A/N: This chapter's told through the lens of another camera at the base and where I get all of the biology used out there. There's a quick review after the chapter, based on a 10th grade/Basic college-higher education class.

Cookie to whoever catches the reference! Yes, you can use Wikipedia for it...Enjoy!

Disclaimer: all recognizable characters (c) VALVe.


Chapter 4: CEDA Project Legion Video Recording 0034

[The desktop camera switches on and there are four people sleeping in four tanks. They are connected to five machines, a breathing apparatus, and electrocardiogram to measure their vitals. One of the subjects is Ellis; the others include an older African American man, a man baring vaguely Arabic or Indian features and an African American woman with shoulder-length hair. A fair woman, blonde and quite tall, comes into view, dressed in her white uniform.]

This is Dr. Erin McKinley and this is day 23 of Project Legion, as per research in the last 3 months prior to Infection by Virus gB435. Subjects present are listed by their military code-names from oldest to youngest: Famine, Death, War, and Conquest. This is to ensure that all data is kept encrypted for further study by the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency or CEDA. All four have been successfully tested with the Rhamnusia Strain of Virus gB435 (gB435-β) What follows is the follow-up examination and analysis of the experiment.

[Dr. McKinley then starts walking across the room, pointing to the oldest male. She is taking notes on the heart rates.] There are no signs of genetic deterioration as seen in Virus gB435, no mental or physical corrosion have been found, as seen by the Commoners and the Specials. One could say there's a possible assimilation in their varying genetic structures. They have a 68% increase in muscle flexibility and almost 127% in strength. Their eye structures can register up to near zero visibility, and proven to have nocturnal vision.

What surprises me and Dr. Holden the most is the regenerative properties of the Rhamnusia Strain in these subjects. Twenty-two hours ago, subject Conquest arrived with moderate lesions after an encounter with the Infected colloquially referred to as the Witch. 90% of all encounters with said infected are lethal and the subject's body was able to reconstruct the connective tissues long enough to receive proper help back here in the Meridian base. Famine has seen an additional increase in strength and a 25% reconstruction of previous injuries as well as Death. This regenerative property is also controlling the extent of the strain in their immune systems in the nuclear level with their particular DNA ligases; they are virtually immune to possibly any disease out there, especially the Green Flu.

If we at CEDA were able to extrapolate stem cells from this phase of Project Legion, there's a high chance for a cure…to compatible hosts. Due to the highly volatile nature of both Virus gB435 and its derivative gB435-β, there is no sure way to remove the healing properties of these subjects without there being risk of Infection. Strain gB435-α made sure of that. All subjects of that experiment were properly disposed of thanks to the Armed Forces.

[Dr. McKinley then scoffs in a derisive manner as she approaches the subject known as Death. She crosses her arms and paces back to the computer.] These military dogs went about killing every Carrier and possible Immune out there, not even bothering with the possibility of a cure in those individuals. Thank God I found these people and got their tests done before they were sent to the shooting range. All they care is eradication… [She looks at the camera with a haughty look, well deserved for her research,] but my Horsemen are proving more than they can handle. They're superior to their grunts; CEDA could take control of the situation again when the time's right. Sometimes, I wonder how many lives we could've saved if that first strain had been properly contained.

Well, can't cry over spilled milk; current studies demonstrate that resistance to Virus gB435 is a recessive X-chromosome gene so I will remove an ovum from the female subject to extract the gene from the modified subject. [She types a command in the window and the tank holding War drains itself and allows the extraction of the young woman. She is then placed on a table and Dr. McKinley takes out a massive syringe.] Subject has been anesthetized so extraction can begin.

[She plunges the needle into the woman's abdomen and deftly suctions out a sample of her ovarian structures. There is a moment of stunned silence.] Amazing, instant regeneration…the diseases we could cure.

This is recording 0034 and from what I, Dr. McKinley, have seen, I can declare gB435-β a moderate success. My only concern is their audacity and their strong will; they don't take orders easy, especially Death and Conquest.

[Dr. McKinley caps the syringe and tosses the gloves away. She activates the commands to put War back into stasis until 12 hours later, with the rest of her subject group before shutting off the station camera.]


Quick biology review:

DNA ligases: an enzyme that participates in the cell repairs single-stranded discontinuities in double stranded DNA molecules. Its main purpose is to correct any errors in the genetic code by inserting the correct amino acids combinations (adenine, thymine, cytosine, guanine).

X-chromosome gene: a gene that can only be found in the X chromosome/Pair 23 in the human karyotype (sex chromosome). A recessive X-chromosome gene is the absence of the dominant trait (in this case, the body's inability to resist the Green Flu is the dominant gene, immunity is the recessive). Because women have double-X, there's a higher chance of Infection and mutation in females than males because it's possible they have both dominant and recessive genes.

Ovum: human egg cell, carries only one X chromosome.

α – Alpha strain, first strain isolated

β – Beta strain, second strain isolated