I Can't Decide (Meinville Restricted Access)

by Brent & Others, (28 days ago)

Raimond stood before the cold white bars of Taru's cell, not looking at the anomaly within, but at the layer of papers on his clipboard, and the long lines of text stretching across them. His attention had been rapt upon one page in particular, and it was one he kept flipping back to and reading over. It had been one of the last tests conducted on the shifter, and though not as cruel and depraved as some of the others, it had been one of personal importance to the man. The results had been impressive, and Taru had survived the horrors of a ravenous virus that destroyed almost all other terrestrial beings infected by it, but it had not provided the kind of results that mattered to Raimond. Miss Kitsune was now a deadend. And worse than that, she was a dangerous deadend, with connections in Laissez.

A soft, brisk clip of shoes announced the arrival of Carissa, pushing a small metal cart with her. Raimond glanced away from his papers long enough to watch her through the sliding steel doors, and seemed a little surprised when the taller Mr. Marrinough striding behind her. "Brent?" The singular word was posed as a question, and one that demanded a prompt response.

Brent nodded to his colleague as he stepped up beside the cart that Carissa had rolled before Taru's cage. Snapping on a pair of latex gloves, he answered smoothly, "I was hoping to collect some samples for further testing. Before and after the euthanasia." And the way he began to sort a number of vials with careful, determined precision suggested that he expected no resistance.

When a beat or two of silence followed, Carissa side-glanced from Brent to Todd, gauging the wordless tension between the two. When Todd finally responded, she looked abruptly back down at her own neatly assorted pile of chemicals and syringes, and began to prep them for use.

"..fine, gather what you need." Raimond relented, a little heavily. "But I don't want the euthanasia delayed by any more than a half an hour. We need this space fully sanitized for the new shipment today." The man tucked the clipboard beneath one arm and scrubbed at his eyes with his free hand, as if trying to physically rid himself of his own unspoken frustrations. When he looked to Brent, having to tilt his gaze upwards by a few inches to meet the taller man's icy-blue eyes, his expression had hardened, "And if you're going to be here, you'll do the write up on the clean up. And as you know, no cremation."

After Brent offered his acknowledgement, Raimond took his leave of the laboratory, relinquishing the dirty job of Taru's murder to the scientist who had been unsettlingly interested in her case over the years. What did it matter anyway? Taru wasn't human... she was an anomaly, a danger to humanity. She only looked human, and that made her all the more dangerous. Her death... no, it's death, was for the good of the people he was trying to protect.

The sliding doors hissed closed after Raimond's departure. A curious, almost lecherous grin teased the corner of Carissa's mouth and she glanced up at the man that towered beside her. "What, you want to be the one that sticks the needle in?"

The expression on the man's face was almost as devoid of emotion as Raimond's was, at least in concern for Taru's fate. He hadn't even offered much of a reaction to Carissa's comment. But if any feeling could be gleaned from his stony-faced facade, it might be that of hunger, and a hunger that had nothing to do with food. He leaned forward towards her cell, curling his fingers around one of the narrow, alabaster bars, "Good evening, C-21. If you'd prefer this not be your last evening, you'll do as I say, and do it quietly. Do you understand?"

The smirk dropped away from Carissa, who now donned a pair of wide, curious eyes. She didn't dare say anything, but she didn't offer any protest either. She knew Brent, and she knew that whatever this man was offering, it couldn't be much better than death.

~Shifting Fates~

by Taru, (28 days ago) @ Brent & Others

Curled neatly in the corner of the bland, white tiled containment cell, knees tucked against her chest and arms wrapped around them, Taru stared blankly ahead, eyes slowly tracing the same pattern in the tile she had seen for years. Basically having memorized them at this point in the dissociation between experiments. Her head laid against one of her shoulders, frail and lacking the muscle of proper exercise. Part of her felt like this was the longest they had gone since the last test or experiment or whatever torture the scientists saw fit for her next. The groan in her stomach reminded her that she couldn't quite clock the last time they had fed her either. Maybe...this was the experiment? To see how long it took her to waste away? Maybe they'd try feeding her something immoral, just to see how animalistic she was. Although...

Luckily her stream of thoughts were cut off with the sound of metal wheels on tile flooring. A flicker of movement in her eyes as she glanced out of the corner to see the main assistant join Raimond along with the other scientist that had lead many of her experiments. They were probably about to discuss something new. At least, that's what she originally thought until. "...euthanasia." Even in her weakened state, with her mind nearly broken and muscles barely wanting to move, that word made her eyes blow up as big as marbles. She knew what that meant. Even with how young she had been when she was transfered to this world, the shifter had experience with having to put a pet to sleep. Like prey hearing a twig snap in the dark of night, her head lifted and snapped towards the conversation. 'They....They can't be talking about... They wouldn't... They...'

The conversation was quick and, within only a few seconds of her mind flipping through stages of disbelief, Raimond was making the motions to leave. Panic set in and energy suddenly found its way to her thinly muscled limbs as Taru stumbled over her own feet to rush to the bars and exclaim after the man who was the subject of her torture. "W-Wait!!" Voice hoarse from less use, hazel eyes frantically looked towards the man. "Eutha-Euthanasia?! B-But I can help! Y-You can use me, I-I swear!! I-I-I... I-I'll listen, I pr-promise, PLEASE!!" With each word came the tightness in her throat and the feeling of tears in her eyes. Yet, as is so important to his job, the lead scientist didn't spare her a single glance. He had probably done this hundreds of times before. What made her any different? Her forehead pressed against the bars, and she clenched her teeth as she resisted the urge to cry. 'All of this... everything they did... I don't... I don't want to die... Not after all this...'

Through her mental spiral, a voice rung, cold as ice but demanding of her attention from years of being under his proverbial telescope. Her breath hitched as she froze her sniffling mess of a break down to process what he was saying. Fresh from high emotions and still running on the dread she was feeling, the words took a second to translate. Suddenly, her brain stopped its frantic search for a nearly impossible way out and, with a look of both defeat and a sliver of gratefulness, grasped at the opportunity of hope that was served to them like scrap to a starving dog. Without a word, Taru gave a slow nod, head not lifting from the bars that were practically supporting her, now both physically and mentally exhausted, body.

Whether You Should Live or Die

by Brent & Others, (28 days ago) @ Taru

The only answer to Taru's desperate pleading was the quietly echoing steps of Raimond's shoes as they faded beyond the door and down the hall. He didn't turn to see the way she clung to the bars, her earthen-brown eyes widened in terror, and her hoarse voice offering promises she couldn't keep, despite her frantic desire to do so. The young woman was right, after all; he'd seen this scene, and heard these cries before, from countless others.

Some cursed him, some begged, some wept. Others were too feral to even comprehend their predicament. He'd never stopped to listen though. Raimond couldn't afford to, not when the fate of humanity itself depended on his work. And not when his own life continued to hang in the balance, now no closer to a cure than it had been years ago when they'd first captured the girl. He merely kept his chin up, and his feet moving, despite how very heavy they felt toda.

This would have been the end of the shifter's story, just another lost soul quietly snuffed out to make room for a new subject. For better or worse though, Brent still saw a value in the girl that Todd did not, and his mind swam with both questions and possibilities as he stared down at the frail creature before him. She had nodded, and the corner of his mouth twitched, as if attempting and then abandoning a smile. "Good."

Carissa idly shuffled a handful of glass tubes on her cart, her attention more for Brent than it was for her work. It seemed this equipment wouldn't be needed after all, much to the woman's disappointment. "So... what exactly do you want me to do?"

Cold blue eyes lifted to the small woman, "Sanitize the room, then take the day off. I'll handle the paper work and lab reports." The tone he used was no different than if he were instructing Carissa on a routine order, but there was an unspoken threat levied in there that needed no harsh words or scowling expression.

Like Taru, Carissa nodded her understanding. "Alright, no questions." Vaguely flippant response aside, the lab tech set down the vials and moved to unlock Taru's cell.

Brent took a single step back, now looking down at the shifter he towered above, "You're going to walk quietly with me, head down." A broad hand reached in through the opened door, and landed firmly for the girl's thin shoulder, "No fuss, no talking to anyone. Say a word, and you'll be sent to the Galeswood Facility. Where the real monsters are kept." Fingers curled against flesh now, applying a less than gentle grip as he aimed to pull Taru from her confinement, and to his side.

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