Dr. Slug was in his private lab, lights slightly dimmed, the smell of chemicals, oil and the bubbling of potentially volatile liquids filled the air. The scene practically screamed Mad Scientist Lad, not literally, of course, that would be scary. For the man, however, it was like a music to his ears. Compared to his old lab, this one was 10 times better – no leaking roof, clean, new technology at his fingertips, no longer needing to steal/bargain/scavenge for material for his personal projects that none of his clients wanted to fund. If it wasn't the fact that he now worked for a goody-two-shoes that wanted to help every damn person on the world, it would have been perfect.
A machine hummed. It was over 3 meters tall and 2 meters wide. It had various cables coming out of it, in the middle was a vial of dark red, almost black liquid, four rays pointed at it, ready to shoot at the press of a simple button.
The man scribbled a few more notes in his journal, turned around and left his lab. Just a few final calibrations to do after dinner and he'd be able to start the machine tomorrow.
'If all goes according to plan, I'd be able to harness that great power! Right from White Hat's own blood!' – Dr. Slug thought.
During the "Care Bear" project White Hat had been mauled by one of the more unstable results and although the man was fine, a LOT of blood had been spilled. Then, Dr. Slug had an idea. White Hat had powers, real powers that could put him on the top of the world, so what if Slug could discover or harness such powers himself? He had gathered over a liter of blood and that vial was all that remained of it. Turns out that if left as is, White Hat's blood starts to fall apart on itself and disappear. After a lot of work, he'd managed to find a way to keep the blood without it disappearing but all that was left was two small vials. One had been spent on testing different theories and the other was not even completely full.
The doctor contained in a cackle. He was CLOSE! It made him excited by simply thinking about the almost miraculous substance. It was like nothing the scientist had seen before. It looked like normal, if not very dark human blood at first but when he looked deeper… He was shocked. He couldn't even wrap his mind around how White Hat could exist – no DNA, no hemoglobin, no red blood cells… If he wasn't interacting with the man on a daily basis and taken the blood himself, he'd though someone had given him a liter of thick cranberry syrup instead of blood.
=== The next day ===
Dr. Slug quickly finished his breakfast, took his coffee mug and left the kitchen in a hurry.
"Grou?" – 606's head tilted to the left.
"I don't know Six'O." Clemencia licked her fingers from the Nutella "He DOES seem a bit chipper today. Maybe something good happened to him?"
"Grrh…" – 606 scowled.
"Oh, don't be like that, acting all emo."
"Hm. It really is a bit unusual." – White Hat finally chimed in.
"I know, right?! Oh, boy! I am SO curious ring now!" – she bounced in her seat.
"Haha! I am glad you are so full of energy." – White Hat took a sip from his cup.
"Grarh!"
"No! I don't need to reduce the number of sweets Six'O! My blood sugar is perfectly fine and without them, I would die." – Clemencia pouted in 606's direction.
"If you are so curious, we can go and see."
"Really?! We can do that White Hat?!"
"Yes, I don't see a problem. We'll go and knock politely and ask him. I don't think he'll mind as long as we don't barge in his lab." – White Hat placed his cup in the dishwasher.
"Grr…" – 606 just turned around and stomped out of the kitchen.
White Hat and Clemencia headed towards the lab. Clemencia skipped ahead of him and of course was the first to arrive. She knocked on the door and pressed the open button without waiting for an answer.
"HEEEY~ Sluggy! What'cha doin'?"
"Clem, dear, you should have waited for permission to -" – White Hat began.
"He's NOT HERE!" – she shouted, poking her head out of the lab and looking at White Hat.
"Really?"
True to her words, the lab was empty.
"He must be in his private lab! LET'S GO!" – she ran ahead.
"Clemencia, wait!" – White Hat followed after her in a light jog, his longer stride helping him not fall behind.
"What?" – she finally stopped just a few steps away from the door leading to Slug's private lab.
"Dr. Slug doesn't like people going in, not to mention barging in his lab. We have to proceed properly."
"C'mon White Hat, you have to live a little more! What is the worst that can happen?" – she put her hands on her hips in a nonchalant way.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH~!
=== A bit earlier ===
Dr. Slug stood in front of his machine. He had already re-checked if everything was properly connected and looked thorough his notes. Everything was in check, he was going to start the experiment.
The machine turned on and hummed. Electricity ran thorough the circuits, the four rays started gathering power, a precise aiming mechanism pointed them at the dark liquid in the middle. 3…2…1…now!
The rays shot simultaneously. At first, it looked as if nothing was happening but then the blood of White Hat started to shift and bubble a bit, slowly intensifying with each passing moment.
Dr. Slug pressed another set of buttons and turned up the energy output of the rays. Another part of the machine started to work and slowly an energy gauge started to increase. He smiled under his paper bag for mask. The experiment was proceeding according to plan!
Suddenly the vial with blood started to shake violently, clinking in its stand.
'What's happening? This is not supposed to happen.'
Suddenly the blood expanded and shattered the vial, red lights started to flash, indicating an instability. Instead of dripping to the floor, the blood floated in the air, rippling and twisting in place, slowly expanding. It became oval and flat in shape, almost like-
SHINK!
A twisted, black clawed finger burst through the darkness of the floating blood, scaring the crap out of the doctor. He desperately tried to stop whatever was happening but the machine didn't respond to him, so he could only watch and the finger wiggled and pushed at the rim. Slowly the hole grew and there was a second, then third, then fourth finger… soon two arms were gripping the edges and pushing. Glowing red on sickly yellow, snake-like eyes were looking at him through the slowly forced open hole. A large mouth filled with sharp fangs, pulled into a vicious grimace… The thing forced its head through and gave an almost heart-stopping cry.
SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECH~!
That was the turning point. It was as if the flood gates were opened after that. It crawled out, more were following it, the doors of his lab opened and in came worried Clemencia and White Hat. The creatures turned towards them and screeched.
"Damn it!" – White Hat cursed, something no one had heard him do since opening White Hat corp.
The creatures flew up, knocking stuff down, breaking the heavy metal blinds and flying off into the distance. White Hat had whipped out his cane from somewhere and swing it at the portal, dark energy swirling around it. The portal, from which another creature had been trying to come through snapped shut with a strange not-sound, leaving only the monster's arm to flop on the floor before it gradually turned to particles of dark and disappeared as if it wasn't there.
The terrified scientist looked at White Hat. The man looked more grayish, if that was possible with his already gray skin tone. He still stood in the pose from a moment ago but slowly lowered his hand, the cane stopping to radiate the dark energy.
If he had looked,he'd have seen just how shocked White Hat had also been by it.