Brave Fear (boyxboy)

Group A

The catalyst was ready.

The man felt a wide grin spread across his face as he held the vial up next to his eyes, distorting his features and tinting his face a faint red color, the color of blood. His eyes lit up as the liquid inside sloshed and bubbled.

He turned to the woman beside him. "It's ready," he said.

"Wonderful," she said, spinning around in her chair. She made some entries in the datasheet and licked her lips as her fingers flew over the keyboard, her eyes darting back and forth across the fluorescent screen. The man watched as the numbers were entered into the subject files.

"We must begin testing immediately," the man said triumphantly.

"But, sir, we don't know of the side effects this version may ultimately have. We are obligated to run more tests, long-term tests."

"No," the man said disinterestedly. "Long-term effects are not of our concern. They are of the subjects' concern."

The woman didn't dare speak another word. She shut down the computer, her finger hesitating for a brief moment, something that should not have happened. She stood up. "Who is the first subject?" she asked.

"A3," the man answered.

The woman looked slightly shocked. "But he has already proven to be a complication to your experiments. His microchip malfunctioned. He's of no use anymore."

The man walked out of the room, leaving the woman to scramble after him, her eyes wide. He ran his hand over the steel wall, the vial still grasped in his hand, his knuckled white from the pressure and ecstasy. "That's exactly why we must test it on him," he said. "If his mind refused to acknowledge the microchip's commands, perhaps his DNA will accept the catalyst."

She hung slightly back, her years of compliance forbidding her from walking side by side with him. "Sir, what about subject A2? His microchip is functional, and he-"

"-is nothing but a tool." The man waved his hand dismissively. "He has no relevance to the current experiment. His purpose does not include my current goal."

The woman began to get nervous. Subject A3 was still recovering from the microchip experiments, and was unpredictable and dangerous. The constant fluctuations in his behavior made him perilous to approach. She felt a small stab of fear. "Sir, Subject A3 already has most of the behaviors and traits implemented into the catalyst. His microchip had lasting impacts, and he already possesses the skills we implanted him with. There's no need to imprint him with them twice."

"I understand your fear, doctor," the man responded, his voice hard and sounding like he didn't understand her fear. "But Subject A3, I believe, is the perfect test subject. He knows resistance is futile, and his past helps him feel hopeless. Besides, he is my godchild and I owe it to him to gift him unparalleled power."

"But he doesn't even match our predictions of who would fare best in the experiment?" she asked hesitantly. "He is neither a twin, a rebellious youth, or a troubled child."

"Then it will be a miraculous fluke if he survives,"

"Then, assuming he survives the procedure and consequent days, what happens after the abilities manifest?" the woman asked.

"We move on to Subjects A5 and A6," the man told her. "They just arrived and they are very headstrong. They're also a good trial test for if twins do have a higher chance of surviving and manifesting their powers. After that, we inject Subject A4 to test the theory about troubled youth and rebellion." he withdrew his hand from the wall as they came upon a large, reinforced door.