Harker did not wear any expression as Skitters clung onto Angela's face. The model tried to get it off her, but the little reptile managed to stay in place. Its tiny wings were suddenly much sharper than before and made cuts on her fingers as they flapped, like the blades of a helicopter.
"AHHHHHHHH!!!!"
Even though Harker was not showing any emotion, deep down he harbored a strong sense of schadenfreude over Angela's demise.
'Go get 'er, Skitters!' He thought.
This damn bitch tries to pull shit on him, making him appear the 'barbaric plebeian' again and even hitting him. She deserves some karma.
"Get it out of my face! Don't just stand there! It's ruining my pretty face, get it out!" She shrieked like a banshee.
The guards rushed to her side, and Harker was free. They tried to pry it out but….
Skitters feet had changed. They turned into four eucalyptus leaves. And eucalyptus can cause skin irritation and allergic reaction.
The patches left behind by the chameleon's feet started to redden and swell. Angela's breathing became ragged, and she was soon gasping for air. She writhed in pain, her face now looking like a red bubble wrap.
"I…. I can't breathe…. Numb…" She muttered.
Harker whistled, and Skitters went by his side. He went inside the building while everyone's too busy taking care of the bitchy heiress. They even called a medic from within the Institute in a state of panic, like the president himself got assassinated.
"Let's go look for someone who can supply us RH null blood. We can't ask the front desk now since they'll never supply it to us because of Angela." Harker told Skitters.
Skitters' foot stayed normal, and he comfortably changed his colors to match Harker's shirt. It really was the animal's choice to give that girl a lesson.
Yan appeared by Harker's side as he went to the elevator. The distraction from the front entrance of BITMAC proved to be a blessing in disguise, as there was not much security to question him. Harker used his hair to swipe someone's card key. It was from a scientist at a lab on the 6th floor.
"Why does Angela hate you so, Master?" The eyeball asked.
"Like I told Roland, that girl's just nuts. So obsessed with him that she's willin' to get rid of anything blocking her way from Roland." Harker said. "And I hate her just as much because of it."
"She mentioned your mother." Yan remembered.
Harker's jaw clenched. "I don't want to talk about it. If I keep thinkin' 'bout that Satan's whore, I'd end up getting an aneurysm. I just want to focus on getting the RH null blood."
Yan said nothing more because of this, sensing his Master's wrath clearly. Even Skitters started changing colors due to the increase of the temperature around Harker. He was like a volcano close to exploding.
The door opened, and Harker had managed to take a few breaths to calm himself. The card was something he snatched at random, hoping to bribe some random scientist. He can tell them to claim that they have discovered Skitters and the SS cells themself, in exchange of getting supplies of 'golden blood' for them.
The card belonged to someone named Henry Clerval. He works in the Neurology Department. Harker swiped it open, and found someone working alone in the lab. Jackpot!
It was an older woman, possibly in her 40s or 50s. She had a lot of graying hair already, wrapped up in a tight bun. Her eyes were bulging a little bit under her reading glasses. Her nose quite tall, and her lips so thin that they were almost nonexistent. She seemed to be of Germanic descent.
The woman turned and frowned. She was wearing bloody gloves, holding a scalpel and dissecting a brain sample. From the size, Harker could tell it was a human brain that was quite fresh, possibly the donor being dead in just 4-5 days.
"You're not Henry." She frowned. "Who are you, kid?"
"Hello, Madam…. I'm here to provide a discovery." He said, presenting the bizarre Skitters.
The woman was quite surprised by the appearance of this chameleon. She examined it, adjusting her spectacles.
"Is this a reptile, an insect or a plant….. I have never seen anything like it." She said.
Harker presented his little baby proudly. "This is Skitters. He started as a veiled chameleon, but had developed special cells that are unlike anything seen before in any species. These cells allowed him to modify his DNA."
"Modify his DNA?" She blinked. "So he can genetically modify himself? What triggers this?"
Harker went to take another thing from his bag. This time, it was an earthworm. He set Skitters on the table and fed it to him.
Not long after, the chameleon's tail changed to resemble the anterior of an earthworm.
The scientist was a little startled. But eventually, she smiled in amazement. "Is…. Is it alive? The tail?"
Harker shrugged. "I could never tell how much of the traits he adapted, or choose to adapt."
He took a small clean tweezer to pick up the worm tail, and it did move. Skitters purred as if being displeased with him.
"Sorry bud. Just checkin if your tail's alive." He said. "And it is. Isn't it incredible, Madam?"
"It is…." She said. "With a discovery as huge as this, you can win the Noobel Prize for Physiology/Medicine."
"Yes, but I have no intention to win that. Instead, I want to ask you a favor, Madam." Harker said.
"A favor?"
"You see…. My friend really needs a supply of RH null blood. Possibly 700 ml per week, or more. And the Institute is the only one that can gather that supply."
"That much? And per week?" She blinked. "But RH null blood is so rare—"
"I know but….. It's worth a discovery such as this, right?"
The woman now understood what Harker wanted her to do. She thought about it, rubbing her lips as she pondered.
Which made her rub all that blood and brain fluid over it. Harker flinched a little, despite technically eating much worse things at greater amounts. There was just something unsettling with how nonchalant she was in rubbing gore all over her thin mouth.
"Alright then. I have decided. You should contact me on this number, and we shall arrange a place and time to meet every week." The woman said. "But you'd have to promise to be very discreet, kid."
"I will. However, I can't give you Skitters yet. I can only give you a small sample to study, and once I make sure that you are willing to supply us, then I will hand him over. I also have to warn you that shall you breach this arrangement, I will have to reveal myself as the true discoverer to the Institute. I have proof to do that."
"I understand." The woman nodded. "Here."
Harker received a calling card from her calloused hands. The name on the card was:
Victoria Seward.
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