The days after Halloween had gone rather calmly, and back at Horizon, Jeremy was glad to be back at work. Sure there were certain things he had some issues with, as while he may have been coming to see some of the openings into a "better life" that Animalia had that he hadn't seen before, he still didn't quite like the fact that he'd been forced into working with things like Project Mesozoic and Project Dinotopia and from there into any other company assigned project. Part of why he'd applied at Horizon was the freedom the company had offered to allow its scientists to work on a variety of projects so long as they could prove the possible benefits to the project. The fact that he'd lost that sort of freedom to "choose" his projects rubbed him the wrong way, but then he also had to admit that if that had been his greatest concern, he shouldn't have let Heather talk him into smuggling her the Animalia Virus in the first place. In may ways he felt lucky the company didn't fire him for what he'd done.
However, now there were different concerns that weighed on him more importantly, and they actually ran into his own future. One was with Polly. He loved her dearly and wanted her to be happy, and after meeting with Mari White, the mother of Marci, who had been "fostering" Polly since his initial incarceration for smuggling the virus to Heather, he'd begun to see on just how bad he'd slipped up with regard to caring for her. While he didn't want to be a Polar Bear Animalian, a part of him thought that might be the thing he would HAVE to do to make things right by Polly and thus try to do better for her.
The other was with Heather. Both of them had managed to make it through the consequences of her attack on Sophie and Roland without the worst results imaginable, particularly that Heather had been able to prove that a lot of hers had been more due to being overwhelmed by her new instincts which only fueled her anger at the time. She was still officially under probation with her grandmother being the principle one making sure she kept on the straight and narrow, but she was essentially free. However, in the course of that, Jeremy had learned that she liked HIM and in a more romantic way than just friends...
And that raised all sorts of questions for Jeremy. He'd never been particularly good with dating and had never noticed any sort of attraction Heather had before she became an Animalian. Now that meant that if she they were to date and find that they did do well together, there was then the question of whether or not he became a male Syntixisaurus Rex to be with her or not. He knew that by Animalia's edicts that if this was a true love sort of thing for Heather and that she wanted children, he would HAVE to be if they were to have kids. True, they could adopt and be parents that way, as one of the other couples at the therapy sessions with Doctor Jones was, but Jeremy couldn't know for sure if Heather wanted children that were truly hers or would accept adoption... and at the same time, Jeremy wasn't sure if Heather's present probation would allow for any request like that to go through. A lot of that would probably require more time together and dates, which Jeremy was at least willing to try.
And in a way, the Halloween Carnival helped with that. Primarily it'd been for Polly, but Jeremy had invited Heather along and there were a few moments where they'd actually come close to kissing. However, his fun at the carnival was soon cut short when he'd been kidnapped by a group of rogue rat Animalians lead by transformed woman calling herself Mary. She wanted him to restore her humanity so that she could leave the rat Animalian that transformed her and the host of children and inbred grandchildren to their own devices, and was more than willing to either let her children eat him or transform him if he didn't comply, and that did shake some fear into him. That raised other issues for him, but the fear created wasn't a legitimate reason to do anything as drastic as change his species. If he were to join Animalia, it would need to be because he was either A) truly in love with one who was already an Animalian or B) because he truly wanted to be an Animalian, not because he was scared of a bunch of mutant rats... And in a private session with Doctor Jones, the therapist did agree with that assessment.
However, thinking on his captivity in the sewers brought him back to the present assignment Horizon had him on, working with Mary Piper and her offspring and the one that was held behind it all, Subject Zero. Doctor Stein had clarified to him that they were essentially proto-Animalians, the result of earlier experimentation where things weren't refined to the same degree as the Animalia Virus that created Animalia, thus why Subject Zero and his children were no more than four feet tall. The largest of them was Mary Piper, herself, but it appeared that that was more due to the fact that the unrefined version of the Animalia Virus couldn't shrink her down. Horizon wanted to know on just how Subject Zero had survived, as in theory he had been euthanized, and there had been the hope of getting Mary and her children recovered to be acclimated back into Animalia.
But for the moment, that kept them in Horizon's security cells and largely isolated from each other. Mary and Subject Zero had their own individual cells while their children were then divided by gender. Males were all in one cell while females were in another. Feeding and showering was something of a chore and depended on the Animalia PD officers being present and actually handling the herding, but so far the sewer rats managed some level of compliance. It wasn't that they liked being incarcerated or being told what to do, but they saw the greater size of the Wolf Animalians and then saw their teeth, and that was enough of an intimidation factor that they weren't going to provoke a fight. Of course, some of that Jeremy also guessed was a result of a weekend where first Heather and later Polly had come again with Marcy to see how he was doing, and had found him handling some of the tasks related to dealing with the sewer rats. One of the younger rats had emptied itself in fear when Heather pretty much roared at it.
"How have they been doing?" Jeremy asked as he approached one of the Wolf Animalians, presently on duty and monitoring the cells.
"Mostly still nest building," the wolf Animalian answered, "they get along well enough and so long as we provide food they don't instigate any aggression toward each other."
Jeremy nodded. The rat Animalians were given pillows, blankets, and other items to provide them with some comfort, but they'd tended to rip them apart and actually put them into the sort of nests that would be typical of a mundane rat or mouse in the wild with building nests out of gathered soft materials. It reflected there more feral nature. They weren't necessarily mindless or mundane in their mindset, but neither were they as cognitively aware as humans or Animalians. They could talk, particularly Mary Piper's children, but it was very simple and short.
"So... what is Horizon up to?" the wolf Animalian asked.
"The hope is that we give Mary and Subject Zero the refined version of the Animalia Virus in the hopes that what mental degradation happened with Mary due to the unrefined version can be physically healed while Subject Zero could be truly uplifted and making the study of his healing factor easier to work with," Jeremy answered only hear an angry shout come from Mary's cell.
"NO! I don't want to be a fucking rat!" Mary shouted from her cell, drawing their attention to her as she stood at the viewing windows with narrowed eyes and an angry frown, "that fucker raped me! I DON'T want to be reminded of him! You promised to turn me back! To let me be HUMAN again! THAT is what I want."
Jeremy glanced to Mary Piper and then to the wolf Animalian who stood by. The doors could not be opened from within the cells and the walls were solid metal, prohibiting any possible escape.
"I know that's what you want, Ms. Piper," Jeremy spoke, "and a good part of me more than willing to look into a process that could fully reverse the transformation... to allow those that were accidentally changed, such as yourself, who want to be human again an opportunity for that. But as I tried to tell you in the sewers, because the nature of the Animalia Virus came as such a surprise in that it could uplift animals and convert humans into Animalians when combined with animal DNA, there is a LOT that we don't know about it and exactly how it works. And for the moment with the scientific understanding that we have... that there just isn't the ability to turn any Animalian back safely. Present tissue tests have showed that attempts to reverse the Animalia Virus from an Animalian's cells are destructive. Some features may reverse... but because the process destroys their individual cells, trying with the knowledge we have now is more likely to KILL you rather than turn you back."
"Then focus!" Mary demanded.
"I am... but that focus requires getting a better understanding on exactly how the virus works," Jeremy answered, "does it erase the human DNA when the animal DNA is introduced? Or is it merely altered. Does the Animalia Virus operate like a standard retrovirus? Or is there something more to it? There are a LOT of questions that will take time to answer. At best guess right now... the SAFEST option we have would be to continually introduce the Animalia Virus bonded to human DNA... essentially as if to create a human based Animalian, but even there, with regard to the Virus at present, that would only work twice. Once you're double dosed, the Animalia Virus loses its effects. Thus if a human strain of the Animalia virus doesn't restore your humanity completely... that'd then have questions as to how much would it work and where you would stand at present. If what Subject Zero did to you counts as dose one, even one dose with a human strain of the Animalia Virus would count as the second dose... and at present... I can't see it fully restoring your humanity. You might gain more human features and your rat features might become less pronounced, but you wouldn't become fully human..."
"That'd be a start!" Mary shouted angrily.
"But it wouldn't work completely given what we presently have now," Jeremy sighed. "and we have no real idea on what would be restored one way or another. Particularly as you're really the first person who's been accidentally transformed who's WANTED to go back. Most of those that have been accidentally transformed have either fallen in love with the one that transformed them or loved the physical strength they gained as a result and thus don't want to go back to being human... but AGAIN that circles back to the fact that with the science and understanding we have with the Animalia Virus is that trying to go back... is more likely to KILL you than that, and we Horizon will NOT be a party to assisted suicide."
"But..." Mary Piper protested, "you aren't even trying to go back..."
"As I said, Ms. Piper, it's complicated," Jeremy sighed, "and one that we can't be fully sure on... and at the same time, based on tests that have been run, we've noticed that parts of your brain... and particularly the parts that control higher brain function and since trying to REVERSE the transformation is an unknown to us at the present time... We know that completing the transformation can heal what has been lost, but... reversing the transformation is not possible."
Jeremy watched as Mary gave a frown and almost looked completely heartbroken, but he knew he had to finish his explanation.
"In that... about the only way your mind can be safely healed with the science we have presently available is to complete your transformation into a full fledged Animalian," Jeremy continued, "if it works, yes you'll be a Brown Rat Animalian... or Norway Rat, depending on which name you use, but it's about all you have..."
"If it works?" Mary asked.
"Given Subject Zero's healing factor... there is the chance that YOU gained it as well when Subject Zero changed you," Jeremy admitted, "which could well mean that the healing factor could be such that you'd naturally reject the Animalia Virus... and if the case... your cells would also reject any attempt to turn you back, even if there was a way to turn you back with the science we have now."
Mary frowned and then said, "Do it... anything that give me a chance of being human again... is worth it."