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Damien blinked for a moment. "Excuse me. What?" he asked, a little dumbfounded.

Damien curled a white gloved hand into a fist. "He's got loose lips, that one" he grumbled. He then went over to the door and told the doctor he wanted to speak to one of those who worked under him.

Damien shooed the doctor out to speak to the colleague alone. "I want to ask you a few questions and you better answer them truthfully" Damien said, crossing his arms. "If I find out you were lying to me, there will be serious consequences for you".

"How long has the serum designed to give immortality been ready?" Damien asked. He wanted to know the truth.

"It is amazing what a year does to you", Kyrell muttered to himself as he watched Mt. Angelo city from the safe distance of a cliff and binoculars. His heart ached. It yearned for something within those walls -- something that hopefully had recovered enough to maybe waltz out of there and look for him. Well, at least, that was his fantasy. He put away the binoculars and headed back to base. He had been there for the beginning of a new organization -- the Helmshire Relief Organization, lovingly nicknamed "HERO" by the people it's helped. It had grown in repute over the past year, aiding the Helmshirish in securing jobs, getting free medical care and finding out firsthand before Helmshirish folk get dragged out of their homes to some concentration camp for crimes they didn't even commit. It sheltered its members, and its base has begun to grow to extend to more than just Helmshire citizens. It was tough work and while the Diethelm government hasn't been aware of it yet, it was hard, sneaking around and providing people with this and that by finding wealthy benefactors to the cause. Kyrell smiled as he looked at the people working hard around the base. Like the rebels, it might not last so long but it was effective while it lasted. He took a deep breath and went back to work himself.

"It is amazing what a year does to you", Fanny had said, looking out the window. She had blended in and conducted herself like a princess, all the while, remembering all the things that Zil had taught her long ago. Her father. If only he were here now.

"Is something the matter, dear princess?", the young prince asked Fanny, who now went by a more princess-like alias. He offered her his hand, tilting his head with a smile, indicating that he'd like her to come with him to the dance downstairs.

"Not at all, sweet prince", Fanny said in reply, wiping away the sadness in her eyes with a charming smile. "It's just that sometimes, I forget that it's been a year already. How handsome you've grown"

"How clever you've become", he commented as well, leading her away.

"You flatter me", she said meekly as they headed towards the ballroom.

"It is amazing what a year does to you", Zil said darkly, sitting in a dark room with only a table and chair for company. He sat on the chair with his legs crossed on top of the table as he breathed dark smoke. Smoking had become a regular thing for him once more as though he had forgotten about the woman who had once forbidden him to do it. His drinking had gotten worse and he seemed to grow more bitter each moment. His face was seemingly, always hardened by the demand of his work. His life had grown more sparse and bare, despite the large sums he received from contract killing.

Half a year ago, all major establishments around Diethelm were bombed. Zil procured all those bombs. His teammates denoted them. Not that it helped them move to take down the seat of power. Zil stopped caring after the night he discovered Shadow out of her apartment out of curiosity. She never came back. All her things were still there. While jamming his companions' signals, he sometimes looked around her place and sat around for a while, wondering if she'll ever return. Fanny was still on track in his plan as far as he knew. God, how he missed her. How he'd give all to send her a letter ordering her to come home. Well, there was no "home", but there were the two of them -- father and daughter. And as far as he knew, Kyrell was becoming exactly what he wanted, except the kid hadn't at all gotten sadistic, even after putting him through the kidnapping of his sister a year ago. That puzzled Zil a little but everything else was going according to plan. In fact, he sent large sums under a false name to Kyrell's organization. All the while, Zil couldn't feel a fraction of happiness for any of the successful things that happened... That no longer seemed to matter to him. All there was was longing -- desire to be reunited with those he had lost.

"It is amazing what a year does to you", Monica said with a smile, looking to Jian. She sipped on her cup of coffee and asked him with a gentle gaze, "And how are you today, Mr. Chief General?"

((OOC: Hey, would you guys like for Catharsis to be in effect right about now~? I think it'll be great for the plot =3= ))

"Fairly well." He replied. "It's been a bit quiet around here, but that's not necessarily a bad thing." Jian replied calmly with a sincere smile.

((I've got an idea of how to get Shadow out. trololololol. ))

"He told me you already knew. He said you were waiting on the biological resistance research, and we haven't finished that yet. I-It's proven difficult with all of the other genes connected to the DNA molecules, so we actually have to pinpoint the genetic strip it came from."

"Well." He began, pulling up a computer. "Um... we've pinpointed the resistance proteins to these three DNA molecules. We already knew which gene the immortality gene by examining the protein, denaturing it, and getting the sequence. That way we could do a scan on the DNA and find the sequence. Using the DNA, we engineered a DNA virus to embed immortality into your body. The virus injects the DNA into your cells, it goes backward through your system, and imprints the sequence into your own DNA, making you immortal. I know you might be worried to hear we're using a virus, but I assure you it's perfectly safe. In fact, we use this same method for creating vaccines. The problem with the resistance genes is that they're what we call linked genes. DNA can be coded up and down to make different proteins. When we used the same process, it changed hair color, attitudes, different things within the body. This is because the same proteins that make the body resistant to bioweapons and such are linked to her hair, mental functions, finger nails, skin, and other things. Right now, I'm trying to see if I can take that sequence and make it so it's put onto a different DNA sequence. Those are currently in the works and we're waiting for results. The main possible issue is that the synthesized proteins on a different DNA strands may still compete for dominance. It could lead to bi-polar disorder, multiple colored hair, things like that. We'll just have to see." He explained, showing him the different research charts and graphs.