Inktober Day 12: Slippery

"It's called the Fruit of Fantasia," Ace said to a groggy Alec who was just coming out of unconsciousness for the second time in one day. It was six hours after he'd become unconscious upon seeing his hand melting.

Looking at his two arms, they were both okay.

"The Fruit of what? What happened to me?"

"The Fruit of Fantasia. It causes fatal hallucinations when a huge amount is eaten, so you're lucky you just had a bite or two. It did knock you out, however."

"What the hell? It wasn't even brightly colored! I made sure to get it because of that..."

"Yeah, it is dull-colored to take away the attention of potential predators, or whatever. Guess it's sort of reverse psychology in this place, huh?" Ace said, laughing.

"Since I've been on this goddamn trip, nothing has gone according to plan. Nothing's been normal, and we've gone from one horror to the other. Worse still, I do not know who the hell I am following, or why I am following you!" Alec said, letting out all his pent up frustration.

"Alright, but we have to get going. All will..."

"I'm tired of that rubbish! You either tell me what the hell is going on right now, or you can forget about me going on this field trip!"

Ace turned to look at him, then smiled.

"Just like your mother. Grab some fish by the fire and get up. I'll explain on the way..."

"I said..."

"There's no reason why we should waste time here telling campfire stories. I'll explain as we walk, so move."

******

As they walked down a slippery slope, Ace began.

"Your parents were scientists; inventors, revolutionary thinkers of their generation. Just that they had one major issue. They both had a rare genetic blood condition that meant they weren't going to live till 50."

"W..." Alex was shocked to hear about his parents. A bit emotional as well, but the shock was the only emotion he could express as he trudged on."

"That illness was hereditary, and it meant you were supposed to get it. But they couldn't let that happen, because Bates had already begun to work on his gene experiments, combining the DNA of animals and then test subjects he either tricked or coerced into taking part."

Alex kept mute, and so Ace continued.

"They would have put an end to it themselves, but they weren't up to the task, so they decided when they discovered that Moira was pregnant. They decided you would be the one to do it."

"How? I also..."

"Gene Manipulation. They wanted to make you a super-soldier of some sort, but they decided against it. They decided not to burden you like that, or risk your normalcy. Instead, they gave you the basic genetic treatments that would make sure your body functioned at a slightly better level than the average human. This also meant that you would be more suited to tackle whatever the world brought..."

"How would they give me that sort of responsibility and not make me a super-soldier? How did they think I would..."

"The armor. The armor was supposed to supplement your other weaker, more human aspects. The upgrades we're going to Domino City to get will be the finishing touch. Then you'd be able to face Bates..."

"Bates? You keep mentioning him like..."

"Bates is trying to create something dangerous. It all started with his lab experiments, of which I was a lab rat..."

Alec turned, shocked.

"Th...then..."

"Yeah. He tried to fuse my DNA with that of a tiger, but it wasn't completely successful. Any time I get excited, the tiger's features begin to manifest, like the stripes, eyes, and my agility and strength. But if the stripes cover my whole body, I'll die. I can't take the strain of that."

"Then how did you..."

"Your parents broke me and some of the other test subjects out. We formed a resistance, the eight of us, trying to bring an end to Bates, whom we were sure was after something higher. Something that's now called Apocalypse."#

"What's that?"

"It is...."

Suddenly there was a rumbling along the mountainside, and why Alec managed to stay standing due to the attractive force on his armor's feet, Ace slipped and tumbled down the slope.

******

WIPs

I guess I'm moving late, but I'll try to speed up and catch up by tomorrow. I decided to make this drawing more movie-like by a=dding the onion effect to show the movement of the body.

Thanks for reading!