Chapter 15 – Down on Luck
Claude Speed, Dominatrix, Metropolis City, 2030
Claude pulled up in his futuristic red car in the car park of a large white building where a dozen scientists were standing about outside speaking to each other. This was the headquarters of Dr. LaBrat and his gang called the Scientists. Claude jumped out and walked over to the scientists standing around talking.
"Who are you?" one of the scientists asked Claude walking over to them
Claude answered with his full name
"Never mind your name, what do you want?" he asked
"I wish to see Dr. LaBrat" Claude replied
"Sure, he's in there" the scientist replied changing his attitude for some reason "but he doesn't talk to us regularly now, he might be doing an experiment so watch out"
Claude walked into the building along a hall painted in clerical white; he walked towards the office which had a sign reading 'Dr. LaBrat'. He waited for a minute, took a small breath and calmly knocked on the door. A voice from inside shouted "Come in".
Claude walked into the office; Dr. LaBrat was sitting on a chair facing Claude smoking a cigar, he was wearing a white lab coat, he had short wisps of grey hair and was receding in his hairline.
"Take a seat" Dr. LaBrat said "how may I help you?"
"I'd like some work" Claude replied
"How can I give you any work if I hardly have any myself, I don't have anything to sell" Dr. LaBrat replied
"Oh well, just trying to earn some money in this big city" Claude replied
"I wish I was like you, I remember a time there was, about thirty years ago I was much more ambitious, I used to look ambitious, I had long slender brown hair which I put into a pony tail, I made seven versions of my best-selling drug Equinox, as you may or may not know I worked for the Zaibatsu party when they were just called Zaibatsu Pharmaceuticals" Dr. LaBrat explained
"What happened?" Claude asked sympathising with him
"After winning the election in 2019 they refused to carry on selling pharmaceuticals, I tell you that wasn't the same Red I knew when he stopped selling pharmaceuticals; his life ambition was to work in pharmaceuticals, Red would've never stopped selling pharmaceuticals. The Red that was president was a greedy shadow of his former self" Dr. LaBrat explained
"I feel sorry for you" Claude replied
"Don't feel sorry for me, I'm just an old loser" Dr. LaBrat said "I just hope you're against the Zaibatsu party and never become one of them, I know the Russians get to them one day"
"Sorry, how do you mean?" Claude asked
"Well in 2004 Red Valdez asked me to clone forty-seven super-humans out of five people, Red and Uno and three criminals, Sweet Johnson the leader of the Grove Street families, Johnny Zoo the now leader of the Metropolis Yakuza and a Russian named Jerkov" Dr. LaBrat explained puffing on his cigar
"I didn't know Johnny Zoo had been involved with Zaibatsu" Claude said "but something tells me Jerkov has something to do with this Russian thing"
"You're correct, Jerkov was the only one who asked to be paid for being used, Red was a little unhappy but agreed anyway, Jerkov asked for one hundred thousand dollars in the next twenty-five years or he will arrive at his doorstep without warning and ask for the money" Dr. LaBrat said
"That would be last year" Claude said
"They must have forgot" Dr.LaBrat said still melancholy "but one day in the near future they're going to come and ask for their money and I know that they will take over this city with ease, there's only one city and the entire city will belong to them if they arrive, that's the only worry I have, but if they arrive I will die happy in my deathbed" Dr. LaBrat
"So what happened to these forty-seven super human clones?" Claude asked
"They haven't been seen for years, well when I say that the remaining forty-five haven't" Doctor LaBrat explained "number 43 escaped and was never seen again, and number 13 we sent out to find number 43, he was never seen again either so the only thing that could've happened was number 43 killed number 13, so as for the other forty-five they must be lurking somewhere inside Trey Welsh's building" Dr. LaBrat said
"I hope I never meet them" Claude replied
"I hope not either, they have no weaknesses and they can use samurai swords to their full ability" Dr. LaBrat said
"I hope we meet again, goodbye Dr. LaBrat" Claude said before leaving the room and walking back along the hall to his car.
He really felt sorry for this scientist; Dr. LaBrat had put all his trust in one man only for it all to be lost for no reason but Red's greediness. He must have decided to start this gang to get money to support his experiments and rebel against Zaibatsu. Claude drove away from the Scientists headquarters in his red futuristic car with a lump of sadness in his throat.