Astral woke up on a metal table. His eyes widened. He tried to escape, but his limbs were immobile. Lights above him were really bright, and they blinded him.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" one woman asked. She had soft eyes, and she looked nice.

Astral knew she wasn't to be trusted, though. He didn't answer; he was too scared.

"Just relax," she said with a smile. "The doctors will be here in a moment. They're just going to do a check on how your body functions." She produced a needle once again. "It's boring waiting. This'll help you."

~.~.~

Astral woke up to a horrific experience.

They strapped him down onto a lab table. They made sure he was securely tied down so that he wouldn't escape.

"Now, what part of it shall we study first?" one asked, readying the tools that Astral feared.

Astral's eyes widened. His breathing grew short. It's starting!

~.~.~

Black Mist woke up in a metal bed as well. The only difference was that he was tied down. Apparently, the humans in white knew that he could sleep off any drugs that prohibited movement. Maybe they did tests on him.

What a disturbing thought...

Black Mist looked around, but he saw no one. He took the chance to summon his tentacles to break the metal that was keeping him from moving, but he could not for some reason. Then, he tried brute strength, but that failed as well.

Damm it. What the hell did they put in me to prevent me from doing this?

Suddenly, two men in white came in. They had lethal-looking tools. Black Mist braced himself for what was coming. He promised himself that he would not give them the satisfaction of his screams.

~.~.~

Astral thrashed around, trying to get free as soon as he saw one of them holding a scalpel. One of the white coats brought it over to him.

"Now, don't be afraid. We just want to see what's inside of you. I promise not to strike anything that would bring you harm."

Astral didn't believe him. Where was the nice woman? Of course, Astral didn't trust her either.

The scalpel slid into the of his clavicles, slicing through the layers of muscle. Astral screamed in pain, and electricity sparked all around his body, causing the scientists to back off.

"Give him a drug that'll stop those powers at least for the moment!" one demanded.

The other one injected the drug, and the electricity stopped. Not Astral's screams, though. The scientist slid the scalpel lower until he stopped at the bottom of his abdomen. He made the I incision and opened him up.

~.~.~

Black Mist stifled a scream of pain as the scalpel dug into his flesh. He arched his back as far as he could, but they held him down.

"Keep him from moving," one of the people said. "We need him still."

Hands pinned him down as they made an incision from his chest all the way down to his stomach. By then, he passed out.

"Couldn't handle the pain, huh?" one said as he opened the cut. "I suppose the drugs we gave him weakened his tolerance to pain."

"Oh, well," the other one said. "It's best of he's unconscious. After all, this will take a while." He took a look inside, and he was surprised at what he saw. "The heart is black. So is the blood."

"Yeah."

~.~.~

Astral woke up in some kind of cell. It was padded with a bed for two, so it was somewhat comfortable.

His abdomen started to hurt badly.  He felt his stomach lightly, and he felt a scar like an I.

Black Mist was thrown into the room that Astral was in. To Astral's horror, Black Mist was severely damaged.

"Black Mist?" he called. He shook his brother's shoulder. "How badly did they hurt you?"

Astral grabbed Black Mist's shoulders and rolled him onto his back. He gasped when he saw that he had the same "I" incision from his collar bone to the bottom of his abdomen as Astral.

Astral turned to the people in white. "What have you done to him!?" he screamed.

As usual, they ignored him.

Astral hugged Black Mist tightly. He crawled to the back of the room as the people in white closed the door. The room became completely black. The only light in the room was his own dimming light.

Astral lit a small fire to cast more light. The heat enveloped the room quickly. His breathing became ragged with fear. He knew that the people in white would come back to experiment on him.

Black Mist woke up. "Astral...? Where...?"

Astral hushed his brother. "Don't talk. They'll punish us." He was sure of it. "L-let's get some sleep."

He led Black Mist to the bed, and they slept in an uneasy slumber.

~.~.~

The door opened, causing the twins to wake up. There were more people in white coats at the door.

"Take the blue one," one demanded. "Let's see what he can do."

Astral caught his breath and clung to Black Mist's arm. Black Mist higged his brother closely in response.

"Like hell you're getting your hands on him!" he growled. He tried to summon his tentacles, but the drug was still in effect.

"How cute," a woman said. "He wants to protect his brother!" She smiled.

"Don't let them take me," Astral whispered, clutching Black Mist's arm tighter. "Please don't let them."

Black Mist felt angered that they were making Astral feel this way. He glared at them, wishing there was something he could do.

Suddenly, they sprayed a gas into the room. Both twins blacked out.

~.~.~

Astral awoke in a white room. It had a single chair, and he was sitting in it. His arms were strapped on the arm rests, and his ankles were tied together and pinned to the chair. There were some kind of plugs attached to his temples, forehead, and chest. Beside him was some kind of monitor. On it, a steady beep, beep signaled his heart rate.

"Subject 121, can you hear me?" a voice called.

Astral looked around rapidly, looking for the source of the voice.

"Ah, so you can. Now, I want to see if Doctor John Smith gave you any telekinesis. He tends to love that kibd of stuff. Now, with your mind, I want you to fend off this attacker."

A door opened, and a deadly-looking machine rolled in. It had blades for hands and a menacing stature. The beeping of the heart monitor increased its speed.

Suddenly, the machine attacked. With a yelp, Astral looked away. The loud creaking of metal bending and breaking filled the room. Astral looked back, and he saw the machine bent and twisted.

"Interesting."

They ran more tests on Astral all day, all mental tests. They even put him to sleep and took a look inside of his brain using a scanner. What they saw was fascinating.

The brain was firing signals like crazy. It was working harder than the smartest human brain. It even had a place that seemed to absorb certain things.

"Wow. Doctor Smith certainly knew how to make an artificial life form," one commented.

"I agree. I wonder how he managed it."

When they were done, they woke Astral again. He was in another cage, separated from Black Mist. All around him was more creatures. They looked like a mixture of humans and animals. Some of them had many arms, others had wings, others had scales, and they all were abnormal. All looked miserable.

These must be more illegal experiments, Astral concluded. I had no idea that other people did this!

A/N: This is also for Smoothmilk's birthday ^^ It's a special chapter!