Saving the Super Soldier - Random Scene

"Miss Murphy..."
Michael Thompson shut the door of his office, which had neatly painted, navy blue walls and plush white carpet. He was middle aged and stocky, dressed in a bland suit and nice shoes. In his hand he held a small stack of papers, which he didn't take his eyes off.
A young woman sat in an uncomfortable plastic chair opposite the man's swiveling leather one. Her face was flushed, as if she had just seen a ghost, and she twiddled her thumbs. She turned slightly to face him, and looked him up and down before staring at the back of his seat again. "Lea, if you don't mind."
Thompson sat down, splaying the photocopied journal entries on his desk calendar and putting his thin-rimmed reading glasses on. He made no acknowledgment of the correction. "Miss Murphy, do you know why you're here?"
Lea shifted her weight. "No, sir. I can't say that I do." She was lying, of course; she was here because of Jack. All of the possible outcomes of this meeting were gnawing in her stomach to the point where she couldn't even eat breakfast this morning.
"You're here because of a Mister, ah, Jack Davenport." Thompson put the papers down and looked at her over his glasses. "He recently went back to Georgia. Did you know that?"
"Yes." Lea ventured cautiously.
"We have his journals from the camp here." Thompson gestured downwards, then swiveled in his chair to face a flat screened computer. He typed something quickly, leaving the girl to crane her neck to see what he was doing. "We know exactly where Davenport is."
Her throat went dry, but she felt a knot of tension release in her stomach. That meant that they could get him and bring him home. That meant that she could get Jack back soon. "Why don't you send people to go get him then?" she demanded. It's not like there was no technology to save him. There were enough resources by far.
Thompson turned to face her again, leaning his elbows on the table and took his glasses off. "It's not that simple, Ms. Murphy."
"How in the hell is it not 'that simple?'" Lea pounded her fist on the desk. "You go into Georgia, land some men right over where he is, and get him out."
The man was calm and composed. "Ms. Murphy," he said, his voice condescending. "the Georgians are still mad at our armed forces. If we did something as obvious as that, we'd be losing more men than we'd save." He shuffled the papers. "That's why we need you."
The look on the girl's face was one of disgust. "Why do you need me?"
Thompson put his glasses back on. "We've read the journals. We know exactly how Davenport came to be that physically superior. We also know that these other men that went through this procedure would never harm a woman."
"Okay. Send a female soldier in then."
Thompson shook his head, looking frustrated. This meeting was not going as well as he had hoped; Lea was supposed to have caught on by now. "Miss Murphy, I've read over Davenport's journals, and they all-"
Lea was quiet, looking down at the floor. "Yeah. I've read them too."
He splayed them out, then looked at her through his eyelashes. "Lea... To save Davenport, we need someone. Namely someone who knows him better than anyone in the Pentagon could. To put it simply, we need you to go in there."
With puffy eyes and red cheeks, the girl looked at him, her mouth slightly agape. "Me?"
Thompson nodded. Putting his glasses back on, he swiveled in his chair to face another part of his desk. He extracted a test tube and held it to the light. After flicking it to make sure of its contents, he turned to face Lea again. "Do you know," he shook the test tube. "what this is?"
Lea raised her eyebrows. "A test tube. DNA of some kind, right?"
"Exactly." Thompson smiled. "Real, true, human DNA. If you agree to help us, we inject this," he motioned to the inside of her arm. "into you. It changes your genes. We got this from Jack's journals." He chuckled. "Gloveli was surprisingly candid with this."
Lea shifted her weight and furrowed her brow. "You're going to change my genes."
Thompson nodded, as if it were nothing at all. As if genetic engineering was just another part of his daily life. As if she should be used to this sort of thing by now. Seeing the worried look on her face, he said, "Don't worry. It should be fool-proof. There's no way that this could have a major effect on your health or life, save for the fact that you'll be physically superior."
Lea contemplated it. There was a chance for failure; there always is in surgery. She knew that all too well. She could die, just like her mother had. She chewed on her lip silently. "What if... What if something does happen? Will my parents be compensated?"
Thompson nodded confidently. "All of your medical bills will be taken care of. Funeral costs included." She went pale again. "Like I said, you're very likely to be the first success story of this caliber of engineering in the United States."
The question was not, to Lea, if she should do it or not. She felt that she should accept the offer in a heartbeat, certain that Jack would do the same for her. Yet she held back, restrained by her comfort zone. A surgery that would drastically change everything about her, a solo flight to an enemy country, a rescue mission executed by her solely. What if she failed? Lea shuddered to think that the whole country would be turned against her, or that she would be shot in the head as soon as she stepped off of the plane. Still, it was Jack.
"I'll do it." she announced quietly.
The man looked shocked. "You will?" Elation was clear in his voice. "That's fantastic. I'm glad you've made the right decision." He stood and walked to the door, opening it. Lea, however, stayed rooted in her chair.
"I'll do it on one condition." She didn't turn to face him.
Of course. Thompson thought. There's always a condition. "What's that?" he asked impatiently.
"When we get back... Will you help Jack? Like, get him a job and psychiatric help?" She sounded small and pitiful. "And help us both get into college?"
Thompson nodded. "Of course." With a small smile, Lea stood up and walked out into the reception area. Before she got too far, Thompson cleared his throat, causing her to turn around. "Oh, and Murphy?"
"Yeah?"
"Welcome to the Army."