Evan watched as Beatrice placed her keys on the kitchen counter, stepping into the room with a quiet yawn. Evan was quick to yawn back, flipping the switch that turned on the coffee machine.
“Well, how are the experiments?” Beatrice said flatly. Evan frowned as he placed his mug under the broiling machine, it slowly starting to spew brown liquid from the little nozzle.
“Good morning to you too, Beatrice. And for your information, they are not just experiments––they are our children. Humans, with rights and responsibilities,” Evan stated in return, nipping his mug from the machine and taking a long sip from it, all without taking his eyes away from Beatrice. She was looking worse for wear this morning, like she had been drinking the night before. She seemed quite stable, so she must be getting over it right about now.
“You could say that. You could also say that they’re only half human, therefore making them MY experiments. I worked hard enough on them as is, so I deserve to call them whatever the hell I want. Now, make me some coffee and have a seat. I’m here to tell you a story.” Evan rolled his eyes sourly as he shoved another mug under the nozzle of the machine. Beatrice huffed as she made herself comfortable in one of the kitchen chairs. Evan met her at the table as well, placing his mug down.
“First off, where is… my god, what name did you give her again? Vanessa? Experiment 01. Her,” Beatrice asked as she gazed at her fingernails. “I also hoped that you placed 06 by her side so that they could catch Dagger together, like I had asked.”
“Yes, Beatrice. Exper––Vanessa is up in one of the rooms in the upstairs section, as is Lily, the one who you called 06. I let them both attempt to catch Dagger, and from what they told me, they got really close—but weren’t successful. I decided not to punish them, as you had told me.”
“And why not?” Beatrice seemed a bit more focused after that utterance about hearing that one of her commands were broken.
“Because, like I had previously stated before, they are HUMANS, Beatrice. They live, they breath, they potentially die, things of that nature. And not only humans, but teenagers. Not even children. Although, I do treat them like my children nonetheless.” Evan got up retrieve her cup from the coffee machine, returning to the table soon after. “You may have experimented on them, but they continue to be themselves. Humans. They have blood flowing through them. Mutated blood, yes, but blood all the same,” he told Beatrice with a straight face. Beatrice closed her eyes and sipped on her coffee.
“Listen, I’m only going to tell you this once. I know where you’re coming from and everything, but this was—and kind of is—what I live to do. This leads into my story that I wanted to tell you,” she continued on.
“I had always had a passion to combine things. Whether it was blocks, with glue, and eventually with electronics—I needed to connect something. And in the end, it got to the point where I went to college solely for DNA and genetics. Learning how to connect DNA with other things, and what it could do if combined with another organism’s set of DNA. I wanted to create something new, and something that could honestly freak someone out. For my college final, I created the base for the connecter between a human’s DNA and another organism’s. To truly test it, I chose a snail’s DNA and combined with a human’s.”
“And… why a snail?” Evan broke her speech, tapping on the table with his fingers.
“It was the class pet.”
“Ah, you sadistic bastard,” Evan muttered quietly under his breath.
“Anyway, yes. I created a fusion of the two—the human was slow moving, and left a trail of ooze everywhere. One of my professors said it was ‘purely disgusting’. I got an A and left the college happily.
“And what happened to the snail hybrid?”
“Pfft—it died. Snails don’t live for TOO long, you see. Depends on the species, honestly. And I know that they’ve had that snails for years. I didn’t mean for it to die so quickly either… call it an oversight.” Evan shuddered, imagining a dead person covered its own green slime. He shook his head disapprovingly, and focused back to Beatrice. Beatrice questioned his movement in her head.
“What, you think I killed an actual person?” Evan snapped, as he hadn’t even thought about that.
“Of course not. I went to the hospital and got a cup of… that stuff. You know.” Evan heaved a sigh of relief—although several thoughts still lingered in his mind. “Y-Yea. It’s a good thing that you did.”
Beatrice put her hands behind her head and leaned back in her chair. “Yup. As you can see, I’m still doing it to this day. Again, they are my experiments.” She was beginning to get serious again. “All you have to do is follow my commands and watch over them. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Beatrice. As you wish.” Evan got up and shuffled himself out of the kitchen with his coffee in hand, walking up to the back windows of the car wash. It observed the thick part of the woods, with the view not going very deep.
“I made Vanessa and Lily train out there with other earlier this morning. They’re probably resting it off right now,” Evan said, drinking the last of his somewhat cold coffee.
“Good. I want Experiments 08 and 09 released today as well. The twins, I called them.” Evan quickly spun around, almost dropping his mug in the process.
“Beatrice, you told me to release Lily almost three days ago! At least give them one more shot! Vanessa is developing greatly, and Lily just needs to be more level-headed. Just give them one more chance, please,” he pleaded to the blonde-haired chief. She mulled it around in her head for a bit, then suddenly rose to her feet.
“You know what, you are kind of right. Alright, I’ll make you an even worse deal,” she snickered, and pulled Evan to the side to discuss her plan.
-~-
I felt like someone was staring at me.
I quickly jerked up and immediately looked to my left. It was that girl. That girl… who wrapped me up with her tongue…!
Breathing hard, my hands shifted to my eyes to rub them ferociously. My eyes focused on a darker toned lady, who swiftly shifted away from my line of sight. I groaned and stood up for a quick stretch, as well as a look at my surroundings.
I was in the public library—no big surprise there, really. I typically came here to grab a book or two, or to even catch a quick snooze. Whichever came first, really. I settled back down into my chair and rubbed my head out of tiredness.
It had been a couple of days after the coffee shop incident, and I had returned to apologize and help set their shop back up again. It was weird that Beatrice didn’t come to do it herself, since she was the head of power and whatnot. The small business had even given me money as a patronage for my service. Although reluctant to take it, I knew in my mind that I desperately needed it—whether I was trying to be humble or not. I still had money tucked away, but I only used it for when things… got desperate. My canine ears fumbled over the thick hair that was now growing over it, trying to stand up on its own but ultimately couldn’t.
“I need a shower,” I uttered quietly to myself.
And a haircut. My thoughts rapidly followed suit. I sighed and rose to my feet, hoisting my backpack through my arms and pushing my chair in. Exiting the library in a hurry, I was suddenly met with the afternoon hustle and bustle. Man, I must have slept in for quite some time.
I crossed the street and traveled down the sidewalk until I started to pace by some gates. I then slowed down here, and made my way into the park.
The city’s park was quite the grand place. It could almost be compared to Central Park in New York, and probably gets visitors mixed up whenever they decided to venture inside its acres. I stepped onto the grounds and made my way towards the back, which led to the intertwining forests that this city had to offer. I heaved my way along the paved path until I felt that I was deep enough to be safe from predating eyes. Since it has rained only a couple of days ago, only some of the trees had drops of water still on them. I strode over to a tree and pulled off my shirt, reaching up to tug one of the high branches in order to let the rainwater flash itself onto my struggling body. I shivered a bit, as the cold water took some getting used to. It seeped throughout my shaggy hair and ears, letting one be loose from the others’ strangle.
I continued to pull on multiple branches until I felt like the job was done. I shook my body violently, removing any stray droplets from my body all at once. Digging out a cleaner shirt from my backpack, I slipped into it. I also pulled out a mirror and some scissors in the process, collecting all of my stuff in front of a tree.
“Alright… I just need to keep this thing balanced again…” I grunted as I placed the mirror in front of a tree. Without trying to snip my fingers off, I nabbed the scissors from the ground and began cutting off little bits and pieces from my lengthy hair. As I continued on, small piles of cut hair because falling like snow. I couldn’t let my hair get this long ever again, but I was certainly glad that it didn’t stay short, or else my ears would be even worse to hide. I ran my fingers through my hair before tucking everything away back into my backpack. I smiled, as I knew how much I struggled with this the first time. Now I had almost had a pattern when I had to do it.
“Ah… I might as well chill here for a bit, maybe go scrounging for food later…” I rested my head against the tree trunk and stretched my legs out in front of me, letting myself get comfortable just for a little bit. With a slight groan emitting from my throat, I closed my eyes and heaved a small sigh of relief. These were the small moments that I had to take for granted. There was nothing chasing after me for once. I was safe from crawling eyes and sprawling gazes. I could be myself.
It doesn’t last forever, but at least I had a bit of downtime.
And speaking of downtime, it was time for another nap.
-~-
Vanessa threw a sharp jab at Lily. Her face stayed painted with determination as she continued with her strikes rapidly. Lily was quicker than the shapeshifter however, being able to snap backwards and around Vanessa’s punches with ease. Lily pulled out her elastic tongue and whipped it at Vanessa’s arms, trying to slow her down and stop them from hitting her. Vanessa smirked, realizing the mistake before Lily did. As soon as Lily flung out her tongue for a second time, the shapeshifter immediately grasped as it, yanking it hard to the ground and tugging Lily along with it. The frog girl hit the leaf covered terrain hard, leaving a few scraps on her face in the process. She huffed and blew off a bit of rubble, her eyes looking up to peer at an outward hand.
“Need a lift?” the girl giggled as Lily took the offer. “Thank you,” the smug frog offered as a response.
“Don’t let the enemy take advantage of you. Think before every action, but think fast.” Lily rolled her eyes, letting out a bored ‘mhm’. She thought to herself for a moment before she realized something.
“It’s been a week already. Shouldn’t be going after Dagger again?” Vanessa looked up at the sky, the colors of yellow, red, and white beginning to swirl and mix. The sign of the approaching night. Her fists clenched tightly, and she quickly turned to the site of the car wash lab.
“Yea, it has. We should probably go ask them if they have anything for us to do. Come on.” Her serious tone flaunted around for a bit before Vanessa started to jog back through the forest, with Lily quick to follow suit through the trees.
“Ah, I see you too returned from training. How was it? Evan asked as the two girls entered the room. Lily stretched her arms, bending them in a way that would almost seem inhuman. “It was alright. Learned a new tactic, or something or other.” Evan nodded at Vanessa, who gave him a slight wink.
“Are we going on another mission soon? I mean, I understand training is important, but our ultimate goal is to catch that dog,” Vanessa spouted, folding her arms. Lily wandered into the kitchen to grab a snack.
“Well, I’m glad you asked, my daughter. We do, and you’ll be sent out tonight. However, Beatrice has told me to wait for her, as she’s the one who’s running the show this time around.”
“Interesting. Fair enough, I suppose.” Vanessa went into the kitchen to retrieve Lily, who was currently snacking on a piece of cornbread. She noticed that there was some type of ooze on the ground, and she picked up her feet to examine it.
“Lily, what is this goo trail that you’re leaving behind? It’s disgusting!” she cried, wiping her shoes with a paper towel.
“Calm down, shapeshifter. It’s just… sweat. Yup. Sweat,” Lily mumbled, grabbing a cup of water as well.
“That’s still disgusting. Can you pour me a cup of water too? At least you’re useful for that.” Lily’s eyes widened, slamming the refrigerator door.
“Excuse me, that’s all that I’m useful for? Pouring you a goddamn glass of water?” Vanessa smirked and nodded proudly. Lily seethed through her teeth. “Man, if we weren’t going on a mission later, I’d…”
“You’d what? Kick my butt?” she taunted.
“YES!” Lily screamed, launched herself at Vanessa. Vanessa smiled smugly and walked backwards out of the room, letting Lily fall flat on her stomach. She laughed violently, turning her back to her.
“Save that for Dagger, silly frog,” Lily growled back at the shapeshifter, grabbing her piece of cornbread and took an angry bite out of it.
“You two. Get in here. We need to debrief,” Beatrice’s voice rang out to them. They both met Evan and Beatrice in front of two containment units.
“As Evan has probably told you, you two will be sent out tonight. But, as I have decided, you too will not be going alone.” She gestured towards the pods.
“Meet the twins: Bucko and Ramen.”
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