A/N: This chapter contains spanking, so if you don't like it, don't read the chapter.

Chapter 15

Despite the Headmaster's misgivings, Red Dragon had somehow managed to control herself while she was in the offices, merely sprinting round the perimeter of each office to see what it was like, before running back into the corridor. The only mishap that had occurred was in reception, where she had not checked her speed quickly enough and had toppled over some chairs in an effort to avoid crashing into the main doors. Startled at the noise, and rather ashamed of the mess she had made, she had attempted to flee to her room. This was thwarted relatively neatly by the Headmaster, who had been on his way to give some instructions to the receptionist.

Easily catching hold of his Prefect as she attempted to dart through the door, he had ordered her to right the chairs she had toppled and made sure of her obedience to his order by promising to follow through on his threat of locking her in her room. Having no wish to have her exploration cut short so soon, she obeyed as quickly as possible. Luckily, the Headmaster seemed satisfied with her actions and allowed her to finish her exploration. By this point she seemed to have burned off much of the energy that she had exhibited back in the Security room, and she appeared much calmer when she arrived at his office with her second exercise on her weaknesses.

This exercise, along with her original list, caused the Headmaster to realise that there were discrepancies in the way he ensured the continued well-being of Red Dragon. However, now that these had been discovered, they could be dealt with. The most severe weakness was her great susceptibility to cold temperatures. When the whitecoats had examined Red Dragon for injuries, they had also measured her core temperature. While the average core temperature for humans was usually around 37 degrees Celsius, Red Dragon's core temperate was much hotter, around 55 degrees Celsius.

In order to remain in peak condition, this temperature had to be maintained as much as possible. To achieve this, the Headmaster created a list of items that would be essential. Thicker clothing and nightwear needed to be ordered, along with warmer bedding. To supplement this, extra blankets would be placed in her room in case she was in need of something to warm her quickly. Finally, the Headmaster instructed the caretaker to increase the temperature throughout the building.

Another issue were her enhanced senses, as it could cause her pain if she was bombarded by too much sensory data. Luckily, there was hardly any noise generated around the laboratory, and the Headmaster would be providing Red Dragon with a remote control that was used to increase or decrease the intensity of the lights in her room as well as instructing her to wear her dark glasses in some of the brighter areas. The only odours which could potentially cause her harm were in the specimen section, where she was not permitted. Touch would be very difficult to overload, and it would not be possible for this to occur to her sense of taste. The meals that Red Dragon was served with were selected only for their nutritional value which made them fairly bland.

This was not the only matter concerning Red Dragon which occupied more of his time than he would have liked. She was once again refusing to sleep, and her reluctance to explain the reason caused the Headmaster to conclude that her refusal was related to feelings. The only way he could put her to sleep at the present time was by hypnosis, but he was reluctant to do this every night. To begin with, it took valuable time to make her sleep, which could be used for more useful endeavours. It also was a constant reminder that he was unable to control her through this method any longer, which irritated him. He would have to create a sedative that would be compatible with her new DNA, as this would be the only way he could ensure that she was able to have a restful sleep every night. She would be no good to his plans if she was crippled with fatigue.

He was also tired of having to bring in whitecoats to restrain her when she had an outburst of aggression or excessive energy. The only solution he had been able to create was a room with padded walls and training equipment. If she released the outbursts in this training room she would not injure herself and it would be easier to contain her.

The next morning a whitecoat had escorted Red Dragon to the main laboratory, where more parts of the creature had been placed. The Headmaster was standing at a table, which had a cloth draped over a number of objects. He silently gestured for her to stand on the other side of the table, before drawing the cloth back from the nearest object. When she saw what it was, she jerked with surprise. The object on the table was very familiar to her. She raised a hand slightly, and blinked as the Headmaster confirmed what she had just realised.

"You see what I saw; your claws are identical to the claws from the creature, although they are much larger than yours. Protract your claws, and then you can examine them together"

Red Dragon did so, learning forward to place the claw from her second finger next to the claw on the table. Apart from the difference in size, they were exactly the same. She twitched slightly as the creature released a burst of smugness that essentially amounted to 'mine is better than yours'. Clenching a fist behind her back, she reached for the cloth to uncover the rest of the objects, glancing up at the Headmaster for permission. He nodded slightly, and she pulled the cloth away. The objects proved themselves to be charred fragments of scaly skin, too blackened for the original colour to be discovered. As she caught sight of what they were, Red Dragon's hand flew to her cheek. She often attempted to avoid touching her own skin as much as possible because of what she felt, cold smooth scales, instead of the ordinary flesh that her skin appeared to be.

The Headmaster had been watching her closely as she studied the objects, and saw the sudden movement that she made. He was becoming very impressed with her reasoning; she had clearly been studying her new physical features on her own. He believed it was time to test this reasoning, and waved a hand towards the claw and scales on the table.

"Based on what we have collected from the creature and your own deductions, what can you determine about it?"

Red Dragon blinked at this question, lowering her arm from her face. She pondered what she had observed for a few moments, ignoring the growing smugness and superiority produced by the creature. Finally she shared what she had deduced with the Headmaster.

"The scales strongly suggest that the creature is reptilian, as do the claws, as this is a common feature amongst that type of animal. The claws themselves reveal the role of the creature, as they are extremely sharp, and as you have seen, appear on all four limbs. This shows that the creature is a predator. The aggressive behaviour that I manifest at times is an echo of its own behaviour, and also demonstrates this role. The staggering amount of protection provided by the scales seems to indicate that either the prey it hunts fights the creature, or it is attacked by other predators and possibly by members of its own species."

The deduction she did not reveal to the Headmaster was that the creature was a lot more cunning and intelligent than a mere animal, even if it was a predator. Although he might be interested in the creature's intellect, she would have to mention the method it used to communicate with her and demonstrate this, which the Headmaster would greatly disapprove of. He was always irritated when feelings were brought up, and a suggestion that feelings could be important and useful would not sit well with him at all.

The Headmaster smiled in approval as she finished her deductions. He had been right, when it came to studying the creature her reasoning was incredible, likely because she had experienced some of its physical features and its behaviours. Covering the objects with the cloth again, he beckoned her over to a computer terminal.

"Your deductions are logical and appear to be sound, I am very impressed. This terminal displays the structure of the DNA taken from the sample that was combined with you. I wish you to take samples of the objects you have just studied and then we will go to my office and use the Evolution Accelerator to study them".

While Red Dragon was interested in finding out as much as she could about the creature, she was very reluctant to go near the Evolution Accelerator again. Her unease must have shown in some way, as the Headmaster suddenly gave her information that reduced her fears somewhat.

"I have placed railings around the Evolution Accelerator, so there is no possibility that it could cause a danger to you any longer. You are obviously greatly aware of the damage it can cause, so you will not voluntarily touch it, and the railings will ensure that the accident which changed you cannot happen again"

Comforted by this knowledge, and strengthened by a surge of encouragement and concern from the creature, she picked up the tools neatly laid out in front of the objects and starting taking a sample from the claw, no longer fearful about going near the Evolution Accelerator.

Even though SPLAT had scoured the newspapers and avidly watched the news on TV, they had not managed to learn much from these sources about anything else the Headmaster had done. To begin with, although the explosion had been captured on TV, there appeared to be something wrong with the cameras after this had occurred, and nothing else could be gained from the TV news. The accounts from the newspaper, although they did not provide any new information, confirmed at least that the Headmaster had meddled in some way after he had been driven off. When the eyewitnesses had been interviewed, their answers indicated that they had been hypnotised, and forced to claim that they did not remember much of the incident. Clearly, the Headmaster was attempting to cover what Red Dragon had done.

This produced quite a mixed reaction within SPLAT. While all of them were always worried when the Headmaster actively did anything, they all felt differently about his apparent reason for doing so. Mandy, and especially Dinah, were glad that accounts of Red Dragon killing the men would take longer to reach anyone else, clearly the Headmaster was attempting to protect his seemingly loyal subordinate. They felt that she had enough to deal with right now, without the hostile reaction she had encountered spreading any further. Ian did not seem to worry about the Headmaster's reasoning, only felt concerned that he was apparently active. Lloyd and Ingrid both felt that they needed to do something against the Headmaster, and the fact that he was attempting to hide what a killer had done only showed that he had to be stopped as soon as possible.

They were currently meeting in the playroom at the Hunter's house, as Mr and Mrs Hunter had gone out for the day, so they could have their SPLAT meeting without being overheard. As Lloyd opened the meeting it appeared that he had discovered something, as he seemed very excited. When everyone was quiet, Lloyd decided not to keep the rest of SPLAT waiting, and launched into what he had discovered.

"I've been researching a number of buildings around town to see if I can locate where the Headmaster is based. Dinah said that he was on the scene of the explosion very quickly, which can only mean that his base of operations is a building in this area".

Dinah leaned forward, inquiring excitedly "Do you think you found it?" Lloyd nodded and began to outline the criteria he had used to find it. SPLAT were a team, and it was important for every member to know and understand all the information they could get, sometimes it was the only advantage they had over the Headmaster.

"I narrowed things down by seeing if there were any laboratories around here that dealt with genetics, or if the focus had suddenly been switched to genetics from a different study very recently. I also attempted to find out if the executive of any of these laboratories had been changed recently. I've found one building that seems to fit both of these search patterns. It's on a street that's only 20 minutes away from the explosion site, on the edge of town, it has a new Director and the laboratory has a focus on genetics."

From his rapt audience it appeared that SPLAT were very impressed by what he had found out. Lloyd's moment of triumph was rudely cut short by Ingrid, who exclaimed with false innocence "Did you time yourself while walking to all those buildings? It must have taken you ages!"

Lloyd spluttered indignantly and snapped "Of course I didn't you idiot! I used Google Maps! There wasn't time to walk to all those buildings!" Dinah sighed as Ingrid sparked off Lloyd's temper. She was clearly doing it on purpose; one of her favourite pastimes seemed to be goading Lloyd until he lost his temper. Normally it didn't bother her, but right now she was getting impatient, as she wanted to help make plans. Ian seemed to be thinking along the same lines, a he suddenly snapped "Give it a rest you two! We need to decide what we're going to do next!" This outburst from Ian, who was usually so laid-back, effectively halted the argument at once. Lloyd gave one last glare at Ingrid, before clearing his throat.

"Alright, let's take a SPLAT vote on if we're going to scout out this building. Although we get good information from Red Dragon, we can't rely on it entirely; we need to find things out ourselves too. All in favour of scouting the building?"

Instantly six hands were raised. Even Mandy and Dinah, who were the most in favour of using Red Dragon's information, could see the usefulness of exploring anything that might give them a lead. Lloyd nodded decisively, and SPLAT began discussing the best way of scouting the building.

Red Dragon carefully eased the door of her room open a fraction, knowing that if there were any whitecoats outside in the corridor, her plan for tonight would have to be cancelled. She could not see anyone, but sniffed the air, wanting to make sure there was no-one outside her door. Even though her night vision was exceptionally good, she could not rely on it entirely. Obtaining only the pungent odour of floor polish and a faint trace of disinfectant, she was gratified to discover no human scents. Fully opening the door, she began to creep down the corridor, keeping close to the wall. As she moved out of the living quarters, she was struck by such a strong wave of anxiety that her steps faltered and she almost tripped. Clutching against the wall to steady herself, she snarled faintly.

Although both Red Dragon and the Headmaster were aware that her non-human DNA had a tendency to manifest itself (usually when she was angry or in combat), she knew that he had no idea of how much the creature communicated with her. Wishing (not for the first time) that she could block this contact, she hissed furiously in her head:

What do you want? If you distract me at the wrong time I'll be caught!

She never received a verbal answer when she asked something of her wild parasite, but the emotions it broadcasted could easily be translated into its replies. Instantly, the apprehension was repeated, along with a small amount of reproach. Red Dragon rolled her eyes at this.

You keep out of this! It's not like anything will happen to you if someone catches me!

A hint of resignation crept into her consciousness and also (which annoyed her the most) a definite suggestion of smugness. Hissing softly in exasperation, she began to sneak towards the specimen section of the laboratory.

She could not explain exactly what prompted her night-time excursion into the forbidden section of the laboratory, but a great sense of restlessness and unnatural energy had clamped itself upon her like a vice. These abnormal instincts and sensations were, according to the Headmaster's explanation, her body's way of assimilating the foreign DNA that had been irreversibly combined with her human DNA. Her wandering thoughts flashed guiltily to the various targets and training dummies that the Headmaster had provided for just such an outburst as the one she was currently experiencing. He had sent a whitecoat to inform her of this just as she got into bed, and she was also told of its location on the same floor. She knew that it was not from a sense of kindness or concern that the Headmaster had done this, she was well aware of his stance on feelings. She rather suspected he had provided them so that her 'outbursts' did not end up wrecking his laboratory and experiments. Tonight this outburst was so strong; she doubted whether the training room would provide enough for her to burn it all off.

Coming to a halt as she entered the main corridor of the specimens section, her luminous eyes easily deciphered the signs on the doors. The last thing she wanted to do was enter any rooms that held any kind of animal, she was certain they would detect her right away. She was also certain that they would pick up on her now aggressive nature and view her as a threat. The commotion this would cause would instantly draw attention, and her illicit exploration would be discovered. She soon spotted a door marked 'Dangerous Plant Specimens' and her eyes seemed to flare in anticipation. This would be perfect! The room ought to have enough space for her to run, and if the plants were dangerous, she was certain that they would attempt to attack her in some way, as soon as she entered the room. This would be a perfect way to release the energy pulsing through her veins, and with any luck she would be able to achieve this and get back to her room without anyone knowing that she had left it.

Testing the door, she was disappointed to find it locked. She smirked suddenly, concentrating for a brief second. Instantly, claws sprang from the fingers of one of her hands. This had been the easiest of her new abilities to master, the others being too volatile, and currently out of her reach. Inserting a claw into the lock, she began to twist it slowly, feeling the tumblers inside beginning to align in response to the claw's precise movements. There was a quiet click and her teeth gleamed for a moment as she grinned in satisfaction. Putting a hand to the door, Red Dragon slowly began to ease it open, prepared to move at the slightest hint of shifting from any of the plants. As she stood in the doorway she was able to see that what she had suspected about this room was true, it would be ideal for her needs.

Creeping fully into the room she tensed, getting ready to run. As soon as she had cleared the doorway the shifting of air to her right snapped her into motion. An aggressive creeper strand stabbed at the spot where she had been crouching a moment earlier, missing her by inches as she snapped into activity. As she had done before, she concentrated briefly. Instantly claws rasped into being from the ends of her toes as well, biting into the soil covered floor. She ran steadily down the length of the room, all four limbs hitting the floor in a leaping gait. Even though Red Dragon was perfectly capable of running on two legs (and did so when she had need to run outside the lab), she was fastest on four, as well as being at her most dextrous. She ducked as a hail of spines whizzed narrowly past her head, leaping nimbly over a thorny branch that had been trying to entangle her feet. Dodging everything the plants threw at her, she began to laugh. She had been right. This was perfect! While she was fast and agile enough to avoid the physical attacks of the plants, there was a danger, especially from the creeper, that she had not counted on.

Red Dragon only became aware of it when a sickly-sweet aroma began to permeate the air around her, causing her movements to falter and making her cough. Eyes wide in fear she began to make her way back towards the door, actions noticeably slowing as a heaviness seemed to invade her limbs. It was lucky for her that the rest of the plants seemed to sense the release of paralysing agent into the air, as they stopped their physical attacks. Had this not happened, Red Dragon knew for certain that she could have been badly injured. However, even with this small mercy she was close to despair. Even with all her willpower, she was still a quarter of a way from the door, and she twisted desperately as her legs suddenly seemed incapable of movement. Just when it seemed she would be unable to save herself, she let out a choked gasp as someone seized her under the arms, dragging her the rest of the way and finally pulling her into the safety of the corridor. As they released her, she flopped to the ground, drawing in gasps of untainted air, and fervently wishing that she had never entered that room.

After a few moments she felt strong enough to sit up, turning slightly to discover who had rescued her. When she saw who it was, she almost wished that she was still being subjected to the creeper's paralysing agent. The Headmaster was standing at her side, glaring angrily down at her. She shrank back under his glare, dropping her eyes to the floor. When the Headmaster eventually spoke, his tone of voice caused her to back away from him even further. His voice cut through the stillness of the corridor like a knife, a sense of steel present in every word he spoke:

"I suggest that the explanation you give me for what you have done be a very, very good one"

Red Dragon briefly thought about lying to him, but just as quickly banished that notion. The Headmaster was always able to tell when she was lying, and she was certain that he was intent on punishing her for going where she had been ordered not to. If she lied to him now, she would cause the Headmaster to add to her punishment. Still staring at the floor, she did as he had ordered, explaining why she had entered a room forbidden to her.

"I-I had another 'outburst', but it was so strong, I was not sure if making use of the training room would be enough. So I thought that if I was in a place where I had to run and keep moving, I could burn off all this energy before I destroyed anything"

There was an uncomfortable silence as the Headmaster considered her explanation. Red Dragon did not expect that her explanation would save her from her punishment, but she hoped that the Headmaster could provide a way of dealing with her stronger 'outbursts'. Suddenly the Headmaster hissed,

"Look at me!"

Instantly she obeyed, snapping her head back to lock her burning eyes with his dark glasses. Abruptly he crouched down so that he was no longer towering over her, and once more began to speak, his voice cold with repressed anger.

"While it is true that I should have anticipated stronger 'outbursts', the way you chose to resolve this one tonight was completely unnecessary! Why did you not come to me? Before you went to bed I told you that I would be in my office. It is clear that I will have to devise a way for you to deal with stronger 'outbursts' before you end up damaging my experiments"

Red Dragon sagged with relief as the Headmaster stopped speaking. Perhaps she would escape punishment after all? Her hopes were instantly dashed when the Headmaster abruptly snapped,

"Do not think I will allow you to get away with what you did tonight! Did you honestly think you would be able to reach this section of the laboratory without me knowing? I had you watched the moment you left your room. Had you gone to the training room, you would not have been in the trouble you are in now. You are authorised to go the training room even at night if you need to contain an 'outburst'. But you did not. Instead you entered a place that I had forbidden you to enter, and what was worse, you almost got yourself killed!"

She flushed at the Headmaster's reproach, knowing that what he said was true. If she had gone to his office, she would not be in trouble, and the issue would have been resolved without anything going wrong. She wished she had considered things more when the energy had first begun emerging. She was startled when the Headmaster suddenly lifted her from the floor of the corridor, and frantically gripped the front of his lab coat. She had no notion how he knew that her legs were still paralysed, but concluded that he had created the creeper from scratch, so would know instantly what the effects of its paralysing agent would be. Silently, he began to stride back towards the living quarters, making no further acknowledgement of the girl in his arms until he had reached the door of her room. Pushing it open with his foot, he placed her on her bed, glowering at her when she did not release his lab coat. He grew even more irritated when he saw that he would have to contend with her claws as well, clearly she had believed that her fingers did not provide enough grip on their own. Having no desire to get himself scratched, he did not attempt to touch her fingers. Instead he snapped,

"Red!"

She jumped, then instantly retracted her claws and released her grip on his lab coat when she saw what he was glaring at. She was very surprised when the Headmaster sat next to her on her bed, giving her an assessing look that caused her to fidget nervously. At last he relieved her growing apprehension by speaking once again.

"Since you have demonstrated that my orders are not enough to dissuade you from acting impulsively and entering forbidden areas, it is clear that a punishment is needed to reaffirm your obedience. I sincerely hope that you do not attempt to argue with me about your punishment, you were warned of the appropriate consequences when I gave you a room in my laboratory. You will be spanked for what you did"

Red Dragon froze as the Headmaster finished speaking, barely able to believe what she had just heard. He had warned her of the consequences of her disobedience, but she was never certain that he would actually follow through with what he had threatened. Evidently he was about to, as he reached out for her, pulling firmly at her shoulders until she was lying face down across his knees. As soon as she was in position, the Headmaster began to lay down rules.

"Since your legs are still paralysed, I will not need to address the issue of kicking. You are allowed to...cry..."

Here a hint of distaste could be detected in the Headmaster's voice.

"You are not allowed to block me, and you are not to attempt to escape from me. Do any of those two things and you will make your punishment worse. Do you understand?"

Red Dragon swallowed heavily and managed a strangled,

"Y-yes S-sir"

"Good"

A moment later there was a sharp crack and the Headmaster's hand crashed painfully onto her bottom. She hissed and gritted her teeth, resisting the urge to clutch at his leg. His approach to everything was to be methodical and efficient, and this task was no different. His hand seemed to impact her bottom in a distinct pattern, meaning the Red Dragon was able to predict where the next blow would land. However, this thought did nothing to help, and she squirmed slightly at the sting she felt as it began rapidly rising in intensity. While she had promised herself that she would not allow the spanking to bring her to tears, she soon found herself breaking that internal promise. After the twelfth smack she was unable to contain things any longer and broke into a bout of strangled sobs, lowering her face onto her bed.

Just when she thought that the worst was over, a wave of horror struck her as the Headmaster seized the waistband of her pyjama bottoms. She knew better than to vocalise her inner protest, yet the Headmaster must have caught on to what she was thinking as he halted the movement of his hand and growled out an explanation.

"While I would ordinarily allow you the protection of your nightwear and underwear, you disobeyed my orders, and as if that was not enough, you nearly ruined my plans by putting yourself in harm's way! Be thankful that I am content to just use my hand, your punishment could be much worse than this."

This effectively silenced any form of protest she might have attempted to make, either vocally or internally, as she had to agree with what he had said. She had put herself in danger, no matter how much she wished to deny it. She whimpered as the Headmaster completely bared her bottom, before continuing to spank her, this time without the small amount of padding provided by her clothing. While before she had managed to hold back a small amount of her cries, this time she was unable to do so, and howled dismally, sounding more like an animal than a girl, as she wailed her distress. The Headmaster finally stopped spanking her when she went almost completely limp, resigning herself to her punishment, no matter how much longer it would last, with her animalistic howls becoming slightly muted as she buried her face in her blanket. The only further movement he received from her was when he pulled her underwear and pyjama bottoms back up over her reddened backside. As he did so she flinched from the contact of her clothing against her very sore bottom, her howls morphing into whimpers as she lifted her head from her blanket.

The Headmaster suddenly shifted her upright, regarding her miserable face and the tears still streaming from her eyes. Thankfully she was no longer fully crying, only sniffling now and then. Seeing that she was about to use her sleeve to clean up her face, the Headmaster captured her wrist in a hard grip as she moved her arm, before slapping a handkerchief into her hand. A sheepish expressed crossed her face, as she began to dry her streaming eyes. As soon as she was done, the Headmaster disregarded her attempts to return the now dirty handkerchief, instead sweeping back her blankets and rolling her so that she was lying on her front with her legs aligned correctly with the rest of her.

Settling the blankets back over her, the Headmaster rose from his seat on the bed, before turning and regarding her snivelling form with satisfaction. Hopefully, this would prevent her from repeating such actions as she had done tonight, which would mean that there would be fewer problems with his plans, as she would be hesitant to disobey him again. While he was infuriated by the loss of control he had over her because of her new DNA, he was also satisfied, as he would be able to do more than he had imagined with the assistance of her new abilities. Contemplating his parting orders to the girl in the bed, he finally spoke,

"Since your legs are still paralysed, it will be easier to keep you out of trouble for the next few days. The paralysis will wear off by the end of the week, but you will not be allowed outside of your room for the next two weeks. Your meals will be brought to you, and the only time you will be allowed to leave your room will be if you experience another 'outburst'. That is the only time. Now, go to sleep. I will see you tomorrow".

Having finished his orders, the Headmaster left the room, locking the door securely behind him. As an added precaution, he set two whitecoats to guard the door, just in case she picked the lock (he had not missed that she had somehow picked the lock of the plant specimen room). He had no wish to waste anymore time tonight on someone who had so completely disobeyed his orders. She would have to go without his help in order to sleep.

Sniffling miserably into her pillow, Red Dragon vowed to curb her impulses and think things through, as she did not want such behaviour to get her spanked again. The gloom she felt was not in any way improved by a wave of smugness from the creature bonded with her that indicated without a doubt 'I warned you'.