The two guards tossed Gwen's body onto the examination table in Doctor Griffyn's lab. They locked the restraints around her wrists and ankles. They took the pistol from her holster and tossed it on a small table beside the examination table. She struggled to free herself from the cold, metal straps, but she ended up wearing herself out. The two guards wandered over to the entrance of the lab, standing beside the door. Damon types away at his computer, ignoring the desperate cries from the archivist. "It is almost perfected."
"What could you possibly do that you haven't done before?" Gwen whimpered, her voice shaking.
"Those were mere samples of the cures to all viruses we have on file. Your blood could cure any illness or heal any wound in the world. There is one flaw, though, and I plan on fixing it."
"W-What flaw?" The inky-haired woman nervously asked.
"Are you honestly that curious or are you trying to distract me?" Damon growled. "Regardless of either option, it wouldn't hurt to tell you. After all, it is your body. The cures that have bonded with your blood can only be activated in a short frame of time after leaving your body. With the new concoctions I'm synthesizing, the chemicals' effects will be activated while inside your body and will no longer have a timeframe. You'll be a walking, breathing miracle and harvesting your blood will be less of a hassle with the timeframe wiped out."
Gwen bit her bottom lip, tears streaming down her cheeks. After the tests, her blood would no longer be red and remain silver until the day she died. "You bastard..."
"Call me what you like, but you'll be my greatest creation. With blood that can heal and cure everything, people around the world will pay million-hell, even billions-to get a single vial of your blood. With the timeframe erased, shipping worldwide won't be difficult at all," Damon chuckled, rubbing his hands together greedily. "I can already see the piles of money."
"That's all I am to you? A way to get rich quick?" Gwen retorts vehemently.
"Why else would you still be alive?" Doctor Griffyn snarled. "If this experiment had failed, you'd already be dead. Out of all the children I've tested on, you're the only one that has survived the tests."
Gwen's eyes widened at the revelation. "I'm... I'm not the first...?"
"You're the seventy-sixth child I've tested on, but you're the first one I haven't killed. You're resilient, I'll give you that."
"You've killed innocent children! How could you?!" Gwen strained against the metal straps pinning her to the table.
"Money makes anyone do crazy things, Miss Sparrow," the doctor snickers. "I bet if I paid your boyfriend a hefty sum, he'd completely forget about you."
The young woman shook her head, her bottom lip quivering. "No, you're wrong about Leon! He... He would never..."
"I saw what happened in the cable car. Did you forget Umbrella has eyes and ears everywhere? How do you think I received intel on your arrival and was able to find you so quick, hm? It seems you truly don't know everything about Mister Kennedy, Gwendolyn." Damon stood from his chair and stuffed his hands into the pockets of his white lab coat. "He traded a pebble for a gem. Quite an exchange, really."
Gwen knew of the games Damon liked to play, but she couldn't help but find truth in his words. She turned her head, allowing herself to drown in sorrow. While her attention was focused on the wall, Doctor Griffyn sauntered over to a large cabinet full of numerous of chemicals. He grabbed five different chemicals and stared down at the clipboard on the table beside the cabinet. "20 CC's..." He grabbed a pen and crossed out the twenty and wrote another number above it. "Better make it 40."
Using a glass beaker, Damon extracted the exact amount of chemicals he needed and combined them. A low hissing resonated from the mixture once all the liquids were combined and mixed. Then, he grabbed a syringe and filled it halfway. "Perfect," he purred in satisfaction. He flicked the side, removing the air bubbles. "And now, for the moment of truth."
Doctor Griffyn waltzed over to Gwen, who was still weeping and failed to notice his presence. Using his free hand, he grabbed her chin and forced her to look at him. A Cheshire Cat grin spread across his face as he stared into her glassy, sapphire eyes. "What a delightful expression, indeed. Soon, it'll contort to one of pain. I won't sugarcoat it-this will hurt like hell."
"Just... get it over with..." Gwen's heartbreak caused her to give in, allowing Damon to inject the concoction into her neck without a hindrance. He inserted the needle into her neck and pushed the sable liquid into her vein.
"Now, for the show," the doctor chuckled darkly, yanking the syringe out of her neck and stepping back from Gwen.
A few minutes passed and Gwen suddenly screamed in pure horror and pain. She thrashed against the examination table, her screams filling the room. Her body writhed from the immense pain as her cries crescendoed. Damon grinned in enjoyment at the sight and sound. "Do push through the pain, my dear. Wouldn't want you kicking the bucket this far into the tests. Over twenty-five years of research and today, it'll all pay off."
Gwen's screams suddenly went silent, her writhing body collapsing against the examination table and appearing to be unmoving. Doctor Griffyn clicked his tongue in vexation as he stepped towards the woman. "Must've fallen unconscious from the pain." He placed two fingers on her wrist, checking for a pulse. When he felt it, he dropped his hand. "Still alive. Good. Now, let's continue, shall we?"
<---------<<<<<<<<<
In the eastern part of the underground facility, Leon could hear the screaming. He knew it was Gwen, which made him more hasty in claiming the level three security chip from the dead man in the greenhouse. He had returned from mixing the solution in the drug lab and was now heading to the lower level in search of a way to cool the liquid.
"I don't have much time," Leon muttered as he climbed down a ladder and rushed around the lab. He encountered a small horde of zombies and lickers while searching for a way to restore the power. Using his flamethrower, he was able to annihilate the monsters before one of them could take a bite out of him. Running up the stairwell, he discovered a signal modulator. He grabbed the device and ran back down the stairs to the power panel he discovered by the vending machines.
Leon matched the wavelengths with the two knobs on the signal modulator before placing it into the panel. A small click was heard and then, the lights flickered back on. "Now we're talking." The officer smirked triumphantly as he dashed down the hall and into a freezing room. With the solution in his grasp, the blonde was able to search the lab and find a way to cool the liquid.
Now with what he needed to retrieve the security chip from the corpse, Leon grabbed the cylindrical vial and nearly dropped it. "Shit, it's freezing!" Unable to hold it, the blonde opted to place it in his hip pouch.
The officer reached the greenhouse control room after setting aflame numerous of mutated plants blocking his path. He was completely out of breath from all the running and rested for a few minutes as the solution was dispensed in the greenhouse. Leon watched as the vines and branches shrunk as if they were being burned by acid.
Leon left the control room and entered the greenhouse. He stepped over the dead vines, avoiding the piles of ashes from previous monsters he'd burnt as he walked across the catwalk. The purple chip pulsated on the ground beside the man in the yellow hazmat suit. He switched out the level two chip for the level three one, tossing the green chip aside.
As Leon turned to leave, the cracked glass where the corpse was pinned shattered. "Oh, shit!" The officer cursed as a familiar tyrant returned and jumped through the window, swinging his fists towards him. Leon sidestepped, avoiding the attack at the last second. He grabbed his pistol and fired a few shots before gyrating on his heels and taking off. The thunderous footsteps followed him through the control room until they ceased when he left the east area.
Leon stopped halfway across the catwalk in the main shaft when the booming footfalls of the titan vanished. He turned to see if the man was still following him, but he saw nothing. "Where the hell...?" He panted, adrift on where the tyrant went or why he didn't continue his pursuit.
The blonde wiped the gray-skinned man from his memories and focused on what truly mattered. He activated the walkway leading to the south area, where he could find Doctor Griffyn. "I'm coming, Gwen. Just hold on a little longer."
<---------<<<<<<<<<<
After falling unconscious for an hour, Gwen finally awoke. She felt horrible, sweat covering her body and throat sore from screaming. Her entire body felt heavy and she wasn't able to move her arms or legs in the slightest. She couldn't even move her fingers or toes regardless of how hard she tried.
The young woman heard the familiar sound of Damon typing and the man seemed to be mumbling to himself as his fingers danced across the keyboard. His eyes were glued to the screen and had failed to notice Gwen's awakening. One of the guards standing by the entrance cleared his throat. "Sir, the subject is awake."
The doctor's head snapped from the computer to the now conscious Gwen. "Ah, good. It's about damn time. After two injections and an hour later, you're finally awake. You've kept me waiting, Gwendolyn. Now, let's see the fruits of my labor." Damon snatched the knife he had stored in the top drawer of his desk. Gwen whimpered helplessly as he stalked over to her with the blade gripped tightly in his hand, his knuckles turning white.
Raising the blade, Damon dragged the blade across the woman's arm. Gwen cries out feebly as the knife pierces her skin and the doctor creates a gash from the middle of her upper arm to her elbow. Doctor Griffyn's eyes widened in amazement when he saw her blood drip from the wound. "Pure silver..." A triumphant grin crept across his face at the sight. "Let's test it out."
Damon retracted the blade and used it to slice open his palm. His blood trickled to the floor as he held up his hand. Tossing the knife aside, the doctor bent down and traced his tongue across Gwen's arm, lapping up her silver blood greedily. She winced at feeling his grotesque tongue against her cut, let alone her skin.
After licking a decent amount of Gwen's blood, Damon lifted his injured palm and watched as the skin mended together in quick session. He laughed like a maniac, a crazed glint in his jade eyes. "All those years of research have finally paid off! My greatest creation is complete!" He stormed over to his desk and sifted through all the drawers in his desk. "Where the hell is it?!"
"Is there an issue, sir?" One of the guards questioned as he watched the doctor toss everything out of his desk.
"Where's the damn injection gun?!" Damon demanded.
"You left it in the drug testing lab, sir."
"Shit!" Damon slammed his hands against the desk in vexation. His fiery gaze snapped in the guards' direction. "You two, go retrieve it! Don't waste any of my damn time!"
"What about the officer?" One man inquired.
"I don't fucking care what you do with him. Kill him if he gets in the way. Just don't come back empty-handed!"
"Yessir!" The guards salute before heading out of the lab.
"You promised you wouldn't hurt him!" Gwen managed to yell, her voice still frail and broken.
"I promised to not hurt your precious boyfriend, not my guards. You should work on your negotiation skills, my dear," Damon scoffed. "But don't worry. You'll have plenty of time for that once we transfer you."
From beyond the lab, Damon and Gwen could hear a barrage of bullets. The doctor's brows furrowed as he went to peer out the door to see if he could get a glimpse of what his guards were shooting. When the door to the lab slid open with a faint hiss, Doctor Griffyn came face-to-face with the barrel of a magnum. He stumbled backwards at the sudden scare and tripped over his own feet. "How the hell did you get clearance?"
"Just had to look in the right place," Leon replies, eyes narrowed and brimming with anger. "Where's Gwen?"
Damon gestured to the examination table in the other room. Leon kept his gun aimed at the man's head as he glanced to where he pointed. He saw Gwen strapped down, her chest slowly rising and falling. She had yet to notice his entrance even as he rushed to her aid. "What has that bastard done to you?" Leon muttered with a strained voice, examining her body. He saw the gash on her arm and her silver blood dripping from the open wound. "Shit, you're bleeding out!"
Leon's anger towards the doctor only blossomed further as he searched the lab for medical supplies. When he couldn't find any, he turned towards Damon, who was still on the floor. "Where the hell is the medical supplies?!"
Doctor Griffyn just grinned. "As if I'd-"
Leon stomped over to the doctor and grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, hoisting him to his feet while glaring daggers at him. "If you think I won't shoot you right here and now for all the shit you've done to Gwen, you're sorely mistaken."
Damon swallowed nervously, frightened by Leon's threatening demeanor. "U-Underneath the cabinet beside my desk..."
Leon threw Damon's body back to the floor, stepping over him and walking over to the metal cabinet. He scrounged for the medical supplies and found some spray and gauze. Without hesitating, the blonde returned to Gwen's side and immediately tended to her wound. When he used the disinfectant spray, she gasped in pain. "I'm sorry, Gwen. This'll be over soon, I promise." He wrapped her arm with the gauze and then unlocked her restraints.
As Gwen tried to push her body up, she realized her body had no strength left. Leon helped her swing her legs over the ledge, but he wouldn't let her go any further. "Don't push yourself. I'm here if you need me." The officer cupped her cheek in his hand and she leaned into his gentle touch.
Weakly, Gwen wrapped her arms around Leon's torso and clung to him for dear life. With no tears left to spare, she buried her face into his chest and basked in his warmth, listening to his heartbeat. Leon snaked both of his arms around her broken form, resting his head on top of her. "I'm sorry I'm late."
Gwen shook her head, closing her eyes. "No. I'm the one who's sorry. If... If I had stayed with you, none of this would've happened."
"Will you listen to my explanation about what happened in the cable car?" Leon asked, his voice low and overflowing with sorrow.
"I don't want an explanation, Leon. I'm going to ask you the only question that matters: do you love me?"
Leon held her tighter, combing his fingers through her soft, inky tresses. "More than anything."
Suddenly, a bullet flew past Gwen's head. The projectile was lodged into the wall behind her. Leon turned his head and saw Damon had a pistol aimed at him and Gwen. "As much as I love happy endings, neither of you will be getting one."