Don't you dare blast me for this chapter. Sorry about not uploading yesterday guys. my Pat.reon is 10 chapters ahead so check it out at pat.reon.com/Saintbarbido.
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I looked at the man on the screen. I was in my Drakon identity, hence casting a look of fear on his face. Hartley Rathaway was a brilliant scientist whose brains were only matched by his arrogance and hunger to be the best at his field. He had a grudge against Wells that I had turned to work in my favour.
"The construction is almost complete. The power source is stable and the mansion doesn't require to be connected to the city's power grid anymore. I also laid out the lab equipments in the basement according to the plans you gave me. The biometrics for the security systems are ready for you as well."
"Well done Mr.Rathaway. I will send you the blue-prints for the power dampener and the rest of Wells' files."
He breathed out a sigh of relief.
"That said. Mention any of this to anyone and you'll suffer untold agony. You know what I'm capable of."
I said menacingly.
The look of relief on his face changed and he gulped.
"Of course. Pleasure doing business with you."
I closed the screen and opened a case next to the laptop on my table. Inside were two vials of a green liquid shining enticingly at me. It hadn't even been a problem getting the mirakuru. I had shot a tracker at Sebastian and followed him. After tailing him to his secret hideout, I had through some amazing stealth nabbed two vials of mirakuru right from under his nose and fled back to central city. That had been four days ago. I hadn't wanted to get acquainted with the arrow and his team so early hence the brief visit.
Luckily, Blood and his accomplices were just about to start the experiments so It had been easier to get the mirakuru before the arrow found out about Slade. I was so close now! All I had to do was to perfect the serum and then begin my plan.
I had used the money I'd gotten from the gangsters to buy a mansion outside of Central city to ensure I wasn't disturbed. After some revision, I'd deemed it stupid to continue having my lab in my apartment due to security reasons. Which had been compromised by the individuals tailing me. I hadn't done anything to the spys as I was binding my time.
The other idea was to have it near the docks but it's disadvantage was that meth dealers cooked their products in those warehouses so the cops regularly hit those places for dealers to arrest. Plus it was time to break the cliche'.
So I had used some of Amunet's connection and had gotten a nice mansion a bit far from the city. Hartley's assistance was needed because I still wasn't sure of what I needed in a typical lab. Specialized equipment I was aware of and could make but the rest were still uncertain. In return I had offered him the blue-prints to make a power dampener for himself due to his problematic powers and information about Wells' secrets.
I was still short on sophisticated lab equipments like an advanced cell counter but I knew where to get them. Either Star labs or Mercury labs. I couldn't steal from Star labs for obvious reasons, not to mention that due to my persistent nagging they had upped their security systems to a frightening degree. Not that it would have been hard for me to break in but at the current juncture I wanted to exercise caution. Impatience would only wreck everything. It's a TV trope.
I closed my apartment door, a gym bag slung over my shoulder. I had been judicious in my combat practice and I finally knew how to kick some ass. The arrow would still send me packing though but I was glad that I was catching up to him and the other badasses of the arrow-verse. My learning speed had increased when I had taken to using my Thinker powers to analyze and memorize the basic moves taught. My rate of learning had shot to the roof after that and Duke had told me I wouldn't have a problem fighting five novices at once.
Which was, high praise? I don't know. Duke was…weird sometimes. After my training, a few hours later I was chilling at a bar, enjoying a cold bear and just unwinding. Ever since I'd committed to becoming stronger, I hadn't had a minute of rest. I knew it wasn't healthy, so whenever I got the chance, I would take the time to relax a little. That's also when the things I didn't want to think about leered their heads at me.
I still hadn't talked to Iris. The truth was, that I…missed her. We hadn't been together for long but she had been comforting at a time in my life when I didn't want to be alone. Then there was the Alfred thing. I didn't know if he was even still alive although a part of me…strongly felt that he was. He was partly the reason for everything I was doing. You don't leave your friends to suffer when you can help them. That was something I had been taught by my father. Of course he had walked out on me and left my mom, Dave, my little brother and I. So I wasn't sure if he had meant any of the shit he'd said.
Regardless that was something that had stuck to me. And for my precious people I would do anything. That's why I found myself walking towards Jitters, wanting to see Iris. I had only just walked in the door when I saw Eddie and Iris talking. Then she kissed him and smiled. My mind went numb. I wasn't sure what to feel. Anger? Jealousy? Sadness? The betrayal stung even though I was the one who had pushed her away. I understood that these were real people and not characters in a screen that I could manipulate into doing what I wanted. It was hard to turn away but when I did, I felt a weight fall off my shoulders. I hoped she was happy. I steadied my back and walked out.
Back in jitters, Iris looked outside and saw Jin's retreating back and her heart hammered with guilt, self-loathing and loss. Jin had seen her kiss Eddie.
(General P.O.V)
"What's taking so long Doctor?"
General Eiling enquired. His question was met with stuttering silence from the shorter man dressed in a white lab coat and wearing big and wide spectacles.
"Well? Speak up. I don't have the patience to deal with this for longer than I have to. What's the hold up?!"
"I'm sorry general but we have hit a roadblock on the development of the serum to grant abilities to our normal soldiers."
General Eiling's face comforted in fury.
"I gave you a deadline! I remember you being the one to tell me that you would have succeeded by now!"
"Forgive me, general…if we had more samples from other metas…"
"Excuses doctor. I want results. But because it seems that you're not up for the task, I'm putting that project on ice until I decide otherwise."
"No! We're so close sir. I only need a stabilizing agent to ensure that the subjects don't mutate in unforeseen ways and another meta-gene to study. I'm sure I can do it given more time and resources…"
"It's over doctor. We're pursuing the taskforce project. Why risk the soldiers we have when there's no shortage of these freaks running around? I wasn't sure when you proposed this project to me at first. But with no results to show off after weeks of working on it, I'm now a 100% convinced I was right. The Task force is a go. Afterwards you can get however many subjects to cut up as you want."
The shorter man gritted his teeth in annoyance but nodded. A small glint appeared in his eyes. Soon he would show Eiling just how important his project was. Meta-humans were the key to humanity's future. The whole world would tremble in gratitude for him bringing them salvation. Everyone would know the name of Dr. Anslow T. Raymond.
He left the building but snagged a few samples of the serum he had been working on. It was easy to bypass security as they didn't check him when he left.
Once he arrived back home, he washed up and made his way to his home lab. It wasn't much but he had the equipments needed to do what was necessary. He lived by himself, having lost his wife to cancer half a decade ago. Ever since then he had been working tirelessly to find ways to make the human body evolve past it's limit, in a way that diseases would be a thing of the past. He'd had a good working theory and the only thing that had been missing was a substance to kickstart the process. Once introduced to Meta-humans he had finally found what he had been looking for. Esoteric energy. The thing that gave metas their abilities. Abilities that were simply impossible. But he would make it possible and no one would stand in his way.
He laughed cheerfully while staring at his pet salamander. If this worked then maybe he wouldn't need Eiling or the army's help in acquiring metas for study.
He pressed a button to administer the gaseous form of the serum through the vents in the glass cage containing the Salamander. The animal started getting agitated and thrashed around seconds after breathing in the gas. It jerked one final time and then slumped over dead. Dr. Anslow's anxious face fell at the resulting failure. He slammed his hand on the glass cage in anger.
"Dammit. That was half of the Alpha serum. Eiling is surely going to notice if I steal more samples. I'll just have to synthesize some behind his back. This failure is only a minor setback."
He monologued before wincing at the sting of pain on his fist. He plucked out a few glass shards that were sticking to his flesh and left the lab. He never looked back. If he had he would surely have been shocked and surprised when a minute later, gray tentacles sprung out of the dead salamander's body and slowly absorbed Anslow's blood that was left on the cracks of the glass cage.
Nor did he notice a couple hours later, when the horrific creature created by his genius and impatience crawled onto his bed and covered him from head to toe and devoured his body.