“Hello, I am Doctor King. I own, run, and operate this facility.” King introduced.

“What is this place?” Alina asked before he could start his next sentence.

“Well, if you let me finish I will explain it all to you.” King replied

“Is that ok with you two?” He asked

They both shook their heads.

“Good, then please wait to ask any and all questions until I am finished. I will answer any remaining questions you have then.” He said as he looked into their eyes.

He could see how badly they wanted to know, and how badly they wanted him to get to the point. He waited a little longer and he started to feel some hostility from one of them, though he couldn’t tell which one. And that baffled him since he is usually very keen on who releases what kind of energy.

“Both of you are genetic experiments.” He started and waited for their surprised reaction.

He didn’t have to wait as they both instantly looked at him in shock and confusion.

“And there are two types we create here, those that were human at one point, usually a child with no family, and those that are created in the lab.” King continued.

Alina and Drake both looked at each other to try and figure out which they were.

“Normally we don’t tell who is what, as a way to spare any kind of superiority of one over the other, but you two are close so we will tell you. Four four one, you were once a human and are now thirteen years old. Your family had all been killed and we found you starving. We offered you food and a place to live, explained everything to you and you jumped at it.” He said as he looked at Alina.

Alina’s eyes dimmed when she found out she had a family who had been killed. But she was alive, and she got to meet Drake. So that made her happy in a way, and it also explained her appearance. She had in fact been starving until she was taken in. Then King looked at Drake.

“You… well you were created here thirteen years ago. Your eyes are proof; they were an accidental mutation when we created and spliced your DNA.” King said.

Drake didn’t really know how to feel. Since he didn’t have a family he had no reason to be sad, but he is only alive to do whatever it is that these people want him to do. He has no choice in a life. And that is what bummed him out. But he was happy to hear that they were the same age since he thought he was younger than Alina.

“But usually, created beings are more powerful than once humans. Though under any circumstance, a being with two or more tails from the get go is extremely rare. The fact that she has three has only ever happened twice before. But don’t worry; honestly both of you are pretty much even. She has no rings on her tails while you only have one more to go before you grow a third one.” King explained

.

That news made Drake very happy. He knew he wasn’t far behind since he could pretty much keep up with Alina, but it was the fact that he was behind. Now he knows he could become stronger and be the one who protects her.

“As for what you are; well as I said you are genetic experiments… actually can’t use experiment anymore… you are genetic warriors, much like a highly skilled special force. Only we are a private company, and we are not the only ones. There are others out there that use different ways to make their warriors and have different ways to tell they are genetic warriors. Much like your tails that serve as a strength or skill indicator, they will also use a way to indicate their strength or skill. So for the next few years, you will be training in various combat arts and styles as well as espionage, infiltration, and information gathering.” King finished.

Alina and Drake both just looked at each other in confusion. They weren’t too sure what to think, but being warriors, or Special Forces; well that was pretty much at the bottom of their list of things they expected.

“Are there more of us? Well ones that just woke up or are waking up?” Alina asked quickly

“Very perceptive four four one, yes there are others in your ‘class’ so to speak. They have not awoken yet, and some of them are very weak, not even showing a tail yet. They will receive class training when they all wake up. But you two are special, it is very rare waking up with two or more tails, or even a tail with five or more markings on it. So you two, being the only ones of this ‘class’ that have more than one tail and hell, one four four almost has his third tail.” King explained.

“Oh and by the way” Drake started

“My name is Drake, and hers is Alina.” He explained

King just looked at them with some shock.

“Who gave you those names?” He asked.

“We named each other in the room we were in.” Alina said.

“And since we like those names, we would like it if you called us them as well.” Drake finished.

King was just shocked. Never before had any of the experiments named each other. So he took out a tablet computer and typed some stuff into it.

“There is that better?” He asked as he showed them their profiles.

Their profiles had a long string of identification numbers, hence the one four four and four four one at the ends, but now under the name section it said Drake and Alina respectively.

“Now your personal trainer Mr. Snow, and myself, will watch as you two spar so we have a good idea for your power level and skill.” King said as another man walked over.

He was very tall, almost twice the height of Drake, even taller than Will, and much rounder than Dr. King as well. A much older man whose hair is fading to white, and he has an old military tattoo on his left arm.

“No need for the ‘Mister’ crap. Just call me Sir. Nothing more, nothing less” He said in a very authoritative tone that shocked Alina and Drake.

After a few seconds he started to laugh.

“Just kidding, Jeff is just fine.” Jeff said.

“Now please start the spar for us” King said.

Alina and Drake both just looked at each other for a second, not really too sure what to do.

“A Spar is a fight with limits or rules to prevent injury. Don’t worry about them as we will step in if needed.” Jeff said.

Again, Alina and Drake both just looked at each other, but got the idea. They took a few steps back and got ready. Drake saw that Alina got into a fighting pose, but he felt comfortable just standing there. After a few seconds, Alina charged in, but Drake was already ready with a counter. As soon as Alina threw a punch, Drake grabbed it, ducked under, and tripped her up with his own legs. Now on the ground, Drake was in a favorable position and went for a knee lock, but Alina pulled her leg out with brute force. This however, left her trying to recover and Drake was already ready to go. He grabbed her leg again and pulled her in, went for another leg lock, but it was a faint. When Alina tried to counter with a kick from her free leg, Drake pushed up with enough force to jump over it as he did when he crashed into the celling in the white room. With the practice he had of using his tail for fine control he grabbed onto Alina’s arm just long enough to stop his rising momentum and landed on her chest. He swung his right leg over her shoulder and under her head, and then rolled himself onto his back bringing her along with him. Trapping her right arm, he lifted his left leg and put it on the arch of his right ankle. After it was locked in, he tightened his grip with his legs and started choking out Alina. He had pulled of a fluid triangle choke, leaving Alina almost nothing to do… almost.

She lifted her knees up to her chest and put her right hand on her head, giving her the ever so slightest gap to breathe through. She took in a deep breath, and stood up, lifting Drake off the ground. Once fully standing up, she slammed Drake to the ground, but he didn’t let go. It hurt like hell, but he knew he couldn’t let go yet. So she tried again and lifted him up. That’s when Drake shifted, he let go of the choke, grabbed her head, and dropped his lower body. Alina was already off balance from the shift of weight, so when Drake dropped to the floor she fell with him. Drake, holding on to the back of her head, went to slam it into the ground, but stopped it with his own arm before her head hit the floor. It still hurt, but nothing as bad as if he went for a full slam.

“That’s enough. If Drake went through with it that would have been a K.O” Jeff said.

Jeff then looked at Alina.

“Next time Alina, don’t rush like you did. That one mistake threw you off balance the whole fight” Jeff explained.

He then turned to Drake.

“Drake, good job baiting her in with your ‘defenseless’ stance, and good use of shifting your weight. You’re very talented.” Jeff explained to him.

Drake was happy with his praise, and then looked at Alina who seemed depressed. But Drake had no idea what to say, if he should say anything at all.

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“Good fight, almost got me with that slam.” He finally said.

“Thanks” Alina said in a depressed tone.

“Don’t feel too bad Alina” Jeff started.

“You two are very close in skill level, and all that was needed was one mistake. Unfortunately it was you who made the mistake this time. But maybe next time, after some training, it might be him that makes it. Who knows.” Jeff finished in a comforting tone.

Alina smiled a bit and nodded but that was it.

“Well alrighty then, I know how to train you guys as far as fighting goes, and as for the stealth stuff, we will work on that later.” Jeff explained.

“Now let’s get started. So follow me” He finished after a few seconds.

“But first, you guys are gana be checked by a Doc to see how healthy you are.” Jeff said after walking for a few minutes.

“It will be quick and painless. Just a quick examination and some measurements.” He finished a few seconds later.

Alina and Drake followed Jeff to the hospital that was a mile away. It was mostly a quiet walk with no one really having anything to say. Well Alina just didn’t know what to say to Drake. He had just beaten her in a fight without throwing a single hit, and avoiding all her hits. None the less, she held onto his arm like glue. Even after that fight, she felt much more comfortable around and close to him and felt weird when they got farther apart.

They soon reached the hospital for their checkup. As soon as they walked in they saw just how many others there are. Some have tails like themselves, others had tails that looked different. They are brownish red in color and are quite a bit puffier. Drake was going to ask something when he couldn’t get his voice out. Instead his eyes started to dart from person to person.

“Ouch, Drake let go.” Alina said before she looked at him.

She saw the terror in his eyes as they quickly moved from one person to the next. But she had to get Drake to let go. In his panic, he had grabbed her hand and was now crushing it in a death grip.

“Drake let go!” She said forcefully.

But Drake couldn’t hear her. He was in a full blown panic; He started sweating badly, his breathing increased and so did his heart rate. Soon that panic turned to violence as he thought of getting rid of everyone there. Before he could act on it though, he was knocked out by Jeff who heard Alina talk to Drake.

“Why did you do that Jeff?!” Alina asked angrily.

“You can’t feel it just yet, but he was giving off a strong killing intent, much more so than his strength should allow.” Jeff explained calmly.

“I have no idea what caused it, but something made him snap.” Jeff finished.

“Well he was looking wildly at all the different people. And he was fine until he walked in here. This is the first time we are around so many people… Do you think he is afraid of crowds?” Alina asked.

Jeff was amazed at her observations.

“It’s very possible.” He said as he lifted Drake and walked to the checkup room.

He set Drake down on the bed, and then sat down in a chair to wait for the doctor to come in. He pointed to a chair to have Alina sit as well, but she didn’t. She was too uneasy with what happened to Drake.

“Man they are really attached to each other. They have only been awake for a day or two and they have this kind of connection already?” Jeff thought.

A minute later Drake woke up.

“Uuugggghhh… What happened?” He groaned.

“That’s what we want to ask you.” Jeff said calmly.

Then it all hit him again. That fear of all those people around him, the feeling of suffocating, and the anxiety of feeling like there was no way out.

“You hate crowds huh Drake?” Alina asked.

He looked at her with a blank stare. He wondered how she knew, but at the same time, he figured she had a fear of being alone, or at least afraid of being away from him. So he just nodded in agreement.

“Same can be said about you Alina. It seems you have a general fear of being separated from Drake.” Jeff pointed out.

Drake just smiled because he knew he just hit the nail on the head, but he wanted to know how she became so attached so quickly. Maybe it was when he defended her, but she was already hiding behind him then, He really couldn't figure it out. Alina started to blush since she couldn’t really deny it. She felt weird being away from Drake, and the thought of being farther away scared her for some reason.

“AAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDD here I am!” A stranger said as he barged in the door.

Alina and Drake both jumped at the sudden entrance, while Jeff just face palmed.

“It is I, the most awesome, Doctor Snow!” The doc said to introduce himself.

“And who might you be?” He asked Alina and Drake.

“My newest students. They need a pre-training checkup.” Jeff said coldly.

“Training?! Already??! Only two!!!!” Doctor Snow said with unneeded excitement.

“Well since it is my brother, you two must be…. WOW two… no…. almost three tails!” He exclaimed with excitement at Drake.

“Aaaannnddd for the young lady…. Wow three tails! Wait…. Two students with more than one tail!!! What the hell!” Doctor Snow shouted now more excited than ever.

Alina and Drake just looked at Jeff, then back and Doctor Snow and back at Jeff and back at Doctor Snow trying to find how they are related. Then they just started cracking up and the polar opposites that are brothers. Doctor Snow jumped in on the laughing though he had no idea what was so funny. But he believed a good hard laugh can change the future, so he laughed away.

“Ok time for your checkups.” Doctor Snow said when the laughter stopped.

“Drake, please stand up” He instructed.

As soon as Drake stood up the Doc took off his shirt to get a look at his muscle structure. He listened to his heart rate and breathing, and finally took his pulse and stood back.

“Hhhuummm, five feet four. Not bad for your age, but you will get much taller, and a solid hundred pounds of muscle. But that seems off… Your bones and muscles are several tens of times denser than normal. So you should weight…. Somewhere around a ton given your dimensions… weird.... Anyway you have a healthy cardio vascular system and muscles. You pass.” He informed Drake.

Everyone was alarmed by what Dr. Snow had said about his mass. Jeff was going to say something about it but Dr. Show immediately jumped to examining Alina.

“You’re next sweetheart.” He told Alina.

Alina then started to take off her shirt, still trying to wrap her mind around what he had just said about Drake, but Doctor Snow stopped her.

“Hey now, you can’t go showing off a ladies body like that.” He scolded her.

She blushed from embarrassment and then remembered Drakes reaction earlier. Dr. Snow then put his hands around her hips, waist, back and arms to get a gage for her muscle structure. Then he listened to her heart rate and breathing as well as taking her pulse.

“Five foot three. Again not bad, but you will only grow a little bit more. You’re pretty much done on that end. But at only eighty pounds, you will need to put on some more lean muscle. But don't worry, it is completely normal for one who is just waking up. Gata remember you haven't been moving around for a long time, only natural for your muscles to atrophy. In fact the weird one is Drake with those super defined muscles. But you also have a very good cardio vascular system, so you also pass.” He explained to Alina

What the doc had said about her body comforted Alina and the two of them sighed a breath of relief they would be able to start training.

“But how did you do that so fast? Without actually measuring or weighing us? And what did you mean about my muscles and bones?” Drake asked.

“We will leave it at that I am very good at my job.” He said intentionally blowing off the last question.

“And now I’m OOOOOOOOOFFFFFFFfffffff” He said as he ran out the door, his voice getting softer as he got farther away.