Section Three
Ghoul Investigators Headquarters (GIH)
Beneath The Agency (Project Z)
In a wide space looking like a basement, with several types of equipment filled inside.
Steve went through the rows of wall computers showing different genes combined of humans and ghouls, he mixed some samples studying it through the microscope, he brought an injection close to it, injecting it carefully, the red liquid flowing inside.
"You are good at your work Dr. O'Brien" Seth commented, taking off his red sweater and then his shirt.
Steve stood straight walking toward Seth seated on a table bed.
Steve adjusted his glasses.
"You were experimented on against your will and yet you want more" Steve said sternly.
Seth smirks.
"I need to be stronger than your son Dr. O'Brien and if this works, other agents will undergo the same process," he said amused.
"Just think of me as your lab rat," he adds.
Steve tick his tongue.
"You poor child" Steve said, taking his arm looking for a vein.
"No matter what you do, you can never surpass Liam not to talk more of Ghost," Steve said.
Seth's smile fades.
"You speak of Ghost so highly, you spent years studying him. What do you know?" Seth asked, puzzled.
Steve just smiled, injecting Seth, the red liquid creeping through his arm like a vein, Seth shivering from an unknown cold, he felt the serum inside him moving everywhere.
"There are a lot of things we are yet to understand about ghouls" Steve began, dropping the injection to take more.
Seth faced him, the white part of his eyes was embodied with red veins.
"We don't know about our origins, only the fact that Jonathan Jones was able to discover what we are capable of, it's still a mystery what came to be at the very beginning," Steve said, injecting Seth's arm again.
Seth growls in pain.
"Were ghouls created by something we are yet to discover? Or two types of beings created at the very beginning".
"So you think-" Seth began gulping hard in pain, yet he still forces a smile.
"-The black ghoul has all the answers to your kind" he adds to amusement.
"Is it wrong for an old man like me to believe that?" Steve said.
"I say you're crazy," Seth said laughing like a maniac in pain.
Steve just nodded.
"It's only a matter of time," he said.
"Just pray I won't kill the black ghoul before your fantasy ideas come through. Cause I will kill him" Seth said the last part darkly.
Steve looks dark.
"Shall we continue?" Seth said amuse.
Steve ready another serum.
"This one goes through your eye," Steve said, pointing the sharp needle close to Seth's eye.
"I have a feeling you will enjoy this," Seth said sternly.
Steve grinned.
*
Seth roars in extreme pain like a maniac, his ghoul red eyes beaming dangerously. He was tied to the bed in the lab as he kept roaring, his body vibrating like he was being shocked, a phasing of him and Rath both roaring.
"How long will he be like this?!" Barbra hiss at Steve, they watch the scene from the other end of the glass.
Steve just went through the results from the computers.
"As long as his body reacts to the serum," he said firmly.
"If for one minute you try anything funny Dr. O'Brien, I will rip you to pieces," Barbra said darkly.
Steve faces her.
"You want to upgrade his genes right? Who said he wouldn't have to pass through pain for it. Even if he has tons of ghoul genes inside him, he's still human, so expect the worst" Steve hiss.
He faces the scene.
"This is only stage one," Steve said darkly, turning to a pissed-off Barbra.
"You want a powerful humanoid ghoul, well you will get just that".
***
Up Floor
Chase was seated in his office lost in thought, the Black ghoul was back, that thought kept running in his mind for weeks now.
A memory of Ghost biting Max's head and Nicole's dead body rang in his head, his fist clench hard at the memory.
He rises to his feet walking out of his office heading for the surveillance control room.
He walks in.
"I want all eyes on every inch of the city, leave no tables unturned, I want the Black ghoul found" Chase ordered.
"Yes sir!" they said in unison.
***
A few Minutes Later
Chase walked out of the office along the long hall, an elevator sounded as the door slid open, and Barbra walked out.
Chase halted his steps when he saw her. He blinks seeing how worried and stressed she was, it was unlike her.
"Coming from somewhere?" Chase asked, puzzled , approaching her.
Barbra raised her head seeing Chase.
"Nothing that concerns you," she said, composing herself.
"Okay then, so where's Seth, I need his expertise on something, I haven't seen him for a week now," Chase said.
"I sent him out on a secret mission that will benefit our capture of the Black ghoul, you don't need to worry," Barbra said walking past him, her heels sounding.
Chase blinked as his eyes drift to the elevator, he waited until she was out of sight before walking toward it. He pushes the button and the elevator doors slide open with a ding sound. He walked in, seeing the glowing button she last pushed .
'The last floor is where we keep our weaponry, I guess she went to check them out'. He thought. 'Maybe I'm just overreacting, since when do I monitor the Captain's step'. He thought again, he figures this was no use, he walks away. 'What's the point, the Black Ghoul is the only enemy here, I should concentrate on that.
***
Barbra walks into her office, she takes her seat, lost in thought, she runs her fingers in her golden locks as she sighs. Was she getting worried over Seth? Maybe Rose was wrong, maybe she did care, but she didn't wanna admit the feeling.
'Feelings make humans weak'. She thought. And she couldn't afford to have that but who was she to cheat nature, her mind traveled.
***
Seven Years ago
The year 2014
USA Secret Research Facility
Gunshots could be heard in the building.
Barbra agents raided the facility after a tip was set off of a ghoul experiment. She was furious when she heard the news and it was coming from the Order, one who got the nerves to go behind her back. She made sure she left no survivors. They got to the lab.
"Burn everything down" she ordered as she walked around, her heels sounding, the agents nod as they did as they were told.
She walked closer to the cages seeing dead bodies. No one survived the experiment, she figured it was all a waste of time, she turned about leaving but then she heard muffled sounds, she turned puzzled, the sound came again. She brought out her gun shooting the lock open, she walked through, inside was dark, she gasped when she saw red eyes, she pointed her gun.
"I suggest you step forward or else I will pull the trigger" she warns deadly.
Footsteps could be heard as a boy around the age of 11 emerged from the darkness while holding onto the wall for support. His lab clothes consisting of dirt, he was shivering from an unknown cold, his red ghoul eyes beaming.
Barbra clicked on the trigger ready to shoot him.
"You should kill me," he said.
Barbra blink.
"They turned me into a monster, they turned me into one of those things that killed my parents," he said as the tears fell uncontrollably.
"Don't think your self-pity will make me let you go, cause it won't" Barbra said darkly.
Surprisingly to her, he smiled.
"Is something funny boy?!" Barbra hiss.
"You are very amusing to me, I think everything is. The look in your eyes says otherwise" he said.
Barbra froze, she slowly leveled her gun.
"But I am serious about you killing me, it's for the best, I don't know what I will become after turning to this," he said, staring at his hand while trembling.
"You are right to think that way" Barbra began.
He faces her.
"This world is black for things like you" she adds firmly.
"Tell me, boy, do you want your life to end right here right now in my hands," she said pointing the gun to his head, really to pull the trigger.
His eyes shake at her action.
"You were made into this against your will, you were turned into a monster and now you have to live this way and most likely die," she said darkly.
He gulps hard.
"I will be happy to end your miserable life," she said amused.
'Am a monster against my will'. He thought, trembling. 'And yet I want my life to end for something I didn't choose to become, I am afraid of what I am now. He thought again. His look darkened.
"Why?" the tears streamed down his cheeks.
"Why does it have to be this way, why?" he said, going on his knees.
He raises his head at Barbra as he cries.
"You're a monster" he hisses.
She smiled.
"So are you," she said amused.
"I guess we have one thing in common" she adds, squatting down to him.
"We are both monsters in our way," she said placing her hand on his cheek, her hands were cold just like her eyes and this was intriguing to him at the kind of woman she was.
"What's your name boy,".
"Seth," he said shakily. She rose to her feet giving him her hand for him to take.
"Join me, Seth, as monsters, we shall both cleanse the world of ghouls," she said.
"Let us bend the world to our will," she added.
Seth stares at her with shaky eyes. 'Is this my path?' he thought, his eyes glued to her hand.
"I shall make you my weapon," Barbra said darkly.
Seth reaches for her hand.
"A weapon that will change the world".
He took it and that was the beginning of two great minds of work.
***
Present Day
New York
Seth slowly opens his eyes, a breathing tube connected to his nose and mouth.
He removed it sitting up with a dull expression, he turned and found Barbra seated a little bit close to him. Her legs crossed, busy with the laptop on her lap.
"Worried about me?" Seth asked amused despite the pain he was in.
"Don't get excited just yet, that's just stage one of the experiment" she said with a stern look, her eyes not meeting him.
Seth's eyes drift to his arm embodied with red veins on it.
"Anything for you Barbra," Seth said softly as he smiled.
Her hands instantly stop typing as her eyes shake with emotion for once.
"You gave me a life, I live for you, I will surely make your dreams come true," he said, turning to her as he smiled brightly at her, a genuine smile for one, all for her, like a son staring at his mother.
Barbra froze at this.
"I don't care what pain I have to go through, I will bring down the black ghoul for you and make a world where only humans exist," he said softly.
Barbra held herself, hiding any bit of emotion she showed. She cleared her throat rising to her feet, shutting her laptop.
"You better do, or you won't be a useful weapon to me," she said sternly.
Seth laughed.
"If I live through the procedure, I surely will," Seth said, resting back on the bed.
Barbra smiled faintly as she walked away from the room. A memory flash in her head when she first played chess with him and she won him but ever since that day Seth made sure he wasn't defeated by her and she was impressed.
That smile was plastered on her lips until she got inside the elevator, the door sliding closed with a ding sound.