The Mad Scientist

The room was small. Maybe the size of a small bedroom. Grey concrete mixed with the bright white ceiling lights gave it quite an industrial look about it. On one side of the room were cupboards and shelves, filled with potions, concoctions as well as empty beakers and glasses. In the middle of the room was a table with a white sheet draped over it, on which lay several scalpels and knives of differing lengths. On the other side of the room was Lazer Lightzest, his right arm and leg secured to the wall by rusted chains and his left arm and leg tied with thick rope. His favourite hoodie was drenched in blood. Typical.

Footsteps and he looked to the doorway to see the mad scientist, Dr Grim, enter the room. He wore a lab coat stained with crimson and his hair spiked in different directions as if he had been electrocuted. After a freak accident in which his experiment had gone awry, Grim had lost humanity, sanity and most annoyingly, his ability to feel pain. Grim blinked quickly, observing his test subject before nodding and muttering to himself for a second. Then he grabbed the largest scalpel and hurled it at Lazer's leg. He hissed in pain as it pierced his skin.

"Pain," Grim droned. "It interests me to no end. Why do we feel it? What does it do for us? How can we exploit it?"

He pulled out the scalpel and Lazer gasped in relief.

The scientist wiped the blood-stained scalpel on his shoulder before dropping it onto the white sheet. He grabbed one of his potions labelled "PAIN POTION" and tried to set it on the table, grunting in annoyance at the scalpels in his way before sweeping them off the table. He leered up.

"It's all to do with the nerves. Just a bit of tweaking..." he grabbed a syringe and filled it with the bubbling blue liquid, "and a punch can go from harmless to feeling like a building was thrown at you."

He jabbed the syringe at Lazer's wound and pushed down. In seconds the syringe felt like it was piercing his entire body. Lazer screamed in pain, convulsing madly as Grim laughed. He turned away, searching for the antidote. While it pleased him to no end seeing him suffer, the screaming was beginning in his head. He could inject Lazer later on. He grabbed a potion on the top shelf labelled in giant letters: "ANTIDOTE", retrieved the syringe and injected it onto Lazer's leg. Almost instantly, the screaming stopped and Lazer's head lolled forward as he fell into unconsciousness. Grim refilled the syringe with the pain potion and placed it on the table before smirking at the weakened hero and stomping out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

Lazer's head shot up and he immediately began observing his surroundings. His eyes flicked down to the scalpels that Grim had thrown from the table. Most of them were out of his reach. But there were three right next to his feet. The chains would ordinarily prevent him from getting out, but most of these were rusted and weak, stained with the blood of hundreds of previous victims. Lazer tugged on them and they came loose. Now came the hard bit. He kicked off his shoes and began scraping the largest scalpel closest to him. It was slow work, as he was positioned about 5 cm off of the floor. And of course, there was the growing risk of Grim returning. Desperation lent him strength as he clawed at it with his fingers, ignoring the small cuts that it was inflicting. He tore his right hand out of the rusted chain, grabbed the scalpel and began cutting his left arm loose.

And that was when Grim returned. At first, he didn't notice that anything was awry. His eyes were laden with tiredness and worry and Lazer had stopped cutting.

Naturally, when he looked at Lazer that all changed.

Grim leapt back, almost surprised, and Lazer continued cutting at his left arm. Grim looked confused for a few moments, then his eyes flashed with anger. He leapt at Lazer but was repelled by a kick that sent him hurtling over the table and knocked over the pain potion. Lazer freed his arm and started cutting away at the rope securing his leg, at the same time keeping his eyes on Grim. The scientist rose slowly and Lazer could see his face drenched in the liquid. Grim roared in anger, grabbed the largest scalpel he could find and jabbed it at Lazer's neck. The jab was all off and missed by about 10 cm, but it was enough to horrify Lazer and keep him cutting.

Grim was still panting. The pain potion had burned his face and he felt immense pain, more pain than he had ever felt before. He grabbed the antidote and downed it, throwing up a few seconds later. By that point, Lazer had cut himself free and was ready for a fight. He gripped it with both hands and thrust it into Grim's leg as hard as he could. The scientist didn't so much as flinch. He caught Lazer with a right hook that sent him hurtling into the wall. Lazer responded with a kick that, unlike before, merely sent Grim back a single step. The scientist stepped back into the table, and the syringe full of the pain potion clattered to the floor.

Time seemed to stop for a moment as the two stared at the syringe, glinting menacingly. Then Lazer dived for it, and Grim, and the two struggled for control over it. One second it was in Lazer's hand, then it was knocked out and fell into Grim's, and then Lazer knocked it back into his. Grim shoved his entire body weight into the lean hero, sending him staggering away. The pain of all his wounds plus the battering he was taking a toll on him, while Grim hadn't even broken a sweat. The scientist positioned the syringe between his middle and ring finger like a knife, holding it defensively towards his threat. Lazer detached the scalpel from the wall that Grim had tried to kill him with. This was his last chance. If he got hit with the syringe then he would be killed instantly. If he could get the syringe and stab Grim, then he might have a chance of getting out alive.

Now or never. Do or die. Fight or flight.

He knew one thing for certain. He wasn't going to die here.

Lazer dropped the scalpel and wrenched the chain out of the wall, ducking under Grim's lunge and wrapping the chain around his throat. He could feel the strain on his entire body as he pulled on the rusted, blood-stained piece of metal that was his only chance of survival. But Grim wasn't weakening. This wasn't working.

Lazer abandoned the chain and kneed the small of Grim's back. It didn't do much but it gave him a few seconds. He grabbed the closest scalpel he could find and stabbed Grim's hand. It didn't elicit so much as a grunt from him but his grip loosened on the syringe. Seeing what he was about to do, Grim outstretched his uninjured hand to Lazer's throat, trying to crush his throat. But Lazer was too fast. He tore the syringe out of the scientist's hand, stabbed it into his throat and inserted the pain potion. A few seconds later, the scientist fell to the floor, deathly still.

But death would not come to the mad scientist. He felt every synapse weaken and die as he crashed onto the floor. He felt each sense dampen. He saw Lazer smashing up all his potions and setting fire to his underground bunker. He felt the fire creep up and engulf him. It was only when the above building exploded and the ground fell onto him was his breath stopped and his skull crushed.