The Mask Maker

Just One Thing

"Let's take a walk, Morai," the doctor finally said again. The trainer was hesitant—the doctor was just a strange man whom she didn't even know the name of, after all, but Morai figured she could hold her own quite well against anyone. Everyone else said their goodbyes and left, while Morai changed clothes and joined the doctor waiting outside. 

"So, you're Dr. Frankenstein, I suppose," Morai said as they started walking down the cold, empty hallway. Most of the people had cleared out, but the few Team Rocket members left roaming the halls looked away awkwardly as Morai approached them. 

"Well, if I were to compare myself to a classic storybook scientist, I'd more closely relate to Dr. Jek—never mind that. If I may ask, why that choice in clothing?"

"I dressed differently before, which is why you're asking, I'm sure. The short and impersonal answer is that it's fairly easy to fight in while still looking good. Also, I find that the blood red color of my shirt matches my complexion...and, well, actual blood doesn't show up as easily," Morai answered matter of factly. 

"I'll take it," the doctor answered. "You seem bothered," he then added as they entered an elevator. 

"I have a dilemma," Morai said. "I am who I am because of chemicals you mixed together and injected into my veins."

"Chemicals are the basis for all of our actions, and I can assure you that nothing has been added, but only amplified. Everything you are now was already inside of you. I simply brought it out."

"So I was a monster before this...serum, then."

"If you insist on referring to yourself in that way, then...yes."

"But this is false strength," Morai argued. "This is amplifying powers I know I couldn't use effectively before. It's like cheating."

"It simply amplified a way of thinking that you had pushed down deep, and gave selective abilities room to flourish. Half of your psychic abilities got stronger, yes, but the other half of them are now missing from your arsenal. That violent energy and thirst you feel was there before, and it is now at the forefront of your mind, while other things have vanished. It seems a perfectly reasonable change to me. Besides, you like who you are now, yes?" 

Morai searched her mind again for the missing pieces the doctor was talking about, but the fog was too thick. "I do," she answered. She was telling the truth.

"I have to admit at the risk of sounding creepy that I've done extensive research on you, Morai," the man started again. "I believe you developed that 'monstrous' part of you as a result of an adverse experience you had years ago, though in your case it's hard to tell because you developed psychic powers at the same time. Do you remember that?"

Morai hesitated. It was one thing she did remember, though only very vaguely. She remembered how she felt most of all, and that was enough. "Yes," she said curtly. 

"You were, ahem, 'accused of a crime you didn't commit', as you put it. Of course, that was an analogy for—" The doctor was cut off by Morai doing the same thing she did when they had first met a mere hour ago. She held the doctor in a two-handed front choke against the wall, teeth bared, and he raised his hands in a calming gesture. He resorted to desperately tapping her arm when she didn't let go the first time. Finally, when he began to lose consciousness, she released him, and he slumped to the ground coughing. 

"Note taken," he said. The effort of speaking two words made him cough more. "Though, my point was that this serum also guarantees the result you've wanted to accomplish ever since then. You've become something people fear, and you've just proved it." 

The pair arrived at the empty lab, and the doctor grabbed another small red vial from his lockbox and offered it to Morai. 

"I thought too much of this is what landed me in a hospital bed," Morai said.