Project K-9

Chapter 23

"Hey kid, how are you doing today?" Illumina asked as he walked into Dream's hospital room.

It's been a few weeks since the raid, and the rebellion of the underdogs. Under orders of their chief, the agents had each of the kids admitted into the clinic at the agency, where they were to be monitored on their physical and mental health.

Many of the kids seemed to be experiencing certain attacks, such as coughing up blood and violent trembling, which the doctor ruled as side effects of the experiments that they underwent.

On the good side, the children seemed to be opening up to the agents with each passing day, and some of the kids have even begun to laugh and smile again. All except Dream who had stayed silent the entire time and kept his eyes lowered, only looking up for a few moments before returning to his frozen state.

However, this did not stop Illumina from visiting the boy every day.

"Come along now kid, let's stretch those legs." The agent said cheerfully while motioning to the door.

Dream slowly got out of bed, but kept his eyes to the floor as they exited his room, and went out to the garden where the rest of the children were. Illumina was surprised to find Fruitberries there as well, his friend appeared to be conversing with a pink-haired boy, who introduced himself as Techno.

"Quite the fighter that kid," Illumina commented when Techno ran towards Dream., while he approached his friend.

"He is actually, Techno has a talent for strategy and combat," Fruitberries replied. "Your boy still not talking?" he added as the pair watched Techno trying to engage Dream in conversation.

"Nope," Illumina responded popping the p.

Just then they were called in by their Chief, concerning a bank robbery that had just taken place. The agents entered the office where a large monitor was displaying different feeds from surveillance cameras across the city.

"Yeah, this is impossible Chief, there is no way that we will find the robbers' get-away car..." Illumina stated, getting a bit dizzy from scanning all the feeds.

The agent then turned to his right where the Chief's teenage son stood squinting at the screen.

Their Chef had just recently lost his wife during the war against the MOB, so it was understandable why the man did not want his son out of his sight.

The agent ruffled the boy's hair, "Hey Philza how are you doing today!"

"I'm doing great agent Illumina!" the boy replied.

"Chief Steve, unless we have an idea of where they might be headed, we might as well give up and try another angle," Fruitberries commented and Steve let out a frustrated sigh.

Illumina suddenly felt a tug on his shirt, and he looked down to see Dream. The blonde had apparently followed them in from the garden.

"What is it kid?" he asked in a warm tone.

The blonde said nothing and merely pointed to the corner of the monitor. It was a mere second but the group managed to rewind the tape and spot a car matching what they were looking for.

"Okay now, where did they go from there?" Chief Steve said, before asking their white hat hackers to try and trace all possible routes.

This time Fruitberries was the one who felt a tug on his shirt, and the agent found Techno by his side.

"They are probably heading towards the highway sir," the boy said in a small voice.

This continued for some time, with Techno giving possible routes, and Dream would spot the car again in another feed, confirming Techno's predictions.

Eventually, they managed to get a barrier set up and arrest the robbers.

"Good job boys!" Fruitberries and Illumina cheered as they ruffled the boys' hair. Techno held a proud smile, while Dream looked a bit bewildered by the praise.

Steve cleared his throat, "Gentlemen, a word..." their chief said, and the agents left the kids' sides for a moment to listen to what Steve had to say.

"...this could be beneficial to the agency..." Techno and Dream managed to hear the chief say. Thanks to the experiments, their hearing was slightly better than the average human.

"...they're kids!" Illumina argued.

"...much too young..." Fruitberries added after his friend.

"...director has suggested this for a while..." Steve informed.

Steve continued to say a few things and the agents' faces morphed into scowls.

Techno and Dream soon found out what they were arguing about, when Steve gathered the children in a garden with Fruitberries, Illumina, and several other agents.

This was the start of Project K-9, the agents who attended the meeting that day would select their partner among the surviving kids of Project underdog. Steve already had the collars ready for use, along with the newly developed PK-9 phone app.

Fruitberries chose Techno right away, and the boy happily followed the agent. Dream didn't even dare to hope that he would be chosen, which is why he was surprised when he noticed a shadow cast over him.

He glanced up to see Illumina looking down at him with kind eyes and a warm smile.

"What do you say, kid? Want to be my partner in crime?"