Interlude II- Purpose

"There is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels for someone, for someone, pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echos."
Milan Kundera

After Samuel had called to inform her of his success with implementing his plans to acquire their target and that Lana Lang was playing her part beautifully, though there was never a chance he'd fail with such a simple girl far out of her depth, Serena went to her facility. It was in the boondocks of Kansas. She wanted to check up on a few of her charges that had not been doing well. It was so hard to look them in the eye and know that she could do nothing to truly help them or alleviate their suffering. Serena knew that she could easily have ended up like them. She had been lucky. But she would find a way to make them better…to give them vengeance and peace.

She walked through the halls and occasionally heard little whimpers of pain. Serena also heard scatterings of laughter. There were whispers of reassurances of parents to children or vice versa. Some of them were doing well. Too many of them weren't. Some of their number had no one to comfort them. She clenched her hands in anger and frustration.

Serena came to a fluid stop at one room in particular. This one had nothing. A foster kid taken in and cast aside with as much care as one would give a sack of garbage.

She opened the door and affected a cheery demeanor, "Hey, Ricky! I brought a new movie for you today. It's called 'The Incredibles'. I had hoped we could watch it together."

The boy, Ricky, turned his head slowly, painfully. Of all the mistakes and tampering, he was the worst. He was entering puberty, a time when the body is under stress and turmoil and finally settling into what it will be until he reached old age. It was under these conditions that whatever had been done to him took a drastic and terrible turn for the worst.

When she had first freed him, he was still normal. She had only thought that he was like her. That eventually he would find some sort of balance, but it had never happened. His body kept changing in an endless flux. His screams had been more than any of them could take, but she had stayed with him. Serena refused to even entertain the thought of locking him somewhere away from everyone and letting him do this on his own, and she couldn't bring herself to kill him. It would've been a mercy, but she was weak.

The end result was what was before her now. His legs were like tree trunks that were bent backward to allow for a quadruped form. His arms were incredibly muscled and looked vaguely like a gorilla's. They were lined with veins that stood out against his dark skin. Ricky's hands were elongated and he had retractable claws. Everything about him screamed brutal, bloody death. His ears were elven and his face was angular, the beginnings of a snout. The thing that broke Serena every time she looked at him was his eyes. They were still full of intelligence and awareness. Ricky knew everything that was happening to him. His mind was intact. He hadn't gone crazy. His eyes were the reason why she couldn't kill him. Somewhere deep down he still had hope.

Despite the hodgepodge features, there was potential there for beauty. Ricky's change was simply slow. It came in bursts. She could only guess that it was because he was morphing into something of a gorilla. Gorillas were the next closest living relatives of humans. The only thing closer was the chimpanzee. The sheer explosion of muscle and weight was immense and it made sense that it would take a greater amount of time. He was already larger and more heavily muscled than many of the others and he was still a child.

The other scientists were at odds. Some of them felt that since the gorilla was so close to humans that his change should've been more fluid than anyone else's. Those who disagreed posited the notion that the closeness of the gorilla and human was precisely the reason it was taking so long. The human body was confused and at odds. It knew it should recognize what was happening but it also knew the changes were foreign; the body was so much more conscious of the fact that it was the wrong form.

She recalled what Dr. Benson had said, "If you put cold water in the freezer to make ice, it will take longer than if you put hot water in the freezer to make ice. There is a long detailed reason as to why this is true, and if you are interested, look up the Mpemba Effect. Suffice it to say that we believe that something similar may be happening here. We think he'll finish eventually. We're missing something, Serena, something important." That statement had firmed her resolve. Chloe Sullivan might be the salvation of them all. And Lana Lang was intrinsically linked with them.

Serena pushed those thoughts away because she knew that he could smell her distress. From the sensory tests that everyone participated in, she knew that his senses were far more advanced. It was why she never put him further away from people. He'd hear them anyways and it would torment him. She made sure that people visited him. It wasn't his family, but she would not have him alone. Everyone here was forged in the cauldron of pain and misery, their goals were one, and that was a bond that would hold as strong as any other. Maybe stronger.

"Sssserena," his voice was a deep bass. A voice belonging to a man, but she knew he wasn't. She knew he was still a child. Their records had told her so. He continued, "Sssaw it. Baggg."

Serena walked to him and gave him a big hug. She turned the DVD over in her hands and frowned down at it. She then opened her bag and pulled out the movie she knew he was clamoring to see, "You mean this one?"

He stood from the overstuffed chair he was sitting in with astonishing speed. He was at her side in a blur of movement. It was frightening because Ricky could kill her with relative ease if he so chose. He was that strong and fast. She could feel the excitement radiating off of him and for a moment she basked in his emotions. His joy was an incredible rush.

Ricky grabbed 'Transformers' from her hands, "Yesss!"

"Oh, I see how it is. Do you think we can still watch 'The Incredibles' though? I haven't seen it and Jill tells me that I'm missing out."

Ricky bobbed his head up and down. He didn't know why she thought that he wouldn't want to see it again. He would watch anything twice for her. Besides, he really loved that movie too. He shoved the movie at her. Clearly he wanted to get the show on the road. As Serena was about to put the movie into the DVD player, Ricky stopped her.

"Cannn Tommmmy come?"

Tommy was Ricky's best friend here, but he was currently in observation. His hearing was overwhelming him. He needed to be sedated and placed into a sound proofed room until his hearing equalized out or they could fit him with special ear plugs.

Serena looked at him and he sensed the mood change, "Tommy isn't feeling well, but we can bring some of the others if you want."

Ricky shook his head. He only wanted to spend time with her or Tommy; but since Tommy wasn't coming, he wanted her all to himself.

As Ricky cuddled next to her on the couch that was also in the room, she felt content. Serena ran her hands through the fur that was growing thicker. The repetitive motion soothed him, but it also soothed her. Touch had become so much more important since she could feel even more so than when she had been a normal human.

This was why she would be relentless and ruthless. Serena would spare nothing and no one. Her soul and peace of mind was a small price to pay if it meant that this didn't happen again.

"No cost is too high."