The frogs quickly made their way out of sight from the IDRG Pyramid. They had gotten out, sure, but the scientists and guards would be quick to start sweeping the area for them. The frogs were the research facility’s prize success. They weren’t going to allow them to get away easily. Considering the virtual stranglehold they had on the city, their personal army would be patrolling the streets within the hour. The problem was they had nowhere to go. They had spent so long planning on how to get out, they had spent little time on anything else. The idea had always been to make for the sewers, but was that a viable option? The scientists and guards would certainly look there first. Was it worth the risk? The four of them were huddled around a “We don’t have any other choice,” the female frog pleaded with her brothers. “Yes, they’ll look down there. Yes, they may even find us. But down there we’ll have the upperhand. We were made to fight. We just showed we could. So why be afraid?” “She has a point,” the bullfrog croaked. “Because we caught them off guard,” the leader responded. “They have too many resources at their disposal for us to assume it will always be that easy. Nine times out of ten, with preparation, they’re going to take us down.” “He’s got a point,” the young one shrugged. The leader knew his sister was confident, overly so. It made her a great teammate, but it also could lead her astray. She was the smartest of them, but that also led to her acting superior. The four of them evened one another out, but he more often than not had to be the voice of reason, even if he didn’t want to be. “I know we want to pay them back. All of us,” he looked into his siblings’ eyes. “They put us through hell for all our lives. For that, they deserve to pay. And they will. We’ll bring them down, and lay waste to their sick sciences. But we have to be ready. To be ready we have to survive. To survive we have to get out of here and hide. For now.” The other three looked at one another and considered his words. They all seemed to nod in agreement, but before any of them could say anything, a voice comes from behind them, “That was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.” The frogs turned to find the girl that they had saved from the IDRG guards. She was astride her bike, smiling broadly at them. Her olive skin and dark hair were illuminated faintly by the single, dim lightbulb that gave the alley what little light it had. Her dark brown eyes looked at them not with fear, but with wonder. “You are not afraid?” his sister asked her. “No way,” she shook her head. “We’ve seen way scarier things than you in the last few years. But you helped me. That’s enough to tell I shouldn’t be afraid.” “I like her. She’s cool,” the young one smiled. The eldest frog looked at her, amazed at the bravery she had already shown tonight. There was no hint of fear, or of revulsion. There was a deep seated curiosity behind her expressive eyes. This was one that wanted to know how the world worked. One who searched for knowledge. It was a good trait to have. “So, instead of trying to hide in the sewer,” she smiled mischievously, “ why not come hang out at my place?” [center]**********[/center] [b]IDRG Pyramid[/b] Director Dyer sat stoically behind his desk, looking over the security footage of the subjects’ escape for what felt like the millionth time. This was an unparalleled disaster, and something he honestly never thought would happen. They had trained their security to be the best in the business, and applicants already had to have the highest recommendations to even be admitted to their staff. They had every failsafe in place. Yet the test subjects had still managed to escape. In a way, their prowess in battle was a testament to the years of work he had put into this project, but it meant nothing if they could not replicate the successes. So far, even with plenty of samples of the creatures’ DNA, they had been unable to do so. There had been some near successes, but nothing on their level. He needed them back, and he needed them back as quickly as possible. Time was of the essence. “Director,” a voice drew his attention to the doorway. There stood Dr. Morris Dyson, one of his most brilliant engineers. The thin, black man wore a baggy lab coat over slacks and a button-up shirt. Thick-rimmed glasses hung on his nose. Dyson had been poached from one of the biggest defense contractors in the world. Dyer considered it a personal triumph that he managed to get him to switch sides. “You wanted to see me?” “I did,” the director responded haughtily. “Is the Searcher project ready?” Dyson shifted uncomfortably on his heels, “We have six prototypes. They’ve passed all the trials, but I’m hesitant to let them out into the cit-” “I don’t very much care what you hesitate to do,” Dyer responded cooly. “I want my animals back, Doctor. I’ll take any chance to do so. The mayor and the people of this city are mine. They will deal with any...complications along the way. These creatures are everything to me. Without them this was all for naught.” “I…,” Dyson hesitated. “Understood, sir. I’ll have them ready in the morning.” “See that you do, Doctor,” the Director smiled. It was a nearly-robotic gesture, not one that Dyer displayed often. After the engineer turned and left, the look was wiped off of Dyer’s face and he went back to watching the security footage another time. [center]**********[/center] The lights sprung to life on the inside of Angel Akilah’s apartment, and she came to the window to allow the frogs egress. They had climbed the side of the building up to her floor using their sticky finger pads. Once inside, the four of them were taken aback. While the space wasn’t abnormally big, the sights, smells, and colors of the place overwhelmed them. It seemed, to the lifelong prisoners, to be a representation of pure life. They walked around, inspecting everything while Angel closed all the drapes. The leader was slightly startled when a cat hopped off a set of drawers and landed in front of him. He knelt down and held out his hand, which the cat happily accepted in a pet. The frog smiled as the human girl came up behind him, “That’s Thebes. He likes you.” “I like him,” the frog responded. “You and him are the first two beings that have not looked at us like science projects.” She took a seat next to him and also began petting the cat, “What...are you guys, if you don’t mind me asking?” The other three took a seat on the comfortable chairs that lined the main room. While they were amazed at how soft they were, they needed to focus on telling their story. “The first thing we all remember is a horrible, blinding pain,” their sister started. “It was the transformation from our natural frog forms to what you see now. Our bodies and minds went from infant to adolescent in a matter of days. The stimuli would have driven most insane.” “It did drive the rest insane, sis,” the young one pointed out. “We were the first successful tests they had.” “Then, daily they’d hook us up to computers that taught us everything,” the bullfrog continued. “Combat, battle strategy, human history, and anything else IDRG thought was useful.” “This all sounds awful,” Angel gasped. “It certainly wasn’t a cakewalk,” the youngest chuckled. “But why?” she asked in horror. The four of them looked at one another. They had talked about this between each other, but knew it was not part of their training. “The computers never told us,” the leader started. “Neither did we ever overhear it from the scientists. But...but when we were asleep, when we dreamed, we all dreamed of the same thing.” “What were the dreams?” “Darkness,” the sister said. “Decay,” the bullfrog croaked. “Disease,” the youngest added. “And an army of unspeakable horror,” the leader finished. “We don’t know where it came from, but it always felt like a warning of what was coming. We never asked to be made. For all we know the scientists don’t know about the Darkness. But we know we were brought here to stop it, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Before Angel could respond, her cell phone rang, erupting in familiar music. She scrambled to pick it up, “Hello? Oh, hey. What’s up? You will be? Okay great. Yea, I’ll clean some while you’re away. Have a good time.” The frogs, still jarred by the music, must have looked awkward. She squinted at them, “That was my roommate. She’s with her boyfriend this week at his cabin. So you guys can stay here as long as you want. Why do you look like you saw a ghost?” “That music is familiar,” the leader answered. “They played it before we slept.” “It’s Mozart,” she chuckled. “I have a thing for classical music.” “Mozart,” the leader smiled as he said the name. “Yes, I recall from our learning.” “You...don’t have names, do you?” the girl asked. “No,” the female responded. “They never gave us that luxury.” “Bastards,” the bullfrog clenched his massive fists. “Could...I name you?” Angel asked sheepishly. “You’re free now. You deserve your own names.” “Sounds like a plan to me!” the youngest one hopped up excitedly. Angel smiled and patted him on the shoulder, “Since you all seem to like classical music, let’s go with a motif. You’ll be Bach.” “Rad,” the newly minted Bach grinned. Angel walked up to the biggest frog, “You can be Ludwig. A good, strong name for a good, strong frog.” “Ludwig?” he nodded. “I like it.” “And you, my fellow fighter with girl power, will be Clara,” she smiled. “It certainly has a ring to it,” the newly minted Clara nodded. “And the one who saved me tonight...you’ll be Mozart.” Mozart. The maker of that wonderful music. The frog didn’t think he was worthy of such a title, but if Angel believed it was so, he had no reason to doubt her. He looked at his brothers and sister, and saw that having names, and a home, however temporary, had transformed them. They had always talked about how they were family, but tonight it was solidified. “Yes...Mozart,” the frog said graciously. “Thank you, Angel. For everything.” “Don’t thank me yet,” she replied with spunk. “We still need to figure out what this darkness is and stop it. Then we’ll have some thanks.”