Black scale

Dr. Westorn left slowly and quietly, taking advantage of the fact that Leonard was busy with his daughter, quietly disappearing from the scene.

In contrast, the young woman looked with murderous intent at her father, her displeasure clearly leaking from her body.

Leonard didn't flinch and instead smiled slightly.

"Oh yes, Lia, meet your new brother"

Leonard pointed across the room through the glass, where Arlan's body trembled, and his eyelids looked like they could lift at any second.

Lia's frown instantly contracted, and she exploded.

"New Brother? are you crazy?!" Lia shouted in response to her father's words.

"I have enough problems for you now to...! Ugh!"

Lia didn't know what to say back to Leonard, her father had always been a free soul doing what he wanted regardless of the consequences. It wasn't until she was old enough that she realized what her mother had suffered because of her father. But now that her mother had retired from caring for Leonard, it was her responsibility to repair her father's broken glasses.

A couple of minutes ago she heard from Linda what her father had done, so she ran as fast as she could to personally investigate what was going on.

Although it had been a full week since Arlan had been brought in, Lia had been too busy taking care of the business that was supposed to be her father's job, plus other problems that swallowed up her free time.

Even now her schedule was completely full, she had to cancel a couple of important appointments to come in on an emergency basis. Although she was just shy of 30, the dark circles under her eyes could barely be concealed by her makeup.

Leonard laughed softly at his daughter's attitude and put his hand on her shoulder.

"Don't worry, I have everything under control. Besides, did I tell you that you look like your mother?"

Lia quickly removed her father's hand from her shoulder and turned to leave.

"Why can't you just be like the other elders and retire once and for all?" Lia sighed stressfully.

"I just hope you know what you're doing"

Saying that, Lia walked away down the hallway before disappearing through the same door through which she had entered.

Leonard turned his attention back to what was going on in the room and couldn't help but get excited.

"Surprise me"

Inside the room, Arlan opened his eyes and all the white lights reflected in his blue irises leaving him blinded for a couple of seconds.

He then tried to move but noticing that all his limbs were tied to the bed and there was even a strap holding his torso fixed, he began to struggle to escape from his restraints.

All the doctors inside the room were prepared for his awakening, so with the help of the nurses supporting them they managed to keep everything under control.

Per the recent instructions Dr. Westorn had given them, they only put him on painkillers and enough anesthesia through the IV (intravenous) to keep him awake and calm enough to study him as long as he was conscious.

The drugs worked quickly and Arlan began to progressively calm down, before he was just letting out growls like a wild animal but now, he was breathing more smoothly and had calmed down enough to not constantly struggle in his restraints.

One of the doctors in charge of Arlan approached him and held his eyelids open slightly and pointed a light into his eyes.

"Can you hear me?"

Arlan only grunted softly at the displeasure of the light in his eye but did not respond to the doctor's question.

All the other doctors and even some researchers in the room recorded each and every one of Arlan's responses to the doctor's questions, including both communicative and physical responses.

However, to their disappointment, Arlan only responded with more soft grunts to all their questions. So, seeing that it wasn't working, they proceeded with the next phase of testing.

"Bring it in" ordered the doctor in charge.

Shortly thereafter, a nurse arrived pushing a medical cart with a tray on it, on top of which was something resembling a completely black oval piece of metal.

As soon as that strange piece entered the isolated room, Arlan began to tremble and turn his head as if he was in pain.

Seeing his reaction, the doctors and researchers became visibly excited and looked on expectantly.

The doctor in charge put on gloves before taking the piece and then carefully brought it closer to Arlan.

Each time he brought the piece closer, Arlan's movements seemed to become more erratic to the point where all the painkillers and anesthesia he had been given to sedate him seemed to have lost their effect.

"Arghh...AAHHGGG!"

Arlan's screams begin to get louder and louder and more painful to hear, it was as if he was being murdered and tortured in the worst possible ways.

It wasn't until several seconds later that several tears began to fall down his cheeks and a weak voice came out of his mouth.

"Stop..."

If it weren't for the fact that everyone was completely focused on him, they could have easily missed his words.

Hearing him, the doctor in charge unconsciously removed the strange piece and then his voice was heard again.

"Stop his voice..."

Upstairs in the room, Leonard was looking at everything with bright eyes and a big smile. Now that he had just seen how Arlan had reacted to the strange piece, the conjectures, and hypotheses they had built up were coming true.

Next to him, Dr. Westorn who had returned at some point was also watching with the same gaze as the president what was going on inside the room.

"Apparently, he sensed the scale of specimen 003"

Leonard nodded.

"So, it would seem. Congratulations doctor, you have just made progress in your research"

Dr. Westorn shook his head firmly.

"No sir, it's thanks to you that you gave us the resources to accomplish it"

Down in the room, Arlan had calmed down once they removed the black scale. And without the need for painkillers or anesthesia, his eyelids closed again.

After that, Arlan went back to sleep for another week as if he was completely exhausted.