Koda's Story

Drip... Drip... Drip... Drip... was the only sound Koda could hear, trapped in his prison.

Because of his strength, and power, his captors held him in a different cell system than the rest of the Expri. The cell was a rather large, fully metal square room with a 12 inch thick plexiglass window on one side of it for the scientists to observe him. The room was nearly pitch black, which wasn't a problem for Koda, with a few spots covered in water from the dripping ceiling. The entire room was clear of everything. No bathroom, no sink, not even a food bowl. The scientists kept it this way, so in the event he ever fell into a rage there wouldn't be anything to break. A single vent on one side of the room allowed him to get fresh air from the outside. The scientists had left the vent uncovered as a joke to Koda, knowing because of his size, he would never get into it. On the same side of the room as the window was a massive steel door covered in deep claw and scratch marks from his previous rages.

Unlike the other Expri, Koda wasn't treated as a human, he wasn't even treated like an Expri. He was treated even worse than an animal... A broken, angry, scared, beast.

Koda quietly slept in his corner with his massive paws under his head to act as a pillow. His massive lungs expanded and contracted as he found comfort in sleep: The only thing that released him of his pain. But, that wouldn't last long. Buzzing into the room from the vent flew a swarm of angry bees, released into the room by the scientists to initiate another rage.

Soon, Koda's entire body was racked with pain from the bees stinging into his flesh. A normal bear wouldn't care about the bees, and perhaps would have even gone back to sleep, but these bees (like him) were genetically engineered to have thicker stingers to punch through his fur, and cause him pain. Like a swarm of 1000 knives they attacked Koda.

The rage transformation was instantaneous. One massive black eye opened on the beast's head, and quickly the beast rose from the ground. With a massive, earth shattering, rage induced scream, Koda swung his arms left and right, trying to swat away the attackers to no avail. He threw himself against the walls of the prison to crush the bees, which worked to a degree. This was the last straw. This was the final trigger to cause his ultimate rage, the strongest form of Koda's body.

Moving to the back of the prison, Koda made a charge at the steel reinforced door, slamming his whole massive body into it, which let out a concussive boom into the rest of the facility. Now, the massive door had met its match; Koda's attack leaving a massive dent in the door. One more and it would fall right off its hinges. Again, ignoring the pain of the bee stings, Koda moved himself against the wall and charged forward with all of his might. And this time, the door didn't stand a chance. With almost 30 tons of kinetic force, the door flew forward into the wall behind it.

As the vault-like-door broke off its hinges, it crushed 2 scientists that were observing the bees. One managed to crawl away while Koda wasn't looking, and was able to activate the Lock Down alarm. Meaning a prisoner was trying to escape.
Once the alarm was tripped, Koda showed no mercy in picking up the man by his head and his leg, ripping him in half.

Now covered in blood and rage, Koda found his way into a long corridor 2-way corridor. At one end of the hall was the way out, and the other way lead to the other Expri. Not knowing which way to go, Koda made the split second choice to to the left, and further into the facility...

Over the intercom, broadcasting to any and all in the facility, a scientist announced: "Code 4, Code 4, Code 4. Subject Ursine has escaped prison block-4, and is heading towards other cell blocks. Non lethal rounds onl-" Quickly the announcer was cut off by the sound of metal bending, breaking, and screams of other scientists. In the background, right before the intercom cut out, the huge, blood curdling cry of an angry bear rang through the intercom. A warning... The Beast was loose.

There was blood in the air. Sin could taste it.

She opened up one eye, then the other, quietly flicking her tongue in and out, in and out. It smelled fresh, even through the thick doors of her cell. The girl lazily straightened herself out, stretching every limb before standing up. This was one of the few pleasures her captors allowed, at least: even prisoners should be given the luxury of a somewhat-comfortable sleep. She rolled her head around her neck, breaking any kinks that may have formed as she slept.

Even in the dim light of her cell, Sin could see the scales on her arms and hands; the mark of the freak, the outcast. There was no way that she could go back to the others looking like that. Even if she managed to escape somehow, if they put a bounty on her head, the others would definitely take the money over her, especially for a test subject. They'd do anything for a quick buck... she thought to herself as her tongue darted out again and again.

"Code 4, Code 4, Code 4. Subject Ursine has escaped prison block-4, and is heading towards other cell blocks. Non lethal rounds onl-" Quickly the announcer was cut off by the sound of metal bending, breaking, and screams of other scientists. In the background, right before the intercom cut out, the huge, blood curdling cry of an angry bear rang through the intercom. In the very next moment, the lights to Sin's cell shut off completely, leaving her in complete darkness.

Fantastic... she smirked to herself as she tastes something else in the air now--not just blood, but some sort of musk... Definitely nothing she's ever smelled before.

And then the thump thump thump of something huge heading toward her cell, followed by the sound of metal being torn apart. With a yelp, Sin leapt back toward the furthest corner of the room, waiting for whatever was roaming the halls to pass and hopefully not see her--

The scraping sound grew louder and louder until a roar shook the cell. Sin closed her eyes and covered her ears, not wanting to see what this thing could do. A grating sound pierced into her skull for a brief second and then the thumping moved onward, deeper into the facility.

She opened her eyes and tasted the air once again. There was still the scent of blood, but somehow more overpowering than before. Sin could make out in the darkness something... off about the door to her cell. Whatever had run by only moments before left huge gashes in the metal. Carefully, ever-so-cautiously, the girl squeezed her head through the hole, taking care not to cut herself on the jagged edges. A quick flick of the tongue in one direction, another flick in the other--there was no one coming. The scent of blood still lingered on, though, and she wondered whether something would come for her.

With a bit of struggle, Sin managed to squeeze through the opening with minimal injuries. A few scratches on her scaly hands, but nothing too drastic otherwise. She cracked her neck to one side, then the other, before sprinting down the hallway away from the musky smell of whatever inadvertently freed her from her prison. As much as she wanted to thank whoever it was that allowed her to escape, she thought it would be better to leave the facility before she could be recaptured.

She ran as fast as her feet could carry her. Just like the good days... she thought to herself. She could almost hear the crowds around her, screaming for the guards to capture her and take her away to get what she deserved--rather fitting that she remembered this freedom as she attempted to escape from a prison... no, something worse than that. Here, she was no prisoner: Sin was condemned.

A door at the end of the hall. Sin sighed in relief until she stepped in something wet. She flicked her tongue once more and the scent of blood overpowered her once again. She felt dizzy--No, I have to keep going! I'm so close! Despite the bodies around her and the pools of blood at her feet, Sin stumbled toward the door and pushed it open.

The light blinded her at first--she didn't remember the outside looking this bright. As soon as she regained her composure, Sin ran off into the forest as fast as her legs could carry her. Her chest was burning, her heart was ready to burst from her body, but as long as she could keep running away from that musk, she would be free, and that's all that mattered in this moment.

After running for a while, Sin came across a clearing where two people stood over a mauled corpse on the ground. One of them, a male, was covered in blood; Sin could taste something feral about him with a few flicks of her tongue. The other, however, was quiet. Unsure of what to do, the girl slunk into a bush and watched them, hoping that they did not see her...

Kai

"I must have a fetish for danger tsk" Kai ran swiftly and silently along the hall of the lab. She felt uneasy have a lab this close to the village and had intended on breaking in and burning it down. Intended. Until someone had tripped the alarm and set the place in panic. Just like with Hail.... She shook her head. She wasn't going to think about that. Coming to a room full of cages she gasped. There were more Expri in here. Most of them in cages but through a glass window she could see a very large bear and a small wolf. Smelling the air she determined they were Expri. But the bear was...odd. He was also covered in blood. She shattered the window with an office chair and spoke loudly to the two inside the garden.

"Guys we need to get out of here. The scientists will send for military and then we are effectively screwed." She nodded to the bear "Hey big guy, if you can understand me, could you help me break these Expri out of their cages? I'm not strong enough to break the bars and I'm not leaving them."

The Beast stood like a tower of pure destruction, his claws dripping in the blood of the dead security detail he had slaughtered through. From where Spirit stood, she could see he was covered in blood, some of which most have been his own. His back was covered in bullet wounds, darts from the security details rifles. But his body didst show an ounce of the pain.

"Koda..." Spirit softly spoke to get his attention, but he didn't respond. Only his ears twitched lightly to pick up the different sounds coming from all direction. Only after a few moments did the massive bear turn around, looking at the girl with pitch black eyes, which looked soulless and empty. With a deep growl the beast slowly turned his body so his whole being was focused on the small girl.

Slowly the monstrosity walked forward, his steps causing the ground to rattle like it was going to break under his weight. For the first time in her life, Spirite heard Koda speak a single word; a low echoing rumble in the back of his throat.

...Wolf...

From behind Spirit came 3 more security agents, guns pointed at the girl and the bear both. As they raised their guns with a click of them loading, Koda charged forward on all fores, in a dead sprint at the guards. Fast as lightning Koda shoved Spirit to the left, pushing her out of the way from the path of the bullets.

As the gunfire rang out in the hall, Koda, in a flash of blood and rage, ripped through the guards in 2 slashes. After a moment of silence in the hallway, the massive beast collapsed onto his knees, and fell onto the pile of bodies in front of him. With a huge thud, the beast... Had finally fallen.

Kai

Kai watched wide-eyed as the bear took down 3 security guards in a row. 'Shit reinforcements are coming faster than I thought.' She jumped through the window into the garden and helped the wolf back to her feet. She had NO medical training but she was pretty sure the wolf had broken or fractured something. Maybe if she could get the other Expri out of the cages, someone could help.... When the wolf was able to stand on her own, though wobbly, Kai turned her attention to the bear. Why hadn't he turned back to a human form? From all the Expri Kai had seen when the body took enough injury, they always turned back to a human. Why was he different. She approached cautiously, she didn't want to be attacked. "Hey..........bear..? Are you, ya know, living?"

Connor

<Code 4. Code 4. Code 4. Subject Ursine has escaped prison Block 4, and is heading towards other cell blocks. Non-lethal rounds onl—> The announcement was cut off by howls of pain and terror, metal screeching, and things otherwise just breaking. Things were getting fun again, she believed. The enraged roar that followed the evident destruction told her so. She hadn't had much fun since she was put on hold.

Unlike the others, however, Connor was much more casual about her own escape. Ears perked, tail straight, she simply kicked down the inches-thick steel door that imprisoned her and walked down the hallway with an uncaring gait. She didn't give a rat's ass that she'd knocked someone out cold with the door, or that she tread over them as she left her cell. Maybe he was dead. They were human, and unconscious — and they were boring her. This was just the thing she needed, unless there was a permanent marker nearby; nothing like drawing on the face of someone passed out.

No one seemed to bother her as she strode down the corridors, following a trail of destruction that some kind of mindless monster decided to leave. Hearing the sound of gunfire, Connor's quest ended down the sixth hallway, where the monster in question was falling over on a pile of men he'd just felled. There were two more Expri nearby, too, but it seems The Beast did all the dirty work.

"Hey... bear...?" the panther nearby asked. "Are ya, ya know... living?"

Connor didn't mention anything to the still-conscious Expris. A pissed off bear just saved them, and it looked like he was starting to bleed out. The half-wolf matted Koda's bloodied fur down to keep it from spilling, and lifted him over her shoulder like a ragdoll before walking off. To her, a few hundred pounds was nothin', but she would've made most wounds worse if they couldn't be solved by cleaning and licking, and maybe some bandaging. She needed to find a medic.

The massive bear found his feet being dragged on the ground as he woke from his unconsciousness. As he opened his eyes it was clear to any who looked his eyes were now sky blue, not pitch black like before: He had regained himself. Slowly he was able to bring his feet up and walk next to the girl, only to be brought to reality with a shooting (literally!) pain through his body from the bullets.

Letting out a deep growl of pain, Koda pressed only some of his body weight onto the girl, managing to carry himself for the most part.

(PS, Koda is 1.5 tons :3)

When she awoke, she was laying in a pile of corpses. Dead bodies dribbled from above and under her, and the smell was enough to knock her back out once more. Gagging, she dragged herself from the pile of Expris rejects, gasping for air. She had no idea how long it had been since the experiments had taken place. It could have been hours, or days. She struggled to stand, staggering over the slippery mess beneath her. She wore a once-white-now-red pair of scrubs that were her size; a common uniform for the experiments. She was dazed and confused, and her long golden hair was matted with blood and smelled strongly of death. They had thrown her out like garbage... "Code 4, Code 4, Code 4. Subject Ursine has escaped prison block-4, and is heading towards other cell blocks. Non lethal rounds onl-"

The sudden sound caused Amara to yelp and duck back into the bodies, terrified that she was found out. A Ursine has escaped!? They're after her! Panic struck her for a moment, but then she replayed the message in her head again. prison block 4 . That was not her block... she was...seven? Maybe eight? She pulled herself from the bodies once again, and looked up from the dirt pit she was in. She was standing in a massive grave. Luckily, the grave was poorly dug, and roots from the nearby trees were sticking out in places from the ground. Throwing herself at the wall of dirt, the 13-year-old grabbed the nearest root and with the agility of a cat swiftly made her way to the top.

When she reached the level ground, she looked around and did not see anyone. Whatever was making all the racket inside was doing a great job of distracting the scientists. She stood, fixed between running into the woods and running back into the building for her friend in the cell block next to hers. Amara didn't know, but her friend was already dead. She had failed her experiment the day before. Not knowing this, and unwilling to leave her friend behind, Amara scaled the outside of the building and snuck her way back into hell.

She quickly found her old cell, and found the corpse of her friend in a bloody corridor. She would have cried, if she was not terrified of getting caught. Suddenly, the sound of gunshots rebounded off he metal walls around her. To her newly sensitive ears, the sound was almost deafening. Jarred by the sudden pounding in her head, she stumbled backwards into the main corridor just as the biggest bear she's ever seen in her life, and his friend came around another corner. Amara stood, transfixed at the sight of them both. She had not seen another before... not this close... not when they were not raving mad and destroying everything.

Something in her bones made her ache in pain at the sight of the bear. "He's bleeding! A-are you--" realizing that asking if he was alright would be idiotic, she took a step or two towards them. "Please, let me help you, " she whimpered, cowering under the bear's massive presence. She glanced uneasily to the wolf, as if she were afraid that she-wolf would eat her, and then back to the bear. "Please don't eat me." She reached up a shaking hand, and dug her fingers through the thick of his fur until she could feel the warmth of his skin. She stood like that for what seemed like forever, but in reality was only a minute or so. Closing her eyes, she focused hard on his life force, and hers. Within seconds the bear, if he were open to it, could feel his body rejecting the metal inside him, forcing the bullets out. His massive muscles healing, and becoming stronger even than they were before. Within moments, his wounds were gone, and only the blood remained as evidence that he had been hurt. As this was so, to the outside he would look as if he were still badly hurt; but he was fixed completely from within. As soon as she felt his life force stabilize, Amara pulled back and flattened herself against the wall to let them pass. She needed to get out, too, but if he had just taken bullets for who Amara assumed was his lover, then they were probably in much more of a hurry. I guess you're what has everyone panicking... Amara thought to herself as she watched both of the older Expri.

Kai

Kai had followed the strong wolf and bear silently, to make sure that they didn't get attacked. She smelled a young Polar bear Expri at the cages and smiled as the girl healed the bear. What an interesting ability to have. It would certainly make her desirable for to the scientists. She could hear more guards running down a few corridors away and felt a sense of urgency. Kai hoped the little wolf from before was following them and walked up to the young polar bear.

"Hey that's a nifty little gift. I know a large village about a days walk away from here that would love to have you around. If you want, I can lead you there after I break any surviving Expri out of this lab." She nodded to the bear and wolf in front of them. "The guard would like having those two as well but I think we need to get out of here as soon as possible.... Whats your name?"

Koda turned and looked at the even SMALLER girl as he felt his body fill with a warmth, as if his body had up-and-decided to feel better. Slowly he leaned more of his weight off of Connor, now walking on his own 2 legs. Looking down at the small girl, Koda tilted his head, slightly confused on what she had done to him. Slowly he reached down and, without warning, lifted the girl up onto his back, giving her a piggy back ride. From atop the bear Amara could see how strange it felt to be 7 feet tall.

He turned to face the girl that helped carry him, slightly confused on why all of these people had decided to help him. Even though they had helped him, the only people he had any trust in were the polar bear, and the wolf. Being locked in a cage for 4 years with no one to communicate with will without a doubt cause some trust issues. But with the small girl on his back he strangely felt... Comfortable. Like he had known this girl all his life.

Lead by Koda the party soon found their way to the other cells where all the other Expri's sat. Looking to Kai for his next step, Koda slowly took the girl off of his back and lowered her onto the ground.

Redge's eyes came into focus, he looked at himself through a mirror which was drilled into his cell, (not made of glass but instead stainless steel) Redge looked slightly disturbed and a little distort, his left hand touched the mirror and he shook his head strangely before taking a step back. Whatever Tacrus was doing to him he was sure it wasn't for the better, granted he didn't have to worry about surviving in the wilds anymore but he felt claustrophobic, trapped, smothered in this tiny cell. For the first few weeks in here he howled and cried, cried for somewhere bigger to be free, eventually he adapted it was that or go insane, he still felt smothered but he neither had the energy nor spirit to continue crying out.

Later Redge thought he'd go insane from boredom, he was seldom collected from his cell for training or experiments which led to life being quite dull after he adjusted. He sat on his bed hours at a time just thinking, that was before he found his gift: he could move objects purely through the power of thought, it was hard at first and in truth it still is hard, but it got easier when Redge began training it. Using all of his spare time to move a single object, it was exhausting but worth it. Redge looked at the plate on the floor, he spun his hand in a anticlockwise motion it took a minute but slowly and surely the plate began to spin.

The plate stopped almost instantaneously when Redge broke his gaze, he felt sad but his thoughts lingered on escaping this place, it would be easy that he knew; looking at a lock while using telekinesis to lift the tumblers wasn't hard in truth he was afraid of the consequences of his actions, he had no chance alone unless he could do it stealthily and even though his new found agility helped he was still no ninja. If only he had a distraction, someone to take the heat off him while he escaped. It was that moment when his prayers were answered.

"Code 4, Code 4, Code 4. Subject Ursine has escaped prison block-4, and is heading towards other cell blocks. Non lethal rounds onl-" what followed on the intercom chilled Redge's blood, the screams and then a bloodcurdling roar filled Redge with a mixture of fear and pity and a sense of dread. The fear told Redge to stay put but the sense of dread screamed at him to get out of here, the two conflicting sides were put at rest when the facility came alive with the sound of bullets; then both the fear and dread told Redge to get out of here, it was imperative.

Redge quickly jogged over to the door and peered out the crack of light beneath the door. The sounds throughout the facility hurt his ears never had he heard anything so loud, it caused him to wince and made it hard to concentrate. As he looked beneath the door he saw nothing, Redge gulped then pushed himself up; here goes nothing Redge thought. The lock was big, Redge keeled down peering into it, he saw five tumblers all of which were down. Focusing on the tumblers proved hard, the noise kept distracting him and fear made his mind rampant, he took a deep breath and tried to exert his will onto the lock. The first tumbler rose reluctantly, Redge's confidence bolstered and two more of the tumblers rose dramatically, two more, c'mon! his mind cheered him on, he felt great strain but the last two finally rose and a clicking mechanism was heard as the tumblers were locked into place. With that Redge pushed will all his might, the door creaked and swung open, Redge fell out into the cold cell block.

Panic overwhelmed him, he thought guards would swarm him and litter him with bullets but all he was greeted with was silence. Redge lay there for a minute breathing deeply and letting the anxiety inside him fade back to a whisper, he pushed himself up and off the ground. Redge hadn't noticed it before but something loomed it the air, it was like a warning if it could be translated it would say danger, danger, death dead ahead it was only then that Redge realized that it was death, he shuddered and fear combined with dread rose up again.

Redge looks around the cell block he was in, it was really a narrow hallway with metal doors sealing the other expris inside. A thought hit Redge, were there other expris inside? Redge couldn't tell although a part of him told him yes and that he should help, he would be no better than Tacrus if he didn't at least try. Just as Redge was approaching the first cell he heard movement... like multiple people moving and whatever was moving smelled dangerous. Redge froze in place for a moment his breathing ragged, it was too late to run; the hallway too long. Hiding... Redge looked back there must be someplace to hide and the realization left him with a sort of unburdened irony: his cell, having just gotten out Redge found it funny but what better hiding place than a cage?

Redge returned with slight reluctance, his fear of what was coming outweighed his fear of his cell, he shut it thankfully knowing the tumblers had been locked in place and that the door wouldn't slam shut and lock him in. It was coming closer and Redge leaned against the door trying to control his breathing, he peered through the lock and through the limited view got a bare sight of the outside. The danger approached.

Or had it? Through the lock Redge saw a group of expris gather, his eyes widened a whole group had managed to escape and band together. The group looked very peculiar to say the least: a bear expri seemed to be leading them he towered over the rest of them and resembled a bear more than a human, stranger still he seemed to be carrying a girl on his broad shoulders, the rest were harder to make out, a faint outline and blurry due to the small vision of the keyhole. Redge wasn't sure what to do, although in most situations he would probably would've sauntered out and said something along the lines of hey can I join your band of merry misfits? I swear I'll fit in! anxiety and fear prevented him from doing so. Redge felt frozen than anything else, he wanted to move but he couldn't, he bit his lip and fell quiet his eyes slammed shut.

Kai gazed in silent wonder as the bear picked up the small girl and placed her on his shoulders. Well the beast had a soft spot. She chuckled and smiled while following the three of them. Maybe she could find more Expri to take to the village. They would be safe there, but they needed to hurry or else the place would be over run with Tacrus soldiers. She frowned as she wondered, not for the first time, who the guys in charge of Tacrus was. Was his name really Tacrus? Did he name his organization after himself? Or was it code for something? With a sigh she realized she would probably never have the answers for these questions.

When the bear stopped and looked to her for instructions she nearly ran into him. Why was something so large waiting on her word? Ah well. She supposed it had been her idea to come and break any surviving Expri out of their cells. She smelled the air and smiled as she noticed there were still survivors. Good.

She walked slowly and carefully over to the first few cells and found the inhabitants dead. One looked liked he was dragged partially out of the cell and shot in the head. The scientists probably didn't want another episode of the lab that held her and Hail. She smiled and she remembered the chaos that it had been. So much shock on the unprepared scientists faces. Sure, Expri have been known to try and break free... but never on a scale as large as that one had been. Unfortunately they seemed to have learned from their mistakes, somewhat. As the majority of the Expris here were dead. With Hail and her, the only deaths had been scientists. Oh well.

She came to a cell that was still closed and locked. In it was a small boy, maybe 15 or 16 if the scent was correct. He smelled afraid, anxious..... panther. Kai blinked and stepped back a bit. She had never met another Panther. Determination filled her, she would definitely get him to safety.

"Hello in there," she called out softly, lowering to appear nonthreatening. "Are you alright? We're here to break you out of there." She turned to the bear and smiled. "Just in case there are any more survivors can you please go along and break all the doors open? I'm not strong enough I'm afraid," she gave a chuckle and rubbed the back of her head before turning back to the boy in the cell. She needed the door open so she could see him. "Hey whats your name? I won't hurt you ya know."

"Hey that's a nifty little gift. Amara looked to the one speaking to her, a panther Expri. She had not seen this one due to the bear's massive size until now. Feeling slightly outnumbered by older and stronger Expri, she began to feel unnerved and in awe at the same time. Especially to be seeing a panther. They were so rare! "Hey that's a nifty little gift. I know a large village about a days walk away from here that would love to have you around. If you want, I can lead you there after I break any surviving Expri out of this lab." Amara almost instantly felt better around the feline. She was good. She wanted to help people. "The guard would like having those two as well but I think we need to get out of here as soon as possible.... Whats your name?"

Amara didn't get an immediate chance to answer, for her small form was grabbed and placed onto the back of the massive bear. Strangely, though, she didn't feel the need to scream. Instead, she dug her fingers into this thick back fur to hold on tightly, so as to not fall off. When the bear started to move, she gripped tighter into his fur to keep herself in place, marveling at how different everything looked from seven feet higher in the air. No wonder they're afraid of you.. she thought to herself as the bear vaulted down the hallway with his two companions. When the group finally came to a stop, Amara remembered the female's question....Her name.... what was her name? The question caught her off guard, and she had to think about it for a moment. "A-Amara.. Amara Stark." she was finally able to say. "My name is Amara Stark."

They were going to free everyone? Blinking, Amara rested her head into the back of the bear's neck. The animal inside her felt like a cub being carried around by it's parent, and it made her feel comfortable-- safe. I mean, really...who could get her at the top of a seven foot bear that, while she's touching him, could be healed almost instantly from any sustained injuries? The idea of it gave her pause. She had never thought her gift could be so useful outside of a hospital, but now paired with this giant, it's uses were limitless. It was just then that she was broken from her thoughts by Kai peeking through a door, and speaking to it. Having never shifted past phase one, Amara had virtually no enhancement to her smell. The panther looked determined and concerned. Wishing she wasn't the size of one of the bear's arms, Amara simply remained quiet, so as to not scare whoever... or whatever... was in the cell block the female panther was talking to.

While the party walked through the seemingly endless corridors to get into the facility's holding cells, the conversation between the party members were some of the first words Koda had heard in years. But despite knowing that they were speaking English, it was as if Koda couldn't understand. As if, unless he focused hard enough, he couldn't understand them. It was only the little girl that he could really hear. Ever since she healed his wounds Koda could feel a connection to her. Perhaps it was because she, like him, was an Ursine Expri.

"...Amara..." He heard the girl state shyly. While she rode in his back he turned his lead lightly to look up at her. As if he had sent a message to her, Amara instantly knew the bears name... Koda.

While Kai spoke to the Expri inside the door, Koda stood as a watchful guardian with his powerful nose, ears, and eyes. But despite his powerful senses, he couldn't smell anything over the overpowering scent of rotting flesh, couldn't hear anything but the words of Kai, and couldn't see anything outside the corridor.

After hearing Kai's words to the other Expri on the other side of the door, Koda knew what was needed of him. Slowly dismounting the girl from his back, and placing her away from him, Koda slowly walked backwards until his foot hit the back of the wall behind him. To get kai's attention, he let out a low deep growl as he got onto one knee and his hands: Looking like a runners starting position. With his eyes fixated at the door, and his whole body ready, Koda was intending to bring the door down.

Time began to pass incredibly slowly for Redge, panic seemed to have that effect as he was clinging to every second madly even though he himself was unaware of it. It felt like hours had passed while in reality it had only been a couple of minutes, it was like hide and seek except if you lost you lose more than a friendly game, that was Redge's approximate feeling of his current situation. Throughout this Redge managed to stay in control, he never made so much as a sound and regulated his breathing despite panic coursing through him.

They were getting closer, he heard each step and with that he felt his heartbeat increase. Then all fell silent, he froze almost paralyzed. "Hello in there," a soft voice called, it was feminine and had a friendly tone, Redge jumped in response not expecting a voice "Are you alright? We're here to break you out of there." the voice announced. And that was that, it made sense now Redge supposed, they were coming here to free the rest of the expris and he realized that his fears earlier were probably irrational, nevertheless he still felt grateful that the weight of fear had been lifted off his chest. Redge pushed himself up off the ground, focusing on the door, it had locked again, unlocking the door with telekinesis would take long and truthfully Redge didn't know if he had enough strength left.

Redge felt a bit inept at this point that as well as a bit helpless, not only had he retrapped himself in his cell but he couldn't form a response, as the saying goes a cat had his tongue. Months of social isolation will do that to you he supposed. Redge heard brief movement followed by the woman saying something about breaking the doors open, it was hard to hear but Redge got the gist of it: look for other expris in the cells. How they were going to break the doors down was beyond Redge. "Hey whats your name? I won't hurt you ya know." the voice spoke seemingly noticing Redge's silence.

Redge took a moment to answer but managed a response, "Uh... I- I'm Redge." he paused which seemed to last a few seconds, although he didn't feel any fear he still felt anxious. "Uh, what about your name?" Redge asked sounding a little more casual but it still had a nervous tone. Redge then heard a growl, it sounded low and deep, it was then Redge realized how they planned on opening his cell.

Kai

Kai chuckled. "Hello Redge." When the large Bear backed up and growled it took her only a second to understand. She smiled and nodded to him before turning to the boy in the cell. "Redge, I need you to back off to the side of your cell door ok? My friend is going to break it down." Hopefully the boy wasn't going to be difficult and would move, because Kai didn't want the poor creature to be hurt. She didn't know how much Amara could heal, then again remembering how injured the bear had been the little girl could probably heal quite a bit. Still, Kai moved off away from the door with a quick jump and waited for the cell to be opened.

Connor

"Please don't eat me." Connor scared her? She looked young; maybe she was scared of everything, but it still stung. Regardless, she seemed to have a special ability to heal people, so Connor let the little girl do her magic on the bear. It didn't take long for her to work, so Connor got a little impressed. Things were getting more interesting by the minute.

Waking up, the bear seemed happy, as well. He lifted Amara overhead and gave her a ride on his back — it must be fun, being tall.

---

As the growing posse walked along, Connor tuned in to everything but said posse. There was plenty of chaos going around, both conductor and Expri. Expri were begging and howling to be broken out; some were afraid that they'd be killed; the remaining conductors were trying to mobilize their security teams. Overall, though, nothing was actually getting done. None of the experiments escaped the facility, but none have been killed, either. Koda almost died, but he's completely fine now.

"Hello in there," Kai began. She found someone. "Are you alright? We're here to break you out of there." Though he growled when he was signaled, Koda's stance made him look more human than bear. He didn't act like other stage threes.

Kai was kind of pissing Connor off, too. Clearly the panther watched her lift over a ton of dead weight, but she still wanted the bear to break down the door. Well, to Hell with that! Connor needed to set an example for the other wolf already in the group, and no bear was going to stop her. At least she made sure Redge knew to move.

Without giving Koda any warning, Connor stepped between him and the door, pulling one of her legs up just a moment before kicking it in much harder than she needed to. Spirit aside, she sure wasn't going to hold back in front of something three times her size and over ten times her weight.

Kai

When the woman kicked the door down Kai raised an eyebrow and turned to peer in while the dust settled. The woman was strong that was for sure. Kai wondered briefly if she could stand against the first Expri made. Probably not, no one could especially now that he was completely under Tacrus' control. She shook her head in sadness at the "loss" of her friend and walked past the woman, nodding a thank you, and over the rubble into the cell. In there she found the boy, he looked young but not as weak as he tried to make his voice sound. His eye were young and scared but also relieved. And hiding something. Kael smelled the air, he didn't smell like en Expri that had been enlisted, he was probably just hiding an ability. Most Expris did that, even around others of their own kind.

"Hey there Redge, you ok? We need to get out of here." She crouched down to where the boy was sitting and held out a hand, hoping her smile looked friendly. She was looking forward to getting home and going to sleep.

Amara

The girl blinked as the bear told her his name somehow. His voice was deep, and gruff in her mind. She allowed him to set her back down on the floor, and she stood against the far wall, awkwardly holding herself. They were going to break someone out. Koda let out a deep, rumbling grunt and Amara slid to the side of Kai to give him space. "Uh... I- I'm Redge." It was just then that Connor, the wolf, stepped up and with one swift kick sent the massive door slamming into the opposite end of the cell. Amara couldn't help but jump a bit, startled by the sudden sound of exploding metal and the rebounding echos of the chaos. Wincing at the sound, and waving away the cloud of dust that was now settling on the scene, Amara peeked around Kai to see if the prisoner had survived the violent removal of it's door.

Amara glanced uneasily to Koda, taking a step closer to him. What if the Expri wasn't friendly? These older, stronger, Expri might not be afraid of anything but Amara was weary. She had seen an Expri tear her mother apart. Not all of them were so nice. Uneasily, she stood close to Koda and watched the scene unfold. Her blue hues were searching over the mess when she noticed Connor's leg was splintered on the inside. The bone looked like it was broken, threatening to pierce her skin and jut out. Amara's stomach twisted. "You're hurt." Her voice was very quiet, and the massiveness of the room almost swallowed up her syllables. "Please.." She slowly, and extremely cautiously, walked over to Connor once the wolf had stepped aside for Kai to enter the cell. Focusing on her life source, and the wolf's, Amara placed a small and gentle hand onto Connor's leg. She winced at the sound of the bone cracking back into place, but within moments the skin had stitched itself back together and healed. As with Koda, only the blood that was drying on the girl's skin remained.

"Redge, I need you to back off to the side of your cell door ok? My friend is going to break it down." Redge's eyes widened and he automatically moved to the door's side well out of the door's way. Getting crushed from what he gathered was a particularly nasty way to go, especially if it was by a door. He made sure to stand on the left side, away from the door's hinges; three possible outcomes could happen in Redge's view, numero uno: nothing, numero two-o: the door slams off its hinges and lastly: the door coming off completely, he doubted it but stranger things had happened, a primary example his ability to lift objects, Redge himself had no idea how it worked... it just did, perhaps it was better not to question these things.

Time slowed once again and an anxious anticipation took over, his eyes were locked on the door waiting for the moment. It happened so fast that it almost seemed surreal, the door burst off its hinges which undoubtedly caused Redge to flinch and jump back into the corner to try and evade danger. It was unnecessary however as it flew cleanly past him and onto the floor. Staring at the broken door in a sort of vague wonder, what could have the strength to preform such a feat? he found himself in wonder, sure he could react to situations in 0.100 milliseconds and do a triple-somersault with relative ease but that was no substitute for actual strength and his was quite limiting.

Redge was shook out of his daze by someone entering his cell, she looked young in her early twenties. That wasn't all, it took awhile for Redge to realize but now that the panic and confusion had waned his sense of smell had kicked back, she like him was panther. Redge didn't know how to handle his nose's feedback, his first reaction was something along the lines of I'm not the only one! He knew the other expri and him had something in common: being experimented on by Tacrus as well as being spliced with animals, sure that was enough to link them together in someway, but they had no other common characteristics, here was someone like him who had panther genes. Redge didn't know why perhaps it was animal instinct but he felt a sort of connection towards her, he justified it due to them being similar.

"Hey there Redge, you ok? We need to get out of here." she spoke in a crouched position, Redge sat there dazed for another second before nodding, "...Yeah, okay." he then noticed that she had held out her hand, Redge took it pulling himself up from the floor. Finally, after a long while he was leaving this place, he couldn't help but feel excited and glad.

Redge looked around before approaching his cell door, he tilted his head out first getting a good look out. Looking out he instantly picked up the smell of blood, he then realized much to his surprise that a female who had wolf inside her was the one that had bashed his cell door down he suspected that the bear had, he was the biggest there after all and Redge assumed the strongest. She seemed to have sustained a wound, a sickening crack was heard, Redge then noticed the girl whom he saw riding the bear's shoulders had one arm wrapped round her leg, the wound was coming from there and then... it wasn't. The girl had somehow managed to heal the wound, Redge felt curiosity bubble up but he answered it with his saying from earlier stranger things had happened.