Isadora step back into the rec room, a smile leapt to her face as a wave of Amara's scent smacked into her. She watched her talk to Dorianwho still looked missed at the "Iron Princess." Issie rolled her eyes knowing the other siren was goading her to behave like a five year old and well her limit was one out burst a day and growling at her was above and beyond it.

She stood next to the girl offering her a hand "I don't think we have been formal introduced seeing as I was so busy throwing my self at pretty Sy..Dorian over there." She gestured over to him and Amara. "I hope the wrong foot I stepped on wont fully make you think I am a looney toon." She smiled at the girl lightly. "I am Isadora GrayHart, pardon my staring before if it came across angry I assure you it wasn't I just you give the same vibe of kinship that she." She looked at the other Siren "But not in a bad way if that makes a lick of sense." She knocked a stray one of her hairs back, before talking the other girls ear off. "OH and I am so being a git and not getting your rather poke your eyes out with ice shards then listen to me praddle on like an insane whale. She smoothed her dress out before sitting in a chair near the girl pulling an old tattered book out and flipping it ot the middle.

_______

Riley grit his teeth slightly looking over at Dorian who seemed to attract trouble commenting on his painting. He gruffed out a "thanks." He'd all but missed her saying she liked it as well when her question snapped his thoughts back together. "Your a werewolf,right?" He smirked at her "What gave it away was it the ode to wet dog musk I wear?" He watched her zip her hoodie up and fidge. "Hey I wouldnt mind something to eat would you like to go to with me to grab something?" He put his brushes up and offered her his arm with a purely friendly smile. "I promise to even chew my food really good like." He grinned at her a playful grin his canines grew out just a tiny bit, its all her could change with all the crap in his body.

Peter flapped his wings lazy and opened his eyes expected to see the familiar view of the vast mountains beneath but was shocked to find himself in an enclosure. The surroundings were weird, with foliage from different parts of the world and a man-made cave which is awkwardly-shaped. The drone of the ventilators proved that the enclosure was far from open-air, the people that designed the enclosure probably felt that it was a great joke for the ceilings to have cloud-themed wallpaper.

"This is ridiculous," Peter thought to himself. The enclosure was fitted with a large metal roller shutter and an additional small door for the entry. Events of his capture came back to him.. "Humans, right, humans and their curiosity and greed." He backed up a little and charged toward the shutter, crashing into it with a explosive BANG! That caused a huge dent in the less than sturdy metal sheet, alarms started to screech and Peter was pelted with countless numbers of tranquilliser darts which flew out from nowhere. He tried to fight the drugs but it all went dark. Yes, Peter Hawk, griffon that lived freely for 500 over years trapped in a bird cage made by puny humans.

" It is wild, I told you. They can't communicate like the others. It is an animal."

" Can animals work together to conceal their existence, can animals make deals with people, can animals understand the meaning of curses and witchcraft? This is in my realm of expertise. You'll see, it will start talking once it realise the situation it is in. Well, if it doesn't work we can also use other creatures to communicate with it. It isn't as if we don't have a range to chose from," a researcher told his colleague proudly.

"Yes, that actually was exactly what gave you off, but it would be rude if you turned out not to be a werewolf and just smelled oddly like well... wet dog" Annika nodded to Riley " And yeah sure we can go get food, i just want to talk to that girl over there before we go" she walked over to the gorgon, "You know, it's not their fault their attracted to him, and they like his personality, and like talking to him, because Dorian is actually a pretty nice guy if your nice to him. You had no reason what's so ever to act out like that towards us, its embarrassingly immature and actually its quite pathetic. So if you're angry about something else, don't take it out on people who were ready to be friendly and nice toward you before you acted like..." Annika was at a loss of words, so she just said the first thing that came to her mind " pretty much like a total psycho bitch." She finished her rant, then actually realized everything she had said and probably how mean it had sounded. She marched back to Riley and grabbed his hand, trying to drag him out of the room as fast as she could, "Uh.. Okay we can go now"

Meddie rolled her eyes beneath her mask at what what apparently a retort from one of the targets of her disdain. She emitted a chuckle before speaking up, not bothering to lift her head from her book. She didn't need to to deal with this.

"RIght, I'm gonna spell this out slowly just in case you have trouble grasping it. Let's start with the fact that trying that and then not only attempting to run away, but hide behind a guy makes you look like an absolute coward. Seriously stick around to deal with the fallout of what comes out of your mouth or learn to shut it, either way suits me. Now that's out of the way, let's straighten out a few things. First of all, I'm not projecting my anger onto you people. I just don't like you. Next, Dorian has, if my math is correct, been here a max of two hours. You can't work out whether someone is a 'nice guy' in that time. You can however work out if you want to get boned by him, which is clearly the basis you're working on, hence why I don't like you, because most of you have the depth of fucking paddling pools, and finally, I really don't think I'd want to be friends with you anyway. Chances are most of the people here wouldn't have even thrown a word my way if I hadn't offended your delicate sensibilities, so you know I think I'd rather drip wax in my eyes. Finally, the term 'Psycho bitch' become kinda of a moot point when you consider that we're in an asylum, and that I'm one of the few people here who is free of disorders. I'm more sane than almost any of you, they just don't like people who can kill people with their eyes walking around unchecked. Does that cover everything? Thank you and good morning."

Medusa's snakes turned and hissed at Annika, punctuating what she said, though Medusa reached out to pull them down and stop them getting aggressive.

An exchange of blood? Oh no, there would be no exchange. For one thing, his new body couldn't bleed. For another, a demon never exchanged blood with anything other than another demon. To do so would create a permanent contract, much like a marriage. This was only temporary and, therefore, one-sided. As long as she kept her side of the deal, he would keep his.

The doll purred and reached out to rub her forehead. It was a friendly gesture, an imitation what she had been doing to it for a while now. For a long moment, the doll said nothing. It just let her continue rubbing its ear and thinking whatever she was pondering. At last, however, it broke the silence with a cough followed by a larger grin than usual. "You vill be hunted," it said softly. "Dey vill do tings. Try keep me here zrough you. If okay, zen vhat you vant?"

With a low sounding grunt Jag lifted up the 800 lbs and hooked it on the bench. Jag lifted for an hour or so. He gave himself a good workout and at least he had peace and quiet in that room. There was Alot of chatter going on somewhere near the pool. He though he heard a siren singing. Most of the time very pretty but ugly on the inside. He wanted to skip out on the pool room, less drama that way.

Jag went to his room first to change out of his workout clothes to jeans and a black fitted shirt. Washed his face up a bit and left to find something to do.

He walked in the rec room where most of the others were and noticed right away a girl with... Snakes for hair?" Oh a gorgon," he thought. Her hair was hissing and Jag felt a negative type of atmosphere in the area around the gorgon. Jag thought he should go and talk to her because he felt like a loner today and wanted to say something to someone, especially if that person was angry. He could try to calm her down.

Jag walked over to the girl and said "Hello, my name is Jag, I haven't seen you around..."

Seeing that he was going to get no response from the large weird Lion/Snake/Goat man. Ali stood up slowly his body tilting due to the lack for balance his tail being unable to move in hardly any direction. Steadying himself he looked around for something to do, seeing a bookshelf he slowly walked over to it his hands still stroking the brown teddy bear.

His eyes scanned the book until he finally saw one that he recognized a second in the series "Six Ancient Stones" By Matthew Riely. He gave a light smile and went to reach for it. He couldn't move his hands high enough to get the book, giving a light whine he turned to the group. "Co-..." he paused a lump in his throat turning his mouth dry swallowing hard he tried again. "Could somebody.....h.....help me...um get this book.....please...i...er can't reach" he kept his eyes on the ground and twisted the bear lightly still stroking it for comfort.

Dorian watched the others, Medusa was the one who made his eyebrows raise, though. She had some nerve, talking to Isadora like that. Although, she was somewhat right, in a way, but he would never tell that to her.
She was just trying to resolve things like he had been earlier, but she was shot down, just like him. There were a lot of rude and bitter people around this place.
He certainly didn't want to get attached to too many of them, so he wouldn't plan on it. He only seemed to be getting good vibes from the other girls, anyway.
He apologized to Issie for the way that Meddie had been treating her then went to towards the bookshelf where a smaller boy acted as if he needed assistance.
"Here ya go." He smiled, handing him the book, he seemed like he was in desperate need for someone taller.
-~-~-~-
Medusa was making Alkaline laugh even harder. The way she completely told Isadora off made her want to cry from glee. She had to settle herself down before listening to what the doll had to say. She thought about it for a moment and then nodded. "Yeah, I can do that. I mean, they already hurt me enough around here as is, so it doesn't seem as if it could get much worse."
She drummed her index and middle finger against her chin in thought then her eyes lit up before she bent down to whisper into his ear, "I want to escape from here. Somehow not have to take my medication, that's the main thing. If you can get them to stop giving me pills, I will be able to control anyones mind." She snickered and pulled away to watch his expression. "So we gotta deal?"

Mara overheard the gorgon, Meddie, start yelling at Issie and she got conflicted feelings.
Her siren instincts were switching from territorial to sisterly as she walked up to Issie and the gorgon.
"Don't let her get under your skin, Issie." Mara said. "She's just pissed at the world cause her kind is cursed."
She smiled. "How does it make you feel, knowing that love of anykind is pretty much... well out of the question?"

Mara adjusted the ribbons around her wrists, the ones that covered her scars.
"Your as cold blooded as the animals you call hair. A reptile. You're calling us shallow? At least someone would test the water with us and see if we're deep."
She shook her head. "No one's going to try to get to the bottom of the pool if the water's frozen."

For a moment, Mara thought she was done, but more words kept coming. "And I've known Dorian for half an hour, but I'd still take him over you? Even if he didn't have the body of a god! You know why? Because he's pleasant to be around! Now if that concept to too hard for your little snake brain to wrap around, maybe you should just go back to your room and be pissed off in there. Cause we all have problems, I mean we're in a fucking insane asylum, so your nothing special. So get off your high horse! Alright Bitch?"

Amara sighed, her face slightly red from yelling, and turned back to Issie.
"I think we got off on the wrong foot. I'm Amara Luna. Nice to meet you Issie. I hope we can be friends."

Fletcher stepped out of the black sedan his gaze traveling to the impressive building, it was certainly not what he had expected. The large man who had driven the car got out and roughly gripped Fletcher by the shoulder guiding him roughly towards the building. There was a short pause at the door as above them a camera swiveled to take in their image moments later there was a soft click and a long buzz as the door was unlocked briefly for them to enter. The guard shoved him forward into the white washed hall, he stumbled the two large duffle bags he carried swinging wildly at his sides. As Fletcher regained his balance he heard the resounding sound of a deadbolt sliding into place. The only thing he coiuld think was, Trapped.

He gasped for air as the guard turned to the reception to check which room the subject belonged in "32" cam the automated voice from behind the counter he sank down between his bags trying to stop the panic attack he could feel lingering in the edges of his consciousness. His breath came in ragged gasps as his mind began to wander away, he could feel his body beginning to tremble violently and could taste the blood in his mouth from his shifting teeth. The guard turned back to see the hollows of Fletcher's eyes become more pronounced their luminous gold beginning to swirl in with his normal violet creating a strange molten look.
"Sedation!!"The guard hollered slamming his hand down on a button by the reception desk window, deep within the building alarms began to sound as guards and doctors streamed from one of the rooms down the corridor "I NEED SEDATION NOW!!!" He bellowed seeing Fletcher's deteriorating state.
" It won't help, I can't be sedated... " he said his voice trembling with effort "which room is mine?" said Fletcher managing to hold himself together. The guard wasn't paying attention. Fletcher turned his half human half feline features on the guard and locked eye contact with him, "which room is mine?!" he said pronouncing each word slowly and evenly, there was authority in his voice now a tone that said he was not to be messed with.
The guard pointed down the hall, "last room on the left" there was fear and intimidation in his voice and posture. Without a backward glance Fletcher bolted down the hallway his bags in hand and was in his new room in 4 seconds flat.

Slamming the door shut, he dropped his bags moving into a clear corner of his room and curled himself into the tightest ball he could. He wished with all his heart for Andrina's calming touch for her love and support. His breath began to slow but the black spots in his vision only grew larger until his world fell to darkness.

Peter woke up once again to find that his captors have fitted a collar on him. "Attention, Griffin, if you attempt to escape again. The collar around your neck will explode. If you understand say yes, otherwise we shall not hesitate to terminate a non-intelligent life-form." A guard said with a uncertain tone in his voice. Peter tried to remove the collar but it is not easy to reach his own neck at all. The guard started counting down, "5,4,3,2.."

Peter flexed his vocal cord, hardly used for human speech and managed a very muffled, "How dare you threaten me.." His response was met with a rude electrical shock from the collar. Peter coughed from the shock, "Why did you do that? " The person didn't reply and just briefed the griffon on the particular routine as if their programme or schedule could be applied to anyone or anything that exist in their premise. He could not put the idea of therapy or meds, which really are things that short-life humans invent and concern themselves with. Peter rarely even take note of much of these things they do but he was long suspicious about the speed of technological development.

Now, that escape seems difficult if he could not enlist some help, he noticed many weird scents about, that smelt somewhat human but mostly not. Unknown to the people all involved with his capture and even the guard speaking, Peter had already remember their scent, that is to say, even years from now, he will get back the debt to him they had been wreaking up. Meanwhile, it is important to find some other people/ prisoners to use. "Group therapy," Peter said in a now grating voice, which he found easier. There were some discussion before the metal roller shutters rolled up, the asylum people had manage to replaced it while he had been knocked unconscious. And as this happened, the security cameras recorded his move as well as the pinhole camera placed in the collar. Peter could hardly move in the passageways, struggling at some point, wings pressed against the doors of other occupants. He noticed the smell of vampires, he had seen quite a few, well integrated into human society, it disturbed him that the place had the power, technologically or rather military power to keep them here. The way things were run, makes the place seem legitimate unlike some of the many poacher dens. Peter approached the rec room almost disgusted at the sound of squabbling people and the reek of snakes.

"Gorgon not of good moods," he answered. From where had she come? he began to wonder. Gorgons were not usually seen in the Americas, and frankly, he had all but forgotten their presence after Medusa, their queen, had been killed. Was she the offspring of one of Medusa's sisters?

If so, what was she doing here? She did not look like the others, and Razz began to wonder how she had found herself here. Had she been approached like he had been?

The manticore-girl, Two, seemed to stop when another inmate, a disheveled, furry-looking boy approached them. Perhaps, Razz thought, she was afraid of the other inmates-- he could not blame her. Some of them were not peaceful and good. The furry boy was thankfully not one of them, and Razz suspected that he was good of heart-- but why was he not strong, or a leader among these people?

At the mention of itself, the snake tail snapped back in the direction of the boy, lifting itself to his face. It regarded him with some hesitation, and took several moments to take in his scent, but then relaxed its stance and retreated back to Razz. The other heads, too, were very curious, and began to sniff and prod at him.

"Is snake," he answered. "Good tail." In fact he did not know. He did not think of what they were-- why should he dwell on it? After all, he could not then accept himself. "Your tail... Should be of much hairs. Little hairs." Razz took it and held it up. "Why little hairs? Fox is soft. Thick."

"Name's Medusa. Meddie tends to do though. Cuts down confusion." Meddie remarked as Jag introduced himself, her snakes bobbing thier heads over in his direction as they attempted to get a measure of him, flicking out thier forked tongues and tiilting in curiosity as they tried to determine his species.
"You appear to be confusing my snakes." she added after a moment.
She was planning to speak again, but then Amara marched over and immediately began to verally attack her. Medusa carried on reading her book without a great deal of reaction, deciding to wait for her to finish, before speaking up.

"Well, Mr Jag, if you'll excuse me it looks like I've got another apparent White Knight who needs a few points spelled out to them."

The snakes rounded on Amara and emitted a loud, collective hiss, showing off their fangs and puffing themselves up. Meddie pulled her hood up and the reptiles reluctantly flattened down, still watching the woman from beneath the hood. Meddie on the other hand appeared entirely unfazed, and still more focused on her reading as she gave voice.


"Right, let's cover all this too. To begin with I've already fairly comprehensively covered the fact that I don't have a problem, beyond my natural defense mechanism anyway. I have no problem and have made no claims pertaining to having one, In fact part of my point was based on the fact that unlike most of you, I'm mentally quite normal. Additionally the reason I'm not in my room is because I'm required to spend some time with the other inmates. Please don't flatter yourself that I'm in here for any reason other than that the guards would send me back if I left, and that I've run out of things to read.

Now, as for the question of being shallow, you're not exactly making a great case for you having hidden depths considering how massively racist you've just been. Reptile? Cursed? Snake-brain? That's nothing but prejudice and xenophobia, and displays how ignorant you are of not only gorgons, but anyone who doesn't fit into your definition of normal. It's disappointing that I've experienced more tolerence from ordinary humans than from someone like you, who should really know better than to be spouting that sort of thing. You claim I'm judging you prematurely, but you've just proved pretty much everything I suspected of you by railing on me for who I was born as rather than taking up the problem you have with my personality like someone with a bit of sense. Frankly, your behaviour disgusts me."

So she wanted Jäger to make it so she wouldn't have to take her medication? Well, it would be possible, no doubt about that. The doll paused to think it over and began running plans through his mind. There were many different ways he could go about doing so, but the only way that guaranteed her wish was... well, it involved killing a large number of humans, and his job was to guide their souls, not kill them. Plus, that would put him on overtime, except he couldn't do his job right now so it would put extra strain on the other hellhounds. Not to mention Lord Death. An involuntary shudder ran down his spine. If Death found out, there would be hell to pay...

Literally.

No, he couldn't do it. There was no guarantee he could get her what she wanted and he refused to accept a task if he couldn't fulfill it. That would simply bind him to her until she died. He shook his head, explaining, "Zere is no... guarantee I can do eet." No guarantee except through massive bloodshed. "Perhaps, somezing else?"

Ali paused in thought as someone handed him the book he wanted "Thank..you" he mumbled. He gave a light gasp when his tail was touched the large goat man asking why he had such little hair on his tail. "I...i..pluck it....i get nervous about things....its the only thing that...makes sure i'm there" He didn't really know how to explain why his tail was as bad as it was. He held onto the book that he was planning to read as well as holding onto the teddy almost for dear life.

He didn't really like anyone touching his tail even his mother had to deal with him trying to pull it away when she would wrap it up when he plucked it to the point of bleeding. He breathed quickly and spoke "Would you...mind letting go of my...my tail please?...i'm not really fond of people touching it" he admitted. His hands pulled down on the harness trying to pull out the tail from the grasp on the larger male. He was gentle though he had to admit he couldn't even remember the ammount of times that people would pull his tail thinking it was fake.

"Perhaps, somezing else? "

Peter finally entered the rec room feeling quite comfortable with the small sizes of most of the people or creatures in it. Already there were two snake related species, he did not really want to go near. "You smell like fish. Can you be eaten? " Peter pointed rudely at Amara using his large front claws. "Nah, too much hassle. " It wasn't that Peter was trying to offend but he rarely interacted with other species much less rare ones whose characteristics are unknown to him. Peter shook his head not half caring what the others were doing, such as the fox-human who seemed frozen in place holding his tail. Instinctively, Peter head towards Two. "You will do good at removing the collar," he tried to smile with his beak resulting in him looking scary and threatening rather than anything else. He could not help feeling tiresome at needing a favour. As powerful as he was, or he though he was, he did not had opposable digits.

Peter could feel that the other monster looking like thing in the room was trying to understand him but what is there to be understand about except that Peter was actually admiring his own reflection on the tiled floors while asking for a favour. Unfortunately, he was shallow and unabashedly prejudice against everyone except himself.

Alkaline thought for a second. He couldn't do it. Then she had no idea how she would ever get out of here.
She shrugged her shoulders, unknowing. "I have no idea what I would want besides to get out of here."
She glanced towards Dorian and slit her eyes, watching him help the smaller boy. She thought hard, getting into his head.
"Hey, Ali? Come and sit with me?" She asked him, patting the empty space in the chair next to her. This was definitely not her usual way to act but she didn't feel comfortable with the kid around that egotistic demon.
She gave him a half smile and sighed. She wanted to help the toy out, but she wasn't sure exactly how to go about it.
-~-~-~-
Dorian lowered his eyebrows when Alkaline invited the kid over. She seemed strange about the way she looked at him. He lowered his brows but went back into the cafeteria to snag some food. He scanned over the different things there was to pick from to consume. He settled on a turkey leg and sat down to enjoy his food. This place wasn't so bad except for the random drugs he was forced to take. He wished he could have his powers. It would be so much more fun that way.

1:45 P.M.

With the loud slam of twin doors been thrust open, the daily lunch was interrupted. Clad in dark Kevlar, helmets, and body armor, several men burst into the room. Clenched in their hands were automatic rifles, electric batons, tranquilizer guns, and riot shields.

“Everyone against the wall! Move! Now! Hands planted firmly above your head!” one of them screamed, “Noncompliance will be met with non-lethal force; further disobedience with lethal force.”

With weapons waving in every direction, they motioned for everyone, including the staff, to obey. When their demands were met, all but two faced the door again with their weapons in firing position.

“Area secure. Roll it in!” said the leader.

Slowly the shape of a large steel cage appeared under the doorway. Electric steel spikes lined the inside of the bars that kept the creature within imprisoned. Even while it sat, strapped and tied to a chair, it seemed to cast a dark shadow over the room. It was clothed in a nylon straight jacket along with a single-legged pant pinning its legs together. A mussel and helmet covered his entire face, showing only the emotionless, eerie blue glow of his eyes. The rest of his facial features were shrouded in complete darkness. Dozens of leather straps, chains, and handcuffs held him in place inside the cage.

The cage was escorted by several more guards. Three held long poles with steel hoops wrapped around the beast’s neck. One stood at the front and the other two at the sides. Others carried electric batons, poles armed with syringes, and a few with assault rifles and shotguns. Their eyes emitted only a single emotion.

Fear.

The creature’s eyes scanned the room and the rest of the patients that were forced to stand against the wall for their own protection – from him. He looked at each of his “escorts” and tried to meet them in the eyes. Each and every one of them looked away. They looked away because they could not bear the single emotion that resonated from his eyes.

Hatred.

No. That was not all he felt. There was also rage.

Rage and Hatred.

Slowly, the cage was rolled down the hallway, toward the Maximum Security Zone of the facility. After several minutes one of the guards picked up their radio. Undecipherable chatter emanated from it.

"Roger that." he said, "Subject 72 has been delivered. Let's move out!"

With that the soldiers left the room almost as fast as they came in.

Ali looked over as someone said his name, his hazel eye focused on a girl sitting on her own. But how did she know his name? did she have really good hearing and heard one of the doctor or nurses talking about him? He looked down at his tail still being held by the large goat man. He would have to start learning names instead of refeing to people by what they looked like. He slowly walked over to the girl looking down as his tail fell from the larger mans hand. He looked down at the chair that the girl wanted him to sit down. Swinging his tail to the side so he wouldn't have the uncomfortable feeling of sitting on it for long periods of time. "Thankyou....i'm not really...sure of that man....." He gave and uncomfrotable glance to the man from the otherside of the room. The hold on the teddy bear increase as his ears picked up the sound of something large coming down the corridor. "How...did you..know my name?" he asked looking at her briefly.

Annika rolled her eyes at the gorgon, apparently everyone thought she had been screaming at Issie which would take an edge of her own embarrassment. This girl, 'Medusa' , as she had called herself certainly didn't know any manners. If she was going to make assumptions about them why couldn't Amara make assumptions about her, which were probably right seeing as it had hit such a nerve. Annika didn't think she was shallow, in fact she thought the only one shallow enough to go on horribly ranting and raving about how she hated people she didn't even know, was Medusa. She was pathetic, and overall Annika didn't think Medusa deserved any attention. Annika ignored everything Medusa said and just tried to suppress her urge to cry and scream at her. She grabbed Riley's hand and lead him out of the rec room, her guard escorted them half way to the cafeteria when she heard some commotion going on, her heart was immediately filled with Hatred, not only that but it was also filled with rage. "Roger that, Subject 72 has been delivered. Let's move out! she heard a voice of, who she presumed was, a guard. Who was Subject 72, what kind of a name was that? Right as the entered the cafeteria soldiers pushed her aside and sprinted out of the door, she looked up to Riley in confusion. Annika looked back down the hallway as they rolled a cage toward the maximum security area "I guess there's a new um... Patient"

"Yes, probably best to leave before you embrass yourself further." Medusa remarke,d maintaining her deadpan tone as one of her new 'friends' scuttled off back to the nearest masculine form.
"Perhaps in the future it'll teach you not to start things you don't have the bravery to finish. If you want to come and pick a fight with me, don't think you can just run off and hide behind the nearest man-creature and it'll somehow render you immune to a response. Take it on the chin and actually prove me wrong, as so far most of you have done nothing but live up to sterotypes of bitchy, vacuous, shallow and now racist too." she stated as she flipped over the page of her book.
"I just love going to the rec room. Oh the lively discussion."

In reality, this sort of thing had very little effect on Medusa, though she was getting rather exasperated by assumptions made about her species. She had been a successful performer at one point...before the whole blasted medicine scare had put pay to that. She'd probably be better off keeping the whole healing blood thing to herself...she didn't really trust people here not to murder her in her bed to get rid of unsightly back acne or dandruff. Ego was clearly a big thing.

She glanced back round to Jag, who had addressed her.
"I'm sorry, did you want to speak to me ?"

Later that day…

Gro’chal sat silently within his cage, which now stood in the epicenter of a large circular room. The walls appeared to be constructed from a steel alloy. Thick rivets lined the seams of the enormous steel plates. Directly behind the cage was the single door to the room. Foot thick steel bars covered in barb wire stretched across it. On the door the symbol of a hand with a lightning bolt coursing through it was emblazoned. A solitary tinted porthole allowed sight within, but not out. In the corner, to his right, high above was a security camera with a blinking red light.

The creature stared emotionless at the wall. To him, it was simply another cell, another clinic – another prison. He knew they would be coming soon to give him his “medication” and to look at their new prize. When they came, he would show them their foolishness.

They are afraid of you.

“I can sense it within them” he said in a deep, dark, and malicious voice, “but it is only in the stage of suspicion… We will teach them the true meaning of fear.”

What will you do?

“I will show them their foolishness for harboring us…”

He waited.

-----------------------

The intern stood in front of the doorway to Solitary Confinement Room One. In his hands was a red cafeteria tray with a slab of partially-cooked cod, mushy green beans, clumpy mashed potatoes, a glass of water that had a slight smell of chlorine, a plastic shot glass full of pills, and a syringe filled with a large amount of heavily concentrated sedative. A piece of paper on the tray listed the contents of the medication:

3 Anti-depressants

4 Anti-psychotics

5 Sleeping pills

2 Multi-vitamins

“Dude…” said the intern, looking at the contents of the tray, “I feel kinda sorry for this wacko. This must be the leftovers from yesterday’s dinner! And all these drugs… This is startin’ to trip me out. I hope I won’t have to use this sedative…”

He stretched out the security card that was clipped to his belt and slid it into the black console. With a ping it unlocked the numeral key pad, which he typed the seven-digit pass code into. The pad then vanished into the console once again and the steel bars on the door began to retract into the wall. Once the door was unlocked, he looked through the port hole and stared at the back of the caged creature.

Oh boy…

Slowly he gripped the handle and unlatched the door. It opened with a slight creak. The room was deathly silent except for the cautious tip-toeing of the intern toward the being. Once he stepped into the room the door closed and locked itself behind him. He turned his head around, fighting sheer panic.

Gulp.

He turned back towards Subject 72 and continued walking towards him until he could see the ghostly blue glow of his eyes.

“Uhh… hello? Yeah, um, sup. Hey dude, I brought some food and water for you, and some medication. Should I just leave it here for you? Actually, you might not be able to eat it with the cage… and the straight jacket… and the mussel and all that… Do you need me to help you with it? I can do that if you want me to…”

As if the intern’s voice fell on deaf ears, the creature continued to stare at the wall with emotionless, trance-like focus.

“Err, okay then… I’ll just leave it here for you for when you get hungry. Now if you don’t mind, I have a lot of other things I need to d—“

“What did you bring me, human?” said the creature.

Crap!

“Oh, uhh…” he stammered as he picked up the tray and walked toward the creature, who was now glaring at him, “There’s some green beans, mashed potatoes, water… some cod, and some pill—“

“Fish?” he growled, “Do not your superiors tell you anything? I do not like fish!”

“Oh. Um… uh… err… If you want I can get you something else.”

“You’re afraid of me, aren’t you…” he asked rhetorically.

“I… uh…”

I can sense your terror, human.

The intern’s eyes widened in fright as the being’s voice echoed in his mind. He felt his consciousness grip into his mind like icy talons of malice and hatred. Then suddenly it filled with a dark laugh that filled him with dread, terror, and despair.

You should be afraid.

With a thunderous roar Gro’chal lifted his arms. The nylon straight jacket began to creak and fibers began to tear until his arms emerged from their cocoon. They were heavily muscled and dark as coal with a tint of gray and blue. Countless scars covered his torso and back. He raised one of his four-fingered, clawed hands and tore the mussel off of his head, revealing a face that resembled that of an insect or arachnid. Sickly yellow tusks jutted from his upper and lower jaw while thick black dreadlocks fell upon his shoulders and upper back. Elongated, slitted nostrils snorted in rage. His glowing blue eyes continued to glare angrily at the intern.

Gro’chal shoved his arms against the bars and held onto them with an iron grip. His body began to convulse as an electric current passed through it, but he remained focused even despite the steel spikes tearing into his skin and flesh. He cried out in agony, but it did nothing to deter him. The pain seemed to only fuel his rage and strength as he bent the bars wide.

Reacting purely on instinct, the intern fumbled for the syringe and thrust it towards the monstrosity. However, with incredible cat-like reflexes, he dodged and grabbed the arm and yanked it toward the inside of the cage. The man’s face slammed into the bars of the cage, inches away from the menacing glare of the alien. He growled and again spoke into the mind of the intern. As he spoke, the room began to fill with darkness until only his ghostly glowing blue eyes and the red light from the security camera illuminated the cell. At the same time the air around them became deathly cold.

Look into my eyes, mortal, and despair! I am Death. I am Chaos. I am the Darkness within your soul; the Shadow lurking in your mind; the Passion within your heart! I can see into the darkest depths of your puny mind!

He let go of the intern, who collapsed onto the floor in a daze. Finally he took one of his claws and tore the single-pant legging that confined his legs. Doing so freed an enormous lizard-like, barbed tail that stretched several feet. His legs were also much defined and were the same pitch black tone as the rest of his body. Only three enormous, taloned toes stretched out from his feet.
The alien leaped out of the cage and sprung off of the wall, landing next to where the intern lay in a fetal position staring at him with pure terror. Gro’chal’s face twisted into a dark malicious smile.

The voices say that I should kill you for disrespecting me… but I think we can get some use out of you first…

With a clawed hand he reached for the cowering man.

Then the cowering man screamed.

------------------

“Red alert! We have a disturbance in Solitary Confinement! All available units rendezvous at SC1! ” echoed the intercom.

Moments later at least ten guards, armed with assault rifles, tranquilizers, and body armor, stood ready to breach Solitary Confinement Room One. Everyone aimed their weapons at the door in anticipation. One of them approached the console and swiped their card. While they typed in the security code he spoke to the others.

“Disabling security door… Prepare to breach. Take down target alive if possible.”

As the bars on the door disengaged, he slapped a magazine into his rifle.

“Use your tranquilizers, stun guns, and rubber bullets first. If we can’t knock it out, then neutralize it.”

The bars on the door retracted.

Crash. A massive dent in the door. Crash. Another dent. Finally the door flew off its hinges and slammed into the opposite wall, crushing one of the guards.

“Open fire!” one of them yelled.

The soldiers fired a barrage of rubber bullets into the thick darkness beyond the doorway. Gunfire echoed throughout the facility for several seconds, and then it was silent. An ice cold black fog seeped from the room and hovered just along the ground in the hallway.

“Did we get it?”

Just as the man finished his sentence, the creature burst forth from the darkness and pounced on one of the guards. His gun flared in every direction as he hit the ground, hitting two other guards. The alien swung his right arm out and clubbed another, sending him flying, then swatting his massive tail left, smashing two more against the wall.

The rest started to fire on him. Gunfire again echoed across the complex. A taser lodged itself into the creature’s left shoulder, but he simply tore it from his skin and yanked it from the hands of the guard who fired it. Tranquilizer darts flew from every direction. He dodged some, but others found their mark. Gro’chal swatted and slashed at two more guards who found themselves too close to him but fell to one knee. He could feel the dozens of heavy duty tranquilizers start to take effect. Summoning the last of his strength and rage, he released a thunderous roar that shook the walls surrounding them. Hidden within the powerful demoralizing roar however, was an attempted broadcast of his consciousness to all non-human sentient creatures. That broadcast contained a single message.

Free me… and I shall free you.

His world faded into darkness.

-----------------

Gro’chal again sat in chains inside his cell and wore little more than a loincloth and white rags from what used to be the straight jacket that bound him. Bloodied cuts and tears covered his forearms. One of the head psychiatrists stood before him. He was an older, slender man with a large forehead, receding hair line, and lab coat. The man wore dark sunglasses and glared at the alien.

“Subject 72,” he said in a harsh tone “explain your defiant actions.”

Gro’chal stared, now void of emotion.

“Speak!”

A wicked smile formed on his face. “He gave me fish. I don’t like fish.” He said calmly.

“Who?”

Gro’chal gestured to the intern who was lying on the floor, shaking in the fetal position, blank-eyed. His face was pale and quivering. The psychiatrist saw the man and gaped at his appearance. He turned red with fury once he faced the alien again.

“Since you are new to this facility,” he growled, “I will let you off with a warning, but if you do anything like this again… You will be succumbed to disciplinary actions. Do you understand?”

“Perfectly… doctor.” he sneered.

With that he turned and started to walk out of the room. Turning to one of the guards he ordered them to bring the dramatized man to the infirmary. Once everyone left, the room went dark.

Fools.

Slowly consciousness returned to Fletcher's exhausted mind. Even through the depths of his murky muddled senses he could here the gentle intake and release of air, someone was breathing within his room. Years of being hunted drove his thoughts from the exhausted daze of the panic and into sharp focus.
He was still curled tensely into a tight ball wedged into the corner of his room facing the wall, slowly he unlocked his muscles from their seized positions. Finally loose enough he spun his body around to face the technician with lightning speed. The doctor hadn't yet realized he was awake, she sat facing him with her back to the door examining some paperwork that she had on a clipboard resting on her lap. The pen she had been writing with was resting gently against the side of her mouth in concentration.
With inhuman speed he flitted over to stand just behind her, he bend placing his lips just close enough to her throat to let her feel the tickle of his breath on the side of her neck.
"Do you have any idea how easy it would be for me to kill you right now?" he asked fangs extended as he whispered in her ear.
He felt her stiffen, her energy becoming static. He relished the momentary power he had over her as he felt acutely the fear radiating from her as his breath continued to brush against the side of her throat for a moment longer.
Fletcher straightened and took a step back from the girl "Next time , perhaps, when you find yourself in the presence of an instinctual predator you would see sense in being..." His words were silenced as the technician wheeled on him, her finger already in the motion of pulling the trigger on a tazer that she had had concealed on her lap beneath the clipboard. With practiced swiftness she lined the charges up with the center of Fletcher's chest and released the trigger. The effect was instant and painful, Fletcher's body went rigid as the 150 amps of electricity flowed through his body.
He dropped to the floor like a sack of potatoes, there were a few sudden and unexpected thumps as his heart began to beat against his rib cage, a uneven fluttering beat that lacked the true force of a human heartbeat. with the limited mobility he had he pulled himself into the fetal position as his veins seemed to transform into molten barbs of pain, the inexplicable fire of his original transformation re awakened in his veins the memory of that terrifying night rekindled in his mind.
"Next time you should be aware that we at the Asylum do not take kindly to surprises," she paused her voice ringing with barely controlled anger and the slightest hint of fear. Fletcher lay prone on the floor his body still twitching spasmodically as his heart continued to flutter feebly. The Technicians eyes narrowed as she continued, "and we always come prepared." the subtle hint of a threat entering her voice as she stared down at Fletcher's prone body. Detaching the charge wires on her tazer, she swiftly stowed the tazer in the holster at her side, turned sharply on her heel and walked out of the room the clicking of her stilettos against the hard tile fading as she made her way down the hall.
Fletcher lay stunned for a few moments longer as his heart finally came to a stop, the intense pain of the blood moving in his veins beginning to fade. Slowly,Fletcher pulled himself to his feet, every fiber of his body aching. He moved to sit on the bed, a deep seated realization settling in his mind, he knew from then on he would find no compassion in this place, this asylum, this prison.

Peter could not believe that he was utterly ignored as if his presence was nothing more than a deco in the room. A very large deco indeed. Or perhaps, he did not pronounce his words properly. Finding that he could not get anyone in the room to notice him, surprisingly, the griffon decided to return to his room/enclosure.

Free me..and I shall free you.

Peter heard a voice in his head. It obviously wasn't human. There was no telling who sent that vague message and Peter definitely did not have the ability to seek it out. As he returned to his room, he caught an unearthly, slightly acidic smell. " He gave me fish, I don't like fish." Somehow, he found the thing which sent the message. He overheard the whole conversation and then a group of humans walked towards his direction. The psychiatrist looked at him threatening, as if he was disciplining his dog. " Don't even get near my subject, " he warned. At the moment, Peter wondered what the humans think of him. Perhaps, they find him like a tamed animal now that he had a collar and they make the mistake of assuming he would be cooperative to their whims. As the group of humans walked away, they did not notice that Peter had made an unsightly claw mark on the wall. He headed towards the dangerous smell, he was ready to make a deal.

The researcher stared at the screen stopping the guard from warning Peter over the intercom. " Wait, let me observe this. That head psychiatrist has it in his head that he was going to get all that accolade from obtaining that alien. Let's as watch this show." Peter could hardly see in the dark, there were no guards unlike near his enclosure, it did not occur to him that the creature inside might be considered too dangerous to get close to, at least for humans to get close to. The security camera above him beeped recording the scene as well as the camera on his neck. There was a silence in the security, there was some sort of anticipation, after all one of the purpose of the facility was for research and interactions even those in group therapy and recorded and observed with interest.

"Hey! HEY! HEYYYYY! Heyyy!" Peter screamed annoyingly in his mind, cocking his head aside but he could not peer into the porthole. Meanwhile, the head psychiatrist who had just reached his office slammed his hands on his table. "Get that brainless bird away from my subject!"

Gro’chal continued to sit in his cell. The blood on his arms had already dried and the wounds were beginning to close and heal, leaving new scars. He silently laughed in mockery at the humans who thought they had imprisoned him, who believed they had broken and subdued him.

Oh how naïve they were… They were almost juvenile, like children who had received a new plaything or pet. This puppy had teeth however, and did not enjoy being in a cage. His plan was set in motion. Now all he needed was an all--.

He felt a presence. It was not human. No, it felt much older and intelligent. It was also bestial, wild, untamable, and feral, like him. Could it be true? Had someone answered his call for liberation?
Gro’chal attempted to rise to his feet, but the chains hindered him from going further than a half crouch. While in this position, he strained to see through the dark tinting of the porthole. However, it was designed to only allow those outside to view in, and not those within to gaze out into the free world. The alien knew there was something on the other side of the door, he could feel them, but he could not see into their mind to communicate with them proper without eye contact. Growling in frustration, he attempted to project his consciousness in a concentrated funnel in front of him.

If someone is there, our meeting must be brief, for the humans tend to be obsessive with possessions such as myself. You and I have a common aspiration – to be liberated from this cruel bondage by such inferior beings. I am willing to help you, but first I must be freed.

The humans have stolen a device from me. It holds the power to unlock my more… destructive… abilities. They have hidden it away in a vault somewhere within the complex. I have acquired an informant within their ranks who will locate it. Seek him out. Return with the talisman and liberation shall be ours!

Gro’chal ended the transmission and felt the echo of a familiar voice within his mind.

Are you sure we can trust him? How do you know he won’t betray us like the rest?

“I don’t…” he said quietly, “but I do not know if we will be able to retrieve the talisman on our own. At the moment we need allies on the outside. However, they may outlive their usefulness later…”

Yessss… We will kill, destroy, tear, shed, maim, burn! Mehehehahaha!

“Be silently now, my old friend. I must contact our little ‘assistant.’”

Yes, my master.

The being now closed his eyes and focused. He reached out and tugged the mental leash he had established with the intern. With icy talons of will and malice he gripped the feeble mind of the human. His will was now his, and his sight filled his mind’s eye.

“Awaken, my puppet… and follow the commands of your master.”

--------

Mark the intern began to stir in the hospital bed. Strange images filled his mind; images of a hideous monster born from nightmares, phantasmal glowing blue eyes filled with malice and hate, and a sadistic smile of cruelty. He could still see the face, the eyes, the smile, and feel the agonizing vice grip of his claws. His mind filled with the horrible laugh of the beast. It echoed in his mind a single phrase.
You are mine now.

With a start he snapped his eyes open and sat upright in the bed. A drop of cold sweat ran down his brow and face. His right hand gripped the railing of the hospital bed, causing his knuckles to turn ghostly white. The man’s breathing came in quick gasps as he darted his eyes around the room.

He was lying in a hospital bed in the infirmary. It was a long room filled with other beds, some occupied and others empty, divided by pale green curtains. Mark himself was dressed in a thin cotton gown that he did not remember changing into. An IV protruded from his left wrist and a pulse monitor hugged into his right middle finger. A rapid beeping sound emanated from the machine next to him.

Mark looked around the room and felt that something was missing. He felt that there was something he needed that was not here. He felt that he needed to get up and go somewhere. He felt that he was not supposed to be there. He felt that he needed to go do something important, but most of all… He felt that he needed an Asprin.