Apollo's arrival was a time of inevitable change for earth. Human's questioned everything they thought was factual. It was a spiritual and fearful time. But it was dying and within a month all the energy it was emitting dispersed into our world and its people.
After a year of earth's attempts to bring back its normalcy the first Minus born and removed any chance of that happening. The baby named Adam was studied with no success in discovering why he developed powers until people started turning into Minuses instead of being born as one. There was one consecutive correlation to each and every Minus. Negative Blood Type.
This discovery was also the reason the Minuses were named the Minus. Anyone born with a negative blood type could turn into a Minus due to Apollo's astral radiation. Those born with a negative blood type were automatically a Minus. After the world shock of evolution earth's leaders had to make decisions on how to handle the Minuses. Sadly there was segregation due to fear of the unknown but eventually the Minuses took a stance. They chose to be heroes.
Isaac Viser, the Leader of the United Minus, my grandfather, wanted to set the standard for the Minus community. They should be heroes for the world. They have gifts not curses and the world should benefit from the strength of its struggle. His speeches inspired Minuses young and old to become more than their circumstance. But human leaders didn't approve of uncontrollable acts of heroism.
Human and Minus tensions became commonplace until my grandfather formed the United Minus; a team of government approved Minuses that would be overseen by the current president and Isaac Viser. Peace was finally in sight for the Minuses of this world. Until Deus and my grandfather wanted more than what this world would allow.
Deus looked at me across the table, through his hologram. "Even though your grandfather had no powers I always thought his influence over Minuses was a power in of itself. It turns out that I was more right than I knew at the time." Deus tapped the project mastermind folder and it exploded across the room, lighting up every corner and space that was once dark.
Lines of white light buzzed past my head as they were all connected to central concepts, experiments, and people. All of them spawned from a central point of light hovering about the table. As I looked at Deus he nodded to me to approach it. Curiosity guided me forward as I soon realized what the central point of this project was. The AB Negative theory.
The Deus blood test is a government approved way to tell what effect Apollo's radiation would have on someone with a negative blood type. Every Minus must take this blood test to gain approval of citizenship in their country.
A negative Minuses develop mutations in their physical states or improved physical conditions. B negative Minuses develop mutations in their brain or heightened senses and instincts. O negative Minuses can harness and control Apollo's radiation to affect themselves or the world around them.
After Deus created this test he immediately noticed that people with AB negative blood times were affected by Apollo but showed no outward signs of change. After further research he found something more remarkable than he could imagine. AB negative blood types were slowly having their biology changed to match Apollo.
Deus discovered that Minuses with AB negative blood had many different effects on Minuses. Minuses near them were easily influenced by them and the health of Minuses were overall improved. Deus wanted to delve deeper into this discovery by testing the limits with my grandfather's blood. When human leaders heard this news they defunded Deus's research and told him that there was to be no further insight into this matter. It was obvious that they were fearful of Minus progression.
Deus continued anyway because in the balance of human and minuses he is but a machine who cares only for progress.
"There was a reason your father was the leader of the United Minus. It wasn't because he was a powerful O negative or because he was the son of Isaac Viser. It was because he believed in everyone. He always knew what needed to be done to help us achieve the ultimate goal of being heroes of the people, not just minuses." Deus said.
Deus pulled up a video file and just before playing he said. "I believe his only weakness was never telling me no. Even when everyone had moved on from my ideas he was still there, listening and learning. He believed in me." Deus's voice choked slightly. "and I failed him."
As the video played my heart skipped as I saw my father with Deus in his lab with the timestamp May 25, 2030. Dad was wearing his uniform, the same one I last saw him in. Deus looked more human than now, he still had hair and parts on him still had flesh.
"You're sure about this?" My dad asked.
"No." Deus said. "Without any tests I won't know if my AB negative theory will hold any ground. You're the first person that was willing to test it out."
"Tell me Deus, Why are you doing this?" My dad asked.
"To help us." Deus said.
"Do you mean us as in the world or us as in Minuses." Dad asked him.
"Us as in those in the United Minus." Deus answered.
My dad looked at him with a face of disappointment but also understanding. "Deus, I believe in you. We all do but if I'm going to help you with this I need you to make me a promise."
"Of course."
"I need you to start believing in the people of this world." Dad said. "Not just those who've given you a chance. You and I were once human. I know the struggles you endured before Apollo but I need you to be stronger for everyone. In case this takes a turn for the worse."
A hesitant look covered Deus's face as he looked back at my dad. "I promise I will try."
"As long as you promise. I know you'll do what's best for everyone." Dad said as he laid down on the table and Deus began administering something into his veins. I heard the sound of aggression just before the video feed was covered with fuzz and static. Then a snap of Deus's fingers cut the video from my view.
"We both know the next part." He said.
"What did you do to him?" I asked.
"I simply did a blood transfusion with your grandfather's blood. My theory was that when AB negative blood fuses with that of an A, B, or O negative Minus then a second evolution would take place. Alic, just like Apollo you hold the power to change the world for better or worse."
My heart was racing so fast from all the stress and revelations that were revealed to me. I wanted to speak but I couldn't separate my thoughts from the information I was thinking about.
"This brings me back to why I'm here." Deus said. "I'm here to keep the promise I made to your father before I killed him."
The words Project Mastermind appeared once more in front of me and for some reason when it pushed all the hologram information away as it approached, I gained a moment of relief. The title swirled in on itself as lists of young men and women popped up, logs of successful and failed experiments swished by me. Eventually a picture of my face popped up. My name, my birthday, where I was born, and my blood type.
"Approximately three million people in the world have AB negative blood and out of that three million around five hundred thousand of them were born after Apollo's arrival. You are part of those five hundred thousand, Alic. The reason that is important is because after testing I have found that people with AB negative blood who were born before Apollo's arrival usually have around half as many altered genomes than someone born after Apollo's arrival. For example."
He pulls up a profile of grandfather next to mine and images of DNA strands rotate next to all our information. I notice the similarities but the joints traveling up mine were marked with more glowing marks that looked like cracks. These were Apollo impact fractures, a key sign of mutation.
"You and Isaac's DNA are identical in structure but you have double the amount of Apollo fractures." Deus said. "But this was from when you were an infant. Minuses are constantly evolving and I doubt you're an exception. Your amount of Apollo fractures are probably triple the amount of Isaac's."
"What does any of this have to do with my dad going crazy and ruining everything for me, my mother, and Minuses?" I asked with a frustrated tone.
"When I transfused Isaac's blood with Dan's I was hoping a natural bonding process would take place and that's technically what happened but in a deadly way." Deus brought up an image of my father's bloodwork the day after he was killed. My father was an O negative Minus and his Apollo ability was to turn his own cells into solar like energy. But after my father was killed his blood was O positive.
"The only way I can explain the strange occurrence of your father's change in blood type is due to the simple formula of two negatives turning into a positive. In the past, rare cases of relatives to Minuses who had positive blood types were affected by Apollo."
"They all went mad. Just like dad." I said.
"Exactly." Deus responded. "I believe this happened due to the lack of dominant Apollo fractures in Isaac which led to a visceral fusion of cells. Resulting in Dan becoming a positive blood type."
"So your AB negative theory is impossible." I said.
"Currently it is." Deus agreed. "But the beauty of science is that it's always changing. You just have to do more experiments to find what's changed." He returns to my image and profile. "You are that change Alic."
"No." I said.
Deus was disappointed by my sudden answer. "Please let me explain-"
"I said no!" I said sternly. "Thank you Deus for finally giving me an answer for what happened to dad but I'm not going to be a part of ruining someone else's life."
"I understand but I can guarantee safety this time." Deus said.
"No!" I said once more. "I can't be the only AB negative newborn in the world. Find someone else!"
"But you deserve this chance." Deus said. "The chance to redeem your father."
"Is that really what you want? For me to redeem my father? Or is this your atonement for killing dad?" I asked.
"Both." Deus said.
I was shocked by his sudden and honest answer but it didn't change how I felt. "I can't do it, Deus. I'm not my father, I'm not my grandfather. I'm not a hero. I'm just a teenage Minus with no powers or purpose. Hoping that someday I'll just be able to be something my father would have been proud of"
Deus looked at me as tears once again rolled down my face. He nodded and waved his hand to disperse all the holograms in the room. It was darker than I remember as the only light flickered from the TV.
"I understand." Deus said. "Please accept my apologies. In my current state I often forget that trauma is quite a debilitating state for people. Before I leave I do have something for you." The black disc projecting Deus slides open to reveal an injection device with a small vial of blood.
"This is AB positive blood. My new theory is that if AB negative blood is mixed with it then it would counteract the effects that happened to your father. By sticking the injection device into yourself without pressing the button it will take some of your blood. After the fusion with your blood, if you inject it into any Minus while pressing the button it will administer the mixture. If it works then the Minus that receives this will have a second evolution and their powers will be so strong that not even my Deus collars will work on them."
I looked back up at Deus, frustrated. "I just said-."
"I know but this isn't one of my experiments." Deus said. "This is for Artemis. This is for your protection. It won't be long before she's strong enough to come to earth and when that day comes I want you to have some form of protection."
I picked up the injector and watched as the blood slushed in its center.
"Do you still dream of flying?" Deus asked.
"No." I answered. "Just nightmares of falling."
"I had my first nightmare the day after your father died." Deus said. "It was me falling endlessly."
We both looked at each other and Deus smirked at me. "I hope there's a day both you and I can dream of flying once more."
Deus vanished as the TV flickered with static. The injector rolled around in my hand as I contemplated on throwing it away. I decided against it because even though I didn't want to admit it, I was hoping for the same thing. I was hoping that someday I'd be able to fly.