Chapter 20

A week has passed since the start of Project Akron, of the two hundred participants in the project; 13 dropped out as a result of a second strike, 20 dropped out by choice, 7 fatalities, 10 permanently damaged as a result of rejection during experiments. The remaining 150 participants were still adapting to the first stage experiments.

Stage One of the project was conducted by having a chemical blend introduced into the body of the subject. The blend was able to enhance various aspects of the subjects, yet with those enhancements came various problems that could not be fixed in short order. Cassius was forced to alter his original plans of training them throughout the process and allow a few days of recovery.

Leon was in his room sitting on the edge of his bed. Low screeches and crunching sounds were coming from both his room and those around him. Intermittently he could hear pleasurable moans, pained groans, and muffled screams. He grimaced after each one he heard, he knew what they were all going through because even he was experiencing it. While listening to the deafening sounds from all around him he suddenly heard three thunderclap-like sounds, no for him it may as well have been a point-blank sonic boom. The sound finally made him lose his last shred of patience, he rampaged around the room.

From the other side of the door the person that just knocked could hear things breaking, and being tossed around. The person quickly entered the room.

Leon was sitting with his back against the wall, breathing heavily. His head squeezed between his hands, he turned and just barely caught a glimpse of the woman who walked in amidst the blinding light.

"You might look pretty bad but you're doing a lot better than the others," she said taking a seat beside him.

"Yumisa, please whisper and shut the door," he said through gritted teeth.

The woman named Yumisa waved her hand and the door shut, all without her even touching it. It closed a little hard causing Leon to wince while the screaming from the other rooms intensified followed by a slew of curses.

"You know you could go into the suite the quiet might do you some good," she said.

Leon shook his head before replying, "It's no good I got in last night to try to get some sleep, but I could hear even more in there."

"That's impossible."

"No more impossible than you shutting a door without touching it,"

"That's fair did you get anything like that?"

"No, at least I don't think so. It doesn't matter too much I didn't join the project for some special powers anyway."

"Why did you join the project?"

"I told you back in that clearing when you were interrogating me, I was a guard here on base. What I didn't say was I had a son and niece here. When I was busy running around the base gathering everyone I left them alone, my niece made it to the base someone pulled her from some rubble on the way in. She cried and told me-," Leon stopped and looked around before shooting up from his seated position. He opened the door and quickly dashed out into the hallway.

"It stopped, the voices, the light, the pain, it stopped."

Yumisa stepped out of the room joining him in the hall, "Well that's good then you can join the rest of us in the next stage," she smacked his back causing him to lurch forward.

....

Leon was once again in his room waiting for his group to be called for Stage Two. From the words of Cassius, stages two and three would be the most painful and by extension the most dangerous. After the last experiments, none of them could back out now. Unless they died or were seriously injured by the experiment there was no way for any of them to back out.

Stage One enhanced their perception, sensory feedback, released the natural limits on their bodies so they could very possibly bite their tongues off by accident or rip muscle straight off the bone. They needed to at least pass through stage two so they could return to civilian life in the best case. Stage Two would have an even higher dropout rate, which was only mitigated by the fact that those who passed Stage Two would undoubtedly pass Stage Three.

Leon wondered just how bad Stage Two would be and if it really could be worse than Stage One.

Leon didn't have to wait long as Group 3 was finally approached by one of the medical assistants. He was familiar with this particular assistant, she was often seen moving between the rooms late at night during Stage One. She had even visited Leon a few times, she would sit at his bedside and hold the hand of whoever was obviously in pain. Leon looked at her hands which were both wrapped up. With their limits being removed the amount of strength in their grips was enough to break their bones, so one could imagine what would happen if they were to squeeze this assistant's hands during one of their episodes.

The assistant led them to a room with 50 operating tables laid out. They were already acquainted with these tables, so even though some of them hesitated to approach them they eventually all got to a table and started to settle in. Before they could though Cassius and Nora walked in and halted them.

"There are three procedures for this next experiment. All of you can individually choose which one you want to undergo. Be aware the procedures each have its mortality rate listed from data gained in the last two batches, choose carefully," Cassius said before turning to leave, only Nora remained.

"Once you've chosen which procedure you'll undergo immediately strip completely and get on the table, unlike stage one this stage will be extremely invasive," she paused a complicated expression washed over her face, "The pain you'll experience here is enough to send you into cardiac arrest and that is a mercy. Prepare yourselves well and please endure, this is almost all over."

Leon and Yumisa looked at each other then proceed to look at the screen attached to the tables. On the screen Leon could see the three procedures listed as such accompanied by a short description;

Boron Carbide Grafting- Mortality Rate 67%

Boron will be surgically grafted to the bones of the subject. The long-term risk involves a chance of developing certain diseases or poisonings.

Tantalum/Titanium Replacement- Mortality Rate variable depending on choice.

Tantalum or Titanium bone replacement. In the case of Titanium, the subject will have to adjust to their new mass. Must undergo both stages two and three for successful operation. Tantalum poses a higher risk of fatality due to heat and electrical conductivity. Tantalum possesses a higher corrosion resistance and weight.

Highly Experimental- Pandora Beast Biometal symbiosis- Mortality Rate 50%

Usage of Pandora Beast biological metal to augment the skeletal structure and composition of the subject. Little data has been gathered on this procedure, the listed mortality rate is not an accurate measure. The risks of this procedure remain unknown.

Leon stared at the three options and very easily made his choice.