Dancing with the Wolf
It had already been half a year since I first started surviving inside the villain organization known as Black Cell. While I was desperately struggling to create some kind of escape route, an unexpected declaration came.
“From now on, don’t come to my room unless you need something.”
I had no idea why, but Gloria had suddenly drawn a firm line. It was a little bewildering, yet I chose to see it as an opportunity. Before her mood could shift again, I decided to try building trust with the other young test subjects.
“Grrrrrrrrk…”
“Still on guard today, I see.”
The mutant with wolf ears and a tail—Liberty—immediately issued a warning the moment I, clad in a hazmat suit, stepped into her room. Still, the fact that she wasn’t attacking on sight like our first meeting represented tremendous progress.
I had planned to take my time as usual, but every visit to Liberty's Cell made Gloria extremely upset. She would accuse me of smelling like something and pressure me to wash, to the point that I ended up showering more than four times a day. Sometimes I was even turned away outright.
“Ugh… Go wash again.”
When I asked what kind of scent she was detecting, she remained stubbornly silent. After consulting the other researchers, one theory emerged.
“That crazy little brat is basically a walking collection of superhuman-type abilities, isn’t she?”
“She probably has an enhanced sense of smell, too.”
“If that’s true, what a useless superpower.”
“Well, we already have someone who reaches full satiety after eating only half a meal, so I suppose we can just accept it.”
In the end, Gloria simply had the nose of a bloodhound. And so I began walking the path of atopic skin in exchange for cleanliness. Yet in return for sacrificing my skin, I gradually grew closer to Liberty as time passed.
“Huff huff huff…”
Now Liberty no longer attacked even when I stared straight at her; she had grown completely accustomed to me. Realizing the timing was perfect, I recalled her final monologue from the original comic. Even though her intelligence had nearly vanished in the future, at the moment of her death she seemed to regain clarity.
I just wanted to be petted…
Liberty was a mutant. From birth she had suffered discrimination and violence from countless people. After being captured, she endured experiments that could only be described as torture. In a way she was somewhat similar to Gloria, but unlike that extreme lone wolf, she appeared to suffer intensely from loneliness.
After turning that realization into my central axis and pondering the matter, I reached a conclusion: this girl truly craved physical affection. Of course I would still need to be careful since approaching her would likely result in an attack, but I trusted the hazmat suit and slowly drew nearer.
But sure enough—
Shrrrip!
“Bark bark!!!”
The instant I got close, she reacted violently. Her claws tore straight through the hazmat suit, sending pain shooting across my body. Yet if I backed down now, the distance between us would never close again. Enduring the sensation of being sliced by blades, I pressed forward.
The attacks grew fiercer, but once she was cornered the situation changed completely. Like a beast driven into a corner, pure terror flooded Liberty’s golden eyes and her whole body began trembling violently. As my hand slowly extended toward her, she squeezed her eyes shut—and in that moment I gently stroked her head.
Pat, pat…
“Whine?”
I simply petted her. Immediately her pupils dilated enormously and her tail began wagging furiously without pause.
“Yip… yip yip…”
Confirming that Liberty had calmed down, I let out a sigh of relief.
Having succeeded in petting Liberty, I wanted to stay longer in her cell. Unfortunately my body was in terrible shape; blood was flowing freely from multiple wounds. I decided to postpone deepening our bond and removed the ruined hazmat suit.
Slosh…
“Ugh… I guess there was a reason they locked her in the high-risk zone.”
She had only lightly scratched me, yet the damage was this severe? The protective suit felt practically meaningless. Still, being covered in blood counted as nothing more than “a scratch” inside Black Cell, so I was able to receive treatment in the Medical Room.
It seemed Liberty’s claws had gone deeper than expected.
“Mr. Maxwell… these are going to leave scars.”
“Then I suppose I should think of them as medals.”
“Since you received them from that beast, that might be appropriate. In any case, to minimize scarring you’ll need to do the self-dressing properly. I’ll show you how.”
The professional attitude of the medical staff made the place feel oddly like a normal company. But this was still the same evil organization where people were ground up and discarded every single day. While listening to instructions on disinfection, I also learned that new recruits would soon be arriving.
“Is the hiring season already here?”
“We’ve had so many deaths lately that they’re bringing in a large batch.”
These words came from someone in the medical division. It seemed an enormous number of people had already died. The staff member, apparently quite used to the situation, even cracked a joke.
“Looks like you’ll be getting juniors soon too, Mr. Maxwell.”
“That sounds a bit troublesome…”
“What can you do? It’s all experience.”
Just like any ordinary company, once the newcomers arrived the existing staff would have to act as mentors and teach them the ropes. I could only hope that sane individuals would be assigned under me.
After spending quite a busy period like that, the new personnel I had heard about finally arrived. Because so many rookies had joined at once, most research had been suspended to prevent major accidents. However, since I was responsible for feeding Gloria, I was naturally excluded from the pause—and ended up receiving only one junior.
“Nice to meet you!! I’m Amano Yume!!”
“Likewise, Miss Amano. I’m Maxwell Gray.”
Judging from her name, she was clearly Japanese. As I spoke with the newcomer whose name meant “dream,” I was surprised to discover that Amano already knew me.
“To think my senior mentor is Sir Maxwell!! It feels like a dream!”
“Do you know me, Miss Amano?”
“Of course!! Before you vanished from the public eye, you were called the genius of the century!”
That was exactly why Black Cell had gone to such lengths to recruit me. Unfortunately, the moment I entered this body, the brilliant intellect that had once belonged to the original Maxwell seemed to have evaporated completely. My memory of the original comic’s plot remained vividly intact, yet the towering genius was gone.
It was truly regrettable, but there was nothing I could do about it. Whenever I had time, I taught Amano various things. She was quite young and full of the energetic spirit of a new graduate; everyone around her seemed to view her favorably.
Yet Amano showed great interest in the work I was doing.
“Actually, I really love children!”
“Then why come to a place like this…”
“Hehe… The salary is insanely good, isn’t it?”
“I can’t argue with that.”
Amano, who had compromised with reality, seemed refreshingly honest about her desires. However, since she didn’t want to die, she never approached Liberty or Gloria herself and simply listened to the stories I told her.
After spending some time mentoring my junior Amano Yume and continuing to pet Liberty, I learned something surprising while researching our wolf mutant. I concluded there was no real difference between wearing the hazmat suit and not wearing it, so I entered Liberty's Cell with my bare skin exposed.
It seemed she harbored terrible memories of the protective gear. The moment I removed it, her aggression visibly decreased.
“Grrrrr… whine…”
“You really do prefer me without the suit, huh?”
As I kept stroking her head, Liberty’s wariness disappeared entirely. Far from attacking, she began actively enjoying my hand—so much that she pushed her own head into it. Before long she was climbing straight onto my lap.
However, I had absolutely no intention of removing her muzzle.
Chomp! Chomp!!
“Hey now, even if it’s frustrating, no biting.”
“Whine whine…”
Liberty kept making gestures like she wanted to bite me. It resembled the playful nipping of a puppy or kitten, but a beast was still a beast no matter how much she resembled a young girl. She continued to scratch me little by little, so I had to remain cautious.
With our relationship improving, I felt considerably more at ease. My workload had increased, but since this was all for the sake of the future, it was bearable.
Lately, however, whenever I visited Gloria she seemed unusually irritated. She kept sending strange glances at the bandages wrapped around my arms. Yet true to her taciturn nature, she never asked any questions.
Thanks to that, my exploration of Gloria’s power progressed remarkably smoothly.
“Oh? It’s not breaking anymore?”
“Indeed.”
Previously she had been completely unable to control her strength. Now she could grip even a thick glass cup without shattering it; she was handling her abilities with far greater freedom. The fact that she herself looked astonished told me this was truly good news.
Watching Gloria slowly expand her control instead of being devoured by her own power, I began to think she might become a hero rather than a villain in the future.
“If we continue progressing one step at a time like this, we’ll surely discover the true nature of your abilities, Miss Gloria. By the way, why are you staring over there?”
“No one’s staring.”
The Special Lab was designed so that people outside could see in, but those inside could not see out. Since Gloria possessed clairvoyance, she must have noticed someone watching. Judging from her reaction, it was probably other researchers who had come to observe.
Now that the experiment was over, I needed to return her to her cell. Not wanting to deal with unnecessary corpses, I tried to disperse the onlookers outside. But then—
What was this? A person with a strange, unsettling aura was staring at me with clear displeasure.