Half an hour went pass like the wind. It was time. Dr. Henry left Kelly and Warren and returned to the room of 1217.
Mitch was longer strapped into a stretcher. Laid at the middle of the room was an egg-shaped capsule. Inside was Mitch's body. He was awake, but just like before, he has no control over his body.
Countless wires were wired on the capsule. Inside the capsule, 23 sets of injection were strategically placed in different areas to maximize the effect of the solution, spreading it across the body.
"I have tweaked the project a little bit, we'll be applying 46 injection instead of 23!" Dr. Henry's words captured the attention of all the caretakers in the room.
Chaos was unleashed.
"What?! I don't think that the subject could handle it!"
"What's the extra 23 for?"
"Isn't this a waste of specimen?"
"There's still time to call off the operation."
"Dr. Henry surely have a concrete reason as to why this is happening."
"Just believe the doctor. If he says, we follow."
The room was filled with hushed comments. Yet as quiet as they spoke, with all of them talking over one another, the room eventually got rowdy.
Dr. Henry raised his voice and said-
"We'll inject the solution into his flesh AND bones as well. Since bones are the core of the body, the structure, the backbone, if the flesh was genetically mutated but the bones stays normal, then his body would collapse."
"The solution was a product of an experiment that I stumbled upon accidentally. My original goal shrink objects but what happened was different to what I expected."
Dr. Henry went to a counter and picked up a test tube. Inside was a black substance. It was transparent and there were a few glistening particles that are moving around freely. It looked like glitter water.
Raising the test tube half-heartedly, he said described it's nature and components. It was a liquid that is considered corrosive. It has no scent and is quite harmless in small amounts. The production cost is astronomical and the rate of success is sublimely low.
Everyone marvelled at the ingenuinity of such substance. Despite using numerous radioactive chemicals and minerals, it non-volatile. Their respect for Dr. Henry grew.
"I have been studying it and perfecting it for more than 40 years since I caught a glimpse of it's capabilities."
"I looked at death everytime I tried to make it better, well, most of my apprentices did.." He said without a flinch like the lives of his students were nothing but disposable gloves. The indifference gave chills to everyone in the room even the two little imps in the observation room.
He proceeded to explain his discoveries. How an accident formulated the foundation of the solution to be usable on living beings.
Soon it came to a stop, as Dr. Henry reached the present timeline of the solution.
Then he began explaining the wonders of Mitch's unusual vitality and mentality.
"The test subject as of now, can endure the crushing sea pressure of the Mariana Trench with ease. We have monitored his brain activities and we are sure that it registers each and every moment of the sea pressure. He still contains 100% of his consciousness despite all of it."
After praising the efforts of the 8 original caretakers assigned to Mitch and explaining the procedures, they were ready.
....
"Warren, Dr. Henry is hiding something. The solution shouldn't be that stable, I did the math and it's impossible." Kelly said in a serious tone.
"I noticed it as well. We can't get on the bad side of Dr. Henry. Let's build up our relationship with him first then we'll ask. Truthfully, I don't like him." Warren replied.
They threw their doubts at the corners of their minds so they could focus on the said impossible experiment.
....
It was suffocating inside the capsule in terms of space. The air however was abundant. Mitch's eyes wandered around as he register everything he could see.
'Where...'
Being locked in the bright light at the morning and afternoon and being locked in the dark by night.
Seeing reality once again after suffering torture made him extra curious about his surroundings.
At that moment, the needles slowly moved closer and closer to Mitch's skin. It pierced through like a hot knife on butter. He felt ticklish. The needles were as thick as a newborn's index finger but in Mitch's standards, it could barely tickle him. Despite that he turned his attention to it. 23 needles all over his body. He tried to touch it but his body wasn't responding to his desires.
"Commence the spliting and penetrate the bones. Be careful and try to above his blood vessels!"
Inside Mitch's body, the needles produced another needle. Almost similar to a drill it spun with great ferocity grinding through his bones and stop just above the blood marrow.
The caretaker tasked to monitor Mitch's body was astounded.
'H-He.. He barely registered the pain...' looking at the graph on the computer screen. The painful drilling of his bones without anesthesia was equivalent to a strong pinch and nothing more.
The graph was pojected on a big screen. When everyone saw the results, they felt enthusiastic about the project.
'There's a chance!' Everyone thought.
Then it finally began..
The first injection started at the left foot. Mitch felt stung but only for awhile. The real test begins after all the injection was done.
It was followed by an injection to the bones of his feet which was oddly more nerve-wrecking than the first one. The process of injecting the bones with the solution had no live basis. It was all on paper which is why it made the caretakers nervous.
The liquid quickly seeped all over the spaces in the bones of his foot. It was an uncomfortable feeling with the addition of a searing ache but nonetheless, Mitch endured.
Just by seeing the data on the wall gave them hope. The success rate rose from 2% to 20% within their hearts. Expectations were running wild but that didn't hinder their operation. Everyone was calm.
Gradually, the injection slowly grew to be more painful. At the 10th injection, it finally surpassed the pain soldiers dealt with back in the Vietnam war.
By 16th, Mitch finally began reacting physically to the shots. His face distorted with each shot and his fingers started to flinch from time to time.
This event made the caretakers nervous. They wanted to rush the project as Mitch started giving signs of getting loose.
Rib injection was particularly painful. It was the 19th shot already. The caretakers were all sweat like they ran a 100m sprint. Dr. Henry, however was calm the whole time. Failure didn't seem to faze him. He instructed them with maximum precision. They could only get this far because of him.
"Everyone! Stat vigilant and await my orders!" Dr. Henry bellowed as he reminded everyone that it was the final set of injection. The 23rd shot.
Anxiousness was up in the air. Each and everyone looked at the projection hoping for a miracle. Even the indifferent Dr. Henry was secretly tightening his fist. The result of this experiment will become his greatest achievement or possibly his worst failure.