Lowly Ascent

'Everyone here looks inbred....' Isaac's eyes studied face after face, each one worse than the last.

The sound of pool balls hitting each other shook him awake as he noticed he already had a beverage in his hand.

"Uh bartender, when did you give me my drink?"

The least ugly person there, the bartender, walked over and looked at Isaac like he was crazy. "Do I need to cut you off already? You only had five drinks so far. Can you not hold your liquor?"

"I what?" Isaac's face stretched into alarm, but he collapsed coldly on the bar.

All eyes locked on to his figure, each pair glowing yellow. Smoke continued to spew as chilling laughter erupted from the patrons.

...

'Huh? Where am I?' Isaac awoke in a cage full of other humans, only they looked like they were pulled right off the streets of the slums. They were dregs in tatters and dirty faces. 

His attention then diverted outside the cage, where small, scaled, mostly green creatures moved crates or tugged chains with humans on the ends.

"What's going on?!"

"Ah, the new guy's finally awake. Did someone tag him yet?" An annoying voice called out as a whip was cracked nearby.

Shifting around, Isaac saw a brown-scaled creature, its ears fury and pointed, like a cat, but its face was hideous.

"Look at you, up and moving in less than a few hours. The new record probably. We were surprised you came straight to us, most of the guys were on their day off too. A surprise indeed."

"What kind of creature are you?' Isaac was more curious than anything, the small stature of the human-esque creature leaving him anything but scared.

"Didn't you read the bar sign? Gremlins, we're Gremlins."

Gremlins are small tricky creatures the size of children. Some can even get as tall as young adults. They use the Minor Path of Trickery; their blood being valuable for those walking that path.

In the Bureau's records, Gremlins are always found there in pairs. They go out acting as humans, using their tricks to appear as such, needing a minimum of two of them to complete the disguise.

Due to Gremlins being so harmless, the Bureau leaves them alone.

Isaac didn't know about Gremlins. Even if they were a large species, the files for them were restricted access only. If Laimir took a promotion, he might have learned about them, but only higher-ups could access files on the secretive species.

This was because Gremlins were a special case.

An even more annoying and scratchy voice came forward. "Richy, stop gloating at the merchandise, he may have saved us some time but he's still exclusive goods. Finish the delivery of the druggys', that facility has already requested more. There was a breakthrough in research or something."

A golden-scaled Gremlin came forward, it was obvious they used actual gold since the cast was full of deformities, some spots even missing the expensive material and showing green.

"Yes sir!" Richy scampered off.

The golden gremlin turned to Isaac and laughed. "So, we got a special request, you are the unlucky one getting sent straight to the big one. Hehe, sometimes I'm glad our race was smart enough to become subservient to you humans." 

"What? Why? What's going on and why did you capture me?"

The golden gremlin had a look of disbelief, "Capture? You came to us, not to mention you were sent to be captured. You're quite the rare specimen and that place needs special little samples like you. Or did you think talent was needed in a world full of resources? Talent breeds free thinkers, people who have ambition and don't follow orders. Those types aren't needed. Good thing us gremlins lack talent, but we do have ambition haha!"

Isaac rationally thought for a moment, and he deduced he was in some slave mediary where humans were pawned off. The gremlin also said their race served humans, which meant humans were behind his kidnapping!

"Who was it? One of the cults, who do you creatures serve?"

The gremlin laughed, "This guy, aren't you a sight for sore eyes. Well, if you're this stupid there's no harm in telling you.

"YOU, my product, are in the Bureau's main node point for all resources human. Workers, experiments, specimens, we have them all, all for the Bureau's exclusive use!

"And YOU are going to the big bad place, the scariest facility they have, where all that leading research is happening! Didn't you wonder how the Bureau's so advanced? Well, it's because they use human lives for it, and your rare talents are perfect for paving the way for the mediocre, because at the end of the day, society is filled with mediocre people, and it's more cost-effective for them to live than you!"

Crack!

Isaac's worldview was shattered.

'The Bureau....is behind this? Are they going to use me to advance their research? Is that why we know so much compared to other organizations, why our information banks focus on the Paths more than anything?!'

Isaac had seen much of what the Bureau offered, but strangely enough, the organization lacked information on creatures and the like. But there were always documents on a path, how to train in it, etc. Information relating to humans was seemingly limitless.

Gremlins were hidden from everyone, the Bureau used them for human trafficking, if the operations were ever uncovered, it would be easy to cover it up. And if the Bureau worried about the Gremlins betraying them or having loose lips, countless paths could restrict them from that.

But such chains would provoke the gremlins, those measures would only come into play if something like that would actually happen. 

The Bureau was the spearpoint of research in the largest country in the world. They even had plans for an instantaneous information network. 

Isaac's complexion became worse for wear, he no longer asked questions but backed into a corner of the cage and murmured to himself.

"I see you need some time, I'll come get you later, hehe." The golden gremlin walked away.

The jingling of chains and the indignant screams of slaves rang through the isolated warehouse, trucks coming and going, their engines humming inside the soundproof walls.

...

"Stop! Stop! Please don't do this! Argh!" A drug addict screamed as a scalpel was stabbed into his shaven head.

Cain oversaw the operation and delegated tasks to the scientists doing the surgery.

"Patient 8, injected with 8mg of the newly modified drug an hour ago. Went under for five minutes before coming out of the trance. Opening his brain while conscious to see the effects. If brain clots and internal bleeding aren't found we'll commence the second dose and watch in real-time. Once done, we'll collect the diseased brain for later comparison." One of the scientists spoke into a recorder.

"Stop! Stop!" The addict tried to kick and scream but he was strapped tight to the table.

To get the perfect drug, thousands of guinea pigs were needed. Each tiny modification for this drug required hundreds of tests to confirm the change achieved the desired effect.

The most recent modification by Cain and the scientists was stabilizing the drug to make it so most amounts wouldn't cause bodily harm, this was to be done by using the more occult and fantastical methods that Cain brought to the table.

(Don't cut too deep, the scalpel can't pierce the skull so do it lightly and score multiple times if needed. Remember helpers, pull back the skin when available.)

Cain watched everything with great interest, Doctors Ivan and Braun beside him.