Ephemeral Permanence

Ephemeral Permanence

by Ticklefish

dedicated to barb

*****************


"Your virus, Albert."

William lofted a glass cannister into the air triumphantly. The clear liquid inside swirled around innocently. It looked like nothing so much as a phial of water.

This was far more precious than mere water could ever hope to be.

"Your virus, Will."

I held a similar container next to his and we lightly clinked the glass together.

We'd done it.

After much hard work and toil, not to mention a lot of late, sleepless nights, we'd finished it. In our hands, we held the thing that would make us, that would seal our names in the history books.

We held a virus that would turn a man or a woman into a super-being. Heightened speed, heightened reflexes, heightened strength. The corporation may have been making devices of war but we had made something that would make war a thing of the past.

My life finally seemed to be turning around.

S.T.A.R.S. was becoming a public success and had long since gone beyond Irons's attempts to hide it. We were doing good in the city and the city knew about it.

Chris and I had repeated that first night many times since. I was worried he'd be funny about it but it was almost as though the alcohol had unlocked the floodgates and set him free. I had been with him at his apartment and he had been with me at mine.

We were keeping it secret from everyone else though. At work, I still had to be the big tough Captain Wesker, riding him hard to ensure he gives his best.

But after hours I..well...I rode him hard and he most certainly gave his best.

I'd long since stopped worrying about the fact that I was with a man. Chris wasn't a man as such. He was Chris and that was all.

We were very much in love and my feelings for him burned brighter with every day.

With my love-life doing well, it was only fitting that my professional life would be as well.

Will and I had solved the problem of the test subjects dying and had created a masterpiece.

There was just one problem. We didn't know if it would work on a human.

The rats we'd injected had reacted positively, although we had to gas them all to prevent any chances of an outbreak.

But humans and rats, despite some prime examples, were different species. We needed to test the thing on a human before we put it into production. It was the final stage and we had no idea how to do it.

Umbrella wasn't short of human test subjects. It was a company with very low morals and it didn't pay to question where they got the poor souls from. There was one girl in particular who was hidden away in the depths of the mansion that gave me nightmares. But we couldn't use those. If it worked, the virus would make them practically superhuman and that would cause untold complications.

So we were stuck.

We had spent all that time and effort and our reward was slipping through our fingers.

Will and I sat in our respective chairs and sulked. In front of us sat the two glass containers that were all but useless to us. If I looked anything like Will, I looked very miserable indeed.

"What do we do?" he said, not for the first time.

"I don't know." I replied, also repeating myself.

The minutes passed.

"Hell with it." Will exclaimed, slapping the benchtop. "I'll apply for a subject. It's the only way. We have to. We'll just have keep a very close eye on them."

"You can't do that. It's too big a risk. And besides you'd basically be giving it over to Vladimir," I protested, naming one of our more detested superiors, "he'd claim it for himself. This is our project. We deserve all the plaudits."

The minutes continued to pass.

Then a strange idea stole across me. It was an unusual thought, but the more I considered it, the more I realised how inevitable it was. There was only one way out of this predicament. I could imagine Will's reaction though and so I chose my next few words carefully.

"It's so frustrating." I took a spare hypodermic and drew out a dose from the nearest of the two containers. "We've gone to all this trouble, only to fall at the last hurdle. Without someone to stick this in, we've got nothing."

"Uh-huh." said Will, not really listening.

I looked down at the underside of my left forearm, made a fist and took a deep breath.

"These truly are desperate times."

"Right."

I winced as the needle bit into my flesh.

"And desperate times call for desperate measures."

"What are you talking.."

Will looked up and saw what I was doing.

"Albert!" he cried but it was too late.

Before I could change my mind, I pushed the plunger home.

I had no choice really.

I just hoped I wasn't doing anything silly.

I had only got together with Chris a few months ago. As the room went black, I realised just how badly I was going to miss him.


***


"Have another drink, Albert."

"I don't need another drink."

I notice a glass on the table.

"Have one anyway. Why not? Do you have somewhere else you should be going?"

I scowl but take hold of the glass anyway. I drain it in one swallow. It leaves a taste of aniseed in my mouth.

"You seem angry, Albert."

"Shut up, Excella."

She laughs, Her voice is clear and lound.

"Oh, Albert, you are a true delight! After all this, after that Redfield boy beat you to a standstill, you're still fighting. You just won't realise it's over, will you?

"It's not over." her words set off a small spark of resentment in me. "I'll find a way around this. I'll beat him yet. I am destined to rule this world."

She looks at me in pity.

"You're 'destined'? Albert, Albert..you will not let go. It's over, darling."

I may have lost the virus, I may have lost the thing that made me powerful, but I am still a force to be reckoned with.

I may not be as strong as I once was, but I'm still just as smart. And this tart in front of me is making me more and more annoyed with every mocking word.

"It may be over for you, Excella. Your part has been played. But I'm not done yet."

I get up to go. If this is the afterlife, there has to be a way out. I came in somehow and I will be leaving.

"You talk about destiny, Albert, but destiny has a way to play you for a fool."

Something in her tone makes me pause.

"I was destined to rule by your side." her voice is cold. "but then you betrayed me. You killed me."

Her eyes are narrowed and her body language has changed. She's angry and she's already proved she's just as fast as I am.

Or I am just as slow as her.

Despite my anger, I feel something that I haven't felt for a long time.

I feel a slight fear.


***