Chapter 15
The council members that were present were at a loss for words. They knew that they had to carefully talk to Lance, because of their previous teachings they knew that the Subject Zero myth was no longer a myth and by angering him will cause their death. The council members that were attending through hologram were shaken but did not feel the fear through the projection, they could only rely on the expressions of the members that were present.
The amount of fear generated was almost tangible until Dr. Smith broke the tension by talking. "Please lets' put this matter to the side for now. Mr. Zero" "It's Lance Muertezo" I butted in "Yes, Mr. Muertezo, please, we only need a small amount, and no one is strapping you down nor giving you anything." "You do realize that just having blood samples will not give you all the results you need or may want. In order to see your illnesses be conquered you need to inject it into me, then take my blood." "Yes we know that because that was also part of the notes taken from your capsule. But in order to prove to you that we are not like the Earth, we decided to let have the choice to help us." Dr. Smith said. "I see but what will you do if I refuse?" I said. "We will simply work with the data we were provided and most likely stumble upon cures as we always have." Dr. Smith lamented.
"What of my freedom? Am I going to kill everyone here or will I be let go freely?" I said firmly. "There is no way we will let you go!" Dr. Forze yelled before there was a proper response. "Dr. Forze!?" the present council screamed. "Haha, I guess this proves what I have said, not all of you have the same thoughts, solutions and ideas." I said calmly. Mr. Morrell backed away as Captain Stinson, Lieutenants Erickson and Mosby stepped forward with their weapons readied. Before anything else occurred Dr. Smith turned off the hologram of Dr. Forze. "I am truly sorry Mr. Muertezo. Although we truly do not want you to go we will not restrict or try to confine you. Like we said, we can only hope on your choice to help, nothing will be forced. That is the majority answer of this council." Dr. Smith said solemnly.
"Then the dissenting opinion is to imprison me like before, huh? I will tell you now Dr. Smith since you have been honest with me." "How, how do you know I've been h-honest?" Dr. Smith stammered with a bewildered look on his face. "The perks of being experimented on and used as a killing machine, it comes not only with high regeneration, adaptation, higher brain function, strength and speed but also heightened senses. The moment you said that it was the majority opinion none of you present here disagreed with you. Their heart beats were steady as were their breathing. In my experience, only those with training can steady their heart and their breath to lie. Seeing as all of you are in lab coats I highly doubt any of you had to hold a weapon let alone use it. And since you said that there were no politicians then there is no way for any of you to be experienced liars." I said casually. "I see. Makes sense." Dr. Smith said. "Since you've been honest with me I will cooperate but I will need things in return." I said. "Certainly, if it is within our power we can agree to it. What will you need?" Dr. Smith said happily.
"For now I am making something for myself so I will send you a list of the materials. I will also need access to your lab equipment" I said. "That can be easily arranged" Dr. Smith and the other Scientists quickly agreed. "Oh, and one last thing, this will be my only warning to you all. If, by chance or deliberate, I find anything wrong with the materials, tools and location, such as you monitoring me, other than the security cameras you already have implemented, with tracking devices, programs or personnel, I will kill you. I will cooperate with all of you the best way I can but not as a lab rat. As for Dr. Forze, just try to keep him away from me. I already know his intentions and will not cooperate with him. You can share information with him but there will be no way I will help him." I said sternly.
After talking amongst themselves for a few minutes Dr. Smith came up to me and said "We agree to your terms. I am letting you know now that we will include Dr. Forze in the upcoming experiments and the cross examinations of our findings, but we will not let him be near or around when you are here. How do you feel about him in hologram form?" "Even in hologram form he is still a dick. If he is within choking distance I cannot be blamed for my actions, understood?" I said with a threatening tone. Everyone and the hologram forms of the others just nodded their heads in agreement.
Back where Dr. Forze was located. "Shit! Who do they think they are cutting me off and making decisions without me?! Without me they would no research on Subject Zero to go on! The nerve of these ingrates." Dr. Forze yelled. "Sir, a final decision has been made by the council- they" Dr. Forze���s assistant said before he was cut off by Dr. Forze. "The council, without me, made a final decision? What does it say?" Demanded Dr. Forze. "It says that Lance Muertezo will cooperate with the council to help advance our research but you, Doctor Forze, will have no contact With Mr. Muertezo. You are allowed to help with the research but nowhere near Mr. Muertezo. We have agreed upon Mr. Muertezo's proposal where if you are found to be within choking distance we will not stand in his way. Also, if there is any monitoring other than preplaced observation systems following Mr. Muertezo, we will not interfere with his vengeance as to prove we are not like the Earth. Please respond with your answer to be or not to be involved and that any other forms that you take against Mr. Muertezo can or may lead to your early demise. Sincerely Dr. Mortimer Smith" Dictated Dr. Forze's assistant.
"Aaaahhhhhhhhh!!!!!!" Dr. Forze howled in anger. Only the things on his desk such as a holopad and old documents on Subject Zero were thrown to the floor. "My great great grandfather said in his notes that Subject Zero is both the key to our ruin and salvation. I was able to get all the notes that were kept safe by my family for years. And now that Subject Zero, this mere specimen, has reared its head, I, the one who shared my family's life works with them, am not to go near it. The audacity of them all. I practically am the council!" "But sir, if you do anything that would breach the agreement then Mr, Muertezo would have the chance to kill you. I also thought that the Subject Zero rule was just a joke to keep us amoral within our research but to see him in the flesh, I don't think it's a good idea to against their decision. Correct me if I am wrong Doctor, but it seems to me that he would look for any excuse to kill you." The assistant said.
"You are not wrong Robert, but to have Subject Zero return and me not work on it is like telling the inventor of the food synthesizer that he can't order food from it." Dr. Forze argued. I will cooperate and play nice…for now, Dr. Forze said to himself.