Chapter 2, The Man With the Chameleon Tattoo

Project Hope's mind flashes back to the past when he first discovers that he is a genetically engineered human and he meets his bizarre and charismatic, Dr. Noble.

CHAPTER 2

THE MAN WITH THE CHAMELEON TATTOO

Genetica began as a newborn in a man’s form.  The memories, if there ever were any, were stark white.  There was only today.  Nothing existed before the hospital.      

Genetica was a body of ice.  It was impossible to move.  He was panicked to the point of hyperventilation.  He felt no pain, except for the unrelenting anxiety of uncertainty.

            White light flooded Genetica’s vision; it obscured all lines and details.  Only broad shapes and patterns could be seen.  Large green circles intermixed with smaller red ones. 

            From a distance he heard a hollow voice that was deadly calm like approaching winter.  The voice was gentle, but there was the hint of indifference behind it.

“Can you hear me?  Hello?  Can you see me?”  The colors and white light dissipated suddenly, leaving behind a darker shape that moved from side to side.  Two bright glints of light appeared at the center of the dark shape, creating a face.  There was still no detail.   The voice came from the blurry shape. 

“Ah, there you are.  Yes!  There you are!”  The shape moved with intensity.  “You’re finally awake.  It’s finally happened.  I’ve done it!  Successful isolation and increased output of substance P, histamine, and vital fluids.  They’re being produced at an incredible rate.  The melatonin in the body is also reacting much better with the subject’s new genetic structure; better than anything else I’ve ever seen.  What’s more incredible is that your vitals are still functioning at normal capacity.” 

Another shape reached out and touched Genetica’s cheek. 

“Hmm, noticeable surgical scarring all over the body.  Perhaps it can be blended overtime.”  The shape peered with its bright, glowing orbs.  “These imperfections are meaningless now.  What matters is that the transfer was a success; far greater than I ever dare imagine.  For lack of a better word, you are perfect.”

Genetica was confused.  What did this form mean by transfer?  Transferred to what?  His throat was in pain as he forced himself to speak. 

“Wh-who are you?”  He trembled.

The form became intense again.

“Full faculties of verbal forms of communication!  Yes, you can speak.  Well, in that case, I suppose I should respond to your question.  My name is Uruvu Noble, I am a scientist here doing important research.  And today…today, I have created life.”  A wide, white crescent shape appeared across the large, dark one.  A smile?  “Through an implausibility in the normal human DNA strand, you have broken the curve.  You are the key…and you don’t even know it.” 

Noble’s blurry form backed away slowly.  Genetica was still paralyzed.  He tried to tense his arms, but there was nothing.

“I suppose it is no longer necessary to keep you restrained.”  Noble continued.  “You do require a proper diagnostic of gross motor skills.  Let’s stop the paralytics, shall we?” Within seconds, Genetica was moving.  He sat up on the massive stainless steel body tray.  He stumbled forward, his legs not ready to support him; his body collided with a hard, stationary object.  His vision remained blurry.     

“Who…am I?”  He asked, trying to find Noble.  There was only the sound of heavy breathing in the room coming from everywhere.

Genetica stumbled on unsure legs.  He crashed into something metal which caused sparks to shoot up around him. 

“Why…why can’t I see?”  He asked.

“You are experiencing disorientation.”  Noble finally replied.  “Your fine and gross motor skills need time to develop.  Your vision will become clearer with time, as well as your abilities.”

“Abilities?  What do you mean?”

“To fight for an extraordinary ideal, one must be extraordinary.  You have…talents.  These talents are such things that your enemies will not share, which gives you the advantage.”

Genetica lost his balance and he went head first into a row of more stationary objects that exploded with electricity.  Blood slid down his face and neck.  As he stood up, Genetica saw his hands for the first time.  They were dark blurs, but they were enormous.  And his feet were so far away from him.  He could not connect himself with a body of such size.

“Advantages, Genetica.  They are what separate the strongest organisms from the weakest ones.”  Genetica continued to stare at his massive hands.  His obscured vision scanned the length of his arm.  Large shards of glass or metal jutted out through his skin.  Blood ran to the floor, creating red pools below.    He watched as the glass shards lifted until they fell to the floor, leaving behind large gashes.  The wounds then shrunk rapidly until there was nothing but the skin covering his arm. 

“What is this?”   Genetica’s mouth hung open in despair.  “What’s happening to me?”

“I told you…advantages.”  Noble replied. 

Genetica’s face contorted as if he had been mortally wounded.  But he hadn’t.  He didn’t even feel the shards come out.  His skin was clay that could be molded over or reformed after a scrape or cut.  A sudden wave of panic washed over him.

“What have you done to me?”  There was no reply which scared Genetica, and he still couldn’t see.  Genetica threw his fist into the floor.  He threw them down in quick succession, hoping the floor underneath him would fall through. 

  “Security!”  Noble shouted from all around.  “I need a security team down here on standby!”  The sound of static was heard and within seconds the room flooded with the sounds of heavy boots and the clicking of weapons.  There were soon more moving shapes in Genetica’s sight.  He began to back away, but the shapes surrounded him and advanced. 

“Everyone on the ready!”  One of the guards barked.

“Wait stop!”  Noble shouted.  The guns had already begun their barrage.  Bullets tore through Genetica’s skin, but he felt nothing.  They instantly pushed out of his body and fell to the ground with several clinks. 

“Your bullets won’t harm him right now.”  Noble said.  “Do not waste them here.  If he needs to be contained, use the high-voltage weaponry.  High concentrations of electricity will immobilize him temporarily.”

            “P-please” Genetica pleaded as he rubbed his skin fiercely.  “Please, you’ve got to help me.  Tell me what’s going on!” 

            “Shall we engage?”  A guard asked.

            “No, stand down.”  Noble said.  Just…wait a moment.”  Genetica saw crimson spreading across the ground and he grasped for the liquid, letting it trickle through his fingers like a fountain.  His face contorted and he tried to yell out, but no sound came.  He gazed all around his body, seeing the liquid everywhere.  He looked again at where his wounds were meant to be, but they were gone.  It was not an illusion.    

            “I’m a…I’m a…”  Genetica stammered.  Noble’s voice deepened.             

“You are a powerful…indestructible creature.  You are the first and greatest of your kind.”  Noble became confident as the giant’s rage changed to grief.  “Have your men disperse, Captain.  There is no cause for concern.”

“Dr. Noble…sir…”

“I said leave!”

The shapes of the soldiers disappeared, leaving Noble and Genetica alone once more. 

            “When you say I am a creature…what do you mean by that?”  Genetica asked quietly.  The image of Noble flickered between clarity and obscurity.  Genetica couldn’t tell if his vision was getting better or worse.

            “Humanity does not suit you.”

            “But you are human…aren’t you?  Are you saying I’m not like you?” 

            There was silence for a brief moment before Noble answered.

            “Something you will come to learn about human-beings is that we are self-loathing individuals.  We build ourselves up only to tear ourselves down.  We are of this crude, flaccid frame.  We are jejune, weak…violent.  This is not the stake you claim in this world.  You are to be above man.” 

Genetica began to see small details more clearly.  He saw intersecting scars all across his blood-covered hand, which he traced with his eyes.  Where one scar ended, another began.  He felt sick.

            “S-so many scars…such ugliness.”

            “Ugliness is a perspective.  Soon you will be beautiful.”

            “Is this how a man is formed?  Is this how a man lives?”  Genetica noticed that Noble was moving closer towards him; reaching out his hand as if to touch.  Looking more closely, Genetica could see a tattoo on his arm as it hovered near his head.  The basic shape was that of a lizard of some sort�"Genetica still couldn’t make out detail.

            “I did not feel those injuries.”  Genetica continued.  “The glass, the metal, the bullets; I felt none of those things as they entered my body.  No man should bleed this much and still live.  You did something to me.”  A tear fell to the ground.    

            “You are invulnerable.”  Noble said plainly.  His hand grazed Genetica’s cheek.  Genetica could see Noble, a man in a white lab coat covered in red and other fluids.  Noble’s hand slid down to Genetica’s shoulder.  There was no sensation of human touch across his skin.  It was like the touch of a ghost.   

“I cannot feel your touch.”  Genetica said.  “It should be warm on my skin, but there’s nothing…like your hand’s not there at all.”

Noble smiled.

            “Your body produces abnormal amounts of melatonin, inhibiting aging and granting the ability to heal wounds within seconds from even the most fatal of blows.  You are uncommonly strong. Your skeletal structure has been calcified.  You cannot feel pain, you…”

            “…Cannot feel anything.”  Genetica interrupted.

            “An overrated human phenomenon.”  Noble replied as he took his hand away.  Genetica stood again.  His legs shook violently until they came out from under him and he fell down to the floor.  The room around him shook.

“Why have you done this to me?”  Genetica longed for comfort, for soothing.  He wanted to be held, to feel warmth. 

Noble walked backwards with cold, calculated steps.  He responded as if arguing with himself.

“Why a child?  Why the weakest and desperate of all creatures?  The precariousness of soul.  Descartes did not balk at his own cruelty when he tore, with surgical precision, into the flesh of a frightened doe to discover its soul.  Is a soul a clearly tangible thing?  Can you see it as you would a liver or a lung?  When I pull back the safeguards of mortality will I see a soul staring back at me, begging me to stop?” 

Noble dabbed at sweat on his face with a towel.  He removed the outer isolation gown, fastened the buttons on his shirt.  He took a white cloth, and wiped off the blood which splashed on his shoes.

“In the last moments before a person dies, an abundance of fear grips them.  They may deny it all they like by saying it’s their time and that they are not afraid.  But that’s just it, they are.  I see it every day in a patient’s eyes; that realization that their time has come and they have to give up their mortal shell to enter…the unknown.  And they are terrified because they pray to their god that their soul is not flung into an unknown void that kills them a thousand times more.  Yes I know that look very well.” 

Noble took off his spectacles and wiped them with the now bloody cloth.  He placed them on his nose again, but they were now stained with red.  He smiled widely. 

“But then godhood asks for nothing less.  To endure our worst fears, to give up everything and face our deaths like the cowardly weaklings we are.  Then perhaps we will emerge as something more, something greater than death.  I’ve seen death, oh I’ve seen it. It is a rotting stench that clings to me every day.  But the worst kind of death is the kind that takes away our children, our loved ones, our people because there is evil and no one will stand up to it.”

Genetica shivered.  He realized he was totally alone.  The doctor had an agenda that allowed for no input from him.  Genetica stared at a piece of metal shrapnel.  He quietly picked it up.  Genetica saw his chance.  A deep seated hatred for his creator entered the giant’s thoughts and he slowly got up and strode to where the doctor stood.  The piece of shrapnel in Genetica’s hand was held like a dagger.  It was positioned within inches from Noble’s back.  Soon it would be over, and he could leave this pitiful man to suffer the same way he had made him suffer.  But something stopped him.  A searing pain shot through his body that felt like his body was being consumed in fire.  The sensation made him yell out and crippled him.  Genetica fell to the ground again, feeling a massive weight holding him down.  He watched as his hands trembled violently. 

            “What’s happening to me?” he asked weakly.

            Noble faced him again, smiling with satisfaction.

            “A fail-safe I’ve put into place.  Your invulnerabilities are dependent on your--”   Noble chuckled with delight.  “Empathy. If your brain ever produces plasma oxytocin, usually associated with feelings of empathy, compassion, love, the flow of important chemicals such as melatonin will be stemmed and you will become nothing more than a man.  You are a number now.  I can take you away from this world as easily as I’ve brought you in.” 

            Genetica grasped Noble’s left arm.  He could see the tattoo clearly�"the bold, dark lines formed the image of a chameleon.  Genetica felt a harsh strain on his neck and back at the sight of the tattoo.  He stumbled backwards onto glass, which pierced through his now tender skin.  Each step shot pain like a wave through his entire system.    Genetica gasped for breath as he looked at fresh blood seeping out from below.  The festering stench of sticky blood was all consuming. 

            Genetica fell to a pile of glass and metal below and saw in one of the shards of metal an unfamiliar face.  The face looked back in fear.  Scars ravaged his forehead, cheeks, and nose.  The nose was wide and the two eyes that looked back were empty, dark pools.

“Who is this?”  He asked quietly.  “Am I…am I death?”  Genetica scared himself with the question.

            Noble answered for him with a note of reverence in his voice.

“No, you are a bringer of death.”

Genetica panted.

“What?”  He felt tears as they streamed down his face and sensed light that shone in from a window.  The window was three feet to his right and very high up, at ceiling level.  But he was tall, and if he timed it carefully, he could launch himself through it.  He would run.

 “What makes you think I’ll stay here with you?”  Genetica asked.  “I have power, you do not.  I could find a way to kill you and leave this place.”

Noble chuckled. 

“Yes, I suppose you could.  But as I’ve already established, you can’t hurt me.  Your compassion betrays you.”

“If that’s true, then how do I kill your enemies?  How am I a death bringer if I am weakened by the thought of killing another?”

Noble smiled.

“You are remarkable, truly remarkable.  You are right.  It seems there are drawbacks.  You can’t be killed, but if you try to kill, then you can be killed.  It defeats the purpose, does it not?  But what if…in time I were to condition you to think differently.  To reprogram you, so that the fail-safe only works when it comes to people you care about?  Ah…that would be a novel idea.”

“I’ll never care for you!”  Genetica felt his strength grow.  A little more time and he could escape out the window.  

            “It is true…and who would blame you?  However, whatever path you choose with this power that you have, never forget where you came from.” 

            Genetica glared.

“Who am I?  Who am I originally?”  He said. 

Noble peeked over his spectacles and held a grave half-smile before turning his back to Genetica.  He chuckled. 

            “Why won’t you answer that question?”  Genetica shouted.

            “What would you have me do?”  Noble asked sheepishly.  “Would you like me to tell you that your past is contained inside specimen jars and glass tubes in cold storage?  You have only to look at your left arm, and you will know the answer to your question.”

            Genetica looked down at his arm, slowly turning it over.  He moved his fingers numbly across the skin.  There were bumps that created patterns, and Genetica could see the numbers raised on his skin:  42057810. 

            “I…I was constructed.”  He swallowed.  “Made...I can’t believe it.”

            “Was there any doubt?”  Noble asked.  “Did you really believe you came from somewhere?  You are designed to be who I say you are.” 

Genetica looked at the pile of glass and metal that he knelt on.  One shard of glass caught his eye.  Printed in red was the word “Genefra” and a strange logo beside it. 

“No life beyond these walls.”  Noble continued.  “No ties beyond an algorithm and a corporation.  Escape from these walls and one way or another you will return to me.”     

             Genetica placed his hand over the glass, not wanting to see the symbol again.  He saw the window again and could wait no longer.  His eyes met with Noble’s blood-smeared glasses.  With his massive hands, he took the glass and crushed it, making a nasty grinding sound.  Blood trickled from his hands, but he couldn’t feel it.  Within seconds he darted from the pile of glass and hurled himself through the open window taking part of the wall down with him in the process.

*

            Genetica fell out of the sky with the ground in clear view below him.  He quickly realized that flight was not one of his “advantages.”  His abnormally large mass made him seem to fall faster.  The ground had jagged rocks capable of splitting flesh.  Spinning out of control, the motion reached an abrupt end as Genetica went head first into the rocky surface.  The ground split due to his impact.  There was more blood some exposed bone, all of which healed instantly. 

            When he stood up, he realized there were witnesses to his horrific fall and resurrection.  Shocked faces looked up at him.  Each person was half his size and they either ran in terror or stood, waiting to see what he would do next. 

            “What is this place?”  Genetica asked some older men in heavy coats.  They backed away, never taking their eyes off of him.  “Answer me!”  The men disappeared around a corner.  Genetica looked frantically around him, trying to understand his surroundings.  The building he fell from was part of a massive complex made of red brick.  Listening closely, he heard a high pitched siren coming from the window he escaped from.  The guards with guns; they would be after him soon. 

            Genetica began to run down a street, unsure of where it would take him.  His legs still felt uncoordinated and awkward and he stumbled over his own feet.   There were many people dressed in more coats and hats.  It must have been a cold day, but he could not feel it on his exposed skin.  The sky above was white and grey.  Deadened trees jaggedly reached upwards as Genetica reached a busy intersection.  Hundreds of vehicles moved along with the faces of gawkers peering out as he passed by them. 

            He ran into the middle of the street amongst the yellow taxis and large trucks.  A red car screeched before it slammed into him, knocking him off balance and onto the ground.  A pile up started from behind.  Shouting could be heard from all directions.

            “What the hell is your problem?”  Genetica looked up as he lay on the ground.  There were enormous buildings that reached imperceptibly above him.  Where was he?   He got to his feet and ran towards the sidewalk into a group of men and women in suits and ties.  Half of them dropped their briefcases, causing paper to fly out onto the street. 

            His height and overstimulation caused him to tear down awnings that hung too low.  Over his shoulder he could hear people talk about him.

            “Is that man homeless?  He’s gigantic.  I hope someone arrests him so he can get the help he needs.”  The sound of sirens were getting closer.  Up ahead there was a large concrete courtyard next to another intersection.  Above him was another high rise.  Squad cars pulled behind a line of cars.  Several policemen got out to apprehend him.

            “Stop!”  One of them shouted.  “Put your hands where I can see them and get on the ground now!”  Genetica started to back away.  Police quickly surrounded him and aimed their weapons at him.

            “Don’t move, pal.  We will shoot.”  Genetica turned around and ran, pushing down two officers in the process. 

            “Fire!  Aim low!”  Gun shots sounded.  Two connected on his right calf muscle and on his left tendon.  Genetica knew there were visible wounds, but they didn’t slow him down.  He continued through the upcoming intersection.  A bicyclist who was braving the cold weather was forced to brake hard to prevent from colliding into the giant.  The cyclist flipped headfirst over his handlebars. 

            “Sorry.”  Genetica said as he passed under a skyway.  The sirens were closing in from behind and he could see multi-colored lights straight ahead.  The police were starting to create a blockade.  There was a small trail of blood behind Genetica’s feet from the two bullets.  Where was he going?  His heart rate raced like a jack-hammer.  There was fear now, fear that Noble was right. 

            Two police motorcycles had rolled onto the sidewalk and were quickly weaving in between citizens, quickly gaining on Genetica.  He passed under another skyway and came upon a department storefront with the statue of a woman throwing her hat up in the air.  The blockade was just at the edge of the block.  Already, police officers were rushing to intercept.  Several of them had large rifles aimed at his head and chest. 

            “Get down now.”  One of the officers said through a bullhorn.  “Or we will use deadly force.”  There were more officers this time.  Genetica looked for a weak spot in their formation but they were everywhere.  He panicked and tried to turn towards the department store, but in the process he accidently knocked over the statue of the woman throwing her hat in the air.  The bronze statue fell hard onto the ground.  He then stumbled into a nearby display window.  Glass scattered everywhere.

            “Christ, he just creamed Mary Tyler Moore!”  Someone screamed. 

            Genetica groaned as he flipped over.  His massive body sagged over the edge of the display window.  He looked around.  Several rifles were at close range.  Genetica was willing to tolerate the rounds, so long as he could break through the blockade.  Then he saw some of the citizens that officers were trying to keep back.  Some were young children.  He looked into some of their eyes that at any moment could be permanently imprinted with the horrors of a grotesque man being gunned down.  There was no way he could do this.        

Genetica remembered what Noble had told him about compassion and the consequences it could have.  As soon as the thought entered his mind, he felt the same intense burning sensation as before.  No, he thought.  Not right now!  The images of children’s faces entered his mind and his body felt like it was breaking down.  He screamed as the pain overtook him. 

            “What the hell is this?”  Asked a nearby officer, looking down at the writhing giant.  “Is he serious?”

            “Hmm, this looks real.”  Another said.  “We might need paramedics down here.”  He paused.  “A lot of them.  Keep an eye on this guy.” 

            The pain was excruciating for Genetica.  Life was ebbing out of him.  He couldn’t take anymore and passed out. 

*

            Genetica awoke in a white room.  He was lying on two beds pushed together.  A machine beeped in the corner.  There was a barred window to his right.  It was dark.  How long had he been passed out?

            The sliding door to the room was slightly cracked open.  Genetica could just make out part of a conversation. 

            “He’s in there snoring like a drunk.  Frankly, I’m not even sure why this guy is here.  Once he can be aroused, we’re moving him to Special Care where he can sleep the rest of it off.  We could find no evidence of drugs, known ones that is.  It’s a waste of money these days even to test people, there’s so many designer drugs out there now.  Other than some severe scarring, which looks pretty old, there’s not a scratch on him.”  Genetica strained to hear the other voice, but it was too quiet.  “Listen, I don’t know a lot about what happened.”  The doctor continued.  “All of my knowledge came from the information that the paramedics had, which they received from the police on the scene.  I was told that he caused ten wrecks, including a major pile up in the middle of the business district, assaulted two officers, injured a biker, resisted arrest twice, and caused thousands of  dollars in property damage, which included the Mary Tyler Moore statue out in front of Macy’s.  All of this happens before he has an episode, passes out, and arrives at this hospital in a dump truck, unconscious.  He was too frickin’ big to get into the ambulance rig. ” 

            The doctor stopped again as the quieter voice spoke. 

            “I don’t know.  An episode!  Witnesses said it looked like a psychotic breakdown.  He said he was burning, and after that he just kept screaming until he passed out.”  Another pause.  “You want to take this guy in for psychiatric treatment now?  We’re not quite done here yet.  Do you have any proof you’re his legal guardian.  Besides, I’ve already signed a 72 hour hold on him.”  The next pause lasted a much longer time before the doctor continued.  “Why didn’t you say that’s who you were?  I’m a big fan of your research.  I studied a little of it in med school.  Really gripping stuff.  Look, wait here and I’ll grab the discharge papers from the nurse and we can, uh, transfer him over to your care.  Just leave a copy of the guardian document for his chart.” 

            Genetica heard the doctor leave.  The door slid back and he closed his eyes.  He heard a scream across the Emergency Department hallway, “Get your mutha f****n’ hands off me b***h!”  Genetica opened his eyes to see Uruvu Noble standing over him now wearing a beautifully tailored maroon suit.  His eyes were an intense brown.  The giant never noticed them before.  Noble smiled a tight-lipped smile. 

            “We meet again.”  Noble held a syringe in his hand.  “You did better than you thought, eh?”  He placed the syringe into the tube that was in his body.  “With time and proper conditioning techniques, the pain of the fail-safe will only occur when it’s meant to; when you are around those that you hold empathy for.  I promise you that gift and much more.”

            Genetica looked deeply into the cruel, grinning face

            “And I told you, that I will never care for someone like you.” 

Noble chuckled.

            “Perhaps, perhaps you are right.  But gifts are only as good as the memory that is attached to them.”  Noble pressed down on the plunger of the syringe with his thumb.  Genetica could see the murky pink fluid as it entered through his arm.  He immediately began to see red and green spots and faded images.  Noble leaned closely into Genetica’s ear; his tongue flicked like a lizard.  “And right now, you need better memories, so I’m making damn sure this one goes away.”

Genetica began to forget the last few hours.  He forgot being born and its discoveries.  He forgot himself and any memory of the man with the chameleon tattoo.

           

Author's Note

I want constructive comments about dialogue, description, action, plot, and characters. Thanks so much.

Reviews

[Bluemerlin]

Oh, and as for that beginning quote, play on the idea that this guy has memories and compassion at all from the start up, maybe question or explain why the doctor thinks nothing about this. A man with no past should basically be a child, unless there is some inherent conditioning.

[Bluemerlin]

Oh whoops, chapter 2. I didn't see that.

[Bluemerlin]

I loved the way you carried the plot, and though I have to say it's been done before it is still one f the more gripping stories I've read on the cafe. Your depictions of human nature were meaningful, though occasionally they seemed to come out of nowhere. Which is excused to some part by the fact that the doctor, the philosophical one, seems really spuratic in that crazy doctor kind of way. Yet, there definitely does seem to be a point where he seems too ramble-y, regardless of personality quirks. Mayhaps break up the philosophy? There's obviously room for further chapters (although it would feel proper if the majority of the human nature expository remained in the opening chapters and was dropped less often from now on)

Ok, so I'm not sure if you intentionally had the doctor misinterpret the biblical quote, but it literally means the opposite of what he sad it does. The excerpt says not to violently judge criminals who have stopped their crimes and 'repented'. The blood that will be spread is that of the violent judge who wields the sword. So, either the doctors going to realize conveniently later that he misinterpreted the quote, or else you should replace it. The bible has lots of contradictory quotes, I promise if you look you'll find quotes that promote vengeful violence, like where the Jews start slaughtering everyone to carve out the promise land.

I'm confused as to who the doctor made project hope to kill. Just general bad guys? Some specific force? I promise you, general bad guys is a long and lonely comic road to walk down for a writer, because it goes nowhere except into general depravity of heinous killers, which is a bit boring to read (speaking from a knowing perspective).

Also, don't fall into the so-many-meaningful-codenames foible, because as soon as the name genetica pops up, both names seem lesser. Genetica is cool sounding, apt, and more of a super hero name than project hope. I would just use one.

This needs some general editing for all the simple things, like line breaks and lacking punctuation and words in the wrong places, but don't worry overly much about this.

Again, great writing, and a capturing voice. I hope to see great things in the future.