Chapter Text
"Isn't it boring?" The question came from the other side of the laboratory, almost slipping by furtively; coming from the dark-haired woman, holding a clipboard and a thin stack of papers, both of them finding their places on a messy table full of chemical vials, said vials clinked against eachother softly as they were gently pushed aside.
On this side of the room, the man behind the alabaster head is pulled from his deep thought, a soft hum coming from him as he picks his head up to acknowledge the woman's voice, the rising tone indicating his ask for clarification.
"The simulated universe project, with Herta, and Screwllum," she continues, "you three have been working on it for a while now."
"No," comes the curt answer, "I do not find it boring. There is much to be learned about Aeons. Why would I consider it anything but utterly fascinating?" Knowledge of every kind – no matter how big or small, the scholar wanted all of it.
"I thought someone as learned as you would tire of it quickly." She sits down comfortably, and within seconds, a strange cylinder-like creature hops onto her lap, and begins purring as she starts stroking its back. "You could use your genius for far greater things."
"What are you suggesting? I'm already helping you out, am I not?" The retort from the man sounds almost offended, he did not particularly enjoy the use of the word 'genius' when referring to himself.
"Take that off," she points with a slight nod of her head, "I have something I want you to try." A smile on her lips as the other complies with the request, curled locks of indigo falling to partially cover his cat-like eyes. From the pocket of his lab coat, he takes out a pair of glasses and elegantly slides them on, pushing the lenses further up the bridge of his hooked nose.
The two scientists leave the messy chemical lab, the lady leading her temporary assistant to another chamber. The dark room is first only illuminated by a sickly green light coming from a tube of liquid. The ceiling lights come on after the woman touches a light switch – the contents of the tube becoming visible, clear as day.
A human.
"You have a doctorate in biology, do you not, Dr. Ratio?" A rhetorical question asked, as she slowly but surely walks up to the test tube. "I'd like some insight from you on this subject. It is as you say, two minds are better than one." Her gloved hands bring up a digital display, containing information on the vitals of the test subject submerged in the liquid.
The doctor, still in the doorway, as if frozen in place, stares, eyes wide, as his breathing quickens.
"What is this?" A breathless reaction, trembling in disbelief. "What in the world are you doing?" He should have suspected something like this, Miss Ruan Mei's fascination with the secrets of life were known to everyone who has heard about her.
Ruan Mei turns back, with a tilt of her head. "If it's ethics you're worried about, this subject has signed a contract. She's a willing participant." With that, she turned her attention back on the digital display. "Come, look at this."
Ratio slowly walks up behind her, eyes fixed on the person. He's seen her before... a researcher from the Space Station. A gentle, but eager soul. She reminded him of one of his students, willing to do anything in the pursuit of knowledge, akin to the doctor himself.
"Her arm, lost during an invasion by the Antimatter Legion. It has begun reattaching itself to the body." She states calmly the moment the doctor stops to stand behind her. "The effects of the revitalization serum have worked wonders." A couple taps of her finger as she brings up the relevant information on the serum. All of its components, instruction, down to every minute detail.
"Incredible." Dr Ratio whispers under his breath. "Has she exhibited any side effects?" He asks, now stepping right up to the test tube. On the surface, she seemed fine. Upon closer inspection, he could see it, the detached arm floating just mere centimeters away from the body, has started growing tendrils, and began regrowing missing tissue in the gap between them.
Another look at the subject's face is what makes the doctor take a step back, even before Ruan Mei could give him an answer.
"Something like... growing extra body parts? There's..."
"An extra eye, just below the right cheekbone." She states nonchalantly. "We'll get it out of the tube and onto an operating table, and I want you to inject it with the new serum you helped me work on these past couple of weeks."
The doctor freezes again, his gold and maroon eyes darting from place to place, having the realization finally connect the dots together. "You used my research for this? I did not agree to any of it!"
She presses a button, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear. The fluid from the tank slowly starting to drain. "I was afraid if I told you the whole truth, you wouldn't have agreed. All I said that it was ... revolutionary medicine. To help a patient recover from dismemberment. None of what I said was a lie. I'll get the subject onto the table. Would you kindly fetch me the vials? We'll get started right away."
It might have still been the initial shock, and he doesn't move just yet, merely steps away from the tube to look at the digital display.
After a moment of silence, Ruan Mei speaks up again. "I think it would help further your goal as well." Upon seeing the doctor's confusion, she continues. "I'm talking about getting you that recognition from Nous."
"Do you really think that's more important to me than someone's life?" He asks quietly, a certain sadness in his voice. "Do you really know me at all, Miss Ruan Mei?"
A chuckle falls from her lips. "You didn't listen to me. I said this was a willing subject, and this is 100% in the contract we signed. Go on. The vials, please."
Begrudgingly, Ratio steps away, and swiftly walks out. He'll change his mind, he thought. Taking a little walk back to the lab and back again to the test chamber would help the gears turn in his head, and he'll tell Ruan Mei to shove it, and then he'd leave. But he didn't. Test tube rack held securely in both hands, he quietly returns to her.
With the subject now on the operating table, Ruan Mei donned a surgical mask and gloves, and gestured to Ratio to put them on as well, and he did so, right after setting the rack down.
The subject on the table looked different somehow. Though she was still soaked in the liquid, the partially attached arm laid at her side twitched every now and then, making the doctor even more uncomfortable than he was before. He kept repeating Ruan Mei's words to himself, 'willing participant' and 'contract', but the uneasy feeling in the pit of his stomach did not go away.
The subject's skin had an unnatural sheen to it- and even if it was still wet, it was almost as if she was a porcelain doll, covered in a protective glaze, making sure the fragile material doesn't chip or get damaged. Almost inhuman. Having that third eye on her cheek did not help with the uncanniness of it all.
"Take an empty syringe, choose a sample, and use it. Very simple procedure. Easy job for a man with eight doctorates." Maybe it was a way to instill confidence in him, or maybe to ease his nerves; but whatever the reason, it did not help. Clean syringe out of the wrapper, the doctor's hands covered by the plastic glove, trembling as he holds it, looking over the test tube rack he brought in.
"A-as we've tested before, sample number 16..." his words unsure, his thoughts jumbled, he almost starts feeling sick. The sterile atmosphere, despite its cleanliness, had a smell to it that disturbed his stomach rather than comforted it. "Sample number 16 showed the most favorable results with the least amount of drawbacks." He pauses, which gives her a moment to interject. "That is the one I used." A shaky sigh comes from the doctor.
"However... sample number 22, repaired cells on the brink of their death, but showed the most amount of damage after a longer observation period..." His breathing still trembling, he takes a look at Ruan Mei, who gives him a smile and a nod.
Steady your hands, doctor. This is no way to go about an operation.
He takes a deep breath, picks up one of the vials, and sucks the liquid into the syringe in his hand.
"Into the severed arm." Ruan Mei instructed.
Carefully, with surgical precision, Ratio stuck the needle into the arm.
Okay, just a couple of seconds. It takes about 10-20 seconds for the blood to start circulating around the body. The moment the needle is removed, the fingers on the severed arm give a twitch again. The tendrils connecting the arm to the body were thin, but started shrinking, slowly but surely bringing the arm closer, the gap between them becoming narrower right before his eyes.
The skin on the arm starts changing in seconds as well, with the doctor's hand still on the forearm - his internal comparison to a porcelain doll becoming even stronger, the skin tangibly becoming harder and tougher. In a pinch, the arm slaps his hand away, startling him, and making him take a step back. The arm reattaches itself, every joint in the subject's body contorting, the muscles twitching and spasming in every direction, subject throwing its head back, to the side, and instead of screams, there's a high pitched squeal that comes from its throat, eyes wide, staring at Ratio. Brows furrowed, as if she was disappointed in him, staring straight through him. Even the third eye, fully opened, is anything but human-like. It was black, glossy, like a mirror. And another, new eye pops open, on the forehead, bridge of the nose, over the face, and like an infection, it spreads. Down the neck, onto the torso. The bones violently twisting and crackling, skin slowly turning a metallic, iridescent blue and green.
Ruan Mei observes.
He dares not say anything. And the moment his fear is replaced by pure wonder and fascination, it happens.
'I felt it.' This was it, the exact moment he understood. His mind twisting the blood-curdling, inhuman screams of the subject into an indescribable screeching of metal, a deep rumble of every fiber of his being, as if the universe inside his mind started screaming in agony.
THEY appeared behind his eyes. THEY finally noticed him.