James and Sylvester were quite nice. Sylvester gave me some breakfast to eat while James went to go make sure that everything was good for the store to open. I was trying my best to hold down my dog ears, as they usually arose from curiosity.
And these boys sure were curious about me.
Sylvester sipped on a cup of tea, his eyes gaping at me while I chowed down on the meal that I should have had sooner if that girl didn’t attack me. My mind hadn’t forgotten about her, and I felt that she would return sooner or later.
Sylvester suddenly placed his feet up onto the table we were sitting at, shocking me out of my thoughts.
“So, tell me… ‘Dagger’, are you some criminal or something?” My demeanor froze at this statement, my chewing quickly coming to a halt.
“Uh, no, Mr. Sylvester.” I managed to say while I placed my fork on my syrup-covered plate.
“Then why were you in here? We left the door open because—” My ears under my hood were twitching now, begging to perk up.
Why was the door left open, anyway?
“Well, that’s not important. How old are you, fourteen? Don’t you know we can charge you for trespassing? That’ll go on your record.” I chuckled, leaning back in my chair. Sylvester rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.
“It seems like you don’t really care.” I nodded softly as a response, trying not to let the hood of my jacket seep down from my head. Sylvester peered up at them, but only for a brief second before turning his attention back to my actions.
He seemed disinterested in what was going on up there. That was a good sign.
“James, where’s Dach? Don’t you think he should be here?” Sylvester said, rotating in his general direction.
“He’ll probably be here in a little bit,” James replied solemnly, sweeping the somewhat stain-covered floor. Sylvester gazed at me one more time before standing up and going to the cashier counter. He carefully made sure everything was unlocked, looking over them constantly.
“Y-You really think I’m a criminal, don’t you? I’m not going to shoot up your store—or deli—whatever this is anyway.” I held up my hands innocently, looking at both Sylvester and James.
“Hmm, well that wouldn’t be a pleasurable thing, now would it?” A gruff yet young voice muttered behind me. I jumped and faced him, almost preparing for another fight.
“Dach! Welcome, welcome,” Sylvester said from across the store. “I see you’ve met our first customer of the day.”
“Oh really? Has he given us something for the exchange of his money?” The boss of the deli said, looking up and down at my figure. I growled and took a couple of steps back to recoup my thoughts. He didn’t seem like a bad person, at least from a first glance.
“No… well actually, we caught him trespassing in here earlier.” I started to feel a little sweaty as Dach casually raised an eyebrow.
“Trespassing? You know that’s against company policy, Mr…” Dach paused so that I could tell him my name.
“Dagger, sir. My name’s Dagger.” He smirked, placing his hand on the bottom of his chin in sheer judgement.
“Interesting. I like that name. Are you looking for a job?”
“Uh-uh, no, I was more looking for some food just down the street, and then I was going to get out of your hair… I wasn’t planning on staying…” I stuttered nervously, even spouting a bit after. I put my hand on the edge of a table as the three began to pace around me in a circle.
“It’s weird how you just showed up out of nowhere. Very strange.” I looked at all three of them in the eyes as they passed by me. If this was their way of interrogating me, then it was very strange. I gulped and peered over them, spotting the front door.
“Well, it seems that you guys have a busy day ahead of you. Thanks for the free meal, and I’ll be seeing you!” I ducked through Dach and Sylvester swiftly before exiting through the front door. The last thing I saw before leaving was Dach turning towards Sylvester.
“What? Free meal?! Why didn’t you make him pay for it?!” Dach yelled at him angrily. James blinked and wandered off into the break room. Sylvester tightened up, pleading for mercy from his boss.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry! It just seems that he was hungry, a-and…”
I rolled my eyes and smiled. “Thank you for that, Syl.” I walked down the street and crossed into the alleyway yet again, bounding into the forest to see what lied ahead.
-~-
The girl’s heavy breathing could not be any more apparent as she banged on the metal door that she was pushed out of earlier in the day. Her tears plinked onto the little concrete border that surrounded the bottom of the huge building. A sharp hand opened the door and grabbed her, pulling her inside without a sound.
“Vanessa! Back so soon?” Evan questioned her as she immediately went to ball herself up in the corner. She sniffed, whipping her nose in defeat.
“He was… too strong for me… I swear, I’m not cut out for this… I’m useless…” She muttered through her sighs. Evan bent down at her feet and held one of her hands in his.
“Hey, hey, it’ll be OK. You don’t have to cry. We—err, I—shouldn’t have sent you out there like that. It was wrong. I was wrong.” He looked to the side for a moment before trying to continue with his words.
“Well… did you see him?”
Vanessa’s head bobbed up and down shortly before shutting herself out from him again.
“Hey, look at that! That’s at least good for something, right? He’s at least still in the city... that means that we can send Beatrice after him again. She probably won’t be willing to, as it was your purpose to hunt him, but…” Hypothesizing greatly, he ultimately trailed off from his statement, but rubbed her back softly.
“It will be OK. There’s a lot about this world that you don’t know about yet. You have much to learn.” She nodded, making Evan smile.
“I’ll go make us some hot chocolate.” He paused to think for a moment.
“Surprisingly, I’ve been able to feel a bit more comfortable in here, with all of these experiments surrounding me and everything.” He rose to his feet and strode towards a blank door, turning the knob to enter into a slick and kept-up kitchen. He proceeded to move to the counter that displayed a coffee maker. Evan grabbed two hot chocolate cups and placed one into the machine, pressing down on the handle.
Following his steps shortly after, Vanessa watched him blankly before taking a seat on one of the wooden chairs in the room. She put her hands softly onto the wooden table, flipping them up towards the ceiling so that she could look at them. The faint crease lines intrigued her. What stories did they have to tell? Why were they even there to begin with?
A short clank of a mug against the table interrupted her thoughts. Vanessa looked up to see Evan’s warm and grinning face. He slid the mug towards her and put his on the table as well.
“Go on, drink it. You might want to blow on it first though, it’s kind of hot.” He acted this out by whisking his breath on his first, and then taking a small sip. Vanessa stared at her cup, it starting to shake in her hand. She inhaled deeply and exhaled with such force that the hot chocolate splashed out of the mug and onto the table. Evan chuckled and went to grab a napkin from the counter.
“I can’t do anything,” Evan heard her mumble when he returned to the table.
“What? What do you mean by that?” He looked upon a miserable Vanessa.
“You heard me. I can’t do anything right. I can’t even blow on the hot chocolate to cool it off!” she cried loudly, putting her legs on the chair and burying her head into them.
“Vanessa, my darling. Please.” Evan bent down next to her, putting a hand on her shoulder.
“Look. Look around. Isn’t this still new to you?” She nodded in despair.
“Exactly. You have to learn. You aren’t going to be perfect at everything you do on the first try. Life is a learning experience, my daughter.” He grinned at her again. “You’ll get the hang of it.” Vanessa breathed a long sigh before her eyes retreated to the mug. She blinked at it, wrapping her smooth hands around the mug slowly before trying to blow on it again. A small, short breath emitted from her mouth, and the warmth from the beverage quickly subsided. The girl then took a sip, putting her cup back down on the table.
“Feel better?” Vanessa gave Evan a warm smile.
“Yup. Let’s get back to the hunt,” Feeling refreshed and ready to go, she immediately bolted up and headed straight for the door. Something flashed in Evan’s eyes before causing him to reach out towards Vanessa.
“Wait, Vanessa!” He cried. “It’s actually funny that you came back so soon. You might have a partner this time around.” Evan began to walk into the room with all of the pods, pulling out the computer like how Beatrice had previously done. He typed on it for a couple of moments before sliding it back into its holder. A shift in the room was made while compressed air was suddenly being released from one of the chambers. It was only a couple feet away from Evan, and he walked over to it shortly.
“W-What did you just do?” Vanessa asked as she peeked over at the chamber from behind the man. Evan signed and dug his hands into his pockets.
“Beatrice, unfortunately, had a bad feeling about you, Vanessa. Although you were her longest experiment, she had others planned—just in case that you failed to capture Dagger.” Vanessa frowned and turned her head.
“Hey! I at least touched him! Doesn’t that count for anything?”
“Yes, but––” More air was released from the chamber. It was a bit foggy inside the chamber, as the air was still being let out of it.
“Well geez! Was this one steamed? Yuck!” Vanessa backed away from the containment unit, her feeling of fear dissipating soon after. Evan turned his back from the pod, sighing.
“We needed someone who can actually catch him,” he muttered his breath, barely audible to the shapeshifter. He cleared his throat before switching back to the pod. He noticed that there was a being slightly twitching in the unit. At least it meant that they were alive.
“Welcome, experiment 06. My name is Evan.” A hand was slowly placed on the rim of the pod, the being lifting itself up to be able to look around. Vanessa looked at it with shock, not expecting her to able to function so soon.
It was another girl, seeming to look a bit smaller than Vanessa herself. Her skin was darker than hers, and she had long, flowing, yet oddly green hair. It almost went below her waist. On the other hand, her hands were on the large side, with her fingers seeming like sharp claws. Her body was on the slim side as a whole, and surprisingly enough, she was already dressed with a brown top and black shorts.
For her to be dressed already… She must have been experimented on in the past.
“Interesting.”
“Hello, Mr. Evan. You’re a new one. What is my name this time around?” she smirked, putting both hands on her waist. It seemed that she had brought an attitude to the table. Evan thought for a moment, then turned his head to me.
“Vanessa, come here.” She did as commanded and stood next to him.
“Tell me what you notice about her.”
“Well, her skin is darker than mine, and her hair is pretty long––”
“No, no Vanessa. Her powers. Tell me about her powers.”
“Her… powers? Well, by the looks of it, it doesn’t seem like she has any.” The other girl frowned, tapping her foot in annoyance.
“You know damn well I have powers!” she interjected, declaring the statement through her teeth. She huffed and rolled her eyes.
“We both know that you have powers. Beatrice created you that way.” He narrowed his eyes. “She also created you with a potty mouth, for whatever reason.”
“What I am trying to show to Vanessa is that you have to have the ability to hide your powers, and not make oneself so obvious of having those powers. Vanessa, you were genetically coded to have the power to shapeshift—so therefore, it isn’t that hard. On the other hand, this other girl—” The other girl growled and stuck her tongue out at Evan. Her tongue suddenly snapped at him like a whip, then wrapped itself around his lab-coat covered arm tight. She jerked him to her face.
“Give me a name… or else this arm is coming off. Got it?” Evan chuckled nervously before pulling her tongue off of him. Vanessa tensed up, surprised at how fast things turned.
“Beatrice gave her the powers of… a frog? How…?”
“Genetics. DNA rearranging. You think I do this stuff? Anyway, yes—she is a combination of a frog and human girl, therefore possessing frog-like capabilities and attributes. I know it's a bit weird, but I'm sure both her and Beatrice are already aware of that.” Vanessa could only nod. The being flicked her hair. Evan smiled at the two girls.
“I think you two will make a good team. Vanessa and… Lily. I think that name is appropriate. Like a frog on a lilypad.”
It was now Lily’s time to roll her eyes. “I’ll settle for it,” she scoffed. “Now, what is my mission? I know you already have one for me.” Evan sighed and dug through his coat, pulling out the same picture that Beatrice had shown to Vanessa when she had first emerged from her chamber.
“Look, the long story short is— we need him. His name is Dagger. I want you to bring him here. Alive, mind you.” Lily snatched the paper from his hands and gaped at it, her eyes getting larger and larger the more she stared at it. After a couple of moments, Vanessa was the first to question her strange actions.
“Uh, Lily, why are you staring at that picture so harshly? It’s just a boy.”
“He looks like a teenager to me. And quite the looker, if you ask me.” To her benefit, no one could see Lily’s blush from behind the photo.
Evan cleared his throat and messed with his hair. “Anyway, yes. You are to go out now. Effective immediately. Good luck, my children.” Vanessa’s head turned to a window.
“Wait, outside? Right now? It’s… it’s dark! Where did the sun go?” Vanessa yelped, putting a hand on the glass.
“It’s called night, you dolt. And it’ll be fine. He’s probably in the city right now, drinking a cup of coffee or something. I know where the city is, just follow me.” Vanessa was grabbed by her hand and led to the door, it opening and closing at a fast pace. Evan groaned and put his hands on his head.
“I hope those two don’t get into too much trouble…”
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