The Serum's Return

Inside an abandoned house on the outskirt of Arc city.

"Cancel sequence. Copy down formula."

'Dr. Jonathan Drake, truly was a genius. I wonder what he would say if he saw what the world turned into.'

Standing in front of a holographic screen was a young man, clad in all black clothes, with a hoodie that covered his face. Swiping his hand across the screen, it disappeared, he then turned his attention to the watch on his wrist. Tapping on the watch, a humanoid projection appeared.

"Show me the formula."

After nodding, the projection disappeared and in its place, appeared a series of equations and a list of ingredients. Staring at the formula, the youth shook his head.

*Reminder, time left, 2 minutes and 35 seconds until detonation.*

Turning around, the youth made his way through the hallways of the house. Stepping out of the house, the youth walked to the middle of the yard, came to a stop and turned around, staring at the house.

*boom* The sound of a muffled explosion sounded out.

*Reminder, meeting scheduled for 1 p.m, 20 minutes remaining.*

'Almost forgot about that.'

Pulling his gaze away from the house, the youth starting jogging towards the slum's market.

______

In the middle of a crowded marketplace, a single building stood out. The reason, no-one came within ten feet of the building's front door, while in the crowd, a youth dressed in all black with his face half covered with his hoodie stared at the door.

The crowd, threw curious glances at the youth, but never interacting with him.

Walking towards the door, the youth caught the attention of all in the surrounding area.

Murmuring came from the crowd, but the youth simply ignored them.

Opening the door that read, 'Black's gadgets', the youth took a single step in and reached to his right.

*click*

As soon as the click sounded, the interior of the building lit up.

Closing the door, the youth walked further in, the youth looked around the room, completely void of anything, except a counter against the back wall and a light hanging from the ceiling.

Walking up to the counter, he reached behind it, and flipped a hidden switch.

To the right of the counter, the wall suddenly faded away, revealing a dark hallway.

Stepping into the hallway, the door reappeared behind the youth. Waking down the hallway, the youth came upon a door. Knocking on the door in an unusual pattern, a panel appeared at eye level with the youth.

*Retinal scan required for entry.*

Leaning his face forward, the scan commenced.

*Welcome back Black*

After the voice greeted Black, the door opened and he entered.

Walking into an empty room, Black tapped on his watch and 4 holographic screens appeared on the wall in front of him, while the floor split open and a workbench, filled with small gadgets and tools appeared.

"Jane, re-calibrate the audio setting on the communicator, it doesn't seem to be working."

*Affirmative, re-calibration will be completed in 5 minutes.*

Nodding his head, Black walked over to the workbench, took of his hoodie, revealing a tanned diamond shaped face, with scythe-shaped eyebrows, medium sized refined nose(1), thin mouth and a pair of deep set(2) clouded eyes(3).

Meanwhile, in a dark corner of the marketplace, two men could be seen, intently staring at the door to 'Black's Gadgets'.

"Go and tell first brother that Black has returned."

____________

Standing bare chest in front of the workbench, Black was staring intently at the holographic screens against the wall, looking through the blueprints shown on them.

Waving his hands across three of three screens, they faded away, Black then enlarged the remaining screen. On the screen was an image of a normal sword.

"Run calculations on the odds of success in building a sword that can grow stronger and gain the properties of, by absorbing different metals and energies, focus on thermal energy and electrostatic energy."

*Running calculations. Calculations complete. Success chance 0.01%."

Disappointment spread across Black's face. Pacing around the room, trying to think of what he should do, he remembered the serum.

"Can you manufacture the serum based on the formula I found today?"

*Possible, but most of the ingredients needed no longer exist.*

"Can you use substitutes?"

*Affirmative, should I begin manufacturing.*

"Yes, I don't care if you deplete my entire stock just make as much of the serum as possible."

*Alert, person knocking on store door.*

Nodding his head, Black put his shirt back on and exited the room.

Opening the door, Black saw a slim, pale skinned man with slick back hair, wearing an expensive looking designer suit with sunglasses to match, your typical business thug type.

"What do you want Nathan?"

"Is that how you greet a friend Black?"

"State your business or leave."

A brief expression of displeasure showed on Nathan's face but was quickly replaced by his original smile.

"So, what did you find in that house Black?"

"I found nothing, now leave."

"You found something Black, it belongs to me and I want it back."

"You may run the slums, but don't think of yourself as a god, besides even if I found anything, I wouldn't give it to you. Before you leave, a final warning, don't send your goons after me, next time they won't return."

After Black gave his warning, he slammed the door in Nathan's face.

"Boss, what should we do?"

"We can only wait, someone from the inner city wants what Black found."

Standing still by the door, Black heard the conversation between Nathan and his goon.

'So you're working for someone from the inner city. That probably means that they will send Evolvers after me.'

Back in the secret room, Black stood in front of his workbench holding some strange gadget.

"Jane, set up a perimeter of two hundred feet around the shop, and notify me if any Evolver's step into this perimeter. Speed up the manufacturing process of the serum, I want it done tomorrow morning."

*Perimeter up. I would caution against the hastening of manufacturing, as that will cause severe repercussion to the final product.*

"How long until completion?"

*24 Hours*

Slamming his hand on his workbench, Black heaved with rage.

"Prepare my suit encase of an emergency."

Author's notes

(1)https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwj945eK1vvdAhUImrQKHVRsD3EQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Fleadenergy.org%2Ftypes-of-nose%2F&psig=AOvVaw3Pw3NXv6GEQS7nnbaeCmd_&ust=1539253981414074

(2)https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwi0oZKw2PvdAhUPPVAKHc_YAG4QjRx6BAgBEAU&url=http%3A%2F%2Fmaxturner.co%2Fdiagram-of-almond-shaped-eyes-men.html&psig=AOvVaw0rk35RbX98Ftwlz9hYuM5z&ust=1539254596922271

(3)https://www.google.co.za/url?sa=i&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=images&cd=&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=2ahUKEwjFuoTl1_vdAhXEaFAKHWSgBlsQjRx6BAgBEAU&url=https%3A%2F%2Focularpro.com%2Fprosthetic-eye-correction-for-cloudy-cornea%2F&psig=AOvVaw2K9-_r0d7_YNg-prwvRuwf&ust=1539254441543788