"Mentor of Mutants? You are the founder of this organisation?" Metro stared at the blue haired youth. There were no physical imperfections on his face. His lean body looked extremely solid from afar, with telltale bulges of muscles in the right places.
"Superhuman strength augmenting?" Metro could tell from his introductory biotechnology knowledge that the strengthening of the body was almost close to perfection. The highest rank that Metro knew of so far was the "Expert" rank, but the knowledge required for this had probably vastly exceeded that.
"Experiment 187 finally finished. Just as well. I should take a break from coding that program." After hitting one last button on his keyboard, the youth stretched his body out. Pushing his revolving chair away gently, he walked with a slow gait to a metal box with a red button.
Pressing it, the box opened up, revealing a black capsule. The black capsule was swallowed by the youth, which melted in his mouth as soon it came into contact with his saliva. The effects of the pill came into effect almost immediately, with the jaw of the boy falling onto the ground.
An overwhelming stench of decay swept the entire room. There was no smell in the world that could copy this stench. It could only be replicated if a whole world was rotting all at once, and the filth concentrated itself into one stench that could burn its mark onto anyone's brain.
Metro tried his best to stay rooted to the ground. With every inhale of the poisonous air, it made him hack out some purple blood. As for the boy, he had already melted into a ball of grey goo. The pill had been so potent that the bones were even digested.
Even though Metro badly wanted to leave the room, he had a vague feeling that this was a test that this Mentor of Mutants had set up to test his strength. He remained in control of his senses, but close to death, Metro started to hear the sounds of his heart beating.
The heart pounded in his ears with ferocity, while every nerves in his body was fired up and in overdrive. Sweat leaked from every pore in his body just to cool him down, but his body twitched uncontrollably. Time started slowing down in his eyes and when Metro looked at his Death Clock, he noticed that the watch also seemed to have been affected.
"The closer one was to death, the more powerful the Death Clock becomes." Or was this feeling of strength just a hallucination? Metro could not tell, as he had no opportunity to test this. The stench had already disappeared, leaving the youth back the place he was. The grey goo had disappeared, and he was holding a glass test tube with a writhing purple worm in it.
"Experiment 187 worked." Turning to Metro, he had a confident smile on his face, "You also passed the test. Welcome to the Mutant Occupation, Mr Lee." Metro felt chills running up his spine when he got the congratulations from the youth. In the few moments that he had struggled, a million years had passed mentally.
The boy had recovered from the decay almost immediately, which was a testament to the power of his incredible body. The latent killing intent in Metro's body had almost shrunk into a wisp naturally just from the presence of the boy's aura. There was no doubt in Metro's mind that the boy must be closet related to the company somehow.
"May I ask for your name?" Metro took the initiative to lick the monstrous boy's boots now, since he recognised that the boy's protection would be crucial to his survival. If his survival in this world was 10%, then it would rise to at least 30%, with the chances increasing depending on their friendliness with each other.
"All you know about me is that I'm 4th in the list, and that you, my friend, will help me to destroy those three up the list." The youth had a magnetic voice, and Metro thought that he would get drunk on the voice's praises if he had not the willpower to resist it.
Spitting on the ground, Metro glared angrily at the boy. "I know you're trying to control me, I'm not some weakling who falls for such a basic trick. Now tell me your name!" This was still part of the test, so Metro had to act accordingly. If he showed little resistance to the boy's voice, he would be kicked out in no time.
"Mental, checked. Physical, checked. You know, even though you're a madman, you still have some use for me." Taking a flask on his desk, he opened it and poured some liquid inside the glass tube. The purple worm stopped moving as the colourless liquid filled the glass tube fully.
"Yeah, I know. So what's... what just happened to me?" An itchy sensation sprouted in Metro's chest. When he peeked down there, a purple rash was spreading before his eyes. The boy stood behind Metro with a sneer on his face.
"You... you..." Metro's whole body tensed up, and his suppressed killing intent exploded. He had half a mind to pound the boy down there and then, but the rash was stealing away his focus, and he did not have the strength to resist the boy's actions.
"Good... good. Do you finally know your place now, you sicko? You took down one of my operatives, you stupid freak!" The purple rash flared up, bringing Metro to his knees with the pain. The boy had to keep his cool when he was in front of his underlings, but now that they weren't around, he could show his unbridled rage.
"I reared her for 16 years! She was going to be the vessel for Experiment 187! But you had to ruin it didn't you? Tell me! Are you a spy sent by one of my brothers?" Showing a titanium baseball bat that he had taken earlier, he started smashing every part of Metro with brutal blows.
First, the back of the knees were targeted, then, the kneecaps were shattered brutally. The ribs took more than a few hits, while fractures and broken bones marked Metro's body. The skull was the only one able to hold up to the beating, dissipating the blunt force.
"Ughhh, I'm sowry... I won't doing it again!" Metro tried to form coherent sentences, but he could only sputter out a few words while he was getting crushed by the boy. It was only when Metro's body was contorted into an abstract shape before the boy was satisfied. Throwing the bat aside, he leaned down to Metro.
"Don't even try to take revenge on me. I'm way stronger than you, and I will do whatever I want!" The boy arrogantly proclaimed to Metro, before stomping on him once more in the ribs, causing Metro to groan again. "Now, let's get down to business. You better carry out the tasks I want, or I will activate Experiment 187 from afar to kill you. Get too far, and you die too."
"This boy's more unstable than anyone I've ever seen! He's not even a boy for goodness sake, judging by what he said." Metro decided to change the terminology he used from "boy" to "man". The "man" had a personality that swung back and forth, which Metro feared the most. Who knows, even if Metro did all his tasks correctly, he would suddenly die from the purple rash out of the man's spite.
Metro's bones had already started to mend, so he splayed his limbs out and waited for them to heal while the man laid out a task for him. "If you want to repay your debt, go over to the forested area, and use this black radio to find a device. The more static the radio emits, the closer you are to the device. Bring its remains to me. This will be the first of the three tasks you conduct for me. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir."