Phineas and Ferb were half way through hacking the biometric lock on Milo’s holding cage, when the sound of foot steps interrupted their work. Everybody turned at the sound to see a man and a woman, both tall, blond and good looking walking down the corridor between the rows of empty holding cages, from the opposite end of the corridor that Zack, Melissa and Amanda had come down. Milo and Hiro both stared at them with narrowed eyes.
Zack suddenly realized that Hiro, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Go Go and Fred had all stiffened at the sight of the two figures.
“Milo?” Amanda started to ask, “who is she-,”
“Liv Amara,” said Hiro. It was a statement, not a question. His hands were balled into fists. “I knew it,” he said
“Hello, Hiro,” said Amara, she seemed genuinely pleased to see him. “I was wondering when you’d make it down here.”
“What did you do to Milo and Karmi?” asked Hiro. “Baymax, perform scan.”
“What would you like me to scan for, Hiro?” asked Baymax.
“Hiro, we already know about the parasynths,” interjected Melissa.
For a brief moment, Hiro took his eyes off of Liv Amara He looked at Milo. He had briefly spoken to Karmi, but he had not yet had the opportunity to talk to Milo, and he had not had the opportunity to ask either Karmi or Milo exactly what Liv had done to them. “Milo, is that true?” he asked.
Milo nodded.
“Messing with Milo’s DNA-,” began Zack hotly.
“-is probably very, very dangerous,” interjected Cavendish.
“Yes, we know,” replied Amara. “We do our homework. That’s why we built the positive probability wave generator.” Amara paused. “Hiro, I have not been completely honest with you,” said Amara.
Hiro looked at her suspiciously. “What do you mean?” he asked slowly.
Amara looked as if she was wrestling with something. “I am not actually Liv Amara.”
Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon and Go Go all looked at each other in utmost confusion. “That’s just-I-,” Hiro stammered.
“I don’t believe you,” said Go Go bluntly.
“Neither do I,” replied Wasabi. “Baymax perform scan.” He jerked his head at the woman they had all thought until a few seconds ago was Liv Amara, the CEO of Sycorax Bionics. “Let’s see who she really is.”
Baymax waddled over to where Amara was standing. “Please remain still, while I complete the scan.” She was bathed from head to toe in a grid of blue laser light as Baymax carried out the scan. “I can confirm the presence of Liv Amara’s DNA,” said Baymax calm a few seconds later, “however, I also detect a number of genetic anomalies that I can not account for.”
Amara eyed Hiro. “Satisfied?” she asked.
“Why would Liv Amara clone herself?” asked Hiro by way of an answer.
“Because she’s dying,” replied Amara.
Hiro, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon and Go Go all exchanged surprised looks. “What happened?” asked Hiro. He wanted her to keep talking. He had always suspected that Sycorax was connected to the monster attacks that had been occurring all year, but he had never been able to work how. If he could keep her talking he be able to answer a lot of questions.
“My name is Di Amara,” said Di. “Liv was engaged in cutting edge life extension research-,”
“-the parasynths?” asked Hiro. Di nodded. “what do they do?” he asked.
“They’re supposed to attack foreign organisms in the body and repair genetic defects,”
Di answered, “but something went wrong and the parasynths began to attack Liv’s cellular structure instead. Liv tried to find a cure, but she wasn’t given very long to live, so she had me grown and had herself placed in suspended animation-,”
“-wait, I don’t understand,” interjected Amanda. She had been following the conversation as closely as everyone else, but she felt as though something was missing. “How does Milo fit into all of this?”
“Human experimentation is subject to strict government oversight,” replied Di, “and even stricter funding rules,” she said. “So I had to find a work around.”
It suddenly clicked. “You’ve been selling upgrades,” said Hiro, “haven’t you? Orso Knox, Momokasse, High Voltage, Mr. Sparkle, you wanted Milo because you wanted to weaponize his negative probability field and-,”
Cavendish was suddenly shouting at Di Amara. “You kidnapped a fourteen year boy with a complex and highly unpredictable hereditary condition! And you subjected him to unethical genetic experiments! Without his consent! Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?!”
Hiro gazed levelly at Di Amara. “Sounds like you made a mistake Ms. Amara-,”
“You’re damn right she did,” cut in Dakota.
“Let Milo go,”demanded Melissa.
Di gave all of them searching look, which came to rest on Hiro, who gave her a determined look in return. “I’m surprised at you, Hiro,” she said with a slightly reproving note in her voice. “I thought you’d be more understanding.”
Hiro shook his head emphatically. “What you’ve done is wrong,” he said. “You need to let Karmi and Milo go.”
Di sighed and shook her head. “I’m sorry, Hiro, but I can’t do that.” She turned to her assistant. “Chris, our guests will be leaving now.”
Chris smirked at the assembled group. “I hope you’ve enjoyed your visit,” he said, “but it’s time for you to be going.” He began walking towards them.
Dakota began moving as well. “The hell we are,” he growled. “We’re not leaving without Milo.”
Chris was faster and got to Dakota first. By the time he did, he had undergone a dramatic physical transformation. He was a foot taller and had some how packed on an additional two hundred pounds of muscle. Dakota’s eyes went wide in shock and he heard Hiro say, “how did you do that?”
He smoothly dodged Dakota’s thrown fist. “Basic CRISPR technique,” he said with another smirk, “this is a mix of dog, bear and gorilla DNA.” He turned his attention back to Dakota and cold cocked the time agent. He dropped, stunned, like a sack of potatoes.
At the same moment, Milo gasped. It was as if the scar in his neck were suddenly on fire. Milo’s hand scrabbled at the biochip implanted under his skin. His nerve endings were firing wilding and he felt as if his insides were suddenly full of writhing snakes. He suddenly doubled over clutching his abdomen.
Zack, Melissa and Amanda stared wide-eyed at Milo. His skin was become scabbed. As they watched it hardened into hardened into scales. They were suddenly aware of the sudden outburst of babbling voices behind them and turned.
The dazed Dakota was supported by Cavendish and Wasabi
Hiro was saying, “Karmi! No, no, no, no!”
Cavendish was swearing and Amanda said, “Madre de adios.” Karmi was covered from head to foot in glistening fish scales. Gills gaped wetly on either side of her neck and her fingers ended in razor sharp talons. She took hold of the bars in front of her and wrenched them apart as they were made of rubber.
“Oh, this can’t be good,” said Wasabi.
One of the bars went whistling past Zack’s ear, nearly taking his head off from behind and he turned. He if he could have blanched he would have. “Milo?!” Milo had mutated like Karmi. He had hard, scaly skin like a lizard’s. His pupils had become elongated and a long forked tongue flicked out, tasting the air. Milo was surrounded by a hazy blue energy field and for a moment Zack wondered what it could be. Then it clicked.
Evidently Melissa had been thinking the same thing because she started to say, “we need to get out of here,” but she never got all of the words out. Ghostly tendrils of probability lashed out and the bars separating Milo from his friends were suddenly blown outward at high velocity. Zack had only a split second to register what was happening and he flung himself at Melissa and Amanda, knocking the three of them to the ground. He saw Milo’s feet running into and then out of his field of vision. He left cracked footprints in the concrete floor.
“Are you all right?”asked Zack Melissa and Amanda. They both nodded.
Phineas and Ferb were disentangling themselves from the pile of metal that Murphy’s Law had unexpectedly hurled at them when Zack had tackled Melissa and Amanda to the floor. Phineas pressed a hand to the left side of his chest and Ferb’s square nose was squashed and turning purple. Zack guessed that it was broken. Hiro and Go Go were in the process of levering Baymax back on to his feet. In the ensuing chaos the big robot had deflated and collapsed.
Baymax swayed, as if he were drunk. His low power indicator was flashing and his speech was slurred. “I like puppies,”he said thickly
Hiro looked around wide eyed at the chaos Milo had left in his wake. Di Amara, Chris, Milo and Karmi were all gone. “Was that-,” he started to ask.
“-Murphy’s Law,” said Zack. He shrugged Milo’s backpack higher onto his shoulders and was heading for the exit. “C’mon, we need to get to Milo before he hurts himself or-,” he stopped. He couldn’t bring himself say, “someone else.” Milo was clearly not in his right mind, but Zack, Melissa and Amanda knew that he would never forgive himself if somebody else got seriously hurt because of him. The others fell into line behind Zack as he made for the door.
“So how do we find Milo?”asked Honey Lemon as she followed Zack, Melissa and Amanda out of the room.
“Simple,” replied Melissa. “Just follow the chaos.”