Hakase Ni walked into the lab where Akane was being... altered. The girl herself was unconscious, strapped to a table in a sealed room, with only a sheet covering her. Various tubes ran to and from the girl, and a large helmet covered her head and the upper part of her face.
"So, Dr. Yoshimatsu," Hakase began, talking to the small man who walked up to him, "I understand you decided to forego using Stomm's formula."
Dr. Yoshimatsu, a smaller man with an unfortunately large nose and oily hair, nodded. "Yes. Research indicated that formula had certain... mental side effects. Irrational bouts of anger and violence, paranoia, dementia.... The psych department's report said that the subject already tended toward irrational anger and violence. I felt there was too great a risk of her becoming an out-of-control berserker with that. At some point, I'd like to test that formula out on someone with a more stable psyche..."
Hakase nodded. "Yes, yes. I trust your discretion, Doctor. So what are you using on the subject?"
"Something we received from Dr. Vossen of the Germany branch. A retrovirus that will alter her genetic code a bit. We are currently giving it some last-minute adjustments so that it will be invisible to her immune system."
"And what will this do?"
Dr. Yoshimatsu shrugged. "Nothing too spectacular. Enhanced strength, endurance and speed, hopefully to superhuman levels. Possibly an enhanced healing rate and/or senses as well. Run of the mill enhancements, really. But if this works, we can potentially use this process to recreate the powers of any mutant or mutate in another person. Imagine it... get some blood from say... Magneto. Then we can make soldiers with his awesome command of magnetic forces!"
Hakase nodded. A worthy goal indeed. "And about how long will this take?
"The retrovirus will finish its job and die off within a few hours of infection. On the other hand, it could take up to several days for any physiological changes to finish."
"And the rest?"
"The transmitters have already been implanted. We will be able to constantly monitor her physical status, brain waves, and general health." Now Dr. Yoshimatsu frowned. "The subliminals seems to be going well... she is, as psych said, susceptible to suggestions." He paused, before going on, "Sir? Why are we doing this? I would have thought that programming her to be absolutely loyal to us would be more effective..."
Hakase smiled and shook his head. "No. At this time, we need a... disposable agent that won't be immediately linked back to us. Right now, Japan is ideal for our needs. But people like Sinister or whoever else is behind that breeding program... they could upset the balance. A war from Japan, either Civil or International, can only end in destroying the balance we so enjoy. But if we employed any of our usual methods to try and influence things, we will only serve to draw attention to ourselves." He gestured at Akane. "So instead, she will act for us. When she wakes up, all she will remember of the last little while is that she was badly wounded, and the rescued by an organization called New Dawn Research. The she agreed to be altered so as to avenge the death of her father and find her sisters. And that NDR is a beneficial organization helping her." He gave a brief chuckle. "Of course, she's going to be doing other jobs to help NDR until they can find what she wants."
He turned to face Dr. Yoshimatsu. "She'll never equate NDR with AIM. And even if something goes wrong, NDR will disappear within minutes. She will be protecting out interests in Japan without drawing attention to us."
"Still," Yoshimatsu replied, "she could turn against us."
"On the off chance that that occurs," Hakase said, "I trust a suitable surprise could be included?"
Yoshimatsu nodded. "I know just the thing."
Hakase looked over Akane once again. "What about equipment and armaments?"
Dr. Yoshimatsu lead Hakase away. "I understand technologies has managed to reverse engineer several pieces of equipment we 'acquired' recently, and are very anxious to test them..."
(Posted Mon, 23 Dec 2002 02:41)
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