Furry- Chapter 1
Volunteer/Transformed/Captured

Weiss’s Division: 1:14 PM
March 12th, 2011

Mercutio was dying.
They had informed him, of course, but that didn’t soften the blow.  They had pulled him off of the street, at random, and pumped him full of… something.  He still wasn’t sure what it was, who they were, or even who he was.
Mercutio wasn’t his real name, of course.  They needed a name, and one of the workers, who was a Shakespeare buff, had taken the liberty.  He didn’t remember his own name; they had thoroughly drugged it out of him.
Occasionally, he was fed.  He knew that the food would just be drugged, but he ate out of a desire to survive.  They gave him water regularly, but it was the most foul-tasting excuse for water that he had ever had.  Or, thought that he had ever had…
So here he was, lying on the floor of a squalid cell, curled up in a ball, clutching his tail, and waiting for it all to end.  Then, slowly, agonizingly, it did.
***
Quite frankly, this place had gone down the tubes since the Orvosa incident.
So thought Harry Macintyre, current head of Weiss’s Company. He quietly listed the various problems that he had with his company.
“We lose every werewolf that we had in captivity, Weiss gets himself killed in a skirmish with Orvosa, Weiss’s bratty kid takes control and vanishes, and now, the nanos don’t work.”
Weiss’s company was a government-sponsored genetics lab, founded twenty years ago by Dr. Avery Weiss, a man of vision.  However, the first year that it had been in business, Weiss fooled around with live genetic engineering, and made werewolves.  They had spent the next eight years cleaning up that faux pas, when Liam Orvosa had entered the picture.
Liam was a somewhat good, if not a little creepy, kid who they had infected with werewolf serum.  He helped them catch a few werewolves, until he had gotten himself caught up with Cecilia Fortunato, a silver tongued werewolf who had seduced him into setting them free.  
A year later, he killed Weiss, and infected Weiss’s son Monty.  Monty had led them to recapture every single werewolf of theirs.  Then, he had gone off to prove his innocence in a murder trial, and vanished off of the face of the Earth.
Since then, the company had turned its eyes to technology, and had created nanobots, designed to aid in the prevention of disease.  However, instead of the purpose for which they were made, well…
Mercutio was the end result.  Whether through design flaw, or unforeseen side effect, the nanos malfunctioned, creating him.  Still…
This could go somewhere!
He dashed for his phone.
“Mrs. Cullings!  Get me volunteers.  Four would be perfect.  Make sure that they’re young, I don’t want another Mercutio.  Foster care or orphanages should be good…”

***

Madame Naples’ Orphanage: 3:19
April 11th, 2011

A sign had been posted outside of the Mess Hall:
VOLUNTEERS WANTED!
NEED MONEY? BETTER ROOM & BOARD?
SIGN BELOW.
MUST BE 13 OR OLDER

Nelson Hobshire had been heading to breakfast when he saw the notice pinned over everybody else’s minor announcements.  He took a closer look.
Nelson was 16, and kind of short for his age.  He had raven hair, and piercing blue eyes.  He wasn’t volunteering at the orphanage; he lived there.  He hadn’t been adopted as a young child because he was a troublemaker.  Nobody adopted him now because people thought that he was a troublemaker.
The sign didn’t offer much other information, other than that by singing the sheet he was signing a waiver in case of personal injury or death.
His first impulse was not to sign it.  There was nothing indicating what he was volunteering for, and the sign warned that death could be involved.  On the other hand, he wasn’t going anywhere here.  He didn’t have any close personal friends, and was scorned by visitors.
So, of course, he signed it.

***
Annika Wizand was also signing a similar sheet.
She was also 16, tall, and with a constantly nervous look on her face.  She was a brunette, with emerald green eyes that belied the skittish air about her.  As a young child, adults had scared her a bit, so she had hidden whenever people came, looking to adopt.  The nervous look became a habit, although she grew out of her fear, so she was tougher than she looked.  She had been shuffled between various foster homes at her request, but hadn’t enjoyed herself very much.  Now, she was being offered a chance for some excitement!

***

Darrel Alegon signed, as he recounted his pat failures with adoptions.  He was 14, with strawberry blonde hair, and hazel eyes.

***

Helen Jedic was humming a tune as she signed.  She was fifteen, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

***
11:53
May 1st, 2011

They were all bussed in and arrived at a random street corner, where they were picked up by limousine, and taken to Weiss company headquarters.
They arrived, and waited in a very nice conference room.  I was a while before anyone spoke.
“So, who’s who, and why are we here?” asked Darrel
“I’m Annika, and I don’t know why I’m here.”
I’m Helen, and I just signed the paper.”
“I’m Nelson, and ditto them.”
They struck up various conversations, all mainly centered around the question, “Why are we here?”
Before long, a man entered.  He sat down, and began to speak.
“My name is Harry Macintyre.  I run this place.”
Immediately, question after question rained down on him.  He spoke up.  “Hold everything!  It will all be explained momentarily.  Follow me, please.”
The five figures walked into a small room, and felt a sudden jerk downward.  Realizing that they were in an elevator, they calmed down a bit.  This was only for a second, though, as the elevator stopped about fifteen seconds later, and the doors opened.
What awaited them was a technological utopia, with unfamiliar objects and whirring gizmos all over the place.  They stepped through, and Macintyre began to speak.
“Welcome to the Weiss Company.  We specialize in biotechnology.  Do any of you know what that means?”
“Androids.” Darrel had answered immediately.
“Well, we’re not that far yet.  However, we are working on a project that could cure any disease known to man.  We’re trying to achieve this using nanotechnology,”
He wandered over to a table with four syringes on it.
“However, our experiments failed.  Our nanos thought of every disease that we’d downloaded into their memory, and just created a new one.  However, this disease isn’t negative in any way.”
He turned to the group.
“You’ve volunteered to become super soldiers.”
At Nelson’s incredulous look, he continued.  “Of course, you won’t be going onto the front lines.  You’ll just run a few tests here.”
At this revelation, Helen turned away, only to be blocked by two men in gas masks.  All four of them were grabbed from behind, and were presented to Macintyre.
“Now, now.  This is what you agreed to, remember?”
And with that, he plunged a syringe into Annika’s arm.
The results were evident immediately.  She was dropped to the ground where she writhed in pain.  Then, the change started.
Her hands immediately began to sprout what vaguely looked like dark black fur. Pads forced their way up thruogh her palms.  Finally, her nails lengthened, resembling claws.
Her face mutated.  Att the skin below her eyes began to bubble. It reformed into a snout, which sprouted fur as well.  Her eyes changed, and so did her hair.  Her hair darkened drastically, and blended in with the fur that was now growing up her back.
A spot began to bulge on her lower back, and a tail burst out.  Fur was now growing up her arms and down her legs.  Finally, her ankles lengthened.
She rose from the ground, murderous intent in her eyes.
“What the hell did you do to me?” she roared, leaping at Macintyre, claws outstretched.  He merely reached into his pocket, and pulled out another syringe.  Before she could sink her claws into him, he had injected her.  She slumped over, and the guards picked her up, and dragged the group away.
Nelson spun around, and shouted, “So is this what we came here to do?  Become your little science projects?  Are you gong to do that to all of us?  What kind of sick son of a bitch are you?”
Macintyre ignored the insult, and answered.  “I won’t have to.  She will.”
They were then tossed into a cell, cleverly hidden in the wall.