Stewart Richard Cottinghedge the III was one of the top professionals in his field. He graduated early from high school and three top universities.

He had been sucked into Itex's dream of creating the perfect evolution of humanity, but he never thought he would be trading his morals, and seemingly his very soul, to create hybrids that would survive a man-made apocalypse. An apocalypse Itex would personally arrange. He had not signed up for that.

But between the threats, bonuses for success, and the constant reminder this horrible scheme would not take effect until after he lived a very long, comfortable life, Stew just accepted it. He even justified it.

The government was backing it, or at least, the part of the plan that they knew about. Even if someone told the officials what was happening, they would not want to hear their money was being wasted and their reputations would be ruined. They would spend hours poring over excuses like how revealing what Itex was really doing would ruin the economy, incite undue panic, and whatever else the suit-wearing monkeys could come up with before they even heard or saw evidence of what was really going on.

Stew learned very early on that the American government was not the highest power in the land. Big companies bought, bribed, infiltrated, and bullied their way into the government to steer it in whatever direction best suited them.

Stew just wanted to have his cake and to eat it too.

One man could not change the mess he was swimming in.

Stew didn't see why he should waste his time and risk his life for something so futile.

But one thing was really bothering him. It bothered him more than the kids in the cages, more than the apocalypse plot, and even more than his irritating, nationally wanted for crimes against humanity, boss Karen Michaels.

Kara Matthews was a sweet girl that he had had the pleasure of working with a few times. If he was not married to his work, he would have acted on the idea of a relationship with her that he had entertained from time to time.

She was just a research assistant without the clearances to know the depths of the things Itex was doing. She was a doe-eyed enthusiast of science that thought she was helping humanity. Her idealism was infectious, and he had always felt better after talking to her.

When she disappeared, he didn't know what had happened. She was there one day, and the next she didn't show up for work. He was disappointed; he missed her being there. He figured she had taken a day off. She had mentioned something about having a kid and an ex-husband. It must have been something to do with that.

Then he overheard the, Ice Witch, mention something about disposing of the evidence over the phone. Not too unusual, coming from her, but something made him pause. He still wasn't sure just what it was, but he leaned in to catch more of what she was saying. He guessed it was a higher up, judging by the amount of time they were talking to her and her quick, one-word responses.

Just as he was about to move on, she said something that made him go cold inside. "Ms. Matthews managed to send the entire file to several e-mail addresses before I could stop her. We have no choice but to speed up the move. I have everyone working overtime to scrub shop and start over in our next location."

Stew hurried away clenching his fists, not out of anger, but out of an attempt to stabilize himself. Thoughts were racing through his mind faster than he could process, and he needed something to ground him to reality.

Slumping in his chair once he made it to his office, Stew didn't know what to do.

He had known they were moving, but he thought the frantic pace was due to his boss's impatience, not a security breach. A security breach caused by Kara.

He shuddered, realizing why she wasn't at work.

The next day, he was still shaken up about it. Rumors flew around about all sorts of things, from an intrusion of more mutants to the possible continued investigation of the FBI. Stew didn't really pay attention to the office gossip anyway, so he ducked out of those conversations when they got started around him. He was a little preoccupied mourning Kara, silently and in his own way.

He hadn't realized how attached to her he had really become. Around every corner of the drab sterile halls something managed to bring back a memory of her smile, her laugh, or her debates with him about everything from quantum physics to metaphysics.

Scrubbing his face to banish her image for the fifth time that morning, Stew felt the guilt begin to creep up again.

He had accidently slipped up when they were debating and mentioned something about the project he was working on. At her question, he tried to cover up. After a few more close calls, he managed to give her an answer that placated her. Or so he thought.

Apparently, she was not satisfied and had gone digging for the truth. Unprepared for the truth, she had foolishly tried to do something about it. He wished she were there so he could shake her shoulders and ask her if it was worth it. Foolish, foolish, foolish! What had she been thinking?

Despite the momentary anger, he found himself once more achingly guilty. It was his fault; he had messed up. What happened to her was entirely on him. How he wished he would have known! There were a thousand things he could have done differently! There were a million words he could have used to sway her. If only.

Stew didn't look up at the knock on his door; he didn't bother saying anything either. A moment later, his friend Tom, another lead scientist on his team, clapped a hand on his shoulder.

"Hey Stew, what are you moping about now? I know things are busy right now, but by the end of the week, we'll be settled in the next location, and everything will go back to normal," Tom tried to reassure his friend.

"No," Stew answered him heavily, "I don't think everything will be exactly the same."

Trying to take it as a joke, Tom pushed his shoulder teasingly, "Well you're right, it will be a lot sunnier and a lot less noisy where we are going. I hear the company will actually pay for a golf club membership."

Tom smiled at him, "I'm not one for it myself and heaven knows we don't get holidays, but I was thinking, we should enjoy the sun and let its thermo-nuclear rays start the vitamin-D producing chemical reactions in our skin while we swing metal clubs around in a more civilized manner than our genetic ancestors, all the while pretending we know what we're doing. Okay?"

Any other day, Stew would have just been able to accept his friend's attempt to cheer him up. The problem with today was the injustice and unfairness of what happened to Kara.

"Tom," Stew nearly hissed at his friend with a raised voice, "you know what I mean!"

All humor evaporated from Tom's face as he commanded, "Lower your voice Stew."

When Stew did nothing more than glare at him, Tom continued speaking, "Do you really think you're the only person here who gets bothered by what goes on sometimes? Do you think you're the only person who flat out wishes they didn't have to do something they thought was really, really wrong?"

Both men used Tom's pause to glare at the other before Tom continued, "It happens! We've all been there at some point, and most of us go there more than once for Pete's sake!"

The two friends and co-workers stared at each other for long moments before Stew responded, "This time it's different."

Tom shook his head, deflating, "Come on Stew. Whatever it is, it doesn't really matter compared to the greater good. The work we are doing here is the future; it's the survival and evolution of the human species! Can't you look past this one little thing in the here and now for that?"

Stew was silent at first. He had said much the same to others who would come to him with an ethical dilemma they were facing. He was willing to experiment on children (because that was what the numbers really were) without blinking too much about it because he knew he was helping bring about the greater good. He could go to sleep each night because he could reassure himself that what he was doing wasn't wrong in light of that.

But for the first time, his self-preservation instincts and self-reassurances were failing him. He was thoroughly disgusted by everything he had done and said over the last twelve years of his life as he saw it reflected in his friend.

Kara had been right.

Kara had been right, and his job now was to make sure that what she started was finished. His life and work were not that important in retrospect.

Tom, of course, was waiting for him to snap back to 'reality' and get on with the "good work." So Stew forced a smile and nodded, reassuring his friend he just needed a few minutes to shrug it off.

Tom left with a smile and promise of coffee sometime outside of their workplace. Stew forced the smile on his face to stay there until Tom was well out sight. Then he went to work, just not on the work the Institute usually paid him for.

Hours later, after his lunch break had long come and gone, Stew eyed the hard drive in his hand. Here was everything the authorities would need to shut down The Institute and possibly Itex, as well as cures to some of the mutations they created or forced on experiments. The problem was who to give it to and how to give it to them.

He doubted whistle-blower laws would be able to protect him, so he was not against finding a method of delivery that would let him keep his life while he was at it.

As it turned out, Stew did not have to go looking for an answer. The answer came to him.

Lights flashed unaccompanied by any kind of sound and bulking Lupine hybrids burst forth from the upper corridors already shifted. (Which he found foolish. What good was superior strength when your size significantly decreased or eliminated altogether your maneuverability?)

He also would not be the first to credit the Lupine hybrids as his company's most intelligent creation.

He immediately tucked the hard drive away on his person and out of sight, then moved to scrub his office and lab, as was protocol. The Lupine hybrids made the destruction of materials much easier.

After doing his part, he grimaced slightly at the loss of evidence to support his information. No matter.

It protected him from being discovered as the mole, and part of the information he had obtained named the three most likely locations where The Institute, or its offspring The School, would relocate to.

He was calmly filling out with the other employees when suddenly, a squad of men and women came through the main entrance, shouting and waving weapons around.

Stew slowed to a stop gradually, so surprised that he honestly didn't know what to think or do. Most of the others froze as well, but some fled the other way.

Some of the Lupines fled as well, but many of them charged.

Stew squinted and finally made out F-B-I on one of the officers, as well as S-W-A-T on another.

Everything happened so quickly after that.

The agents repelled the Lupines at first, but they were quickly pushed back. Stew stood there afraid that they would start killing law enforcement officials when a new group entered the fray.

To his great surprise, a group of five or so mutants ran snarling at the Lupines. Divided between two fronts, the Lupines were subdued in no time.

The other employees around him started to flee, but Stew just stood there with what, he was sure, must have been a dumbstruck half-grin. He did not resist arrest when they got to him, and he walked with light steps downstairs to the foyer. He spoke to them as soon as he was sure no employee could hear him.

A few moments later, he was brought to a very angry looking senior agent to hand over the drive, which he had tightly clenched in his hand.

It was perfect! The FBI got their information, and Stew could walk away without the company knowing that it was him that gave the information instead of the agents finding it on their own.

He tried to keep from smiling as they loaded him in the van. The whole thing was just so surreal.

From the moment he heard the silent alarm to the moment he handed over the hard drive into the hands of FBI Special Agent Peter Burke, everything had just fallen into place. Stew hadn't even tried!

It made him wonder if there was really a god out there or not. If there wasn't, then he was hard-pressed to find a better explanation for how things just happened.