Chapter 1: origins

Location: Evodyne Laboratories, Abuja

Doctor Christiana lead geneticist and biologist also the head of project new man walked into the secret lab below the Evodyne facility where her latest test subject laid infront of her suspended in a tube filled with a blue fluid

"Report" she said, her commanding presence causing all the other scientists in attendance to stand alert

"Vitals are strong" one of them said reading the vitals from his tablet

"No genetic anomalies located" another added

" Good" she stated " begin"

The machine containing the subject began to glow as the process begun

"Initiate Gene mutation"

The subject began screaming as the tube was filled with a black liquid was injected into him

"Genetic changes detected" a scientist stated

The subject continued to scream as the tube began to crack

"Brain and cardiac activity spiking" another added

" Reduce mutagen supply!" She screamed but it was too late as the subject exploded causing chunks of human viscera to smear all over the tube.

Doctor Christiana sighed as an intern approached her

"Ummm Doctor Christiana.." she said nervously

Christiana turned her head and gave the poor girl a stare that shook her to her core

"Ca...call for..y-you.." she stuttered

Christiana hissed as she walked into her office. Once inside the glass walls went dark as she was now on a call with the board of directors of Evodyne industries

"Doctor Christiana" one began "you are the best bio-geneticist on the planet, no one knows how human DNA works more than you, that's why we were led to believe that you would be a good fit for this project, but it seems like all you have produced are failure..."

" They aren't failures" she interjected

" Nearly a billion in funds and no results, what exactly would you call that?" He retorted

" I'm a scientist" she started " science is trial and error therefore there are no failures only opportunities to learn. You said it yourselves,I am the best in my field and I believe I have finally cracked the code"

" Well please don't keep us in suspense"

" The problem is our previous subjects had exhausted their supply of cellular proteins that enabled them to synthesize...

"Abeg English Doctor"

She hissed "basically our past subjects were too old to withstand the procedure"

The room fell silent

" Are you suggesting?"

"8.5 million" she answered "there are 8.5 million of them wandering the streets,no family,no records, I am pretty sure no one is going to notice if a few go missing"

The room was still silent

" Look" she said irritated "since mankind has roamed the earth we have always wanted to reach out true physical potential, superhuman abilities were once fiction but I believe that our DNA hold the secret to unlocking those abilities. If we are successful then Nigeria would have a monopoly on super powered individual long before any other nation. We would be unstoppable and as for your pockets....the would certainly get fatter being the only company with the knowledge on how to make superhumans,so what do you say? Who is ready to make history?"

Silence filled the room until one of the board members asked

"When can you begin?" As Christiana began smiling from ear to ear

..........................................................

4years later

Location: superhuman testing facility 3, Calabar, Cross river state

"Wake up no.89!" A guard yelled as he dragged a boy in a green prison style jump suit off his bed

"Training time" he said as he pushed him outside.

Ubong adjusted his collar as he begrudgingly began to move towards the training centre, he was still sore from the last day but the guard did care as he continued to push ubong forward.

He kept moving knowing that atleast the other guys would be there too. Once inside the training room it was the business as usual,the other boys were inside their designated training areas David was in a room arranging the blocks on the floor into the shape of various atomic bonds of elements on the periodic table with his mind while solving complex mathematical equations created by college professors at the same time playing chess with an advanced AI while levitating himself and several solved Rubik's cubes in the air.

Bassey was in his area which was flooded with flames incinerating everything inside except bassey who was unharmed. He was then exposed various corrosive acids all of which had no effect, after that he was asked to crush dent a brand new safe that was tested against rocket launchers, his fist ended up going through it like it was made of cardboard.

Then there was Ekemini. Ekemini was always a nightmare for the staff and today was no different. He was asked to use his laser vision to cut an apple in half but instead he began to use it to destroy everything else. Security were called in, big mistake, he was the best fighter out of all of them and proceeded to beat some of them without his powers but he was eventually restrained and repeatedly electrocuted with the guards shock gauntlets.

Ubong sighed as he ran into Andikan who was being taken back to his room, ubong tried speaking to him but Andikan didn't say a word and just went with the guard,ubong wondered why but he was pushed into his training room where the scientists observed him from behind a black glass screen with goggles for extra protection.

"Alright begin" one of then said from the speaker

Ubong sighed as he activated his powers with the monitoring system remarking

"Solar radiation levels increasing currently at 12%"

" Take it higher" one if the scientists said

" You asked for it" ubong replied shrugging his shoulders as the room began to glow

"Solar radiation increasing, Currently 30%"

" Higher"

Ubong began to strain

" Solar radiation levels at 50%"

He then fell on his knees panting

The door then opened as a guard walked in

"You dey okay?" He asked

"I can't go higher than that" ubong said weakly

The guard put his hand on ubong's shoulder and proceed to punch him in the gut. Ubong fell down to the floor struggling to breathe

"You Neva start yet you say you dey tried" the guard said as he began to beat ubong with his baton.

It was like this everyday, if they weren't able to do what was asked they were beaten, most days they trained till the had to be carried back to their rooms and return the next day with no breaks.

Ubong was thrown back into his room where he went to a corner and began sobbing while asking telling himself

"No more"