Chapter 2: Success out of Failure
At the time of sunrise, the drunken scientist had meandered all over the project grounds, shouting his 'victory.' He stumbled here and there, slurring every word in his vocabulary. Eventually, he was picked up by the guards to be taken to the project leaders.
This entire facility was part of The Noah Project, named after the family that had funded it.
The Noah Project was the ultimate vie for power in the world. No one, except the Noah, government, scientists and experiments knew it existed.
The experiments where people with high stamina, knowledge and no immediate family. I had been a perfect specimen. I was fit, strong and I had a thirst for knowledge greater than most scholars. My only family was my grandfather, who lived a town away and sent me money every month to live off.
I was 15, just a sophomore in high school. Though I took multiple college level classes, and also attended a cram school at night.
Again, with the brains.
I was also a major chick magnet. I enjoyed the time I spent with pretty woman, cuddling them and hugging them and doing the you-know-what with them. Sometimes I found a guy as well. What can I say, I'm bi.
I was the one to get in my old school.
Again, with the physique.
Anyway, the Noah where a powerful family, wealth flowing out of their fancy-pants ears. I wanted to sock them in those ears, too.
The guards pulled the now snoring scientists down the hall, knocking on the large doors.
A jolly 'come in' sang from behind them, and the guards pressed in. They bowed on arrival, taking one knee.
"We have caught the crazed Doctor, Sir," the guard on the right said, face still looking towards the carpet floor.
The room was well furnished, paintings of the members of the Noah Family decorated the off white colored walls, and a desk with neat pencil cups and lights sat in the middle of the room. Two fancy black chairs sat cocked slightly to the side in front of the desk.
In the chair behind the workspace, a plump man hummed happily. His off white coat let out a silent scream and seemed to threaten to break as the man shifted, and he lowered his large top hat slightly. It had on it a rose that seemed to be just on the edge of wilting. His face was dark, his features hidden with mystery surrounding them.
"Leave him in that chair," he said his voice rough and deep. The guards did as he said, dropping the snoring man in the deep folded of the chair.
"Thank you," he said flipping a gold coin at one of the guards, who caught it in mid air.
They bowed once more, stiffly and formal, then left.
The man focused his eyes, hidden behind glasses, on the scientist.
"So," he said, voice strong and residual, and it shook the man from his alcohol induced sleep.
"Whaa-?" He said, looking around in a daze.
"Why hello," The thick deep raspy voice called over to him.
The scientist leaned up. "Hello..." He mumbled, massaging his temples ridden with a headache.
"I am the head of the Noah family, you may call me the Millennium Earl," he said, leaning back and letting his fingers tap the edges of the chair.
"I hear you made our success a success, can you explain this to me?" The Earl said, patiently.
"Well, ah, you know how we mark failures and success, right?" The man said voice still tired and achy. The Earl nodded. "It depends on the state of mind, right?"
"Exactly," the scientist feeling more somber and awake. "If the experiment has no sense of intelligence and only instinct and derangement, they are a failure. If they are altered and their mind is intelligent, but they refuse to hurt, or kill, they are a failure." The man pulled out a cigarette. "May I?" He asked the stick of tobacco shaky in his hand.
"Of course," the earl said, leaning forward and lighting it himself. After the man took a long drag and let the smoke swirl around the office, the Earl gave a barely visible smile. "So, you're really strict on how you chose a success and a failure."
The man shook his head. "Very," he said the cigarette dangling from his lips.
"So this recent experiment, how have you deemed it a success?"
We monitored his brain activities; it ran as a normal humans would. But," the scientist said, raising a finger. "He displayed great hostility towards us. He was ready to break the glass between the experiment chambers and the observation room. We were able to put him under in time though." He said, tapping the ashes into an ash tray on the Earl's desk.
"So he was your first success?" The fat man said with a raised eye brow.
The man crossed his arms, closing his eyes as a moment of silence was filled with the swirling of cigarette smoke.
"That is what everyone thought, but the boy had always been hostile to us, so I figured he was just trying to get revenge on the great pain we inflicted on him during the experiment."
The Earl held his smile, but his voice lowers to a happy, gleeful scratch. "I heard his screams, such beauty."
The scientist gave a chuckle. "Indeed."
The Earl straightened himself.
"Continue,"
The scientist knocked his ashes again. "The boy, in all actuality would have been realized a failure. But he was a perfect alteration, the perfect mix of demon and human. So I took his success into my own hands." He said. "I was a bit drunk at the time, though I was still doing the right thing."
"A bit? I heard you where prancing around chasing imaginary dragonflies." Millennium said with a chuckle rupturing his gruff voice.
"Okay, so maybe a lot, but I still did the right thing."
The Earl clasped his hands in front of him, leaning forward.
"So what did you inject into the boy?"
The scientist smiled.
"Blood lust." He said, blowing out a ring of smoke. "The need to kill, maim, see blood."
The Earl smiled, reaching his hand out. "Congratulations on your first success. When do I get to meet this blood thirsty monster you have made for me?"
The scientist rubbed the butt if his cigarette into the ash tray, smothering the red hot end.
"It will take a while for the symptoms to appear, though I'm sure you can tolerate the wait."
The Earl leaned back. "I guess I will have to wait... Though, if I may meet the boy to become our first weapon..?" He said, pulling up his hat slightly.
"Of course. But in a while, he sadly needs his rest after the taxing experiment. Don't want him dyin' on us."
The scientist stood, stuffing his hands in his pocket.
He looked around the cozy room. "Thanks for having me, Millennium Earl," he said with a slight bow. He turned to leave, taking a few pills from the dredges of his coat pockets. He swallowed them dry, sighing at the taste.
"Thank you for being a great asset to the Noah Project, Mr...?"
"Komi, Komi Savon."
"Mr. Savon."
Komi bowed, and then left the Noah's office.
I had eventually fallen into a fitful sleep, the pain keeping my mind from going into a deep sleep. My form didn't dream, just shifted in the dredges and dark of the unconscious.
Allen Walker, the silver eyes boy next to me had agreed to watch for any other scientists coming to do bad things to me.
I had yet to see his the rest of his face or body, but I could tell from the kindness of his voice and the gentleness of his eyes he was a Failure type B in their eyes. Unwanting to hurt, but intelligent. I didn't know how long he had before he was pulled to the place we call The End.
The end is where they dispose of failures, those the Project leaders deemed upright as weapons.
Allen's urgent voice awoke me.
"Hey! Someone's coming!" He had hissed out. I opened my one good eye, and I hopped up to my feet. Gripping the bars of the cage, I narrowed my emerald down the hall. It was light now, the sun illuminating the hall.
I took a moment to see the other experiments.
Some had broken forms, mixed together oddly, a single wing, three eyes, horns from the elbows, all sort of different abominations. Some appeared normal, besides the demonic appendages, in the right spots. Some growled angrily at the air, others where in a tight ball, tears flowing endlessly.
I took a moment to properly view my silver eyed neighbor, Allen.
He was scrawny, thin and pale. His hair, almost touching his bare shoulders was white as newly fallen snow, and his eyes still shone bright with curiosity, kindness and strength, hiding his fear. One of his eyes had a long scar over it, and I raised an eyebrow noticing it seemed to form a pentacle on his forehead.
Behind him, white feathery wings where tucked tightly to his back. The tips of the feathers on his wings seemed to be black, but I then realized they were a deep, deep, burgundy.
He didn't have a shirt on, and the tan trousers he wore seemed old and worn.
I myself was still wearing a hospital gown, blood stained and torn in many places.
His hands gripped the bars of his cage facing mine, and I saw that one of his arms seemed deformed. It was a deep burgundy, just a bit lighter than the tips of his wings.
I sighed, feeling relieved he was not one of the grotesque failures.
I smiled; he even seemed a bit cute.
Our eyes locked, and he stretched his arm out, pointing down the hall. "They are coming."
I narrowed my eye as an entourage of men in white labs coats made their way down the hall, taking notes on a few of the other experiments in cages.
I knew the scientists had almost all the power around here and could order me killed in a second but I just wanted to punch them as bad as they taunted the weak hear-ted and caused pain to those with no mind.
The group was lead by a man with dark brown hair, properly kept in a buzz cut. Under his white lab coat, I could easily see a gun protruding from a holster on the edge of his blue jeans. He stopped in front of my cage.
"213, you are looking mighty well today," he said, tapping his clip board with a gold pen.
I felt my hands tighten on the cage. His voice brought a chill down my spine and I knew, even though his words now where not laced with the effect of fermented honey and grapes, the way he said my damn number made me sure it was him.
"My name is Komi Savon, and as if today I am in charge of developing you as a weapon."
My emerald orb narrowed even further, the depths swirling with hate.
"You act as if I am a thing." I hiss out, my voice cold.
"You are, being the true, first success, a weapon for our country and the Noah Family."
I felt my nails digging into the fleshy part of my palm. Blood dripped out slightly.
"I'm not a weapon you can just use; I will never just do your bidding."
The man smiled. "But you will dear 213. You will." He slipped in a pair of tan trousers and a torn excuse for a shirt between the bars, letting them drop to the floor with a solid thump.
With that, he turned away and moved down to another cage. It held a young boy whose tongue slithered out like a snake, but had a tail coming from the back of his head. The look of insanity spoke for how little was going on in his head.
"Get ready to take this one away to the incinerator." That was the official name for The End in the Noah Project.
I waited for the scientists to take away the failure, eye still narrowed in on the damn scientist. I had the urge to call him back and rip his face off. I sighed, also knowing that would give him what he wants.
They left and I untenced, changing out of the robe into the trousers. My new tail poked a hole in the back. It swayed back and forth and I touched the tip to my finger. Razor sharp. I then tried to pull on the shirt, and cursed under my breath as it caught on my wings. I gave up on the shirt, tossing it to the side.
I looked over at Allen, who was looking down with just a dusting of pink on his cheeks.
I gave my best play-boy smile at him, knowing he had been watching me change.
"Hey," I said plopping down on the cell floor.
"Hey," he said back. He was messing with a feather that had come off his wings; he twisted it, testing it on the floor. It had made small scratch marks and he was sketching out what seemed to be a layout of the room.
"Whatcha doin'?" I asked leaning forward.
It dawned on me that must have been why Allen wore no shirt. His wings would not allow.
Allen put a finger to his lips, signaling quiet.
He continued to scratch at the
Bottom of his cage with his feather, and breathed evenly out and in. "I'm planning on escape." He said quietly, almost in audibly. He looked up, his eyes meeting mine.
"Want to join me?"
My smile glowed, and I made a mock thinking pose. A few
Seconds passed before I closed my eye and brightened my smile significantly.
"Hell yes."
Komi is a random OC. Blah. I was going o script a character there, but really couldn't decide who. BTW this is going to be Lavi – centric if you didn't notice before. Also, for a bit the second chapter a big paragraph. I fixed it, because it was only recently I was using the copy paste, so it happened without me knowing. ^.^
