Chapter 5

6 months later.

A devilish woman with purplish red hair, tight leather clothes and a mask walked on a gleaming metal floor. Her boots made a dull ringing sound as if steel was being hammered upon again and again. The place she was in was clean, metallic and large. She walked for a long time before reaching a large metallic door. She opened it and went inside. Inside of the room was a simple room decorated with nothing but white lifeless walls. The room was quite large but contained nothing in it. The only thing inside was a person, he was old and had white hair and a long beard. He wore nothing but white plain clothes and was upside down lifted by nothing but a finger. As soon as the woman came in, he swiftly turned clockwise and stood up.

"Ah, if it isn't you, Killershot. I'm expecting you have something important you need?"

His voice was subtle, clear and most importantly flat. It was quite monotonous.

"No, I need nothing. On the contrary, I have a new lead I think would be of use."

"Oh, and what might that be?"

"I have found a boy, he's about 16 years of age, excellent body structure, with no hidden ailments as such and he also happens to be a mutant."

"What type of mutation does he possess?"

"He has excellent regenerative abilities, fastest that I have ever seen."

"How fast?"

"Fast enough for his wounds to heal in roughly a quarter of an hour. Bruises, cuts and all that heal like nothing ever happened, without even leaving a scar."

"Hmm, it is truly an exquisite sample you have brought me this time. And I suppose you have been training him."

"Just basic skills and hand to hand combat. Nothing more."

"Excellent work Killershot. As you already know our work has already reached final stages, the transmutation process is almost flawless. It is just that the feeble human body cannot bear such amounts of change in rapid time. But the regenerative abilities that this subject has could potentially be the solution. Very good. I will see to it that you are awarded accordingly. Do you have anything else to report?"

"No other pressing matter as such."

"Fine. Have the boy here within an hour. I can't wait to start preliminary testing."

"Yes sir. Just that I was wondering if anything would go wrong, I mean, he is a valuable test subject, hard to encounter in the wastelands these days."

"No need for concern, I will make sure that this project will be successful. At the least, the subject won't lose his life."

"Thank you sir."

"You may go now."

With that the woman went away and the man again turned upside down, excited about the experiment that was about to come.

Meanwhile Killershot returned to the Oasis to her bar. It was where most of the Hades group spent their time.

The men around were training this time, sparring with Dummy, using him as a meat bag.

But Dummy, was no longer the kid he was back then. He had grown a little bit less skinny and more reactive to the attacks. He would often block the attacks and even counterattack sometimes.

Both of them were sweating when Killer Shot entered.

"Corkscrew, enough for today. Dummy follow me."

Dummy's sparring partner nodded and went inside the bar.

Dummy jogged over to Killer Shot's side.

"Where to now, miss? Delivery job, crate supply lifting or the usual."

"None, today you will be meeting the Bigboss."

"Bigboss?"

"Yes, they can be said to be my superiors. You seriously didn't think that I could operate the Oasis at my own, did you?"

"Yes I did, miss. There's nothing you can't do."

"Huh, you've gotten better at bootlicking. Anyways do whatever it takes to impress them. They won't be doing much, just checking out your mutation abilities."

"Mutation abilities?"

"You heal faster than most people. We want to give these abilities to other people to others too. And maybe enhance yours as well. So just do whatever they tell you to."

"O-okay, miss. Whatever you say."

Killershot walked back to their house but instead of going inside the house, she walked to the back of the house and entered into a small shed.

Inside the shed was a small metallic box. Dummy and Killershot entered and she pressed a button. Mechanical whirring could be heard as the elevator took them down. Dummy was flustered as he had never ever experienced the feeling of traveling in an elevator. After about 5 minutes the elevator stopped. The gates opened and the duo stepped out. Dummy's eyes almost fell off. He was inside a very large metallic building. It had a lot of vehicles and strange boxes and machines around. The place he had entered was like a very large hangar, a lot of people roamed around in a fast pace. They either wore a white lab coat, or black combat uniforms. Dummy kept staring at the ceiling of the place while walking forward slowly.

"This is..."

"We're under the Oasis outpost. This is all construction of the past civilization with a little spark of the wastelands. All that you see around us is the accumulation of years of blood and hard-working of people like me. The outpost above is just a ruse to keep people from learning about our existence."

Dummy's mind was whirring as he wondered why she was telling him this right now. He subconsciously got a bit alert and started to formulate an escape plan, just in case. In the wastelands, the only one who would live was who pretended to be weak, and would attack with full strength at the right time.

He followed behind Killershot as she took him through mazes of tunnels, all made of gleaming metal walls and floor.

She soon reached a dead end and entered a room.

Inside was a person wearing a white gazmat suit and holding a list while checking some equipment. The whole room was littered with peculiar machines. In the center of the room was a large cylindrical tank which was empty.

The man in the hazmat suit looked at Killershot and spoke in a muffled voice.

"The professor will be here in a moment."

"It's fine. You may step out."

The man stepped out of the room. That left Killershot and Dummy inside the room.

Killershot awkwardly stared at Dummy, her face betrayed her worries, but her mask didn't let Dummy see her.

"Wow, miss. I never expected to see such a thing ever in my life. It's truly big. It's big an-"

Killershot removed her mask and brought her lips close to Dummy's. His pupils dilated and his heartbeat sped up as she continued pressing her lips on his. It was an awkward moment for Dummy.

With that, Killershot wore her mask and strutted out, before saying, " A parting gift."

Dummy stood there dumbfounded as if he was bitten by a snake. His heart was still beating rapidly as he touched his lips. He could still smell her flowery smell in the air

While outside the room, the white clothed man from before, now in a white lab coat, encountered Killershot who was on her way back.

She said nothing and neither did he. They just nodded heads and she continued on her way. She went back up to the Oasis and entered her house. She clicked all the bolts till they were locked and then leaned against the walls, she took of her mask and then let out a long sigh.

" I'm sorry kid...."

The white man entered the room.

"Hmm, hello young man. A pleasure to meet you."

The old man, unlike before was now smiling amicably like a geezer and his voice betrayed all his excitement.

"H-hello, sir."

"No need to be nervous kid. This will be over in just a moment. Now what's your name?"

"Dummy, sir."

"Well Dummy, you should be happy as you are one of the first ever human to successfully be strengthened with our miracle serum. Don't worry at all, it will just be a few needles and medicines, and you'll be better than ever before. Do you know where a man's strength comes from, Dummy?"

"H-His arms, I guess."

"Wrong, a man's strength comes from his backbone. It is the structural support of the body. With a strong backbone we can have a strong foundation. Ordinarily, the shape and structure of the backbone can't be changed. What we are going to do today is increase the strength of your backbone."

A dozen or so people in similar hazmat suits appeared in the room.

"Now, all you need to do is calm down and just sleep."

Dummy felt a pinch on the back of his neck as one of the people in the hazmat suit injected him with a sleep drug.

"Aahhh........ what?!"

Dummy felt dizzy as his knees went weak. His eyes closed and he fell to the ground.

"Take his clothes off."

His clothes were taken of and he was placed inside the tank. A breathing mask was placed on his mouth. Various needles pierced into his body too.

"Fill the tank."

The tank suddenly started whirring and filled up with a brown murky liquid.

Soon, it was filled to the brim.

"Continue the preliminary injections, and inform me if any new observations are made immediately!"

"Yes, sir."

The professor went to another room, as the procedure continued.

Various needles from the back of the tank punctured Dummy's body and injected him with a green serum.

His face contorted as his body shuddered and he squirmed in pain.

His body was like a punctured balloon, it was as if he was getting more and more skinny. Soon his facial features were unrecognizable and he looked like a bag of bones. Just floating, almost dead. His body was changing, shifting somehow.

The workers continued injecting him more and more serums and his body continued to deflate more and more. The workers showed no signs of emotion as they continued endlessly.

2 weeks later

Killershot was again walking to the white clothed man's office. The white man just like before was upside down on just one finger, although he used the other hand, unlike the last time.

"Sir, it's been two weeks now. Was it successful?"

"Oh, Killershot, the specimen you brought was truly best in quality, his body was altered and he...."

"He?"

"He almost completed the process before he died."

The woman's face again squirmed as she stared in disbelief, but her mask didn't allow the man to see her reaction.

"Well, anyways, good work as always, you may go now."

She went away without saying anything while the men smiled in a very sinister manner and resumed his posture.