A/N: Staying up 'til 3AM one December night playing Fusion Fall spawned the idea. Originally supposed to be a one-shot, but my subconsious mind took over.
These things happen. Enjoy, as my obsessions know no bouds and I have a large amount of free time to show for it.
Disclaimer: I own nothing except for the virus.
The music was loud practically shook the ground they danced on. Downtown's Time Square was turned into a celebration party for the destruction of Planet Fusion and all the Fusions it brought along with it. Everyone was there.
Except for a brown-haired boy wearing a green jacket with the number '10' on the left chest. Ben ran from the party and down the empty street. He had found out from a certain blonde haired, pig-tailed, ballerina dressed girl that a certain red-orange haired, four-eyed, boy-genius found a possible virus left behind from the Fusions.
Ben was curious as to why Dexter wasn't in Time Square celebrating the victory over the Fusions. That's why he went to DeeDee. And when she told Ben that her dork-of-a-brother discovered something, he had to get there to know for sure.
The wind was blowing and had a nice chilly sensation. The skies were clear; not a cloud in sight to block the stars and the moon which was almost full. The perfect night for a party.
And something just had to come up. Of course Ben could've stayed and enjoyed himself. But he felt bad when he noticed Dexter wasn't present. Though he would obviously just sit off to the side somewhere with his laptop rather then get up and move around. But it would've been better than being cooped up alone in his laboratory, working while everyone else is out having a good time, right? The least he could do is just be thereif it meant just sitting down doing practically nothing but still be surrounded by friends, right?
Of course.
Ben darted down a lengthy one-lane roadway. Down this road was a large building. Dexter's laboratory. Ben stopped at a gate where a robot stood. He dug into his pocket and pulled out his ID card and flashed it to the robot's shining red eyes.
The robot scanned it in a split second and let out a beep, opening the gate to the lab. Ben walked in instead of running. He didn't want to go up to Dexter completely out of breath.
He entered an elevator and stared at the key pad. Over sixty floors, a fair percentage were underground floors. Ben stared at the keypad of labeled buttons. What floor would he be on?
Ah, yes, Ben thought to himself, the observatory.
Ben jammed his index finger on the button labeled 'Observatory; Floor 12'. It lit up and, within seconds, the lift started its way to the destination. He felt a knot in his stomach from motion sickness, not being able to tell if the lift was going up or down. The ride lasted just for several seconds, but when the door opened Ben couldn't help but to stumble out and lean against the lift's doors when they closed.
The observatory took up the entire twelfth floor. It was all one big open room, but large tables covered in equipment acted like divider walls like an office cubical. The equipment varied from simple microscopes to high speed cameras. And it didn't take Ben long to find whom he was looking for.
Dexter McPhearson was directly across the room in the path toward the lift. His back was turned and he was leaned over, looking into an optical microscope and constantly adjusting the dials. Every so often he'd have to raise a purple gloved hand to push his glasses back up to his sky blue eyes. The only sound he emitted every now and again would be a sniffle of his nose.
Ben walked up to the man of science and stood a bit of a distance next to him. He lightly tapped his fist on the table and said, "Hey, Dex."
The knocking caused Dexter to flinch. He didn't even look up, knowing who it was by the sound of the voice and the use of his nickname. He responded, with his Russian glazed accent, "Hello, Ben."
"So," Ben started, "I heard you found a virus."
"DeeDee told you?"
"Yeah."
"I discovered three, actually."
Ben raised an eyebrow. He blinked his eyes and spoke, "You could've waited until after the party to research them, couldn't you?"
Dexter didn't reply. Of course, Dexter never seemed like the kind of guy people would see enjoying himself in a party. Ben did, however, recall seeing a DJ system the first day he was inside the laboratory. Because he got lost and it took him forever to find the lift; with Dexter's help, who realized Ben was scanned passed security and hadn't arrived on the master floor in over and hour and decided to go look for him.
The point is, seeing the DJ system amongst high-tech inventions sparked curiosity as to why a young scientist would have such equipment. Did he build it because he was bored or because even a genius needed to take a break every once in a while to have some fun?
That's right, because he's a young scientist, a boy-genius. He still had a child side, being only thirteen with an adult personality. That child buried inside of him would want to come out and release the stress of being locked up inside his laboratory all damn day.
A stern grunt broke the silence followed by a cough. It was Dexter. He straightened his back with an odd crackling sound coming from the midsection of his spine from staying slouched over the microscope for a long period of time. He took off his glasses and wiped the lens.
"This could be dangerous," said Dexter, pushing his specs back over his eyes. He leaned back over and looked down into the eyepieces.
"I know that," Ben answered.
"And that's why I'm not there."
Ben blinked and watched the ginger haired boy adjust the slide where, he figured, a virus was concealed. Ben inhaled and decided to direct the conversation toward the viruses themselves. "What've you found out about them so far?"
"Two of the three are stable and appear to be nothing against a healthy immune system," Dexter answered.
"What about the third bug?"
Dexter paused. "I don't know."
"Why's that?"
"I can't find it."
Ben's eyes widened and his eyebrows rose. Dexter lifted his spectacles with an index finger and thumb and lightly pinched the bridge of his nose and released a monotone whimper.
"Dex?" Ben put a hand on his shoulder, "Dex, are you alright?"
"No," he muttered. "I think it's…" He stopped mid-sentence with a gasp for breath. Dexter's breathing became wheezy and he placed his palms flat down on the table in front of him, leaning his upper body weight against his locked arms. His glasses fell back down on his nose and were kept from falling off his face thanks to the hook around his ears.
Ben became worried and rushed to help Dexter stand up straight and fall carefully into a chair closely behind him. "It's what, Dexter?"
"It's," Dexter's voice was suddenly hoarse. He clutched Ben's jacket and pulled him down to ear level. "It has infected me."