"BEFORE SALVATION, MUST COME EVOLUTION."

MONDAY 16th MAY

2:45pm…

Its been almost 30 days since the boys woke up in their cell-pods to find their lives completely turned upside down thanks to the orchestration of the Doctors Kane and Reed with their seemingly vast resources. In the many days since their incarceration, the boys were subjected to some of the most abstract (but specific) and excruciating experiments which ranged from physically rounded tests to specific Nucron cell evaluations. With the experiments, along with the poor food rations they were being fed and the hostile environment the prison had become. The boys became shells of they former selves, loosing a lot of weight and always feeling weak, their situation has taken a huge toll on them physically and even worse… mentally.

The boys were sitting around in their cell when Prof Charles and a few security agents walked up, tapped on his tablet and the cell doors slid open. The boys stood up, ready for whatever the professor had for them. They were then asked to get into their pods where they will be put to sleep and transported to wherever they were supposed to go, they looked confused but obeyed the command and got into their pods where they were then put to sleep.

The boys were transported to the other side of the prison, where they had their first interaction with Dr Kane but this time, it was filled up with lab equipment. Dr Kane and Dr Reed were already seated, awaiting their arrival. After a few minutes, they arrived along with Prof Charles and a dozen more scientists. The cell-pods were hooked up to some modified wires coming from the ceiling, once everything was set and the scientists were ready, Dr Kane walked up to the pods and smiled. 

"Its about time! - wake them up." he commanded. Prof Charles tapped on his tablet and the boys came to immediately. Their eyes opened wide, fully awake.

"good afternoon boys… I'm glad you could join us." Dr Kane said. The boys kept mute, maintaining their stoic expressions.

"(chuckles) time in Yaba X has really changed you boys. Have you been working out?" Dr Kane asked sarcastically. The boys still remained silent.

"look at them… they are malnourished and distraught. We agreed that you would take care of them Charles." Dr.Reed said.

"with all respect sir, running this entire prison as well as babysitting four teenagers is a task for a dozen people… I'm afraid I am being pulled too many directions for me to know whether they've eaten well." Prof Charles replied disinterested.

"I really enjoyed talking to you boys last time. But since you don't have anything to say to me I guess I'll just keep talking while we show you whats in stock today." Dr Kane stated. The boys still remained silent as they tried to understand what he meant. Prof Charles picked up a beaker from one of the tables, it contained a green liquid that had a dim glow, similar to the altered Nucranium brick from last time.

"If you remember your last meeting with Dr.Kane when he showed you our Nucranium mineral sample, I hope you can understand that by then, our reach with Nucranium is… limitless." Prof Charles said.

"this - gentlemen, is what he meant." he continued as he held the beaker up for them to see. The boys felt the same mysterious energy they felt from the original Nucranium sample, but this had a more chaotic feel to it, and this showed on their faces.

"It seems they can feel its energy… just like last time." Dr.Reed pointed out.

"Indeed, you were right sir… I'm starting to think this serum just might work." Prof Charles said to the just arriving Mr Bolaji.

The boys' eyes widened as they saw their school teacher walk into the room with the same crazed look in his eye, rumpled cloths, lots of books in his hands and his crooked walking form. Mr Bolaji walked fast into the room and threw his books on the table infront of him and then cleaned his glasses, after which he looks up at the boys and smiles maniacally.

"hello you undisciplined primates." he sneered. The boys were speechless, this was a completely unexpected development and it wasn't going to go in their favour, knowing how Mr Bolaji is.

"surprised to see me? Well… we must all answer for our sins eventually right?" Mr Bolaji asked. The boys remained silent with fear as he walked over and picked up a familiar book from his pile.

"remember this?" he asked as he held the book up. The boys still remained silent.

"no? Well its my journal. The one you miscreants stole from my desk weeks ago." he continued.

"... how… how did you find out?" Ahmad asked stuttering.

"finally you speak-how reassuring." Dr Kane said.

"you've been working together. You were the one who had surveillance on us." Nasir hypothesized.

"come now peasant, did you really believe that something as important as this would ever be anywhere I didn't know about? How terribly idiotic of you to think so low of me." Mr Bolaji said.

"I knew you apes were plotting something the moment I saw you four hanging around my lab. Anyone with a brain would know that, who actually chooses to stay around my lab for any reason huh?" Mr Bolaji queried.

"I was going to simply report you to school authorities until you returned it. When I looked at it, I put it in through some tests and noticed that it had residues of an acid I had in a bucket in my lab…" he continued.

"... and this was HIGHLY unusual, cause if it fell into the bucket, how did you bring it back to me without a scratch? And there's no way you could copy it into an identical notebook before it starts disintegrating. And that left me quite intrigued." Mr Bolaji explained.

"so you contacted Dr Kane and had him send those stupid drones to watch us." Umar said.

"I forgot how smart you boys are." Dr Kane said with a chuckle.

"(scoffs) hardly… speaking of smart, were you able to figure out what I was trying to achieve?" Mr Bolaji asked looking at Sadiq.

"... I didn't really have much face time with it." Sadiq snapped back.

"you dare talk back to me troglodyte? You can't fathom my genius, those equations are far beyond what your feeble mind can configure." Mr Bolaji said.

"calm down Bolaji, that's enough dialogue…" Dr.Kane said as he stepped forward.

"to avoid wasting anymore time, this is what Mr Bolaji is talking about…" he continued.

"this liquid is what we believe, the superior form of Nucranium, it is an active mutagen that in theory will enhance the destructive capabilities of the Nucron cell. See all these contraption in this room? All this is meant to… ho should I say?…" Dr Reed explained.

"... recreate the Nucranium event, within your bodies." Mr Bolaji completed.

"yes-thank you. Sounds good eh?" Dr Kane asked.

"... and guess who's going to be the first to take the plunge?… YOU my boys." Dr Kane said enthusiastically.

"but its not just like drinking medicine, the Nucranium event was large burst of radiation, so we're going to have recreate exactly the same way." Dr Reed explained.

"your pods have been modified to do just that." he added.

"although I despise the thought of you four miscreants being the first to accept the highest honour of becoming the perfect human, at its current state the serum will show the best results when combined with your superior biology to other Nucrons." Mr.Bolaji explained. The boys gritted their teeth as they hung helplessly in their pods. Umar started to struggle with his restraints, attempting to free himself from the pod. Normally this would be pointless, but he was a lot stronger now and the bolts were starting to get loose and the iron was starting to bend a little.

"what?! is he actually bending it?" Prof Charles asked in disbelief. The other boys heard this and also started to force themselves free.

"looks like the experiments have been bringing good results for them as well as us… interesting." Dr Reed said.

"good thing we've taken measures against this…" Dr Kane said as he signaled Prof Charles who immediately picked up his tablet and started tapping on it. The boys were immediately overcome with a powerful bolt of electricity from their inhibitor collars. They screamed in agony as the electricity ran painfully through their bodies.

After about 45 seconds, the boys were knocked unconscious due to the pain and the electricity was stopped just after, their collars were also turned off shortly after.

"sorry boys, but… before salvation, must come evolution." Dr Kane stated.

The scientists prepared the serum for administration as Dr Kane, Dr Reed, Prof Charles and Mr Bolaji looked on. After a few minutes, the scientists were ready and canisters of the serum was placed into compartments in each of the pods, all was set and it was about to begin.

Dr Kane gave the signal and the process was activated, the pods activated and a green light came on inside them, the boys began to moan in pain and slowly with time, the boys were screaming in agony. The radiation was hurting them to the point they regained consciousness. Dr Reed was getting increasingly worried, he didn't expect this process to be so heinous.

"some…somethings wrong." he said.

"relax Reed, its part of the process." Dr Kane answered.

"I don't think so… you're killing them!" Dr Reed shouted.

"will you calm down… the radiation is forcing their Nucron cells to mutate, changing the bodies internally and at very fast rate, that's why they're in pain. Its almost done, we just have to wait." Mr Bolaji answered.

"(grunts)… and you knew it was going to be like this ehn?" Dr.Reed queried.

"I wasn't completely sure, but if they are as strong as you say they are it shouldn't be a problem." Dr Kane answered arrogantly. Dr Reed becomes enraged with this answer but just before he could say anything, the process was complete and the boys had stopped screaming, only breathing heavily and slowly drifting back to unconsciousness.

"(scoffs) strong monkeys, aren't they?" Mr Bolaji snared.

"how long until we see some changes?" Dr Kane asked.

"Ideally, the whole process would take a few days, but with the modifications we made to their pods it should be a few hours." Mr Bolaji answered.

"ok then. Take them back to their cell… we'll check in on them later." Dr Kane commanded as he walked out of the room. Dr Reed angrily followed him just after he stared down Mr Bolaji who was completely unfazed. The boys were taken back to their cell where they would later find out what exactly this experiment would do to their bodies.

7 hours later…

9:18pm

The boys are starting wake up, their heads spinning and vision blurry as they regained consciousness. Their bodies felt numb, Umar was the first to steps out of his pod feeling heavy on his feet as he stepped on the ground, he made his way out of the pod, still dizzy but manages to sit on the bench inside the cell. A mirror was hung on the wall beside the bench, as Umar rested his head on the wall behind him, he turned his head to look at the mirror and was surprised with what he saw.

Umar was bigger, the jumper that was formerly baggy was now tearing apart due to his new even bulkier physique. He got up closer to the mirror to observe himself better, he flexed his arms and biceps and it was as if he had trained every single day for six months straight. Once the others got their wits back, they also went up to the mirror to observe themselves. They were all JACKED, Sadiq who was the skinny one in the group is now barely able to fit in his overalls. they all sat around the cell, contemplating their new transformation.

" I didn't even know what to expect. But I'm happy with the results." Sadiq said.

"yh, looks like he wasn't just the deranged bastard we all thought he was." Ahmad said.

"its crazy… I feel like I can destroy this whole place, even without my powers." he stated as he clenched his fists.

"for the first time, I know what you mean. Even though these collars are keeping us from using our powers, I've never felt this strong." Nasir said. A loud thud echoed through the room. Umar had punched, sending cracks through the wall and leaving a whole in the shape of his fist behind. The others got up in shock.

"oh I need to try this…" Ahmad said as he also started punching the wall. He punched the wall so hard the ground shook and dust falling from the ceiling.

"bro if we're this strong, imagine what we can do with our pow…" Ahmad said when suddenly an electric shock jolted from their inhibitor collars.

They held their necks as Prof Charles stood outside their cell with his handy tablet and two agents behind him. As he stood their controlling the shock he noticed something as he turned it off. Once the shock stopped and they regained their wits, they noticed that it wasn't as painful and debilitating as before.

"looks like you boys are feeling stronger. Trying to escape are we?" Prof Charles asked as the cell doors opened. The boys glared at him, remaining silent

"right..." Prof.Charles said sarcastically.

"... well then, it seems that little experiment worked, atleast partly. That jolt of electricity was the same voltage that made you pass out earlier today." he stated.

"seriously?." Sadiq asked.

"yes, I'm just as surprised. Now why don't we show my bosses your new strength. I'm sure they'll be quite pleased… get in your pods." Prof.Charles said. The boys obeyed and stepped into their pods (but were kept a wake) and they transported to the training room where Dr.Kane and Dr.Reed were waiting.

They arrived at the training room, Dr Kane walked up to them, looking older and wrinkler than before as he observed their physiques and the readings showing on the screens attached to each of their pods. Dr Kane smiled as he looked at their charts, Mr Bolaji later walked into the room with a smug look on his face, knowing his experiment worked.

"oouu… looks like you troglodytes have grown up in just a few hours." he said.

"yh, seems you weren't the deranged jackass everyone in school knows you as." Umar insulted. Mr Bolaji became enraged at this comment as the doctors held themselves back from laughing. Just before Mr Bolaji could speak, D .Kane stopped him and deflected from that comment.

"look at this Bolaji… they are already 10x their former power level… and climbing. They are moving up to A level…" he said as he observed their power level.

"A level?" Sadiq asked with curiosity.

"oh, I was just about to explain it to you boys. Prof Charles has created a system for you and your kind. Just for us to have a better understanding of your power levels." Dr.Kane answered.

"is that so? So what're all the power levels from worst to best?" Ahmad queried.

"well, there are 5 overall power levels… level D, C, B , and A. the lowest being D and the highest being A." Dr.Reed explained.

"you said there were 5 levels, you only listed 4." Nasir pointed out.

"from what we're seeing, that level might be unreachable for you boys… at least not at your current state." Dr.Reed answered.

"but your current power level is quite satisfactory… oh and I should add that with each power level there's a base cell level. Ranging from 100-500. so for example if I had a power it would be: C level 300." he explained further.

"so whats our exact level currently?" Umar asked.

"right now, three of you are at B level 200, while the pyrokenetic is a B level 500." Dr Kane replied.

"what the hell did you just call me?" Ahmad asked, confused by the name.

"its a name for Nucrons who control fire son. And that's expected from someone with that power level…" Dr Kane answered.

"... and that's more than what we need for the operation." he said with a devilish grin. The boys raised there heads, intrigued by Dr.Kane's statement.

"operation?" Sadiq asked.

"yes my boy. This is the whole reason why you're here, why we chose you for this whole thing in the first place." Dr Kane said. Dr Reed's eyes widened as he realized what Kane was talking about.

"Kane what're you doing?!" Dr.Reed asked.

"I'm talking about what we both planned from the very beginning…" Dr Kane replied as he turned to face his partner.

"so you want to throw these boys in it as if they are dogs of war?" Dr.Reed queried.

"we've had this discussion before Reed. When is going to get old? grow some thick skin and see that our time is here… our goal is at hand!" Dr.Kane argued.

"why don't you understand that they will not be our soldiers whether you believe you can convince them or not?!" Dr.Reed argued back.

"oh I don't have time to convince them." Dr Kane said quietly. Dr Reed raised his eyebrow in confusion.

"Prof, bring in the chips." Dr.Kane commanded. Prof.Charles signaled some scientists in the observation room, minutes later those scientists walked in with brief cases at hand. They dropped the cases on the table nearby and opened them as they brought it closer. Inside the briefcases were devices the size of a groundnut, the mind control devices that Prof Charles talked about previously.

"these are the chips you asked for sir." Prof.Charles said.

"yes… that's what I've wanted all this time… I'm tired of talking to these fucking animals." Dr Kane said as he picked up one of the chips to observe it.

"at last… we can have control over these insignificant apes." Mr Bolaji said quietly

"(scoffs) you really think you can control us with that?" Umar asked condescendingly. Sadiq looked closely at the chip, he was suddenly able to analyse the chip as if he was a computer. He could see the structure of the chip, down to the smallest copper wire inside it. Sadiq was surprised at this new ability and he quickly used it to his advantage trying to understand as much as he can.

"silence boy…" Dr.Kane said

"now… not only do we have you four, but now we have an army of Nucrons to do our biding. All of them will carry out my will." he continued with a crazed look in his eye.

"you might as well kill us now, cause we would rather die than do your biding. Mind controlled or not." Ahmad asserted.

"Iwon't kill you boys, but I will make you suffer for even speaking against me." Dr Kane said as his eyes covered with a black light, earily similar to the beam that was used to capture the boys weeks earlier. He blasted the beam at them, sending a chill and debilitating energy through the boys. The boys screamed in agony, Kane's beam was absorbing their very life force. As he blasted them his face grew, slowly looking more refreshed and a little younger.

Dr.Reed finally had enough and pushed Dr Kane, forcing him to stop the attack. The two then get into a heated argument, both men screaming at the top of their lungs. Eventually the two leave the room continuing the argument else where while the boys (who were knocked out again) were transported back to their cells.

What does Dr.Kane have in store for the boys and why is Dr.Reed so against it? What is this power that Kane possess? Is this the end game for Mr Bolaji or does he have more to show. The boys will have to find there way out of this mess when they inevitably wake up and they must act fast before they are turned into Kane's war dogs.