3
One of the walls of the moving room slid upwards, allowing bright light to flood in. Kai blinks hard, waiting for his eyes to adjust, but before they can, hands are grabbing him like vises. He tries to claw them off, but his hands are pinned behind his back by something cold and metallic. He snarls, teeth bared, but someone shoves something hard and immobile into his mouth. He coughs, trying to push it out with his tongue, but nothing happens. Finally, his eyes regain their normal state, and he finds people in white lab coats and blue masks surging around them. The others are in the same situation as he is, arms stuck behind them, and he can see the strange material shining in their mouths, contorting their expressions oddly. White fabric descends on his face, obscuring his vision and he growls low in his throat.
"Walk," someone says firmly from behind him. He shakes his head, but they push something against his back. Something sharp and hot races through his body, weaker than the one that knocked him out earlier, but still painful. "Walk," the voice repeats and he obeys. No real point in resisting at this stage, plus who knows what they'll do to Nya if he rebels.
He can tell when they enter a building because the ground beneath his feet becomes slippery like glass. The scent changes too; it's sharper and sour, making his nose curl. Finally, the pressure against his spine eases and his steps slow to a stop. "Don't bite, or I'll shock you again," that voice says. He feels fingers in his mouth and has to fight back the urge to sink his teeth into them. However, a second later, they are gone and so is the strange material. He moves his jaws to relieve the soreness.
"Remove the blindfolds," a cool male voice says and the fabric turning the world white disappears. Kai blinks again and spots Nya, Jay, and Cole in a line next to him. "Welcome to Cryptor Laboratories!" the same male voice continues. Kai looks up to find a man in a black lab coat standing on the other side of a glass wall in front of them. His smile looks more like a leer, and it doesn't reach his grey-green eyes. Honestly though, he doesn't look like a maniacal villain. The farmer they faced off was more terrifying.
"What do you want with us?" Kai growls, more out of a need to break the silence than anything else.
The man's leer grows, but his voice remains the same tone. "You're a feisty one, I see! All the better, I like the feisty ones. You are here so that I can study your mutations. Hybrids have always appealed to me, and with your help, I may be able to do something about your abnormalities."
Jay is shaking hard enough to make his teeth chatter, his tail curling and uncurling between his fingers rapidly, but his voice is steady as he asks, "What if we want to stay the same?"
The man laughs, and it sounds genuine. "My dear boy, why would you want that?! Everyone despises you, and rightly so! You appear as monsters to them. Your irregularities cause you to be a danger to humanity."
A unanimous growl that travels around the room. Kai can see flames roaring in Nya's eyes as she clenches her teeth to bite back a sharp retort. He's about an inch from giving this scientist a piece of his mind himself, but that will likely get them in a worse position, so he stays silent.
"We've been just fine so far," Cole says, and though his voice is quiet, Kai can hear the snap in it as his tail lashes against the ground. "If we haven't done anything, why do you want to change us?"
The scientist laughs again. "But you have done something! Just being born, you are already something not meant for this world, a danger to the innocent human beings around you."
"But that's not our fault!" Nya shouts, evidently having reached her limit, her ears flat against her head. Kai shoots her a warning glance, but she ignores it. "No one can control being born or who they are! You have a twisted belief of free will, Mister...?"
"Cryptor. But that's Master Cryptor to you, little fox," Cryptor says with a grim smile. "Moving on to plans for you. You will train with each other, and I will collect samples daily from all of you. The training will change often, depending on the research I need to conduct."
Kai feels a sick feeling growing in his stomach. What was he going to have them do? And what kind of 'research' was he planning?
"For today though, you will visit your quarters and rest. There is no point in experimenting with exhausted specimens." Cryptor's smile doesn't improve Kai's queasiness. The scientist nods twice, and something moves behind them. Before he can react, the blindfold slips over Kai's eyes again and he is pushed forward. He tries to keep track of their route, but there are so many twists and turns that he is quickly lost. Eventually, they are led into one final room and the blindfolds are yanked off. The strange things trapping their hands are removed as well, freeing their movement. Kai gets a quick glimpse of two scientists before they close the door. There is a rapid clicking noise and then the sound of footsteps leading away. Immediately Nya tries to open the door to no avail.
"Rats," she growls, throwing herself into one of the bunk beds lining the walls.
Kai goes for the one remaining door, but it only leads to a bathroom, complete with shower. There are even spare sets of clothes, but Kai isn't ready to be grateful yet.
"What do you think this is?" Jay asks, messing with a flap in the wall.
"I don't care," Cole groans, copying Nya. "But... maybe we should talk before going to sleep."
"Oh so now he wants us to talk," Jay grins, a twinkle in his eye.
"Not like that," Cole sighs, sitting up. "What I mean is... we're a team now, whether we like it or not. We're in this together. We might as well know stuff about each other." There's a low mumble of approval and they all sit down. From this position, Kai realizes just how short Jay is compared to everyone else. Even Nya is taller than him, and Cole, even while sitting, is at least a head above him.
"I'll go first!" the ginger volunteers. "Hi, I'm Jay Walker, fifteen years old, my animal hybrid is the Tamarin Monkey. I'm an inventor, and I like all kinds of fruit! And my favorite color is blue." He smiles at them, and Nya sends one back.
"I'll go next," his sister offers, sounding surprisingly cheerful for their situation. "I'm Nya Smith and I'm fourteen. My animal hybrid is a fox, same as Kai's. I like chicken, red, and blue." Jay's cheeks go pink again and he turns away after a murmured greeting.
Kai and Cole hold a silent staring match to decide who goes last. Cole loses and sighs. "Alright. I'm sixteen and a half, Cole Brookstone. Never call me by my last name, unless you want a good solid thrashing. I'm a grey wolf hybrid."
"Anything else?" Jay tries. "Favorite food, color, anything along those lines?"
Cole appears to resist rolling his eyes. "I like cake. And I don't like talking."
"We got that much," Kai mutters. Everyone turns to him, and he feels unexpectedly hot. "I'm Kai." They got that much, genius, the voice in his head lectures him. "I'm sixteen as well. Like Nya said, I'm a fox hybrid. And I think red's a cool color."
"Well, now we all know each other!" Jay grins. "I'm sure we're all going to be the best of-"
"We're not friends," Kai cuts in quickly. "We can be a team until we're out of this crazy place, but then we go our own ways." He glances over at his sister, expecting her to agree, but she's watching Jay with a strangely tender expression. He tastes sour disappointment and also a hint of... jealousy?
As he slides into his own bed, he feels a sudden wave of wistfulness for their tent. Cold and ratty though it was, it had been their home, the one safe place in the world for them. I'm going to get out of here, he promises himself. And then I can be done with this whole thing.