Hunter had never taught someone to read before, but he had taught a myriad of other things in his time, and the principle was the same. Start with the basics. Having finished typing he projected the alphabet up on a large screen, upper case above lower case.

“Words that we read are formed from these twenty four basic letters,” he said pointing to them. “Each one corresponds to a different sound. When was put them together we can form words. When we put words together we can form sentences. The first letter is A,” He said pointing at the capital A on the screen.

Xiin's eyes flashed to the screen, his tongue flicking out of instinct. He listened to the man and nodded. The lizard was immersed in the lecture, he had never wanted to do something so much in his insignificant life. Perhaps, he thought, if I learn how to read... Humans will respect me... perhaps... I'll respect me... Xiin then opened his mouth to force out the sound of the letter.

"A"

A smile placed itself on Xiin's face as he finished speaking. Xiin's mind and body were completely at peace. He had totally forgotten about the forest, hunting, or his old life... even if only for an instant...

“Good,” Hunter could see Xiin was calmer than before, relaxed. When first brought here he was agitated and defensive, but the chance to learn seemed to soothe him. Hunter showed him the other letters and their corresponding sounds. Once Xiin had heard them all he would point to a random letter as ask Xiin to say it aloud.

Once Xiin could do that he cleared the screen and would put up an individual letter, varying between upper and lower case, asking Xiin to say what it was. He stumbled a few time, but Hunter was patient and soon enough Xiin had mastered the letter.

“Well done. Now we are going to start to put letters together to form small words.” He put the letter I up on the screen and nodded for Xiin to say it, then placed the letter T next to it and Xiin sounded that as well. “Now say them together, one after the other.”

Xiin's brow furrowed as he heard Hunter's prompt. The lizard had done well so far, learning all the letters quickly, upper and lower case. He stuttered a few times before hissing angrily. He shook his head and looked back at the man.

"I...ssss..... don't know how.... sssss...."

Hunter's lips formed a surprisingly reassuring smile and sounded it out for Xiin once and urged him to repeat it. Xiin focused on his tongue and the screen, trying to pronounce it in the same fashion he did.

"I...Iiittt... It. Yesss.... It."

Xiin smiled proudly at the completion of the word and watched the man by the screen.

“Excellent, now try this one.” He put the word “or” up on the screen. Knowing how to combine Xiin got this one quicker, and so Hunter put up another two letter word, then another. Soon enough Xiin could say any of the two letter words that Hunter put up easily, so Hunter typed a three letter word.

“This is just like the ones from before, but you have to combine an extra letter.” The word “dog” was up on the screen and Hunter waited to see how Xiin fared with it.

Xiin had grown confident in his abilities, undoubtedly due to his teaching and his hunger for knowledge. He sat up straight and pronounced the word clearly. A sly smile found his lips before he spoke.

"Dog... They tassste good too."

Xiin continued to speak the triple combinations of the letters, his speed and accuracy constantly increasing. Xiin began to feel a deep connection with the man. The lizard thought to himself, A.... Father, perhaps? Hush, now Xiin... don't let your guard down...

Hunter was pleased with Xiin’s progress. The Lizardman had an agile mind, and was assimilating Hunter’s teaching rapidly. Because Xiin could already speak and had a grasp of language the process was quick, as he could link words to things, and so Hunter didn’t have to explain what the words all meant.

Hunter decided to give Xiin a sentence to try. “Try saying each of the words that I’m about to type one after the other,” He instructed as he typed “The dog sat on the log.” He would also use this was a way of introducing sentencing structure, an how to know where one sentence ended and another begin.

Xiin watched the screen as several words appeared. He looked at each individual word and said them his mind. His eyes widened as he completed the task in his mind. Was... this reading? Xiin left his own question unanswered and spoke the sentence out loud.

"The dog sssat on the log."

Xiin paused after doing so and posed a question.

"Why wasss he on the log?"

Xiin chuckled dryly, his laugh sounding like a heavy wheeze combined with hissing. He was truly enjoying his lecture. For the first time in his life he felt... smart...

Hunter smiled at Xiin, his child like delight clearly present. “That’s a good question, seeing as a log isn’t very comfortable.” Rather than answer he typed up another sentence for Xiin to read, leaving the first one up. The screen now read “The dog sat on the log. The dog got off the log.”

“Now we have two sentences,” Hunter explained, “A sentence begins with a capital letter, like the ones I showed you before. They end with a full stop, this dot here. A full stop indicates that you should pause for breath here before continuing. Try reading the two sentences aloud.”

Xiin began to grow restless, feeling capable of doing more, he quickly read the two sentences aloud. He took note of sentence structure and capitalization. He posed a question to the man, his voice filled with excitement.

"Can I read now? Do I know enoughsss? I'll leave you alone to do your busssinesss. I can probably ask one of your men if I need help with a word. If they refussse I'll be a little more convincing."

Xiin smiled widely, his happiness clearly visible on his reptilian face.

He was ready to start to read, but nothing too complicated yet. Going over to one of the bookshelves he pulled of a child’s story book. It didn’t have any words that were too long, or letter combinations that produced unusual sounds. Xiin should be able to read the book.

“Here, try this one.” He handed Xiin the book, “If you need help with anything just ask the guard, he’ll help you.” He looked up at the guard indicating that he was to help in any way possible. “If you need to speak to me just ask the guard and he’ll contact me. I’ll leave you to read you book.”

With that Hunter left the library and headed for Dr Ingram’s top secret lab. He had work to do.

Xiin took the small book into his hands and hissed softly. He only nodded at Antonescu, his eyes completely focused on the story book. The book had large, colorful pictures with simple words,, none longer than 5 characters. He leaned back into the armchair and read the title.

"The Cat and The Hat. D...r ... that doesn't make a sournd... does it? Sssseusssss."

He looked over the book and smiled faintly.

"Kittiessss...."

He leaned back into the armchair and studied silently for hours.

Xiin's eyes grew heavy as he finished reading the book for the fifth time that day. He put the book on a nearby desk and stretched idly, his tongue rolling out of his mouth. He then regained his composure and looked about the room. He had no clue what he could read or what would be too hard for him. He approached one bookcase slowly and stood in front of it for several seconds before letting out a quiet hiss.

"Wonder if there are anymore booksss on kittiesss.... They are easssy to read... Hunter sssaid ssso."

The movement over his right shoulder caught his attention. He turned eagerly and smiled a toothy grin. A large guard had just taken his post outside the small library. Xiin walked up and tapped him on the shoulder with a claw. The man jumped slightly before speaking.

"Wha... What do you want, lizard?"

Xiin looked up to the man and smiled as politely as a lizardman could. He spoke slowly so the man could understand him.

"Do you know where the kitty booksss are? Hunter sssaid you could help me."

The man raised his brow and obviously was trying to hold back a laugh. He sputtered out a few words before walking over to a nearby bookcase.

"Sure... kitties, huh? Who knew you could read?"

Xiin hissed angrily at the man's comment and rose his voice in anger.

"I'm not a beassst! I'm assss intelligent assss you, if not more sssso! Leave. NOW!"

The man slowly turned around, a smug smile on his face. He only nodded, seeming to have wanted a reason to leave and exited the library.

Xiin sighed and turned back to the rows of books and began searching for something else to read.

Hunter walked into the library. “Xiin, how is the book? I have someone here to meet you. He is the latest Kabal member, Jebidiah. He is a combat specialist, like yourself.” Hunter stood aside to allow the two to get aquatinted, wondering what Jebidiah would make of Xiin.

What the hell is that?

Jebidiah had seen some strange things in his life, but he had never seen a giant lizard creature in all his time in the force. "Erm... Pleasure... Ziiiin, was it?"

He looked the lizard from bottom to top, grimacing a bit. He turned to The Employer, "Well he looks fearsome..." Then, looking back toward the lizard he gave a weak, half-hearted smile as he saw the book in claw.