Laboratory.
An old World War II-era biogas laboratory in Colorado, now abandoned.
After the complete destruction of the Nevada military base and underground laboratory by Bardi, General Vic relocated Jenny and Slade to this facility to continue secret biological experints.
Nearly four months had passed. Using several human cadavers obtained by General Vic for research, Jenny not only succeeded in rescuing Slade but also managed to create a genetic serum capable of enhancing the human body.
However, the serum ca with a steep cost: lifespan. Those injected with the serum risked collapse and death if their bodies couldn't withstand it. Even those who survived faced a 50% chance of mutating into grotesque monsters.
Jenny derived her inspiration from Bardi's genetic makeup, combining it with her own improved catalyst and tailoring the serum to match Slade's genes. The serum slowed cellular aging, enhanced cellular strength, granted imnse physical power, and elevated the body's capabilities far beyond human limits.
Life traded for power.
The laboratory was old, its walls worn and rusted with ti, but it was outfitted with modern equipnt: heart rate monitors, brainwave detectors, and blood analysis devices.
Dim lighting created long shadows across the space, while the temperature was maintained at a consistent fifteen degrees cool, but not uncomfortably cold.
On the center experintal bench, Slade lay restrained. His wrists and ankles were tightly bound by steel clamps, his skin raw and bleeding from his struggles.
As his eye fluttered open, the bright incandescent light above blinded him montarily. Slowly, the light beca clearer, revealing his surroundings.
This was not the first ti Slade had awakened in this lab. Each ti, he was consud by anger at his current predicant.
General Vic had turned him into a living experint.
Slade had been chosen because of his extraordinary willpower and ability to endure excruciating pain. He was the ideal subject for the final stages of genetic serum testing.
While Slade did not fear the idea of gaining imnse power, he would even willingly accept the serum if it worked, he knew the risks of failure. Having already faced death once, he now valued his life more than ever and understood the terror of losing it.
Every day since his capture, he had been haunted by the sounds of others failing the experint. From the darkness of the lab, he heard the wet splatter of flesh and the grueso deaths of those whose bodies couldn't endure the serum.
Jenny erged from the shadows, stepping into the cold, focused beam of light. She wore a white lab coat over a vibrant red evening dress, the contrast making her appear both demonic and alluring. The light caught her figure, emphasizing her graceful yet unsettling presence.
She glanced down at Slade and let out a mocking snort. "Oh, look who's awake!"
Her lips curled into a sneer as she stared at him, her tone dripping with contempt. She relished the sight of Slade restrained, helpless, and furious.
Once, Slade had been a thorn in her side, obstructing her and Bardi at every turn. Now, seeing him confined and vulnerable on the experint table filled her with a perverse sense of satisfaction.
Slade glared at her coldly. The overhead light cast eerie shadows across Jenny's face, making her smile appear sinister and twisted.
"If Bardi knew what you've beco," Slade said, his voice low and cutting, "he'd kill you himself rather than save you."
Jenny's expression faltered, her smile thinning as her eyes narrowed slightly. "Save ? You're delusional."
Slade turned his head away, the harsh light stinging his eyes and making them water. He closed them tightly, his voice chillingly calm.
"In that underground facility, only you and thirty-one crippled soldiers survived the first floor. Everyone else died wherever he passed."
Slade's words were like a blade, cutting into Jenny's composure. "He didn't save you. Those thirty-one soldiers weren't spared to live; they were spared to die crippled."
Jenny's pupils constricted, and for a mont, her expression betrayed a flicker of pain. Her face twisted with barely suppressed rage. "You don't understand him," she said harshly.
"You don't understand him," Slade countered, his voice icy.
Between the two of them, it was Slade who understood Bardi better—better than anyone, perhaps.
Slade had seen the full extent of Bardi's brilliance and ruthlessness. Whether it was his unparalleled intellect or his unmatched strength, Bardi had used every resource at his disposal to manipulate those around him. Even as a prisoner, he had turned psychological advantages into weapons, playing everyone perfectly to achieve his goals.
In the end, even in death, Slade had been forced to admit Bardi's dominance. He had lost, completely and utterly.
Yet even in his acknowledgnt, Slade's hatred for Bardi burned fiercely.
"Why do you think he wasted so much ti explaining things to back then?" Slade asked, his tone sharp.
"He did it all for you," he continued coldly. "To keep you alive. To get you out of that place. He even fired two fake shots at you, pretending you were unimportant."
Slade let out a bitter laugh. "Even I fell for it. I beca his voice, his pawn, feeding the lies he wanted General Vic to believe, that he was just a mindless, brutal beast."
His piercing gaze shifted back to Jenny. "You're naive. You've let General Vic manipulate you to this point. If Bardi saw what you've beco now, he wouldn't just be disappointed, he'd be disgusted."
Jenny's face darkened, the mocking amusent she had directed at Slade fading instantly. Her expression twisted into sothing wild and nacing as she glared at him. "Do you want to let you out?" she snarled.
Slade narrowed his eyes slightly, his tone calm but firm. "Bardi would not want—"
"Shut up!" Jenny shrieked, her voice shrill and unhinged. "As if you have any real connection to my dear Bardi! You were the one who stood in his way the most! You're the reason Bardi ended up paralyzed! Have you forgotten what you did to us? Do you rember how you treated and Bardi back then?"
Slade's jaw clenched, his teeth grinding together. His cold, piercing glare was locked on her, but he remained silent.
"You'll never asure up to Bardi!" Jenny spat, her face flushed with rage.
From the pocket of her lab coat, Jenny retrieved a syringe filled with a yellowish-green liquid. Holding it up, she narrowed her fierce eyes and sneered. "Do you know what this is?"
Slade's gaze shifted to the syringe, his expression hardening.
"This is the creation inspired by Bardi's brilliance, a serum for human enhancent," Jenny said, her voice dripping with malice.
Slade's face turned grim. He knew all too well what this serum was. It was the cause of the horrifying screams and violent deaths he'd heard daily in the lab the serum that had killed every other test subject in grueso ways.
Jenny smirked, her voice taking on a sing-song quality. "You have a 50% chance of surviving. Endure the pain, and you'll either beco a superhuman… or a monster. Of course, there's also a good chance you'll just explode and die."
She laughed mockingly as she jabbed the syringe directly into Slade's chest, piercing his heart. Without hesitation, she pressed the plunger down, injecting the serum into his body.
"And let tell you sothing else," Jenny added with a malicious grin. "I only made two doses of this serum. This one is exclusively for you. The other one? It's mine. But unlike yours, mine has a 70% success rate."
Pulling the needle out with a flourish, she added coldly, "Good luck, Slade. I really hope you succeed."
Slade's body tensed imdiately, his eyes widening in shock and pain. Blood vessels bulged across his skin, his veins standing out like blue cords. His face twisted in agony as he let out an animalistic howl, his throat straining with the force of his screams.
His chest heaved violently, as though it were about to explode, and his wrists and ankles thrashed against the restraints, reopening his already raw wounds. Veins pulsed grotesquely across his body, giving the impression of writhing worms beneath his skin. The sight was horrifying.
Jenny watched with cruel satisfaction as Slade writhed in unbearable tornt, his body convulsing and drenched in sweat.
On the first day, Slade nearly died from dehydration, his body rejecting the serum so violently that it required more than a dozen injections of fluids to keep him alive.
On the second day, blood seeped from every pore of his body, leaving him on the brink of death. His seven orifices bled profusely, and by the end of the day, only a faint, almost undetectable pulse remained.
By the third day, sothing had changed. Slade's heart thundered like a drum, each beat reverberating with power. With a single burst of strength, he shattered the steel restraints that had held him captive for months.
Jenny's eyes lit up as she realized the serum had succeeded. Slade had survived. He was no longer an ordinary man, he had beco sothing far more powerful.
Without hesitation, Jenny grabbed the remaining syringe, filled with the serum ant for her. If Slade had succeeded, she was confident she would too.
But the truth was far from what she had imagined.
The mont the serum entered her body, it felt as though a bomb had detonated within her. Agonizing waves of heat and pressure wracked her fra, threatening to tear her apart from the inside out.
Her muscles swelled uncontrollably, stretching her skin taut. Tumors sprouted across her body like grotesque balloons, expanding and bursting in a horrifying cycle. Her bones grew unevenly, splintering and twisting into unnatural shapes, while her skin thickened and hardened, resembling keratinized armor.
Jenny scread as her body was caught in an endless cycle of growth and destruction. Her once-graceful figure mutated beyond recognition, her human form obliterated.
In the end, what remained was a towering, monstrous figure—over four ters tall, grotesque and horrifying.
***
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