Mutagen

<strong>Day 36 – 6:28 AM – Military Laboratory 1st Floor, Port of Real Settlement, Barangay Ungos, Real, Quezon</strong>

"Mark, is something wrong?"

General Faustino could not help but ask since Mark suddenly stopped in front of the window.

Even though a strange thought suddenly sprouted in Mark's mind as he saw the strange lizard, he was not spaced out and was aware of what was happening in his surroundings. He turned to the General and asked.

"So, what is the reason for you to invite me to this place? I doubt that it's just for a tour right?"

As Mark went straight to the point, General Faustino nodded to Professor Suzuki. The professor stepped forward and stated the situation.

"It is about Karlene. As you can see, her abilities differed during her normal and berserk states. We already managed to do physical and psychological tests on her when she's normal and we already did medical tests during her berserk state when we managed to calm her down with tranquilizers. However, as she always managed to break out in her berserk state and would not cooperate, we could not conduct the other tests we wanted to do. Since seem to be able to calm her and communicate with her, we want you to help with the tests. As you see, we still needed to do the tests as to why she loses control and awareness of herself so we also wanted to do some psychological tests."

"I see."

Mark had already expected this when he saw the effort the military did to catch her. However, their foresight on her situation was totally wrong. She was not going berserk or losing control of herself. The one before them was a totally different consciousness from the original.  Of course, Mark had no reason to tell them what he knew. What he needed to do was to make the most of the situation. Besides, if the tests were not harmful to "Karlene" she most likely would not try to escape since he was here.

Mark looked at the scientist and back to General Faustino.

"What can I get for cooperating on this?"

At that question, the General became troubled and murmurs came from the people around them.

"Normally, we can give out weapons and supplies but I don't think that you have any need for those."

That was true. The military had firearms and supplies but Mark had no use for those. He could find supplies on his own with his abilities. The firearms on the other hand had stronger firepower but were just consumables. Firearms needed bullets and it would be troublesome to go back and forth to military settlements to trade for ammunition since they were the only ones that could provide them. Not to mention that most firearms were loud and would draw a lot of attention in many ways. Mark preferred his crossbows and needle launchers more.

"I have a proposition then." Mark interrupted the murmurs of the people around and took their attention. "Give me the three slimes you have here in your laboratory."

The scientists and the general became wide eyed at his proposition. Most of the things inside the laboratory were top secret and the slimes were one of those since they were creatures that had their existences very close to absurdity. The slimes were living creatures despite the fact that their bodies were only composed of blood. There should have been no way for Mark to know the exact number of the slimes in their laboratory.

"I don't know how you knew the exact number of what we had here but I don't think that we can agree to that."

That was what the general said but Professor Suzuki seemed to have a different thought.

"General, wait a second. Don't disagree too fast." Professor Suzuki said and turned to Mark. "I heard that you have two and found another one hours ago. I'm very interested of how you managed to tame them and I also want to know the reason why you requested those out of all things. Actually, I won't be surprised if you asked for that lizard there."

Mark looked straight at Professor Suzuki. As expected of a scientist, he was more interested in the information and data than immediately declining the proposition. It also showed that this person was very observant and saw Mark's reaction when he saw the lizard inside the room.

"You already said it. I have three with me. You can say that they have a connection to me and that is why I can tame them. In any case, the method can't be replicated by just anybody. Besides, I'm sure that you all have no use to them at all aside from keeping them as specimen, am I right?"

Mark then panned his eyes to everyone.

"I'll be frank. Aside from asking to use the transceiver and finding a vehicle which I already had, one of the reasons I'm here is to retrieve those three. Even if you all wanted it or not, I'll take them back. I don't think that anyone of you can stop me."

It was a frank and blatant threat but they could not deny it. With Mark's prowess, none of them would be able to stop him from taking them.

Professor Suzuki shrugged his shoulders with a bitter smile and turned to General Faustino. It seemed that there would be no way for them to get the information they wanted from Mark easily.

"Just agree to it General."

"Are you sure?"

"Actually, we're already done with all the tests and experiments we can do with those three. There is no need to dissect them either since the insides of their bodies were plain to see. If we can move our stagnated research with Karlene, giving out those three is already a bargain. Even I can't see any advantage into keeping those three. In every day that passed, those three are growing weaker, it won't be long before those three died."

With the consent from the head scientist, the General also agreed. Mark also found this scientist in front of him as someone interesting.

Mark was brought into a wide room at the second floor of the laboratory. Here, the tests necessary to be done by "Karlene" was conducted with his help. Amazingly, "Karlene" obeyed Mark's instructions as long as he patiently explained to her what she needed to do. It was quite of a slow process because of the communication barrier but the tests were done in several hours.

During the physical tests, Karlene in her transformed form even surprised Mark. Although she was lacking in move speed, her physical strength and reflexes were top notch and several times higher than normal humans. According to Professor Suzuki, she even had the highest physical evaluation compared to all the Mutators in the settlement they had tested before.

In the middle of the tests, Mark had a sudden intermission when he felt that Oracle and Crimson was calling onto him. As "Karlene" would not behave without Mark, he brought her along and vanished in a puff of black mist that surprised everyone that had not seen it before. They were afraid that Mark would take Karlene away but Jones and Professor Suzuki knew that he would not run away. After all, the three slimes were not handed to him yet.

About five minutes later, Mark returned inside the Laboratory with Karlene. This time however, he had a sulking fairy on his shoulder and he had his bag on. The eyes of the scientists shone seeing a creature of fairy tales in front of them but of course, Mark would not let them touch Amihan in any way.

While Karlene undergone the next set of tests, Mark requested the three [BloodChildren] to be brought to him which was immediately granted.

The three [BloodChildren] given to him were surely in good condition and were encased in clean aquariums. Still, they were weak. This was one of the problems why most [BloodChildren] died. It was not only because they had no way to find food on their own and they had a very inefficient way of consuming blood. Even Crimson that he found first in the river was only able to recover after being changed by Mark's blood.

'Poor Children.'

That was what Mark thought when he saw the [BloodChildren] in their aquariums shrink back in fear when he extended his hands on them. They even attacked by extending tentacles on his hand but Mark was not afraid of it. Since there were people around, he stealthily extended a [Blood Whip] on his palm and secretly turned the [BloodChildren] when no one was looking. He also gave the three a bit more of his blood to help them recover a little.

Everyone around were all watching the test Karlene was doing as she slashed her claws on different materials prepared. When they turned back to Mark, they were all surprised when they saw five slimes playing on the table in front of him while one was clinging to his arm.

Mark had brought Oracle, Crimson and Ivy inside his bag but the three were all excited about the existence of their new brothers and sister. The new [BloodChildren] were still shy as this was a new experience for them but they looked better with their deep red color like what Crimson had.

Oracle and Crimson were bouncing around the three extending tentacles on the three as if patting their heads to assure them. The two was obviously copying what Mark was doing to them when he patted their jelly like bodies. Ivy on the other hand was just clinging onto Mark's arm while paying attention to the situation on the table.

A deep sense of curiosity could be detected from Professor Suzuki when he saw the changes on the [BloodChildren] especially when he saw Oracle and Ivy that had a very different color than the others. However, it was out of question. These children belonged to Mark now and there was no way that he would return them.

When "Karlene" returned from the test where she ran towards Mark as if escaping from the scientists, Mark gave her a pat on her head which she seemed to like a lot. On the side however, both Joash and Major Bautista had complicated expressions on their faces. They both felt like they were being neglected here. However, the two could not do anything. While Karlene was in this form, she could not recognize the two.

As for turning back to normal, it would happen eventually as it had always been. It had been like this since she became like this.

"Karlene" seemed to be interested at the [BloodChildren] on the table but it seemed that her existence overpowered the three new ones and they shrunk back in fear. On the other hand, "Karlene" also had a trace of fear on her despite her interest.

"We're done for now."

Professor Suzuki approached Mark and said. His eyes were glued at the [BloodChildren] though.

"Shouldn't you finish all the tests already?"

Mark asked but his question was met with a shake of the professor's head.

"Look at her eyes. The glow is already starting to disappear. It's an indication that she's about to return to normal."

Mark looked at her eye and saw that the glow was really lesser than before.

"She can't control this transformation right?"

"Unfortunately, yes. This only happens randomly and who knows when she will break out again."

While Mark and Professor Suzuki were talking, the emergency alarm of the settlement sounded. The sound was different to the alarm used when Karlene broke out of the laboratory.

"Another attack, huh. This should be the infected again. It's a pity they came late. I wanted to test and see how Karlene would cope with fighting the infected."

Professor Suzuki looked at "Karlene" who was grasping Mark's hand once more. The glow on her eyes was growing dimmer and dimmer.

Hearing what the Professor said, Mark also became interested. Sure enough, this Karlene could fight. However, she only used her kicks before when she tried to escape and never her claws and other abilities.

Mark's eyes and right hand suddenly glowed with milky white light as he tried to enforce this "Karlene's" consciousness like how he did with Mutators he helped before. Luckily, it was successful. Her purple eyes glowed brighter which made the Professor taken aback.

The Professor could not help but turn to Mark as his interest in the latter grew. He was really an arsenal of mysteries.

Mark on the other hand turned to "Karlene".

"Karlene… No, let's just call you Karla. Want to play a bit? We have playmates outside."