(Warning: depictions of child abuse, inhuman practices, and torture, viewer discretion heavily advised.  Note: this part will be written in Adira's POV and she will be referred to as Subject 6801 since she doesn't get her name till after her rescue.)

"Good evening Doctor, I hope you don't mind me popping in for a moment"

"Not at all sir, I was just cleaning up, what can I do for you?"

"Well, I've come to see how the specimen is coming along, have you achieved any improvements to its behavior?"

"I'm afraid not sir, as you can see it needs to be heavily restrained to keep it calm."

"I assume it didn't work well considering it's sedated?"

"Oh no sir, it's just sleeping, we've had it in there so long it's learned to sleep standing up."

"Well then wake it up."

"Yes sir"

(keyboard clicking)

Command accepted, administrating a level 3 controlled shock

-----

6801's eyes snapped open as she felt the painful electricity shoot through her body, causing her to scream and yank on her restraints in a futile attempt to escape the demented wake-up call.  The shock only lasted a second but it still left her breathless, glaring at the two men staring into her cell.

"Aww, was the little kitty cat having a sleep," a man in a suit mocked, tapping on the reinforced glass that separated him from the blue-skinned girl in the padded cell, "well it's time to wake up, you're scheduled for testing here pretty soon."

"Uh Mr. Norman, need I remind you that Subject 6801 is no longer being tested on," the doctor pointed out, "you yourself banned any more tests after incident 34-M."

"I know that, Harrison," Norman spat, "I'm just trying to rile it up, see if our efforts in breaking it have yielded any results."

"I already told you they haven't," Harrison grumbled, "the food and water restrictions have only made it more aggressive and it is next to impossible to drug it without it moving and trying to attack the researchers."

6801 growled in her throat as she listened to the two men talking, it was torture in of itself listening to them babble about things she didn't even understand.  She couldn't do anything about it though, she couldn't move much and the pain in her legs from standing for days was more dominant in her mind, she couldn't even lift one leg to give it relief, she had too many shackles and the chains barely had any slack.

She tried to go back to sleep but pounding on the glass brought her to attention.

"Who gave you permission to go back to sleep," Norman barked, sounding more irritated now than before, "you useless experiment, the only reason you're still alive is because we need to create a new subject before you're terminated, so I suggest you enjoy your waking moments while you can."

6801 growled and thrashed around in her restraints, baring her teeth at the man to threaten him, all she wanted to do was maul his face and teach him a lesson.

Struggling detected, administering a level 5 controlled shock

6801 screamed even louder than before, her whole body seized up as the shock felt like it was ripping her apart, agonizingly long shock left the skin under her metal shackles raw and bleeding.  When it was done the child had to force herself to keep from collapsing as she listened to the laughter of the two men in the room.

"Oh my god you think it would learn by now," Harrison chuckled, "30 times in the past three days and it still struggles, so stupid."

"At least its stupidity gives us some form of entertainment," Norman said, "guess it's not totally useless after all, shock it again, I want to see how loud it can scream."

6801 whimpered in horror as the scientist smiled maliciously and walked to his computer to type the command, she squeezed her eyes shut to prepare for the next wave of pain when an alarm blared and red lights flashed.

Warning, security breach, facility compromised by law enforcement, initiate evidence disposal immediately

"WHAT," the man screamed, "how did they find us?"

"Sir what do we do, we don't have the necessary means to terminate the subject," Harrison exclaimed.

Norman wasn't able to give an answer as then the laboratory door burst open and people wearing bulky black clothes rushed in and held the two men at gunpoint.  6801 was shocked and confused, what was going on, why were the security guards pointing their guns at the two men and not at her.

"What is that," one of the security guards asked, "is that a countryhuman?"

"Oh god, it's a countryhuman child," another guard said, "Fredric, go get the Director, he's going to want to see this."

One of the guards left, 6801 was even more confused, the director was standing right there in front of everyone, who were they getting?  She watched as the scientist and his boss were put into handcuffs and taken outside, the new people, who she was beginning to think weren't security guards, just stood around and talked amongst themselves, seemingly unsure of what to do.  A few of the people tried talking to her, asking her questions while they tried to open the door to her cell, she just growled at them; confused, scared, and defensive is all she had learned to be, so that's how she would be with these new people too.

Several minutes later a new person came in, but this time there was something different, he wore the same bulky clothes and the same helmet covering his face, but two large things were sticking out of his back.  They were black, white, and blue, and had feathers like she had on her wings and tail, but they couldn't be wings, there were only two, wings come in fours, right?

"Sweet mother of Mandoria," the person said, horror evident in his voice, which surprised 6801, "what have these people been doing here?"

The person walked closer to her and she growled threateningly, making them stop, surprising her again.  Then, the stranger grabbed his helmet and took it off, 6801 stared in shock at what was under it.  His face was strange, it was multicolored but the colors and pattern were wrong, the right half of his face was all black with a strange red and gold pattern around his eye, while the left was split horizontally with the top half being white and the bottom was red, his left eye was weird too, the white part of it was black.

"Hey there sweetie, it's ok, I'm not going to hurt you," he said softly, which his tone of voice confused her, let alone what he said.  He placed a hand on the glass and smiled, it was a gentle smile, not the malicious ones she was used to, it creeped her out a little.  "What's your name honey, can you tell me that?" he asked.

6801 furrowed her brows in confusion, no one had bothered to give her a name, let alone ask her what it was, so why was he?

"That thing doesn't have a name," the voice of Norman said from outside.

The strange person's face changed to one that 6801 was much more familiar with, anger.  He turned away from her and nodded to one of the others he was with, to which they responded by going out and bringing in Norman, pushing him in front of the stranger.

"Do you have something you would like to share, Jeramy Norman," the stranger growled, his feathers standing on end.

Norman smiled and explained, "as I'm sure you already found out, we have been attempting to splice human and country DNA to create a brand new species, a hybrid, capable of challenging you fools so we humans can be free of your oppressive influences.  That abomination is just a failed creation, incapable of comprehending anything, it doesn't even know what a countryhuman is, what IT was meant to be."

6801 growled at his words and started thrashing around again, angry at Norman's words, however, she forgot what happens when she thrashes.

Struggling detected, administering a level 8 controlled shock

6801 realized too late what she did, but even if she could speak she didn't have enough time to call for help.  Her body was thrown around as the shock jolted through it, making her scream like she never screamed before, the pain was unimaginable and she mentally begged for it to stop.

"NO!!!!" the stranger shouted, slamming against the glass and watching helplessly as she suffered, "no stop, someone make it stop, it's going to kill her!"

A soldier ran out and dragged the scientist back in, forcing him to shut down the shocker.  It didn't stop electrocuting her until it was shut down, leaving 6801 hanging limply from her restraints and practically unable to breathe.

She could hear the familiar laughter that always came after every shock, but it ended too soon and was followed by a thud, she opened her eyes weakly and saw Norman lying on the floor holding onto his face, the stranger standing over him with his fist balled up.

"You are the most evil man I have ever met Norman," he roared, "laughing at the torture of a child, you don't deserve to be alive, I should just fucking kill you right here, right now."

"Go ahead," Norman taunted, "you haven't got the nerve but I would love to see you try."

"And give you a quick death, over my dead fucking body, I want you to suffer like you made that innocent little girl suffer.  Get him out of my sight, you know what, hand him over to General Mandara Army, I'm sure he would love to hear what you've been doing."

Norman's eyes widened in pure terror, begging for mercy as the soldiers dragged him away, but of course, those cries fell on deaf ears.

"You," the stranger barked, jabbing a finger at the scientist, "open the door and release her, now."

"S-Sir, I-I can't do that, t-the restraints are meant to prevent-"

"NOW!!!!"

Harrison whimpered and obeyed, typing on his computer to release the shackles around 6801.

Warning, command to release Subject 6.8.0.1 has been entered, are you certain you wish to proceed, failure to follow security protocols may result in injury or death to nearby personnel

"What?" the stranger asked

"I was trying to tell you that Subject 6801 is extremely aggressive and dangerous," Harrison explained, "it's restrained like this because it will attack anything that gets too close, and after incident 34-M when it killed two researchers it was scheduled to be terminated when we created a less aggressive specimen."

"Then it's a good thing we came when we did," the stranger growled, "open the door and release her, I'm not going to repeat myself again."

"Y-yes, sir."

Harrison typed a few more commands and a loud beep sounded, the chains detached from the walls and floor of the cell, letting 6801 fall to the floor, a red light above the cell door turned green and hydraulics released, letting the door slide open.

"Why didn't the shackles come off," the stranger asked angrily.

"They need to be taken off manually," Harrison whimpered, "it's a safety precaution, we can take one restraint off for whatever reason and it won't be able to attack."

He reached into the neck of his shirt and pulled out an ID tag that was hanging around his neck, he handed it to the stranger, "here, hold the barcode up to the screen on the restraints and it will unlock them."

6801 watched as the stranger snatched the card out of Harrison's hand and carefully walked up to the door, smiling gently and keeping his wings low to the ground.  6801 reacted how she always would when someone approached her, backing up on all fours, flaring out her wings, and hissing, her back arched and her tail feathers fanned out to make herself look as large and intimidating as possible.

"Easy, easy there, I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to help," the stranger said, he slowly lowered himself to his knees and remained in front of the door, not coming any closer, "I know you're scared, you've been hurt your whole life so you think that I want to do the same, but I promise I don't, I want to help you, I want to get you out of this place, that's all, I promise."

6801 remained tense, she was squished against the furthest corner and still growling, she was still in pain from the electrocution but she learned how to hide her pain very well.  It didn't seem to work with the stranger as he said, "you must be in a lot of pain right now, I had never seen someone survive such a shock like that, you sure are a tough kid aren't you."

"You know, I think I know what will make you feel better," he said, 6801 tilted her head as he reached into a pocket and pulled out a plastic thing.  He ripped into the plastic and revealed that it was one of those treats she would sometimes see the researchers eat, "here, it's a granola bar, you look quite skinny so I'm guessing you haven't had much to eat, it's not much but I'm sure it would be a nice treat, huh."

He held out the bar to her but she didn't move, she was suspicious and confused about his offering, no one had done that before, was it a trick?  The growling of her stomach spoke louder than her better judgment and she slowly inched forward, ready to attack or run if she saw anything she didn't like.

"That's it, honey, here you go," the stranger said, still holding out the bar.

Hunger drove 6801's mind so she didn't notice that he was reaching for her with his other hand, but when she heard a loud beep and a buzz on her neck she jumped and scurried back to her corner, growling and hissing in anger that she had been tricked.  That is, until the shackle around her neck fell off, it was still hanging from the chains that connected it to her wing shackles but it was off her neck, which surprised her.

6801 felt her neck, her hands had bags over them to prevent her from scratching but she could still feel the raw skin that was under the tight metal collar, it hurt but felt so good at the same time, it was a weird sensation not having something around her throat, but she liked it.

"That feels better doesn't it," the stranger said with a smile, "bet it's been a long time since you've had that off, right."

6801 nodded, she couldn't even remember a time she didn't have something around her neck.  The stranger broke a piece off the granola bar and threw it over to her, she stared at it for a moment but quickly snatched it and thread it through the holes in her muzzle and into her mouth, chewing it gratefully.

"You can have more if you let me take the rest of your restraints off," he said, "you want more don't you?"

6801 nodded again and slowly crept closer to the stranger again, still wary but willing to stay put long enough for him to take the shackles off.  One by one, the metal would fall off; her wings, tail, arms, they were all released and they all felt amazing to be freed.  At last came her muzzle, she growled a little when the stranger would reach for it, not wanting his hands close to her face.

"Come on now," he said quietly, "it's ok, I haven't hurt you before, I'm not going to do it now."

He tried to reach for it again and again 6801 growled, swatting at his hand and hissing.

"Please sweetie, I know you don't trust me yet, I wouldn't trust me if I was in your place, but I don't want to see you suffering like this anymore. I dare not imagine the hell you've been through and I don't think I even could if I wanted to, I just want to help you, to get you out of this hell hole and away from this life worse than death, but I can't if you're not going to trust me."

She looked up at the stranger, deep into his green eyes, they were so warm, she felt safe looking into them, like he really would never try to hurt her.  She whimpered in the back of her throat and lowered her head, closing her eyes to show that she trusted him.  Nothing happened for a few seconds but 6801 eventually felt hands touch her face where the muzzle straps were, she flinched and the stranger gently hushed her, speaking softly to calm her down until he finally slipped off the muzzle.

"There, all done," he said, "you did so good, I'm proud of you."

He handed her the rest of the bar and she wolfed it down, earning a chuckle from the stranger. "I guess you really were hungry, we'll make sure to get you something to eat when we get out of here."  He then started touching her ear tag and she growled again, she may trust him now but that doesn't mean she wants people touching her ears. "Sorry, guess you also don't like your ears touched, I'll remember that.  6801 though, was that what everyone kept calling you, is that your name?"

6801 nodded, she then saw something shiny on the stranger's outfit and yanked on it, making him chuckle again, "it's a nametag, it tells people what my name is like your ear tag, it says Poldara, can you say that, Poldara."

6801 blinked at the stranger named Poldara, say something, she didn't know how to do that, no one taught her to, the only thing she knew was to growl and hiss, so she responded by blowing a raspberry instead.

Poldara laughed and blew one back, and for the first time in her seven years of life, 6801 laughed, she surprised herself when she made that noise, she didn't know she could make it.  Poldara seemed to like it because he blew more raspberries and she kept laughing, she liked it too, it felt good to make the weird noise, it made her happy, she never felt happy, it was a nice thing to feel.

"You're so sweet, I don't understand how someone could treat you so horribly without being overwhelmed by guilt," Poldara said, "you deserve so much more than this, and I promise that I will give it to you, you'll never be abused or neglected again."

6801 couldn't believe her ears, she couldn't believe this was real, was she dreaming?  Tears started flowing as the overwhelming emotions piled up inside her, most of them she never felt before.  She threw her arms around Poldara in the only way she knew how to show affection, just crying like she never cried before.

She felt his arms wrap around her too and a quiet sob come from him, she looked up and saw that he was tearing up too.

"It's ok, I got you, I won't ever let anyone hurt you ever again," he muttered, "I swear on my wings that you will be loved and cared for, you won't ever have to live in fear, pain, or hunger.  As long as there is breath in my lungs and a beat in my heart I will protect you, no matter what."

"Poldara," a new voice suddenly came, "Poldara where are you, are you in here?"

"Yes Uncle, come here, there's something you need to see," Poldara called to the voice, then said to 6801, "there's someone I want you to meet, he's a countryhuman just like us, he won't hurt you either, I promise."

6801 felt him stand up with her in his arms, it scared her a little and she clung quite firmly in fear that he would drop her, but that thought was quick to leave when she saw a new person come into the room. 

He looked similar to Poldara but very different at the same time, his face had the black stripe but he also had three different colored stripes and four spiky things circling his left eye, which wasn't black but he seemed to only have the one, his right eye looked like it was hidden under some strange cover thing.  His wings were what really struck her attention, they had black arms like Poldara did but the long feathers had striped of red, blue, and green, and instead of white splotches he had four of those spiky things on his face lining his arm, just like the ones she had one her face and hands, no one ever told her what they were.

"Poldara, is that the hybrid Norman was talking about," he asked, his voice sounding uncertain, "and why are you holding it?"

"It?" Poldara repeated, his voice sounded angry and 6801 was confused about that, "Uncle how could you say that, this is not an it, she is an innocent little girl who never chose to be created and subjected to inhumane torture, she was chained up in that cell and would be electrocuted if she moved too much, she had been starved to the point that a granola bar was enough to 'tame' her, and don't even get me started on the wounds the tight shackles gave her.  This poor girl had been treated like shit her whole life and you don't even see her as a person, WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU!"

6801 yelped when Poldara shouted and hid her face in his shoulder, he took a moment to calm her down but she noticed that his wings were flared and feathers bristled.  She looked back to the new person looked utterly shocked and took a step back.

"Poldara, I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that," he stuttered, "I'm sure what you say is true, it's just, she could be dangerous if she falls into the wrong hands."

"Then it's a good thing she's in my hands then, Uncle," Poldara spat, "I would rather die than let her suffer more, from now on she is under my care and I will protect her from anything, even from you."

The uncle's face fell and his wings sagged when those words were uttered, 6801 was confused by the hostility, she didn't understand why the two were fighting but she didn't like it.  She squirmed around until Poldara put her down and she crawled over to the other winged person, he stepped back a little at first but stood still as she circled around him, sniffing him and rubbing against his legs to gather his scent.

"What is it doing," he asked.

"I don't know," Poldara responded, "and stop calling her it, it's degrading enough as it is."

"Sorry, I just don't- ow!"

6801 started pulling on his feathers, giggling to herself as he made funny noises.  He yanked his wing away and made her stumble back, she sniffled and whined that her toy was taken away and was just on the verge of crying when she was picked up again, this time by the uncle.

"Hey now, there's no need to cry," he said gently, "sorry that I yanked my wing away but it's not a toy, it hurts when you do that."  he pulled out a feather and handed it to her, "here, you can play with that, now we're both happy, right?"

6801 nodded as she fiddled with the feather, then gave him a hug too, she liked hugs, she never given one before but it made her feel safe to hold someone.

"Well, I guess the failed experiment likes you, huh Uncle MA," Poldara said mockingly.

"I'm sorry ok, I was just nervose was all," Uncle MA said, "you got me, she is very sweet, but people are going to be after her, not to mention the backlash from all the other countries and entities, we need to tell them eventually, they're not going to be as understanding as me, you know that."

"I do, but I'm not going to let that deter me," Poldara replied, "if I have to fight the devil himself to protect her I will, if the other's don't like her then screw them, she's under my protection now, and there isn't a damn thing they can do about it."

There was a moment of silence, 6801 turned to the adults to see what was going on, and eventually Uncle MA sighed.

"Well, if you're going up against the world, you're going to need some backup," he said, "but I'm not gonna be known as Gruncle MA."

6801 laughed at that word, earning a smile from Poldara, "I think you just dug that hole already.  Thank you Uncle, that means a lot to me."

"Yeah well, if I didn't have your back your dads would stuff a pillow with me if I let you get hurt, again," he then flinched and squeaked, "as long as this kid doesn't beat them to it, take it ... her back before I lose more feathers."

Poldara chuckled and took 6801 back into his arms, though she had a handful of yellow feathers from trying to take off the pointy spot on his wings.  The two eventually left the room and started walking through the familiar corridors of the facility, but when they went through a door 6801 was blinded by a bright light.  When her eyes adjusted they saw a whole new world, a huge place with green and blue, so many new sights, smells, and noises overwhelmed her senses and all she could do was stare in complete amazement.

"Guess you've never been outside before," Poldara said, "well there's plenty more where all this came from."

"Hey Blue-Jay, now that you're going to take care of her, what's her name going to be?" Uncle MA asked.

Poldara smiled, "well, I have a friend at work who's from Israel, he calls me this one word that I think is a perfect name for her.  Adira, it means strong or strong-willed in Hebrew, and after everything she's suffered through and managed to survive it, she more than deserves it." He turned to 6801, "what do you think honey, do you like that name?"

6801 stared at him, Adira, she never thought about having a name, the closest one she had was her subject number, she liked the sound of it and the idea of a name, she felt accepted and dare she say it; loved. 

She eagerly nodded and Poldara smiled, "well then Adira, welcome to the real world."

Adira smiled and hugged Poldara, the real world, she couldn't wait to see it, this was without a doubt, the best day of her life.

The End

(-or at least until part 2, in which we will be taking a look at how the other countryhumans "accept" Adira, but that is a story for another day.  If you made it this far, congratulations, I didn't expect anyone to, so thanks for sticking it out trooper.  I definitely let my sinister side take the wheel more than normal and if I triggered anyone I'm sorry but I don't regret anything and I won't change anything because someone is being a loudmouth.  That's it for now, we will definitely be seeing more of Adira, she's becoming one of my favorites, see ya in the next one)