I think most of my chapters are going to be around this length, of 1,000-1,750 words long, Chapter One being the current only exception.
This chapter starts the actual plot line, and maybe some of you have already guessed at the plot line from the title of the story...
Enjoy!
Chapter 4
Lucian walked through the narrow streets of Zaun, his mind wandering off towards his true enemy. Why was he stalking this one? Money. He needed the money. But Zaun was disgusting. And with the constant threat of Urgot finding out he was here and hunting him down, he would have to work quick. His target was not far off, and then he could leave this disgusting shit-hole of a place. Then he saw his target. He ducked down an alleyway and began climbing the rusty fire escape to the roof of the building. Ducking off to a corner, he watched his target walk the streets like they owned them. Which they probably did, considering who they were.
Better not be spotted Lucian thought, as he ducked behind a air vent to avoid the roving eyes of his target. They turned down an alley and off to a sub street. Lucian followed on the roofs of the close-knitted buildings, far enough away to avoid detection, yet close enough to watch his quarry. They slipped off to another alley and ducked into a small iron door with squealing hinges.
Damn, no following him in there Lucian thought. The hinges would give him away instantly, if not, the loud clang of it shutting behind him would. He had two options. Lie in wait for his quarry to return, or find another means of getting inside. Considering the fact that it would be daybreak soon, and he had no idea of when his target would return, he chose the latter. He scanned the rooftop of the building his target went into.
Bingo thought Lucian, as he spotted a small trapdoor located at the far right of the building's roof. Lucian jumped over, careful to avoid any eyes that may be on the ground below or across the dimly lit street. He walked over to the trapdoor, and to his luck, found it without a lock.
It's way too easy. There is no way this guy would leave an entrance open like this. Must be guarded on the other side. Quickly, Lucian drew his left-hand lightslinger, and crouched down. Guarded or not, no evil should be able to reanimate the dead, even if it could bring Senna back. He subconsciously touched his hip on his right, where the other lightslinger remained holstered. Her lightslinger. He gripped the handle of the hatch and lifted it slightly, trying to keep noise to a minimal. Carefully, he opened it and set it down. Nothing. Pure, ink-black stared back at him, almost as if it was a mouth of some unknown beast. He drew his second lightslinger and dropped through the hatch, greeting the darkness like an old friend. Landing on the cement flooring without a trace of sound, he scanned his surroundings. Nothing but pitch still. He crouched, waiting for his eyes to adjust. What he saw made him want to run. He had faced monsters of infinite evil, he witnessed a pack of wolves open a man and gorge them on their flesh, he saw his own wife taken by the Lantern of Thresh, and yet, this made him want to run.
People hung from the ceiling by hooks through their mouths, their lower jaws ripped off. Pieces of their bodies missing, only to be replaced by crude machinery, rusting or missing pieces, like the person who put them there second guessed themselves and, instead of removing it, went at it with a dull knife. Arms, legs, hands, parts of faces, sometimes their entire bodies replaced with metal and electronics. Weaponry replaced hands, computers replaced brains, dried blood on the ground and over the walls, pieces of men and machinery littered the floor. He heard the whirring of machinery below him, and noticed a door off to the side of the room. No wonder the trapdoor wasn't guarded, this was enough to scare more than just the wandering thief
Better investigate. Get this over with so I can leave this place and have someone blow it up. Lucian padded over to the door, careful not to make noise. This one, contrary to the one outside, was well oiled and shiny. It opened with no noise, and inside he found a ladder leading down. Lucian slowly eased himself onto it, careful to place his feet close to the ends so as to remove the chances of squeaks.
"Come on down now, Purifier. I'm not going to hurt you." Came a voice from below, chilling him to the bone. It was a mix of man and machine, like someone was speaking through a running fan. He dropped down the ladder, landing in a crouch, and surveyed the room. Like above, Lucian noticed bodies hanging from hooks, in the same shape as above. The room was centered around a large platform, with what looked like high-tech torture devices and surgical equipment. But Lucian's attention quickly snapped to the man in the center of the room. He was on the shorter side, with graying hair and his eyes replaced with yellow glowing bulbs. His face was scarred, and his clothes consisted of a mix of metal and cloth, with large rubber gloves reaching up to his elbows.
"Welcome, to my lab, Lucian. Do you like it?" The man asked.
"How do you know my name, necromancer?" Lucian asked, raising his guns to point them at the man's face.
"Please, call me Doctor. And if you don't like it, im going to have to insist. I don't resurrect people you know, so necromancer doesn't really fit does it?" The man asked.
"Alright Doctor, tell me, what is with the bodies there and upstairs?" Lucian asked, pointing to the bodies on the wall and then gesturing to the ladder.
"Right to the point, eh? I like you. They are my past failures and test subjects. It was sad that they didn't get to live. But, I have two in the process that I think will work out wonderfully." The Doctor gestured over to two pods on the far wall, the glass opaque, but not so much that he couldn't make out the subtle outline of human shapes.
"Two? Two more victims? What are you doing to these people?"
"I am giving them the chance to be better. Stronger, faster, smarter, and better yet, predictable. Humans are so unpredictable, don't you agree? But with the merge of flesh into hextech, they become what they were always meant to be, and so much more." The Doctor turned away as he said this, and pressed a button on a table behind him. A few instruments lowered from the ceiling around the apparatus in the center of the room, another pod rising from the floor. "Would you like to join me?"
This question hit Lucian like a slap to the face, and he instantly threw his vision to the bodies on the far wall.
"Tell me, doctor, what does this process do exactly?" Lucian asked, his eyes roving around the room. The Doctor had many more buttons on his table, and no doubt had some that would force him to become a test subject.
"I already said this. It merges your flesh with hextech material, making you faster stronger, smarter. Well, maybe not smarter, as the only direction you get is from me." The Doctor tapped a small device on the side of his head. "I transmit instructions from my wonderous brain right to your computer in your head."
Lucian definitely did not want to be apart of this project.
"I think i'm going to have to decline, good doctor. Now, if you will excuse me, I will be taking my leave." He could have a group of people ready to storm this place by noon that day, and tear it down piece by piece, until nothing remained. Maybe pull a few strings and have Ziggs throw a bomb on this place, hopefully with the Doctor inside.
"Oh, but you thought you could just leave with me having told you what I have? No, the price for information is a high one, and your price is to give me your body for my project." The Doctor tapped a button him his table and pressed a few keys into a keyboard next to his array of buttons. Claws dropped from the ceiling and gripped Lucian's arms tightly, almost making him drop his light slingers.
"I will not be taken to lose my own actions to your maniacal scheme!" He raised his hands, pointing the guns at The Doctor. "I will not go down without a fight!" He pulled the triggers of his guns. Two concentrated beams of light shot from them, headed right for the doctors face. Before they could hit, The Doctor slammed a button on his table, and a wall of pure energy shot from floor to ceiling, effectively destroying his shots.
"Oh, but you will, Purifier." The Doctor tapped a few keys and suddenly he was in the apparatus in the center of the room, locked into place by metal bars crossing his chest and waist, clamped at the wrists and ankles.
"You're a liar and a maniac." Lucian said
"Oh? How so?" The Doctor replied, intrigued by the guns that Lucian had just dropped on the ground next to him.
"You said you wouldn't hurt me." Lucian spluttered. He was just trying to buy time to try to figure a way out of his metal cage. It smelled like death.
"Oh, i'm not going to hurt you." The Doctor said. "But he will." The doctor pressed a button on the side of his head, and the lights in his eyes changed from yellow to red.
"Oh, this will be fun won't it." It wasn't a question.
A syringe was dropped from the ceiling, the liquid inside a chocolate brown. Senna's eyes were that same color.
"I am sorry Senna. I have failed you." Lucian whispered. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his neck and everything went black.
