Super Science
Ch 53: The Good, the Bad, and the Vampire
Egon took a deep and calming breath as he left Cluck to her own devices in the room with the former gangster. Today and yesterday had already been tough enough, but he was glad it was all over.
After pushing back his hair and fixing his glasses he heard the voice of Anima ask behind him, "Sir? Are you busy?"
Egon turned to the ever-changing man and replied, "No no, I'm not. What's up Genus?"
Looking nervous as he tugged on his collar and looked down at his Purah Pad, he said, "Um, I was taking note and stock of the animals after they had escaped during the whole giant monster deal."
Egon's eyes drooped halfway and he asked, "How many escaped?"
Genus waved his hand rapidly and stated, "Oh no don't get it wrong! All of them are completely accounted for, especially every dodo."
"Except?", Egon prompted.
"E-Except for…one.", Genus finally admitted.
Egon took a deep breath and exclaimed in relief, "Oh, phew? I thought it would be a huge number or something!", but Anima just looked off to the side while biting his lower lip. "It's one exceptionally problematic one…isn't it?", Egon asked him as the man nodded in confirmation. Egon wipes his hands across his face with a deep sigh before asking with a strained voice, "Please tell me it's not the Night Feeder."
"No, that died during the invasion.", Genus informs him.
Getting a bit less stressed he inquired, "The Glavenus?"
"Currently being treated for its severed tail.", Genus replied.
Now even more off his edge, he asked more confused, "The spiders?"
"Any of them still left are inside Ungoliant's camber.", Anialma told him.
"The…Dodongo?", Egon asked after exhausting all other terrible outcomes.
"They're harmless unless provoked.", Genus once again informed me.
Now fully confused by the man's previous stress and discomfort he asked blankly, "Then what?"
Genus looked off to the side again while grinding his teeth as he told him, "Something else I was currently working on. I have sent updates to you on a regular schedule."
Egon blinked a few times, trying to remember what he meant. Then it came to him and he asked back, "You mean that vampire you accidentally created?", Anima nodded, and Egon shook his head rapidly before asking, "How? I thought we made sure its enclosure was not hooked up to the Purge modification."
Looking over his Purah Pad again, Anima told him, "During Overhaul's…abomination transformation, the walls making up its enclosure were absorbed into it. And when things calmed down and night fell, it fled into the city."
Egon wipes his hands across his face in stress once more and inquires, "Please tell me you put a tracker on that thing."
"I did but it remembered where it was and…removed it.", Anima told him in a nervous manner.
Egon took a minute to turn around, take off his glasses, rub his eyes, breathe deeply, and ask him, "Anima, please tell me what you put into that thing and what it does."
Anima looked through his notes quickly and told him, "Bat and human mostly, then some cuttlefish, axolotl, sea sponge, mosquito, and a few other things."
"Why?", was all the man could ask back in the form of a plea.
Genus finally dropped his unsure and nervous state as he half exclaimed to the man, "You know what the purpose of those experiments was. I was trying to see if I could craft a spliced human and bat genome for it to have an immune system comparable to humans. So humans could have a way to be naturally immune to many diseases. All tests failed since the genes would deteriorate and reject one another, so I had to add something else to help them meld better."
Egon accepted his answer, knowing it was partly his fault for allowing it to happen. Though he never would have expected something like this to happen! So he sighs calmly and reiterates, "What can it do?"
"Oh you know, suck blood, fly, superhuman everything, turn invisible, harden its skin, razor claws, shapeshift-.", Genus began to list off.
"Shapeshift!?", Egon cut him off in an explosion of concern and fear.
"So far it can take the form of certain animals and even a human disguise.", Genus quickly told him, trying to reassure him.
Though this explanation does not help his mood, Egon pulls at his hair before breathing again and firmly tells him, "We have to find it and kill it. No exceptions."
Genus knew that would be the outcome of this talk and accepted it the moment he knew his creation escaped. In all honesty, he is planning on scrapping the creature and starting from scratch. "Yes sir. I brought this up with Hatsume and pulled an all-nighter to have a few assassin droids ready to go out on the hunt.", he told his boss.
Egon nods and tells him as they both walk off, "I better call the police and heroes about this. No one can fight that thing."
A Few Hours Later
"Um sir, I have a report from the police and the assassin droids.", Genus told Egon as he poked his head into his room the day after they discussed the current situation.
"Please tell me it's dead.", Egon hopefully asked with a sigh, but instead saw the changing man solemnly shake his head. "Then what news do you have?", he sighs and asks him after rubbing his eyes.
Pulling up his Purah Pad and looking over his findings he tells him, "Police and heroes alike have reported people going missing and a strange woman in a sleek white sheet. The assassin droids have been found, and destroyed. It's smarter than we have credit for.", both Egon and Genus shook in fear at the thought. "On the plus side, we've determined its feeding pattern, hunting grounds, and three potential spots for its nest.", Genus tried to assure him with a nervous chipper tone.
"Then get Hatsume to fix up or upgrade some more assassin droids.", Egon told him, as if the answer was obvious.
Genus thinks and then theorizes, "This is just my guess but I think that thing knows the droids aren't real and has figured out a way to outmaneuver its A.I."
Egon sighs and cups his hands around his mouth as he thinks aloud, leaning back in his chair, "It would take too long to make a newer and better AI.…so what do you have in mind?"
Genus smiles at the question and then offers, "We pilot the droids remotely. We check out the sights, find the vampire, and kill it. No harm to anyone and it's done quietly."
Egon smiles at the idea and then agrees, "That's a good idea."
"I also took the liberty of bringing this up with Professor Cho and she can outfit the droids with vampire-killing equipment.", Genus follows up.
Egon raised an eyebrow and inquired in a joking tone, "What, like a cross and stakes?"
"I had a feeling something like this may happen so I gave it lots of weakness. Specifically to sunlight.", Genus explained with a smirk.
Egon gets up from his seat, claps the man on his shoulder, and says to him in a low excited tone, "Then let's go Vampire hunting."
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