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"So what have you been told about Dr. Depressive?" said a man in an elevator, going down to who knew where.

"Well for one, they told me it's pronounced 'DepraSeeve' or something like that. I was told he's just another researcher wanting an investment." The two men were frankly unimpressive looking, and unimpressible at that. One had the air of a man that knew everything, or seemed to know everything. The other man on the other hand, knew how to pronounce a certain client's name correctly. These were details known only by an outside observer, and the security camera watching them. The camera picked up the first man as a short and stout lion, as if his body had stopped growing ages ago while his ego and pride kept right on growing. The other was a tall and lithe canid, more Alsatian than anything else. Elsewhere, someone would be judging if the canid got his fur pattern from his father or mother.

"Sir? Shouldn't you be going to greet our guests rather than observing them like a teenager at some girl's window? I don't know much about proper conduct but reading up on the files of men you are about to meet does seem rather... rude."

The man reading the files on one Mr. Bentley and a Mr. Alan stood up. He grinned wide, letting out a nice happy laugh. Okay, to be honest it had the sound of someone stabbing a whoopee cushion with a plastic fork, but he was at least happy about it. "Oh yes, there is much work to be done, Arthur. I'll be sure to give them a nice little show. Who says a research facility can't handle being a little 'financially unstable?'"

Bentley entered the waiting room of the building first. Many of the walls were only partially painted, and some hadn't even had their drywall installed yet. For trying to promote the idea that this research facility was doing financially well for itself, one would have thought they'd have spent their money on, you know, dressing up the place. That was Bentley's thoughts anyway. He'd been in big business all his life, and if there was one thing he'd known it was the point wasn't to have a lot of money, it was to make it look like you had a lot of money.

Alan was a little different. He paid close attention to the posters on the wall, trying to notice the minute details. "Good lord. Who puts the blueprints up of their newest product as an advertisement?" Alan was a newer man to the world of making money off other people's work. He was young and inexperienced, and the only reason why he was here on this trip was because no one else was willing to work with Bentley, who was currently scratching the thin paint off one of the walls.

The man with the incredibly pleasant laugh and a deep respect for privacy would enter the room, chuckling quietly. "That isn't actually one of our products, sir. It's one of your competitors. Take it as a souvenir if you'd like." Alan turned to see the man, while Bentley took that moment to swipe a copy of the poster. As Bentley slipped it away his eyes followed Alan's. They were caught staring at the man, wondering what they had got themselves into.

He was a Maine coon feline. That much was clear, dressed in a casual pair of khaki pants and a white cotton shirt. He wore no socks or shoes, and it didn't seem like a common occurrence for him to do so. He wore a lab coat, and that was the object of their attention. It was decorated with dirt and smudges of all kinds. Oil stains on the arms, burn marks on the shoulders, and an unnerving iridescent splotch on the breast pocket. The pockets in fact were full of random objects he'd no doubt tucked into there without much care or worry, as numerous pens, papers, and somehow unbroken vials poked out. He smiled a bit more calmly now, and offered a hand to the gentlemen. They both had to check that it was in fact clean before shaking. His voice, somehow, was much calmer than before. "Dr. Manik DepraSeeve. At your service, or rather you're at my service. Welcome to the Nadia Research Laboratory. I hope your stay here will be enlightening."

The three gentlemen walked down the halls of the facility. Manik took the lead, mostly due to the fact that the other two men were scared of what they might find in this place. For now the facility seemed unimpressive. The walls outside the waiting room looked more complete, with lighting and actual paint. They still had odd features to them though. Track lighting in the corners and a single groove that went down the length of the hall. It seemed they'd forgotten to install proper lighting, which Bentley would make a point of.

"Dr. DepraSeeve, the recent returns from our company's investments in your research have been... uninspiring. There have been rumors of money ill spent and even of embezzling! And yet you ask for more. Is there a reason for this? Some explanation you might give?" Bentley was on edge. He hadn't seen the numbers per se but he knew the relative amount of profit from investments in Nadia was far lower than it was supposed to be, namely negative.

"Please call me Manik. I'm only called a doctor by my researchers. Anyway, I know the returns have been dismal as of late. Investment opportunities are difficult when your research isn't ready for the world yet." He rounded the corner of the long hallway, passing several doors and labs, including a cafeteria where actual signs of life, namely people, were eating and behaving normal. The researchers of the labs appeared completely different from the supposed head of the place, mostly in the fact that they looked clean and pristine while he was covered in the 'fruits of his labor.'

They entered into a nearby laboratory, one of the many on this floor it seemed. Alan looked around, bringing up an important detail as he stared at the ceiling. "Besides that, umm... Dr. Manik, exactly how far down are we? The elevator took a while but, just because it's old right?" He adjusted his collar nervously, letting his eyes trace around the room at numerous pieces of equipment. This wasn't a chemistry lab, this was an engineer's lab, and cleanliness often came second to results. His eyes finally fell on Manik standing in front of one of the desks, letting the bright light on the worktable silhouette him.

"I forget how far, but about as far down as zoning would be allowed in this city. I would have built it somewhere else, but the connections I have to the city's university helps with getting fresh talent. Now, speaking of something fresh take a look at this." He'd hold up a small vial. It looked like the ones in his pockets but instead of being clear or empty or staring back this vial had a matte grey substance inside, with a vague hint of iridescent coloring.

"And that would be?"

"Why Mr. Bentley, this is where your investment has gone. All of it in fact, into this little vial." He swished the vial around before showing it to the two men in more detail. Alan knew liquids, he'd drank them most of his life, and he knew what whiskey looked like when you swished it in a shot glass. Whatever was in that vial wasn't liquid.

Bentley handled most of the talking, while Alan handled most of the thinking. "That's where the investment went? That's it? We've been funding you for 2 years, man! You said that you would develop for us the next paradigm shift. The next game changing technology!" He reached for the vial, hoping to grab it, but in a fight between two felines the one that held the vial of unknown liquid tended to keep it.

Manik pulled it back quickly and kept it near his chest, petting the vial like a small pet. "No no. This isn't all that's been made. Like I said this is a fresh batch. There's a whole lot more where this came from. I'll show you." He walked over and pulled the fabric off of a large table, only it wasn't a table. Underneath the black fabric was a large vat like a fish tank, filled with the same grey liquid. In larger quantities it no longer appeared as matte and appeared much more quicksilver in appearance. "Is this closer to your liking?"

Alan's eyes trailed over the liquid, keeping his fingers close by. He knew he shouldn't touch whatever this stuff was, but he couldn't help it, like when you hold something fragile and you have the faintest urge to smash it, or maybe normal people didn't get that feeling. Alan's hand moved close to the liquid's surface, before Manik's intervened and prevented him. "I wouldn't do that. It's not dangerous, but the nanites are extremely friendly. Excessively so."

He eventually relinquished the vial to Bentley, so that he could inspect them in closer detail. "Nanites? Isn't that science fiction?"

"You're in an underground lab talking to a self-proclaimed mad scientist talking about paradigm-shift technologies. Science fiction is just yesterday's newspaper." Bentley would swish the vial around a little more, holding it up to the light to view it better. Manik continued. "Inside are billion tiny machines, all fitting into an extremely small volume, producing a material with an extremely high amount of order, control, and processing power. It's taken a lot of time and research to develop them, of course, but once the first batch was made it's easy to make more... and more... and more. The contents of this vial cost less than the vial itself!"

The two men stared at him, unsure just what this man had said. Alan spoke up finally, having some questions of his own. "That is all well and good, doctor, but I feel you're missing some of the more important details. First off, well, what does this stuff do? Could we sell it? Produce it? What are its environmental effects? Processing costs? Give us something we can use. Something we can sell."

Manik smiled and walked back to the workstation. He placed the vial in a holder and would pull of the stopper, exposing the liquid to the air. He casually inspected an electrode, making sure it was ready for the demonstration "Well for one they're easily manipulatable. I simply run a controlled series of electrical pulses through them, and I can program the little fellas to do whatever I wish." Manik's focus was on the workstation's laptop, and unfortunately not on the angry lion behind him.

Bentley growled and grabbed at Manik's shoulder, turning him around and pointing a single stern claw at his face. "Our company has bet a significant amount of money on you, expecting, no, requiring a profit! You have yet to show us anything of value besides this stupid liquid that could just be scam for all I can tell! Tell me what this stuff can do?!" He grabbed the vial and shook it in Manik's face, not realizing that the exposed contents flew out as a single coherent blob.

Manik's eyes followed the blob along its trajectory to the doorframe. "Well for one they don't like being separated... or insulted and umm... if you'll excuse me." Alan was already trying to chase after the blob, which had somehow sprouted small legs and was scurrying away like some sort of rodent. Manik on the other hand stood next to a wall-mounted phone. His look was the exact opposite of Bentley's absolute confusion. "Hello. Yes? Yep, another breakout. One of our guests spilled the contents of the batch I was showing him. Look for something small, quick, and hungry. Yes... yes send Arthur down immediately."

Alan was already halfway down the hall, trying to keep up with the thing. He didn't really know why he was chasing whatever this thing was, it just seemed the appropriate thing to do, like when a pet scurries out of a cage. He breathed heavily. Running in a suit was difficult enough but it didn't help that his chosen profession didn't require much physical exertion. His thoughts traveled to scheduling some time at the gym until they were derailed by, well, something on a rail. Something spherical in fact.

The object was smooth but not a perfect sphere, it had a slight point like an egg, which was what Alan's muzzle had run into. The egg was connected to the ceiling by a short rod. Even though it looked flimsy it had enough strength behind it to resist the impact, and possibly break Alan's nose. The small blob would scurry away, and the orb seemed to just stay still before rotating around. A single massive red eye stared at Alan, although it didn't seem menacing, just red. And then it did something that should have scared the poor man: it spoke. "Greetings sir. I do hope I didn't hurt you with my sudden appearance. I must be off now as that little creature might hurt itself if left alone. The path to the nearest medical station is right over there, just follow the pink line. If you'll excuse me I must be off. Dr. DepraSeeve will be gravely disappointed if I fail at this task. I wish you a good day." The object rotated around and swiftly flew off down the ceiling rails, following the creature. All Alan's mind could think was 'what a perfect English accent.'"

Bentley eventually caught up, with Manik calmly walking behind him. "What happened? What did you see? Did you catch the horrid thing? And why pray tell are you on the ground?"

All the younger man could get out was pointing down the hall and a single inane sentence. "The nice English eyeball is chasing it for us. He recommended I get medical aid." Bentley's face had lost the skill for showing emotions quite a few minutes ago. Manik's on the other hand had a rather smug grin.

"Oh that's Arthur. He's my assistant. He'll be catching it soon enough. Pneumatic railing and electrical motors tend to beat most other forms of locomotion." Manik held out his hand to Alan and helped him up. "He's a friendly little fella isn't he? If he hadn't been doing something important he might have directed you to the medical wing himself, although I doubt you are in need of aid. I don't see any signs of even a mild concussion. Although..." He grinned wide, letting his eyes trail down the hall. "If you run off again through my lab without observance I can't guarantee your safety. We had to cut corners somewhere. Although things could be changed if you two decided to continue funding."

Bentley nearly punched Manik at that point, although his height would narrow the possible locations quite a bit. Alan would ignore Manik's mention of funding and mild threat. There was an English robot that took precedence. "What was that? You called it Arthur and... it's your assistant? You never mentioned doing robotic research! Why didn't you show us that! That we can sell!"

"Sorry Arthur isn't for sale, or any of the drones. For one thing they weren't developed using your investment. And second... Arthur is the only one of them that's at least semi-sentient. The rest are dumber than a coal-powered air filter."

"Semi-sentient? It can think for itself?"

"Only partially. HE has a neural network modeled after our brains only in a simpler package. The simpler drones have a network more like a computer. They're all made with a technology similar to but not exactly like the nanites."

"Nanites! But we funded your nanites-whatever things! So the drones belong to us as well! Come back here! My company owns you!" Bentley ran down the hall, heading in the direction that Arthur had seemed to go. He was in fact completely wrong in that regard, but he was right that it was the direction that Arthur was coming back. Due to Bentley's height Arthur didn't need to worry about hitting him and kept on going at top speed. The egg hadn't thought about the mass of nanites he was holding in a container below him, which was at the perfect height for a head-on collision.

"Master Manik I recovered the creature and... Oh dear. It would appear I miscalculated. I had determined the location of the one I had collided with before. I had forgotten about the... other one. I'm dreadfully sorry sir. Are you... are you okay?" Arthur lowered down next to Bentley's face, which was covered in the matte grey goo.

Manik sighed and moved closer. "Order a stretcher to our location, and get the nearest medical wing ready to clean that gunk off of him. And Arthur? Perhaps when you're moving at top speed you should stay near the ceiling. Last I had checked the chance of impact goes down significantly." Manik continued to berate Arthur for a moment, while Alan stared at Bentley's face, noting the changes that were occurring.

The goo on his face turned from a light matte grey to a darker and darker color, settling on a black the shade of Bentley's suit. It spread along him, connecting with the blackness of the suit to the point that it wasn't clear where the nanites ended and cloth began. Alan almost couldn't speak. "Umm... Dr. Manik? I think this may be the moment where you tell me what these nanites are supposed to do. And quick."

Manik looked down and gulped. His first words were to Arthur. "Cancel the stretcher. Summon security." He kneeled down next to Bentley, wanting to watch the reaction first hand. There wasn't much they could do at the moment anyway. "The nanobots themselves are smaller than our cells. They can easily get inside and take over as it were. Overwrite RNA, control protein expressions. Cause reactions that normally can't occur. I was going to program these ones to cause rapid muscle growth. I was just going to show off their abilities and umm... the effect they have on physique. Bentley pulled the nanites out before I could do anything. I can't even tell remotely what it's doing anymore."

Alan was slowly backing up by this point, and Arthur gently pushed Manik in the same direction. As interested as Manik was in seeing an accidental transformation take place, it might have been best to view it from a safer distance. At this point Bentley's body was completely coated in the black stuff and he seemed to be perfectly fine, only unconscious. Until his glowing red eyes opened and he roared like a feral lion.

Bentley leaped up and stared at them, growling. He looked more like a panther now, as the only spot on his silhouette of a body visible was his red eyes. His outline was clearly getting wider, and taller. His physical bulk grew outward as his muscles grew. Manik sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Well at least he isn't dead. And he doesn't seem all that dangerous at the moment. Let's hope he stays that way." And with that Bentley would roar in their faces, baring multiple sharp rows of teeth. Either Bentley was in a bad mood before or the nanites made him act this way, but it was clear Bentley was not in the mood for chit-chat. "Hmm... Alan I think it's clear the best tactic to deal with this is a quick and speedy retreat!" And with that Dr. Manik DepraSeeve was running away. At top speed.

Alan was close behind, trying his best to keep up. Arthur was immediately next to him, having no difficulty keeping up with the wolf in a monkey suit. "Is he always like this?" Arthur would calmly nod his spherical form up and down even while the rest of him moved rapidly on the rail. "God how is this place still even running?"

"I do not know sir, but at this point I think your fears should be more directed to the incident behind us. Besides, from my perspective there is more danger from the consequences of the facility shutting down than from it being in operation. Don't consider that a threat. Just an informed warning from the assistant of the feline whose tail you are currently chasing." Arthur was certainly calm, and technically he was in no danger at all. The other two were very much in danger. They had a black lion chasing them down the hallway, with large claws that seemed to damage only the nicest-looking walls and equipment.

Sirens blared through the facility. The message had been sent for the security team to come take care of the incident, except the 'incident' was currently far closer to the man who paid the security team, and getting closer. Manik yelled out to Arthur. "Summon the other drones! Orbs! Anything!" Numerous eggs would appear from the halls and corners. They looked identical to Arthur, save their eyes were blue instead of red. They also had the mental processes of a broken TI-83.

They lined up in a nice orderly path that was very much in the way. Manik and Alan slid underneath the orbs with some difficulty. Alan made sure he had clearance for his muzzle this time. Poor Arthur hadn't thought this through. There was only one rail, and many drones in the way. The mechanical arm carrying him slammed into the orbs, and the red eyed drone flew through the air. "Sweet mother silicon!"

Alan caught Arthur at the peak of his slide, and just as Bentley burst through the orb barricade. It looked oddly enough like bowling, only now multiple little bowling balls were rolling and flew through the air. Arthur looked around, noting that every other drone was fine, just a little disoriented. "Oh umm... Thank you for catching me, sir. It seems my fears were for naught. Either way he does appear to be getting closer and-" Alan groaned and threw Arthur forward to Manik. Now it looked more like football.

Manik caught Arthur as they rounded a corner. They were quickly running out of hallway. At least they didn't need to worry about more drones, and the researchers were already evacuating. "Arthur you gotta give me something! What way to the security detail!" They thankfully could make up the distance at every turn, gaining what Bentley took in the long runs. However, this certainly couldn't last.

Arthur blurted out directions, his accent notably failing. "Left! Right! Straight ahead!" They were soon presented with a dead end with exception of an open lab door. Manik and Alan ran in and shut the door behind them. The door really wouldn't do much, but it did ease their minds a little. Thankfully Bentley was already going at top speed, and slammed right into the wall. 'Into' being the right word, as he went through and embedded himself several inches.

Manik quickly looked around the room while he tossed Arthur onto a workstation. He rambled loudly as he looked through cabinets. "Calcium Hydroxide, Lithium batteries, Copper plates..." He looked through the room, trying to find anything he could use. "Alan! I had an electrode in the lab. Long pointy thing. Shocks the nanites. Tells them to stop!" Alan aided in the search, with Arthur looking around at both of them. Manik and Alan were both focused on the nearby drawers. "Sir? Sir? You put me on it."

Manik grabbed the electrode and Arthur rolled onto the floor. "Alright good I got this! Just give me 5 minutes!" Bentley had other plans, and so did the door he was slamming into.

Alan pushed a large compressed air tank near the door. It was the most he could do given the situation. "I don't think we have 5 minutes!"

"Alright 5 seconds then!"

Bentley burst into the room, knocking the air tank onto the ground. The valve broke off and it flew into the air at top speed, bouncing around like some over-inflated balloon of death. He threw Alan out of the way before charging at Manik, who had the electrode nearly ready. He wielded the small pointed objct like a wand, letting the metal tip on the end spark several times. He prepared to embed it into Bentley's shoulder. That changed when the air tank slammed into the black lion and sent him into a corner.

Manik chased after, preparing to administer medicine like a proper doctor should. Bentley looked passed out anyway... or looked at least. His red eyes opened up and he slashed at Manik, tossing him across the room and sending the electrode flying. Alan stood there frozen in place, unsure what to do. Manik slammed against a work desk and was clearly disoriented. It had to take an angry little drone rolling around on the floor to knock Alan back into reality. "Hurry! Save him or you'll have worse to deal with than some mangy lion!"

Bentley trudged himself over to Manik's limp body. He'd have ran and mangled him in an instant if he wasn't so shell-shocked. Manik's eyes slowly opened to find several snarling teeth in his face and two red eyes to match. "Oh sweet mother of phase diagrams! Help!" He closed his eyes just as Bentley raised a clawed hand. He prepared for the gut wrenching and the face tearing and the disembowelment and... there didn't seem to be any. Before Manik was the still possessed Bentley, but this time an electrode was visible in his shoulder. Alan held it tightly, as if his life depended entirely

Bentley soon fell to the ground. Manik reached over and pulled out the electrode's needle, noticing the blood. The nanites coating Bentley would soon flake and peel off, realizing it was time to stop following their programming. Bentley himself was visible again, and unceremoniously fell face first onto the floor. Manik looked over to see a grumpy Arthur still rolling about. He picked up the orb and stared at that one disgruntled eye. "Call Security... tell them they're fired... or at the very least given a harsh warning..."

An hour later Bentley would be properly patched up and dressed in a lab coat, ironically. The nanites had needed food to build up a frame somehow, and decided his clothing had been the proper medium. Manik and Alan were taken care of as well, and soon the three sat in the waiting room of Nadia Research Laboratory. Manik had a smug look on his face, while Bentley was incredibly furious. Alan's was in a calm middle.

"Do you know what I've been through!? Your crazy drug turned me into a monster!"

"Yes, yes, I get that but you're perfectly alright now, and it was an accident. Look at it this way, even when the nanites behave incorrectly they're still harmless. Granted you almost killed me, but that wasn't from the nanites directly!"

"Hah! Almost killed you! And I would've tried again! That was so... so strange! I could see it and feel it but... urgh!" He'd stomp his feet as Alan calmly looked down at Arthur in his lap, both of them finding something in common in their bosses.

"Anyway, Dr. Manik. I do believe it's time for us to leave. As you can probably tell we will not be granting you further assets, and might be rescinding the current ones."

"I can list several reasons why that's a bad idea."

Bentley scoffed loudly. "Hah! Name one!"

"Well for starters, if you stop funding me, how am I going to stop the next accident?" Manik's eyes grew much more grim and menacing, and his teeth seemed to sharpen just like Bentley's had before. "There are things in this place best kept under lock and key. It would be a shame if this place were shut down and there were... containment failures. It might be best to just... let it keep going. Do I make myself clear?"

The looks on the two men's faces were, in Arthur's opinion, without price. After that they calmly stood up, thanked Manik for a lovely afternoon, and headed back to their nice, safe, above-ground office. Their message to their boss was short, simple, and to the point.

"For the love of god, give him what he wants."