After Arden and Clive shook hands, he guided Clive to a sterile room

“What is that” Clive for all his composure couldn’t help being taken aback the massive contraption attached to a chair that had numerous belts and electrodes.

“This is one of CLINIC’s greatest achievements the Bioelectric current enhancer. though most people fondly refer to it as the electric chair”

“Bioelectric current, isn’t that typically under the purview of quacks and mystics.”

“Yes… and no. magnetic bracelets, electroshock therapy and similar applications are largely nonsense, the direction of application is… let’s just say primitive and misguided.” Arden explained with a weary tone apparently irritated. Taking a moment before he continued

“While we call reference bioelectric current the machine is actually a dual purpose it strengthens the bioelectric current and the nervous system holistically enhancing rection time and other aspects.

but the real purpose is to force the body to adapt via activation of certain genes within the body using sustained and forceful stimulation causing the individual to enter a state conducive to the process.”

“Crossing the precipice.” Clive spoke.

“Correct, we believe that the precipice is linked to some genetic sequence or other factor we have yet to isolate.”

“if you can’t isolate the genetic factor how are you able to determine whether someone has the capability?”

“The gene that governs the trait is dominant, but dormant as long as we can trace someone in your direct ancestry we can test for its presence, we refer to the trait as the primal factor.”

“What if you’re wrong.”

“We send the person on there way with a significant sum of money, enough to make them happy and more importantly, quiet” Arden answered frankly.

“if-“ Clive wanted to speak but was cut off

“Clive, I want to be clear on this before you jump to any conclusions after what happened your uncle, Camden had a hunch and followed it, after sending your sisters blood to clinic, the sample turned up positive when testing for primal factor.”

“What do you mean, I thought the trait needed to be activated” Clive had a bad feeling

“yes, and the test wont come up positive unless it was”

“then her coma”

“All I can say definitively is this, your home spontaneously combusted but your father somehow managed to get your sister out of the house despite her being on the third floor not only that, your sister, aside from the coma was relatively unscathed, one of these things occurring is a miracle, both occurring together leave little to the imagination in out field of work”

“how is primal factor… activated”

“a direct threat to life of kin, and a need to push beyond human physical limits at any cost capable of warping the body and forcing several other dormant genes into a state of excitement causing a series of seemingly minor mutations that have a cascading effect if not handled correctly the backlash is often fatal”

“Why electric currents and not some sort of drug, wait, don't tell me someone was supposed to get executed and ended up superhuman”

“Not much it becomes enhanced as more of a side effect of our chosen method, electricity is easy to control and regulate we can amp up the current if need be or tone it down if things to dangerous a drug even if we had the means to develop one is difficult to regulate in real time. and to answer your question... yes that... did happen once” Adren said the last park akwardly

“that seems… reasonable” Clive spoke with an uncomfortable pause

“so this machine is just the result of blind trial and error, I take it with, eligible individuals involved” Clive

Camden got out some surgical scissors.

“I’m taking those stiches out, convulsions are going to tear up the wound otherwise, anesthetic?” he asks, not bothering to glance over at Clive.

Clive shook his head while taking out a cigarette while waving his hand dismissively “I’m fine I get the feeling that this is going to hurt like hell anyway”

With the sound of a click and grinding metal a puff of smoke emerged from Clive’s mouth while Arden went to work on his wound

A few well-placed snips and the suture was gone, the feeling of threads being pulled out of the swollen flesh was another mater, Clive felt a sharp biting pain with every pull of the tweezers

“any Idea on what to expect” Clive questioned

“Mostly just enhanced physical capabilities such as speed and strength matching or slightly exceeding world class athletes, your father and sister might just have an abnormal heat resistance, but we’ve been wrong before and strange things do pop out on occasion, but most of the time they end up being useless aside from the normal enhancement.”

“So in your opinion as a medical professional and a member of clinic what happened to my sister”

“Our best guess is lack of maturity and forced manifestation of primal factor at a young age.”

“is this something that happens often”

“People who cross the precipice are incredibly few, even among those that have the factor, our sample size is to small to extrapolate the data for more accurate predictions, our research hasn’t progressed that far either, your sister is the youngest case we’ve seen” Arden said shaking his head

In any case Clive’s guard was starting to come down despite the nature of their initial meeting. Arden was amicable and forthcoming, no question went unanswered, and Arden did not hesitate in presenting his own insights on matters.

While many of the things he said were alarming, Clive couldn’t find any fault in Clinic due to the sensitivity of their research. After all if it was true the effects could be massive, super soldier programs, genetic discrimination, the resurgence of eugenics, and a possible medical and biotech renaissance. If Clive was in Clinic’s position, he would do everything to keep it under wraps.

“Why be so open with me” Clive couldn’t stop himself from blurting out the question, the openness put him on guard, this wasant how people really acted, Clive saw first-hand what people are really like, there was no such thing as a pure altruist.

“It’s quite simple really, we do extensive research and profiling on all prospective subjects, you are an incredibly cautious person, very rarely do you act on impulse, besides, we can give you what you want, as you know Clinic is very forthcoming”

While deep down Clive remained skeptical of Clinic. he was willing to entertain anything that got him closer to the truth.

So far Clinic had been the only one that even dared to offer some manner of explanation for what had happened, and that was enough for him.

“what’s next” Clive asked getting up from the table

“if you sign now we can begin the procedure, I have to state that this process will shorten your life greatly”

“I read the contract, and that brings me to the matter of the request, Have two but one maintains a higher priority”

“the clause regarding requests is ironclad mr adkins but depending on the request I may be help”

“why?”

“Because you were willing to ask, and I think I already know the contents of your requests”

“Fine, I want my sister’s health and safety assured until the end of her days, the best care clinic can provide”

“and your other request”

“information, on what occurred that night and who or what was responsible.”

“You are requesting information and not answers correct, are you willing to work for both.”

“Yes, most certainly”

“Even if you need to get your hands dirty”

“Whatever I need to do, I will.”

“Very well Mr. Adkins, if you are certain of this then there will be great demands placed upon you, I must ask again if you are absolutely certain” Arden’s tone changed, it became noticeably shrewder, colder as well.”

“I don’t care how hard I need to work, these are my conditions” Clive’s voice was like iron, stout and unbending.

Arden nodded.

“If that’s what you want, I will need a few moments to contact my superior, for now, change into this, but first.”

Arden handed him a white jumpsuit made of elastic but durable material from a nearby cabinet.

A few minutes later arden came back from his call

There was an additional clause.

107a The individual shall be granted a neophyte grade probationary clearance that clinic can revoke upon task failure

107b- the individual must complete at least one FF grade or higher mission per month.

107b-2 when 6 FF or higher-grade missions have been completed (or equivalent merit acquired) the individual shall receive clearance permanently.

“Clearance? Like government clearance” Clive questioned

“it’s a bit more than that, clearance gives you access and identity into various organizations that deal with things outside of the norm and the public”

“such as” Clive intoned

“I cant tell you that until you sign.” Arden spoke flatly

Clive removed set his clothing aside on the table and was dressed in the jumpsuit, its interior felt oddly cottony.

Arden retrieved a syringe from his pocket and injected the contents into a vein along the inside of Clive’s wrist.

“what’s was that.”

“a priming agent, now sit over there.”

and put this between your teeth” he pointed to the machine and handed Clive a thick leather strap.

“Once we complete the procedure and aftercare that will be all for today” Arden spoke as he proceeded to strap Clive in immobilizing him, before hooking up and iv line from Clive’s arm to a watercooler like tank affixed to the machine.

“This is going to hurt…. A lot” with that Arden pulled the switch. For a moment nothing happened

“your bedside manner is uargh” Clive’s whole world turned white. The amount of pain and stimulation had exceeded Clive’s ability to comprehend and was blocked out temporarily as his body experienced powerful convulsions.

Once a stimulus reaches a certain degree it simply goes beyond the body’s ability to register. Afterwards however the mist clears, and the body adjusts to the new threshold.

So logically the intensity would have to increase.

Just as the overwhelming pain began to creep in a click was faintly heard, and Clive’s mind once again became a sea of ‘white’ . he felt his bones creak, break and reform repeatedly as the convulsions seemed to break his body at its weakest points.

Clive lost how count of how many times the switch was thrown, his mind in a state of perpetual fog until a voice jerked him out of his daze.

“get up, we’re almost finished for today”

Clive came to and realized he was not strapped to the chair anymore.

“Get into that shower unit over there.”

Clive nodded still feeling groggy and nursing a pounding headache “what did you do to me.”

“Putting it in simple terms we reforged your body, or rather the primal factor did with our help, activate it and provide it with enough nutrients and amazing things start to happen” Arden replied.

Clive used the armrest of the chair to lift himself up, turning back around to face it he noticed that the metal had deformed at the hand rest where he had gripped it.

“What the hell”

“Your body feels incredibly weak right now but it’s a false perception, a side effect of your body attempting to adapt to the sudden changes.”

“Now please proceed to the shower and dispose of the garment.”

Clive stepped into the shower and removed the jumpsuit, it was swollen up and its exterior had shifted from white to molted shades of red, yellow brown and black, his entire body was also covered in a disgusting multicolored slurry.

“what is this crap” Clive groaned as the headache threatened to come back

“Various forms of waste produced by your body during the procedure mostly just carbon and dead cells, the jumpsuit you just removed is designed to absorb the discharge and moisture, it covers the entire body. If you didn’t have that, any moisture in contact with your body would have caused the electric current to fry you” Arden replied

Clive started the shower and scrubbed of the crust and sludge that covered his body, the skin underneath was a creamy and pale looking, but it was incredibly supple and strong, the wound on his back had also, surprisingly, healed.

The brush he was provided with had iron bristles. if Clive had noticed he certainly would have protested but it had escaped his attention due to fatigue. The brush was pleasant for him to use, an ordinary human’s skin would have been agonizingly shredded to ribbons by it. To the current Clive however it simply provided a pleasant exfoliating sensation like using a pumice stone to rub away calluses.

After the shower Clive felt refreshed and changed into his normal clothes.

“Follow me, we need to acclimate you to the changes” Arden spoke, having Clive follow him with unsteady and uneven steps, leaving the occasional dent in the floor.

Arden then took Clive to a gym like room and ran Clive through several routines in order to acclimate him to his new state, putting him through various tests in order to determine his current baseline.

The results put him on par with world class athletes in terms of strength agility, and flexibility. His reaction time notably exceeded the accepted human limit by a factor of almost two at under 75 milliseconds this was a consistent reaction time completely unrelated to the precipice state.

“And there are additional effects, the ‘Awakening’ as some like to call it causes changes to brain function nothing detrimental, but you can expect some mood swings from time to time, think of it as puberty but worse, and with super strength” Arden explained.

“How come these findings aren’t widespread, how have you been able to keep a lid on something so significant” Clive asked

“Common understanding among members of the community, think of it less as a capability and more as a qualification, the clause added to your contract for example, just speeds things up for you instead of having to wait around to get pulled into the wider world.”

“so that’s why you were able to swing that condition so easily”

“The truth is various entities are competing for individuals who meet the right conditions, not only that test subject must be a willing individual which makes the process even more difficult.”

“so that makes me valuable, why are you warning me at every turn instead of enticing me with benefits, why not just kidnap people or trick them” Clive’s asked with a cynical tone

“Because we would piss of more people than we could afford to, there is an entire community of people who would tear us apart if we did that, some degree of trust is needed for this all to work.

Due to my relationship with Camden, I was able to vouch for you in good confidence. The community you are about to be part of is close knit”

“is this community in possession of the information I need” Clive’s tone could only be described as dangerous, with ambitions practically radiating off of him

“Don’t get hasty Clive, work up the latter, get a feel for things you’re still a small fish and the waters here run deep”

“Sorry, is this what you meant by mood swings” It wasn’t like anything Clive had felt before a burning sense of desire that threatened to engulf a person call it ambition or drive, but it was an out-of-control impulse to act. It was so strong it felt like he was riding on the back of a T rex.

Even if I had the information, I still can’t tell you until you are ready, I promised Camden that in exchange to him referring you to us. for now, you need to polish your skills in investigation and focus on earning it.”

“so what next”

“for now we are going to focus on getting you to move properly again , and getting you some more durable clothes” Camden added on the last part as Clive accidently ripped his shirt in half trying to put it on.

Clive sighed with a hint of resignation “agreed”