"You must be confused. Allow me to explain. We at Bionauts are very interested in genetics. But rats were never enough to experiment on. Considering the goal we had in mind, the data from such could never be used. We needed something that would give accurate results. And that's where you come in."

He smirked.

"Gene therapy. WE know it on a level you can't understand. BIONAUTs Industiry now owns your body. Do you understand?"

He stepped foward.

"It's always difficult to explain just what is about to happen to you, but you do have some choice in the matter. I assume you have all heard of werewolves before, right? Men that turn into half-wolf, half-man beasts? Men with fur, snouts, ears, fangs, claws, and tails just like that of a wolf."

He leaned in, looking at the prisoner's eyes. "We can give you that. Except always. Always you will be granted such things... I will make you better. You will be great."

He began walking from side-to-side, looking at the victims. "Or perhaps you don't like wolves? Maybe you would ratyher something else. A fox? A Lion? Or maybe something avian, or if you are really ambitious, something reptilian. Wouldn't that be something?"

"But maybe non of that interests you. Perhaps you'd rather learn about the Fusion Division? This isn't a straight crossover between human and animal, more like a replacement of parts of a body is. For example, there is a beast of Roman mythology called a Centaur. Take the upper body of a man, and affix it to the entire body of a horse, sans head, and that is a centaur. You know what I'm talking about.

He leans in again, like before. "We can do that too. But we lik to be more creative."

He looks away. "This is all up to you... I assure you, fighting for your freedom does seem like the moral thing to do. But listen. Imagine. You can be anything you want to be... you are going to have superpowers. The sooner you get used to thinking this way, the better. Because if you don't decide, we will decide for you. And it won't be pretty."

He turned to a person strappeed to one of the rotating tables. "What about you?" he said. "What do you want to be?"

_______________

OOC: The next poster will be that person, but feel free to detail how you got here if you think you should.

A voice spoke up from the other side of the room.
"And he gets to go first...why?"

The pale man wheeled around and stared at the source of this comment, surprised. The speaker was a tall amn with a clean-shaved face in a brown vest. He sat, not struggling against his restraints, with an interested look on his face. "And you think you should go first, mmm?" the pale man asked emotionlessly.

"Maybe. This sounds interesting, I must admit. Is this for real, or are you just some crackpot?" asked the man.

The pale man frowned. "I assure you, what we do at BIONAUTS is very real." He paused, and turned back to the man, waiting for a response.

The man motioned to his bondage. "Do we have to go thru with this if we don't want to?" he asked.

The pale man smiled grimly. "Does it look like you have a choice?" he said cruelly.

"I thought so."

(OOC: Interesting...can I join?)

"You're insane!" cried a deep voice from the other side of the room. "Do you know who I am???"

The thin man turned to the speaker, an evil leer crossing his face. "Why of course I do...why do you think we chose you?"

"You won't get away with this!" shouted the man on the table. He was well built and muscular, with a heavy brow and a strong jawline. His eyes were blue, and his hair was bright yellow, straight, reaching down to his shoulders. He wore a neatly trimmed goatee of the same color. He began to move, wrestling with the restraints as though trying to break them, but even with his build and strength, the metal cuffs held absolutely solid.

"Mister Stevens, I believe you're not realising just what a massive favour we're doing for you here." drawled the thin man, moving over to the table slowly. "Your computer buisness is one of the biggest in the world, and you are already a multi-millionare, but just think how much more publicity you will get when you leave here as a modifyed super-being, dedicated to fighting crime and saving lives!"

Jason Stevens fixed the scientist with a cold glare. "Just what are you after?" he asked in his deep voice. "Money? You can kiss that dream goodbye...no matter what happens to me you won't get a cent! Now let me go or I'll use my influence and have your company declared bankrupt and you put in prison!"

The thin man simply grinned at the threat.

"I said release me! I have a wife and kids for crying out loud!"

"Calm down. Let me handle this." said a man beside Mr. Stevens.

Jon looked toward the enemy. Or was he an ally? Perhaps the whatever-it-was that guided him through the Adam's Light thought of all the horrific things that might be happening as mutual gain.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

"What's life like outside of the experiments?"

"Glad you asked. Do you know where we are? This is an island. Directly in the middle of the Pacific ocean, in the 'Ring of Fire', a circle of volcaninc islands. You'll find this as a rather tropical place. You may swim all you like, explore the island, or return to our headquarters. in, on top of the gene therapy labs, are spas and deluxe buildings featuring the finiest dining and entertainment availibe, as well as many massage practitioners, including masters in the Shiatsu Massage."

Silence hung in the room.

"You didn't expect us to keep you locked up like animals, did you? That's horrible. I am not an evil man... You aren't prisoners to me, you're guests."

"And so you take us to this island to be experimented on like playthings?" Jon said, staring coldly at the man.

"You don't understand... for one, I do thsi for you. I think all these things you could become are nothing short of wonderful. And two, this used to not be as such. We found people via the internet... people that shared similiar interest. We lured them in, and did whatever we wanted to them. They loved every second of it. But it was slow... we needed more, and while I hated to do it, I had to resort to capturing people off the streets."

He took a swig of wine that he picked up off a nearby table.

"You know, everything we do here is reversable, with absolutely no side affects once removed. The only two side affects are somewhat altered insincts, and on rare occasions, altered dietary habits. But both of those dissapear once the process is reversed..."

He took one more swig.

"But there is one other side affect that will stay with you. Even if you are scared to death about what is going to happen to you... you will never, never reverse it."

"Why?" some people said.

"Because it becomes a part of you. It would be like losing your thumbs. Things that were once simple to you would be gone forever, and you can only regret it. Do you know that the people who hated this most are still sporting their beautiful new bodies, and voluntarily so? Once you have it and lose it... it's like being handicapped. In fact, one person took the reversal and we let him go. On his own accord, he was begging for us to let him back within a week... do you drink wine, Mr. Stevens? Wine is an drink of aquired taste. To most, it is at first bitter. But it grows on them, and soon the must have their favorite wine with every dinner or they can't enjoy it at all."

The thin man raised his eyebrows and said to everyone in the room one final statement. "In essence, it is the same thing." He took out some papers and put them on desks at the end of the room. One for each person. Fill these out when you get a chance, would you?" he put some pens down as well, and then he left.

Seconds later, the clasps released. Jonathan was the first to action and immediately filled out his form. "Fusion division. Centaur." he said, sounding completely uninterested. "I don't know about you guys... but I know my way around foresight. In the end, there will be mutual gain for everyone if you just follow my lead and pick something now."

"Well, we all will be here together for a while, so why don't we get to know each other?", said the pale man as the group began to fill out the forms. "My name is....uh...hold on, I forgot it." The man paused for a minute and then snapped his fingers. "Thats it! I'm Docter Michealson. I believe we already know Mr. Stevens," he said, throwing an icy glare to the billionare. "Now lets all introduce ourselves."

Reluctantly, the crowd gave their names. The man in the brown vest spoke up. "Name's Joshua Burrow," he said as he scribbled a detailed picture and paragraph onto the paper. The paper showed a strange Dinosaur-like flying lizard.

Dr. Michaelson collected his paper and studied it. "you have imagination, I see," he said with a flash of delight in his eyes. Jon could tell that Dr Michaelson would have fun with Joshua Burrow.

The mad doctor asked for names and collected papers from one person at a time until he had introduced everyone.
"And now," he said with relish, "let the experiment...BEGIN!!"

The people were led to a large, plain door. "Actually, I believe you don't want to get started right away... maybe you would like something to eat first...?" the door opened, and beyond was a large, splendidly crafted dining room. Across a large table were spread lots of foodstuffs. "Please, have some water." Michealson said while pouring some glasses... everyone agreed, although reluctancy showed in some people. In truth, everyone had been a bit thirsty. Something about it made them drowsy, however.

"Hey... this taste a bit funny..." Jon said.

Everyone dropped like bricks.

---

Liquid. Too think to be water... but they weren't drowning somehow. It was orange... amd it felt like it was moving by itself...

---

They awoke to grass plains, rolling endlessly. Jon groans... his wait hurt badly and he rubbed it tenderly.

Since when was his waist hairy? "Oh..." Jon looked down to see the waist he knew and loved to be gone. Starting there was the body of a large, muscular stallion, starnge and foreign. He could feel it when he touched it; it was all to real. It was part of him, and there to stay... for now.

He tried to get up. It was difficult... he couldn't move his horse-self with any effectiveness. He had no control, his 4 legs would flail helplessly. He felt like a newborn baby; completely unaware of body movements. He would move the wrong leg tryinng to stand up, or move it in the wrong direction. It made sense... this were all new muscles, all new nerves. The brain had never even worked with them before, it didn't understand. Even so, after some time and effort he got on all fours... It was strange. He knew he had never done this before, but it felt as if it had been there all along...

"Hey you guys," Jon shouted. "It's over... they really did it." He hoped he could wake them up.

Joshua sat up suddenly. He looked around and tried to blink in the bright light around him, but was thrown into horror when he found he could not. He raised his hands to block out the light, and discovered that something different had happened to his body. His entire body was covered in shiny, earth-tone scales. His hands had become shriveled, 3-fingered claws, with long sharp nails. Stretched between his arms and his side was a large, fleshy wing. His feet, he saw as he inspected the rest of this new anatomy, had become simalar to his hands, a 3-pronged claw.
"WHTsssss hAAApanund ta mheeee?" he gasped, and suddnely slapped his claws over his mouth. "Mhai voysssss. Hwaaaaat hasss hapund to mahi VOYYSSSSSS???"

Having finaly adjusted to the light, Joshua, stood up and looked around. At first he saw a strange and unfamiliar sight. A grassy field populated by stange, and occationally horrifying creatures. After a few minutes of silent study (silent for more reasons than one), he recognized features of the chosen group in these monsters. The first he noticed was That Jon character that stood up for Mr. Stevens, mainly because he was only changed for the waist down. From there, his body was posessed by the likeness of a stumbling horse, attempting to stand.
"Hwaaat hasss hapund...."

"You must be... Joshua. I guess you thought this was all a joke, huh? It's... it's scary, but compelling. Look at as!"

He tried walk about a bit and almost fell once. "H-how can you adjust so quickly? I can barely move... and I feel so... vurnerable, somehow..." he said walking backwards now, trying to force his legs to be more dexterious. "I'm thinking... we need to get used to this... I mean... they can just do this. They can do whatever they want to us in the end, and it was so easy. I don't think it's been more than a few hours..."

He was walking more briskly now, but stopped in fron of Joshua. "Try to fly. Get used to it, that's all I can say."

He speed up to a trot, back and forth across the plain. It bugged him how this was setting in so soon...

Wine is an drink of aquired taste. To most, it is at first bitter. But it grows on them, and soon the must have their favorite wine with every dinner or they can't enjoy it at all.

Jon shook his head. "Can't loose my cool..."

(OOC: Yikes this is moving fast! Sorry for not posting for a bit, I don't get to check here that often lol. I'll put in a long post to keep my character up-to-date.)

Stevens had followed the group into the room, somewhat reluctantly, and had drank some of the spiked water. Thanks to his good physical condition, it had taken slightly longer to knock him out than it had for some of the others.

"Oh Mister Stevens!" he heard a voice through the swirling mist as his mind slowly lost it's grip on conciouness. "Your paper is completely blank! You know what I said about not choosing your own modification..." Down a long tunnel, he saw the figure step over to the doorway, where some rather large and burly men had appeared. "Mister Stevens has not filled out a preferance, therefore I will choose for him. Given his good physical condition, I would say he is an excellent prospect for the Major Development Programms..."

He tried to get up...to move...but he couldn't...as the blackness slowly engulfed...

Warm.

He was very warm.

It almost felt like being in the womb again.

Sounds were muted, as though traveling through water. He felt like he was drifting underwater in the middle of the ocean.

It was a beutiful feeling.

Slowly he opened his eyes. The world was awash with blue, white shafts of light filtering down from somewhere up above. Small trails of bubbles chaised their way past him, moving upward towards the light.

He froze. He WAS underwater! For a moment he began to panic! He had no breath to hold! He was going to drown!

And yet...he didn't need to breathe. His body wasn't clamouring for air like it should have been.

He could feel movement on his neck...muscles that he had never felt before pumping away automatically in a rhythmic timing. What was going on??? Slowly he raised his hands to either side of his neck.

He could feel lines in his skin, like scars, but moving with a life of their own, slowly pumping in and out, in and out...like a fishes gills!

Realisation dawned on him as his memory came flooding back. The mad scientist, the table with restraints, the spiked water...!

Slowly...tensely...he looked down at his body.

He ws much bigger than he used to be! His neck was long, perhaps five or six feet, and led into a powerful, muscular body. His arms were pretty much normal, but much bigger, the fingers tipped with long, sharp claws. His body thinned past his stomach, and became a long, flat tail, with long frills down the top and bottom, like the tail of an Eel. His back legs were similar to normal, but the joints had moved somewhat; his feet and toes were much longer than normal, his toes tapering to long thin spines, with skin streaching between them, like a fishes fins. His nose stook out in front of his face, a thin, pointed, reptillian snout. His ears had moved to the top of his head, and had turned to large, fin-like crests, standing up from the back of his head. Overall, from nose to tail, he was a good 20-25 feet long!

He screamed.

"Ah you're finally awake." He spun round to see a small window in the nearby rock wall, looking out into what seemed to be some kind of control room. Banks of computers lined the wall, and flashing lights and buttons were everywhere. The thin scientist was there, looking out at him through the glass. "Don't worry, we aren't finished with you yet. Once we're done you will be able to survive on land, although your ideal medium will be water."

His speech was not speech, although Stevens' brain translated it as such. It was strainge, his ears heard a perculiar whining sound, like whalesong, but his mind heard it was a human voice.

Right now he wasn't thinking about that though. With some difficulty he swam over to the window, and, mustering all of his consideably enhanced strength, he started to pound at the glass. All he could think about was getting at the smugly grinning figure on the other side and tearing him limb from limb!

"I assure you that's quite pointless. The glass is embedded with microscopic diamond shavings, amd the frame is Admantium. Even with your strength it would take years for you to break it." The doctor stepped forward, his face taking on a pleading look. "Please try to keep calm, and think about what we've given you. It's a really special gift!"

Stevens wasn't listening. He spun round and began to swim upwards, towards the light shining in from above.

His head breached the surface, and he looked around. The surroundings were paradasaic, a beutiful vista of forest, field, sand and palm trees. He had surfaced in the middle of a lagoon, surrounded on all sides by sand. Quickly he swam over and begn to pull himself out of the water.

But as the gills at the base of his neck left the water, he stopped suddenly. He couldn't breathe! His gills gasped at empty air! His body began to choke! He felt sick!

Pushing back against the sand, he dropped back into the lagoon, instantly finding relief as the water closed in over him again. This was a sick form of imprisonment!

He raised his head and long neck above the water again, this time being careful to keep the base of his neck below the surface. There had to be some way out of this!!!

Some movement on the field nearby caught his eye, and looking over, he saw a collection of strainge creatures lay on the grass, some of them stirring as though they were waiking from sleep. This nightmare just got better and better! One of them, a centaur figure, was stood up, taking a few faultering steps as though trying out his legs for the first time.

Stevens' mind suddenly made a connection, and he blinked in shock. Hadn't one of the people in the group asked for a centaur body??? Could those figures on the grass possibly be...or rather, used to be, Human?

The distance was too far to recognise faces, but the centaur seemed to be coming closer. It didn't look like he'd noticed the lagoon yet...

"Why could you get up so easily?" John asked, working his new legs around.

"I ghess becuasss I'ahmm sstill a bhiped." gasped Joshua with his curious new mouth.

"Try to fly, Joshua," Jon suggested.

Joshua looked back, and forth at his wings. "Heh gos naseen." He whispered. He reached his arms out to his sides and took of running. A second later, he hit the ground. Shocked, he tried to figure out what happened. The wind must've caught his wings and thrown him to the ground. Rubbing his side, he rose to his feet and jogged with his arms to is sides. Then, when he had picked up some speed, he stretched Out his arms slowly and left the ground.

He soared a good 10 feet off the ground for a few minutes before painfully biting the dust.

"You'll have to work on that," assured John as he trialed his ability to gallop.

(OOC: You can fill in what details you want here.)

After a few hours of practice, and no sight of Dr. Michaelson at all, John was moving along in his hooves at around 20 mph. This was a guess, of course, for John was not equipped with a speedometer. Joshua has been able to reach over 100 feet in the air, and could hold it for 20 minutes. He would fly around their prison and report what he saw to John.

"Wheee ah in a vhalley at the baahtum of a dheeep tuhrench,"
he reported. "I cahnt fly high eeenuth to ethcape."

"Come on, lets se the others. Maybe they can help us." said John as he ran torwards them.

She opened her eyes slowly, taking in the world around her. All of a sudden she was seeing it with a strange new clarity that she'd never known. She could pick out the individual scents of the creatures around her, and she could feel every blade of grass beneath her. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the trees swayed gently in the wind.

Pushing herself up from off the ground, she wobbled, testing out her new legs. She had been changed, that was for sure. She now sported a foxish appearance, with silver fur and a light silver belly and muzzle. She still had her brown hair, though, down to her shoulder. Her blue eyes stood out nicely against the shining silver of her fur. Of course, she still had her green tank-top and brown skirt and boots and matching gloves. Good thing too.

Kim gaped in wonder as she examined the big pair of wings folded behind her. It was exactly as she had picture it when she reluctantly filled out that form...

Silver fox....wings like a falcon.......

"This is really... something." Jon said, standing still and leaning on a tree. "It's almost... scary how fast I'm getting used to this. I'm kind of worried... I mean... we're being left unsupervised." he said, not knowing that the lagoon was the only place monitered at the time. "They're too confident."

It was amazing. Jon was eating it up and he couldn't bring himself to admit it. A part of him, the old him, before Twenty-One had practically wanted to jump up and down excitedly...

Something in the water? Jon went to investigate. A pair of reptilian eyes met his own. "Hey... you look stuck." he said with a frown. "Can you still talk? Some of us have toruble..."

No I can't! Does it look like I can???

Stevens was fuming, scared witless, and lost in disbelief all in one! They didn't even recognise him, and there was no way he could comunicate with them!

Just what would his children say of they could see him now? Or Cara...dear sweet Cara his wife!

He looked down at his clawed fingers. This wasn't true...it couldn't be true! He wanted to cry, but his yellow, reptillian eyes had no tear ducts!

"Sounds like you can to me."

He looked up at Jon in suprise. What on Earth is he talking about?

"Hiisss mouuutth isssn't moooovinnnng!" exclaimed the...creature...behind the centaur. "Hee dooesnn't haveee oonnne!"

What do they mean?

"We mean we can hear you!" exclaimed Jon, staring at himwide eyed. "Are you just thinking those things? We can hear your voice as though you were talking!"

You can hear me now?

"Yeah!"

"Whhooo aareee yooouu?"

It's me, Stevens! Jason shouted, or at least, shouted in his mind. They've turned me into this...thing...!

"Yyyouure kiddiiinnng!" exclaimed Joshua excitedly. "YYYoou loooookk cccoool!"

Down in the lagoon monitering station, Michealson turned from the window and moved over to some computer screens showing bio readouts. "Increased heart rate...expected. Genetic Morphing Sequencer is holding...I think we're ready for the finishing touches!" He stepped over to the long desk in the center of the room, manned by two men in long white coats like his. "Knock him out. We'll bring him in and finish the work."

One of the figures nodded and pressed a button on the desk.

On the surface, Stevens was staring at the other two incredulously. How can you actually LIKE what's going on here??? he asked, wide-eyed. They're turning us into monsters!

He looked across at the other figures who were still picking themselves up. Few of them resembled Humans anymore...none of them would be accepted back into society! Any friends or family surely wouldn't even look at them like that...like the vixen with the large wings, for instance. If her parents were still alive, how would they feel about her now she looked like that?

He turned back to the two stood by the water. It's completely...

Suddenly there was a flash as a large electric current jolted through the water. Stevens let out a cry of pain, before blacking out and sinking beneath the azure surface...

"Stevens!"

Just like that, Stevens was gone. He watched him sink down before his eyes.

"What happened? Stevens!"

The sunlight hit the water in a strange way... what did that remind him of?

---

"Jon, you're going to ruin the sheets like that." the woman said.

"I'll get over it."

---

There was a window down there, and the light was hitting it making it show up against the rock wall.

Of course. Stevens hadn't filled anything out, and they're using him to test out the newest of their twisted experiments. They were monitering his wet prison from a deck below the water.

"There's nothing we can do to help him now."

He turned to Joshua.

"Look for cameras. Anything that doesn't belong in plains like these. Then, we need to get in contact with Michealson with them. I-"

want to go running

"am going to round up some people that might be able to help us."

What am I thinking? I want to get back to normal and go home.

...

Jon turned to the woman who had become hald human, half fox, and with some wings to boot. It was

an amazing

a strange thing to see. "So... how do you feel?"

Kim turned her head around to study the centaur standing before her. With a grimace, she stretched out her wings to their full size. "Strange, to say the least."

The winged vixen flapped her wings experimentally until she was floating a few inches off the ground. She examined her wings with a certain curiosity, before coming to land back on the grass. Folding her large falcon wings back, she took a deep breath and let it out slowly, all the while walking toward the nearest hill. Once she had climbed up to the top, she took another deep breath, unfolded her wings again, and took a running start. With a grunt, Kim took off, her tail swishing behind her.

At first she wobbled back and forth in the air, almost plummeting to the meadow below at one point, but after a few moments she began to get the hang of it.

H-hey...this isn't so bad. She thought, executing a small loop-de-loop. And with one final stunt, she glided back down to Jon and slowed her flight until she was landed safely on the ground.

"That's pretty cool..." Jon said watching the arial acrobatics intently. "I... I should have been more creative. I just picked to be a centaur because that was one of the examples he had set, but it seems a lot less remarkable than all the other transformations... luckily Michealson can reverse it and I can try something else instead."

Jon shifted his weight unconfortably... he wasn't sure about Kim's reaction to his next question.

"Do you think we could live in the normal world like this? Even though everyone else would..." Jon looked away, ending the sentance abruptly. He didn't feel like saying anymore.

(OOC: Tibby and I wrote this in the chat so we wouldn't have to talk for each other anymore.)

Jon looked up and saw Joshua soaring back towards him. "Teere hes nooo camaraaass, nooo survaailance at oll. Tere hes jutht Rhockths."

"Huh? 'Rhockths'?" asked John, confused.

"Rhockths, Ai sayd." repeated Joshua.

"What did you say?"

"Yha knooow, Rhockths," said Josh, picking up some stones from the ground and showing them to John.

"Uh, dirt?"

"NNNNYAAAAAHH, RHOCKTHS, DAHNIT!!" He said throwing the rocks at John.

"Gah!" John exclaimed, dodging the stones. "OH. Rocks. Sorry," he appologized. "Well, the group is geting hungry, did you see anything to eat?"

"Yesh, Ai shaw a fyoo plants ovah theah." He pointed a claw at a strange, feral plant, with things like green tomatoes growing on it. "Tey mhay haaaave jarms on dem," he cautioned, "Bhut Ai haf nooooticed that Shela," he pointed at one of their mutated comrads, "has teh abiiiility to refocus teh suhn's enaaaargy to make fhire. Whe can coook these plaantss."

"Alright, let get cooking." said Jon.

After dinner, John pulled Josh aside.

"What do you...feel...about your powers?" John asked, wording his sentence carefully.

"Ai... Iht scaaares mhee, but, at teh saaame time, I looove it. Teh poooowa of phlite hes amazeen. Ai...Whant to hate it, but I caaaant." Josh addmitted, shuddering.

"Exactly what Doctor Michaelson said. He said that our new forms would be reversable, but we would not WANT to be reversed. He said that we would come to want and enjoy our powers. Do you think it's true? Will we be unable to part with our new selves...volantarily?" John whispered, his voice breaking with fear.

"Iht's toooo frighteneen to think aboooouuut." Josh shivered. The sun was going down, the stars were coming out. and it was getting cold. The group prepared for the night.

Blinding white...

Jason closed his eyes again, wincing with pain. He could hear water sloshing nearby, somewhere below him.

Slowly, more carefully this time, he opened his eyes again.

The room was blindingly white, almost sterile looking. Computer systems lined the walls, and over to his right, in the corner, was a large door, looking like some kind of space-age airlock. A long gantry ran around the edge of the small room, and in the center, direclty below him, was a large hole, filled with water. Squinting, he could see a large doorway below the waterline, again very space-age and special looking. Several large mechanical arms hung down from the cieling, each with scary looking needles and medical equipment on them.

He was suspended above the water in some kind of harness, similar to the type they used when transporting whales and dolphins to zoos. The harness itself was made of a tough plastic, and held up by metal chains. His arms were also chained up, the chains attached somewhere on the cieling. He could barely move.

Suddenly he realised something: he was no longer in water...how could he be breathing??? He could feel the gills at the base of his long neck working. Arching his neck, he looked down.

He had a white collor around the base of his neck, made from the same white plastic as the harness. Four transparent plastic tubes ran from it, two on either side, and looking at them, he could see water running through them. Two of the tubes were pumping water in, two were taking it away, meaning his gills were constantly being fed with the liquid.

Here in the bright light, no longer surrounded by water, he could see his body more clearly. His skin wasn't covered with scales, like a normal reptile's skin would be. It was similar to normal Human skin, but considerably tougher. It was a dark blue hue, and on his large fins the blue was mottled with a dark red, creating a complex blotchy pattern. On his arms, near the wrists, the blue darkened to a black color, and the long fin running down his back from the base of his neck was the same dark red as on his fins.

They'd added some fins since he last looked; now from the waist down his body became a mass of thin, delicate membrane. As well as his tail and feet, he now had long fins streaching from his sides just below his ribcage, and a few more at various points on his legs. He looked like an Angelfish!

Somehow, with the mottled blue and red coloring, it looked quite beutiful...

There was a loud hiss as the airlock door in the corner opened and "Doctor Frankenstein", as Jason had now taken to calling him, stepped in.

He stared at him for a moment, his face a mask of excitement, like a little child examining a new toy. "Excellent...just excellent!"

You won't get away with this!

"Mister Stevens, please. Just stop and think for one moment what we've..."

What you've given me? A lifetime of being imprisoned underwater, hunted by fishermen like a monster, never being able to see my family or friends ever again?

Michealson sighed. "As I said, the effects are reversable, but at least give it a chance...go for a swim, hunt some sharks. I'm sure you'll like it!" Stevens was about to say something else, but the Doctor raised his hand. "Oh and by the way, that bit about being imprisoned underwater? We've sorted that for you. That was only temporary while your body adjusted to the gills. We've now re-activated your lungs, and you can switch between them both. Just be sure to use the right one out of and in the water."

Jason blinked in suprise. Slowly, carefully, he tried taking a breath...a normal breath. He could feel air rushing in through his nostrils, his chest inflating...they were right, his lungs were working again! He could survive out of water!

"We've also increased your swimming speed by adding more fins, and incorperated ginetic links from an Electic Eel into your makeup. You can now send powerful electric shocks through the water, and it will even work on land too, although the range will be much more limited."

Jason's ears pricked up at this. He wanted to try using that now...to fry the good Doctor stood in front of him. The only problem was he didn't know how.

Frankenstein flicked a switch on the wall nearby, and the harness holding Jason began to lower into the water. "It's nighttime now." said the Doctor, leaning over the gantry as he watched him drop. "Have a day or so experimenting. Go for a swim. Explore the undewater cave system leading off the lagoon. I guarentee you you'll start to like it!"

Now underwater, the harness holding Jason automatically unlocked and lifted back out of the water, leaving him in the pool below. The airlock type door below the surface hissed open.

Slowly, carefully, he swam through. It was very dark in the pool beond, but he spotted a small patch of light on the wall oposite. The control room! He must be back in the lagoon again!

Twisting his powerful tail (He was getting worried at how natural underwater movement was becoming) he propelled himself upwards towards the surface. Now he could survive on land he could interact with the others more! He had to see if any of them felt the same way he did about all this...if any of them could be convinced to side with him...

Night had fallen.

Jon played the scene over and over in his head, the outcome he feared and yet expected. A speech he thought he would recite, just to see what their reactions were.

---

"Together, we can get Michealson. We'll put him to his grave for this."

Silence. No, a cricket chirp. Just as Jon had thought.

---

"Hey. Josh. I'm going out for a bit... I got something to think about."

"Ookhay, suhr."

Jon took off into the darkness. He ran for a long time - he wasn't worn out easily in this form. After a while, he decided it was time to turn back... but he could hear something. A whirring of some sort. Coming from above?

The light was blinding, and the roar of the helicopter's engines deafening. It looked dangerous. And it flew right over him... going towards the plain. It looked like it was ready to make some violence... he had to get back before the copter did!

He took off, galloping at full speed. He could save them. He had to! Faster, faster, faster, not fast enough. But he had to try. Maybe they could hear his voice if he shouted loud enough, but the helicopter's engine was loud than he could yell.

Trip.

Crack. A broken leg. The front left one.

Pain.

Some blood, warm and flowing.

Unconciousness.

---

It was yellow colored. The gas. And it came in huge quantities. Everyone was completely engulfed in the fumes... knockout gas. They needed to move everyone again... but where, exactly?

The only one saved was Jason Stevens, because he was underwater at the time...

"Jason! Don't go out yet, we're gassing your friends." Michealson's voice said through a speaker.

What? Wha are you going to do to them?!

"We're moving them. To the beach! It's summer, after all. You can join them, out in the sea.

How?

Neon lights lit the side of the passage, leading down a branchoff tunnel.

"Follow that. Oh, and do watch out. There's mines if you go too far out in the water. I assure you, we do not want out beach sprayed with sushi." the Docter said with a laugh.

---

The sunlight was really bright here, and the smell of the sea in all it's saltyness was somehow inviting. Very few had lost the ability to swim in their therapy...

Everyone roused at the same time. On a signpost there was writing.

"I hope you have fun out here... the weather is very nice and the water is warm. Oh, and if you get hungry, head north. It's where our main complex is, and the cooks need practice. I recommend the shrimp.
Sincerely,
Doctor Michealson"

"He acts too friendly," said an humanoid wolf in the fron of the group. "But... why would he leave us out here by ourselves? Shouldn't he be worried that we would try and escape?"

On the smooth sandy beach of this mysterious island, Doctor Michaelson's victims studied their prediciment. Joshua and Kim, the experiments endowed with the miracle of flight, volenteered to scan the island from the air. Taking to the skies with their very different forms of flight, they searched for a for of escape. They flew back to the group and reported what they had seen.

"There are mines in the air that seem to get closer when you get too close to them," Kim said.
"Wheer traaaaped ohn teh beach. Teh mhane body ooooof teh iland hes surronded by a sohrt of...anagy feeld. Tere is a doooome inside, a lahge bilding," Joshua detailed. "Tere is noh waaaay to ghit thru teh feeld."
"So, in essence, we're trapped on this island." Kin concluded.
"Ai tink daaaat Docta Michaelson is iiiin tat dome." suspected Josh.
(OOC: I dunno, TIB, finish this.)

Ugh, jellyfish. The water near the beach was crawling with them. Jason did his best to avoid them all, but he couldn't help brushing against some.

But he felt nothing more than a slight tingle! His skin was so tough it was stopping the attacks from getting through! That was a relief.

He poked his long neck out of the water, looking round. He could see the others gathered together on the sand a short way away; the tunnel he'd swam through had come out quite close. The water was very shallow here though, and to proceed any further he'd have to start walking on the sand, lifting his gills out of the water.

He concentrated on his lungs again, making them start their work. Once they began to expand and contract they carried on automatically. It was just starting them up that needed concentration.

He took a deep breath, noticing his gills shutting down as he switched. It was a wierd feeling. Placing his hands and feel on the sand, he stood up and stepped out of the water.

Michealson had been right, he wasn't really built for land. His body felt heavy and lumbering; while he still possesed considerable strength, he couldn't move particularly fast. His fins draped themselves around his dripping body like boneless wings, brushing the floor slightly as he moved. His tail dragged a pathway in the sand, as though trying to resist the movement like a child clinging to the doorpost to avoid a doctor's visit. He'd lost the beuty, the majesty of the underwater, where his fins spread out like long flowing robes, pulsing slightly as they pushed him along. He looked regal underwater, almost like a king!

What was he thinking??? He shook his head, as though physically trying to dislodge the thoughts from his mind. He replaced it with an image of Cara...what would she say, or do, if she saw him like this...?

He stepped up to the others, who stared at him in interest. They hadn't seen him properly until now. Good to see you're all okay. he said before looking around. Where's Jon?

"Jon? Oh yeah, the horse guy." The wolf said. He had a thick accent, most likely Australian. "I saw him leaving camp before the attack... dunno what that was about, be he wasn't gassed like the rest of us and moved here. Bloke got off lucky... anyways, I'm all-purpose curtural anthro-wolf Freddy Lawrence." He said, extending a clawed hand and showing a fanged grin.

---

Elsewhere.

The doc wasn't kidding when he said expert massage practioners... it was the feeling that woke him up, the woman's work.

"Oh goodie, you're up."

Michealson!

"Don't try to get up, though... you're back to normal, but your legs are still numb from the change."

"Why did you change me back?" Jon demanded.

"Oh, did you like it?"

"No! Um... was there any need to?" He realised he had meant it both ways, however. Damnit!

"Yes. The leg you broke, your front-left one? It dissapears when you become human again."

"So my back legs..."

"Turn into the legs of a stallion. Anyways, I wouldn't want you breaking any more legs..."

"What do you care?" Jon said, his voice dripping sarcasm.

"You're my guest. I wouldn't want you to think this place is dangerous, now would I? But the fact of the matter is, I'm constantly dreaming up new bodies for you to inherit. I actually got a good one for you... you see, I figured that you wouldn't break you legs anymore if you didn't have any.

"W-what!?"

"Don't worry, you'll still move on land. Fairly fast as well. And you'll have better swimming ability than a centaur."

"What are you going to do...?" Jon said, somewhat fearful. No legs, but on land...?

"Tranq him."

A pinprick, then the darkness came again.

"Have him taken to the beach... I'm sure he wants to be back with his friends."

---

It was a loud roar, familiar as well. The first instinct was to go into the water, but the helicopter brought about no gas. In fact, it landed.

Everyone just stood in silence, wondering what was going to happen next.

The door opened and a man in thick armor with an automatic rifle stepped out. "Got a delivery for you guys. A friend of yours, I think."

He stepped back in, and two other guards stepped back out with him carrying something in a sack, careful not to bump it into anything. "Don't be rough men!" the pilot shouted. "He's been let out very recently, his nerves will be sensitive." They indeed handled the cargo with care.

They simply laid it on the beach, gently so, and left in their helicopter. And just like that, it was over.

Fred stepped foward. "Now when did you get so slim, Jon?" he said with a chuckle. He tried to grab the bag, and then it ripped open by itself.

A massive twelve foot long creature burst from within. It was absolutely deadly quick; the snake-like monster had Fred suspended in the air wit it's thick tail, holding him up by the neck. This think, it might as well have just been a snake, but just below the head of the beast was a torso like a human's. It had shoulders, a broadened chest, arms, hands, even fingers with very short but very sharp black claws. It's head was like any sanke's head, but it faced foward by default instead of start ahead like a real snake. At it's broadest section, the more snake-like part of the body was nearly a foot wide.

Whatever this was, it was not to be screwed with. It hissed at Freddy who was struggling to get way for all his worth, clawing at the thick scale hide to no real avail. This was the end of him... and yet, just after exposing the bright white fangs (with venom sacks to boot) he shut them as if just realizing something.

"You're not..." it said. It's voice was much like a whisper, only loud. It retained it's softness, but kept it's volume. He set Fred down slowly, and the looked at the ground. "I'm sorry... I, I didn't mean to... I thought you were Doc-"

"Ah, shut up, you crybaby!" Fred said, rubbing his neck which he knew was going to be sore. "If it was a mistake, then forget about it. Hey... are you really Jon?"

"Of course I am... can't y... oh my God."

Jon looked at himself in horror. What he had now become was beyond any kind of accurate descrition, but the pattern on his scales gave it away.

"Diamondback, one of the deadliest snakes in the world." Jon said in resentment. And with the size, strength, speed, and intelligience he had added to that, he was effeciently turned into a killing machine.

"Why does this have to happen...?"

Jason narrowed his yellow, reptillian eyes as he stared at Jon's new form. He sat back on his haunches, folding his arms across his chest.

Are you finally getting the sense of where I'm coming from? he muttered, not without a hint of sarcasm.

Jon looked across at him, momentarilly speechless.

Michealson doesn't care about us. He comes across as friendly, but all he's interested in is the reaserch. He claims he'll turn us back to normal if we ask, but I doubt he will.

"Hooowww can yyyoooo beee shrrreee?" asked Joshua.

You're welcome to try and ask him if you like. Personally I think the only thing he'll listen to is physical persuasion. Jason looked around at the others. Bottom line is we're being held here against our will, for reasons unknown, being experimented on like lab rats! I'm not going to take any more! I say it's time we teach Doctor Frankenstein over there a lesson! Now who wants to join me?

"I guess."

You guess?!

"Listen to me. I don't have anything to go back to. I just travel by myself, only stopping at restaurants or bars. I never sleep at inns, and I don't have a home of my own. My family has been missing for years, and I haven't made one of my own yet. Oh, and I don't have a job, or millions of dollars."

Silence.

"I don't have any real reason to be human, or animal. I don't have any reason to be anything. But if the majority of us are in favor of going back to our lives that probably suck anyways - except yours, Big Shot - then fine. I'll help you get Michealson."

Kim sighed, before shaking her head, "Though I had fun living a fantasy like this, one really has to wonder what would happen if our families saw us like this. If the world saw us. You all know there'd be chaos all around if they did."

Jason nodded his big, fishy head. And Michaelson knows that.

"Besides...I do have to agree with Stevens on this one. I have a family and a fiance who will probably be worried about me."

Jason nodded at Kim for a moment. What right has Micealson to take away our freedom, our dignaty? he muttered. Our families, our friends, our entire lives!

He glanced across at the snake-human creature. And Jon, I'm still Human. He thought as he spoke...that sounded so rediculous at the moment! But he didn't mean it like that. I may have money, but I'm still a human being. I care about people. I care about everyone here, who's lost their homes, friends, family. I care about my wife and children...how can they possibly live with a fish for a husband and father??? And I care about you. You may not have everything in the world, but you do have your life, and at the moment Michealson is taking that away!

He shook his head slowly. Look at yourself! You say you ate in retaurants and bars. Will they accept you as you are now? This may sound patronising coming from me, but I can't seriously believe you think that this is better than what you had! How could you want to spend the rest of your life as a monster, shunned by other Humans???

This was starting to become a dangerous line of inquiry.

"You misheard me. I said it doesn't matter either way to me, I don't really care."

He caught a glare or two; how could someone be indifferent about something this big?

"Now. I want to talk about this for a moment. I'll get to our plan in just a moment, but listen. Look at me in the eyes, and tell me without lying that you have not had a single positive thought - even for a second - about these forms. That you have not had a single skeptic thought in the slightest, about returning to normal.

Silence.

"Whether we like it or not, the Doc was right. So if we're turning back, we need to do it before such thoughts become overwhelming like Michealson hopes they will... anyone got a plan?"

Agreed. James sighed. At the moment I think it may be tough to formulate a plan. We don't have enough information on our surroundings. He glanced around. Best thing I can think of at the moment is scout round and try to learn as much as possible about this island, and the complex too...at least, that would be my suggestion...unless anyone else has any better ideas?

"Wheeeeell, Ih'm a liiittle hangey, me-self," Joshua spoke up, pointing at the sign Michaelson had put up for us, advertising a restaurant. "Wheee havnt eetun siins yetadai. Ahnd whooo noes?" He said, winking at Jon. "Tere mite beeee beer."

"Yeah," said Jon. The last night, while idly chatting with Josh, he had told hm what alchohol did to him.

"Beer." Jon said flatly. That's all he needed. He'll get everyone off this island and back to normal in a cinch.

"Well, I have all the information I need. We're moving out."

Now this hit Jon the instant he started moving along the beach, but he didn't stop. A snake's movement was something he knew nothing about. How they did it. But Jon, never having done it this before, was doing it seemingly perfectly the first try. He didn't even think about it, he just started moving.

I hate this, I hate this, I want to hate it, I have to, must hate it...

Jason set off after Jon silently. He loped along like an elephant, as though his body was too big to be moving. He was tempted to tell the others he'd meet them there and dive off into the sea again...it was much more comfortable than dragging himslef along the sand, but he resisted the urge. Pity...there was a certain freedom about the underwater too...

He took a deep breath, steering his thoughts onto other things.

They had noticed it before Jon had, but he did eventually before anyone said anything. Actually, they probably wouldn't have. His tonuge had been flicking in and out, and when he did it he could sort of taste smells. As soon as Jon stopped, however, he felt vulnerable. Unaware.

It was all too obvious. This had to be picked up by stallite at some point. The building was huge, and looked absolutely grand. "Some of us will feel right at home," Jon mused qietly.

"Oh, good, you guys are here finally." a man wearing casual clothing stepped out from behin a tree. He radiod in. "Hey Mike. They're here."

"Oh. Hi, Jon, Jason, Josh, and Kim. Oh do you like your new form, by the way? Jon?"

"...It's too... deadly. A normal diamondback is exremely venemous to begin with. I don't like knowing that I could kill so easily."

"Oh. Well, you probably are quite deadly, now that I think about it. But you don't need to worry about it, I didn't design you to kill people. I'd be shut down."

"You'd be shut down anyways if anyone with authority knew about this."

"Hahaha! Listen. Do you think this is completely independant? Where did you think we got our funding from? Charity?"

"What do you mean?"

"Nevermind. You need to eat. I've done you all a favor, by the way. I found a way around the changes in dietary behavior, you you can all eat what you'd normally eat, even though the lot of you were mixed with carnivorous animals. When you're done eating, you can go do whatever you want. We have a theater, game rooms, all the fun junk."

"Why are you giving us all this? We're just prisoners in a bigger cage."

"That's a pessimistic way of looking at things."

"...But-"

"Hold on, I got a call. George? Hey, you gotta see my newest guys. They're awesome..." 'Mike' then trailed off, and the man being the medium conversation turned the radio off.

"He's an odd one. But at least he's not a jerk like the guy at my last job."

"Hold on a minute," Jon interupted. "You guys, you're too damn normal sometimes. It's weird."

"You know, every single group I've ever seen has said that to someone. Anyways, my shift is almost over. You can go on inside. The first room is the dining room, so just sit and wait for the waiters. Menus are on the tables."

"Yeoor raight. Theh aare too norhmal sometaimes." Josh said and walked up the steps, followed by the others.

---

"That's just... damn... how the..." and other such murmers of astonishment came from the crowd. If this was a hotel and the dining room was any exaple, you'd he to be loaded and really important just to walk in. Gold and velvet, fabulous architecture. Plush seats, a mahogany bar with what seemed like hundreds of different wines shelfed behind it, the tender giving a wave before returning to the glass polishing mindlessness he had grown accustomed to. The chandaliers hung like giant, lighted crystal masses but they were all dwarfed by the huge, abstract sculpture in the middle of the room that rose nearly to the ceiling.

"99 bottles of beer on the wall, 99 bottles of beer..." Jon said. "We have nothing to worry about anymore. But first... I'm getting something to eat." He turned around and whispered to the group. Since his normal voice was similiar to a whisper anyways, all he really did was say quietly. "We have to play along for now..." before trying to find a goo way to sit in the booth-like chairs. He had underestimated his own size at first... he was around 13 feet long, and about 14 inches thick at the thickest point of his body that wasn't his torso. With so much weight and muscle, he could really smash this place up. But just... sitting down! He couldn't really find a very confortable way to sit down, and kept shifting around while skimming through the menu.

---

OOC:

I'm really started to think this is accelerating at bullet speed with my jumbo-posts. o_O

(OOC: What's wrong with fast moving RPs? lol)

Jason looked around slowly. Something wasn't right. Just what in the world was going on??? What had he stumbled into???

If these guys are true in what they say about wanting to help us, they won't mind us contacting the outside world. he muttered to the others, an idea suddenly occuring to him. I'm not hungry anyway. You guys go ahead. I'm going to see if they'll let me call Cara.

He moved off down the room towards the bar, passing the large sculpture on the way. At intervals along the wall were small ornate pools with fountains trickling into them from holes in the wall, and as he passed them he had an uncanny urge to try and jump in. He gritted his sharply pointed teeth and resisted. They were far too small for him anyway.

He stepped up to the bar, dwarfing the small bartender with his height. Excuse me, I'd like to use the phone please.

"Go ahead. Oh, Micheals talked about you! By the way, it doesn't matter what plan you have to call your company and put your money to use. We've got all our bases covered, so what you should do is just make personal calls." The man returned to the glass polishing. It held some kind of value to him, ti seemed. Maybe there's some story behind it...

Hell, in this business, everyone probably guite a tale to tell.

Tale. Heh, pun. Jason punched in the numbers, and a woman's voice answered...

---

"Ahve alweez wantid lodster befuur." Josh said, skimming the menu. As luck would have it, the claws made holding it up a task, and if he got frustrated he could see himself ripping it up.

Jon's smaller, finer claws were far less obtrusize, but his tail. It was so... long. It was strange... his legs were so short compared to this, and clumsy. This new form was so flexible. And extremely dexterious...

No! I want to go home and go back to normal and I hate this.

"Lobster is really good, actually. I'm not getting, it, though..."

"Hello, my name is Marly and I will be your waitress today. May I take your order?"

"Lahbstar." Said Josh, tracing a line around on the paper. He was kind of... bored. Maybe he could go flying later on. Flight was exhilerating...

"Deluxe Stromboli." Jon said. He had always liked stromboli... just chewin-

"I can't chew!" Jon said, thunderstruck. I don't have normal teeth at all, I can't chew...!" He opened his mouth and touched one of his fangs tentativly.

"Ah cahm on Jon. Thenk like a snahk."

"But that's... too weird. I don't want to."

"Snahks jus swollow theer food. Tas what you gotta do."

"I don't like that... but..."

"It's not that bad," said Marla. "I did it one. Although I was a lot different than you. Which reminds me... I can't wait until Friday, then Mike can turn me back." She said, walking back to the kitchen. "Deluxe stromboli and lobster, step on it slackers!"

"Y-yes ma'am!"

Jon turned to look at Josh; slitted eyes met.

"They act too normal."
"Tahy akt too nurmel."

---

"Nnngah...!"

Jon gagged as soon as the stromboli touched his split-tounge. It was a good taste... but it was intense! Extremely powerful taste. Like Emeril just kicked him in the mouth.

"Wat? Nat good?" Josh said between bites of lobster meat.

"I don't know. It' like stromboli on crack or something."

"Itz because snahks use ther tongue to smell the are. So ther senz of taste is jahked way up."

"That makes sense. But that means I can't have Tabasco sauce anymore.... it'd be like getting shot. In the tongue. ...with a rocket launcher."

"Whateveer." Josh returned to the lobster. He leaned close to Jon after a minute. "Hey... how leoyong do we hafe to plai alang?"

"I'll tell you when it's time to act. For now, we just need to relzax and try our best to be happy. Or at least pretend to." Jon noticed his tongue had been flicking out again without his consent. He stopped it this time, but once again he felt almost blind without it. He returned the the meal. "Alright, stromboli. Prepare to meet your maker." Jon said dramatically. He was hoping to lighten the mood.

"Hello?"

For a moment he was speechless. The emotions that that one simple word stirred. He could feel his hands beginning to shake. He closed his eyes.

"Hello?"

Cara? Cara, it's me...

"Hello is anyone there?"

Cara, it's me, Jason!

"Hello?"

He looked at the phone reciever as realisation dawned on him. The phone wasn't picking up his voice because there was no voice to pick up! His speech was now directly into people's minds, but the phone didn't have a mind, and Cara was too far away for him to contact!

Tears of frustration were beginning to form in his eyes. He listened, helpless, as the phone was put down at the other end.

Cara! No please, listen to me!

"Oh hey, I forgot!" The barman's voice cut into his thoughts. "You're one of the ones they removed the vocal chords from right? There's a neural interface on the shelf just above the phone."

Jason's eyes flicked back to the shelf, looking where the man was pointing. On the shelf there was a small wire, leading to a plastic patch similar to the ones found on scanning equipment in medical laboritories, but a little bigger.

"You stick it on your temple." grinned the barman as he moved back behind the counter. Jason picked the patch up, looking at it curiously. The wire rolled out of the wall as he pulled it, on some kind of spring. Carefully he placed the pad on his temple near his eye, and began to dial the number again.

"Hello?"

Cara? Can you hear me?

There was a gasp from the other end. "...Jason?"

Oh thank goodness! Are you okay?

"Y...yeah. Oh Jason we're so worried about you! Are you okay?"

I...I don't know. I'm...different..."

"What? When are you coming home?"

I wish I knew! Cara I've been captured by some kind of BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE... He looked down at the phone, shocked, as the dialing tone cut in.

Cara? Cara!?

There was a long pause, then slowly he replaced the reciver and removed the patch. He grabbed hold of the wooden shelf, which cracked and splintered in his claws.

He wanted to kill everyone on this god forsaken island...to tear down this hotel with his bare hands...to rip Michealson limb from limb and put the remains in a blender...!!!

But he wouldn't get two feet in here. The security was too tight. Grimly he fought down his emotions, taking deep breaths to calm himself.

The time would come....

Slowly he turned and stepped back into the large room...

After Jon somehow choked down the stromboli and Josh finished his first lobster, they turned back to Jason.

Jon knew better than to ask how it went, he didn't look in an way exited.

"Hey. Don't worry about it, we'll get out... just wait until I get drunk."

Drunk? What does that have to do with anything?

"No time to tell you about it. We have to scope this place out."

"Su aye'll go an ask wat they haf here other than food and doms."

"Doms?"

"...Doms. Rooms."

"Oh."

So Josh just took a step foward, leaped, and with a single flap to get horizontal clearance, landed in front of one of the guards with the rifles. "So wat elz is theer to do?" he asked.

The guard looked puzzled and took a second to work out what he said. "Well, there's the dorms - really nice beds, by the way - and there's a pool. Olympic sized one, all of you could go in at once."

Jason looked over at the two, listening more intently.

"There's a spa with the massage women and tanning beds.

Jon never even wanted a tan before, but the idea sounded inviting somehow.

"There's a big theater here, and we have lots of films. Something for everyone. An arcade - requested by one of the older guys living here. You know, the voluntary ones. And, uh... a lake. If you like fishing. And we have a gym rooms with all kinds of stuff, and a football feild, and there's a dirt race track going around that, with some flatbed cars. They're made so you can almsot always use them regardless of your form."

"Prisoners in a bigger cage." Jon said. He'd spit, but all he had to spit was venom.

"That's one way to look at it... I have a lot of fun working here, there's a lot to do when you're not on the job."

"Whatever."

"Fine, be pessimistic. But you'll probably be here for a while, so you really ought to enjoy yourself." He lit a cigarette. "Oh, do any of you smoke? With all the funding Mike gets he made a cigarette that's absolutely harmless, because a lot of us that work here smoke and the morphs got a lot of second hand. You need to stay healthy, right? ...Guys? Guys?"

They were gone. This guy talked too much.

---

If Jon could still whistle, he would. He'd make some kind of noise to signify his suprise, but all he could do as a snake was hiss. Normally diamondbacks have a rattle, but Michealson elected to not give him one.

There was noone in the area, and there weren't any cameras to be seen, so they could plan evenly.

"We need to wait it out until tomorrow. Today, we'll just wait it out. It should be about noon," Jon said pointing to the sky. "so we need to get to know the area. Then tomorrow, we start looking for possible holes in the security system and a way to get a weapon from one of the guards. Then the day after, just follow my lead once I get tanked and we'll all get home easily."

I still don't get the hole drunk thing.

"Trust me." Jon said, lowering himself into the pool. "The water's nice..." he said. Although he could move on the ground on the first try, he didn't know exactly how to swim, so he held onto the edge and messed around with different tail movements to see what might work.

Jason, of course, was already gliding through the water. "You look really impressive in the water, did you know?" Jon commented.

I don't like to dwell on it, bu-

"CANNONBAAALLLLLL!"

Foosh.

Freddy came back up sputtering, however. It looked like he could swim just fine...

"Ugh, that feels nasty!" He shouted, pulling himself out of the pool. "My fur's all sticking against me. No wonder cats hate this so much, nnngh..." He tried to shake the water off himself like a dog would to no avail. He couldn't do that, part wolf or not.

Nobody could completely stifle a chuckle. Jon was in the water now and found he could hold his breath for quite a long time. Serveral minutes, in fact. Oh course, Jason could last in water the longest...

While everyone tried to ignore Freddy's complaints while trying to get dry (apparently, it's really hard), Jon spoke, putting his head above water. "So what company is it that you own? I've probably heard of it." There wasn't much else to do, and these people still barely knew eachother.

Stevens Electronics. replied Jason absently as he started doing lengths of the pool underwater. It was only after he had spoken that he realised he hadn't even surfaced. His brain had translated the sound of Jon's voice automatically, compensating for the distortion caused by the water, and since his speech was projected directly into the minds of the others, he didn't need to surface himself to speak!

It's a computer manufacturing company. he continued, noting the curious situation in the back of his mind for future referance. You probably will have heard of it, yeah. We have contracts to lots of big companies, including a major one to Microsoft themselves.

He wasn't keen on the swimming pool...it felt small and confining. He prefared the open space of the sea. The pool was warmer though...

He paused in his lengths, after having already completed several in a far quicker time than any Olympic Swimmer, and poked his head out of the water, leaning back against the side of the pool and letting his fins drift in the currents of the water purifyer system. What about the rest of you?

"I've never been much of a gadget guy, so I can't say I've heard of it." Jon said, popping out from the water again.

"I'm kind of... I can't think of a way to put this without it sounding cheesy. I found out playing the hero can sometimes mean big profits... so I've lived off that as well as I can."

"A hero? Now how do you do that?" Freddy asked, finally starting to get dried off.

"Actually it just seems to play out that way. I really know how to get myself into situations like this. Not as strange as this... but dangerous, big things. And it always takes me to some sort of mutual gain."

"Sounds kind of dumb."

"It does, doesn't it? But I wouldn't have it any other way." Jon began to do some sorts of aquatic acrobatics. With smooth, sleek rolls an somersalts, flexing his powerful tail. It felt great, Jon decided. Stopping himself hadn't even come to mind this time.

OOC: (Edited from last post... TUrtle Guy has dropped out of the RP for the time being, I will be handling his character. And before I do, I want to note it's a pain in the arse to type the speech distortion so I will be typing normal... but his speech is still distorted. And one last note: Shadow Lady, I can't really keep you in on things if you're absent from the RP so much... so I am going to keep moving. Jump back in whenever you like, however.)

IC:

"I was unemployed at the time, but I've never had a full time job yet, only part times." Josh said, standing near the water's edge. "I'm not sure it I could swim or not..." he said with a sigh. I'd rather be out flying.

"I see." Jon said before diving again. Moving his tail back and forth rapidly he accelerated up throught the surface and landed on the cement with a thud. I wonder how much I weigh like this...?

"I'm a real estate broker." Freddy butted in. "Big money to be made there, you know. I've done a lot of properties up and down California ever since me and my family moved there."

Everyone left the poor court... Jon felt good to be back on the ground. Movement in this form felt so fluid and smooth, like he was gliding across the floor...

"...We need to kill time until tomorrow. I figure we don't have much of a chance if we all try to escape at once. So just us five should try and escape with photos and blow the whole operation open, freeing everyone else... but if..." he trailed off.

"What?" Kim said.

"Nothing, we shouldn't have to worry about that. Where to?"

Jason shrugged. Truth be told he didn't really want to leave the pool, but splitting up may be a bad idea too.

I have no idea. he muttered. Other than away from here, I have no preferences...

"Well. If we're out of suggestions... I wanted to see a movie. I want to do something normal for a while." Jon said. He turned to face a map just outside the door. YOU ARE HERE, it declcared, with a point towards a spot on the sign. He looked for and found the theater. "Thataway," he decided. They left the halls... they had split up with the many other people for a while. It was just Jon, Josh, Jason, and Kim.

"J is a popular letter, is seems." He said, as he pushed open the door. There was just a black white ;ight projected onto the screen. A lighted neon sign pointed toward a console near the very back of the theater. Upon further examination, he stated this could be used to choose movies, and there was a lot of them. Almost every movie he could think of, and a slew of TV shows could be streamed from the internet as well.

"I don't watch that much TV... you can pick." Jon slid away and tried again the complicated process of getting confortable in a chair.

(OOC: Hey, Wraith. Is Jason a biped or a quadroped?)

(OOC: Kinda a mixture. He usually walks on four legs, but he can walk on two for short times if nessecarry, and when staying still he sits back on his hind legs, using his front ones like normal arms.)

IC:

There was something about normallity that didn't sit right with their situation...somehow it felt like acting normally would make everything ok, and of course, everything was certainly NOT okay!

Still, there wasn't much choice at the moment either.

Jason scratched his back as he stepped over to the screen. The atmosphere of the cinema room was very dry, and made his skin itch all over. He wished he could watch from inside some kind of water tank...much more comfortable.

Anyone any preferance, or should I put my favorite on? he asked absently. Speak now, or it's I-Robot.

He glanced at Josh and Kim, resting a finger absently on the screen as he did so. suddenly he jumped and pulled his hand away, uttering a cry of supprise. Ow! Darn static electricity! I hate it when that happens!

Noone did. The movie started, and everyone tried to get seated. Jon was simply too big, and because of the shape of his body if he tried to sit down like he nomrally would he would slide down the seat. Jason barely fit it in, and when he did his thick tail would be pinned beneath him and the chair akwardly. Kim couldn't lean back all the way because of her wings, and Josh was having trouble because his body had an akward natural posture. Freddy had the least problems out of all of them - just minor tail pinning. His and Kim's tails, however, were small enough to fit through a gap in the back of each chair - Jon and Jason couldn't even attempt that.

Someone brought out popcorn and soda. They ate... but Jon couldn't stand the soda. On his first sip he shouted and dropped it on the floor, and started touching his tounge cautiously. How it hurt!

Noone else was having any problems, really. Everything went alright for the most part, and they even managed to laugh once or twice. It was uneasy, however. They were all still unconfortable and eneasy, doing something so normal at a time like this. Jon almost felt guilty for laughing at anything at this time - as if he thought he was expected to be grim about things.

The movie was about halfway done when it just shut off abruptly. On it it said "Sleep mode - 10 hours. Jon noticed a small insignia at the bottom of the screen.

"Stevens Elctronics? he said and then laughed. It sounded strange, however, comimg from a serpentine mouth.

A voice boomed over an intercom. "The day's over. Head to your dorms by checking the maps. Near each map is a terminal. Enter your name and it will give you your room number, which you will find on the map."

And then they went and did it. They had split up for the first time since they banded together on the beach.

---

Everyone was in their own rooms. They were all identical - bed, drawers, a desk with a TV, except...

The pool was magnificient, and the strange, soft, and spongry synthetic material made a sort of bed fr Jason as he lounged amidst the fake but extremely convinving coral reef that covered the entire surface area of the pool floor and walls.

It felt pretty natural. And homey.

Creak.

He startled awake and swam to the surface. Jason was sure he heared something, and went to look at the door. It was open, but noone was in here.

"You're still human on the inside, and frankly, humans don't look up."

Jason looked up, obviously.

Another experiment was hanging from the ceiling. Remember the centaur? Well, replace the horse body with a giant spider having a legspan of about 13 feet and you have this guy. He was wearing a shirt , but two holes were cut in the front. Tarantulas have "feeler" apendages that look like smaller spider legs. Two of these come forth from his shoulder blades, each about 4 feet in legnth.

"I've been here longer than you. And your four friends have all the skills traits we need to escape. They'll meet you in the dining room. Go." And he left again. He made almost no noise when he moved. He got throught the double doors, but it was a tight fit for his size.

---

Jon was behind the bar, swaying in a very odd fashion, almost trancelike. Josh was mockingly holding a rolled up paper plate and pretending it was a flute - acting like a snake charmer, just for kicks.

Jon wasn't swaying because of that. He was clutching a bottle with "Samuel Adams Light" written on it. Several others were scattered across the floor, empty. Kim and Freddy were sitting in a booth talking. Near the huge skylight window on the ceiling was the arachnoid from before.

What the...?

Jason climbed out of the pool and moved over to the door. He was about to step through when he heard footsteps approaching.

He waited, listening. The footsteps came closr, passed the other side of the door and started fading again. He peeped out into the hallway beond, and saw two big, burly figures in body armour. Security guards, apparently.

He waited till they had turned into another corridor then stepped out of the room, making his way in the oppisite direction.

It didn't take long for him to reach the dining room, and as he stepped in he looked around at all the others, his scaley face set in a frown.

Okay just what's going on here?

"I don't quite know myself," Jon said, his speech slurring. "But he must be right. The beer says so, and so it shall be." He leaned against the bar counter. A strange version of snoring ensued.

"Of course I did. But if nothing can go wrong, it will anyways." the arachnoid cflimbed down a wall and to the floor. "Your part is the most crucial. You have to go back to the beach and get back into the tunnels. They're left open to keep the water circulating. Go to the command bay from the lagoon and break in."

But I can't. The glass is too thick.

"That's why I'm giving you this." he tossed a hammer and a chisel to him. "The chisel is carbon edged. It'd break through in one hit. One inside, you need to use this and get as many weapons will fit inside." now he tossed Jason a large dufle bag. "The guns are engineered to be waterproof, so don't worry about getting them wet, and there's a whole rack of them in that command bay. The control consoles are waterproof too, so use them to unlock every door you can. It is clearly labled, so you should not have to figure it out. Then use the halls to reach here again. Rendevous with us. in the theater."

Won't I be caught?

"They're not tight on security past the subject-allowed areas. No problem."

Jon stirred. "The... M4 not worksh... jammed so get shotties and pishtols."

Huh?

"Trust him." Joshua said. "Shotguns and pistols it is."

Jason was now througly confused by this point, but he took the equipment...mainly because he figured he had nothing better to do! Slowly he left the hotel, being careful to avoid the guards outside, and ran down the the beach.

From the beach his progress was considerably faster, as he was able to jump into the sea and swim along. Eventually he reached the sign talking about the hotel, and he knew that the cave was somewhere below. Dipping his head underwater, he switched to his gills (now completely without thinking) and dived down into the darkness.

The lights in the tunnel had gone out, but his enhanced eyes had no trouble seeing in the blackness. He found the tunnel quickly and swam through into the lagoon.

Sure enough, there was the control room, the lights still on, but nobody inside. He swam over to it, lifting the hammer and chisel, and delivered the glass a sharp blow.

Nothing.

One hit? Huh...right.

He tried again, and still the glass didn't smash, but looking closely, he could see cracks appearing. He began to hammer away at it hard...with each hit the cracks spread, reaching the sides of the window and splintering across the middle like a spider's web. It wouldn't be long now...

Then, the chisel broke.

What the...???

He looked down as the blade of the chisel dropped into the blackness below, leaving him with the handle. This couldn't be happening!

He dropped the handle too and started working away at the glass with the hammer, but it wasn't tough enough! No more cracks were appearing!

He was getting angry! In a rage, he swung his fist at the glass, slamming it with his knickles. Still it held, but he noticed something strange! As his fist contacted, there had been a small flash of light, shimmering across his hand like an electrical charge! He lifted his hand up to his face, looking at it carefully.

Then suddenly it dawned on him...that that Michealson had said before, about his DNA being combined with an Electric Eel...it had been true??? Maybe that explained the static shock that he had got from the control pannel earlier!

He concentrated in his hand, thinking hard, and suddnely sparks began to sump across his fingers, like a mini firework display! He watched in fascination...this was amazing!

Could it help in the current situation...? Carefully he reached out, placing his palm on the glass. Maybe...just maybe...it may make a difference! Closing his eyes, he concentrated on his palm, focusing his energy.

There was a blinding flash and a loud POWWWW, and suddenly the glass gave way. Water rushed into the room, pulling Jason with it! Immeadeately security doors locked down, sealing the water in to avoid flooding the entire base.

Jason looked round the room, checking what each computer console was for. He spotted the security one and quickly activated it, opening all the doors he could, flicking his tail against the current as the water rushed out of the room and into the base. Then he quickly opened up the weapons locker in the control room and grabbed all the guns that would fit into the bag he was carrying.

This done, he span round and swam out of the room, moving very quickly down the corridors thanks to their now being flooded...

Jon stirred. People turned to look at him. He leaned up and faced a wall nearby.

"Hiya thur Stehveens..."

The entire wall flipped open like a door, and water poured in. An out-of-control Jason sprawled into the room, thrashing against the current.

In about ten seconds it flipped shut once more. Just like that, it was over.

"Too bed you lahst the chizzy but you made it okey." Jon leaned against the wall. At this point he was nearly incoherent.

"You made it, it looks like." Freddy said, walking over to him and pulling him back up. "Good job, I suppose." He picked up the bag and passed guns around. Everyone had their gun of choice, hand or shot.

"You alright?"

Yeah. Mostly.

"Well alright then. Richard - that spidery fellow? - he told us the rest of the plan and ditched. We're going to go get Michealson. And we know right where he is, and it's not far away. There's little resistance as well."

Where? Jason "said" almost eagerly. He still couldn't wait to get his hands on him.

"That's one problem... only Richard can make it. It's straight up a cliffside, and the only choppers are halfway around."

Then how are we going to get up there?

"Well, Kim and Josh can fly. But us, we have to do the same as Richard. We climb."

-

They took some of the public passages to what appeared to be a lab. Tanks - big ones - were around. About the size of school busses.

"This is where they said subjects would go if they wanted newer forms," Freddy explained. "So we're going to use this for said new forms."

We don't know how to use these! Jason claimed.

"Well," Kim said, "they use Windows. So getting into the interface should be easy enough. And Richard gave us these." she said, and held up three CD-RWs, labled per person: Jon, Jason, and Freddy.

"Ready to go for a swim?" Josh said, holding up a syringe with clear liquid. Before he could react, Jason found it plunged in his neck. The bitter darkness of unconciousness was back again.

-

All three out them came to inside the tanks. They quickly swam up to the surface, even though they didn't feel particularly drowned. The liquid in the tanks was indeed breathable.

Jon and Freddy emerged sputtering, but Jason was fine. They still weren't human, but they weren't the same either.

Each of them had eight legs - Spider legs - emerging from their back. They were each a good five or so feet long, with Jon and Jason's being considerably thicker to support their mass.

"The plan is," Freddy said, climbing out without the assistance of the strange appendages, "to climb directly up the wall, and then we'll reach the Staff Quarters. Then, we remove the extra limbs and get to Michealson to obtain the antidote."

Jon already knew this. He was practicing with his slightly altered form before he left without a word. He seemed too confident. "This way." And he led them outside and to the foot of the cliff, not even stopping once to check for guards. How could he be so careless and still succeed as so?

Everyone started the tiring climb. Jon already disliked this form - it was far too unnatural a combination. He'd rather go back to the snake-only form... he didn't realise he was attached to it.

"

Jason looked down at his spider legs as they went. As if this couldn't get any worse...!

One question though... he muttered as he watched the rest step toward the cliff face and begin to climb. Just how are we supposed to ditch the legs at the top without another lab???