Humanity's Despair: The Sorana Project

The human race, the most advanced species on the planet Earth. Creative, innovative, intelligent...and cocky.
In it's inventiveness, mankind has created many great things. But what about the things that aren't considered to be so great? Usually we ignore these, but what happens when the issue is impossible to ignore? This is one of mankind's greatest flaws.
That, and intolerance.

It was a bright Sunday morning, and Seth stood in his back yard, a bow in his hand drawn back to an almost impossible distance. He remained almost completely still for a few moments, adjusting his aim to the increase in the wind speed. He released his grip on the string and target-tipped arrow, sending the projectile speeding toward a worn out foam target that was nailed to a large pine tree. Within a second of it's release, the arrow buried itself deep into the center of the target. Seth tossed the bow to the ground and sat on a plastic lawn chair that he had brought out with him.
In appearance, Seth wasn't a person that would appeal to others simply because of his size. He was quite handsome, but standing at 6'7" and having his weight consisting of practically nothing but muscle, at first glance he was an intimidating behemoth. He wore a black bandana on his head, a pair of heavily worn leather gloves, faded blue jeans, and a t-shirt with many holes in it. It was a fitting look, however, as he lived in a small house, quitely secluded in the forest.
And it would soon be quieter.
A large black SUV silently pulled into the dirt driveway of Seth's home. Even though the vehicle and Seth were on opposite sides of the nine-square-acre lot, Seth was immediately alerted of it's presence.
'Dammit,' Seth thought, 'not these cockroaches again.' He made his way to the black vehicle, which sat idling in the driveway behind his blue '92 Dodge Dakota. He approached the SUV, and the passenger's window slowly lowered, revealing two men dressed in dark purple suits.
"I thought I told your people I wasn't interested. Can't you just leave me the hell alone?" asked Seth.
One of the purple-suited men moved his head slightly in Seth's direction and said, "You don't seem to realise what we offer you, and the task would not be a challenge for one such as yourself."
Seth smirked. "You don't get it, do you? I don't want your damn money! How do you expect anyone to believe this shit anyway?"
"Please, Mr. Garner, refrain from using profanity."
"I have a pistol on me right now. Keep treatin' me like this and you'll find out what it does," said Seth.
"Seth, it's not just money we offer you. We've done extensive research on you. Remember Alex?" said the driver with a sly smirk.
Seth pulled out his pistol and aimed it at the driver. "You're just trying to give me a reason to kill you, huh?"
The driver's smile widened. "You could see him again, if only you help us a bit. A month, two max, is all we're asking."
Seth gave the two a skeptical glare. "How do I know you ain't bluffing?"
The two just stared at Seth.
"And this project..." said Seth.
"Genetic Experiment F0582, also known as 'The Sorana Project'"' said the passenger.
"Yeah, that one. What inspired th--"
The passenger cut him off, saying, "You don't need to know that. You know everything you need to know. Think about a bit, then get back to us. We're anticipating your arrival." He rolled up the window, and the SUV pulled out of the driveway.


The Sorana Project was a series of recombinant DNA experiments. The idea was to create a new species of human/animal half-breeds. Eventually, it evolved to creating shapeshifters that might be useful to the US military. After repeated attempts, the experiment produced a successful group.
The scientists at Violet Wind, the laboratory in south-eastern Indiana where The Sorana Project was based, were ecstatic about their success. After three sets of failures, they had good reason to be. They decided to run a few more tests before presenting their results to the military.
The main success of the program, Sorana, whom the project was named after, used this time to execute her plan. She was going to assist the other experiment subjects escape.
The escape was flawlessly executed, all of the subjects were cooperative, but there was one detail she failed to plan for. The security at the laboratory had been heightened since the success, to prevent entry. The guards were very difficult to pass when exiting, too, as the experiments quickly discovered.
Sorana had sent the group of experiments in one direction while she went into the west wing of the main building, where most of the data for the Project was held. Using a lighter she had taken from one of the scientists, she lit a small stack of papers on fire, then threw it onto a larger stack of papers which had not been filed yet. As soon as she was confident that the blaze would continue, she shifted into her fox form and ran after the other subjects.
She found them locked in battle with the security guards near the exit. Some of the shifters were full human, others were full animal. Some had reverted to their half-forms, where physical attributes from both forms are visible, no doubt due to the surprise and stress of battle. Even though the guards were outnumbered, they were still putting up a good fight, and appeared to be gaining an upper hand.
A few moments after Sorana's arrival at the battle, three gun shots rang out, and three bodies fell to the floor.

(to be continued again...)

((since my phone is a piece of crap, I reserve the right to double post))

Sorana didn't even think before she decided to join the fight. She took down one of the gunmen first after reverting to her human form. She tackled the guard as he took aim at another shifter, and didn't hesitate to rip his throat out. Just as the guard hissed his last breath, another shot roared above the other fighting noises, but it appeared to miss it's target.
The fighting went on for another 10 minutes before the last guard was taken out, and it would have been catastrophic had it lasted any longer, as the flames began to engulf the area all the shifters were gathered at.
Sirens could be heard in the distance, so Sorana wasted no time in leading the group away from Violet Wind Laboratories.

. . .

The sun rose the next morning, and Sorana stopped the group in the middle of a forest. She finally felt like they were far enough from the lab to be able to plan safely.
Surprisingly, they had made it a good 20 miles in just a few hours.
Sorana turned to the group and said, "All right, what are our casualties? Was anyone keeping track?"
Out of the thirty-some human- and half- form shifters, two raised their hands.
"Eleven were dead back at the lab," said one.
"We got six wounded here," said the other.
Sorana thought for a minute before saying, "Are there any Halfs wounded?"
The shifter shook his head and said, "No, just humans and animals. Should we take the humans to a hospital and the animals to a vet?"
"My thoughts exactly," said Sorana, "just lay low and keep separated."

((I suggest you start with your experiances at the lab that lead up to this point.))

Jacob, being one of the more trusted shapeshifters due to his position in the military, had been appointed to guarding at the top of the wall. Believing it will be another uneventful day, he had just kicked back to take a nap when he heard a loud rucus inside the wall. He watched as a battle between other guards and fellow shapeshifters. He watched the battle go on for about 10 minutes, watching one fox in particular who seemed to be the leader of the operations. Watching as she killed the guards, he noticed as the guard she ripped the throat out of died, another guard prepared to stab her. He raised his issued M-16, took aim and fired, killing the guard with one shot to the chest. "That should do it. Maybe if I talk to her I can join their revolution."


...


Before the crack of dawn and before the guards started the post-fight clean up, Jacob snuck out with a multi-personnel vehicle in an attempt to find the band that escaped the previous day. After a few hours of driving, just as the sun came up, he spotted a group in the middle of the road.
"I believe that may be them." As he gets closer, he recognizes the girl that he saved during the fight. "Found them."

Sorana watched as a vehicle approached their group. It looked like one of the security vehicles from Violet Wind.
'Oh, no,' she thought, 'how did they find us already?'
There was nowhere to run. Sorana was distressed at the thought of failure after she had just helped them escape. There was nothing she could do as the vehicle came closer and closer.

The bars of the cell were becoming too familiar. Their listless, lackluster nature seemed to darken the atmosphere tenfold. Black. And darkness. The girl felt at home here, sure, but that was no compensation for a lack of freedom. Such an overrated thing that others take for granted. Of course, she gave herself to the research group, so she had no right to complain. It had to have been night, for there was hardly anyone in the laboratory. A janitor. A couple of white-coated scientists. And an MP, as was the usual at this time of night. All the machinery seemed to glow eerily in the dim fluoresence of the space; it was machinery used for...odd things. They were things that, once used on a person, robbed that person of their liberty.

Nikita lay in her cot in the cell, sleepless this night, staring up at the ceiling with eyes filled with aimless sorrow. It had already been about 6 months since the kind of failed experiment. She missed writing, but not much else than that. At least she didn't have to deal with people here. Still, she couldn't help but to feel an aching for the outside world; anyone would miss being able to do whatever after being restrained for a while. She rolled over in her cot and glared at the entrance.

BAM! The door slammed open and a worried looking MP rushed over to the MP on duty in the lab, whispering something in his ear. Nikita observed them carefully, and the look of surprise on the MP's face upon hearing what his colleague had to say was...interesting to say the least. Both stormed out of the lab without any hesitation.

That's when she heard the racket. Something was definitely going on somewhere nearby. She had heard from scientists not too long back that they'd be working on more similar experiments, and thus she knew there were others like her in similar holding in the general area. What could be going on? She looked over at the two late night white coats. They were whispering to each other worriedly. One nodded to the other and they grabbed a few tranquilizer guns before dashing out the door. Now that was an interesting turn of events.

"So, what have they done?" she spoke softly to herself, nibbling on her hand to draw blood. Many times had they given her blood to drink in order to transform. Had they not thought that her own blood would suffice? Well, it did. In mere moments, nothing was left but her clothes in a pile on the floor...and a barely noticeable black widow spider crawling out from under them and through the bars. Crawling along the floor and under the door, Nikita found herself in the hallway. There were guards everywhere, and it seemed everyone was making a rush for the entrance to the facility. It seemed as though the guards where being overrun by the experiments...what delicious irony. Without so much as a though, Nikita leaped onto the leg of one of the shifters, and hitched a ride. It took the group a while to get out--she couldn't guess how long--but they actually made it. And off they ran with her still hitching a ride.

~ | ~ | ~

The sun rose. The escapees had come to a stop on the orders of some woman who apparently was the smarts behind the operation. Nikita crawled up the pant leg of the shifter she had hitched a ride on to get a better view of everything. Luckily, the guy appeared to be exhausted; the last thing he'd worry about would be a spider.

My, oh my, she thought as she saw that several were pretty badly wounded, and some were talking about casualties. The sirens were still blaring in the distance--a friendly reminder of where they had just come from. The smarts seemed to be worried about an approaching vehicle. So, she waited.

"Richtofin!"

"Dempsy?!" Richtofin's eyes snapped open instantly.

Dr. Faust Richtofin, more commonly known among his kind as "The Butcher" sat in his cell leaning against the wall. He must've fallen asleep and was dreaming, for there was no way someone as smart as Dempsy would get himself involvedin this whole thing. Besides, Dempsy was all the way back in Germany. Looking back he was so much better off back in Germany, being a successful surgeon and at least knowing the place. Now he's turned into some kind of thing, that was supposed to be half-animal. And what's more he had almost no sanity remaining.

"Do I regret it?" Richtofin seemed to be talking to a voice in his head, and he was grinning, "HeheheheheHAHAHAHA! Of course not!"

Richtofin's laughter just grew louder when he heard the sounds of gunfire in the facility, apparently, as he overheard from some MPs earlier, several shapshifters were trying to escape. That would make sense, if they're trying to escape then there must be gunfire, and if there's gunfire then there must be bloodshed. And oh how Richtofin loved bloodshed.

"Wunderbar! There's gunfire, this will be so wunderbar! Please, letme out! I want a part of this bloodshed!" Richtofin shouted to no one in particular, for all of the MPs have left to stop the shapeshifters' escape.

Maybe he was talking to the voice in his head. But in any case Richtofin's grin grew wider as a woman, apparently a shapeshifter as well, came into the room and proceeded to break him, and all the other shapeshifters out. It was as if everything was going his way today, and things would be so much better if he could dissect the woman that just saved him. Oh yes, so much more fun. Although as he was leaving Richtofin failed to notice something, a black widow, jump onto him.

"Wunderbar young fraulein, now if you will-" Richtofin started, but abruptly stopped when he saw an MP wirh an AK-47 sprawed dead on the floor, "Ooh a gun!"

Picking up the AK-47, Richtofin followed the woman as she led him and the others out toward the exit, of course there were several MP, and shapeshifters, in quite a one-sided fight. Raising his rifle, Richtofin unleashed a rain of lead at the MPs.

"Oh look at the cute little animals! The bad men have guns, this isn't very fair now is it. I'm here to help fuzzy little animals!" Richtofin said, pausing to reload, then firing like mad again, the rain of bullets cutting a hole through the line of MPs blocking the exit, "Wunderbar! I feel so ALIVE!"

After unloading a full five clips worth of bullets, Richtofin and the others managed to escape the facility and was on the run. Not even stopping to sleep, of course Richtofin was used to lacking sleep during the night. Only when the sun had risen did the group of escapees finally stopped to rest, they seemed to be safe for now. But that sense of security didn't last long, for one of the facility's vehicles were coming their way. Richtofin walked to the woman who broke him out of his cell, his eyes fixated on the vehicle.

"Excuse me fraulin, but should I shoot that thing and whoever's in it?" Richtofin asked, holding up the AK-47 that he had brought along all the way.

Sorana looked at the man with the AK-47, then back at the appproaching vehicle. The gun the shifter held made Sorana wonder why the security team hadn't open fired on them already. With such a large group of shifters, and with such a small vehicle, they certainly didn't seem to be making an attempt to capture them. Her curiosity at the situation made her want to wait it out for a few moments more, so she said softly, "No, not yet. If I give the word, then don't hesitate." Her own comment made Sorana surprised at her own assumed authority. She wondered if maybe someone else should be in charge.
As the vehicle approached, becoming ever closer, it appeared to carry only a driver; certainly not a challenge if the person decided to attack.
She continued to wait as the vehicle closed the distance between them.

Jacob pulled up a good hundred yards from the group, stopping and getting out. He thought to himslef, "This could spell disaster if they think I'm just a guard." He approaches the crowd quietly, closely examining every face around him. He notices one man who looked to be German holding an AK-47 and staring him down. Making a beeline through the group towards the woman standing next to the German, whom he figured to be in charge, also noticing many wounded shapeshifters. "You seem to be the head of this operation, and I was wanting to join in your revolt. I too am a shapeshifter, I was appointed as a guard because of my military background. It's been a long time of laying low, doing as I was ordered and decieving my superiors just waiting for a revolt to act so I can keep others from being used in twisted ways." He looks around, noticing many disbelieving glares due to his military guard uniform. "Your friends don't seem to believe me."

Sorana listened intently as the man spoke. When he said he was a shapeshifter, she inhaled through her nose, focusing on his scent. 'Yup, definitely a shapeshifter. Dog or wolf, it seems,' she thought.

She gave him a quick up-down before asking, "So, you were involved in the military? So you're the guy they were talking about, Jason or Jacob, or whatever. Seems like they did trust you, but how do we know we can?"

A shifter in his half form, a cat, approached the man and said, "The military is the root of our problems! Why SHOULD we trust you?"

Another cat shifter in her animal form, an orange tabby, jumped to the half-cat's shoulder. With her voice sounding in the shifter's head, she said, as a purr, "Well, he's been through the same thing we have, so he knows the evil that lies within that place."

"So, how do we know if we can trust you?" Sorana repeated.

Jacob looks Sorana dead in the eyes.
"My name is Jacob. I had a future in the military and was promised the position of General in the next week and I shot the guy who was about to stab you from behind."
Jacob then gets his gun from the truck, throwing it into the woods.
"You can trust me."

"Oh let him in, I don't care. I have no grudges against the military, nor do I resent the people who did this to me. I only joined this because it is so much more fun than being locked in a dark cell." Richtofin said, "Yes, so much more fun, so much more bloodshed. So wunderbar!"

The man didn't seem to have any bad intentions, or maybe Richtofin was just too crazy to figure it out. But Richtofin didn't care either, right now he had a gun, and the soldier just threw away his. If the soldier would try to take them back to the facility then Richtofin would fill the man's body with holes. Plus if the man joined Richtofin would have a new prey for his experiments. During the time he had spent under confinement he had caused the deaths of many of his kind through his little experiments, thus earning him the nickname "The Butcher" and quite an infamous reputation. No doubt the escaped shifters all knew about him and his reputation, for many of them had tried to avoid him as much as possible on the way here. Grinning, Richtofin thought of how wunderbar it would be if this little guinea pig fell straight into his lap, no doubt the soldier was ignorant of Richtofin's history.

Sorana cast a questioning glance at the man holding the AK-47. Could this be the shifter that the surgeons had been talking about? They had spoken sarcastically about letting some German shifter assist them with their studies; this shifter was certainly German.

She had to say, the fact that the shifter had the gun both comforted her and scared the hell out of her. She had heard talk that the man was clinically insane.

She walked over to the multi-personel vehicle, wincing a bit when she stepped on a particularly sharp rock. She had left her shoes behind when she had shifted back at the lab. She inspected the vehicle carefully, picking up mats, looking under the seats and in the compartments, anywhere something interesting could be stored. Besides two first aid kits, a pair of steel-toe boots, and a book of matches, she found nothing.

"All right," she said, facing back towards the group, "I think he checks out. Jacob, you can retrieve your gun, and I'll hold on to it for a while. We might end up needing it."

((Give Balthair a chance to get his ED account settled...we had a little mishap, but it's being sorted out now.))

((Got my account back in order.))
The German reminded him of something he heard some of the scientists talking about while they were all on break one day. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but he knew something was wrong with the man holding an AK-47. He knew it would drive him crazy until he remembered, so he pushed it to the back of his mind in an attempt to forget about it for the time being.

"Alright."

Jacob goes and retrieves his gun from where it landed in the woods. He stops in front of Sorana, holding the gun out towards her for her to take.

"Here you go miss. I didn't catch your name by the way. Mind my asking?"

Jacob looks back to where the personnel vehicle is sitting, wondering what will come of it now. If they were to leave it there, he would have to wipe it down for prints that may have been left since all in the party where also in the system back at the lab. It would take no time at all for the head of the lab to find them if they found even a partial print.

Sorana took the M-16 from Jacob, and to his request for a name, she said, "Sorana is my name. I have to ask that you don't make me regret my decision. I'd hate to see the results of that."

She saw him cast a quick glance over at the vehicle he had arrived in, and she looked over at it herself, and she added, "You think we could use that vehicle to transport our wounded to get care? We'd probably have to dispose of it afterwards, set it on fire someplace random to throw the threat off our trail."

Richtofin had started to ignore the conversation, letting his thoughts wander. Although one word he subconsciously overhead brought his attention directly back into the conversation. That word, was "fire". Holding up his AK-47, ready to fire, Richtofin was grinning maliciously.

"Fire? Fire?! Oh how wunderbar! Who do you want me to shoot?" Richtofin asked.

Richtofin had no idea what the two were talking about, all he heard was one word. Which he mistook for an order to shoot.

Nikita had grown quite comfortable on the male shifter's pant leg, and thus she decided to remain. She thought back to the pile of clothes she had left back at the lab. Although she wouldn't have been embarassed, she did decide to spare any wandering eyes the glorious vision of her beautiful body. If she could have rolled her eight eyes, she would have.

So, another player arrives on the board. Smarts, new guy....and the guy with the AK-47 who probably SHOULDN'T have the AK-47. Once again with the would-be eye rolling. These people are so lost. What are they going to do now? Hell, I guess I could go home...but those feds would find me to be sure, she thought to herself. From the way it looked, it seemed she'd be stuck with these people...but she was...different. She was the only one who could shift into something besides a mammal...which was to her benefit. Someone would get suspicious if they saw a wolf or a walrus running around.

But there she was. A subtle spider on some poor sap's pants leg. And thus she would remain...until they found some place where she could obtain clothes. It seemed she'd have to talk to the smarts about that when the time came.

Jacob looks at the sudden movement of the AK-47, then looks to Sorana.
"You might want to calm him down before he kills us all."
He then looks back to the truck that he drove all the way up here, wondering if the lab will miss it.
"I'm sure we can use it for the injured. We will have to be careful who we pass on the way to the hospital and vet though."

Jacob's comment to Sorana overlapped with Sorana telling the German, "No, no! Not that kind of fire! We don't need any more injuries!" She grabbed the German's arm and forced him to lower the gun.

Then, to Jacob's talk of the injured, she said, "Well, we certainly can't all escort them to get care simply because of the size of the vehicle, and even if we could, such a large group of people would stand out even if we were normal. Any suggestions?"

She asked this question because she hated assuming authority, even though she was a natural born leader. Everyone usually followed her blindly, and they had good reason to. She was trustworthy and kind, and certainly open-minded. She was capable of giving orders as well as recieving them.

Nobody had appointed her to any leader position, though. She just had the ability to set them free, and she figured that this was the only reason the group had even stayed together this long, in hopes that she had a good plan, when honestly she hadn't really thought about anything past the escape.

"Well ther is a pretty big first aid kit in the back of the truck we can use until we get a smaller vehicle to use for the transport to the hospital and the vet."

Jacob begins to walk back to the truck.

"After the project started, all soldiers were trained in first aid of both...all that knew about it anyway."