Watching Pamela try and fail to stick a needle into me again and again is both amusing and touching. The agonizing ordeal I've been through has rewarded my body with increased resistance to physical damage. According to my Endurance stat, which reflects the body's physical resilience, in my current state my endurance is more than four times that of a normal person. So, it's no surprise that a regular medical needle simply can't pierce thick skin.
Pamela must have realized this too, as she put away the rather misshapen syringe. I thought she'd changed her mind about taking blood, but it turned out doctors aren't so easily swayed.
She quickly sprouted a bare stem and, as usual, wrapped it around my arm. Just like during the meta-gene injection, the plant sprouted thorns and, piercing me with its fine needles, sucked my blood. Ivy nodded contentedly and put away the vial of red liquid.
"Since we're done here, let's go see Kavita and Alison," I suggested to the girl, mentally selecting clothes from my inventory. After the modification procedure, I was still sitting naked, noting to myself that Ivy wasn't encouraging me to put anything on. I chose a comfortable tracksuit and was dressed in it in an instant.
"Do you know how worried Dr. Rao has been about you all this time?" I said to the girl as we walked through the corridors. "She's been pretty nervous, ever since you got so engrossed in your research and completely ignored her, especially your joint project. She was literally studying the Lazarus Pit alone."
"You're right, I'm guilty before her…" Isley agreed. "I should apologize. By the way, which Alison were you talking about?" I told Ivy about Dazzler, how she, as a mutant, agreed to provide Babylon with her DNA. Such a selfless act impressed the former Gotham criminal.
According to her, she would never have dared to do something like that herself, as she valued her individuality too much. We turned down the corridor, leaving behind the northern part of the building, which was managed by Pamela. The southern side was in the possession of Kavita. And if the north could easily be called a paradise, the south resembled a hellish haven, for it was difficult to describe the mad scientist's lair in any other way.
The laboratory was filled with a variety of vials and flasks: some containing chemicals, some empty; on the tables were test tubes with tissue samples. A strange liquid, heated by a burner, boiled in thick-bottomed vessels. The refrigeration chambers were filled with the corpses of animals, the exact ones no longer distinguishable.
On the shelves were vials; in them, floating in a murky green liquid, were brains, lots of brains! Probably those same unfortunates who were no longer recognizable. Yes, this place could be set in a horror movie! Almighty author, what on earth was she doing here? The last time I was here, everything wasn't so scary.
Three people stood behind an impressive stack of papers near a glass case. One of them clearly didn't like it here. Poor Alison, witnessing the nightmare unfolding here, paled completely. I'm sure she regretted her decision to come here for the thousandth time. Kavita, completely oblivious to her guest's plight, continued chatting casually.
The third participant in the conversation, the insane Harley Quinzel, finally noticed her friend's blank stare and, interrupting the professor's endless monologue, began to console Dazzling.
Sometimes you forget that with all her inherent carelessness and madness, The cheerful blonde remains a qualified specialist in the field of psychology. And one of the best in her field. Moreover, unlike the research-obsessed scientist, Harley knows Alison well, since she is, after all, the director of the music studio, which Harley herself has recently joined. You could say that the frightened singer is her immediate superior.
Okay, it's time to join the group: scold Kavita, praise Harley, and calm Alison down.
"Alex!" the clown shouted, seeing me, and, completely forgetting about her unfortunate friend, threw herself into my arms. "I've been waiting for you so much! Hmm, is it just me, or have you become even more beautiful?" Harley tilted her head from one side to the other, examining me from every angle. Well, she's right; after the Ivy meta-gene, I really have pumped up my charisma. But that's not important right now... I asked the ladies present to listen to my words and gave them a short moralizing talk.
They listened to my lecture in silence, heads down, not wanting to meet my gaze. But it didn't last long: as soon as I finished speaking, everything returned to normal. They acted as if the conversation had never happened. Ah, apparently no one was listening to me…
"Alex, where are Sasha and Tatsu?" asked Harley, hanging on my shoulders. "I haven't seen them for a long time, and they always hang around you."
"Today is Christmas, I let them go enjoy the holiday. You will be able to see Sasha tonight when we all get together. And please, could you get off me?" I asked the harlequin.
"Hm... No! Ha-ha!" laughed Quinzel and wrapped her legs around my waist. I capitulated, handing over all authority to the girl. In truth, I didn't mind Harley's impulsiveness and excessive attention. I loved her carefree attitude, her childish demeanor, occasionally giving way to feigned seriousness, and her happy, childish smile filled me with genuine awe and genuine affection.
She lived in her own fairytale world, where joy and merriment were literally at every turn and served as her faithful companions. Even in this eerie laboratory, nothing could darken her world of pink ponies. If anything, this horror even brought new colors to her fantasies. I finally got around to asking the brilliant doctor what she had done to her workspace.
"Studying the water from the Lazarus Pit," Cavito replied. "Did you really think that was an easy process? I tore my hair out for a long time before I was able to isolate the necessary concentrate from the mystical liquid. To bring the substance to a safe state, I had to conduct a series of experiments. All of this," she pointed to the animal corpses, "is the result of failure! I had to literally dissect bodies to identify the problem and create a stable formula! That's science! To create, you have to sacrifice. But the results... are worth it." She approached the glass case again.
Finally, in a confinement hidden behind a stack of papers, I saw a briskly running white rat. Quite a large specimen - one and a half times larger than its fellows.
"Did you succeed?" I asked breathlessly, examining the furry rodent.
"As you can see," Dr. Rao leaned over, observing the fruit of her labor with satisfaction. "And it was by no means easy... As you can see!"
Raising her voice, she again pointed her finger towards the dismembered figures.
"Forgive me, forgive me," I began to apologize, not wanting to provoke the anger of the young scientist. "You are a real miracle. I never doubted you for a second."
"Apology accepted," the girl chuckled, taking a vial of blood from her coat pocket. "I can't be angry with you. Especially after you brought me such a valuable gift. Thank you…"
She gave me a sincere smile, and I was once again convinced that for her, nothing is more important than her work and research. Studying the unseen and making new discoveries—that's what Kavita Rao truly desires. If that's her wish, I'll do everything I can to make her happy. Even if it means extracting the blood of Thanos himself.
In the meantime, she would have to study Dazzler's DNA. And, apparently, Rao had already obtained the long-awaited sample.
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Thank you all for reading.
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