章 151: 149: A Company of Fools: Revolutionary Awakenings III
"CHASE! CHASE!" Bo bellowed as he pounced on the laboratory door.
"BOSS! BOSS! OPEN UP! BOSS!" Sin yelled as well. I opened the door and stood in front of both of them with a cheerful look on my face.
"Hey, what's up?" I asked. Bo rushed forward and hugged me by my waist.
"CHASE! IWASSOWORRIEDITHOUGHTYOUWEREDEAD!
" Bo babbled hysterically as he started crying into my shirt. I ran my hair through his hair reassuringly and chuckled lightly.
"I'm fine. You don't have to worry anymore. I'm fine." I said softly. Bo cried for a few minutes before he finally calmed down. He sniffled and dried his eyes as he took a step back from me.
"Hey, boss, mind filling me in here? The kid just came and grabbed me with that massive evo of yours and said you were in danger and needed me." Sin said, speaking up.
"Yeah…come inside. I'll explain." I said, turning and motioning them to both follow me. Alpa'nagia, who had been waiting patiently behind Bo and Sin, returned to my crystal. The three of us entered the lab, and I led them over to the corpse or rather what remained of the corpse of the primordial. "Bo and came in to check on the status of the evos, and we were attacked by the primordial. It had busted out of the maturation tank and wanted to kill us."
"IT GOT LOOSE!" Sin exclaimed.
"Yeah, but don't worry, Bone-lasher and I took care of it…." I said, then pointed to the remains.
After the primordial died, it started to decompose rapidly but not into a lump of flesh and maggots like a normal living being or evo. The primordial's body turned black first, then slowly liquefied in a black tarry soup. All that was left now was a puddle where the primordial had been.
"…it seems that evos created using my shaping process can only maintain a living body as long as their mana crystal remains undamaged. Once destroyed, they turn to goop." I added.
"Well, that's not normal…" Sin said with a grimace as he looked at the primordial goop.
"What about the other evos you created?" Bo asked. I pointed to the ceiling where parts of Grimm-Guard's body were visible in the darkness curling around the support beams of the roof.
"Still in the tank. Grimm-Guard, Fours, Bone-lasher, and Empress are watching them to make sure they don't break out like the primordial did." I informed them then led them to the massive maturation tank at the center of the lab.
The vast majority of Grimm-Guard's body was visible above the tank as his head and small section of his upper body descended from the ceiling and watched the evos in the tank intently. Empress sat perched on a low pipe, watching the tank and occasionally grooming her golden feathers. Fours sat atop Grimm-Guard's head and kept a constant vigil on the ogrest evos that Grimm-guard was watching at the moment. Bone-lasher sat curled up in a ball in front of the control panel of the maturation tank.
"THE HELL ARE THOSE!" Sin exclaimed, pointing to Bone-lasher and Empress.
"Bone-lasher, my liger shark and Empress my divine gold qolitz." I said, pointing to each.
Bo rushed up to Bone-lasher and knocked on the armor on his head. Bone-lasher yawned and a spark of electricity shot from his armor and shocked boy. He yipped and jumped back, shaking his hand.
"Ow!" Bo exclaimed.
"Don't poke me while I'm napping then…" Bone-lasher said with a yawn, then stood and shook his whole body. Bo looked up at Bone-lasher with his mouth open he then pointed at the evo and looked back at me.
"You transcended Bone-lasher!" Bo exclaimed.
"Yeah, in a fit of rage…" I said sheepishly. Sin looked up at Empress with a look of awe.
"This that divine gold qolitz that you saved?" Sin asked and pointed at Empress.
"Yes, my lord blessed with this stunning form. He has once again blessed me with flight." Empress said with an elegant flick of her tail feathers that draped daintily over the back of the storage shelf.
"Geez, can all of your evos talk now?" Sin asked. I shook my head, then motioned to Fours.
"Fours can't, and he's told me that he prefers it that way." I said. Fours looked down at me from atop Grimm-Guard's head and nodded approvingly.
[Thank you for understanding, Pretender.] Fours said.
[Of course, I'm not a monster.] I replied.
Sin took his eyes off Empress and looked up at the maturation tank. There was a massive hole in the side of it that looked like it had been punched out with exceptional force. The floor underneath the tank was still damp with the maturation concoction that spilled from the tank. Thanks to the separator inside the tank dividing it into five separate sections, the remaining four evos floated peacefully in the tank. Seemingly unaware and unconscious to what was going on around them.
"What do you want to do with them?" Sin asked. I let out a sigh and gripped the back of my neck nervously.
"I don't know, I've been thinking about that, and the way I see it, I have two options. I can take a gamble and let the remaining four out of the tank and see what happens, or I can play it safe and just terminate them now…"
"You can't get rid of them!" Bo yelled and ran over to the control panel of the tank and stood defensively in front of it with his arms spread wide. "You spent so much time designing them and put so much of yourself into making them."
"Well, I think getting rid of them might be the safe bet." Sin spoke up. Bo's eyes widened as he looked at Sin like he'd just stabbed him in the back.
"How can you say that!" Bo barked.
"Easily, it's the logical decision. We don't know if the primordial attacked you because of a genetic defect or if that's just how evos made using Chase's shaping are at their core." Sin said, hitting on a point that had been nagging me since I killed the primordial.
"You can't just assume that every evo is bad just cause one attacked us! The void drake isn't even the same type as the primordial." Bo defended, then motioned to me. "We don't even know if anyone was hurt."
"That bastard cut off the Star Boss's arm and nearly gutted Bone-lasher." Grimm-Guard summarized. Bo and Sin both gasped and looked at my now fully healed arms.
"IT CUT OFF YOUR ARM!" Sin roared. I raised my left arm up and rolled my wrist and hand leisurely.
"I grew it back…" I said casually.
"Of course you did…" Bo and Sin said in a defeated tone.
"That is another reason why you should just get rid of those evos and go back to the drawing board. If that thing was strong enough to injure you like that as well as your liger shark, then who knows how dangerous those evos would be." Sin said.
"But they didn't break out of the tank, and they're not even awake! You can't just decide they're bad without giving them a chance!" Bo defended. Sin groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Look, kid, I know you're young, and you want to save the 'poor defenseless creatures', but splicing is serious! Chase could have very easily died! You could have very easily died! Let's be safe and try again another day!" Sin snapped.
Bo and Sin went back and forth, arguing about what to do with the evos that were still in the tank. As they weren't back and forth, I felt a tightness in my chest, pangs of guilt and anger. After a few minutes of them arguing, the tightness grew too much to bear.
"ENOUGH!" I bellowed, my voice echoing throughout the lab. Bo and Sin both froze and turned to me with wide eyes. I suddenly regretted snapping but pushed through it. "I need to think. No one does anything with those until I make a decision."
With that, I turned and headed towards the entrance to the lab. I meant to leave without another word, but Grimm-Guard and Empress had other plans.
"Star Boss, let me go with you. You'll need protection." Grimm-Guard said. He was already moving to try and face me while Empress flew from her perch on the storage shed and landed in front of me.
"Yes, my lord! After today, you must remain protected at all times." Empress said.
"I need the two of you here. Empress, you can channel mana and like Alpa'nagia and Bone-lasher, and you can paralyze with your venom Grimm-Guard. I'd rather have you both here in case one of them break out." I said, then reached put to put Empress on the head and instantly regretted it.
Empress feathers looked shiny and metallic because they were shiny and metallic. They were also so sharp that casually brushing my hand against them cut me deeply. Luckily, my mana quickly healed the cut.
"I'm trusting all of you with this as well as all the stuff I have in the vault right now. Can I trust you?" I asked. Empress puffed her chest out and bowed at a sharp angle.
"Of course, my lord! If they try to escape containment, I will dispatch of them without hesitation!" Empress exclaimed tjen flew back to her original perch.
"I'll defend this building as you originally planned Star Boss." Grimm-Guard said.
"Well then, wake me when a fight happens. I'm napping!" Grimm-Guard yawned and stretched before he stood up and walked in a tight circle, then laid back down.
"So shameful, Commander!" Empress chastised. Bone-lasher ignored her and quickly fell asleep or at least pretended to.
[Would you like me to follow the boy and gonk head when they head home to make sure they're safe?]Bone-lasher's voice echoed in my head.
[Yeah, thanks.] I replied.
I headed out of the laboratory, leaving Bo and Sin with my evos, minus Alpa'nagia, who was sitting quietly in my crystal. Once I left the lab, I just channeled volt attribute mana and took off running, not really caring where I ended up. I needed to be away from the lab.
When I finally stopped, I found myself in an unfamiliar part of the campus. It looked like the main quad or at least the quad area for the freshmen in Andromeda. Since I was in Baset's advanced class, the part of the college I was normally in was well removed from the normal freshman to senior classes. Other than walking to and from Baset's lecture hall or to and from the laboratory, I didn't see much of the campus.
I found myself staring up at a statue of some long dead splicer that had some tie to the school, though what that was I couldn't say. Baset wasn't that big on teaching history unless it involved evos or magic.
'Should I just get rid of them? I'm not evn sure what I'm going to do with them after this duel anyway…'
"Well, well, well, just the student I was looking for but not exactly where I expected to find you…" a familiar voice said, breaking me out of my head. I spun around and saw Baset standing behind me with a knowing look on her face.
"Baset…? What are you doing here?" I asked. She arched a brow at me and crossed her arms.
"I'm the one that should be asking that Chase, you're rather far from your lab, and your dorms are in the opposite direction." Baset said. I huffed and crossed my arms, mimicking her stance.
"I'm just taking a walk getting better acquainted with the school." I said defensively. Baset once again arched a brow at me.
"Something is bothering you…walk with me." Baset said, then turned and headed towards down the path leading to the freshman dorms. Knowing that wasn't a suggestion, I turned and followed after her. "Dean Baxter has asked me to investigate a strange incident that happened on campus about thirty minutes ago. Something tells me you are somehow involved."
"Something happens, and I'm automatically pinned as the cause?" I griped, tjen scowled at the Paragon. "You could at least give me the benefit of the doubt."
"Yes, because in our entire history together, you've been nothing but a model student who doesn't cause ant problems." Baset said with a slight laugh and dramatic wave of her hand.
"Hmmm!" I grumbled, which made Baset laugh again.
"In all fairness Chase, I tried to think of any other possibility besides you, but unfortunately, that's not possible. The only answer could be you." Baset said.
"Well, what happened that was so bad that only I could have caused it?" I demanded. Baset stopped and then motioned to the campus around us.
"Haven't you noticed something off?" She asked. I looked around and frowned.
"No, there's nobody here…wait?" I looked again and saw nobody. There was not a single soul around us. It was as if the campus was deserted, which could be explained by the last class of the day for the regular classes. Gadget ended about twenty mutates ago.
"Thirty minutes ago, splicers in a certain area all over campus came under a certain magical attack all at the same time. This attack rendered everyone afflicted unconscious and drained of mana. The few normies that were near splicers that weren't affected say that all of the affected splicers farm crystals started glowing red and they screamed that their mana was being drained…sounds similar to a certain incident you had with a certain elder of your village doesn't if?" Baset said.
"Oh no…" I gasped. The feeling of guilt suddenly quadrupled as I pinched the bridge of my nose. "FUCKING IDIOT! That mana had to come from somewhere! Yeah it was a emergency but…Fuck! Was anyone hurt?!"
"No, they were just drained of enough mana to knock them out." Baser said then placed a hand on my shoulder. "I'd be a little worried about you being able to remotely drain mana from any splicer in your vicinity if you hadn't said it was an emergency, I thought it was one of your spells which is why I called it an attack…why don't you tell me what happened?"
***
"…and then we killed it, I felt that it was the best decision since it had attacked Bo and actually felt joy when it cut off my arm." I said finishing up my account of the fight with the primordial.
Baset and I had moved to a nearby bench where I had told her the whole tale. She listened silently while I recalled everything and from how her eyebrows twitched when I mentioned my shaping technique she was either interested or pissed about it.
"Well it definitely wasn't an attack…" Baset finally said after several moments of silence. "…you probably didn't mean to drain others mana, it was just a survival instinct built into your star farm crystal and fueled by your anger. Still I'm impressed though more than two hundred students were affected by your mana draining and over a radius of several miles. That much mana should have incerated your body but you instinctively used it to transcend your liger shark."
"Yeah I guess…" I muttered with a huff. Baset leaned back and crossed her arms as she looked at me.
"For someone who just created a new way of splicing you are incredibly forlorn." She observed.
"That's because it's a failure…" I muttered. Baset arched a brow at me incredulously.
"What do you mean a failure? You created a full functional evo that could talk!"
"It tried to kill me and Bo! It nearly succeeded!" I exclaimed slamming my fist down on the arm rest of the bench causing Baset to look at me worriedly.
"You can chalk that up to a lot of things Chase, genetic disposition, personality, or even the moon could have been out of alignment. Your Shaping technique works." Baset said. From her tone I could tell she was trying to be encouraging but I was not in the mood for it.
"But now I can't trust that the other evos that I made won't do the same thing and attack when I let them out of the tank...!" I snapped. Baset was silent for a moment then she hung her head down and sighed.
"I see…I guess it was only a matter of time…" Baset said.
"Matter of time…?" I repeated. Baset sat up straight then looked me in the eye.
"A matter of time before you started to doubt yourself." Baset clarified. "Since coming to Andromeda you've had nothing but success. You've liberated a village, defeated and embarrassed several paragons, learned forgotten and lost arts, started a business and easily branded yourself the best student in a paragon's class. One could say that you've gotten cocky since then with your attitude and behavior."
"I have…." I admitted. Baset looked surprised by me admitting that but quickly made her face neutral.
"However knowing your past and your trauma I can see that this is all veiled attempt at dealing with the sudden changes in your life." Baset said. She reached out and placed her hand on my shoulder and gave it a comforting squeeze. "You're worried that you messed up and that something you did wrong made that evo attack you and Bo, you're worried that if you continue down this path that you won't be there to save someone and you'll lose them, and you worry that all the praise and adoration you've been receiving from your classmates and myself is misplaced."
"Y-yes!" I stuttered as I struggled to calm the raging emotions that were threatening to break free of my chest. "I could have lost him! Bo could have died and it would have been my fault! I nearly lost Jane because of a mistake I made! I lost my grandmother because I wasn't strong enough! People can say that it was a noble sacrifice to protect the one she loved but I am a splicer and my one and only job was to CONTROL THAT EVO! I FAILED! I CAN'T…I-I-I can't fail like that again…"
The emotions that I had been struggling to keep suppressed flooded out in that verbal vomit. Tears welled up in my eyes but didn't fall only by the grace of whatever God or goddess was witnessing that moment. I sat there staring at the floor and gripping my knees tightly as I breathed in a panicked state.
Baset said nothing as I sat there and tired to bring myself under control. Her gaze held no judgement as she watched. I was actually glad she said nothing, her trying to console me would have only made things worse. It took a few minutes but I managed to get myself under control, as I wiped the tears in my eyes away Baset spoke.
"So you're plan is to what? Give up? Hide? Run away?" Baset asked.
"I don't know what to do?!" I snapped. Baset stood up and stepped in front of me. She reared back and slapped me so hard I fell off the bench.
"What would your grandmother do…no what would she expect you to do?" Baset asked. I rubbed my cheek.
"To do what she taught me. Take a step back, think about what I need to do in order to make this safer and then come back to it with a clearer head." I said.
"And are you?" Baset asked. I stayed silent for a moment unsure how I wanted to answer. Baset obviously grew impatient with this and spoke for me. "Of course you are. Chase you are onto something great here. Something that only you can do right now. If you give up now when you have a chance to experience something no one else in the world has before…then what was the point of your promise to Lulu'nala?"
My body bristled at the mention of my grandmother's name. I looked up and glared at Baset. I wanted to get mad at her for using my grandmother's name in such a way but she was right. I promised to live my life to the fullest.
That attack was my fault, I was lax and lazy and left five fully formed evos unattended. Even in a techno-splicing factory the evo maturation tanks have a unreal amount of security. My tank had none.
"…Baset….you fight dirty…" I said softly as I glared at her. She smiled and held my hand out.
"I'll take that as a compliment." She said wickedly.
クリエイターの想い 
Hutexa_The_Djinn
Hutexa_The_Djinn [HUTEXA_THE_DJINN HERE! Extra chapter drop. I know that I have a lot of family emergencies and had to take a few hiatus' and I want to thank all my readers that have been faithful to Evo-lution despite this. With a recent death in the family and no end in sight to my family's medical problems I might have to take another hiatus later on down the line but I thank all who have been patient with me and for all the well wishes I have received. I was sure to pass them along.]
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