A father's decision.

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Location: Middle of the Forsaken Desert.

Time: May 7th, 2002

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Helicopter fans blow against the desert sand creating a small tornado-like wind. There was a big compound standing in the middle of the desert. As the helicopter successfully landed on a helipad inside the compound, Mr. Darkling and Charles; his head butler descended the chopper.

Inside the compound were many other buildings and workers. It was a mixture of many professionals, engineers, pharmacists, medical attendants and scientists.

As Mr. Darkling passed by, everyone who saw him bowed in respect. Following Mr Darkling closely behind was Charles, who clings to him as a body guard or a personal assistant more than a head butler.

The followed a straight path in the middle, the more they walked, the lesser people around, they finally stopped as they reached a tall cubicle, that was restricted for "Official use only".

Charles opened it and gestured for Mr. Darkling to head inside first as they both entered the cubicle, Charles pressed a red button and they started to go down. When the door opened, they were met with another door.

Mr. Darkling adjusted his necktie and walked towards the door. When he reached the door, he stood and a scanner scanned his face, he put in his fingerprints and they got verified, the automatic door opened revealing the white hallway, with a modern technology vibe.

He walked through the hallway, passing each room where they conducted experiments on robots and some on animals, injecting them with various medicines. People who were working stopped to bow in greeting whenever he walked past them.

He stopped at a particular one, looking through the window as he saw a woman in a lab coat and with googles engrossed in typing. Beside her table, were many laboratory tubes, including test tubes, PCR tubes, culture tubes, and centrifuge tubes and they all had different liquids of different color in them.

In the middle of that particular room was a large transparent tube that could contain a human, it had a green liquid and other tubes connecting to it. Mr. Darkling after spectating for a moment entered the lab.

"How's the research going?" He asked as he approached the woman, surprised to see him, she stood up and immediately showed her respect by bowing.

"Sir, you came." She greeted but Mr. Darkling ignored her, his interest was more on his question and on monitor. Knowing him, he wasn't going to repeat his question, so she answered.

"I've been trying my best, there's a lot of options to choose from, a lot of plausible possibilities but they could prove dangerous to his mental and physical health."

"Is it enough to kill him?" He questioned while still looking at the monitor, expressionless as usual.

"I... I don't think so sir, But it might paralyze or disfigure him." The lady's voice was shaky, she didn't know of what to make of his question, of course, he was going to explain himself and it was what she prayed he never said.

"Then try all of them until one works,"

"Sir?" She dared to say, hoping he would think about what he just said and change his mind.

Mr. Darkling turned to leave but she called back to his attention.

"But sir he's still young..." She voiced.

"Who said you're starting now? Take the next two years and make your preparations. Make sure he doesn't die."

She couldn't understand, why he wanted to subject his last son to a dangerous experiment like that one, yes, she was told the story, but, being a devil's host doesn't make him a complete monster.

No, there was no way she could do it, but how could she say that to this man, Darkling, one of the most powerful people in the country? He's cold-hearted and kills in an instant, although it may seem impossible, but she'd rather die than go on with this.

"Sir... I... I..." She tried to speak up, but her words wearing coming out, but when Mr Darkling turned to look at her, she choked in her breath.

"You can't? You seem to have forgotten your role here, you are to obey all of my commands without question, do you need a reminder?" The choking young lady felt goosebumps as chill ran down her spine.

It became hard to breathe, the room pressure became stronger and the air thicker.

Mr Darkling wasn't using any kind of chi or energy, not even his aura because he knew it was going to be very dangerous for an ordinary human girl. But his stare was intimidating enough, a psychological effects of his reputation and power.

Despite his expressionless face, at he was the voice of death to her. His glowy crimson red eyes; was nightmare to most who have had an encounter with it. The woman was already on her knees gasping for air while holding her neck.

"Do as you're told and be at your best, especially if you want to save him, Augustina." He said and his eyes reverted to normal, before he turned and walked out of the room.

~Cough, cough~ She coughed greedily, she has heard of his strength and how he became the second strongest man in the country, but didn't expect him to be so unreasonably strong with just his stare. He always had an expressionless face and didn't react to anything he said, he would say a simple 'Yes' or 'Ok' whenever he approved and just ignored whenever he didn't.

"Sigh... You dumb girl, you had to go and get yourself almost killed." She whispered to herself after she recovered a little. She sat on the ground and rested her back on the table for support.

"I guess I have no other choice than to follow orders, I wonder if he's really planning on saving him.' She looked up at the ceiling, and teleported into her world of thoughts.

'Well, he's Darkling after all, no one ever knows what he's thinking, but those eyes... They looked really.... Sad.' She remembered seeing the sadness in his eyes, despite all his attempt to hide it.

"Who would have thought that the Darkling would feel sad, no, it's who still believes he's a human. I preferred categorizing him as an alien, so his personality and strength will make sense to me, but now I'm convinced. He's a human.Well it's none of my concern. time for work." She got up, sat back down her chair and continued her research.