MAN, I am churning these chapter out. Theres one for the last three days!
Seriously though, I have to thank music, and that One person who's still reads these chapters almost immediately (even though it's probably still the same person from before). Thanks.
So enjoy.
"Come on, Emilia," said Anne, who was by the door of the building. "Let's go play outside."
"Okay!" said a cheerful Emilia.
Though he said nothing, Fisher followed Emilia and Anne outside. He was probably just making sure that neither of them were attacked by an NMC. Fisher shut the door behind him, leaving myself, Aya, Maeda, and Samantha to our discussion.
"What the hell is going on!" I said immediately, my anger bubbling at the top.
"John, calm down," said Aya, who sat next to me on the sofa. In anger, I clenched my fist tightly, but I kept my mouth closed.
"It's alright, Aya," said Maeda calmly. "This certainly isn't right."
We remained silent, waiting for Maeda to continue. He was the one with all the information, hiding it from everyone except fro Anne and Dr. Pereira.
"Emilia was born two years ago. She was an experiment done by Dr. Pereira, and the results were… well astounding, on a scientific level. However, the methods of which he procured both of your DNA is considered illegal in the United States, and is frowned upon by the majority of the scientific community. "
"What do you mean," said Aya.
"To give birth to a child, a sample of sperm from the male specimen and an ovum from the female specimen are needed. I'm not aware as to how Dr. Pereira acquired one of your ova's, but it's safe to assume that he acquired sperm from John back when he was being studied himself."
The thought of my experiment gave me a little twinge, but I suppressed a passing thought of anger. Aya was much calmer then I, and simply waited for Maeda to continue.
"I had not been… employed by Dr. Pereira until after the birth of this child, which I soon came to know as Emilia. When I had arrived here, I was put in charge of caring for Emilia and her study, and Anne was put under my direction."
"What do you mean by 'employed'?" asked Aya.
"I had been given an offer to work with a group of scientists to study mitochondria. It's well known that I have done rigorous study on mitochondria, especially after the Manhattan Blockade. I refused the offer, but less then a week after my refusal, I was kidnapped and taken here."
"That's horrible," said Samantha.
"It's better that I came here, though. Once put in charge of Emilia, I quickly took a look at her file. I was surprised to find out who the parents were, but I wasn't sure who John was at the time. I looked into you're file, John, and I soon understood why he had chosen you as the father."
"Why?" I said coldly.
"It's true that Aya's blood courses through you're veins. But the reason why you turned out the way you did was completely planned out by Dr. Pereira. He had been doing research on mitochondria, and by some stroke of luck, learned that you and Aya were of a compatible breed."
"What?" Aya and I said, confused by that last sentence.
"Aya, due to the mitochondria in you're blood, if a normal man were to give birth to a child with you, the child would die within a matter of minuets. The mitochondria from the father would rebel against you're mitochondria, and thus kill the child. However, John's mitochondria, was different, as is yours."
"What do you mean?" I asked.
"John, before Aya blood was transfused into your body, you had a natural use of all you're mitochondrial power."
"I did!"
"Yes. However, because of you did not know you had these powers, you never were able to use them. This was further supplemented by the fact that you had no knowledge on mitochondria, or even that yours was different."
"How was this caused?" asked Aya. "How could he have powers like mine on his own?"
"Dr. Pereira wasn't sure of that on his own, and thought that you two might have been cousins. However, I took a good look at both of your family trees, and the only thing I came up with was that you two are the closest descendants to the original Mitochondrial Eve, who lived over one hundred and fifty years ago."
"Wouldn't that mean that they are like distant cousins?" said Samantha.
"Well, yes. Though the distance in DNA between them is incredible."
Maeda paused for a moment. He seemingly needed to clean his glasses, as he removed them from his eyes then started to wipe them on a handkerchief he had in his lab coat.
"John, the reason why you became one of Dr. Pereira's' test subjects was because he found out about your mitochondria. He orchestrated your flunking out of college by bribing all of your professors to fail you on your exams."
"WHAT! That bastard! I was gonna be a game programmer!"
"He… Uh… Also had your family assassinated, which would coax you into submission when he came to talk to you about the research experiment."
"He had my family killed!"
"John, calm down!" said Aya.
"No! Dr. Pereira used us, Aya! Aren't you even a little pissed off at that!"
"Calm down!"
Aya's tone quickly went from pleading to demanding. I was well informed on the wrath of a woman, and I decided not to push my anger.
"I'm sorry, perhaps this is the wrong time to discuss this matter," said Maeda, who was becoming fairly rattled by the event.
"Please, Maeda. We need to know."
"Alright… Well, like I said, I was brought here after Emilia was born. Like Eve, she aged rapidly from birth, though the aging process reverts to that of human aging around the time she looks about ten years old. This is something I've been referring to as Eve Syndrome.
"Eve Syndrome?" said Samantha, perplexed by the phrase.
"Yes. During the Neo-Ark experiments, Eve, Aya's official sister, was born. However, she aged rapidly, but around the age of ten, her aging process reverted to that of a normal human."
"Wait, I thought that was because she was a clone of me?"
"Yes, Eve is a clone. However, she was born in the same fashion as Emilia, which is why they share the same growth rate. All of the necessities of the two embryos, Eve and Emilia, were met artificially, instead of naturally, and thus altered their aging process."
"So that's why she looked like a ten year old when I saw her," I said.
"Yes. Now back to Emilia. As you both know, she is the product of both of your DNA combining in the fertilization cycle. This means that you two, whether you like it or not, are her biological parents."
"Great…" I said quietly to myself.
"What was that?" asked Maeda, apparently noticing my lip movement.
"I'm not ready to be a dad! Aya, you can have her!"
"Don't just dump her on me! She's your daughter too!"
"Calm down! Both of you!" said Maeda, taking charge.
We quieted down, though we made it a point to sit as far away as possible from each other on the sofa.
"Now listen. Anne and I raised her like we were her aunt and Uncle. And we told her about the both of you, as she would always ask were her mom and dad were. She knows little about the two of you, but seeing as she's probably watched every single Disney movie on the planet, and she loves video games, she already has her mind and morals set straight. And, you have to pardon me on this, but when I tried to explain how moms and dads get together, I told her about how two parents make a baby after marriage. Because of this, she thinks that the two of you are married."
"NO!" said Aya and me at the same time.
"Wow, this is kind of like a soap opera," said Samantha, chuckling a little. In response, both Aya and I gave her the death stare, though it barely fazed her.
"Well, that's everything I know. So, I'm not going to tell you how to take care of her, but take good care of her."
"Oh I will," said Aya.
"Wait, don't you mean we?" said Sam.
"No, I meant I, seeing as John's going to be too irresponsible to look after her."
"I am not irresponsible, I just don't want kids yet," I said, trying to defend myself.
"Yeah right," said Aya.
Aya then stood up and headed for the door. Both Maeda and Samantha stood up as well and began to leave, and seeing as we still had to deal with Dr. Pereira, I rose as well. I was the last to leave the building, so I was the one who closed the door.
Taking a quick look around, I saw everyone following Aya, including Emilia. I was glad I didn't have to take Emilia, because I really disapproved of artificial insemination and all that stuff, which made my blood boil even more knowing that this girl is our daughter, even though I never got Aya pregnant.
"I wanna go with Daddy," said Emilia from the front. She quickly looked around for me, then left Aya and came to me.
"Hi, daddy." She said cheerfully.
"Hi," I said, showing a pleasant side just for her. I didn't like the fact of her birth, but I wasn't going to be mean to her just for that. "Don't you wanna be with you mommy?"
"No, silly bear. I wanna go with you."
"Silly bear, huh? Alright, I'll be silly."
I smiled at Emilia, and then with a quick thought, I made a little prank in my head. Looking into the trees, I pointed my head and said, "Hey, what's that!"
"What?" said Emilia, looking into the tree line. Everyone else also looked, thinking of something fearsome. Quickly, I touched Emilia's shoulder, and then started to jog away from her.
"You're it!" I said while I jogged.
"You!" said Emilia, noticing the prank. She then gave chase, and we began to run around the group, all the while making sure that we kept going. I playfully mocked her, which only made her run more. Then, as I ran, I felt my foot hit something, and before I knew it, I was back first in the tree line.
"Silly bear!" Emilia said, laughing at my clumsiness.
"Yeah, well come here."
"Why?"
"Just come here."
Emilia came closer to me, and I slowly sat upright. Once she was close enough, I pulled her into my lap and quickly began to tickle her.
"S-Stohahaha!" said Emilia, squirming about. I kept the pressure on, and she only managed to say a few words while I tickled her.
"Having fun, John?" said Aya sarcastically.
"Mommy, make him stop!" said Emilia as I tickled her.
I stopped on my own, and Emilia quickly jumped up and went over to Aya. They went back to walking, though I could see Emilia's smile as she went away from me. A moment later, I stood up, dusted myself off, and then followed the group once more. Being precautious, I drew my revolver, and then realized my back hurt from falling on my F2000.
We came to the elevator, and when it opened up, I could see it was clean. The blood had been wiped away, most likely by the others when they came down by themselves. I didn't bother asking about it, as I didn't want to scare Emilia.
Once we were all inside, Samantha pressed the button for B5, and the elevator descended once more. The ride was rather long though, as the elevator took about a minuet to stop. The doors opened, giving us the sound of water nearby.
"I take it this is Dr. Pereira's floor," Fisher said.
The room we entered was less of a room and more of a reservoir. The walkway we currently walked on was incredibly long, and resided several hundred feet over a gigantic pool of dark blue water. This water was clearly meant for the residents of the research facility, as there were large water purifiers at the far end of the reservoir. These purifiers had giant fans to suck in the water, and I was sure that the fans were pretty sharp.
The walkway didn't seem right. It was meant to support several hundreds of pounds, as the material would suggest, though the supports of the walkway looked a little strange, like they had been tampered with. Yet the walkway was fine, and everyone was just walking away.
About half way down the walkway, there was an odd sound coming from the other side of the reservoir. I couldn't see anything, and neither did anyone else. Yet the sound got louder and louder, until it came into sight.
It was a person size flying NMC. With giant fly like wings and elongated human arms, the body of this NMC looked incredibly female, with well rounded boobs jutting from the chest of this NMC. The face looked hideous, as the jaw was shell like and shaped with the canine teeth at an incredible size. The eye looked like a fly's with the appearance of thousands of little octagons being the actual eye. The legs we mainly hums, save for the thigh down, which had gotten a massive amount of fur, and the toes with talon like nails.
"Everyone, run for the other side!" I said.
Everyone seemed to agree, as they all ran. Sam shot at the NMC wit his P90, and while I ran, I fired at it with my revolver. As I ran, Aya wasn't moving, and neither was Emilia. In fact, Aya was trying to convince Emilia to go with her, bug she just stared at the NMC, terrified.
"Come on, honey, we need to get out of here."
"Aya go," I said, running up to them. "I'll take Emilia."
"You sure?"
"Just go!"
"Alright," said Aya, turning to the others and running in their direction.
"Come on, Emilia," I said.
I picked her up and put her on my shoulder, and she had no complaints. She was silent, and since she didn't try to fight back, it made it easier to carry her. I fired as I ran, making all of my shots count, and when I was out of rounds, I simply tucked the revolver away.
Suddenly, the NMC slammed into the walkway, making stumble a little with Emilia. Several of the floor panels fell, heading toward the water. I jumped over one, but with another knock from the NMC, the panel beneath me and Emilia fell, and I only managed to grab hold of the next one.
"Hold on, Emilia."
I placed Emilia carefully on the walkway, and then began to pull myself up. Once back on the walkway, Emilia suddenly snapped back to reality, and began to freak out.
"What is that!"
"Don't worry, get to Aya!"
Just as I got a good footing on the walkway, Emilia began to scream. Taking a good look around, I found the NMC harassing Emilia, using it's talons to attacker her. I raised my F2000 to it and fired a few shots, but it dodged thanks it its wings. It then made a quick fly by, blinding me for a moment by the fur of its legs. I came back again, and before I could fire, it snatched up Emilia in its talons and flew away.
"DADDY!"
"Damn it!"
Knowing full well what would happen if I killed the NMC right now, I devised a plan to make sure Emilia stayed safe. Taking a look at the walkway, I noticed what looked like a support beam jutting out of the main wall. This beam went all the way to the lower level where the wall met the water, and seeing as that would be where the NMC would fall with Emilia, that's where I had to go.
Breaking the floor panel by the support beam, I lowered myself and used my feet to support myself against the beam and the wall. Then, with plenty of fear in my heart, I put my hands against the wall and the beam, and slid all the way down to the water.
Keeping an eye on the NMC, I could see it trying to bite at Emilia's head, though it couldn't get close enough and would simply be slapped away by Emilia. I could see the fearful warrior in her, but I knew she was no match for the NMC right now.
I slowed down as I reached the water, and when I went to put my footing in, I found the water to be incredibly shallow. Taking only a second and a half to adjust to the water around my angles, I readied my gun and took careful aim. Thanks to the cross hairs in the built-in sight of the F2000, aiming was fairly easy. I just had to make sure I aimed a little higher so that I didn't hit Emilia.
Switching to single shot, I steadied my gun, and with a slow squeeze of the trigger, I aimed dead on. My shot clipped one of the wings of the NMC, which messed with its head. It's dropped Emilia, leaving me to go for the catch. I continued to put several well placed shot into the NMC, and when Emilia was closer to the ground, I put the F2000 away and got ready.
Moving forward, the water went from my ankles to my waist, and just below my at my abs. Emilia got ever so closer to the water, and I only managed to catch her. Unfortunately, due to the gravitational energy that was currently working on her, I fell backwards into the water, which got the both of us soaked.
"Daddy!" said Emilia joyfully when she saw me get out of the water.
"Hey," I said calmly.
Suddenly, I heard the flapping of wings, followed by the image of the NMC flying towards us. Out of instinct, I grabbed for the soaked F2000. I pulled the trigger, and thanks to it being a gas operated weapon, I managed to put a number of shots into the NMC's head before it could reach us. IT splashed into the water, and then slowly floated towards the filters.
Putting the rifle away, I took another look at Emilia, who was somewhat awed at the moment. After a little while, she began to cry, which certainly caught me off guard.
"Daddy!" she said before digging her head into my shoulder and bawling her eyes out.
"It's alright, Emilia. It's over."
"JOHN!"
"Hearing the new voice, I looked up to the walkway. I found Aya leaning over the rail, trying to talk to me.
"YEAH!"
"IS EMILIA ALRIGHT!"
"SHE'S ALRIGHT!"
Aya disappeared from my view for a moment I wasn't sure why, but I had a feeling she was relieved.
"JOHN, THERE'S A STAIRWELL NEARBY! USE IT TO GET BACK UP HERE, OK!"
"ALRIGHT, AYA!"
I went back to Emilia, who was still crying into my shoulder. Knowing that we had to keep moving, I tried to calm her down.
"Let's go meet mommy, Emilia."
"Okay," she said, stalling her tears. "Daddy…"
"Yes, Emilia?"
"I love you," she said, her head still in my shoulder.
'Aww," I thought to myself. 'I just can't hate her.'
I held her tightly for a moment, and then whispered a few words into her ear.
"I love you too."
I really wanted to make John despise the thought of having a kid at his age, especially since he didnt even bone Aya. However, I don't think I really got it out right. However, I like how I ended the chapter, especially since I added the whole "Aww", I just couldn't help myself.
Well I hoped you enjoyed it. Until next time, I STILL WANT A REVIEW!
ZF
