HALE PROTOCOL

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Shock

JUNE 14, 1930

"Is everybody behind the blast shield?!" Roger shouted one last time, shooting a cautious glance at the chairman. He was watching, along with all the rest of his head executives, in a room separated by glass. Roger, however, had to stay inside the test room, behind a blast shield, as well as Santha and a few others out of his major techs. He sighed nervously and stared at the proton neutralizer about a hundred feet ahead. Their test dummy today was yet another prisoner of the state…useless life, according to the chairman.

Roger held the communication button down, his voice coming through the loudspeakers above. "Proceed into the neutralization chamber. If all goes well, you'll be a free man by the end of the day." He lied. If all went well according to their machine's purposes, his atomic make-up would fall apart and he would implode in on himself. Roger shuddered. He hoped silently that something went horribly wrong. Santha, however, looked wickedly excited.

"Dr. Williams, give the signal when you're ready and I'll flip the switch." She grinned.

"Just wait until he gets in the chamber, Santha." Roger groaned.

"Just hurry up and give me the damn signal already! He's in the chamber!"

"You're so eager to take a life!" Roger raised his voice against her, and she shrunk back, "If you want to kill that bad, just press the fucking button already!"

"Sir…" Santha grabbed his hand. At first Roger froze uncomfortably. But then he realized she was just trying to move his hand off of the intercom button. He flushed pale white and looked away.

"Just do this. Get it over with already."

At this point, the doors on the proton chamber had already shut. The man inside had heard him, but it was already too late. While he screamed and smashed his fists against the Plexiglas doors, Santha hit the switch.

Everyone was quiet, except for the screaming man in his agony. Light coursed through his bones, and Roger held his breath.

The sound stopped.

"Roger." The chairman's voice was on the intercom this time, "Go get him."

Roger flexed his fingers testingly. With a shaky breath, he unfroze himself and walked out from behind the blast screen, carefully though, carefully.

"Dr. Williams, allow me." Santha walked ahead of him and pried open the sealed chamber doors. Steam wafted out, rolled across the floor. Roger leaped back.

"Sir, he's fine." Santha insisted angrily. Roger calmed himself enough to peer inside.

He was…older?!

"Something obviously went wrong." Santha, disgruntled, continued. "Personally, I never even thought you could age someone to this degree…although, we could control the aging process with just a little more research…"

The chairman slowly walked in, examined the newly old prisoner, and chuckled in amusement. "This is certainly an unexpected change of events." He commented drily. A few of the people accompanying him muttered with interest under their breaths.

"Doctor, what she we do with it?" Santha asked, referring to the machine, "Sure, it's a failure, but only technically. It could still be useful somewhere in the company."

Roger stared, biting his lip and trying not to shake. This was bad…this was bad…

"Destroy it."

He walked away without another word.

….

For a while after the experiment, Roger simply sat on his bed, biting away at his fingers. Something growled inside him, something overwhelmingly…powerful. Something that scared him.

"What's happening to me…" He muttered under his breath, laughing and grinning. Experimentally, of course. It was only natural…to feel insane…every once and a while.

"LOOK AT YOURSELF!" he screamed suddenly, jolting up and kicking over his desk. It fell to its side and splintered into a million different pieces. "WHAT ARE YOU BECOMING?! ARE YOU PROUD?!" He took the corkboard from the wall and flung it across the room. It cracked against the opposite wall. Everything…everything was white. It was driving him even madder; he felt like he was actually in an insane asylum instead of a lab. With a shock, he realized what he was doing. He returned to his normal self.

"Damn…it…" Roger fell to his knees in the rubble, trying to regain what little sanity he had. The pieces were all falling apart, tearing, coming asunder, but at the same time…something clicked. Something was coming together.

He didn't like it.

The door to his room opened with a creak. Someone started to descend into his quarters. He looked up. It was only Mr. Griffiths…the chairman of gladiator.

"Dr. Williams." He greeted ceremoniously, glancing at the mess Roger had made with keen interest. "I thought I'd find you here."

"What do you want?" Roger spat back. He hadn't meant to sound that volatile, but still it came out that way. The beast inside him was gone…he couldn't feel its presence anymore.

"Congratulations on your experiment's success." Mr. Griffiths responded.

"That was no success." Roger darkly glared at his superior, "Human experimentation is nothing to be trifled with…"

"Oh, but it must be humans for your project, Dr. Williams." He laughed, "You know as well as I do."

Roger scowled. "What do you want?!" He repeated.

Mr. Griffiths raised an eyebrow. Not in anger, no. But…curious. Something indeed was changing. "Come with me." He waved Roger forward. "I have…something…for you."

Roger followed.

The beast had left him.

….

THANK YOU FOR READING. It'll get weird really soon.

Anyway, thanks again for putting up with me! Please review! And Melonkatze/cocolada, you don't have to get on your hands and knees…XD It's already up, as you already know….

And…I'm your favorite cocolada?! R-really?! *Sobs in cormer* I DON'T DESERVE YOUR LOVE! ;-;

THANKS BYE!

And sorry for spamming the lotf page….THE WRITING FIRE IS IN ME! D: I HAVE TO WRITE! Waaaaah…..