The Creation of Mantis [Short Story]

The Creation of Mantis

The halls were a blinding white, winding around the whole establishment like a cruel snake slithering through a tunnel. Strolling through the halls of white was a man in black, tall and dark haired. His pale complexation blending in with the white background that plated the halls. His cobalt blue eyes were shining with excitement as he slithered past the nurses and doctors. He burst into the main room, looking to the glass doors that acted as a shield against the fog that collected outside. A wide smile broke across his face as three figures walked forward, his smile turned into a confused look when the tallest of the three turned out to be the boy he was after. He re-checked the papers in his pocket, there was nothing about the boys height, but he sure was taller than he had anticipated. As the man opened the door for the other two to enter, the boy ducked down under the low framed door way and strolled with his mother up to him. "Ah, willkommen mein friends! Oh, pardon me. My English isn't so good. Mein namen ish Lichter Lorin, Doctor Lichter Lorin and you must be young Arcculartis?" Lichter smiled, looking up to the boy. Whose hand was clenched tightly with his mothers, despite being twice as tall as her, it looked like he was trying to hide behind her.
"Yes, this is my son. What do you want with Arc?" The mother asked with a raised brow. Lichter gave her a patient smile and bowed slightly as the father approached, placing a gentle hand on the boys arm.

"Well, your son has been chosen for a special project. A lucky draw of the hat if you must say," Lichter began, catching a deadly glance from the father. "You see, we here at this fine establishment are working on the newest development of the human body and thus far we have not had the pleasure of having a demi-god here-"
"Then why don't you take me?" The father asked.
"And what is your name sir?" Lichter smiled again, his smile was becoming less patient the more he had to talk.
"Daniel" he replied with no question.
"Well, Daniel, we can not accept that. You see, age has a huge factor in the role of our project, your son here, I do believe, is only nine years of age currently," Lichter continued.
"Doctor Lichter Lorin..." Arcculartis muttered. Lichter arched a brow to the gentle giant. He looked around for a moment, his oddly coloured eyes scanning the area for a moment and looking him up and down. "You're establishment works on genetic mutations and development, you're a masochistic surgeon, who gets pleasure from other peoples suffering-"
"-Arcculartis silent," the mother whispered and the boy obeyed.

"Masochistic is going a little too far, and I do not get pleasure from others suffering. I am an artist, nothing more and nothing less. Yes, here we do work on genetic mutations, but I assure you that is in another section of this facility and no where near where your son will be kept during his time here" Lichter composed. Lying through his teeth had became an art he was an expert at, he looked to the father who gave a small grunt to him. "Tell me arcculartis, how do you know about this?"
"I observe," He replied, "The bruise on your neck and the rope burn along your wrists indicate you're into some weird stuff."
"Interesting," Lichter muttered, "The burns on my wrist are due to something else, nothing of sexual nature I assure you," He smiled, "Now back to business. So, can he be apart of this new revolution?"

"No," Daniel said, his voice stern as he took a defensive position in front of his son. "You are not taking my boy and that is final"
Lichter frowned and clicked his fingers guards entered the room and Daniel unsheathed a dagger in his coat. The batons came out and the guards neared in on them. "I'm afraid you have no options," Lichter smiled.
"Mommy?" The boy whimpered.

"Stay close," the mother cooed her son. Daniel struck out at one of the guards as he got close, another guard struck him in the back of the head with a baton, causing him to stagger away from the mother and son. One of the guards grabbed a hold of the mother and the boy kicked at him. The sheer force of his kick sent the guard flying into the wall, creating a dent in the wall. "Stop!" Lichter called out, the guards stopped and he strolled up to the boy.
"Arcculartis, you're an intelligent boy, see this from the logical side... If you don't come with us we will beat your father to a bloody pulp and well... I wont say what my guards can do to your mother-"

"Lay a hand on her you perverted bastard and I'll tear your insides out and make a scarf with your intestines!" A woman's voice hissed as she marched in front of the doctor. Lichter recoiled as she threw the guard off the mother and helped her back to her son. "My boy. You don't have an option I'm afraid, please just go with him..." She said with an innocent voice, glancing up to the giant. Arcculartis' cheeks turned a light shade of red and he looked away from her. Giving a small nod he stepped forward, his mother tried to pull him back, but as she reached for his son a guard grabbed her arm and twisted it behind her.
"No! Please don't take my boy! Please!" She cried, a whimper in her tone as the guard placed his hand over her mouth. A muffled sentence escaped his fingers, but couldn't be heard.

"Well done sally, now. This way please," Lichter guided the boy through the twisting hall ways. His strides proud and strong. Arcculartis was walking in a small shuffle, his long legs unable to walk slow enough with the doctor. "What are you going to do to me?" He asked. Lichter smiled and turned his head to look at the boy, a small smirk on his lips.

"My son, you will soon see," he smiled, clapping his hands. A guard kicked the giants legs from under him and stuck a needle in his neck. Allowing the clear liquid to seep into his blood. "There we go. Take him to the holding cell for me, we'll start soon," Lichter bowed and the guard grabbed the boys arms, dragging him across the ground to the cell. Lichter turned to sally and pulled her close to him, "Hm... Come here..." He purred, leaning down to kiss her, as he got closer she leaned back, trying to get away. She placed her hand on his chest and tried to push him away. Eventually he gave up with a depressed sigh and moved back. "Damn you Sally. I'll get that kiss one day," he smirked, walking down the hall way.

"Aye! When I'm dead and six feet under you perverted fucker," she growled, walking in the opposite direction. Lichter turned his head to watch her walk away, eyeing up her hips as she stormed down the hallway. Biting his lip, he almost collided with one of the other doctors who looked at him with an arched brow. "Are you ok, patron?" He asked.
"Oh, yes. Very well indeed!" Lichter smiled.

"Flirting with miss.bones again I see?" The other doctor smiled, he walked with Lichter down the hall as they talked.
"Flirting? I do not flirt," Lichter said with a sarcastic tone, "I've tried everything to get her to like me, and nothing has happened... We're betrothed to get married soon."
"Sir, if I may make an input, if a woman doesn't like you then she will never. They're stubborn that way," the other doctor chuckled as he stopped next to a door, "This is my patient, have fun with the project, Doctor Lorin," He bowed and entered the room.

Lichter smiled and walked down to the large operating room. Inside was a large glass cage in the middle of the room with a stone table inside. Chained down was the boy. his legs and arms dangling off the ends. "Hello," Lichter smiled. Walking over to a table lined with chemical bottles, "We need to numb you... unfortunately we can't knock you out or use painkillers so we'll need to make you immune to pain. I tried this with the last six experiments and well... it didn't turn out well..." he smiled, filling a syringe with a strange coloured liquid and walking over to him. Entering the cage, he shut the door behind him and approached the boy, running his hand through the white mane. "This will hurt, a lot," lichter chuckled before placing the syringe into the boys neck "And you're right, I am a masochistic."

Arcculartis lay there for a bit, as he opened his mouth to speak he felt something burn, something stabbed him in the chest, then shot all around his body. His back arched as he screamed in pain, Lichter stepped back and watched as the serum took effect, biting his lip. Arcculartis snapped one of the chains as he grabbed the other one Lichter took his hand and placed it back in the hold. "Do not do that my boy, you will only cause yourself more pain," he chuckled as arcculartis hissed and groaned in pain.
"I'll come and check on you in the morning my son," Lichter smiled as he filled another needle and placed it in Arcculartis' neck. As he slipped the needle out, he patted the boy on the head and strode out of the room. Listening to the boys screams of abject agony, a sinister smirk coiling on his lips. Waiting out side of the lab was Sally, her arms crossed over her chest.

"Where do you think you're going?" She asked, her tone dull and commanding as she frowned to the scientist.
"I'm going to bed Sally. Want to join me?" He asked as he strode past her, his hands behind his back as he held his own hands. She gave a small hissed and marched after him, grabbing him by the shoulder she spun him and threw him against the wall, he let a small grunt escape his lips, glaring at her. She forced him to stay still, "Look here you perverted bastard! I will have no doing in what you're trying to accomplish, I was sent here by the military to ensure you are doing your job, not torturing poor children and flirting with me!" She hissed.

"Ah, but Sally. I am doing my job, the flirting is just because we're engaged, I hope you'd remember that," He smirked.
"I am not engaged to you... I will never be, thats why I'm in the military!" She chuckled with a sadistic tone to her voice. Lichter gave her a small chuckle, his tongue flickering out from his lips, she recoiled in disgust and backed off, letting him fall to the ground. He got to his feet and continued to walk down the hall, his smirk widened. "Feel free to pop in, I'm sure we can find something fun to do..." He waved her good-bye as he turned the corner.
Opening the door to his room, he slipped through the small gap he had made for himself in the door way. He hated others seeing his room, he was a tidy man, but he had a lot to hide and his treasure trove of torture was to be kept a secret for due time. He didn't bother taking his cloths off, he only had time for a short nap, plus his cloths were clean enough as they were. Laying on his bed, he moved the pillow under his head and curled himself into a ball, once his eyes was closed he was asleep.
The sound of his alarm clock rattled him awake and he pulled himself out of his bed. Standing at the door was Sally, her arms crossed. He must have slept in. A quick stretch and he was off down the hall way, walking quickly to see his experiment in its-

The boy had gotten out of his bounds and was sprawled out on the floor in front of the cage door. He must have gotten that far before he passed out from exhaustion. Lichter trailed along the edge of the cage, as he came into view of the boys face he noticed he was awake, his eyes following him. The green eye's pupil had developed into some form of vertical oval in his eye, pointed at both ends. Along his face, stretching to the edge of his ears was a long wide cut that oozed with blood. He pulled himself up like a deranged creature as Lichter crouched down to see his experiment, scuttling back the boy hid under the table. "Now my boy, what is wrong?" Lichter asked, he opened the door and stepped in. Inspecting the boy from under the table before he left the room again. Creating a new concoction he glanced over to Sally who tapped her watch.
Unlike his previous experiments, he had plenty of time to work on them, each time however; diminished as he progressed. Hardly any of the six before the boy were successful and the demand from The Order was getting a little hard to keep up with. Once his combination was completed he gave a light sigh, looking at the several chemical compounds he had to inject into the boy in the matter of 12 hours. But there were too many needles to do in 12 hours, plus many would counteract the other in such short space of time. "I wonder," he muttered to himself as he took a fresh syringe and filled with a mixture of all forty compounds. As each was added, the liquid became a sickening black. Biting his lip he walked back to the containment cell and opened the door. Looking to the boy as he sat on the table like a child waiting for his lolly from the dentist. His eyes became cold, and empty. Letting all emotion fade from his body and mind. Grabbing the boy by the shirt, he forced him down onto the table, kicking and screaming. Sally banged her palm against the glass wall, shouting in auditable words at him as he placed the needle into the child's neck and let the chemical settle in. While the boy seemed to be temporally paralyzed, he bound him again. Moving further back to watch his work.

It only took a minute before the child's body twitched and flinched. His muscles noticeable shifting under his skin and the sound of his bones cracking made Lichter sick. Giving off an ear bleeding scream, the boy arched his back in pain as he thrashed at his binds. His muscles shifted and his arms tensed. Tearing the chains out from their tether in the ground. He sat up. Lichter gulped.
He felt hands grab his shoulders and throw him out the room just as the child hit the window. Snarling at him with splintered teeth, wide eyes and clawing at the glass. He breathed heavily as he looked to the tortured child as he let another scream out. "It worked! It worked!" He chuckled like a mad man. "I can't believed it worked! Oh my boy... General... You are truly amazing!" He smiled. Sally slapped him and grabbed him by the shoulders.
"Are you fucking nuts! You've destroyed a perfectly young boy!" She growled.
"You work for the order, you rushed me! I would have made it less painful if it wasn't for you!" He growled, throwing her against the glass window. The creature seemed to have calmed at the sight of her, but at Lichters actions, it trusted its fist through the glass. Shattering the door. Stumbling out, it raced for Lichter. Sally pushed him back and grabbed the creatures arm, it giving a small whimper as she did. Lichter seized his chance and bolted out of the lab. He had done it! He had succeeded. Grabbing his notes on the way out he noted what he had accomplished. A mixture of multiple compounds seemed to work, however, with the creature in this state he had no chance of getting close.