4 Chapter 3: Beyond Expectations

It's been a while guys, decided to start this new story and see how it does, I'm a bit rusty.

This story is going to be revised completely into something else once I get some feedback, thought I might as well post something for the time being.

let me know what you think in the comments.

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[~December 13th, 1982~]

"Data Log Number 17… It is now the 13th of December, exactly 900 hours at the facility. Two months following the incident in room O-682, Subject 929 has displayed greatly enhanced intelligence as noted from continuous observation during educational sessions. He has fully comprehended the English alphabet without issue and can speak with clarity much surpassing his age."

Sitting across the room from the subject in question, Sandra could be seen speaking into a voice recorder and logging all the data she has gathered in the last two months. She was wearing casual clothing whilst watching Morgan as he sat on the floor reading a book on Biology, a subject Sandra noticed he's taken a liking to.

"Subject… *khm* Morgan has once again gone through a growth spurt: Despite being only a few months old, he looks to be roughly four years of age. Accompanying this growth was a rapid increase in his strength and density, though he showcases no issue adjusting when interacting with non-chosen individuals, much unlike his pair's…Ending log".

Placing the voice recorder back in her pocket, Sandra walked over to Morgan and crouched next to him as he continued to read, smiling tenderly whilst gently ruffling his hair. This action earned her an annoyed but non-hostile grunt, causing her smile to brighten even more before removing her hand and walking over to a couch that was added to the room to go over her notes to keep her occupied.

"Mom, I'm done with this book" Getting up from the floor, Morgan walked over to his caretaker and handed her the book before plopping down on the couch next to her, sighing leisurely whilst resting his head on her shoulder. "I'm hungry"

Raising a brow, Sandra looked at Morgan with some concern. "You just had food thirty minutes ago."

"Pleeeease". Gently tugging on her arm in a playful manner, Morgan made a childish frowny face and dilated his pupils.

Being both overwhelmed by cuteness and slightly creeped out by the way Morgan's pupils dilated into all black, -something he learned from the cartoons he liked to watch-, she sighed and could only give in.

Taking out a phone from her pocket, she entered the passcode and fidgeted with the device before sending a message outside of the room. "I asked them to bring a larger portion of food to this room, shouldn't take them too long, ok?"

Visibly excited by the news, Morgan hugged Sandra and returned to the floor to pass the time on his tablet.

Nearly an hour went by before the doors to room O-682 briefly opened and a person pushing a food cart entered the room with three guards following closely behind. Immediately met by the sight of a worried Sandra gently caressing the head of the seemingly aggravated Morgan who rested in her arms, the person pushed the cart to the center of the room and removed the covering to reveal two dishes, one dish carrying five large cut medium rare steaks glazed in red wine sauce, and the other being a simple Chicken Alfredo dish.

The food cart's arrival quickly caught their attention, Morgan impatiently jumped from Sandra's arms and arrived in front of the cart in seconds, startling the server and causing the guards to raise their weapons as a precautionary measure. This action was ignored by Morgan as he snatched both plates and a fork before walking over to Sandra to hand her the dish she requested. He then took his own dish and ran to the far corner of the room and began engorging on it without a care of the 'unwelcome' guests.

Using both his hands to hold the stake and bring it to his mouth, his teeth sharpened as his jaw stretched agape to accommodate the oversized steak, but before he could bite down, he felt something bounce off the back of his head.

"Morgan! How many times do I have to tell you to stop eating with your hands!" Yelling from across the room, Sandra reprimanded Morgan with her hand still outstretched from throwing a piece of paper at him to catch his attention.

Rolling his eyes in annoyance, Morgan aggressively pushed off from the ground and made his way towards the food cart, mumbling under his breath as he retrieved another fork from the cart and returned to the corner of the room, glaring at Sandra who only responded with a smile before returning to her meal.

Whilst the two ate, another doctor entered the room with a clipboard.

"Good morning Doctor Sandra."

Catching her attention, Sandra paused her meal and quickly rose to her feet upon seeing who it was. "Good morning Doctor Mathews, what brings you here today?"

Observing Morgan who continued his meal around a table, Mathews looked at his clipboard. "Morgan has been scheduled for a series of tests in the near future, two of which will be carried out today."

Looking back and forth between Mathews and Morgan, Sandra grew increasingly nervous at this sudden decision. "Are you sure that's a good idea sir? He's still too young.".

With a tone leaving no room for further discussion, Doctor Mathews addressed her concerns.

"This is out of my jurisdiction, the Board of Directors deemed it necessary to push the scheduling after taking his intelligence into account…be ready in ten minutes and meet me in the testing lab.".

.

.

.

With the completion of their meals, the pair returned the empty plates to the food cart and exited the room, prompting the server along with their guards to follow after them and leave shortly after themselves.

Making their way down the corridor of the facility, Sandra tightly held Morgan's hand as they approached a sectioned off area of the facility with a heavily armored sliding door as an entrance. Entering a passcode, the heavy door slowly opened to reveal a hall layered in thick sheets of metal.

Crouching down to Morgan's height, Sandra held his shoulders at an arm's distance "This is as far as I can take you Morgan. Try your best and be careful, if you start to get overwhelmed make sure to tell me ok?"

Meeting Sandra's worrying eyes with his own, Morgan grew confused at her concern and looked back at the metal door they entered from. "Okay mom."

Suddenly bringing him into a hug, she eventually let him go and watched as he walked down the hallway, a semblance of tears threatening to escape her grasp.

Soon reaching another door that seemed to react to his presence, it slowly opened, a bright flash of light assaulting Morgan's eyes as he entered the room, Sandra's worried expression still plastered in his mind.

Preparing for the unknown scenario that awaits him, he heaved a heavy sigh and pushed on. The door to the heavily reinforced room opened with a loud mechanical hum, and Morgan was pushed inside by two men wearing hazmat suits. The room was dimly lit and heavily smelled of disinfectant. Within the room he was met by five more men wearing hazmat suits standing next to various heavily modified equipment bolted to the floor of the all white room.

["Subject Morgan, today's assessment will be to measure your current levels of strength and durability. Do you understand?"]

Alerted by the voice from the loudspeaker above, Morgan scanned the rest of the room and quickly spotted Doctor Mathews with two other Doctors standing behind a thick reinforced glass border. Glaring at the trio through the glass, Morgan shrugged. "I understand."

["We will first test your lifting strength, please approach the first testing area."]

Swiftly guided by one of the personnel, they placed a monitor on his wrist to keep track of his vitals, promptly hooking him up to a large machine resembling a hydraulic press with a handle at the base. Instructing him to lie down on the bench at the center of the platform, the handle slowly descended for him to grab unto.

["The test will begin with 20 pounds and increase in varying increments…On the count of three I want you to push as hard as you can."]

[1…]

[2…]

[3…]

With the completion of the countdown, the machine roared to life and started to apply pressure on Morgan's chest, gradually increasing bit by bit with each passing second, and though he remained unfazed in the beginning, the weight pushing down on him quickly accumulated and soon threatened to crush him. Seeing that Morgan was beginning to struggle, the personnel supervising him abruptly stopped and reset the machine to its previous position.

"2.5 tons… let's move on."

One of the men in hazmat suits approached him and guided him from the machine, Morgan just looked up at the man, not understanding what was happening. After jotting some stuff down, Morgan was lifted off the ground and placed on a running machine, the machine whirring to life as the overhead speaker crackled to life.

["Morgan, I want you to run as fast as you can… Begin the test."]

Morgan took off at a sprint, his tiny legs moving faster than anyone in the room had ever seen. The machine beeped and whirred as it recorded his speed. The men in hazmat suits looked at each other in disbelief, their eyes wide.

After several minutes, the test was over and Morgan was lifted off the running machine. He was placed on a deadlift machine and the overhead speaker crackled to life again. "Pull on the bar as hard as you can… Begin."

Morgan's tiny hands wrapped around the handle bolted to the floor, and with a grunt, he lifted with all he could, the results being displayed on a screen located next to him. The men in hazmat suits looked at each other in shock, their mouths hanging open behind their masks.

"Six and a half tons."

As the test ended, Morgan was lifted off the deadlift machine and placed back on the ground. The men in hazmat suits looked at each other, unsure of what to say or do. They had never seen such unnatural strength and speed in a child so young.

The overhead speaker crackled to life one final time. "[Test results will be analyzed and reported. Thank you for your participation, Morgan.]"

As the door to the room closed behind him, Morgan looked up at the men in hazmat suits, his wide eyes filled with confusion.

To Morgan's dismay, these tests would be the first of a spiral of future experiments much worse than what he had already experienced