San Francisco, California, 2010.
I was riding with my partner Shane Larson as we were heading to a car dealership to respond to a hostage situation. My name was Detective Richard Diggs of the SFPD and now was the time to finally make a name for myself in the force. My fellow officers think of me as a hothead and an arrogant asshole, but they have never had to fight to get what they want like I have, and they're just jealous about how good I am at my job.
"Time to make you proud...dad," I thought as Shane and I screeched up to the scene in his pristine 1970 Mustang Mach One, blaring "Bad to the Bone" by George Thorogood and the Destroyers, a complete cliche from a buddy cop movie. The engine and the music cut off instantly as we jumped out and rushed over to our commanding officer, Captain Flemming. Checking out the scene on the way over, we could see many officers and a SWAT team standing by, aiming at the mascot for the car dealership, a guy dressed up in a cartoonish Uncle Sam costume, who was busy yelling and smashing up a car window with a sledgehammer with one hand and holding what looked like a remote control with the other.
"Give us the situation, Captain," Shane said as he and I pulled out our standard issue Sig Sauer P226s.
"We got us a first-class nutcase here. Four hostages inside, all used car salesmen...I've got mixed feelings about this shitshow," Captain Flemming muttered as I focused on the perp and realized that the remote control he was holding must be the detonator to the bombs that were currently wired all over the outside of the building.
"Hmm...if that crazy son of a bitch pushes that button, this whole lot explodes and many people will die...I need to get the angle on him," I mumbled as I cautiously moved around to the side and took cover between two cars.
Seeing the man ranting and raving as I approached at the front of the cars, I stayed crouched between the cars and aimed my gun across the hood of one of the cars. Just then, Shane spotted me and his eyes widened in horror. Suddenly time slowed down and everything moved in slow motion as, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Shane making large gestures with his arms and mouthing, "Get out of there! What the hell are you doing?! Get out of there now! I said get the hell out of there!" The sudden motion caught Uncle Sam's eye and he turned around to see what the commotion was. At the same time, the men trapped in the building assumed that Shane was gesturing at them and took the opportunity to bolt out of the building while Uncle Sam had his back turned to them.
Upon hearing the men escape the building, Uncle Sam whipped back around, dropping his sledgehammer and pulling a 38 revolver out of his clown pants. As he was raising it to aim at the fleeing salesmen, one of the SWAT officers shot him in a kneecap and his gun and the detonator both went straight up in the air as he went down like a crazy red, white and blue sack of potatoes. I launched myself toward him, hoping to keep the gun away from him and/or catch the detonator. The gun was skidding across the pavement and I could see the detonator coming back down, so I lunged for it and made the perfect grab in midair and rolled right back up into a standing position, feeling pretty badass as I held the detonator high above my head in victory.
I was confused about why Shane, the Captain, the other officers, and the crowd of people in the background were whipping around and fleeing the scene in a panic. It was at this moment that I realized that I was holding the button down and the building was going to explode at any second. I lunged behind the wreckage of the car Uncle Sam had been attacking, landing on the wreckage of Uncle Sam just as the building exploded around us.
Unbeknownst to me, I was being watched by someone who had sinister intentions planned for me.
"What do you think?" one figure asked eagerly.
"Hmmm...so much capacity for destruction...he would make a fine soldier for my new army...yes, he'll do. Soon, that human will be in my paws and he'll enjoy his new life as my first experimental loyal soldier..." the main figure declared as it started laughing menacingly.
"Suspension?! You're not serious!" I exclaimed in disbelief while I was currently being yelled at by Captain Flemming.
"You're an uncontrollable wrecking ball, Diggs! You blew up a car dealership, for Christ's sake! The city is filing a lawsuit and the Chief is all over my ass because of you! I don't know what to do with you anymore, Diggs!" Captain Flemming retorted.
"I didn't ask for that crap to happen! Please don't do this to me...this job is all that I have left," I pleaded quietly and Captain Flemming sighed.
"Look, Diggs...I know it hasn't been easy since your father passed away 20 years ago and that you grew up in the system, but you need to learn to work with others or you're not going to move forward in life...hand me your badge and gun, Detective," Captain Flemming instructed.
I was angry at first until I relented by handing over my badge and gun, pissed that I was going through another bad situation in my messed up life. I left the office and passed a K-9 Unit, hearing the dogs snickering at me as I went by.
"Looks like Wrecking Ball Diggs did it again," I heard one of the German Shepherds mutter quietly.
"That human is such a Goddamn menace...it's a wonder why he hasn't been fired yet," the other shepherd remarked quietly.
"I hear that the Captain in his division owed his father for saving his life..." the first shepherd responded as I clenched my fists in response to them mocking me.
Growing up, I've always been able to hear animals talking like people and I thought I was going crazy at first. But as time passed by, I've learned to ignore it and focus on other things. I headed to the men's locker room and entered the room, heading to my locker and getting my stuff.
"So...the Captain must've laid into you pretty good if you have that look on your face," I heard a familiar voice speak, and I closed my locker to see Shane leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
"Apparently, due to the lawsuit and insubordination, I've been suspended...just another day in my shitty life," I grumbled irritably as I went to leave.
"Well, it's not like you are actively avoiding it either," Shane pointed out and I rolled my eyes.
"Sure, let's blame Richard Diggs for everything wrong in the world," I said sarcastically and added, "It's not like I'm not used to it."
"Rick-" Shane tried to say, but I held up a hand.
"Just...go be with your wife and kid or Wrecking Ball Diggs will screw everything up again," I cut off with a bitter frown as I passed him and left the locker room.
I passed many officers who were staring at me in disapproval, but I didn't care about what they thought of me as I left the building and went to my car. While I was driving home, I thought about my dad trying to raise me after my mother died in childbirth, then passing away 20 years ago when I was young, and how I had bounced around from foster home to foster home when no other family had been found. I eventually arrived at my house and got out of my car, heading to the front door. As I was unlocking the door, I suddenly felt something tiny and sharp hit my neck. I yelped as I frantically grabbed the small object and pulled it out, looking to see that it was a dart of some kind while my vision became blurry.
"Wha...oh...shit..." I slurred as I struggled to reach for my off duty weapon and fell face first to the ground.
I was losing consciousness and could see a figure approaching me, then I gave up the fight and blacked out.
I didn't know what was happening, but there were times when I was half awake and dozed off again. When I had finally regained consciousness, I noticed that I was fully nude and strapped to a metal table that was inside a dimly lit room with a big mirror on one wall that reminded me of the interrogation rooms at the station, so it was probably one way.
"What? What the hell is this?! Hey! Let me out of this damn thing!" I demanded in outrage and the lights suddenly turned on.
I yelped at the bright light and slammed my eyes shut, hearing the sound of an intercom turning on.
"I see you are awake...good. That means we can get started," a voice spoke and I struggled against my restraints.
"Who the hell are you?! Do you have any idea of how much trouble you're in?! I'm a police officer and kidnapping is a federal crime, so let me go or you'll find yourself in deep shit!" I threatened harshly, and I felt dread when the voice chuckled.
"Oh, I don't believe anyone will be looking for you since you officially died in a house fire that was caused by a gas leak. Once we took you, we made sure to make it look like you died in an accident so that no one will start looking for you. Long story short, nobody is coming to save you so you might as well get used to your new home," the voice explained cruelly.
"You bastards! You can't do this to me!" I roared in fury while I tried to get free.
"I wouldn't struggle if I were you...it would make the procedure that much harder and more painful for you," the voice warned as a mechanical arm with an injector lowered down to my right arm.
"What the hell is that?! What the hell are you going to do to me?!" I exclaimed in fear.
"It's just a little...experimental compound that'll bring you into a new form of existence. Hold still or things will get worse for you," the voice threatened as the needle lowered and sunk into one of the veins in my arm.
There was a cooling sensation at first as the unknown substance was injected into me, but it turned into a white-hot agonizing feeling and I convulsed from the sheer unimaginable pain that ran through my body. I screamed in agony as it felt like my blood was on fire and my body kept twitching from the pain...I didn't know what I felt next, but I heard the sound of my bones breaking and my internal organs making strange noises. I felt my head getting compressed while my neck and face got longer, my ears grew, my torso crunching out, my legs and arms snapping and shortening into an unknown shape, my hands and feet extending and stretching, and my spine growing out from my rear as my skin itched badly. I looked to see what was happening to me and I screamed in horror when I saw the torso, legs, paws, tail, and fur coloring of a German Shepherd. It was all too much for me and I rolled my eyes up into the back of my head while I fainted from shock and denial.
The unknown figure watched as the former human passed out and was approached by an assistant.
"The compound has been successful, but we have a problem..." the assistant stated and flinched when the figure glared at him.
"If there is one thing I despise, it's problems. What the hell happened?" the figure demanded.
"Well...we tried to implement the loyalty programming into the subject's mind, but it failed because his responses to our orders have been...sporadic and unpredictable. He shows extreme resistance to our programming methods," the assistant explained.
"Why?" the figure questioned.
"He is unusual...atypical. He possesses an iron will, unlike anything we have ever seen before," the assistant stated.
"If he cannot follow our orders, then he is useless...get rid of him and do it quietly. We can't afford to have those mutts discovering our plans," the figure ordered coldly.
"Yes Sir," the assistant agreed and had a couple of security guards take the former human out of the room.
The figure gritted his teeth and punched the wall next to him, unhappy that the project was a failure but he reassured himself that there would be other opportunities.
I groaned as I was regaining consciousness, waking up to find myself in some alley.
"Ugh...where the hell am I? Oh God, this has to be a nightmare," I thought as I looked at a puddle of water and saw a German Shepherd looking back at me.
"Shit...this is real...what the hell do I do now?" I whimpered and added, "I just need to survive and see if I can find the bastards who did this to me, then I'll force them to change me back and prove to everyone that I'm not dead."
Nodding to myself, I made sure to stay away from areas that were populated by humans and moved out to fulfill my new purpose.