Chapter 4: Unexpected Event

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.

/////////////////////////

[~June 8th, 2192~]

Standing before what looked to be a giant incubator filled with a water-like solution, two men and a woman, both wearing lab coats, locked their eyes on a child floating within said tank. The female doctor focused on any signs of discomfort presented by the subject. In contrast, the male doctor carefully examined their vitals.

Locking eyes with the subject from outside the tank, the female doctor gently placed her hand on the glass.

Standing behind the male doctor was a familiar middle-aged burly man sharply dressed in a professionally tailored black suit, examining a clipboard holding information on the subject in the tank. "I'm pleased with the results of the experiments thus far, Doctor Mathews. I see big things to come with Morgan and Connors as the runner-up for the next generation of Guardians of the New Order."

Handing the clipboard back to Mathews, the man faced the female doctor. "I don't have all day, Doctor Sandra…please proceed with the experiment."

She removed her hand from the glass with a nudge from her superior. She reached for the dial connected to the tank, hesitantly looking at Morgan in the tank with growing concern in her heart. Still, she could do nothing.

She heaved a sigh before reluctantly following the request from her superior. "Yes, Mr. Bright.".

Gradually turning the dial to its lowest setting, the temperature of the water in the tank immediately began to rise.

'Please be okay, Morgan…' Keeping a close eye on his demeanor, the two looked at each other through the glass as Sandra continued to slowly turn the dial.

From within the tank, Morgan could be seen wearing a breathing mask and earpiece, remaining relatively still as he floated in the liquid surrounding him. He kept eye contact with Sandra who remained only a few feet away from him, the two feeling as if they were worlds apart.

Seeing her worried expression, he couldn't bring himself to express any anger towards her after spending so long with her as his caretaker. She was his mother.

Closing his eyes as he clenched his knees in a fetal position, Morgan occupied himself with his thoughts. 'It's been nothing but eating, sleeping, and testing for the past ten years. I want to leave this place.'.

.

..

…

Over the years of their continuous efforts to examine him till the present, Morgan has undergone various further changes to his biology to counteract the heartless and cruel experiments of the facility, his abilities growing alongside him throughout the years.

One of these changes is the shock-absorbing membrane now coating his muscles, organs, and bones, disbursing and dissipating impacts to protect his internals from powerful forces. These alterations went on to increase the contractive forces of his muscle fibers, magnifying his strength as well as giving his body another layer of defense, though this is unlikely due to the second alteration to his biology during this time.

After repeated painful experimentation to test the durability of his skin, one day Morgan's biomass was pushed to its limit at the time. This caused the carbon in his body to rearrange itself, morphing his internal tissue and organs into a meta-material with a hardness comparable to or higher than diamond.

This change took several months and failed various times during the process, but Morgan's body eventually found a balance point that made experiments against his skin increasingly difficult, granting his skin and internal tissues immense durability against blunt force impacts, penetration, and drastic temperature changes. Inevitably the doctors gave up on tests pertaining to his skin and moved on to more ambitious experiments.

On August 9th, 2189, three years prior to the present during one of Morgan's strength tests supervised by Mathews, he was placed under 30.8 tons of force overhead by a machine resembling an industrial hydraulic press. Although his muscles could withstand the weight threatening to crush him, his bones could not. His bones snapping under the pressure, Morgan was crushed by the machine and placed in critical condition, much to the panicked horror of Doctor Sandra who broke procedure and rushed to Morgan's aid. Following the event, Sandra stuck by Morgan's side for the time that it took for him to heal from his injuries.

Once he was fully healed, Morgan's body immediately addressed the issue of his unbalanced foundation by generating a thick mesh of condensed carbon tightly woven in a hexagonal system around his bones. This prolonged process took only a few hours to fully implement before the generated bone mesh was melded with the shock-absorbing membrane already present around his skeletal structure, further enhancing his durability significantly.

.

..

…

Back to the present, the water within the cylindrical-shaped tank could be seen bubbling as Morgan remained motionless and unbothered despite the cooking temperature he was placed into.

'How long do they plan on doing this for?!' Growing bored of his predicament, Morgan began tapping against the tank to get the attention of Sandra.

Proving successful, Sandra approached the tank.

Worryingly observing Morgan, she began using a form of sign language to communicate with him, a method of communication she had taught him over the years.

"How are you feeling Morgan?…Any discomfort?" Though she was somewhat aware of how resilient Morgan was, she couldn't help but be concerned for his safety during these tests.

"Can we get this over with? I'm hungry." Replying in the same sign language as Sandra, he was clearly fed up with being in the boiling tank.

"What is he saying?" Before Sandra could raise her hands to reply, Doctor Mathews grew curious as he couldn't decipher the sign language the two used to communicate.

Hesitant to speak, she reluctantly replied.

"Morgan wishes to move on, he's also hungry".

Scratching his chin for a moment to ponder, Mr Bright joined in on the conversation between the two. "I see no harm in finishing the experiment a little early, there isn't much data to gather when he doesn't seem affected by this situation to begin with… I'll brief you on the board's decision by tomorrow." Checking his watch, Bright left the room followed by Mathews.

Taking this as her chance, Sandra quickly concluded the test and began draining the liquid from the tank. Taking only a few moments, Morgan was left standing in the empty tank almost naked, steam rising from his body as the tank fully emptied its contents. Exiting the tank, he was almost tackled with a towel by Sandra who vigorously began patting him down in a hurry before wrapping him in the towel.

"Are you sure you're okay Morgan?…The temperature turned up to 412 Degrees Celsius! I was worried you might get hurt!". Bringing Morgan into a hug, she held him tightly against her chest.

Resting his head between her bosom, Morgan returned her embrace with one of his own, wrapping his hands around her waist whilst being careful as to not use too much of his strength.

"Can we get something to eat?".

"I'll request some food for the both of us…but for now you need to put on some clothes, young man". Letting him go, she walked him out the room and back to their designated living space within the facility.

Now wearing a fresh pair of clothes, Morgan rested in the coach using Sandra's legs as a pillow. Closing his eyes for a moment, a lightly placed hand on his chest aroused his attention and caused him to curiously look up at Sandra.

"The board has plans to increase the intensity of your tests. I'm not sure what they have planned but they might start as soon as tomorrow."

Staring at her nervous expression with a glare, he couldn't bring himself to be upset at her and simply grunted, rolling over and acting as if he didn't hear her. Raising her head in defeat, she continued to caress his hair as they waited for their meal to arrive.

[~June 12th, 2192~]

Struggling against incredibly thick chains connected to the floor of a room he has never been before, Morgan could be seen with furrowed brows and gritted teeth as his eyes remained locked on the one sided glass barrier that rested on the wall before him.

"Calm down Morgan, the faster we get this experiment done the faster you can get back to Doctor Sandra." Being the first of many tests that Sandra wasn't present, Morgan grew restless as he continued to ignore Mathews instructions, knowing she wasn't in the room or behind the glass. Momentarily giving up on his resistance after a prolonged but eventually futile struggle, Morgan shuffled the chains and sat down with his legs crossed, rubbing his head in annoyance.

"Today we will be further testing your resistance to high temperatures, our previous experiment rested too far below the data we require for future testing." Addressing Morgan through a loudspeaker, Mathews prepared all he needed on his end of the test.

"The test will begin on 3…2…1." Turning a dial in the control room, the temperature of the room Morgan resided in began to rapidly rise, initially reaching temperatures of 268 degrees Celsius before the air began to rapidly heat up.

The black walls of the room gradually glowing a bright crimson as the heat rapidly skyrocketed to 730 degrees Celsius. Remaining bothered though feeling slight discomfort, Morgan continued to glare at the doctors through the glass despite not being able to actually see them.

Rising to 1,087 degrees Celsius, all moisture within the room had long since evaporated by now. Morgan grew incredibly uncomfortable as his internal temperatures began to gradually rise, his skin turning a much more vibrant shade of red as his heart rate rose dramatically whilst his blood vessels widened, sweat pouring out of his body profusely in an attempt to cool him down. At this point Morgan was having trouble breathing due to the air now burning his lungs with every attempt to breathe.

Reaching 1,300 degrees Celsius, Morgan could no longer sweat as his sweat glands dried up, followed by his throat and eyes.

'They're gonna kill me at this rate…' Growing panicked, his blood vessels expanded to their maximum, blood trickling down to his lip as his nose started to bleed. Further climbing to the room's max capacity of 1,472 degrees Celsius, blisters began forming all over Morgan's body as large amounts of his cells began to burst, rapidly cooking him internally and externally.

"Stop!" Violently tugging on the chains, Morgan could no longer withstand the pain that assaulted his body and frantically attempted to escape his shackles. Seeing as he couldn't break them, he deformed his arms and slid them out of the searing chains. Unable to stay on his feet, his eyes slowly melting out the sockets as he slumped to the floor, lifeless and unmoving as blisters continued to form across his body.

Observing from the other side of the glass, Mathews and the other doctors quickly turned off the heat generators and opened various vents located within the room to let out the hot air that filled the space.

["Can you hear me, Morgan?"]

With no response, Mathews continued to examine Morgan whilst he activated the room's cooling systems, keeping a close eye on him for any potential movements.

As if to meet his expectations, Morgan's body began to violently writhe after a few minutes and swell into a large mass of fleshy blob devoid of any discernible features.

A green viscous substance slowly secreted from this mass as the people in the observation room grew silent from the scene unfolding before their eyes.