Chapter 1.1.33 — The Illusion of Choice

“Let me get this straight… You’ve been a super for a little over a week, and you want to take another mutagen already?”

Dr. Venture’s eyes were narrowed and focused on Emmett. There might have been a hint of a smile on the doctor’s face, but somehow that unsettled Emmett more.

Until that moment, Emmett had been dying to get to the lab so he could confer with Dr. Venture and Clara about the mutagens. The weekend had dragged, classes had dragged. Even the jog over to the lab had taken forever. Emmett had practically barged into the medical wing and dumped the vials onto the center table.

Now Emmett felt like a kid who’d gotten caught sneaking candy before dinner.

“That wasn’t the only reason I took them. It was a reason… but not the only one.”

Venture glanced again at the vials in the grocery bag and shook his head. “And Athena just let you take them?”

The name made Emmett’s throat go dry. “You already knew…”

“I’m keeping tabs on you, remember?” Venture’s voice was level, as if he wasn’t concerned about that detail at all. “Now, answer the question.”

“Right,” Emmett replied, still processing the fact that keeping secrets would be harder than he thought. “Well, she hesitated. Told me that she wasn’t my mother, and not to take more than one at a time.”

Venture nodded and turned back to the vials. “She’s right on both counts… I’m not against you taking these, but you’ll need to give me time to analyze them. We’ll need to make sure that you won’t have an adverse reaction with the Mutagen-A already in your system, especially considering that these aren’t exactly Gnosis-approved.”

Emmett leaned on the table, looking over the cold, multicolored vials. “Have you seen anything like this before? Athena said that there’s a lot of these shipments.”

“I’ve heard rumors, both from outside and inside Gnosis.”

Emmett regarded Venture curiously. “What do you do for Gnosis? And how do you have a lab underneath their parking garage?”

Venture scoffed. “They have a parking garage above my lab. I was here first. As for what I do… Makes you wonder, doesn’t it?”

Emmett rolled his eyes. “It does. I’ll add it to the mystery pile.”

~

Emmett spent the rest of the day training in the Gray Room and doing classwork at night. Tuesday was more of the same.

It felt like Lock was avoiding him. Emmett hadn’t spoken more than two words to his roommate since the party. Lock was always working late or sleeping in. Emmett hoped that he hadn’t said something stupid at the party and made things awkward with Lock and his friends.

Clara also seemed tight-lipped during their trainings, even leaving Emmett early to go out by herself in the city.

He asked if it was another lead on Porcelain, but Clara said that she couldn’t say. Emmett guessed that her dad had sworn her to secrecy, but she wouldn’t confirm it.

Eventually, Emmett quit prying—each time he asked, Clara’s face twisted into a frown like she didn’t want to keep it from him.

At least she didn’t seem to get a kick out of keeping secrets like Venture did.

~

It was late Tuesday. Clara had already left the lab, leaving Emmett to train alone against auto-piloted robots. After an hour or so, Emmett gave up playing tag and walked out of the Gray Room in frustration.

He could only train for so long. Wasn’t he supposed to be out there doing something? Clara was.

Dr. Venture met him in the main hallway.

“Follow me,” was all he said.

~

“There are five compounds.” Venture pointed to the five vials on the center of the biomedical table before continuing. “Unfortunately, you don’t have that many choices.”

Venture went on to explain each of the vials:

He pointed to the first vial, one the color of blood. “The first compound is a modification of Mutagen-A, designed to stimulate platelet and soft tissue production. In short, it would increase your healing factor by an additional factor of two to three. Unfortunately, it also stimulates tumor growth. You’d heal faster, but also kill yourself in the process. Therefore, I’m denying that choice.”

The second vial was a swirl of unmixing red and brown. “This increases the density of the dermal and subdermal layers of tissue. In short, it would increase the strength and resilience of your skin.”

Emmett frowned. He could already hear the disgust in Venture’s tone. “What’s wrong with it?”

“It would also change the appearance and texture of your skin… Something akin to the scales of a crocodile. In light of that, I’m denying this choice as well. Appearing normal is an advantage you shouldn’t give up.”

He didn’t give Emmett time to voice concern before going to the third vial, which seemed to swirl with a mix of greens. “This was an interesting compound. It allows the body to create different chemical compounds not unlike those of the poison dart frog and other amphibians. Some were poisonous, even lethal, while others were hallucinogenic. Good for killing or disabling an opponent, depending on how the compound is secreted.”

“That doesn’t sound bad… What?”

Venture sighed. “Poisons are… frowned upon. Unless you want to look like a villain, I’d advise against this one.”

Now Emmett couldn’t help but groan. “So this is like one of those video games where there’s multiple choices, but the outcome is the same?”

“Something like that.”

Emmett held his hands up in defeat. “So why give me the option?”

“I knew you would ask what the others did. So I told you.”

“...Fair enough.”

Venture continued to the fourth vial, one that almost seemed to glow bright green. “This was another interesting compound. It helps amplify the body's innate electric field, even to the point of generating an impressive electrical charge. Think of the shock of an electric eel.”

Emmett nodded. That was more like it. “...What’s the catch?”

“No catch. I ran five simulations with each compound. These last two were completely safe.”

“Okay. What about the last one?”

Venture gestured to the vial with swirling amber liquid. “This is perhaps the simplest one. It stimulates division of the rods and cones found in the human eye—specifically the rods. It will even stimulate the growth of UV and infrared receptors. It won’t be as dramatic as wearing night vision goggles, but simply put, your low light vision will improve by several factors. You’ll be able to see well in everything except absolute darkness.”

“That… is not as cool as the other options.”

Venture smirked. “Not as flashy, but infinitely more useful. And we might be able to revise the formula in the future.”

Emmett looked over the vials again. He only had two options, which was disappointing, but at least the fourth option seemed useful. Emmett was already thinking ahead, stunning opponents with an electrical charge—maybe even at range with his whip.

Venture cleared his throat.

Emmett looked up, defeated. “What now?”

Venture explained, “Of the two options, I suggest you go with vial five—low light vision. If you’re considering option four, I’ll just say that’s something we can duplicate with tech rather easily.”

Emmett did his best to keep a straight face. “I can’t take both, can I?”

“No,” Venture replied flatly. “Your body will take time to acclimate to each new mutagen. We need to see how you react before you take a second vial.”

“Is there any chance that we can modify the other compounds so that they’re safe to take?”

Venture met Emmett’s eyes, and this time there was a hint of satisfaction on his face. “Not without Gnosis’s help, and I’m not keen on them asking questions.”

Emmett nodded. “Fair enough.” Then his decision was already made. “Can I take it now?”

Venture nodded. “So long as you’re willing to hang around for another hour to make sure there aren’t any side effects.”

“Hah! I’d stay the night and have a sleepover if I needed to.”

Venture didn’t laugh, didn’t even crack a smile.

“Or not.”

Venture handed him the vial. “I’d swallow it quickly.”

Emmett took the vial and was about to ask why when he uncorked the top and got a whiff. It smelled like pure gasoline.

He gagged and asked, “You’re sure this is okay to drink?”

Venture smirked and nodded.

Emmett eyed the vial suspiciously before forcing himself to drink it. He wanted to get stronger, and taking a shot of something nasty had to be one of the quickest and easiest ways to do it.

He remembered what Lock told him once about pinching his nose when he took a shot of liquor to make the taste less intense. Emmett pinched his nose and tilted the vial all the way back.

Pinching his nose didn’t help in the slightest.

The mutagen burned all the way down like he’d swallowed red-hot coals. Emmett tried to breathe and it felt like flames were shooting out his nose.

It was everything he could do to set the empty vial down and grab onto the table while he hacked up his lungs. By the time he was done, his eyes were watering fiercely.

Meanwhile, Venture was wincing with laughter. “You college kids.”

~

Emmett didn’t stop coughing for a full minute after drinking the vial—long enough for Venture to leave the room and come back with a water bottle.

Emmett sipped on it, savoring the cold sensation.

Finally, mercifully, he stopped coughing.

“Good stuff?” Venture asked. He smirked, and Emmett realized he was asking about the mutagen.

“That was horrible,” Emmett whispered. “Not even Lock could take a shot of that without coughing. Are all of them that bad?”

Dr. Venture turned toward the monitors. “No. Most of Gnosis’s formulas are administered intravenously.”

Emmett looked apprehensively at the empty vial on the center table. “I can see why. So, how long should it take before I notice an improvement?”

“The body’s incorporation of the mutagen should happen on a parabolic curve.” Venture mimicked the arch-shape with a finger. “It will take a day for your body to break down the compounds. You won’t notice anything at first except for some gastrointestinal discomfort. Once your body starts incorporating the mutagen, changes should happen rather quickly. Your eyes will make more rods and cones, your optic nerve will acclimate, and you’ll notice a sudden improvement in your low-light vision. Then improvements will taper off as your eyes finish changing and your nerves optimize. In two to four days, the mutagen should be fully integrated.”

“Can I keep training?”

“I don’t see why not. If it were your bones that were changing, I would say to take a few days off. Maybe don’t get into too much late night trouble.”

Emmett chuckled, trying to hide his excitement. “I’ll try not to.”

Even if seeing in the dark wasn’t a flashy power, getting a new ability was enough to lift his spirits and shake off the last of the taste of the mutagen.

Athena had said that seeing in the dark was a fairly rare power… maybe it would be more useful than he first thought.

Emmett glanced at the other mutagens on the table. “Why would anyone put these on the streets if they’re going to kill or disfigure their host?”

“Money or power,” Venture responded. “It always comes back to those two things. Usually money.” He turned to Emmett. “Sit tight. I’ll be back within the hour. If you feel anything more than an upset stomach, let TINA know.”

~ ~ ~