Evolution of Goo

e no doctors or equipment around, only a chair similar to a dentist. Azazel lay on the chair and wondered how the procedure would occur as the room grew dark.

He didn know it yet, but he was in deep sleep when the pain struck his brain. Like needles piercing something inside his head, he felt electric surge through his head, lightning reaching every part of his brain, leaving nothing untouched as he woke up.

Laughter filled the room as Azazel was terrified by the whole procedure. A nurse burst into the room, ensuring Azazel was safe, as she didn understand why the child was laughing. With the door left open, Jeremy raised his voice.

”Hes just slightly terrified. Leave him alone. ” Jeremy said, causing Azazel to feel slight relief.

The laughter soon came to a halt as Azazel walked from the room to Jeremy feeling the back of his neck.

”Wasn that bad, huh? ” Jeremy said, laughing.

”I can see something, ” Azazel said, confused.

”Thats a Neural Link… You can see everything you want to know through it. Just give it a thought. ” Jeremy explained.

Azazel quickly thought of the money and estates his parents owned as 10 estates appeared in his vision. Below it was the amount of money he had when his laughter resurfaced. He had 41,920,800,230,000 Universal Currency (UC) and was a trillionaire.

”hihihi, Jeremy, I think Im rich! ” Azazel giggled in laughter that filled the room.

”Rich? ” Jeremy said in surprise.

”Why does it say my fathers occupation was a scientist? ” Azazel asked with a confused giggle.

With a glance at the time from his Neural Link, Jeremy said, ”We need to hurry to the child services. ” he grabbed onto Azazels arm.

Quickly bringing Azazel out of the Bureau of Identification, Jeremy drove them both to Child Services. It was a small church on the edge of the city that looked shabby as the two looked at the darkening sky and entered.

”Jeremy Dent, what do we have here! ” Ginger, an older woman with grey hair and a red dress, said happily, walking up to the two of them.

”This is Azazel Marx, his parents both recently passed away, and hell be in your care… The paperwork is already done. ” Jeremy explained.

”hihihi ” Azazel quietly giggled in nervousness,

”When he feels any emotion, hell start to laugh. The bigger the emotion, the louder the laugh… The kids will probably find ways to bully him… Not only because of his appearance but the laugh… Please do take care of him… ” Jeremy explained thoroughly.

”Thank you, Jeremy! Its getting dark. You best drive home safe! ” Ginger said heartily.

Jeremy took one last look at Azazel and left. It really was getting late.

”hihihi ” Azazel quietly giggled to himself, not making eye contact with the woman.

Azazel felt something off about this woman, as after Jeremy had left the church, she looked toward him with disdain.

”Jinx… ” Ginger said with vicious eyes as she grabbed onto Azazels arm and dragged him through the building.

She showed him the barracks, like bunk beds with 5 other children sleeping, the restroom, the canteen where the children would get food, and the churchyard where the children could play. She then brought Azazel to a small storage room, where she threw him inside.

”And youll stay here, where the children can hear you… Ill bring you food and water every day… use that hole to use the bathroom… The sting flushes it. ” The woman said angrily, slamming the door.

-10 years later

Azazel had lived inside the small storage room, learning and training his body. He found that the Neural Link could communicate with the outside world as he soon discovered John Maddison, one of his fathers colleagues. After the initial hesitation, Azazel found love for research and spent the last 10 years researching what his father had spent his entire life on.

A virus, using something called a slime mold. That would infect the human cells and create a superhuman that could possibly live forever. Azazel, who remembered everything down to the smallest detail, was perfect for the research, spending every waking moment in it.

John Maddison was initially skeptical when he received a message from Wallys biological son. He had heard of the gruesome events that had taken place and initially thought the child was mentally broken beyond repair. After a year of communication, John found Azazel to be one of the most intelligent children he had ever encountered, given ideas hed never even imagined.

Azazel had just turned 16 a day ago as he messaged John.

[Im still in this cramped room… When will you come?]- Azazel

[Ill be there in four hours.]- John

They discussed Azazels adoption after the first year of chatting. However, John explained that for a research license, one needed to be a minimum of 16 years of age. John then told Azazel the requirements and physical demands of the suitable test subject. Allowing Azazel another goal to make his body physically fit enough to become a subject, he trained arduously until this faithful day.

-Four hours later.

”How may I help you today, sir! ” Ginger said with a huge smile.

”Im here to adopt, ” John said, looking around for children that were nowhere to be seen.

”Right this way. ” Ginger led John around, showing the pitiful environment these children were under inclining he donated some money to the organization.

”Might a child named Azazel Marx be here… I seem to have his records here. ” John said, pulling out a list of names from the past year of children and adoptions.

”Ahh… This child… Hes no longer here… ” Ginger stuttered.

”The documents here say that hes still in this facility, ” John explained in a sour tone.

”Ahh… Y-yes… Please have a seat. Ill go fetch him… ” Ginger said wearily, setting John down in the main hall.

Ginger rushed to the storage room, where Azazel was holding his entire body up with his pointer finger as he looked toward the woman emotionlessly. Hes trained his mind and body to hold in his emotions, helping to prevent the uncontrollable laughter as he quickly wiped the sweat from his scarred body and got onto his feet.

He wore the same medical gown from ten years ago, barely covering his genitals as he had flashed Ginger when she entered. He stood at a towering 63 inches in height, with a well-built body, as his vibrant blue eyes shone down on the old woman.

”Yes? ” Azazel said.

”Someones here to adopt you! ” Ginger said angrily as she led Azazel to the main hall.

”Azazel? ” John said, shocked, looking at the large man in front of him.

”hihihi ” Azazel giggled in happiness, meeting the man hed been talking to for the past 10 years.

”Hahaha, Scarier than I imagined! ” John played, patting Azazel on the shoulder.

John was a small man at 56 with a fat body, brown eyes, and brown hair with large circular glasses. He had to look up just to see Azazel towering over him. Aside from the permanently scared body, Azazels demeanor matched his fathers almost exactly as he sighed in relief, looking at the vibrant blue eyes.

”You look just like your father! ” John laughed, looking toward Ginger.

”The paperwork is already filed on the Neural Link… Azazel Marx is officially my son. ” John said, looking towards the disgrace of a woman in front of him.

Leaving the building, Azazel couldn hold in the giggling happiness as he looked toward John with gratitude.

”Same gowns from 10 years ago? ” John said, shocked.

”Yeah… She only gave me food and water. ” Azazel halfheartedly responded.

”You said that, but I didn believe it for a second! ” John said, surprised.

”I haven left that room for ten years. ” Azazel sighed.

”Lets go buy you some clothes, ” John said, making up his mind.

”You know I could buy more than clothes. ” Azazel bragged.

”Your father was head researcher… I bet you could buy the entire country. ” John sighed.

Azazel and John went shopping as they entered a shop called Golden Thread. Inside were dresses made of only the finest silk as one of the women quickly approached the two. Gold embroidery covered everything from the trim board to the racks that held the clothing. Even the marble floor has gold streams running through it, matching the black and gold aesthetic.

”E-Excuse me, sirs… Please, watch where you step… ” Wesly quickly said, stopping them.

”My son Azazel is here to purchase clothes… Please step aside… ” John said, disgusted.

”This place is for people of a higher standing… This child is no more than filth… Please leave… ” Wesly implied not letting them walk any further inside.

”Give me the owners contact information… ” John said impatiently.

”Please leave, sir! ” Wesly said arrogantly.

”Fil Dior, entrepreneur age 42, ” Azazel said after quickly researching the stored brand backtracking the owner from tax logs.

John emailed the owner directly when another woman quickly exited the back room and looked over the two. Dressed in a black silk dress, she was obviously higher in the food chain compared to this woman dressed in cotton as Azazel felt surprised at how fast things were handled.

”How may I help you, gentleman? ” Jade asked with a smile that could enchant a king.

”Ive just adopted young Azazel here, and weve come to find him some rags when this woman stopped us in our tracks and wouldn allow us to move, ” Johns explained nonchalantly.

”Right this way… ” Jade said, leading them to the stores mens section, ignoring the Wesly.

”Jade… These men are trash… Why come out personally. ” Wesly said arrogantly.

”John Maddison is the second largest shareholder of our Golden Thread… ” Jade responded.

”T-this… ” Wesly was speechless.

”Youve been terminated… Please leave the store… You
e also banned from entering any Golden Thread ever again. ” Jade said as she focused on the two in front of her.

”Second largest shareholder? Doesn look like silk to me? ” Azazel played.

”Ohh, his outfit is custom-made, with silk internal fabric and a cotton exterior, ” Jade explained.

”Seems you know a lot about the design, ” Azazel said.

”I designed the outfit under the context of Incognito, ” Jade played.

”It looks pretty good… I look like a dignified lawyer. ” John proudly strutted.

”I want one exactly like it, but instead of brown, I want red to match my hair. ” Azazel played, rubbing his bald malformed head.

”Thatll be 200 Million, ” Jade said seriously.

”This kids got more money than I do… ” John sighed.

”hihihi, Ill take it… ” Azazel said, slightly giggling.

”Walk with me to the back, ” Jade said, leading them through a black curtain.

Azazel and John followed Jade into the back room, where all kinds of clothes were hung on racks of all different sizes. There was a fitting area, a dressing area, a washroom., and even a spa. Azazel looked around as they were led to the fitting area where Jade made Azazel strand in T-pose while she took his measurements.

An hour later, Azazel had a black silk suit inside with a red suit of premium cotton exterior. His shoes were of the finest leather imaginable as she brought him to a section with designer watches. She explained that the designer who had made the watches and shoes weren a part of Golden Thread but business partners, allowing them to sell their products.

In the mirror, Azazel looked at his blood-red suit, with a white tie matching his white designer watch and white shoes. He looked toward John in reassurance he looked good and was given a nod.

”Ill give you 750 million for the trouble… Keep the rest as a tip… ” Azazel said nonchalantly as he left the building with John transferring the money.

”Do we need to complete the researcher exams? ” John asked Azazel as they walked down the busy street.

”Already done… I turned 16 a day ago. I had plenty of time. ” Azazel answered.

”How many tiers did you make it to? ” John asked.

Researchers were divided into tiers based on their theoretical knowledge, known knowledge, and implementation of knowledge from Tier 1 to Tier 10, from Beginner to Master. Azazel had completed all the tests to Tier 10 as he felt pride in his knowledge. He had spent 10 years studying, after all.

”Tier 10 Master Level. ” Azazel lightly giggled.

”Ahh… You really are a genius… Im surprised it isn spread throughout the researcher community. ” John said.

”When you take the test, you can have it binded to your ID without informing the community. Only the company that administers the test can know. It states in the contract that if the person does not wish to state his Tier, they have the right to do so. ” Azazel said with certainty.

”I see… ” John said, wondering why he hadn read the contract in the past.

”Can we head to the facility now? I don like being outside. ” Azazel said as he began to quietly giggle from the disgusted stares from people around.

”Ill call a shuttle… Contact Freed Crimson, the head director of Project G, ” John said.

[This is Azazel Marx, Ive come to understand my father was a head researcher under a certain project.]- Azazel

After a few minutes, the shuttle arrived, and Azazel was in awe of the floating car in front of him. Hed never seen or read anything about cars being able to fly on the Neuro Link and wondered how advanced technology was. Even the implementation of Neuro Link was hidden from the population.

[My father was a researcher and a Tier-9 Master. Ive just become a Tier-10 Master. Id like to complete my fathers work.]- Azazel

Azazel and John stepped into the floating car. They found two luxurious seats in the back. Even more shocking was that the car was 100% AI and needed no driver. John watched as the car was filled with Azazels laughter as he sat beside him and showed the gadgets inside. The chairs had a massager, electrotherapy, heat, and cooling, and if anyone wanted a drink, it would be dispensed from the drivers side, which looked like a transparent wall. John waved his hand and told Azazel that the car could become transparent as they seemed floating in the sky.

”We
e headed to headquarters to meet Freed… Since he didn respond. ” Johns explained.

It only took five minutes to exit the city and another five minutes to arrive in a desert just outside of it. The car then arrived at a small stone building that was perfect in every way, except there was no door to be found.

John and Azazel stepped out of the car as John walked up to the odd stone structure and held his arm out. A red light then scanned Johns arm as the wall opened up seamlessly into a room of metal. There were letters of red covering the room in equations, elements, symbols, and all kinds of things as a man with red hair looked over at the two entering.

The man had messy long red hair that fell past his shoulders with crimson eyes that seemed to glow in the dimly lit room. He looked skinny and frail as he wore a white medical gown. A red band on his wrist seemed more intriguing to Azazel than anything else in the room.

”Marys son… ” Freed said with saddened eyes as he walked slowly to Azazel.

”M-my mother… hihihi ” Azazel began to laugh hysterically as he looked at Freed in confusion.

In his mind, memories resurfaced from his past as he remembered witnessing the **** and slaughter of his own mother. Freed looked toward Azazel in surprise as he seemed unbothered by the laughter and Azazels appearance.

”Emotional Laughter, Stage 5. Third-Degree Chemical burns covering the body. ” Freed said, analyzing.

Azazel took ten minutes to calm down as Freed examined his body up and down. John let things go as things were out of his hands in Freeds presence.

”John… You told him, didn you… ” Freed said, looking at Azazel.

”The boys a genius… Hes already Tier 10 at 16. His physique is perfect for testing, and he can even feel pain. The progress weve had in the past four years was theories by Azazel. I only brought them to your attention. ” John explained, praising.

”Azazel… You don know this… but your mother was my sister… The mental disorder you have is called Emotional Laughter, and I have Stage 1. I won stop you from partaking in Project G but be warned… Slime Mold is dangerous… The animal testing weve done shows signs of parasitic possession. ” Freed said seriously.

”Then Id like to start today… I don like the outside world… Ill devote what remains of my life to our research… ” Azazel said in determination.

”Ill let you know something… Emotional Laughter leads to one of two outcomes… Mental breakdown and paralysis… Or complete emotional dysfunction… ” Freed sighed.

”Like… My mother… ” Azazel said, giggling.

”Mary… She was a genius when she met your father… They competed with each other on who could make better progress. They were a perfect match, even with her disorder… She wouldn go outside unless she needed to when Wally proposed to her. She laughed in excitement as she planned where they would get married when she was pregnant with you. ” Freed said as he began to giggle himself.

”W-what happened? ” Azazel stuttered.

”The people got to her… Shed already been abused as a child by our parents… So when the pastor was reading their verses, she couldn stop laughing in happiness. However, the pastor took it as an insult calling her a demon in human clothing, stopping his verses, and walking out of the ceremony. The extreme happiness changed into complete and utter sadness as her eyes glazed over, and she fell to the ground. Wally tried everything in his power to bring her out of the trance, but no matter what he tried, she wouldn smile, laugh, or cry. Well, that was until she had you, of course. Wally came to the facility in tears of happiness as he told me all about Mary smiling at her beautiful son Azazel. He felt that you were the salvation they needed to bring her back, but he had made progress in his research and was caught up in it. We couldn leave the facility as it was becoming more hostile. As years passed, he realized he wanted to spend more time with you. The week he took off, he had bought estates for you and Mary to travel across the world. He had told me that he was stopping his research and leaving to live a happy life with his family. ” Freed said as his giggling soon became louder.

”That Gregory Stone… He not only killed my sister… He killed my best friend… and ruined their childs life! ” Freed said hysterically, laughing.

Azazel was speechless as he waited for Freed to calm his nerves. John, who had seen Freed holding in his emotions for a long time, felt relieved that he had somewhere to vent as the laughing soon came to a halt.

”So the project is becoming hostile, ” Azazel asked.

”There is only one slime mold in our project… from our countless experiments. Its adapted its cells to anything weve tried. Its unable to be poisoned, melted with acid, or drowned. So long as its on something made of atoms, it can survive, eating them slowly over time. When an animal is placed inside the container where we hold the mold, it will slowly cover its body over a few days spreading throughout its body, spreading its pores to every cell until the creature loses all reasoning. When the creature no longer puts up a fight, it controls the body of the creature through the pathways in the brain. Only when we melt the creatures body does the mold go back into its slime mold form. ” Freed explained bluntly.

”Have we tried adapting the creatures to the mold? ” Azazel asked.

”Weve tried, but the creature can survive long enough to last through the experiments. ” Freed sighed.

”Let me see what we have so far… Ive got an idea that just might work. ” Azazel said in thought.

-One year later.

Azazel, Freed, and John had done countless tests and experiments with the slime mold. As Azazel found that the slime mold helped regenerate the cells of its host. The more tests done, the more Azazel was confident there was a chance that integration into a creature was possible.

It was when Azazel injected a small chimp with all but one of the adaptations they had developed over the years. As he quietly watched the slime mold possess the creature. Through the scanners, Azazel could see the mold reshaping the cells of the chimp and helping it combine its cells with the adaptations as it seeped into every cell inside, combining with it. Until the adaptation, Azazel left out, started to take effect. It was the corrosive resistance gene of tapeworms found inside a bearded vulture with the most acidic stomach acid in the world. The chimp slowly corroded under the slime molds naturally corrosive nature as its skin started to decay at an accelerated rate until there was nothing but a puddle of mold left.

John and Freed were doing tests in another country, while Azazel stayed back for some testing he kept from their radar as he didn trust anyone. Gregory had ruined all of Azazels faith in humanity as he held a case of needles beside him of all the various adaptations of creatures from around the world.

Acid Resistance from a mutated tapeworm, immortality from a jellyfish, venom resistance from a kingsnake, regeneration of limbs and organs from Axolotls, cold resistance from the wood frog, camouflage of a cuttlefish, mimicry of a pygmy octopus, adaptation of a tardigrade, and soo many more.

Azazel walked in and sealed off the confined chamber as the slime mold slowly made its way over to him. Waiting for the slime mold to spread its spores to his own body, Azazel watched as its form was almost an art piece. He saw videos of the past where his father had raised the slime mold from only the size of a pebble to the massive rabbit-sized mold in front of him. Azazel had even noticed that it was becoming faster as time passed, allowing things to progress faster.

”Its time… Wish me luck… Father… ” Azazel whispered as he felt the slime mold corroding his leg where it had just arrived.

Azazel quickly injected over 100 different adaptations, some being untested. However, he had modified each adaptation to his 0-Negative Blood and was prepared to die for the experiment. He feared that if the chimp fully adapted, it would be difficult to kill without killing the slime mold altogether, so he decided it best to leave one of the important adaptations out of the mix.

The mold was vicious as it explored Azazels body. It first covered his body and then started to invade the cells from the outside in. Slowly, painfully and without emotion, the slime invaded Azazels brain as everything went black.