The next morning at exactly 10 am, Frank arrived at Professor Gray's office. He had slept soundly the previous night but had several strange dreams that had Frank fighting other men. He thought he'd ask the professor about them because they disturbed him a bit. Frank knocked on the office door.
"Come in, please, Frank," said Professor Gray knowingly.
"How'd you know it was me, Professor?" asked Frank as he entered the office and closed the door.
"I just had a feeling. Actually you're my only appointment this morning so I figured it had to be you." Professor Gray looked Frank up and down. He seemed fine after the previous night's activities. As usual, Frank was wearing very tight fitting clothing; today was a white sleeveless muscle shirt and a pair of navy blue shorts. The shirt obviously revealed Frank's muscular biceps. "A new shirt, Frank?" asked the professor.
"Yeah. It's funny. I woke up this morning feeling really strong so I decided to show off the guns." Frank smiled and flexed his arms for the professor to admire.
"Very nice, Frank. I'm impressed that you keep yourself in such good shape. Why don't we get started. I take it you're feeling better after last night."
"Yeah, I feel great today. Like nothing happened."
"I'm glad to hear it," replied the professor as they both took seats. "I was a little worried about you last night."
"There is one thing, though, Professor, that I wanted to talk with you about," began the young man.
"What's that, Frank?" he responded, knowing what Frank was about to say.
"I had some really weird dreams last night. In each one I was fighting other guys. I'm not really like that. I know how to take care of myself and all, but I don't go around picking fights."
"Oh, I wouldn't worry too much about it, Frank," responded Professor Gray. "They're only dreams. But sometimes, of course, dreams can reveal something about us that we don't want to admit to ourselves. Maybe you have some pent up anger towards someone, and that anger is manifesting itself in your dreams as physical aggression. Could that be the case? Are you angry with anyone?"
"Well, things haven't been going all that well with my girlfriend Lisa," admitted Frank.
Professor Gray nodded. Frank's reprogramming had gone well. He had been shown images of couples fighting and was persuaded that it was himself and Lisa. Professor Gray continued, "Well I'm sorry to hear that, Frank. Hey, I know just the thing to help you and Lisa get back on track. I have a gift certificate to a small, out of the way restaurant. Why don't you and Lisa go there tonight. A nice romantic dinner is sure to patch things up." He opened a drawer in his desk and retrieved an envelope containing the gift certificate. "There are directions inside as well."
"I can't take this, Professor. Why don't you use it?"
"I insist, Frank. I want to keep my number one research student happy and concentrating on our work, not on problems with his girlfriend. So I'm helping us both out."
Frank smiled and accepted the offer.
"The phone number is on the gift certificate. When you call, just mention my name, and I'm sure they'll be able to seat you tonight."
"Thanks a lot, Professor Gray. I really appreciate this," responded Frank.
The two men proceeded to discuss the research project and what work needed to be done. Around 11 o'clock, Frank got up to leave. They shook hands and Frank thanked Professor Gray once again for the gift certificate. When Frank left, the professor picked up his phone and dialed the Foundation.
"Everything is proceeding according to plan. He has the certificate and will be calling shortly to make a reservation. Is everything in place on your end?"
"Yes. We're all set. The waiter will give Frank the trigger phrase, and we'll see what happens. You're sure the conditioning worked?" asked the Director.
"Yes, I could tell by his responses this morning that the programming has taken effect. He told me about his dreams and wore clothing that would indicate that the aggression program is taking hold. I'm very confident that you'll be pleased with the results. He'll be brought to my lab afterwards for the second phase of reconditioning?"
"Yes, assuming your experiment works."
"It will. It always does." With that the professor hung up the phone. He was a bit annoyed that the Foundation Director still questioned his methods. But they did pay handsomely for men like Frank. He went back to the lab to make preparations for that night's session with the young man.
Meanwhile, Frank went back to his apartment and made arrangements for that evening. He called Lisa and told her about the gift certificate that Professor Gray had given him. They decided to meet at the restaurant at 7 o'clock. Frank called the number on the certificate, mentioned Professor Gray's name, and the host seemed more than happy to seat them at 7 o'clock that night. Frank was pleased with how things were going. Little did he suspect that very special plans were being arranged for him.
Frank and Lisa arrived at the restaurant almost at the same time. Frank was wearing a black jacket and charcoal gray slacks. The host escorted them to a table for two. Before Frank sat down, he removed his jacket, revealing a tight black muscle T-shirt that clung to every muscle of his torso and revealed his muscular arms.
"Nice shirt," remarked Lisa, slightly sarcastically.
"Yeah, for some reason I felt like showing off tonight," replied Frank.
As the couple looked around the room, they discovered that there weren't too many other people there for dinner that night. And those who were there were exclusively men. Very well built men at that. There wasn't another woman in sight.
"That's sort of strange, isn't it?" asked Lisa.
"I guess," replied Frank. "Maybe this place is having some sort of guys' night out or something."
The waiter then arrived at their table. A good-looking well-proportioned young man of about 25, he introduced himself as Todd. He had a wine list in his hand and asked if Frank and Lisa were interested.
"I don't know," replied Frank. "We have this gift certificate. I'm not sure there's enough on it for wine." He showed it to the waiter.
"This is an all-inclusive certificate, sir," said the waiter. "Everything is included. Shall I tell you about our wine selection, then?"
"Sure, why not?" answered Frank.
Todd began to list the various wines that the couple could choose. When he got to the word "merlot," Frank suddenly got very tense and irritated. He yelled at the waiter, "Yeah, that one's fine. I'm tired of hearing about the stupid wines already." The waiter meekly left to get the wine.
"What's wrong with you all of a sudden?" asked Lisa. "He was just going through the wine list."
"I'm sure you'd like him to go on about the wine list all night," shot back Frank. "I saw how you were looking at him. Why don't you just go off with him already and get it over with."
"What are you talking about?" Lisa said confused. "I wasn't looking at him. I'm here with you. What do I need to look at other guys for?"
"Oh, please. You're always flirting with other guys. It makes me sick. I'm tired of it. I thought taking you here tonight could fix things. I was wrong. I don't want to see you anymore."
"What? Why? I don't understand. I don't flirt with other guys."
Frank was getting more and more angry. He screamed at Lisa, "I don't want to see you anymore! Get away from me!" Guys sitting at the bar and at the surrounding tables starting looking over in their direction.
"Why are you yelling? People are starting to stare at us. Calm down. I don't know why you're saying these things."
"Because I want you out of my life, that's why! Now get out of here!" yelled Frank at the top of his lungs.
Before Lisa could respond, the host walked over to their table. "Is there a problem here?" he asked calmly.
"Yes," replied Frank. "There is a problem. I don't want to be here with this woman and she won't leave."
"Perhaps we can discuss this calmly out in the lobby," suggested the host.
"I don't want to discuss anything with her or with you," yelled Frank in reply. "I want her to leave. NOW!"
Lisa had begun crying. She started to stand up. "Good. You're finally going. Get away from me. I don't want to see you anymore. Don't come near me again," said Frank menacingly.
Lisa could not reply. She turned to the host who escorted her out of the restaurant and to her car. She drove off not knowing what had just happened. "Frank has never acted that way before," she thought. "I guess I'm glad I found out sooner rather than later." She drove off.
The host watched her leave. He picked up the phone at his station. "She's gone. Shall we begin stage 2?" He smiled at the affirmative reply he received from the Director. He walked off towards the bar to begin the second half of the experiment.
Frank was still very agitated when the waiter returned and poured him some wine. He kept flexing his arms and legs, as if preparing for a fight.
Suddenly, one of the men from the bar stumbled toward Frank and fell right into him. "What the hell?" yelled Frank as he stood up, pushing the apparently drunk man away.
"I think you've had a few too many, pal," Frank said sarcastically. "I'm really not in a great mood right now, so you'd better move along if you don't want any trouble."
"Oh, but I do want trouble," replied the man who now did not appear to be drunk at all. He quickly stood up and lunged toward Frank who was caught completely off guard. The man grabbed Frank by the waist and tackled him to the ground. "Now let's see what you can do."
Frank's programming took over. He adeptly pushed the man off of him with his right leg and quickly got to his feet. The man made another move toward Frank, trying to land a punch. Frank dodged the punch, landing one of his own to the man's midsection. As the man doubled over, Frank landed another punch to the back of the man's head, causing him to crash onto the floor. Frank kicked him over onto his back and straddled the stunned attacker. Immediately he took advantage of the situation and began punching the man repeatedly in the face. After a few blows, there was nothing the man could do to resist the attack. Frank stood up over the now unconscious man. "Don't fuck with me, man!" shouted Frank.
Frank's fight was watched closely by the Foundation Director who was standing in the doorway to the lobby. He smiled approvingly. He nodded to the host who took up a position behind Frank. From his jacket pocket he removed a gun and aimed it at Frank. He pulled the trigger and Frank arched back. A dart has struck him in his upper back between the shoulder blades. Frank wheeled around to face his new attacker. The host immediately shot again; the dart hit Frank in his right bicep. A small trickle of blood came out of the puncture wound.
Frank fell to his knees as the tranquilizer took effect. He looked down and pulled the dart from his arm. He was confused by what he saw in his hand. He reached around to try to remove the dart from his back but could not get it. It was a futile effort anyway. The drug was a quick-acting sedative created by Professor Gray. Frank's vision began to blur, and he had a difficult time remaining upright. He could see several men moving toward him, all smiling. He wanted to defend himself but focusing on anything was becoming extremely difficult. He barely heard the Director say, "He'll make a fine agent" before his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped to the floor, unconscious.
The Director continued to smile as he looked at Frank's limp form on the floor. "The experiment was a success. Todd, take our young friend here back to Professor Gray's lab for the second phase of his reprogramming."
Todd nodded and knelt beside Frank's prostrate form. He removed the dart and rolled Frank over onto his back. He then pulled Frank up onto his broad shoulder. Todd was pleased that he had been chosen for this part of Frank's reconditioning. He would enjoy having control over this unconscious stud.
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