A little girl sat alone in the dark, cold corner of a cell.
The ironcast bars before her cast long shadows from the dim lights in the hall.
Loud echoing footsteps caught her attention and she jerked her head up.
The door of her cell opened with a loud squeak and and her eyes widened with terror.
A woman wearing a black leather suit with a cloak of feathers and a cold, emotionless bird mask, stepped into the cell.
The small girl backed away from the woman as she approached.
Unfortunately, the little girl wasn't fast enough, as the crow swooped her up in her arms and carried her away to 'The Nest'.
'The Nest', as the small girl called it, was a big bowl-like area inside of a big, thick glass block.
The Nest had a floor with a grid-like lining on it that would give a bit of "encouragement" if you refused to use your "special gifts" or failed to perform a set task.
The girl tried desperately to get away from the woman carrying her.
She looked like a displeased kitten that didn't want to go into a pet carrier.
The woman, despite her emotionless attire, tried her best to sooth the girl and convince her that she only had to do one test.
It was a lie.
Like a parent telling their child their pet had "run away" or was on a big farm where they could frolic and play.
Sitting the struggling girl in her one arm and having her look over her shoulder, the bird-masked woman opened a near invisible glass door and walked into The Nest.
Setting down the girl gently the woman left The Nest and locked the door behind her.
The small child ran over to the door and pounded on it desperately to see if anyone would help.
They all just stared at her struggling in silence.
Turning around to face the center of The Nest, the small girl, labeled Jing Wei, walked towards it.
Her colorful wings twitched behind her and she shuddered.
A loud beeping noise caught the girl's attention and made her cover her ears.
The beeping stopped after a second and a female voice came over the speakers.
"Test 1: Begin," The robotic voice spoke.
JIng Wei could only ever finish Test 1 successfully.
"Flight test initiate. Fly through all the hoops above you."
The instruction were clear, simple.
Jing Wei spread her small wings and took off powerfully, launching herself up to one of the hoops hanging from the ceiling.
She gracefully slid through the first one.
The next few led her up into a spiral, all of which she swam through perfectly in the air.
The final hoop was barely an inch away from the ceiling and would shock her if she failed.
It was only one her first 4 times she'd failed and suffered the shocking.
She slid through the final hoop as gracefully as she did all the others.
"Test 1: Completed. Now proceed to Test 2."
WIth that, Jing Wei landed.
The floor gave her bare feet a slight shock and she jumped a bit.
When her feet made contact with the ground again, she was relieved to find she wasn't going to be shocked upon landing.
"Test 2: Socializing. Communicate and work with the Fury to reach the prize jar."
Jing Wei's heart stopped.
A Fury?!
Where the doctors crazy?
They lost what little shreds of humanity had been left over from their constant experimentation and being locked away in their cages a long time ago.
What made those sick freaks think this could have any positive outcome?
The loud blaring of sirens made the small girl cover her ears once again.
She shut her eyes tightly and curled up into a small ball on the floor.
The sound of inhuman shrieking and the jerking of chains was able to overpower the sirens and destroy the girl's muffled hearing.
Eventually the shrieking stopped and was replaced by a man's screaming.
The sounds of bones crunching and breaking, flesh being torn, blood painting the glass and floors, made Jing Wei feel sick to her stomach.
Daring to open an eye and peek at the gruesome sight before her, the little girl was mortified to find the Fury looking directly at her.
Turning it's head to the side, as if judging and analyzing the little girl, the experiment-turned-monster took a small step forward.
The blood covered mouth opened as if trying to say something, but all the came from it's mouth was a gargled clicking noise.
Backing away from the Fury every time it approached her, something nagged Jing Wei in the back of her brain.
It was the thought of being electrocuted for not performing the task she was assigned.
How could she though?
The doctors were completely unsatisfied by how the girl backed away from the Fury and pressed a small black button.
The entire Nest was filled with electricity and light and shrieks of pain.
Jing Wei staggered back, feeling weak and having a tingling pain all over her body.
The Fury let out a horrific cry and leapt onto the glass walls.
It's claws dug into the 5 foot thick glass and scratched it furiously.
With every roar, with every time the Fury opened it's terrible mouth, a clear view of it's ghastly, vampiric fangs was a image that burned itself into Jing Wei's mind, making her fear these beasts even more.
Jing Wei still tried to creep away from the Fury.
The beast in question looked over its shoulder and let out a foul shriek as it tackled and scooped up Jing Wei in it's wings/arms.
The little girl screamed and cried out with terror.
A large group of security officers rushed to The Nest with dart guns, chains, and even AKs, if killing was needed.
The Fury pressed Jing Wei to it's chest and tried to take off with only one wing.
It was airborne for a second before it crashed back to the ground.
The Fury tried again, but was dragged down by chains that wrapped around it's bird feet.
The monstrosity cried out, as if shouting for them to stop.
In it's panic, the Fury dropped Jing Wei.
The small girl found this as a chance to escape and run out the open door.
But the mutant monstrosity grabbed at her, managing to lunge and nearly landed it's claws in her little ragged, brown sack that she wore as a dress.
But the crow had returned.
She'd brought a whip with her.
To drag the Fury's attention away from the girl, she cracked the whip and watched through her blank goggles as it looked up at her.
Anger burned in it's white, pupiless eyes.
It made a lunge for the crow, but the woman simply watched as it's claws barely reached her mask.
If the claws were even a bit longer, or it the Fury was a bit bigger, than the crow would have been in danger.
But the crow watched blankly as the security team wrapped up the beast in chains and subdued it.
Jing Wei tried to slip past the crow, but she was once again swooped up by the crow and she was carried off.
The Fury kept struggling and fighting against the chains, crying out furiously.
But it was no use.
Jing Wei was gone.
…
"So," Said a man in a pressed, pristine lab coat that sat behind the desk, looking directly into the soulless eyes of the bird mask.
They were alone in a large room.
The man sat in his chair, working on some paperwork.
The woman fidgeted and drummed her fingers nervously.
She was nervous.
Scared.
Had she performed an infraction?
"Do you know why I've called you here?"
Unsure of how to answer the question, the crow just continued to fidget in her seat and let her eyes dart to each corner of the room.
Pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose gently, the man behind the desk stared at her, waiting for an answer.
After a few minutes of quiet the man stood up from his chair and walked over to the window.
"I will take you silence as a 'no'."
Turning back around to face the woman in the mask, he paced over to her.
"I've called you here today to discuss your… behavior, around that girl."
"I was just trying to get her to calm down…"
"That's not what I mean. You deliberately ended the test and called Security to pull her out."
"You couldn't have possibly expected her to be able to work with that… thing! Those Furies are just monsters! If you think that a mere child could-"
The man slammed his fist into the wall he now stood next to.
The crow stopped her sentence and thought about leaving, but she stayed in her seat and looked at the ground.
"I don't care."
The woman wanted to say something, but was a bit scared of this madman who dared call himself a scientist.
The man took in a deep breath through his nose.
He relaxed and turned to face the woman again.
"Your job was to get the girl in the testing room, observe, and be sure they finished their task. You were not supposed to intervene by any means."
The crow balled her hands into fists and sat there in silence.
She did not dare to speak.
She didn't want to have to face the mad scientist's wrath.
"If you do this again, I will have to let you go."
The breath stopped in the woman's throat.
The scientist seemed satisfied he had gotten his point across.
"I think you might need some time away from that child. Here,"
He rummaged through his desk for a moment, then pulled out a white envelope.
Taking out his wallet, he set the envelope on the desk.
"Oh, sir, that's not-"
"It's fine. Just take it."
"But I-"
He finished putting the 3 hundreds in the envelope and sealed it.
He pinched it between his forefinger and index finger, holding it in front of her face.
"Just. Take it."
After a few seconds, the crow slowly accepted the envelope.
She stood up from her chair and left the office.
The madman sat back in his chair.
He turned on his monitor and opened the security camera feed, watching the woman blaze through the halls and make her way to the exit.
Only when he was sure she'd left the building did he return to his paperwork.