by LLance
"The stasis lab is ready, Knell," Curie announced as he hung up the telephone.
"The drugsss are sssufficiently out of their sssystems?" Knell asked.
"Yes."
"Sssonic disssruptorsss have been brought to the ssstasssisss lab?"
"Four of them placed in each corner."
"Tell me again about the conssstruction materialsss implemented in the building of the ssstasssisss lab." Knell was going over every detail in his head. He had a potentially powerful metahuman in his grasp, a being who had escaped certain death by splitting his body into two. A being who channeled his life force between both bodies. A being who was certainly something much less after being split into two beings, but alive. If his theory was correct, once the two bodies gathered enough strength, they could safely reintegrate and be exactly as they once were.
"The walls, floor and ceiling are all composed of a special vibrating alloy which should make phasing impossible for Lance Lorenzo if he should be reintegrated."
"Ssshould be reintegrated?" Knell shot a hard glance at the Doctor.
"When he is reintegrated," Curie corrected himself nervously. "I must go on record that I wished to study the two subjects more thoroughly before attempting this reintegration."
"Ssso noted," Knell said flatly.
"If your theory is somehow correct, sir," Curie said with a tone denoting disbelief, "this could be a metamorphing cycle for this metahuman, and he could reintegrate into..."
"A giant bug-eyed monssster?" Knell laughed. "Only one way to find out."
They had reached the stasis lab. Knell opened the door, and in the center of the room were the two old men secured on gurneys and obviously struggling against their bonds in an attempt to get to one another.
"The two subjects have been agitated since they first saw one another about fifteen minutes ago," a technician manning a shielded sonic disruptor announced in a muffled voice. He was desperately fighting his repulsion on seeing Knell's monstrous serpentine form for the first time.
Knell smiled a crocodile smile at Curie.
"You'll notice their fingertips emitting... something," another muffled voice announced from behind a shielded console panel. "I've yet to determine what it is, but it is growing steadily stronger."
"Jussst being clossse to one another hasss automatically begun the process," Knell said in a somewhat know-it-all tone.
"But what process?" Curie mumbled. Knell had not heard him.
The two had reached the shielded area just as a security channel activated on the console panel. "Tell Knell that six to seven men have been spotted approaching the building by water."
"Initiate ssstandard sssecurity measures, moron!" Knell barked into the communicator. "Unlesss it'sss damn important, we are not to be bothered again!"
"Affirmative, sir!"
"Releassse their bonds!" Knell ordered.
The technician pressed a button, and the two old men ran to one another as their bonds were removed automatically. As they touched, great concussive force was unleashed like a bomb into the room.
Knell lifted his head off of the floor. He had been thrown from out behind the shielding. There was blood coming from his head, but thanks to his snake DNA, he would easily heal. He could see that all four men manning the sonic disruptors were either dead or unconscious. The lab technician was moaning, but not moving. Curie was obviously battered and hidden under the console panel muttering, "I told him so," over and over again. No sign of the two old men was apparent. Knell was not surprised that the last thing he saw before slipping into unconsciousness again was a young man running out the door.