They sat opposite each other, not a singular word being exchanged, for a while at least. It was one of the better outcomes still, seeing August calmed.
“I thought you were afraid of me?” He was sure he was right.
“I was, and I’m sorry. The you I knew before, you’d never hurt me, no matter how much I pissed you off… but the person in front of me… I don’t know them anymore… you killed him… without hesitation… that—… that could have been me—” She’d tremble as the memory replayed in her mind.
“No… It couldn’t have been. I knew it was you.”
“Well… it sure felt like you were going to kill me… the way you looked at me… with such hate and malice… I wanted to die…” Her eyes trembled.
“I understand how you must have felt, and I am sorry. Truly… but you stood in my way, trying to take away the only thing I have left…”
“I understand… so what now…?” She looked at his exposed forearm, and not even a drop of blood remained.
He’d pull down his sleeve.
“I’m going to return to that place… I have a request.” The man would stand.
The woman would stand along with him, and perhaps she had intentions of going with him, for a time.
“Will my presence be required…? Do I want to see…? Do I want to know…?” She didn’t look him in the face, she couldn’t.
“I don’t think anybody should have to see that… but they’ve done worse… so perhaps it’s not so bad if you know… are you coming?”
“No.”
He’d respect her decision, leaving the place he had fought so hard to return to, but he’d have time, eventually. If all he saw wasn’t a lie of course.
He'd make his way back to beach, sprinting, breaking every record, barrier and even himself. He could feel it too, every fiber and every cell of his being, and he was right. He had ripped tendons, fractured bones, damaged organs and messed up his own blood flow with his speed alone. It had been the right decision after all.
August would enter the place once again; he didn’t need credentials or an invitation that time though. He’d simply walk through the iron guardian. As for all those that lined those stairs, those that were to be keeping out all intruders, they averted their gaze.
Thus, he would reach his destination, that branching hallway, and what he saw was most unexpected. They were retiring the place, they were sealing away rooms, and discharging personnel. It was all of utmost importance, but they all did still freeze at his arrival.
They all stood, patient, not sure what to expect, but he only required their services. He’d approach the head scientist, Miss. Elizabeth Sky. She was a stout woman, curly hair, freckles and sweet honey skin, but her presence was no less imposing than August’s. Everyone else had stopped operations, but she didn’t even look at him. She was admiring one of the deceased ideas, and she found his presence no more interesting than the abomination.
“You’re ending your research?” He also admired the dead tragedy.
“What do you want, August…?” The woman rubbed her eyes.
“A body, a different one… and I want to meet the anomaly…”
“Haha… you want to what…? Do you think we’re your servants or something?” She’d reach above her head, patting him on the chest.
“It’s that or I do it myself…”
“One… where are you going to get a body, and two you can’t go down there without permission… not unless you want to be an enemy of the state…?” She’d look him in the eyes, one brow high above the other.
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“You’ll get your answers… if you don’t help me.”
“You’re bluffing. If you wanted to kill us… you couldn’t, we had you locked up just like those pets of ours for two whole years, and you muttered not a single word… but now… I’m supposed to be afraid of you… really...? If you’re so capable… why didn’t you break out before…?” She was not convinced.
“I wouldn’t make it to my sister in time...”
“Of course that’s your answer… haha… fine! What kind of ‘body’ do you want? Be quick, you haven’t much time.” She’d scan him with her eyes.
“What about meeting—”
“We’ll get there… when we get there… one demand at a time. Now, what kind of ‘body’ do you want?” She gnashed her teeth as she smiled.
“A mixture of 1-part uranium, 1-part plutonium, 1-part mercury, 0.1 parts copper, 0.1 parts titanium, 0.1 parts aluminum, 0.1 parts carbon fiber, 0.1-part nickel, 0.1 parts iron, 0.1-part zinc, 0.1-part silicon, 0.1-part boron, 0.1-part carbon, 0.1-part hydrogen, 0.1-part nitrogen, 0.1-part oxygen and 0.1-part calcium, 0.1-part phosphorus, 0.1-part potassium, 0.1-part sulfur, 0.1-part sodium, 0.1-part chlorine, 0.1-part magnesium, 4 parts ODFT-4000 and the last part should be made of all other discovered elements.”
“Anything else…?” She’d bury her face in her palms.
“Well—”
“I’m joking! It’s a rhetorical question, and you know that!” She was already shaking from the amount of work she had to do.
“Sooo…”
“Shut up and get out of my way…” She’d push him to the side, heading for the damaged lab.
As for the damage her client had caused, nanobots filled the space as she walked over it. He, just walked over it. As for where she was headed, an empty vat. The woman seemed to be simply looking at it, but knowing what we know, she was actually interacting with the ‘Artificial’ Intelligence entangled within the machines.
The vat would fill, a silver translucent liquid afflicted with chromatic aberration filling it to a little below quarter. The thing even seemed to warp the space around the tank, and the tank itself, at times it stretched, at others it drooped. As for what filled the rest of the space, an explosion of color and lights washed through it and brought it to half. Then, a transparent fluid filled the rest of the tank. The ingredients were all gathered, all that remained was preparing the body.
A pulse would let out from the tank as it shook the entire structure, and before their eyes, all of it began to coalesce. It would twist and warp, a spine and nervous system being the first to materialize. Then, there were irregularly colored and shaped bones. As for the finale, there was muscle, and only muscle, as he did not need anything else. He’d watch as the perfect lifeform took shape right in front of him, and watching, he knew it was getting closer, that day. It was all falling into place perfectly, and he couldn’t help but to comply.
August approached the vat, and reaching for it, his hand phased through the structure and his blood spilled into the tank. The body would absorb his blood, and the little bit of his mind, he had given it. Thus, it was his.
“Oh… this is what the ideas were attempting to replicate…? The perfect organism… for their purposes anyway… for an idea… its perfect. So how do you know about it…?” The woman primed a thought, ready to terminate the thing.
“I’ll be taking that body, and based on my estimates, this entire room will be ravished, so it’s best to leave for now.” August had already began lowering his conscious into the darkness of man.
“I asked you a— son of a bitch! Fine!” She’d watch mid-sentence as he faded from reality.
As for his intentions, back in that dark place that had stolen so much from him, he wished to steal its power. It was human, which meant, that to some extent, he owned it, and if he could bring back his piece, and even steal some more, he’d become even stronger. He wouldn’t be restrained or manipulated by lies or false truths, for his feat would become creating the abstract from reality, truth from fiction.
It would make him invincible, for reality was a veil put over the Abstract, and the Abstract was reality, albeit a concerning one. Thus, sunk in that dark place, he sought out himself in the material world, and he found it. A floating body. a newborn, alive, silver, flawless, his blood rushing through its veins.
So one step was complete, and another was yet to be. He’d command the place, a singular thought, ‘me’. It would materialize before him, his manifestation in the abstract, his soul if you would.
It was a blazing ball of crimson flames, no dimmer than the sun’s radiance, and he’d touch it, absorbing it into his being, and completing himself. For that was an idea half, a soul without a body, a will without dominion, power without direction, and he was no longer that.
He’d still use their bastardized methods of attempting to gain completion though, for his body that was once human was no longer that, and more an idea than anything else. Thus, he had to make one not tainted by the Abstract, but taking full advantage of it. Thus, he’d leave that body in the darkness, not to rot, but just to be.
He’d take all of him that was not physical, and piercing through realities, she’d intervene. That same magnificent light, that which had granted him knowledge if not lies sprinkled about it, was back.
Her intentions were different that time though, what he was becoming, even if inevitable, he was never supposed to be.
Thus, instead of light to the dark, strength to a frail body, wisdom to a numb mind, she sought chaos. To his undying body, she granted death, to his clairvoyance she muddied the waters, to a clear mind she cultivated fog, to iron will she provided rust, to unconditional love she provided doubt and to a perfect birth, she caused miscarriage.