Transformation

" I don't trust you. Either of you." Jay says to us while pacing back and forth in the break room. " How can we change your mind?" I ask. "Work for me." He replies, sternly. "That doesn't sound so bad" Olivia says. Jay laughs to himself. He opens the refrigerator door. " It does sound wonderful, doesn't it?" He pulls a mason jar out of the refrigerator. It is filled with a yellow liquid. "Do you know what this is?" "Urine?" I reply. Jay smiles. " I want you all to sit down." Olivia and I sit with Jay at an open table. Jay looks up at the officer, still guarding the exit. " That means you too." The officer complies and sits with us. " Now, officer, may I have your hand?" "Are you proposing to me?" He asks, sarcastically. "Officer, please." The officer reluctantly places his hand out. Jay removes the mason jar lid and pours the yellow liquid onto the officer's hand. The officer immediately jumps up. "What are you doing? That shit burns." "I'm demonstrating. Watch." Jay instructs us. The yellow liquid spreads and starts to harden. "What's happening? My hand feels metallic." The officer cries out. "This has to stop." Olivia shouts as she shoots hearts into Jay's chest. Jay takes a deep breath and his posture becomes more relaxed. "I'm sorry, but I had to show you what this product was capable of." He says calmly. "Yeah that's great. Now turn him back." Olivia responds. "I'm afraid this process is irreversible." He tells us. "What did he say?" The officer asks while staring at the yellow that has now spread to his wrist. "I'm afraid there is nothing we can do." Jay informs the officer. "There has to be something we could do." Olivia says. "Well, we could severe his arm. That could decrease any further infection." "Fuck that." The officer shouts out. "What will happen to him if we don't figure this out?" I ask. Jay pauses for a moment. "He'll be in agonizing pain for a while." "And then what?" I ask. "Nothing." "Nothing?" Olivia questions. "Nothing. He'll just be one of my workers."

Back in Jay's Office

The officer takes us to the break room. Or should I say the office? Jay's office. Jay stands in center of the room with a stern look upon his face and his arms crossed. The officer blocks the doorway. " Here we are again." Jay says to us. " Here we are again." Olivia replies. "What do you know?" He asks us. " About what?" I respond, trying to play dumb. Jay inches closer to us. " How much do you know?"  "Why did you let us escape?" Olivia asks, changing the subject. Jay chuckles to himself. " I must be a trusting guy." He says. "Or a dumb guy." Olivia responds. "If I were in your position, I wouldn't make comments like that." Jay warns. " We don't know anything." I tell him. "Why should I believe you? Who do you work for?"  Olivia and I turn and look at each other in puzzlement. "Nobody." I respond. "You don't work for anybody? I find that hard to believe because people don't just go poking around factories. " I shrug. "Maybe we do." Jay clenches his fists in frustration. " This looks like industrial espionage." "It's not." I try to assure him. Jay pauses to think for a moment. " I don't know what to do." He says. "You could let us go." Olivia tells him. Jay shake his head. "No, I have something better in mind."

Riding in the Cop Car

It seems that everywhere we go we are met with opposition. It would be ignorance on my part to assume that it would always be smooth sailing. That everyone would  wholeheartedly embrace us and our ideas, but I can't help but wonder if after all this,after all these conflicts if we truly are the good guys. If what we are doing is right. We are currently in the backseat of the cop car. Olivia is fast asleep with her head resting against the window.  The car ride has been silent for a few miles. All I can think of is my escape, which ironically hinders my ability to escape the more I think about it. The officer breaks the silence. " Jay Bowman is not happy." "Who the hell is Jay Bowman?" I ask. " You should know, you stole his car." The officer replies. " I asked him myself what I should do with you. He said he wanted to see you. So we're gonna pay Mr. Bowman a visit." I slink back into my seat with a slight grin on my face. I was looking for an exit. As odd as it may sound, being delivered into the hands of an enemy may be a good thing.

Standoff

We are in the middle of a standoff. Neither side is willing to back down. The officer's head begins to nod as we enter hour five of our showdown. He catches himself before he falls asleep though. "Getting sleepy, officer." Olivia taunts. "It was a test." He says. "Sure." Olivia replies, unbelieving. "It was, but it doesn't matter because I know you could only have so much energy left at this point." "Way ahead of you, officer." I say as I pour a cup of coffee. The officer eyes me handing Olivia the coffee mug. " I see you have it all figured out." He says to me. "You bet I do." I reply. "But what you gonna do when she has to use the washroom?" He questions. "You'll be long gone before that could be considered a problem." Olivia says, confidently. The officer stands. " Ok, looks like I have to take this up a notch." The officer walks into the living room. He turns the T.V. up as loud as it can go. We hear a man screaming at us to buy a car. "What are you doing?" I shout. The officer casually strolls back into sight. "Nothing, just breaking her concentration." I notice our bubble is flickering. "Olivia, don't listen to the T.V. Put it out of your mind somehow." "Can you also put this out of your mind?" The officer asks while knocking loudly on the doorway. "Stop it." I demand. "Just doing my job." He informs me. The officer sees that the bubble has stopped flickering and is becoming less faint. He takes off his police radio, turns it up, and sets it on the floor by the bubble. The bubble begins to flicker once more. " You have to ignore it somehow." I tell Olivia. "Ignore this." The officer says as he stomps his feet, knocks on the doorway, and sings loudly and out of key. Olivia collapses, taking our pink bubble defense with her. "It's too much going on." She cries out. The officer calmly grabs his radio and announces "Game over."

Wall off the Kitchen

" I don't feel comfortable letting you into my home without a warrant." A nervous Rosie tells the officer. "I was afraid you'd say that. So I brought one with me." Overhearing this brief conversation, Olivia and I search for an exit. "Where do we go?" I ask. " I don't know." "Any idea what we should do?" "Yes." Olivia replies as calmly as she can. Olivia opens her hands and holds them up in the doorway to the kitchen. A pink stream emerges from her palms. It slowly turns into a bubble that covers the whole kitchen. The officer walks into the doorway. He takes off his aviator sunglasses and stares at the pink bubble in awe. " What is that? Some kind of electromagnetic force field?" He asks. "Something like that." Olivia says. "I've heard about those. Never actually seen once close up." He says. "What do you want?" I ask, impatiently. "So quick to jump the gun. You guys don't trust authority, do you? Can't say I blame you I guess." The officer leans against the wall. " Only problem is you two fit the description of two suspects I'm looking for. " There is a brief silence. "Gonna give me the silent treatment, eh? That's ok because I know a few other things about electromagnetic force fields." Olivia's eyes widen. " That's right, I know that if the subject is tired the force field will weaken." He continues. The officer momentarily walks out of sight. He comes back with an unopened box and sits down on it. " With that being said, I'm willing to wait."

Flashing Lights

Blue and red lights flash through Rosie's living room window just as we are on the verge of understanding what this new element means. " They're on to me!" Rosie cries out. "How would they know?" Olivia asks. " I have no clue how they work, but they know that I have been talking." Rosie ushers us to move out of the room. "Where should we go?" I ask. "Any room. As long as it is out of sight. Go, I'll take care of this." Olivia and I scatter into her cluttered kitchen. There is not much space. If one were to open the oven or dishwasher, the door would crash into the island. A faulty design, and a wonder how any one could do any cooking or anything in here. But as it is the closest room without any windows, it works as a safe haven for us. We hear a loud knock on the door. " Just a moment." Rosie replies. The squeaky front door opens and Rosie is greeted by an officer with a New England accent. " Afternoon ma'am, I'm responding to a report about a stolen car." "I don't know anything about a stolen car." She responds innocently. " I'm afraid the convertible in your driveway matches what we're looking for. Do you mind if I step inside?"

The New Element

When we had enough of the cold we headed inside for hot chocolate. It was Swiss Miss, the instant kind. Many chocolate snobs don't care for this kind. While it most likely will never go down in history as one of the best chocolates in existence, I enjoy it. It reminds me of being ten. Going indoors after a day of sledding. I would reward myself with a little treat, and it was nice because I could do it myself. All I had to do was boil some hot water and pour it in a mug with the pack. It felt good. It gave me a sense of independence. It's not a bad taste either. Especially if you put cold milk or ice cream in it. I'm doing that right now. It'll cool it off and give it a nice, creamy taste. We sit on the couch in the living room, and blow on the beverages. We can still see the steam rising. " Sorry I don't have anywhere to sit in the kitchen." Rosie says to us.  " That's fine." Olivia assures her, while cupping her hot chocolate with both hands. " I suppose you guys want to see the picture I promised you?" We both nod. Rosie scratches her head. " It does exist. I wasn't fibbing. I'm just not sure where it is." She says, downtrodden. "That's fine. We can wait." Olivia tells her. " No, I don't want to do that to either of you. I'm sure you have places to be." " We have absolutely no where to be." Rosie chuckles slightly at my comment. She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a tiny picture. "That's my husband." She says, handing Olivia the photo. Olivia studies the portrait of younger man with brown, shaggy hair. " What happened to him?" Olivia asks. Rosie shrugs. " There is much speculation. I personally think he knew too much." I set my mug down on the floor and sit on the arm of the couch beside Rosie. " What did he know?" "It was my fault. I saw the potentials. I pushed him further." "What was your fault?" I ask her. " You have to understand. He's not a man of science. I am not a woman of science. We didn't know what we were on to." She says, still not answering the question. " Rosie, what didn't you understand? What was happening.?" I ask.  She looks up at me. " They discovered a new element. They didn't want him to know about it." "That doesn't seem like that big a deal. Aren't there elements that have been discovered in the late 90's?" Olivia asks. " All the later elements are combinations of existing elements." Rosie states. "That's not what this is?" I question. "No, this was something otherworldly."