The First Omega || NaNoWriMo 2019

Chapter 20

A wave of dizziness flowed over my, the blood leaving my face. My grip on the counter tightened with each worse the asswhole spoke.

"Ryan is a better scientist than you will ever be. He's at least trying to find a solution for the lowered fertility rates than you are. His theory was right and you kicked him out." Michael snarled. "Now get the fuck out of my shop."

"Your shop?" Andrew raised an eyebrow sneering. "No wonder it's such a piece of shit. Don't worry I'm going. I just thought I'd let little Ryan here know that he forgot to take all of his notes when he left and I've managed to successfully recreate his little experiment. And since I know it works now, I'll be turning it into the board. Just think I'll be dubbed humanities savior."

The world around me started to blur as Andrew left, the door clanging loudly in his retreat. Darkness edged my vision, each breath coming swifter and shallower than the last.

"What a bag of dicks." Michael growled, stalking across my vision as he went to lock the door behind Andrew. "The nerve of him to come in here and talk like that. Can you believe- Ryan are you okay?"

My grip on the counter failed, the floor rushing up to greet me.

"Ryan!" Michael's voice seemed miles away, barely reaching me through the darkness. He seemed to be fascinated with repeating my name over and over, each time getting slightly louder.

Pain throbbed through my body as I came to, the cold linoleum floor doing little to numb it. Hands shook me, forcing a groan from my body.

"Thank fuck! I was about to call an ambulance." Michael spoke quickly, his voice was higher than normal. "Don't you ever fucking do that again! You can't just pass out on me like that!"

"Stop..." I groaned as he continued to shake me, making the aches in my body worse by the minute. "You're hurting me..."

The hands were removed as if burned, leaving me laying still on my back.

"Sorry," Michael's eyes searched over me in worry, looking for any sign of injury. "Are you... are you okay or should I call the ambulance anyway?"

"No." I winced, sitting up slowly and taking stock of my body. "I mean everything hurts, but it's the same hurt as before. I think I'm okay now. I just... I never expected to have to deal with him again..."

"Yeah, I can see why you got out of that mess." Michael replied, glaring in the direction Andrew had taken upon leaving. "The nerve of him to come in here and talk like that. I wish Lucas had been here. He'd have beaten the ever living shit out of Andrew, both physically and in the courtroom."

I smiled at that. I'd never met Lucas in person, but apparently he was a cutthroat lawyer who destroyed every opponent he'd ever had.

"And the way he tried to invalidate all your hard work. That's got to be bullshit right? I mean you did most of the research before ever testing the Omega Serum on yourself, so it's still valid."

Dread curled up in my stomach, the same dizzy feeling washing over me once more.

"No... he... He's right. Because I chose to involve myself in the study I'm no longer impartial about the results. I can't use this for my dissertation. I've spent months researching and to no avail. Plus if he's recreated it... he can just claim I stole the serum and idea from him."

Tears rolled down my cheeks, my heart shattering as once more all of my hard work was destroyed.

"But... I mean you can fight him can't you? You went through the effort to get your idea patented didn't you?" Michael watched me with concern, offering me a rag to wipe the tears away.

"Well yes... but that won't matter to the board. I had the patent made when I was working under Andrew..."

"Okay, so? Maybe it won't matter to the board, but it does mean that if he is trying to sell it off as his own idea then you can take him to court for it. You can fight him legally for the right to your original idea. Everyone will know that this humanity saving serum was yours that way." Michael grinned, speaking faster and with more excitement with each passing second. "Plus I know the perfect lawyer to help you with this!"

I stared at him, the words circling around my mind, slowly sinking in. Michael's face gradually turned more and more red as he waited for me to reply.

"That... that is actually not a half bad idea..." My face felt like it would crack as a smile slowly spread across it. "Do you... do you think Lucas would have the time to work on this though? I know he's a pretty high demand lawyer."

"Oh please, he would do just about anything that would make me happy." Michael grinned, the expression slowly turning mischievous. "Plus if you win, you're not only protecting your brain child, but he'd also be helping to pay for and protect your baby!"

"Oh.." Heat filled my face as I slowly shifted to lean against the counter, pulling a knee to my chest. "I don't know if I'll sue him for money... I just want to make sure the world gets to know the real story behind the Omega Serum. That men out there like you and me can know there's an option."

"Speaking of that... umm.. Do you..." Michael glanced away seemingly flustered for the first time ever. "Do you think you'd be able to make up the Serum for me? I've been meaning to ask but with everything going on..."

"Of course I will! It just might need to wait a bit until I can get access to a lab. I'll need to talk to Nathan as well... If this is going to court he'd be a key witness, but I won't force him to speak in my defense. After all... I know I fucked up there."

"Yes, you are a bit of a fuck up, what with using the serum on yourself and all." Michael smiled though before hugging me. "But I am so glad you fucked up because it gives me hope."

Hope. It was the entire reason I'd started working on the Omega Serum.