Dividend

Who would do this to these animals? The man wrinkled his nose in disgust as he walked passed several clear glass tubes. Inside, it was filled with a green liquid. An animal of different species were placed inside, wires and tubes coming out of their bodies. There were about twenty species just in this row alone. What was worse was that the animals were still alive. In their tubes, he could see them squirming, as if they were begging for death.



The man had seen enough and left the room. It disgusted him that such a place existed. Experimentation on animals had been prohibited for as long as he could remember. He upheld that law with a strongly clenched fist. In his company, no one would dare defy that law with him around. There must be some kind of rogue faction that is responsible, a couple of lowly scum who are trying to get away with murder. He would see about that.



The facility was primarily quiet, despite the loose animals running around. It didn't make him any happier that some of the animals were free. All these creatures were were just completed experiments. They had gone through the process the others had. That was not even the end of it. He knew the mind track of the people in charge of this place would see to it that the animals undergo further experimentation. He would rather see everything here destroyed than to allow this illegal place keep going through production.



He had no idea where the people in charge of this place were. He had his suspicions that they were killed by something. He wanted to think good riddance, but he wouldn't get all the answers he's looking for from corpses. So he pressed on, trying to find any signs of life outside of the animals. His gun wasn't the best, but it did him good. The animals fell down quickly as he shot them, and they became hard, stiff as a board.



He walked up to a door. It had a shining blue light. He stepped closer to it and it automatically opened, allowing him access inside. He was immediately repulsed by what he saw. A large winged animal lay in the room. He put his back on the wall and readied his gun. He looked over the corner. He waited for the creature to do something, but it remained still. It almost looked as if it was dead, but that was proven wrong when the creature moved its tail. The creature was covered in a purple skin, hard and thick as anything, yet it looked charred and scraped.



His former comrade must have been responsible. He cracked a small smile at this. He had lost contact with member after member of his team and part of him worried he would be the only one remaining to complete the mission. It gave him a sense of hope that at least one person was still alive.



The man moved along the shadows, practically hugging the walls, so that the purple beast didn't see him. It might be wounded, but he wasn't going to take any chances with that thing. He continued to move down the hallway, shooting down any experimented animal that would attack him. Many were insectoid in appearance, spiked and clawed. Some hung from the ceiling to attack while others were more bold and tried to stomp on him. They were nothing compared to the winged animal he snuck by earlier.



Sometime later, he found himself in front of an elevator. The number didn't look familiar to him. He knew there were different levels of the facility, but this one, it was different. He narrowed his eyes and then widened them. He realized seeing an unlabeled area of the facility's map, one that didn't seem to have any apparent passageway to it. He reached over to open up the doors when something struck him from behind.



<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Startled, the man positioned himself for a fight and looked for his target. A group of small, spikey creatures was crawling up towards him, their eyes glowing with murderous intent. He scowled and began to shoot them one by one. One of them jumped on top of him and knocked him to the ground. His gun went skidding across the floor. He cursed to himself and got back onto his feet. He ran towards his gun but a large group of the spikey animals crawled over it, preventing access.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The man took a few steps back. He gritted his teeth. If he had to fight with his fists, he would. When one of the animals lunged for him, he brought back his fist and punched. He made direct contact with the head. The animal crashed into the ground, but it wasn't finished. It crawled at a quickened pace towards him. He picked up a broken beam, made of thick steel, and swung it down on the creature. Its body exploded in a disgusting green coloration, which now stained the ground. He stared at the other creatures and lifted up the beam, preparing to make them meet the same fate.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">He heard something drip loudly. He looked over at the fallen animal. A yellowish substance was oozing out of its body. He flinched and almost felt like throwing up. The substance, gelatinous in its structure, moved out of the animal, making squishing noises as it made its way across the cold hard ground. He tried to strike it, but the strange thing took to the air, floating just out of his reach and yet moving ominously closer. He didn't know what it intended to do, but he sensed this thing was dangerous.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The gelatinous yellow thing moved in quickly at him suddenly. The man moved to swing the pole at it, but it simply dodged. Before he could react, the thing slammed against his body and he found himself on his back once more. He tried pulling the creature off, but he was unable to get a grip. He writhed in pain as the creature seemed to melt its way inside his body. Soon he could no longer see the creature, but he felt immense pain inside and he clung his head tightly.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">He got up from the ground and walked weakly forward. He looked at the elevator. His eyes blinked as his vision began to get blurry. He stumbled towards the elevator's doors, which were now open, but he fell down on his stomach, his hand just barely reaching the inside of the elevator. In his agony, he heard footsteps coming his way. He craned his head up to see who it was.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The man widened his eyes. He knew who this man was. It was one of his comrades back at his work. He trained with him before they went their separate ways. He must be here to help him. He rolled himself onto his back and reached out towards his comrade. But the newcomer simply stared at him. The man withdrew his hand, confused by his comrade's behavior. But then he took a good look at his eyes. The irises and pupils had, in a split second, disappeared, making the eyes look like white marbles.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Do not worry.” The comrade spoke. His voice was icy cold to such a degree it seemed impossible for a human. “Everything is going well to our expectations. I must tend to my own work, but do not despair. You will soon not feel the pain.”

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">The man's eyes shut tightly and he screamed loudly. He collapsed on the ground. The yellow creature re-emerged and began to cover his entire body. It devoured him, eating through his armor and suit. Soon all that remained was his armor, laying on the ground stained with blood and yellow stuff.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">Minutes later, a shadow loomed over the pile of purple spiked animals. They stopped where they were and looked up. The glow from their eyes dissipated almost immediately. They moved away cautiously as something reached down. A hand covered in armor grabbed the gun and lifted it up. The animals moved away even further as the newcomer inspected the gun. In the reflection, the face could be seen.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">It looked just like the same man from before, only with solid white eyes. It took a few steps, some yellow substance dripping off. This soon stopped. It saw something move in the corner of its eyes. It looked over and saw a brief image of someone dressed in yellow and red armor. The clone gave a soft scowl and uttered an icy phrase.

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0in">“Samus Aran.”