Plum Island NY was the home of a animal disease facility and a topic of many conspiracy theorists. Including accusations of unethical practices such as biological weapon research and genetic manipulation. Rico was not exactly the conspiracy wrap tin foil around your head type but the thought of going to that island made his skin crawl.

It had started off innocently enough. He had volunteered to donate blood during a drive and was later contacted by some G man types. Rico was told his blood was special. Something about having genetic bases unknown to science. Whatever that meant. That and they suspected he was a mutant animal shifter and were concerned of diseases that could damage the country's agriculture and economy.

While Rico had considered being the governments guest at the lab on plum island the moment they referred to him as a invasive species Rico cut off the men right then and there. Playing as a pet lab animal for the sake of patriotism seemed pretty stupid to him. Worry of unknown diseases or not. Rico had considered that meeting at central park over and done with.

Governments and there various branches are never any different from country to country. They all liked to get there way and did not react well to rejection. Rico could expect to see these Plum Island representatives again in the future at the apartment complex he was residing in. Only this time they would be more pushy.

As the Plum Island facility was controlled by US Homeland Security the building was cordoned off and raided. Rico was caught literally with his pants down as the door to his apartment was bashed in and he was incapacitated by electricity. It would be hours later before he woke up on the island that would be his new home.

At least until it was figured out if he posed any kind of biological threat to the country by the lab staff from the department of agriculture. As good as the intentions are. It was a public display and it would require some kind of damage control. Rico woke up on a examination table and the sounds of a heart rate monitor.

Had he not be drugged with enough sedative to take down a herd of elephants Rico would probably not have been so relaxed and calm as the situation was explained to him. Rico was to stay on the island at the facility until he passed screening. Somehow when he entered the country he was not flagged as a animal shifter mutant by immigration and customs. And like any animal entering the country. He could carry disease that could wipe out crops and livestock causing mass famine. It was pretty standard procedure. Well, as standard as you could get to being taken against your will.

He was promised freedom to leave after the long lengthy tests. Even given freedom to move around the island and the facility. But until then he could not leave. Rico understood in a way. But that did not mean he had to be happy about it. That or the testing and things they injected into his body. Plum Island had a bad reputation. What Rico could tell was it was all just conspiracy theory's of crazy people. From what he could tell anyway. But lots of things in the world could never be judged by how it appeared.

At one point during his stay the scientists wanted Rico to shift so they could examine his body. While reluctant of going Feral he did as requested and felt a little bit more then special as the agriculture egg heads examined his dragon body from head to tail. But he supposed most animal lab coats were like that. Otherwise they would not have take years of veterinary school to specialize in the animal field.

This place seemed pretty legit though shady at times. He was treated well and promised freedom. Besides, if they did not keep there word he could just fly right on out like a bird.

OCC: No interest? Well if I cant have fun with others I will just sit here and play with myself. Feel free to watch. At least until others decide to participate.

Rico found that life at Plum island was pretty boring. Wake up, help the lab coats with tests, and take time in the evening to fly around the island in his dragon form for exercise. Not only for his body, but mind as well as each time he did so he felt more control. It was boring, but there was comfort in routine. Roach was not giving him any calls asking for bad things for him to do and Rico having to grit his teeth and pretending to like it.

There was no expectation other then existing. One day he landed outside the loading dock of the facility and watched with hungry eyes as some cattle was being herded inside. "Can I eat them?" Rico asked a lady he came to know as Jody. She gave Rico a serious look as all the personal here always did to his jokes. They always took things so seriously. "No" She replied blankly devoid of emotion like the META bots Rico hated so much.

"They are needed for testing." Always it was the same thing. TESTS, always tests. "So what is so special about me?" Rico asked her and let out a rumbling sigh from his deep chest and hooked the two talons on his bat like wyvern wings together as he put that chest on the ground to lie comfortably.

Perhaps it was she was busy or other factors that caused a slip of the tongue. But she answered truthfully. "Your cells hold alpha properties. When left alone they attack and consume themselves for energy leading ultimately to there own destruction. But when others are added to them. Say disease or human cell cultures they attack and consume them. Not only for energy and cell replication. They adapt and change, your body is like a living flu virus. Adapting, growing immune, evolving." If he wanted any more answers he would not get any as she went inside. Not that Rico wanted any answers. She might as well have been speaking Latin to him. Rico was a simple man and her words confused him.

He was good at healing. Rico knew that much. He had to be as he body literally ripped itself apart from the inside out in a bloody and very painful manner a lot like the creature from the THING movies in order for him to be in his dragon form. But being like a living flu virus? All Rico knew about Flus was each year they needed new vaccines because each year the flu was never the same. If he did know just exactly what she had meant he would have left the plum facility right then and there. His body could be used to cure almost anything if they wanted to. And his cells could even be turned into a bio weapon if so inclined.

He was both life and death depending on the intentions of those with the knowledge. With his mutation being on the cellular level it was easy to believe.

What was the beginning? What was the end? I don't remember anything anymore. Experiment and experiment and finally I was promised my freedom. It came in a piece of paper. Something the human scientists called a none disclosure agreement. I signed it an submitted myself to one final promised act of experiment. Memory. My memory. Like a shattered mirror the pieces tell me. But is it memory? Or dreams? I cant tell the difference anymore. All I know is that I exist.

I remember something cold being wrapped around the ankles of my feet in dragon form. I remember voices. Being dragged along the ground like cattle being taken to slaughter. My wings catching on surfaces. Corridors maybe? I do not know. More voices. Like a dream of blackness. Aware, but not of time and its passing. A dream one could not wake up from. At least until the old man. A man. His face and words holding kindness spoke to me. I cannot remember of what. But I felt at peace. He spoke of a school. Of safety. A place free of suffering and pain. But it not a place I would ever know unless......

"You wake up"

With the words in his mind Rico's eyes opened. He felt weightless. His vision blurred. There was muffled sounds and flashing lights. He took a deep breath and exhaled. The bubbles of the mask on his muzzle floating upwards to the top of the tank in the solution he was floating in. The dream washed away except for the voice in his mind and the faint memory of a woman. Both comfortable in his presence and at times terrified of him as if he was a monster. A woman with a canvas and paint. But was it just nothing. Or another piece of the fragmented shattered memory's of the mirror.

Rico felt weak an confused as he floated in the tank. But one feeling was rising that was overpowering. Heat. The glass started to crack and eventually gave out and Rico washed out of the tank with the solution liquid. The tubes hooked into various veins in his body ripping free and spilling white nutritional fluid everywhere. Rico struggled to raise his masked face to look around the fire consumed room. There were bodies in full biohazard suits all around him. Spots of read littering there bodies as if shot to death. Orange rotating lights on the ceiling were flashing casting a synchronized wave of light in the dimly light room. The voice Rico heard before in the tank now loud and clear.

"The self destruct sequence has been activated. All Manticore project personal are to evacuate the B wing via the skyway to A wing and proceed to minimum safe distance."

The woman's voice only repeated after that. Rico could not remember what had happened or even who he was for that matter. But basic things remained. This was some kind of lab and it was about to blow up. That was all he need to know. Forcing his heavily sedated body to stand up the hose of the breathing mask on his muzzle and face broke free and a figure flashed before Ricos eyes. The same old man. "This way" He beckoned with a hand and with a flash of light vanished.

Ricos wings were dragging limply at his side as he walked or rather limped in this case. His tail dragging behind him. He stopped for only a moment as he neared a heavy door that opened at sensing movement. He examined the room and found it was full of tanks like his with creatures looking like him. Or heavily deformed and almost like him. "What is this place....." He thought for a moment before the droning voice of the woman on the alarm system remind him he needed to evacuate. Whatever answers existed here. They were about to go up in a mushroom cloud. The research facility on plum island was about to be destroyed.

The corridor past the giant door like the lab was filled with more bodies in orange biohazard suits. The hall sprayed red from gunfire. There was a lift at the end with a body slumped down with there back against the wall near a keypad system. Rico limped onto the lift and his vision grew white. Staggering for a moment he leaned against the wall of the lift for support and then heard a muffled voice from the body near the keypad.

"Níðhǫggr" The man said an coughed. With what little energy the human scientist had he punched in a code and the lift hummed to life and slowly rose up. Again the dying human in the suit repeated the name and reached out a arm towards Rico as the lifted went up and fell limp dead. Níðhǫggr. Was that his name Rico wondered. The dying man in the suit seemed to recognize him by it. With no name and no memory Níðhǫggr would have to do.

As the lift went up it passed by many levels until it came to a stop at the top. Weakly the dragon exited the lift and stood before the sky way. Limping along the walkway connecting the two main buildings of the research facility he lifted a wing to shield his eyes from a giant spot light that came out of nowhere. There was a black hawk helicopter hovering feet away and turned itself showing a mini gun. It started rotating and reacting out of instinct Rico folded his wings tightly to his body and ran down the glass skyway on his legs as the bullets started to rip through the glass.

A explosion erupted as he neared the end and was sent flying into a wall knocking him out. Perhaps the explosion was a rocket, perhaps explosives fixed on the skyway. In the end It did not matter. He escaped the collapsed walkway into the main evacuation route of the facility in the A wing. The weak and dying dragon only had to muster a bit more strength to fight off these mysterious attackers and make his escape.

Rico opened a eye and moved a little. His whole body felt bashed and broken. Using a wing joint to push himself up onto his feet a few joints and bones popped loudly in protest as his mutation of healing was still trying to fix the damage the explosion had done. The building was also full of smoke and scattered fires in the various rooms and offices of the administrative section of the facility. The bodies here were not like the ones in the lab wing. These poor souls looked like support staff. Technicians, electricians, mechanics. Bread and butter folk that kept things running.

He had tunnel vision at this point. His thoughts focused on escape. Proceeding through the doomed facility Rico made it to the main entrance. Hopping over the railing on the third level the wyvern landed near the reception desk. The impact causing the tiles on the floor to crack and shatter in a modest shaped impact crater from the weight of his draft horse sized body. He looked to a woman slumped over the desk with a phone off the hook and beeping then to the giant glass entrance.

Rico shook his masked head as his vision grew white a bit more and made some heavy footed steps towards the exit only to be blinded by spotlights and darkened figures just out of his ability to clearly identify. It quickly became evident the figures were holding weapons as green beams started to appear through the smoke.

It all became hazy after that as Rico went feral at the threat. All he could remember later was charging into the blinding light source through the glass entrance and greeted by gunfire. He would wake up much later back on the mainland near Montauk. As for the facility, it no longer existed as the self destruct sequence erased it in a mushroom cloud of destruction. The only evidence it was ever there was just a crater.

The public would be left with more questions then answers. Whatever secrets the aging plum island research facility had was lost.

END