"Runt!"
Isaac jolted from his bed. Isabelle hastily entered their cell, she was sweating and anxious.
"You better be on your best behavior! I just learned from one of the guards that roll call will be tomorrow morning!" She was biting her nails.
"Roll call?" Isaac asked.
"Yes! It's when they pick us out for experiments! But this is too soon! You didn't do anything bad, right? The bad ones get picked first!" Her panicked tone stopped when she took a moment to readjust herself, "Look just be on your best behavior and hope you don't fit with one of the ongoing experiments requirements."
"How many experiments are there?" Isaac was beginning to frown, he didn't think this would happen so early.
Isabelle previously told him the Scientists didn't take people until at least a month after a new batch. All the prisoners loved this period for good reason; it was when old experiments would stop and the new ones would soon begin.
Yet even taking a deep breath to recover, Isabelle went back into hysterics the more she spoke, "I don't know. I don't know." She clutched her head, "I don't know why it's happening so soon, did the higher-ups cut all the experiments?!"
She went to her bed to lie down, ignoring any more of Isaac's questions. Left to himself, he could only speculate.
'Well, it seems more than ten experiments are going on. A facility this big has thousands to tens of thousands of prisoners. It should hold multiple small-scale experiments and a few big ones. Shit, I'm going to get picked. I'm so close to the second moon too...'
Isaac was far calmer than Isabelle, he knew there was no getting out of it. He was prepared. Jumping back on his bed, he continued to cultivate his magical prowess.
Morning came, and as Isabelle said, a roll call was announced. All the prisoners in Isaac's block were lined up. Some of the rowdy ones had backs full of sweat, they were new like Isaac and most learned what happened to the aggressive types like them in the last 12 hours.
The Warden entered the prison block, there was crying and yelling heard down the hall from the other block he came from, along with the sound of guards. His face was stern and he stopped in the center of the room to speak.
"Alright, many of you may be wondering why we are picking some of you out early. Short answer, one of our projects is going well. Now, I'll be calling names, when your name is called, step forward."
The Warden's assistant handed him a clipboard. Flipping the pages, the Warden came across the list from Isaac's block.
"First up, Rena Dunn."
A tall scarred woman hesitantly stepped forward, they were biting their lips and their eyes were bloodshot. Ultimately, they didn't do anything and were escorted to the side by a guard.
The Warden continued, "Jacob Palmer."
"No! No! I was good! I was good this time!" A man jumped out from the line and bolted for an access door, he had a keycard in hand, proving that in fact, he was up to no good.
"Planning to escape? Guards!"
Two men blocked the prisoner's path, they took out their batons and swung in unison.
The escaping prisoner tried to slide under their attacks, but he was too slow and was walloped by two steel weapons right in the face. His nose cracked as he fell back to the floor.
"Make sure not to kill him, he's still needed." The Warden commanded.
Dragging the prisoner away, the Warden sighed and continued. He called names, some people would accept it, and others would make a break or try to attack the one sending them to their fate. Over twenty names later, Isaac's name was called.
"Isaac Bur."
Isaac stepped out, he showed no emotion. Seeing his attitude, the Warden smirked and added, "Beside me, you have a different destination before we take you for experimentation."
The prisoners stared at Isaac with interest, Isabelle the most. Thinking nothing of it, Isaac stood beside the Warden and waited.
Over a hundred people later, everyone from the list was gathered, the guards brought them out and the Warden went a different way with Isaac.
"You know, it's been a long time since we took from our people, but you're too much of an outlier and with your background, it's impossible to tell how you would react if you saw the real Bureau. For this reason, we will give you a chance here, but it will be a hard path." The Warden opened a locked door and they went through.
The lights turned on and Isaac was met with a security room and a screen showing many camera angles. Most were in prison blocks, the rest showed experiments with scientists injecting prisoners with strange serums as they screamed, harvesting "warm" body parts, etc.
"Everything we do here is for the greater good. Advancing our knowledge advances humanity and someday, we may even ascend to gods. But for now, we must move around in the dark, resorting to barbaric means to find our way. We are not bad people, we're human, I hope you share this sentiment."
Staring at the screen, watching everything happening with a bird's eye view, Isaac's emotions conflicted.
'So they're doing this for humanity? It doesn't matter, I'll do whatever I need to, I can't remain in this place.' Isaac's thoughts then shifted to another perspective. 'For....humanity...why? There's nothing humane in this, are they so blinded?! This is wrong!'
The two thoughts conflicted, and sparks flew. Something seemed to shine in Isaac's eyes, he looked down at his palms and clenched them.
'I will do what needs to be done.' One of the thoughts came out victorious and erased the other.
Isaac finally made his reply. "We do what we need to do to survive. There is no fault in this as its survival. Tell me what you need."
The Warden grinned ear to ear, "Good. Good! We'll still do some experiments on you but I assure you none will be lethal. We in no way wish for one of our rising stars to meet an untimely end, do we now!" He patted Isaac on the back, "In the meantime, between the checkups, I'll sneak you some supplies to help you train faster, oh, if you also catch anything said among the prisoners, let me know. I'll be in touch."
A guard that wasn't there before grabbed Isaac by the arm.
"I hope your time with Doctor Lyns goes well. Don't be too...perturbed, by his appearance, he has humanity's goals at heart." The Warden waved goodbye.
Isaac peacefully went with the guard and was taken to another sector. Here, the corridors were wide and clean. A few people were walking around in lab coats but besides that, there were only the guards sitting at each junction.
"We're here, go in." The guard let go of Isaac at the end of the hall next to a door.
"Don't you need to protect the Doctor if I try anything?"
Surprisingly, the guard responded to Isaac's question with a laugh before walking off.
'What? Was what I said funny?' Scratching his head, the prisoner-turned double-agent went inside.
Upon the door cracking open, Isaac heard mad laughter along with a powerful deep voice.
"Haha! Yes! I give the vat, I gain the next ingredient! Now I can complete experiment 32! It's been a whole year! Yes!" The voice cheered.
Isaac stepped into the room, he saw a giant vat with residue inside it, but he couldn't tell what was inside. The next thing he saw caused him to freeze.
Towering over the human, a giant figure readjusted its glasses. Its body was covered in fur, standing on its hindlegs with its maws reflecting Isaac's eyes. It was none other than Brandon Lyns.
The werewolf's voice was even more scary up close. "So you're the one? Hmmm, oh!" He moved and clutched Isaac's arm, the weak human couldn't escape his grasp. "This is what you gained? How fascinating! Let's start the tests right away!"
Isaac felt a premonition, one where the Warden had lied to him. The wolf's hungry eyes held no care for Isaac, only his arm, it was completely eccentric.
"Gulp."