Hilbert
Hilbert gagged looking at the canal. The sides were stained red and the surface of the water was boiling. He felt unclean just looking at it, impure. It was horrible. He would probably take a lot of showers when he got home but still feel like he had done something wrong just to look at it. He had always had a problem with things like this, he dreaded the idea of even firing on someone since that might make them bleed (on top of feeling dirty about killing someone to begin with.) Who the hell assigned him to biological response?
Something touched his shoulder, he jumped so high he nearly lost his balance and fell in the polluted canal. Noticing this, whoever it was grabbed his arm (just a little too hard.) “Are you the FBI man?”
Hilbert jittered and barely got his badge out of his pocket. The man smiled and returned the favor with a CIA badge. “I’m Philips, your point of contact. We have a location for the man you’re looking for.”
Hilbert scowled. This was another CIA science project, huh?
-
The pair followed the canal path down to a secluded little boardwalk over a wetland. The bloodstains made it easy to find their mark from there. A fairly tall man stood on an island in the water cutting himself with a knife on the arms and watching geysers of blood come shooting out. Once he was satisfied that he had satisfactorily polluted an area, he removed a vial of what looked like just more blood, unscrewed it, and poured it in. The water started boiling.
Hilbert observed him from a safe distance with a pair of binoculars. He was so covered in blood it was difficult to make out any of his features. He would have to rely on the CIA’s info. He had superhuman speed and reflexes and a functionally infinite amount of blood – where did it come from? That was a secret. Of course, they were hiding information. He already assumed this but it was proven when the man saw him from all the way across the lake and sprinted down to greet him.
“Hello. You’re CIA, right?”
“I’m FBI.”
“Ah. You’re here to arrest me because it’s a crime to be in love.”
Hilbert turned and shot a dirty look at the nonplussed Philips. The CIA man asked the blood covered man something himself.
“You found a mate that could produce biogenesis with you. Who is it? We could accommodate for data like this.”
He had vials of blood from some woman he was in love with that apparently created life. The boiling was a result of the energy from the creation of life according to the CIA, apparently. This whole situation was totally beyond saving. Hilbert drew his pistol and trained it on the man. “You’ve polluted this place enough. Come quietly.”
The two laughed. “You really think I’m slow enough to get hit with a bullet when I can see your gun?”
Philips joined in. “He wouldn’t shoot you anyway, he knows you’d burst like a balloon. I’ll call for pickup and we can work out how to develop some of this new life.”
Hilbert’s hands were shaking. He was right and it was obvious. Noticing this, the man stabbed himself in the stomach and soaked Hilbert in steaming blood. Up his nose, in his eyes, in his mouth. He went catatonic from it.
He slowly wiped the blood out of eyes and looked down at it. His face burned but the blood was not doing it, it was just his cheeks getting flush with emotion. Getting dirty was kind of fun if anything.
Hilbert swallowed and reanimated himself. “It’s unfortunate that the boiling died back down then, not one of those new microbes survived to maturity. Not a great environment for it.”
Philips looked confused, the man looked distressed. “All dead?”
Hilbert took his shot, hitting the experiment in the neck. The force of the blood ripped the head from the rest of the neck and sent it flying into the air and the body falling over limp into the water. Philips jumped into the water, in shock.
“The life died, really?”
Hilbert strode over, still cleaning up his face.
“It will be dead once we pour bleach in the water.”
Philips shot daggers back at him. “We won’t allow this, you’ve already done quite enough killing this specimen.” He reached down and started fumbling for the vials. A quiet click turned his head back around. Now the gun was pointed at him.
“I thought you didn’t like pulling the trigger.”
Hilbert shrugged. “Guess I lied. It would be good for your health if you came with me quietly, I think.”