Chapter 2, Part 2 of 3
Reptile
"Pulse has dropped dramatically, Dr. Reynolds" sighed Barry.
"GOD DAMNIT!!" screamed Dr. Reynolds, as he threw a chair aross the lab, breaking many viles and beakers.
He rushed towards the mutated chameleons with a serrated knife in hand, and slit their throats before their hearts failed like the other test subjects had.
With his hands and face coated with the blood of his failure, he looked at his assistance with a wild, deranged look in his eye.
"Bring in the others" he growled, as his lip snarled from anger.
"No, doctor." Barry said firmly "I will not stand for this anymore. You have killed all the subjects so far, and we are NOT doing another test tonight or any other night. I called The Board before you arrived this morning, and you have been terminated. The project has been cancelled. I was going to tell you earlier, but I also wanted to see if we could get one more chance with Experiment A3-9901."
Dr. Reynolds inched closer to an oblivious Barry, knife still in hand.
"And another thing!" Barry exclaimed "You've become obsessed with this! It's all you ever talk about, ever think about! This Experiment will NEVER work, Dr. Reynolds. We simply lack the technology, as I have told you time and time again. We achieve step one and two of the phase, yes. But the chameleon's internal structure won't support the Soldier Serum. The heart will always fail, and you have got to realize this. Now please Doctor, I have to go home. I've got a life outside of this labratory."
As he strided past Dr. Reynolds, Barry raised his hand to grab his jacket off of the coat rack.
The Doctor grabbed Barry's wrist and held the blade to his chest.
"You insolent f*ck" he bellowed into Barry's face "You called the board on me?! You may have gotten me terminated, but I'm not leaving this behind until we get this right. This isn't about my job, this is about me proving all my collegues wrong. You have two options right now. The first option is to go with me to Dr. Tsung's home. The other option is me stabbing you to death right here."
Barry thought to himself "He's finally done it. He's finally gone insane." "I'll go with you to Dr. Tsung house," he responded meekly "But it's the last time I do anything with you, Gus."
Dr. Reynolds laughed aloud and put the knife in it's sheath, "Fantastic! We best be on our way as soon as possible."
It was 3 a.m. when Dr. Reynolds knocked on the door of Dr. Tsung's house.
"Yes, yes I'm coming!" Shang shouted as he slung open the door.
"What the hell are you doing here, Reynolds? And with your dog, too? The animal pound is three blocks down, you would be wise to put that poor bastard to sleep, we all know you've worked him to the bone for years"
"We don't have time for jokes, Tsung" Dr. Reynolds blurted as he stepped inside Dr. Tsungs living room.
"What the hell are you doing?!" a bewildered Dr. Tsung said as he flicked the lights on. "Listen, you need to leave. Haven't you heard? You've been fired as of 5 today, you have no business being here. If you're here to plead me to make the board reconsider their decision on your termination, just leave. You still have a shred of respect, and you'll still have it; if you walk out of my living room and back to that roach infested hell hole you call a home."
"Shut the f*ck up, Shang!" Dr. Reynolds screamed as he closed Dr. Tsungs door and turned around to face his rival.
"Look! The experiments have been failing, the chameleon's heart can't handle the third phase, and we need you help"
"Dr. Reynolds.." Barry chimed in, "We seriously need to leave. Dr. Tsung is right, we are only making a fool out of ourselves by coming here."
"I have the soultion," Shang said softly as he sat on his luxurious love seat.
"You WHAT?!" shouted Gus as he stared, enraged, at his former colleague.
"Yes. You see, I've been studying you work for some time, 'Doctor' Reynolds." Remarked Shang sarcastically.
"My God, your 'work', as you call it, is nothing but mere tinkering compared to what I have accomplished. The government should have fired you years ago, you b-"
Dr. Tsung's words were cut short as Gus Reynolds pulled the knife out from behind his back.
"You start telling me what I need to know" Dr. Reynolds threatened as he pointed the blade in Shang's direction, "Or I'm going to f*cking kill you."
"So, it comes to threats," Dr. Tsung laughed as he removed his glasses and arose from his chair.
"I'll tell you what you need to know, Gus. Follow me downstairs."
Dr. Tsung had indeed been studying and copying Dr. Reynolds and Barry's work.
His whole life, Dr. Shang Tsung had been fasinated by the field of science, much like his rival colleague, Dr. Reynolds.
Shang's "downstairs" was his personal labratory, and it had more equipment than Dr. Reynolds' lab and his own, combined.
"Are those the chameleons?" asked Dr. Reynolds as his eyes met a sheet covered tank.
"Why yes, they are" answered Tsung, "These are the un-tested lizards from Experiment A3-9901. You never knew I was also on this project, did you? The goverment took me off of my work to reanimate the dead, for me to devote my time to making a super soldier. One that could not only withstand the harsh climate of jungle territory, but could also naturally adapt to it.
You see, this was the main purpose of this Project. Make reptilian grunts that would follow all commands presented to them, and never fail in the line of duty."
Dr. Reynolds could simply not believe his ears. He had never been breifed on the "why" of it all, he blindly concentrated on just getting them to live.
"Unfortunately," continued Dr. Tsung, as he paced back and forth between Barry and Dr. Reynolds, "Our government is run by idiots. These ideas they vomit at us simply make me want to quit the branch all together. I simply wanted to bring back the dead and make their lives continue where they had been cut off before their time. We all deserve a second chance, do we not? Anyways, this A3-9901 garbage was presented to me. I noticed the flaw in the structure to begin with. The heart. It simply could not bear the transformation, it was too small. They had their head up their asses when I told this to them, and they ignored me. They continued to make you waste you time with their bull shit."
Barry noticed a serum (different than the ones they had been injecting the chameleons with) laying on Dr. Tsung's desk, one labeled "Serum #65 aka Acid bath."
Dr. Tsung noticed what Barry was staring at, "Ah, so you noticed it before I could explain it to you. Very well, I won't bore you both any longer. It's not the chameleons that we should be testing on. No, it is humans. How could they have been so blind? If we inject the soldiers themselves with the formula I have created, then we can achieve the desired result."
"Now, how do you know that?" asked Reynolds, "Please tell me you haven't tested this on anyone so far."
"As a matter of fact," Dr. Tsung eerily responded "I have not. But my data proves without the shadow of the doubt this will make the subject the 'Super Soldier' the government has been asking for. And I have developed an antidote, as well."
"So, you mean to tell me you have it all figured out?" scoffed Dr. Reynolds. "And you have an antidote, too? Well, Dr. Tsung.. If you are so confident in you work, then test it on me. Let's see if you truly are the better scientist."