Chapter 14

AN: Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait! hopefully this chapter will be worth the wait for most of you people! Got a little surprise for people at the end of this chapter! Enjoy!

-5 YEARS AGO-

"And that concludes this lecture for the day, have a pleasant weekend and make sure to study for the exam on Tuesday," Dr. Connors said turning off the projector.

The entire classroom stood up to give off an applause for the lecture they received. There was about 90 students who were all studying Theoretical Physics, hopefully to earn their PhD diplomas in that field. As all the students began to gather their notebooks and textbooks and head for the door leading out of the classroom, one of the students walked up to Dr. Connors.

"Dr Connors?" The boy said walking up to Connors, he turned around to come face to face with the boy whose father was a good friend to him.

"Ah, Kurt!" Connors began with a smile on his face.

"Great lecture Doctor, I just wanted to ask a few questions that pertained to this topic that's all," Kurt said walking closer.

"Well, go ahead, I've got time. My daughters supposed to be coming soon I guess I can answer a question or two," Dr. Connors said looking at his watch.

"Well, I've always wondered, is there a connection between all of the sciences? Like biology and Theoretical physics? Like can certain algorithms span between separate studies?" Kurt asked while motioning with his hands.

Dr. Connors looked at him for a moment, then glanced down at the ground rubbing his chin with his hand in ponder. How could he answer that complicated question?

"Well..." Connors began "I believe Einstein had the same question about that, but regarding general relativity, how energy truly functions." Connor began

"It all started with E=mc^2, the mass-energy equivalence equation, where it can define all relative points of motion and energy. Biologically, decay rates can apply to that as well. Benjamin Gompertz created a equation that explains relative decay, or in this case. Death. He may have the general relativity questions Einstein, Bohr, and many other physicists had in those days. True pioneers of science really, sparking the flames to many technologies we have today."

"Is it possible to reverse those functions?" Kurt asked.

Connors stood still for a moment, then finally confessed "That, I have no clue Kurt. Perhaps you'll figure it out one day!" He said patting him on the back.

"Well..." Kurt said "I've been working on something" He then pulled out his notebook, pulled out a pencil and began writing out an equation, a complicated one at that. (AN: I'll try my best to reconstruct the equation so you can get a understanding of it.)

M=dE + (log(X(3λ)) (M(mc^2) (sin(λ4(4M^2))
...-dt... K... λ (AN: Imagine the periods aren't there)

Kurt finished up writing his equation and handed the notebook over the Dr. Connors, who looked at the equation for a minute and widened his eyes at the sheer complexity and logical sense it made.

"My God..." Connor said in astonishment, he then looked at Kurt slowly, "How did you ever come up with this?"

"Oh I uhhhh," Kurt said scratching his head "Thought of it while I was shaving..."

"Well shave more often!" Connors said laughing at that statement.

"Well I better head out, gotta go meet with my Dad." Kurt said

"Alright, tell him I said hello! You're gonna go far kid!" Connors said at Kurt while he walked out of the door.

Kurt began walking down the hallway of the college, he was pondering whether or not that reverse decay is possible, maybe regeneration? He wasn't in the mood for playing God at this point, he just wanted to meet up with his Dad and take care of some business. He accidentally bumped into a teenaged girl who was walking down the hallway, who had red hair and wore grungish attire.

"Oh, sorry," The girl said

"It's alright," Kurt said to her, he then continued to keep on walking down the hallway to get in his car.

Back at the Thatcher estate, Kurt took a seat in his father's study, which contained mountains of books, old and new, explaining general relativity, biology, theoretical physics, you name it, he had it.

"Dad?" Kurt asked looking at his father, who was looking at a book written by his great grandfather.

"Oh Kurt, I wanted to tell you about something," his Dad said closing the book and standing up.

"Alright, what is it?" Kurt asked,

"Your great grandfather always had the philosophy "If you know what you're worth, then go earn it yourself, don't cry on peoples shoulders and continue to ask what's best for you, because you already know. You've already earned your PhD in Theoretical Physics and are already working on a Masters in Applied Biology, such a thing has never been done in this family. You've brought honor to your family and to yourself Kurt." His father said smiling and patting his shoulder

"So now what?" Kurt asked "What is there for me to do?"

"Well you've heard of Pandora right?" his father asked.

"Yeah, the giant dump of a planet that just sprung a priceless element? What about it?"

"We'll" His father said "Hyperion is looking for people who can help in research in providing more practical uses for the alien element, and they've asked for your assistance,"

"What? Really?" Kurt said in disbelief "What about Thatcher industries? Your saying I work for Hyperion now?"

"No, no," His father said reassuring him "It's more of assisting them in research, think of it as 'Hands on'. What do you say?"

Kurt paused for a moment to think about this, then he remember what he told Dr. Connors, about how it could be possible to reverse decay rates and regenerate lost limbs and such.

"Alright.." Kurt said looking at his father.

"Excellent! You make me proud, son." His father said smiling at him,

"Is that what Grandpa said to you too?" Kurt said giving off a slight grin at his Dad's remark,

"Yep" his father said.

Kurt was taken to the Hyperion headquarters located on Eden-5, he was escorted to one of the executives offices where he would be evaluated and see if the person was truly qualified. Kurt stood outside of the room where one of the executives was currently doing some last minute paperwork supposedly. He took a deep breath then knocked on the door.

"Come in," A gruff, muffled voice said on the other side,

Kurt opened the door to see a middle aged man, with his hair in somewhat of a faux hawk style, with his forehead slicked upward. He had greenish-hazel eyes and a gauntish complexion to his face. The man was looking over some report of the Eridium findings on the planet of Pandora, he shifted his attention to Kurt's face and stood up.

"Hello, I'm here to see Axton?" Kurt asked the man.

"That'd be me," Axton said still seated "And you are?"

"Uh..Kurtis Thatcher" He replied

"Oh," Axton said standing up "I was told you were coming to see me, good afternoon," He then extended his hand, which Kurt took and shook. Axton then pointed to the chair right next to Kurt, involuntarily letting him know to have a seat there. Axton then took a seat and said.

"Your father is Albert Thatcher, correct?" Axton asked Kurt picking up a file.

"Yeah, he runs Thatcher Industries," Kurt replied

"Great, damn they have some good guns..." He said silently "Wish we were taking notes from your great great grandfather!" He then laughed lightly before opening up the dossier.

"So it says here you have a PhD in Theoretical Physics and have a Masters in applied Biology, thats...astounding for somebody your age.." Axton said looking at the files amazed at his record.

"I skipped High School," Kurt explained "My Dad thought that I'd be better off going straight to college so I could lead the company,"

"So what are you doing here?" Axton mused looking at Kurt funny.

"Well, I wanted to do some research and extend my knowledge on the subjects, hands-on I guess." Kurt explained his predicament to Axton

"Well, guess you didn't really need High School," Axton said "Well theres a research facility on Pandora known as the Wildlife Exploitation Preserve, you'll be head of a research team formulating other useful outcomes of Eridium. Sound good?" Axton then asked

"Yeah, that's fine I guess," Kurt said

"Welcome aboard Hyperion Kurt!" Axton said reaching over and shaking his hand.

"Thanks," Kurt said standing up "See you around I guess"

"Yeah, see you," Axton said taking a seat and looking at his papers once more, prompting Kurt to exit his office and head down the hallway, on the way there, he spotted a man who walked passed him that had a mask on and was wearing a tuxedo. he a strange distinction with his face, almost seems perfect, why would he need a mask?

-1 YEAR LATER-

It's been a year since he left Eden 5 to go to Pandora to do research, and he hated everything about Pandora, the people were ignorant, the was technically no sustainable water supply, the wildlife was nothing but friendly, and the planet smelled like Hemorrhoids wrapped in bacon. He hated it so much, but he couldn't leave, he was making so much progress.

"Hows it coming along?" A female voice said from behind his workspace

"Slowly," Kurt replied turning to the lady.

The lady let out a sigh "I gotta feeling we'll never find anything of interest here.."

"Yup, me neither, what more uses could we find of this element rather than just jewelry?" Kurt said

"Don't know, but Handsome Jack pays us a lot to find some use, so we best get on it," The woman said.

"I know Anna, I know" Kurt said

Anna left Kurt alone in his office, so he could continue his work. How was he supposed to find a use for the stupid element? As he thought, he thought, he then remembered what Dr. Connors about how all science could be connected in a certain sense.

It all came to him, he then remembered the equation that he showed Connors, but applying some minor tweaks, adding Eridium in the math, along with its Half-Life (which was a whopping 500 years) and how much radiation it gave off. He thought he could use the properties of theoretical physics to make a mass-spectrometer particle accelerator, t o separate Protons from the Electrons and Neutrons, completely changing its composition, the same technology that was used to create various weaponry that Thatcher industries developed. He called it the Decay-Reversal Algorithm, it took him about 6 hours of trial and error to perfect his incredibly complex formula. As soon as he finished, he relaxed in his chair and looked at his equation he wrote out. He was proud of himself, his dad was right about him.

-1 YEAR LATER-

It took a solid year for the engineers to be able to construct a Mass- spectrometer accelerator, but after many painstaking hours of intricate levels of electromagnetic power housing, it was complete.

"Well, here it goes," Kurt said putting a chunk of pure Eridium into the machine. He pulled the lever to start the machine, the rotors began spinning and the electromagnetic drives began to flicker, until it was spinning at full speed. After about a minute or so, the machine began to slow down before it came to a complete stop. Kurt opened up the container that held the pure Eridium in it, which glimmered in the light with a fantastic purple emission.

He couldn't believe it. He's done it, he created a refined piece of Eridium material.

As he was overfilled with joy by this achievement, he looked in the waste compartment to find a purplish-sludge that the electron driver picked up. It was slightly darker than the refined Eridium, and had an unpleasant odor coming from it.

"Slag..." Kurt said "I'll call this Slag,"

He then decided to take the slag and see if it could be put to more practical uses, since 60% of the Eridium was composed of it. He began slathering things in the compound and set it on fire and such, it turns out, the alien run-off actually proved to be a formidable conductor for those types of elements.

'Well Grandpa,' Kurt thought 'This is what makes me famous'

-1 YEAR LATER-

Kurt spent another solid year studying the more advanced properties of slag It's an alien element, so there must be multiple uses for this.

"Maybe," Kurt said to himself "This could be used as a medicinal use,"

He remembered what Dr. Connors told him once again, how everything was connected. He began to remember the Decay Algorithm he drate the Eridium from the chaff now known as 'Slag'. Maybe...just maybe... he could use it to regenerate limbs...

'Fuck it' he thought 'Worth a shot'

He walked over to the nearest cage that contained a little puppy skag, barely 4 months old. It's left foreleg was bitten off by a Maniac who tried to get a meal from it.

"Here Dukino!" Kurt said whistling, he saw the little skag limp his way over to his general direction. Kurt then pulled out a little syringe that contained the slag in it.

'This is beyond cruelty..' Kurt thought to himself '..but I can probably save this skag.'

He then took the syringe and injected it into Dukino's neck, the skag then ran back into his little bowl to chew on a little bone he was given by Kurt. He decided he would keep a sharp eye on him, and notice any certain changes in his behavior and shape.

The next day, he walked over to Dukino's cage to see that he was looking at Kurt. Kurt looked at his left side and couldn't believe his eyes. Dukino's leg began to grow back to normal.

"I did it..." Kurt said "I fucking did it..."

"Did what?!" a woman screamed through her cage "This is beyond cruelty! My husband and my little girl have been here and we were promised we would be doing tests that benefited science! Not have pointless injections that make us want to go rabid!"

"What do you mean?" Kurt said

"He didn't tell you yet huh? That he's just using you for his own monetary gain?! I heard him talking to his executives, he's just using you! You're just a pawn! And now you put Me, my husband, and my little girl Tina in danger!" The woman screamed.

Kurt looked at the ground for a moment. He knew something was fishy about this, he could tell that Jack was just a snozzy asswipe by the way he talked, acted, and treated his employees, especially Kurt. He looked back up at the woman and said to her,

"Look, I can help your daughter escape if you'd like. I never liked working here too."

"Really?" The woman said "Please do!"

"Alright," Kurt said. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a protean grenade from one of the drawers. He walked back the the cell that contained the family, handed her the grenade and said,

"Tell your daughter to hide that in her dress or something. Keep it secret, keep it safe," Kurt explained quietly.

"Oh Bless you!" The woman said thanking Kurt for providing their daughter with a window to escape

"I'M GONNA EAT YOUR BABIES!" A psycho said in the cage next to him "YOU JUST WAIT WHEN I GET OUTTA HERE, IMMA GET MY ICE CREAM TRUCK AND RUUUUUUN Y'ALL OVER!"

"Shut up, Flesh-Stick!" Kurt yelled at the psycho.

"Alrighty then!" A cocky voice said from behind him "Let's get to testing the subjects!"

"Jack" Kurt said "Were not scheduled for testing yet! I have to determine if the compound is ready for human testing!"

"Can it, Thatcher!" Jack said "We're doing this right now. Guards! Get these savages out of the cages, and the little girl too!"

"NO! PLEASE!" The woman screamed

"Jack! She's just a little girl!," Kurt explained to Jack, trying to dissuade him from hurting the girl, which didn't work.

"And I don't give a skag's ass! Lets Go people! Gotta business to run here!" Jack retorted at Kurt.

The two parents were hooked up to a machine along with the psycho that was captured with them. The apparatus was designed to pump Eridium into the humans, see how much they could possibly take without dying. With each shock and syringe administered, Kurt got more and more angry at Jack for allowing such a cruel punishment being administered on people who didn't sign up for this so to speak.

The machine began to malfunction, and parts began to burst into flames. Jack was the first to leave the scene along with his guards which was typical for the time being. As the machine burst into flames, the bandit Flesh-Stick was able to squeeze out of the contraption, and grab the nearest sharp thing he could find.

"HERE COMES THE ICE CREAM TRUCK! DING DING!" Flash stick said moving closer to the parents.

"Mommy?" The little girl said with tears in her eyes looking at both of her parents suffering.

"Tina!" The mother explained "Take that grenade that I told you to hide in your dress out! Pull the pin, aim for the door and throw it!"

"DING DING!" Flesh stick yelled

"I love you baby! Don't look!" The mother said before getting torn to pieces by Flesh stick, along with the father. Tina took one look at Kurt then pulled the pin and lobbed it at the door, causing as huge explosion, a window for her to escape.

"ICE CREAM FOR EVERYBODY!" Flesh stick said before charging at the child.

Kurt managed to intervene with Flesh sticks plans and restrain him, interlocking his arms with his, putting in a armbar, helping Tina escape.

"Run, Kid! Get outta here!" Kurt yelled at Tina. Tina took one look at each of them before running out of the laboratory. Flesh stick managed to break free of Kurt's arms and stab him in the chest with the metal shard he was carrying. He then tried to run after the girl to kill her too, which he probably wouldn't, Tina was given ample time to escape.

Kurt laid on the ground in a pool of his blood with the shard sticking out of his chest. If he were to survive, he would have to become the guinea pig for his own cruel testing. He mustered what little strength he had and crawled over to his desk and pulled out a syringe that contained the slag compound in it. He propped up a ECHO device and placed it on his desk. He took a seat in his office chair, and pressed record on the Device.

"Day 732 of working for Hyperion," Kurt began coughing out blood in the process "The compound was tested on two parents to see how much the human body could withstand. The slag wasn't ready, but Jack was too impatient to wait another 3 goddamn months. The test subjects escaped, the labs gone to shit, and I might die soon of blood loss...unless I do something drastic.." Kurt then held up the Syringe and said to the camera "They say every great scientist must put themselves in the line of fire to be considered a pioneer, it seems I don't have much of a choice. Dukino's leg has grown back to normal, regenerated, so it may be able to function for humans, assuming their genetic makeup is relatively similar to that of a human" Kurt then took the metal shard out of his chest and said"...It's time to prove my worth to Thatcher industries...Gonna make you proud Dad..."

Kurt then looked at his wrists, he needed to find the pressure points so the slag could be dispersed throughout the body. He was about to stick the needle there, but hesitated at first. Kurt then thought, it's either I do this, or I die. He injected the syringe into each of his pressure points in his wrists, which caused a slight pain in them. He then opened up his chest would to see that it began to heal itself at incredible speeds.

"I can't believe it..." Kurt said "It seems to be working on humans too..."

He then began to feel some slight pain in his wrists again, but this time, it seemed to grow more severe with every beat of the heart. He lifted his hands to see that they began to turn black and spread down his arm. He yelled in sheer horror as the infection began to slowly eat himself away, his hand began to blacken and pulsate with red and purple emission. It was spreading quickly, and he had to stop it fast.

He ran over to the nearest operating table and laid down on it, he pressed a button on the side and a deep voice said to him.

'Welcome to the voice activated Hyperion operation table, please explain your type of operation."

"Amputation!" Kurt yelled

"Request read as: Amputation," The machine said "Please select region of amputation."

"Left and right arm! Shoulder level!" Kurt yelled on the table, noticing that the infection was spreading fast.

"Request confirmed, administering Adrenaline." The voice said injecting a needle into Kurt's heart, causing it to beat faster and faster, for he couldn't lose consciousness in a amputation like this.

His arms were bolted to the table, his arm had to be dislocated before continuing, or else he could harm the other bones in his skeletal system. The table then made a very quick twisting motion, snapping his arm from the Glenohumeral joint, causing him to scream from the immense pain he received, his arm was twisted in a 180 degree fashion to ensure that arm was disconnected. The same was applied to his other arm, causing more screams of sheer pain.

The machine began to make very fine cuts on the edges of his arms. making sure they wouldn't sever any other part of the body, this cause even more amounts of pain for him. The adrenaline administered to him kept him from falling unconscious from the pain, he needed to stay awake.

As soon as the final cuts were made, the machine began to pull his arm from his body, like a teddy bear bursting at its seams. Kurt has never felt a more intense pain in his life. The machine kept pulling and pulling, until finally, both of his arms were disconnected from his body. To avoid ample blood loss, the machine administered metallic braces so the blood flow would remain in his body.

"Prosthetics, administered," The voice said before taking two state-of-the-art Thatcher industries prosthetics from the table next to it (Kurt kept it for emergencies in case one of his colleagues got into an accident). It attached the two arms and injected a small artificial intelligence chip inside of his brain, that ran down his entire nervous system, so that he would be able to control it.

"Operation complete," The voice said before shutting off

Kurtis collapsed on the floor and began to slowly lose consciousness, it was finally done and over with.

Kurt awoke after several hours of falling unconscious on the floor, he coughed himself awake and were greeted by his new prosthetic arms. He looked at them for a straight 10 minutes to try and get the hang of it. Kurt looked at the ECHO to still see it was still recording, it recorded his entire amputation process. He walked over to the camera, picked it up, and shut if off. He took the memory chip from the ECHO and put it in his pocket, he decided he would keep it as a memento, of what happens when you try to play God.

'My God...' Kurt said to himself 'Never thought I'd become the customer...'

Kurt then looked at the same door that Tina used to escape the facility, which was by this point a complete mess. He decided that he would vow to take down Hyperion for their cruel ways and kill Handsome Jack for all the pain and suffering he's cause over the years of his reign. he grabbed a cat and a gun from the from the locker room and bolted out of the facility, trying to run away as fast as he could, maybe he could live off the land, join up with people to help take down Hyperion. He was about two miles away from the facility when he finally stopped running. He looked back at the destroyed facility and said to himself

"This is it Jack..I'm coming for you..."

"Oh my God..." Gaige said with both of her hands at her mouth with wide eyes after hearing Kurt's tragic story of science

"Yeah...'Oh my God'" Kurt said "Well I hope I didn't bore you or anything with the bedtime story."

" Oh no!" Gaige said reassuring him "It was very interesting and..well..sad..So you're the reason.."

"Yeah," Kurt said "I'm the reason Slag exists"

"Wow..." Gaige said "The stuff you had to go through..."

"It's nothing compared to what Axton had to go through..." Kurt said looking at the sky.

"What do you mean by that?" Gaige asked looking at Kurt confused.

"It's best if he explains it..." Kurt said "You should go to sleep, got a big day tomorrow."

"I guess..." Gaige said "Goodnight Kurt.." She said before kissing his cheek and walking downstairs, not noticing Kurt's slight blush on his cheeks, but it was nothing compared to the redness on Gaige's cheeks while walking downstairs. Kurt looked back at Gaige who was walking downstairs, she took one look at him and then walked down the entire flight. Kurt then looked back at the night sky, he took a glance at his prosthetics and said to himself,

"I went far didn't I doc?"

AN: Wow, longest chapter yet! Anyways, here the surprise I promised. I'm going to let you, the viewers, decide the fate of Dr. Kurtis Thatcher, Live or Die? So at the end of your review, please write in capital so I can read it "SAVE KURT" or "KURT MUST DIE," hopefully there will be a large turnout of voters so this can be interesting. Thanks for reading! and remember:

SAVE KURT

or

KURT MUST DIE

The choice is yours!

EDIT: I will be closing the voting on Saturday so make sure you vote what you'd like to happen to Kurt! Thanks! And have a Happy Fooling Native Americans Day! (That goes double for you, Connor)

-LT