Teddy's eyes fluttered open. The first thing he registered was looking at a cement ceiling. The room was cold and all he had was a blanket, a very uncomfortable bed, a book shelf that seemed to be filled with only a few of the more popular books that were out at the moment. He wasn't much of a reader but if this room. No scratch that...cell was going to be his place for only god knows when then he may actually read them. Ted tried to sit up. The room immediately started to spin. He laid back down for how long? a few minutes? Half an hour? There was no telling. There was no clock. No sound. The only thing that could be heard was his heart beating, and the buzz of the lights around.

Slowly, oh so slowly, he got up. When the room began to spin again he closed his eyes. When that was done he swung his feet around and onto the cold tiled floor. He looked around for the first time and noted that aside from his bed and the book shelf the only other thing that was there was a mirror. Teddy staggered around and looked for something to drink. Nothing. His mouth felt like part of the Sahara and his head was throbbing more than a dub step beat.

The door was solid. No jail cell just a slat that didn't open from his side. There was a window but it was to high for him to see out of, even if he stood on the bed. The slate slid up and a tray of food appeared in his room with a couple of pills. They looked like Tylenol so he took them and ate the food hungrily. The pain in his head began to recede and the food and water helped with the lack of saliva in his mouth. Perhaps Sam would come soon to explain everything.

Sam. Teddy bolted to the door and started banging on it. He yelled. "Sam! SAM!" Nothing. No answer. Eventually he stopped banging on the door and sat back down on his bed. What was going to happen to him? Why was he here? What happened to the other kid that he saw with Sam? These questions and more flooded his head and his hands clutched his head around his ears and his headache started to return. Teddy was startled when the door opened.

A guard came in and escorted him out of his cell and into a room. Once in the room he was left alone. The room didn't have much in it either. It was solid white and only had a table, another mirror, and a chair. The chair didn't look to comfy. It looked more like those chairs that you see at High School graduations. The really uncomfortable metal folding ones. He decided to sit. Finally, after what seemed like hours a woman appeared.

She was wearing a lab coat and a pair of jeans with a button down shirt. Aside from the lab coat she could have looked like just about any teacher that Teddy might have seen away from the school. Her brown hair was done in a tight bun above her head and her glasses rested on her nose. She was carrying a few things that Ted couldn't see from the box and she set it down in front of him on the table. Teddy didn't know what she wanted but he was pretty sure that she wasn't here to give him a math lesson. The stuffed animal shifter kept his eyes on her and she stared daggers into him with her icy blue eyes which had just the slightest flecks of gold in them. Teddy couldn't hold her gaze and eventually started looking at the floor and counting the white tiles that were there.

The lady smiled and cleared her throat. She looked at him and her smile faded as he was once again looking at her. She didn't look disgusted. On the contrary, she seemed curious with him like he was a monkey in a science lab about to be experimented on. And boy did he have no idea how close to right he was. She didn't say much except. "I'm Kara your handler. We're going to be spending a whole lot of time together so don't try and run away." With that little statement, she walked out leaving Teddy not only confused but worried as to what was really going on here. In the silence he started to get curious about the box and its contents. As he made his way up he could plainly see a file sitting on the top of everything in the box. What lay beneath the file he couldn't tell from the distance but he was going to find out. Or at least he was until the door opened again.

This time it was another lady that entered. Someone different. Up to this point the only interaction he'd had was with the guard and Kara. "Hi Theodore. Do you prefer Ted or Teddy?" This new lady was a little different in her approach with Ted. She was a little warmer. Maybe they were trying the classic good cop, bad cop, routine. "Ummm... Ted. I guess." He wasn't sure how to react to this woman. How'd she know his name? Was whatever was in the box about him? Did they have a file on him? Had they been studying him for a while and Sam was just the culprit they chose to abduct him? The room might as well have been spinning again, with as many questions were flying around in his head at the moment.

"My name's Amanda. You just met Kara your handler. She works for me and I just felt that since you were sooo unceremoniously scooped up and brought to our special facility that it was only fair that I talk to you in person. Please take a seat." She said in as friendly a voice as she could. He didn't know why but he felt compelled to listen to her. So he sat. Once he was in the chair Amanda began explaining things to him. "Ted..." She began slowly. She was about to spin a lie so thick that even a con artist would believe it. "I'm sure by now your wondering why you're here." He didn't reply but he slightly shook his head. "Well, Ted you have a special gift. So we've brought you here to our Top Secret facility to train you so that when you are ready for this mission you will succeed without even the slightest hesitation."

Teddy had no idea that she was using her powers to get inside his head. She would need more than that to get to him. His powers require a lot of focus so he was good at using his brain. Even so, he was still having a hard time not believing her. As she was talking he started imagining himself as a spy in a Mission Impossible movie. Ok maybe he'd seen to many spy movies but it was still pretty cool. "Kara is a little unorthodox but we support her because her results never fail to impress us. If you want, feel free to take a look in the box. It may just help you out during your training. Good luck, I'm sure we'll be seeing each other often." Without giving him time for she left. Just like that he was alone again with just the box and his thoughts. What was going to happen to him? What did they need him to do? This was too much for one day. All he wanted to do was sleep and hope this was a dream.

It wasn't long before someone came to collect him. Once again it was an armed security guard. Teddy actually wondered why he needed an armed security guard. It wasn't like his powers were dangerous. It was more like his powers were cute and cuddly. Ted couldn't imagine his powers ever being helpful to anyone, except for maybe a crying girl. And yet here he was, with no indication as to where he was or what was going to happen to him.

Teddy was soon put back into his cell and left here. There wasn't much he could do. Teddy paced, his mind was moving to fast for him to get any rest or to even relax. The day passed and as night came his restlessness turned into boredom. He didn't know what they were waiting for but he really didn't like waiting around. His food came. It was awful and bland. Nothing like what he had in the mansion. He slept. A few more says passed like this. He paced, he ate, he slept. No interaction with people, no hint that he was going to be getting this 'training' that he'd been told about, and not even the slightest thought seemed to have been given to if his powers were actually useful for whatever they seemed to want him for.

After about the third day of this monotony he was finally let out of his cell. His hair had become disheveled and he'd lost some weight, even though he'd been eating everything they gave him. The guard escorted him to a different room. With all the twists and turns it was pretty much impossible for Ted to keep his bearings and know which way was which. He supposed that the place was probably built like this on purpose. If you got in you wouldn't know which way to go; and if you wanted to get out you would just get lost and end up at some dead end most likely and get recaptured. Either way Ted had no inclination of getting out anytime soon, since he didn't know what would be waiting for him when he got out.

The new room was completely dark. There were no lights, except for what filtered in behind him from the hallway. Even though he couldn't tell where he was it felt like he was in a giant space. Slowly the lights came on. The place wasn't as big as he thought it was. Maybe it was just the dark tricking him. The walls were bare pretty much like his cell, except white and clean, almost sterile looking. There were no mirrors, no cameras that he could see, and no other things in the room but a torturous looking chair and a metal table bolted to the ground. It was mostly unoriginal and he just stood there trying to figure out what was going on. That's when he saw her.

She was wearing the same lab coat as the other day but the rest was different. She certainly looked meaner, if that was possible, in this outfit. Slowly Kara sauntered forward, taking her time and reveling in the fear that was slowly growing in Ted's eyes. "Sit." She commanded. There was a chair, that look very uninviting near him. He really didn't want to and his hesitation cost him. Kara was close enough to hit him, and she did so with with so much force that he immediately fell and saw stars. Rage flared in her eyes, just as pain and fear were in his.

"When I tell you to do something it isn't a request."Kara said with perhaps a little to much sweetness in her voice for the action she just committed. Teddy slowly rose from the ground and started to make his way to the chair again. "But where are you going? I didn't tell you to go anywhere." Ted whipped around and before he could stop himself said, "You just said to sit down."

POW!

She hit him again. This time right in the eye. A small cut appeared and for the first time he realized she was wearing a ring. It was nothing big but it was enough to give a little cut. Teddy touched the area that she'd assaulted and felt the warm blood running down his face and touch the corner of his mouth. "Now...Sit" she said with a smirk on her face. Obviously she was enjoying this much more than Ted was. He sat. She then walked away and took off her lab coat, hanging it on the hook that was near the door. "Now why don't we get started." Kara said with a smile.

Teddy didn't like the sound of that. She was certainly enjoying this more than he was. In fact he wasn't enjoying it at all. He was really hoping that he wasn't needed for whatever they wanted. "I'm not going to help you." Teddy said with some attempt at defiance and bravery. Unfortunately the bravery slipped away as soon as he was done talking and he was scared that there wouldn't be any to really help him out.

"Oh Teddy, teddy, teddy. You really shouldn't try to fight this. It's going to rather enjoyable. You should feel honored. I've been trained by the best to get the best and..." she gave a little laugh, "I haven't been let down since." Kara advanced towards Ted and as she did, she pressed a button on the table that restrained him. Teddy struggled against the restraints, but to no avail. They didn't budge and all he did was end up giving himself a little bit of rope burn.

Kara paused at the table for a minute. She was considering all the different devices that were available to her disposal. From his angle Teddy couldn't see what all there was but he was certain that he didn't want to find out. "Good." She said once he had stopped squirming. She simply picked up a needle filled with something that he couldn't see but was certain that it was filled with some form of liquid that would really hurt. That and the needle was huge. Who comes up with needle sizes like that. It's like a doctor saw a shotgun and said, 'hey ya know what'd be interesting? seeing if we can make a needle the same size as this gun barrel.' Teddy thought about this as he focused on the needle coming closer to his face.

She touched it to his eyebrow and lightly ran the needle across his face, down his cheek bone and to his jaw line. Teddy's eyes were closed for this because he was mainly afraid that the needle would be going into his eye. "Relax." she cooed. He felt the needle move away from his skin and he slowly opened his eyes. "This may hurt a bit." With that lack of reassurance she covered his mouth with her hand and jabbed the needle into his neck. As the needle penetrated his skin she whispered into his ear, "Excito." Teddy tensed up as the needle penetrated his skin and he felt the fluid being pushed into his blood stream.

As the needle was removed from his neck he didn't feel the pain. In fact he didn't feel like he'd just had his neck stabbed with a giant needle. Euphoria swept through him and he didn't even see the point in fighting. There were plenty of reasons to fight but he just couldn't think of them at the moment. Seeing this she said, "Good. I see the medicine I gave you is taking effect. Don't worry Teddy, it's just to make you less inhibited."

Ted could understand everything. It wasn't like he was in a drugged state, even though he was. He felt more like there was sense in her words, and whatever she was saying was the right thing because it had to be. Even with the drug coursing through his body he was confused by what she said; so she explained further. "We have done research that shows many mutants seem to suppress their potential subconsciously. So, what I've just given you only removes the subconscious block you have created. But it's temporary. It'll wear off soon enough."

Of course what she didn't tell him was that the effects were like taking Heroine. Once the first dose had been administered it turned them into an addict and they craved more. This type of drug that Kara had given Teddy was a new formula though. it was something that needed to be watched very carefully. This drug was not only addicting but it also had other side effects and given in to much quantity could drive the person insane.

"We are going to run a few tests now that you're a little more complacent." Kara then proceeded to ask him about seemingly random things like his family, the mansion, his friends, even some significant political figures that were prominent on TV. With each question she asked there was a picture associated with them. Once that Teddy knew. They'd been watching him for a while. With each picture he was able to associate a memory with them.

As the questions were repeated there was soon pain associated with them. This form of psychological training was a common old attempt to brainwash people. Teddy was now getting the full brunt of this training. The negative stimulation went on for hours. No breaks, no taking it easy. It was full brain pain the whole time. After a full day of this it was enough. There was nothing left of the Ted that walked in the day before. He literally had to be carried out of the room and put in his cell. He couldn't even muster the power to walk by himself.

Kara returned her reports to her superiors. "It's going well. I think this training will take him easier than some of our previous trials." The meeting continued with many other questions and Kara had answers for all of them. "He's strong. He's fighting it, but I gave him just enough to overcome his fight and keep him useable."

The morning came and they came for him again. After a night of tossing and turning and screaming he mustered enough energy to walk to the place of his 'training' once again. The only thing that really got him moving was the thought of getting another shot. He'd forgotten how big the needle had been the day before. Ted didn't really care. He wanted more. That's all he thought about. Kara was waiting for him this time. "Hello Teddy. Please have a seat. How are you feeling?" Her lab coat was already hanging on the door and she was waiting near the table for him to sit in the chair. She was being uncomfortably nice compared to the way she was yesterday. It was like she had taken her Happy Pill today and nothing could go wrong. Ted took the seat without complaint. There would be no complaining as long as he got the drug that his mind craved today.

"Hi." For some reason Teddy was actually happy to see her. It was like yesterday hadn't even happened. "I'm tired and sore." He complained to her. He couldn't even remember why. He couldn't remember doing a workout yesterday or anything of the sort. She walked over to him, needle in hand. As she neared him with the needle a smile grew on his face. He turned his head and anticipated the shot. Ted ignored how big the needle actually was. He wanted it...No, he needed it. As the needle pierced his neck again he sighed with content. Again the word was whispered into his ear, "Excito." It was to bad he didn't know what it meant. Once the drug was coursing through his veins the pain started again.

He didn't know that the dosage had been just a little bit more than it had been the day before. Thus making the dosage more potent and weakening him from resisting even more. He didn't feel any difference but Kara knew that he was one step closer to giving in totally.

Today's torment was different from yesterday's torment. Today had to same pictures displayed that he'd seen the previous day. They were easy to see, not flashing fast, just passing smoothly from one picture to the next. With it came a series of statements. The pictures started to slow down and they spent more time on one before moving on to the next one. Kara told a story with each one.

Because of the drug he couldn't tell the difference between what was real and what was false. But he kept having a nagging feeling that something wasn't right. With each story that nagging feeling returned; however, he simply shrugged it off and listened to Kara tell her stories. "Remember this day 2 years ago at your old home?" She showed him a few pictures of him at the mansion with people. She continued talking. "Remember they attacked you. They didn't want you." The expertly faked pictures helped Teddy believe what she was saying. Her stories went on like this and a hatred towards the people in the pictures started to grow.

With each story there was a complex ending how he somehow got out of the predicament they showed him with the help of someone from this place. Many of these pictures involved Kara, they were trying to build a better rapport with him and his mentor. It was a tough job and they had been at it for a while but the plan was elaborate and they needed to rewrite many of his memories. It was no small task for sure.

Ted was feeling more comfortable around her, after only a few days of this. She was becoming more than just an instructor to him. His memory, and pictures, told him that they had been long time friends. Now she also brought him his addiction that his body yearned for along with safety. The day was over before Ted knew it and he was escorted back to his cell. He had enough energy to walk back to his cell before he fell face down on his bed and slept through meals and woke up only to some prodding from a guard in the morning.

The days wore on and the longer he was there the more intensely he was listening to her. There seemed to be no going back now. Every time he was shown a picture he felt disgust, anger, and seething hatred for the people in the pictures. When she was completely satisfied that the injections had taken the full effect Kara decided to move to the next stage with Teddy's training. When he had received his final injections for the day he was allowed to retire to his cell for the weekend. Kara announced, "Since you have done so well in your training I have decided to give you the weekend to rest. We will start again on Monday. Would you like that?"

Teddy, still curled at her feet smiled. "Yes, ma'am. I would like that very much ma'am." Kara smiled and ran her finger through his thinned hair. It had gotten that way since he'd been here. As much pain as they'd put him through they had never starved him or treated him like a prisoner. He was treated more like a pet. Always taken care of but despite their best efforts for some reason he'd still lost weight, sunken eyes, and thinned hair. Teddy didn't seem to have noticed that difference in his own body. He was merely concerned with pleasing Kara. He would be sad through the time that he wouldn't see Kara but he would be kept going with the thought of seeing her when Monday came around.

The weekend came and went and every time before he fell asleep he would hear Kara's voice saying the same word "Excito.". Ted spent most of it by himself and without any other human interaction other than the guard that would give him food at certain times of the day. Monday came around and he was escorted to a different area of the prison. It was all mostly underground with only a few high up windows that he couldn't see out of. The only solace that the windows seemed to give that was they told him the time of day. When he walked into the new room he saw Kara already waiting for him there. She was dressed in her normal garb and was had a few new toys around her belt. He didn't know what any of them were but they really looked scary. Ted had a bad feeling about this place.

When they were alone Kara started talking. "Hello my pet. Today we will begin a new part of your training." Teddy knelt down and began crawling to her. He was accustomed to this and knew that if he didn't do this then he would have pain like he'd never felt before. When he reached her she petted him and said, "Stand. We will begin your fight and spy training today. You will learn to use your powers like you had never thought possible." Her tone was cold and methodical, like she'd done this a hundred times before.

He stood as commanded. She punched him multiple times. Hitting wasn't really her style, she was manipulative and psychological not physical. But since Ted didn't know much in the way of fighting, he was hit with every attack. When she stopped Kara snapped her fingers and another form jumped out of the shadows and came at him. A flurry of punches followed the arrival of the man from the shadows. Eventually Teddy started to block some of the punches.

Block. SMACK. SMACK. Block...

It continued for a while until Kara snapped her fingers again. Teddy was lying on the ground in a ball as Kara walked over to him. There was no denying he'd just gotten his butt royally handed to him. Kara seemed nice enough about the whole thing but he knew that she was upset that he didn't put on a better show for it and he was going to be punished for not being a better fighter.

That night was different. Kara actually stayed with him in his cell taking care of his many bruises and cuts from the beating he'd received earlier that day. When he laid down to sleep Kara again whispered to his "Excito." This made it harder for him to fall asleep because he had no idea what it meant and he'd heard it every day he was there. Kara seemed to be able to tell this and she slipped him another injection of the poison he'd started to be addicted to.

When he awoke in the morning he was surprised to see that Kara was still there. He smiled and looked around his cell. He noticed that for the first time he had a couple of pictures in it. He couldn't quite remember them being taken but they were of him and Kara so he believed them to be real. This was the first time he hadn't been awoken by a gruff guard shouting at him. It was weird but as Kara gave him his food she encouraged him to drink his orange juice before he could get any questions out. "This is going to help you recover faster." Kara lied to him. He didn't notice the funny taste of the juice, which was mixed with the poison. He ate his breakfast hungrily and quickly, almost as if he hadn't eaten in days, which of course wasn't true but he felt extra hungry for some reason.

The day was different too. And it all seemed to start from the previous night with Kara staying around. Maybe she was actually a nice person and she didn't like him being hurt. He went to a different room today. No beatings. At least that's what it looked like. There was only two desks and Kara led him to one and he sat down. Just like all the other rooms he'd been in this one was pretty bare. There wasn't much in it but the two desks and a board. There were some tapes and books on the other desk and some writing on the board that he didn't understand. Soon Kara walked up to the board and started her lecture. "The key to being a good spy is being able to blend in in any and all situations and places. That is why I'm going to teach you how to be fluent in many languages. You will be the perfect spy, with your powers and my training." She seemed to know exactly when he was going to say and she cut him off with every turn.

They started with the root languages. Latin was today's morning lesson. They started with the basics. Verbs, nouns, conjugation. All the boring stuff. Repeating words after her to get the pronunciation right. Pretty soon they started forming complete sentences. Although very choppy and slow he was getting the idea of it easier. Maybe it was because he was enjoying the nice treatment and therefore open to learning the subject or because of the poison that had been slipped to him in his morning drink was making it a bit easier to learn the info. Teddy wasn't sure but Kara knew what she was doing and it was something that seemed to prove effective by the time they broke for lunch. Kara and Ted ate their lunches together. He was enjoying the time spent with her. Again he didn't notice the discoloration to his drink, but he continued to down the poison anyway.

The weird think was all Ted could think ask was, "Why Latin? No one speaks it anymore." She came back with a simple reply. "Teddy. To understand the more used languages you must understand where they came from." She walked back to the board and erased everything that was up there. She then started to write out more words in a different language. He understood some of them So he figured it was Spanish he was going to learn next. "Besides. Doctors and other medical professionals use Latin to communicate with other doctors even if there is a language barrier in their normal tongue."

Kara continued to mix Teddy's drinks for the next few days. It seemed that she was showing him more affections than she had in the past, what? weeks? months? He had no idea how long he'd been there but he was surely able to keep track of the times that he was beaten by her, and those were getting fewer and fewer as the time went on. The days proceeded like this for some time. He'd fall asleep next to Kara with her whispering "Excito." into his ear and he'd wake up next to her. Now he knew what it meant. It was Latin. It meant 'Awaken'. But why she would keep repeating that word? Even though the reason for her to whisper that word to him made no sense it made a little more sense as to why they taught him Latin in the first place.

"Bonum mane." She said to him as he woke up. "Good morning to you." Kara gave him a stern look and slapped him sharply on the cheek. "Remember, Latin only my Teddy." Teddy gave a sheepish smile and uttered his phrase again in Latin. "Bonum mane ad te nimis." They ate and he was given more of the drug through his drink. As Kara soon explained, from now on they only conversed in Latin, even though they would continue learning other languages. the weeks carried on like this learning the languages seemed to take forever. But with hours spent learning them they came to him faster and faster every day. Some languages were harder for him to get, mainly the far eastern ones but also Russian. Again he was offered no reason as to why he was learning these languages but they seemed to start taking them slower as he would get some a little more mixed up.

The punishment for mixing up the languages was a severe pounding from an enforcer. Kara hardly ever did any of the abuse herself. It was more so that he could continue to see her as the controlling yet caring figure that she'd made herself out to be in his mind. She would snap and he the beating would stop. Sometimes he would try to block and fight back but that only made the enforcer go harder. It pleased Kara when he would try to fight back, although she wouldn't tell him that, but she would simply have a smirk on her face after he was beaten a bit. There was more learning to be done so he couldn't be to injured for the rest of the day.

These lessons went on for what seemed like months. It shifted from self defense and fighting to spying and intelligence gathering to language learning and blending in even when not in shifted form. Finally it was time for Ted to how them how well and how exactly his powers worked. He showed them the basic shapes that he had. Some they weren't that impressed with, like the rabbit. Others they were really excited about, like the lion and dragon. Some they were uninspired by.

Teddy wanted to impress them but he couldn't do anything about the shortage of shapes they were looking for; especially since he didn't know what they were looking for. "Teddy. Why do you have only these weak animals? Shouldn't you have something better? More...powerful." Kara asked him. Teddy shrugged. It was a habit she didn't like and she smacked him on the back of the head for it.

"I don't know. It's not like they weigh the same as the real animal anyways. My shapes don't even have teeth." Teddy told her. As far as he knew there was nothing he could do about that. They were still going to be using him even if he wasn't as deadly as they perhaps hoped. Kara thought for a moment. This information wasn't knew, since they had an entire complete folder on him, but he was sure they weren't happy about this fact.

There were several different people in the room that he didn't know. They never spoke they just sat there looking at him and listening to this conversation. Like he was in an interview or something. Kara turned to them and they whispered to her but Teddy couldn't make out what they were saying. Finally when Kara turned back around she asked, "Why don't you have any animals that can fly or swim? It seems that you only acquired land animals. Why?" It was Ted's turn to speak and he decided to answer as best he could.

"Well, I'm not to sure. I can't fly so there's no reason to get one that can fly, and as for the water I never thought about it I guess." Ted admitted. Even though the dragon had wings he still couldn't manage to make it fly. There seemed like there was something that was blocking him from getting to actually doing that feat.

Teddy continued to explain his powers. "I have never tried a water animal. I don't know how I will react to being in a water stuffed animal form. I haven't really gotten a chance to fully check out my powers. Also, it takes me a while to learn how to use new shapes. I don't know how hard it will be or how long it will take to learn a water animal." Ted couldn't tell if this news enraged or encouraged the people that were sitting at the table a short distance away from him. Kara and the panel had a few quiet conversations together that the young mutant couldn't hear. He was listening as hard as he could but they made sure that they couldn't be overheard as they discussed whatever it was that they were talking about.

The stuffed animal shifter shifted around in his seat a bit. His chair was uncomfortable, and the air seemed stale but cool. Even though the air was cool, he had that nervous sweat going on and he was really worried that they would be disappointed with what he was telling them. Teddy wasn't even sure why they were having this conversation because they had his file was sitting in front of each of them. The conversation didn't last too much longer and the mysterious people sitting before him left and Kara and him were left alone in the room. After a while Kara left and about ten minutes later Ted was escorted out and to a different room. in the room there Kara.

Just like most of the rooms that he'd been in before there wasn't much besides a table, Kara, and himself. Sitting on the table were two stuffed animals. They were pretty large animals and he wasn't sure how they'd gotten something that big there so fast. There was a row of different stuffed animals sitting on the table. Two of them were very big, one looked like it was about the size of a real penguin, one just looked like a smaller version of the real thing, and one was so big that it didn't even fit on the table. Teddy just looked at Kara, confused. His childish excitement was gone. He knew this was up to business and he didn't want to disappoint his handler. Ted knew that there were certain things that she would do to protect him and there were things that she would do to hurt him. It was just a matter of how well he pleased her. "Come. Look. Touch." Kara beckoned him to the table.

"Kara. What is going on?" He finally asked after he'd touched all three of the animals. Kara smiled and answered his question. "This is for your first checkpoint. Complete this and it will make your life easier. You will enjoy my company more. Fail this and there will be no more pleasure received from me. Only pain." With that threat out of the way and seeping with truth in Teddy's mind he listened to what she had to say.

"You said that you didn't have any water animals. Well now you do. Your assignment is to infiltrate a base in Russia." As she talked a picture appeared on a wall to show the area that she was talking about. It looked like a satellite image that he was seeing. It's surprisingly well focused for being so high up. Teddy thought as Kara continued talking. "You will be required to infiltrate the building. Wearing a GPS you will transmit a signal to us mapping out the base for us. We will be watching you very closely; and I will be very close to you the entire time. The reason we have provided you with these shapes is that you will be required to swim to and from the drop off point...Here..." The map zoomed in to what looked like a giant body of water. "The Baltic Sea...Because of the nature of where you will be going we will not be allowed to get you any closer. You will have to swim from there all the way in to St. Petersburg. From there you will have to use one of your land animals to get your across the land and into the city without being noticed. Questions?"

Teddy looked at her. It was a lot to take in. His training seemed to be nearly over. Or so he thought. He'd spent only God knows how long beaten, bruised, and learning languages pass through these tests that they were now giving him. Finally he asked his question, "How will you keep a GPS on me? i don't know if it will stay on when I change shapes let alone while I'm swimming. And another thing...Am I meeting someone when I get on land or will I have to figure it all out on my own?" His questions all seemed valid and he waited for an answer. "You wont be alone. I will be waiting for you at the waters edge, and from there we will continue to give you more information on your objective." Now Teddy seemed to be thinking the way they wanted him to think. She seemed pleased. But seeming pleased was only a cover. There was really no telling what was going on in her head or what she was actually planning on doing to him. "Tomorrow we will start your training with the new shapes." Kara dismissed Teddy and he went back to his room to spend the rest of the day studying his objective and his languages.

The next morning Kara greeted Ted in the same way. "Excito" she said and handed him his morning drink. A few sips and he could feel the 'medicine' running through his veins again. It was always a pleasureful feeling when he had that in the morning. Kara lead him down a different direction that day. It was like the place kept growing and Ted was always being lead to the new parts of it.

On this day, before he even knew what was going on he was pushed into a pool. Not a nice pool that was warm and made for lap swimming. This was a deep pool. It was made for diving, like one of those pools that you see in pictures that goes down a hundred or so feet. Teddy immediately had to start treading water. There were no hand rails and no steps. It was like whoever dug this hole was able to not only drill straight down but they didn't seem to need a way out. Since he was thrown in without warning he ended up swallowing a bunch of water.

Teddy came up sputtering and spitting water out of this mouth trying to clear his lungs of the water he'd just swallowed. And as if that wasn't bad enough the water was cold. Very cold. His limbs were quickly beginning to go numb and he was shivering almost immediately when he finally surfaced. His body was in shock and he needed to get out or he would die. "Change! Use your powers to save you. Be thankful that this is warmer than what you will be thrown into on your mission. In that area the water is around 2 degrees Celsius." Kara said exasperated. Ted was shivering still and having trouble concentrating on what she was saying.

His water treading was becoming more difficult and he was slowly sinking. Kara looked around at the guards that were dressing in all black dry suits, ready to retrieve him whenever Kara gave the command. "Change!"she shouted again. Ted thought for a second. He didn't know if any of his shapes would keep him warm. He was looking around hoping someone would help him, but they all knew better than to help him unless told to do so from a handler. His eyes begged for them to get him out but even he knew that it was useless. A couple more times his head went under the water and each time it took him longer to get back to the surface. His body was shutting down and he didn't know if anything would help him.

There was no choice. No help. He was in this slightly above freezing water with people only to stare at him as he slowly slipped into unconsciousness. He closed his eyes and concentrated on one of the animals he'd acquired the day before. It was the biggest he'd ever gotten and one that few had even seen in real lives. The giant squid was giant, even for a stuffed animal. Red satin covered his body and his already weak arms grew longer and thinner into squid arms. Unfortunately, at that time his insides all decided to turn to stuffing and he could no longer tread water and his head took another dip underwater. The only good thing about it was that he didn't need to because the stuffing floated. He popped back up to the surface just as his head started to elongate and his eyes changed to the black and white satin of the stuffed animal. His legs changed and more arms protruded from his body as the final changes occurred. He was no longer breathing, and he no longer felt the cold. He felt the water that was around him but all he did was float in it. Thankfully, this shape came in handy. It was all Ted could do to keep from hypothermia and drowning.

When it was all said and done, Ted was smaller than his normal human size, only about four feet long. He had ten arms in total, two of which were much longer than the others used for feeding, and eight that he supposed were for moving around. Teddy had a mouth...actually it was a beak, but it didn't matter because he couldn't eat anything like this anyway.

As with every new animal he couldn't do anything but float there. They either didn't know that or didn't care about that fact. Once he was fully change they started to demand that he move and swim. At the moment he didn't do anything. He was just thankful that he wasn't freezing anymore. Ted floated there and tried to move around. Nothing was happening. Kara made him stay there until he started to change back.

Days passed like this. Then weeks. Beatings were given as a result of his failure to listen and comply. As the days and weeks went by he started to get more and more control over the stuffed animals body and by the end of the third week he was swimming down to the bottom of the pool without even thinking about it. This pleased Kara and she rewarded him justly with an extra helping of his 'medicine'. After they were satisfied with that they moved on to forcing him to learn the other animals. It was the same process, although less throwing him into freezing water and more prodding and pushing to force him to change. They're only trying to help. He told himself as he was once again forced to change into the Mammoth and soon afterwards the penguin. Teddy was getting wiped out. He didn't know how much more of this shifting he could take in the same day.

It was the second week of him changing into the mammoth and he could still just barely move his feet more than a few inches. It didn't seem like anything he did sped the process up. He couldn't really practice in his cell because one, he didn't want to, and two there wasn't enough room for it. His bigger shapes didn't leave much room for him to do much of anything. Interestingly enough, even though they seemed to know of many of his stuffed animals he was able to keep some a secret from them and they hadn't made him try those yet. He was going to keep those to himself as long as possible.

Finally when they were pleased enough with his work Kara gave him an extra day to rest. Little did he know but he was going to be going on the mission sooner than he thought.