Clay rushed down the halls of the base, struggling to keep all his blue prints in his arms. He darted into an elevator and took a deep breath as it carried him up to the top floor. He needed to calm down, or else he might completely blow his whole presentation. His nerves had always got the best of him whenever it came to speaking in front of any kind of crowd. He would practically have a heart attack whenever he even explained anything to his under-workers.
As the elevator slowed to a stop, and the doors opened, Clay reminded himself to breath and just go with it. He knew his project inside and out, backwards and forwards and he needn't fear forgetting anything.
With a new set of confidence, he marched down the clean halls of Hyperion. Ahead of him was a large set of double doors, a massive H painted on them. His boss, was just outside the doors, waiving for him to speed up. Clay cleared his throat upon reaching his overseer.
“They are ready for you now. I think they are all very excited. You've got this.” His boss gave him a hardy pat on the back and pushed him into the room. Clay gulped, as he found himself in front of the board of directors. They were mainly a bunch of old coots, studying his every move. He couldn't help but feel like a piece of art on display, a terrible piece that made anyone who saw it wonder how it got put on display in the first place.
“Afternoon sirs.” Clay tried to speak up, but he could tell right away he was practically whispering.
“Afternoon to you too...Doctor Clay was it?” One of them asked, eyeing a piece of paper he had sitting in front of him.
“Ah, yes!” Clay exclaimed.
“And you were the one tasked with our latest idea.” He continued.
“Yes, sir.” Clay nodded.
“Well, then get on with it. Show us what your solution is.” The older man demanded, scratching at his snow white beard. Clay darted over to the wall, immediately pinning up his blue prints and sorting his papers, then, he took a deep breath, and began,
“After much deliberation, I concluded that it would be a waste of time, money, and effort to upgrade our current militants with gear that would make them more assassin like. If we want to even rival what the Lance is doing, then we need to step it up a notch. Your spies claimed that they were training an elite group whose sole purpose is to be assassins. They are taking children, raising them to be the skilled, silent, killers that they need. We can't train our soldiers to match or defend against this.
That is why I think we need to create our own group of elite assassins.” He paused, taking a moment to look up at the board. They were all glaring, showing looks of distaste and doubt. Clay gulped down his anxiety and continued.
“We will do what Lance hasn't. We won't train an assassin, we will create one. We will birth assassins!” He suddenly exclaimed. This seemed to catch the boards attention and they all grunted with interest.
“Hyperion is known for its top of the league robots. That is why I had originally planned to create a robot assassin. Something designed to be the stealthy killing machine, something with one purpose and one skill, to assassinate. Although we can create robots like no other, and an AI would be the perfect fit for an assassin, robots just don't hold the capability of being as stealthy, sneaky, and undetectable as possible. So I propose we create something organic, from scratch. ” Clay pointed to one of his blue prints, showing his notes.
“I present to you, Experiment A. By taking the DNA of this Stalker and combining it with human DNA, I can create the perfect assassin. In doing this, we ensure that these assassins are devoted to us and us alone. They have no family, they are born and trained here. They are tweaked and perfected in the lab until they are capable of crushing any competition. This is unlike anything we have done before, and I believe it has the potential to change Hyperion as we know it.” He added. The board immediately began to chatter amongst themselves, whispering back and forth. The oldest of them smiled widely, leaning on the table.
“Doctor Clay, this idea intrigues us, tell us more about what this Experiment A will be capable of.”
Clay smiled, this was working.
“Well, due to the Stalker capabilities, I can tweak the experiments DNA in such a way that they had the ability to turn invisible, shoot spikes, and even fly. Stalkers are known for their stealth when hunting prey, no one sees or hears them coming. Combine these qualities with the sturdy and flexible nature of the human body, and you have the perfect assassin. I could even add some robotic parts to enhance their skills.” Clay couldn't help but beam from ear to ear as the board nodded and smiled between themselves.
“Leave your notes here with us and we will take a moment to deliberate.” The oldest board member instructed him. Clay had to hold his breath as he stepped out of the room, he could hardly believe this was happening. As he exited, he was greeted by his boss who wore an expectant smile.
“So, what did they say?” He rung his hands nervously.
“They are talking it over...I think, I think they're going to green light it.” Clay couldn't help but smile from ear to ear.
“Really!? See I knew you could blow their minds!” His boss chuckled. Clay didn't have to wait long before the doors swung open and he was asked inside once again.
“Clay, we have decided to accept this proposal. Experiment A is a go. Now, we will inform your overseer of this as well, but you will be given a team of our best scientists to work under you. We are making you the project manager of Experiment A and we expect great things from you. You have a lot of potential Doctor Clay, we know you will not disappoint us.” The board agreed. The oldest member slid a golden folder across the table which Clay immediately grabbed.
“T-thank you. I will do my best!” Clay bowed and quickly ran from the room.
“Well?” His overseer spied the golden folder and knew it was good news.
“I did it! They loved the idea. They're making me project manager, I'm going to have a whole team of scientists!” Clay's eyes sparkled as he imagined himself instructing the team on his own project.
“I know you will do a great job, this is sure to change Hyperion.” His boss assured him, no doubt this was going to be the creation of a life time.
Clay could hardly contain his excitement and gave a joyful heel tap as he raced back for his lab. He burst through the lab doors, throwing his hands in the air with victory.
“I did it! Finally!” He shouted at the top of his lounges.
“Wow ok...what has you so excited?” Came a voice from behind. Clay whirled around, too happy to scold anyone for coming un-invited into his work space.
“Tabitha!” He exclaimed, pulling the door completely open for her to step in. She had a greasy rag in her hands which she was currently using to rub black stains from her palms. Beside her was a light purple Clap-Trap, it waved happily at Clay.
“Master Clay! It is I, your beloved Clap-Trap, here to assist you again with anything at all you could possibly ever need in your whole life forever...” It immediately began to rattle on. Clay ignored it completely, kneeling and giving it a large hug. The Clap-Trap paused for only a moment.
“I always knew you loved me!” It exclaimed. Tabitha laughed, raising a brow to the overjoyed scientist.
“Ok...I think we need to take you to the infirmary, there must be something terribly wrong with you.” She teased. Clay stood up, facing her. He beamed from ear to ear before grabbing her face in both his hands and planting a sloppy kiss on her forehead. Tabitha squeaked in surprise, her dirtied rag dropping to the floor by her leather boots.
“D-definitely s-something wrong.” She stammered, her face turning a shade of cherry.
“Oh there is absolutely nothing wrong at all!” Clay spun backwards into his lab, landing perfectly in his work chair. He sighed happily, closing his eyes.
“I don't know what has happened to master Clay, but I love it.” the purple robot hummed. Tabitha sneered,
“Might I remind you, little Clap-Trap, that the whole reason you were in my possession, was so I could fix you after your beloved “master” blasted you with a elemental shock rifle.” She snorted.
“It's in the past.” The clap-trap shrugged, rolling about the lab while picking up random pieces of paper. Tabitha watched quietly for a moment before stepping back towards the lab door.
“So...is everything uhm...with your experiment going well?” She timidly asked. Clay grinned wildly, standing from his chair.
“Well? Things are splendid. The board of directors have just Green Lighted my whole project. They made me head of the whole thing, the overseer, the big kahoona!” He waved his hand triumphantly. “I'll have a whole team of scientists working under me. Finally, finally after all these years I'm getting the recognition I've dreamed of.” He pranced over to the glass wall where the Stalker frolicked on the other side.
“This is my chance...my opportunity to make a name for myself. I'll go down in history. People on my home planet will hear of my great success.” He suddenly turned, looking back to Tabitha eagerly.
“T-that's great Clay. I'm so glad everything worked out for you. I knew you could do it.” She leaned against the door way, holding up an encouraging thumbs up.
“Tabitha, don't you know what this means for you? Of course you'll be my engineer along the way. I'm sure Hyperion is going to bring in someone else too, but you...you get me.” He stepped closer to her.
“That sounds nice clay...but I think...this all seems bigger than me. I wouldn't be much help.” She rubbed the back of her head nervously.
“Non sense, you would finally get the chance to work on something other than those boring old robots. You could actually be a part of something that...matters!” He exclaimed excitedly. Tabitha raised her brow in slight shock, pushing herself off the door frame.
“Excuse you Clay, but did you think I've spent my whole life here working on meaningless things?” She frowned, hurt by his comment. Usually she had the patience to hear him out, he was always a jumble with his words. However, after spending hours working on a clap-trap with no filter, she was too tired to deal with his hurtful comments.
“Well I mean, the robots go out and get damaged, then you fix them and it happens all over again. It's a never ending cycle.” He shrugged, not meaning to insult her. Tabitha sighed, placing her hands on both of his shoulders.
“Look, Clay Jar, I'm overjoyed for you, I really am. I know you'll do great, I just can't imagine me being of much help to you. Hyperion obviously knows how important this is and they'll send you the best of the best, so you won't need me. Still, my garage is always open.” She gave a half smile, ruffling his chestnut colored hair before leaving the lab.
Clay stood quietly before poking his head out of the lab, watching as she walked off down the halls.
“That's still a stupid nick-name.” He shouted after her before darting back to his work chair. He was slightly disappointed Tabitha hadn't been so eager to work on the project with him, but he couldn't stay upset for long. The gleaming gold file sitting neatly on his desk reminded him that his dreams were finally coming true.
Authors Note: Clay is an idiot, also Tabitha doesn't realize how much potential she really has. Also also, will Clay's boss ever be given a name....probably not. Also also also...there will be actual Borderlands characters soon...so be patient with me please.
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