Lythum Labs

[Evalaine Rosalie]

Evalaine watched Etha leave the room and then glanced around it herself. It was of an ample size and would suit her needs easily. Jasmine was still darting from one side of the room to the other as she processed what would be needed. Ealaine smiled as she watched her and then loaded Alia.

"Alia dear, check on the computer system and start organising a list of our requirements as Jasmine gives them to you," she said as the young gazelle appeared.

"Yes mother," replied Alia with a grin before proceeding to the computer and silently linking with it.

Evalaine watched her for a moment and then shut her eyes. A sharp twinge ran up the left side of her body like a bolt of lightning. She hissed and clutched her left arm with her right. Jasmine stopped her work and looked round.

"Mother?" she asked.

"Its nothing dear," hissed Evalaine, "Carry on."

"Yes mother."

Evalaine meanwhile proceeded into the living space still clutching her arm. She hadn't even gotten to the bed when the twinge came again. She didn't even scream as her body lost all control and began to spasm by itself. She collapsed to the floor with a thud and curled up into a ball as the full effect of her earlier emotional outburst struck her.

[Viper]

The lab doors open as Etha walked into Dr. Davis lab. They had two other lab assistances that were working on the new test subject. She seemed to be completely wired up and seemed like she had a massive fever. The other two were busy looking at the data they were collecting from her reaction to the new nano-machine process.

Cila was in some type of pod in the corner of the room, it was closed and it appeared like she was asleep. Etha knew it was a cybernetic resting pod, designed specifically for their use.

Dr. Davis was busy looking over at his office at some of the data as well as Etha came in.

"Where is Tia?"

Etha found it odd that Tia was not close to Dr. Davis. It was almost expected to see them side by side at all times.

"She is currently resting. She was operating at 100% power for most of the day, so she is exhausted."

He gave a nod to the personal room where the kitsune was somewhat curled up on the bed, she did not even look like a combat cyborg but just a kitsune girl.

"Why does she not use a pod like the rest of us?"

Dr. Davis only gave a small laugh, but his eyes remained fixed on the data on his computer screen as it updated with new information.

"Tia can recover faster in a pod but she has gotten rather clingy as of late and she prefers a bed rather then a cold sleep pod."

"I can arrange something different if Tia is proving to be a problem."

He only gave a chuckle at the thought while he glanced up at Etha.

"Its not problem. It provides some entertainment at times as well. It is also the goal for cyborgs to be unnoticeable from a normal person but anyway about the new hire..."

"I explained everything and informed her how the basic ordering process. I've already put in the paper work for her employment so the security doors will work for her. Her objective seems to be something rather emotionally stressful."

Dr. Davis stopped and looked at Etha as she had his full attention now.

"I believe she has a rather large 'risk' factor involved. I need further information to explain to the HR department regarding her employment."

Davis looked at Etha and then at his computer screen and then back.

"HR may be picky but they generally do not ask for that kind of info. Etha, are you being curious about my decision?"

Etha frowned a bit and then hung her head.

"I apologize for misleading you regarding my question. I shall not ask."

Davis gave a small laugh and stood up and walked over to Etha to face her.

"No need to apologize. I made the cyborg project using minds and not machines because I want you to use your head. I mean a large faction of my research is thanking to Dr. Clover and his white blood and muscles he built and designed which over came many of the biological limitations in my initial design."

Davis walked by her and into the lab area, walking directly towards Cila as he brought up the nearby computer panel and began typing away. A few settings screens came up and password notices came up but were quickly typed away by Davis' typing. Etha followed him out to the lab.

"As for the new hire. She does have a rather 'unstable' element to her. Her reason for the research is equal to my reason for developing a nervous system. The endless amount of emotional pain, mine caused by my cursed body and hers by the tragic loss of family. Those emotions gave us purpose and gave us strength. She will either die in attempting her project or she will succeed."

He finished doing some minor updates on Cila programming, as limited as her system was. He began to open another pod up and began to setup the pod for someone else.

"What she does after that can only end in two results. She lives happily ever after with 'remade' family, or after getting the happiness she was trying so hard to obtain, she works for the company forever. She is a wanted woman, regardless. The research either way will go to great use. I believe some of the Board of Directors will gladly take the research and apply it to 'saving' themselves and then putting themselves in a younger body... a type of immortally if you will."

The second pod opened as Etha stepped up into the pod sitting down in the pod as it closed.

"So regardless she will be a good assist to the company?"

"That is correct, think about what I said as you sleep."

He pressed a button as if someone turned Etha off she went back in the chair and closed her eyes to sleep. The pod closed and a small status light lit up showing she was 'Charging'.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

Evalaine felt her throat closing up, her breathing coming in short sharp gasps. Her muscles spasmed and twitched causing her limbs to flick around randomly. Every so often a faint crack could be heard as one of her bones suddenly locked against another. If her jaw clenched any tighter she risked breaking her own teeth.

The fits were never pleasant. That said after a few moments the pain reached a level that caused the brain to switch off. Evalaine found herself floating on the edge for an unknown length of time. One thing she did know however; the time of each fit was getting longer.

With a final twitch that brought her knees up to meet her head she stopped moving. For a moment she simply lay there unmoving as her breathing began to recover. Her eyes were bloodshot and her throat as dry as a bone. For the moment she'd lost the feeling down the left side of her body and her left hand refused to obey her commands.

Slowly she managed to hoist herself up, resting against the bed as she sat on the floor. Presently Jasmine wandered into the room looking pleased with herself. As she saw her mother her face fell and she raced to her side.

"Mommy? Mommy what's wrong?" she asked quickly in a bit of a panic.

"Mommy is alright dear," replied Evalaine as she raised her right arm and patted her on the head. "She's just tired from all the stress today."

"Did you have another dippy-fiz?"

Dippy-fiz, the term both Alia and Jasmine used to describe her fits. They knew of course they had both been involved, or at least the AI computer had, in the development of Citadin. Evalaine didn't like to stress them out but she couldn't hide it. She nodded slowly. Jasmine just hugged her mother hard and didn't let go.

[Viper]

It was a few hours later and after the experiment hit the 'waiting' phase. She survived the initial shock but was still in mid-transformation process, so it was not complete just yet but it was looking promising. The lab assistants had left for the day and Dr. Davis was feeling tired himself.

"It seems I've hit my limit for today."

He glanced at his PDA and noticed his own information provided by his nano machines. A majority of the information was very specific bodly functions but the biggest problem was he had not slept in the last 24 hours. He had been so busy overseeing a lot of the equipment movement from the old base to this new base. His nano-machines did a good job at covering for some of his lack of sleep but it only delayed his exhaustion.

He placed the PDA on his desk as he took off his jacket and left it on the chair in front of the lab desk as he walked into his personal quarters. Tia was virtually curled up and wrapped up in the sheets as she slept.

He looked a bit annoyed for once that his own bed had been taken by his own research subjects but he also did not like the idea of waking her. She was not very good both physically and mentally when woken up early.

"What to do..."

The bed was a big king sized bed, so it was more then big enough for both of them... if she wasn't dead center with all the sheets. He walked over and gave a tug at some of the sheets and managed to pull some free without waking Tia. This moved her to the side a bit, freeing up a bit of space on the right side of the bed.

"Good night."

He snuck himself onto the side and pulled the covers over. It was pretty easy to fall asleep, especially after turning off the nano-machine that were helping to keep himself awake in the first place.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

Eventually Evalaine pushed herself to her feet and stood up. Jasmine had fallen asleep by her side...or rather the computer system had put her into standby mode due to a low battery. She slowly picked Jasmine up and placed her on the bed. As the young gazelle curled up on the bed her image fuzzed and then faded from view. Evalaine quickly checked her wrist computer, confirming that Jasmine was now resting peacefully, and then slowly moved into the main room again.

She felt stiff and sore, her earlier fit having played havoc with her system. She tried to straighten up as best she could as Alia looked up from the desk. She looked exhausted too and the computer unit on her left wrist was blinking indicating a low battery for her too.

"Alia you should rest," she said slowly.

"Yes mother, I'm tired now," replied the young girl as she stood up, "I finished the report thingy. Everything we need is compiled in my secondary databank."

"Good girl, now go lie down and sleep."

Alia just nodded and headed into the next room. A few moment later the computer gave a blink as Ala returned to her datablock and the holographic system shut down.

Evalaine approached the desk and slowly slid into the chair. She checked the time...late...but she wasn't tired. She hardly got tired at all. Her body just kept going as long as... She paused momentarily and reached for a bag under the desk.

Bringing it to her knees she opened it and began to take out a few items. A small gun like object with no visible cartridge, a short canister seemingly containing high pressure gas, and finally a clear glass vial containing a blue tinted liquid. She quickly slapped the canister into position on the bottom of the gun and pressed a button on the side. There was a distinct hissing sound for a moment as the system pressurised. She then took the vial and screwed it into the top of the gun near the tip.

Finally she took out a long needle from the bad, the metal piece easily a foot long, and clicked it into place on the top of the gun. Slowly she shrugged her lab coat off and let it fall over the chair behind her. Next she took hold of her blouse and lifted it on her right side. She she pulled it up it would have been easy to see the patch of fur that seemed to have died away on her side. Marked on her skin were numerous red marks where previous puncture marks had been cut into her skin.

Taking the gun she lined the tip of the needle up with the patch of skin and pushed forwards. There wasn't even a sign of pain on her face, not a twinge or a gasp. She simply pushed the needle into her body for about 8 inches and then pressed the trigger. With a compressed hiss the canister fired and sent the blue liquid into her in an instant. Slowly she withdrew the needle and reached in her pocket for a tissue to catch the few drops of blood that were leaking out of the new hole.

After a moment she began to deconstruct the gun and put it away in its case. As she finished she turned her attention to the room and then brought up the item list Alia had mentioned. A smile spread across her face as she surveyed the list. It was a lot. She took the now empty glass vial and rolled it around her fingers. Still if this cushioned the blow and got her what she wanted it was acceptable.

Not that it would do any of them any good. She chuckled to herself in her own amusement before her paw gripped the glass vial hard and smashed it in the palm of her hand...

[Tia]

Tia woke up after some much needed rest. She had been on high alert most of the day and then that tour with that new hire kept her on edge the entire time. She knew she should have used the sleep pod but she perfered the warmth of blankets and cloth then just some instant sleep tube.

So warm...

She curled up a bit more wanting to go back to sleep for a bit longer but as she did she felt a huge lump on the side of the bed.

Hm?

She opened her eyes to notice that Davis had gone to sleep on the edge of the bed. She blinked for a moment as it took a moment for her to register what that meant.

"AH~!"

She rolled back off the bed and landed with a thud on the floor. Her face a bit red as she stood up, noticing he did not even move an inch or react at all to her rolling off the bed or the noise. She left the the room, wide awake after that close encounter unsure what she should do for the time being.

She noticed however the lack of a test subject on the table in the middle. Her face changed to that of worry and annoance.

"Why me?"

She first retrieved her weapons she left in Davis' room and put on her clothing and then left the lab. She was pretty sure she couldn't have gotten far. She understood enough that if Davis did not lock the subject down for two reasons.

He trusts them or whatever is is happening to them is so painful that it should not be possible to move in the first place. Davis so far only trust her and Etha currently, so she was pretty sure where ever the person went she was not moving quickly.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

With a swift arm movement Evalaine flicked her hand away and sent the shattered shards of glass flying across the room. She watched them bouce lightly off the floor and then looked back at her hand. Shards of glass were imbedded in her fur, blood oozing from around the cuts. She didn't feel a thing, there was no pain, nothing. As she watched the blood slowly stopped flowing and began to clot almost immediately. Flicking her hand away she sent a few blood droplets splattering to the floor.

The current limit of her genious but not the final limit. Deciding it was the right time to investogate her new surroundings more closely she stood up. She checked her wrist computers but it seemed Alia and Jasmine would be asleep for a few more hours at least.

Straightening out her lab coat she left a long red streak across the right hand side from her bloody hand. She didn't care or even seem to notice. Her coat was already splattered with blood from the janitor she had slaughtered in the main lobby. Making her way to the door she let it open and then stepped out into the corridor.

[Tia]

Tia has made it half way down the hallway when she met the run-away test subject. She was crawling on the floor as it seemed she did not have the means to stand as her legs seemed deathly still.

"Found you."

She turned around and looked at Tia as she walked over and easly and effortly grabbed her by the back of her neck like a bad cat and began to drag her back. She was resisting but Tia found she barely had any strength to fight back and Tia herself was far more powerful.

"No.. no..."

She started crying as she shurggled to break free, much to Tia's annoyance. Tia however was coming back to Dr. Davis lab when she heard another lab open nearby. Tia knew the closet lab was that new hires. She was wondering a bit but decided it was not her place to find out what she was up to. She brought the girl back into the lab and was going to make sure she was properly strapped down this time.

[Evalaine Rosalie]

[Sorry for the late reply, been at a loss for what to post. @_@]

Evalaine left her room and looked back and forth down the corridor. She couldn't help but see the form of the red fox walking back into the room just down the hall dragging what appeared to be Dr Davis latest experiment. She snickered to herself.

"Get away from you did it?" she said slowly. Whether Tia heard or not wasn't important to her.