Red, red was all Clay could see as pure rage boiled over inside of him. How dare anyone touch his experiment without informing him. How dare they take orders from the director over his own, and how dare they remove Experiment A from the vat before schedule. As he neared Observation room A, he could hear an excited commotion drifting through the halls, he hurried his pace.
Clay didn't knock, didn't take a second to compose himself, he practically kicked the door from it's hinges and forced his way into the room like a crazed demon. Despite the ruckus he made, no one seemed to care as they were all completely distracted.
Clay stood for a moment, allowing himself to process what was happening in the cramped room. Mason lingered, awe struck, beside the Director of Development who was leaning over a table surrounded by a dozen other scientists and doctors. Wires and machines beeped and buzzed as they hung off the table, but that was all Clay could see. A syringe with an orangish liquid inside was picked up from a nearby table and passed to the Director who did something with it. All at once there was a loud ear splitting sob echoing through the room and Clay's fury returned.
“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON!” He hollered at the top of his lungs, earning a startled yelp from the Director, Mason however did not look amused. Clay grabbed the back of one of the scientists lab coats and ripped him out of the way, stepping up to the table.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING!” Clay smacked the directors hovering hand away from the sobbing infant.
“I-I am doing what we're supposed to.” The director argued, a look of aggravation fell on him. Clay was livid beyond words and forcibly elbowed the other scientists away from the table, giving himself room.
“WHAT DID YOU DO TO HIM?” Clay barked, pointing at the now empty syringe. The poor infant was hooked to wires and IV's and Clay had no clue why. He could tell already they hadn't been careful with handling him, and no doubt Experiment A had spent his first hours out of the vat sobbing, his beautiful green eyes were red and puffy and no one had bothered to wipe the dripping snot from his cheek.
“That was the development accelerator you extracted from the Stalkers.” The director shrugged like it was no big deal. Clay's face paled, he instinctively felt his pocket for a gun, but there was nothing but his work pencil.
“Tell me you didn't, oh please tell me this is some nightmare!” Clay's voice was beginning to crack.
“Clay, I think you are overreacting here.” Mason grumbled from across the table.
“AM I?” Clay laughed. “That accelerator wasn't meant for infants. He wasn't supposed to get that until he was five.” Clay had to clench his fists. By now the other scientists had snuck out of the room, this was too much for them.
“It won't kill him.” The director assured Mason, dismissing Clay for a mad man.
“You're right, but he doesn't even have teeth yet and now he's going to grow them in a matter of days. Do you know how painful that will be? He'll be growing as fast as a Stalker.” Clay exclaimed. He couldn't do this anymore.
“I'm taking him.” Clay hissed under his breath as he reached for the IV's.
“You can't, that is his nutrient. Also, we have to observe him during his development.” The director argued.
“You mean you haven't fed him! You just...hooked him up to an IV!? On that note, are you aware of how freaking cold it is in here!” Clay immediately took off his lab coat and rapped it around the bare trembling child, the IV's and wires were next to go. Clay then scooped Experiment A off the cold metal table, hugging him tight to his chest.
“Don't you ever touch him again! I will be doing all the experiments. You will be working with me, not without me!” Clay ordered as he began to back out of the room.
“Clay, get a hold of yourself. This is Hyperions experiment, not your new son.” Mason crossed his arms, clearly displeased.
“Back off Mason!” Clay hissed, covering the infants head with his hand protectively, “Why don't you crawl back to headquarters and complain to your little board of directors, that's all you're good for.” Clay then turned and raced from the observation room. He darted down the hall holding the whimpering bundle close in his arms. He had to get away from those crazy scientists, clearly none of them knew how to follow orders.
Still bitter from all that had happened, Clay ran to his old lab, enabling the security lock behind him, no one would bother him now.
Experiment A had quieted in his arms as his eyes slowly began to drift closed. Clay sat on a stool cradling him close as he took a second to admire his creation. Surprisingly, the infant had a dainty comb of black hair, soft as feathers, which Clay couldn't help but pat. Experiment A let out a heavy sigh as he stretched his arms over his head, allowing his wings to unfold before he curled back into a cozy ball.
Clay felt a ping at his heart and for a moment he thought about leaving the facility. He could see himself raising the child on some planet out of Hyperion's reach. He saw Experiment A as a toddler, playing in the yard with the pet cat, the sky was blue, the sun was warm, and he was sitting under a tree next to his wife...Tabitha.
Clay snapped from his daydreaming, no that was a crazy idea, he'd be caught in a heart beat, besides, Tabitha would never marry him. He shrugged off the idea quickly as he stood from the stool. As nice as the thought was, Experiment A was still...an experiment. Clay felt his dreams crush but he refused to let it get to him.
He set the infant down in a crib he had delivered just the other day, he had been beyond excited when it arrived and had assembled it in his lab. Clay leaned against the crib railing, propping his chin in his hand, completely content.
“Everything is going to be just fine.” He assured himself in a whisper. He would keep Experiment A until he had developed into toddler stage, which due to the development accelerator, wouldn't be too long. Then, after Experiment A had grown some, he would take him back to the project lab, but things were going to be different, he wasn't letting anyone push him around anymore.
After a minute or two, Clay walked to a device resting on his desk. He scooped it up and pressed a button before speaking,
“Clap-Trap, where are you?”
There was a moment of silence before his Clap-Traps voice came blasting through the device.
“Uhhhhh...well I'm definitely not hanging out in the Clap-Trap upgrade center. I'm definitely NOT using your money to buy a disco ball upgrade. Aaaaand I'm definitely not going out later to dance in the elevator with 5 other Clap-Traps.” The robot rambled. Clay slammed his head on the desk, his robot would be the death of him.
“Clap-Trap, I need you right now.” Again another second of silence.
“M-master Clay, if I had eyes I would be crying. I'm so glad you've realized how important I am to you. What would you be without your trusty, amazing, loyal, strong, intelligent, funny, handsome, bad as...”
“CLAP-TRAP!” Clay shouted, interrupting the robot. He flinched as a whimper came from the crib, he had to learn to be quieter. “Clap-Trap,” he started in a whispery voice, “get over to mechanics and tell Tabitha to come to my lab, I have something to show her.” He cast a quick glance back to the experiment, still asleep.
“Ok. I..” Clay turned the device off, sometimes his robot was just too much.
Clap-Trap stopped his chatter shortly after realizing Clay was no longer listening.
“Well he's a busy man.” The Clap-Trap muttered to himself. He looked up at the Hyperion worker leaning over the counter, he had been waiting, although a bit impatiently, for the Clap-Trap to shut up and tell him what he wanted.
“Disco ball please!” he handed the man a small silver card, and $2,000 was taken from Clay's account. Totally worth it.
A few hours later Clap-Trap wheeled out of the store, he felt like a brand new robot.
“On the outside i'm exactly the same,” he sang to himself, “but what they don't know is that on the inside I'm ready to party!!” He exclaimed before he did a jig in the hallway. As a worker passed him and gave him a disapproving look, he was reminded of his master Clay.
“Oh that's right, gotta go get Tabitha, jeez can't he just get her himself.” Clap-Trap complained as he raced off through the facility towards mechanics.
He didn't very much like visiting the oil stained hall where battered and broken robots were torn apart, or on the rare occasion, fixed. Clap-Trap averted his eye as he spun into Tabitha's garage, like always there was a dismantled robot lying on the floor as she worked on it.
“Ah, Clay-Trap.” The woman had nicknames for practically anything, “What do you need little guy?” She cooed.
“I'm not little, I'm fun size. See!” The panel on his head opened up and a disco ball began to rise up. Neon lights flashed around him and he started to dance while making up his own song.
“Oh I thought they were joking when they asked us to come up with a disco ball Clap-Trap upgrade.” Tabitha raised a brow as she tried to figure out what mechanic had agreed to create the pointless addition. “So, Clay-Trap, what do you need?” Tabitha asked again.
Clap-Trap stood for a moment to remember why in fact he was there.
“Ah, master Clay wants to see you.” Clap-Trap exclaimed. Tabitha stood up and dusted off her works pants. A soft smile spread across her oil stained face.
“What does Clay need?” She pulled the rag from her work belt and tried her best to wipe off some of the grime.
“I'm not sure, he hung up on me before I could find out.” The robot still refused to look at the heap of metal lying motionless on the floor. Tabitha chuckled, she knew the Clap-Trap was squeamish to robot innards.
“Well lead the way brave little robot.” She walked behind him as he wheeled out of the garage as quickly as he could.
It wasn't out of the ordinary for Clay to send his Clap-Trap to get Tabitha, in fact, Tabitha imagined it happened quite often.
As they neared the lab, Tabitha began to hear the loud sound of crying and screaming. Concerned for her friend, Tabitha raced to the lab door, but found it locked.
“Clay! Clay jar what's wrong!” She banged on the door repeatedly. There was a crash from inside before the door clicked and Tabitha swung it open. She gasped when she saw Clay, his eyes were puffy and tear stained, but he wasn't the one screaming. Tabitha looked passed him and into the lab where she eyes quite a mess on the counter, there were baby bottles all over the counter, each filled with what she guessed was milk. In the far corner was a crib where the whaling was coming from.
“C-clay what happened to you? Are you alright?” She asked, completely bewildered. Clay grabbed her wrist and yanked her into the lab.
“You've gotta help me!” He panted, dragging her towards the crib. “I..I've tried everything. I fed him, I burped him, I changed him I tried letting him take a nap, but I can't get him to stop screaming!” Clay was panicking. “I thought maybe he was in pain!” He scratched at his head nervously as Tabitha carefully neared the crib. “So I checked him but his vital signs are ok.”
Tabitha leaned over the crib, her eyes widened when she saw Experiment A moving for the first time.
“Oh Clay. He's so precious!” She didn't hesitate and gently reached into the crib, cradling his head to her shoulder. Tenderly she rubbed little circles on his back and between his folded wings all while whispering sweetly to him. Clay looked up from where he had slumped onto a stool, watching amazed as Experiment A quieted and began to suck on his hand.
“W-what did you do? What was wrong with him?” Clay whispered, afraid he would break whatever spell had fallen on the infant.
“There's nothing wrong with him.” Tabitha chuckled as she paced around the lab. “My dad said I used to do this all the time. I would just cry and scream as a baby for no reason, but he thinks I just wanted attention. So he would hold me and just rub my back.” Tabitha explained. Clay smiled, glad she had arrived when she did.
“I called you up here so you could see him, but then he just woke up and cried and as you can see I freaked out.” Clay gestured towards the dozens of bottles on the counter.
“Why so many?” She raised a brow, amused.
“Well he's mixed with stalker, so I wasn't sure what exactly he would even like to drink. I was basically just making different formula combinations and hoping he would take one. Guess he just wasn't hungry.” Clay sighed, starting to clean up the un-used bottles.
“He has such pretty green eyes.” Tabitha cooed from across the room, she had turned him over in her arms and was rocking him gently. “We got the same eyes buddy.” She giggled lightheartedly.
“Yup, I knew you would.” Clay sighed from sink, dumping the contents of one of the bottles.
“And how could you possibly know that?” Tabitha snorted. Clay froze, refusing to turn around, he was walking on thin ice.
“I uhm, well I combined his genetic makeup from human and stalker DNA. I c-chose the eye color from the human DNA that was provided.” He wasn't lying.
“Oh...neat.” Tabitha shrugged it off, she was too occupied to care. Clay let out a sigh, he had just dodged a bullet, for now.
After Clay had left Observation Room A with the infant, Mason stood dumbfounded accompanied by the Director of Development.
“This is just great.” The director sighed bitterly. “Clay doesn't understand, this project is important and the board grows impatient.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.
“He's an idiot.” Mason grumbled under his breath before turning to the director. “Thank you for showing me the progress on the project. It seems Clay has more “important” things to do.” He rolled his eyes as he shook the directors hand.
“My pleasure, I just want this project to be a success, I just fear Clay will get in the way.” The director muttered, Mason nodded in agreement. The director and Mason quickly parted ways, both of them were busy men. Mason however wasn't looking forward to what he had to do next. He continued through the facility and up to where his ship sat waiting for him. He had a decent two hour blast through space before he docked at the main Hyperion base.
Mason soon found himself surrounded by hundreds of other Hyperion workers and overseers. They all hurried about the facility on their own business missions. Mason darted passed them and entered a more secure part of the base. Soon he was almost completely alone as he neared two massive double doors, the all too familiar H painted on them. Mason hesitated only for a second before he pushed the doors opened and stepped inside.
“Ah, Mason.” A board member piped up, welcoming the man. “We have all been waiting for your report.” He looked and nodded at his fellow board members.
“Sorry for my delay, as you know the project has had a few...hiccups recently with its uh...stalkers.” Mason took a seat at the long metal table.
“Yes we remember, but how are things now? Back on track?” He asked eagerly. Mason inhaled sharply as he leaned back in his chair.
“Eeeeeeeeeh, not exactly.” The board grew quiet, irritation settling on their wrinkled faces. “Don't get me wrong, Clay and his team have made a ton of progress. However, I fear that Clay may be handicapping the process just a bit.” Mason explained.
“Elaborate.” The oldest board member demanded.
“Well they successfully combined the DNA of the human and a Stalker together to create life. When I went to check on the project, Clay was gone and the experiment was ready to be taken off of life support. It is now ready for study, however, Clay took off with the experiment, there has been no news of him as of yet.” Mason told all. The directors looked between themselves thoughtfully, all taking a moment to think on the information they had received.
“Thank you Mason, for bringing this information to us.” The eldest spoke. “We are satisfied with the current stage of the project, however, Clay's behavior concerns us. If this continues, we fear the experiment will fall apart. In order to prevent this, we will schedule a progress meeting with Clay in exactly three months. Please inform him.” The older man nodded, dismissing Mason.
Mason stood to exit, but was stopped by another board member.
“And Mason,”
“Yes?” Mason stood patiently.
“Tell Clay, he must bring the Experiment for us to see.”
“Of course sir.” Mason nodded.
“He is walking on a very thin line, especially after that DNA incident.” The eldest board member added, “This better work, for his sake.”
Authors Note:
I had trouble with this chapter, it's kind of the middle ground between two points. All I can say is, like mamma like son. ;)
ns 15.158.61.8da2
