Chapter 1 - Everyday birth

In the American city of New York, in one of the most expensive and luxurious wards of Presbyterian Hospital, there was a black-haired girl with an extremely pale face, on which beads of sweat were flowing. The doctor stood next to her and supported her with his words and instructions on how to breathe better. Outside the ward, nervous and walking from side to side, there was a tall man dressed in a business style, that is, in a shirt, jacket and tie.

— "Eric, don't worry so much, everything will be fine." — another, extremely tall and oversized man with a slight accent was telling him. He towered half a head above the person he was talking to, and you could tell from his appearance that he was no less worried.

— "How can I not worry?" — he asked, obviously nervous, and then he heard his wife's scream and immediately came closer to the door, but he was stopped by the words of the interlocutor.

— "The birth of a child is a very joyful event, but at the same time disturbing, I understand you, Eric. But there is no need to prevent doctors from doing their work, after all, they charge very little for their services."

— "I don't care about the money." — Eric said, looking at the door and sighing, took a couple of steps back. —"You know why I'm worried. All of a sudden…"

— "Everything will be fine." — he didn't let Eric finish and just patted him on the shoulder. — "Alice is a strong woman and will stand it, and she knows perfectly well that you support her with all your heart, just like me and her father. So, I get a call... remember the devil. he grinned and accepted the challenge."

— "Yes, the birth has already begun. We know you're busy, so we don't worry too much... but are you sure it's a good idea to keep putting pressure on those shareholders?" — the man asked the question more quietly. — "I see... then I'll let you know when your daughter gives birth and can say a few words to you." — He finished speaking and looked at Eric. —"You see, even Alex believes in his daughter, even if he worries. he chuckled."

— "Oh. "— the man rolled his eyes. — " I'm worried anyway. We don't know what was in those wastes and others... I'm worried. " — the man confessed and sat down on a chair opposite the door. — " What if something is wrong with the child? Roma, I... I'm just terrified, if something happens to the child, it will be a blow for Alice."

— "Everything will be fine. " — Roman waved his hand. — "All the tests show an extremely healthy fetus and no genetic abnormalities have been detected... well, there's still a lot of incomprehensible information dumped on us, but I only understood that." — He smiled a little sheepishly. — " It's easier for me to stuff my face and make normal fighters out of rookies than to listen to so much scientific mud."

— "There was nothing revealed from the diseases known to us... but there were strange deviations, even though the doctor said that it was all within the norm." — Eric said glumly. After a couple of minutes, the girl's screams were heard again, and then a baby cry.

— "What is it? " — Eric frowned, looking at the flashing light in the hallway. — " Don't tell me the damn rain and thunderstorms are going to be a problem. "— the man said, intending to enter the office where his wife had just given birth to his child.

— "Possible power outages." — Roman said not quite confidently, and after these words, the door where the girl and the crying child were, opened and the doctor appeared.

— "The baby's relatives can see his, just don't make any noise. "— The doctor spoke and nodded to the two men. When they entered, they immediately saw a haggard but happy looking beautiful woman with black hair that was partially stuck to her forehead due to sweat. On her hands lay a small bundle, from which the face of a child with amazingly, even somehow mesmerizingly, blue eyes with absolutely white eyelashes showed.

—" Handsome, isn't he? " — the woman said softly, and from her words the child turned his gaze directly at her ... at least that was the impression. — " Our little handsome... our little Felix. "- she said lovingly.

— "Already looking at him, I can assume that he will fend off female attention and will certainly be that lucky guy." — Roman said with a smile, looking at his nephew.

— "These eyes... maybe this is the mutation we were told about? "— Eric said.

—" Don't worry, we have already made sure that his eyes see perfectly normally, and the child should not have any vision problems. "— the doctor who was standing nearby hastened to assure.

— "Beautiful eyes..." — the child's mother whispered in a tired voice.

The following week, the father and the mother of Eric's wife came to the child, who had been waiting for grandchildren for a long time, and finally the moment came, and their daughter gave birth to a boy. The couple were dressed in formal suits and by their appearance it could be said that they were used to commanding hundreds of people. Alex and Cassandra Vaddergov spoiled their daughter quite a lot and because of this she grew up a very fragile and delicate person, but she decided to build her life on her own in one of the branches of their number three pharmaceutical company in the world and there she met her future husband.

— "So Felix, right?" — the woman whispered, gazing intently at her grandson, holding him in her arms.

— "He's pretty calm, not like you were when you were little." — Cassandra remarked casually. — "And very cute, I would even say supernaturally cute. Are children supposed to be like that? "— she drawled. — "Alice at that age resembled a wrinkled sausage with eyes and mouth. " — The woman said with a small smile.

— "Mom! " — the another woman came out of the bedroom a little angry with such a comparison.

—" Don't mummy me here. Felix is pulling his hands towards me and looking at me, for sure he liked me." — with a slight superiority she looked at the men sitting on the sofa.

— "He behaves like that at my place... only at Eric's he starts crying... and at Roma's... and at Alex's. Hmm, maybe they just smell something? "— the " young mon" put her finger to her lips, pondering her assumptions.

— "Maybe he just likes girls more. "— Roman suggested, holding a bottle of wine in his hands.

— "So, don't you dare get drunk in our house." — she measured the men with her eyes, especially after walking over her husband.

— "Button up your blouse to the end, dear." — Cassandra told her and Alice pouted that she had been spoiled by such a moment of her husband's upbringing.

—" A-g-u. "— Felix drawled and laughed.

— "Dad, how's the war with Umbrella going? " — Alice decided to ask a question, looking at her son with a smile.

—" It's hard to call it a war... they're just slowly but surely absorbing us." — Alex gasped. —" And already seventy percent of all pharmaceutical products around the globe are supplied by them. Of course, some states are trying to fight their almost monopoly on the market, but all to no avail. Too good products for a relatively normal price, so they have almost no competitors left. I think they will absorb us, and we will become another branch of them in America."

— "The main thing is that they do not decide to dismiss all employees from their posts and not change the director". — Eric said. — "Although it is unlikely that they will do so…"

— "Who knows, there are too strange and disturbing rumors going around Umbrella... I don't like all this." — Roman said.

—" Are you talking about disappearing specialists from different fields of activity? "— Cassandra looked at him, still holding Felix in her arms.

— "Exactly. "— he nodded. — "Did I tell you about my friend with whom we served? So, he went into mercenaries and they were hired by this Umbrella, and after a year the connection with him disappeared, as well as any mention of him. More precisely, the family was handed money and told that he died as a hero somewhere in Afghanistan, during one of the missions, but ... all this is nonsense, like nonsense. There is no body, nothing. And his family was immediately shut up in a veiled threat."

—" Clean or dirty, we are too small for them." — Alice said.

— "I rarely hear such words. "— her father chuckled. — "But you're right, daughter. For those who sit at the top of Umbrella, we are really small fry. Okay, enough of the bad stuff, have you already thought about the next child? "— Alex smiled and threw his daughter into the paint with his question.

***

It is difficult to realize that you have recently been born, especially when your consciousness is older than that of an ordinary child. At one moment there is total darkness around, and at another I am already born and there is light around me. And lying in the arms of an attractive brunette with glasses, who looks at me with love and care, I can safely say that I like a new beginning. I do not know who I was. I do not know who I am, because as soon as I was born, I immediately began to see, and newborns should not be like that. But again, I don't understand at all how I can even be aware of what is happening with a more or less adult mind. All these thoughts were quite heavy for a newborn, and I felt that I was quickly getting tired of such thoughts, but I could not do anything else, just think.

No past memories have appeared over time, I am like a blank sheet of meaningful consciousness in the body of a child and I understand that this clearly should not be the case. But what is surprising is that I have something left of my old self, for example, knowledge of the language. I could understand the adults around me, so I think in the same language with them… I think so.

A month after I was born, I firmly realized one thing, that I would never want to lose my new people close to me, who treat me with care and love. My strange behavior, according to them, was noticed immediately and my new mother, Alice, took me to the doctor, where they did not reveal any abnormalities in my mortal body. It's just that the girl was worried that I was a fairly calm child, which is clearly not the norm, I like to listen to what's going on around me and absorb new information for myself rather than screaming in vain and tearing my lungs out. My mom loved to look into my eyes and stroke my head with her hand, saying out loud that they were very beautiful. And when I turned four months old, I found out that my new mom was pregnant with another child, which means that I would have a sister or brother.

When I started walking, all my relatives were very happy about this event, because it was at this time that I started talking. It was very... simple.

— "Mo-om." — I said, getting to my feet, and very confidently.

— " F-Felix? — Alice bulged her eyes at me, and then happily took me in her arms and started jumping. — " Say more!"

— " Mom." — I said with the same confidence, and the joyful girl, with an already noticeable tummy, immediately began calling relatives. My consciousness was also getting stronger, if I used to get tired quickly, now I can stay awake for six hours without any problems before I get tired. The joy of adults was clear to me, even though I myself do not remember my past, but I know for sure that I am me, that is, this is my body and my life, even if I am a child.

As time went on, I grew stronger and noticed some oddities with my eyes. It seems to me that I should not have such a good vision, or rather, people should not have such a thing at all. All the colors became brighter every month, and I could see further and further, until at one point, when I turned ten months old, my eyes hurt.

— " Darling, stop looking at these boring books... where did you get them at all?" — Alice said, stroking my head as I lay on my stomach and read a biology book. Moreover, I knew that I was really reading, since I know and understand English, but my mother thought that I was just staring at textbooks with affection. — "Do you want to eat?"

—" Yeah. "— I nodded and she began to take out her delicious breasts with a smile. But as soon as I sucked on the nipple, pain shot through my eyes. —" A-a-m " — I stretched out and started scratching my eyes, but the pain did not go away and only got stronger.

— "Son, what's wrong with you? "— mom said and started looking at me, and when she took my hands away, I could see the growing anxiety, and when I felt something warm flowing from my eyes, Alice immediately picked up the phone and started calling my father. And I tried to wipe this liquid with my little hand, which turned out to be my blood. My eyes were very sore once again and I couldn't help crying, even with my eyes closed I could make out the figure of my mother and with every second I saw her better and clearer.

Several doctors came to our house and began to check on me urgently, and I couldn't stop crying because of the pain that seemed to burn through my brain along with my eyes. The doctors just spread their hands and said that it was most likely overwork and eye strain, since they could not detect any other problems and advised me to cover my eyes with a cloth, well, or buy special photochromic glasses, since they are too sensitive and, perhaps, it will pass with age. And it really helped me, because I could still see well with glasses, but all the colors were not so bright and did not cause severe fatigue.

Two months later, my mother went into labor and my father was on pins and needles again. This time, Cassandra, my grandmother, was in the hospital with my father, and she held me in her arms waiting for the end of childbirth and a meeting with a new family member. And so the birth came to an end and the relatives were allowed to enter the ward

— "How are you feeling? "— Eric said with concern.

— "It's like something big just came out of me." — Alice said a little sharply, but her face quickly smoothed out when the baby, who had recently stopped crying in her arms, screamed again. — "Felix, look, it's your sister." — she tilted her hands so that I could better see the little blue-eyed girl. — "Her name is Alicia. "— the woman said softly, and the little girl seemed to feel something when I was next to her and immediately fell silent.

My hands reached out to my sister by themselves. Seeing her smiling face, I firmly realized what I would do next. If earlier I still wasn't sure, because I just didn't understand how I could even think in the body of a child, whether it was a rebirth with memory loss or something else. Now I am completely sure of one thing I will do everything for my family. Since I am given such an advantage as a more adult consciousness than my body, it would be foolish not to use it, I will study, I will study everything possible to be on top and protect my loved ones and, especially, my little sister. As grandpa said, we are small bugs for those who sit on top ... well, that's good, because they definitely won't expect that the bug will turn out to be poisonous. I have already noticed that my memory is almost perfect, and my understanding of the sciences is clearly above average. You just need to keep going and keep increasing your talent.

***

A year has passed since the birth of my little sister Alicia, and during this time my parents were convinced of one thing, that I am clearly not an ordinary child.

— "Felix, can I still read you a story about Paddington bear? " — Alice said, trying to persuade me to stop spending so much time reading the book "The Basis of Genetics".

— "Mom, I like it." — I said honestly and straightened the hanging white curl from my forehead. My sister was lying next to me and quietly playing with toys.

— "It's coming." — Alice said childishly and looked at me, made sure that I was next to her, and continued to play.

— "Oh, Felix, who are you so smart about. "— she stroked my snow-white hair. The color of my hair at first greatly frightened my mother, but all the tests did not reveal any pathologies dangerous to health, except that my production of melanocytes, that is, pigment—forming cells, was disrupted, which is why my hair acquired such a color.

— "How to whom? "— I looked at my mother through glasses, which were only needed to reduce the brightness of my eyes, and then lately they have not helped much. — "After all, you graduated from Harvard University, namely the law program, received a red diploma of a master's degree." — I looked at her as if I didn't understand if she was joking or not.

—" Little flatterer. "— she pinched my cheek. — "And a very clever flatterer, since he could pronounce all this without hesitation."

— "Magster?" — with a questioning intonation came from my sister.

—" Magister, this means that our mother is very smart." — I said to my sister, who looked at me and seemed to absorb everything I was saying, and then she nodded seriously.

— "We didn't teach you to read and write." — the girl spoke again with strange emotions. —"You're a little anomaly."

—"That's... that's not a bad thing, is it?" — I looked at my mother with undisguised concern. I don't want to frighten those whom I have fallen in love with with my behavior. When my mother saw that I was scared, she hugged me very gently.

— "Son, of course it's not bad, don't worry. It's just very... very strange. " — Mom says. — "That at your age I could only answer a couple of questions, there was no question of any meaningful proposals, especially such complex ones." — she gasped. — "But you're probably one of the so called geniuses." — she tousled my hair on my head. — "Do you even understand what it says here?" — she asked, nodding towards the book.

— "Yes." — I nodded. — "So far, I have only reached the history of genetics, as one of the sciences, and the discovery of supermutagens, substances that increase the frequency of occurrence of all mutations by tens and hundreds of times."

— "A genius, as there is a genius. she sighed heavily again. "— I'm already starting to worry about your social life, son.

— "Don't worry, I have a little sister." — I said and my sister agreed, confirming my words and crawled a little closer to me.

— "That's what I'm worried about..." —Alice said softly, looking at us. —" I'm going to tell the cook to cook us something to eat. "— she said, and I went back to reading the book. First you need to build your foundation of knowledge