No Chance, Ch 14
No Chance Chapter 14 copyright 2014 comidacomida
Daryl had always considered himself to be a relatively reasonable man; he did not tend to overreact and he always made it a point to think with his head before respond with his emotions. When he found out about the events involving Courtney down in the lab, however, the reflexive response did not follow his usual pattern of calm, collected resolution. Before the less civil portion of his mind took over completely, he elected to seek out David and have a 'heart-to-heart' 'talk'.
"Are you done?" the ferret inquired calmly after what was the third or fourth time the panther ended up on the ground. As before, David turned out to be the better hand-to-hand fighter, and had no problems putting the junior agent in his place. Panting, Daryl slowed his breathing and let out a deep sigh, gazing up at the inset lighting of David's office; the floor felt strangely calming (or perhaps he simply had a concussion) and he finally managed to get himself under control. "I can't believe you didn't lock the doors to the offices."
"We still haven't found all the keys, in case you've forgotten. It would not be responsible for us to imprison the scientists without any way to get to them." David explained calmly, holding a paw down to assist Daryl up, "Are you sure you've calmed down? Your heart beat is still fast." the ferret's ears perked.
"Yea." the panther acknowledged, accepting the senior agent's assistance in helping him to his feet, "I just got finished with flying lessons after stalking down five corridors." Daryl smoothed out his fur, "I'm fine." Once his claws had retracted he took a much more well-mannered seat at David's desk, "Apparently I'm still having issues controlling these rages." he managed to keep most of the growl from his tone but, truth be told, he was frustrated about being frustrated... which only frustrated him all the more.
"You're doing better with them." David acknowledged, taking a seat on the opposite side of the desk, "I can see an improvement already."
"Well, I'm glad SOMEONE can." the panther snorted, "I've never attacked anyone... let alone a--" he paused, letting his claws retract again, "... let alone a senior agent." he smoothed down the fur atop his head, "Isn't there something we can do to see about helping with this? I mean... I'm a MAN, not some animal."
"Technically men ARE animals, Daryl." the ferret replied, "The only difference is that we have generations of domestication bred into us so we can maintain a degree of civility." and he began collating some papers that had been disturbed during Daryl's first, unceremonious trip across the desk.
"I just want to know what I can do to make it better." the panther did a relatively decent job of keeping his tone neutral.
"You already are." David responded, "Perhaps the problem isn't how you are NOW... it's how you USED to be."
"Come again?" Daryl questioned, admittedly in a none-too-friendly tone. He reminded himself that David wasn't TRYING to be insulting... he just lacked tact.
"Most humans are genetically disposed toward being docile in social situations." the ferret explained calmly, "Those who aren't tend to be branded by society as outsider, criminal, psychotic, neurotic, or politician."
Daryl nodded through the discussion, realizing the truth to David's words; he'd seen his fair share of people who didn't "mesh" with society's rules, and he saw the result too. The panther paused as all of the descriptive words finally registered, "Politician?"
"Or 'sociopath'." the ferret shrugged, stapling a stack of papers together before slipping them gingerly into a dark gray folder, "Sometimes I think the terms are interchangeable."
"So you're saying that I'm becoming a neurotic, psychotic, sociopath?" Daryl questioned, not particularly in the mood for David's dry humor.
"I'm saying you're becoming normal, Daryl." the ferret offered a strangely reassuring smile, "To be honest, I think you've spent so much time being a quiet yes-man that you've never developed the right skills for handling the negative emotions that the rest of us have to deal with on a daily basis..."
"That's just bullshit." the panther growled, whittling on the arm rest of his chair with a claw as he snorted.
David continued as if he hadn't been interrupted, "...and now that a lot of those barriers are gone thanks to some introduction of a little wild into you, there's a sudden need to learn the methods the rest of us have had to develop all along to deal with our less pleasant, much more objectionable sides."
Daryl sighed, wanting to disbelieve what David was saying, but, if he thought about it in earnest, he did realize that there was some degree of truth to what the ferret was saying... after all, if he WASN'T such a pushover then he wouldn't have joined the team on an out-of-office mission, "Well," he reasoned, "if some people are genetically disposed to being calm and pleasant then I guess it stands to reason that some people are just genetically assholes, doesn't it?" he glanced to David.
The ferret offered an eerily playful smile, "That WOULD explain why Fred hasn't had as much of a personality shift... wouldn't it?" Daryl despite his still dour mood, found himself laughing at the comment.
David continued sifting through the huge stack of papers on the desk while Daryl sat across from him in silence for several minutes before speaking up again, "I just wish I could have been there for Courtney..."
The ferret's eyes looked up even though his head remained down, glancing across the desk over the rim of his glasses, "That just means you'll be there next time." he offered amicably, and looked back down at his work.
"I can't be there for her AND get work done, David." despite the frustration Daryl felt at issuing the statement, he somehow managed to keep the growl out of it.
The ferret raised an eyebrow, "If she's your fiance, you'll find time to be there for her... but it doesn't have to be ALL the time." he set down his paperwork and gave Daryl his undivided attention, "She and Rex get along quite well... Abe has had nothing but good things to say about her..."
Daryl objected immediately, "And when they were keeping an eye on her she almost gets gored by--" but David was quick to interrupt.
"They weren't keeping an eye on her... they were keeping her company until she wandered off." the ferret pointed out, "We can ASSIGN her someone to keep an eye on her... in shifts, if it would make you feel better." David offered, "Courtney NEEDS to be watched and guided while she's here, Daryl."
"And that's only because she doesn't know everything that's going on." the panther countered immediately, "If we explained the dangers of this facility and she understood more about what we're dealing with--"
"Daryl--" David interjected, "Even WE don't know all there is to know about what's going on, and to try and explain--"
"She doesn't have to be in the dark about EVERYTHING." Daryl pressed.
"You're right." the ferret nodded in agreement, catching the panther completely by surprise, "She doesn't have to be in the dark about everything." David folded his paws in front of himself on the desk, "So what would you propose?"
The question likewise caught Daryl off-guard; he honestly hadn't expected the senior agent to be so forthcoming in his agreement, "I..." the panther paused, "I'm not sure." he admitted candidly, "She..." and he trailed off, speechless.
"Privacy and confidentiality are one thing." the ferret spoke up when it was evident that Daryl wasn't going to, "Plausible deny-ability, and the thought that she shouldn't become TOO embroiled in all this mess. Obviously she doesn't HAVE to know ALL the details... in fact, I doubt that she SHOULD know all the details... but at least she SHOULD know the basics..." David nodded in thought, "for the sake of her safety, at the very least."
"Right..." Daryl nodded, "the basics."
David went back to shuffling through the numerous reports on the desk in front of him, "Would you be offended if I said that the interaction with Dr. Singh may have started us off on the right path?"
"WHAT?!" it was as much a roar as it was a question.
The ferret continued separating files, "Calm down please, Daryl, and let me explain." he didn't so much as look up.
The panther took his seat again, picking it back up from where he'd knocked it over in his eagerness to stand in objection, "What's that supposed to mean?" he clarified his earlier outburst.
"It means two different things." David set the papers down and looked across the desk at Daryl again, "First..." he held up his index finger, "It means that Courtney has now been exposed to someone other than us who was affected by the situation here, and she understands that there are different levels of severity."
"Like Dr. Singh going insane." Daryl snorted, not liking the thought that Courtney might somehow connect that to his own mental capacity.
"Or any of us NOT going insane." David was quick to add, "It means she now knows that there are others here in this base, and will hopefully encourage her to stay with one of us at all times... which..." he leveled his gaze again, "... means that she will be much more likely to accept the escort when we propose the idea."
Daryl didn't like the way the ferret explained it; the entire plan sounded almost manipulative in it's execution, "And two?" he pressed.
"Two." David held up his thumb, " We saw Dr. Singh's physiology return seamlessly to its original form."
"After he died." Daryl frowned.
"After he died." David confirmed.
The panther's frown turned into a scowl, "And that helps us how?"
"It means that our genetic coding still retains memory of its original composition." the ferret announced, "So, no matter how mix-matched it may be now, there is something, somewhere within us that recognizes how it started and can, if the situation is right, return to what a technician or engineer might refer to as 'factory default'."
"So all we have to do is die?" Daryl didn't even try to hide his displeasure.
"Before we encountered this understanding we had nothing to go on, Daryl." David continued speaking calmly, "It is OBVIOUSLY not a perfect method, but it's getting us closer." the ferret continued to shuffle papers.
"How does that help?" the panther snorted, managing to keep the growl out of his voice, "I want to be a LIVING human."
"Other than giving us the knowledge that it is POSSIBLE to return to our prior genetic code, it also tells us a little about what's going on inside us." David closed another file folder atop his growing-stack, then opened his desk and relocated the papers to inside it, "We have a starting point... and no journey can be planned without knowing where you start."
"How does it help exactly?" Daryl repeated his earlier question.
"It helps generate a hypothesis." David offered, resting his elbows on the desk in front of him as he tented his fingers. The ferret placed his muzzle atop them, creating a hammock for his chin, "Whatever has caused this change is most likely being facilitated by our bodies' life processes... metabolism... cellular function... whatever you want to call it."
"So you think that'll help in finding a cure?" the panther questioned.
"It's a start." David acknowledged, "If nothing else, it may bring up the thought that we might be able to MEDICALLY render someone dead in a controlled situation and then resuscitate them. It's certainly not a PERFECT answer, but it gives us somewhere to begin, and having that--"
"Is more than we had..." the panther nodded with a sigh, laying his arms down on the desk, "Yea... I get it."
David reached across the desk and placed a paw atop one of Daryl's, "I know you're uncomfortable with how things are right now, Daryl... but you need to have a little faith in the scientific method. We WILL learn more, and that will help us when it comes time to put that knowledge to use."
The gesture was probably the most personable thing Daryl had ever seen from the senior agent, and it wasn't lost to him. Fur finally settling down, the panther was able to see things more clearly without his strange, animalistic fury bubbling near the surface, "Based on what you told me earlier there's something else we learned too."
"Oh?" David inquired, taking his paw back, "And what might that be, Daryl?"
"You said that Courtney was able to understand Fred." the panther pointed out.
"So I did." the ferret nodded, "What does that tell us?"
Daryl thought about David's question for several long seconds, trying to piece together a puzzle that came without a finished picture. He ultimately settled on the truest answer he could think of: "I have no idea."
"That's a start." David acknowledged in a surprisingly non-sarcastic tone, "If you can admit you don't know an answer then you're on your way to discovering one."
The panther narrowed his eyes, not in anger, but in calculation, "That means you already have a guess."
"I'm formulating a hypothesis, yes." the ferret acknowledged, "But it will require more time before I'd like to try and articulate it."
"Give me an idea then." Daryl offered, "You said before that brainstorming is easier when you have more points of view."
"I'm not certain that you will like my theory." David offered candidly, "And it might disturb you if I voiced it."
"Try me." the panther countered.
The ferret shrugged, "I think you may have 'infected' Courtney with a certain amount of mutagen when the two of you were... ah... 'intimate'."
The whole world ground to a halt as what David said sank in. The moment it started up again the first emotion that struck the panther was defensiveness-- followed immediately thereafter at indignation. In less than a second a strong feeling of anger had come and gone, until sorrow and desperation sank in. "... I... infected her?"
"Not in a sickness sense, no... at least, I don't believe so." David noted, "But it's obvious that she has overcome certain human limitations since the two of you spent the night together... and that may be attributed to the mutagenic qualities of the retrovirus that caused the change in each of us."
"Limitations?" Daryl asked, still stunned by the reality that he may have inadvertently done something to Courtney that would regret forever, "Mutagenic?" he asked blankly, "Retrovirus?" he added.
"Calm down and focus, Daryl." David's voice was cold and accusatory, and immediately instilled a defensiveness in the panther that dispelled his rapidly-growing depression, catching his attention right away.
"I am focused." Daryl stated, managing to keep the growl from manifesting entirely, "So what did I do to Courtney? Is she going to change too?"
The ferret shook his head, "No... I think whatever change was going to happen already has."
"So... you mean she's able to understand Fred because I--" he paused, "because she's been changed?"
"Yes." David acknowledged, "Humans tend to be very separate from animals when it comes to communication. Unlike other species we are able to convey complex ideas through vocalization of sound, grammar, syntax, and vocabulary... this means that we've lost a lot of understanding on how to communicate without it: scent, body language, gestures, posture, and everything else that most animals know innately." the ferret stood up and moved to the door of his office, gesturing for Daryl to join him.
The panther did, "So what does this have to do with what we're dealing with now?"
"All of the coding that has shaped our brains over generations of evolution may have restricted our ability to understand animals as well as they understand one another. If you take a look at a nature documentary you find situations of animals getting along well together at one point, and during others it's complete chaos... predators and prey essentially living side by side, right up until it's time to hunt." David opened the door, "What I'm suggesting, Daryl, is that animals aren't telepathic... they just understand one another better than humans do."
"Because they didn't lose that ability like we did?" Daryl asked, showing himself out through the open door. He turned around to regard the ferret.
"It's a working theory." David responded, "But that might also explain why nobody can seem to keep a secret lately."
It took a moment before Daryl understood what David had implied with that comment until he realized that the ferret was right. Ever since they had undergone a change there seemed to be little between them but brutal honesty. Daryl had attributed that to everyone being on edge but, he suddenly realized, even when he was attempting to be even somewhat misleading with his comments someone had called him on it, somehow having understood what he meant to say or had implied without implying, "Oh my god."
"Mmm." the ferret nodded in a bored manner, "Oh, and Daryl... if I might suggest it, you should be the one to choose who spends what time with Courtney."
The panther paused, "Huh?"
"If you're telling everyone when and how long they're with Courtney you'll be less likely to become possessive or aggressive. She's yours, and everyone's just there to help." and, with that, David closed the office door, leaving Daryl feeling that much less comfortable with the situation... but he could also somehow feel that David was right.
Letting out a deep breath, he realized that waiting wouldn't change things, and he set out to find her; if she really did share their innate sense of truth there was never a better time to be honest.