Board Thread:Roleplay/@comment-26288702-20161103020802/@comment-28358106-20161112004845

As soon as I enter the room, my eyes turn to the containers as the fluids churn inside them. I can identify what I see just by what I smell. Ammonia. Formaldehyde. Methanol. Potassium chloride. My skin tingles and my sinuses twinge at the strength of the ionization of the air...ozone, nitrous oxide. I taste copper. Electricity. Lots and lots of electricity. Nothing unfamiliar, but in these quantities...

With a snap, the lights go out, leaving me alone in the dark in the cavernous laboratory with its smells and sounds. Popping sounds fill the air and echo in the chamber as a blue strobe flashes on the other end of the room. Arcs of electricity crawl up a pair of copper pillars several stories high. A Jacob's Ladder. Above it, an enormous plasma coil begins its droning whine as it powers on, the green, writhing tentacles of energy glowing brighter. Hissing from a vent, steam begins to fill the far end of the room...

''"AAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!  Finally, you decide to pay me a visit!" ''

The shrill voice could peel paint. With a flash, the Little Man's face is projected onto the cloud of billowing steam, a towering visage tinted green. He grins at me with teeth the size of wagon wheels.

"You were fortunate enough to catch me in my dissection room when last we met, Doctor!  But not this time.  Oh, no no no no.  No no no.  You see, I was rather counting on that endocrine system from that Harpy spy you stole from me.  It's important to my research, you see.  Yes.  Her kidneys and lower ventricles worked well enough, so I was saving the rest for later."

I stick my hands in my pockets. "You could clone your own.  You seem to have quite a few growth problems yourself.  I recommend a strict regimen of B vitamins and plenty of sun."

The giant smile wavers for but a second. ''"Well said, Doctor, but I'M the one with the laboratory here!  Not you!  This experiment is MINE!  It is MINE!  DO YOU HEAR ME?!" The face shakes with rage. ''

"No, actually, it belongs to Armata.  And it will be leveled quite soon, but not soon enough.  If we don't do it, Conrad Wulf will.  I personally don't plan on giving him the satisfaction."

"SILENCE!  HERE, I AM THE MASTER OF -"

"And if it were your laboratory, you would be in control of the lights.  Surely, you can control your own lights." I take a hand from my pocket and raise it up into the air slowly. The lights slowly brighten back to their previous levels.

The hologram of the Little Man's face, now twisted in anger, jerks around as he tries various levers to turn them off again. He gives up, sneering.

"Very well.  I had wished to grant you a death in the dark, but now, I will allow you to see that which will tear you limb from limb."

There is a deep, resounding thud. Metallic clanking sounds and high pitched  hissing echoes from behind the steam hologram. Several clinks, heard rapidly in succession, are followed by the whine of the plasma generator rising to a vibration. Then, the metallic sounds stop, and the only thing heard is the electricity and the generator.

A deep, feminine roar drowns them all out. I cover my ears.

''"HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!  BEHOLD!  BEHOLD, MY GREATEST CREATION, AND DESPAIR!" ''

Deep, slow footfalls are heard on the floor. The sound of labored breathing grows louder, and the steam hologram begins to waver and flicker as a tall shadow, taller than two men, grows darker in the steam as it walks slowly towards me. Arcs of electricity flicker from it, lighting the cloud from within...