RESOLUTE

DEFINITION

Admirably purposeful, determined, and unwavering.

"She was resolute and unswerving."

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DATE - JULY 11TH 2015

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Outside, Fritz wore a fond yet concerned smile as she watched Skylar, Dex, and Naya as they hit each other with bats. Or instead, Skylar and Naya would hit Dex, and Dex would tell them to try again. These were times when being a Virus would be impeccably helpful. Bruises only lasted for no more than fifteen hours for us.

Fritz's eyes trailed down to her clipboard that bounced along with her anxious knee. She scanned Skylar's paper until there was a shadow over her shoulder. As she looked up, she likely expected it to be Joslyn, but instead, Veronica stood on the staircase. In her hand, she held graph papers with scattered lines.

Veronica held up one of the papers beside the scene of Dexter getting hit by the ball. The graph titled 'MMH-02' had lines that had a perfect pattern of bouncing off the ground, staying level, and then flattening again to only repeat that action.

Fritz cleared her throat and caused Veronica to look over. The scientist placed the graph back as she watched Fritz. Veronica responded with a 'hm?' sound. Fritz realized that she had no idea how to talk to the scientist, as she had that type of energy to her, "Is something wrong?"

"No, not at all." Veronica unemotively responded. It was then that I became aware of the fact that the head scientist was just a few feet away. As quietly and quickly as I could, I re-edit the pages to make sure that Reece was never mentioned, and I even took the liberty to exclude the mention of the dead body in the freezer.

As I tucked the false logs away between the clean papers, I heard Fritz speak, "Have you seen the Warden?" She asked, and Veronica just nodded with another hum, as she jotted a few things down on a clipboard with her pen lid between her teeth, "Is he alright, he got-"

"Kicked in the shins for provoking a Virus?" Veronica finished, mumbling slightly, "He took about five painkillers and passed out an hour ago," Fritz made a face and was about to speak when Veronica continued, "He'll live." She was so calm about it, and rightfully so, he's done this a few times throughout the years and been fine.

Veronica peered around and clicked her tongue. Fritz noticed and made an instinct sound before she explained, "Adrien and Joslyn are inside." Veronica furrowed her brows and nodded, eyes on the graphs again. Adrien's statistics had risen significantly a few times due to a particular blonde.

"Holy shit, I caught it!" Dex cheered, which brought the two scientists to gaze over. Indeed, lodged into Dex's palm was the baseball. He and Naya both cheered as Skylar stifled a laugh with her forced unimpressed face.

To show her support, Fritz's clapped, "Good job, Dexter!" The Doctor grinned, even though she was disturbed by the sight. Dex gave a big dumb grin, which Naya shared though Skylar just scowled at the psychiatrist.

Fritz had slightly cowered as Veronica had raised eyebrows. However, they were both distracted when there was a click of the door behind them. Joslyn, with two styrofoam cups in her hands and a large kitchen knife in her mouth, hopped down the stairs. Only then did I remember the blood that coated her jumpsuit

Fritz panicked and stood up, "Joslyn, no, hold on!" She rather hastily took one of the cups, and Joslyn removed the blade from her mouth. She nonchalantly ducked away over to Clover, who was still sketching away. Though when she saw Joslyn, her eyes brightened.

With a pair of grabby hands and a rehearsed, "Thank you!" Joslyn bestowed the drink to Clover, who happily hummed as she sipped away, feet chipperly bouncing. Fritz was looking over from the staircase, "Joslyn, honey, did you see Adrien?" Joslyn nodded as she walked over, "Where is he?" it was then that she decided to note the blood and her face contorted.

"Sleeping," Joslyn stated blandly, "Toby was with him." Fritz covered her mouth, and Veronica, in the slight distance, gave a disturbed look. Fritz echoed the word 'sleeping?' with utmost concern. Joslyn caught onto their suspicions. She checked down at her bloody tracksuit, "Oh, that's... Mine, my blood, it's ok." Joslyn lied before she remembered the other styrofoam cup.

Fritz hesitated before she gave up the drink back to Joslyn. Veronica slipped further up the steps, "Warden, pick up, we may have an emergency." There was no response, which was expected, so the scientist grumbled and continued to call in.

"Oh, Joslyn, I meant to ask earlier, but would you mind sitting with me?" She asked, as she picked up her clipboard from the staircase, "Just a little girl chat," She awkwardly shimmied her shoulders, and Joslyn cringed back. Fritz noticed her demeanor and cleared her throat, "Come along if you want to, no pressure!" She smiled and stepped down the staircase awkwardly, purposely shifting herself so she would only face Joslyn.

It took a few seconds, but she followed after she peered down at her hot chocolate. She took a sip before she headed to where Fritz had gone.

Down the side of the. Moth Mound, Fritz had set up a small crate and two flattened boxes next to it, "It's all I could put together, sorry." The psychiatrist gently smiled before she cleared her throat and gestured to the flattened box across from her. Joslyn took up the seat, crossing her legs.

The box of nail polish that I had previously forgotten made Joslyn's eyebrow cork. Fritz noticed as she sat down, "Ever painted your nails?" Joslyn shook her head, and Fritz offered out her hand for Joslyn's to place into hers. Fritz sorted through and picked out many different colors that she placed on the box, "Pick a color."

The colors were all bright pinks, yellows, blues, and glittery shades. However, Joslyn, after a long time of thought, Joslyn picked out a shimmery silver. Fritz hummed, though failed to mask her confusion. Regardless, she picked up the silver and started to paint the girl's nails.

Joslyn was silent for a while but seemed content with her nails being painted. Fritz eventually spoke, careful to keep her voice as quiet as possible, "I'm sorry you're here, Joslyn," She started, lips slightly pursed, "You've gone through enough, you don't deserve to be here too."

The fourteen-year-old raised an eyebrow at what Fritz was saying, "When did you leave home?"

"October," She was visibly hesitant, which Fritz noticed, "Two years ago." She mumbled out, and Fritz visibly coiled.

"You ran away at twelve?!" Her widened eyes made Joslyn cease back, and likely emit an emotion, "Did you live alone?" Joslyn shook her head slowly. Fritz gave a face, concerned by the girl's reluctancy. Though Joslyn's expression made it obvious, she didn't want to talk about it any further.

Fritz noticed Joslyn's attention was on the clipboard. "You can read it," Fritz stated as she slid the clipboard over to Joslyn, who gave a look of disbelief at first, "It's your page anyway." Joslyn, with her free hand, took the clipboard and started to read.

It was quickly noted by myself that Joslyn's name wasn't printed out as 'Joslyn' Instead, in those printed words read as 'Jacob Abdel' and I alone wouldn't question the name change, but then Joslyn thumbed over the M beside 'SEX' but besides those words were two scribbled letters. 'MTF' it was an acronym that I had never heard, but to Joslyn, it must have meant something by Fritz's reaction to what must have been a clench in her chest.

Joslyn read further, eyeing the category under 'DISEASE,' which I must agree that I was equally as interested in.

JACOB ABDEL displays a quality example of an emotion-emitted DISEASE. During mid-to-high levels of emotion, MMHV-01 emits a strong field of emotion to people within radius. Depending on the strength of the feeling, it can cast widely and cause damage depending on what emotion. MMHV-01 frequently emits a painful emotion that is hypothesized to be DYSPHORIA.

The last word, dysphoria, meant nothing to me. I had never heard it, so I made a mental note to look through my dictionary collections later, or ask Tabby to research it. "How do these look?" Fritz asked, which broke Joslyn out of her reading. Joslyn looked over at her glossy nails, denting her fingers upward for a better view.

Joslyn smiled slightly for the first time I can recall, which was the first time I had seen it. Fritz let herself smile as well, "You want the same color on the other hand?" Joslyn was quiet as she once. again looked at the collection of colors before she picked out a bright pink, "Pink, very pretty!" Fritz chippered, visibly more excited than Joslyn was.

She painted Joslyn's nails in silence, which seemed to be contentful for Joslyn, and it seemed to keep Fritz from rambling out the silence. Joslyn's eyes faltered to the psychiatrist's nails, which we both noticed were painted. Poorly painted with glitter and space-themed sparkles tacked on.

-

After a minute or so of nothing worthy of note, I switched my vision to the Warden. It was great timing; he had just gotten electrified from one of Tabby's purposely loosened circuits, "Jesus Christ, what the hell?!" He gruffed out.

"Sorry chief, Vonnie's orders," Tabby gave an animated shrug, "Sounded kinda-super important," She rocked her heels back and forth, "She wants us to meet her out front." The Warden groaned, He closed his eyes and put his head on his palm.

Within a few seconds, Warden was already starting to phase out again, until a loud pitched scream came from the halls. A familiar voice followed the shriek, "Prick!" That was enough to convince the Warden to exit his office and walk down the aisle to the sound

The hall connected to the kitchen illuminated an unmissable orange. There was another scream before running footsteps. A distinct blonde sprinted out from the hallway and into the wall, fixing himself quickly.

Adrien was engulfed in flames right behind the blonde. He tried to grab the blonde and drag him down. The blonde shoved him off sprinted to a vent, kicking it open to crawl inside, Adrien grabbed him by the back of his collar. It was then discovered where that pitched shriek came from as Toby got pried out of the hole.

Toby was forced against the ground by his collar, "What the fuck is wrong with you?!" Adrien screamed, and Toby just clambered around in response, as he tried to shove the ablaze redhead off him. Between about ten seconds of scrambles and floor fighting, Toby finally paid mind to the Warden and Tabby, who were wordless witnesses.

That's when his panicked tone shifted, "Firecrotch, let me go." Toby tapped the other's shoulder to no avail, "Adrien!" He shoved the ginger's face away.

"Don't shove me, asshole!" Adrien barked back, "You're acting fucking insane, don't even try to-!" There was a swipe before Adrien collapsed with a yelp, his hand clambering over his face. His flames burst before they completely disappeared. After a second, Adrien withdrew his hand to see a splatter of blood over his palm.

Toby, in his disorientated state, hit the wall as he scrambled away. He made sure to shove Tabby back into the wall on his way. The other Virus remained on the ground, stunned and teary-eyed as he stared intently at his bloody hand.

From Adrien's perspective, I couldn't even see the Warden walk over and grab the ginger by the collar and pull him to his feet, "What the hell did you do?!" He snarled through his teeth.

Adrien panicked further, "I-I I dunno, he just freaked out!"

"Bullshit, what did you do?!" He barked again, and Adrien flailed his legs. He lit up again, which caused the Warden to drop him with a hiss. The Virus fell onto his back and wasted no time to rush up and back down the hall, "Tabitha, neutralize it!" The Warden shouted back, and Tabby obliged.

After a beep in the redhead's neck, he collapsed in the hallway, flames cutting out completely. The Warden stepped around the corner and had to stop to marvel at the charred state of the corridor. The blackness spanned from the floors, walls, and to the ceilings.

-

I had just finished the logs from the Warden and expected him outside soon. I had checked over to make sure that any mention of Reece had been unmentioned. After that, I just watched Clover sketch on her page, which was oddly comforting.

Distantly, I heard Naya and Dex's laughs and thoughtless chatter until it was interrupted by Naya's bright call, "Oh, hey, bagel boy!" I blinked over and indeed saw Toby hop around the corner without a smile.

He barely acknowledged Naya. Instead, he made a B-line for me. The knife in his hand still trickled with Adrien's blood. I forced myself not to become frigid as I swift my body around and gargle, body arching defensively. I shuffle back, but Toby steps up his pace.

The soldiers seem to catch on and approach with weapons in hand. Veronica busted through the doors, "Restrain him!" She had her walkie in hand and had likely just talked to the Warden.

I instantly regretted my change in focus. Toby lunged at me with the knife in hand. I shove him back with my tail and coil away. The soldiers gripped him by the sleeves, and he scrambled and screamed, swinging the knife at them both.

With one particular swipe, a soldier grabbed his wrist and tripped him to the ground. His wrist was pinned against his back. He hissed as he hit the ground but seemed to give up for a moment.

"Get the hell off him!" Skylar screamed out and snatched the bat from Naya's hands. The two others gave her a confused glance. The soldier on his feet raised their guns as Skylar approached, which scared her into stopping.

It was then that I noticed Toby looked at me, his frustrated snarl formed into his signature grin. He then slowly became a soft cackle. Confused, the soldier looked at him, "Fuck are you laughing at?" He spat, and the question only made the blonde devolve further into a laugh that became more heinous when the soldier gripped Toby's collar and forced him to look up.

Everyone just watched with a morbid curiosity as the scene played out. A fist was raised at the blonde, and the other soldier had been stepping as far back as he could, "Talk, asshole!" He demanded, and Toby's laugh hitched.

The Virus finally looked at the soldier. Blood trickled out of his nose, "My apologies." Then a gun clicked. I was kicked from that soldier's vision only to witness the last of the blood splatter from a direct gunshot. Toby was dropped onto the ground and resumed his cackle, blood slated over him.

The distant soldier that had shot was less than a foot from the fence, which he leaned into. There was a loud zap and bang before his charred corpse fell. Toby's gloved hands covered over his eyes as his laughs became forced wheezes.

He finally stood up, covered in a spray of blood that he slicked into his hair. He was swaying and limp at the arms. After a few seconds, Toby then bowed, "I apologize for the overreaction, folks!" He slurred, "Have a pleasant evening, will you?" He then gradually stepped back and away, trying his best not to seem disorientated.

-

The Virus were still permitted outside until the sky went pink, but they remained almost entirely quiet, unsure how to process what they saw. Adrien didn't say a word as Joslyn helped him with the slice that started under his left eye and guided to the start of his right eyebrow.

After every Virus was put into their cells again, Tabby, Veronica, myself, and the Warden were gathered into the large observation deck of the Mound. Tabby was scanning all of the logs that day and lining it up with the disease graphs. After each record was put through Tabby's system, they printed from the fax machine for Veronica to review.

"Clover seems to be symptoms of being on the autism spectrum, was that on her file?" Fritz commented as she fact-checked on Clover's file between her rambles about how the Virus' had improved or acted differently. The Warden just grumbled in acknowledgment.

The Warden interrupted her, "You spoke with Virus MMHV-7," He held up the log from the contraband room for himself.

Fritz's posture shifted as she remembered the encounter, "I did, or spoke at rather," She gave out a stressed chuckle and cleared her throat when no one laughed with her. "You don't need me to tell you this, but he has a clear defiance or lack of care for authority or anybody," She then hushed her tone, "I don't want to make assumptions, but I believe it may be from prior experiences."

"Tabitha, what's the status on the kitchen logs before the incident?" Warden asked gruffly, accepting the next line of papers. Tabby was quiet, as they were no other kitchen logs. Warden looked to Tabby, who stood still with her hands on the last three log pages, "Tabitha." Tabby just shrugged, fumbling her fingers.

"Joslyn said that they were both asleep, so Alvis probably couldn't check." She explained quietly, and the Warden's attention snapped to me, and I coiled back.

The Warden pinched his eyelids, and his leg started to bounce involuntarily. He reached into his chest pocket and took out a prescription pill bottle. Fritz cleared her throat, "We still have a lot of other observations from the other Virus, don't we?" She forced a smile, but her nerves were evident.

"That one of the Virus is retarded?" The Warden groggily asked before he took a dry gulp of pills.

Fritz, while taken aback, grew a look of disdain, "That word is outdated, and I will not allow it to be used in my presence!"

The Warden grumbled and rolled his eyes, "Virus cannot be flawed, it's not possible, doctor," He had his head in his hand, utterly exhausted, "With all due respect."

"Flaw?!" Fritz cracked back, "It is not a flaw; it is a neurodiversity!" Fritz continued to rant as the Warden fazed out. He tuned out for no more than five seconds, but when he came to, I first heard Fritz say, "What's even your evidence that radiation doesn't cause flaws, last I checked it had horrific effects!"

"Because Virus were designed to be perfect!" He sputtered out. His mind was so hazy that even I didn't pick up what he let slip out.

Fritz was still, and Veronica, who was still at the fax machine, had stopped what she was doing to look over. Fritz stammered in confusion, "Why would- Why would an enemy country bomb us with-?"

"I think it's best you get going, doc, it's late, and the Warden has proved to be," Veronica was in stride over as she explained this, giving the Warden a firm glare, "Less than competent right now." She cleared her throat and gave Fritz a 'get out' look.

The psychiatrist nervously cleared her throat and went to pick up her clipboard before Veronica pressed a hand onto the board, "I need to make copies." she stated, Fritz had flinched back at the other's hand.

Fritz nodded and stepped back towards the door, not turning around until she made it to the door. As she held the door bar, she decided to speak, "I didn't write it down there, but," She occasionally looked over, "Toby wants his stuff back."

When she left the room, Veronica let out a long sigh, "Fucks sake, Samuel," She rubbed the point between her eyes and nose. She looked over at the Warden, who was already sluggish from the medication. Veronica then snatched the bottle away from him, "No one gives a shit if you're high, just don't do it on the damn job!"

The Warden took a few seconds to realize and get angry, "Give those back you-!"

He stood up and was about to start a flurry of insults before Veronica's face scrunched. "Fritz was right; having the Virus all together was a phenomenal idea," She then took out a slip of paper from the pile in her hands and forced it into the Warden's hands, "I'd be happy to explain it to you why if you were sober."

"Two soldiers died from MMHV-7, and we learned nothing new about the bastard!" Warden rave.

"False, we learned a lot," Veronica stated, slapping a paper into the table and sliding it to the Warden. The report read, 'MMHV-7', and the graph depicted Toby's disease usage throughout the day. Veronica held up a paper of the logs.

She started to explain, "I learned that Toby's disease patterns show he is abnormally in control of a very complex disease."

"No shit, it's a killing disease."

Veronica shook her head. "No, I don't think it is," Just as the Warden was about to argue, she explained. "He's been using his disease minimally with the other Virus," She then placed three logs beside the graphs, "We also learned that he has quite a favoritism towards Adrien," She tapped the records from the kitchen, and it. was confirmed that they spiked and stayed that way during their conversation, and even after I left, "And feels safe enough in his presence to fall asleep around him."

Even in the Warden's drugged state, he could connect the dots, "You're proposing we use that?"

"The other Virus were also using their diseases in playful combat," Veronica said, "I want you to consider Fritz's shared accommodation proposal," She placed down all of the logs onto the table. She shuffled them together neatly, "Preferably when you're sober."

Warden did seem to think for a long moment before he looked to Tabby, "Tabitha, schedule a meeting for the construction crew tomorrow."