Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in the Teen Titans show or comics.
"This has to be it."
"What makes you so sure?"
"It HAS to be, Mel. It just has to be."
Most of the laboratories in the building were empty, most of the lecture-halls deserted. Most cars were gone from the parking lot, lamplights flickering on as the sunset faded, the bugs beginning to chirp night symphonies and drone lazily as accustomed to on a stifling August night. Most people on the campus had already left, or were heading out to do a night's work—for it was a little past nine-thirty on Friday night, and most people were setting out to pa-arty. One laboratory, however, was still lit with fluorescent light, instruments whirring and computers whining. Two students hovered over their work alone, the other colleagues that were a part of their team long gone to enjoy the weekend. But Mark Logan and Melina Ragonu had been too engrossed with their work to stop; you could say they weren't exactly like most people, either.
Seven years had passed since the day that marked the beginning of considered adulthood—otherwise known as high school graduation—and the two friends had spent four of those years at the local state university, along with several other high school familiars. Three years had passed since the day of graduation from college, and the two friends had yet again accompanied each other on a new horizon, this time by the name of graduate school. Currently they were studying under the wings of very prestigious scientists, Mark intent on exploring and utilizing the new ideas and almost incredulous topics concerning genetics, with Melina concentrating on becoming one of the best human geneticists around. Both worthy and challenging goals for the two of the top students of the class.
As of now, both were leaning over a small box-like machine, covered with gears and gizmos, wires connected left and right to a huge battery, a transparent glass chamber inside, and a mighty console pad of which streams of data and numbers flickered on the screen. It was their end-of-term group project, though the rest of their group had since retired already—but Melina was perfectly happy about being alone with Mark studying and analyzing something the both enjoyed and felt excited by. And she didn't really mind leaning up next to him, watching his brow furrow in thought as he stuck out his tongue ever so slightly; it was a habit he had picked up over the years and Melina thought it was rather charming, though in a ridiculous sort of way.
At her lack of reply, Mark turned his head towards her, his nose inches from hers, question in his forest green eyes. Melina looked down a little too quickly, her face heating a bit at the fact that she had been caught watching him, and forced her mind to business. The mechanism the two were observing had been more or less a challenge given to Mark and Melina and the other top students in the class by the professor, though the original idea had been Mark and Melina's. Over the years, Mark had become more and more attracted to the theory of the 'missing link' between humans and animals at a genetic level. Melina had followed along, intrigued by anything having to do with genetics at all, and together they proposed that the link could be isolated by isolating certain genetically shared bonds between animals and their ancestors, and therefore the possibility of creating an almost reverse-evolution cycle opened. And that's just putting it simply. With a tad of guidance from their professor, the two researched and developed plans for constructing a machine that would be able to isolate certain genetic sequences. This particular device was the first step towards that grand finale, carried out by Mark, Melina, and the other classmates in their project group.
"I don't know, Mark," Melina replied to Mark's earlier exclamation as she guardedly watched him eagerly reach over to activate the contraption in front of them. A faint whining filled the room as he switched on the battery. "Last time it didn't go to well…and shouldn't we wait until Dr. MacVerick gives us authorization? We're supposed to be doing this under supervision."
"Aw, come on Melina!" Mark practically whined, sounding like a two-year-old wanting to bet a new toy. "Last time our calculations were off, and we were stupid enough not to bother with checking our hypothesized thesis—"
"And if I remember correctly," Melina interrupted, a playful gleam in her eye, "It was your idea to bypass that, when I said we should not…"
Mark cringed at the reminded failure. "Whatever," he sniffed with mock-arrogance, causing Melina to give a little giggle. Then his genuine enthusiasm returned: "But that was last time! This time we've both checked and re-checked our calculations, the rest of the group went over them to, and MacVerick did approve of our thesis—"
"Exactly! He only approved this, and seeing as this is a group effort we should wait for the others," Melina shot back at Mark's inclinations. Her voice wavered, however, and Mark knew he almost had her.
"Think of this as a trial run…we shut it off quickly if anything goes wrong, which it won't, and if it goes right success is guaranteed!" Mark reasoned with her, throwing his arms up at the end to emphasize his excitement and certainty.
"I don't know…I still think that Dr. MacVerick should look over our calculations, too…" She continued to resist, glancing down at the clipboard she held, pen ready in her hand. Mark raised his eyebrows in exasperation, and Melina gave in. "Oh, fine! But just one 'test' run, okay? One. "
Mark pumped his fist in the air, more or less skipping over to the potted plant next to the lab table. Humming, he slipped on elastic gloves and grabbed a potted plant near the window as Melina double-checked everything about the machine as lights turned on inside the chamber. If the experiment worked correctly, they should be able to delete the group of genetic sequences from the plant's genetic code—this time the sequences giving the plant the ability to produce chlorophyll—by bombarding the plant with derived radiations that would hopefully break apart only those sequences. If the experiment didn't go as planned…Melina shuddered to think what could happen.
By the time Mark had walked back over to where Melina was waiting, the potted plant in his gloved hands, Melina was tapping her foot impatiently. Grinning at her, Mark opened the chamber and slipped the plant into the compartment. Stepping back, Mark let Melina close and secure the chamber. He went over to the control pad of the machine, Melina still by the machine as she flipped through the clipboard one last time, eyes scanning the numbers and symbols. Mark cleared his throat, and Melina met his gaze as he waited for the ready signal. Excitement and anticipation was written all over his face, while doubt and anticipation was reflected in hers—but might as well give it over with so he would behave the rest of the night. Heaving a sigh, Melina gave a curt nod and looked towards the machine, hoping for the best.
With Melina's nod, Mark entered numbers and triggered the machine. "Missing link, here I come," he whispered breathlessly as the machine began to drone, drowning out any other sounds in the room or from outside. Both Mark and Melina watched as light began illuminating the chamber, the table it sat on shaking a little. "Temperature ready," Mark called over the noise, making Melina start. "Now filling the chamber with Uranium-22; now emitting beta particles through the chambers." Mark threw some switches and the droning increased for a second. Melina glanced anxiously down at the clipboard.
"Phase two, emitting type one radiation to chamber," Mark called again flipping another switch. The noise grew once more. "Now emitting type two radiation to chamber." Another switch, more noise. Melina watched the machine nervously, the table shaking violently. Then, her mouth fell open in amazement—the plant in the center of the chamber began to change color…it began to turn black. Starting from the stem, the shadow appeared to flow throughout the plant like fluid, spreading to the leaves of the plant slowly but surely. Melina jerked her head towards Mark to see his reaction to what was taking place in front of them: he was grinning like a maniac. He saw her looking at him, plus the amazed expression dominating her face, and gave a wonderful, carefree laugh. Melina felt herself give a little smile as well, blushing faintly at the adorable look of pure joy on Mark's face. She shook her head, though happily; she couldn't believe this was actually working!
Suddenly, a pulsating hum crescendoed over everything, interrupting the excited atmosphere. The shadow that had been consuming the plant halted as if blocked by a brick wall, and the color transformation ceased. Seeming quite stunned for a second, Mark began messing frantically with the controls. Shaking her head, Melina glanced at the clipboard again, flipping through their calculations as the pulsing continued. We celebrated too soon, she thought as she scanned the pages—then she stopped as quickly as she had begun. She stared at the figures on the paper, and her eyes widened.
"MARK!" she screamed over the noise. " SHUT IT OFF! The natural frequency of the atoms' electrons! We configured it wrong!" Mark was shaking his head in denial, still trying to gain back control of the experiment. "Mark, LISTEN TO ME!" Melina tried again, desperately trying to steady herself against the shaking table. The noise was now almost unbearable. "We have to! We have to shut it off or else—"
Then the whole world exploded in Melina's face.
A/N: Hey, I'm back! But I just have to say, so no one gets confused—I have NO idea about what I just talked about in the above chapter. So I apologize for everything I might've blown to out of proportion, because all I know about genetics is what I learned in my biology class, a little physics for the radiation part, and an academic competition…so yeah. And NO, isolating missing links and reversing evolution CANNOT be done as of now, or else it would they would've already done it and found the cure for cancer or something.
…Oooh, but I DO have a reasonable explanation for the plant turning black, so HAH!