe and Erhard as did Angie and Adel and said, "Hello, Gabe. What brings you here?"
"Dr. Stiles, who are these people?" Adel asked.
"My name is Erhard Muller and over here is Gabriel Cunningham or Gabe as he likes to be called. He's a Diagnostician while I'm a surgeon like Dr. Stiles." Erhard said.
"It's nice to meet you, Dr. Muller and Dr. Cunningham. I'm Angela Thompson a.k.a. Angie. I'm sure you already know who Dr. Derek Stiles is." Angie said.
"What brings the two of you here to Angeles City?" Adel asked Erhard and Gabe.
"We're here to join Caduceus." Erhard said before Gabe could state the real reason why.
"It always helps to have a few hands around. Come with us." Derek said.
"Sure." Gabe said while Erhard nodded in agreement.
Quite a while later at Caduceus USA, the Executive Director of the organization, Robert Hoffman, apologized to calling Angie and Derek back to the U.S., but Dr. Stiles said that it was alright because of the circumstances. The Chief Director, Sidney Kasal, came in and said that while GUILT itself has not returned, many former patients that had it came down with various maladies that were classified as symptoms of Post-GUILT Syndrome. After the GUILT-related stuff was done being talked about, Director Hoffman looked at Gabe and Erhard and said to them, "Well well, look who's here: Gabriel Cunningham and Erhard Muller." while Sidney Kasal talked with Adel.
"You two came to join us at a good opportunity. You'll be added to the roster of Caduceus USA personnel." Hoffman said.
"Don't worry about teaching Erhard, he's already been taught about medical procedures." Gabe said.
"Ah, you must be talking about the late Albert Sartre, perpetrator of the Cumberland College Incident. Yes, I know that Erhard was taught his skills by Sartre himself before the incident. I take it that you'll be assisting him?"
"Yes, Director Hoffman."
"One other thing: here's some important data that will need to be looked at." Erhard said as he brought out a laptop and opened it up before sending into Caduceus's database a file on the Rosalia Virus.
Hoffman looked at the new file and asked, "Rosalia Virus? Was that what killed everyone at Cumberland College when the incident happened?"
"Yes, Sir. I've operated on it before and thus have personal experience treating it."
A while later, Erhard set to work renovating his office so that he could also use it as a bedroom. He explained it as a holdover from when he was operating to commute a lengthy prison sentence from the bioterrorism charges which he has been exonerated for.
"That's certainly a surprise. I never heard that you had been exonerated for that incident." Tyler Chase said to Erhard.
"The late Albert Sartre was the real culprit of the incident. He had framed me and escaped to Mexico in order to further his research of the Rosalia Virus even though it could not be redirected from its hostile nature."
"Wow, you must have been through a lot because of him." a green-haired nurse called Leslie Sears said to Erhard.
"Ironically if it weren't for him, I would have never been able to treat the Rosalia Virus. Anyways, I've got to be up early tomorrow, so goodnight."
Erhard saw Gabe, Leslie, and Tyler leave his office before locking his office door and going to bed.