Blackness. Suddenly, the camera screen fades on, showing a man in his early thirties wearing a white lab coat. He is holding the camera, staring into the lens. He sets it down at eye level and begins to speak, his speech quick due to his high level of excitement.
“My name is Robert Campbell, it is now…”
Robert looks down at his watch, studying it for a few seconds, getting the time and date properly, before looking back into the camera lens.
“It is now March 19th, 1992, at 3:57 AM, and I and my partner, Christopher Hammet, have just made a breakthrough in our creation of a biological enhancement suit. It is currently in its first stage, slight sense and physical attribute enhancement, slightly raising its wearers every sense, its strength, and allowing it to heal at a quicker pace. If all goes according to plan, Phase 2 will allow it to absorb physical attacks, from primitive melee weapons, knives, bats, things like that, to advanced heavy fire, up to a .50 caliber round. Phase 1 has been completed, though, further testing is required. Currently, it shows signs of enhancing its wearer’s negative emotions as well. Jealousy and anger especially are out of control at times. Christopher and I have discovered that, by mixing the wearers blood with the original compound, it gives the wearer a greater degree of control over the suit, allowing the user to connect to the suits features on a near-psychic level. I myself have worn the suit, which we have given the code name Dragonskin. I felt…there aren’t words to describe the feeling. It was incredible. When I removed the suit, I felt ten years younger. I just hope we can advance the suit to Phase 2, before our Military funding runs out…”
Robert sighs and shuts the camera off. He picks it up off the counter he had previously placed it on and turns to his partner, Christopher, who is bent over a microscope, studying the latest sample of Dragonskin. Robert walks over to him, staring down at the sample from the side of the microscope. Christopher looks up at him, a gleam in his eyes.
“Its looking like Phase 2 is close. The Dragonskin is accepting the interweave of Adimantium. If it fully integrates it, then it will be nigh impenetrable.”
Christopher looks back into the microscope, studying the sample once again, hoping that the Dragonskin will fully integrate the Adimantium. After a few seconds, he lifts his head away from the microscope, his eyes closed, head hung in defeat. He tilts his head back, rubbing his eyes with one hand under his glasses, talking to Robert as he does.
“Damn it…the molecules broke down. The Dragonskin is fighting the Adimantium. It doesn’t want to accept it. We’re missing something here…there’s got to be a way to combine the two….”
Robert begins to pace the floor; he was able to think better when moving. He thinks back to everything he knows about Adimantium, how its prepared, how its shaped, how you have to keep it hot to make it malleable…
“That’s it!”
Christopher quickly looks over to him from his seat by the microscope, a tinge of hope in his eyes.
“What? What’s it?”
“Heat! Adimantium has to be kept hot and in its liquid form to stay malleable. If we can heat it up and then mix it with the Dragonskin, the two should properly mix; the Dragonskin should adapt to it, keep it heated to keep itself functioning.”
After a moment of silence and thinking, Christopher’s face breaks out into a smile.
“You’re a goddamned genius! Okay, lets get it together and try it right now, how hot does the stuff have to be?”
As Robert rushes around the room, gathering up the necessary items, more of the Dragonskin large glass cauldron, positioning it around a large bunson burner built into the floor, he answers Christopher.
“Needs to be at about 1500 Degrees Fahrenheit. Very very hot, we’ll definitely need protective gear. You go get it; I’ll start heating up the Adimantium.”
Christopher rushes away to find the protective gear and Robert drags a large barrel filed with chunks of jagged silver, the word ‘Adimantium’ emblazoned on the barrel. He begins to toss chunk after chunk of the Adimantium into the glass cauldron, filling it to the halfway mark. He drags the barrel out of his way and flips the switch on a nearby counter that activates the bunson burner under the cauldron, turning the flame to its highest point. Almost immediately, a wave of heat washes over Robert. Out of nowhere, the double doors at the front of the room burst open, slamming into the walls. Several men in black suits carrying high powered machine guns rush into the room, aiming their weapons at Robert and Christopher, who had just returned with the protective gear. At the sight of the weapons, both Robert and Christopher raise their arms into the air, not wanting to be shot by mistake. A man wearing a white suit walks in behind the men, hands clasped behind his back. He looks around the room, then down at the glass cauldron. Robert reaches over and shuts off the bunson burner. The man in white looks at Robert, then Christopher, smirks at them then speaks to them.
“Gentlemen…I’m afraid that your funding has just been cut. I’ve been sent here to collect all of your research and samples and to remove you from the building. If you attempt to resist, you will be shot. Now, if you don’t mind…leave the premises.”
The two men, knowing that it is futile to say or do anything, move towards the door. As they reach the door, Robert turns to the man in white, who had been watching them. His eyes suddenly widen and he speaks to him.
“Oh, man, I forgot my keys in the back. I’ll just run and get them.”
The mans eyes narrow as he answers back.
“You have two minutes.”
Robert jogs to the back of the room, searching the counter along the back. About two minutes later, he jogs back to the door, his keys in his hand, jingling along with his movement.
“Found ‘em.”
“Be gone.”
Robert and Christopher exit the room, the doors shutting behind them. Christopher begins to shuffle away, his posture reflecting his depression, while Robert is the complete opposite, a spring in his step. Christopher notices this and comments on it.
“What the hells got you so happy? Haven’t you noticed that they just muscled us out of the thing we’ve poured countless hours into?”
Robert smiles a big smile, before removing two vials of a black liquid from his coat pocket, holding them in the air for Christopher to see.
“Or did they? Like I really forgot my car keys…. I was able to get our personal samples. Here’s yours.”
Robert tosses the vial to him, Christopher’s attitude immediately changing as he catches the vial.
“You slick sonofabitch! I knew I kept you around for a reason.”
As the two exit the building, Robert pockets his vial.
“Go home, don’t call me tonight, and lay low for a while. We need to let them think they have everything before we get back to work. Now that we know what to do, it’s only a matter of getting the materials. I know a guy who will give me a deal on some Adimantium, so we should be okay. Once we’ve moved on to Phase 2, they’ll have no choice but to give us our funding back.”
Christopher nods in acceptance of the terms and the two of them head to their cars, heading back to their families.
---Three Months Later---
Robert stares down at the lens of his camera, having rescued it just as he rescued his vial of Dragonskin, unsure of what to say. After a few moments of silence, he makes up his mind and begins to speak.
“It is now three months after we were muscled out of our own project. We were unable to obtain the proper amount of Adimantium needed and have been working on stabilizing what we have. Evan, I know you’re probably watching this, so, I want to tell you about the Dragonskin before something bad happens. I’ve been getting the feeling like I was being followed for about a month now. I’ve hidden the Dragonskin in a safe sealed off in a hidden room in our basement. If anything were to happen to me, or your mother, or, heaven forbid, both of us, you’ll be sent to live with your mothers parents, your grandparents. Right now, you’re only six months old, but, when you’re older, I’m talking over twenty-one, if I haven’t shown you these tapes yet, go looking for them. If I’m not able to move the Dragonskin on to Phase 2, then I want to give it to someone who might be able to. I know for a fact that you’re going to be smarter than me, I can just tell. I love you son, I’m out of tape now. Goodbye.”
Robert shuts the camera off and gets to his feet. He removes the tape from the camera and leaves the attic. He heads downstairs, looking in on his wife, who is holding Evan at the time, before moving into the living room. He sets the tape down on the coffee table. As he starts to move into the dining room, his front door is kicked in. The same two men in black suits that removed him from the building three months prior storm in, machine guns drawn. Roberts’ wife Victoria walks into the room, sans Evan, wondering what is on. Immediately, the two men open fire on her, sending dozens of bullets hurdling into her, blood splattering the walls and ceiling, sending her crashing to the floor below as Evan begins to cry, frightened by the noise. The two men aim towards Robert and he dodges to the left, behind the couch. The two men open fire on the couch, the bullets tearing the fabric to shreds, leaving a metal plate attached to the back without a mark on it. As the two men reload, Robert rises from behind the couch, a shotgun in his hand. He fires a shot at one man, easily taking him down, the buckshot slamming into his skull. The other man gets his gun reloaded and fires at Robert, who fires at him at the same time. The two shots mix in the air, cutting in to each of their targets, the mans hitting Robert in the stomach, while Roberts hits the man in his head. The man crashes to the floor, his head shattered, while Robert drops to his knees. He crawls out from behind the couch and to the phone, a bloody trail behind him. He dials 911 and informs them of what happened, barely making it through the call, before finally succumbing to his injuries. As he dies, the last sounds he hears are of his six month old son crying.
