Yo, this is my first fanfic, and a first time posting multiple chapters (I apologize for the horrid quality, I'm new... newish)

Disclaimer: I own no characters involved in Parasite Eve, but I do own like, three copies of the game, so that should count for something, right?


Chapter 2: Two Cops and a Doctor Walk Into a Bar


Two Days Earlier

Daniel Dollis had a major headache the moment he stepped into 1 police plaza.

Dollis had spent nearly three decades on the police force, and had the greying hair on his brow line to prove it. He had seen riots, gang violence, murders, car wrecks, and even the one time only crime spree by an insane clown with a god complex. The reign of Kefka Parovi only last five days and left the streets covered in multicolored streamers. Yes, a fairly normal and upstanding police career. Oh, and the mitochondrial apocalypse that stared his partner and a sick opera singer. That happened too. Altogether Daniel only had three regrets in his life.

First and foremost on his list was not being fast enough to save his wife from Eve. Even with all the assurances he received from Aya, Maeda, and the words of his own son Ben, he still blamed himself for her death. A simple phone call to her before they had left for central park, sending a beat cop to catch them before they entered the theater, even running into the park to reach them before Eve made her barrier. He survived immersion in flames once, he could have done it twice if he had really tried. Now, all he had of her were lukewarm memories of their last dew years together and books filled with pictures. That line of thought led directly to his second biggest regret.

Second was his over zealous devotion to the force, specifically when it came at the cost of time with his family. He had always justified it as protecting them. The safer the city they lived in, the better their life would be. That was his line of thinking as a beat cop, walking the streets around their apartment every night for an hour past shift change for the first three years of their marriage. The same sentiment that led him to pull every string he could as a detective to bust the gangs around their new, higher priced apartment in Manhattan, including switching to graveyard shift for nearly a year when Ben was six years old. Same idea that led him to chase after the rogue Melissa Pearce instead of going to Central Park with his family, or just asking them to stay home, safe and sound.

The final and by far least important regret that chief of police Daniel Dollis had was listening to that windbag mayor and running for his current station in the police force. Captain Dollis just sounded better. It also had more to do with actual police work, as opposed to politics. As soon as the words 'you should' left the mouth of the mayors aid, he should have just tuned him out, but no, he had to try and change the system form the top down. Instead, he ended up playing peacemaker between Internal Affairs and the real police in the city. Nothing to do here but talk himself dizzy in front of cameras and behind closed doors.

Yes, today was the start of yet another string of dull and pointless days, in which he would do little to make his world a safer place and probable never crack a grin. 'Unless that clown has a surprise parole hearing coming up' he thought with a rueful smile 'sad clowns always are worth my time'.

As soon as he stepped into his office, his smirk turned to a scowl as he saw the grim faces around him. Three people were standing in his office that the police chief never wanted to see together under this particular set of conditions. On the left was Captain Morrison, 17th precinct's replacement captain, and the only person in the station that Daniel didn't want there. He was an outside promotion after Dollis moved up and came in from the fourth precinct, had a perfect record, but a horrid personality. Next was his old friend professor Kunihiko Maeda, the brains behind the trio that overcame Eve and her cellular rebellion. He had taken a position in New York last year as head researcher for the MMC, Mitochondria Medical Commission, if he was here without calling before hand, it was an emergency. Finally, on the right was Martin Specter, the head of the city Sanitation department and resident expert on NMC clean up. All together, two NMC experts and one arrogant prick. Never a good thing at 8:12 AM.

"Captain, Maeda, Mr. Specter, to what do I owe this visit?" was the first, and last Question asked that day that didn't involve the words Mitochondria, Eve, remains, Aya, and surprisingly the Three Stooges.


Present

Aya could only stare slack jawed at the screen in front of her. There, on the video conference screen, were the faces of her past partner and the most knowledgeable NMC expert in the world. On the desk beside them was something that looked like a cross between a rat and a John Carpenter monster. Its tail was split at the end, and it's skin was pulled back away from its head and limbs, like it had grown out of it in a matter of minutes. However, the flesh at the end of its skin had scarred over, looking as if it was healing. The most noticeable thing that Aya could see was that it had remained whole and solid despite the massive gash running the length of it's body. If it wasn't sealed in a Plexiglas container with hazard signs on them, Aya would have screamed at them to run.

Once an NMC, or even the rarer AMC, was killed, it would begin to melt. Some took minutes to be reduced to a puddle of steaming cell goo. Without the network of mitochondria to maintain the heightened cellular processes and hold the modified cells together, the body would literally fall apart. Cause enough damage to the cells of the creature, through either physical damage to the creatures superstructure or compromising cell integrity, and bam, instant monster slime. But this rat was still whole. Meaning alive, in Aya's nigh on decade of professional experience.

'Oh hell, this not a good thing, every time they change substantially, a new apocalypse is on the horizon.' Before her mind could convince her mouth to greet her friends despite the shocking beast in front of her, her friends decide to start the conversation.

"Agent Pierce was right, twenty eight minutes on the dot, isn't that right Dollis-san?"the esteemed professor quipped in a quick and hesitation free cadence, demonstrating a greatly improved grasp of the English language, even if his accent still remained.

"For the fifth time in as many hours, call me Daniel," shot back a visibly tired and still gruff cop, "and shouldn't you greet our long time out of contact friend before making tasteless jokes?"

"Ahh, my apologies" Maeda noted with a slight nod towards her position visible on the screen, "Hello Aya, it has been far too long. Now, do I, once more, have to explain the customs which dictate that as long as you are acting as the Chief of Police, I must show the respect that I would any other, regardless of our past association?"

"Ahem," Aya cleared her throat "mind explaining the impossible thing in the box instead of bickering amongst each other?"

"Sorry, its been a long half hour and the city only budgeted me for one teleconference"

Turning towards his friend, Maeda remarked "I still do not grasp the need for this meeting to occur in such a way, why could we not simply visit her and do this in person?"

"We can't transport a high level biohazard like that" Daniel muttered while thumbing in the box's direction "Without some form of media leak, making this waste of time and money the only answer."

"Why not use the Internet, it would be cheaper and more efficient?" the professor chimed in.

"You know I can't use computers, besides this is far more secure, no hackers or anyth..."

"Focus. Rat. Box. NOW." Aya snapped, a combination of adrenalin, exhaustion, nostalgia, and foreboding. 'I can't believe this, they have a potentially life threatening situation on their hands and they can't get down to business.'

"Sorry"

"Gomen" at this point both the men in New York had cracked smiles; or at least a tired grin, as the case may be.

"...Why can't you just say sor..."

"FOCUS!" was the shout that accompanied the return of agent Pierce to the cramped office being used for the long distance meeting. Not wanting to interrupt her and risk a repeat of the last time he had gotten in the way of a mitochondria powered super being, he took a seat hastily, shrunk down to the smallest size he could manage, and waited to be called upon.

"Sorry, we thought this up and just wanted to try it and see if it worked, it has been a long half hour"

All happiness (or justified anger) immediately drained from the assembled party. "As you can see, Aya, this NMC has not degraded, far from it actually." At this point Maeda gestured to the creature in the container. "This NMC has not degraded in any way after its death, including any natural form of decomposition. This is due to the fact that the individual cells of its body have maintained a defense against predatory and parasitic activity by out side lifeforms, and seem to be sustaining themselves on inter cellular stores. These stores have yet to run out, and seem to be shared throughout the entirety of the body. We have observed viron particles and bacteria being drawn into the cells, but have not had the chance to determine what happened to them. All samples removed from the central body mass loss this defense and are quickly destroyed." pausing only to take a short breath, he continued "Furthermore, unlike the other mutants that we have been exposed to, this creature shows signs of natural cellular division acting to maintain the body shape. As you can see plainly here" pointing to the scar tissue "the creatures newly evolved body has begun to repair itself, unlike the creatures that you encountered both here and in the ark. The only conclusion that can be reasonably drawn from this is that its mutation was not detrimental to the gross cellular structure, going so far as to sustain it and, in fact, enhance it."

"So, let me get this straight," said Aya as she sifted through her translation of the miniature lecture given by her Japanese friend. "There is a new deviation in NMC evolution sitting on you desk."

"My unwanted and over priced desk, yes" grumbled Daniel.

"And in that container is a sample of still active Eve mutational cells."

"Yes" answered the professor after a sidelong glance at his compatriot who had a dawning look of horror on his face, as he slowly reached for his side arm.

"And you are just fine with this?"

"I have spent the last several days testing it and confirmed that it is non hazardous, in an immediate and violent cellular sense. It also shows no form of inter cellular communication between it's mitochondria, meaning it is unable to think of move on a macro system level. It is harmless."

"Good" Aya sighed, feeling as though the world made a little more sense now that her friends were not behaving openly suicidal. Daniel seemed to agreed, letting his hand drop away from his holster.

Daniel took this opportunity to cut into the conversation, still managing a half leer at the box all the while, "We have spent the last two and a half days trying to determine what this is and where it came from. At first, Maeda and the boys on the MMC thought it was a deviation of the ones we faced in the Eve case that either escaped the purge or were preserved by some chemical." At this his hand shot up to his forehead in show of strain, both mental and physical. "We were able to determine that it was fresh, having found traces of a rat poison only patented and approved in the last two years in the core of the bones." with a heavy sigh, the police Chief of Police for the greater New York city area fixed Aya in place with his stare even from the other side of the country. "It was freshly made."

'Hell, looks like another road trip' was all that Aya Brea could think as the potential weight of the situation crashed over her like wave on the beach. 'please let this just be a one of a kind mutation and not some form of ….' The next thing out of Maeda's mouth completely derailed any of her thoughts and set her hair on end.

"And to correct a brief misstatement on your part, Aya, the mitochondria are not of the original Eve I, Eve II, or even Eve III mutational strain. They are much more similar to a sample of yours"


Please review, I need feedback to improve my writing skills and keep my interest

PS: flamers will be turned into slime and used to take over the world. Only the constructive critics will be spared.