CHLORIS

1. CHANCE

There's no doubt in her heart that spring is the most beautiful time of the year. Right when the flowers and leaves are coming back to life. Grasses starting to dominate nature with its green. It's the time when 25-year old, Colleen MacLeod felt most alive.

She made her way casually through the hallways of Worthington Labs facility. On one side of the hallway were doors into experiment laboratories and on the other side were large glass windows with the breathtaking view of a beautiful lush garden outside of the facility.

On the end of the hallway was a door that led to the main laboratory. That's where Colleen works every day of the week. Halfway through, a white haired middle-aged man came out from one of the experiment labs. He was dressed up in an expensive suit, carrying what seemed to be important files.

It was no other than the big man of Worthington Labs himself, Warren Worthington Sr. – Colleen offered him a friendly smile, in return she received one too. "Morning, Mr. Worthington," she greeted.

"Good morning, Colleen." He called him by her first name because they were indeed quite close.

During her years of studying Biology and plant studies in Oxford University, she was known as the brilliant girl who topped her class every year. This is how she got scouted by Mr. Worthington when he was searching for top scientists to run his facility.

The two shared a little chat about their day and then went on to carry their own business. Colleen got inside her laboratory and continued with her research on biochemical weapons. The raging war in Vietnam has called for some desperate help through advanced technology.

Her work carried out until midday. She finished printing out some reports and placed them somewhere safe. She would then continue to clean up her workspace and after all that work, she sat down on the stool with a microscope sitting on the counter in front of her.

It was another normal day at work – that's what she expected at first. Then, something caught her attention. A piece of glass slide sitting underneath the lenses. Out of curiosity, she took a closer look and saw green plant cells slowly multiplying on an average rate. Suddenly, she remembered.

She was too focused on work that she forgot about her personal experiment. Over the last two months, Colleen had been working on her own special weapon. This was not a weapon to eliminate, however to empower. More specifically, her own powers.

Inside a locked drawer under her workspace counters, Colleen pulled out a set of microscope slides containing different specimens from countless of trials. All of the trials have not resulted in anything significant. "No changes in rate, cell states, sizes..." She looked down and sighed, "Failed again."

She took out her research notebook and a red marker. On one of the pages, she drew a huge 'x' that marked another unsuccessful experiment. Out of frustration, she just sat there in her own thoughts, stressing about where she went wrong.

Just seconds later, she was interrupted by two polite knocks on her door. She took off her reading spectacles and brushed her long dark hair aside. In front of her door stood a lean postured man with an anxious look behind his thick spectacles. He said, "Ms. MacLeod? You have visitors."

He looked slightly shaken, but still, she had no idea who this young man was. Assuming he was just an intern, she told him, "I'm sorry. I don't take visitors at this hour."

"They insist, Miss." His eyes seemed almost begging. She started to grow scared, thinking it would be FBI or some military intelligence trying to steal her research. Finally, he stepped to one side, revealing the two visitors who came looking for her. One of the strangers turned out to be surprisingly familiar.