The One I Love || Newt-TMR

Chapter 20

The sound of short heels clanging through the WICKED hallways caught Ava's attention as she briskly walked to her sleeping quarters.
"Ms. Paige! Chancellor Paige!" A familiar high voice sounded from behind her; slightly out of breath.
Ava twisted her head just enough to see the doctor from the meeting attempting to run after her in narrow heels. In her hand she had a single piece of paper that flapped around as the doctor ran.
"Yes. Doctor- ahh." Ava racked her brain for the doctors name.
"You can call me Brenda." The young woman replied with a tight smile.
"Right; yes. What can I do for you Brenda?" Ava struggled with the informality. She was used to calling people by their last names, however she knew that Brenda was new to WICKED, and let it slide.
"My team has successfully created the serum to inject B11. Here are the test results." Brenda answered in an excited voice as she handed the piece of paper over to Ava.
Ava anxiously tore the paper from Brenda's hand and began to read over it.
Control Serum:
Enables the killzone chip in a matter of minutes via intramuscular injection (IM). The serum reacts with the subject's killzone and allows it to gain control once again.
Sideaffects:
●temporary; only lasting a maximum of 2 months before waring off.
●can permanently damage killzone, effecting patterns, and the subjects mental stability.
Ava analyse each sentence twice before returning her attention to Brenda.
"It only last 2 months?" She questioned, disappointed.
"Yes ma'am. We trialed several other long-lasting serums, however none had such a high success rate than this one. My team and I believe that maybe in the future we can create a long-lasting, maybe even permanent serum. But not on such short notice, sorry." Brenda apologised, bowing her head slightly.
"No no, this will do for now. As long as it lasts until she is killed is all that matters." Ava responded in a dull tone.
"Would you like to see the test subjects, and observe how they have responded and reacted?" Brenda asked reluctantly.
"Of course." Ava said in a tired huff. All she wanted was sleep.
"Excellant!" Brenda's high voice bounced off the walls and echoed down the hallway as she spun around on her heels and lead Ava towards the Crank Pits.
Ava continued after Brenda, intently listening to the sound of her own heels echoing Brenda's as they walked briskly down the cool hallways. After about 10 minutes of traveling down mostly empty hallways and down flights of stairs and elavators, they finally reach the Crank Pits below the WICKED compound.
Ava and Brenda both walked into a sealed observation room that had one large window to the left, with a panel covered in controls, levers and switches just below it. The room had a musky smell that hung in the air, making it seem thick and damp.
Ava was quick to notice the line of guards armed with launchers in hand, back-up amo strapped to their shoulders, along with a range of pistols and and other weapons. They all stood still as a statue in the shadows of the dimly lit room, the tinted masks covering their faces setting a menacing look.
WICKED is good. Ava assured herself.
"It's good to see you again Chancellor. Our team has been hard at work with the new controlling serum, and we're overjoyed that you have taken the time out of your day to come see the results; especially so late at night." A plump, balding man enthused as he vigorously shook Ava's hand; a large smile spread so far across his face that it drew deep wrinkles along his cheeks and corners of his eyes.
"Yes, I am proud of your fast work. I see that you have been using some of the Cranks as test subjects?" Ava questioned, wiping the sweat from the mans palm along her white lab coat.
"Ah, yes. We didn't think it would do much harm." He said cautiously as Ava craned her neck to see through the window. It was completely black on the other side of the window, unlike the room she was in. None of the light even seemed to pierce through the glass and into the room on the other side; as if even it were afraid to intrude on the aggressive creatures that lurked in the darkness.
"It was implanting the chips that was the real challenge. Had to get 3 guards to shoot tranquillisers until he came down." The man continued, pulling Ava from her thoughts.
"And where is he?" It was hardly human, Ava knew that. It didn't deserve to be called he, like it was  a regular man.
The sweaty, plump man turned to one of the guards and silently nodded to them, to which they abruptly turned and hit a switch. Instantly, a loud bang, although slightly muffled by the glass, reverberated through the entire lower level of WICKED, followed by several more as industrial lights blazed high above from the ceiling, consuming ever last bit of darkness.
The room on the other side was much larger than what Ava had expected, and looked like a warehouse. To the far right, she spotted the hideous Crank slouched over something unmoving. Quickly; too quickly for something looking that sickly, the Crank lurched towards the glass at an inhuman speed, and came crashing into it with a loud thump.
It's body bounced back from the glass, smearing it with blood; both its own and whatever it was feeding on. It was still for a moment; long enough for Ava to get a good look at it.
It's clothes were torn and patchy, almost falling from the frail body it hung from. The filthy shirt looked almost white in comparison to the Cranks sickly green skin, with bulbous veins popping out and snaking along the exposed skin. It's remaining teeth were a deep yellow smeared with red as it snarled towards the people standing in the room, and it's skin plagued with blisters, bruises, cuts and gashes. 
"As you can see here ma'am, we have a crazed Crank past the Gone." The same man announced, waving his hand over to the creature
"But, with the recently injected serum already enabling the chip in his killzone, we are able to control him completely." He continued as he leant over the control panel, adjusting several dials and pressing multiple buttons. He then picked up a tablet and wiped along the screen, until the snarling, vicious Crank's face relaxed into an as normal looking expression it could manage, and stood up straight.
"It almost looks human." Ava breathed, her eyes widening in shock as it continued to walk around, a limp noticeable in its strides.
"It's fascinating, how the serum has been able to take control again, isn't it?" Brenda, who had stayed silent up until this point marvelled, a smug expression plastered on her face.
"Indeed it is. Do you have a serum ready?"
"Why, of course!" Brenda enthused.
"Good. Make sure it is in the Box  by 08:00, I want this to be in progress as soon as possible." Ava commanded as she turned to leave the room without another word.