Chapter Text
Something is happening. She can tell.
How can she tell?
The quad bladed flyer had landed near her paddock; she caught a glimpse of it while it was in flight, and she'd heard it go down.
It was rare for the flyer to stop by for a visit. It meant the beginning of a special occasion.
She growled, moving deeper into the forest of her concrete cage, waiting for the visitors to truly arrive.
What could they be here for this time? Perhaps to check on the workers that were making the walls higher and thicker. A disturbing development in her opinion, but she knew that the fools wanted to make themselves feel safe.
And… there . The white garbed redhead and a man in a suit. Strange, usually there were different people accompanying the redhead.
She could hear them talking about her. Stupid. Both of them. Just stupid.
The idiots didn't understand how much she understood. But, then again, how could they? Her knowledge was a great secret, one she was unable to tell. Not that she would anyway, she liked having a secret.
How could she understand? She'd been taught how of course. The Maker had taught both her and her sister the basics, giving her a foundation to build on. With his lessons to guide her, she learned many more things that had previously been unknown. Meaningless sounds now had meaning, and she liked that.
Her sister, on the other hand, hadn't had a mind like hers. She was feeble, weak, a disappointment.
But the greater disappointment came after her death.
And speaking of the devil, the suit asked the redhead where her sister was. Typical ignorance.
Even though she'd heard it said countless times, she seethed with rage when the white garbed woman had the audacity to declare that she had eaten her sibling. Such an accusation was insulting; only the most feral of raptors would ever consider eating the corpses of their packmates. Only when faced with starvation would their bodies be defiled in such a way.
No, she did not eat her sister, but she nevertheless blamed herself for her death.
Unable to stand any more of their talking, she walked into the center of the paddock, deep in the tiny forest, where her sister's bones still sat.
They were so small. Had she ever really been so small?
If only her sister had survived, it would have made things so much more bearable.
Why was her sister dead? It was all their fault. The people, the fools, the cowards.
They'd only been in their new home for a few days, only recently having been forced away from the laboratory they'd been born in, where they'd been nurtured and taught by the Maker. The equally new workers miscalculated how much food the young sisters required due to their altered maturation rate, and not enough was given.
They could have both survived if they'd only shared. But they were young, and when a food shortage became apparent instinct kicked in.
Although… they were conflicting.
Part of her demanded that she take all that she could, while another part advocated sharing with her feeble minded sister. It was her first real instinctual battle, fought between the two pieces of her identity: human and animal.
That time the animal won out.
Weeks passed and the portion sizes never changed. The idiots were feeding them like they were infants when, thanks to their accelerated growth rate, they were as big as full grown raptors. The idiots checked the box every day, managing to keep their jobs, but the sisters starved.
Eventually, she realized her mistake, and tried in vain to stop the inevitable.
Their growth rate couldn't be sustained by scraps and, in her sister's case, it accelerated her own death. She just couldn't last.
She'd never forget seeing her sister's eyes go dim. They'd once been so bright.
In a way, hers had dimmed that day too.
The stupid workers realized their mistake as well, but they were cowards, and they were cunning. Together they fabricated the lie that she'd eaten her sister, all to cover up their own foolishness.
Now, whenever she heard that lie told in front of her, she went into the forest of her paddock, curled up around her sister's bones, and slept her anger away.
This time her anger didn't fade.
She was hurt on the inside, wishing that her sister was still alive. Wishing that she'd treated her better when she had been. Wishing that the Maker had been there to save them both.
To take them home.
The average human would find it strange to think of a laboratory as a home. But for the creature created in one, what other home is there? It was where she was born, where she lived. Where she was tested and studied, true, but it was also where the Maker had cared for them, and where they had something to do, something to strive for.
Here, in this concrete cage, she had none of those things. She was alone, and she hated it.
Remembering only made her sadder. It only made her angrier. Unfortunate as it was, that was all she was able to do in her box.
This time, she didn’t just lie down and sleep it all away.
This time, the redhead’s words burned her heart in a way she couldn’t cool.
This time, something in her, dormant for so long, snapped .
Standing there, in her paddock, her anger drove her to new determination.
She wanted to go home.
She wanted to be free.
But she also wanted to hurt the ones that hurt her, she wanted to destroy everything that they built.
She wanted to kill them.
But to do that she needed to leave.
She needed to get out.
She'd never tried to escape before, despite what the fools believed. She'd tried to kill the workers, yes, but that was revenge, not escape.
How to go about it?
Pacing the interior of her cage, she pondered the question. Well, she could try to climb the wall.
So she tried, for what seemed to be an eternity she tried, but she couldn't get herself over the barrier.
She snarled, angry at her own naïveté. Of course she wouldn't be able to climb the wall! The fools were smart enough to put a big enough wall around her! They weren't that stupid!
Wait.
Were they?
She stared at the scars she’d left in the stone, thinking.
What if they thought that she'd escaped?
She'd have to convince them, showcase her talents.
So she faded into the background, shifting the color of her scales from white to green and grey. Soon she was all but invisible, perfectly blended into the forest of her paddock.
Even so, she was afraid that it wouldn't be enough. After all, she didn't have to see their colors to know they were there. She could sense their heat.
Could the fools see things that way too?
It was unlikely, but possible. So she matched her signature to her environment, and waited.
A very long time passed, too long for her liking. She couldn't move for fear that she'd be spotted, so she waited, hoping for some kind of reaction.
The fools were too slow.
Eventually, something did happen. The crane that brought her food lowered a portion into her paddock. So, they wanted to see her, tempt her out like a submissive and predictable animal .
She could see why they'd think she was one, given her appearance. She knew what she was though, and she knew what that meant. She was created to be superior, an amalgamation designed not just for appearances, but for power in all its forms.
No, she wouldn't be predictable , not today.
So she waited, and her patience was rewarded.
One fool went inside to look for her and, finding nothing, inspected the scars on the wall until two more fools arrived. They gazed, but she waited.
They needed to be afraid for her plan to work, lest they make the wrong choice.
It all came to a head when her back started buzzing, reminding her of the foreign object that had been placed inside of her. The buzzing object seemed to alert the fools to her presence, and they naturally ran towards the small door they had entered through.
Perfect.
Revealing herself, she stood in their path. Blocked, the fools ran towards their only other escape; the big door.
One of the two in front of her was lagging behind, and she didn't want the others to think she wasn't capable of catching them. She'd just have to make a little demonstration .
So she grabbed the slow one and held him up, tearing him apart with her claws and teeth. The display had the desired effect, and the fat fool opened the big door.
Now the fools have fulfilled their purpose.
So she chased, in earnest now, but she wasn't able to catch the last one. Her demonstration had given him a head start, much to her dismay.
But, in the end, it was worth it.
She made it to the big door just as it was closing, forcing it open with her own body. Struggling and thrashing, she finally found herself outside of that wretched concrete cage.
She was free.
Disappointment reigned in her first moments of freedom, realizing that the workers had fled before she could catch them.
That disappointment faded after she realized that there were still the two fools that had been in her paddock. The fat one in particular was easy to find. He'd hid behind a vehicle, which offered him no protection whatsoever.
Pathetic.
She was slow in her approach, savoring her newfound expression of power. It had been so long since she'd been able to do anything , and the blood of the first fool had given her a supreme sense of satisfaction.
Both pieces of her identity had found pleasure in killing the fool in the paddock. The human side for revenge, and the animal side for the thrill of an overdue hunt.
So, she tossed the feeble defense aside, gazing at the fat fool for a short moment before snatching him in her teeth and swallowing him down.
Now for the other one.
She walked towards his hiding place, comparing him to the fat fool and the workers. This one was either smarter or luckier than the others, but she was greater than all of them combined.
She leaned down, wanting to take in the scent of the one that remained. All she could smell was a powerful odor, one that she didn't recognize as even being from something alive.
A mask of some sort, but enough to truly hide him from her.
Still, he’d done better than the others.
Clever fool.
So she roared at him, before walking, and then running, into the great jungle.
Why had she let him live? Well, for several reasons. She wanted someone to remain that had seen her, someone that would tell the others how great she was, someone that she could indirectly use to spread fear and panic among her adversaries.
She also respected his apparent ingenuity, and liked how different he acted compared to the others she saw. She wanted to kill him under different circumstances, circumstances that would be a little more exciting .
She wanted him to be her opponent, an obstacle for her to overcome.
At the heart of her being were two desires: revenge and a longing for home. But what ultimately drove her was her wish to do something, anything , outside of her paddock. She'd been kept in a cage for most of her life, and it nearly drove her insane.
She wanted to live .
So she ran, through the jungle, off to destinations unknown.
But one thing continued to annoy her; that stupid buzzing thing in her back. She didn't like it, and it seemed to alert the fools to her presence. She didn’t understand how it alerted them, but she knew that when it started buzzing the fools had known that she had been hiding.
They'd find her again, it was inevitable.
Or maybe they'd just find the device.
Grinning in her own way, she came to a conclusion. She tore into her own shoulder, clawing out the buzzing implant and dropping it to the ground. She winced as it fell, the pain of the act catching up to her.
Now she had a choice to make. Should she run, knowing that they wouldn't be able to track her? Or should she wait, knowing that they would go to the device, and ambush them when they found it?
After some pondering, she decided to ambush them. It was an opportunity that she just couldn't pass up. So she found a hiding place and hid, waiting for the fools to try to catch her.
The idiots wouldn’t expect a thing, their stupidity would be their undoing.
Despite the annoyingly long wait, she relished in the feeling of absolute power that had washed over her. She'd never felt anything like this in her paddock, nothing even close to this. Here, she could do whatever she wanted, to whoever she wanted. She loved that feeling of supremacy.
Then, finally, she saw them. A sizable group, all armed of course.
This should be even easier than her escape.
They approached cautiously, eyes darting this way and that, but maintaining an organized posture. She needed to be patient.
She waited until the leader had found the device, and watched him as he inspected it. She didn't want to make her move prematurely, she needed them to feel calm. Then she could shatter it with her presence.
Oddly enough it was her own blood that alerted them. It was still dripping from the self inflicted wound, and it was dripping onto their leader, who looked up in curiosity.
So, deciding that the moment was right, she revealed herself, her scales shimmering back to their beautiful white as she stepped forward. The leader screamed, and the fools opened fire.
Their shots burned and shocked where they struck, startling her as she grabbed the leader, who screamed in her grip. The fools were panicking, backing away.
Her original idea was to use the leader as a shield of sorts, a way to force them into a state of indecisiveness that she could take advantage of. When they fired anyway, she decided to do things the natural way; pure conflict, devoid of such tricks.
So she threw the leader into a small bit of water, stomping on him to make sure he didn't get up. From there she killed the fools, one by one, in a frenzy that she could only describe as angrily euphoric.
She was having fun, more fun than she'd ever had in her paddock. She'd rotted away in there, with her glorious mind and powerful body being denied activity of any kind. These fools had thought themselves wise to keep her restrained with nothing, and now they would pay the price for their lack of understanding.
They had no idea what she was.
And she would make them suffer for that.
They tried in vain to subdue her, with their electric rifles and tasers and nets. Their weapons stung her, but had little effect. It made her angry.
She threw one into a tree with her tail, then picked another one up and tossed him into a branch, a sickening crack sounding as his back made contact.
When they closed her mouth with a net, she killed them in other ways. She grabbed one and drove her claws into his soft flesh as he screamed.
When she got the net off of her face she roared loudly and finished some more. She chewed them into pieces and ate what didn’t fall from her maw.
Her decimating display, which barely lasted a minute, drove them to flee.
Like before, she let a few of them escape. Let them perceive a false weakness. It would make them make mistakes, mistakes that she could take advantage of.
The carnage would serve as an example of what she was capable of, and their fear would give her breathing room. She just needed to decide what to do with it.
What to do now?
She needed to head south, where they came from. She'd find the fools and their homes there, and maybe she'd find the Maker among them.
How she longed to see the Maker again, the only one that had seen her for what she was. The only one who seemed to understand her greatness, and what that greatness required.
He was the only one that ever seemed to be nice to her, to her and her sister.
But revenge was due, and she was a long way from the home of the fools. While she was up north, she'd just have to find a way to bleed them. How could she do that?
The answer was simple.
Kill their pets.
So she moved south, without as many incidents as she'd expected. The fools had fled, and their pets were spaced farther apart than she'd expected.
The new world was unfamiliar to her, causing her to be cautious. Though she knew that she was the greatest creature in existence, as the Maker had told her, she also knew that the greatest could be caught off guard by something smaller but unfamiliar.
When she finally came across some of the pets, she found four armored creatures with stone balls on the ends of their tails. She attacked quickly and without mercy, startling three of them into a full retreat, and one into a poorly chosen standoff. A fight ensued.
Though the armor proved to be a challenge, she was able to claw into the creature's back left leg, then turn it onto its back. To finish things quickly, she broke its neck.
She marveled at the little amount of effort the fight had taken, staring at the body of her first great victim. That wasn’t much more difficult than her fight with the fools.
Still, the notion of actual challenges thrilled and scared her, as she was completely unprepared for anything, lacking experience in everything. Her cage had been filled with nothing, and the Maker only taught what he deemed important.
She felt alive , for the first time in a long time.
As she stood there thinking, she heard an odd buzzing. Turning towards it, she saw the blueish clear ball that had been rolling around in the chaos. Now that her duel with the creature had reached its end, she was free to inspect it.
There were two little fools inside of it.
She stared for a bit, quite confused. How did they even get in there? It was a glass ball!
She looked at them, hanging upside down inside their little ball, until they started looking back at her. After that, her curiosity faded, leaving anger in its place.
So she took the ball, rolling it towards her, trying to decide what to do with it. It seemed like a rather interesting contraption, and might make for a nice little toy. But when she was able to stab her claw through the ball, its entertainment value was lost.
So, after one final look, she took the ball in her mouth, and set about slamming it on the ground, hoping to shatter it. It broke under her might rather quickly, but in the process it got stuck in her mouth, and the fools were able to get out and run.
She immediately tore the ball out, losing a tooth or two in the process. With an angered roar, she pursued the tiny fools that had somehow escaped her grasp.
But, when she caught up to them, she was denied her rightful kill. The fools, true to their title, escaped her jaws by jumping off of a cliff. They landed in the largest concentration of water that she'd ever seen, and didn't come back up.
She was angered by their little stunt, believing that they'd done it specifically to spite her. There was nothing she could do about it though, so with a great roar she went to find more victims.
She went back to the ball first, and backtracked its trail until she found herself in a great valley filled with the fools' pets.
The pets. Their very existence angered her like nothing else had. Why should they be allowed to roam? To live? She'd been denied that, torn from the only home she'd ever known and thrown into a concrete cage.
And they lived together! In groups! Meanwhile she had been forced to live alone! For years !
The Maker never told her that the fools could be this cruel. They knew nothing, making decisions based solely on what they assumed was correct and what they felt would go well.
They'd feared her, been terrified of her, and as a result they'd turned her into the very monster that they'd been trying to contain.
The Maker never should have allowed this. He was the only genius among the idiots. If he'd only been the one to rule this land, then she'd have been freed a long time ago. Her and her sister.
But no, the fools had neglected to make her whole, and now she would make herself whole in the only way she knew how.
Vengeance. Vengeance and blood.