Author's Note: Sanctuary Bingo Entry
Prompt: The Five (Character)
The moment of truth had finally come. It was time to show the world what I, Nikola Tesla, was made of. Our small, select group, know privately as "The Five", because there were five of us, were intent on pushing the boundaries of science. Hell, we were even trying to push the boundaries of the Universe, given the experiments we were doing. Radical ideas, far beyond our time, and we were intent on making them all into reality. Curing disease, genetic alterations, even gene therapy; we thought we could rule our little piece of the world and make a difference to the rest of it. At least, that's what we thought when we started out. Then Helen, lovely gentle but determined Helen, managed to obtain the small vial of source blood which we are now experimenting with. And so, it has come to the last test, the most simple and yet the most important by far.
We're all going to inject ourselves with it and see what happens.
The funny thing is, now it's time to do this, I'm beginning to feel the first vestiges of something akin to fear. We've all pretended to be fearless lately, not wanting to show weakness in front of Helen, but deep down, I think we're all feeling our fear, perhaps our own mortality. None of us know exactly what is going to happen when that needle pierces our skin, what changes may take place when that liquid begins flowing through our veins. For all we know, it may kill us all, or turn us into hideous monsters. Perhaps nothing will happen, the blood may simply work through us without incident, perhaps be integrated into our systems without incident.
Somehow, I doubt it.
The needle breaks Helen's alabaster skin smoothly and James presses the plunger, propelling the source blood serum into Helen's veins. I can see she's trying to hide it, but the look on James' face tells me it's hurting her, just as it will hurt us all soon. She screams, grasping John and James' hands as the pain races through her, the blood changing her irrevocably. After a few minutes, she quietens and finally straightens in her seat, looking at everyone around her with tear filled eyes. She doesn't speak as John helps her into another chair and I take her place, ready at last to face what I consider to be my destiny.
Wait, am I truly ready for this?
James doesn't give me any chance to change my mind. He's already got the syringe refilled and ready to go, leaving me no time to consider what I'm about to do. I look at him, our eyes locked as I roll up my sleeve to expose the vein he's going to use. Never breaking eye contact, he stabs the needle into my arm, the pain of the needle breaking skin quickly forgotten as the serum begins to race through my veins. I can feel it pulsing within me, like fire coursing through me, burning away every semblance of humanity that I possess. I throw my head back and scream as the pain consumes me, driving away conscious thought or gentlemanly action. For the briefest moment, I'm sure I'm going to die, before the pain begins to lessen, though the fire remain behind.
I don't know what I'm becoming, but I know it will be powerful... and unique.