"Hey, this isn't the agreed amount!" Chubby complained as he counted the shards in the small leather pouch. "We agreed to sell the corpse in 20 Radians!"
"Huh, the money isn't enough?" Dr. Victor Thane acted surprised before his face turned serious. "Guess what moron? The body isn't in perfect condition either!"
Dr Victor Thane was a man of a wiry frame and dishevelled look. His once-crisp lab coat, now stained with blood and other mysterious substances, hung loosely from his shoulders, revealing a mess of unkempt, salt-and-pepper hair that fell over his forehead.
His eyes were sunken deep in his skull, making everyone wonder how he even saw anything. But the most disturbing thing about his appearance was the countless scars that marred his body.
Dr Victor yelled, uncovering Adrian's corpse that rested on a stretcher. "You want me to pay 20 Radians for this?"
Before Chubby and Red could argue, Victor began pointing out the flaws of the corpse and how much he would have to work and pay out of pocket to make the corpse usable as a chimaera.
Before Chubby and Red could defend their case, Victor launched into a detailed critique of the corpse's imperfections. The skin, roughened and marred by bruises and cuts, rendered most of it useless.
Victor then showed them the massive gaping wound on the side of the body. The wound was deep, puncturing one of the lungs, further diminishing the value and usefulness of the corpse.
But boy, Victor wasn't done yet as he grabbed Chubby by the collar and pointed vehemently at the corpse's shattered face.
"You did this, didn't you?"
Victor's voice was strangely polite, and Chubby couldn't help but admit as he weakly nodded, and it pissed Victor even more.
"Why the fuck did you shatter his face?" Victor's anger seethed. "You morons even destroyed his eyes as the shattered pieces of his face popped them out. Who do you think will have to replace all that!?"
"Oh, come on, Doc," Red tried to pacify the situation. "You know our line of work, and sometimes things get a bit out of hand. Shit like this happens all the time. But that's no reason to dock more than half the pay-"
Victor, in response to Red's confident attitude, snapped and delivered a resounding smack to Red's head before dragging him to the corpse by his ear.
Usually, no one would treat a Raven like that, but since Victor had raised Red and Chubby, they treated him as a father figure. But that meant Victor got away with anything he did to them.
"Things happen in the heat of the moment?" Victor spat, pointing at Adrian's bent neck. "If you had already poisoned him, then what the fuck was the need to snap his neck?"
Victor continued, "The spinal cord is beyond saving, and because of it, I would have to recreate the entire neural network! Do you have any idea how much time and money that costs!?"
Red and Chubby shared a look before turning their eyes away. They had gotten so excited from the chase that they didn't think what they were doing and unleashed all their adrenaline on Adrian, even after his death.
Even though the assassins knew how bad they had messed up, Victor's tirade didn't seem to near an end as he kept yelling at the two.
"Finally, I wanted a corpse with at least stage 2 magic affinity. This fucker was barely a stage 1!" Victor yelled, wildly waving his hand around. "The more I think about your mistakes, the less it makes me want to pay you blithering morons!"
Sensing the severity of their blunder, Red retrieved the money pouch and made a sheepish expression, acknowledging their failure.
"I-I promise the next corpse will be in pristine condition!" Red spouted while tucking the money bag in his pocket. "You won't even know if it's dead or alive-"
"Just get lost!" Victor roared, raising his fist. "And don't come back till you get another corpse, and this time, ensure the guy has stage two or higher magic affinity!"
"R-Right!" the duo exclaimed before making a hasty retreat.
"What will I ever do with those fools..." Victor chuckled and shook his head before focusing on Adrian's corpse. "You'll have to do for this order."
With the distractions out of the way, Victor pushed the stretcher into his lair. Beakers bubbled with elixirs that emitted faintly phosphorescent glows while strange contraptions hummed and whirred everywhere.
The only things kept in order in the lair were books, papers, and peculiar specimens preserved in jars. But that wasn't the destination for Adrian's corpse as Victor wheeled the stretcher even deeper into his lair.
The hidden room was the place Victor loved the most. A dungeon marked with the blood of countless beasts. However, the most bizarre thing in the room was the hanging remains of corpses of various creatures.
That was where Victor worked his magic to create chimaeras for various purposes. From combatants to housework, he could make a chimaera for everything... even for pleasure, though he had only done that a handful of times and for exceptional rewards.
Once celebrated for his groundbreaking work in genetics, Dr Victor Thane had descended into a realm where the boundaries between ethical restraint and scientific curiosity blurred.
However, money and fame meant nothing to a man who had given up everything in his life to achieve immortality. Unfortunately, even the brightest brains needed money for a plethora of reasons.
That's why Victor decided to use his knowledge to make chimaeras, as they fetched quite a lot of money. With well-established connections, acquiring the necessary "raw materials" for his enterprise became seamless and cost-effective.
With everything in place, Victor thoroughly examined Adrian's corpse, taking note of each flaw and imperfection. His hands moved with a surgeon's precision, navigating the damaged terrain of Adrian's lifeless form.
"It's bad... but I can always make it better in time," Victor muttered with a determined glint in his eyes, "For now, let's get the product prepped for demonstration."