NVX-148

== NVX-148 ==
The NVX-148 Serum is an alchemical substance that was created by Aronwood Pharmaceuticals Corporation.
According to their scientists, the serum mutates the human DNA by granting them superhuman abilities and was intended to create super soldiers for the US Military.
== Overview ==
NVX-148 appears as an emerald-green liquid and is usually contained within metal vials. It grants superhuman abilities when injected into the circulatory system by hosts and the abilities are standardized, with its hosts gaining a lower level of superhuman physical attributes (such as enhanced strength, durability, hearing, healing, and speed) regardless of the dosage amount. However, a high dosage grants its host a higher level of superhuman attributes, making them immensely more powerful than the hosts with lower-level attributes.
Dr. Walton stated to General Bender that a single vial of NVX-148 costs roughly $2 million. Bender then calculates a month-long military operation would require $60 million per soldier, or $600 million per squad of ten members, 1 dose a day each for 30 days, meaning that the serum was always intended to be in military use rather than civilian use.
== History ==
=== Origin ===
After talking to General Bender, Walton was confused by his request to create super soldiers, so with the help of his fellow scientist Henry Weaver and his team, Walton found a way to do so after 4 years of combining gene therapy with nuclear technology, creating a powerful serum that burns into the blood, granting soldiers temporary enhancements for 24 hours, to Bender's astonishment. Curious about its effects, Bender asks about resurrecting dead soldiers, which Walton disagrees, knowing the risks, and quits his job. Weaver is then hired to do his research and after 6 months, he created the Wildfire Commandos, reanimated soldiers injected with Weaver's purified and concentrated NVX-148, granting them inhuman abilities.
=== Release ===
Weaver tested the serum on a veteran and unknown to him, the soldier had severe psychotic behavior and showed symptoms of Rabies after being bitten by his dog. As the guard accompanying Henry goes to feed him, the soldier becomes highly aggressive and attacks the guard, causing Henry to run and lock the guard inside. As the soldier choked him, the guard shot him to defend himself. As the guard laughs and mocks Henry that the serum didn't work, the soldier reanimates and attacks the guard, this time ripping out his throat with his teeth and eating it, killing the guard and reanimating him as well, making Henry realize he created a virus with the serum. To keep things hidden, Henry has a Wildfire Commando to kill the two Infected individuals so Henry can extract the brain matter. 
After learning that a severe strain of Rabies mutated into the soldier's brain, Henry made a potent viral bioweapon after mixing the brain samples with the NVX-148. Out of curiosity, he injected himself with it and after a week, he turned and contaminated the serum before sending it out to the nation, infecting millions of people nationwide. Knowing that Henry infected the serum, Bender orders his troops not to use the serum and exterminate every Infected to save the citizens, with the mission being a failure since all Infected got enhanced abilities, tearing through the human soldiers easily.
== Infection ==
A human (either a child, adult, or elder) that is exposed to the NVX-148 virus through bodily fluid contact, whether it's from a scratch, a bite, ingestion of infected flesh, a direct injection, or infected bodily fluids getting in their eyes, mouth, or simply open wounds of the skin - will become infected in between 2 minutes or an hour, depending on what method of infection and the physiology of the infected individual. It's revealed by Walton that a bite or scratch needs to be deep enough to allow the virus to enter the bloodstream.
The methods of infection play a huge role in how an individual can become infected. Direct injection or ingestion could turn someone in a slow, but painful way in notably 48 hours, in contrast to a simple bite or scratch, which could rapidly turn someone in between 10 or 20 minutes.
== Characteristics ==
The NVX-148 virus causes the infected to experience a severe case of symptoms similar to Influenza and Rabies. Their notable symptoms are fever, profuse sweating, muscle aches, headaches, constant salivation, high sensitivity to light/noise, vomiting, seizures, paralysis, and aggression.
Due to the high severity, the virus might cause the host to go into a violent seizure and they would fall into a coma, which would result in brain death shortly after 5 minutes.
The physical signs of an infected individual are easily characterized by their pale and sweaty skin, dilated pupils, bloodshot eyes, and wounds (whether they're bitten, scratched, or not). 
Due to the serum, all infected hosts (except for Wildfire Commandos) have increased strength, durability, speed, and hearing, making them more dangerous since they catch up to their victims, shrug off gunshots and blunt force trauma, and overpower their prey in close quarters. However, they are weaker since they all had a low dose of the serum in their bloodstream, giving stronger human survivors a chance to shrug off their attacks and overpower them easily.
== Immunity ==
According to Walton, some people with high doses of NVX-148 might have the chance of being immune and the notable example is Jay Roberts, who can heal from being bitten, which showcases that the immune survivors can't be infected due to their healing factor killing all toxins and diseases or they are infected, but their healing factor is helping them from turning and given Jay's strong willpower to avoid humans to prevent himself from tasting them heavily implied the latter option.
Some Wildfire Commandos are immune due to their rapid healing factor and their genetic manipulation, but they are more liable to turn if the virus mutates, causing concern for them.
== Trivia ==