Another minute. Just make it another minute. They'd be back soon… They had to be back soon! Any minute now!

His hands were alight with pain, the blood dripping down his arm in branching streams.

Drew shrieked as the blade finished its job. Again, the chill of the air bit at the newly-exposed digit.

"That's three down on this hand…" Gemini touched each of the fleshless fingers with his gloved hand, making Drew whimper and cry at the dulled yet sharply painful impact. "I wonder, how much longer can you last, hm? It's been…" He checked the time on his watch. "My goodness, a full three days of fun! Well, in here, at least…" Chuckling darkly at some kind of secret joke, he leaned in to Drew's ear. "Do you want to know how long it's been outside?"

Drew looked up, confusion and pain fighting for space on his face. Outside…?

"You remember that ball from when I first arrived? The one with all the buttons?" Gemini smirked as he stood back up. "It was a temporal distorter…"

A temporal…? Drew's jaw hung loosely as the horrific realization hit him.

Gemini laughed, a full-on belly laugh. "Oh goodness, the look on your face… I wish I could simply capture it for forever…" He nearly wiped at his eyes before he apparently remembered about the blood. Instead, he settled for shaking his head.

"H-.. How long?" Drew choked out.

"Outside of this little time bubble, it's been…" He checked a different clock across the room. Drew followed his gaze and felt himself filled with more fear and horror.

Thirty minutes. It had only been thirty minutes for everyone else.

"As you can see, the area the distorter covers is not that great. But for my purposes?" Gemini sneered. "It's perfect. Now then…" He flourished the blade. "Back to business, hm?

"I. Am. Lord. Gemini. Am I not?" Another cut, another peel.

Something broke.

In his mind, something snapped. A switch flipped.

"Yes, Lord Gemini!" Drew screamed hoarsely.

"Hm?" The one-eyed man paused, blood pooling on the now-still blade's edge. "What was that?"

"Yes, Lord Gemini…" he sobbed again, quieter this time, his head falling forward in defeat.

Gemini chuckled, satisfied. "Good…" he set the knife down and began removing his gloves. "I'm glad we've had our little… Breakthrough…" He grabbed a nearby cloth and began to wipe off the remaining bit of blood on his wrists and clothes. Once tidied, he wrapped Drew's right hand up with gauze. For some reason, he didn't care about the new blood on his hands as he bandaged the injured man up.

"What do you want?" Drew desperately asked, whimpering quietly between words.

He chuckled again. "You'll find out in due time. For now…" Gemini finished winding the gauze on and went back over to the satchel that he'd, seemingly miraculously, pulled the rack and his tools out of at the start and reached in until his torso was almost swallowed. Making a eureka noise, he began pulling himself out and said, "I do believe you'll be familiar with our next guests…" The baggies of mutagens, as old as they were, were still extraordinarily recognizable. "I'll need your help with this…"

"You want me to help you torture me?" Drew boggled.

"Modify," Gemini suddenly insisted. "I want you to help me modify you." His eyes flashed as something occurred to him. "Is that any way to speak to your lord?"

Drew cringed, his eyes darting to his gauze-covered hands, before he quickly sobbed, "No, Lord Gemini!"

"That's better… Now then…" Gemini brandished a couple of the baggies. "Tell me how to set these up…"

"..-ing up!"

"..-im out sta-.."

"..-rying, he's still waking-.."

Groggy. So, so groggy. And confused.

Kill them!

Who was them?

Everything hurt, nothing was right, where was he, what was going on-..

Then, a spark of memory.

A blond haired, brown-eyed boy, choking him out with his own vines.

The buffoon

He remembered now.

Lord Gemini…

He tried getting up from laying on his stomach. He felt resistance, like he was tied down. Agent Alpha couldn't see anything, his vision being blocked by a visor of some sort, but he could still hear and feel, especially through his vines.

"He's definitely awake now!" a panicked voice called out from Alpha's left.

A tingle, kind of like a small scream, was echoing in the back of Alpha's head. It sounded like him, yet he wasn't screaming at all.

Kill them!

He obeyed.

His vines struck out, grabbing at whoever and whatever they could. He wasn't sure who he was grabbing, but Lord Gemini had ordered him to kill them, and that was all that mattered.

Alpha felt his vines grab onto at least a half-dozen people. He wasn't entirely sure which parts he was grabbing. The blue man was certain he'd managed to wrap one person's head, a boon for them as that meant a swift death... Unlike the others who were unfortunate enough for him to have grabbed mostly non-essential limbs.

All it would take was a little pressure-..

"Agent Alpha, STOP!"

Alpha froze as his lord commanded.

A ragged breath out, the voice of Lord Gemini, captivated the blue man's senses. It sounded a bit like relief… But why would his lord be relieved at Alpha not following his initial orders?

...it didn't matter. All that mattered was what Lord Gemini wanted now.

"Release us," Lord Gemini commanded.

Us? Agent Alpha contemplated that phrasing for a few moments as he released everyone from his vines. Then, he realized…

"Lord Gemini!" he said, panicked, his vines curling up around him, "I, I didn't mean to grab you! I was just, just followin-.."

"'Lord' Gemini?" a female voice cut through, sounding amused. "So you're a lord now?"

"Shut up, Betty!" snarled Lord Gemini. "He's my underling, and he'll call me whatever I want him to!"

"Yes, I heard… Agent Alpha?" A dry, unamused chuckle from Alpha's right. "I should've expected you to do something this monstrous…"

"I'd prefer to think of it as visionary," he countered.

"It's just sick. What would Mom think if she knew what you'd done to his poor man?" Alpha felt a hand rest on his shoulder.

"AGENT ALPHA, CRU-.." His lord's voice choked a little, then went quiet.

"Lord Gemini?!" Alpha began to get worked up, struggling against the bonds that were around him.

"Be careful," the voice of the woman said calmly. "You don't want to hurt your 'lord', do you?"

No, he did not.

He stopped flailing.

"Good call." Whispering for a few moments, so quiet that not even him listening intently could make the words audible. Then, she asked, "Are you still under the effects of the mind control serum?"

"I do as Lord Gemini wants," Alpha said simply. "He is all that matters."

"...I'll take that as a yes."

Alpha had no idea what his lord had wanted him to do after stopping, and he was afraid of injuring the one-eyed man if he fought as blind as he was.

So he did nothing, even as a cloth was put over his face.

"Stupid hand!" Gem-.. Lord Gemini was messing around with his mechanical hand at Drew's workbench, using a screwdriver to try and adjust some of the inner workings of the machine. "Why won't you work?!"

Drew was currently hooked back up to the mutagens, letting them slowly pump into his body. He'd lost some of his teeth, sharp incisor-like ones growing in their places, and he was certain that the rest would follow with the continued application of the mutagens. It was pretty obvious to the again blue man that Gemini's scientists had stopped their experiments in some strange attempt to keep him from permanently mutating at all. An odd consideration considering he was supposed to be disposed of as soon as they finished experimenting on him.

Drew was scared. It was obvious some of these newer mutations were going to be more permanent, and thus less treatable, than the previous blue skin and vines had been. He never liked messing with his own physiology due to all the things that could go wrong. It wasn't his choice, though…

He looked over at his lord again. It was him that was making him do this. As much as Drew hated him, he also felt a strange need to please him… He was pretty sure it was probably Stockholm syndrome, or the mind control serum that Lord Gemini kept putting into Drew's food in small amounts, or something. Either which way, Drew could feel himself starting to lose it.

He really wasn't sure if it was a good or bad thing at this point. Lord Gemini still hadn't told him what he wanted. ...it might be better if he simply couldn't care anymore.

"Agh!" Lord Gemini tossed the screwdriver to the side and tried to use his hand. It twitched erratically, then stopped. His lord turned to Drew and snarled, "I blame you for this, Alpha!" At Drew's questioning look, he elaborated, "I broke my hand disciplining you! If you hadn't made me do that, I wouldn't have broken my hand!"

It was true. Drew had one of his rebellious streaks, trying to fake turning the IV drip on, warranting Lord Gemini backhanding him. It opened up a vicious gash on Drew's face, but more damaged the hand somehow.

Drew was preoccupied with the idea that it was his fault. Because that meant another educational session, and the blue man's fingers had just finished healing from the initial sessions with his hands. He had the increasingly intense healing factor he was displaying to thank for that, though it apparently didn't prevent scarring. If anything, it made it worse.

The other educational sessions had focused on his back, leaving large chemically-burned areas. They'd healed… Wrong somehow, but Lord Gemini wouldn't tell him how they'd healed. Just that it was another apparent mutation.

"I can make you a new one! A better one!" Drew claimed eagerly, it being the only thing he could think of to keep from being disciplined. He began to mentally map out exactly what he would need as he muttered, finger on his chin, "I just need the materials… A measure of your arm circumference… And…" He looked up and got a pleasant surprise.

An interested, amused smile on Lord Gemini's face.

It made Drew feel like a million bucks.

"Go on…" Lord Gemini said as he sat back in his chair, clearly wanting to hear Drew's idea out.

As the blue man excitedly began pointing out all of the ways that the mechanical hand could be fixed or even improved, he internally sighed with pleasure. Finally, he was doing something right.

Agent Alpha groaned as he struggled back to consciousness. His head pounded, blood rushing in his ears as he tried - and failed - to raise himself from the ground. He felt like someone had taken a train, got it going at full speed, and jammed it right into his frontal lobe. Everything he could remember was a blur of confusion, itchiness, and pain. Lots of pain.

The same screaming noise from earlier was echoing in his head, but louder and more concentrated. It almost sounded like he was sobbing on top of it! It was starting to get amazingly annoying...

He finally succeeded in getting up. And, to his horror, he'd woken up alone.

Nothing nothing nothing ever good came from Lord Gemini leaving him to his own devices! It usually meant a test, and Alpha hardly ever passed his tests! He hadn't even been left instructions, which meant that-..

...wait. He took a good look around. This didn't look like the Caribbean lair.

It was a much smaller, practically barren room. All there was was a bed, a sink, and a toilet… Basic, plain utilities. Though the room itself was strange… He went over and touched the wall next to the bed - it was some kind of dusty metal, which he wasn't sure - then realized that he wasn't wearing his gloves. Now that he was paying attention, he wasn't in his old lab coat or pants at all… Instead, he was in ragged-looking orange prison garb. It hung in strangely-shaped strips off of his body, like something had torn it apart.

He looked at his hand as it rested against the wall. Even after all the healing, he could still see the seams Lord Gemini had left during his educational sessions… Sessions that were all Alpha's fault, for not being an attentive enough underling. For not being what Lord Gemini had needed.

Alpha made to brush his surprisingly dirty hand off on his pants. Strangely, he met resistance. He looked down and fought a gasp.

A thorn. A giant, vicious-looking thorn was growing out of his leg.

Now that he was paying more attention, he could feel that the various spots where he'd had the wrongly-healed wounds felt more… Lumpy. He reached back to touch and found more of the thorns had apparently sprouted from his back.

On top of the thorns, he realized that there was something wrong with his chest. It stuck out now. It made him wonder as to what purpose it even served… He was pretty sure that the muscles in the area hadn't really grown at all. The basic underlying structure, the bones, apparently had, though.

Now he wondered what else had gone wrong with him…

He decided to take stock by a thorough examination. As best as he could get, anyway. He felt his feet, his legs, torso, arms, fa-.. His face. Misshapen horns… Absolutely nasty-feeling teeth… And what was wrong with his tongue!?

...he'd deserved it. Lord Gemini needed him to be better and he hadn't been! He deserved to be mutated more! He'd betrayed his lord by not listening to him! He should've snapped Shego's neck the second he had the chance. If that had happened, then his lord wouldn't be-..

Like a flash, the pieces fell into place.

They'd been captured. They'd been captured by the enemy and it was all Alpha's fault.

"Lord Gemini!" Alpha looked around, mind rushing. Where was his lord? Where was Alpha? What-..

He finally noticed the door. It looked perfectly smooth; not even a food slot to give food to the prisoners was present.

Alpha went over to the door and began working on it. His vines pounded and grasped at it, trying to get some kind of hold on it, to crumple it up as he'd done to Aviarius' cage.

It dented here and there, but not enough to get a handhold on.

The blue man growled in frustration. Why wasn't this working?! Normal metals should've been a breeze for his vines! What was so special about-..

A hissing noise caught his attention. Belatedly, he realized there were vents at the tip-top of the room, so small that he doubted that even his hand would fit through. They were spilling out some kind of gas at an accelerated rate, a yellow tinge filling the room.

Alpha tried to hold his breath, working on the door more, before he simply couldn't. A few lungfuls later and he found himself falling to the ground. He struggled to stay conscious, but found himself slowly succumbing to whatever gas had filled the room.

The door opened. He got a small glance at the intruder - a one-eyed brunette woman holding a tray of food who was now examining the door - before passing out.

"You want me to what?!"

"You heard me, Alpha." Lord Gemini repeated, "I want you to make me an injection collar, to keep you wrangled in."

Alpha started, "But-.. But I would never-.."

"There is no such thing as 'never'," the other man snarled. "Anyone can betray anyone at any time! This will be insurance for if you fail me, or try to betray me."

"Wouldn't the mind control serums be enough?" the blue man asked, looking fearfully at DNAmy's experimental stock of mutagens. If even DNAmy found them to be too much…

"I want to punish you, not just control you…" Gemini said, narrowing his eyes. "I can tell you're scared of those mutagens… So, to keep you in line, I'll use them as a deterrent." He towered over the slouching blue man. "Do you understand?"

"...yes, Lord Gemini." Agent Alpha looked away, letting out a sudden nervous giggle. "I understand."

"Good. Because we're getting close to the end goal…" Gemini looked at the clock against the wall. Alpha had purposely been avoiding looking at it, the hope that was crushed with every view making him feel like a traitor to his lord. This time, he let himself look.

26 hours. It'd been a full day since this entire thing started. Not all of it had been in the time bubble, with Lord Gemini needing to occasionally get food and giving Alpha tests of loyalty. Lately, he'd been failing less, warranting less punishment and more rewards. He'd been allowed to discontinue the mutagens a couple of weeks ago, something that the blue man was intensely joyful about. He'd already lost all of his previous teeth, his skin was a deeper blue, and his eyes burned practically all the time now. Alpha would've hated to see what else would've happened had he stayed connected.

And now that joy had been ripped from him. Though…

If he was loyal, if he was true to his lord, there would be no need to worry about the mutagens. They would only be if he failed or misbehaved, right? Which meant he had nothing to worry about!

Then, something occurred to Alpha.

"Close to the end goal?" This was the first time that Lord Gemini had brought it up himself.

"Oh yes…" His lord messed around with his mechanical hand, turning one of the lasers on momentarily as if doing an equipment check. "I suppose you'll want to know exactly what purpose you'll be serving…" He chuckled. "It's quite simple, really:

"I want you to help me kill Shego and Kim Possible."

It was several meals later, and he was still hungry.

Alph-.. Dre-.. Agent Alpha glared at the door. Every time he tried to bust it down, the gas was used. Any time it was time to eat, the gas was used. Frankly, Alpha was surprised that he was conscious at all during the entire ordeal he was facing.

And if they were treating Alpha this badly, who knew what his lord was facing?

Alpha's frustration with the situation led his vines to do something stupid on his behalf.

He soon found the bed was being bent and torn to shreds, the weak metals and cloths failing to hold against the prodigious strength of the vines.

"Hey!" he yelled at them, anger and frustration growing. "I was going to use that!"

Some of the vines stopped and 'looked' at him, while others continued their onslaught.

"Nnnngh…" He tried to call them back into himself again, but found it to be as fruitless as before. He was apparently stuck with the vines as they were. Misbehaving brats!

For some reason, the longer Dre-.. Alpha he was Agent Alpha went without his mind control serum from Lord Gemini, the less control he had over his vines. Did that mean that they had separate minds which also responded to mind control serum? Maybe he should take some on his own if just to wrangle them in.

He paused at that thought. That was… Odd. Very odd. When was the last time he really thought like this, without the focus somehow being on pleasing Lord Gemini somehow? Must be another indicator that the serums were wearing off.

Alpha wasn't sure how to feel about that anymore, especially now that the voice that sounded like him was saying things. He couldn't understand what it was saying, but he knew that he wouldn't like it when he could...

Kill Shego and Kim Possible.

That was his order. Kill his family. Like it was the easiest thing in the world.

It would be hard, harder than his lord seemed to think it would be. Kimberly had evaded death time and again, and Shego was superpowered and stubborn.

But how could they hope to handle Lord Gemini? It would be suicide for them, to try and take on his lord.

...maybe, just maybe, they might want to join with Lord Gemini? Agent Alpha had brought the idea up with his lord, but was met with derisive laughter. Like the idea had absolutely zero merit.

As stupid as it was, Alpha had to try. He had to…

It was definitely not for their sake. Nope. That'd just be silly and completely against everything that his lord wanted. It was definitely all for his lord. With the three of them as Lord Gemini's underlings, there would be no stopping his lord's rise to the world stage.

They walked in then. After all that time, having not seen them in months, they came back in like it'd only been a day. Because, for them, it had.

He watched them as Lord Gemini caught their attention. Redirected them around so their backs were to Alpha. Described in broad strokes about what they'd been doing in the meantime. Then, the code words.

"But enough about that…"

Agent Alpha paused, his vines holding in the air as his eyes softened for a moment. Maybe he could…?

Then, shaking his head, he slammed them down towards his loved ones.

He couldn't let Lord Gemini down.

Drew sat quietly against the wall, staring off into space, tears falling from his eyes.

What had he done?