Chapter 8 - 8 - Unexpected Results

"Let's get to it, shall we?" The terrifying chuckle of the bespectacled Dr. Frida rang throughout the small room. Sitting behind a pair of monitors, her sylphlike fingers rapidly hit numerous keystrokes on the keyboard in front of her, before finally, she smashed the large Enter button, initiating the experiment.

As the sounds of a machine spinning and churning reached her ears as a consequence of her actions, she gave a contentious smirk. Pushing her chair slightly back, she stood up and walked towards the large, plastic, one-way window to take a look at the neighboring room where a young, naked lad was strapped into a metallic bed.

Although it was a futile effort, he was squirming, trying to break free from the metal straps that clasped around his ankles and wrists holding him in place, stretched out on top of the metal surgical table.

A loud, high-pitched noise came from the loudspeaker attached to the ceiling, shortly followed by the demonic chuckle that was all-too-familiar for Lucien by now.

"Ehehehe, now, now 03, what is the point of this struggle? By now, you should be quite familiar with the futility of such childish actions." She paused, letting out another short chuckle, clearly enjoying herself looking at the little lamb strapped ready for the upcoming 'slaughter'.

"Now then, as I mentioned to you earlier. The tests from now on will step up a level. Although the data you have so graciously provided so far has been an incredible help towards our goal, we need to start Phase 2. A few drops of your blood, a small cut here and there will no longer give us further insight into your capabilities. We need to really push the limits! Don't worry, I'm certain you can handle it!"

Just as the demonic doctor lady finished her speech, a small rectangle-shaped lid slid to the side in the ceiling. From the dark hole, a robotic arm came down, slowly approaching the helpless little boy.

With great excitement and a small bit of lust in her eyes, the crazed woman's eyes were glued to the steel arm, following it as it slowly, gradually inched closer to its designated target.

Once it was only a couple of inches away from him, the arm stopped mid-air. From the top of its index finger, a small, dark ball-shaped glass head popped out. The churning and beeping of machines behind the ceiling could be heard, noises akin to a rapidly increasing spinning notion could be made out.

Already behind her desk, Dr. Frida was madly typing once again, vehemently hitting the keyboard, inserting the next set of commands. Barely half a minute later, finished with her next set of instructions, she once again violently smashed at the Enter.

This time, however, she couldn't leave her chair, she had to monitor the data she was receiving in real-time and control the entire experiment. Still, not wanting to miss even a moment of the young boy's struggle, at the top right corner of her second monitor, the image of a camera was showing the boy from a top-down perspective.

"Now, let's see how you will react to this one…" She muttered, zooming in on Lucien's face, annoyed that despite knowing that the following moments will be incredibly painful and torturous for him, he still didn't show any signs of fear. His grimace, just every single time in these years, still managed to show itself, not giving any satisfaction to the demoness.

A small point of vermillion light suddenly lit up at the center of the dark ball-pen crystal's smooth surface, rapidly gathering, increasing in intensity. The faint vermillion shade turned to a vibrant crimson as the laser released a short beam, penetrating the boy's supple skin, creating a tiny hole of an incision on Lucien's right shoulder.

Already used to this amount of pain, Lucien's face didn't falter, his stoic grimace retained its dominance, refusing to give any satisfaction to Dr. Frida's twisted mind.

Still, this was only the beginning, as the doctor mentioned, today marked the beginning of the second stage of the experiments which meant even more pain, even more torture that he needed to withstand daily from now on.

The laser didn't cut off, its verdant crimson beam buzzed continuously as it made through Lucien's body, exiting at his back after only a second.

Once the screen showed the green checkmark signaling that the small hole was complete, Dr. Frida's eyes paced left and right at lightning speeds quickly zapping through the incoming flow of data.

A moment later, a small frown ruined her previously cheerful smile. Although she could clearly see Lucien's nervous system lighting up, clearly sending signals to his brain about the pain, he managed to quench the fire and resist showing anything that could satisfy her visually.

"No matter, it's only the beginning. You will scream to me sooner or later. All of you abominations do… I just need to hit the correct tune…" She muttered to herself, focusing on the continuous stream of numbers once again. The robotic arm began to slowly move, the vibrant crimson beam cutting through Lucien's otherwise resistant skin and flesh.

A small twerk appeared on the edges of Lucien's stoic outlook, the pain he felt was incredibly intense. He had to focus all of his willpower to be able to bear with it. His nervous system was continuously flaring, sending signals as the searing, hellish laser slowly severed the entirety of his right arm from his shoulders.

Still, he managed to withhold, and not let out any sound. He was despondent to ruin that sadist woman's day even if it would be the very last thing he would do in his life.

Large beads of sweat, the signs of his struggle could be seen on his face, glistening against the lenses of the camera. Amid the continuous pain as the laser kept cutting through his skin, flesh, and bones, he looked up, meeting the camera and although it was incredibly hard, he managed to reveal a defiant smirk.

He muttered something that could not be picked up by the microphones, nor could Dr. Frida catch it through the screen. Despite that, she was sure that whatever he said was something irksome.

"How could this brat withstand this… We haven't given him any dampeners… He is feeling the pain in its entirety. Still, despite that, he could hold it in and not scream?" Although she was frowning and her tone sounded annoyed, a moment later a small, barely visible smile appeared on the edges of her lips.

"Incredible… absolutely incredible…" She muttered as her thoughts began to form a new theory. "Could it be, that his ability is related to pain?"

At second thought, however, she shook her head, denying it completely.

"No, that's not right, we confirmed it multiple times that he can feel it fully. This must be willpower. His tolerance levels are probably incredibly high. Hmm…"

As she was deep in thought, the sound of alerts interrupted her reverie. Multiple red texted notifications appeared one after another as they sent warnings about the erroneous stream of data coming from the subject.

"Wait, what the hell..." Dr. Frida looked at the monitors with an incredulous look, quickly glancing over to the camera screen at the top right corner.

By now, the laser successfully finished the precise cut, severing the entirety of Lucien's right arm. Still, unlike what would be expected, there could barely be seen any of his precious blood dripping.

Visible to the naked eye, a dark, black layer of a film appeared where the laser cut through, shielding the body and covering up the wound. It was similar to a bandage made out of some unknown viscous, gelatinous, organic material, forming a bouncy barrier atop the mutilation.

"What on Earth is that? Why don't we have any data on it? Where did it come from?!" Dr. Frida couldn't understand, she couldn't process what was happening. This was unlike anything else before. Every time they made an incision, every time, they made a small cut made with a knife, although the damage healed overnight without any sign to show the next day, they never witnessed anything similar to what they could see right now.

Coming back to her senses, she began to madly type at the keyboard, giving an entirely new set of instructions to be carried out by the machine. Her eyes were sparkling with excitement as she tried to make sense of the strange inflow of data she was receiving.

"This… This is marvelous! Incredible! We need samples! Now, now, NOW!" Madly she kept hitting the keystrokes uncaring if she would trash yet another keyboard. This chance, this outcome was something she could not and will not miss. This could be the missing piece, that could give her the breakthrough! Finally… after almost a decade, she may be able to complete the formula and create the serum!

Before the chance of creating something that could change the course of history and elevate the entirety of mankind, what does it matter if she were to trash a keyboard or two?

Or a human or two....