James took a seat on a stool at the lab counter and said “So what exactly did you find?”

“I asked Rebecca for help taking a look at your DNA to have another viewpoint. I hope you don’t mind.” Francine said.

“No, it’s fine. I just ask for your discretion Rebecca.”

Rebecca nodded and said “You have my word that I won’t speak about what I saw.”

“Moving on, we found more questions than answers really. We are still no closer to figuring out how your DNA actually works, though we did manage to see one of your cells divide. Though it did it in a way that defies all explanation. In effect the new cell simply popped into existence right next to the original cell.”

“Okay? That sounds weird.” James said.

“It was.” Rebecca said.

“I’m just a biologist, so what I’m about to say is just my guess.” Francine pulled open a notebook and said “From what we witnessed it looked as if it was dividing into a separate dimension. When it finished the new cell popped out from that dimension. Without the proper equipment, I have no way of testing that hypothesis.”

Thinking about it James found it made a bit of sense. The thing in his gut didn’t seem to be on this dimension, so a part of him being on another dimension made sense. “Does this have any effect in regards to my cells?”

“Not too much from what I saw other than the whole dimension thing. Though I did notice your cells divide faster and more cleanly than regular cells. In my opinion you can probably heal a great deal faster than a regular person.”

“How much faster?” James asked.

“If I had to say you could probably heal from minor injuries at least triple the speed a regular person can. Probably faster in certain circumstances. To know better I would like a blood sample. If my suspicions are correct, you could probably heal injuries that a regular person couldn’t.” Francine said.

“Like?” James said.

“You might be able to regrow a limb. But it would take a while for that to heal.”

James nodded, rubbing his hands. When he had gotten up, they were pink, now they had gotten less vibrant. The soreness had decreased as well. “So did you manage to find anything else?”

“I am still working on your pheromones, but I did manage to create two things of interest.” Francine went over to a cabinet and pulled out two bottles. “I attempted to replicate the pheromones with little success. What I did was create two chemicals that do create similar effects to the pheromones.”

She set down a bottle filled with a purplish liquid. “I used your attractive pheromone as a base to create this. It’s definitely nowhere near as powerful as yours, it’s at least a hundredth as powerful and lacks the aphrodisiac quality of the original. What I think it would be good use for is for a perfume base. On the right market we could make a great deal of cash with this.”

Frowning James picked up the bottle and gave it a smell. It had an odd sweet smell to it. “I’m not certain that is a good idea. Especially when we don’t know the full effects of my pheromones just yet, let alone a chemical copy.”

“I understand and will continue to do testing. So far it hasn't seemed to be harmful, and I think it’s an option that you should keep in mind. With more money I can get better equipment to help answer your questions. Plus I’m sure you could use a bit of money yourself.” Francine said.

“That is true, but I fear that it would potentially risk exposing me. The last thing I need to worry about is being abducted and subjected to experimentation.” James said.

“I’ve thought of that and came up with several ways to hide the origin of this chemical. Plus there is no way to recreate the pheromone from the chemical. As far as anyone can tell we simply came up with a design from scratch.” Francine said.

“How would you even go about selling this?” James said.

“Well we have two options, attempting to create our own products and selling those, or we can team up with a cosmetic company. I have an old friend who works at a nearby one, Janus Cosmetics. She is the head of the R&D section and would be interested in this. But before we even do that, I think we should patent it.” Francine said.

Placing the bottle down he said “How will you explain to everyone how you managed to create this? Of course without letting them be able to trace it back to me.”

“I’ve been in seclusion for a long time, and in order to create this chemical I used some ideas from my husband. So that’s how I can document it. The reason I think it’s important to patent it, is that while the chemical would be difficult to replicate, it’s not impossible. As such if you don’t want to be undercut suddenly by your competition you need some protection.”

Considering the pros and cons of it, James asked “If you do want to get it patented, what do you need.”

“We will need the help of a good Patent Lawyer. Which means we need money. Plus since it is inherently tied to you, I think you should put your name on it with mine.” Francine spoke.

“How much money?” James asked.

“At least fifty thousand if we want to do it well.” Francine said.

“Yikes.” James said. 

Rebecca said “Don’t worry about it right now. All we want is for you to consider it.”

James nodded and said “I will think about it. So what’s in that other bottle? Is that something else you want to sell?”

“No, this is something I think would be useful as a tool for you. I call it a distracto-spray.”

“Distracto-spray?” James asked confused. “It sprays distractions?”

“Using your pheromones that obscures things I wanted to make a spray to make things effectively invisible. However, the chemical I made didn’t work like that at all. What I found was that if you spray it into a person’s face it stops that person’s train of thought.”

“Wait, so it basically causes a distraction? What does that mean?” James asked.

Rebecca said “She tried it on me. Basically, she had me start doing a task and then sprayed me in the face. It was as if my thoughts suddenly came to a crashing halt and I didn’t know what I was thinking anymore. It lasted several seconds, and not an experience I want to repeat.” 

Taking the bottle from Francine he asked “So how long does this distraction work?”

“After testing with Rebecca and myself it seems to last around one minute with varying degrees of effectiveness. The simpler the previous thoughts the faster one can get back to them. Unfortunately, you have to get the spray right in the person’s face for it to work. It breaks down too fast in the atmosphere otherwise.”

Looking at the clear bottle he nodded. “This will be helpful. Thanks for developing it for me.”

“It’s no problem James. This is a completely fascinating field of study. It has already given me so many ideas of what could be done. The last thing I need to speak to you about is the sperm sample you gave me. Like the previous things, your sperm is not simple at all.”

James coughed and Rebecca gave him a smirk. “Don’t worry, it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“The first thing we discovered was like your pheromones; your sperm has different orientations. In the sample you gave me they were in an inactive state.” Francine said.

“Does that mean I am infertile?” James frowned. He wasn’t ready for children now, but he did want them eventually.

“Quite the opposite in fact.” Francine spoke up. “The amount of sperm in the sample would be record breaking if you were a normal human. Like your pheromones if exposed to the right stimulus they would change orientation from an inactive state to a fertile one. What’s different is that the stimulus for them comes from inside of you.”

“What?” James asked.

“To get them active I suspect that you must really want kids to get them active. That could create a hormonal signal to activate them.” Francine shrugged. “At least that’s my speculation of what I observed.”

Rebecca took a seat across from James and said “In other words you have a safety on your junk that prevents you from impregnating someone without you wanting too. But if you really do control it, you have to be careful. The wrong pillow talk might cause you to become active.”

“Okay, would my weird DNA even allow me to have a child with a regular person?” James asked.

Francine frowned and said “Without testing it’s hard to say, but I think it’s entirely possible. From what I saw in your sperm is that it’s incredibly adaptable. To a disturbing degree, I suspect you could knock up just about anything that produces an egg.”

“So be careful where you shoot it.” Rebecca said.

“I’ll take that into consideration.” James said. “Is there anything else I should be worried about?”

Rebecca said “On the bright side most natural diseases won’t affect you so you don’t have to worry about STI. Though given the weird way your cells replicate you might have to worry about cancer.”

“You know,” James said thinking out loud. “Why hasn’t cancer been cured? I mean there are hundreds of superheroes. Alien Tech routinely falls out of the sky. You would think that would be a trivial thing to cure.”

Rebecca said “That’s a good question and people have been asking it for a long time. Some diseases simply don’t have an easy answer to fixing them. But for cancer three schools of thought have developed in regards to it. First is that cancer is inherently part of the design of our genetics, so how do you cure your genetics? Evolution is all about having chance mutations which in effect risks cancer.”

“The fact that a huge amount of the population has the metagene lends credence to this school of thought.” Francine said.

“The next idea is the fact that all cancer is inherently different and based on that person’s own genetics. While we have come up with ways of causing cancer to go into remission, it doesn’t work for everyone. When we try to increase the focus of the cure to cancer what they found was that the cure worked on less on and less people. If we ever did come up with a true cure to cancer, it would likely only work for the person it was developed for. If that’s the case why will a pharmaceutical company spend millions of dollars to cure justone person?”

“Wouldn’t they simply have to replicate it for another person?” James asked.

“The methods might carry over, but you would still need to spend a great deal going over a person’s genetics to do so. Which would cost more than an average person could afford. Even rich people would find it hard to pay, and it would still take time. Time that a patient wouldn’t have. So it’s better to go with conventional treatments that have a good chance of helping rather than spending billions for a cure that might not make it in time and would only work for one person.” Rebecca said.

Francine nodded and said “The final idea is the most controversial. One of the reasons of cancer is damaged cells. Damage that could occur naturally, but also from exposure to intense energies like radiation. Energies typically produced from superheroes and villains alike. To fully cure cancer all of these sources must be removed. Which is not going to happen.”

“I’m not a fan of that theory.” Rebecca shrugged. “My main guess on why no superhero has cured it, is because I think you have to genetically engineer the entire human race to do so. Which would be highly unethical and not something a hero would do. Plus the amount of time, a hero would have to devote to saving just one person from cancer is better off saving more people.”

“I see.” James said. “So Rebecca, you told me earlier that you were planning on leaving?”

“Yeah. I have a bus ticket to Metropolis tonight. Since my mother’s condition has stabilized, I can now look into some leads of where my father went. I never could because Mom needed me by her side, but now I can follow up some clues I’ve found.”

Francine shook her head wearily and said “While I miss him, I wish you wouldn’t go after him. It’s dangerous. I don’t want you to disappear like him.”

“It does sound dangerous Rebecca.” James said. “If some bad people kidnapped your dad, they probably won’t like it if you dig up information on them.”

“I know, but this is something that I need to do. But I will be careful when meeting with these contacts.”

“What contacts?” James asked.

“I’ve managed to locate some of my father’s previous partners working in Metropolis. If anyone would know who would want my father’s research, it would be them.”

James frowned and said “I understand, but please be careful Rebecca. If you get into any trouble please shout for Superman. Since it’s his city, you would likely have the most chance of being saved there.”

“I will.” Rebecca said.