The Fall of the Society

Chapter 16: Dr. Silmot

A middle-aged woman stepped into the room, wearing a long white lab coat and black thick rimmed glasses. Her light hair was pulled back in a ponytail and her light eyes were focused on a folder in her hands. She walked in and pushed a button on the intercom, "Go easy Josh, you have another treatment later today." Sid slid the file he was holding under the back of his coat as she sat down and noticed for the first time that something was off in the room and began looking around. She almost fell out of her chair when she saw Sid looking at her with his signature smile spread across his face. "Who are you? Where is your ID?"
Sid removed the ID badge from his pocket and gave it to the woman. "I am new, just arrived a short while ago." At this point he was glad the badges did not have pictures on them, he hoped he could get some information from her before she realized he was lying. "Who is that man doing the training Dr. Silmot?" he asked reading her badge.
She stared at his card, "How did you get in here? This viewing room is for authorized personnel only, how did you get in?"
"I did not realize, I put my badge on the scanner and it let me in," Sid lied.
Dr. Silmot stared at him, "I will have to put in an inquiry, you should not have access to any of the laboratories, you could mess up my research if you are not careful." She shifted her eyes from him back to her paperwork, "He is a Socialite that is here for testing, that is all you need to know. You can go now."
He had hoped that it would take her longer to ask him to leave so he decided to go harder with the questioning. "What is Concoction 817 and 820?"
Her head snapped up with shock on her face, "How do you know about those? Have you been going through my research!" she shouted standing up. "You have crossed the line! Report back to your advisor for out processing, you are fired!"
Sid smirked, "I will not be doing that, but I will need you to tell me more about what you are doing here." He pulled the folder out and tossed it onto the table in front of her. "What happens to the heroes that fail out of your program?"
She sputtered as she tried to find words, anger turning her face red. "How dare you!" she shouted at him. Trying to stand, Sid drew a blade and jammed it into the table through the folder. "Don't hurt me!" she cried shielding her face.
"Tell me what I want to know, and I will see what I can do about letting you live," Sid said sternly and coolly.
Terror filled her eyes as she stared into the very serious eyes now standing over her. "I can tell you, but there is a reason these facilities are so remote. You will never make it out of here alive."
A smile reappeared on his face, though it did not travel to his eyes. "So humor me and tell me everything you know, since I will just be dying anyways, it will be like you did not tell anyone."
"The only way out of the program once in it is death," she said softly. "Most have only survived one or two treatments before massive deterioration sets in. It is not a very pleasant sight. Then Dr. Olead extracts what he can for his experiments, but I am not as familiar with his work."
"You are basically just murdering Socialites for fun then?" Sid asked her while watching Devastator walk around the training area. "I take it those signing up do not get a full disclosure before agreeing to your contract?"
"There is no contract," she said even more quietly. "If they agree they are brought here without any paperwork, no trail so they cannot be traced. Most of them are not Socialites, only a few have been and for the most part they have the more positive reaction to the treatments."
Sid faced her, "What is your end game? What is it you hope to achieve?"
"I just do the research I am told, orders come down and I follow them," she said quickly. "I began my study in a small independent laboratory that was trying to make practical applications from the powers of heroes. We had a young girl that had a strange healing power and we were trying to translate it into medicine. That was when the Society got involved and recruited me and a few others. They took the girl and I never saw her again and they have been moving me from lab to lab having me work on different theories."
Sid laughed, but he was not amused. "You are telling me you sold the little girl out for a place within the Society? You are the worst kind of scum. Instead of protecting life, you are twisting it into something else. That man is barely human," he stated pointing at Devastator. "There is no humanity left in his eyes and no serum is going to change that!" Tears welled up in the doctor's eyes as Sid leaned in on her. "What did the girl look like?"
"She was young, she had fair skin and red hair. That is all I remember," she replied trying to lean away. "It was a very rare ability: it is no wonder the Society wanted her. They paid her parents a very large sum of money to sign custody over to them!"
Sid's expression changed, becoming more serious and hardened. "Her parents sold her? What was the power like exactly?"
"She used what appeared to be blue flames to heal, but every now and then if she wasn't careful, she would catch things on fire," Dr. Silmot cried, now nearing hysteria. "I don't know what they did with her!"
"I know exactly what they did with her," Sid said angrily. "They did test after test on her, wiping her memory clean after each test. They stole her entire life from her." He grabbed a hold of the arms of the chair, forcing her to stare into his face. "Who did they sign custody over to exactly?"
If he had thought she had terror in her face previously, it was compounded now. "You do not know who you are messing with, if he finds out you are after him, he will have you killed," she nearly whispered. "I only ever met him once, and that was when he came to collect her after the deal was done. Scared the hell out of me, his eyes were hollow yet full of evil."
"Tell me what you know of him, for I do not fear death," Sid growled at her. This was the closest he had ever been to actual evidence of the man he suspected. "What was his name?"
"I don't know his actual name, but he goes by Scion!" she cried. "You will never find him. He is a ghost; he can erase the memory of his existence!"
Sid began pacing in front of her, his anger rising. "How many people have you killed in your trials here? How much innocent blood is on your hands?"
"Innocence is a construct, it's not real! The Society decides what is right and wrong!" she now spat at him, gaining a bit of defiance. "How many have you killed in route to where you are today?"
He stopped pacing and glared at her. "I have been baptized in the blood of my enemies, but I do not draw my blade on innocent lives! The Society has not always been, and it will eventually end. Hopefully by my hand!"
Dr. Silmot laughed, "You can't stand against the Society! You found an unguarded laboratory and broke in, good job! They are legions and you will fall in their wake!"
"I have walked this plane of existence far longer than you can even fathom. I have watched the very foundation of society crumble and be rebuilt. The human race has an expiration date, and I am trying to extend it, while you foolishly rush toward the end!" Sid said, a bit of mania behind his blue eyes. "Your research will destroy everything! You think yourselves gods, but you are mortal, and you will all fade in time."
She stood and faced him. "Compared to you we are gods! We will do as we please no matter what you say or do! The world belongs to the Society and it is time you fall in line!" The two stood staring at each other as Sid's angry expression faded and his smile returned.
"I knew you were a stooge from the beginning. You bought into everything the Society has set before you, regardless of the cost," he said calmly. "I knew I would have to get you worked up in order to get more information out of you, but now I fear you have exceeded your usefulness."
The defiance that had begun growing in her disappeared at once. "If you kill me the Society will hunt you to the ends of the earth!" she hissed. "There is no where you can run!"
Sid smiled even more brightly. "I have no intentions of running. I am a hunter, and I will continue to do what I have always done, pull the rug out from under the cruel and corrupt." He moved his hand slowly under the back of his jacket and drew his blade out slowly. "And I will do that one at a time if I have too."
She took a step back before throwing herself onto the desk and pressing the intercom button. "Josh! Save me!"