SATe [✔]

[27] compensate

"It didn't work, did it?" I exclaimed as I walked up to the glass on the viewing platform above the cells. Anne had been lingering here since we arrived back at the base. She'd already accumulated charts and measuring devices in an effort to faithfully observe the changes in Marie, "She's still an Avvon?"

I couldn't help but feel disappointed. I had given myself a slither of hope when Emie had been reverted to her human form; optimistically believing that the same result would occur in Marie.

"I did tell you that there was a chance the antidote would have no effect on a full transformation," She muttered sombrely, scribbling words down on her clipboard as Marie ground her feet into the floor, "As long as I have her here I can continue running tests, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."

Marie had been attempting to release herself from the cell we'd placed her in from the moment she'd regained consciousness. The metallic fingertips that Avvon possessed hadn't been missed on her; she was in the process of making long scratch marks inside of the concrete near the door. Every move she made was accompanied by unsteadiness and sway; the drugs in her system not yet having time to dissolve.

In the back of the car Perry had placed her in, Cassiel had taken the short window of time he had and injected her with a small vial. He'd pulled it out from the vest he'd been forced to wear and carefully transferred it to a syringe, each second of the process done patiently; he couldn't afford to mess it up. Any sign of movement had been cut short as it penetrated through the exterior of her skin, the pink substance clinging to the needle and making the ordeal more difficult than it ought to have been.

The more I watched her, the more I found Anne's hypothesis concerning. Marie had obtained many of the characteristics of an Avvon, as well as, as far as I could tell a decrease in her general intellect. She'd been rendered unable to speak in distinct sentences, and despite knowing the various codes to the cells, was yet to use them.

Perry had made his way between us and started to observe the words that Anne was writing down. A permanent frown had been fixed on his face since we'd evacuated the brewery; it had only gotten worse when he'd had to call three different organisations to contain the situation at Markstone. Subsidiaries of SATe needed to be contacted for both alien capture and scene clean-up; all mechanisms needed to be seized and reviewed. The process had been long and hard, each phone call increasing in irritation.

I imagine if it were up to him, he'd hand off this responsibility to Alexandria; but regrettably, as the leader, he was the spokesperson.

He'd cleared his throat before placing a hand against the glass, "Why not? Surely, it's reversible. If we can revert a part-transformation, we can find a way to reverse a full one." Anne had whipped her head towards him with a look of disdain; I imagine she was thinking 'How can you be so ignorant?'

Instead of venting this frustration, she'd opted to take a deep breath and rub her left temple roughly, "Her DNA is constantly evolving in shifts. Catching up to that is near impossible," She'd turned to look back at me on her left side, and upon seeing my face drop, decided to add a small level of optimistic solution, "I'd need to create an antidote that completely eradicated any changes while restoring her original genetics. I'm not even sure that's possible."