Loki awakened from a dreamless sleep and sat up carefully. He was locked in a tiny cell. A simple bed was the only piece of furniture in that cell. Every movement was very painful for him. The first thing he noticed, was the tattoo on the back of his right hand. He recognized the symbol, it was a rune called Mannaz. His sore musculature was swollen and much more developed than before. He then noticed that he was suffering from a constant increasing and decreasing numbness in his limbs. His back felt somewhat strange, he thought. With his hands, he could feel the metal augmentation on his spine, which he identified as the cause of the numbness.

Dread and despair filled his mind and heart. James told him enough about the Big Daddies. Soon enough they would continue their work and Loki would slowly fall apart, piece by piece, until there is nothing else left but an empty shell.

In the meantime, Dr. Jonathan Thorpe met with Joseph Graham in his office in Hephaestus. Once this was the office of Andrew Ryan, but after Joseph gained control of the city, he decided to take over the office as well. In recent years, the office was adapted to Joseph´s wishes and needs.

The two sat down in a slightly separated part of the office. The fireplace there was installed years ago, but only for a decorative purpose. It reminded Joseph of his former home on the surface. In front of the fireplace were two leather sofas placed opposite each other. His secretary put two cups of coffee on the coffee table between the two leather sofas and disappeared back into the anteroom.

"How's it going?" Josef asked, taking a sip of coffee. "Good. However, it surprised me that his body accepted the ADAM so quickly. His physiological foundations don´t seem to differ so much from ours," Dr. Thorpe reported. "But I can tell you, our friend has pretty stable bones. It took me three times as long as usual to strengthen the spine. That´s why I want to give him a lighter armor, which in turn will make it more agile. He´s going to be a really interesting model: faster and more flexible than an ordinary Big Daddy, but stronger and more resilient than a regular Big Sister. He will be able to use Plasmids as well." Dr. Thorpe took a big sip of his coffee. "And I can finally test the new movable helmet design Sasha has been working on for months."

Dr. Thorpe's eyes sparkled with excitement; he looked like a child on Christmas morning. He could hardly wait until Loki's transformation process was completed. "If only Frank could see this." Jonathan sighed heavy. "He would be eager and excited to do some testing for himself." Joseph smiled softly and nodded. The memory of his close friend was still painful, even after his death two years ago.

"The next step would be Tabula Rasa." Before Jonathan could continue, Joseph interrupted him. "Could you skip this step?" His friend looked at Joseph as if he had three heads. "Are you sure? You´re certainly aware that this is a big risk. He would keep all of his memories and to a certain degree his free will."

"Yes it is, but I came to this decision after some deliberation. I think he will be more effective in that way. I saw his memories and he seemed to be a quite capable fighter," Joseph remarked, taking another sip from his cup. "You're not entirely wrong," Jonathan admitted. "To skip Tabula Rasa would also save us quite some time. The Pairbond will be time consuming enough. Have you talked to Amelia yet?"

"Yes, but she has her objections." Joseph put his cup down and sighed. "She'll lose her doubts when he will save her butt. This is for her own good," Dr. Thorpe said harshly and looked at his watch. "Oh, I have to go back to the lab. I will call you then I´m ready to create the bond." Jonathan said goodbye to his friend and headed back to Point Prometheus.

After his return, Dr. Thorpe immediately went back to work. He ordered two of his assistants to fetch Loki from his cell so he could continue working on him. It was not long before he noticed the commotion in the hallways.

Loki felt bad, but still not bad enough that he would simply accept his fate. He won´t give up without a fight. He was already physically stronger than an ordinary human was, but the ADAM injection increased his strength. He grabbed one the assistants by the throat and easily lifted him off the ground. The other assistant was already unconscious on the ground. Loki´s grip became stronger and the man slowly passed out. Suddenly, a small, organic ball hit Loki and a green liquid spread over his shoulder, arm and chest.

"Put him down!" Dr. Thorpe commanded in an authoritarian and angry tone. Loki let go of the man. "And now follow me!" Dr. Thorpe´s Hypnotize plasmid caused Loki to follow him like an obedient dog.

Again, he was strapped to the T-shaped operating table. The cold metal shackles lay tight on him and almost cut off the blood circulation in his limbs. The effect of the Hypnotize plasmid subsided and Loki's mind became clearer again.

Loki watched as one of Dr. Thorpe´s assistants filled several syringes with the contents of various vials. More people entered the bright-lit room. Two of them placed several trays with a wide range of surgical instruments next to the operating table. Loki tried to break free from his shackles, but to no avail. "It won't work, no matter how hard you try. These shackles are made of a special metal and are incredibly tough," Dr. Thorpe taunted him.

After all the syringes were filled, Dr. Thorpe picked one of them up and turned towards Loki. "You should hope, that the anaesthesia will work on you, because the next steps will be incredible painful. Any last words you want to say?" Loki looked at him puzzled. "Well, when you wake up again, you won´t be able to speak anymore, because we will operate on your larynx or commonly called voice box. Your silver tongue will be no more then." His wide sadistic grin was hidden behind his surgical mask

It took Loki a moment to regain his composure. "What goes around comes around." Loki said with a bitter smile. "Remember this, Dr. Thorpe." Dr. Thorpe laughed and shook his head. "Still so stubborn? It would be much easier for you, if you would finally accept your fate. You are at a point of no return now. Why don´t you see the positive aspects? After all the horrible things you did on the surface, Joseph was willing to give you a second chance."

He started to inject the anaesthesia. "When this is over, you will be reborn." It took some time until Loki´s vision became blurry and the voices around him mixed into indistinguishable muffled noise.

Loki was given artificial respiration and his vitals were monitored. "So folks, let´s start." The smile in Dr. Thorpe´s voice was undeniable. He cracked his fingers, picked up a scalpel and turned towards the operating table. "You will be one of my greatest creations."


Sorry that took me so long to finish this chapter. I was quite busy the past weeks. I hope you enjoyed it.