Jeremy was so depressed he did not see the large anthropomorphic polar bear enter his cell. He was too busy moping, reading over his plea deal for the umpteenth time.
Jeremy's earlier meeting with the mysterious NSA man with dark sunglasses did not go as well as Heather's. There was no negotiating. He just plopped a large stack of papers in front of Jeremy.
"Sign this, " said the man coldly.
"What is it?" asked Jeremy.
Jeremy was already nervous. He felt like a prisoner in the Horizon Lab facility. They had placed him in one of the large containment cells that had been prepared in case something ever went wrong with one of the bigger uplifted animals. He felt tiny and insignificant inside the ridiculously large and heavily reinforced walls of the cell.
"It's your plea deal. Now stop asking questions and just sign it," said the man.
Jeremy began to scan through it. It mentioned something about a fine, but it also required him to plead guilty to smuggling and accepting a bribe. With a criminal record, Jeremy would be blacklisted. No respectable research company or university would dare to hire him. He would never be able to complete his research.
"Um, maybe I should get a lawyer to look over this first, " he said nervously.
The man smiled.
"You could. But that deal disappears the moment I leave this room. And I guarantee you will not get a better one. Do you have any idea how angry the people are out there? They want justice, someone to punish. Heather has a pretty good defense - she can blame her altered brain for her behavior. What is your excuse?" said the man.
Jeremy paled. The man walked up to Jeremy and patted him on the back.
"Listen, Dr. Green, this is a good deal. No one here wants to hurt you. The staff at Horizon Labs all speak very highly of you. They appreciate your work and would like you to continue that work, " said the man.
Then Jeremy understood everything. The plea deal would keep him out of jail, but force him to work for Horizon Labs for the rest of his life. He would virtually be their slave, with no other options for a career.
"But there has to be some kind of punishment. You must be held accountable for your actions in some way, " continued the man. "This is the best choice for everyone. You get a little slap on the wrist and you can go right back to work, with increased supervision, of course. It benefits everyone - even your little sister. Polly, isn't it? I bet she is eager for you to get back to your research."
Jeremy's fear turned to anger. The man backed away a little, realizing he may have pushed too hard and gone too far.
"Give me a pen, " said Jeremy coldly.
The man collected the papers after Jeremy signed, leaving him a copy to review.
"You won't regret this, Dr. Green, " said the man as he left.
Jeremy just sat down and pouted, running his hands through his wild hair as he studied the agreement. He was already regretting his decision. The deal seemed to get worse the more he read. He was going to be reassigned to Project Thylacine, forced to work with the monster Heather had become. His current project was put on hold. And he still had so much work to do.
Jeremy was still sulking and reading through the document when the large anthropomorphic polar bear walked up behind him and squeezed him, lifting him off the ground.
"Bubba! I am so glad to see you. I was so worried when you didn't come home yesterday," said the large polar bear with a little girl's voice.
"Easy, Polly. You are hurting me, " grunted Jeremy as his little sister continued to hug him.
She quickly dropped him.
"Sorry, Bubba. I didn't mean to," said Polly sadly.
"It's okay, Polly. I know you didn't, " said Jeremy as he hugged her back. Her warm, soft white fur tickled his face. "It's not your fault."
Polly was Jeremy's greatest success ... and his worst failure.
Jeremy's little sister had an incurable metabolic disease, one that was slowly killing her. A defective gene failed to produce an enzyme Polly needed to live. Her illness crushed Jeremy. He had practically raised Polly himself after their parents died at a young age. She was like a daughter as well as a sister to him and Jeremy couldn't bear to loose the only family he had left.
Jeremy had spent his life working on a cure for his ailing sister Polly. The only hope lay in gene therapy. Jeremy wanted to replace the faulty gene with an unbroken one from a donor. But his work in the field of transgenetic medicine had yielded only failure.
But that all changed when the Animalian virus outbreak occurred. Here was a virus that could successfully transfer genes between species! Jeremy saw an opportunity to help his sister and advance his research at the same time.
The closest animal match for the deficient gene in his sister was found in polar bears. But Jeremy didn't want to change his cute little sister into a hulking, hairy freak. Jeremy worked diligently to try to separate out the one metabolic gene he needed from all the other animal genes in the polar bear genome. The work was long and tedious, and Jeremy had little time. His sister was getting weaker each day. But after a few weeks, Jeremy was sure he had done it. He rushed his formula into testing, making sure that his sister was at the top of the list of candidates.
At first it seemed to be a success. Polly's health greatly improved as the new polar bear gene produced an enzyme that could substitute for her defective enzyme. But as time went by, Jeremy could see that it was not the only gene that had been transferred into her genome. Polly stared to grow bigger ... and hairier.... and more like an animal every day. Until finally she was a giant anthropomorphic polar bear, a hybrid of human and animal just like all the other Animalian victims.
Polly didn't seem to mind. She was just happy to be out of bed, no longer confined to a hospital. She thanked Jeremy profusely.
But Jeremy was devastated. He could not forgive himself for turning his darling little sister into a hideous freak. How could she live like that? She certainly wouldn't have a normal life, doing things kids her age should be doing as they grew up. How could she go to school, play games with friends, play sports, drive a car, shop for clothes in the mall, go to the movies or even date? He doubted there were many boys who would be interested in taking a polar bear to the prom! And what kind of future could she look forward to? What kind of job could a polar bear get, other than being an exhibit at a zoo? Instead of saving his sister's life, he had doomed her to a torturous existence as a monster.
So Jeremy poured himself back into his research, desperately trying to find a way to reverse the damage he had done to his sister. Unfortunately, his funding began to run low. There were just so many projects at Horizon Labs and they couldn't afford to waste large amounts of money on what appeared to be at best a losing venture and at worst a selfish personal crusade.
That was why Jeremy was an easy target for Heather. When she offered him a large sum of money in exchange for a sample of the virus, Jeremy begrudgingly accepted. Jeremy would have done anything to help his sister and the money would allow him to advance his research by leaps and bounds. He highly doubted that Heather - an art student - would do anything nefarious with it. Horizon Labs was already flooded with requests from people to uplift their pets or themselves. He didn't think it would be that bad to bypass a little red tape and let someone get bumped up to the front of the line.
But deep down, Jeremy knew it was wrong. He was lying to himself, trying to justify his bad behavior. But Jeremy also knew he really didn't care. He would have damned the whole world to save his sister.
"I don't understand, Bubba, " said Polly. "When you didn't come home, I was so worried. But when I came up here looking for you, the people said I couldn't see you. They said you had been bad and had to be punished. That isn't true, is it? You aren't bad!"
Jeremy sighed. The innocence and naivety of sweet Polly was part of why he loved her so much. It would break his heart, but he had to tell her the truth.
"No, Polly, I am not bad. But I did do a bad thing. And I deserve to be punished, " said Jeremy.
Polly pouted.
"Just tell them you are sorry. Then they will have to let you go home. I miss you! And I get so lonely at home by myself. It's so boring when you aren't there to play with me," said Polly. "I'll go tell them right now. You can apologize and we can go home together."
"I am afraid it doesn't work like that, " said Jeremy sadly. "I did say I was sorry. But they want me to stay here a little longer. Like a time out."
"But that's not fair, " said Polly, stamping a large clawed paw on the ground. "I want you to come home now. I'll make them let you go!"
"No, Polly. That is not a good idea. I will be home real soon. My punishment is almost over. Why don't you go home and get dinner started? You must be starving. We'll have your favorite tonight - a nice, fat seal," said Jeremy.
Polly's long tongue ran along the lips of her snout, salivating at the thought of all that juicy blubber.
"I am hungry, " said Polly longingly. "But you better be home soon!"
"I will be," said Jeremy with a warm smile.
The door to Jeremy's cell opened and two large members of the Rhino guard entered.
"Dr. Green, I am afraid we have to cut this reunion a little short. You are needed in the lab. Your new team is awaiting your arrival," said the guard.
Jeremy gave Polly a big hug.
"Go home, Polly. I will be back shortly," said Jeremy.
Polly returned the hug, squeezing Jeremy tightly. But he didn't complain this time. Then she turned and approached the Rhino guards. Even though she was just a child, she towered over them. Polly poked at clawed finger at the chest of one of the Rhino guards.
"You better be nice to my brother," she said. "He is not a bad man and he is very sorry!"
"Yes, ma'am," said the Rhino guard with a smile. "We'll take real good care of him."
Polly gave one last Harrumph, apparently satisfied with his reply. Then she waved goodbye to Jeremy and left his cell.
"Ready to go, 'Bubba', " said the Rhino guard sarcastically.
Jeremy sighed.
"Yeah, let's go. It's not like I have much of a choice, but we might as well get it over with," said Jeremy.
The Rhino guards led him down a series of corridors to a new facility. Judging by the size of the door to the lab, it had to be very large. Then again, if they were creating dinosaurs it would have to be. As the door to the lab opened, Jeremy was not surprised to find Heather waiting for him inside. He was pleased to find that someone had finally decided to bathe her. The noxious smell of her body odor had made him want to gag at their last meeting. And her new clothes seemed a bit nicer, even classier.
No, he was not surprised to see Heather in the lab. But he was surprised to find Sophie, the young girl she had attacked, standing beside her.
Heather smiled widely, amused by his shocked expression.
"Welcome to the team, 'Doctor'," said Heather gleefully. "Let's get to work!"