Experiment: 17c3
Codename: Atticus
Recombination: Mew/Human
Status: Active
Date of Report: January 6th, 20XX
Notes: Named after the Attic Hypothesis. Has the physical form of a human teenager, but possesses the ability to generate electricity. Internal structure resembles that of Mewtwo. All personnel must wear a rubber suit at all times when interacting with 17c3. Breach of conduct is liable to result in death or viscera cleanup detail.
=·=·=·=·=
Atticus woke up slowly, painfully. His body hurt all over, like someone had used him as a pincushion. The truth wasn't far off - they'd vivisected him yesterday. They hadn't used anesthetic. In his entire life, they'd only used anesthetic a handful of times. His regenerative abilities meant that he wouldn't die, but it didn't prevent him from feeling pain. He looked over at the time display on the wall. It was late morning. Not too long until they came.
Several minutes of quiet agony later, the door opened, and Professor Dogbane walked in, clipboard in hand. He was wearing the rubber suit - that stupid rubber suit! - which meant that Dogbane would be immune to his attacks. Atticus screamed internally.
"Hello, Atticus." Dogbane was the only one who referred to him by his name. Everyone else referred to him by his number.
"What're you going to do to me today? Boil me in oil?"
Dogbane laughed. "No, don't be pessimistic. We're going to see how long you can hold your breath. Underwater and buried alive. The carbon dioxide being the variable… it dissipates underwater, but not when a person is surrounded by dirt."
"You're a monster," Atticus muttered.
"The only monster here is you. Guards, take him to the testing chamber." Dogbane snapped his fingers, and two men came into the room. They grabbed Atticus by the arms as he began kicking and yelling. The larger of the two activated his weapon and bashed Atticus in the head, knocking him out.
=·=·=·=·=
When Atticus came to, he was in a large, brightly lit room. In the center of the room was a giant plastic orb, half-filled with water, which was suspended above the ground with four pillars arranged diametrically. A metal staircase led to a hatch in the side of the sphere.
"Ah, you're awake. As you might have guessed, we will be putting you inside that," Dogbane gestured toward the globe, "and then filling it the rest of the way. Hold your breath as long as you possibly can. That is all."
"When will you let me out?"
"The test ends when you begin to drown, or when you fall unconscious. Whichever happens first. Keep in mind: the more you struggle, the more oxygen and energy you waste. You will be punished for deliberately sabotaging the results. Now… put him in." Dogbane gestured toward the structure. A different pair of men seized Atticus and carried him to his impending torture and up the stairs. Resigned to his fate, he didn't resist.
They opened the hatch, a complicated process. Watching closely, Atticus observed that it was a triple redundant system: a disk tumbler lock, a keycard lock, and a retinal scan. The chamber was hermetically sealed. Then, they threw him in and resealed the door.
He floated around for what felt like an eternity. Finally, the muffled voice of Dogbane drifted toward him. "Begin test."
Atticus started hyperventilating as the sphere began filling with water. Had he been less panicked, he would have noticed that the pipe from which the water was flowing was large enough for him to swim through. But Atticus was having a panic attack. It was all he could manage to merely stay afloat.
Another eternity later, the top of his head brushed the top of the sphere, and logic briefly overrode fear. He took a deep breath, possibly his last, as the gap closed. He was surrounded on all sides by water cold as death. He could feel a tightness in his chest - was that his lungs being slowly crushed? There was an ocean above his head. Such a lethal shade of blue. The scientists had finally decided to kill him, hadn't they? He had failed for the last time. His vision began to fail, and he closed his eyes. Liquid filled his mouth, his throat, permeating his very being. Everything faded away.
=·=·=·=·=
"33 minutes, 4 seconds. Hardly what we would expect from one with Legendary DNA. Still… he did not struggle… so we can't technically punish him..." Professor Asphodel murmured.
"And we won't. What are you doing here, Asphodel?" Dogbane said. "You've been assigned to Arden." The two scientists stood idly as the lab technicians pumped the liquid out of Atticus's lungs. Asphodel chomped on his cigar as he wiped a layer of grime off his square-rimmed glasses.
"Your bad habit of naming them has always bothered me... Experiment 19c6 can wait. I came to see how 17c3 was doing. Seems to me like you've been going easy on him."
"Well. When it's your turn as his staff, you can do as you see fit. Now leave. You are shirking your responsibilities just as much as you think I am. It is not your place to tell me how to do my job."
"Not yet, at least…" Asphodel chuckled, shuffling away.
=·=·=·=·=
Atticus awoke for the third time that day in a different room. This one was nearly identical to every other testing chamber, with one major difference: unlike any room Atticus had ever been in, this one had a dirt floor. Well, Atticus assumed it was dirt. He'd never actually seen dirt before. For all he knew, it might be scatological.
"Don't tell me I'm being buried right after almost drowning…" Atticus groaned.
"You're not."
Atticus blinked. He hadn't expected that. "So what are we doing here?" He looked expectantly at Dogbane, who was sitting cross-legged on the ground, chin resting on his fists.
"We're waiting."
"For what?"
Dogbane sighed and stood up. "Think, Atticus. We need something to bury you in."
"Of course you're still going to bury me. Why would I ever get my hopes up?" Atticus whispered, tearing up.
"I said think!" Dogbane snarled, punching Atticus in the back of his head. "Why are we here, if we don't have something to bury you in?"
Atticus broke. Face twisted almost beyond recognition, he fell to the ground and curled up in a ball, hot droplets of rage and sorrow streaming from his bloodshot eyes. Dogbane kicked him in an attempt to snap him out of it, but it had no effect on the despairing boy. The professor sighed, pulling at his own hair.
"Take him back to his room," he said, waving tiredly at the guards. "We're done here."