20 Inferno Of Ambition
The bathroom door slammed open, and steam billowed out into his room the moment it did. He was thankful Uncle Ben hadn't come around to installing a fire alarm in the old house, something about sullying its beauty.
His lean figure scrambled out of the steam before grabbing a towel and disposing of the used syringe. After wiping himself down, he changed into cleaner clothes before opening the windows, to not accidentally smoke the house.
"Well, it is free sterilisation of the room, after all," he shrugged, before collapsing on the bed.
He didn't feel all that different, just... unnaturally exhausted.
The only thing that was glaringly different was the fact that he could consciously change his iris color from his original hazel to bright, glowing green. It was like a new muscle in his face that he had to get used to.
"Eh, could be worse," he thought, getting up from his bed and cleaning up the room. He'd completely adapted his genome to accept the Lizard Serum and even enhance it.
"I can't wait any longer!" he clenched his fists after the room was relatively steam-free before heading over to the fridge once more. He opened the fridge and slid out the hidden compartment with the sticky note on it.
There were two vials just like last time, but one was blood red while the other was a pale maroon.
The red one was the Lizard Serum, which was unexpected due to it traditionally being green, while the other was the GeneLock serum.
The latter would merely take a few seconds to inject and activate as it was, in crude terms, instructing his body to produce a new organelle that would produce the RSP (Resonance Stabilising Protein), which would be produced constantly, and RDP (Resonance Destabilising Protein) that would be far more long-lasting and would be similarly produced but would be a bit more stable, allowing his DNA to quickly degenerate a few seconds after leaving his body.
Of course, the BIHT (Biologically Interfaced Hormonal Trigger) had been incorporated, allowing him to switch the ability on and off at will.
But regardless of how cool the Genelock Serum was, he was the most excited for the Lizard Serum. It was the amalgamation of the work he'd put in both his lives—the sheer amount of work and research that he'd put into this evolutionary and biological marvel was unprecedented. He really did not know what to expect when it came to this enhanced serum—well, he did deduce the effects, but it was always subject to change. Biology was always hard to predict.
He mentally grinned before standing up and carefully transferring the serums from inside the vials to the long syringes in the room. He then placed the aforementioned syringes into compartments that went into his backpack.
He chuckled, slinging on his backpack while his eyes briefly flashed a bright green.
***
"You do know that this is madness, right?" Maya said, strapping Aldrich Killian to the large inclined bed in the laboratory.
"There is a thin line between madness and genius," Killian snorted as Maya clasped the last strap, removing his mobility altogether. He looked at her, his eyes almost dead, "And I've crossed that line. Leapt past it, more like."
"You're self-aware, at the very least," she weakly chuckled before stepping back and looking at her shirtless colleague, his physical disabilities making his position very uncomfortable. "I'm going to ask you once again. Do you know the risk?"
"93 per cent chance of Extremis instability. 95 per cent chance of overdose. 82 per cent chance of heat overload," Killian whispered to himself, closing his eyes, "99 per cent chance of insanity."
"You're still up for this?" Maya said, her eyes emanating sadness. "You can still go back, you know."
"NO!" Killian roared. "The moment we fail this project, they'll doom us to fates worse than death."
"I...alright," Maya sighed, giving in, moving behind an incredibly thick wall of bulletproof glass in the lab and sealing off Killian in a contained room. Her hand hovered over a red button before leaning toward the mic near the control board. "You were one of the smartest colleagues I've ever met, Killian. It was a pleasure working with you."
He merely closed his eyes once more, refusing to say a word.
"Killian?"
Silence.
'You're such an idiot. You don't have to do this,' she mentally groaned before slipping on some sunglasses and forcing herself to press the button.
CLICK!
KRRRRR!
A sophisticated metallic arm retracted from the ceiling, a fiery liquid burning within the syringe grafted onto it.
'Amidst the fiery embrace, I shall forge my truest strength,' he chanted mentally as he heard the arm slowly descend before inserting the syringe into the back of his head.
"Urgh!!!" he growled, gritting his teeth as the needle released the fluid up to the cervical nerves, into the bloodstream, permeating the nervous system and accessing the body's recovery complex—the portion of the brain that holds the mapping of all human features. It immediately began rewriting the data, manipulating and convincing the body that the current features of the body needed to be changed... upgraded.
"AAAAARGH!!!" Killian roared and his veins began glowing, as though liquid lava flowed through them.
His skin, muscle, and skeletal system went through an overhaul, melting and burning before being reforged—stronger, more efficient, and far, far deadlier. But this made the temperature of his body skyrocket so high, he looked like the sun, melting through the incline bed and slamming onto the floor below.
"Persist through the trials that fiercely shower, for within endurance blooms the path to power," a garbled yell rang out from the light cocoon accompanied by pained yells.
"Why on earth is he sprouting poems—Ah!" Maya's eyes widened from behind the sunglasses as she watched the bulletproof wall and the reinforced floor began to melt due to the heat. 'Is it... did it already happen?'
"AARGH!!...AAAA...A..aa...a"
Eventually, the light cocoon began to recede as Killian's screams began to stop, being replaced by heavy pants.
"Killian?" Maya asked tentatively, as the smoke dispersed, revealing a stark naked man slowly standing up on his perfectly balanced feet that were previously lopsided. The previously disfigured man now looked like a real-life Adonis—his practically perfect figure naked for the world to see.
Unfortunately, not everything was roses and rainbows, as there was one thing that wasn't perfect about him.
One tiny flaw that made Maya's eyes turn from joy to horror.
His eyes.
Ones that were on the cusp of spilling into insanity.
"Al-Aldrich?" Maya stuttered as she slowly backed her way to the exit.
An animalistic growl escaped his throat, his insane pupils glowed bright orange as his feet dug into the ground, before blasting forward with tremendous speed.
BOOM!
He vanished and reappeared before her, melting through the glass as quickly as melting putty.
"What are you doing!" she squeaked as her skin began to blister at the heat.
"Once a pawn, now deemed expired, while time's cold touch quenches your fire," he snarled before his fist blurred and smashed through her stomach, ripping out her guts in a grandiose move.
Maya's breath caught in her throat, doomed never to leave as the light vanished from her eyes.
"W-why?" she gasped as she collapsed in a pool of her own blood while her former colleague towered over her, his body wreathed in molten hot veins.
Killian didn't bother paying attention to her words, madness continuing to consume his scattered mind. He took a deep breath before the temperature of his body began to climb again.
"The blood of the dragons is destined to be mine, Burned it shall be, never to be thine," he snarled once more before letting loose a torrent of fire from his open mouth, burning his and Maya's life's work to the ground.
The Extremis Formula was gone.
The only key to it being his very own body.
It would be his, and only his.
Or will it?
***
'Am I a junkie?' he asked as he stared at the two syringes before him before lightly slapping himself and picking up the Genelock Serum. 'Questions for another time.'
He stood in a familiar abandoned room that was now coated in soot due to the fire he'd lit here. There was nothing flammable here other than the things he'd left to burn which was why it didn't spread.
SHINK!
Peter barely flinched as the needle pierced his forearm—the pain he'd gone through when adapting his Genome made this look like a child's play. The liquid silently dispersed into his bloodstream without inducing pain or discomfort.
'A welcome change,' he grinned before taking a deep breath and looking at the other serum that flickered a dangerous blood-red.
"Now, for the finale", he whispered, the flame in his eyes rising up into an inferno.
***
I am REALLY sorry for not completing the chapter cause I am half asleep from twelve hours of college and assignments. I don't think I can do justice to the transformation in my current state. There is a solution though, give me powerstones to help me power through my exhaustion! : )
***
