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Part 1 - Prologue988 words
Part 1 - Chapter 12,086 words
Part 1 - Chapter 23,189 words
Part 1 - Chapter 32,943 words
Part 1 - Chapter 43,976 words
Part 1 - Chapter 5997 words
Part 1 - Chapter 63,299 words
Part 1 - Epilogue1,127 words
Part 2 - Chapter 13,142 words
Part 2 - Chapter 23,898 words
Part 2 - Chapter 33,355 words
Part 2 - Chapter 41,476 words

Part 2 - Chapter 3

((...Four Months Later...))

"I don't understand it, General. Project X seems to have halted his evolution altogether. All readings are nominal and his health is above average. Whatever's stopping him from advancing must be Psychological." the Doctor said.

"I don't want excuses, Doctor; not from you or him. I want results! Force the evolution if you have to, just get him working again!" the General fumed.

"He's not a machine, General, I can't just force him to accept updates to his software."

"It's a wolf, George! Emotions are beyond its comprehension. All it knows how to do is follow its instincts and that's exactly what it's doing. Project X has decided that the mutagen is dangerous and has begun refusing the treatment."

"Gerenal, please-." before the Doctor could speak any further, through slightly parted eyes, I saw a gun pointed at him.

"If you don't get that mutagen into him, I'll find someone who will." the General threatened, returning his weapon to its holster. With the threat passed for now, I closed my eyes fully once more and just floated where I was. I heard the Doctor place his hands against the glass.

I was there all day. Doctor George was the last one still within the facility. He'd made up the excuse of running over some tests to his enquiring co-workers, but I knew the truth behind his stays.

"Area 101, Genetic Research Facility. 02/10/2230. The time is 23:00 hours. This is Doctor George Reed, head of Genetic manipulation and adaptation. Personal Log 24." he said almost as if he'd practised it. "Despite my attempts to further the research of the Alpha Gene, it appears as though Project X has come to a dead end. The subject is non-responsive, but very much alive. Any response I do receive from him is one of cold calculation. The subject has reached an evolutionary maturity that is either close to or equal to our own in terms of intelligence and comprehension. Initially, the subject's rate of progress began to lessen as time went on, but now, it's come to a full stop. I fear the Alpha Gene is to blame. As such, I'm renaming it the Omega Gene as the other subjects will continue to evolve while Project X stays as he is now. He will become the weaker of the lot.

"I just don't understand how this happened! Readings verify that there is nothing stopping him from evolving, yet he simply won't... Wait, that's it. Perhaps it's not that he can't evolve, but that he won't." so he was finally understanding. Yes, I could evolve if I wanted to, but I chose not to. I was fasting. Cutting myself off from the nutrition the mutagen required in order to feed me. If I was right, the instant I began once again, my evolution would spike. While I could have told my friends about this plan, the simple fact of the matter is that once we got out of this facility, it would likely be every animal for itself. Despite the link we had together that was the mutagen, we were in the end, different species. There would come a time when we would turn on each other. I knew Shaiya had promised that we would all be together, but it was not one she alone could make, and the others had not made such a promise.

"That just leaves one question; why is he refusing to evolve beyond this point?" the Doctor said. Earlier on, before I decided to fast, we were presented with a television, where we watched movies ranging from children's comedy to... erotic themed movies. Thankfully, Luna was spared from those movies in the form of tests the humans needed to run. George turned to look at me with the kind of leer I'd seen a burglar give a child when that child had bested him in his own house. I think it was 'Home Alone'.

The Doctor was surprised to see me looking down at him with a knowing expression, but what surprised him further was the intrusion from behind. It seemed the General was smarter than I gave him credit for. "I suspected you were up to something, George when I read the roster and found you were working over time every other day. You've been tampering with a Government funded experiment, using your own little chemistry set to make what has clearly tainted the subject!" The General bore down on the doctor, his gun pressing into his forehead. "Give me one good reason not to splatter your brains all over the console here?" he asked.

"Because my secret project hasn't failed at all. Project X has advanced faster than any other. He's figured out that the mutagen is altering him, and so he's forcibly denied the general mutagen." the Doctor began to whimper before his superior.

"So you've made him smart enough to realise we're fucking with his genetic code, is that what you're saying?!" George paused for a moment before nodding in defeat. I could tell that the General was going to pull the trigger when an alarm went off.

"What the fuck?!" the General demanded angrily. George turned around and began punching some buttons.

"Projects three through nine have broken out of their pods. They're... coming here." he replied. The two of them had a moment of panic before the General grabbed George by the collar.

"Did you put that Alpha stuff into the others as well?!" he demanded.

"No, just him!"

"Well somehow they know X is in danger."

"Impossible. The base mutagen wasn't designed for that. It could only allow the host to identify other hosts upon eye contact. Only the Alpha Gene could evolve that aspect of itself into this, but the others certainly couldn't unless they too received the Gene. But nobody could have given it to them." George said.

"Wrong!"

"Did you say that?"

"I didn't say it." the General replied.

"Nor did I." the Doctor responded. An eerie feeling no doubt swept though them as they slowly turned to face me.

"That's right. I did it. I spoke to you through telepathy. And I injected the others with the Alpha Gene." I said. The liquid mutagen in the tank with me began to diminish as I consumed it all through my pores, even drinking some of it.

"That's not possible!" the General said.

"Which part? The fact that you can now understand me as I could you from the get-go, or the part where I stole several vials of the Alpha Gene from George's Office and injected their contents into each of the mutagen tanks?" the General was speechless, as was the Doctor. "I'll take your stunned silence as an answer for the former option. Yes, I have broken the barrier that prevented man and wolf from understanding one another for hundreds of years. You were right, Doctor Reed; I had chosen not to continue evolving, but not for the reasons you presented to the General. I was fasting, forcing the mutagen within me to go into overdrive so that when I again began to consume the mutagen within this tank, my evolution would occur so much faster than it would have had I remained on the course the others had been on."

Their petrification was almost riveting to me. "How did you do this? And why?" George said.

"Being able to understand your words, I pieced together that we were in fact experiments being exploited for your entertainment. That initial thought was wrong, as your Subject three clarified that we were in fact a trial. You use animals for testing before endangering your own race to unknown chemicals and mutagens. Together, after defeating Project Simian, a.k.a, Plato, we realized that it was only a matter of time before you would find us obsolete."

"So you fasted in the hopes your evolution would skyrocket to a point where our defenses would be about as useful as a toy gun against a tank." George realized.

"That was my final idea. Before then, I told the others to mask the true extent of their evolution. Plato told us how you modified your defenses to combat our stage of evolution. If you modified them to the weakest point, we would be able to escape with little resistance." I said.

"You're truly an extraordinary being, Project X." George said.

"And what does that say about you who gave me this power? It tells me that you made an error in judgement. Animals by nature are meant to be free. Equip them with the tools necessary to obtain that freedom and you're in for one hell of a horror movie. It all depends on me now. I could go out there and do good, in which case you would be able to take credit for it. Or, I could do bad and you'd wind up having to take responsibility for my actions. This is what happens when you try to play god, you mistake your creation for the world, but wind up getting burned by a sun."

"You cannot be allowed to escape! Not only could you become a danger to what remains of the human race, but you could also jeopardize the Government's credibility." the General pointed his gun at me.

"I'm not going to beg, General. I don't do tricks anymore." I teased. I wanted to buy time for the others to get here and perhaps disarm the General, but he thought ahead. I felt the bullet strike my forehead. The force turned my head to the side. To everyone's surprise, even my own, the bullet ricocheted off of my skull and hit a nearby wall. I turned back around slowly, growling at the man.

"That hurt, you jackass!" I said, stepping out of the tank. "I have to thank you for allowing Project Nine to exist. It was because of her that we waited as long as we did. Had she not been as young as she was, we would have undoubtedly tried to escape before you unleashed us on Plato. Then, we wouldn't have made it unscathed and all together. For that, you have my gratitude." I commented, approaching the General with a calm and collected expression on my face.

"Stay back!" he commanded.

"I thought I told you already; I'm not doing tricks anymore, General. Compared to humans, we animals have a very short lifespan. I intend to live out the rest of my days free, not hindered by the whims of a Human Government." He fired again, and again. The second bullet ricocheted off of my head and struck Doctor Reed, killing him instantly.

"Why won't you die?!" he demanded.

"General, even you shouldn't be so stupid as to think the order you work for would pay to create something that could die easily. You've been here from day one and you think I'll be killed by a side-arm?" I began to laugh at him, my telepathic voice filling the room with the sound. Right on cue, the others found their way to us using a shortcut called the roof.

We encircled the General and closed in on him. He threw his gun around, pointing it to each of them. His mind was on the verge of breaking. "General, my telepathy is currently limited to transmitting. I cannot read your mind. Therefore, I'm willing to give you a chance to save yourself." I offered. As expected, he took the bait. His attention was completely focused on me. "Give me the master access code for this facility and any other necessities we may need to escape this place. Do that, and I'll let you live."

Immediately, he reached for his breast pocket and pulled out a keycard. He threw it to Shaiya who took it in her mouth. "That card will give you unrestricted access to this facility, including the exit which has an auto-encryption password system. You couldn't get out without one of those." he said.

"Thank you, General. You've been most co-operative." I then turned to leave, pausing after a second. My head turned back towards the others still circling around him. "You know what to do."

"Wait! You said you'd spare me!" he argued.

"And I will. But I never said anything about these guys, did I?" I then moved on, smiling gleefully with Shaiya walking next to me and the sound of the General screaming for help behind us.

"That was cold, Shiroyami. I like that." she said with the card in her mouth.

"I'm a cold person, Shaiya. The wolf you met four months ago was just stunned and surprised. I went on from there. While I believed you could handle who I really am, the presence of the others, not to mention a child forced me to reinvent myself. Since then, I've been slowly feeding them darker aspects of myself so they get used to the way I am now." I explained. Shaiya just looked at me with slanted eyes.

"Anyone ever tell you you're awesome when you talk smart?" she asked. I looked at her with a raised brow.

"Usually the ones I talk smart to don't live that long to tell me." I replied.

"And you're sexy when you talk evil." she added. I couldn't help but blush under my fur.

"You think so, huh?" I asked.

The General was too trusting. As he said, the front door worked with that keycard of his. I single swipe and it opened like a vault door.

"Friends, I give you the world. It's ours to do with as we please!" I said. Everyone began to cheer, some of them, mainly Celestia and Luna decided to run out of the entrance. The brightness of the sun blinded us all as we stepped out. Fresh air filled our nostrils, along with something else that was recently familiar, only better aged. With my eyes still adjusting, I heard shocked gasps from the others as they saw what I couldn't.

"What is it, guys?" Shaiya asked from beside me. Our eyes began to focus.

"The world... it's..." Discord couldn't finish the sentence. Fortunately he didn't have to. Shaiya and I gave a joint gasp as we saw the scene before us. The surrounding forest area had been decimated. The trees were either uprooted or stripped to their trunks. The outside of the facility had graffiti all over near the entrance. The ground was like desert sand mixed with dirt. The world was not like this when I was alive.

"That bastard! He knew this was what awaited us! Damn it!!! I should have killed him myself!" I yelled. As if to mock us, a tumbleweed rolled by a human skull half buried in the sand.

"So this is our freedom? To die in a fucking wasteland?! That's great, Shiroyami. Thanks a lot! I'd have preferred life in that facility over this heap of shit!" Discord began to grow frustrated.

"The world's not completely destroyed. The humans who worked in the facility had to have gone somewhere. So there must be settlements or something nearby." Shaiya defended.

"Fat load of good that does us. Human settlements are for humans, Shaiya!" Abbadon growled.

"Gee, you don't say!" I growled at him.

"Don't you give me cheek, you white haired freak!" Abbadon snapped.

"It must be so nice to be a black Panther. I bet all the other panthers don't give you shit for your colour. Oh wait, you're from the amazon or some shit like that. Must be really great originating from only one place!"

"Are you trying to insult me, because I think you're failing." Abbadon retorted.

"I don't know where I'm going with this, I'm pissed off! I can't think straight!" I replied.

"Seriously, boys? We get a bit of desert and you blow a gasket on us? Man up, bitches!" Shaiya said. Abbadon and I looked at each other, then to her, then back to each other.

"There's a word for what she just did." Abbadon said.

"Two, actually; 'redundant' and 'ironic'." I said.

"Just think. Human settlements will have animals, mainly farm animals and the kind that would be useful for hunting. Discord and the horses could all pass for farm animals. And Shiroyami and I could pass for dogs." Shaiya said.

"What about Chrysalis and me?" Abbadon asked.

"Well, we don't have time to go to India and I doubt Chrysalis could pretend to be the fake bug on an Exterminator truck, so..."

"Something that he said feels racist to me." Chrysalis commented.

"To you?! He says I originate from the Amazon, then he suggests I'd fit in over in India!"

"Well, you know how Indian Princes tend to collect exotic animals?"

"You saying I'm an exotic animal?"

"I'm saying you could pass for one."

"You ass!"

"Present!"

"Shut up, Discord!"

The argument went on for about five minutes, after which Shaiya had had enough. With Abbadon and Chrysalis sticking out like sore thumbs, we decided to investigate one of the settlements in the hopes that an answer would come to us. Along the way, I was beginning to wonder why I'd told Shaiya I wanted to die with them around. I'd have been happy to just die with her nearby. Fortunately, thanks to the mutagen, I only had old age to worry about.

"I've got it!" I said, stopping the caravan.

"Got what?!" Abbadon said grouchily.

"How we're going to fit you guys in." I said.

"I swear, Shiroyami, if you suggest we disguise ourselves as different animals, I'm gonna eat your eyeballs!" he growled. I paused for a second.

"We'll call that plan B." I said, much to the irritation of the panther. "Shaiya said that the settlement was solely for humans, so if we eliminate the human element, it will belong to us and the other animals living there." I said.

"Great idea. And will we give it a name while we're at it?" Abbadon asked sarcastically.

"The only alternatives are dressing you up like a seal or making you wait outside while we bring food to you like dogs chained to their kennels waiting for dinner time. You know, with the little bowl that has your name plastered on the si-."

"ALRIGHT! I get it! We'll kill the damn humans! God, you're annoying!" Abbadon interrupted.

"Shoulda thought of that before you decided to become unkillable." I said, turning to leave.

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