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See chapter one for disclaimer, summary and author's notes.
Vibes of Time
by Milmiss
Chapter 2
"Attempt failed."
It was the eighth try. The eighth idea that could have worked. Could have... only to finally fail like the previous ones.
Adam, Emma, and Derek had been working on the samples of the dead mutants all day long. The others would be back soon and it seemed like they hadn't progressed at all.
Which was true actually.
Or almost true.
The only thing they had managed to discover was some kind of trace of a similar product in all the samples. After several analyses, they had identified it. The product was known as Nolexin, something Adam wasn't really familiar with. However it seemed evident that the appearance of this product in all the samples wasn't natural. And it was reasonable to think that it was responsible for this tragedy.
So the next phase had consisted in trying to get rid of the Nolexin present in those samples. But all the tests they ran had been negative until now.
"We're not getting anywhere," complained Derek. "And how did the product end up in the organism anyway?"
"Good question. But I'm afraid it wouldn't really help us to know that, seeing that we can't eliminate it in the first place. The damage is already done."
"You never know," whispered Derek to no one in particular. "Just drive a DeLorean to fix what once went wrong." He realised he had said that out loud and that his uncle and his mom were eyeing him strangely. "Oh, sorry," he apologized. "Just watched 'Back to The Future' with Steph yesterday. Just... forget I said anything."
"No," replied Adam "You may have a point. I'll have to ask Jesse to locate Diana... just in case."
The scene had a feeling of dejà-vu. They were all gathered in the rec room, just like the previous day. Jenny and Jesse had just ended their report, nothing conclusive coming from it. Adam turned towards the other group waiting for their results.
Brennan spoke. "Well, we crosschecked our information. Seems like the victims didn't do anything unusual in the days before their death. No similarities about the places they went or the people they saw. However, some things are the same, the symptoms pre mortem. All relatives declared the same things. They said that the victims seemed to have caught a cold or something because they were coughing a lot. Plus they had trouble with their powers."
"What do you mean by 'trouble'?" inquired Adam.
Shalimar took over. "They weren't controlling them anymore. They were manisfesting themselves without warning."
Adam frowned slightly. He would definitely have to call some of his contacts about the Nolexin.
"Yeah, lucky it never was in public places," Brennan added as an after thought.
"This certainly is related to the Nolexin. Side effects, maybe," stated Adam. Emma and Derek seemed to agree with him.
"Related to... what?" asked Brennan.
Adam then proceeded to tell them what had emerged from their analysis.
Adam had just ended the last phone call he had planned to make when Shalimar entered his office with a mug in each hand.
"What are you doing here? You should be asleep, it's late," he said when he spotted her.
Shalimar smiled. "Funny, I was about to tell you the exact same thing." She slowly crossed the room and leaned her back on Adam's desk, facing him. She then handed him his coffee.
"Thank you. I needed to call some people," he answered, taking several sips of his hot drink.
"You know, Julia felt that you weren't telling us everything," she said matter of factly.
"Like mother, like daughter," he smiled, before turning serious again. "I didn't want to freak you all out with only suppositions."
Shalimar picked up on that. "Didn't? Are you saying that those suppositions are now fact?"
Adam sighed, diverting his gaze from her.
"Adam," She put her mug on the desk and laid her hand on his own, waiting for him to look at her again. But when he did, his expression left her speechless. He was scaring her.
Aware of her unease, Adam attempted a small smile and squeezed her hand to reassure his wife. "I'll tell you all in the morning."
Shalimar swallowed. "I talked to Emma earlier. She said you mentioned Diana when you were working on the samples. What does she have to do with it?"
"Well, at the beginning I didn't think so, but she may be the solution to our problems. At least, I hope so." He then slowly stood. "Go rest now."
Shalimar nodded, knowing she couldn't make him say more. "Are you almost done?"
He had recieved a sample of pure Nolexin a few hours ago, and wanted to make a new analysis. "I still need to run some more tests."
"Okay." She grabbed her drink and slowly left the room, aware that he wouldn't come back for at least two or three more hours.
TBC