The Prodigy

Titus Maximus Kaeso sat at his comatose father's bedside, holding one of his cold, stiff hands. He noticed the oxblood satin sheets juxtaposed strangely against the benumbed man's pale arm and his own dark black suit sleeve. It seemed ominous.

A clock ticked in the background, secured on the stained wooden walls, attempting to keep up with the steady beep of the heart monitor. Titus, knowing the shriveled figure would not be around much longer, had been visiting him more often, spilling out his thoughts of the brave Romans tragic decline.

"I won't let them get away with this, father. Not a single one. I'll destroy the whole damn continent if I have to. This world will remember your name, and that justice was brought to it."

Titus was just above average height. Short blonde hair swept back over a narrow, intelligent face. His thin rimmed glasses hid the single tear welling up in his eye, and held the reflection of the two hands disconnecting, setting it down for the final time. Titus was a calculated, emotionless man in most cases. Respect of strength and prowess, though, was his one weakness. Vaderax Quintus Kaeso had held it in droves. A true loss.

After months of doctor visits and all manner of procedure, it was clear his time in the conscious world had come to an end, and he was doomed to spend the rest of his heart beats in a paralyzed, pathetic state. Likely reliving the memories, somewhere in his subconscious, of his nightmarish apprehension that put him in this vegetative state.

He rose to his feet and moved over to the power cord of the life support machine. He couldn't let his father's suffering continue. With one last look, the tear finally escaping his duct and rolling down his eye, he grabbed the cord... pulled it. Watched his father's frail body convulse, heave for air, then collapse. Now, resting peacefully, in the eternal state of a corpse. Just outside the door awaited a frail man in servant's attire.

"Have his body sent to the lab. Tell no one he has passed."

The servant simply nodded in compliance and walked away.

An hour later.

Titus handed his coat to his mutant scientist, whom he had inherited from his father, along with the rest of Triton industries, a corporation specializing in genetically progenerated organisms, referred to commonly as gipo (geep-o).

The scientist name was Vurdwyn. He was an impish figure, no more than 4 feet high. His head resembled that of a toad's, only it had a human face, with a small, protruding pig's nose. Despite his almost comical appearance, he was thus far the most successful bi-product of Tritons attempts to create a more cerebral mutant.

The two walked to a large set of double-doors. Vurdwyn pushed a button to their side and they began a slow mechanical whir as they shifted to either side, opening up to massive, rectangular warehouse. Filling its interior, emanating a brandy-hued radiance, was several dozen rows, stretching end-to-end, of large incubation chambers. Each held a copy of a large-framed mutant with rough black skin.

Titus and Vurdwyn walked briskly down the corridor, both equally enamored with the potential and power of what lay at their fingertips.

"How long until their viable?", Titus asked.

"Another month. Perhaps two. There is still the preliminary tests to run, sire. It is yet unclear that...", Titus interrupted with a raise of his hand, also stopping in place in front of an incubator with a specimen different from the rest.

"We have plenty of time, my loyal patron."

Vurdwyn followed Titus' eyes up to the specimen in the large glass vial, a satisfied grin on his face. "Quite beautiful, isn't she?"

It was a serpentine fleshy creature with a series of spikes running down its sides acting like fins as it swam around the tank. Two giant whiskers hung off its head above its bulbous yellow eyes.

"This was one of your fathers most prideful ventures, sire. He called it, a mutagen. Just one of these could bring all of Rome to its knees. Though, it is quite unstable. There would be no real oversight of its spread."

"I know just the place.", Titus replied.