Percy's point of view
I'm in a giant dungeon like room surrounded by erasers. This was another part of their tests. They want me to fight and incapacitate all the erasers without killing them. The not killing thing was only there because last month they tested me and I killed 10 erasers I would have killed more if it wasn't for this stupid shock collar around my neck. They kill innocent kids, or torment us mutants with threats and punches, claws and sometimes they just beat the crap out of me just 'cause they feel like it, it's alsoo easier to fight when you don't have to hold back. So right now I'm still pretty psyched I get to give these wolf freaks some pay back they didn't mention anything about breaking bones. Oh I forgot to mention, Erasers are these mutants who are part wolf and part human, I also forgot to mention that I'm only 90% human, the other 10 % of me is acinonyx pardinesis DNA, basically a prehistoric cheetah that was the size of a lion just in cheetah form.
I was waiting for orders to start fighting the erasers, because trust me if you don't listen they punish you, big time. It's kill or be killed, right? Finally a white coat (scientist) nodded at me, and with that I began. I snarled and lunged at the closest eraser, which was in arms reach. I grabbed the scruff of his neck and smashed his head down to my knee a twice which knocked him out and caused his nose to gush blood, then I released my grip and he dropped the floor unconscious. Oh ya another piece of important information I forgot to say that the outcome of my ancient cheetah DNA was that it gave me increased strength, speed, and I heal at insanely fast speeds when in contact with water.
Back to reality I quickly noticed two more erasers edging forward so I did a round house kick which led to the bulky wolf man getting three teeth sent rocketing out of his mouth along with a dislocated or maybe broken jaw landing on the ground. I elbowed the other one in the head which most likely broke his jaw oops maybe a little to much on that one. Then I moved on to the next unlucky guy and latched my hands on his ears and pulled them off, and let me tell you it was pretty gruesome, I have learned from experience that eraser's ears are pretty sensitive. Then I finally let loose and and my body shifted into a cheetah .I let my instincts pull take over soon everything became a blur of round house kicks, punches, ear pulling, shredding, elbowing, breaking jaws, and my personal favorite which is where you grab any limb of the eraser and punch or kick it thus causing it to snap backwards and break it. I finally finished with the ground littered with around 20 unconscious erasers.
Right now you are probably wondering how I learned to fight. Well the answer is that since I'm the white coats first successful experiment with cheetah DNA, so they felt like it was necessary for me to access full capacity of fighting. This was pretty dumb of them because I could easily whop their butts easily, but then they would end up capturing me on some long drawn out chase and I would get 'tortured again'.
My body was sore and tired so I trotted over a couple of feet out of the pile of blood I was in and decided to lay there putting off shifting back not really wanting to put any additional soreness in the mix.
"Very good subject 07" the white coat congratulated me. I just glared at him. "Now you will be tested on your leadership skills." He added. What? I was not expecting that, and what does he mean? "You will be given a group of mutants with wings and what not, and you will have to lead them. Before we do this we would like to have another experiment with your DNA" What? Ok now I'm scared. The last time they added animal DNA to me I transformed into a fucking cheetah, I quickly shifted back almost not even noticing the pain of my bones shifting back into place,what will I get this time?
"And what did you have in mind?" I asked with a cold tone, trying to hide my curiosity.
I briefly considered running, but last time I did they caught me starving to death, a side effect of the cheetah DNA is raised a temperature a side effect of a accelerated metabolism. Humans can survive weeks without food and a couple of days without water, me on the other hand need water at least once a day and food every two or I would be resting on my deathbed.
"You will just have to wait and see" he paused to look at my reaction, which was a very angry look "and don't worry, we already tested it and it was successful." He concluded, I hate surprises.
"What if I decline?" I asked
"You can imagine what we can do." he stated with an evil grin.
I pondered for a moment when another question popped in my head "How much DNA?"
"Only about 20% of your remaining human DNA, which means you will have some new features that relate to the DNA that we will give to you, but you will still have retain your tail, I know how much it means to you" he said. If there is one thing I love in this world its my tail they had tried to do something to my tail once and I killed everybody in a 50ft radius. The experiment seemed harmless though, no one would die, but I would be more of a mutant than ever. But at least it would be me and not any other poor experiment so I agreed and I was immediately escorted to a lab room that was filled with a chair you might see in a dentist office (the scientist made me go once) and tables filled with syringes and doctor tools. I was having second thoughts, but then I remembered all the innocent I didn't really have a choice and they beckoned me forward and I was greeted by 10 scientists who pushed me into the chair.
The florescent light blinded my view so I could only slightly see the white coats preparing all the needles. They put some liquid onto a rag and held it up to my face covering my nose and mouth. Whenever I took a breath all I smelt was that awful smell of cleaning supplies, and with that stench was ingested I passed out into a dreamless sleep.
I awoke to cheers of middle aged scientist. "First success in a long time" I heard someone say.
"Good job everyone" another yelled. I got the courage to open my eyes and was greeted by another round of cheers.
"What's going on?" I asked a little frightened but didn't show it in my voice.
"Take a look" a white coat chimed while handing me a hand mirror. I took one look and it answered my question. Within my mound of black hair stood two piercing black ears, both identical and they nearly blended in with my hair that now oddly had a orange streak in it. So they injected me with more cat DNA I wonder which type it was this time. I attempted to twitch them and they both moved in response. I focused to the left of me and my ears tilted to the left and I could hear all of the scientists at the very back of the room toward the left perfectly. Then I slowly sat up so I was standing but held onto the arm rest of the chair. I turned my head to see my tail but now it was primarily black with but decorated with orange stripes. I made it to whirl around my hand and it obeyed as it stealthily slithered around my wrist then undid itself. Cool. Then the scientists looked at me expectantly.
"Go on, try to morph" one of them beckoned. I was used to this so I closed my eyes and concentrated on my other form, a pain erupted in my gut and I could sense myself changing. When the pain reseeded I was on all fours as usual I opened my eyes, even though I didn't know they were closed, and saw amazed looks on the white coats and after a second they burst into cheers again. Really? Why must old people cheer all the time? One of them pulled a human sized mirror out from behind them so I could see myself. What I saw shocked me.
My face grew a short snout with light reddish brown hair and white whiskers. My sea green eyes were the same color but my skin was coated with orange hair and piercing black stripes that were more diagonal towards my head then shifted to horizontal I had also appeared to have gotten a lot more muscles my legs seemed to have gotten even longer and my hind legs looked like pure muscle and bone, but for the most part I kept my lithe form. I turned sideways so I could see my underbelly and seen it was white and speckled with light tan spots. Then my eyes shot back up to my face only to be met with 2 serrated canines that protruded 2 inches out of my mouth. Sweet. I opened my mouth all the way to get a better look at my teeth and they didn't disappoint. I was going to roar but that would scare them which would be bad they need to feel safe at least sort of so when I break out it will be easier. Though I don't know how anybody could feel safe staring at this beast that was now me. There still was some cheetah left though there were some spots here and there but they were gray and my hair was thicker than ever.
"Come with me, we need to test you." The white coat from my tests earlier said. I shut my eyes tightly and thought about going to my normal self and when I opened my eyes I looked down at my hands and saw that they were normal again, I licked my lips when I cut my tongue on my tooth I opened my mouth to see my canines were still there just better suited to fit in my mouth and they weren't as serrated .Then I obediently followed the white coat because erasers packed in and watched me hungrily. I bared my teeth at them threateningly daring them to try some I had never felt this good in my life and was ready to beat some eraser ass. We walked through metal doors and ended up outside in a training area. There was a track, weights, and a fighting ring. I followed the white coat to the track.
"My name is Jeb by the way." The man said while sticking his arm out to me welcomingly. I gratefully took it even though I didn't trust him.
"You know me but call my Percy, I don't like subject 3. It reminds me that I'm a mutant." I replied with an unexpected growl from my throat.
"Ok Percy," Jeb said while gesturing me to come forward "you will run around the track once in human form" he told me, not even asking. How rude. I got into a running stance as Jeb readied the stopwatch. "Go!" he said. And with that I sprinted faster then ever before which was surprising since in human form I could almost rival a cheetah I noticed I had more power in each stride, but I still didn't go all out not wanting them see me go as fast as I could. After following the graveled track I made it to the line where I started with a wide mouthed Jeb staring at me.
"Good job subj-I mean Percy! That was impeccable speed, much faster than when you didn't have the Tiger or Hometherium DNA." He paused to take a breath "almost 50 percent faster" he said while giving me a pat on the back.
"Thank you... wait what the fuck is a Homotherium". I said not recognizing the species name. "it was a prehistoric cat scimitar toothed it was a pack animal and adapted to running long distances at a fast pace." after he said pack I zoned out I had had a pack and we had escaped just a month and a half ago. All of them died except me and one who was severely injured when they recaptured us. I had only seen him once since then from what I heard he was still recovering. I shook my head clearing my head of those depressing thoughts.
I recovered just in time to hear Jeb say. "Now do the same thing but in your new form" he said while resetting the stop watch. I thought to myself again to transform to cat-form and with one look at my paws I knew it worked. I got into a pouncing stance ready to start running. "Go!" Jeb yelled again, this time with confidence. I put my arms and legs into motion, and to my surprise I was off going fast like really fast my record speed was 110 as a cheetah but I knew I was going faster than that. When I ran I kind of skipped once in a while because I was still getting used to all the speed and power, just think whats going to happen when I go all out it made me shiver in anticipation. I made it back to Jeb in no time. This time his jaw was to the floor. He was practically screaming when he looked back at his stop watch. "Percy! That was amazing!You almost doubled your speed !" it took a while for him to calm down. I was proud of myself for pleasing him without blowing my cover. Once he was over the shock he said "now let's go to the weights" after those words I transformed back to human and now there was a little more pain when transforming into my new hybrid form when transforming. The erasers had come to observe me which was bothering me my animal instincts screamed ripped them to shreds for tearing me from my pack. I ignored and suppressed my feelings fiddling with my tail .We walked about 10 yards before we made it to a bench that was surrounded with shelves of weights. I sat down while the erasers passed some weights to me. I lifted them with ease. They handed me more and I had the same reaction. This went on for about 10 more times until I decided that was all they were going to see. I dropped the weights and went to get a drink of water. Once again Jeb looked overjoyed and pleased with me, but he was getting higher expectations for me. "Amazing as always Percy" he said. Okay? This is weird; no one ever says that to me. Ever.
"Thank you. I'm glad I could amaze you." I said with sarcasm.
Jeb then said "you do realize that you lifted double the amount of weights compared to when you just had cheetah DNA. Good job." He said while ruffling my hair. This is weird. He's acting like I'm his child. Does he not remember that he's is one of the monsters who killed my mom after I was born and is experimenting on kids. He tossed me another bottle of water and I chugged it down within seconds, then he passed another with a chuckle and I again downed it. "Okay so now you have to fight off the erasers in the fighting ring. They will keep coming until you can't fight anymore. You are able to morph if you want."
"How do you know if I can't fight anymore?" I asked
"I just will, now get. The ring is right over there." He said while pointing towards a platform surrounded by a cage, which wasn't encouraging. I jogged to the arena and only then did I realize the large line of erasers by the entrance, throwing taunts and insults to me as I passed them and entered the ring. Jeb was standing by the entrance with an encouraging grin. I thought to myself about my paws and snout with fangs, and my body obeyed as my hands changed into paws with claws, and I could feel a tingle near my mouth and nose so I know it worked, I also felt my pointed fangs fully extend out of my mouth. Other white coats joined Jeb with doubtful looks and enjoy the show I thought as I bared my teeth and growled while getting into a fighting stance. I had a weird feeling about killing the erasers. Am I enjoying this? Must be a tiger thing. As the entrance opened my first unlucky victims strutted in. I pounced onto them and with one fluid movement I slashed ones eye out and bit anothers arm crushing bone with my powerful molars. I then twisted to the side and shoved the last one who had just dove at me with my powerful hind legs sending him flying into the cage I grinned as he threw up. The next one I pawed in the spot where the sun doesn't shine, and he collapsed to the ground while I kicked him in the temple. Then I sprinted at one and pounced at him shifting mid air into a human. I tackled him into a group of three erasers that had just entered. Then everything slowed down I seen a eraser lunging at me out of the corner of my eye and I almost instinctively knew one was just behind me. I caught the eraser then swiveled and used the eraser as a shield then I shoved them both into the cage. Another one charged right at me, I decided to have fun with this one he raced toward me I grinned just what I need he went for a flying tackle and I bended backwards as he flew over me, I planted my hands on the ground and pushed off my feet flying straight into his gut sending him flying through the air so high that he flew over the cage and landed right next to a scientist. I was still standing on my hands so I let the next eraser tackle me and rolled with him I rolled a extra time so I would be on the top I punched in the jaw and a canine flew out. I quickly stood up and dealt with the rest of the erasers that didn't look all to exited to get in the ring with me now. I was already stronger than them as a cheetah but now it was pitiful.
Soon there were only three erasers left; they also looked like the biggest one even appeared to be 9ft tall. I charged the first and gave him a solid uppercut and watched as spit flew out of his mouth and got a bit of air time before landing on his head. Then I glared at the reaming freaks. I know I'm a hypocritical because I guess I'm a freak too. I kicked ones legs and he dropped to the ground as I kneed him in the jaw so hard his eyes seemed to reverberate in his head. I turned to the last mutant who looked unperturbed by the possible murder of his friends. I backed up and morphed I was extremely surprised when I heard bones shifting then he transformed into a horse sized wolf his transformation took much longer though. I had an idea though I dashed at him as he dashed at me I growled at him and leaped at him and I watched carefully as he did as well his was lower than mine I shifted back as I soared over him and grabbed his hind legs as I flew past he let out a whine of surprise then I yanked on his legs still in mid and watched as flew over me head firs into the gate. I rolled as I came in contact with the ground. I ended the role on my back panting from the exertion I felt hot like I usually do after a long sprint. Oh well All done.
I turned around toward the entrance and saw all the white coats, including Jeb, staring in awe at me. Then I looked at the ground and found mountains of erasers bodies most lying in pain I seen a couple laying motionless I cocked my ears in there direction to listen for a heartbeat but found none. Some were closer to death than others.
I heard one of the white coats yell "Oh my gosh! That was amazing. Most successful development yet. But some of erasers wont be walking for a while." He said the last part sadly. Then I looked at Jeb and he looked proudly at me like I was his own son. I sat up and grinned back but I still don't trust him, I won't trust anyone who is or was a white coat.
"Per-" he looked at the other white coats and mouthed 'sorry' then said "impressive work subject 3," he paused then said "now we will show you to the flock." He started walking away so I followed. As I walked I wiped the blood that was around my mouth I could feel the remaining white coats staring at me, all the way until I reached the building. We walked through the long hallway silently; you could almost hear a pin drop if it wasn't for the loud echoing of Jeb's shoes. He jolted to a stop and then took out a pair of keys and jiggled them in the door until I could hear a little crick and then the door unlocked. As we entered the cold dark room I could hear rustling movements. Jeb turned a switch and a single light burst to life. Now I could clearly see the room. It was small and the walls were painted gray, there were no widows and no vents. Just a chilly, dark, small room. Then I could see that the room was scattered with cages on the ground.
"Sorry about the small room, I know you liked your old room with your pack." Jeb said. I glared at him as if to say no shit? "Jeb what did you guys do to me I was fast before but this is crazy and my stamina is a lot better now." "We decided to enlarge your lungs and heart and made everything flow a lot smoother throughout your body and added a little more cheetah so you would keep you speed. Oh yeah and we also hollowed out your bones." "what the fuck how did I survive we dunked you in water when ever you started dying." Okay it's official I am a huge experiment.
I looked in the cages and saw 6 kids with wings, the oldest appearing to be a little younger than me, and the youngest looked to be around 7. Then I saw another mutant that looked like a cat and human mixture, and she looked to be my age too. Then I looked at the last occupied cage and there was a pile of human guts and fungus, an eyeball was floating in the middle. It smelled terrible.
"Jeb, what happened to him?" I said sadly while gesturing toward the blob.
"Oh that was our latest experiment; we were trying to mix him with plant DNA. Didn't work." He replied solemnly.
I bent down next to it and nearly threw-up. "Poor little guy."I mumbled.
"Hey you." Jeb said to the guard eraser "Get this thing out" he demanded while gesturing to the cage, the eraser obeyed but looked scared as he saw me watching. He reached the cage and started rolling it out.
Jeb lead me to the remaining empty cage. To my luck it was at least a decent size, so I could sit up properly cross legged. Jeb walked out of the room as if he didn't know me and it made me a little upset. I thought we had a connection? Tsk What was I thinking, all white coats are the same.
All eyes were on me in the dimly lit room. "Don't worry" I said in a gentle voice because the silence was killing me "I don't bite." I scoffed a little, knowing that I was full and well capable of doing so. No need for them to know about that just yet.
"Thank goodness, I thought you were an eraser at first, but then I thought, why would an eraser feel sorry for a mutant experiment gone wrong? Because they normally just laugh at that sort of thing. So who are you? What are you? DNA wise I mean." Said one of the bird kids, a girl who looked to be 10 or 11.
"Well I'll tell you all I know" I said and she just nodded, the others just watched with curious eyes. "Well my name is Perseus Jackson, but you guys can call me Percy. I've been in this hell hole for almost 16 years, ever since I was born. The white coats kidnapped my mom when she was pregnant with me and injected me with acinonyx pardinesis DNA when I was in her whom. When she gave birth to me they killed her and put me in a cage for the rest of my life, every once in a while they would train me to fight, or run because I'm supposedly their biggest success. Because of that they decided to inject with Tiger, and Homotherium DNA and they just tested me out." I summed up, skipping the details about the tortures I got because there were children present.
They looked at me and then the little 6 year old bird girl spoke. "What are those?" she asked in a soft voice while pointing at my stomached. I totally forgot that I had no shirt on. I looked down and saw a variety of scars and bruises running across my chest. There were old ones and resent ones, but the worst one was given to me a couple of months ago when my pack was killed I was brought back to the white coats and they thought it would be funny to tie me down and cut me with a burning hot knife as a punishment. It was the longest too, going from my shoulder and crossing down through my pec. I thought about what to say and then just said.
"Umm…" I paused "I got caught" was all I said. "Well your turn, names and what not please" I said.
"Well I'm Nudge" said the talkative one who was the first to talk to me earlier. "My real name is Monique, but I don't like it because it sounds weird to me. I'm eleven, and I have wings, and that's basically all I know" she said sadly. She had mocha skin and big curly brown hair.
"I'm Angel and I'm seven. I'm part bird too" said the young one that noticed my scars. "I can read minds too!" she said sweetly. Wait did I just hear that right. Mind reader? "Yes you did" she replied. Well she can read mind, interesting. She had blond hair and piercing blue eyes. She's really adorable. "Thank you" she said. Oops.
Next a guy who looked like Angel but a little older spoke. "I'm Gazzy, but they call me Gasman" he said while pointing to the others in the room. I do not want to experience why they named him that. "I'm Angel's sister and I'm nine years old, I have wings. I like bombs and fire because it kills erasers" I chuckled at that and looked at the next bird kid.
He was tall, thin, pale, and topped with strawberry blond hair. His eyes were pale and clouded. He apparently sensed me staring at him because he started to speak. "My name is Iggy, I can't see because of an experiment gone wrong, I'm 14 years old but the youngest out of us three." He said while he gestured to the two cages next to him, which caused me to stare at the guy next to him.
He had black hair, black eyes, and olive skin. "Fang" was all he said in a cold raspy voice, then he continued "14 years old" and then he looked at the ground. What a talker I thought sarcastically. Any ways, next was the oldest of those last 3 I assumed.
"My name is Maximum Ride, but don't call me that, call me Max. Sorry about grumpy over there" she said while looking ant Fang "he's always like that. I'm 14 years old, and the oldest of us bird kids." She had brown hair with blond streaks. She was lean and strong looking for an average girl.
"Cool thanks." I said then I looked at the next kid "what about you?" I asked
She and long raven hair that curled down her back. Her eyes were ice blue and her cheeks were glossy from crying. She had pale ears and a gray bushy tail that she was twirling in her hand. She looked up and took a deep breath. "My name it Katherine but please call me Kat. I just turned 15. I got to the school when I was seven and the turned me into a wolf freak, I came to this room a couple of weeks ago. I'm 10% Dire wolf and 100%freak" she said while tears streamed her face.
"Hey, hey" I said in a sad but calming voice "don't cry, you're not alone, if anything I'm a bigger freak than you. I'm only what 70 percent human now. And besides we are all in this together. And I promise if it's the last thing I do, we will get out of this alive." I said encouraging. Kat looked up and smiled gratefully.
And I wasn't lying. For the rest of the night I was plotting how to get out of here. And I got a plan I just had to find a friend.
Just before I decided to go to sleep my ears twitched to the right I focused my hearing on what was going on and it wasn't pretty.
The scientist had been talking about a new project that involved mind controlling us mutants. It sucks for them though now that I know and am planning on breaking out... all of us.