nothing 3

The skin crawled with a slimy cold wave of tension. Scales and mucus latched onto muscles being pulled and distorted by mental anguish. Suspended in a tank of icy cold water, the being twitched and shook as the slow methodic beep of a screen attached to a box on the side of the tank showed slow steady temperature change. Four degrees Celsius slipped to five. Six. Minutes passed as the numbers climbed. Water began splashing out of the tank slightly with each of the larger tremors from the being within.

The basement room that contained the tank was cluttered full of tables with various folders and papers strewn here and there. Diagrams and maps, printed and handwritten words flowed here and there. Two white plastic and glass clad computers stood on the largest table 6 monitors between them both turned off. The ceiling was a tangle of wires and pipes with a few loose hung fluorescent light bulbs of various lengths and color temperatures.

The room itself was very warm, a small dial in the wall shows a temperature set to forty five degrees Celsius. The screen on the tank now matched. One single cord came from the box on the tank and latched into the being within, under what looked like a gill on its neck. The cord's color was black but changed to dark red and gave away signs of fluid movement within. Moments after the movement started, eyes opened. Green so bright they seemed to almost glow with two black slitted pupils sprung to life, darting around gauging it's surroundings. The cord popped off with a quick satisfying movement, a single bubble escaped to the surface. The being started to think.

"At last!" It thought. The deep sleep was fading from its brain as it remembered reality. Energy surged, strength and purpose. "It has worked, nothing left to do other than to execute!" The power within curdled thought with rage. The rage was taken and shaped into initiative and with a smooth movement the being sprang from the tank with a swish of a long tail and landed outside on a dark grey and tan patch of ground different from the rest of the floor.

The being was seven feet tall and looked like a man wearing skin tight snakeskin. But it wasn't the skin of another being worn. A long tail curled and moved rhythmically back and forth as the being stood, gathering again, feeling the air on the scale plated skin. The first gulp of oxygen brought a new surge of energy, this energy manifested as calm. Balance fell into the beings mind. The shades of dark green to black scale glistened in the cool light from above and with a slow stretch of the back, the being swiftly moved towards the computers.

In a matter of minutes the computers were on, papers were sorted into place and the being was reviewing new data that had been received. Movement of the tracked parties showed what had been expected. Separation. Division. A plan working exactly as intended.

A printer sprung to life spitting out a long continuous paper with a section of map, bright red, green and blue lines showed tracked movements over time. This was one part of an elaborate web however. Next the being moved a keyboard aside to grab another, the second computer displayed logged information. Days, months, years all in lines with names and codes indicating anything from an individual leaving for work to one using the bathroom. All logged by unseen spies. Eyes everywhere. The being was elated to see no failure in any single system.

"It's too easy," it said as it spun around, grabbing the printed map to compare to a table littered with similar maps on a side wall. Pinned next to each other exposed a trend that only the being saw. The lipless mouth had been contorted into an evil toothless smile to this point. It started to falter. Eyes moved quicker. "Too easy..." The thought lingered in the mind like a nail in a wall.

In an instant the being was back at the computer table, both keyboards clanked with sound as the being typed into each at the same time with each hand. Both eyes fixed into different screens. The sight of the being was unnerving enough before this display of ultimate brain and motor control. The tail whipped back and forth not with short quick movements unknown to the being, its focus was now on numbers to the left and a flurry of searching through internet sites on the right. News sites gave way to social media sites to media sharing portals to dark web markets in a blur of near endless searching.

It stopped with a sudden final click and this as the tail smacked the ground. The pensive flat face gave way to a slight sneer as the eyes re aligned into normalcy and they observed an email on the right that had been accessed via a hacked email account.

"They think I'm stupid do they? Think I wouldn't see? That I couldn't figure out their ploy? It's as ludicrous as their attempts to try to make this data look convincing," the being thought. The email detailed a finished job, a payment and subsequent closure of a file for monitoring. The email was titled "Lizardman Comatose" with a series of numbers that indicated coordinates and people assigned to tasks.

The numbers started to tell a different story. As the being read the lines with new understanding a sound quietly emitted from a small black box next to a monitor. The being didn't move or react to this. A few seconds passed in stillness. The same sound came again and with a quick movement the being started at a section of ceiling in a far off dark corner. A round vent with a circular grate was focused on by the bright eyes.

Silence. A beep. Silence. Another beep this time a lot sooner than the last. Silence for a few seconds then a beep. The beep then continued every second until the being without looking tapped the top with its tail to stop it.

Silence.

A slight sound came from the vent now. Very quiet, it could of been mistaken for the air unit turning on at a low speed. Then. A hand.

A pinkish white hand reached through the grate and with a twist, tried to open the vent silently. The being watched in silence and stillness. The hand withdrew. The being slowly ducked down out sight and slithered in silence towards a wall furthest from the vent. A camera peeked out from the grate and looked around. After a few minutes it silently retracted and with a loud bang, the vent fell off with what must of been a kick. A man followed afterwards.

He was dressed in all black except his bare hands and exposed head showing a grizzled leather faced middle aged man. His eyes peered from side to side and he crept towards the tank. He kept low and moved with purpose. As he looked through the glass into the tank he saw the cord suspended in the middle, a light reddish liquid slowly integrating into the tank's fluid. He focused on this. His data told him to expect the monster to be asleep here, the cunning monster he had been seeking out for decades. But no. Another empty lead?

He stood up straight. In a silent smooth electric movement a metal dagger flew from a dark corner through the air at high speed through the man's neck. It made a loud clink as the dagger embedded itself into a metal support beam. The man showed a look of confusion before falling to the floor with a dull thump. The being emerged from the shadows, eyes bright, forked tongue liking the air.

"The fool thought this was his moment. I made the mistake before to capture him, not again," the being thought as it walked towards the dead body. With a cracking sound and squelch the body was forced into a metal container connected to a pipe in a different corner of the room. The container was connected to two pipes. With a flick of a switch the process to destroy the body by means of an engineered water system ensued.

During the process the being started typing a message signed with the known signature "LZMN". The latest failure to stop his master plan was insulting. It read:

"You sent your best man to execute me in my sleep. He is dead and gone. On a whim you forced your hand, and paid for it. I expected an attempt on my life, but not like this. It was sloppy even for you. It's no matter, your careless act just reinforced my next step. By the time you read this, it will be too late. You tracked my pawns? No, these were a distraction. My robotic bioengineered hybrid snakes have made their way into every most crucial secured facility. I press a button and it's over. I had thought to wait, let you feel impending doom, but no more. You aren't worthy.- LZMN."

The message was sent and the being stretched. Tired already. It found its way to the tank. Before entering it eyed a small white box on a table next to the tank. With a swish of a tail, the box was tapped and the being stood still. Miles away fire and death exploded into reality. Gears that had turned into place for one purpose finally went to rest with the final act. The being sighed, tapped "Cry02" on the screen to the side of the tank before effortlessly climbing in, attaching the cord beneath a gill, and relaxing into a floating stupor.

The tank counted down from forty five. Forty four. Silence. The scales were motionless. Thirty. Twenty nine. The dark fluid flowed in from the container of the man. Fifteen. Fourteen. Silence. One. Zero. Silence. Then a beep.