A/N: Hey there! This is my first HL fanfiction, and I'm quite excited about it. This will be a multi-chaptered story, hurrah! Feel free to voice your opinions about this, I am open to suggestions/comments/constructive criticism.
"I am increasing Oblique Capacitor C from fifty percent to seventy-five percent."
A scientist known as Doctor Marshall pulled a lever smoothly, his eyes intent on the subject at the head of the lab. His announced actions had put the rest of the team on edge; their eyes similarly regarding the specimen. A small beep beep beep signaled the designated limit of the capacitor. Seventy-five percent of the capacitor's full power was intensely strong, but considering the subject was still in perfect condition and the laboratory was not incinerated, Dr. Marshall thought they were still pretty well off.
"There. I think we've got it," he said, breathing a sigh of relief. The other scientists around him heaved signs of relief as well and continued their work. Dr. Marshall allowed himself a moment to rest. He took off his safety goggles and laid them on the console in front of him and rubbed his eyes.
Breen has really been pushing us to our limits these past few days. Not that this experiment doesn't demand extreme attention, but we are only human...
Looking back up at the subject, Dr. Marshall smiled at the irony of his last sentence. Well, at least we are human.
The subject of the experiment in question was a female in her early twenties, floating dreamily in a reinforced glass tank at the front of the lab. Countless tubes and wires were connected to her body, sustaining her in a state of perfect suspended animation. She had been taken from her home in the inner parts of City 17 to undergo a series of intense and life-altering experiments. The bone transplant had already been a success. Instead of fallible proteins and weak marrow, she was now supported by pure eternal titanium. The process of a total bone transplant was risky and near to impossible, but the staff pulled off the procedure with minimal problems. The only remaining evidence of the invasive surgeries were the network of scars that traced her body, but they were fading quickly as a result of the clear blue healing fluid in which she was submerged. Her long auburn hair swirled around her deathly pale form, creating an eerie effect that was chilling, to say the least.
Hearing hurried footsteps behind him, he turned around to see John Ingram, a rather fidgety recruit who always seem to appear just when he was needed. Marshall thought his unusual quality was quite creepy but useful as well, so he really didn't mind.
But the look on Ingram's face indicated something quite interesting. Something almost like...excitement. But the feeling looked strange and somehow forced on his face. Marshall nodded at him, nonverbally issuing a command to speak.
"Dr. Marshall, sir, the Antlion serum is ready."
Dr. Marshall felt a chill of excitement run through his body. The serum....finally! But he betrayed no evidence of his elation.
"Well, don't just stand there, bring it in!"
"Yes, Doctor Marshall."
The Antlion serum, the final step, was the most integral part of the experiment. When injected correctly into the subject's circulatory system, the DNA of the Antlions coupled with her neurological work with which they had labored tirelessly, she was to inherit the abilities of the Antlion and use them to her advantage.
Marshall turned back to his console and spoke through the microphone that arced toward him and gave orders.
"The serum is ready to be administered. Group 1A, monitor vital signs; Group 2C, balance internal pH. And a reminder to all groups: watch your systems. If they start malfunctioning, immediately shut down and reboot."
At his announcement, an excited murmur went up in the laboratory. This was the moment the entire staff was waiting for. This experiment was extremely high-risk and there were monumental repercussions if they made just one mistake. But everything had gone off without a hitch since the experiment's beginning eight months ago.
The administering of the Antlion serum was the landmark of the end of Phase One, referred to as 'Preparation'. The success of the serum transfusion would launch Phase Two, 'Training And Reeducation', into effect. Phase Three, 'Reintroduction', and beyond was where things would really start to get interesting.
But let's not get ahead of ourselves, Doctor Marshall thought smugly as he got up from his seat on the control platform and descended the steps to the Common Floor. As he walked forward to the specimen, he could feel the excitement and anticipation in the lab as a real and palpable thing. But those who were monitoring the subject's vital signs were furiously typing away, their clacking and clicking just barely stifling their nervously labored breathing.
Marshall stepped onto the Command Platform and pulled the ascent lever. The platform started to rise slowly; he took the time to ready the Reachers.
The Reachers were a pair of intensely complex mechanical arms; a technological feat of which Doctor Marshall was quite proud. Although they were capable of crushing pure diamond, The Reachers were specifically designed for delicate high-precision work. Doctor Breen was most pleased with The Reachers; he praised the abilities of Marshall and his team and commissioned many more reproductions of the valuable tools. Most became modifications of the originally benign development purposes; transforming them into the deadly weapons known as Bayoturrets.
Marshall mounted the needle extension on the end of the Reacher, testing it by running a placebo through the administration system. He smiled at the readout on the small screen which read:
ALL SYSTEMS 100%
AWAITING FURTHER INSTRUCTION
......
All is well in paradise, Marshall thought as the small vial of serum arrived at the Command Platform's main portal via the system of high-powered vacuum tubes throughout the compound. He carefully picked up the clear glass tube and fed the contents into the loading port of the Reacher. He watched the acid green liquid stream through the network of clear tubes and eventually to the reservoir pod at the base of the needle. A low ping sounded and a new message appeared on the readout screen:
LOADING COMPLETE
CONTINUE WHEN READY
......
Marshall sighed nervously and pressed the INTERCOM button on the console. He cleared his throat and spoke.
"I am about to administer the serum. Remember to monitor your systems for any abnormalities," he paused, then continued.
"We've made it this far without many complications. We're on the precipice of history here. Brace yourselves."
Doctor Marshall warmed up the Reachers, moving them in delicate circles. They mechanically obeyed with a whirring sound of working machinery. Then, he directed the arms over the edge of the tank and into the viscous healing fluid. There was a collective gasp from the scientists watching. Marshall steered the needle's point to the subject's neck, quickly locating the lazily pulsing jugular vein. He licked his lips and blinked a few times, trying to calm the growing nervousness within his body. A slip of the hand now would quickly terminate the subject with the Reacher's overwhelming strength.
Gently, Doctor Marshall steered the Reacher forward. He felt the slightest give when the needle punctured
(her)
the subject's skin and entered the jugular vein. He held down the release button to release the serum. He watched with calculating eyes as the green liquid simultaneously emptied from the tubes and into the subject's network of blood vessels. As the serum flowed to all regions of her body, her skin took on a pale green tint that intensified and faded in a lazy cycle.
As the screen read 'RESERVOIRS EMPTY', he carefully withdrew the Reacher's needle from her neck and returned the machinery to its idle state. Cheers and applause erupted from the scientists as they checked the subject's vital signs and found her to be accepting the serum into her bloodstream. Dr. Marshall lowered the Command Platform and congratulated his fellow scientists.
However, in that moment of revelry, the serum reacted violently as it flowed into the subject's brain stem; throwing her forcefully from the soft nothingness of suspended animation into the cruel foray of her present.
Her eyes flew open and her body seized up in spasms which sent splashes of her healing fluid over the top of the tank. The scientists, jolted from their celebration, quickly fled to their stations, fiercely manipulating controls to subdue her back into submission. Doctor Marshall flew up the stairs to his platform and tried to control the situation.
"Engaging Mercury Placebo...throw the damn Incapacitators to one hundred percent. Get her back down. GET HER BACK DOWN!"
Doctor Marshall's voice blared over the PA system, nervous and tense. He frantically pushed a button to deliver a ten-thousand volt shock to the subject's body. He watched in horror as she curiously, slowly reached across her body to touch the wire delivering the shock. She yanked out the wire with a wide arcing motion of her arm. She looked straight into Doctor Marshall's eyes as she opened her mouth and let out a ferocious, high-pitched screech. The sound instantly shattered the tempered glass of the holding tank, causing the light blue fluid she had been submerged in for almost a year to flow out over the laboratory floor. The scientists all clapped their hands over their ears and stumbled for the exits, to no avail. Some tried to send more shocks through her body, but the subject still levitated in an unharmed state, as if the tank and fluid were still supporting her.
Doctor Marshall, his hands still hurriedly manipulating controls, was transfixed by the subject's glare. Her eyes, an electric yellow, bored into his with a hatred so tangible that Marshall himself could inexplicably feel the same feeling.
However, that feeling didn't last long, for the subject channeled the electric currents jolting through her body through an outstretched finger pointed directly at Doctor Marshall. He actually saw the white-hot beam arc through the air before being seized up in pain that was excruciating at best.
Seeing this effect, the subject issued beams of electric current to target the others as well. One by one, they all were caught in the agonizing revenge of the damned subject. After a few minutes of this, the emergency switch on the charges kicked in, ceasing the current running through the subject, which stopped the torture she dealt out. Some scientists, still alive, twitched feebly where they lay. She looked upon this reckoning she had wrought, seeing it as fit vengeance for all the hell they had put her through. Even so, her moment of glory was short-lived, for an alarm signal went up in the compound and commands were being issued to Civil Protection.
CALLING ALL CIVIL PROTECTION UNITS
SECURITY BREACH IN SECTOR THIRTEEN: RESEARCH LAB ONE
SUBJECT EXTREMELY DANGEROUS
USE DEADLY FORCE
Though not immediately recognizing the danger for what it was, she only sensed trouble and the need to find a safe haven awoke within her. She closed her deadly yellow eyes and concentrated.
When the Civil Protection units reached the lab, they came upon a strange and unexplainable sight.
It was impossible to distinguish one charred corpse from another. They all wore visages of extreme pain upon their scorched faces. The CP lowered their weapons in confusion and surveyed the scene further.
A strange blue liquid was spilled out onto the floor. A stray electrical wire buzzed in the silence. Nothing moved at all. But what was most telling about the scene was the most noticeable.
The subject was gone.
A/N: Reviews make the world go 'round.