Later that evening

Air was suffocating Bullet as he waited and his impatience was maddening. Bullet sat on a waiting room chair outside a surgery room as he tapped his fleet anxiously at the floor, holding himself tightly as he stared intensely at the floor “Are you okay?” A voice asked suddenly in front of him. Springing upwards Bullet exclaimed “AH!... where did you come from" a small black, fluffy little figure with tall towering ears and large round dark eyes stood right in front of him “Hey! If I'll be your friend will you be happy!?” The boy said with beaming excitement “Huh?” Bullet said confused “There aren’t a lot of Sover kids in the in this part of the hospital so we get lonely so we’re gonna be friends ok!” The small bat said with a bright smile “W-we?” Bullet stuttered “Hi" another unexpected voice uttered from his side “GAH!” Bullet shouted once again shocked to see another short black little figure but instead with a short greyish beak fluffy ruffled feathers everywhere except his head “Oh! I forgot!, my name is Ivory but my friend calls me Wings and this is Raver!” Wings gestured to the small Raven boy beside him “U-uh” Bullet stammered as Wings jumped up and sat beside him “Hey! Do you know why he calls me wings! Because I was born with an extra wing, but it made my other wings go bad a little bit ago so they all had to be taken away” he pointed to bandages where his wings would be. Bullet gave him a wondering gaze “Hey! Also, my dad works here in the lab and dose aneelisis on stuff, that’s a hard word" Wings said loudly; Bullet just looked at him confused at his loud and over-enthusiastic nature “So! I’m going back to the library come meet us there ok, byeee!” Before Bullet could comprehend what was going on Wings was already gone and the Raver trotted contently behind him. Bullet had to take a moment to process the barrage of information but by the time he collected his thoughts the door opened and Dr Cade Emerged from the room off to the side, he silently motioned for Bullet to come to him.

The two walked to the other side of the room and into an adjacent office where Cade sat down in a large plush swivel chair and sighed as he put his hands together and looked down sullenly Bullet immediately knew what was coming “Firstly, Dr Grant sustained quite serious injuries however because I was there so quickly she did not get any irreversible damage. The artery in her neck was grazed and she lost a lot of blood, but thankfully one of our staff knew that they had the same blood type and so they had a blood transfusion so Dr Grant is recovering. As a result, she had to have a lot of stitches in her neck.” After Cade paused Bullet gave a sigh of momentary relief “Also luckily she decided she didn’t want to press charges however, now you have to be under constant supervision.” Cade Continued “But Grandpa-“ Bullet said but was quickly cut off by Cade “Because I agree that this isn’t like you, so I will have Dr Ivoss do physical and physiological tests on you to get to the core of your issue”. After Cade finished his sentence a dark figure cantered into the room that sent shivers down through Bullet’s spine, it was the ever-smiling bat standing tall with his large hands behind him; his presence was dark and thick, practically physical and his thin sharp eyes felt like it bore straight through Bullet’s very core. “Dr Ivoss is a good friend of mine so he will also be supervising you daily” as Cade uttered those words a low unknown panic started to well up inside Bullet “Lightning will also attend just in case he is capable of the same thing” Cade gave a large sigh and got up and turned around facing a window letting in the warm afternoon sunlight. Bullet eyed Dr Ivoss warily “Grandpa I-" “Unfortunately Bullet because of the situation you’ve put us in we cannot discuss or debate it, it has already been decided. Do you understand?” Cade asked flatly "Bu-“ "NO" Cade shouted as he swung his head towards Bullet, his brow furrowed and a mix of anger, disappointment, fear and confusion flickered like flames in his eyes. Cade dropped his head and sighed turning back towards the window “Do. You. Understand?” he asked again, laboured, Bullet nodded somberly “Good” Cade pause and moved his chair to face the large window “This will become effective immediately so Dr Ivoss is ready to take you now” Cade’s words wavered as he stared out into the afternoon sky. Dr Ivoss opened the door and motioned for Bullet to follow him, Bullet opened his mouth to say something to his grandfather but no words followed only the prickling of tears at his eyes. Dr Ivoss silently led Bullet out of the room and Bullet stayed silent as he followed fighting back the tears that threatened to fall, they walked down turn after turn, making so many that it almost like spiralling through a labyrinth. Finally, they ended up at an elevator door that was crested with what looked like years of dust, rust and wear, very different to the usual elevators that looked pristine from regular cleaning; it almost looked abandoned. Ivoss put a key in and the two walked inside, as the doors creaked open Bullet became increasingly more anxious and shifty on his feet. Stale air drifted through Bullet’s nose as the door closed with a loud clunk “So uhh, where are we going?” Bullet enquired but his question was met with unchanging silence, Dr Ivoss just stared blankly into the industrial-looking metal triangle pattern in the wall. Searing shrieks of metal reverberated throughout the elevator as they started to descend; the tall bat subtlety tapped something into the level keypad and suddenly the elevator came to a shuddering halt "W-what happened, wait where are we going” Bullet asked frantically.

Two loud clicks accompanied by two violent shakes of the elevator “What’s happening!” once again Bullets questions were met with silence only this time the Doctor’s smile grew “Wh-“ The whole elevator convulsed cutting Bullet off when out of nowhere the elevator started to hurtle downwards at terrifying speeds “W-WHATS GOING ON!” Bullet shouted desperately, lights from the levels flashed through the gaps of the door “WAIT A MINUTE WHERE IS LIGHT-" before he could finish the elevator came to a thundering halt and Ivoss walked up to press the door button, instead holding it down and then bending down a little, a flickering blue light flashed out from a tiny bead on the wall wiping across Ivoss’ eye “-ning" Bullet finished as the doors opened revealing some sort of shadowy room with towering a ceiling l spotted with black metal structures and pillars making it look like a sort of sweatshop or factory. Tables were strewn throughout the large dimly lit area filled with testing tubes, chemicals, strange machines, equipment, large cylindrical tanks and right in the centre of the room stood large silver ring and right in the centre of it suspended was Lighting, restrained, held up by his arms and legs and an attachment with long wires leading up to the ceiling along his spine. “ LIGHTNING!” Bullet screamed in horror as he scrambled towards his hanging unconscious brother “I wouldn’t do that if I were you" The elevator door slammed behind them and Ivoss’ plastic grin stretched further across his face and a platform with buttons rose from the floor. A long claw from his winged arms pressed a button, various sharp-looking surgical tools rose from the ground attached to mechanical arms. Laser attachments on more mechanical arms descended from the ceiling like thin sliver spindling spiders and they pinpointed points across Lightning’s body. “Listen, kid, if you want your brother to walk away from that thing alive today I’m going to need you to do exactly as I say” the large bat stalked towards Bulle, his movements were silk-like, light like twisted royalty. Ivoss loomed over Bullet and clasped his claws around his face “I’ll let you in on a secret” he whispered mockingly “A while ago I started researching this strange substance that interwove with and manipulated Sover DNA, research that eventually hit a dead end, however suddenly it started reacting again. I wonder, do you know when that was" he sneered as he pressed a claw onto Bullet’s eye bandages “Surprise, Surprise, it was when you came along” he lifted Bullet up by the shirt “ You don’t understand the kind of breakthroughs possible with this. I will singlehandedly bring the world into a new age of evolution” Ivoss reeled back and basked in awe of himself. Bullet flailed at his grasp simultaneously terrified and infuriated “Now boy lets make a deal, you let me do my tests anytime on you without you telling anyone and I won't kill or test/torture your brother, Deal?” the dark doctor dropped his clasp on Bullet and he stood completely speechless and terrified as he scanned the room with his eyes spotting many completely dangerous machines and tools that could hurt torture or kill him, he was frozen with fear feeling completely helpless and small “Listen kid, you better decide soon or ill just kill him and do my tests on his corpse. 5...4...” Bullet panicked and the situation spun through his head violently almost making him sick “3 ...2” his bandage started to soak again with blood "On-“ “DEAL!” Bullet cut off Ivoss in desperation and fell to his knees tears streaming down his face. Ivoss gave a sharp wide almost demonic smile "Good choice kid, now let's have some fun”

To be continued... In the Ustrina Genesis: Shards of Fire Comic

Coming Soon...