A/N: plot, plot, plot… This chapter is all about the bigger picture. Also, the science here is a little iffy, at best, but this is a story about vampires after all, so...
Delphine is quiet as she and Marion ride the elevator down to the high security area and cross an empty, gray corridor with no other doors, save one at the far end. At Marion's encouragement, the young doctor swipes her new security ID, and a low blip and a green light grant approval as the massive stainless steel door slides open with a surprisingly quiet swish. She gasps as they step onto the high platform.
Delphine expected it to be big. Just not that big. Below is a wide open area so vast, that one could easily fit a commercial plane in it. Everything is white: walls, ceiling, floor, even the desks and chairs, creating the illusion that the space is endless. Translucent panels form a sort of maze that inevitably leads to several labs, granting them some privacy, presumably separating the areas where different projects are developed. She counts at least twenty scientists in sky-blue lab coats like the one she's wearing now, but she has no way of knowing how many people are really involved. On the opposite wall, there's a giant screen with a map of the greater New York City area, and under the screen, sit several desks with what appears to be a computer station that Delphine thinks must be a control room of sorts.
"It's quite intimidating, isn't it?" Marion says after giving the other woman some time to take it in.
Delphine looks at the woman by her side and stretches a smile. "Very much so."
"We are over there." A arm, now covered in the green lab coat reserved for the heads of the projects, extends to indicate an area on the top left corner. "I expect that in the first few days you'll feel a bit overwhelmed, but I want you to come to me with any problems," she continues in a calmly manner, exuding trust in every word she speaks. "Your adaptation will be much faster and smoother if we address your questions at once. You understand that, right, Delphine?"
The woman has taken to calling her by her first name, and the blonde doesn't bother to correct her, knowing that the more comfortable her superior is with her, the faster she'll gain her trust. And so, she nods, the same affable smile on her face as she follows Marion down the metal steps and along the labyrinth until they reach the space Marion had indicated.
Closer to the large screen, Delphine can see that hundreds of green dots blink on the map. "What's that?" She asks, standing before the map and looking up, unable to contain her curiosity.
"We track our subjects," Marion answers with a shrug of her shoulders, stopping briefly next to Delphine to glance at the map, then immediately resumes her course. "The small identification chips we implanted under their skin also has a GPS. Of course there are too many to really target each of them, but we've learned their routines, and the system informs us whenever one strays too far from it."
Delphine's heart starts to hammer in her chest and she's startled when a door she hadn't notice opens. A middle age man in a brown lab coat emerges and eyes her top to bottom. When she turns back to Marion, the other woman is already on the move and Delphine hurries to catch up. Struggling to keep her voice calm, she asks the next question as naturally as she can. "How so? Does it warn you every time they take a different path?"
Marion laughs. "Well... we tried that and it worked in the beginning when we only had a few dozens to focus on. But now... that's impossible. We set an array of action and if they detour by more than a few miles, we are alerted."
She talks as they stand in the middle of the lab - and it is a lab, despite the absence of real walls, being surrounded by glass dividers. There are four desks, each equipped with a powerful microscope, but with room to work. One larger desk has several pieces of equipment used for blood analysis and another, smaller one only has what appears to be a few lab reports, neatly organized in several folders. It's behind this desk that Marion sits and folds her arms on top of it.
"Nowadays we use it mainly to locate a particular individual when we believe it might be causing trouble. But that's someone else's problem," she finishes with a warming smile and extends a hand. "Please, take a chair from one of the other desks and sit."
Delphine frowns as she turns to find a seat and drags it to sit across from Marion. When she looks at the older woman again the pleasant smile is back on her face.
"Here, our focus is not security," Marion resumes her speech as Delphine takes a seat. "Our concerns are much less... mundane."
The blonde crosses her legs and leans back in the chair, tilting an eyebrow. "Such as..?" She asks, instinctively knowing her line in this carefully planned conversation.
"As you know, DYAD works under government contract," Marion says and now she's no longer smiling, her expression takes a more serious note, even if not a little unfriendly. "Now, you are too young to remember, but when the existence of vampires and lycans became public knowledge, it was complete chaos. No one knew what to do about it. Of course, there were those who called for their extermination - quite a distasteful bunch, if you ask me - but the solution couldn't exactly be what some would call genocide. The first priority became determining their numbers and go from there. DYAD was front and center in the study of these new species, and the government came to us, requesting our help to find a solution to this problem," Marion continues in a well rehearsed speech. "Once we started the voluntarily identification process, they asked us to begin developing some sort of treatment and after years of research, we've achieved what we now have."
"But it's not enough..." Delphine says, meeting the other woman's eyes head on, even going as far as showing a little smile.
Marion returns it. "Not nearly. The current inoculations are good, giving the patients a new outlook on life, the possibility to reintegrate society with minor mishaps, while, at the same time, we get to somewhat control them. But they have too many shortcomings. The effect is temporary; if a subject stops treatment, their genetic alterations return within months, maybe weeks, depending on how long they've been taking them and how long they've been infected. And we can't exactly do anything about it, since the program is voluntary.
"We tried to track down some of the defectors, but one of the first things they do is remove the chip," she goes on. "Some of the teams here are working on making sure the effect lasts longer, but the virus is quite resilient. Others are trying to assure that the number of subjects who leave the program is reduced to a much narrower margin and they've been somewhat successful."
Delphine knits her brows and shifts uncomfortably on the chair. "And how did they manage that?"
"We're constantly manipulating the formula," Marion explains. "Our most recent adaptation was to create some discomfort when the patient takes too long between shots."
"They're addictive." Delphine concludes in a matter-of-factually manner, keeping her thoughts well out of the other woman's reach.
"You can say that, yes!" Marion is smiling, but the blonde can sense some tension in her voice. "Does this bother you, Delphine?" She's upfront about it.
"I think ideally the treatment should be voluntarily administered," Delphine answers in a thoughtful way. "But it's in everyone's best interest that the treatment is conducted within its parameters, any deviation is damaging not only to our research but to the subjects themselves." She's analytical about it, letting the scientist come to surface, pragmatism is her best friend in this situation.
"Good! I'm glad you see it that way." Marion nods, the suspicion in her stare not completely eradicated. "Either way, that's not what we're working on in this particular team."
Delphine nods as well, encouraging the other woman to continue.
"Another concern of the government is to contain the virus," Marion informs her. "As I'm sure you're aware, some laws have been put in place to discourage its propagation. Unfortunately they've been proven insufficient. Their numbers continue to rise, although at a much slower pace, and we can only do so much. Laws are only effective until a certain point, and if one of them is insistent on spreading the species, a life in jail is not dissuasive enough, especially if they believe they won't get caught."
Delphine remains silent, she only continues to nod her agreement, wondering where this conversation will lead.
"And this is where we step in!" Marion raises both her arms taking in the room where they sit. "Our job is to find a solution to this problem."
"Through the treatment?" Delphine asks, even if her mind has already worked some of it out.
"Like I said, we're always working with the formula," Marion repeats, eyes steady on the blonde. "We don't want our patients to propagate a virus we're trying to fight off. This is the perfect opportunity to make sure they don't."
"Some sort of compulsory sterilization." Delphine bluntly states what Marion's been tiptoeing around. "You want the vaccines to work so they won't be able to turn any more humans."
"Not us, Delphine. The government. We just do what they ask of us," Marion corrects her and takes a long pause, carefully studying the younger scientist, analyzing her reaction and when it appears she had cast her judgement, she leans against the back of the chair, placing her arms on the armrest. "I can see you're having a issue with this and, if that's the case, then we have a problem."
Delphine meets the other woman's eyes steadily and wills her body to maintain a relaxed posture. "Dr. Bowles I think you overestimate my empathy with these creatures," she starts in a serene voice. 'While I certainly do not advocate their extermination, I see no real purpose on the unlimited extent of the species. Their genetic abnormality needs to be contained and if they don't have the restraint to do it themselves, we should do it for them."
Marion raises a brow, still doubtful about the veracity of Delphine's statement. "Even if it's done without their consent or knowledge?"
"I don't see any other way!" Delphine shrugs. "Is it ethically questionable? Yes, absolutely. But, unfortunately, it is also necessary."
Delphine's voice never wavers, nor does her mind hesitate to ponder her words. After all, she once thought this way, when she was younger and hatred was all she saw, her heart filled with a sense of vengeance. With maturity came a different way of thinking. It was gradual, but the process of accepting her new reality eventually changed her. No, this is not how she thinks now, but it was her philosophy in the past and maybe that's the reason why her words come out so naturally, so effortlessly.
"How close are we to achieving that?" Delphine asks, intentionally counting herself among them.
Her words are met with a small spark in Marion's dark eyes, the hint of a smile pulling at the corner of her lips. "Not very, I'm afraid." And she's back to her soft, inviting manners. "We were able to identify the genetic flaw that when transmitted causes the mutation," she explains, reaching for a drawer on her side of the desk and taking out a stack of papers. "We were even successful in isolating it and remove it, but the consequences..." At this she stops and slides the reports in Delphine's direction.
They're silent for long minutes while Delphine goes over the heavily redacted reports. Anything that could identify the subject is censured, her new clearance still apparently only gives her access to the procedure itself. They're not so much reports as they are journals on the evolution of the new experimental treatment. Subjects are injected with a substance that destroys their ability to spread the virus and, according to what she reads, in no more than two weeks the treatment is effective, but only temporary. The vaccination has to be administered every other week. Of course, this is the least of their problems.
Within a month and a half to two months (this varies on every subject) their mental capabilities start to deteriorate. Five months into the treatment the subject has lost the capacity for rational thought; its thought processes resemble that of an animal - she reads.
Slowly, Delphine puts down the reports, an iron fist clenches around her heart and bile rises to her throat. The only thing that keeps her calm is her determination, her goal. If she falters now, all would be lost, everything she's worked for would crumble like a house of cards blown away by the softest wind.
"How long have you been working on this?" Delphine asks in a voice so calm that manages to surprise even herself.
"Going on two years," Marion answers, and she's again incredibly attentive to the younger scientist's reaction. "We started the subjects trials eight months ago."
"If this is their response to the treatment, it's because either the isolation is not correct, or the removal is not done properly," Delphine replies and she's back to be as analytical as possible, any sort of emotional reaction will be immediately picked up by her boss, of that she's sure.
"That's a good way for you to start, going back to basics." Marion seems pleased, reaching for the reports and storing them back in the same drawer. "But that starts tomorrow. Today I want you to go home and study these." She slides the several folders that have been waiting on top of the desk. "It details all our procedures so far and I need you to be familiar with them."
Delphine takes the files and stands up when she sees the other woman doing the same. With her right hand she accepts the handshake extended to her.
"We're a family here, Delphine," Marion says, while they shake hands. "I'm very pleased to welcome a new member to it."
Delphine stops in her former office before she leaves, taking the few possessions she had in there. No signs of Krystal, and she's slightly disappointed that she doesn't have the opportunity to say goodbye to her assistant. Even if they still work in the same building, the doctor suspects she won't be seeing much of the perky blonde. She wonders what will happen to her patients; probably redirected to another doctor. Cosima briefly enters her mind and somehow she knows the vampire won't be happy with the change.
Most of all Delphine wonders what will become of her. In a moment of doubt, she wonders if, in order to get what she wants, the price she has to pay is her soul.