“Did we just make a contract?” Danny asked.

The demonic woman sighed. “Yes and no. Not a contract like you’re imagining. More of an agreement. It was supposed to be favoured toward me, but you did something and now it’s favoured toward you.”

“How so?” Danny asked. He had no idea what had just happened.

“I’m not going to tell you.” The woman spun away from him and he saw that she had a little tail as well.

“Why not?”

“I don’t benefit from doing so.” The demon scowled. ”I no longer want to be around you.”

With that, the woman disappeared. Danny felt slightly hurt, for whatever reason. Seconds later he awoke back on the table he had been strapped to just before he had fallen into unconsciousness. What just happened? Danny tried to understand what had taken place. He had been taken advantage of initially but the new energy inside him had done something to change that. The demon had done something to him when it grasped his hand, something binding. The energy had overpowered it and bound the demon, he did not understand in what ways, but he knew he had reversed whatever the demon had tried to do to him.

Uh thanks? Danny thanked the energy and to his surprise, it responded. It hummed, telling him that it accepted his thanks. Danny wasn’t sure how to begin processing that. The energy inside him had some form of consciousness.

“He’s awake.” A female voice called out.

“Move aside.” A voice Danny recognised as Chen’s answered.

Danny opened his eyes and saw the small scientist walking toward him. “Subject Seven, you will need to answer my questions.”

Danny couldn’t hold back a snort. Subjective Seven? That’s a new name.

Chen ignored his snort and Danny ignored him. He saw the owner of the female voice. A normal-looking woman, perhaps in her early thirties, was standing a short distance away from them. She was wearing a lab coat and carrying a tablet. Her straight black hair and large almond eyes left a distinct impression on Danny. She had the same eye bags and pale skin as Chen, telling Danny she had also likely been in this lab for an extended period. She noticed Danny looking at her and awkwardly looked away.

She was also Asian and looked faintly similar to Chen. Family? Something worth keeping in mind. She looked far younger than Chen, her entire posture was lacking in confidence, and her eyes carried an uncertainty. Danny knew that these wizards could be far older than their appearance suggested, but he got the feeling this woman wasn’t that old. She could be my opportunity.

“-Subject Seven,” Chen snapped his fingers in front of Danny’s face. “Answer me. What happened on the night of your encounter with the imp?”

Danny stared blankly at the small man.

Chen pressed a button on a device he was holding and the IV drip next to him whirred, he watched as an odd-coloured fluid entered the IV and then his body. It burnt. It burnt like hell. Like acid in his veins. Oddly enough though, it rated pretty lowly on painful experiences he’d been through recently. He continued to stare at the little man trying to torture him, making sure his expression remained level.

“Kuhh. That doesn’t hurt? Interesting. Melissa, note that down. Compound 11 does not affect Subject Seven, but an aggravating effect on Subject Eight.”

The woman nodded and wrote something down on the tablet. Melissa. Danny made sure to remember the name. Chen. Melissa. Deacon. Those were the names he had heard so far. Deacon was likely the man he had killed. Danny felt no remorse. He hadn’t intended to kill the man, but now Danny knew what he had been a part of, he carried no guilt. They had chosen this path.

There had been six or seven people that Danny had counted during his assault and kidnapping, but he couldn’t recall if Chen or Melissa had been there. So, he at least had between six and nine people to account for. Minus one, Deacon had been dealt with. Chen decided not to continue his questioning and left the lab with Melissa, securing the steel door behind them.

It was just Danny and Fighter, likely Subject Eight, in the room. The super zombie was staring at him intently. Its body still periodically convulsed, but its eyes remained locked on his. Danny knew what it wanted but part of him was reluctant to reconnect with the monster. So, Danny did his best to ignore the zombie’s piercing orange eyes.

Sadly, there wasn’t much else happening in the room. Danny closed his eyes and tried to focus on what was happening within his body. He inspected his mana as closely as he could in an attempt to work out what was wrong with it. It felt as though it had been forced to hibernate by whatever they were pumping into him. His mana which usually flowed around his body and energised him was now like syrup. It slowly chugged along and instead of energising him it left his body feeling stiff and brittle.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then there was the effect of the mana disruptors that were still attached to him. They were practically ineffective. His mana wasn’t active, so there wasn’t anything to disrupt. So why leave them on? In case the drugs wear off? That was the only reason Danny could think of. He looked across at Fighter and saw that the being, while still staring intently at him, was convulsing periodically. The disruptors are still affecting it. What separated the two of them?

Danny thought back to when he had been captured. The devices hadn’t felt anywhere near as effective as the first one he had been struck by back at the gym. He doubted Tamm was using weaker devices now, so what did that leave him with? Tolerance? Danny was guessing that he may have developed a resistance or tolerance to the disrupting effect. Which told him something important. The scientists didn’t yet know that, probably. More importantly, Fighter would build its own resistance in due time. That feels like something important.

Danny focused on his own situation again, performing a quick rundown of what he knew so far. He was weakened and trapped to the table by magic metal. His mana was hibernating and unresponsive to him, even if it was, there were devices in place to disrupt his ability to cast spells. His debuffed mana weakened his body, leaving him feeling brittle. Then there was the new energy, casually flowing around his body. The energy hid an incredible power, which he had physically experienced in his most recent foray with death.

The energy’s potency also demonstrated itself in his interaction with the Old Hag, who had been bound by it. It wasn’t Danny’s, it was its own force with its own agenda, one that Danny was currently powerless to oppose. He had enemies internally and externally, it seemed. Mad scientists, ancient demons, and unmeasurable energy. Danny mused. He had a growing list of opponents so extraordinary that he couldn’t even laugh about it anymore.

Add that to the Triad and ultrapowerful wizard dictator. Danny’s list of opponents was only growing. He needed to focus on the task before him though, dealing with the hidden lab and its occupants. He outlined the priorities in his mind. First was information, he had come down here for answers and while he had found some, he wasn’t leaving without the full picture. Then it was dealing with Fighter. Danny looked at the super zombie across from him. It needed to be dealt with, only one of them was leaving this place. Then it was escape.

Escape being third on the list of his priorities felt a little odd, but Danny knew that if he didn’t deal with the first two then he’d always be stuck in similar situations. That led him to how he was going to handle Tamm. Danny hadn’t been set on killing the woman, but that had changed now. He had initially been worried about Madley’s reaction, but Smith’s comments had told him that it probably wouldn’t be as big a deal as he thought. That was a problem he could try and handle down the line.

So, what was next? Danny couldn’t move, he couldn’t cast spells, he couldn’t do much of anything but wait. So, he waited. Tamm, Chen, and his assistant came and went, taking samples of his and Fighter’s blood, tissue, and other body parts. They repeatedly tried to question Danny, trying all manners of torture to make him speak. Danny stayed silent though, refusing to even grimmace as the barbaric nature of his treatment grew.

He had no idea how long had passed, but at some point he had started staring at Melissa whenever he was being interrogated. The young woman was visibly uncomfortable with the process and Danny’s blank stare only added to it. The tests, torture, and interrogation reached a fever point when Chen began breaking his fingers to try and make him talk. Danny had been overcome by a dissociation from his bodily experience and he no longer felt anything, with only further frustrated the old scientist. He had stormed out of the lab, leaving a pale-faced, even paler than usual, Melissa who was staring in shock at the mangled state of Danny.

“Hi,” Danny spoke for the first time in what had at least been days, maybe weeks. He had no sense of time in the lab. He came in and out of consciousness in the same sterile space, with no idea how much time had passed.

Melissa’s eyes widened like a deer in headlights. “Hello?” She shakily replied.

“What’s up?” Danny asked.

“I- You-” The young woman went from looking shocked to confused. “You can talk?”

“Yeah, of course I can. Why do you think they were asking me questions?”

“Oh. Yeah.” The woman nodded to herself. “Are you okay?”

Danny raised an eyebrow at the woman, the muscles of his face protesting at being made to move after their long hiatus. “No? I’ve been kidnapped and I’m being tortured. Why would I be even remotely okay?”

“Oh, yeah. My bad for asking.” Melissa looked down sheepishly. Danny was confused, why was a woman this childish working here?

“Why are you here?” Danny asked.

“I probably shouldn’t be talking to you.” Melissa went to leave to lab.

“Hey, c’mon. I’ve been here for what days? I could use a change of pace.”

“A week. You’ve been here for a week. No food, no water, minimal sleep. You’re not a human.”

A whole week had passed? Danny was shocked. Retta and Belle were likely pretty worried, which worried him. He didn’t want his sister charging over to the city to find him. “Yeah and whose fault is that? What did you do to me? To that,” Danny gestured with his head over to Fighter.

Fighter had stopped convulsing at some point but never stopped staring at Danny. It hadn’t been as quiet as him though, yelling and screaming on and off. Especially whenever Chen was trying to use it as a baseline for whatever torturous concoctions he was using on Danny.

“...We’re working on a biological medication that will allow humans to develop larger mana pools,” Melissa spoke cautiously.

“A medication that makes zombies? Seems legit.” At least Danny had confirmation that what had been done was purposeful. It was something.