we the cursed, nct dream ✔

the beginning

The air inside of the laboratory was suffocating.

An elderly man, quite noticeably distinguished-looking, stood at the very front of the room, a dark, looming force. He glanced from the young male scientist to the large screen set up on the front wall and then back to him again, jaw clenching imperceptibly. "Well? What were the test results?"

When the first boy averted his gaze, remaining silent, the man looked around at the rest of the team. They also lowered their eyes and hung their heads, almost comically uniform in their pristine white lab coats. The older man loudly rapped his cane against the floor, and they flinched, simultaneously. His eyes narrowed dangerously. "I will not ask again."

A young woman with neat copper hair pulled into a bright scrunchie finally made eye contact, the bravest of them all. "Sir, the experiment... didn't quite go as planned."

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" he snarled.

She stiffened at his harsh tone, but didn't drop her gaze. "The results we were looking for didn't manifest themselves," she said, in one fast breath. "The nanoles were able to enter efficiently, but didn't end up doing what we expected them to, at least we don't think so. Instead, it seems like-"

"So you failed," the older man interrupted, the expression on his visage impassive now.

They stayed quiet.

"You promised that this would work, didn't you?" His knuckles whitened as they clenched the handle of his cane. "So why did you fail?"

"Sir-"

"I invested millions, almost billions, into this project. And this is how you repay me?" he roared suddenly, swinging his cane so that it rammed into the glass of the nearest window. It shattered loudly and they just stared at him, wide-eyed and fearful.

"B-but, sir," the young male scientist from earlier stammered, trembling. "We did find something else that you might be interested in."

The man rolled his eyes, heaving a long-suffering breath. "What is it?"

The auburn-haired woman took over once again. She strode up to the large screen set up on the wall, shoulders set as she turned back around to face them. "The nanoles didn't completely reconfigure their systems... but it seems like they added to them instead."

The old man tapped his foot impatiently. "Get on with it, will you? I have other places to be."

"Yes, sir." She tapped around on the screen for a moment, zooming in on what looked a little like some sort of x-ray. "In this baby, there was something just... off. Take a look." She changed the view so that they were now seeing the picture like it was under a microscope.

"What?" The man narrowed his eyes at the screen, the lines in the body on the picture swimming in his sight. "That's too many nerves, especially for a baby."

"Precisely." She nodded briskly. "We think that may be a product of the nanotech."

He eyed her. "And what does that have to do with anything?"

The young female scientist hesitated. Then she moved the screen to show what now seemed like a video shown from a bird's-eye-view camera angle, with a baby sleeping soundly in its incubator. They watched as, on camera, the female scientist entered inside. She switched the light on and walked over to the sleeping baby. It woke up and began to wail loudly.

Suddenly, the light turned off. On camera, she flinched. And then it turned on again, then off. Again and again, randomly. There was nobody near the switch.

"What's so important about a random power outage?" The old man inquired, more curious now than disbelieving.

"That's what we thought it was too. But then we viewed it under an electron microscope." The video played again, but everything was now dark save for the electric things in the room - like the light switches, incubators, and other machinery. And strangely enough... the baby boy's body was also glowing.

The old man's mouth dropped open. "What?"

As they watched, an electric beam shot out from the baby's tiny hand and crashed into the switch. It happened again and again, before finally it stopped and the baby's body was no longer visible.

"Do you see, sir?" The woman pointed to the screen. "It was the baby that was controlling the electricity."

Yes, he could see that. But... how on earth?

"Since that night, what we saw has never happened again. But these same strange nerves were also found in all the other newborns. We predict that the other babies will be found with the same strangeness, even if it doesn't show immediately." She looked him straight in the eye. "So the drug did do something... we're just not exactly sure what yet."

The man's brain was whirling. What he'd been trying to achieve had certainly been problematic, but it would've ushered in possibilities that mankind would never have seen before. This, however, this was different. He was presented with a choice: he could close this all down, eliminate everyone who knew of what he'd done, and cover his tracks well enough that he could continue living peacefully. Regardless of what may be discovered later.

Or... he could keep going. And still try to accomplish his goal, but through a wholly different path.

The old man exhaled. "Well, figure it out." He glared hard at the team of scientists. "Find out what this is. But do not breathe a word about it to anyone else. I trust you kept the previous process under wraps, like I'd asked."

"Yes, sir," they chorused.

"Good. Continue that with this now. I don't care how long it takes, study as much about this as you can. Are we clear?"

"What about the babies, sir?" A voice called out. "We aren't able to know exactly how many of these strange ones there are. Besides, they won't be in the hospital for much longer."

The old man swiveled back around to face them. Their gazes held uncertainty as they looked back at him, the gravity of the situation almost visibly weighing on their shoulders. But he could also detect something else: excitement. Anticipation over their newest breakthrough, and the immense curiosity that motivated wanting to find out more. He smirked. "Test whatever you can now, and then study it when they're gone. Besides, you do know of some of these weird ones, right?" He shrugged. "Simply track them."

And that was where he left the team of scientists. The man went down the elevator, past the doors outside, and climbed into the sleek black car waiting for him. "Home, please," he curtly instructed the chauffeur. The old man's mind was full for the entirety of the drive, thinking about everything he'd just seen. Had he made the wrong choice? Should he even have begun any of this?

Well, it was too late now.

He may have failed before, but he would not fail now. It wasn't like he was getting any younger, and there was just no way his entire life's work would prove to be so fruitless; yielding nothing. Some way, somehow, he was going to achieve what he wanted. Perhaps not precisely in the way that he would've liked, but it would be achieved nonetheless.

It was time for a Plan B.