Chapter 20: Perfect the Cure

After Loni won her fight, she collapsed due to the effects of the venom that was in her system. The other lionesses ran over to help her. “Loni!” Zuri called out. They circled her, “Are you okay?!” Savannah asked. “Ye…Yeah…” Loni responded between breaths. “You did great, Loni.” Venus said. “Tha….Thanks…” “Look, it’s best not to talk anymore,” Leona told her, “Save your breath.” Paramedics rushed over to both the scorpion man and Loni. “We’ll take it from here.” A male medic said. He checked the cut on her arm, “Hmm, it doesn’t seem to be too deep, but our understanding of you experiments is still limited. She should be fine though.” They placed her and Scorpion man on stretchers and took them away. “Alright, let’s go back.” Leona said, and the other nodded, walking back with the other fighters.

Meanwhile, at the main facility, Ferral woke up from his sleep. He looked out the window in his room, remembering where he was. Ferral got up and went to the bathroom. As he washed his face, Ferral stared at himself in the mirror. Peering at his eyes, he had forgotten his right eye had miraculously regenerated during his time with the proto-cure. This was also the longest Ferral had been in his awakened state, but it didn’t feel weird to be in as it once did. The only thing that Ferral never liked was his feet, so he detransformed them. Once he got out and put on his clothes, he noticed a lab coat had been placed on the door handle. He put it on and walked out of the room. Other scientists noticed him, but instead of showing him contempt, they would smile, wave, or nod their heads hello. Some even asked how he was feeling, it was weird for Ferral. He had never been around so many polite normal humans. He felt so awkward. As he walked through the main floor, Ferral noticed Jack standing by one of the elevators. 

“Well, good mornin’, sleepin’ beauty.” He greeted as Ferral walked closer. “Hey.” Ferral replied. “I see you got your daddy’s gift?” Jack pointed at the lab coat he wore. “Oh, this? Yeah, I had a feeling I had too.” “Well, that’s enough small talk for now. It's time to get to work, kid.” Ferral nodded and the two went inside the elevator. They went up to the 22nd floor, walked out, and headed to one of the rooms on the left side. It was labeled EC-4, Jack used his key car to open the door and he let Ferral go inside first. As he entered, he saw fifteen other scientists working at desks or computers. They didn’t really seem to pay the two any attention aside from a glance. However, one of them turned around and caught Ferral’s attention. It was the head of the facility where Ferral was held. Armin Atlas.

“Well well, hello there, 9320.” He said as Ferral walked over. Ferral scowled, “Dr. Atlas.” “So, finally got tired of playing pretend, did we? The harsh reality of the world must’ve hit you like a truck, didn’t it?” He smirked smugly. Ferral scoffed, “I don’t care about that. I’m just here to achieve my own goals.” “So I’ve heard the whispers. It seems you experiments are having a tough time out there. I would say I told you so, but I’m not one to add salt to the wound.” Ferral grabbed Atlas by his collar and pulled him forward, “You’re the reason this is happening in the first place,” Ferral growled, “I should kick your ass right now.” Atlas chuckled, “You’d only be proving my point further. That you’re just a savage monster.” Ferral scoffed and threw Atlas back in his chair.

“Patience now, my son.” Dr. Stone said as he entered the room. “Armin isn’t worth wasting energy over. The only reason he’s even working on this project is because he’s the third smartest person in this room.” “Who’re the other two?” Ferral asked. Victor placed his hands on Ferral’s shoulders, “You and me, obviously.” Victor guided Ferral toward the large desk on the other side of the room. “Here’s what we’ve got so far.” He said, showing Ferral multiple papers scattered on the desk with various equations written on them. “We were hoping you could apply your research to each one of ours and perhaps we’ll get our answer.” Ferral looked at each one and nodded, “Yeah. Luckily, I have photographic memory so I don’t need my notebook.” Ferral took a black sheet of paper and a pen and started writing his proto-cure formula on it. “Incredible,” Victor praised, “I shouldn’t be surprised that have a photographic memory either.” “It’s how I’m capable of learning things fast.” Ferral replied, “It’s even better because of my experiment DNA. Basically, I see something once, learn it instantly, and 9/10 times I can find a solution.” Ferral finished, and the other scientists around the desk looked at his work in awe. 

Victor pulled it toward him and grinned, “You truly are brilliant, my son. You’re able to get 80% of the formula complete.” Ferral smiled at the praise he received. It wasn’t often he got recognition for his academic work aside from at school. To be surrounded by people who were in awe at his intellect instead of his strength or his race was refreshing. “Well, I didn’t expect you to be this close.” Victor said, “Seems we’ll get this finished faster than originally expected. Come with me, Ferral.” He started walking toward the exit and Ferral followed. “Shouldn’t we stay behind to help them?” Ferral asked. “You’ve already done most of the work, you should rest,” Victor replied, “Besides, we’ve got some catching up to. So, we’ll chat while I show you around the building.” Ferral was a little confused but wasn’t opposed to spending time with his father, so he didn’t question it further.

Back at the tournament, another two fights had taken place. The other lionesses hadn’t been chosen yet and this 4th fight that was about to take place was against a female white tiger and female armadillo experiment. “BEGIN!!!” The announced shouted. The armadillo woman’s long spiky hair instantly stiffened and she ran forward before curling into a ball. As the ball charged forward, the tiger woman tried to stop it with one hand, but when she came into contact with the ball, her bandage started tearing off. She jumped away, the ball continuing forward. The armadillo undid the ball and stopped herself with her claws. The tiger looked at the bandages, her bare hand showing. “I wouldn’t try that again,” The armadillo laughed, “I can harden my hair to form armor, and it’s super sharp at the ends, so I can tear through almost anything, even flesh.” “I see.” The tiger said calmly, “Guess I’ll just end this now.” “HA! YOU’LL NEVER-!” The armadillo stopped talking after getting hit on a pressure point on her neck. It happened in a flash, the audience barely knew what happened. The armadillo collapsed unconscious, and the announcer stood outside the ring confused. “Um…..number 20 wins! I guess!” The woman walked off the stage, leaving everyone else still questioning what happened.

“That girl’s interesting.” Venus said. “She was super fast!” Savannah exclaimed, “Almost as fast as you or Leona!” Leona scoffed, “Seems this whole thing won’t be a drag after all, even without Ferral.” She clenched her fists, “Looks like I’ve got my sights aimed at someone new. Let’s just see how good she is....”

“So that’s it, huh?” Victor asked as he and Ferral walked through the halls, “You’ve had it quite hard, my son. Harder than I’ve originally thought.” “It’s fine, dad. Once this cure is completed, everything will be alright. Then, I can go back and be with my other family. I’ll show you to them.” Victor chuckled, “That sounds like a plan. I’ll be quite interested in meeting this Clare and Buck.” They turned a corner, “So where are we going now?” Ferral asked. “I wanna show you something special.” The two stopped at the very end of the hall on floor 15, labeled “Project: Pack” in bold yellow letters. When Victor opened the door, Ferral walked inside to find five cages with blue light beaming inside them. He looked inside the cages, finding experiments, each one a wolf. Their hair and eye colors looked the same as his, pitch black and crimson red, even their appearances looked similar. Three males and two females. “Who are they?” Ferral asked. “Them? Well, they’re your siblings.” Ferral’s eyes widened with shock, “My….what?”