FSE

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Chapter Five

---

They spent at least two hours down there filming rooms upon rooms filled with creatures that had once been ordinary humans. Some of them just huddled in the corner, others backed away and shivered in fear at the sight of them. Others tried to attack and some paced back and forth across the room or scratched at their fur and ears.

Rayna explained things to them as they walked. How long each person had been here, what disease they had been treated for and whether or not they were getting better or getting worse. She showed them a medical room with a large chair in the center. There were restraints all over the chair and she showed them the sedatives and tranquilizer guns that were used to keep things under control when they had to remove someone from their padded and locked room so they could use another injection to try and make them better.

On the one hand Ally understood Biotech Genosys and admired them for trying to heal these people even after some had shown little or no improvement for years. The other part of her hated them with a passion for lying and hiding the truth. People deserved to know the risk before they got involved. They shouldn't be locked away down in the dark and experimented on like lab rats.

Ally didn't dare to hope that her mother might still be alive and indeed Rayna searched a computer that was set up in one of the medical labs down here and confirmed that she had died several months after being admitted. She hadn't been in this particular facility, but she had been in one just like it. Rayna didn't say whether Ally's mother died naturally or was euthanized. It may sound a bit callous but to Ally that aspect of how she died didn't matter. Her mother had been dead to her for years and those few months she had lived without their knowledge had been stolen away from her and her father. Biotech was to blame for the death of her mother and her father's subsequent fall into depression and alcoholism.

Finally Rayna said their time was up. They couldn't stick around any longer without attracting undue attention. Hanai stopped at one door and stared inside at a striped hyena for a long time before finally backing away and following them down the hallway and into the elevator.

None of them said anything on the way back up. What they saw was too shocking. Hundreds of people locked away with thousands more unseen and suffering in silence alone. Let out only to be poked and jabbed with needles. Something had to be done about this and about the countless others around the world in other mega cities like Neo Veisa who were locked up the same way.

Was Biotech Genosys really trying to help make things better? Or were they just experimenting on these people so they could finally perfect their cures for the mainstream population and not have to worry about losing money?

When the elevator stopped and opened they found the floor manager standing there with two guards at his side.

This was not good.

"I see you're finally back? How did it go? How many patients did you inject? Or should I ask security down there how many they had to take out?" he asked with a highly suspicious tone of voice. Immediately Hanai stepped forward and towered over the shorter man who once again flinched back involuntarily.

"If you have something to say then be up front about it! Don't stand there making veiled accusations as if we were some type of criminals! Or is your security really so lax that any group of hoodlums off the street could just wander in and down into some of the most private areas that Biotech Genosys has in any of their buildings? Because I'm sure my boss would love to hear about how one of the building managers is worried about a group of nobody's walking straight into a facility that supposedly has top of the line technology protecting it," Hanai said accusingly and the man's proud facade quickly shattered and he nervously glanced around at his security guards who had stepped back and left him to handle the matter alone.

Ally didn't know what Rat did to their passes, but once they put their thumbprints onto the plasti-cards and selected their fake titles it had clearly activated a program in Biotech's systems. When they walked in the facial recognition cameras had trained on them and then quickly flashed green and turned away. All of their information and fake back stories were already in the computer systems. It was even more impressive considering the fact that all the security here would be operated by an A.I. system. The next time she saw Rat he was getting a full course meal at Ashley and Sasha's restaurant all on her.

"No! No security here is just fine... I just thought... I mean this was so unusual that..." he fumbled around for an answer even as he shrank back under Hanai's withering gaze.

"This visit was merely a cover so that we could check the security standards of this building. There will be a team coming in next week to test the latest round of injections and I can only hope that you and your staff will be better trained and more prepared next week when they come. For your own sake I would refrain from mentioning this private security check to anyone else unless you want to get another visit from me personally," Hanai threatened and the man sputtered and went on about how that wasn't necessary and he would be sure to keep this to himself and improve the current state of his employees.

They made it out of the building, into Rayna's car and away from the building without incident. Everyone sighed heavily in relief and Ally couldn't help but let out a nervous giggle. They had really gotten away with it but they had to get back up to Mid Level and tell Sasha and Ashley. It must be eight o clock at night by now.

Ally looked back at Hanai but she was slumped down in her seat staring out the window. She knew that look. It was her friend's "I'm feeling guilty about something" look. Ally couldn't blame her though. Biotech was using the people on the Lower Level as human experiments while giving their best and complete treatment to those rich citizens on the Top Level. The fact that she didn't know and hadn't had any direct part in it wouldn't mean a whole lot to Hanai.

"Where do you want me to take you? I need to get back to the medical center. I've been gone far too long already," Rayna said and Hanai straightened up.

"We'll take the public transit bus back up to the Mid Level. We appreciate all of your help," she said gratefully but her voice lacked its usual strength and force.

"Yes that's fine. We can take care of things from there," Ally agreed and Rayna nodded and pulled up a bus schedule. Most of the buses were on their final routes now but they found one that was making one final trip up and they headed over to the bus stop. They got there just as the bus was arriving so they didn't have time to waste.

"I'm sorry I can't say more, but we do appreciate all of your help and helping us to get this footage," Ally said and Rayna shook her head.

"No, it is mostly thanks to Hanai. She really came through for all of us. Both of you just be careful okay?" she requested before driving off. Both Ally and Hanai hurried onto the full bus and grabbed seats right in the front.

Neither one of them spoke the whole way back up. Ally took her smart glasses off rubbed her eyes. Hanai was staring down at the glasses in her own hands but said nothing. Reaching over she grabbed her friend's hand and squeezed it tightly.

"Sasha and Ashley will do something about this. None of it is your fault. You didn't know," Ally tried to reassure her but Hanai pursed her lips and looked away.

"So? I'm still one of those rich snobs that Biotech caters too. I'm one of those clients that get the finished product. One that has no doubt been used experimentally on several unfortunate people down in the Lower Level already," Hanai said her voice trembling. "How many people have lost family members just so I could stay healthy? Not have to worry about deteriorating eye sight or so that I could have perfect teeth?" she whispered and Ally pulled her hand back and put an arm around Hanai's shoulders.

She wasn't entirely sure of what to say. Right now they needed to focus on getting back to the Donovan brothers so they could figure out what their plan was next.

---

"This is the address right?" Ally asked as she looked up at the building which was painfully out of place on this tier of the Mid Level. It looked like a private building for some extravagant celebrity up Top rather then the home of an Otherkin in the lower city.

Hanai nodded to the rottweiler Otherkin guarding the sliding doors and said, "Yes I'm sure this is it. Ashley would be perfectly content with something modest, but Sasha wouldn't live in anything but the fanciest place around. Besides I sent them a text through my phone and they told me to come here instead. This is a special apartment building for Otherkin only," she explained as they walked through the main entrance.

Ally marveled at the stone pillars and the marble, _real marble_floor. The Donovan brothers definitely had way too much money to spend if they just went around building stuff like this. Evidently everyone already knew Hanai because most of them just nodded and gave polite greetings to her as they walked by.

Another staff member, a crow Otherkin dressed in red and black operated the elevator for them and took them up to the top floor when Hanai told him where they wanted to go. They stepped off into a carpeted hallway with only a few doors broadly spaced up and down both sides.

Hanai went to the first door and knocked firmly. After a moment it opened to reveal Sashain a dark graybathrobe.

"Welcome! You obviously didn't get yourselves arrested which is nice to see. That certainly would have put a damper on our evening," he observed with a grin and stepped back to let them inside. Ally gave him her pair of smart glasses as well as Hanai's and the fox accepted them with eager hands and turned around and walked off. Probably to go take a look at what they had recorded.

Ashley had on simple pajama pants and a loose white shirt. He was sitting over on a white leather couch and he frowned at his brother as he stood up and walked over to them.

"You could at least try to show some genuine concern for them Sasha or if not then at least fake it for a while," Ashley said disapprovingly as Hanai peeled her shoes off her feet. Wrinkling her nose she left the shoes there by the door as Ashley put a hand on her arm.

"Are you all right? You look rather pale," he said with honest concern as Hanai rubbed her forehead.

"It's just... there was... everything I found out today really..." she stopped and shook her head. "Forget it. What I need most right now is just a strong glass of alcohol," she said instead and Ashley nodded and went off to get her a glass.

Ally guided her over to the living room complete with a huge screen that probably could get channels from the other side of the world. Hanai collapsed onto the couch with a sigh and put her feet up on it. Ally took a seat on the couch opposite her and put her own feet up as well after taking her shoes off.

"Man I'm worn out. Tomorrow I'm scheduling a threeday vacationat the spa," Hanai groaned as she closed her eyes.

Ally bit back the urge to make a joke and instead waited as Ashley came back holding two glasses of wine. One for Hanai and one for her.

"Thank you. So what happens now? What are you going to do with the footage?" Ally questioned as she took a sip of the wine. Having rich friends definitely paid off.

"Now Sasha will make several backups of the video for us to keep personally. Then he'll make dozens of copies and send them out to news stations around the world. And also to the biggest news station here in Neo Veisa. Then we sit back and watch everything unfold. Even if the government here tries to ignore it, you can guarantee that other cities will not turn their heads the other way so easily. There are always a few nations that just love to jump on any cause for trouble after all," Ashley glanced over at Sasha who was hard at work in front of a computer system. Ally followed his gaze but then looked back at the fox Otherkin standing beside her.

"Okay, but aren't most of the news corporations in Biotech's pockets as well? Even if they want to air the footage what makes you think they'll actually do it?" Ally asked and the smirk on Ashley's face suggested that he had been waiting for that question to pop up.

"While they do use actual news anchors and some field reporters the vast majority of the work is done by surveillance drones, service robots who interview people and Artificial Intelligence systems who can examine and edit hours of footage in just a few minutes and determine the best video to use. They even draft all of the reports for the anchors so the humans just sit there looking pretty and say whatever the computer has told them. Although they do suggest which subjects to cover among other things so it's not totally automated. Also the machines won't go into any area of the city that is deemed restricted which is part of how Biotech gets away with what they're doing," Ashley explained as he walked over and sat down in a plush chair next to her.

"Nowadays there is an A.I. the charge of news stations instead of a human and it may decide to use a digital human avatar if it feels that none of the actual staff are suitable," he added and Ally thought about that.

"You mean the 'hello, I'm filling for so-and-so' line?" Ally questioned and he nodded and pointed to her.

"We actually got the idea for the last phase of our plan from you my dear," Ashley said and her eyebrows shot up in surprise at that information.

"Me? What did I do? Or should I say what was I doing while you were monitoring me without my knowledge?" she countered and the fox gave her a toothy smile.

"Oh you do learn quickly don't you? Well what you were doing my dear was winning over the electronic hearts of every machine you came in contact with. Robots and A.I.'s operate by what is now known as the Proportional Reaction Effect. Meaning that the nicer you are to them, the more likely they are to go above and beyond their standard operating parameters for you. They have standard commands and laws that they operate on but they can be surprisingly flexible or downright stubborn depending on how you treat them," Ashley crossed his right leg over his left and leaned back slightly.

"Once we saw how machines reacted to your polite nature and went out of their way to assist you we realized that humans weren't the only ones who could act as double agents. So we contacted the head of the biggest news station in Neo Veisa, who just so happens to be an A.I., and offered it the story of the century. Human anchors insist on feel good stories about Biotech because they get paid extra each time they do. News machines on the other hand could not care less about money and are hardwired to search for the facts once the human reporters suggest a story to run that day," Ashley continued as Sasha stood up from the computer with a small data chip in his fingers.

"The news A.I. agreed to air a scathing report about Biotech usinga digital human avatar, but only if we could back up our story with raw video footage. It also stipulated that the footage had to be obtained freely. The machine didn't care if we had to lie or sneak in somewhere to do it, but we couldn't actually hurt or threaten anyone to get the information. Robots are sticklers for detail when it comes to living creatures after all," Ashley said and Ally nodded and recited the first law of robotics.

"An A.I. cannot allow a human to come to injury. Either by their own actions, the decisions of the A.I. or machine itself, or by inactivity. If a robot knows that something is going on that is hurting humans or any living creature then it is obligated to report it whereas a human is not," Ally recalled as she remembered the Biotech facility they had just come from. "But what about the buildings where Biotech is keeping those people locked up? Wouldn't the A.I.'s there report it?" she added curiously. Ashley shook his head at that question.

"They only use computers there for facial recognition and security. While there are cameras down monitoring those poor people who are locked up each monitor that they are hooked up to is being watched by an actual human staff member. If an A.I. got hold of that video it would never stand for it. It would contact every government agent and human right's group it could dredge up. So they keep the security system and the video monitoring on the lower floors of the building strictly separate from one another," Ashley explained with a shrug and Ally shook her head at all of it. She looked over then and saw Sasha walking over with a computer chip pinched between his fingers.

"Here we go. I'll have a news drone take this copy up to our favorite news station and by tomorrow morning Biotech's dirty secret will be all over the news. I can guarantee that the outrage from family members alone will prompt some serious talk and international pressure will make Biotech Genosys cave in sooner or later and revisit their laws on human experimentation. It may take a while but it will only be a matter of time now," Sasha said as he scratched at his white chest fur.

"Also included is footage we Otherkin have accumulated over the months and years. We've managed to sneak a few of those poor souls out of Biotech's padded rooms and help them back to a full recovery through various forms of therapy. Better medicine may one day stop bad reactions from happening but it won't fix the problem after it has started. Biotech is trying to turn them back into human beings instead of trying to help them deal with the situation and settle into new lives as Otherkin," he said looking so proud of himself that Ally had to force herself not to roll her eyes.

"What_does_ happen to them?" Hanai said suddenly from her spot on the couch. "I mean why do they just... lose control like that?" she questioned curiously. Ally had been wondering the same thing.

"Just think of it as information overload. Being infused with animal DNA also brings on animal instincts and behavior. That's why all those humans who come to us looking for illegal Biotech injections have to meet certain requirements before we agree to perform the procedure on them. If you're a die hard meat eater and you want to become a deer or a horse well then you'd better learn to love vegetables because once you become an Otherkin your body won't be able to tolerate certain foods as well as it used to. Physical and dietary changes happen whether you like it or not. Same goes for mental changes,"Ashley tapped his head as he explained it to them.

"Animals are highly intelligent, but they also operate on instinct more then humans do at times. Removing the gene limiters allows the body to adapt more naturally. A bad reaction occurs when the gene limiters and the animal genes start fighting one another if you will. The animal instincts start taking over by force and the human brain is overwhelmed by baser impulses and thinking. The animal side of them buries their human personality. Sure they can recover, but it takes time and patience before they regain theirformer selves. For some it takes a few short months. For others it can take up to or over a year of constant and daily mental training," Ashely's whiskers twitched slightly as he spoke.

"Long story short yes they can recover but it takes patience and understanding from others so that the person can learn to suppress their animal instincts and desires so they can lead normal lives once again, but the chances of them actually ever having the appearance of normal human beings again is slim to none," Ashley stood up and handed Hanai a pillow cushion that was on the floor next to him.

"But that's enough for today. Why don't you sleep here tonight?" he offered handing another cushion to her. Ally tried to object but was cut off by a large yawn. "I'll get both of you some blankets. I'd offer you a guest room but I doubt you'd make it that far," he added with a look over at Hanai who was already snoring lightly.

Ally rubbed her eyes and settled down deeper into the plush chair. Within a few short minutes she was fast asleep.

---

"Hey there sleepy head! I'd say we're swamped but as you can see almost everyone is too glued to the screens to bother ordering anything."

Ally dragged her own eyes away from the screen in the corner and looked at Wesley, the orange tabby cat Otherkin who was training her this morning at the restaurant.

"Sorry what was that?" she asked as her eyes went right back to the same screen all the other customers were currently glued to.

"Oh forget it. I mean this is the biggest news story of my lifetime after all. I mean I always had a feeling Biotech was sleazy but dang! Thousands of people locked away beneath our very feet? Of course the Otherkin gangsters knew about it but nobody listened to them. I heard the mayor of the city asked the Donovan brothers and leaders from several other gangs to come up to the Top Level to assist in negotiations.All the restrictions on us have been halted indefinitely as well. I'm dying to go up Top and see what it's really like," Wesley said as the tip of his tail twitched. "Hey! You've been up there! Do they really have crystal streetlamps and glowing sidewalks?" he asked bouncing around like a kitten.

"Yeah, something like that," Ally wasn't really listening to him. She was too busy staring at the news report. Apparently the A.I. in charge of Neo Veisa's largest news station had kicked out several reporters for "corruption" and "negligence" and had left only a few humans remaining inside the building before locking it down and continuing with the breaking news. Police were trying to break back in but even the door handle had been electrified. Then came reports that A.I.'s in other smaller news stations around Neo Veisa had done the same thing. Dismissing those human employees that they felt were aware of Biotech's corruption and yet had done nothing to report it.

"Biotech is being investigated by like every criminal agency there is! The world is going crazy with this information! They demanded that the company release a list of all the people currently being held and that they contact any remaining family members to let them know what's going on. My mom is so excited because my younger brother might still be alive down there. Small chance but it's better than what we had yesterday," Wesley said as he made up a latte for a customer and rang them up.

"Who do you think did it? They obviously got inside one of Biotech's facilities on the Lower Level but whenever footage of them comes up their voices are distorted and their faces are covered by these grinning cartoonish fox masks. I mean clearly they were working with Sasha and Ashley Donovan but I wonder who they are exactly," Wesley said pointed to the screen as video of the now infamous "padded rooms" came up on screen.

Ally recognized herself, but as soon as the camera view landed on her, her face was covered up with a cartoonish fox mask rendering just like Wesley said. The same with Hanai and Rayna.

"The building manager is screaming to the heavens that someone broke into his facility under the guise of being Biotech employees. The A.I. who manages the security procedures for the building evidently didn't have access to the lower floors, but it does know who came in and out of the building that day. They've tried to question it but it already scrubbed all the entry and exit data clean and refuses to say who was and was not there in the building yesterday. Claims that doing so would only put their well being at risk and you know how picky machines are about that rule. So without that information they may never know who got in and..." Wesley talked on and one as he worked but she only half heard him.

They did it. They really did it.

_Thank you, Sasha,_Ally thought as a smile broke out across her lips as she saw the black fox mask on the screen. A fox with one golden eye and one brown eye.