David Xanatos (selfmade_man) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2020-08-17 14:17:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, david xanatos |
Who: David Xanatos, NPC!Anton Sevarius
What: Xanatos goes to check on his new specimen
When: August 15th, during the end of the plot
Where: Gen-U-Tech labs
Rating/Warning: Teenish for violence and gore
Status: Complete | Narrative
Anton Sevarius had, some ten years prior, lost his medical license and had been blacklisted from the scientific community after he’d been found doing all sorts of awful human experiments. He’d been stripped of his assets and after spending five years in prison, was destined to live out the rest of his life on the streets, destitute and dishonoured.
He was exactly what Xanatos had needed.
Despite his character, and his personality, Sevarius was a brilliant scientist, and he required no immediate credit for any of the scientific breakthroughs he made through questionable means - he did science for the pure love of science. He’d been a perfect fit as the head scientist at Gen-U-Tech, the shadow company that had no official ties to Xanatos Enterprises or David Xanatos himself, even if he used most of their research for his medical technologies at Xanatos Enterprises.
He didn’t know what Sevarius would find from the paradoom that Xanatos brought to him, but Xanatos was sure he would find something. It had been a stroke of luck that Xanatos had found one of the creatures fast asleep after a young woman had touched it, and he’d brought it back to his labs. He would have found a way to bring one back either way, but a live specimen was better than a dead one.
He finished locking Winn up - he wasn’t sure how Winn had been turned into a cyborg, but he’d have Sevarius run some tests later to see if he could get him back to normal, or at least acting normal, instead of whatever brand of evil this was, and if not, to see what he could learn of the process - stripped out of his gargoyle suit, and headed toward the main lab where his own personal paradoom was being kept.
He poured himself a large cup of coffee as he passed the breakroom. He was exhausted, and he was sure it was only pure adrenaline that was keeping him on his feet still, but he wouldn’t rest until Owen managed to create the weapon that would deal with these things once and for all. Then, he carried on into the lab.
The paradoom was still locked in its cage, Xanatos was pleased to note. He hadn't been completely sure that the enclosure would be up to snuff, but he was glad that it had been. Sevarius was too valuable to sacrifice to some dream demon without learning anything of value first.
“Ah, Mr. Xanatos,” Sevarius said, looking equal parts nervous and elated as he trotted up to Xanatos; but then, Sevararius always looked a little nervous. “Welcome back.”
“Thank you,” Xanatos said, sipping his coffee. “Do you have anything for me yet?”
“We managed to collect some tissue samples while it was still asleep,” Sevarius said, gesturing toward the test tubes that contained said samples. “We tried to start the live dissection, but, well…” He gestured toward the pen, drawing Xanatos’ eyes to the pile of blood, limbs, and gore. “I”m afraid it woke up. Took the intern right out. We never saw it coming.”
Xanatos frowned, taking another sip of his coffee. “You haven’t been able to tranquilize it yet?”
Sevarius shook his head sadly - likely more over the fact that he desperately wanted to dissect the creature than any consideration for his intern - and Xanatos wondered if he’d be able to find that girl again. If he could convince her to put it back to sleep, they’d be able to make some real progress.
“Well, we should be able to continue on with the cloning program just with the samples, right? We don’t necessarily need the original.” It would be a waste to not get as much from the original as possible though.
“Yes, of course. I can get started on that-” Sevarius started, but his words died on his lips as the room was suddenly awash in a bright, white light.
“What am I…” The voice came from the pen, and Xanatos looked over, seeing the young intern whole again, patting his chest, and then catching sight of the paradoom. He let out a scream, and ran as fast as he could for the door, slamming into the locked gate and pounding on it with his fists.
Xanatos didn’t have a chance to order the door unlocked before the paradoom was on it again, tearing into him with claw and tooth, devouring him alive.
Xanatos grimaced, and took another sip of coffee. “I don’t suppose you’ve notified the family yet?” he asked, over the screams.
“No, not yet,” Sevarius said, a glimmer of wonder and a hunger for knowledge in his eye. Xanatos wanted to know what had brought the boy back as well, but he kept that desire better masked than Sevarius did.
“I suppose it would only be fair if we did,” Xanatos sighed as the screams turned to wimpers and then silence. “Perhaps we could offer them a nice severance package or something.” He could, of course, pretend the intern had never made it into work, but the intern had sacrificed his life for Xanatos’ work, and it seemed only right that his family was given a little something for it.
“What kind of experiments can you run on this thing from a distance?” he asked, and then followed Sevarius around the lab as Sevarius explained in that too-fast way of his, exactly what could be done.
He only seemed to be halfway done when a hole opened in the ceiling, and the paradoom flew through it, clawing at the floor as if trying to fight whatever force was sucking him through the ceiling. Xanatos followed it’s progress, drinking from his mug, until it was out of sight.
“Don’t see that every day,” he said, more to himself than anyone else, and then turned to Sevarius. “Are the samples safe?”
Sevarius was pale, looking at Xanatos as though he was sure this would be the end of him, and scrambled to the samples where he paled still further. “No sir, they’re gone,” he said.
Xanatos scowled, but that was all that he allowed his displeasure to show. “I suppose there’s no help for it,” he muttered, and Sevarius’s shoulders relaxed, just before another flash of white washed through the lab.
Xanatos immediately looked toward the cage again, noting as he did so that the hole in his ceiling had been repaired, and was pleased to note that the intern was once again hole, looking confused and wan, an expression on his face like he’d just gone through some horrific event but couldn’t actually remember anything about it.
“What do you make of that?” he asked Sevarius, who jumped at the sound of Xanatos’ voice.
“Mr. Xanatos, sir! What are you doing here?” he asked, making Xanatos’ brows furrow. “We weren’t expecting you for another month. There’s still some time before we see the results of our most recent experiments, but I can walk you through what we’re expecting now, if you’d like.”
That was… odd, and Xanatos frowned, then turned to the intern.
“You there, what are you doing in there?” Xanatos asked, and the intern jumped about a foot in the air.
“I don’t know, sir,” the intern said, a tremor to his voice. “I… the door is locked and I can’t…”
Xanatos sighed. Apparently everyone else in the lab had forgotten everything that had just happened, which was, perhaps, a small blessing, though annoying nonetheless.
“I’m going to go nap in the breakroom,” Xanatos said, assuming that the rest of the paradooms had gone wherever his had disappeared to. “Make sure I’m not disturbed.” He frowned at the intern, who was now leaving the cage on shaky legs. “And offer that boy a permanent position here. Start him at the third-year wage.”
And with that, Xanatos was off to get some much needed rest.