Altered

"NO!NOT TIMOTHY!" He screamed at them. "I WON'T LET YOU TAKE HIM!" He heard the gunshots, and felt the sharp pain in his wings, but shook it off. Nothing else mattered to him except the child. "YOU CAN'T TAKE HIM BACK THERE!" Hot tears sprung in his eyes, but he blinked them away. His expression was one of cold fury, numbing fear, and ferocious love. "You want us back?" Arctic snarled at the lead scientist. "Then take me. Do whatever you want to me." He lowered his voice. "I don't care. It's not like I have a much of a life. But not Timothy! He still has a life ahead of him. He can't go back to that blank prison! He WON'T SURVIVE THERE!" He snapped. He breathed heavily.

The scientist fired, and a dart landed in Arctic's shoulder. He made no attempt to run away. What good would it be?

"Why can't you just leave us alone?" He said quietly, and collapsed to the ground.

Arctic gasped for air, his golden eyes snapping open.

For a second he wondered where he was.

And then he remembered. The same place he'd been for seven years: Garnet Laboratories.

He ruffled his feathers. "Stupid dream. What was that about?" Arctic muttered to himself. "A guy named Timothy, that I needed to protect.. and Dr. Goldstein? And she darted me..." he tried to work out the dream.

He got off his sleeping mat and paced around the tiny, white washed room.

"Time for breakfast," Arctic muttered. He sat back down on his mat, waiting for his food to be dropped off. In the wall was a small chute, just big enough for Arctic to stick his snout in.

Soon enough, there was a rattling noise, and a brown bar fell out of the chute, along with a water bottle. Arctic picked up the bar and carried it to the mat. He swallowed it in four bites. Bland as always, he thought.

After about twenty minutes, there was the sound of a lock being turned. The door opened, and a guard stepped in. "You've been called in for Interaction, " he said, sounding mildly bored. Arctic walked over to him, head tilted upwards. He said nothing as the guard slipped a muzzle on him.

"You probably don't need this, but, rules are rules." It was protocol for predators to wear a muzzle when outside of their rooms.

The guard checked the metal tracking band around Arctic's neck. "Secure," he said. They walked down the halls, passing by other Altered. Some wore the bandages of those recently tested and experimented, while others had scars from "Interaction ", which was what the scientists and guards called Battling. A resident Altered would battle a newly captured Altered to see how the new one would react.

This was where Arctic was headed now.

They stopped in front of a large door. The guard pushed it open and Arctic went inside. The guard took the muzzle off and left, shutting the door behimd him. Arctic sat and waited for his opponent to come. He was in a gym sized room, with a one way glass window on a wall, above the ground so the scientists could monitor the battle.

A door opposite to him opened, and Arctic flew up to the ceiling . A guard brought in the opponent, and then quickly shut the door. The opponent looked around, and Arctic could their confusion, even from up high.

All of a sudden, Arctic dived towards them, his back talons outstretched like an owl's. His talons snatched empty air, because the opponent had ducked. Arctic landed im front of the opponent. He growled, snapping his teeth. The opponent was rather small, now that he noticed. They did nothing, just cover their head with their arms. They looked... human. Like a perfectly normal human.

"Go away!" They whispered. "Go away.. go away.. It's just a dream.." Arctic stopped growling. Suddenly it hit him.

This was a small child. A small boy.

Just like Arctic was a small pup when he arrived. Scared, alone.

Just like this child.

Suddenly he wasn't a mere opponent.

"It's not a dream," Arctic told him. "I wish it was."

The boy opened his eyes wide. Arctic gasped a little. The boy's eyes were green, and veined with black.

"Don't hurt me." The boy breathed.

"I don't want to. " Arctic replied. " I never do. But they made me, and I did it, because I was scared of what they would do to me if I didn't. But I don't care, because I won't hurt a little kid." He paused. "And also because I know how you feel."

"You do?"

Arctic nodded. " They took me from my family, too. They put me here, hurt me, made me sick, forced me to fight. I was five when it happened."

"I'm six."

"That makes me twice as old as you."

"Uh.. eight?"

"Twelve." They stood in silence for a few moments.

"Hey, what's your name?" The child asked.

"Well, nobody really uses my name, but it's Arctic."

"I'm Timothy."

Timothy... Arctic thought. Where have I heard that before?

"Well, Timothy, let me tell you something. I won't let anybody hurt you. Especially the doctors. Okay?"

"Okay."

He couldn't explain, but he felt this need to be with Timothy, to protect him. He felt like there was something about Timothy, something more special than other Altered.

What is your power? Arctic wondered.