"A pity," Skul muttered, patting Peter's head as the door ground shut.

Peter's eyes had glassed over, but he blinked back the tears.

Had it all gone according to plan? No matter the desire to boast, Skul could not completely agree it had. Improvisations were there where they were due.

If all had gone to plan, Peter would have broken far earlier. Alas, he required an elaborate hostage scheme to subdue him. Did it work this time? He had better hook him up to the neuro-scanners right away. Every second that ticked, an ounce of data lost.

Peter stared at him with hollowed eyes. The boy had grown so much. Twenty-one years of age. All Skul could see was the child within him. The child with everlasting potential, to become just like him. Neverland were foolish to think he would leave his prized subject behind. They brought on their own demise, dismissing him.

Skul never forgot his enemies.

The boy gave little resistance towards the needles and scanners, and soon the monitors streamed with rows of data.

"Why?" A cracked voice broke Skul's concentration on the screen.

Peter stared at the screen as well. The data made no sense to him. He had always questioned; not the most obedient subject. However, this time, the why was heavy with emotion. The boy was aware now. Aware of the gravity PXDST held.

There was a profound reason behind his elaborate schemes. Neverland did not understand. PXDST was a living substance, dormant until they found the right nervous triggers. PXDST would not display efficient biocompatibility and suffer from enormous untapped potential otherwise.

He was not about to let years of research go to waste, because his colleagues were too afraid of his experiments. He inoculated several potential candidates with PXDST, an individual venture upon getting kicked out of the project. Once they failed stage one, he would order them killed. He could not risk the failed substance to trigger unwanted responses and suspicions. To kill two birds with one stone, he ordered the boy to eliminate the failed subjects.

There was a reason for that, too.

After several failed attempts, it had come to his knowledge, it would take an extent of trauma to provide specific triggers to activate the substance. After all, PXDST was a biological implant wedged deep within the boy's cortex, designed to undergo controlled proliferation and drug release. Trauma was difficult to forge. The experiments in Neverland were not enough.

They refused to believe the boy had to experience the actual world in order to experience real trauma. Skul took it a step further by turning him into a murderer. The act of taking another's life changes people. It was a crucial change for the development of PXDST.

Nevertheless, it was insufficient. He could stare in agony at the data all day, it seemed like it would never be enough. But Skul was not one to give up so soon. Perhaps he was spoon-feeding the boy. In just the right time, the police had caught on to them. It was a perfect time to stage a betrayal. He left the boy to fend for himself, to analyze his response to the real world without a parent figure. He had tailed him without his knowledge.

It went miraculously well.

The day he snapped, the day he killed himself, was the day PXDST activated. He lived, and he would live forever. Yet again, it was not enough. With the boy's data, PXDST was recoded and turned into an elixir of longevity. After inoculating Crocker with the improved dose, it worked as he planned. However, what was the point of immortality if you were just another common man, but with a long life? Skul wanted more.

He was going to create a race like no other. Emotions came in the way of such advancements. Halting progress with petty morals. PXDST could change it all.

Another elaborate act to scar him for life. It was all it took to get the answers he needed. With one successful subject, the rest would be history. He would get the key to artificially coding and activating PXDST, mass production and a simple jab would turn one superhuman.

"Didn't I tell you before, kleiner? You are a catalyst... A revolutionary piece of the puzzle, to change the world as we know it," he repeated the words he raised the boy with.

Peter shook his head, "Why do you want to change the world?"

Skul tilted his head, hesitating before answering.

"Because the world is insufficient. And I see the glass as half empty, with so much untapped potential," he stepped towards the boy, tilting his chin up.

With a warm smile he said, "Love can't save you, but power can..."

"Maybe it's because you've never been loved," the boy replied.

Skul wanted to laugh. Such outrageous words. The boy had turned soft, blinded by ideals. It did not matter, he was young. This was bound to happen.

"You have much to learn about the world," he said, thoughtfully.

"Maybe I do. But I don't think it's short-sighted to say you've taken this too far- "

The boy gasped as Skul's hand shot out to wrap around his neck. He choked as Skul angled his head to face him, compressing his veins.

"They said the same. But I am beyond such morales. The world will thank me once I'm done. Disease will become history, humanity's evolution will accelerate. The thing is, the average person sees the small picture. I... was born different. I see the future."

He released his neck, and the boy struggled to take even breaths.

It was no lie. Skul was born different. The way his mind absorbed and translated information, was strange but insightful. He was a self-taught hypnotist, only because he could predict human thought processes so well. The boy had no clue; he was much like him. Not just because of years in his care, but the very patterns of his genomes.

Skul vividly remembered the day the team decided incorporating genetic material into the embryonic test subjects would prove useful in producing compatible candidates. There was no question his DNA would be used, for it was his that pioneered PXDST.

Five hundred and sixty-four failed tests. Two survived to birth. One died at eighteen months.

Skul stared at the boy's bright eyes, a mirror of his at adolescence. So many questions, so much talent. He was his son. No doubt. When Neverland was raided, saving him was instinctual.

"You may have lost the spark. But I will rekindle it." As if he were not the same man who strangled him a moment ago, he caressed the boy's face.

"I will make you see it once again. I know deep down, you believe in my ideals. It is almost instincts to you. Try as you might, you cannot run from it."

He never gave the boy a name. Simply because a single word could not define his greatness. But perhaps he should. It might just give him a reason and identity that he cannot escape.

There was a computerized beep, showing the analysis was complete. Skul's eyes shot to the monitors, quick and calculating. There was excitement in his veins. After five long years, results were here. He read the numbers, the codes and analysis.

Something was off.

The peripheral neural data was changed, yet PXDST in its core was unaffected. The numbers were alike to those from five years ago. It was a mask. An external modification.

It failed.

Not the first time this has happened. But what could have gone wrong? It was frustrating. He turned to the boy.

"May I ask why you aren't heartbroken out of your mind?" he asked sarcastically.

The boy just shrugged and gave him a small smile. "Because I trust her."

Silence. A pure moment of silence. Skul started laughing. It was guttural and came from a dark place in his core. Fools!

Innocence! Naivete! Love?!

These things trumped his genius? The audacity! No, he was not about to lose the boy to some petty girl. He needed his son back. The entire plan failed. He was better off being reset.

Remove his memories. Start over.

Skul shook his head with a drawn-out sigh. Good thing he had taken a dose of the improved PXDST, it might have been another eternity before his plan succeeded.

He went on over to his incubator and carefully removed a vile, filling a syringe with the pale yellow liquid.

"What are planning to do?" The boy asked.

"Start over. The toxin will trigger the defense mechanism, and you will go into overdrive due to its potency. It will damage a certain part of your hippocampus and cortex, but you'll heal of course, with no memory. It should take four hours tops."

The boy's eyes widened. He pulled out the wires connecting him to the neuro-scanners and put a good distance between them.

"You know you can't run from me with that collar on," Skul reminded.

As he was about to reach for the remote that controlled the collar, the security system resounded.

Intruders.

Skul pinched the bridge of his nose. Crocker did not kill them. Perhaps his second subject needed a dose of the toxin as well. He placed the syringe into a case and initiated system copy. The data in the room would be transferred wirelessly to his temporary base. He pressed the remote, and the boy screamed and dropped to his knees.

"I believe your sweetheart is coming to save you. Let's make it dramatic, shall we?"

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A/N: Like promised, an early chapter! Another will be posted in a few days. Stay tuned, lost boys.  Leave a vote and comment.