Capítulo 5: Waking Up Surrounded by Other Grunts
"Good morning, Subject... No... Grunt No. 703."
In front of the large test tube in which I was currently submerged stood a female scientist. She was a beautiful blonde-haired woman, to be precise, as I strained to force my eyes open while enduring the hollow pain in both my head and chest.
This beautiful scientist exuded confidence, standing tall in the dimly lit laboratory with her heels. Her fair skin glowed slightly under the dim light source of the laboratory, complemented by her blonde hair tied into a large bun behind her head.
A square pair of spectacles framed her lovely yet confident face. Her buttoned-up long lab coat hugged her well-endowed figure quite nicely. She embodied the image one might conjure when imagining a sexy female scientist.
Unfortunately, the malicious and mischievous expression that she was showing me placed her firmly in the mad scientist category.
I wished I could gawk and appreciate her somewhat alluring charms, but I was too preoccupied with trying to suppress my pain. I had hoped for the dose of anesthesia that her underling scientists had nearly given me, but this woman was withholding it, which irked me to no end as I shot her a glare. Judging by the mischievous look on her face, she knew it too and was purposefully toying with me.
'Damn it... What is it with me and mischievous and malicious-looking women recently...?' I thought to myself with annoyance. That 'Witch' had also worn a wicked expression to me as she branded me with her so-called "token". If I knew any better, I'd believe I was becoming a defective chick magnet that was only capable of attracting troublesome women.
This scientist woman, Victoria or something, then started to get closer to my test tube. Her eyes turned serious as she used those same eyes to carefully observe me, submerged in this test tube, as if I were a piece of meat hanging in a butcher shop. I wasn't sure how to respond nor did I know why the sudden interest from her, as I was still fighting through the pain emanating from both my head and chest.
As if satisfied with whatever she observed, she showed me another mischievous smile. "Grunt No. 703," she suddenly called me out with the title matching the number label on my chest. I could only muster another glare in response, which seemed to further amuse her. "You are quite an enigma, I'll say," she commented on me.
'Enigma...?' I pondered her words with confusion. I wasn't sure why she was suddenly calling me an 'enigma.' Seeing my confused state, she giggled, further adding to my confusion.
"Yes. An enigma," she affirmed, as if she knew what I was thinking. "Well... we'll leave it at that. You can try to figure it out yourself. But for now..." She then fiddled with the tablet in her hand. Immediately, some sort of new liquid began to flow into my test tube from the top. I panicked a bit as this unknown liquid started to enter my "breathing," but... the pain in my head and chest started to disappear... and I began to feel sleepy...
"Good night, Grunt No. 703." Scientist Victoria bid me 'good night' as my eyes grew heavier and heavier. The last thing I saw before my eyes shut tight was the same mischievous smile she had shown me.
Then... I lost consciousness once again...
< | X | >
"... should we wake him up?" A feminine voice could be heard...
"I don't know... He looks pretty mean..." Another voice chimed in. This one belonged to a man, but he sounded quite meek...
"We are grunts, idiot! We are supposed to look mean," another man's voice chastised the previous meek one.
I heard the sound of people talking... Slowly, I was regaining consciousness... I opened my eyes... and the first thing I saw... was three people with dark gray full-face masks looking down at me.
"Ah, he woke up himself," the feminine voice of the three stated casually. I could only stare back at them as they also stared back at me. There was a silent pause between us...
Then I quickly sat up in a panic, surprising the three of them.
"Woah! Big guy! Calm down, man!" One of them, the guy who had chastised the meek one, tried to calm me down.
My heart was beating fast, and I was breathing heavily. I tried to feel my lungs, vividly recalling how I had been "breathing" inside a liquid-filled test tube.
"Hey, man. You okay?" The meek guy asked me with genuine concern. I didn't answer his question, focusing instead on scanning my surroundings.
I was inside a large and elongated room. The room itself was quite... futuristic. The walls were clean, simple metallic structures with a few markings indicating its high-tech nature. One of the most distinct markings was a large letter 'M' painted in black on a few of the walls.
However, the inside of the room and its inhabitants presented a stark contrast.
I saw two lengthy rows of futuristic "beds" neatly lining the walls. Each row was positioned facing the other, resembling the layout of a mass bedroom in a hospital ward, but larger and with more beds packed closely together, leaving almost no room for privacy. Of course, I was currently sitting on one of these beds.
There were a lot of people here in this room, though I found it hard to call them normal. They all wore skin-tight suits ranging in color from dark gray to black. The suits covered them from head to toe, much like the people in the dimly lit laboratory. But, now that I could see them quite vividly, I saw that many of them had a few unique white to light gray markings on each of their suits, creating a distinct appearance for each of them, especially around their eyes.
One thing for sure though was that every one of them had a number label on the left side of their chest, most likely indicating the subject numbers that were assigned to them. Just like mine...
They were scattered around the room, some standing around, some sitting on the white beds, some engaged in discussions. Some even watched me with curiosity, but they all averted their eyes when I looked back at them.
Then I directed my attention towards the three persons who had woken me up. When they received my attention though, they all got startled and backed away a bit. These people's reactions toward me were confusing. 'Do I look scary or something?' I thought to myself, wondering if there might be something wrong with my appearance.
These three people were also wearing dark gray skin-tight suits like everyone else. Since their faces were fully covered by the dark gray material, I couldn't exactly see how they looked. However, they all had pretty distinct body characteristics that I could at least differentiate between them. Of course, I could also tell them apart by the number label on the left side of their chest.
Two of them were males. They were quite normal-looking guys (except, of course, for the whole skin-tight suit thing) and both of them looked pretty athletic. They also had white or light gray markings on their dark-gray skin-tight suits that were unique to each other. Another thing that differentiated them was their demeanor.
The meek-looking guy was No. 702, while the other guy who was acting cautious towards me was No. 704. Now that I think about it... Weren't these two guys that were beside me in that same laboratory?
On the other hand, I then directed my attention to the only woman among the three, which startled her even more. She was also wearing a dark gray skin-tight suit that hugged her lean but athletic figure quite nicely. Again, I couldn't see her actual appearance other than the unique white marking on her skin-tight suit and around her eyes, and of course, the number label of '711' on the left side of her moderate chest.
Though I gotta say... the way this skin-tight suit was hugging her figure made her look almost completely naked. Without me realizing it, the woman in question started to feel conscious of my intense staring, and she tried to shield and hide her figure from my "preying" eyes.
"Hey..." I tried calling out to them, but they all got startled instead. They even began to slowly back away from me. This was getting kind of annoying... So better just go straight to the point with these people.
Before they all retreated from me, I immediately threw a question at them. "Can you guys tell me what's going on here?" I inquired. I was still confused about this whole 'grunt' thing, and from what I vaguely heard from their earlier conversation, it seemed that they would know more about this than me.
All three of them looked at each other, seemingly trying to confirm whether they should answer my question or not. 'Seriously... do I really look scary?' I thought to myself with annoyance.
Soon after, they all nodded at each other and then returned their attention to me. The No. 704 guy then stepped forward, volunteering himself to answer my question.
"Haha, yeah, man. I could fill you in..."
PENSAMENTOS DOS CRIADORES 
DemonKingAkuma
DemonKingAkuma A pretty slow chapter for today. Stay tuned for more.
HIATUS
HIATUS. Not much to say here other than it's not working out.
Capítulo 6: A Sudden Realization of Reality
I watched with an exasperated look as these three grunts, clad in dark gray skin-tight suits, began discussing among themselves how they would brief me on whatever was going on here.
I had just woken up inside this high-tech futuristic room filled not only with these three grunts but also with a bunch of others like them. By the looks of it, I was also one of these skin-tight suit-wearing grunts. Soon after, the cautious-looking male grunt with the number label '704' stepped forward.
"Haha, yeah, man. I could fill you in..." He said with a bit of hesitation. I was still confused as to why they were acting so reserved toward me. "What do you want to know?" Grunt No. 704 asked me back.
I paused for a moment, thinking about what I should ask first. "Uh... well, for starters, where are we?" I asked him, wanting to know where the hell I had gotten myself into. I had just been a normal job-seeking dude walking into a random alleyway, unknowingly getting caught by some witch's mischievous whim, before then being run over by a large speeding truck as I tried to escape from said witch.
Then I found myself inside a test tube in a dimly lit laboratory, coincidentally where I had seen Grunt No. 704 and also the meek-looking Grunt No. 702 inside their respective test tubes (though when I thought about it, it made sense why I did see them, as my own grunt's number was No. 703, the closest to them both). This was also where I encountered a bunch of white-coated mad scientists who had most likely done something to my body, especially that blonde beauty mad scientist, Victoria.
Coincidentally, both of these encounters with such malicious-looking women had ended with me losing consciousness as they showed me their own wicked smiles. I felt like fate was playing pranks on me...
And now, I was here, just waking up and surrounded by skin-tight-suit-wearing grunts.
"Where are we? You don't know, big guy?" Grunt No. 704 looked surprised by what I had just said, or at least that's what I interpreted from the movement of his mask eyes and his demeanor. Since I couldn't see their faces, I had to rely on small cues of facial expressions and body movements to understand my fellow grunts.
"No... not really..." I answered with a bit of a solemn tone. My response seemed to take him aback, as he then looked to his two fellow grunts for help. They both appeared a bit confused by what I had just said.
"Well... maybe his memory got a bit messed up by the experiment?" The female grunt, No. 711, guessed at what might be happening to me.
"Yeah... That could be it. I mean, those scientists were a bit... off..." The meek grunt, No. 702, added to the theory, referring to the scientists I had also seen inside the dimly lit laboratory.
Honestly, I wasn't sure if I had lost my memories or not. Again, I was pretty sure I had been job-hunting as a regular citizen, but now I was here in some futuristic room surrounded by my fellow grunts.
Grunt No. 704 then directed his attention back to me. "Well... let's just chalk it up to you having temporary amnesia," he said with a jovial tone, returning to my earlier question. "So where are we, you ask? We are currently inside Max Brain's secret underground lair," he informed me matter-of-factly.
"Ah, I see. Max Brain's secret underground lair, huh?" I nodded in acknowledgment.
Grunt No. 704 nodded along with me. "That's right, big guy! Haha!" he affirmed, laughing jovially.
"I see, I see. It does make sense when you think about it. Haha!" I chuckled along with him. The atmosphere between us was quite comfortable as we both laughed jovially.
"Huh?!?!" I abruptly stopped laughing and exclaimed in surprise, startling not only the three grunts in front of me but also everyone else in this room. I immediately got up from my "bed" and confronted Grunt No. 704 directly.
"Did you just say 'Max Brain'?!" I demanded confirmation from him, looming over him. Unbeknownst to me yet, No. 704 was terrified by my sudden confrontation. My sudden outburst not only scared him but both Grunt No. 702 and No. 711 were also quite scared, especially the meek No. 702, who was almost on the verge of passing out from fear.
"Y-Y-YES! WE ARE IN MAX BRAIN'S SECRET UNDERGROUND LAIR!" Grunt No. 704 repeated his previous answer, missing the actual point of my question, but it was more than enough for confirmation. I slowly backed away from him, a shock of realization washing over me.
The revelation hit me hard.
'Max Brain...? The comic book supervillain, Max Brain...? It couldn't be true... could it...?' My mind raced, trying to process the implications of what Grunt No. 704 had just revealed to me. I fell into silence as I directed my gaze to one of the many large 'M' letters painted on the walls of this futuristic room.
Max Brain.
I had heard about this comic book character. He was a supervillain known for his superhuman intelligence, his mind, and intellect beyond that of any normal human or even other superheroes in the comic book stories featuring him. He was almost always the mastermind behind every dastardly evil plan.
Not only that, he was said to have nearly conquered the (comic book) world multiple times. (Un)fortunately, his evil plans were always thwarted by his arch-nemesis, the superhero Ultra Guy, often due to his arrogant attitude and tendency to underestimate his adversaries, which ultimately led to his many failures.
Nevertheless, he was still quite popular in the superhero comic book fandom, to the extent that even a (former) regular guy like me knew who he was. However, his design was rather comical, always portrayed with a huge bald head and the letter 'M' plastered on his giant forehead.
Even so... I couldn't believe it.
"No way..." I muttered in disbelief, still unable to comprehend the situation. "This is some kind of prank... isn't it?" Again, I muttered to myself, trying to cope with the overwhelming realization. Turning away from them, I clutched my head, attempting to suppress the headache that was beginning to intensify as I grappled with the reality of my situation.
Everything that had just occurred felt like the most elaborate prank imaginable. I just couldn't wrap my head around it. Then... I tried pinching my right cheek quite hard, thinking that maybe, just maybe... this was all just a dream... but... it wasn't. I felt the sharp sting of my pinching quite vividly. Even the dark gray skin-tight material covering my head felt all too real to be a dream...
Then... I noticed that the wall of this futuristic room was immaculate and polished, almost like a mirror. It was polished enough to serve as a makeshift mirror, and thus... I finally saw my appearance... My current appearance as the Grunt No. 703.
I was tall... taller than I had ever felt before. Broad shoulders stretched wide, endowing me with a sense of strength and presence that was entirely foreign to me. As I glanced down, I noticed my waist was not just thin, but sculpted, almost impossibly so, leading down to chiseled abs that seemed to ripple with every movement.
My upper body, my arms, and even my legs, all rippled with muscle, as if I had been transformed into some sort of living sculpture of power and athleticism. It was as if I had stepped out of a comic book's pages, embodying a superhero's larger-than-life proportions. But... I had mixed feelings about this... "transformation" ...
While it was true that my body somehow became the embodiment of a superhero character... I was not a superhero.
My body was encased in this dark gray, almost black material, giving me the appearance of a skin-tight suit. There were a few distinct light-gray markings on my body, such as the large two vertical-and-symmetrical stripes on both of my obliques, the number label '703' on my left chest, another smaller-and-shorter horizontal stripes on my collarbones, and the last one was a marking that really stood out from the rest, that was the pair of tribal wings marking that surrounded the eye holes of my mask.
I did not look like a superhero; rather, I looked like a supervillain instead. But of course, I wasn't a supervillain either.
I was just one of the grunts, just like the rest of the grunts gathered here in this room...
In the end, I came to a revelation: I had somehow been reincarnated into another world... a superhero comic book world...
"Hey, man. You okay...?" I heard a voice from behind me. Turning, I saw that Grunt No. 704 and even the female Grunt No. 711 were carefully approaching me.
"Yeah. You seem to be taking this whole stuff with quite a shock. Are you okay?" Grunt No. 711 asked me, her voice filled with genuine concern.
I was surprised. I had just now realized why these people were afraid of me, as my appearance was far more intimidating than any of these grunts here. But that wasn't what surprised me.
I was... taken aback by how these two still cared enough to ask about my condition, even after I had thrown an outburst towards them. I had expected them to distance themselves from me, but they didn't. Instead, they asked how I was feeling, which made me feel really guilty...
Turning around, I replied to their concern, "Ah, yeah... I'm okay—"
"ATTENTION TO ALL GRUNTS! QUICKLY GATHER TO THE DESIGNATED AREA!"
An intercom suddenly blared throughout the room, calling us all to attention.
HIATUS
HIATUS. Not much to say here other than it's not working out.
Presentes
-- Presente
recebido Status de energia semanal
200+ Ranking de
Poder 
0 Pedra de
Poder Você também pode gostar
Comentário de parágrafo