Chronicles of the Night
For the first part of the story we'll be focusing on one character. I'm pretty sure you'll be able to figure out who it is very very quickly. But enjoy.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Marvel Comic elements present in this story. I do own my original characters and plot.
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Project War Beast
In the middle of a desert, a single road led to a large facility. From above the building looked like a bunch of squares put together, from the ground you could see the white paint of the building and the windows on each floor circling the building. The main building reached five stories in height while the other side buildings reached about three stories in height each. The other buildings had their own small entrances, but the main building had large double doors that faced the parking lot where many different cars were. All of this was surrounded by a metal fence topped with barbed wire and cameras at the only gate.
A single car red Chevrolet was driving up to the gate. The driver, a man of average height in a black coat and hat, got out of the car and stepped up to a small terminal next to the gate. "Name please." Read the screen on the terminal.
"…" The man entered a name on the keyboard and stayed next to the terminal typing more information.
"Confirmed. Clearance granted, information of new recipient of Outpost Theta accepted."
"There you go, you are now cleared to enter and exit the premises here at any time." The driver said to someone in the passenger seat.
"Thank you." The man replied. The car drove up to the parking lot and drove close to the entrance. The man in the passenger seat got out, stood up and looked at the building in front of him.
The young man had blonde hair that was short but kind of messy, and blue eyes. He had a sort of thin frame and stood 5'11" in height. He had on brown pants and brown leather shoes, and a short sleeved light-blue dress shirt to go with it. He also had thin-framed glasses and a brown jacket slung over his shoulder, which he quickly put on and then picked up a suitcase that was in the passenger's seat with him.
"Well Dr. Thomas, Dr. Sykes is looking forward to meeting you." The driver said.
"Thank you." The man that was apparently Dr. Thomas said with a smile.
"By the way… how long have you been in the Baxter Building Program?" The driver asked.
"Eight years. Well, I guess I'll be on my way then." Dr. Thomas turned away from the car and walked toward the main doors of the lab. Once he got near the doors they opened up automatically and almost immediately he saw a man about 5'7" in height with a blonde beard and mildly large framed glasses on. The man also had on a white lab coat and gray pants and black shoes.
"Ah… Dr. Thomas it's so good to have you here at last." The man said.
"Please, call me Felix." Dr. Thomas said. "You Dr. Sykes are my idol. While I was in the Baxter Building I read your book on mass and density. I thought your theories were brilliant."
"I'm more impressed you read that thing." Dr. Sykes joked. "And I should be more impressed with you. When I asked Dr. Storm if he had any good chemists I could hire, it didn't take him five seconds to give me your name. And I was most impressed with your record there."
"Oh it's nothing that special." Felix said.
"Anyways enough talk let me show you around." Dr. Sykes said.
About an hour later…
Felix was led in to what was apparently the cafeteria. There were plastic tables lined up from the wall where the door is to the large window where the day's lunch was served. "Attention everyone!" Dr. Sykes called out. All of the scientists in white lab coats stopped eating and turned to the door where Dr. Sykes was standing. "I would like to introduce my new lab assistant!"
"What!" A short bald, brown haired brown eyed man in his forties shouted.
"Is there a problem Dr. Moore?" Dr. Sykes asked while looking at him.
"Well… yes… I thought I was going to be your next lab assistant." The little man known as Dr. Moore responded.
"Dr. Moore, you are a very good scientist and you grasp this project better than most everyone here, but you're a bit too… brash about this project."
"But sir if not me why him?" Dr. Moore asked. "I mean, he's not even been on this project."
"Oh I've been briefed on it." Felix said. "Project War Beast, based on the less than splendid results the super-soldier serum project has boosted another project focusing on enhancing animal characteristics was founded." Felix said.
"So you know that much. Big deal." Dr. Moore said.
"Dr. Moore, let Felix continue." Dr. Sykes said.
"The ultimate goal of this project is to produce Formula B, and create faster, stronger, and more intelligent and obedient animals for military uses and eventually even domesticated uses." Felix said as he started walking closer to the cafeteria tables. "However thus far out of the subjects used in the project, laboratory rats, pets that the researchers themselves have volunteered for this project, have all exhibited enhanced characteristics only short times before they all died the same way. In a fit of rage, and then coughing up blood."
"Okay, so you know that much. But how does that qualify you as Dr. Sykes' assistant over me?" Dr. Moore asked.
"Oh, well after looking at what this formula currently has mixed in it… I already see three probable flaws with the formula." Felix said as he set a small yellow folder on the table in front of Dr. Moore.
"What?" Dr. Moore opened up the folder and looked at the list of ingredients and steps used to mix them, and noticed that one of the ingredients was circled and noted that it needed replacing with another ingredient, one of the steps was crossed out, and one of the other steps had additional notes to it. "Bu… bu… but…"
"Oh my god…"
"Now that I see it…"
"This guy is good… this all makes sense now…"
"But there's no way that's going to perfect the formula." Felix said. "The rest of it… well even I'm not sure what else to do with it. We'll have to see as we go along I suppose."
"That… that cocky son of a…" Dr. Moore thought to himself while glaring at Felix.
"Well done Dr. Thomas. Come on, let's get you situated." Dr. Sykes insisted.
"Yes sir." Felix said.
As the weeks passed, Felix became pretty well liked among the scientists at lab Theta, however he and Dr. Sykes got along the best by far. Dr. Sykes even let Felix stay at his apartment in the near by town.
"You know Dr. Sykes…"
"Really, you can just call me George." Dr. Sykes insisted.
"Only if you call me Felix." Felix said.
"Deal, Felix." George said with a smile.
"But in all seriousness, you didn't have to let me stay at your apartment." Felix said.
"I wasn't going to let such a brilliant young man go without a place to stay." George said.
"Well… thanks. Oh! George… wow that's weird." Felix said.
"What?"
"Just… calling you George is a little weird."
"Oh it'll grow on you." George insisted.
"But anyways, do mind if I call my mother?" Felix asked.
"No of course not."
Felix acted kind of like the watchman among the lab workers whenever in the labs.
In one lab where the formula itself was mixed, one researcher was holding a vial containing the unheated green formula over the Bunsen burner.
"Whoa whoa whoa…" Felix said noticing this. "Hold on a minute." Felix took the vial from the researcher and looked at it. "Bah… I can tell just by looking at this that this hasn't been mixed properly. It needs to be stirred for much longer. I can still chunks in it."
"Oh, sorry Dr. Thomas."
"It's nothing to worry about." Felix said.
Felix was absolutely absorbed in this project. It didn't even escape him during lunch when he was eating with George.
"Hmmm… they only exhibit about 68 of what we were expecting when given the formula." George pondered while looking at the reports.
"Hmmm… maybe the formula just isn't spreading through their system well enough." Felix said to him while looking at the same files.
"Well then we'll need some way to increase the spread of the formula through the whole system…"
"Hmmmmm… maybe…" Felix said while getting that light in his eyes.
"Maybe…" George echoed.
"Calcium!" They both said. "You're a genius!" They told each other at the same time before getting a good laugh out of it.
"What does that Dr. Thomas have that I don't?" Dr. Moore asked the guy sitting right next to him.
"Well, his temper is a bit better than yours, and he's got height, he's got hair, he's got wit, he's got the know-how…"
"Oh shut up." Dr. Moore snapped at the researcher next to him while angrily taking a bite of his sandwich.
"I think I'm going to run an early check on the test subjects." Felix said.
"Alright, and clean up your work station, I don't know how you know where to find everything there." George said.
"I don't, I just look for it." Felix said with a shrug. "Oh!"
"Oof!" Felix accidentally bumped in to a female researcher that was 5'7" in height, had long black hair, and blue eyes. "Hi…" She said.
"Um hi… have we met?" Felix asked.
"Oh you're Dr. Thomas… I'm Dr. Jones… or… Becky." The woman said.
A few months have passed, the project did make some progress, the animals were lasting longer and exhibiting better results, but still one hurdle was keeping the animals from staying alive. They still all died of the same symptoms, in fits of rage, and coughing up blood.
One morning…
"It's almost time to get down to the lab, with Dr. Moore having a day off today we have a little extra work to do." George said.
"I know, I just need to call my mother real fast." Felix said as he dialed her number. "Hey mom. Yes I'm fine, how are you doing? Yes Dr. Sykes is doing fine. Oh mom… mom come on… yes we've been seeing each other. She is a very nice woman, Becky is… oh god mom, of course not! Sorry… well… hey, I'll call you back later okay, I've got to go. Mom you know I can't tell you what we're doing, trust me, I'm doing it because I believe it can do some real good. Okay, bye."
"How is she?" George asked as he grabbed his lab coat.
"Just fine." Felix said while grabbing his own.
At the lab…
"Good morning Dr. Thomas, Dr. Sykes." A random researcher said.
"Good morning everyone." George said.
"How is everything?" Felix asked.
"Well, test subject F is still producing incredible results and…"
"Oh really, let me see how Francis is doing." Felix said. He walked past several plastic cages that had rats, dogs, and birds in them. The cages all had sufficient space for the animals and some were even playing with toys. Felix approached one cage that had a single orange cat in it. "How are you Francis?" Felix asked.
"Yes how is she?" George asked. Inside the cage, Francis was looking at a platform much higher than the rest of the floor of the cage. Francis crouched and leaped up to the top of the platform, and getting on top of it effortlessly. "Amazing… that is much higher than even the most physically fit cat can jump."
"I know, out of the rest of the subjects Francis has adapted to Formula B the best." Felix said as he climbed up the ladder next to the cage and fed Francis a treat through a trap door in the ceiling of the cage. "That's a good cat Francis…" Felix whispered to it.
"Dr. Thomas."
"Oh… Dr. Jones." Felix said as he turned around, unknowingly leaving the trap door open. He got off of the ladder and looked at Becky.
"Are we… still on for that dinner date tonight?" She asked.
"Of course. But that's not all you came to ask me is it?" Felix asked.
"No, I also need to show you the results of test subject L." Becky said.
"Oh how is he doing?" George asked as he and Felix looked at the chart.
"Huh? Hey who are you?" A random researcher asked a man in a lab coat that just walked in to the room. The man reached under his lab coat, and pulled out a small pistol. "Ah!"
BAM
That researcher was dead in the next instant.
"Oh my god!"
"Save the animals!" The man with the gun shouted as he started pointing his gun at researchers and shooting them left and right.
"Becky get down!" Felix shouted as he pulled her and George behind a desk.
BAM
"AH!"
"BECKY!!!" Felix shouted. He didn't pull her out of the way fast enough for the bullet to miss her and go through her lung. A red stain in her lab coat kept growing larger as the blood began leaking from it. She looked despairingly at Felix right before her eyes closed.
"We have to get the subjects out of here!" George shouted.
"But… Becky…" Felix said.
"I'm sorry Felix… but… it's too late…"
"You sick bastards think you can just trap animals in here and put them through this crap… well I'll show you." The man with the gun said as he walked behind the desk and aimed his gun at them.
"Sir you can't just walk in here and…" George said while standing up.
BAM
"DR. SYKES!!!" Felix shouted as Dr. Sykes fell backwards with a bullet in his head.
"Now it's your turn you…"
"Hsssssssssssssssssssssss…"
"Huh? ARGH!!!" The man screamed as Francis leaped on top of his head and started digging her claws in to his head. The man started firing his gun around the room randomly.
"No!" Felix stood up and tried to get Francis off of the man, but the second before he even touched Francis, Francis seemed to gag for a moment, and a big glob of blood flew from his mouth. "Gack…" The blood flew in to Felix's mouth, where he gagged on it for a moment while the man picked Francis off of his head and held the dead animal in his hand.
"Look what you did to this thing…" The man said. He was barely recognizable now, his head was covered with bleedings cuts, and some of them were swelling quite badly. "He couldn't even tell that I was trying to help him, and now he's dead…"
"That's… a she… you moron…" Felix said while still gagging on Francis' blood. "ugh… I think I swallowed some of it…"
"You're the moron here…" The man said as he pointed his gun at Felix, his eyesight blurry with the blood running in to his eyes.
"So… this is it…" Felix thought.
BAM
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Well, let me know what you think of this.
