Shape

Chapter 8: The Puppeteer

"Is that your name? Copycat?" The voice had come from across the hall.
I squinted my eyes in an attempt to get a better look at where the voice had came from, but all I could see through the darkness was the shadowy outline of a person.
"Don't bother trying to see me, I'm chained to the wall."
Chained?
"Why? Did you do something bad?"
The voice was silent for a moment before responding.
"Something like that. Why are you down here, you don't sound threatening."
"They said I was too unpredictable for them to ignore."
The voice paused for a second time, making me nervous.
"No wonder you got put across from me then, I was told the exact same thing when I got put down here."
I was taken aback, I wasn't the only one the scientists couldn't predict?
"So about your name, what is it really?"
I was silent, no one had ever taken the time to ask my name before, it was normally people calling me by my rank number or picking up after what other's called me. I took a moment to think about what name I actually liked, as I couldn't remember the one I was brought here with.
"Shape." That one's my favorite.
"Shape? Sounds better than Copycat at least."
I could agree with that.
"What's yours? And what even are you?"
I could tell from the voice he was a male, but his silhouette was difficult to make out through the distance of our rooms, and how dark the hallway is.
"Leto. I'm pretty sure i'm a type of dragon" He sounded unsure of his own words
A dragon??
"Guessing from your name, you're a type of shape shifter right?"
"Yea, apparently I can copy DNA and stuff like that." Whatever DNA was
"Wow! I've never heard of a shape shifter like that before, that's pretty cool."
We talked for a while longer, learning more about each other and how life of being a weapon is like. Turns out Leto had been in many battles before, though he was used as one of the last resorts because of the amount of damage and casualties he would cause. We were unfortunately interrupted by the Boss, followed by what looked like a girl around her late teens, with an interesting pathwork look on her skin.
"I hope you like your new neighbor 23, you're going to be stuck with him for a while."
I could hear loud banging noises from the other experiment's cells once the words left his mouth, they were all afraid of him, which was understandable due to how miserable and in pain they all looked.
"Meet the fifth member of the Lower Five, Puppeteer. She'll help you master her part of your new abilities. Don't cause her any unnecessary trouble." He then walked away after saying that, leaving me alone with the girl that looked more like a doll brought to life than an actual person.
"Hello Shape, are you ready to start training?" Her voice was kind with a hint of mischief to it. Her face held the same effect,with one big green eye sparkling with a mixture of excitement and curiosity. She stood at the outside of the cell-like wall with an overflowing amount of confidence in her stance, her blonde hair shining under the dimmed lighting.
"Oh right, can't really train if you're stuck underground, can you?" Her eyes focused on the door's keyhole.
"Do you have a key?" I wondered how she would open the door.
She let out a small laugh as she raised her arm up, and shot something into the keyhole with enough force to make the door swing wide open.
"There we go! Follow along now, we have lots to do!" The cheerfulness in her voice made me question if she was even sane.
We spent the walk to wherever we were going talking about the unique traits we had, and how we got them.
"So what are you supposed to be? I can't really tell with all of the patches." I had finally brought myself to ask about it.
"Oh these? This is a side effect of the Boss's twisted ideas. Once he learned what my ability was, he decided to turn me into a life size doll for fun, which included some interesting surgeries. Like gaining a button eye and having patches of my skin replaced by bright pink leather." Her tone shifted to shame.
"Well, you look really pretty regardless of all that" I tried my best to lighten up the mood.
"Thank you, while we're on the topic of physical traits. Why would a shapeshifter like you need horns." She gave a motion at my head
"Horns? Wha-" I paused as I felt the jagged pair of horns protruding from my head.
"Oh I'm sorry, did you not know?" I guess my reaction gave it away.
The rest of the walk to the mystery place was spent by explaining in more detail how our abilities worked and the experiences we've had with others in the facility.
"Here we are! Welcome to my training grounds!" Her voice was filled with excitement.
I looked around the large open area. It's web like structures, reminding me of a spider's home.
"So, what exactly am I training to do?" I had an idea, but not a solid explanation.
"You're training to use my string ability to its full potential."
That explained the webs
She escorted me to the center of the room, and told me to stay still as she took a few steps back.
"Are you ready?" She had an excited tone.
"I hope so!" I had a nervous tone in response.
Then, without a single warning, a sudden burst with the force of a bullet shot past me and into the targets behind me.
"That's the amount of control we'll be training for you to achieve." you would've thought she was out to kill me with how big her smile was.
My face was covered in shock from the amount of force behind those string bullets, and I was determined to mimic it no matter what.
I spent hours trying to create string, and even more to try and control it. Saying I was terrible at this skill was an understatement.
"Okay, this isn't working. We need reinforcements." I thought she was going to give up on me at this point.
I stood there in my place as my irritated teacher grabbed out a walkie-talkie from her skirt pocket, and started screaming into it at the person on the other side who, hilariously, was screaming back just as loud.
"I don't care about your dumb bird friend! Get over here and help me train this mutant of a shapeshifter! No offense Shape.."
Ouch.
The person on the other line was so loud that I could hear him through the walkie-talkie from a distance.
"He's not a bird, he's a strange angel thing! And why should I help you? You owe me for helping you heal that army last week!" They sounded so alike, but I couldn't figure out why.
"Didn't you say you wanted to meet a shapeshifter? This one's the only unlimited one!" She was very determined to get him to come, it was almost inspiring.
"Give me 20 minutes, but you still owe me!" I could sense the defeat.
She turned around to look at me with a proud smile, her small platforms creating a mini dirt cloud around her.
"So, you never told me your name." I didn't get the chance to ask.
"Oh! It's-"
"SOPHIE! WHY IS THERE A TRAIL OF TORN APART CLONES OUTSIDE THE DOORWAY!?" A man with a look similar to Sophie's bursted into the room with an angry expression plastered on his face.
"Samuel! Why hello dear brother!" Sophie's voice containing a mixture of teasing and annoyance.
I stood there awkwardly as they argued with each other like small children until they agreed on an idea I could only faintly hear through the distance between us.
"Okay Shape! Watch what we do!" Sophie's words boomed with excitement, followed by a grin on Samuel's face.
I decided to sit down on a nearby rock to watch whatever they had planned, only for my legs to completely disagree and instead stand on top of it. Guess I can't rest right now.
"Okay, are you ready?" Was all I heard before an intense wave of people came crashing down onto me out of nowhere.
Looking through a gap in the mass of people, I was able to make out that both Sophie and Samuel were the cause of where the people had came from, the how factor was still a mystery though.
"Listen up seedling, you got a while to go before you fully master our abilities. You better make your time with us count." Each word that Samuel spoke was filled with boldness and certainty.
"Sorry Shape, but our powers work better together. I needed him to be able to fully teach you." Sophie's words were soft and understanding, but held the same certainty as her brother.
I tried my best to push my way through the mob, only to be pushed back down even further. The more I pushed forward, the more I was forced back down. This aggravating cycle kept going until I could feel my body temperature slowly going up. That's when I stopped to realize I had started melting what I thought were living people.
"Ah! You finally noticed!" I heard one of my supposedly teachers chirp from above me
"Why are they melting..What's going on!?" I was terrified.
I could hear laughter coming from the top of the pile, followed by words that changed my perspective of what was happening.
"Those are just clones, you don't have to worry about hurting them."
My entire mood switched with those words, the idea of being buried under a pile of mindless clones was way more reassuring than being buried under a pile of actual people. It allowed me to be able to fully train.
"What are you just laying there for? Get up and move them!" Sophie's voice echoed through the mass of clones before reaching my ears.
I pushed myself up against the clone's force, my body still continuing to heat up, and looked down to see the color in my veins switching from their normal blue, to a bright pink.
"Uhm..Guys.. Is this supposed to happen..?" I was scared.
The room went silent and still. The clones that were once stumbling around and crushing me were now all perfectly still. The entire room felt motionless and dead. I stood there for a moment before taking a look around me in an attempt to figure out what had happened.
"Hello..? Is anyone there..?" I was ashamed to admit I was afraid.
When I was met without an answer, I felt my body grow impatient. It was hungry for more opportunities to use its new abilities.
"No..No not now." It was hungry.
I held my arm up, as if expecting something to happen, tilted my head up at the mass above me, and was suddenly struck with an aggressive amount of rage.
"WHY ISN'T ANYONE ANSWERING ME!?"
Fueled with a new found sense of rage, I swung my arms downward. Causing the massive horde of clones to split into two, both sections flying in different directions across the room. Leaving me standing in the middle frozen in shock.
"What.."
In my confusion, I looked around only to see the clones melting into giant masses of clay, yet still not making a single sound. I couldn't take my eyes off of them no matter how much I wanted to, like I was in a trance of some sort. I craved the need to multiply like that.