The One Who Survived
Chapter 3
Chiro looked up into the darkened cell window to find the large figure of Mandarin struggling to hold a small, compared to his size, girl. Why would a clone even care to do anything other than torture to me? He thought. Indeed it was a strange concept to Chiro to ponder over. Never had he known a formless could be so nice. But because reasoning with formless was always futile, Chiro had given up trying. Plus, the influence Gibson had given about formless did effect him greatly. But the fact that a clone would dare to say sorry was confusing. Maybe there was more to the clones than meets the eye. But Chiro was in a deep depression of fear for what evil experiment Mandarin had planed next. He knew, however, who's voice had spoken to him. It was that female clone that helped his captor with everything the primate did. He had heard her soft, sweet voice before and, whenever Chiro was being experimented on, the sound of her calmed him down slightly…no matter how much pain he was in.
"Please let me go, Master Mandarin! I'm sorry!" Cirro screamed through the halls. "You, Cirro, have done wrong by talking to the hairless monkey! Now you pay the price for your thoughtless actions!" Mandarin kicked open the solid metal prison door leading to Cirro's cell. Harshly dumping her onto the pallet he said, "If I catch you in my lab without permission again, I'll put you to sleep!" and he slammed the door. Cirro leaned over the poorly made bed and buried her face in the dust painted pillow and started to mutely cry. She knew what Mandarin had said about being put to sleep, and if Cirro was to get it again, that would have been the sixth time that week! Cirro had always wanted to see the outside world, and one time she had almost made it outside the factory, but the mineral Chiro clone caught her and towed her back home. She had received whippings from her master and because the gashes were so deep in her back, Mandarin put her in a tub of ice, to numb the flow of blood. Cirro wasn't in favor of going to sleep, for that was a worse treatment.
First, Mandarin would place Cirro back in the tub of ice, to numb her limbs, which eventually made her fall unconscious. Next, Mandarin would take a surgical knife and cut a section of the formless ooze from Cirro, normally her side. And as soon a Cirro woke up, she'd have to deal with the pain. Cirro had endured that so many times her already scared sides ached. The sun slowly began to sink into the world's sky, painting the warm orange glow all around Cirro. Even though it was spring, the dark of night could still bring the last essence of winter's icy breath upon Cirro, and that was the last thing she needed. But before night even began to make an appearance, Cirro was asleep. And her dream vision was the worst thing she could possibly have.
/Dream/
The mutant called Mandarin stood in his lab of the cloning factory. Many buzzing machines lined the walls and a boy of thirteen hung at the end, struggling at the shackles that restrained him. "Let me go, Mandarin!" he shouted lifting his heavy head towards his captor. "I do not think so, my hairless monkey. You will continue to reside on that wall where I can see you. You'll be placed in a cell soon enough as it is." And with that, Mandarin turned his attention back to the experiment. A giant mass of formless ooze was squirming and bubbling around in an equally large glass containment tank (Like the ones the monkeys were in.) The ruined simian then turned his focus on monitors, which displayed each of the boy's organic systems. "You will be a great success, my unborn clone," he said, talking to the mass of ooze. Without another word to be spoken, Mandarin pressed down circuits, levers, and pulleys, activating the cloning process. This was perfect. The first of the clones to be born was at hand and the beginning of something great. The black goop slugged and writhed inside its prison, like it was a wild creature.
Then it began to take shape. Two bubble arms sprouted, as did stubby legs. A head began to form from the top of the mass, and began to twitch slightly. Then the limbs all became skinnier. After the very vague form of body took shape, it began more human-like qualities. It grew hair, fingers, toes, a nose, mouth, eyes, and ears. Then the final stage came. The thing appeared to be curled up in a ball, sleeping. A coat of fair skin enveloped the body and the hair grew black as it split into separate strands. Finger and toe nails grew quickly and the ears grew more complex, much less could be said for the eyes, mouth, and nose. When the whole thing was complete, a girl floated in the tank, deep in hibernation. Mandarin gave out a confused grunt, as this was not what he wanted. He wanted a look alike twin of the boy, as in both males, not male and female. Although the child could really be his twin. She owned long coal black hair and fair skin.
And she would probably expose blue eyes later on. The tank had drained and the female laid on bottom. The creator picked up the girl with extreme caution. But it wasn't enough. One of the girl's feet and an arm bodily fell to the floor with a splatter. Drat, thought Mandarin. He slid the child onto a silver examination table and went over to retrieve her fallen limbs. "These will have to be mended back," he muttered under his breath. He spent the next two hours welding and sewing the limbs back to the body so tightly that it was almost impossible to drop a stitch. By now the girl had woken up, but just laid there without so much a wincing at the pain. In her first few hours of life, the girl couldn't feel any pain. The boy was watching everything. "Who is she? I thought you said you were going to make a clone?" he said in short gasps. "She is but a prototype, Chiro. She will become obsolete later on." But the girl gave no sign of hurt for Mandarin's words, for she couldn't understand. As soon as he was done stitching, the mutant cleaned and dried the nude girl off with a towel and dressed her in a raggedy bath robe. "Meet Cirro!" Mandarin laughed out.
/Dream/
Cirro was pulled out of her sleeping vision by the golden glow of the sun. Cirro instantly felt uncomfortable with sweat and dust that clamped on her skin. The white paint of her forehead, as part of her natural mask, was more an ivory and the stripes that streamed down her cheeks like tears were a darker orange and looked almost black. Much less could be said for Cirro's clothes, which were now torn and ragged with age and the rough handling. Cirro's hair was no longer glossy, but instead was just onyx with the scent of oil and smoke and uneven split ends. She was a mess! At this point, Cirro didn't know whether to come to the lab without permission again or to wait in her cell until Mandarin came to fetch her. She was just too confused. But her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of her door swinging open. "Chira! What do you want?" Cirro asked with a bored and frustrated tone. She REALLY didn't need this right now. "I've just come to see how Mandarin's skinny weakling was doing. Heard you got the boot from the master yesterday," Chira replied in her sweet, but now hateful tone. "Did you come just to annoy me or did you actually have a good reason?" Cirro was making sure she sounded board. If she didn't, Chira might take advantage of it. All the bulky girl did was smirk and went on. "Actually, yes. Chiru and I were wondering…those clothes you're wearing, were they designed for you or did the knitting machine blow up?" By now, Cirro was on her feet and preparing to punch Chira strait in the mouth. But Cirro simply trotted up to the larger female, a blank smile playing across her lips.
"Oh Chira, that is such a cute outfit. It's such a clean cut. I bet it goes with anything…" her voice trailed off. "Of coarse it…" Chira never finished because Cirro had punched Chira square in the face with all her might. Chira gave out a disoriented scream and fell on her butt to the hall floor. "Ha! You know, a black eye really does work with that hideous costume," Cirro coldly said. Chira took a second to catch her breath, then stood up, red in the face. "Cirro you are such a freak!" "Yeah, yeah I am. But you know what someday I might just grow out of that but you, you will never stop being a jerk!" As Chira stood up, she let out a scream of rage and attacked Cirro, toppling her back through the door and into the cell again. As Chira fought fist and foot, Cirro fought tooth and claw. She'd occasionally bite Chira on the ankle or wherever Cirro thought Chira could be weakest at. Other than biting, Cirro would strike her with the pads of her fingers, and because her gloves were torn and several fingers slipped through, the dull finger nails would scratch her.
But Cirro was losing the upper hand, because of her small size, and needed to stop before she was really damaged. Taking the first chance, Cirro bolted upright and shot like a bullet out of the room, leaving a battered Chira behind.
Author's Note: this is another disclaimer, but not for SRMTHFG. Yes, I don't own them except for Cirro, but the back talking scene between Cirro and Chira, I got that off of the Princess Diaries. Tell me how the third chapter worked for you guys! In other words, R&R!