[IC] The Hybrid-Humans

[beyond visions]

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Noelle "Benji" Aether

by @omerta

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_{Ft. Edgar E. Eisley by} @beyond visions

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Zack Hemsey - "Nice To Meet Me"
_{"That monster brought the seed of life, well now I have become it."}

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It was actually quite rare to find the administrator of Maximation make such a casual appearance at the facility's mess hall. No one ever sat alone there, well, unless you purposefully wished to outcast yourself by pulling a chair away from the populated table in order to retreat to a lonely corner. Lunch was scheduled after solo training, this was done with reason, since after spending time alone to practice one's craft or skill, he or she could reconnect closely with the other Hybrid-Humans. At the end of the day, they are all suppose to be on the same team.

All of the mutants were there, well, all but Mr. Buchanan and Clyde. Todd had to cut his stealth training short today, he had another messy nose bleed and started aching again due to the type of raging sinus pressure that can make a man go mad. He was given some pressure and pain relief medicine, in hopes to feel better in time for lunch. Though now, he was in the bathroom connected to his dorm room, doing whatever to soak up all the blood draining out of his nostrils.

Todd or no Todd, Eisley believed that they had the right to know everything, especially since one of them is dead now, Clyde was dead. The tissue meant to form fish gills within his neck, eventually grew to the point of slowly suffocating him in his sleep. At first, Eisley found that tragic, but once discovering that all of the mutants are bound for that same kind of disastrous biological doom, he was mortified. Just as they will be.

Before a single word, Eisley released a disappointed sigh while taking his spec off and staring down at the concrete floor, "I failed all of you..." There was no beating around the bush for Eisley, he was coming clean and honest. The magnetic door behind him sealed shut and locked, just as he wanted. Captain Jaymes Cane was persistent on Eisley being accompanied by fully-geared Maximation soldiers, but Eisley declined before arriving at the mess hall:

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"N-No soldiers, no, I don't want to rush to hostility. Captain, the Hybrid-Humans, they have been trained and tested to be heroes-- men and women who know how to make the right choices, not animals. I don't want to treat them as if they are these savage beasts! If you wish to lock the door behind me, then so be it."

"You're walking into the lion's den, all because you have had an naive faith in humanity. Except, they are something a lot worst than lions. Sir, it is my duty to protect your safety--"

"Forget my safety! I killed Clyde Aether! And the rest of them are dying because of me..."

"Eisley, you take this experimental mishap far too personal... But so be it, their aggression is on your head."

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Drops of sweat could be seen dripping from he surface of his forehead and down to the temples, "There is a reason why we have been recently retesting all of you, putting you all through even more medical examinations..." His palms were sweaty and shaking, even while he held his glasses. "Based on animal testing, the injection was thought to be safe... However, now with human subjects, the serum has developed rapid carcinogenic and fatal qualities. And..."

Eisley held his breath for a moment, closing his eyes, considering how he would phrase his next sentence. But he simply chose to be direct, though he still was not even prepared to face whatever may come to him, "One of your fellow Hybrid-Humans was injected through the neck with a serum that would morph tissue in order to develop fish gills. The tissue... suffocated him... in his sleep... Clyde Aether is dead..."

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She should have known it was too good to be true. Only a fool would believe otherwise.

When Noelle had woken up today, nothing seemed particularly out of the ordinary. Her left leg felt numb and prickly but she didn't find that at all concerning and simply massaged the limb until it felt normal again. She yawned, stretched, and rolled out of bed to begin her morning routine. Being the early bird she was the woman was able to take care of her needs and still had some extra time to spare. Clyde appeared to still be sleeping when she stopped by his dorm so she decided not to bother her brother just yet. There was breakfast, she stretched a little, and even got to finish another chapter of that book she was currently reading -all before it was time for her daily training. Her lessons passed without incident. Today was just the basic stuff, stamina training on the treadmill. The machine's speed had been raised but she kept up easily enough and performed as expected. Once that was done with, Noelle headed straight for the cafeteria. A shower could wait -right now she felt like she was starving.

At this point she was functioning on auto pilot. Noelle filled her tray with over-sized portions of the offered meal options and then picked a random seat at the main table. She had no intention of striking up conversation at the moment so she didn't worry about who she sat next to. Noelle just wanted to eat right now. Keeping her manners in mind, Noelle tried not to wolf down her food like a savage as she brought up the first spoonful to her mouth and gratefully chewed. She swallowed, sighed with relieve, and then fed herself another spoonful. That's when she finally noticed three things that are out of the ordinary.

The first thing is that two members of the usual gang are currently missing; Todd and Clyde. Todd she wasn't really worried for but where was her brother? She vaguely wondered if he was still sleeping but the promptly dismissed the thought and assumed he was probably hanging around somewhere. Maybe even still training, although that seemed unlikely. The second thing Noelle picks up on is the unfamiliar presence in the room. That Eisley man is here but... why? It's not like he was a total stranger but the man didn't often show his face around here often enough and Noelle wondered if he was here just because or if there was an ulterior motive. Her unspoken inquiry was soon answered when the man caught everyone's attention and began to speak up. Pricking her ears to listen, Noelle set her spoon down and straightened up in her seat. Finally, is the third part of today's streak of peculiarities; she cannot understand what he's saying. Eisley's lips are moving and Noelle can hear him, she knows the meaning of the words he's saying but for some reason everything is just passing through her ears. He mentioned something about death.

"Who's dead?" The silence in the room following Eisley's announcement is deafening so Noelle's voice, though a quiet one, resonates the room as though she just used a megaphone. Clyde. What about Clyde? For some reason Eisley mentioned her beloved older brother but nothing's making sense, it's simply not sticking together in her head. Why's Eisley talking about death and Clyde? A moment passes. And then the reality of the situation finally hits Noelle. Hard. The shock clogging her mind finally clears and she's suddenly painfully aware of everything. Maximation's administrator's words finally have a definition. Clyde is dead. The woman doesn't even realize she's crying until the tears running down her cheeks begin to leave a wet path along her throat. "What do you mean Clyde's dead?!?!" she snarls. She reacts without warning, tearing herself from the table and lunging for the administrator.

Like a barbed-wire fence, Eisley felt her fingers surround his face, those ebony claws pressed almost to the point of piercing his pale flesh. Clutching his cheek, his left ear was slammed first against the metal table, while his lower jaw and chin dipped deep down against the raw meat that filled Noelle's tray. "I-I-I--I'm" With each piece of him, Eisley wrestled to assemble a single sentence amidst his panic. As each second passed by with him stuttering, the meat became squishier, Noelle pushing him harder against it, while the claws began to break flesh."... sorry!" It was all he could gasp in the moment, eyes both widened in a horrified stare that his head could add to the pile of raw meat on her tray.

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[beyond visions]

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Noelle "Benji" Aether & Naeemah "Viper" Meskhenet & Dante "Stalker" Foster

by @omerta, @13org, and @omerta

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_{Ft. Edgar E. Eisley by} @beyond visions

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Naeemah had a terrible morning. For some reason, she was shedding her skin once every two days. What it should be a painless process was extremely extenuating, painful and tiring. To top it off, they were making her take a pill every morning. They said it had something to do with her blood or something like that, but it didn't matter how much Naeemah asked, they never gave her any information about it. That thing had a terrible taste...

That day, more than the others, she was in a horrible mood. Todd also wasn't there to cheer her up, so she had a dangerous expression in her face, her eyes seemed to pierce those who looked at her. She had refused to train that morning. Those who went to her room to call her, were quickly greeted with a threatening, loud hiss and rattle.
Her usual stealth and ambush training could wait. She was by no means in the mood to keep striking moving dummy targets and sinking her fangs on that synthetic material, which had a horrible taste, making her brush her teeth after she was finished with her training, or risking having that plastic taste on her mouth the rest of the day.

Finally going out of her room, after spending the entire morning there, she went to eat something. She was specially hungry after shedding her skin. She needed to eat something. Taking a quick bath to take of the rest of the dead skin from her body, washing herself, and taking care of her appearance, she went outside. As she was told so, Todd wasn't there (otherwise she wouldn't be that irritated right now), but the other one who wasn't there was Clyde. That was indeed strange, but they could be training or maybe doing a medical checkup, which were being even more frequent those days...

Arriving at the mess hall, Naeemah grabbed something for her to eat.
Since the day she became a hybrid, she started wanting to eat meat even more. The breakfast, although it wasn't entirely composed of meat, it wasn't that bad.
With a big yawn, flexing her fangs inside of her mouth, she sat down, but the moment she would start to eat, Eisley came into the mess hall.

"What is he doing here?" she asked herself.

Something was off.
When he started talking, Naeemah became paralyzed. With only a few words, her world was simply shattered, completely broken.

"Based on animal testing, the injection was thought to be safe... However, now with human subjects, the serum has developed rapid carcinogenic and fatal qualities. And..." he spoke. Eisley was sweating, apparently afraid or troubled. But the way that the words got out of his mouth... so easily....

Naeemah would never be a mother. Her plans to start a family with Todd, living with him somewhere nice and quiet, her research as a biologist, they were all shattered, crumbling down under the heavy weight of Eisley's words. She simply couldn't think about anything. Her mind went blank. Everything else Eisley was saying was unimportant...
Except for one thing.

"... Clyde Aether is dead..." she heard him saying.

He said something about him dying while he was sleeping... So that's why he wasn't there that morning...
Dead... That word was still echoing in Naeemah's head. Death, the unavoidable fate that they were all doomed to have. Soon enough, all of them would be dead as well, because of him... Because of his mistake....

"Todd needs... to know about this..." she said in a monotone voice.
But the second his name got out of her mouth, she realized something.

Clyde was not there that morning because he died... That meant that Todd was also dead?

"What do you mean Clyde's dead?!?!" Noelle screamed, interrupting Naeemah thoughts. When she looked to Noelle, her hands were already around Eisley's throat. She was crying, blind with rage.

"I-I-I--I'm"
"... sorry!"
Eisley said, gasping desperately for air.

With a loud hiss, Naeemah darted towards Noelle, coiling her tail around her, immobilizing her.
The only sounds in the mess hall now were a loud, threatening his and the rattle of her tail.

"Eiseley, where is Todd?" she asked, in a menacingly low tone.
"Get out of this room, and bring Todd here RIGHT NOW." she said, trembling with rage.
"Do not show your face to me again." she said, her forked tongue getting in and out of her mouth as she looked to him with piercing eyes, still hissing and her tail still rattling, an obvious giveaway that he should get out of there as soon as possible.
"GO AWAY!" she screamed, with her eyes wide open.

"No!" Noelle's struggling was futile; Naeemah was much larger than her and had quite literally trapped her. "Let go of me, I'm going to kill him!" The words were meant to be malevolent but the sobs now wracking her body conveyed otherwise. Noelle was dead serious about Eisley, she'd never killed anyone before despite the practices taught in training but right now she wanted nothing more than to have Clyde back. Obviously that wasn't going to happen so she was aiming for the next best thing -to end the man who'd caused this to happen. He needed to pay for what he'd done. "Naeemah, let go of me!" she literally growled, the feral sound escaping from the depths of her chest as she continued to fight in the other hybrid's grasp.

An exit for Eisley did not exist, the doors were magnetically sealed shut. He was trapped, because there was no chance in hell that Cane would order those doors to be opened. To the Captain, the mutants were now animals. No, worse than animals, they were monsters. But at least, before he dies, he could leave Naeemah with hope. "T-Todd! You You-- want to know what h-happened to T-Todd! Naeemah, he's--"

Dante was already observing everything from the corner of the room, remaining quiet and motionless like he was getting ready to pounce. Refusing to touch the tray of garbage he had received. He stood up abruptly and sauntered toward the ongoing incident, staring at this wretched individual cowering for his life. Wasting no time and cutting him off mid-sentence, Dante violently speared Eisley through the back of the head with his tail, coming out of his mouth. Slicing through it like butter, recoiling his tail back while his head burst and blood erupts like the skull was hit point blank with a sawed off.

Seconds after Dante's tail exited Eisley's now lifeless corpse, a siren wailed all through the entire facility as alarm lights flashed red. It was obvious, the place was now put under lockdown.

Dante smiled the very next moment, staring at the two other hybrids.

"Please, let her go. Don't fight each other over such a worthless excrement. A knight will not sit back and watch such unnecessary violence." Dante pleaded in a calm and pleasant tone.

"Naeemah, let go of me!" Noelle growled, unsuccesfully.
Naeemah continued looking to Eiseley, her eyes burning with anger.
As much as she wanted to kill him, just killing him would be too easy... She wanted to make him feel exactly what she was feeling. She wanted to crush his future, to destroy all his dreams and hopes, to watch as he was left without a purpose to keep living.
Todd... he wasn't dead, was he? That thought clawed on the back of her mind.

Before the administrator could answer, Eiseley's head burst in blood, as something pierced the back of his skull. Naeemah was left speechless... What was he going to say? Was Todd really dead? The only one she loved... was he DEAD?!

"...You..." Naeemah whispered to Dante, too angry to be able to scream.
"Unnecessary violence..." she said, slowly loosing her grasp on Noelle, letting her go.
"Who do you think you are?" she asked, quite literally trembling with rage.
Her tail began to rattle rapidly once more. Hissing loudly, she opened her mouth, her fangs dripping with poison. Things were blowing out of proportion really, really quickly. That was a clear sign for Dante to back off.

Noelle stopped fussing the second Eisley was dead. Now that Naeemah had finally released her, she dropped to the floor without any effort to catch herself. She fell with a thud. "Oh my god, Clyde..." A whimper. The hybrid pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them tightly, tunning out the rest of the world as she simply sat on the floor. Much like a child. Noelle didn't notice the blood staining her face and clothes, nor the sirens blaring, nor the commotion occuring right above her head as Dante and Naeemah conversed. Clyde was dead and that's all she could think of.

"I'm sorry that you had to see such a gruesome sight." Dante replied coldly, not even able to muster up the false sincerity he was used to masking his voice with. He simply took some steps backward, giving both of them a little distance and preparing to act if required. His tail casually swaying behind his head, he raised his claws in a stopping motion.
"I didn't need to hear another word spewing out his mouth, knights rule number eighty seven, Listen to what people don't say, if you want to get to the truth." Dante continued sounding completely confident in his words.
"Todd, is very likely still alive."

That was the only thing that Naeemah needed to know that moment. She didn't cared about Dante's insincere words, his twisted "knightly rules"... Even her hate towards him disappeared for the moment.

"Eisley wouldn't have even started speaking otherwise, but he also probably didn't know where he was, since he didn't just say it right off the bat. Your anger toward me isn't needed." Dante explained.
"The one in charge clearly already wanted him dead. This place is likely sealed off and impossible for humans like him to escape. So he wouldn't have been capable of leading you to him regardless."

Immediately stopping hissing and threatening him, she ran to the door, knocking on his as strong as she could.
"Please, let me out!" she said, ignoring what Dante said about the place being sealed.
"I... I just want to be together with him... We will die anyways... I just want to spend my last days together with the one I love..." Naeemah said, falling on the ground, crying.
"Its... not asking much..." she said, slowly breathing in and out, trying to calm herself down.

[CyanideSweetie]

Poppy swung her foot as she sat slurping her sweet syrupy treat through a straw, picking at the sticky residue under her collarbone that was left over from training. She had several similar patches all over her chest from all the damn monitoring they did while she flew around. How annoying were those cords? They called themselves ground breaking scientist but they couldn't even invest in wireless.

Her brain switched tracks, how stupid was it that her feet were no where near touching the ground? Did they make Poppy sized chairs? seriously. She was just as important as everyone else, she didn't deserve to feel like a small child sitting in daddys chair. But then again it was also kinda nice how her foot could swing without any ground hindering it, kinda like it was flying. She loved flying.

She didn't notice anything was going on until the guy she recognized as a lead scientist was already mid announcement. Who was fatal? She listened intently as he told them about Clydes death as if he was damming himself to hell. In the moment of complete silence that followed the announcement she slurpped her juice box loudly. who was Clyde again? she really needed to pay more attention to what was going on.

Poppy jumped as all hell broke loose, one woman attacking the pudgy guy and the other one crying about her boy toy, why was everyone being so dramatic? In a heartbeat, all that she heard, how everyone was acting, it all clicked. "the fuck?" She almost whispered. We were fatal. We were all dying. Shit.

A quick movement drew her attention away from her inner turmoil, and she started paying attention just in time to see the scientist get fucking speared in the fucking head. Her heart raced, her wings followed. Flittng into the air she looked around with rising panic. She wanted fucking out . With the quick glance she noticed that the conventional exits were sealed tighter then a homophobes ass hole. She flew around looking for any means of escape. In all their glory she spotted the air vents! Zipping up to them she wrapped her fingers in the faceplate and then she noticed the yawning blackness waiting for her on the other side. Her heart sank. Oh no. Looking around for maybe a fucking flashlight or something she spotted Claudia, the only girl here as small as her. She smoked like a train! She'd have a lighter, she'd have light!
"Hey! Claudia!," She hollered, grabbing the other girls attention. She gestured at the vent, " Help me get the fuck outta here?"

[Shift]

The constant buzzing of the fluorescent lights droned on as the other hybrids milled around the mess hall. A quick head-count told Troy that all but two of them were concentrated in the small space. This seemed odd - it was rare that they join together in a group this size unless it was for training. It was true that the mess hall had a healthy amount of activity after individual training, but something, and he couldn't put his finger on what, just seemed off to Troy. Perhaps it had something to do with the added training they had recently been put through. He could tell that they were all being pushed to their limits, and it became commonplace for the metallic scent of blood to waft through the halls during training.

He ran his fingers through his tousled hair, wondering what he could be missing. A tray sat before him forgotten, remnants of food lingered untouched. The sustenance they offered was understandably high in nutrients, vitamins, and all of the necessary dietary supplements they would need to survive and even thrive, but this had no bearing on the taste. It was slop, and that's all it would ever be. At times, when he was feeling particularly displeased with the lack of well-tasting food, Troy would reminisce about the delicacies from his home country.

His eyes quickly shot up as another scent captured his attention. Eisley would be entering the mess hall soon, from the scent wafting through the open door and the sound of his approaching footsteps, it would be just moments. Strange, he's more nervous than usual, and he's coming in alone. Eisley had been the one who introduced Troy to Project HYBRID. When Troy had been working on his Ph.D. in genetics, the two worked together on a grant, and it was through this connection that he'd learned about the incredible opportunity to take part in something so much greater than himself. Eisley had proven to be a kind, thoughtful man. Nervous and lacking in confidence, but well-meaning. He had endeared himself to Troy, and the two had established a working friendship. At first, the two had blindly believed they were helping to advance humanity, but as the years progressed the government's agenda became clearer. Being a participant of the experiment, there was only so much clearance Troy was able to attain, even if he was assisting with the DNA sequencing. Eisley however, as a high-level administrator on the project was able to glean much more of the truth. When he was able to, in short, hushed phrases, he would attempt to fill Troy in on some of the more devastating news. The project was falling apart, and the mutations weren't holding up, the tumors were metastasizing and expanding in unexpected ways, the modifications were slowly being rejected by the hosts' bodies.

When the door locked behind Eisley, Troy stood. He could see it coming before the words left Eisley's mouth; the negative reactions weren't isolated events, they were all susceptible. Clyde was perhaps the first victim of many to come from this project. Noelle had been closest to Clyde, so Troy understood her reaction. Judging by her grief, he felt she would have been capable of taking the messenger's life as a way to try and escape the hole that was inevitably forming inside of her now. Troy understood grief, how overpowering and consuming it could be, how it threatened to throw everything into darkness - but he'd also learned that he was stronger. He stayed observing from his vantage point, distant enough away to have a better view of the room, but close enough to jump in if necessary. Naeemah seemed to be capable of controlling the situation, having pulled Noelle away from Eisley in one swift move, but shortly after that, things started happening too quickly for Troy to be able to control the outcome. While Eisley was in the process of telling Naeemah about Todd, Dante swept up and murdered him so quickly Troy didn't have the time to react.

His eyes narrowed as the dialogue between Dante and Naeemah continued. He'd known not all the others had joined Project HYBRID for the same reasons, but he'd never imagined one of them to be a cold-blooded killer. And what was all this hypocritical bull-shit about a Knight's Code? His hands balled into fists as he considered pummelling the scorpion freak for being such a piece of 'excrement' himself. A quick look at his surroundings told him this might not be the best bet. There were far too many of them in the closed space, and now that blood had been shed, it would only be a matter of time before they turned on one another. Eisley was dead, and Troy knew that nothing could be done for him now. How many innocent deaths will I have to be party to? Is there truly not one among these people who wanted to produce something good for the world? Troy sighed inwardly, then made eye contact with the small camera he was sure the Captain was using to keep an eye on the situation. Was the man trying to turn this into a madhouse on purpose? I suppose the easiest way to get rid of unwanted experiments is to let them do most of the work for you. Troy threw up a middle finger towards the camera to make his feelings known before making his way toward Naeemah.

"You really think begging will get you anywhere?" He scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Get up. You're smarter than this." Troy had observed her for some time. She was intelligent, at least when not grief-stricken, strong and capable. She would be a good ally in getting out of their current mess alive, and truth be told, he was curious about Todd's whereabouts as well. "I hate to agree with the trigger-happy moron, but Todd's probably still alive." Troy's fists balled again, and his knuckles turned white. Eisley would've added his name to the list of deceased when he had notified them all of Clyde's death. Naeemah needed a reality check and fast. If she was capable of pulling herself together, they might be able to make a difference. The sound of many boots approaching told him they wouldn't have too much longer.

[beyond visions]

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Poppy 'Hummingbird' LaRue & Naeemah "Viper" Meskhenet

by @CyanideSweetie and @13org

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_{Ft. GM:} @beyond visions

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Apashe - Battle Royale (Feat. Panther)
_{"Trigger finger in the air, I put a little dirt on 'em."}

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He was right... There was no use in begging or asking politely... She was alone. She could count only in her own strength and intelligence.
But before she could open her mouth to answer, something caught her attention, immediately making her stand up and completely change her expression. Naeemah became much more alert after detecting separate heat signatures beyond the door. The forms of this heat took the shape of ten armed Maximation soldiers. To make matter worse, the large metal doors began to slide open.

Naeemah changed her expression immediately, they wouldn't ask any questions. They were coming in to kill them all. Instantly, she seemed almost like a different person. "Soldiers on the door. Ten." she mumbled. Anyone paying enough attention to her would probably hear her talking. They were too many to face, especially armed. Sure, Naeemah would be able to get at least some, but not without risking her life. Being an ambush predator, Naeemah was in a severe disadvantage if she stood behind to fight against them.

Running her eyes through the room, quickly searching for an escape route, she saw Poppy going near the vents. Darting towards the vents, Naeemah quickly opened the face-plate with her powerful tail. "Poppy, Noelle, If you want to live, come with me! Naeemah said with her forked tongue coming in and out of her mouth every second. Her eyes had now, instead of her normal pupils, vertical, slit pupils. Her piercing stare quickly darted from Noelle, to Poppy, Claudia and then the vents.

"Quickly They won't ask you any questions. They are coming in to kill us!" she hissed, before standing on her tail to reach the vents and slithering inside the vents. Without making a sound, she put her hand out of the vent, to help them to get up.

Poppy felt a shiver run down her spine, whether from the snake lady coming out of no where like a bat out of hell tearing the face plate off like it was tinfoil or the imminent cold blooded slaughter of a dozen mostly innocent hybrids, who knew? Turning around to make sure Claudia was headed this way she stuck her fingers in her mouth whistling loudly, "Move it or lose it, mother fuckers! She turned around and grabbed Naeemahs hand, the poor snake woman had to basically drag Poppy in due to her wing span being too wide. It had nothing to do with the dark, nothing at all. Neither did the fact that she was full body hugging Naeemahs tail, with her eyes squeezed shut. She wasn't scared of the dark, the dark was her bitch.

First it was the barrels of the M4 assault rifles, piercing through this now open space, and then it was the rain of the bullets, gun fire in an out pour, all directed for the next whom dared to climb for an escape through the vents. In otherwords, Claudia was the first to breathe differently- inhaling and exhaling through rapid short gasps in reaction to the bullets trailing from her right foot up to her ankle. She proved successful in her retreat to the vents, though it took the sacrifice of three bullet wounds.

Those in the vents could hear it below them, the gun shots, the hell beneath, and how, just by the skins of their teeth, they were able to dodge it. Well, all of them in the vents except Claudia. Her rabbit's foot did not prove quite lucky this time.

"I'm sorry, but we're not going back to help anyone." Naeemah said, slithering by the vents, with Poppy still hugging her tail. Despite the loud sounds of the blazing guns below, Naeemah was calm. In fact, calm would be an understatement. She was literally showing no emotion, as cold as ice. "From now on, we're alone. Its either kill or be killed." she said, continuing navigating through the vents. "I do not condone unnecessary bloodshed, but if you have any qualms about killing someone, i would suggest you to get rid of it as soon as possible. The soldiers won't think before killing us." Naeemah said, her forked tongue getting in and out of her mouth."I don't wish to alarm you, but some of the hybrids cannot be trusted." she said, turning her head back, her piercing eyes glowing through the darkness. Dante was the most immediate threat, but Naeemah was sure that there were other cold blooded killers between them. She didn't care about who she killed, she didn't care about who was a psychopath or a self proclaimed "hero"... She only cared about Todd and her own safety.

Claudia had made a mad dash for the vent. That's what she got for not paying attention. She hissed in pain touching her foot. Lucky rabbits foot her ass. The bastards had really got her. She looked up at the crowded area, not enjoying the closer proximity. She slide away as the snake started her speech. No way in hell was she staying in a group. They would be a higher sought target. Not to mention her rodents heart beat frantically being so near to its natural predator. She maneuvered down the vents slowly, nursing her foot. She used her ears as a sort of echo location, she was going to find a nice isolated spot in the vents to hide in until this bull shit blew over.

Poppys gut twisted as they moved deeper into the darkness. But it was nothing compared to what the hybrids down below must feel. She listened to Naeemahs words, they distracted her away from her fear of the dark slightly.

To Kill or be killed? Was she ready for that responsibility. No. There was a damn reason she hadn't chosen a predatory strain of DNA to be spliced with. She was still numb with betrayal. This program was supposed to make her life better. To fulfill her need to be enough. But no. She wasn't enough. And they were going to kill her for it.

She swallowed heavily, "Do you even know where we are going?" she asked the snake woman as she continued to cling to her.

"I'm going to find Todd." Naeemah answered. "Don't worry. I can sense thermal radiation and my sense of smell is incredibly sharp." Naeemah said, her forked tongue kept going in and out of her mouth as she tried to feel Todd's smell. "That's why if there is someone who can sneak past the soldiers, its me." Naeemah said, confident on her own body. "I need to find Todd... After that we'll see what we will do." She said, continuing to search for Todd's scent.

[beyond visions]

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Poppy "Hummingbird" LaRue & Naeemah "Viper" Meskhenet & Todd "The Red Fox" Buchanan

by @CyanideSweetie, @13org, and @beyond visions

---

Finally, once out of the vents and of the darkness, Poppy loosened and let go of her grip on Naeemah. While the snake woman slithered towards her boyfriend's room, Poppy scurried off to her own room, in searching for a portable light source, like her phone. She left it in there before solo training to prevent it from being dropped and possibly damaged. Once she had her phone in hand Poppy knew that if they were climbing into anymore vents again, well at least this time she will be prepared.

Even before Naeemah nudged back the door to his room, the lingering scent of blood proved inescapable. From first glance Todd had a punching bag resting in the left back corner, he was once a pro-boxer after all. As Naeemah proceeded deeper into his room, she noticed the ceiling light turned off. Though that was nothing out of the ordinary since Todd never switched a single light on if he did not have to, he had night vision. His eyes were actually quite sensitive to the light, thus there rested his fox sleep-mask by his nightstand. Bloody tissues trailed to his bathroom, and when Naeemah entered that room she discovered piles upon piles of even more tissues spilling from out of the trashcan by his toilet.

After she finished examining the condition of Todd's bathroom, she took her eyes off of the tissues against the tile flooring, looking up. Though as she did, she realized she was no longer alone. This mysterious intruder was so close behind her, that their reeking odor of cigarettes now overpowered the scent of blood. She could hope this stranger was Todd, yet he never smoked and nor did this stranger smell quite like any of the other mutants. The soldier was fully equipped and geared from head to toe in military-issued riot gear, as all of the Maximation soldiers now were due to the lock-down. According to her thermal vision, he unfortunately was alone. He should have known better than to travel alone. Poor guy, because Naeemah was likely not going to kill him, no making him wish he was dead is what may bring Todd back to her.

Blood... Was Todd hurt? What happened to him? Many questions passed through Naeemah's head as she continued searching for him. Strangely enough, there was no signs of him there... Naeemah could taste his blood in the air, coming from the tissues. Maybe, if she was that worried about Todd, or focused on the tissues drenched in his blood, she would have noticed the intruder earlier, and would be able to avoid confrontation, but sadly, that wasn't what happened. Even if the intruder was armed and using military-issued riot gear, that wouldn't be nearly enough to protect it from her. She couldn't let him scream or call for help, but she needed information about what was happening. Luckily, she knew exactly what to do.
Patiently waiting in the darkness of the room, she waited for the perfect moment to strike. The second he got within her reach, she jumped on him, coiling around the poor man in the blink of an eye. If she wanted to kill him, he would be already dead, either by constricting him or by biting him in the jugular, and letting her poison do the work, but instead, she needed him alive, at least for now.

The man was completely immobilized by her tail, Naeemah herself was behind the man, with her hand over his mouth preventing him to scream, her mouth close to his ear as she spoke in a menacing tone. "You are going to tell me exactly what I want to know. If you try to call for help, scream, if i feel you moving any muscle from your body other than your heart and diaphragm, you are dead." Naeemah said, hissing as her tail quietly rattled further contributing to the menacing aura. "You are alone. There is no one here to help you, your life depends solely whether you will answer my questions or not." she said, hissing in his ear. "Where is Todd? What is happening here? Why are you all trying to kill us without even asking anything?" Naeemah said, slowly taking her hands off the man's mouth.

In fear that he may speak far too loudly, the man simply mumbled, though to the point where his words were inaudible even to Naeemah.

Naeemah opened her mouth, taking off his helmet with an agile movement, her fangs almost touching the poor soldier's ears as she hissed, "I don't have much time..." she said, constricting him a little more. "Tick tock... you are running out of time, soldier. I am not a very patient woman..."

As Naeemah flicked off his helmet, he slowly bowed his head in forward, letting not his potential killer see his face. But even with this slight movement, he realized how much he has been restricted, and how little of a possibility he had in fighting his way out. Her grasp became tighter, till he strangely and simply chuckled to himself, which only caused her to apply even more pressure, now leaving him gasping. It was time for him to reveal himself, "Ha heh-- Okay, I give up-- You know I like it-- rough-- but this is a little much!" Todd swung his head back, revealing his face. If Naeemah could see color, she would have had a better chance recognizing him sooner by his messy red hair.

"TODD!!! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!!" Naeemah said, half crying half shouting. "You don't know how worried i was about you!" she said, loosening up her grasp on him, but still coiled around him. "Stupid fox... I was this close to killing you..." she said, hugging him and resting her head on his shoulder. "Everything went so wrong so fast... Dante killed Eiseley, the soldiers came trying to kill us and..." she was saying, but he voice went silent on the last part. "We're dying Todd... The serum is killing us..." she said, silently sobbing on his shoulder "All our dreams, our hopes... our future..." she said, hugging him tightly. "My dreams of having a life together with you... They took everything..." she said, crying. "But I will not let them take you away from me. Even if that means letting a trail of dead bodies behind me..."

As she rested against him, Todd leaned his head against hers. They have only known each other for a little over two months, and well, Todd has always known that there was reason why they have moved so fast in such little time. Yes, everything made sense now. Because of their lack of time, everything they have done together, was that much more worth it. When Naeemah finished speaking, Todd dragged his fingers against her neck, shifting the position of her face to be placed against his forehead. Now, they were touching forehead to forehead, "I'm flattered you would kill for me," he smiled. "I would do the same for you." Todd is never the one to the raise up the number of casaulties yet, when it came to Naeemah, he would be the first to let heads rolls if anyone laid a finger on her. "Gum-drop, our days might be shortened, but nothing changes between us-- we'll still be together even if--" Todd paused, looking down, hesitant to continue, but it had to be done, "Look, if we're going to make it out of here alive then-- err... You're not going to like this but, we're going to have split up again. You know going undercover is my shit... So, in order for me to pave a safe path I need to go remain undercover as a soldier, while you travel behind me in the shadows. I won't be far from you-- it's going to be fine."

"I won't lose you. You're everything that they haven't taken away from me." she said, looking to his face, rather mad with his plan. "You don't need to go undercover... We can use the vents or something like that!" she said, trying to convince him. "Todd... I know we known each other only for a little over than two months... But what i feel for you is real. I love you, Todd. I want to be with you, I want to protect you..." she said, looking to his eyes. "I need you. I don't think I can keep thinking straight with all this happening if you go away... I know you don't like to kill... but the only thing that keeps me from letting out all the hate I feel is you... I wont let you go Todd! I don't want to lose you." she said, coiling around him and kissing him.

Lips pressed against lips, Todd kissed her, held her, as if that were the last time he would ever have the chance to. He pulled back, no, he was not going to allow their time together to feel helpless and hopeless. "No, Naeemah." It was rare for him to ever call her by her name, unless they were in some type of argument or difference. "The vents aren't safe... Well, they're not going to be for long... I heard news of them releasing drones into the vents-- drones that can be detonated. So imagine mines on wheels. I won't get caught. This is the best for both of us and the rest of the mutants-- speaking of which, are you alone?" Yes, Todd was concerned about the rest, he honestly wanted to get as many of them out of there as possible, well all but Dante. To Todd, the Stalker really caused this all. If he did not decide to kill Eisley, then it is very likely they would have not been put under lockdown in the first place.

When Todd spoke about drones, Naeemah knew that things would get really tough. She didn't want to admit, but Todd's plan was really the best bet if they wanted to minimize casualties. Todd was the perfect choice for infiltration missions. The information he gets will be vital for their survival. "No... Poppy is with me. She went to the other room searching for something..." she said, looking to the corridor, trying to see Poppy. The girl didn't seem to be the type for fighting. Naeemah knew that if she left her alone, she would be in grave danger. "I... I understand... Can I at least have something to be able to communicate with you?" she asked. "If something bad happens..." she said, looking down. Naeemah knew that they were in a dangerous situation. Any error could mean death or at least, being gravely injured. "Even without using the vents, I can still easily move myself through the facility. Since I can sense thermal radiation, sneaking up on me will be very difficult, and I can set ambushes to take down anyone who comes after us... But I'm still worried after you. Promise me that you wont get caught! ... And be careful about the other mutants... Some of them cannot be trusted..." she said, hugging him tightly. Dante... Especially Dante... Naeemah didn't trust him one bit. He was a danger to everyone, be it human or mutant...

"Some of them... like who? I know Dante for sure is a threat, after what he did to Eisley and all-- anyone else?" Todd let go of Naeemah and she loosened her grasp before kneeling over to pick up the riot helmet. If he was going to remain undercover, it be best he covers his face.

"With Dante, its probably kill or be killed. Noelle also had a very violent reaction, and if it wasn't for me, she would have killed Eiseley... I understand it was a pretty shocking and stressful situation, but I would keep an eye on her." Naeemah said, silently watching Todd getting the riot helmet. "Poppy... I feel like if I let her alone, she will be in grave danger... She doesn't look like the type who likes fighting... I don't know... Not everyone was that shaken by Eiseley's death... Some of them were awfully quiet... Almost like if they were enjoying the show... Call it a woman's intuition, but I feel like some of them cannot be trusted." Naeemah said, getting the helmet from his hand, and putting it into his head, gently kissing it as she did so. "I will let you go under one condition: I want to be able to talk to you whenever I want." she said, looking to him with serious eyes. "If someone dares to even touch a strand of your hair, I want to know it, ok?" she said.

"Well, you have my scent memorized now, though it reeks of cigarettes, the soldier I stole this uniform off of was loaded with about two packs in his pants pocket. Also... hid him under my bed, you know so the body isn't found. He'll hopefully be out cold for a couple more hours." Todd shuffled his hand in the pants pocket, pulling out not a pack of cigarettes but his phone. "Okay, if there are any emergencies, I'll call you. Can't promise I can answer all of your calls, my phone will be on silent so I don't draw any attention. Also, keep yours on the lowest brightness setting, you'll need to maneuver through the shadows."

Naeemah nodded, silently staring to him. He would certainly call her if something bad happened. That thought at least served to calm her down a little.

Poppy made her way to Todds room, knowing that that was where Naeemah would of headed. She walked in just in time to see them falling all over each other. Wrinkling her nose she steeped back into the hall way, letting them have their moment. At the rate things were going it could be their last. She felt a pang of sadness, trying to distract herself she checked her phone but it definitely didn't help. No text, no notifications, no missed calls. She was dying, and she had no one to turn to with this news that would actually care. She was dying alone.

She heard her name, and it snagged her attention. Well yeah she didn't like fighting. But she had come to terms with the fact that she may not have a choice. She popped her head around the door frame, "Are you guys done making babies in there or should I make myself comfortable?" she had heard enough of the plan to know what they were going to be sticking to the shadows. Not a plan she was comfortable with. But what else could they do? "Uh, I'm not very... Good in the dark. I can't, uh, see and stuff I mean. Maybe I could just fly close to the ceiling? You would be super-surprised how many people don't look up?" she knew the idea sounded lame before it even left her mouth.

Naeemah was almost going near Todd again to kiss him, but they were interrupted by Poppy. Stepping back, a little alarmed, Naeemah blushed a little as she turned her face away from her, trying to hide her embarrassment.

"But won't the flapping of your wings give you away, Poppy?" Todd's relationship with Poppy was one of distant friendship, nothing too close, though nothing of resentment or apathy. She has proved to be someone he can cracked jokes with every now and then. Even when her humor did become a little too dark or crass, Todd never got offended for the fact that it is just a joke. "Oh wait--" Todd throw a few glances up at the ceiling light, he just noticed that it was dark. For those without night vision, he could understand the fear of the dark being logical. The shadows are Todd's battlefield, he is a predator upon darkness, so he found her fear legitimate as he recalled her mumbled remarks of it in the past. Yet, they still needed to press on. "This is totally not about the dark is it?" he smirked after speaking sarcastically. "Nah, but if it is... My girl's got ya," he referred to Naeemah as he patted Poppy on the shoulder.

"Poppy, right now, the darkness is our best ally. Our best chance to escape." Naeemah said, looking to her. "If the issue is the dark, don't you worry. I may not have the same night vision that Todd has, but I can see far more than he can, thanks to my tongue and my ability to sense thermal radiation. I don't mind if you hug me, Just stay with me and you'll be safe." Naeemah said, smiling to her. Something on her, something on that happy, cheerful girl made Naeemah want to protect her. "And Todd wont get caught, isn't that right, Todd?" Naeemah asked him, poking him in the visor with her finger. "Please, be careful, ok? If you feel something is wrong, run and call me, got it?" Naeemah said, gently touching her forehead in his visor.

"Ah.. You know I won't get caught, sweet-pea. Promise, you can kick my ass if I do, deal?" Before exiting his room, Todd shot Naeemah his ionic cocky smirk. In his head, he had this in the bag.

[puddingpunter]

Noelle E. "Benji" Aether

---

---

There was just.. a lot going on. For someone who wielded animal instincts, one would expect Noelle to be able to move like her wild counterpart. Breathe like it, behave like it. Swift and agile and g r a c e f u l. But such was not the case now. It seemed that today anything that could go wrong would go wrong. Starting with the death of Clyde. Among the chaos engulfing the mess hall Noelle simply stayed there like a goddamned sitting duck, stuck in the abyss of grief still dragging her in and swallowing her whole.

It was a sensory overload.

First came was blood. After Eisley was skewered the crimson thing's metallic stench seemed to fill her nostrils as if the entire room were coated in it. Which nearly made sense considering the remains of Eisley were now splattered all over her. Then came the men. Noelle could hear their boots thudding against the hard floor as an undetermined number of security approached the sealed threshold from which Eisley had stepped through mere minutes before. She vaguely recalled Naeemah saying something about there being ten; Noelle wasn't about to argue against that. Lastly, there was the commotion. Perhaps that was what finally snapped her out of it. The sirens weren't enough to faze her but the urgency in Naeemah's tone, combined with the unnatural sound of metal against metal as the mechanics of the doors finally began to pry themselves open again seemed to do the trick. Noelle moved from her position on the floor and skedaddled to keep up with the others as they made their way up the ceiling through the air vents, using a chair stacked atop the table in order to reach. It reeked of dank air and dust and her nose twitched as she resisted the urge to sneeze.

She wasn't the only one, and the cramped space was a tight enough fit as is. Once up in the air ventilation system Noelle moved to wedge herself farther in and away from the opening that left them exposed to whatever lay below. "Guys, move" she hissed, more out of concern than actual malice. The sound of gunfire rang out and echoed loudly within the metal confines and she flinched. Was this the plan all along? Send in Eisley as bait and once he was out of the way, take out the errors in the project? She could understand why she and the other Hybrids were to be erased from existence but she briefly wondered what Eisley had done to warrant such a verdict. Ignoring the others, Noelle put her nose to use and squeezed past the others. She didn't know where she was going but as long she she wasn't just staying here then anywhere was fine.

[SleepingSilence]

Dante "Stalker" Foster

_Music

“Exterminators looking for pests to spray down...” Dante thought glaring at the puppets assembling and pointing their guns ahead, he already was aware of his surroundings from his observation previously instead of actually eating.

“You won't squash me. I'll get through all of you to get back...” Dante thought with haste grabbing a large table right beside him, flipping it upward to act as another shield for the bullets. Immediately using the high table like a springboard to climb and jump up to the ceiling, knowing his climbing was much faster than his ground movement, accelerating on the walls and through the ventilation system. “I move silently and faster this way, go luck trying to pinpoint my location when you can't see or hear me.” He moved with relentless speed and lack of direction, eventually he removed one of the panels and quickly ducked his head down to scan the surroundings below, finding that he traversed into some kind of bathroom area, he quietly crawling on the ceiling of the restroom making sure their wasn't any surveillance cameras or anyone patrolling nearby. Landing like a feather, back facing away from the wall of mirrors, letting out a couple slow methodical breaths, brushing the several smashed bullets from his exoskeleton like chip crumbs of his shirt. “That will probably make my body ache once the adrenaline wears off...” Dante sighed inaudibly, pausing to listen, unable to hear anyone approaching nearby. In the very next swift motion of his tail smashing and completely destroying the mirror directly behind him, glass scattering upon the ground. He turned around quickly, staring slightly downward, concentrating on the sink. He turned on the handles and cupped his claws and started drinking the tap water, proceeding to dig his claws into the sink. Dante scowled.

“A trigger happy moron? They're the imbeciles kissing those demons feet to put themselves higher on their pedestals. Is it unfair to steal someone's life? They act like I'm in the wrong killing that wretched sinful liar? That man lied to me, stole my precious time on this earth, he already killed me and my dreams.” Dante thought, the sound of rushing water wasn't drowning out the memories flooding in his mind.

“He killed everyone that he turned into beasts-like me...he even killed another today, yet they blame me for something I know they all wanted to happen. How will I be able to support my family now? What do I tell my brothers and sisters who depend on me for everything? I was justified to do far worse, but I was merciful and made it quick...” Dante thought finally turning off the faucet, after washing the dust and dirt away. Taking seconds to compose a strategy and making his exit, going through the door and using the incredibly high ceilings to his advantage. Creeping around the walls, while he remained alert.

“This place isn't very well lit, why waste money on electricity lighting such a enormous location right? Plus, I've been here for long enough that I'm pretty sure I could pass through some of the glaring blind spots. I've decided that I will survive as a knight of justice. These bastards already killed me, but I refuse to truly die until I can find you all a perfect home...” Dante unconsciously forced a smile upon his face, like every time he brought up loving sentiments. Seeming to anticipate that somebody was secretly judging him from the distance, pleading that they couldn't differentiate sincerity from the cold and apathetic gesture that it was...

[beyond visions]

---

Werner "Kraken" Sevier & Dean "Trigger" Rourke

by @shivershiver and @DeadDrop

---

_{Ft. Captain Jaymes Cane:} @beyond visions

---

One Hour Out...

The Radio

The Killers - Mr Bright Side

The day was oozing heat onto the country side of Washington, the sounds of a muscle car ripped through the outskirts of Washington. The roads were cracked and poorly maintained, on either side of the beaten and barren road was a luscious green Forrest. The nature outside of Seattle seemed to thrive on it's own even in such hot conditions as of recent. Over the horizon a red muscle car surfed the hills, dancing gracefully over the road as the tires ran smoothly on the hot road beneath them. Behind the wheel was a man in the suit, a tacky cheap stripped dress shirt with blue dress pants. His red tie ran blood red on his striped shirt, his rugged hands gripped onto the steering wheel as his foot ate the gas pedal. Grinding the engine to it's limit as he sped through the deserted road way, on wards to his destination. The radio blared an ancient song from decades ago, as the car's speed grew so did the man's smile. He grinned as he bared his teeth for the world to see, his black aviators slipping off his eyes slightly.

He began to take his foot off the gas pedal, slowly down the muscle car began to stop roaring as it did before. He pulled up behind a black SUV, switched to the adjacent lane and then gunned the gas again. Not taking his eyes off the road, he began to speak over the radio. "So, what if it's a false alarm? Do they pay for my gas, or do we?" He says looking over to his partner, Werner who sat beside him in the shotgun. "That would be a waste of time, a damn waste. I could be doing better things, like not driving out of Seattle. Hell, this place is a ghost town so to speak. I don't think anyone even lives outside of the city, not in this economy or - well ever." "You see Werner, well you know. These animals can be crazy in every way so, if you have a chance read up on the files. I got them behind your seat, some of these chicks are smoking hot but - I dunno maybe they kept their looks after the transformed. What I'm trying to say is just check out what they look like incase we see them on the road or something. If everything goes well maybe some jackass pressed the alarm by accident." Behind the two, in the back seats were infact a crate of files and documents. Beside it sat a gun case and a Remington 870 with a box of buckshot and a box of slugs. "Y'know, I don't think we'll need to use anything bigger than a pistol today. If possible, we'll try to get armor from someone their cus I don't want to ruin ours. It's in the trunk besides my .50 and all our other shit. I hope we're not going to war today, honest to god." He says, turning down the music but keeping his foot on the pedal. The car continues to fly across the road as they draw closer to the lab.

His hangover finally beginning to fade, Werner focused his cold gaze, hidden behind a pair of mirrored wayfarer sunglesses, from the empty road to the man sitting beside him. He'd known Rourke for a few years now, meeting him after the... Incident of the first generation. The Ectosavior had helped hunt down the other experiments like him, all failed; deformation, madness, or revenge had rendered them useless to the government, and Werner remained the only patient who remained operational. Until now, that is. Werner trusted the Ectosavior; not as much as he should, since the two operatives had worked numerous jobs together, but enough to turn his back to him every once in a while. He was a fine agent, if a little too chatty for Werner's taste.

"Oh, I was about due for a visit anyway Rourke," he said, perhaps a little irritation present in his voice. "Maximation, they've been callin' me in about every week. Monitoring, advising. Awful tight leash." Since he was the only one with any real experience with Project HYBRID, since most of the staff from his generation was either killed by the hybrids or killed by the government to cover up the incident, Dr. Eisley relied heavily on Werner for any form of advice, though the good doctor rarely took any of his harsher reccomendations into consideration. Sevier ignored Rourke's comment regarding the files; by now, he had them all committed to memory. Names, faces, strengths and weaknesses, he knew most everything about them, and then some. Curiously enough, there was even a budding romance between two of the subjects which Dr. Eisley allowed. The lead scientist in charge of Werner's generation, Dr. Staffel, didn't take too much stock in love and romance. He distinctly remembered two romantically involved subjects from Gen 1 being forced to fight, and mutilate, eachother under Staffel's watch. "Anyway, its nothing we haven't dealt with before. Hell, I'd reckon we could handle this bunch ourselves. What was Eisley thinking anyway, recruiting civilians? Nah, the gear in the back should work just fine."

Due for a vist, I don't think so buddy I think they want to make sure you aren't spittin' ink all over everybody. You are a big squid after all. He recruited civs maybe cus some of them were hot or they had good genes, prolly a bit of both. Noelle is - was pretty cute. Some others, but if they are mutants they are looong past the point of return. Thing is, I don't remember being called to a lab lock down since, ever. So, I dunno what to expect. Something bad."

The muscle car continued to crank over the dead road, the sun lowering itself onto the horizon as the day began to end. Music still dripping out of the radio as it beat into the wind, Rourke's hand laid on the side of the driver's door as he had the other on the wheel. The car ripping through the landscape at it's "normal speed" for when Rourke was driving. Who was Werner, really not just a squid and a agent but he was someone who was looking for something. Rourke didn't know at the time, but maybe Werner had a hidden agenda. It wasen't something he was concerned about, yet. Werner was trustworthy but not was themselves on the outside.

Werner chuckled, but found no real humor in the joke; he found himself laughing more lately, but neve really enjoying it. Just another way to keep up appearances, maintain alliances. It was all just a show to him. He'd been under so many covers, been so many different people, sometimes it felt like he was losing track of who the real Werner was. Perhaps he had reached the point where he was simply a tool, like a gun, wearing a black suit and a smile. As much as he knew the thought should have disturbed him, it really didn't. "Careful now friend, that's octopus, not squid. Big difference. Say that again and I just might ink those ratty threads of yours, though it'd probably be an improvement," Werner replied with a wry grin, his aristocratic Southern accent drawing out the words. He didn't mind his new body too much, though he'd much rather have been recruited as an Ectosavior. Werner envied Rourke for that, his combat savviness, strength, intellegence. However, the fame that came with being and Ectosavior didn't abide well by him, especially with his commitment to the CIA. Wouldn't do him much good undercover with his face plastered on every TV.

Werner turned back to the road, taking a moment to enjoy the sun. When they entered the lab, there was no telling how long they'd stay in. His skin, already tan, turned a few shades darker to soak up the sun's heat. As much as he loved his enhanced abilities his genetic mutations gave him, the limitations were a pain at best; being cold-blooded was the biggest, always trying to stay as warm as possible. Werner just hoped he wouldn't have to go back to Russia anytime soon. "But relax Rourke, if something did come up, we'll handle it like we always do. And slow down, we should almost be there."

---

Finally the sun started to fade from the sky, it's light daring to grace another contient's morning. The sky began to ooze darkness as the moon began to rise in the distance, the head lights from the muscle car cutting into the growing darkness. Fending it off as it lights the way for the vehicle. It didn't take long, after more and more songs rotating through the cars stereo the duo pulled up to a military checkpoints. Some badge waving and gate arm lifting later the two entered a small compound.

Search lights wave over the land scape as patrolling guards move about, a few watch towers all armed with guards and machine guns. Barracks and other essential buildings stand tall as the entrance to the lab lays in the middle of the compound via elevator. Rourke parks his beauty and goes to the back, grabbing his Desert Eagle from his pistol case and shoulder holster. After taking two extra magazines he makes his way with Werner to the elevator where they descend - into hell.

Captain Jaymes Cane did not hate mutants, no, he was now standing besides two. But, he does not regret the orders he gave his soldiers; they were orders shoot to all Hybrid Humans on sight. It could be accused of him that there be no mercy existing in Cane's soul, though he would argue that at the expense of such mercy, it could cost him the lives of the men and women who fulfill their duties of loyally following his every command. He would never allow guileless passivity be the reason why soldiers die on his watch. Though just because the mutants are simply shot, does not mean any are doomed to die because of the fired weapon. They may act like animals, look like animals, and even fight like animals, but it is a promising probability that when you trap one, make him or her squeal and squirm a bit, they will be lead right to another. If any of the Hybrids are secretly cutthroat and had not been marked on the kill list like Dante Foster, then they will aid Maximation in the hunt, and in exchange they will be treated for what cancer might be injected into them. Because when it comes down to it, even if any mutant were to escape without any proper medical treatment their lifespan declines increasingly.

"I was against it, and he knew that," the Captain firmly claimed in the control room as the eyes of both Sevier and Rourke stared deeply at the replay footage of the administrator's death, while Cane faced the opposite direction of the screen, a direction and position that allowed him to make clear eye contact with the two other men he spoke to. Watching Eisley be murdered was something that brought the Captain great unease to witness again. Eisley was no where close to being Cane's best friend, but watching those that he is in service to protect be murdered, leaves feeling of lost even if it ultimately what Eisley did was suicide. "He thought he was facing his demons, and I guess you could say that he literally did. Well, he at least faced one of them, and his name is Dante Foster." Through the screen that they watched, the Stalker's tail slip through and cocked back out of the poor, pleading man's skull. "I was betting Noelle Aether would be the one to do it. She had more the reason to, the girl just discovered news of her dead brother, Cylde Aether." After all, she was the Tasmanian Devil, but she didn't do it, she didn't have the chance too.

"After watching that, you know who's our primary target, but even if we do kill Foster, there are others of them. Capture one, promise medical treatment in exchange that they deceive and mislead another Hybrid right to us. Unless, he or she refuses this offer, then there is always torture being played over the intercom while best friend or sweetheart hears this, thinking that they are going to do something about it. And that's enough to have them run right into us, perhaps turns themselves in."

Werner rarely expressed any form of intense emotion, which made his pacing back and forth in the sterile confines of the command room even more disconcerting. His eyes, burning with anger, darted between Captain Cane and the monitors, which ran Dr. Eisley's death over and over in an endless loop. When Cane finished speaking, Werner came to a halt before him, his body taut like a lion before it strikes a gazelle. He stared at the captain for a moment, longer than what could be considered comfortable, before speaking. "Captain Cane, need I remind you that those test subjects are government property, and as the highest ranking officer in this facility, any harm that comes to them will be your responsibility." His slow southern drawl had faded, replaced by barely-restrained fury, his words dripping with venom. "Seeing as how your incompetence has already resulted in the death of your predecessor, Dr. Eisley, I would advise you exercise the most extreme caution when considering your next move. Any further mistakes will not be looked upon kindly by your superiors, and I highly doubt you would see a court of law before being locked away, or worse. More than anything, I suggest you have your men stand down before they get themselves hurt."

Werner took a moment to compose himself, hands running through his greying hair. He rarely lost his temper like this. Losing control of your emotions lead to mistakes, a lesson Dr. Eisley learned so harshly. Werner persistently advised the doctor not to inform the hybrids of their condition until they arrived at a solution, but Eisley's conscience, or perhaps his stubbornness, won out. The man had repeatedly gone against his recommendations; recruiting civilians, training them for combat roles, fewer and less robust psychiatric evaluations. The doctor always had faith in mankind's benevolence, which proved to be his downfall. Werner shifted his attention to the matter at hand. It would not do him any good to dwell on what he can not fix. "Regardless of your fuck ups, agent Rourke and I are at your disposal." He hated being a lackey to Maximation, but he never had much of a choice after his genetic alterations. Sevier turned to his partner.

"That's pretty fucked."

Rourke said letting out a hot sigh, his breath running as far as it could towards Cane. Additionally from his appearance is his car, Rourke was wearing a shoulder holster with a desert eagle sitting snug inside the holster. Under his clothes was a light weight vest, just incase. "If they all are going to start murdering everyone I'm not sure why we'd just recapture them - oh right they still have some use I guess. So do we need to worry about covering up any lives they take outside the lab or should that be up to another y'know agency? Rourke says, before looking over at Werner. It hadn't been the first time the two had been sent on a death squad mission and it definitely wouldn't be the last.

"Let's just make sure they don't leave the facility Rourke," Werner replied. Damage control was not something he was accustomed to, since he typically didn't "go loud", and the supporting CIA and military assets typically took care of these matters. He assumed they would do the same here. He looked his partner up and down for a moment, noticing the heavy pistol barely concealed beneath his suit jacket. Ordinarily, Werner would scold and tease Rourke for using the unncomfortable and inconvenient holster, and the unwieldy cannon it held; this time, however, he was glad for it, seeing the monster that ripped through Eisley again and again on the security camera. His own Heckler & Koch HK45 would doubtfully have much of an impact against Foster's hardened shell. Already his mind was returning to the hours he spent observing the test subjects, noting strengths, weaknesss, and pressure points in the event they might be captured, opening the door to interrogation.

"What kills it, the Dante thing. Can I put a .50 cal through it or do we need a magic wand?"

Rourke looks behind him to the door that he entered, the thick metal door holding back any means of escape. If only it was like that for the monsters, if the lab had been build better maybe they wouldn't of gotten out. Maybe if they had some sense of humanity left in their bodies they wouldn't of gone and killed the lead scientist, maybe they could of gotten cured. But what did it matter, it was his job to return them to Maximation. They were in the wrong and him and Werner were in the right, that's why they had been dispatched to clean this up.

To clean up their mess.

His mind flicked back to the images of the other mutants, the files he had read and their faces before their mutations. Could they be reasoned with or would they just attack him like they did to Eisely - well Dante did to Eisley. The idea of talking them down came to mind, but how would Werner react to it. Were they going in to kill them or would they give up, of course they wouldn't.

Long ago, in a different administration things like this could be avoided or swept under the rug. People were going to find out soon enough, maybe today was the day that another generation of mutants were going to meet the public. Not Ectosaviours, something quite worse and that's what worried Rourke. A thick cloud of anxiety running down the young agent as the possibilities, no the out comes of what today would be like. The fear, the death the scared. It could be bigger than just a covert op, the armed forces other nations. It could escalate, kill or convince. That's what was given to the two. Would it be as hard as it sounded, to convince a half crazed Scorpion to stand down. The world's fucked itself, playing god, his anxiety started to drop. What would his unit do, probably kill them all. The Ectosaviours weren't here though, it was just Rourke and Werner.

Tough luck for the escapees, The Federal Gov was coming.
They play for keeps, with everything to lose.

"Well, should I go get my Barret?"

"Let's just stick with what we have partner. In the meantime, captain, I'd like to make an announcement over the intercom," Werner said quickly, not wanting to waste time. Already the members of Project HYBRID were no doubt panicking and scrambling for an escape route; he needed to calm those who had peaceful intentions, win them over, and a couple ideas were rattling around in his head.

"Very well, it's right over there," Cane waved his hand over at the direction of the center desk, which laid on its right corner surface, the intercom. The captain, with no hesitation nor questions directed Sevier to the intercom, because if the agent were to work for him, Cane had to trust him.

The intercom came to life with a deafening hiss, amplified by the long and empty corridors. "This is Dr. Werner Sevier, Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety at the Center for Disease Control," he began, adopting a soothing, almost familiar tone like a father addressing their child. The kind words coming from his mouth juxtaposed his stoic face, set in stone. "You may have seen me before. I've been responsible for monitoring Dr. Eisley’s operations here to ensure that they are up to code, and as you already know, he failed in safeguarding your lives. Eisley chose his own personal glory over your safety. I know you’ve been treated unfairly, but please, you still have a choice. Surrender yourself to the nearest guards and I promise you we will work our hardest to reverse the effects of Eisley’s work, and give you a chance at life.” Werner paused. “And Ms. Aether… I’m so sorry for your loss.”
The intercom system hissed before screeching silent. Werner turned to his companions, taking a brief moment to inspect his sidearm. The speech was full of half truths and deception, but on the surface, it seemed sincere; besides, some of it was true. Certainly they didn’t want to see the hybrids dead. Not yet, anyway, when they had caused so little tangible damage. Still, the situation was teetering on the edge.
“Captain, give the order. Capture the subjects. Lethal force only when necessary. Shoot Mr. Foster on sight.” The agent motioned to the two neared armed guards to accompany him. “You two with me. We’re going hunting.”

[beyond visions]

---

Troy "Fang" Stone & Poppy "Hummingbird" LaRue & Naeemah "Viper" Meskhenet & Todd "The Red Fox" Buchanan

by @Ambrose, @CyanideSweetie, @13org, and @beyond visions

---

Troy watched as Naeemah jumped into action once she too noticed the oncoming guards. He couldn't blame her as she helped the helpless and made her way up through the vents. Everything started happening much too quickly once they cleared the room. Ten guards, guns raging, filtered in through the now open door. Eisley's body served as a mat as bullets began flying.

The Scorpion acted as Troy might have expected. He was quick on his feet, agile and quick to get away. As he too, struggled to survive, he couldn't help but notice the ease with which the others had made their escape. If anything, it had been a good oportunity to see each of their individual skills.

As the action unfolded, Troy's instincts kicked into gear. Everything became focused as his senses all honed in to this particular moment. As one guard came near him, he jumped, turning his body swiftly in the air and sticking his leg out hard. The strong contact he made with the guard's helmet was enough to send a jarring jolt up his appendages. Troy could only imagine the headsplitting pain the guard must be in. The majority of the bullets that had been aimed towards the vents missed their target. In one graceful movement, he landed in a squat beside the guard, whose gun now lay unclaimed.

There had been times in his past when he'd been confronted with such a powerful weapon. In each occurance, Troy had elected to rely on his own powers. This had happened particularly during his childhood, in the slums of Rio de Janeiro. That was before Project Hybrid. Now, his powers could also be considered powerful weapons. However, a quick glance around the room told him he would be the only target remaining before long. He'd succeeded in taking out one of them, but the others would undoubtably turn their full attention to him before long, and even with his regenerative healing, he didn't think he would survive against all of them.

Deciding on a rash action, he picked up the discarded gun in one hand. Troy used his other arm to pull up the unconscious guard, holding him up with the rifle aimed at his neck.

"Don't shoot," he said in a low, calm voice.

They couldn't, not when Cane ringed in their ear pieces, "Stand down, disregard the shoot on sight orders except for Foster. For the rest of the subjects, capture them. Use lethal force only when necessary."

"You're making the wrong move," one of the guards responded with a sly smirk. "There are nine of us surrounding you, what do you think the outcome will be?"

The man made sense. Troy realized that his final act of desperation would be a long shot. He'd learned how well secured these premises were, and he knew that no amount of regenerative healing would save him if they all unloaded their weapons on him at the same time.

"Put the weapon at your feet now, and we won't use lethal force," the guard continued in a haughty tone, knowing he would get his way.

Clenching his jaw, Troy realized he wouldn't have any choice. He would once again be at the mercy of Project Hybrid - only this time he was absolutely certain they couldn't be trusted. Reluctantly, he placed the weapon on the ground, let the guard he was holding slump over and held his hands up. "Like I have much of a choice," he spat.

Next thing he knew, the guard's rifle came down hard against his temple, and he saw stars. His body was roughly pushed against the mess hall wall, and his wrists were pulled back. The world swayed as he tried to get his barings, but as his vision was just beginning to clear, Troy heard the distinct clicks of cuffs beind shut against his wrists. The unpleasant tingling feeling that immediately accompanied the clicks told him they had used silver.

---

Because it was the scene of Eisley's murder, the number of soldiers increased as Todd neared closer to the mess hall. Safe in his disguise, Todd needed not to worry about them, though the same could not be said for Naeemah and Poppy. For now, they have been safe bouncing from hall to hall and room to room, dodging any oncoming soldiers with the help of Naeemah's thermal vision. Though it got a point where Todd no longer felt comfortable with the two following him. Sure, he could have turned around and cancelled his plans of going to the mess hall, but if they were going to survive they needed to stay both hydrated and healthy, not starved and parched. Also, Todd was aware of Poppy's appetite, thus because their lunchtime was interrupted by the latest crises, he could imagine she was perhaps almost ravenous now. Fortunately, Todd was free to communicate to Naeemah now, no better time to text her than inside a restroom stall:

"I need the two of you to go my room now. I'm headed to the mess hall to get Pops her 'Juicy Juice', I know she needs it. It's just too risky for you to follow me, there's too many of them. I'll meet you back at my room.

Is there anything you want, dear?"

Naeemah was quietly following Todd, using the shadows to her advantage together with Poppy. So far, they haven't met any difficulty. By using her senses, she could easily avoid the guards, and having Todd close to her calmed her down. The exact moment she was thinking about him, her cellphone vibrated, It was a text from Todd.

"Surprise me. You know my 'tastes' for food... -_- Are you ok? Saw or heard anything weird? We've been ok thus far, but i'm afraid that they won't just sit and watch while we try to get away..." Naeemah quickly typed on her cellphone, giggling at her own little joke, before tucking it away near her chest. Todd would certainly know that she couldn't taste things normally, like others did due to her unique physiology. But he would also know that she loved the smell of meat.

"Now that he mentioned... I AM rather peckish.." she thought to herself, remembering all the things that happened earlier that day. She wasn't able to eat her food properly... A few days earlier, she would never think that her life would take such a sharp turn for the worse... But being pessimist wouldn't do any good for her, Todd or Poppy right now.

Taking a deep breath, to forget such negative thoughts, she turned to Poppy. She didn't knew why, but she enjoyed the cheerful and hyper energetic hummingbird girl's company. "Poppy, Todd said that he is will bring you something to eat... That aside, are you ok? Already used to the darkness? Don't worry, as long as you're with me, you won't encounter guards." Naeemah said, smiling to her.

Poppy chuckled awkwardly, her stomach roaring loudly at the mention of food. She had some food , pills on her, of course, due to her high risk of starving to death but she was saving those for an emergency. "U-used to the dark? Oh yeah! My bitch." She stuttered out, still clinging to the snake girl. Desperately wanting to change the topic she swallowed, "That Todd, what a great guy. " knowing that Todd was Naeemah's favorite thing to talk about.

"Yeah..." Naeemah said, smiling. "He is the only thing that keeps me going after all that happened." Naeemah said, looking to Poppy. "Its ironic... I would never think that I would find the most important thing in my life only after I lost everything else." She said, with a sad smile on her face.

"They last saw all of you guys in the mess hall, and with Dante being their biggest threat, I don't think they're worried about a sexy snake-lady and a girl with wings," he texted back, hoping that Naeemah would understand that it is far too dangerous for them to follow him right now. Todd loved Naeemah because she also seemed to trust him. He liked that she was never stubborn since she knew that he only wanted the best for her, really, he genuinely wanted the best for everyone. Deep down Todd was a good guy, he tried to be always, at least.

"Oh, Todd sent another message." Naeemah said, after feeling her cellphone vibrating.
"Resorting to flattery now, are we? I'll make sure to give you a very tight hug as a thanks to this compliment <3 That aside, I'm not surprised that Dante is their biggest target... Just be careful ok? I'll be waiting for your return with the food (if you pay attention you might hear Poppy's stomach growling! XD). Be safe, I love you." Naeemah texted him back, glancing at Poppy, giggling. She couldn't blame her for being hungry.

As far as Todd knew, slipping through the mess hall and swiping a few supplies of food was no hard task for him. He has been doing thus well undercover, and as for his skills in thievery, he was a rather masterful thief. There was no need for him to worry, nor should Naeemah or even Poppy be concerned that their guy outside the shadows may be discovered and caught. Well, there is always a possibilities for anything, although being as cocky as he was, Todd always had a sense of optimism upon him, even if it was an arrogant one.

---

Right after Todd exited the men's room, he continued on his path towards the mess hall, and in doing so, he saw Troy, though not in such a manner that Todd wished to see him. Forced to march forward with hands cuffed behind his back, to Todd, Troy appeared to be treated like a convicted killer. Todd truly wanted to help Troy, free him in any way that he could, though that would break his cover, and currently Todd's disguise is what gave not only himself, but Poppy and Naeemah a hope that they could possibly find a way out. Was saving one man worth their freedom?

---

What would they do to Troy? Apparently this supposed 'Dr. Werner Sevier' promised to reverse the effects of Eisley's serums if the Hybrids surrendered. Though was that not too good to be true? Before Troy could continue to ponder and worry about his upcoming fate, the lights from over his head came crashing down in the forms of glass shards before being immersed into totally darkness.

---

Darkness, Todd thrived in it. With the lights shot out by the press of his finger against the trigger, Todd charged towards Troy like the bullet that just left his barrel. And for any soldiers in his path, he dodged them in their blindness. Though, for the ones that proved an unavoidable obstacle to Todd, he busted the taser baton against knee joints before upper-cutting it through the glass cover of riot helmets, thrusting all of his strength and bringing the reminding memory of his old boxing days.

Glass shards fell over him as darkness enveloped the cooridor the guards were leading him through. Amazed at his luck, Troy's mind immediately began working out how to use this to his advantage. His vision functioned just as well in the darkness, and it was only moments before he saw Todd's darting form make its way through the guards to him. He was fast and deadly, and Troy was indebted to his selflessness. Aparently there were still some of the Hybrids who retained their humanity.

Troy tightened his core, using all of his strength to shove his head back, making contact with the guard's nose who held him from behind. A muffled curse was all he heard before the guard's grip losened and Troy was able to kick the back of the guard's knee, effectively debilitating him for a few moments.

Todd reached Troy as the guard doubled over, covering his face as blood dripped from his nose. Troy nodded, and in the quick eye contact they were able to make, he hoped he was able to convey the gratitude he felt for Todd's actions.

"Do you know how to get these off?" he asked hurridly before ducking as Todd's leg shot out where his head had been moments before. Yet another guard fell, as the others stumbled in the darkness. It wouldn't be much longer before they got the lights working again. The two would need to move fast.

"Just run! Go find Naeemah!" in a voice strained by panic Todd hissed into the other Hybrid's ear before slipping his phone into Troy's pocket, unlocking his cuffs from behind him and shoving him away.

Troy felt his wrists break free, the burning sensation from the cuffs immediately cooling. With a sigh of releif, he frowned at Todd before pulling the phone back out of his pocket and glancing at it. What did he give him the phone for?

The sound of movement from behind him jerked his attention back to the guards. The ones who had been closest to the pair had noticed the commotion. Ducking out of one guard's way defly in the dark, he extended his arm ridgedly and brought the edge of his hand down hard against the back of the guard's neck.

"No," he said surely, handing the phone back. He wasn't sure what sentimentality the item held, and it wasn't like he had anyone to call. "Our odds are better if we stick together," he explained logically.

Todd did not believe so, he needed to be that distraction for Troy to escape, even that meant getting caught himself. "Troy, you're a terrible damsel in distress!"

"Guess I should stick with my day job," he quipped back as both men began to make their way as quickly as possible away from the guards surounding them. The ease with which both could maneuver in the darkness proved a considerable advantage as they snaked their way around and out of the tight coridoor. Todd appeared to have his own agenda, and worked his way with a destination in mind. Imagening that the fox was most likely looking for Naeemah, Troy conceeded in letting him lead their way.

Without knowing where he was going Todd sprinted from through the halls, until with one wrong turn him and Troy were met with a dead end. Realizing this, Todd released one devastated and defeated sigh before turning around with his hands above his head, "Well, hello gentlemen, just leaving with my dear princess-- my wonderful damsel in distress..."

They stood with their backs against the far wall at the end of an unknown hallway. Well, this is what I get for letting someone else take the lead, Troy thought to himself as the guards cornered them. He gave Todd a sidelong glance when he called him a damsel in distress once more, but before he had the chance to retort, one of the guards lifted their rifle, aiming it directly at the pair. Troy lifted his hands as well, though his face was stoic, "Can't believe you would separate such an adorable couple as us," he said in a humorless tone.

[SleepingSilence]

Dante "Stalker" Foster

(Music)

Exactly two years ago...

Dante was humming the melody from a song that he happened to hear yesterday, while shopping for the perfect present. Glancing at the clock, eleven minutes away from four thirty. Casually sitting himself down, leaning back and exhaling. Noticing her walking out through the kitchen's door, with a tall glass of limeade in her hands. The elderly woman was beaming, seeing the light fixtures, the fancy wallpaper, the polished black furniture all organized even better than she could have imagined with the white linens perfectly aligned. She started to happily giggle approaching him. Offering the chilled glass dripping from condensation, like the sweat coming from his forehead, reaching to the tip of his nose.

“Thanks.” Dante said taking it from her with a smile, before starting to drink it down.

“No, young man. I should be thanking you. Forget my day, you've made the rest of my month! You made this entire restaurant look gorgeous.”

“You did all the work of half a dozen interior designers that I paid to work on it, who never actually showed up!” She continues with a harsh change of tone, before smiling at Dante again while taking the emptied glass. “I never expected someone just walking past to spend hours renovating for a complete stranger.”

“It was simply the right thing to do.” Dante answered with a pleasant tone, standing upright then collecting his backpack by the opened doorway, a sudden harsh breeze blew past rattling the chains on the door holding the closed sign.

“No, that's not something anyone would do. You're unique young man and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.” The woman nearly forced around a hundred bucks in his hand. Dante observed her pleading stare to accept the money she offered. He quickly zipped open his backpack and inserted the money, before closing it and putting it on his back.

“And you're wise enough to know not to argue with your elders.” She teased pushing his chair in. “Any girl would be lucky to have you.” Dante stopped while in the midst of leaving and turned his head back slightly. “I'm actually very lucky to have her. It's our 4th anniversary tomorrow and I'm meeting her today. Bought her something that I hope she'll like, wish me luck.” Dante replied. He headed outside into the streets, feeling the cool breeze that hadn't been there before, attempting to cross with a hurried pace, before the lights changed...

Eventually reaching a garden, he walked through an older gentleman sitting by the lake and feeding bread to the ducks, several kids climbing the trees and a couple walking their dogs across the red wooden bridge.

“Sometimes it's hard to find her since she changes her appearance on the fly, but she's beautiful no matter what she wears...” Dante thought while smelling the strong fragrance from all the rose bushes he was walking towards. Suddenly, she came out from the corner prancing in his direction. “Snow white hair, purposefully messy looking, her favorite heart shaped nose piercing and her usual Gothic outfit that shows off her stomach...” Dante thought examining her differences and smiling once she got close enough, completely oblivious to the bulky man running past him to catch an incoming football, until Dante's hands and knees got antiquated with the dirt. He stood back up without hesitation, narrowing his eyes at the hulking figure stared at the football, between the feet of the young woman shoved on the ground, reaching his hand toward the woman.

“Ah shit, lady. I'm sorry, I wasn't-” The man spoke with a voice of a foghorn. She remained speechless, until Dante grabbed the man's wrist tightly and yanked the arm back, seemingly trying to break it off and also grabbing his shoulder and slamming his body down. Dante quickly helped her stand up.

“Dante...” She uttered softly.

“One second.” Dante interrupted.

“Ow! What the hell dude!? It was just an accident!” The man yelled. Dante turned his attention to the man and slammed his foot into his throat, applying enough force that could have potentially broken his windpipe. The man desperately pulling at the shoe while flailing on the ground. She flinched from witnessing what had happened.

“Dante! We need to talk!” She exclaimed taking his hand with both of hers and tugged until he started following her while, both running away until they reached a fountain. Both of them were alone, holding each others hand while they sat beside each other on a bench, both remaining silent for moment, just listening to the wind whistling through the trees. Dante immediately started to dig through his backpack before she started to speak, revealing a black case full of chef's knives. He smiled though his expression changed to concern to match the tear coming from her eyes that she quickly wiped away from her cheek.

“We really should stop meeting like this.” Dante half-sung with a chuckle. “These are the ones you've been wanting right? You've done so much to get me through my college hell...now I can finally support you to go into the cooking school that you've been telling me about.” Dante continued, uncomfortably fidgeting with one of the knives inside the case, pulling one in and out.

“Dante, when we first met...I was being harassed by my ex and his friends, I felt powerless to do anything when he grabbed my neck...I felt like I could never escape my father no matter where I went. But you came in, out of nowhere...I called you my dark knight in shining armor.” She uttered with a slight smile though it appeared she was still frowning. Dante paused staring at his shoes, looking up to her, she kept glancing at him but never made eye contact.

“Emma, what happened? Did you get in another fight?” Dante asked, she merely shook her head.

“That's not it. I-I don't want to say it, because it feels selfish of me...but-” She spoke softly. “Why does it always feel like you're faking everything? Your mood swings come from nowhere...when you were stomping on that dude's throat...you reminded me of my father. You didn't even look angry, you just had a cold stare on your face. When you act that way, your eyes look like a demon's...I feel like I don't know the real you...” Dante blinked for a moment, but didn't have much of a reaction.

“If you want me to find them to apologize-” Dante answered.

“No, you won't mean it, so it doesn't matter. That's not the point.” She interjected. Slamming her hands against her lap and the fountain.

“Then what are you trying to say? Please, you know I'm not good at interpreting-” Dante responded trying to sit down beside her. Instead she stood up walked away and crossed her arms. “I'm breaking up with you Dante...this can't work between us...” Dante finally had some kind of reaction, quickly approaching from behind and taking one of her hands and squeezing it firmly.

“Emma wait, you can't mean that. Did your folks change their mind about me?” Dante asked.

“No, they adore you. Why wouldn't they? You're always so perfect around them...And no it's not what you did, it's not even your fault. It's mine, okay? I can't be in a relationship with someone that feels like their lying to me with every word they say...” She spoke sharply getting her distance from him and turning her back.

(Music)

Both remained silent for what seemed like an eternity for her, but he didn't respond seemingly frozen in place. “I'm serious, we're done...I'm sorry.” She started running away with her hands covering her eyes, Dante watched her leave, dropping his extended arm down at his side and sitting down, a drop fell down from where he stood. However, it wasn't tears, just rain starting to fall down with the harsh breeze blowing on by...

Going to his house, he was immediately hugged and surrounded by his many younger siblings, the expected routine anytime he returned, all of them starting to explain how their day went and asking him how his date went. One of them mentioning that his newest song had a thousand new views from today. He gave them a grin from ear to ear and gave them a group hug and ruffled the hair on all their heads. Explaining how perfectly his day went and telling them he was exhausted from going on a long hike with her and that he needed to rest, persuading them to go play in their rooms and allow their big brother to get some rest, exchanging I love you's while they all laughed and ran up the staircase. Dante smiled as long as he needed to, before going into the kitchen and cleaning out the entire sink and putting away the clean dishes.

“I promise you all, if I could become immortal I would. Just to guarantee you'd all get everything you've ever wanted. I'd do more than our mother's god could ever accomplish...” Dante thought nearly dropping the last glass from merely recalling that awful word.

Finally alone in his room, locked door and backpack's contents spilled all over the ground from being hurled to the corner. Dante had towel sprawling across his desk, one of his girlfriend's presents resting on the edge of his skin, drawing it vertically across his arm, digging through his flesh with blood seeping out. “Cry...cry...cry-dammit!” Dante tried but not a single tear fell, not even from the pain inflicted upon him. He slammed the knife down on the desk and simply wrapped his bleeding arm with the towel and tied it in place, being careful to not leave a mess. Grabbing a warm beer bottle a key from the pile of discarded contents on the floor, quickly tossing the rest back into the backpack, unlocking his desk drawer and taking a bottle filled with pills hidden under a stack of papers.

Dante quickly popped one of the pills and downed it with the entire bottle of beer, dropping both to the ground and wiping his lips with the towel tied to his arms. Flopping on his backside on his bed, looking at the room around him melting into a vivid kaleidoscope with drastically shifting colors, like a tie-dye shirt was stapled to his eyes. “It's not my fault...I was born defective...” He laid there smiling at his ceiling, simply humming the song that he planned to sing to his beautiful girl...

[TrippyNightmare]

Dean "Trigger" Rourke

Rourke's boots hit the ground as the crunched on the broken glass, he was walking where Eisley had just been killed and where the catalyst to this entire thing happened. In his hand is Todd's phone, maybe the only way of talking down these lunatic monsters. Behind Rourke are two guards from the facility, ever since Werner and himself split he took two guards while Werner went and did his mad man things in the lower levels. Rourke let out a sigh as he went to open Todd's phone, he began to text to Naeehmah."I'm with Troy, we're safe. Where are you guys?" He sent the text to Naeemah before closing the phone and continuing his search. He didn't know what was going on or where these things were. He walked around the area, and to over where Eisley had been lying. Dead.

Horrible how the Doctor had to go that way but it happens when you tell a monster it's going to die, weird how they didn't all go berserk. He started to walk around, going to each one of their "cells" and inspecting their rooms. He tears the place apart looking for clues and items that may be of use, regardless whatever he found was trashed. It didn't take long for the rooms to become a mess, Rourke left and began to head to the halls. All he could really do was return to his search, the two guards followed him as he went back to the hallways. Rourke put his hand on the handle of his Desert Eagle, they could be here. Anywhere. His eyes scanned the halls as he continued to push onward hopefully he would find one of them. The alarm continued to blare, the red lights flashing as security forces continued to check the floor.

What was Werner doing, could he get them to side with them before he found them. Or would he have to fight them with the guards as they tried to survive against these mutants. Could they been won over with words or would they actually have to get the Barret - oh right. That's something he needed, for the scorpion thing. Rourke turned around and started to head for the armoury, there had to be something there that would kill - or cause great discomfort for such a large beast. He entered the armoury, when he left it was with a 40mm grenade launcher and tear gas rounds. He put the 40mm grenade inside the single shot grenade launcher, he would make that huge thing cry it's eyes out and then kill it with a well placed shot. In theory, it should work but nothing ever goes accordingly to plan.

Rourke continued his patrol.

[puddingpunter]

Noelle E. "Benji" Aether

---

---

It was cold up here and the dust was irritating her nose, to the point where if she wasn't rubbing at it then she was instead wiggling it. Kinda like a bunny. But Noelle persisted -sneezes or not, she couldn't stay in here forever. But it was goddamned cold and if it wasn't for the turtleneck she was wearing then Noelle was sure she would have been a trembling mess by now. At first her destination in mind had been her dorm room, someplace safe and familiar and away from everyone else. But the woman quickly realized that might actually be an awful idea based on the racket being made below. The corridors were probably swarming with guards by now and Noelle was willing to bet that they'd be searching the bedrooms this very moment for any of the Hybrids who managed to escape the cafeteria. She slowed her crawling and mused over her remaining limited options. What about Arlo? Maybe he could help... Arlo was the man personally in charge of Noelle's training. Well, the fighting part anyways. Dude probably wasn't that much older than her with light brown hair, grey-blue eyes, and short scruff of a beard to boot. He was shorter than her but definitely heavier and never went easy on her during their sessions. Hit like a train. Not to mention he had the mouth of a sailor but overall, the man was amicable enough. Noelle wasn't sure she completely trusted him to help her right now but then again, there wasn't anyone else she could turn to for aid and realistically there was zero chances that she'd make it out of here alone.

Proceeding with caution, Noelle continued along the maze. Since her sense of direction was pretty shitty she had to rely heavily on her senses to get to where she needed. There wasn't exactly a trail to follow so it was more of an intense version of the Hotter-Colder game. Here? Nope. What about over there? Nope. If it wasn't a dead end then it was just the wrong overall direction, something she realized only after the scenery started to become unfamiliar through the slits of the vents. An announcement over the intercom had her halting in her tracks but only for the briefest of moments. The voice was that of stranger but she recognized the name. Werner. Had they met before? Noelle tried to recall a face she could place with the title but promptly came up blank and then decided to forget about it. That wasn't important. The voice continued chattering and most of the man's words went in through one ear and passed right out the other. She listened but wasn't paying attention. Until the last part.

“And Ms. Aether…”
"What th- OW!"
Noelle banged her head against the aluminum wall of the air ventilation's wall when she tried to turn around, startled by the direct addressing. Or was it? She'd missed the ending of Servier's announcement so she had no idea what exactly it was he had wanted to say to her but that was irrelevant. Could he see her now? Noelle paused and waited but nothing else happened. There was a moment where she almost believed that she'd just imagined it, then scoffed at the thought. No she'd definitely heard it and that was the concerning part. Why was she being personally called out like that? Concerned that her earlier blunder of whacking into the wall may have may too much noise, Noelle scampered off to resume her search.

She had no idea how long it had been from the time she left the cafeteria until she finally found stupid Arlo but the relief was immediate. Said man was in his work-space at his desk, staring off at the far wall with a walkie in his hand. Probably waiting for further instruction she presumed. "Pst." The instructor's head whipped around as he searched for the invisible intruder. "Arlo, it's me." "Benji?!?!" It took a while for her to get used to but he only ever called her by her alias. She wasn't sure if he was just following protocol or just trying to keep a professional space in between them. "What the hell are you doing here?" By now he'd located the source of her urgent whispers and stood up to approach, watching the ceiling. The little walkie was still in his hand but he didn't seem to be making a move to use it any time soon. She watched his fingers anyways. "Just come open this thing. I'm freezing." Arlo stuffed the communication device into a back pocket and grabbed a chair to boost himself up. It took some effort but some of the screws in the vent were already loose enough to work free with the back end of a pen and Arlo stepped aside as Noelle crawled out before landing in a neat crouch. The Hybrid stood and hugged herself. Arlo wordlessly went to grab his fleece jacket off the hook on the wall by the door and tossed it to her. "Thanks."

"Why did you come to me?" Straight to the point as always. Noelle put on his jacket and zipped it. "I need help. Clearly." "So your bright idea was to find me? A man working for the very same people currently looking to stuff your hide like a fucking hunting trophy? "Pretty much." Arlo let out an weary sigh. "Losing my job is the least of my concerns right now if I do that. There are suits in the halls walkin' around with armed escorts. One actually passed the door not a minute ago. Are you out of your mind?!?!" His voice has raised just the slightest in frustration and Noelle flicked her ears, playing close attention to the door. "Please" she responded, although her hesitation almost made it sound like a question. "Unbelievable... Get under the desk and shut up."

And with that, Arlo strode out. Noelle hid.

[beyond visions]

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Werner "Kraken" Sevier & Todd "The Red Fox" Buchanan

by @shivershiver and @beyond visions

---

The lift gave a jolt, sending the occupants deeper into the facility, levels unknown to many of the current test subjects. But Werner was all too familiar with the subterranean labyrinth of cells and corridors beneath his feet. Though the room was warm, he felt a shiver ran down his spine, and his right hand began to shake; he quickly jammed it into his pants pocket. Every moment spent in this facility was torture for Werner, even at the top levels, but as he reached the bottom, the past horrors felt even closer. Sevier was not a weak man, neither in mind or body, but what he had experienced here a few years ago had nearly broken him. He felt a noose around his neck, tightening ever so slowly until he could hardly breathe. His stomach jumped up to his chest as the elevator finally reached the bottom floor, the doors sliding open. Werner sucked in a deep breath from the diaphragm before stepping off into the dimly lit hallway, flanked by two armed Maximation guards.
The bottom floor of the Project HYBRID facility hadn’t seen any use in years. Not since Dr. Staffel was the chief of staff. The floors were covered in a thin layer of dust, and many of the fluorescent lights had gone out, leaving many sections of the floor almost completely dark. Wonder if they even bothered to clean up the blood from the cell walls. It was here that Werner, and the other subjects of Project HYBRID’s first generation, lived for six long months. His generation was identical in many ways to the current one, as far as the results, but the means to achieve them were drastically different. Day and night, they experimented upon, beaten, and starved to activate the underlying genetic mutations implanted in them. Dr. Staffel was a genius, but his methods were barbaric, treating his test subjects like cattle. Only fitting that the second generation, too, would be contained in the depths of the facility, living what might be the last of their days in the cold concrete walls. It took all the mental fortitude within him to put one foot in front of the other as he passed Cell 11. His own personal room.

Cell 15 was his first stop. Three more armed guards stood outside, shifting their weight from foot to foot, eyes scanning back and forth down the hall. Next to them, a table on which the belongings of the cell’s occupant sat. One item caught his eye though, a small cell phone. Werner removed the holster from his waist and placed it on the table, but also handed the cell phone to one of the guards accompanying him. “Run this up to Agent Rourke.” Frankly, he was astonished that the security teams allowed them to have access to the outside world, let alone personal belongings. Werner took a few more deep breaths and clenched his fist to stop it from shaking as he stared at the number 15 carved in the concrete above the steel door to the cell. He would need to collect his wits before dealing with this subject. Once he calmed down as much as possible, Werner nodded to the guards, and he stepped into the room.

There was no pass-code on his phone, since when Todd first spotted Troy cuffed and captured, he originally planned on giving Troy his phone in order that he could find her. Thus, without the pass-code, his phone, his source of communication with Naeemah, was free to be accessed by anyone. His phone could, and most likely would, be the one thing that leads Maximation right to her, and in such a crowded place, his room. Although, Todd could not be completely worried about his lover, no, she was no frail, fragile girl. Todd would even bet that among all of the Hybrids, Naeemah would be considered one of the dangerous ones. Those venomous fangs were a force to be reckoned with. Todd just recently got up close and personal with them when uniformed as one the facility's soldiers. Even for him, someone who is constantly trained in the arts of stealth, it has proven quite difficult to catch her off guard due to her thermal vision. Though, then again, Naeemah was not alone, she had Poppy with her after all. And with the current close-spaced environment, Poppy was put at a disadvantage, considering that she was aerial and seemed built for open-spaces. Though Todd believed that Naeemah would not abandon Poppy to save her own snake skin, no, she has been sticking with the girl for this long. Naeemah may be biologically cold-blooded because of the genetic mutations, though not emotionally.

The cell was bright and clean, with scientific literature lining the bookshelves on the walls and a small desk tucked into the corner, with a cot in the other. Surprisingly, the cell also had another door within its confines, which lead to a private bathroom. The cell almost mimicked a small studio apartment, though it was extremely lacking in space. These rooms were the only semi-pleasant memories Werner could associate with Project HYBRID; the initial rooms in which they were kept, before the experiments began. He wasn’t concerned with the contents of the room at the moment however, only the red-headed man who occupied it with him. “Ah, Mr. Buchanan, I’m so pleased to make your acquaintance!” he said with an excited smile. “You’ll have to excuse me for being so star-struck, but I followed you and your family’s career in the ring very closely. Why, I’d imagine we both probably watched your father when we were boys, though you must have had better seats,” Werner nervously prattled, rubbing his hands together awkwardly. Of course, he had never actually watched any of the Buchanans in the ring live, but as of late, he’d seen every one of Todd’s matches at least three times. ”Oh, I-I’m sorry, I haven’t even introduced myself, I feel like an idiot acting like this in such a serious time. I’m Dr. Sevier from the CDC, I’m here to help you,” he finished, extending his right hand, which was short almost two fingers.

Dr. Sevier, Todd repeated the name of this mysterious man. Right from the very moment Todd made eye contact with this doctor, he has been trying to read him. This is where Todd's skill of physiological intuition would come into play. Convinced inevitability is considered one of Todd's powers, although it was never injected into him. His sly charisma has been transformed, altered, and adapted through the instruction of physiologists and a detained con-artist. Though Todd has not detected any lying thus far, this man was either a trained liar just like Todd, or he was telling the truth. He has been treated civilized thus far, except for one thing, why confiscate his phone? "Well, it's pleasure to meet a fan, it's been a while since I said that," Todd began speaking, with his charming smirk. Sevier was here to help him, or so he claimed, but was Sevier just willing to help Todd, just Todd, not Naeemah. And what about Troy, they were caught together, but now they have been separated. "Doc, may I ask where is that fine Brazilian swimsuit model?" Todd chuckled softly. "Ha, you know Troy-- it's funny that I ask about him, though when I tried saving him, he turns around and gets himself caught anyways. Well, I guess I shouldn't be bitter that he didn't just save his own neck, since either way, I'll still be trapped here staring at you, while Agent whatever is probably tracking down my girlfriend as we speak."

“Ah, your friend Troy, he’s quite the wild one isn’t he?” Werner replied with a chuckle. “No need to worry about him, he’s just down the hall in another cell. In fact, I’ll be paying him a visit soon, though I don’t think he’ll be as cordial as you!” In Werner’s experience, it was best to tell the truth whenever possible when questioning; telling the truth generally came much more naturally, and maintaining an elaborate web of lies was difficult for even the most savvy interrogator. “I hope you don’t see yourself as being caught, Mr. Buchanan – in fact, I would consider you fortunate that you’re here now. Captain Cane, the head of security, promised me that he wouldn’t use violent means to calm things down, but… Frankly, between Cane's armed goons, Foster, and this damn Ectosavior running around, you're in the safest place this whole facility has to offer.” Werner perked up noticeably at the mention of Todd’s girlfriend, and his face’s previously jovial demeanor turned somber, a sort of reality check washing over him and reminding him of the events beyond the cell doors. Additionally, a hint of shame tinged his face as he averted his eyes from meeting Todd’s, as if embarrassed by his previous statement. “I’m sorry, Mr. Buchanan, I… I didn’t know you had a loved one here. What’s her name? I’ll try my best to get her here safely, but I might need your help. Surely she’ll want to see a friendly face after so much trauma.” Werner had found Todd's pressure point, though he'd known it even coming into the questioning, but now he felt comfortable to begin applying a little urgency.

Soon, an uneasy sense of silence overcame the atmosphere of the room. It all seemed too good to be true, and for that, Todd was skeptical. His left arm was now propped against the desk, he leaned in, "How do I know to trust you?" He pushed away from the desk, now reclining back into his seat with elbow against the arm rest and hand stroking his red beard. "How do I know that you aren't going to use me to track her down? A snake is far more dangerous than a fox. And part of me can see why violent measures would be used against us, we're mutants after all. Any sane human could see us as dangerous especially after what Dante did. So why would a you want to help me? Why would a non-mutant you want to take the risk in helping a Hybrid?"

Werner let out a heavy sigh, removing his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose, looking hurt at Todd's lack of trust. "Mr. Buchanan, I don't want to see any more harm come to you and anyone else in this facility. Its my job to make sure everyone makes it out of here alive, but even more than that, I believe in Project HYBRID just like you did when you volunteered. Even with Dr. Eisley's mistakes, I know that you and the others in here are destined for great things." Werner paused to take a breath. Of course, he didn't mean a word coming out of his mouth, a running motif throughout his life. Even in his own time during Project HYBRID, he felt the project was destined to fail. Creating what Eisley wanted, some kind of superhero, was nothing more than a fantasy, and a PR stunt by the government in the case of Project Ectomorph. But he kept these thoughts to himself. "Every moment we spend in here arguing is another moment one of your friends could get hurt. Trust me or not, please help me. And help your friends."

"Fine," Todd finally agreed, though mainly because what other choice did he have? Where would refusing Dr. Sevier's offer get him? Not any closer to his girlfriend and Poppy, the two people who he felt like was his responsible to protect. "But we get to Naeemah, Poppy should be with her. Once they're safe, we'll talk more."

Werner smiled. Unfortunately, Todd didn't seem too trusting of him, which was understandable. He was right not to. "Excellent Mr. Buchanan. Once we get everything in this facility calmed down, we can start working towards curing you and your friends. Hopefully, Mr. Stone will even lead the research team," Sevier commented optimistically. "Anyways, I'm sure you're ready to get out of this room. I never had much love for them either," He added before knocking on the door, which was opened by an armed guard. "Now, all you need to do is tell the others that everything is clear, and that they should report to the security headquarters as soon as possible. I already made an announcement, but they'll surely trust a friendly face much more than me," he said with a grin, gesturing for Todd to exit the room. "Oh, but if you come across Mr. Foster, you should steer clear... Though I'm sure that won't be a problem for a man with your talents."

---

Werner arrived at his second destination, Cell 45. This far into the facility, no happy memories lingered. Only pain and anguish were brought to mind. Wordlessly, he examined the prisoner’s belongings, which as he ordered included his clothes. Werner took off his black jacket and handed his sidearm to a nearby guard, rolling up his sleeves before entering the room. The cell room could barely be called such. The walls and floors were all rough concrete, and there was no furniture, no books, nothing. The door which had slammed shut behind him was solid steel, with a small vision port at eye level which could be closed from the outside. The only points of interest in the entire room was a small open drain in the center of the room, about five inches in diameter, and a spigot in the side of the wall with a black hose tied up next to it. A single, low light hung overhead, leaving the corners dark, but illuminating the sole, naked figure in the room. His wrists and feet were bound by silver shackles, arms held behind his back and chained to the wall, forced into a squatting position with a bloody burlap bag covering his head. Troy Stone, the Wolf. Werner decided to take a more… Direct approach of questioning with Troy, given his penchant for resistance; that, and the man didn’t have the pressure point of loved ones like Todd. No, isolation and strong-handing would be the best way to get what he needed. Werner grabbed a metal bucket from the corner of the room and filled it with water, dropping it before his prisoner with a clatter...

---

[puddingpunter]

---

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Dean "Trigger" Rourke & Noelle E. "Benji" Aether

_{ft. NPC Arlo Keyes}

by @DeadDrop and @omerta; tagging @shivershiver

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---

Rourke walks down the desolate hallway, on his flank two security personnel flank him. Armed with their various firearms and security equipment, they trudge along in armor. Watching corners, entrances, and movement, the guards continue to tactically walk behind Rourke. Rourke himself carrys the 40mm one handed, it rests on his left shoulder as he continues to stroll along the facilities corridors. He whistles to himself, the tune echoing the halls as the agent, his boots clapping the ground with every step.

While she waits Noelle fidgets in the small space under her trainer's desk, picking at her cuticles and occasionally shuffling to keep from going stiff in the cramped position. Arlo had been gone but only a minute and yet her mind kept wandering, exploring all the possible outcomes of this. Not necessarily the good ones. What if he's caught? What if he sells her out? What if the cameras somehow spotted her sneaking in and they're on the way to drag her out now? Noelle flicks her ears and listens closely for the door or anything beyond it. Arlo had locked it before leaving but that doesn't extinguish her concerns of someone else walking in. She has no doubt that the entire building is being cleared out, room by room, for the missing Hybrids.

Meanwhile, Arlo strode down the corridors in a poised manner. He almost feels guilty for what he's about to but the thought only lingers a moment before it is roughly pushed to the back of his mind. The man has to remind himself that Noelle isn't entirely human anymore and the risks she and her 'kind' pose to the public aren't ones he's going to tarnish his conscience with. Arlo stops at the first split in the hall and looks both ways, then catches the sight of Rourke's back. The man isn't alone and Arlo can't help but feel a pinge of regret as he approaches the trio. "Agent Rourke" he calls out as he closes the distance in between them.

Rourke turns his head, half his face showing as he looks behind him. The guards swing around immediately, they make a one eighty and face Arlo weapons drawn at him.

Arlo immediately halts mid-step, both hands going up. "Don't you fucking aim that shit at me" he grumbles, more of surprise than actual annoyance. But there is no malice in the man's voice -he realizes he's probably startled them. Everyone's on edge now and he briefly reflects over the notion that he could have just gotten shot. There's a long pause before the man finally lowers his arms and jabs a thumb over his shoulder, pointing in the direction he'd just come from. "I've got an early Christmas present waiting you you in my office."

Rourke looks over to the man, now turning around fully to face him. "Who the fuck are you and what are you on about?" He says, the guards lower their weapon, albeit they eye the man suspiciously. Rourke pulls the grenade launcher which was resting on his shoulder into both of his hands. Holding the rifle with two hands he aims the launcher down, in a cautious stance.

Despite the gesture Arlo doesn't feel worried. He internally cringes once he's realized his mistake; after having worked here for some time, Arlo just sort of assumed that all the staff were familiar with each other. It's times like these when he's reminded just how big the facility and -its staff count- really are. He sighs and attempts to start again from the beginning. "I'm Officer Arlo Keyes, Noelle Eden's trainer" he explained. He hesitated before continuing. "She's hiding in my room now."

Rourke's face contorted into a smile as the man explained himself, he went to speak with the guards. "Follow Keyes, I'll be right behind. We'll catch this cat, you know cat out of the bag?" The guards just walked over to Keyes, obviously not entertained by the poor joke. The two men, both at around 6'4-6'5 stood tall over Keyes as one motioned with his gun to "lead on." Rourke followed along, 40mm in hand.

Arlo wordlessly turned around and began retracing the path he'd just come from. He didn't need to look behind to make sure he was being followed, the heavy footfalls of the large and armed men was more than enough indication. He hadn't been walking for long when he first found Rourke so it was only a couple of minutes before the door to his office was once again in sight. He doubted Noelle had left, just by showing her face he knew how much she trusted him. But he was worried about her abilities. Could she sense them approaching now? If that was the case then there was nothing he could do to stop her from climbing back up the ventilation system and escaping. The man reached into his pocket and pulled out a small set of keys and unlocked the door before pushing it open. He stepped aside and gestured for the guards to go in. There was no way he could bear to face Noelle right now.

The guards pushed Arlo aside, flashlights on they scoured the room as their weapons were raised and ready. Rourke stepped in behind them with his rifle leveled, he didn't have a gas mask on but his guards did. He looked behind his back to check if Arlo was going to shoot him in the back or something. He didn't, not yet at least. Rourke turned back to the room. He looked around as the guards cleared the empty office, lights shining everywhere. Where could she be?

Noelle realized her mistake too late; only when the unfamiliar smell of strangers alongside Arlo's was right outside the door did she realize she was in trouble. But she couldn't exactly reach the vents, even with the chair there was still a considerable distance she'd have to jump before even hoping to get a grip on the stupid thing. So there she was, a sitting duck with nothing to defend herself as she waited haplessly for the inevitable. There was the sound of a very distinct and animalistic growl emanating from beneath the desk. Noelle was on all fours, peaking through the small gap between the carpeted floor and the bottom of the wooden piece of furniture. Arlo looked away when her wild gaze met his. Too late to back out now. "So that's how it's going to be..." The disappointment in her voice was hard to disguise, even when she flashed her teeth at Arlo. Noelle snarled and turned her attention to the two armed men.

Arlo was a man who worked for some very powerful people, betraying them would be suicide and he knew it. The two guards raised their guns in the direction of the desk, they began yelling at it. "Hands let me see your hands!" "Give yourself up freak!" Rourke raised his 40mm in the direction of the room. "Noelle, you don't want this to end badly. These guys are serious, give yourself up or they'll haul you out of there. Most likely screaming in pain, your choice but times on the clock - starting now." He said now turning the safety off the 40mm.

Noelle paused and seemed to take her options into consideration. When she had first signed up for HYBRID, she thought of it as working with them, not for. She was acutely aware of how severe the situation was but she was also aware that she'd never be happy if she let them lock her up. Or were they going to simply kill her? Neither were something she wanted but the latter option almost seemed like a mercy. The woman unsheathed her claws and looked around as she tried to asses her chances. Probably slim but hopefully nonexistent. How desperate was the organization? Noelle never paid much attention but it would take a real fool to think that this was cheap work. She knew the whole project was expensive and she was likely a valuable asset. How much could she get away with before she was deemed too much to be kept alive? Noelle decided to try her luck and lunged for the first armed guard closest to her.

The guard was taken by surprise as Noelle - the graceful Noelle jumped him. The large man struggled with the hybrid, the other guard jumping in. Attempting to push the mutant off his partner. Rourke, taking no time, shot the 40mm tear gas into the room and closed the door. The shell bouncing off the floor and into the guard Noelle struggled with, knocking him over. Gas spews out of the shell as it lays still in the closed room. Rourke took out his phone to text his partner, Octoman Werner!

"Noelle <3 is at Arlo Keyes office, need help lol."

It was only thanks to her artificial lack of fear that she didn't flinch, didn't relent in her fury-driven assault. At this point the pain of the non-lethal was inevitable and Noelle knew there was absolutely nothing she could do. Not while she was trapped and without a mask to protect her. At least this way, she knew that they weren't going to kill her (yet, anyways). Using tooth and nail, Noelle fought as hard as she could. She hissed and snarled and bit and kicked. Her claws were useless against the Kevlar suits for the most part but she tried using those anyways. "I'm going to kill you!" she shrieked, ire blindly driving her on. But the rage didn't last long, didn't have the chance to. After Rourke had shot the tear gas capsule, the room immediately began filling up with the burning cloud of chemicals and now she was beginning to feel the consequences. The guards were entirely unharmed by this and she was left to suffer in the agony of it alone. There was no proof but she had a strong suspicion that her enhanced senses just intensified the effects of it and sped up the process. Noelle felt herself pulled off her target and struggled to escape the other man's grasp, only to curl up on the floor in pain. Her eyes burned and blurred with tears while her nose felt like it had been set on fire. Even her tongue began to feel dry and her flesh felt like all hot and irritated. Noelle sneezed, then began helplessly coughing.

The two guards pushed the now irritated and gassed Noelle off themselves, they stand up and turn the mutant onto her stomach. One guard takes out a pair of handcuffs while the other grabs her arms, restraining her arms behind her while the other guard cranks the handcuffs tightly onto her wrists. Both the guards press their knees into her back to keep her down. "Don't struggle you bitch!" One of them yells as he strikes the furry Noelle in the back with the butt of his Mp5 stock. Rourke peers into the room, unaware of any change since it's pouring with tear gas, the tear gas makes its way out through the vent Noelle came out of. The guards continue to struggle with the crumpled Noelle, attempting to restrain the beast!

Noelle was reduced to a limp mass, barely able to writhe from the discomfort of everything. The only sounds escaping her was the pathetic whimpering as the guards did with her as they pleased. Unfortunately the restraints also kept her from being able to rub at her face (that hadn't been helping but she kept doing it anyways until they cuffed her) so she squeezed her eyes shut and hoped the effects would wear off soon. As embarrassing as it was, she was also crying now. Noelle was hurting and frustrated, not to mention that she hadn't forgotten what they'd done to Clyde. She wasn't in any position to put up a decent fight anymore but she wasn't going to be very compliant either. "I hate you" she hissed, snapping her teeth at anything that came too close.

Out in the hallway, Arlo frowns. He can hear Noelle but doesn't dare move to assist. Nor does he ever utter a peep of complaint. There is no reason left for him to remain. Rourke has everything under control, so he leaves.

The two guards drag the mutant out of the room as she lays limp in their care, the guards nod to Rourke before taking the kitty - dog - wolf hybrid off and away to the Octo-Agent Werner! Rourke takes out his phone and begins to type to the Octo-Agent

"Nvm, cat in the bag LOL."

[SleepingSilence]

Dante "Stalker" Foster

Creeping across every blind spot on the slick reinforced ceiling, like a spider that crawls inside your throat when you sleep. Quietly advancing past the unaware soldiers strolling past. His eyes shifting to every possible door, going down the endless hallways with no light at the end of the tunnel, like a bad nightmare. Suddenly halting, suspending his body down in mid-air by his tail, hanging onto the ceiling. Above a stray soldier lighting their cigarette with a chrome lighter, swiftly dropping down and grabbing their head in his descent and making their forehead kiss the ground, knocking them unconscious. Immediately, confiscating their machine gun and strapping it firmly to his back and swiping the key card in his pockets, glaring down at them. He quickly licked the tip of his claw, digging his claw through the soldier's padding like butter and pierced through their flesh until reaching the femoral artery, pulling it out then cauterizing the wound with the lighter’s flame.

“You won’t be able to move that leg, or your body for a couple days, but perhaps you’ll be wise enough to consider that if I was just a wolf who wanted sheep to slaughter, you’d be dead.” Dante thought going across the hallway, hearing nobody approaching, swiping the key card beside the door and watching the door quickly ascend, a dim flickering light barely providing enough to show the dozens of stacked boxes crammed into the tiny storage area displaying text.

WARNING: Highly Flammable!

He opened the lighter again, watching the bright flame flickering for a moment before casually turning around and taking a step away from the door, beginning to start humming before releasing the lighter from his grip with the flick of his wrist. An inferno erupted from the doorway just behind him, flames quickly spreading while he walked away without glancing back. “Though I do hope, your employer cares enough to send reinforcements or you’ll become just another statistic in this dungeon.” Quickly putting distance between himself and the blaze returning to crawling across the wall. Not long until he found important looking, massive double doors that had multiple keypads on both sides, across from the wall he was clutching. “It appears that I’d need multiple key cards to access that room, which intrigues me, maybe that door leads to an exit. Wouldn’t be a stretch, could even be a fire exit in case of certain accidents happening…but I can’t just steal several more cards because they may also need to be swiped simultaneously, which is impossible. Dammit, I need to get out of here...”

His thoughts were interrupted, drawing his attention to both doors suddenly opened like parting waves with a mob of guards charging out. Just getting a single moment to act, he carefully lunged across the wall with a single motion soaring above their heads, barely passing through the doors that slammed shut straight behind him, landing with a forward roll before standing upright, resting his tail against the wall behind him feeling for the light switch for the pitch darkness that surrounded him. “Hm, I guess high-school gym wasn’t a complete waste of time-” White light abruptly flooded the room, but he couldn’t feel anything on the walls. Becoming disoriented for a split second, before blinking a couple times to adjust to the light. The room was particularly large and empty without a single noticeable object in sight, hearing some repeated beeping sounds and gears turning. He began noticing several openings in the wall and floor protruding something metal and extending and shifting shape.

“Warning. Hybrid detected. Capture Protocol Initiated.” A robotic feminine voice declared. He clenched his claws and unconsciously took a step back.

“What is this?” Watching these structures head backward and transforming into eight large robotic arms. Grabbing the machine gun from his back and switching the safety off and aiming at the hand rushing forward from the wall and spraying the mechanical arm with bullets, shells scattering across the ground, but not impeding its charge, smacking into Dante’s chest and causing him to slam his back into wall, causing the gun to fly right out of his claw. The gun’s barrel caught in mid-air by the second hand, before the third hand grabbed the handle, both bending and snapping the gun in two. Scowling and leaping onto the wall, the mechanical arms approaching swiftly, dodging a quick stabbing motion of his tail, grabbing and yanking him off the wall. Six hands all holding him firmly, two for each arm and two for his thrashing tail, dragging him closer to the middle of the room. Frantically struggling allowing him to break free and plummet down to the ground landing on his two feet, with an audible thud. Hearing strange sounds coming from beneath him, quickly leaping forward and rushing toward the arms.

Seeing two fists charging at him simultaneously, grabbing them both with his claws and gripping them tightly and holding them in place, another fist quickly dived to his right side and clashing with Dante’s tail which also kept it pushed back. But suddenly feeling his left side being punched from the fourth hand unable to block it, proceeding to have the fifth smash into the back of his head, however the blow to the back of head only gave him a sudden realization. Slamming his tail through the fifth arm piercing straight through and shoving the other arms back and turning around grabbing the arm and violently tugging it until completely tearing it from the wall, causing sparks to fly out and thrown down, causing the arm to lay motionless on the ground. He smirked feeling his legs and shoulders being tightly gripped in response. “I knew it, you’re programmed to only subdue...that hit against the back of my head could of had much more lethal force from how these are built, but I barely felt it...I was worried I had to deal with multiple targets that wanted me dead. Instead, you think that you can put me in some kind of prison...probably under the floor in the middle of the room...well there’s where you’re dead wrong.”

He grabbed another arm tightly with both claws, slamming it straight through with his tail and ripping another straight out of the wall, with another arm being discarded to the ground like a lifeless corpse. “Knight’s Rule 44! Don’t trap your prey, unless you plan on killing it!” He broke free again, taking another couple of half-hearted blows to his body before countering by slamming his tail through another arm. “I don’t have to worry about the collective, I can tear you to pieces, one by one!”

Some time passed

...He exhaled deeply catching his breathe, sitting among the scrapyard of the machines that surrounded him. He stood up staring at the wall he entered from and rubbed his right side. “Well that was a lot of time wasted for nothing and likely made my distraction tactic with the fire less effective, thanks to this incredibly elaborate and likely costly trap that I completely destroyed. I guess it was good for combat training, if nothing else…” Dante muttered. “Why even have a room like-” Dante questioned aloud beginning to quietly sing his words, scanning around the room noticing green light appearing from the wall with sparks coming from it. He smiled and approached slamming his claw in between the cracks where the green light was emitting, not requiring much effort to forcefully shove a hidden mechanical door open.

“Let’s see what’s behind door number two…” He sung heading inside, going through a narrow hallway, still illuminated with green light, continuing to move forward at a steady pace. “I’m finally free from this-there’s no other reason for such a room to exist if this wasn’t a place they’d think Hybrid’s would go through...the only explanation is that I found an exit to the outside world! Brothers, sisters...I’ll be able to see you again.” Dante thought with a smile across his face, though what flashed in his mind was the drugs and alcohol. But a niggling doubt came into his mind, smelling something foul, like dead bodies. “Wait-there’s another explanation...it doesn’t have to be an exit…” He conceded finally reaching the end, seeing an expansive room full of unknown equipment, like giant test tubes containing green liquid, reminding him of an alien movie. “It could be where the Hybrid’s are made, or imprisoned...or killed.”

[13org]

---

Naeemah Meskhenet , Poppy LaRue & Todd Buchanan

---

---

Collab between @CyanideSweetie @beyond visions and @13org

---

"Todd sure is taking his time..." Naeemah said to herself worried. She and Poppy were still waiting for him to get back. 
Sure, she had said that she would trust him and wait for him, but she was getting worried and impatient.
"Poppy, I'm worried... Do you think something happened with him?" She asked, turning to her. She knew that Poppy was hungry, due to her quick metabolism.
Poppy  opened her mouth to reassure the snake woman but she was interrupted by her growling stomach who was then cut off by a loud buzz.
That was when they heard an announcement over the intercom. It was Dr. Werner Sevier. Naeemah never liked him that much. She never talked with him, but something in that man seemed off... The way he talked, his actions... For Naeemah, trusting that man would be a fatal mistake.
Poppy blinked hard at the announcement, Werner? Sure she had noticed the guy, hell who wouldn't? He was the epitome of tall dark and handsome. All bulky muscles and mysterious scars. But why would he be the one making announcements? No offense, but she hadn't thought that there was a lot going on upstairs for that chunk of hunk; only for him to introduce himself as 'Dr'.
"Don't trust him Poppy... Something is wrong with that man... his words, the way he talk... That overly familiar, soothing tone of voice... It may sound pretty ironic, and even funny, but his voice is full of venom. Trusting him seems to be a fatal mistake." Naeemah said, her forked tongue getting in and out of her mouth as she said that.

She never had a reason to distrust Dr. Werner, but she also never had a reason to trust him as well. And that was more than enough reason to keep an eye on him. Call it female intuition, maybe it was even because she felt a similar poison than hers on his words, but her intuition almost screamed to not trust that man.
Poppy was surprised by the flashing red light of a warning that Naeemah was clearly giving. She could tell that the womans anxiety was about to choke her, "Todd's okay, Naeemah. He wouldn't let us down." She smiled reassuringly.
But before she could even think more about it, she felt a familiar vibrating sensation on her chest. It was her phone ringing again. Immediately, her semblance, mood and voice changed.
"Its Todd! Oh my... I was so worried..." she said, opening her cellphone.
"I'm with Troy, we're safe. Where are you guys?" The message said.
"Did he forget about the food he was bringing to her and Poppy's juice? He was the one who told us to wait for him in his room... Did he forget about it? Well... he is safe. This is all that matters." she thought to herself. Maybe if it was another person, and not Todd, she wouldn't be that careless. She would certainly had taken her thoughts more seriously, but she was relieved that Todd was safe, and ended up dismissing those discrepancies as simple mistakes.
"Why it took you so long?! I was almost going out to search for you!! We're still waiting for you in the same place you left us. You'd better bring us our food! XP" She texted him back.
"Todd is with Troy. Guess I was getting worried over nothing." she said, with a small smile on her face.
Poppy grinned at her, "See? I told ya!" She rubbed her hands together excitedly. It was almost chow time!
About ten minutes later, Naeemah could spot seven heat signatures beyond the walls of Todd's room. At first, it could be assumed that they were simply passing through the hallway since they were not making any other searches through the rooms prior to Todd's. Though both of the girls could feel their hearts sink as the patrol stopped upon reaching the door they were only a couple of feet away from. The only ounce of hope they could desperately hold onto was the guarantee that Naeemah was picking up on her boyfriend's scent among the crowd of seven. Yet, does that leave the possible doubt that he rattled them out? Could Todd really be that cruel, is there a dark side that Naeemah has not seen in him? Or did he actually turn himself to Dr. Sevier, in blind trust that this mystery man could help them? Todd was optimistic, but not foolishly naive.
Naeemah was calmly waiting with Poppy for Todd. After the message he sent, she was much more calm, as she knew that he was ok.
After ten minutes, she felt a very familiar smell. It was Todd's smell. For a brief second, she opened a smile, before she realized... Six other thermal signatures together with him. She didn't know their smell... She was expecting Todd to be alone, maybe together with Troy...
What was happening? To make things worse, they knew exactly where they were. They didn't even search for them, they went straight to Todd's room.
Was Todd captured? She knew that he would never betray her... Was he tortured? Did they harm him? Naeemah's head was almost bursting with questions, but one thing spoke louder than any thought she could have: her instincts.
She couldn't just run away and leave Todd there, but at the same time, she had to protect Poppy.  And there was not enough time to think about any plan. The only thing she could do now was coil herself protectively around Poppy in the corner of the room, hissing loudly and menacingly, while rattling loudly as they entered the room. Her fangs were dripping with venom, as she hissed menacingly, her forked tongue rapidly getting in and out of her mouth. 
Poppy could tell that shit was going to hit the fan the second Naeemahs smile dropped off her face. The woman hustled her into a far corner and started to coil protectively around her, "No!" she gasped wiggling from her grip, "I can help, but I need to be able to move!"Poppy was no delicate flower. She had bones even Naeemahs iron vice couldn't break. Finally wiggling free she darted into the air and quickly zipped to hover against the wall above the door frame, ready to launch a surprise attack.
With those deep brown eyes of his, Todd glanced back at the soldiers positioned a foot behind him. He would be the first to enter that room, since they would at least recognize his friendly face. First, he turned the door's knob before then kicking it open, though not stepping into the room itself. "It's me--," he interrupted the creaking of the door as it swung open. "It's me," he repeated, finally now walking into his room. "I had very little options, and this was the best one. Trust me." The last thing Todd wanted was for them to think that he betrayed them. He may have failed them in the sense of getting caught, though Todd will admit with no shame that if he had another chance to save another mutant like Troy, he would do it all over again. 
As Todd walked inside the room, Naeemah was still coiled around herself, in the corner, hissing and rattling loudly. Poppy was ready to attack as well, after escaping Naeemah's protective cuddle.
 It was obvious that she would attack anyone who came near her. She was sure that something had happened with Todd. He wouldn't betray them like that... 
But when he opened the door, kicking it down, her world crashed down...
He was fine...  He wasn't cuffed, wasnt wounded... Not even a scratch, that's what left her even more scared.
Why he was doing that? He wouldn't betray her... would he? She tried her hard to think about what reasons he may have for betraying them, but the situation didn't helped.
"Todd?" Naeemah asked, confused. Even after knowing that it was him, she still didn't stop hissing and rattling. She was still coiled around herself, ready to strike.
"Have you really betrayed us? You brought them here?" she asked, looking at him with piercing eyes.
Every second that passed, she was getting even more irritated. It was a huge emotional shock to her when she understood the situation. She wasn't thinking straight, moving and acting only by instinct.
 "Wow... Naeemah... Says a lot about how much you trust me," he uttered back in a sarcastic tongue, folding his bare arms as he no longer wore the uniform top from since being caught. Instead, the only piece of fabric keeping Todd's hairless chest from being exposed was his grey tank-top.   "They took my phone when I got caught trying to save Troy. They were coming to you anyways. Now, let's just...  go..." 
Naeemah's mind was still a maelstrom of thoughts and feelings. She wanted to believe Todd, she wanted so bad, but there was only one possible reason for that.
"What have they offered you? What have you traded us for?" she asked, still looking at him. 
 She still loved him so much... She wanted so much to believe him... But her instincts told her otherwise. She was trying so hard to understand the situation... But everything pointed to only one possible reason why Todd brought them there...
 "They didn't offer me anything-- I was caught remember! That left me with little choices, but I at least knew my only chance of ever seeing you again was to comply," Todd began taking large paces towards Naeemah.  "If these Maximation GI Joes get hostile, I'll break their legs and beat them with their own feet. And you know I don't like getting violent, but I'm not going to let anyone hurt you, Naeemah. Same with you, Poppy." Taking another step towards his girlfriend,  "I'm sure their patience wears thin, so if I have to, I'm dragging you out of here."  Todd grabbed her wrist.
"Their patience?  You were the one who brought them here without even warning me... Its MY patience that's running thin." she said, still with her eyes full of anger.
When he grabbed her hand, she hissed to him, showing her fangs.
"You don't understand... It's not that I don't trust you... I don't trust them. I never trusted Werner, not even for a second." she said, pulling her hand away from him, still hissing and rattling.
"My patience is wearing thin, Todd. And you should know very well who is scarier and more dangerous between me and them..."
"If you want me to at least listen to what they have to say, you'd better to tell me everything. Give me a good reason why I shouldn't break their bones one by one and sink my fangs into their necks." Naeemah said, hissing to the soldiers.
 "Because where would that get you? Where?" Todd did not have claws nor fangs nor even fur. On the outside, he did not look like much. But on the inside, charisma and the art of persuasion was his specialized field. Though he did not use his words to manipulate Naeemah, but he spoke of rhetoric that held all sincerity in his sensitive heart. "I cooperated with them and you see where that brought me-- to you, just what I want when every bloody nose reminds me of my pending death." 
After hearing those words, especially the last phrase, Naeemah stopped hissing, breathing deeply and calming herself down. That wasn't her. The only reason why she was so emotive was Todd. She was always too emotive when he was included. She knew that, and hated it. A few seconds passed with her completely silent.
Todd indeed had a point about that. He was still alive, and fine. She still didn't trust Werner, but if they were willing to let Todd free, then the most probable reason was that they would use them to hunt the other mutants. She had two choices: either continue that game of cat and mouse, or become the hunter herself.
When Naeemah opened her eyes again, she was almost another person. Her cold, calculating demeanor was back, as she analyzed the soldiers under her freezing stare.
Naeemah darted on his direction in the blink of one's eyes hugging him far too tightly to be confortable. He could see that she was still very confused about all that, but she had already made a decision.
"I hate you Todd... You simply came in and made a mess inside my heart... I need to keep my emotions in check on every situation that you're included" she said, still hugging him a bit too tightly.
"But I love you by that same reason..." she said, kissing him aggressively. He could see that she was a bit mad, but she finally understood the situation.
The kiss was unexcepted, but so was the I hate you. Naeemah could really let her emotions  unfurl sometimes. Though even as she does, Todd cannot help while being bundled  up in her warmth, to notice that he does the very opposite of her. Without the humor he forces in himself, Todd would seems to be a stoic man. Laughter acted as the distraction from his feelings of weakness and memories of his dead brother and his suicidal father. It was strange how aggression and passion seem to almost mend together. In that very moment with Naeemah, that Todd felt that fine line between aggresion and passion, and it was like a breath of fresh air being pumped right into his lungs with each kiss she gave him before pulling back. 
"You guys are using us, right?" she asked, facing the soldiers.
"It's the only reasonable move that Werner could make against the mutants. To fight fire against fire. After all, we're disposable, right?" she asked, looking at them with a cold stare.
"I can see why you would do that. All in all, it's not a bad strategy, and considering out situation, Its something that will benefit both of us. We will have to worry only about the other mutants, and you won't have to worry about us, while at the same time, having better chances against the other mutants... Very well... I will cooperate, but that doesn't mean that I trust you."
"Poppy, its ok, come down." she said, calling her.
"Yeah, I've got your back too, Poptart," Todd reassured Poppy right after Naeemah spoke to her. The  three of them were like a team, and as soon as Sevier knows that, the stronger they will be, even if that means them ultimately working for him. 
Poppy watched the interaction with her hackles rose, the couple was so engrossed in each other it was like they forgot everyone else in the room but Poppy was all too aware. She eyed the soldiers who were definitely more focused on the large dangerous snake woman than her own small perched figure, she scanned the men, seeking out Werner. It seemed to her that he was the boss man, so if she could take him out then the GI jar heads would have a harder time regrouping. She gritted her teeth when she realized he wasn't there. Guess the doctor didn't want to get his own hands dirty. Instead she targeted the man who was incorrectly leading the group though she didn't recognize him. She took a deep breath, psyching herself up to attack the large trained soldier. She could do this. Fast like a hummingbird, sting like a, er...hummingbird... Whatever. She narrowed her focus on the man and just as her muscles were tensing to attack Naeemah addressed her. She was going to ask her if she had lost her shit, but then Todd spoke up using her pet name and she knew she was a goner. "Fine," she hissed, shooting a glare in  the general direction of the men with guns, she fluttered down landing near the couple. "but let it go on record saying that I do NOT think this is a good idea."
"Don't worry Poppy... I'm going to keep my eyes on them. Although its relatively safe to say that they need us as much as we need them... You know the drill... As long as we remain useful to them, we're ok..." Naeemah said, as Poppy came down.

---

As the three of them rode down the elevator among the crowd of soldiers, Todd let his eyes drop down to the floor, staring. He was beginning to feel a bit dazed, and unable to think properly due to the sinus pressure building up within the nasal cavity. In his left hand, Todd wrapped his fingers around Naeemah's palm, while in his right, Todd massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to ease the splitting headache. At the end of the day, they were all still sick. If it is not Maximation that kills them, perhaps it is the cancer they were injected with in the first place. 
Naeemah was visibly agitated and uncomfortable as they rode down the elevator. She was the one who said that they wouldn't kill them, but she couldn't help it. Probably, every single soldier on the elevator there wouldn't hesitate to shoot them if their superiors gave them the order. Furthermore... She could feel that it was time to shed her skin. It wasn't a pretty or comfortable thing to do, and Todd knew that. It wasn't just an annoyance. It was painful, stressful and extenuating. Every single one of the mutants who lived with her until now knew that they should not enter her room when she was shedding her skin, under any circumstance, because she would probably attack them.
She wrapped her fingers around Todd's hand, maybe trying to ward off the dark and grim thoughts by being close to her loved one, but the truth was far from pleasing, and there was no denying or running away from it...
Continuing in his eye contact downwards, Todd noticed drops of blood hitting against the surface of the metal floor. He slid his right hand off he bridge of his nose and placed his fingers against the nostrils-- yes, it was another nosebleed. They have been happening for weeks now, and yet Todd has tried hiding them from Naeemah. He did not want to worry her. Though now, it seems he has no choice. 
"Shit, not now," he muttered under his breath, knowing that there were no tissues around to clog up the soon-to-be outpour of blood. So what does Todd do? He peels off his gray tank-top. Now shirtless with his ex-lightweight-boxer muscles exposed, Todd cups a ball of fabric in both of his hands, pressing it against his nose. 
Poppy glanced over as Todd was shrugging off his shirt, her eyes quickly shot  to the ceiling. Knowing that if the snake woman noticed her getting an eye full Poppy would become snake chow.Naeemahs possessive nature was the thing of legends. This didn't mean that Poppy didn't notice the blood. She slid out of her jacket and handed it to him., she usually kept it on at all times to keep from getting chilly, but she didn't think his tank top was going to last him long. The blood scared her, she knew it wasn't dry air causing this flood. They were all terminal. She let out a long sigh, this blew.
Todd looked down at Poppy's jacket, he honestly did not wish to drench it in his blood. In fact, he really did not enjoy how grim the entire situation became because of him and his bloody nose. Thus, trying to bring light to the situation, Todd resorted to jokes, like he always did. "Nah, I'm good, Pops... I'm totally not having a bloody nose or anything," Todd covered up the drops of blood on the floor with the sole of his shoe. "I just like taking off my shirt when ever I want to get freaky. We do this all the time, don't we, Naeemah?" Todd chuckled, giving a light nudge to Naeemah's shoulder.
"A nosebleed? But I didn't even take my clothes off yet!" she said, with a mischievous grin.
"Don't worry Poppy. Todd knows very well who is the one in charge here when things get freaky"
"So it would be better for you to behave yourself, ok?" she said, trying to hide her agitation due to the skin shedding.
The several times that those nosebleed happened that week was strangely high. She knew that it wasn't normal. The way how Todd tried to hide that from her... She had never seen it herself, not even once. Sure, she could taste the blood on his clothes when that happened but still...
"Todd, we will have a room for ourselves, right?" she asked him.
"You know that it's not very comfortable when I 'hug' someone while I'm sleeping, right? So... Will I have a room for myself?" she said with a smile, trying to hide how uncomfortable she was.
But if Todd or Poppy paid enough attention, they would realize how her tail was unnaturally coiled around itself as they waited on the elevator, almost like she was trying to hide her own tail. Todd probably already knew what was happening.

[beyond visions]

---

Todd "The Red Fox" Buchanan

---

Upon meeting Dr. Sevier, the face of the Red Fox was buried deep within the drenched fabric of his tank-top. His head rotated upwards to stare deep into Sevier's soulless eyes, though when he did, Todd's pale face was lathered in his own blood, even his beard was caked in it. Todd's own ability of enhanced smell was now rendered useless due to the blood's ever thickening metallic scent. This happened all while so, the former boxer held the hand of his lover. The warmth that his palm brought her was the one thing letting Naeemah know that he was not dying, for it was not cold nor clammy. At this point, there was no more denying nor cheeky jesting that he was not in fact bleeding, though Todd was stubborn enough to not admit it and instead ignored stating his case all together. Death beckoned on all their shoulders, there was no need repeating that in words when it was easily affirmed in the current observation of Todd.

They were now inside the same studio apartment room that Todd first met Sevier in during his interrogation. Todd rested the blood-doused tank-top against the desk tucked in the corner, exhaling a rather exhausted sigh while he asked politely yet tiredly, "C-Can I-- Do you have some Sudafed--- Tylenol-- something?-- Ah-- Kill me!" he shouted with both hands now pressing against his nose while the inner pressure of his nasal cavity increased. In such pressurized pain, Todd reacted by kicking the leg of the desk. He has never been so aggressive in front of Naeemah let alone anyone else. No, Todd was the guy who naturally kept a cool head, using humor to his advantage in order to bring the heat off of extreme situation. However coupled with agony and the reality of his ever approaching end, Todd was unlike himself. In fact, he knew even then, if this continued his need for a cure, the desperation for one would grow ever stronger.

Todd let his hand slickly slide down his neck, wiping off the blood and allowing it to coat his palm. Realizing the amount of blood encrusting his skin, Todd asked in an almost demanding tone, "Shower-- where is it? I need a shower." Taking the seat positioned right near the desk, Todd allowed himself to recline back into it. He hoped that perhaps if he sit into it, he would feel less dizzy. He needed to focus right now, no matter how much of a difficult task that seemed. "Look, doctor person-- Dr. Sevier, I brought you Naeemah and Poppy, what now? Huh? You're not separating me again from someone-- like you did with Troy..." Todd took a pause, processing what he just said and how he said it, before abruptly storming up from his seat and charging at Sevier. But he did not lay a hand on the doctor, he instead ushered his face so closely to Sevier that they were now barely even an inch apart. "Where's Troy!" he spat with his bloody, sweaty face. "What did you do to him?"

[SleepingSilence]

Dante "Stalker" Foster

Music

Hearing the subtle dripping coming from the mold growing on the ceiling, the pungent reeking scent of bleach and decay. Dante had shielded his eyes from the evil presence surrounding him, the suffocating aura made his breathing shallow. Dante sauntered through the room, quickly feeling around the entire area with his tail. Wiping his foot off on the nearest solid surface, to remove whatever liquid he had just stepped in, took thick to be water. "Just remaining here makes me remember everything all over again...I can't stand this much longer." Dante thought. Interrupted by his tail colliding with a rounded metallic object. Finally prying his eyes open, his heartbeat suddenly stopped while simultaneously letting out a quick gasp. His tail had in fact been wrapped around a doorknob, but it was merely discarded on a wooden desk. The demon's gaze directly in front of him, reaching its elongated claw out.

"You'll never drag me there!" Dante shouted crushing the object with his strike, shattering the demon into pieces of glass. Taking a moment to catch his breath, regaining composure as quickly as the doorknob that rolled off and clanged to the ground. Wasting no time to meticulously comb over the area, feeling no apprehension about creating noise. Once it appeared that a tornado had blown through, binders and folders with the Bible's thickness, filled with either coded information or pure gibberish. Rusty tools and knives, dismantled guns without any ammunition, everything scattered across the floor. Having nothing in his clenched claws except for layers of dirt and dust. Returning into the narrow hallway, it felt like pressure gripping his throat had been lifted. "All that effort-with absolutely nothing advantageous for my escape. Perhaps, it's my own strategy that requires reevaluation. Instead of operating by myself, maybe I should stop and ask for directions."

It was a surprisingly brief period of time expended involving the opening the giant mechanical door, like it had been unlocked afterward. Casually stepping outside and seeing nobody in the vicinity, barely hearing a whisper. Climbing back on the ceiling and leaving the area behind while humming a tune, scanning the grounds beneath and heading through another seemingly vacant hallway with an equally long perpendicular hallway on both sides, leaving him to scratch his head, feeling like a rat lost in a labyrinth. “Why make an underground building so expansive if you don't even have enough guards to properly fill it? Typical, the stupidest ones always somehow become the ones that garner the money and power.” Dante muttered inaudibly, “I just want someone I can easily intimidate and interrogate.” He grinded his teeth, heading down a direction chosen on a whim, his growing desires starting giving him a headache. He wanted a cigarette, to see his family, down some pills with a fifth of vodka, work on a new album, hearing the pleasured sounds his girlfriend made when he sunk his teeth into her flesh, even fast food sounded appealing...

“I should have jacked that dude's smokes...”