Fox Life

However, the fact that it was all going to be recorded didn't make it any easier on Iris when she thought about being subjected to something really painful. Worst part was that Kyro and Sophie would probably swoop in before that, and they would have little material to work with after she was freed.     

That meant she had to find a way to make the man talk. It sounded simple, but Iris was locked up in a miniature cage, which prevented her from doing anything, let alone something smart.     

There was really only one thing she could do, so she did it—she started screaming like there was no tomorrow. The lab coats grimaced. Their leader watched Iris for a time, then came closer.     

"Do you want to speak to me?"     

She nodded enthusiastically. Speaking meant that she was not being subjected to anything dangerous, so of course she was going to take it.     

"Can you turn back?" he asked with barely disguised interest. His eyes were shining behind his glasses like two gems at the thought of it.     

After a moment's hesitation, Iris nodded. It was going to be a bit embarrassing, but nothing she couldn't survive.     

"You can?" the younger lab coat shouted out, taking a step forward. "Show it, show it!"     

Iris gave him a deadpan look, then looked at the cage, then back at him. Did he expect her to change within the cage? She wasn't certain what would happen if she tried, but she wasn't eager to find out.     

The leader seemed to share her misconceptions and ordered for her to be taken out, but Iris refused to change straight away. She ran to the corner of the lab where spare coats were hung and stood staring up at them. The men looked annoyed at the delay, but one still came over to take down a coat.     

It would have been nice if there was a way to make them turn around, but that was unlikely, so Iris just changed and wrapped the coat around herself as fast as she could.     

When she turned around to face the three scientists, there was both wonder and excitement on their faces. The youngest one rushed to her side and examined her face, the skin on her arms, her hair. It was more than just creepy, but Iris stood still, letting him observe to make it seem like she was really defenseless and was just trying to make her life better by cooperating.     

"It's…" The leader watched her without blinking, his eyes roaming up and down her body. "You could do that again and again, couldn't you?" he asked in a hoarse voice, overtaken by emotion.     

"I guess." She had never tried how many times she could change, but there was no exhaustion or anything after doing it, so it was probably unlimited.     

"We thought it was possible, but with your father, we were never sure," the leader confessed. "It could've been luck that he changed then; after all, he had been afraid for his life. There were more changes than we'd ever seen before, but it could still be explained. But you… This makes it all clear."     

Iris forced out a smile, then changed the topic. "I'll agree to your experiments, but I want to know something."     

"We can force you," the leader said in dismissal. It didn't seem like he was interested in anything she had to say unless it was in answer to his questions.     

"But you won't get the best results. Do you want a repetition of what happened to my grandmother? Or my father? You think I wouldn't be capable?"     

That attracted the man's attention. He finally focused on her face. "What is it?"     

"What did you do to me? How did I end up in the states? Was it you who started that whole hunt?"     

"So many questions," the man mocked. "And I didn't do anything. You changed for the first time in that classroom. Upon noticing it, we rushed over to catch you to take back to the lab, but you were already gone."     

"Gone?" Iris could hardly believe her ears. Did he seriously think she would believe that he had nothing to do with all that happened to her?     

The man inclined his head. "Like an idiot, you wandered off into the streets and managed to get yourself caught by animal traffickers. I had to chase them all the way to the states, but then you got lost again. Can you imagine how much effort it took for us to locate you again?     

"And that bastard boyfriend of yours even hid you. We actually believed him for a time, thinking he had really found another fennec. But then you went public. Idiot. Did you think we wouldn't recognize you?"     

'I didn't know you WERE after me!' Iris thought to shout, but bit her tongue. "What about my sickness then? Was it also not your fault?"     

"Why would we want to harm you? It was the flaw in your genes acting up. You should have transformed as a child, but you didn't. The aftereffects of that were building up until they resulted in that sickness. You should be thankful we took you in then; otherwise, you would have died in a week."     

'Thankful? If not for you I'd be a normal person and have my parents!' But she allowed him his delusions. "What about Tyler's family then? What happens to them when they take their animal forms?"     

"They're subjects, of course we bring them in for research," the youngest guy said. He had stopped circling her and had now taken out a tablet with some data inside it. When he spoke, he didn't even raise his head. "They need to be tested."     

"Even a child like Mila?" Iris asked with disgust. She hadn't forgotten about how terrified the little girl had looked upon the mention of a lab.     

The leader took a step forward. "Especially those like her. We can gain the most data from children whose bodies are still changing and growing. Adults are of little interest to us since they're already a finished result. And that's enough of questions. It's time for you to honor your own part of the bargain."     

'Yeah, right.' Iris had no such thoughts. She hummed a little, hoping those watching her through the camera would understand it as a call for help. They had agreed on the fennec noise, since they had expected her to remain as such and not really made clear preparations if she decided to turn human.     

"What do you want?" she asked, hoping to delay whatever he might be thinking about.     

"Something really interesting. Come with me," the leader said with a disturbing smile.     

Iris didn't like the sound of that and with a scream of 'Kyro, hurry up!' inside her head, she changed mid dash away from the men. There was no way she was going to let them experiment on her without a word to say about it!