We are back and ready for chapter 21! Hey Creativity! How are you liking the new wheel?
Creativity: It's a little easier on the feet, but I think we could do better.
Author: This one has double the efficiency of the last one though, so you need to spend less time on it! More fuel for the B.T.I!
Creativity: Oh, well that's good news! So, how is Ethan gonna get those knives?
Author: Don't be hasty! We can't go spoiling that now can we?
Thanks for giving me the support for 20+ Chapters. Hope to see you further down the road!
Dr. Markus stood in front of the council, giving her report on the latest two symbiotes she had created. She had given them quick identifications since she last addressed the council. The red and black symbiote was called AS-1, the blue, white and green one was called AS-2 and the orange and grey one was called AS-3. She left it to the council to debate code names for operations.
"As you can see, all three symbiotes have been tailored for fighting in different scenarios. AS-1 is designed for close to mid range combat as well as acting as a squad leader. AS-2 is ideal for aquatic operations and can fight extremely well in close quarters and long distance thanks to it's bio-electrical abilities. AS-3 is perfect for crowd fighting with the spines and it's sheer bulk. I have other ideas for the future, but I think these would prove to be a good baseline to produce more."
The council nodded and let her continue.
"Now, I've been studying blood samples from Ethan, Medusa and our most recent subjects to see how being bonded to a symbiote affects the physiology. I mentioned previously that a small percentage of Ethan's red blood cells have symbiote mass still bonded to it, which could explain how he was able to best Medusa leader in their... altercation. However, Medusa and our other subjects don't have nearly the same concentration of mass in their system, almost 0% to be precise. This points to Ethan's significantly higher concentration being a product of extended bonding. With some study, and candidates for testing, I believe we can take the Gorgon program to even greater heights by introducing symbiotic mass, similar to cloning tissue to replace damaged tissue, into a subject's bloodstream to provide physical enhancement, completely bypassing the longer wait!"
The council nodded enthusiastically. It seemed they were all on board now.
"Very well, doctor. We would like to request that you delegate your artificial symbiote research to divert more attention to this Gorgon 2.0 program you've proposed."
Dr. Markus's eyes widened.
"May I ask your reasoning councilman? I personally would much prefer to continue refining my work in artificial symbiotes."
The councilman laced his fingers together and leaned forward.
"I understand that you are engrossed in this particular project of yours, but the council sees much more promise in the Gorgon program you've put forward. We wish to continue both aspects of your research, but we request that you devote more time and energy towards enhancing the soldiers we already have, as opposed to creating brand new ones."
Dr. Markus shook her head.
"I propose that I lay the groundwork for the program and let another take over from there. Do you find this agreeable?"
The councilman looked at the others, who seemed to accept the idea.
"Very well. Begin your work immediately."
Dr. Markus bowed her head and left swiftly. She made her way down to her quarters and started plotting out a process for research. She wanted to begin testing with an ordinary soldier. She started going through a list of the unaltered soldiers that they had on site. There were a few to choose from, but one in particular stood out to her. He had saved three squads from the break in, spent many years on patrol of the wall, and he had a family. He seemed pretty ideal.
She copied his file and departed to speak with him.
Ethan had been formulating a plan for a few days now. He had been visited by one of Dr. Markus' friends again, which gave him a better opportunity to analyse the gear that his escorts as well as the other soldiers had on them. He did see knives on the soldiers, but not on his guards. They had batons with a trigger on them, which he assumed caused the batons to electrify. Those could be useful. He needed a way to get those knives without being shot and having two shock batons would be very handy indeed.
He still couldn't believe that Dr. Markus and who knows how many other lunatics were playing god. The moment he heard about the artificial symbiotes, he could feel his gut turning, tying itself into knots. It was unnatural and it would blow up in their faces. He just hoped he was long gone before then.
He was pulled out of his thoughts when the door was opened.
"Someone else looking for a chat?"
The guard didn't so much as twitch an eyelid. He just motioned for him to follow. Ethan got up and went without a fight. He wasn't planning on escaping, not yet. He hadn't finished his plan yet. No, he would escape another time. For now, he'd see who wanted what with him.
The guards led him to the same room, with the same chair. He was really starting to get annoyed with that chair. You'd think that they'd put something a little more comfortable than that stupid thing. He paced around, waiting for whoever wanted to speak with him. He heard the door open and saw Dr. Markus walk inside. She sat down and waited for Ethan to do the same. He sat slowly and stared unblinkingly at her.
"What do you want?"
Dr. Markus didn't seem fazed.
"I believe that I may have found a use for you after all, besides blood samples. It seems that our test subjects for our anti-symbiotes are rather confused and unsure of their experience. We'd like you to interact with them. We fear that these unanswered questions would prove unhealthy for them, so having someone to offer answers would be best. Oh, and you don't have a choice."
Ethan rolled his eyes.
"Of course I don't. You do realize that you could just give me my symbiote back and let me out and everything would continue on as before. I wouldn't make any moves against you or... whatever this place is, and I'd stop being such a nuisance. Might I add that your soldier friend is probably going to want to finish what she started sooner or later, and it's going to end with only one of us walking out. I can promise you that."
Dr. Markus just got up to leave.
"You'll be meeting with them in a two days. Oh, and I'll have the guards take you to the showers. I imagine you must reek after all this time."
Ethan didn't even respond. He just got up and waited for the guards to take him to the aforementioned showers in the prison block. After he finished a quick shower, he was escorted back to his cell.
He couldn't believe that he was being forced to sit in a circle and share feelings with a bunch of knuckleheads who were wrapped up in these lunatic experiments the good doctor was performing! Dr. Markus truly was trying to torture him.
Well, hopefully this would give him an opportunity to see more of the complex. He hadn't seen any windows up to this point, so that pointed to him being underground. So far, he only knew that he needed to go up to get out. To do that, he needed his symbiote, and for that, he needed to fight his way through trained soldiers, all the while having no idea where he was going.
Surely it couldn't be that simple.
Dr. Markus made her way towards the barracks. Her sidetrack to visit Ethan was a little more productive than her pervious visits. That left her in a more pleasant mood. Now she could go and speak to the soldiers on her list to ask for their volunteership in her new program. The first on her list was one Montgomery Sturm.
It took a few minutes before she got to the barracks and was able to meet with Sturm. However, she was starting to reconsider her decision to offer him a chance to be a part of the program. If she could describe him in a single word, it would be defeated. His skin was rather pale, his hair was unkempt compared to his fellow soldiers, his expression was gaunt and he had that start of an unkempt beard. The fall of the city must have taken a tole on him.
"Mr. Sturm, I'm glad that you took the time to meet with me."
He didn't so much as move a muscle. Hell, he hardly made eye contact.
"What d'you want with a soldier like me?" He asked, his voice sounded slightly bleary and unfocused.
"I am currently heading a program for soldier enhancement, via biological and chemical means. We are beginning a new branch of research and we ned volunteer test subjects, of which you are the first candidate."
Sturm didn't seem to respond, he looked completely apathetic.
"Not sure I should be first Doc. I'm nothing but a failure."
Dr. Markus shook her head.
"I understand that the loss of our city must affect you greatly, but I can assure you that you are not a failure. According to reports I've read, you saved three squads of your fellow soldiers from the symbiote force and you have a functional family to care for."
Sturm shook his head. Dr. Markus saw a tear slide out of his eye.
"You've got outdated information Dr. Markus. I lost my family. I failed them. My daughter was stolen from me by those monsters. I almost saved her, I was so close! But it got away. I failed my baby girl and lost my wife in the process. I haven't seen her since the siege. We were both brought here and she joined R&D. She only works now. S'pose that's how she's coping."
Dr. Markus listened with a heavy heart. Why hadn't this information been present in her report? It seemed rather crucial to know what sort of background her candidates were coming from. Either the report was sloppy, or the council had decided that these soldiers backgrounds weren't important to the report in the first place.
Either way, she pressed on.
"I can't imagine what you've been through, but I'm offering you the chance to become better. I want to give people like you the strength to ensure that what happened to you never happens again. I want to turn people like you into men and women who can fight these parasites head on and emerge victorious."
Sturm looked up a little.
"I can only do that though, if you help me."
Sturm stood up and held out his hand.
"Consider me on board. When do we start?"
Dr. Markus smiled.
"We begin tomorrow. I still need more volunteers."
Dr. Markus stood and left, pleased that she had gotten through to Sturm. It was people like him she wanted to help, to give the world back to. Her research would give humanity the weapons it needed and the strength to wield them.
Speaking of weapons, considering that she was creating a new supersoldier program, she would inevitably need specialised weapons and armor for them. Sturm had mentioned that his wife worked in R&D. Perhaps she could lend a hand. Another thing for her to do list.
She took her time, navigating to her new lab where she would be perfecting her supersoldier program. She had several blood samples she had taken from Ethan already hooked up to analysis machines, which she hoped would shed some more light on just how much the trace amounts of symbiote mass enhanced his body. Several other scientists were working examining data and running simulations on various formulae.
"Jones, what have you got?"
One of the scientists stiffened when his name was called.
"Well, the simulation looks promising in terms of physical enhancements, but I ran a test on some mice a little earlier and the results were rather worrisome. The subjects exhibited unnatural aggression and madness before their body's gave out in a matter of minutes. I was rechecking the data and signal log to ensure that I had created the right formula."
Dr. Markus motioned for Jones to get out of the way so that she could examine the formula.
"Well, it looks to me that everything ran smoothly. I would try to fine tune the formula, perhaps add a sedative to it. I'll run variations on the formula through a simulator while working on my own formula.
Jones nodded, but seemed unsure. Dr. Markus left and brought up a list of personnel that worked in R&D. She wanted the new equipment in the works as soon as possible.
Well, I felt good about this chapter! How do you guys feel?
Creativity: Why bother asking? Of the few people who read this every day, no one's gonna say. They don't care. Heck, they probably don't even read these beginning and end bits!
Author: Cork it captain negative.
So, Sturm. Like him or hate him? He's going to be key later. Very key. I'm dropping hints. Heheheheheheheh...
See ya next time!