[b]Integrated Dimension Research Group Pyramid
San Maria, CA[/b]

The white, sterile lights above him turned on at the same time that they did every night before final inspection. Normally, the blinding brightness would force him to cover his eyes, but tonight he was ready. There was a plan to carry out, and he was its most important piece. If he failed, his brothers and his sister would never get out of here. That was something he could not allow. Even if he died tonight, he would make sure they escaped. They deserved the happy life he promised them.

Reverberations from the footfalls of the guards reached the sensitive pads on his hands and feet. He steeled himself, ready for what was about to happen. He had the training in his mind, but he had never really used it before. A momentary flash of self doubt entered his mind, but was erased by need. He couldn’t afford to be nervous.

The guards stopped in front of the door to his cell. They looked in, seeing him where he normally was. The men were dressed in the normal, white and red armor of the IDRG guards. Their faces were covered in balaclavas. It spoke to the sinister nature of the place that the fully-armed security team never allowed their faces to be seen. It made the frog boil with anger. Even the people who worked for the company recoiled in terror when these stormtroopers walked by.

The guards turned back to the keypad to swipe in. When they did that, the frog concentrated and activated his camouflage reflex. His green-grey skin turned to the color of the colorless, antiseptic floor below.

“I can’t believe I had to work this weekend,” the one guard moans as the door begins to open. “But at least it got me away from my kid’s recita-”

“Where the hell is he!?” the other guard yells as the frog’s camouflage does its job.

He swipes out with his leg, catching the first guard with a sweeping kick. The man slams down hard on the composite floor. The second guard tries to retreat from the room to lock it down, but the frog lets loose with his tongue. The long, sticky appendage caught the second guard’s ankle, and with a whip-like motion from the frog’s head, the man came flying back into the cell. The frog delivered a hard clothesline to him in midair, and his helmeted head cracked against the floor, knocking him out.

The frog took the guards’ keycards and made his way towards his larger brother’s cell. Before doing so, he locked the first two guards in the cell he had spent his entire life.

Once he reached his destination, the frog swiped the card through the slot. The door slid open, revealing the hulking, green mass that was his bullfrog brother. The first nodded to the second, and they went to work.

The bullfrog mutant grunted as alarms began blaring and more guards stormed down the hallway. The big frog cracked his neck and rolled his wrists in preparation. They let loose with tasers, but his thick hide didn’t feel a thing. The bullfrog smiled down on the assembled group, grabbing the nearest two by the face. They squirmed in his grasp, but he was far too strong. He raised them over his head and tossed them at the other guards. They all crumbled into a heap under the impact.

[center]**********[/center]

It was late. Angel Akilah knew that without even looking at her watch. The city was quiet, even as far downtown as she was. But she liked this time of night. It was easier to get the pictures she wanted, and no one ever bothered her before. Her parents would have had a cow if they knew she was exploring her new home at such a later hour, but she moved across the country to escape them for a reason. Allison, her roommate, may be worried, but not enough to do anything.

No, Angel had the run of the city, and she felt alive.

She pulled her bike up outside the Integrated Dimension Research Group Pyramid, marveling at the giant skyscraper. The company had done a lot for the city, at least it had seemed to. The police force was better equipped than nearly every other city’s in the country. They had public wifi covering the entirety of the city, and the most advanced public transportation in America.

Still, the building had always given her the creeps. How clean it is and how secretive the company was had always given her major 1984 vibes. In San Maria, Big IDRG was always watching.

Suddenly, around her and the building the lights turned up to 11. She shielded her eyes as they adjusted to the brightness. Once she could see again, she saw that the IDRG building’s alarm was going off.

A broad smile came across her face as she took out her camera, “It’s time to get a story, Angel.”

[center]**********[/center]

The stream of guards had turned into a torrential flood. The white armored troopers were rushing the big bullfrog in packs, and all were rebuffed. The frogs, during their battle conditioning, had learned of the 300 Spartans who held an army at bay using the correct terrain. That’s exactly what their largest brother was doing now. The natural choke point made sure to limit the amount of men that could attack him. Still, as big and strong as he was, he was tiring.

Luckily, his siblings leapt into the fray. The other two frogs had been rescued by the first, and were ready to fight for their freedom. They landed in front of their large brother, and the first escapee grabbed the unfired taser off a guard’s belt, spun out of the way of another’s firing line, and shot the weapon into another guard’s neck, the only part of their bodies that were unprotected. 

The smallest brother was a blue and yellow blur on the battlefield. His small stature and speed were his paramount skills in a fight. He could dish out some damage, but making sure he didn’t take any was his focus. Plus, he was annoying enough to draw attention.

Their sister, however, was a more calculated fighter. She waited for her opportunity to strike, usually when the youngest brother had their opponents confused. She saw an opening, and lept into action. She flung one opponent into another with a headscissors takedown, before rolling into an uppercut to another.

Before long, the guards were incapacitated, and they made their way towards their exit. There was a delivery door on the floor below. It was the closest exit, and hopefully the least guarded. The procedure, as the frogs had noticed from drills, was to focus on the front entrance. The frog just hoped nothing had changed between drills.

When they got to the floor below, there were only two guards at the docking bay. The leader kicked off the wall closest to them, delivering a spinning roundhouse kick across both their chins. The strike caught them unawares, and they crumbled to the ground. The leader frog nodded to his sister, who began inputting a code to unlock the loading bay door.

[center]**********[/center]

Angel was crazy. She had to be. She watched as IDRG guards came out in waves, setting up along the main entrance of the building. They were armed with what looked like taser rifles, and had set up in a defensive perimeter along the street. In the distance, police sirens could be heard advancing on the location. This was nowhere to be snooping around, but she couldn’t help herself.

She began narrating the footage she was shooting with her camera phone, “This is Angel Akilah outside the IDRG building, where something seems to be going down. A battalion of guards has surrounded the front entrance. I’m currently heading around the back to see if I can get another vantage point.”

Angel ran around towards the service entrance of the building, hoping she’d be able to see something else. Instead, she ran directly into a squad of guards.

“Stop right there!” the closest one yelled and raised his weapon. She wanted to run. She wanted to scream for help. But she was frozen with fear. The guard spoke over a commlink, “Sir, we have a girl out here. Yes, a civilian. Sir, I don’t think that’s-Yes. Okay. Understood.”

With his orders received, the guard motioned to his comrades, “Take the girl. The Director wants to deal with her personally.”

The approached, and one snatched the cell phone from her hand. That finally snapped her out of her stupor, “Hey! That’s mine! Freedom of the press!”

“That doesn’t work here, girl,” the guard responded.

Angel backed away slowly as the masked menaces closed in on her, she braced to be taken prisoner, wondering what the heck she’d see inside.

Instead, however, the most amazing thing happened. A giant, human-like frog jumped in between her and the guards. Its green-grey face turned to her, gave her a small smile, and said, “Run, girl.”

And so she did.

[center]**********[/center]

“Run, girl,” the lead frog croaked to the human girl who had somehow gotten tangled with the IDRG guards. When the words came from his lips, the guards recoiled in fear.

“It can talk!” one of them yelled in surprise. It had been the first time any of the four had ever used the human form of speech. They had been able to do so since their mutation, but chose not to do so. It kept their plans secret from the scientists, and made them seem dumber than they really were.

“Yes, human,” the frog snarled, “we can talk.”

“And we can fight!” the bullfrog roared as he barreled through the group of guards. His anger was getting the best of him, the leader could tell. He was pounding into the guards far too harshly. Any more and he would certainly kill one of them.

“Enough, brother,” the leader put his hand on the big one’s shoulder.

“Why?” their sister asked. “They imprisoned us. Tortured us. Made us suffer. Why should we not kill them?”

“Yea man,” the smallest agreed. “They deserve it.”

“That might be,” the leader nodded thoughtfully. “But by not killing them, we show that they failed. They did not create weapons of war like they had hoped. We show them that we are better than they are. That we can save our world without resorting to any means necessary. That is why we do not kill. To show we are superior.”

“Makes sense to me,” the young one shrugged.

“Better...I like it,” the bullfrog grunted.

“It...is logical,” the female nodded.
 
The leader smiled at his family, “I’m glad we’re in agreement. Now, come on. We need to disappear.”

And with that, they disappeared into the night.