The last Dave POV chapter, and the second to last chapter of this fic! I will be wrapping the Normal saga up by next week, so stay tuned for my last update.

Chapter 17: The Cure

Dave

Ever since we returned to Octo Corp I had been working tirelessly on the cure for my Medusa Serum. The original serum had been an idea with years of planning and months of execution. My desire for revenge on the penguins served well as motivation, and from the standpoint of creation, the Medusa Serum had proved to be one of the most elaborate, perfect creations of my life.

And now it was my mistake.

Anger, jealousy… all motives of the past. Now my drive forward was to reverse its effects. It was to save my beloved from her demise. A demise that I had created.

I never wanted this for her. The fact that my own Medusa Serum had transformed Kailey was only what I could perceive as divine intervention… a comeback that leveled the playing field for the years of anger I held.

Ironically, I had long since learned to let go of that anger. Meeting Kailey helped me to move past my need for revenge. I thought it was behind me, but I suppose justice needed to be served. I just didn't understand why it had to be her.

Her slips were difficult to detect, indefinite, but the trail behind her descent was clear looking back on the trip we took back to New York. She often blanked out, staring at things that weren't there, or, perhaps more accurately, things that were within her. A catatonic state where at one second she would be with us, and then the next she would be trapped in her mind, oblivious to the world. The only thing different from a typical catatonic episode was that she mumbled obsessively to herself.

Her enraged outbursts had traces of herself, obviously, as well, but they were more violent, more powerful.

On the other hand, I didn't understand why the wolf held himself together so well under the influence of the Medusa Serum and Quantum Crystal Unit's combined power. Other than his attack on me and my henchmen after the crash, he seemed to be doing much better than Kailey. You could miss it if you weren't paying attention, but the wolf would exhibit behavior similar to Kailey's, staring off and mumbling to himself, but this happened less frequently. He did it once when Kailey had run off from the circus cabin, prior to the monster show, and again when Kailey had jumped into the truck bed during our escape.

I worried that whatever gave the QCU's their power, somehow, with the help of the Medusa Serum, made their nature unstable.

Without even trying… I had made true monsters. And the bomb was ticking.

Even worse, Kailey was slipping away from me, the only person who ever loved me.

Two weeks went by before I poured the new serum into its vial to be dispersed. It was mid-December by then, and the transition to winter was sudden. Overnight, the snowstorms blanketed the city of New York, frosting it white as the cloudy sky above it.

Everything had been situated, and I had taken care of every missed step, every hypothetical stone that had been turned. It was all up to me; despite Classified's attempts to aid me in this troublesome situation, as more time passed, the more often he disappeared to take time for himself.

Kailey, on the other hand, had been in her room the whole time. My henchmen checked to make sure she was fed and eating, but it pained me that I couldn't see her.

My workers reported that she was so "in and out" that it didn't really matter. And I didn't want to truly bother her until the timing was perfect, and the cure serum was ready.

And after those two weeks, both of tireless days and nearly sleepless nights, it was good to go.

"Umm, excuse me," the little creature called Mort called up to me. To be honest, I had completely forgotten he was even with us. He was so small and so unimportant in the face of my work that he was easy to miss. I still had no idea why he tagged along anyway, and I didn't really care. All I knew was he was going to be sent back to that circus once everything was over with.

"Donald, trump the alarms! Go and fetch our subjects!" I yelled to one of my henchmen.

Sending for the wolf and Kailey was the longest moment of the many days working on this project. By the time they arrived, I managed to lift myself up, and smiled to try to bring them up with me. After all, the time had finally come to test the cure.

"Good news, everyone!" I yelled happily, clasping two of my arms together as I looked at them. "As you can see behind me, the ray beam and the cure serum, which I have cleverly called the Angel Serum, is completed. The curing process is similar to the Medusa Serum in that it simply needs to be shot at a target, aka one of you, to take effect."

"Am I going to die?" Kailey muttered, her eyes tired and glossy.

"Oh, goodness, no!" I replied. "Ew, of course not! I've worked out all the kinks. There are no potential side effects of disintegration." I chuckled nervously, thinking about a past disintegration incident with the Medusa Serum, but I quickly got back on track. "So, it's ready. All it needs is a volunteer. Who wants to go first?"

"I'll go," Kailey said, deadpan. Her monotone reactions troubled me, and as much as I wanted to make sure she was cured as soon as possible, the thought of sending her under the ray gun made me uneasy.

"No, let me go first," Classified said, straightening up as he took a step forward. "I have waited long enough to get back to the North Wind. My team needs me, not to mention the entire organization needs an explanation as to why Hilda shut down along with the power at our new headquarters."

"So, you think you're more important then, huh?" Kailey sighed. "Be my guest then, Prince."

"Yes, I am more important, actually," Classified answered, sticking his muzzle in the air. "You are, after all, a citizen."

"What about that whole "serve and protect" thing?" Kailey replied, her voice sharper. "I thought you North Wind agents were some kind of heroes. Sounds like you're a bunch of zeros if you ask me. Looser."

Classified bristled with irritation, but calmed himself. "I'm not arguing with you. Let me be the first to accept Dave's Angel Serum. I can be out of your hair more quickly that way, if you need an alternative excuse."

"Just hurry up and do it then, why don't you?"

"I will!"

The wolf huffed and walked up to the platform in front of the ray gun. Once he stood in his proper position, my henchmen naturally locked up his arms and legs before the wolf questioned what was going on. "Is there really a need for this?" he asked.

"Maybe, maybe not," I said. "Most of my past subjects had trouble sitting still, resulting in only part of their bodies getting hit with the serum. As you can imagine, that only worked out so well, so you might want to stay strapped in so the dose is evenly distributed."

"Brilliant," he replied sarcastically. "Very well; proceed."

I nervously slithered over towards the side of the ray gun where I had a clearer view of the ray gun in its entirety, and my target. Kailey walked up beside me, joining me as I pointed the remote that, once pressed, would activate the shot.

As the beam maneuvered into position, I placed a pair of protected lenses on, handing a pair to my dearest. "Be prepared to be amazed!"

As excited as I was to see the cure finally in action, I was just as ecstatic to hear Kailey's cries of joy once she saw it working. Hope was all I was aching for at this moment.

"Press it already," Kailey replied, anxiously, but in a good way. This made me smile.

"Behold!" I yelled, pressing the button. The ray gun hummed, then shot out a blue ray. Light engulfed the lab room briefly, and as the smoke cleared, Kailey and I looked outward to the wolf with great anticipation.

My smile fell and died when I saw the wolf still there, affected by this new serum, but not in the way I had wanted.

"Why is he blue!?" Kailey gasped. "And bigger!?"

The wolf began to growl, his eyes completely blackened by his pupils. He ripped the straps from his arms and legs with ease before he bared his teeth at us, approaching us with such fury that I had never seen before. He towered over us, as if he wasn't already big enough before, and he looked like he could snap me in two like a kid with a gummy bear.

He roared at us as his arm rushed down. I felt like that was it for us, but Kailey grabbed a hold of me again, and jumped out of the way. In the wake of the wolf's hit, the tile crumbled with ease, the stones fracturing across the room.

"Alicia, keys! Get the digital keys to shut everything down! The entire building needs to be on alert and all exits closed off!" I shouted. By the time I had given my command, the wolf was after us again. Kailey ran around the room, clutching me in her arms, dodging the absolute disaster I had brought to life.

"It took you two weeks, and you do this!?" Kailey yelled.

"Everything was perfect, perfect in every way!" I tried to explain. "All the data pointed to a successful outcome! It's not like I had time to test this!"

"And now I'm gonna have to take care of your mess!" Kailey snarled, gritting her teeth together before she threw me, sending me flying across the room and away from the wolf, who now had his eyes set on her.

Kailey attempted to fight the deranged wolf as my brain buzzed through different scenarios.

What could I possibly use to stop this thing?

Some of my henchmen came to my aid, attempting to help me onto all eight of my arms before I came up with a plan.

"There is a large storage room next to us, through a doorway," I began to explain. It was hard to look away from Kailey as she fought off the beast, but I had to stay focused. I trusted she could hold her own until then. "We need to lead him into that room and then trigger the door to seal with its emergency protocols. That should hold him for the time being."

My henchmen nodded and got to work, dodging shattered tile and metal, and made it to the doorway I had instructed them to head towards.

The garage door opened, and then I realized it was my time to act. I waved my arms around, trying to get Kailey's attention.

"Kailey! Dearest! Please listen! Get him into that storage room! I'm going to lock him inside!"

She had landed on the ground after ducking under a thrown computer, and nodded, before guiding the wolf towards the storage.

The two stood there, face to face. "You think you're so important, huh?" she taunted, goading him. "You're just as much as a mess as me, you blue idiot!"

Her taunting worked instantly, not that it really took much to make this new abomination react to anything. Like an epic, I watched as the beast launched himself forward at her, his body slipping through the doorway as Kailey jumped to the side. My henchmen took the rest from there, closing the door, and sealing it with another precautionary solid steel door.

Muffled roars could be heard as the wolf pounded the door to no avail. I had bought ourselves some time, at least.

"Dave!" Kailey said, rushing across the room to meet me. "What is going on!? I thought you said you had a cure!? He's out of control!"

"I don't know!" I said, my insides burning with shame. "I am so sorry… I thought—I thought I had everything under control. I worked so hard… I didn't want this to happen!"

"Dave, I believe you," Kailey replied, stopping between a few violent, pounding hits on the secured doorway. "But what are we going to do now!? How far off are we from a cure? And is a cure going to happen before that thing gets out?"

"I'm… not sure…" I said, stuttering.

Failure. Oh, how much it stung. I had failed before, sure. The penguins, my attempt to make the humans hate cute things. Yes, I had succeeded at creating the serum, but I had failed to exact its original purpose. Now, my failure hit me tenfold; I succeeded in creating horrible things, but I failed in that this was what I no longer wanted.

I didn't want to create monsters. I didn't want to be a monster.

This was the end. There was no way I was going to create a cure, at least not quickly enough to suppress the chaos around me and behind that doorway. I had failed my Kailey.

"Hey! Excuse me!" It was Mort again.

"What!?" I yelled, exhausted.

"You guys don't like to listen, do you? I have something to tell you! I came along because Private said I should help you change back to normal."

"How on earth could you possibly turn them back to normal when I couldn't," I said, my lips quivering as tears blurred my vision.

"I can turn them back to normal," Mort said.

A bad joke.

A really awful joke.

I fell on my face and sobbed. In front of Kailey, in front of my henchmen. Embarrassment mixed in as I realized what I had done, and how my story would finally come to an end. I'd be crushed to death by my disastrous creation, and by extension it would destroy New York. This thing could get out and easily level the city. If Kailey could get shot with bullets with impunity, what could possibly hurt the wolf now that he was under the influence of my Angel Serum?!

"Uhhh, Dave, what is he doing?" I heard Kailey say, but her question just made me sob louder.

"I'm sorry I couldn't protect you, Kailey! I failed you!"

"Dave, no, I'm not talking about Classified. I mean, what is Mort doing?"

I looked up from the floor, seeing Mort had replaced himself with the blue vial of the Angel Serum in the ray gun, which had shockingly been untouched through this entire disaster.

Flabbergasted, I didn't understand why he would even think about sacrificing himself. It reminded me of when Private had done the same for his brothers to reverse the effects of the Medusa Serum.

"I'm ready," Mort chimed. He smiled at us, his big gold eyes like stars as he waited for us to come forward.

"Dave, what is he doing?" Kailey repeated.

I sighed, adjusting my protective glasses as I tried to adjust myself to the new situation at hand. "He is the cure," I answered. "The cure for the Medusa Serum is simply immeasurable cuteness, but it would come at the cost of him transforming."

My remaining henchmen burbled around me. Some were going through the remaining working computers, others discussing among themselves, until one approached Kailey and I. The blue octopus explained that the ray gun was picking up immeasurable cuteness. And I mean, not just because he was a cute creature, but really, really, truly immeasurable cuteness. Like, infinite cuteness levels.

"He won't be affected by the ray gun if I shoot?" I asked, not believing it myself. My henchmen would never lie to me, though. We had an anomaly among us. Mort was something special, and just what we needed to set things right.

"Kailey, I need you to stand in front of the ray gun and get shot," I said.

"What? Are you crazy?" she snapped back.

"Please, listen to me. Mort is the cure, and everything will be okay. You have got to trust me."

Kailey looked at me sternly, her red eyes reminded me of my own, shifting back and forth between mine. "Okay, Dave…" she said. "I trust you."

My henchmen returned the remote control to me as she stood in front of the ray gun. Mort giggled as we all steeled ourselves for the upcoming shot, his giggles odd in contrast to the constant echoing of roars and angry pounds on the other side of the door.

After merely a moment of contemplation, my hearts jumped as I thought to ask her something. Truth be told, I wasn't sure how things were going to work out. Everything had been going so poorly that my outlook took a stance of caution, but within it I held a sense of hope.

"Kailey, will you marry me?"

I saw the look on her face change from an ominous determination to surprise. Her eyes brightened as she stared at me, her mouth partly agape.

If she was a green "monster" as the result of my Medusa Serum, or the real human Kailey, it didn't matter. I loved her all the same. The good and the bad parts of her made her who she was: a person, a complex being, and perhaps a bit of a mystery. A mystery I wanted to spend my life discovering.

"Yes," Kailey replied, her voice soft.

I looked at my dearest one last time, and pressed the button.

The light of the ray gun sent a white shot at her, engulfing her, and for a split second it blinded me as I remained alert. I was anxious to see what resulted.

Mort chuckled, saying "That tickles," before I realized he was indeed completely intact.

My gaze shifted to Kailey next, and standing there…

"Dave!" Kailey cried as she felt her arms and her stomach. Her clothes were ripped and tattered from all she had been through; remnants of the dirt and ash from the explosion that started all this remained on the old worn cloth, serving as a testimony of all her recent tribulations. Despite what she had come out of, she rose like a phoenix, smiling at me. "Dave, look! It's me!"

I rushed up and stood in front of her, looking down at her now, her height returned to normal, too. I felt like I was staring at a dream, I had no words, but after a moment, I lifted an arm, caressing her face gently as I looked into her eyes. Her beautiful, brown eyes.

"It is you," I said.

She pulled me into a tight embrace, for the longest time unable to let go. I could feel the relief in her body as she exhaled.

It was a moment long in the making, and one I wanted to bask in for longer, but alas, we still had a job to finish and a mess to fix…

"I'm going to need your help to put an end to all this, dearest," I said.

"I know," Kailey responded, her voice still calm, trusting. Despite the loud bangs at the door from the wolf tirelessly attempting to escape, and the remaining aura of impending doom that moments earlier seemed non-survivable, she confidently said next, "What's your plan?"

I knew in my hearts, then and there, that we had this in the bag.