Fantasy ℂ𝕙𝕚𝕞𝕖𝕣𝕒 𝕃𝕒𝕓𝕠𝕣𝕒𝕥𝕠𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤 -[ＣＬＯＳＥＤ]

Ver sat at top of a cage, letting her legs hang down into it. Every now and then, she threw a chunk of meet down below. Monster or not, Yuri needed to be fed. He snarled up at her, devouring the meat she'd thrown to him.

She was rather fond of this job, the facility was so large that she could hide with ease. They paid her for work she never did, it was amazing. Seeing all these creatures was a plus, the things that man had done. Maybe one day she'd tell the world, tell everyone of the crimes he'd committed. That day however, wasn't today. Today was... hm... what was today? She'd already fed Yuri, there wasn't much else she felt obligated to do. Time to explore!

Wow this place was large. I mean, she knew that it was large but... she always forgot just how big. Who knows what she'd find today, what new creature she'd stumble across. Whatever it is, she was sure it'd be magnificent.

Henri took a puff of a cigar as for once in a lifetime appearance on the facilties main grounds. He had almost lost track of how many things he had in his care. Stepping up off his soft, leather chair he unlocked his office door. A room full of screens that quitely flickered black and white images of what was going on.

Before leaving, his attention lay on Ver, on of his finest staff members. She was too soft, for his liking, though she did do her job well. She had passion, she had potential. Henri slowly made his way, using his walking stick to lean on. He flicked the combination to lock the door and began to shift up the corridor.

Making his way to Yuri’s cage, just where Ver was. He noticed he’d been fed, which was good, he didn’t want him to go hungry now that would lead to real chaos! Without a thought, he flicked his cane in a gap of the cage, just to see what his reaction was. He knew he was teasing the poor monster but he didn’t care. He couldn’t hurt him threw his reinforcements.

Yuri had been left pretty blind after all that experimentation, he could see vague colours but that was it. However, his hearing had become incredible. He could hone in from one noise from miles away. A deep growl came from the cage, Yuri thrust his blade through the gap, trying to reach Henri. Oh how he wished he could just feel blood on his hand, feel someone else's flesh.

The meat they fed him was edible, it wasn't good but it was still food. It didn't make him any less hungry though. The hunger to hunt, to feed on fresh meat. Maybe he could just.... reach out and grab Henri. Maybe it was just that easy.

-

Ver had started to hum to herself as she wandered, stopping to glance into the occasional cell. No matter how long she'd been here, she always managed to find new stuff.

This place was the stuff of nightmares really, it should probably haunt her dreams. Yet... she always managed to get the most peaceful sleep. None of it bothered her anymore, in fact it was all quite fascinating.

"Rec room... sounds fun!" She opened the door, muttering to herself aloud. What was a 'rec' anyway? Maybe that kept bits of car crashes in here wouldn't that be fun! Ooo or maybe bits from plane crashes! Wait no... no that was the other wreck. Then what.... hmmm... She reached the middle of the room, simply stopping and staring down at the ground thinking to herself.

Henri chuckled, pulling back his cane and placing it by his side. He admired Yuri very much so, he was one of the most dangerous creatures he held in his care. Stiffly kneeling down, Henri began to speak to him;
"How are you today Yuri? Up for some fun?" Henri laughed wheezily once again. He spluttered, taking out a handkerchief from his blazer's pocket. "I know you're still hungry... You'll get a reward once its done..." Raising himself up, he began to walk out. "I'll give you time to think about it." Henri knew it was difficult to communicate, but he was able to understand certain gestures and movements, anyway, Yuri had no choice. He was going to have to endure it, with or without a reward.
-
One of Pepper's ears twitched and swivelled like a radar in the direction of Ver. She sniffed, undoing her mask to identify who entered the room. She hadn't seen much of this one, but she knew that Ver was one of the more decent staff members. Still laying backward on the chair, she opened one strikingly blue eye, staring exactly where Ver stood. She sighed, swiftly swirling herself into an upright position. Pepper held her hands out in front of her guiltily.
"Take me." She grumbled, her sharp teeth revealed when she spoke.

Yuri groaned, hitting at the walls of his cell. He didn't understand most of what Henri had said, just "hungry" and "reward"... one word stuck in his mind, a word he didn't understand. "fun".

What did it mean... it sounded interesting though... fun... He stamped his feet, growling at the air. Whatever Henri was offering, he wanted it. He wanted this "fun".

-

Ver quickly turned around to face her. She didn't seem too surprised. In fact, she smirked a little as she looked over at Pepper.

"Take you eh? Well... I have always been open to... no, no that's stupid. Can't say that out loud. Oh." She awkwardly looked away, seemingly only just realising that she'd said it all aloud.

She slapped her side with her mechanical hand a couple of times, sighing.

"Sorry about that, so sorry. Take you... where exactly?"

Henri returned, a few minutes later. He knew it wouldn't take long for this simple (he knew Yuri was far from simple, but he preferred to be the superior and... pure... species) creature. He came back with a group of staff, all dressed in white with masked faces. Henri himself turned out and casually left Yuri with this mob of masked men.
"See you at the trails..." It was fun for Henri to talk to something that could hardly respond to him. It made him feel higher than them.

The men with the masks and white suits carried in a contraption that was used to forklift Yuri's cage through the corridors. It made a loud spluttering sound as it rolled through the halls.

The trails is an arena made specifically for each creature. It is a test of their skills, agility and defence tactics. The chosen mutant was to take a test, the objective unclear. (I will explain more when we get to that narrative)
--
Pepper sighed with relief. She thought Ver was possibly going to take her for another test. Bumps, bruises and chunks of fur were missing from her arms and head. One of her ears where ripped and her eyes were sad and lost. She blinked once,
"So, what are you doing in here?" Pepper responded rather coldly, whipping her tail once behind her. She was so used to the staff taking her to prod and poke at her with needles and-
Wait-
What was that noise?
Dismissing Ver, Pepper raced to the door of the rec. room. She peered out only to see Yuri being manoeuvred across to a room that said TRAILS in big letters. "Oh poor Yuri..." Pepper mumbled as they drove him across to the room. The only thing that was missing, was that it was not locked. Oh yes!

Yuri started throwing himself around his cage, he didn't like it when it was moved. Didn't like being called "simple" either, he'd developed a basic understanding of that one. It meant that Henri though he was better than him. He didn't like it when Henri said that, he wasn't better than him. Yuri was a monster, he knew that much. Henri however... Henri was far more of a monster than Yuri ever would be.

-

Ver ran over to stand beside Pepper, a hint of sadness was in her eyes as she looked at the cage.

"Yuri..." She sniffled "He promised me he wouldn't hurt you why is he doing this."

She turned to face Pepper, clapping her hands together.

"So then, how do you feel about a breakout?" She laughed.

Henri’s team strolled Yuri into a room, before descending out of another one connected to it. There was a huge mirror, a reflective window for onlookers and some contraptions that seemed to be motionless. A brief bleeping noice summoned Yuri’s cage to slowly open. The staff where standing behind the window, safety protected— it was designed specifically that it could not break under the elements, acid, brute force.
“Test one begin.” An artificial woman’s voice echoed out of a speaker hanging in the corner. The room was rigged with cameras for Henri’s own pleasure. What came next, however, was nothing pleasurable.

The contraption, which looked similarly like a human figure, began whirring and spinning. Like a rag doll it flew round and round aggressively trying to throw itself at Yuri. This was a routine test of Yuri’s abilities, the onlookers awaited an response.

—
Pepper shook her head, looking hopelessly up at Ver.
“No, it’s just the door to Yuri’s test, but maybe...” Pepper began, but trailed off absentmindedly. Calculating thoughts swirled around in Pepper’s small head. If she could take the staff inside out, then maybe her and Yuri had a chance to escape? Just maybe, but she wasn’t willing to share this idea with Ver. Her tail waved in excitement at the daring thought. “You know what—!” Pepper‘s exclamation cut off, on all fours she scurried as fast as she could, making her way into the room where the staff where watching poor Yuri.

The figure confused Yuri, it looked like a human but it didn't smell like one. He cautiously avoided it, smelling around the room. Maybe if tried hard enough he could find out where Henri and those men were hiding, maybe he could get the jump on them.

Oh wouldn't that be wonderful, such a big meal all to himself. Where could they be... where was he hiding. Oh, oh that was perfect. The mirror, that's where they were. He ran towards the mirror, hitting it as hard as he could. It would break eventually, it had to break. He was going to make it break.

-

Ver paused for a second, wondering if she should follow Pepper. She seemed opposed to the breakout idea, but did mention something about the door to his test. In fact, she seemed to have run of in the direction of the door. Time to follow her!

She ran out the rec room, chasing after Pepper. Whatever she was about to do, Ver wanted in!

"Pepper! Wait up! I wanna help!" She shouted, smiling.

The staff rolled backward, in shock that Yuri was attack them and not the dummy. It was apparent that Yuri was much more intelligent than they’d last expected. But they weren’t frightened— it was impossible for the glass to break, or so they thought..
—
Pepper stopped, her ear twirling backward. Did Ver really say she wanted to help?! Could this be a trap? Pepper stood up, her hand holding the door a little wider for Ver to fit.
“Well, so be it. Come on then.” She whispered, slipping through the door.

Through the it, Pepper found herself in a small rectangular room filled with around five or six staff members, their faces too absorbed in Yuri to notice her at all. She heard a huge bang, that made her wince slightly, as he was charging at the glass.
She didn’t know what she could possibly do. She’d never been in a room with this many people in, especially when they didn’t notice her. Pepper’s heart raced, almost bursting out of her chest. What was next to come, she didn’t know.

Yuri kept attacking, he could smell them behind there. So close... they were so close, he just had to get through this mirror.

-

Ver decided to take charge, running in ahead of Pepper and grabbing the first guard she could get her hands on, throwing him into a second.

"Well, come on then!" She called over to Pepper, grinning.

Pepper was amazed at what she was seeing. She wavered slightly before launching herself up onto one of the guards backs. She climbed up his body and sunk her teeth into his neck, spraying blood up the wall and all over her clothes. He fell to the ground, grasping desperately in the air. The other guards took the attack well, they casually grabbed their taser-guns and pointed it at Ver and Pepper. Wiping blood from her mouth, Pepper ran besides Ver, holding her sleeve. She didn't know what to do, why hadn't they fired them yet?
Before having any time to react, the glass smashed.

He'd done it. He'd broken the mirror and reached his feast. For a moment, he stood there, staring at the people just as they had stared at him. Then, he used the knowledge he'd gained from all those tests he'd been put through. The knowledge of exactly how to kill a human.

If you were to blink, you would probably have missed the onslaught that ensued. Yuri darting all around the guards, slicing them to pieces with ease. He wiped his blades clean, turning to face Ver.

"Yuri, it's me. It's Ver, you know me, right?" She held a hand up. She had no clue if this would work, but prayed that she'd manage to at least bond with Yuri slightly.

Ver... that was the nice lady who fed him. The one tried to protect him from Henri. He pointed at Pepper, growling.

"She's cool! She's with me, a friend." She gave Pepper a thumbs up with her free hand. That went way better than she'd expected to be quite honest.