Because you DEMANDED it! The long-awaited Chewy Walrus post!TRI-VEX CORPORATION WORLD HEADQUARTERS, THUNDER CITY...
Dr. Walter Curie walked into the building, whistling happily as he winked at the voluptuous red-headed receptionist who sat behind the large mahogany information desk. She smiled as waved playfully as he walked past.
Curie swipes his keycard, the elevator doors opening to whisk him safely to the third subbasement - home to his genetics laboratory. An odd thing happened in the elevators, once they hit the subbasements. The lights got dim and tiny lasers located in the elevator security cameras scanned the body or bodies of the person or persons in the elevator. The lasers took a copy of the genetic make-up of the person in the elevator. If it didn't match with the recorded DNA with the name on the keycard, the lasers would turn lethal, burning holes in the person(s) eyes until the "life functions" ceased.
Security protocol.
One of the many "goodies" Tri-Vex had pioneered in its years of research.
The elevator doors opened and Curie stepped out and into his laboratory, passing a number of gifted scientists as they tinkered with strands upon strands of DNA sequencing and coding. Stepping into his office, Curie poured himself a hot cup of coffee, pouring in a bit of sugar and cream and slipping into his high-backed leather chair.
Turning toward his computer, he placed his Styrofoam coffee cup next to his mouse and began his day by checking his inter-office e-mail.
The first message was from Knell. Figures, he thought, rolling his eyes. The message said that Knell wanted to see Curie at his earliest convenience. Curie looked at his watch. 9:11 AM. He could put it off for at least another half-hour.
The second message was from Jasmine, the first-level receptionist, wanting to know if they were still on for this Saturday night. Curie smiled as he sent his assent to the suggestion.
The third message was from Dr. Walker. Curie smiled broadly as he read the message, not having heard from Walker in weeks. However, Walker didn't have much to say. "Always was the all-business type," Curie whispered as his eyes scanned over the message:
quote:
Walt~
I need a favor. I'm not at liberty to say what it's for, but I need you to do it for me, just the same. Attached is a schematic for a unique form of metahuman DNA I've found. I need a test run on it. I need details. What can it do? What is it capable of? I have an idea, but I need to hear it from someone I trust. Give it to your best man... or do it yourself. I don't care. Just get it done. Thanks, Walt. I owe you one.
~ Walker
"Oh, so, we're counting now?" Curie said, opening up the DNA schematic. At the simple sight of it, Curie's mouth dropped open. "What the...?"
It was unlike anything he'd ever seen before. It was methuman DNA, all right. The only difference between it and the other types that he had seen was that this strand was concentrated. Heavily. Dozens of peptides and hydroxyl groups were bunched together where only one should be.
"This is insane!" Curie whispered to himself. "Whoever this metahuman is, he's one of the most powerful I've ever seen..."
Shaking his head to overcome the initial shock of his find, Curie quickly distributed the job to his best man on the floor, telling him to have the results on his desk by the end of the day. From there, Curie walked back to the elevator, setting his location to Knell's office.
Upon arriving on the correct floor, Curie was greeted by Knell's frantic secretary. "Oh, thank GOD! It's about time you've shown! He's been asking for you every five minutes since I got in at five this morning! There's something not right about it, Walt! Something not right!"
"Shh!" Curie put his arm around the woman reassuringly. "Calm down, Nancy. You're hysterical. Let me go in and assess the situation. Everything's going to be fine."
"Be careful, Walt!" Nancy called after him, falling to the floor in a sobbing heap, her arm reached out for him. "Be careful!"
Curie looked back at her briefly and opened the door cautiously. A gust of stale air hit him in the face as he walked in, closing the door behind him. The lights were out, shades drawn, making the room incredibly dark. As Curie’s eyes adjusted to the shift in light, he picked up on an odd scent. Leather. But not normal cow leather. It was odd, to say the least…
“Dr. Knell?” Curie asked quietly, straining to make something out something in the dark room.
Then, he heard it. A grating hiss of a voice answered him. The voice was deep, brusk, and guttural, yet oddly familiar.
“Walt? Walt, is that you?”
“Dr. Knell?” Curie ambled aimlessly in the direction of the voice, but still couldn’t make out where it was coming from.
“Yesss, Walt,” the voice answered, as Curie heard the sound of movement around him. Heavy movement. When it ceased, the voice was on the other side of him. “It’s me. Dr. Zachary Knell.”
“Y-you wanted to see me… Doctor?” Curie asked, confused.
“Yesss, I did.” the grating voice grew harsher as it bore down on Curie, drawing closer and closer to his ear as the conversation continued. “I want you to make me an anti-gene.”
“A what?”
“An anti-gene. One designed to counter the effects of the metahuman gene to reduce it back to the human level.”
“But, sir, that’s morally… ethically un—“
Curie’s statement was cut short as a massive clawed hand gripped him by the collar, lifting him high into the air. Raspy gasps of hot air hit him in the face, the stench of which was awful. Small droplets of saliva hit his face. As they collided, he felt the spit begin to bubble and his skin begin to burn.
“I DIDN’T ASSSSK ABOUT MORALSSS AND ETHICSSSS. I SSSSAID I WANTED IT DONE!!!!”
The fear that had aroused in Curie’s heart began to subside when he heard the sound that came next.
Crying.
A baby’s tears.
Curie’s body was tossed into the wall like a ragdoll as lumbering footsteps walked across the room to the opposite corner. Curie heard the voice of who he could only presume to be Dr. Zachary Knell hissing and cooing at the crying baby, who was obviously the snake-headed child of Knell’s own creation.
As his eyes having started to adjust, Curie could now make out the shape of his employer and attacker. A hulking figure, standing at about seven feet, stood hunched over a small crib, holding a metahuman clone of a child in one enormous taloned hand.
“D-doctor Knell… w-what happened to you?” Curie asked quietly, shying away as glowing yellow eyes turned to meet his from the distance of the room.
“I had a visitor yessssterday at about five thirty. After everyone elsse had gone. He injected me with sssome of the blood sssample I had taken from Eddie here.” The voice paused, as its keeper toyed playfully with the child by waving a large claw before it’s face.
“The pain was… excruciating,” the voice continued pensively, as if recalling his own personal Holocaust. “I recall writhing in agony as my ssskin began to peel and flake away and as this hard leathery hide I have now took itss plasssse. The horror as my clothes began to rip and tear, as large talonsss began protruding from my fingerssss, ripping my fingernailsss off. The only thing that kept me from killing myssself wass Eddie…”
The monster that was now Zachary Knell, head of genetics research at Tri-Vex Corporation, trudged over to the door, placing his hand on the lightswitch.
“And now…” Knell said.
A blast of light hit Curie’s corneas, causing him to cover his face. As his eyes now adjusted to the light, he realized that he didn’t want to look at the “man” before him. But, he had to. Not for Knell’s sake, and certainly not for his own. But for the sake of science.
Curie slowly uncovered his eyes as they took in the full image of the figure before him.
And, like every good scientist, Curie did the only thing he could do in the given situation.
He fainted.
[ 11-30-2001: Message edited by: Chewy Walrus ]
