Pitch clocked in for his job at NexGen like it was just another normal day, three days had passed since the capture of the Wendigo and he had yet to get an update. He decided to go down to the basement since he now had clearance and could do so to check on things. He approached Kathryn who looked like she hadn't slept in the three days since the last case. “Kat, are you okay?” Kathryn pulled away from a microscope or something with a similar observation set up and pushed up her glasses to rub her eyes. “Eh P- James? Yeah, sorry. I jumped into my old habit of losing myself to my work again. I've learned so many new things about Wendigos and have been studying the mutation of the specimen you helped capture.”
Pitch sighed and crossed his arms. “You really need to take breaks to sleep. I mean actually sleep, not just slip away into a broom closet to take a cat nap for an hour. I'm built to only need a few hours every other week, you're only human. You're going to burn yourself out.” Kathryn waved a hand at Pitch. “I know I know it's just… look at this.” She points to the device. Pitch put his face to it with a sigh. “I have no idea what I'm looking at.” Kathryn explained. “The mutation is affecting all of the Wendigo’s essence. Meaning if this Wendigo were to infect someone they would inherit its mutation. This is possibly the first actual solid evidence of Cryptid evolution and development. Also the signature may contain a small part of Vance's mutation; the rest is entirely new. Meaning his tainted blood was simply a catalyst for the changes. The mutation was more of a reaction to the blood rather than being caused by the blood.”
Pitch took his eyes away from the device and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Yes yes, it's all very groundbreaking. But these samples aren't going to vanish because you went home to get eight hours of sleep. The discoveries will still be there when you get back.” Kathryn tried to object. “Yeah but then someone else-” Pitch put his hand on her shoulder. “This is a team project, a group effort. You don't have to be the first to find the missing links you've been after. Take a breather, take a shower, and take a goddamned proper rest. Before I have to make you.” Kathryn closed her eyes and took a few breaths. “You're right, I'm no good to anyone if I'm mentally burnt out. I'll take tomorrow off and we can have a date night.”
Pitch smiled and removed his hand. He then looked at the elevator when it dinged to see who entered the lab to find it was Ishwada and a squad Black Eagle people all armed with Ultra Violet Pulse and Sonic Pulse rifles and cannons. Pitch started to feel nervous and slowly walked over to the former General. “Uhhh… what's going on Jiryu? Why does it look like you're ready to fight an Umbran?” Ishwada looked at Pitch. “You were right, I showed the higher ups the data you gave me and they found any and every excuse to dismiss everything. From starting off with a weak attempt at denial to pointing out that since it provides power to the city I can't kill it. So I gathered a few loyal people and we are going to force their hands. I tried being patient and working within the group but it seems that my superiors weren't just okay with supporting misuse of Cryptids as a resource but are actively encouraging it.”
Put out his hands up and waves them down over and over again. “Woah there General, maybe slow your roll a little bit. I'm glad you've gained some measure of empathy towards Cryptids since I pointed out the risk of them being in a situation similar to the Jews and Japanese during world war two but maybe not burst into the lab filled with monsters guns loaded. Who knows what the head scientist will try if you back him into a corner.” The head scientist comes out from somewhere in the back, his mid length hair a somewhat wavy mess. “You don't have the authorization to be here Ishwada, but luckily for you I'm a reasonable man. I'll give you and your men access to the generator room under one small condition.” The man fixed his glasses with a finger and smirked, Pitch could feel his skin crawl somehow.
Ishwada crossed his arms. “Okay, I'll bite. What's this condition?” The man reached out his hand gesturing to Kathryn and Pitch. “I want Miss Smith and Mister Holden to also accompany you.” His smirk grew. Pitch looked over to Kathryn and whispered. “I don't have to be an empath to know he's up to something.” Kathryn whispererer back. “This is our best and possibly only chance. Whatever he has up his sleeve we can handle it.” Ishwada looked over to Pitch who nodded back. Ishwada nods in response. “I accept these terms.”
The head scientist then started to lead them all to the secret sub basement entrance, taking an elevator hidden behind a wall downward. The elevator was barely big enough to fit everyone. When the door finally opened everyone felt grateful to not be packed into an elevator like sardines. Everyone did a stretch before looking over and taking in the new environment.
The entire room was set up like a donut with a circle of equipment around a translucent central dome with the Umbran getting zapped inside a fence grate-like cage being visible from the outside. It had an upper level that had a catwalk that went to a special containment door similar to a quarantine set up at the top of the dome to insure the contained subject couldn't escape the airtight cell. The dome itself had several thick cords coming off it and going upwards and into the wall. The head scientist gestured to it. “Here you see our containment dome that is set up like an airtight faraday cage keeping it separate from the outside. Food is fed into the top to keep the subject in peak condition as electricity is shot in, amplified, and extracted from the subject.”
Pitch then pointed out. “By fed he means live humans are abducted off the street or transferred from a prison in secret and dropped in. Because it has to feed on humans that are both alive and conscious. The fear response from its prey is fundamental in the digestive process.” The scientist smirks. “I love it when I don't have to explain everything. We go through great lengths to ensure only the least desirable of human specimens are fed to the Umbran. Criminals, homeless, drug addicts with no hope or intention of rehabilitation. Of course to do this we have to source from across the county. Sometimes we grab people on the death penalty from other states. Using sedatives and rigged heart monitors to fake deaths before moving them.”
Ishwada grumbles. “You're committing murder on a mass scale.” The scientist reaches out his arms. “The lives of the unwashed, unwanted, and those already wanted dead is a small price to pay for clean, renewable, radiation free energy. Don't you think? If we had more of these Umbrans we could single handedly solve the energy crisis in a way that is totally pollution free. Imagine it, a world of renewable clean energy at the low low price of sacrificing people that no one wants around anyway.” The scientist gestured to Pitch. “Say Mister Holden, can you really tell me you've never done something bad, unforgivable perhaps, because the alternative was worse? Can you really look me in the eyes and tell me your hands are clean? Humanity is slowly poisoning the world into a state that can't support us. Sacrifices are necessary for our continued survival.”
Pitch grunts. “Like you actually care about humanity. Choosing to give something up is a sacrifice, what you're doing is ritualistic murder. You're just trying to justify your abuse the same as any abuser. When in reality the only reason you're so ready to try and convince people that this is the lesser of evils and that Cryptids don't even count as life is so you can market this as a clean, radiation free, and cruelty free energy source. After all, who wouldn't be willing to pay a little extra for energy that doesn't contribute to the carbon footprint. This isn't about lesser evils, making the best of a bad situation, morality, or saving the world. It's about finding ways to profit off a mostly untapped resource and lining your pockets. If my hands are stained, at least I'm not wasting my breath trying to pretend I'm not a monster or convince people what I do is what's best for humanity.”
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The scientist scowled but his smirk quickly returned. “Well, you people do whatever you think is necessary. We've stashed enough energy in backup batteries over the years to power the city for at least a year while a new power plant is built. One that'll definitely add to the already massive carbon footprint of humanity.” Ishwada signals his men to go to the catwalk and the entrance to the containment. They set up ropes and the scientist orders for the people to shut down the electrical exchange and prepare for the containment cell to be opened.
The top door opened and the excess slack of rope dropped down letting the Black Eagle squad descend into the quarantine area. The outer door closed before the inner door opened and the men started to fire their guns immediately. The monster was hit and made sound in response before shadowy tendrils shot at them, grabbing them all and ripping them off the rope in a single swift and effortless movement before it squeezed down breaking the weapons and started to rip them apart one by one. Ishwada put his hand over his mouth as he was powerless to do anything to help the men he sent in.
The scientist gestured to the dome. “Looks like feeding is taken care of for the day. You can see yourselves out, and don't expect me to let you down here a second time without the proper authorization. Not that you'd be able to get another squad to volunteer considering what happened to this one. So unless you have another idea to kill my Umbran…” He turns his attention to Pitch and smiles wickedly. “(Does… does he know somehow? How could he possibly know?)” Pitch's eyes flick to Kathryn. “(She used it in private but it was still company equipment.)” “You've been recording everything being run through all your equipment without telling your employees, haven't you? Are you really that paranoid and untrusting that you'd have screen recorders installed in every microscope and computer in this building?”
One of the other scientists flinches. “W-wait… is he also recording what goes on the personal desktops in the private offices?” The scientist rolls his eyes. “Yes Phil, I'm well aware of your search history. I'd prefer if you didn't look up or create adult content while on the clock. Although, I will admit, you definitely captured the naked essence of the various types of Cryptid hags under our care. I even considered offering you private time with one to see what happens but didn't want to risk your death since you're harder to replace than a normal worker. Also yes, I put trackers and recorders on the equipment I send home with you people in order to detect and plug leaks.”
Pitch was backed into a corner. This guy knew what he was and made it clear this was his one and only shot at the Umbran in the cell. But what was this guy's endgame? He let Pitch down here knowing exactly what he was so what was his goal? To expose Pitch, or maybe to find out how Pitch came to exist as a way to create more Unbrans and thus more of these power plants? This felt like a lose-lose situation. Either Pitch exposes himself and risks being forced into a similar cell or leaves things the way they are with little to no hope of getting back down here later.
Pitch climbed a ladder to the catwalk and walked over to the quarantine doors. Ishwada shouts for him. “What are you planning to do James?” Pitch looked at Ishwada. “You can stop walking on eggshells Jiryu, William Grimes the Science Slime already knows. Kat used the lab's equipment to run a sample of my body and he saw everything. He's known for a while. So now I'm going to kill his precious Umbran the old fashioned way.” Pitch rolled up his sleeves as the outer door opened. “I'm going to punch it really hard until it dies.” He steps into the quarantine area and waits for the doors to cycle.
When the inner door opened Pitch quickly dropped the mask and everyone watched as two black masses clashed inside the containment cell. Purple lightning started to arc back and forth between the two masses, eventually one sparked out and hit one of the collection nubs in the cell causing one of the readout dashboards to spark like the dashboard on the set of a classic sixties sci-fi show. The scientist who moved to gain some distance shouted out. “They seem to be amplifying the energy back and forth, increasing it exponentially! It's too much for the system to take at once! At this rate we'll fill all the energy silos and overload the entire system!”
The head scientist adjusted his glasses and smiled as he started to laugh a wicked laugh. “Wonderful! Absolutely wonderful! I can feel it from here. Unlimited power!!!” The two masses continued to clash and purple lightning continued to spark and hit the collection nubs overloading the scanning equipment. “Sir, the energy is operating at an unusual wavelength. We're getting feedback reading and echos. The motion detector is picking up movement from outside the cell, and it doesn't match that of the people in this room. Anomalous readings are continuing to get more intense. If this keeps up there's no predicting what might happen.”
The head scientist continues to laugh maniacally “Isn't this what science is all about?! Fucking around and finding out.” Ishwada's eyes widened. “You're a mad man! This is getting out of control!” The containment cell becomes a back swirling stormcloud of purple lightning with strikes hitting nubs at an increasing rate causing several pieces of equipment to spark, overload, and one counsel even explodes sending a researcher into a wall. Ishwada shouts over the chaos. “We have to put a stop to this somehow before the entire building goes up! Miss Smith, any ideas would be greatly appreciated right about now! Outside Pitch, you know Umbran anatomy the best out of anyone here.”
Kathryn runs her way to a dashboard. “I've got an idea, but it's kinda crazy. This'll either work great or send us all straight to hell.” She frantically started turning dials and hitting buttons before slapping a final button. There was a whirring sound as something seemed to build up. The tone became high-pitched just before the storm-like mass was hit with a bolt of energy causing the mass to separate and Pitch's mask to reform as he was flung into the wall with a pulsing wave of energy that moved through the room and shut down all the electronics in it similar to an EMP. After a moment of darkness the emergency lights came on as lighting the room in a dim red light as the systems started rebooting using reserve power.
The Umbran lay in a puddle seemingly unconscious so Kathryn and Ishwada used the ropes to extract Pitch who looked paler than normal and felt cold to the touch. Kathryn slapped him in the face a few times trying to wake him up. “They're both out cold, but alive. Let's get him out of here and secure the area.” They extract Pitch and Ishwada goes over to the head researcher. “You were willing to get us all killed! And for what, to satisfy your own morbid curiosity?!” The head ain't smirked. “You can't put a price on knowledge.” Ishwada gives the man a shove before pulling out a set of handcuffs and restraining the man. “I'll deal with you later.”
Vance was sitting in his cell, chin in his hands, when suddenly he felt a wave of energy pass through him before the lights flickered and turned off. A power surge knocked out everything and even caused several of the containment cells to open including his. Scientists ran and screamed as several specimens immediately lashed out on their former captors. Vance smiled wickedly as he went for the nearest Cryptid. A ghoul. He tore into it with his claws and started eating the flesh raw before moving over to a Mississippi Mudfish and rending its flesh for consumption as well. Scientists and guardsmen grabbed guns to fight back, turning the room into a chaotic mess.
Using only the red emergency lights to get around Vance went from Cryptid to Cryptid using the chaos to get a bite of as many different kinds as he could. “If I am what I eat, I might as well get a little bit of everything and further my evolution. Then I'll be so far beyond anything James could hope to become and consume him too, becoming the ultimate apex predator without equal.” Vance took down and started eating another specimen that looked like a floating jellyfish when the lights came on. Vance’s head jerked from the armed guards to the exit and made a run for it, his body shifting in strange and grotesque ways and teeth, mouths, and tendrils formed to grab and consume anything in his path to the exit. He busted through the reinforced doors and made a run for it as the laboratory began to re-establish control and containment.
Vance continued to run until the building was far outside of his sight and ducked into an alleyway before finally stopping to take a breather. He looked at his hand as it shifted between being a human arm, one with an armored carapace, a massive of thorned tentacles, and finally an eel like maw with no eyes. He laughed maniacally. “Now, there's nothing in this world that can stop me. I will be king, and my throne will be made from the flesh and bones of the weak and unworthy.”