Chapter 29 #2
I stroke my hand on the outside of Athena’s thigh, keeping her wrapped tightly in my arms. I wish I could shove her face into my chest and not give these monsters the chance to look at her, but I won’t make that decision for her.
“Why do you look so scandalized?” the older doctor continues.
“This should not be a shock to anyone. The Design Clinic was founded to create our children exactly how we want them to be. To have the designations that we need them to be. This is easier, cheaper, and guaranteed. The Plain Jane case showed that we can design for a specific outcome all we want, yet still not achieve the expected result. This is the next stage. The Clinic didn’t want to let me test my theory, so I found someone who would. ”
The doctor is ranting, his face growing red as he speaks, and Athena sinks deeper in my lap as Atlas unconsciously moves closer to me. It’s an awkward movement, but I snag the seat of his chair and pull him to my side.
The Plain Jane case was all over the news years ago.
An unnamed Omega, who was over-designed with traits that were not associated with Omegas at the Design Clinic, hoping to produce a Beta, but who presented as one anyway, with severe health issues from the manipulation.
Her parents sued the Design Clinic because of her designation and lost, but the damage had already been done.
Somewhere out there is an Omega with a life harder than it should be because her parents were so prejudiced against Omegas that they chose to purposefully saddle her with health conditions, hoping to prevent her from becoming one.
“You were the Designer.” Sebass’s voice has me turning and looking at the doorway, where he stands with his laptop hanging loosely in one hand. “You were the one who gave that poor Omega all those health issues, hoping to create a Beta.”
“I did what her parents asked of me,” he says flippantly.
“You faced no repercussions,” he continues, setting his laptop on the table and spinning it around so the doctor can see the screen. “It’s here in the court transcripts. The Clinic stood by you, even though you permanently disabled someone.”
“It proved that the Omega genes are superior. No matter what I threw at her, what genes I mutated, that child was born to be an Omega. It was part of her DNA so deeply that it could not be overridden.” He gestures at the screen, eyes wild.
“It’s all there. An Omega can fight through anything and still present.
An Alpha is even stronger. We could be the first nation of all Alphas and Omegas, don’t you see?
I am bringing us back to the roots of the Clinic before the private sector got involved and pushed for change. ”
My stomach churns. All of this information that he’s throwing at us shows that this is a level of conspiracy that reaches farther than we could have ever guessed.
I err on the side of taking what madmen say with a grain of salt, but if he’s to be believed, the original goal of the Design Clinic was to create a society with no Betas.
Betas are the backbone of our society. Without them, businesses could not operate through juggling all the heats and ruts that come up with the other designations. Their biology does not drive them in the same way that it does the rest of us.
Joshua squirms uncomfortably in his chair, darting his eyes between all of us. “We never intended for anyone to die.”
“Intention doesn’t excuse impact.” Athena adjusts herself in my lap, fingers digging into my forearm like I’m her only anchor. “Not that I think your intention was good or anything.”
Atlas stares at the top of the table, studying his hands. His shoulders are hunched, and our thighs press against each other now. With some maneuvering, I free one hand to rest it on his knee. This close, their scents wrap around me, sour lemon and bitter iced tea from their distress.
“What did you do to me?” my friend and Omega asks quietly.
“We made you an Omega,” the doctor says flippantly.
“No. Athena has gaps in her memory. What are we missing?”
The doctor sucks on his teeth, feigning confusion. “I can’t think of anything.”
Atlas turns his attention to Joshua, banging his hand on the table and snarling. “What am I missing? What did you take from me?”
Joshua looks at the doctor, then me, then Sebass. “What do you plan to do to me?”
Harvey comes striding into the room, running his fingers through his hair. His snarl twists his striking face. “Nothing legal.”
He focuses his attention on Harvey, clearly identifying him as the most influential one in this situation. “Will I get leniency?”
This fucker thinks he deserves leniency after what he did to my Omegas?
“Maybe,” Harvey drawls, slipping his hands into the pockets of his jacket. “Depends on whether it is good info.”
Joshua rubs his red-rimmed eyes. “Good enough. Beta Subject twenty-one-”
“Atlas. My name is fucking Atlas.”
He winces. “Apologies. Atlas was a unique subject. After Omega Subject—Ethel passed, we attempted multiple times to infect others with the virus. We were unsuccessful with all of them until Atlas arrived.”
Athena whimpers and buries her face in my neck. I barely hear the words she whispers against my skin. “That’s why they all died.”
“We believe he took to the Omega virus so well because he also had Alpha heritage. The strength of his Alpha traits enabled the virus to multiply sufficiently, allowing it to latch onto the latent Omega genes. While Athena had multiple copies of the Omega gene, which we had initially tried to enhance in several other ways before we activated the retrovirus, Atlas’s Omega concentration was negligible.
” The technician looks at Sebass, assuming, most likely because he burst in here with a computer, that he is the most intelligent of us all.
“It’s possibly why they were able to bond.
To present as an Alpha, someone must have the gene present in over sixty percent of their genome.
To present as an Omega, that gene must be present on at least seventy-five percent of their genome, and it must be located on particular strands.
All of us have markers of both, but not everyone has enough to present.
” His eyes light up, clearly in his element and forgetting where the fuck he is.
“Athena had Omega genes on thirty percent of her genome, but on key locations. Her Alpha markers were negligible at four percent. Her body was easily susceptible to becoming an Omega, allowing the virus to multiply and incorporate the Omega gene into a sufficient portion of her genome to alter her designation. Atlas, however, had Alpha markers on thirty percent and Omega on fifteen percent. The Alpha designation genes must have assisted the virus in mutating the Omega ones, despite the low concentration in his original genome. But we were unable to do a full analysis because…”
“Because we broke them out of your hell hole,” I spit.
Joshua drops his eyes and stares at the wood grain of the table. “That was all. It was blood tests and transfusions. We didn’t do anything more than that to you, Atlas.”
To you.
Those two words, that minor qualifier, say so much.
Atlas pushes back from the table, his whole body shaking. “You mean I could’ve been an Alpha, and you chose to make me an Omega?”
“It wasn’t that simple,” the doctor interrupts.
“We had no Alpha subjects to extract the DNA profile from. Athena was the first Beta to have her DNA successfully altered by the virus. We are still in the infancy of this remarkable medical advancement. The next stage would have been recreating the virus, but with Alpha DNA in its coding. But, as I am sure you can imagine, Alphas are much harder to come by, and not the most pressing need.”
The Omega barrels through the doctor’s words.
“I was happy being a Beta. I had a good life. I didn’t want to be anything else.
But now I learn you could have made me an Alpha.
That if I were to be anything other than a Beta, an Alpha would’ve been my body’s natural course.
You could have made me strong and given me worth in this world. Instead, you made me a fucking Omega.”
A whine escapes Athena, and I can feel the moment the stress of the situation overwhelms her and she leaves her body. She grows slack, and when I grab her chin, wrenching her face so I can look in her eyes, they’re completely blank.
Atlas notices shortly after I do, and he swears. “Fuck, Athena, I’m sorry…”
Harvey shakes his head and pushes past Atlas.
“You’re going through a lot. A massive change.
And this whole interaction couldn’t have been easy for you.
We understand all of that and haven’t pushed you.
But now you’re hurting Athena with your bullshit.
Get your shit together or get out, Atlas.
She may love you and be unwilling to tell you what you’re doing hurts her, but I’m not going to bullshit you.
” The gruff Alpha pulls Athena from my arms and sweeps out of the room, ignoring my weak protests at having her taken from me.
Sebass closes his laptop and stands. He doesn’t look at Atlas at all, addressing the two medical ‘professionals’ that sit in the room.
“You’re going to turn your research over to me.
I’m going to find and destroy every bit of it so no one else has to be experimented on or have a designation change forced upon them.
I want you to die knowing your ‘life’s work’ will be as forgotten as you are. ”
As he leaves, ignoring Atlas and the way the reluctant Omega’s hands fist at his sides, I push to my feet. “I’m sending some Hawks in. It’s in your best interest to give them any information you have about who you work for. If it were up to me, you’d be put down like the fucking dogs you are.”
Neither of them responds, but I don’t expect them to. I grab Atlas by the elbow and haul him out of the room with me.
“We’re done,” I hiss in his ear. “You’re done. Fix your shit or I’ll fix it for you.”