Chapter Text
“Dr. Ludwig.” Came the sharp voice of the Administrator from her desk in the center of the room, “I’m glad you could make it. Take a seat.”
Dr Ludwig nodded, and sat down in front of her desk, awaiting her instructions.
Doctor Johann Ludwig had, years ago, graduated at the top of his class, specializing in genetic research and experimentation. But of course, morality often got in the way of such things.
Not for Ludwig. He had no such problems. But that was a problem in itself, wasn’t it?
Nearly stripped of his license, Ludwig had fled to Australia, hearing wonders of the mineral known as Australium. There, he heard of a secret project done by their close neighbors. But they had disappeared before he could get his hands on what they had been doing. It had been over twenty years since then, and they had been wiped from the map. Gone without a trace.
That was, until now.
“I’m sure you’re very eager to find out what happened to New Zealand.”
The mere mention of New Zealand sent shivers down Ludwig’s spine. He was eager. Very much so.
“I happen to have some very reliable information on what they’ve been up to.” The Administrator cracked a smile, “And, if you’re willing, we can take it.”
Ludwig smirked. And he listened to what she had to say.
It was a sunny day, for once. It had been a stormy week, the waters had been unreliable. Mun-Dee didn’t mind, though. It just made hunting a bit more fun for him.
Though, now that he had some down time, he could finish working on his new spear. And, since the sun was beaming down from the surface, he could see, faintly, what he was doing.
As he finished the head, he raised it up to the sun and inspected it. It looked good, and he was proud of his work.
Now, to test it.
Mun-Dee quickly sprung into action, and swam as fast as he could, in a random direction.
It had been almost a year since he got banished, almost a year since he had been set free, since he had been able to go anywhere in the world. He loved the feeling of being able to swim as fast as he could and take care of himself.
As he hunted, it reminded him of that feeling.
It also made him forget how utterly alone he felt.
When he got tired, he settled down and ate his catch. His spear worked well, and didn’t break on it’s first hunt. He was getting better and building them. All in all, it had been a good day.
Mun-Dee was going to take a nap while the sun was out and the water was warm. He had even settled down and closed his eyes.
But a strange noise stopped him. The horn of a boat.
This confused him.
Mun-Dee had seen boats before. He liked to venture close to the shore sometimes to see the humans on land and gawk at them.
Long ago, his parents had told him that the rest of the humans had died off and left only the humans who fled to the sea. When he saw the humans alive on the shore, he felt…angry. His parents had lied to him, and to everyone else.
He had never seen boats in this area before. That was the reason Mun-Dee chose to stay here, because boats didn’t put their nets here.
Mun-Dee, despite himself, was curious. He knew he shouldn’t be. He knew he should logically be afraid because these people would find him and dissect him and that would be the end of him.
But…he was fast. He could swim away if he was in danger.
Mun-Dee’s scars burned on his chest, a reminder of what humans could do, and his webbed hands scratched them in an attempt to ease their pain.
Quickly, Mun-Dee swam to the surface, and poked his head above the water.
It was incredibly bright, but through his squinted eyes, he could see a large ship. It was painted red, and it didn’t seem like any fishing ship he had ever seen before.
Mun-Dee ducked his head down to recalibrate his senses. When he returned, the ship was closer.
Wow. It was fast. And it looked so new. He couldn’t even hear any rotors, he had just heard the horn.
He ducked down again, and swam closer towards it, against his better senses. He was just simply amazed by the sheer marvel of it. His parents built machines too, they explained the parts to each other and they would figure out how to make things work together.
It always fascinated him, even if he watched it from a glass enclosure.
As he approached the side of the large boat, his fingers grazed the side of it. It was smooth and cold, just like he had been expecting.
For good measure, he gave it a little knock.
Somewhere, up above, he heard the chatter of the humans aboard. It was too faint to tell what they were saying, the boat was tall, but maybe if he focused…
Mun-Dee pushed his hair out of his face and strained to listen.
“…found…net…”
His stomach dropped. Quickly, he went to swim away, but he swam right into the net.
He thrashed around as he felt the net rise, and tried to bite out of the net. When he felt the air on his skin, he tried to tear the net apart. But it just wouldn’t give way.
Mun-Dee hissed as he heard commotion from the humans, cheers as they saw their catch.
It was so bright, it was so loud.
He had to get out.
His chewing wasn’t working, he could taste his blood on his tongue. He would have to escape after he was let out of the net.
As soon as net was cut open, he bit the person who cut it.
There was screaming. Lots of it.
Loud, loud, loud.
He clawed at the floors as he tried to wrestle himself away from two humans, they kept calling for someone. He bit another person.
More screaming.
“Stop.” Mun-Dee tried saying. He hadn’t spoken in so long, it came out so broken that he wasn’t sure if anyone had heard it.
Then…someone jabbed a needle into his neck.
And everything slowed down all at once.
“Now then.” A voice said, as everything went hazy, “Let’s get it ready for testing.”
Mun-Dee let out a low groan as he passed out.