[IC] The Two Sides

[xiaomiau]

Liwei pursed his lips and squeezed her hand. "I know the way." He turned the corner, then continued through a long, sterile hallway. The whitewash of the walls fed into his growing sense of unease. It was as if they were slowly caving in around him, despite their clean, white stasis on each side of the two. At last they approached a heavy door, marked with warning labels and a keypad. Liwei glanced at the pad for a moment and then to the door itself. It was cracked open.

[Fionraella]

Liwei pursed his lips and squeezed her hand. "I know the way." He turned the corner, then continued through a long, sterile hallway. The whitewash of the walls fed into his growing sense of unease. It was as if they were slowly caving in around him, despite their clean, white stasis on each side of the two. At last they approached a heavy door, marked with warning labels and a keypad. Liwei glanced at the pad for a moment and then to the door itself. It was cracked open.

@xiaomiau

Mona presses closer to Liwei as a chilly wind leaks past him through the cracked door. Her heart begins to race. She whimpers and tightens her grip on Liwei's hand, unable to will herself to let go. He didn't seem like he'd hurt her. She peers past him, hoping to get a glance at whatever horrors lay in the open room beyond..

[Hawksnest565]

Behind the heavy door at which Liwei and Mona stood was a large room, functioning as both office and laboratory. One half was furnished neatly with bookcases spiralling to the ceiling, their contents ranging from highly regarded examinations of extinct animal species to obscure and admonished texts of animal and human genetics intertwining in unexpected and alien matters. In front of the cases, a desk of sleek black fashion and a chair of once fashionable leather but now wearing to its under-fabric from overuse. The desk's items were most ordinary - laptop, pens, pencils, files and reports from any number of sources - but there also lay open a photo album as if someone had recently been exploring memories from the past. The first photos were faded and showed a young boy with two adults most definitely his parents, but then sometimes the same child was with a peacock and a flamingo in a manner far too familiar for them to be wild animals. Later entries in the album could not be seen for only this page lay open. The other side of the room transition into something out of a doctor's surgery. Medical instruments lay on metal trolleys, a sink was surrounded by white cabinets, and stains of reddish-brown spotted some parts of the floor as if somebody had forgotten to clean them away. This area was only used when the owner was entirely alone, as he was at the moment.

This man was The Boss. That name rang throughout the voices of the many who lay in his organisation and was spoken in awe, fear, and sometimes hate. You might have expected a man of impeccable strength, but The Boss was frail with wrinkled hands and curled back. There was a problem with his skin, with his eyes, with his chest. Some were of age, others were the results of the needles he'd pushed into his own skin at only the mere attempt of attaining that which had not been given to him at birth. For years he'd searched the world as a young man trying to find how to achieve it... Shifting. Spiritually, physically, mentally, he'd pushed himself and searched the globe. He'd found pockets of shifters in every corner of the world, or wandering shifters with no place to go, and all had told him the same thing - it just happened. There was no control for it. He refused to believe it. He refused that he, his children, his children's children, would not shift if they were not born to it. Medical and scientific pathways were his last shot. The last chance he had before he passed from the world.

Today, he had one fine specimen spared to him from the scientists. A boy who was a girl. How curious. A lab assistant had wheeled the child up on a gurney earlier and at last the shifter was his own. Would he be willing to shift? Nothing excited The Boss like the feeling of human skin becoming fur or feather beneath his hands. It was like grasping that which he had not yet obtained. For the moment, the boy was unconscious beneath a thin grey sheet. The Boss prepared to remove it, but was interrupted when the door swung open. He sighed. "Have I not informed everyone here that I should not be interrupted when I am working?"

[xiaomiau]

Liwei released Mona's hand and pushed through the door with a soft grunt. He squeezed her shoulder from the point obscured by the door. He gave The Boss an apologetic look. "Sorry, sir. I just wanted to see how the experiments were going. It seems that a lot of details were.. left out of the reports." He tried to draw his voice away from an accusatory tone, instead opting to don an air of professionalism.

[Fionraella]

Liwei released Mona's hand and pushed through the door with a soft grunt. He squeezed her shoulder from the point obscured by the door. He gave The Boss an apologetic look. "Sorry, sir. I just wanted to see how the experiments were going. It seems that a lot of details were.. left out of the reports." He tried to draw his voice away from an accusatory tone, instead opting to don an air of professionalism.

@xiaomiau

Mona tries to take a step forward, but then stops, still out of sight. She hesitates and stays where she is, deciding to let Liwei do the talking.. She clenches her hands into fists and waits for the old man to respond. She grits her teeth, wanting to scream and shout and kick and barge in there, but she held her tongue. Liwei could handle the old man.

[Hawksnest565]

"Liwei," The Boss drawled the name out in perhaps a manner of greeting. He knew well the name and face of everyone under his employment. His mind was one of the only parts of his body not deteriorated from age or experimentation. "You shouldn't have entered without knocking. How rude. I thought you'd know better, boy." He cracks his fingers. "Ah, should I not you address you as that anymore? I suppose you're quite the young man. It's time you step up and take responsibility for intrusions. Not to mention, I do like an assistant." He held up his shaking hands. "It's so hard to write notes now... Won't you do it for me?"

[xiaomiau]

Liwei gives a weak smile to the man. "Sorry. It won't happen again." He surveyed the room, taking stock of the boy on the table. "Notes, eh? That's all you need? Of course!" He wasn't sure how to proceed, so he decided he would simply wait out the interaction and decide as he went.

[wallaberry]

Arthur's stomach felt as if it were flipped upside down as he watched Misha struggle. "There's no use in wasting your energy. This will be a long process... if you can last." He gripped his clipboard once more and eyed Misha's reaction. After a second he turns to his superior and looks at her expectantly. "Okay, now what?" He taps the board anxiously as he waits for her answer.

[Hawksnest565]

Brianna hummed for a moment thoughtfully. "It's always such an effort to go through electrocution. Sometimes it might even break the subject. Let's try the simple method first, hm?" She stands over Misha's body and tilts her chin up, examining her face for a moment. "Subject 9, are you able to shift? Sometimes the tranquiliser lasts a long time, sometimes not. I will tell you now, it's going to be a lot better for everyone here if you manage it." She waits for Misha to respond.

[Hawksnest565]

"Come here now..." The Boss shuffled over to Liwei and took one of the big muscular hands with his own gnarled one. He edged the both of them back to the bench. "I'm going to wake the child up... Maybe he'll shift... If not, I'll..." He coughed momentarily. "Things will get a little messy, hmm? You should write down what happens. In detail, if you would. I must warn you, my accuracy isn't what it used to be." He carefully took one of the syringes filled with adrenaline and plunged it in to Ambrose's arm, not yet removing the sheet.

[Fionraella]

Ambrose's eyes shoot open as the adrenaline entered his bloodstream. He gasps, his heart racing. He tries to raise a hand to his chest, finding him unable to move it. He then notices the sheet with thin light flickering onto his face. He whimpers and begins thrashing frantically. "Help! Someone help me!" He cries out, trying to kick, punch...something, anything to get out of this.

[xiaomiau]

Misha stared blankly at the scientist. "Y.. you.. please don't!" she cried as she clawed at surface below the restraints. She tried to muster the energy to shift into her cat form, but she couldn't seem to control her ability. "I can't - I can't now." She shook her head. "B- but don't shock me! Please don't!"

Liwei took a clipboard from the table beside them. He drew in a breath in a he watched The Boss stab Ambrose with the syringe. It was all in the papers - parts of it - all outlined in plans and procedures up to this point. He felt almost at ease. Then, he remembered just how much of what followed had been redacted from the plans - and he wasn't sure if the man was even following the plans.

[Hawksnest565]

"Ah, let's take a look at you." The Boss murmured, fully focused on Ambrose. He pulled back the grey sheet and froze. It was like looking back into the past. At the first son. His first son. "Harvey?" He whispered, feeling a strange sensation grab his heart. Was at last going mad? Harvey had died a very, very long time ago. There's no way this could possibly be his son. He took a step back and glanced over at Liwei. "This... This subject-" He cut himself off. "This boy... I don't... Take him elsewhere. Take him away." He rushes as fast as his weak legs can take him over to his desk and the album of photos.

[xiaomiau]

Liwei straightened his spine. He set the clipboard down with a concise thud. "... Boss?" He glanced over at the man even as he was starting towards the boy, ready to wheel the table away. "Sir, are you alright?" He couldn't read into the shock on the man's face, but he saw him dash for the photo album and a pang of realization hit him. He frowned in sympathy.

[Fionraella]

Ambrose pulls at his restraints, not really hearing the man, his ears ringing. He sees Liwei grab the edge of his gurney and he growls. "Get away from me!" He shouts, panicking. "I want that man and woman! They were trying to help me! Where are they? Where's Misha!?" He kicks his legs, trying to get them free. He whimpers a bit. "Please don't hurt me.."

[xiaomiau]

Liwei looks down at the boy. "Hush..." he whispered gently as he shoved the bed out of the door. He looked up to see if Mona was still around. This could be their chance to help the two teenagers.

[Fionraella]

Mona was there. She gasps quietly and runs over. "Hey kid!" She whispers in relief. She then frowns at the way he was restrained. "Liwei, can we untie him please?" She asks, setting a hand gently on Ambrose's. She bites her lip. This boy looked so scared and there wasn't much she could do to help him.

Ambrose sighs, recognizing Mona. "Good, a familiar face. I was worried." He then looks at Liwei warily. "He's with you?" His heart rate was slowing down. He didn't notice his hands were clenched into fists until he unclenched them. Blood cakes his palms from where his nails dug into them. He lays his head back down and watches the two adults warily.

[xiaomiau]

Liwei quickly undid the restraints, careful not to be too rough when it touched Ambrose's skin. "Are you hurt?" he asked softly. "Did they do anything to you?" He glanced over the boy, then back at the door. "We really have to get away from here."

[Fionraella]

Liwei quickly undid the restraints, careful not to be too rough when it touched Ambrose's skin. "Are you hurt?" he asked softly. "Did they do anything to you?" He glanced over the boy, then back at the door. "We really have to get away from here."

@xiaomiau

Ambrose sits up, watching Liwei warily. "I'm alright. Just...where's Misha!?" He jumps off the gurney and stumbles a bit. He puts his hand on the wall to steady himself. He shakes his head to clear the fogginess. "We need to get her. I don't..." He whimpers. "Please, we have to go get her!"

[xiaomiau]

Liwei glanced over at Mona. "Misha.. Misha is the other shifter who they brought in with you?" He clenched his jaw, trying to hide the concern evident in his features. "Misha might be in trouble." He paused. "But we need to get you to safety before we help her, or we run the risk of none of us getting out."