My first task as assistant was to collect several specimens of cats and dogs because most people are allergic to them and they are the most domesticated animals. Using my talent, I managed to get three cats and two dogs to follow me and ride with me on a tray carried by a Null Guardian into the citadel. Dr. Animo was very pleased and he sent me home shortly after my task was completed.
Everyone kept asking me if I had learned anything about D'Void yet but all I told them was that I now believed that he was Dr. Animo. Dad urged me to press harder into the investigation to find out more about D'Void.
"I'm trying my best, dad. D'Void is very enigmatic," I told him, "He's full of himself too."
After school, I was usually picked up by a faceless soldier and brought to Dr. Animo's lab in the citadel. Dr. Animo had me clean tools and surfaces after he had worked with the animals prior to my arrival. He was the kind of guy that wanted to things by himself and I respected that. It was an honor to work under him.
Sometimes, I would walk in during an experiment and these experiences made me wonder about Dr. Animo. The animals he was working with sounded like they were in so much pain although he denied it, saying he had given them an injection before he started. As time progressed and I got a glimpse of the cats and dogs, some of them weren't cats and dogs anymore. They were more like the pet from outer space with a lolling tongue longer than normal, bulging eyes and sometimes scaly skin or wild colored fur like pink or navy blue. What kind of experiment was he performing on the poor animals? Surely it wasn't anti-allergens or dander free modifiers. Those kinds of things don't create mutants! Only a fool would think they were not in any sort of pain!
One night while my dad was out, I stayed in the study to try to find anything on Dr. Animo's current experiments. I dug furiously in the drawers of the desk and in the file cabinet between two of the book cases but I couldn't find anything. I was in the second file drawer when D'Void suddenly walked in and saw the mess of files I had strewn on the floor.
"Maybelle, what are you doing?" he asked me in that low, growling voice, D'Void's voice.
"I have to do another research essay for school. I'm trying to find a different topic than the last one," I quickly lied, surprised at my skills.
"What are the requirements?" he asked as he picked up a pile of folders off the chair, laid them on the desk and sat down in the chair. He was no longer growling, which made me feel relieved.
"Science-related, ten pages," I made it up.
"Why not do it on marine animals?" he suggested.
I turned and looked at him crossly. "I'm not very fond of marine animals," I told him. He only laughed.
"Alright, here's an idea. Why not do the paper on my discoveries of coremite? I've never published it so it won't be considered plagiarism," he stood up from the chair and searched for the file with his papers in it.
Did he know what I was really doing? He seemed like such a sucker but it was so nice of him to hand over the credit of the coremite discoveries to me. He must trust me a little too much. I can't betray him, I just can't, but what he's doing to those animals is wrong.
"What are you using on those animals, doctor?" I finally asked him. He looked at me for the first time with an angry face like I was an annoying little child that had been clinging to his leg all day.
"Do you really want to know? If you are truly a fan of mine, you should have an idea," he said.
I squinted at him angrily. "It's a genetic mutation isn't it? To create an indestructible species," I guessed.
"A perfect species," he corrected me.
"Uh-huh," I nodded and sighed. What was I going to do?