Gene (Atlantic City)

	For other characters named Gene, see Gene.

Gene is a chemist producing Devil's Blood for the Lombardi Family of Atlantic City in Fallout 76, introduced in the Expeditions: Atlantic City update part two, America's Playground.

Background[]

An associate of the Lombardi Family, Gene resides in an apartment block in the flooded city center, where she has set up a chem lab. Gene describes herself as one of the best chemists in Atlantic City, which is why she was recruited by the Family.^[1] Not much is known about Gene's life prior to her association with the Atlantic City mafia, though a chalkboard in her room mentions her father and his birthday.^[2]

At some point, Gene was approached by the Family, who threatened to kill her if she operated as a competing chemist in the Atlantic City drug trade; instead, Gene was brought in as an associate of the Family.^[3] She began to work with Antonio Russo, who discovered the chem that would become known as the Devil's Blood when he killed a Lesser Devil. When the chem was first produced, Antonio focused on the caps he could make from profiting off of the chem, while Gene was more fascinated with its chemical properties, including a mixture of the effects of opioids and depressants. Although the Family's human trials with the drug were successful, it proved to be highly addictive, and Gene considered whether or not she should try Devil's Blood herself. She believed that the effects would be lessened on her, as she was already well aware of its consequences.^[4]

This proved to be a life-altering mistake. Gene found herself drawn to the fiery feelings derived from the Blood's stimulation of the brain's ventromedial prefrontal cortex, or "pleasure center."^[5] This led to Gene developing a deep addiction to the chem she helped develop, to the point she began to lose threads of her memory before taking the Devil's Blood, at one point even wondering if she innately wanted the chem to "burn and raze" her mind.^[6] As a result, Gene became constantly on edge, jumpy, and frequently stammering in her speech, while at the same time obsessed with the Devil's Blood and never wanting to stop taking it.^[7][8][9]

Originally, Gene used a purer, organic compound to produce the Devil's Blood. However, the supply soon ran out and Gene instead created a synthetic compound to continue making the chem. Around the same time, the Family forced Gene to stay in her lab and meet the demand for more Devil's Blood.^[10] Gene describes her situation as being locked up in her lab with no privacy and no life outside of cooking Devil's Blood day and night. Because of her damaged memory stemming from the Devil's Blood addiction, she scarcely remembers the time before she worked for the Family.^[1] Despite essentially being held prisoner by the mob, under threat of losing her kneecaps or worse, Gene says that working for the Family has its perks, even if it was not her first choice.^[11] Namely, under the terms of her agreement, Gene has access to all the Devil's Blood she wants, so long as she continues producing the chem for the Family. This tragically uneven deal means that the Family gets to keep Gene as a prisoner and chemistry workhorse, while at the same time fueling her Devil's Blood addiction.^[3]

As part of her work with the Lombardi Family, Gene was at one point contracted by Billy Beltbuckles to produce several non-Devil's Blood chems (such as Addictol and Med-X). She gave him an invoice for these chems, totaling 2550 caps, on top of Billy owing Gene 14,000 more caps for previous batches. However, she was willing to take some of it of in exchange for more Devil's Blood, as that was what her payment was going to be used for anyway.^[12] As it turned out, these chems were commissioned on behalf of Concerta Lombardi to attempt to treat Quentino Lombardi's own addiction to the Blood. Once she became aware of the situation, Gene understood that discretion was necessary, but also advised Concerta that those chems alone would not be able to treat Quentino's addiction without a stronger antidote. Additionally, with Antonio since having left Atlantic City, the Devil's Blood became harder to both produce and distribute. Gene argued that she was not being trusted enough by Concerta to follow her advice, and Quentino eventually died from his addiction, effectively proving Gene right.^[13][14]

Gene also has a soft side beneath her jittery and anxious nature,^[15] and although she does initially focus on self-preservation,^[16] she does ultimately agree to participate in creating a Devil's Blood antidote for Abbie Russo given the right materials (organic, not synthetic), and empathizes with her as a fellow Devil's Blood addict.^[17] However, Gene is aware that Antonio is faking his senility and is the only source of knowledge on the chem's origins.^[18] Though she does not know where it comes from, in the process of trying to create an antidote from another organic sample, Gene discovers that the Lesser Devil that Antonio originally killed was merely a juvenile.^[19] Gene suggests using the Lesser Devil sample to create fake pheromones and draw out the real Jersey Devil from the nearby Pine Barrens, leading to a climactic confrontation.^[20]

Interactions with the player character[]

Interactions overview[]

Interactions
	This character ignores combat and cannot be damaged.
	This character cannot be killed.
	This character starts quests.	Sins of the Father
	This character is involved in quests.	Honor Bound

Quests[]

• Honor Bound: This quest culminates with finding Gene in her apartment chem lab.
• Sins of the Father: Gene plays a role during this quest, and may be involved in the creation of a Devil's Blood antidote for Abbie Russo.

Inventory[]

Notes[]

• After Sins of the Father is completed, the apartment where Gene's chem lab is located is sealed up again, and she can no longer be interacted with on subsequent trips to the flooded city center. This also makes the note Get me outta here!, written by Gene, inaccessible.
• In an apartment above Fontina d'Aosta in the flooded city center, there is a Muni corpse near the note Just my luck!, describing another chemist, who came to Atlantic City from Coos Bay and was hired to produce Devil's Blood. With the note being found in another apartment-turned-chem lab, this indicates that Gene was at one point not the only chemist in the area producing Devil's Blood, but the other chemist later died; Gene does not ever mention this other chemist herself.

Appearances[]

Gene appears only in Fallout 76, introduced in the Expeditions: Atlantic City update. She was first mentioned in a note and terminal entries with the Boardwalk Paradise update, before being introduced as a full character with America's Playground.

Behind the scenes[]

• During the quest Honor Bound, the player has the option to tell Gene "I can't offer anything better than your kneecaps." When Vin Russo says that they are not leaving without information on a Devil's Blood antidote, Gene replies, "Then make me an offer I can't refuse!" This is a reference to the acclaimed 1972 gangster film The Godfather, in particular a famous line from Vito Corleone (played by Marlon Brando), "I'm gonna make him an offer he can't refuse," a phrase which has entered popular lexicon.
• Gene's English voice actress has not been credited or announced anywhere. However, in localized versions of the game, her voice is dubbed by Isatxa Mengíbar (Spanish).

Gallery[]

Gene talking to Vin Russo at the end of Honor Bound

Gene's chalkboard reminders

References[]