Inside the fortress, torches lit the dark gothic hallways. Mephistomon strolled casually, his cloven hooves echoing with every step. The old fortress had become his home these past few months and he knew every inch of it by heart. When he returned here with Chris, the first goal was to find a base of operations. Thankfully, this place had been abandoned for years and it was quite easy to move in and set up. From there it was a matter of increasing security and keeping things hidden from prying eyes. The biggest surprised had been Chris. It was impressive how quickly the human adopted and accepted his new role. The promise of fulfilling his dreams began with the murder of the pathetic creatures he called his parents, and now they were working towards the rest of his goals. Of course, he had his own plans for the human, but it was better to allow Chris to come to the conclusions and milestones by his own volition than be forced and guided by his hands. What was unexpected was the bond he felt to the human. The Digivice did allow him to fully utilize his potential, but it also made him care for the human and honestly want to help him. It was concerning, but Mephistomon knew he was still his own 'mon', and no amount of partnership or anything was going to compromise him.
"Things are falling into place nicely," he said to himself as he strolled through the empty hall. Ahead of him, two Commandramon stopped in their tracks and saluted. He simply nodded at them and continued on his way, no time for these pleasantries or these underlings. They were the lucky ones, the ones who joined on their own volition. Others weren't as fortunate and he was forced to be more persuasive with them, which was his preferred method. It was a simple incantation really and one he was quite proficient in using. He paused suddenly, tuning his head slightly to look behind him as Centauramon approached.
"My lord, we've lost contact with the D-Brigade."
"And this concerns me how?" the demon Digimon asked, his lack of interest in the conversation apparent.
"With all due respect my lord, that means we will soon be under attack."
"I am well aware of that Centauramon. Again, I ask why you waste my time with this trivial information?"
"I just assumed you'd…" Centauramon was cut off by Mephistomon's hand around his throat.
Mephistomon lifted the four-legged Digimon off the ground as a cloud of darkness formed inside his mouth. He opened and exhaled, covering Centauramon in the black fog. A grin crossed his lips as his prey squirmed helplessly for a moment before falling limp. He released his grip, dropping the quickly decaying body on the ground.
"Someone get in here and clean this up," he barked and resumed his stroll. At the end of the hall, the large ornate iron doors opened way from him and he stepped into another room. Unlike the dark halls, this room was well lit not only by torches but electric lights. The walls were marked by a mural depicting a scene of victory with Mephistomon and Chris standing victoriously over the bodies of numerous fallen Digimon and the Cathedral ceilings stretched far into the darkness above.
His eyes flashed red as he stared at the image again. The scene depicted was an accurate depiction of their first real conflict together. Chris had only been in the Digital World for a few days when they were attacked by the D-Brigade who had planned on using the fortress as their own base. It during that battle he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that Chris was quite useful. Thanks to the human, he was able to overpower and defeat their leader, Darkdramon. With him gone the survivors pledged their allegiance to them and had, up until just recently, proved to be very capable soldiers. Whoever had defeated the D-Brigade might be a fun test of his abilities, should it come to that.
"We will be having company soon," Mephistomon announced and walked towards the row of computers and other electronic machines on the far wall.
"So I've heard. Tell me, was killing Centauramon really necessary?" Chris asked, focusing on his work at one of the stations. "I believe the entire…what did they call themselves? Scouts? Eh, whatever, I'm pretty sure you've personally killed them all."
"Not all, Unimon remains imprisoned below along with a few other specimens for the experiment," he replied skirting around the initial question. It may not have been tactically necessary, but it had been a while since he held another being's life in his hand and snuffed it out so beautifully.
Chris turned around, his white cape flowing behind. He stepped closer and into the light, revealing his black shirt and pants which contrasted nicely with the cape. "We've been at this for months and we're no closer today than we were when we started," he snarled.
Mephistomon lowered his head apologetically. This whining was not conducive to their goals, but this was not an argument he wished to have at this time. "Not true Christopher. We are close to a breakthrough. I feel it."
"You've been saying that for weeks!" Chris roared and turned back walking to the screens. His eyes scanned over the data present there while demonic Digimon stood next to him.
"Yes…just have faith."
Chris craned his neck up at the demonic Digimon and scoffed. "Faith in a devil…that's ironic. Still, I expected we'd be further along." Chris hit one last key and a section of wall opened bathing the immediate area in blue. The hidden room was straight out of a mad scientist lab. There were massive fluid filled glass containers that were constantly bubbling, tubes running every way and in the middle was another computer terminal. The floor was covered in metal grating and every step clanged loudly.
"You're here," Chris said as he approached the figured clad in a blood red cloak. The hood was drawn up concealing the face in the darkness.
"Yes sir," the figure replied, standing still. "Do you need something?" The voice was flat, devoid of emotion
"You never told me it would be this bad," he said flatly, glancing at Mephistomon. His anxiety in all of this seemed to be reaching the breaking point.
"I told you she would never join of her own volition. She needed to be persuaded Christopher." Mephistomon replied coyly.
"She's a puppet."
"She's your puppet," he corrected, putting extra emphasis on the word 'your'. It was a condition of you coming to live here, you said you wouldn't go without her and you knew she would never leave her parents."
Chris frowned. "I never asked you to take away her free will!"
A chuckled escaped the ram's mouth. Chris just glared and turned his attention back to the hooded figure in the room.
"We have company coming. Would you be sure to greet them?"
"It will be done my lord."
Silence befell the room for a moment with only the hum of the various electronics. Mephistomon broke the silence. "We just need more data. I know we can do this Christopher."
Chris looked to his shoulder as Mephistomon put his hand there. "More data, more time… it's all you say. Ugh, this world is nothing but data!" he pulled away from her. "Maybe that's what I need. This world is nothing but data," he repeated with a smirk. That was it, the breakthrough he had been struggling to find. Chris raced back to the computer and began typing frantically, like he needed to transfer his thoughts down now or lose them forever.
"That's…brilliant…" Mephistomon gasped in awe and took a step back from the computers. His eyes flashed red and a grin crossed his ram-like face. This was what he had been hoping for after all this time. Chris was on the verge of greatness, and he was going to reap the rewards.
Chris stepped back to the hooded figure and slipped his hand into the hood, pushing it down. Amanda looked back at him, unflinching. His face softened as he put his hand on her cheek. "I'm sorry it had to come to this. You'll see though when I'm done…it'll all be worth it."
"Yes my lord. Your will, will be done," she replied again, no reaction to his words or touch. He kissed her cheek and raised her hood back up.
Mephistomon watched the display of affection between the humans, or rather from Christopher. He was losing his trust and that needed to be rectified if they were going to continue on this path. Perhaps it was time. He walked away from the humans and over to one of the computer terminals in the laboratory and started to type. A moment later he removed a flash drive and brought it over to Chris.
"I decided to look at the data we've collected thus far again. I believe I may have found something we overlooked."
Chris took drive from the ram like demon and plugged it in. His eyes moved across the screen and then stopped abruptly. "How did we miss this?"
"I'm not sure, but with your revelation and this, I believe we can succeed. Though, I would suggest letting the new intruders make it inside. We can use them."
Chris grinned. "You hear that Amanda?" She turned her head and nodded slowly. There was a flurry of activity at the computer terminal and the various stasis pods hummed to life. One by one, Digimon appeared, brought up from the dungeon by a series of tubes. They floated in the liquid and appeared to be asleep as various wires attached themselves to the specimens. Mephistomon picked up a mask attached to a tube and with Chris' approval, the cloud of darkness formed around his mouth. It was sucked into the tube and mixed with another chemical before being filtered into one stasis chambers.
The first Digimon to react was an Ogremon. Its eyes shot open as the mixture entered its mouth. The beast trashed around in the chamber trying to break free before falling limp and dissolving into a black sludge a moment later. Chris grunted at the obvious failure and typed a few more things into the computer, altering the chemical composition again. The process was then repeated and after a few moments, failure again. Once more he tried, and once more a Digimon turned into a black sludge like substance.
"Your Death Cloud is too powerful; it renders the data corrupt and unusable. Maybe this…" he trailed off and entered in one last keystroke. He walked over as the black smoke filled the next stasis chamber, one containing an Elecmon. Like the Ogremon before, it reacted similarly but when it fell over limp, its body turned into multicolor particles. It wasn't like when a Digimon died, this was the building blocks of life here, this was the Digital DNA he needed. But one success was not a guarantee, and the experiment needed to be repeated once again. Chris stepped in front of the last stasis chamber, looking at Pegasmon suspended there. Like before, the mixture was introduced but this reaction was different. Pegasmon's body took a drastic change, the armor covering its body became more angular, and teal lights formed along its legs, chest and head. The wings expanded and adopted a more energy-based look rather than feathers which caused the stasis chamber and feeing the Digimon. Snarling, Pegasmon stomped its food, preparing to charge.
Amanda finally reacted. From the darkness in the lab, a pair of glowing red eyes lit up and out stalked a patchwork monstrosity. Its tail was bound with spikes and ended in live electrical wires and the whole body looked stitched together. Its head was covered in a metal helm with razor sharp teeth snapping.
"Go Death-X-Dorugamon," Amanda said. And in an instant the creature screeched and flew into action. She slammed her body into Pegasmon and rolled across the floor before pinning the winged horse down with her blood red claws. She screeched again, sadistically and burrowed her steel arms into Pegasmon's body and pulled out a shining white orb, the Digicore. Mephistomon stepped in, and took the Digicore before Death-X-Dorugamon could devour it.
"Interesting," he mused, holding it up to the light. "You have triggered an evolution in this Digimon. It reacted to our chemical and adapted." He paused and turned to Chris. "This could prove to be even more useful than we anticipated."
"How? We didn't get any data from this one, so what does it matter if we made it evolve. The composition must be flawed, let me just…"
"No! This is perfect, don't you see? With this we can reshape the Digital World in our image, we can weed out the weak and ensure only those strong enough to serve will survive." He cupped Pegasmon's Digicore and began to recite an incantation. Once finished, the once pure white orb was clouded with black smoke floating inside. He knelt and inserted it back into Pegasmon through the hole and then kept his hand there. His eyes closed as he once again recited something; purple light emitted from his palm and the wound was healed up. A moment later Pegasmon rose to all fours and bowed his head at Chris.
"That goal is secondary Mephistomon, and don't forget that." Chris huffed. "This better work."