The Upgraded Wolf: Chapter Three
Tirran didn't know if it was hours, days, or even weeks when he woke up next. He was standing, partially at least. His amber eyes looked about, assessing his situation. He was in a large, white room with two double doors. Two walls, opposite each other were large mirrors and he could see himself completely. He was naked, arms and legs were stripped and coated in that strange black material that constricted around his limbs. His arms were bound at the wrists and chained to the ceiling. His ankles were cuffed and attached to a very short chain to the floor. There was enough give that he didn't have to stand all the time. The chains and bindings where all highly polished steel.
There was a series of equipment about the room. A few carts with computer equipment on it, biometrics tracking software running on the monitor. Medical tools that he was becoming all too familiar with lay on a separate cart. There was a wide array of materials and tools which he realized was meant to skin his chest. He whimpered a bit and gulped, as he realized that he no longer had the feeding tubes running into his stomach. That was all the proof he needed.
Something else caught his eye now, a series of wires running back from one of the machines, down along the floor and up to the wolf. He shuddered as he looked into the mirror to follow the wires up his back and into the base of his skull. He shuddered fiercely reconsidering what was going to happen to him.
He had what seemed to be hours to ponder the quiet hum of machinery and the monotonous beeping of the monitors. His arms steadily became more and more tired and his legs became heavier. He took a deep breath and sighed. The near silence was almost deafening but it left him with time to contemplate his predicament.
Tirran figured it was two weeks ago that he was first approached. He was bragging about his latest fight to a couple of friends. Perhaps he had been boasting too loud or too much because later that same night he was approached by what he thought was the most beautiful echidna. She bought him all kinds of drinks and strong ones too. He realized now that was all part of their plan. She was gorgeous, thoughts of her brought a smile to his face despite what he knew would be coming. Bethany, that was her name, he recalled. Damn she had a rack too. The wolf's tail wagged as he remembered her better. She had explained everything out to him. He remembered actually signing the series of contracts. He was no lawyer, but he knew completely he was screwed.
He tried to remember the details of the contract. There was supposed to be very lucrative pay that much he recalled, enough that he could do what ever he wanted for the rest of his life. The downside, well, he merely needed to look around him. He sighed, he never really waned much out of life; a good bed, good food, and a great pair of breasts to wake up next to.
The next day he had been taken by helicopter to a facility in the middle of some mountains given a series of questions and physicals that seemed so repetitive at times. Poked and prodded until his flesh was sore. Then he had a day of rest and great food and then he seemed to pass out. After that is was nothing but pain.
He yawned, getting somewhat sleepy. He figured it was several hours worth of being like this with his hands chained above his head. There was a solid beep on one of the machines. He looked to it and was horrified seeing that it was the machine attached to the wires in the back of his head. After five or so seconds of a solid tone an electric jolt ran through his body.
The wolf panted a bit every muscle aching suddenly as though he'd been working out for an hour. He looked back to the machine and cursed at it. As if it understood him it seemingly sent another shock through the wires out of spite. The wolf yelled as this was a longer shock, his muscles jerking about.
He started to sweat after the second shock. Anger built in deep inside of him and was fueled by a third, even longer shock. He growled as his muscles were struck with post electrical spasms. "WHY?! Why the fuck are you doing this!" he demanded from the mirror wall. He was answered with yet another electrical shock.
The tiger looked away from the two way glass and back to the reptile that was calmly sitting in a chair and by all means seemed to be enjoying the sight of the wolf being shocked. "Do you think he can see us? " Alec asked.
The reptile smirked in his suit and said nothing. The technician over at the control panel, which regulated the shocks gulped at the thought proposed by Alec. "I sure hope not. I wouldn't want to get any closer that I am now." The technician admitted. The Reptile shot him a fierce glance and the technician remained silent.
Alec watched as shock after shock was delivered to the wolf. There was a dual purpose to the shocks. The first was to exhaust him so that he wouldn't move around for the torso skinning. Skinning a person's arms and legs was an easy business. Something they hoped to have automated in another year or two. However the art of skinning a torso, much less a person's face was something of an incredible skill. First there was the problem of maintaining the musculature underneath both the torso and the head. Secondly, since the patient would be conscious during the process they were prone to jerking about. Alec sighed as he'd have to endure watching the wolf being skinned. He knew he'd have to get used to these sorts of sights. All the same he'd rather work a desk than field work. He looked to the side of the observation room as the team of doctors moved in to begin work on the wolf.
Tirran groaned. His body, the parts of it that was still his were coated in a sheen of sweat. He panted heavily though, as his body trying to compensate for the lack of sweat glands in his arms and legs. The wolf shuddered looking up and over to the double doors as several doctors moved into his room in a hurry. There were four, or maybe five. He wasn't quite sure his mind tired from the electroshock therapy. They moved about him in a blur that he couldn't quite follow. One of them started to pad him down with a towel, where it came from he didn't know it was all a bit much to keep up with.
He was however able to keep up with the knife that he felt circling around the base of his tail. The next incision came from the base of the tail up to its tip. The pain was surreal as he felt the tail fur get peeled away from his body. There was no time to contemplate as another doctor stared him straight in the eye and began to slowly and delicately pull a scalpel from along the wolf's shoulder around to his neck and. Tirran didn't dare move, the fear of that scalpel missing and cutting his throat. He wanted to gulp, to swallow his fear of the glinting blade but he held himself until the blade pulled to his far shoulder.
He took a deep breath and panted the mirrors showed the doctors hovering around him with their scalpels. He focused on the mirror image of himself. He looked so foreign, so alien. He winced and forced back the pain of each scalpel. He was trying to trick his mind into believing that he was watching some one else getting carved up. The pain felt distant, yet undeniable and intense. It wasn't that racking pain that his body felt when his claws were pulled out. He realized now that the claws numbed the feeling in his arms and legs before they skinned him. This was the raw feeling.
He gritted down on his teeth as more and more strips of his flesh were removed from his chest and back. He wanted to scream but he feared that the twisted Dr. Reinheart was around here somewhere. The group of doctors backed off momentarily, and the wolf got a look and himself no fur remained below his neck now. It was disturbing to see the crimson muscles glistening and pulsating. He'd seen bodies bare and exposed much like he was now but they were dead, or soon to be dead. His pectoral muscles, his abdominals, everything was exposed and could be seen.
Barely a moment passed before the doctors returned with what seemed to be needle guns of sorts. The pushed the tips into his muscles and pulled the triggers. He felt the flesh impacted by something sharp and metallic. But the injected pieces seemed to stay under the flesh where they were injected. The doctors pulled the tips out and moved to other locations on his torso injecting him again and again. They finished and another doctor came up to him with a towel and some gauze to help clean up the blood that was dripping down his body. The towels and gauze stung and he cried out, no longer ashamed of his pain. The doctors looked to him momentarily and then turned back to their work.
The lead doctor came up to the front of the wolf with a very fine scalpel and pressed it into his chest. Tirran yelled out but two doctors held on to him. He breathed through his teeth as he watched the doctor. The doctor's face reflected the dedication as he cut deeper and deeper into the wolf's torso until there was the exposed beating heart. The wolf could barely feel what was happening. He couldn't watch as the doctor was blocking the mirror image. Two doctors now worked diligently to soak up the excess blood allowing the lead doctor to focus on attaching an electronic device to his heart. He winced as they picked up literally a needle and some strange kind of thread and began to sew his chest closed.
He tilted his head back and groaned looking to the ceiling. He saw a series of camera's looking back down at him with the cold glare of the lenses. Tirran looked to the cameras pleadingly while he felt the gloved hands of the doctors continue to work over his body, tugging and pulling at the muscles forcing in new biotechnology into his being that he would never understand. Panting after some time he lazily lowered his head back down to see what the doctors were doing to him. He felt one pressing what felt like metal beams against his spine, another one seemed to adjusting his groin, while yet a third seemed to be wrapping a metal mesh around his upper chest.
Coating him in the black material didn't take long, though it seemed to be the most constrictive application of it. It was difficult to breath and the wolf was only able to make short, shallow breaths. The doctors seemed to be concerned at first but the monitoring software indicated that everything was in the statistically approved levels. They matched the thickness of the layers to that of his limbs and despite the difference in the time off application there appeared to be no clear seam where the old and the newer applications were applied.
Slowly his breathing improved and by the time the doctors were leaving it was almost back to normal. He watched the door close and then looked back to the mirror and the strange beast that he was becoming. It confused him, not understanding what they were doing to him. Maybe testing his ability to withstand pain, or perhaps simple curiosity, he didn't know. He only knew that his limit was approaching. He stared into his own visage, the last remaining bit of his fur, of his identity. He stared at himself burning the image into his mind, vowing to never forget who he is, who he was.
Alec shuddered looking back to the wolf on the other side of the one way glass. He felt the piercing eyes driving into him, like the wolf knew he was there. He turned back to look at the reptile executive who in turn gave a nod to the technician to return the regular shocks to the wolf. These ones where lower powered, designed to help stimulate muscle growth and test the electrical dispersal unit installed around the wolf's upper chest. A weakened scream penetrated the viewing pane and the two executives looked to the technician dialed down the power to the proper setting.
Alec sighed softly and felt a buzzing at his hip. He withdrew his blackberry and checked the message he had just received. The words on the screen brought a smile to his face. "The replacement claws are now complete." He announced to the room.
The reptile smiled and stood. Alec knew that his senior executive who, had been present for every operation, briefing, and development, must be getting some level of sleep deprivation, and yet he remained his composure. "Well done, Pass along my approval to our metallurgist. We should let our patient get plenty of rest and nutrients before begin the facial procedures."
Alec nodded in agreement and began typing out the new and revised schedule to the appropriate personnel. They would be testing a new procedure to restrain the wolf for his face, one that hopefully would be able to be expanded for future patients and would actually leave him with a recognizable face afterwards.
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