Author's Note: For those who have been reading this story since the beginning, there's no need to reread these chapters once again. Since I didn't spend as much time on these earlier chapters when I first wrote them, I've just changed a few words and done some revisions that better fit within the story line; the story itself remains the same.
Chapter One: Progression of a Psycho
The telephone's persistent ringing brought Seto Kaiba out of his work; he glanced away from the various spreadsheets and graphs scattered across his computer screen to shoot a glare at the annoying device. All of his workers should have known better than to disturb him while in the midst of critical corporate labor; either this was a matter of life and death, or someone was about to become an ex-employee of Kaiba Corp. He picked up the receiver and snapped, "What is it?"
"S-sir?" Taken aback by his angry tone, the nervous secretary stammered into the phone, "I apologize for disturbing you, b-but the police are here to see you."
"I see." The anger slightly slid out of Kaiba's voice, but he still maintained the cool, professional disposition he was well-known for. "And what's their business here?"
After a short pause with only soft muttering coming through the receiver, the secretary replied: "They want to talk to you about a former employee of yours; a Dr. Julian Moreau?"
Kaiba's blue eyes narrowed. "Send them up to my office."
"Right away, sir."
He smacked the receiver back into its cradle and clasped his hands together. He couldn't bring his attention back to the glowing screen; all focus on work had been lost to the mere thought of that madman.
Dr. Julian Moreau had been an original employee under the previous Kaiba Corp, one of Gozaburo Kaiba's top designers of warfare weapons and machinery with extensive biological and genetic knowledge that maximized his designs' effectiveness. After Kaiba had become CEO of Kaiba Corp, Moreau had been one of the few who stayed with the new corporation, pledging his loyalty to Gozaburo's stepson and devoting himself entirely to the research and design of game systems.
While Moreau began as an exceptional employee, contributing significantly to the development of the Duel Disk prototypes, his activities outside of Kaiba Corp gaming development gradually fell under the CEO's suspicion. More and more frequently, the doctor would spend his spare time on his computer or at an isolated desk in a research area corner, working on secretive projects which he immediately minimized and closed or stuffed into his lab coat's pockets upon merely sensing a coworker's presence. Eventually, work on his covert operations had exceeded his time spent on Kaiba Corp's projects; his fascination with his private research, it seemed, had grown into an obsession.
Kaiba had finally had enough of the man wasting his work hours on doing personal research; late into one night a year ago, after Moreau had finally returned home, he'd taken the man's laptop and hacked into its heavily guarded files to see what the doctor thought was more important than contributing to the corporation. The glimpse into Moreau's files started out innocently enough, with scientific notes and graphs on the biology and genetics behind cross-breeding animals and the formation of human genes, but gradually grew into a glance inside the mental workings of a psychopath. From cross-breeding Moreau had moved on to gruesome genetic splicing experimentation with various animals stolen from Domino's streets. Dozens of reports and vivid photographs depicted the resulting unearthly creatures; Kaiba distinctly remembered seeing the stunning x-rays and photos of a common-day calico housecat with a hawk's hooked beak in place of its snout and grey-feathered wings protruding from the fur on its back.
When he'd read the final line in the notes for Moreau's latest project, 'Splicing of homo sapiens with animal genes appears ready to commence,' he didn't hesitate to call the police. They'd rushed to Moreau's home as quickly as they could, but the doctor had disappeared by the time they'd arrived. Moreau's personal files on his Kaiba Corp computer, the CEO had discovered afterwards, had been attached to a backup system which copied and sent them to Moreau's home laptop each time they were opened for viewing. When the files had suddenly arrived, he must have known his game was up and fled.
In the cellar of Moreau's house, behind a bolted iron door, the police discovered the remnants of Moreau's bio-laboratory. Most of the file cabinets and desk drawers had been emptied of their contents and the computer systems irreparably damaged, but the doctor had left behind one clue of his inhumane activities: Amongst metal tables topped with cages filled with fur and feathers was the corpse of a frail young woman, bound to a medical bed by iron chains. She'd been somewhat beautiful when she was alive, with unkempt scarlet hair and emerald green eyes, but attention was drawn now to her 'unusual' characteristics: furry black cat ears perched atop her head, a black tail protruding from her lower back, sharpened claws in place of fingernails. Further investigation found that she was a member of Domino's homeless; kidnapped for Moreau's sick projects, the shock and pain of the experiments he'd run on her had ultimately destroyed her malnourished form.
Kaiba snarled at the thought of the horrendous photographs of Moreau's feline-human hybrid the investigators had shown him; because of that one madman's lab work, the entirety of the Kaiba Corporation had been placed under stifling investigation and, if the police hadn't hushed up any revelation of the inhumanity to the public, would probably never have recovered from such a tarnish to its reputation. He didn't care what sort of means anyone had to resort to; he wanted that damn bastard captured, dead or alive.
A sharp rapping came from behind the office door.
"Enter."
The door opened and a man and woman entered the room, displaying gold police shields on their belts. Kaiba distinctly remembered them as the ones who'd interrogated him about the doctor and what he knew of his workings in the original investigation. Both wore seemingly blank looks on their faces, but he could tell from the slight narrowing of their eyes that they weren't too pleased to see him again.
"Mr. Kaiba," spoke the male detective, "you remember us, Detectives Wolff and Gillian, I assume?"
"Clearly."
"Well, Mr. Kaiba," the woman, Gillian, continued for her partner, "you know why we're here."
"Yes, although I hope you don't intend to just dig up more memories about that psychopath Moreau."
Wolff simply pulled a manila folder out of his jacket and slapped it onto Kaiba's desk, sending loose slips of papers flying to the floor. "Detectives in the nearby town of Kosaka recently conducted an investigation on an electronics repair shop owned by one Jules Morrington. Neighbors and passerby were complaining with increasing frequency about disturbing noises coming from vicinity, described as shrieks from torture subjection emitted by both animals and humans. When police raided the shop on a night of particularly disturbing screams, they discovered a bio-laboratory in the basement, and these particular specimens."
Kaiba opened the folder and pulled out a small stack of instant photographs. His eyes widened as he started flipping through the horribly colorful images, each one more grotesque and shocking than the last. The 'specimens' appeared to be hospitalized humans at passing glance, clad in torn paper gowns stained with dried brown blood, but closer inspection revealed animal-like limbs protruding from the corpses. One was clamped by her wrists and ankles to a stone floor atop white dove's wings on her back, a slit of crimson running along her neck; another with brown-furred dog ears and a bushy tail had been strangled by an iron collar snapped onto his neck, his tongue lolled out the side of his snout; a third lay in a puddle of water that slid off her soaked form, the slits of gills barely visible on her neck and sprinklings of scales atop her hands and feet.
"You notice that based on their hybrid appearances the specimens seem similar to the work of Dr. Julian Moreau, I assume." Gillian remarked as Kaiba went through the photographs. "We have strong reason to believe, therefore, that Jules Morrington and the doctor are one and the same."
"You don't actually have him in custody, though," Kaiba glanced up from the photos into the detectives' blank eyes. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here, wasting my time."
"Mr. Kaiba, we came to you because we thought you should be aware that Moreau may be contacting you soon," Wolff replied coolly.
"And exactly what reason would Moreau have for contacting the Kaiba Corporation when he's too deeply involved in his own psychopathic experiments?"
Wolff reached back into his jacket pocket and pulled out another manila folder, this one marked in bold black letters with the words Top Secret. Holding it out to the CEO, he simply replied, "Look at the final photograph, Mr. Kaiba."
Kaiba opened the second folder, expecting to see a more dangerous specimen from Moreau's grotesque splicing experiments, a human-tiger or human-shark hybrid, maybe. When his blue eyes fell upon the picture taped to its inside, however, he could hardly contain the disbelief that jolted throughout his body.
This specimen, a male, was different from the rest; one could already tell from the fact that it had been locked inside of what appeared to be a separate cell composed entirely of electrical barbed wire. A glistening white substance shone in place of his skin, cracked circles running up and down the arms and legs like poorly-formed scales. Large wings made out of the same glittering 'skin' were partially opened on the creature's back, enfolding his body in a shimmering cloak. Jagged golden crystals protruded through its fingers; two more sunk into its forehead for horns, and two tiny rows of fangs glittered inside a half-open mouth.
"This specimen…" After eying Moreau's creation for a few more moments, Kaiba wordlessly opened a drawer to the side of his desk and pulled out his silver briefcase, flipping it open to reveal almost the entirety of his deck—his precious trio of Blue Eyes White Dragons was still safely tucked inside his sleeveless white trench-coat, of course. He sifted through the stacks of cards until he came across the particular one he'd been searching for and laid it down beside the photograph.
The card was a Monster called Hyozanryu, or simply Diamond Dragon; it was a pretty powerful card for usage in a duel, with 2100 attack points and 2800 defense points, but still merely complement for his coveted Blue Eyes. What struck Kaiba now, however, was the similarity between the monster and Moreau's specimen: same shimmering white skin with cracked scales, same crystalline claws and horns of gold, same miniscule rows of pointed teeth.
"Yes, a fellow detective discovered the similarity between that monster and this experiment," Gillian nodded. "Bit of a Duel Monsters fan himself,"
"How the hell would Moreau be able to combine a human's genes with the ones of a creature that doesn't even exist?!" Kaiba snapped.
"Dr. Moreau has apparently moved on from genetic splicing," the female detective explained. "The papers from the doctor's lab are currently locked up in evidence, but a local department of scientists was given a quick chance to look through them beforehand. They believe Moreau had been conducting research into a method of creating hybrids between humans and creatures not even in existence, with portrayals of their likenesses serving as a key element in its functioning. As CEO of a gaming corporation that mainly focuses on the Duel Monsters game, we have high reason to believe that Moreau may soon make an attempt to obtain some of your strongest cards for his experiments—and if it becomes necessary, he may use brute force to do so."
"I see." Although Kaiba's face remained calm, his hands slightly clenched with a strange mixture of anger and pleasure. As soon as this meeting is over I'm calling for an immediate increase in security detail throughout the entire building; if that psychopath is even considering a return to Kaiba Corp, I'll make sure he regrets the decision for the rest of his asylum-bound life. "What exactly did he call this new project?"
"Hoping the name itself will grant insight into what Moreau's project is?" Wolff cocked one eyebrow. "Not to cast doubt on your abilities, Mr. Kaiba, but not even our group of scientists had enough time to find a reasonable explanation for—"
"The project's name," Kaiba interrupted.
Wolff finally let a glare cross his face before curtly replying, "Project Essence…"