Scurrying down the hall, you breathed out unsteadily from the lack of oxygen being delivered to your lungs, once you made it to your destination, you loudly sucked in as much air as you could right after knocking on the door.

Watching it slide open to reveal a smooth, well dressed man with a white coat, the scientist leaned back and scrunched his face up in disgust seeing your dirty, sweat coated appearance, smiling friendly enough, you shoved the pile of papers in his direction, "I've completed my report on the sleeping habits of experiment number two thousand and twenty three!" Huffing and puffing exhaustedly, the other frowned awkwardly, "yeah, thanks"

Grabbing the papers and slamming the door shut on you, the way he treated you didn't bother you at all, considering almost all the scientists in the facility disliked you- they thought you were stupid.

Slowly walking away, you looked out the thick glass window in the hall and continued to move on casually, outside the sky was hazy with clouds varying with mixing greens and blues, the ground was hard and crusty, black as tar and barren of any flora, no animal was seen- the only movement was the toxic rivers streaming down the mountain in the distance like molasses, the whole wasteland was nothing but a lethal tundra of radiation.

Humming absentmindedly, you continued down to grab a quick synthetic coffee, even though the apocalypse destroyed much of the world in the span of a few hundred years, you were thankful that coffee was one of the surviving inventions of the peaceful days.

Humanity was to say- done for.

The earth wasn't sustainable for life- well human life that is, at least not anymore, and now that news spread that one of the final- if not the very last fallout center went kablooey, there was less then one percent of the previous human population remaining on earth.

Now your work was the upmost of importance, the creation of the new 'human' species was priority number one.

Knowing that people as they were now weren't going to make it through this epidemic, a group of highly standing scientists banded together to create a species that could survive this current earth and dominate it like the humans, and even the dinosaurs before once have- and then there was you.

You weren't a scientist, but a caretaker, you took care of the experiments created here and observed them, sending any information you found on them back to the top scientists for analysis, where they gave you orders to act on depending on your results.

"Oof!" Not having been noticing where you were going, you stumbled back and yelped in alarm, "ah! I'm sorry" head immediately bowing down in apology, you blinked in surprise seeing that it was only the co-head scientist, Monet.

Chuckling cutely, she straightened up her foggy glasses, smiling at you calmly, "it's okay (Y/N), you weren't paying attention to your surroundings, that's all" shrugging it off, you blushed at the ground and twiddled your thumbs, "ah, I'm so sorry Monet"

She chuckled, leaving you both to silence, just when you felt it was going to get awkward she spoke up, "by the way, the subjects are waiting for you, it's social Sunday I hope you know"

Eyes widening dramatically, you began to bolt down the hall, stomping down on the floor like a rushing bull, "fuck! I'm late they're gonna kill me!" Once you got to the elevator on the end of the hall, you jumped around in impatience while jamming at the button pointing down.

Once the elevator opened you leaped inside and smiled at Monet, "thanks for the reminder Monet, thank you so much! Byeee!" Excitedly waving her goodbye as the doors closed, she gave you a small smile with a short wave, "good luck down there!"

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Rushing through the security measures built to keep the chambers air tight, you entered one of the more heavily guarded areas of the lab- where they kept the subjects.

It was social Sunday, which was a weekly experiment to watch the various species interact with each other, originally the scientists wanted to find a single ideal brand of species to inherit the earth, but ultimately those plans scattered, with different departments working on different angles to cracking their long awaited DNA treasure trove.

Currently there were three successful subjects with different genetic codes made from the same original mutated DNA sample- and soon to be four.

You've been working hard to analyze each of the three and help assess whether or not they would be able to adapt to the wasteland outside- but social Sunday was when you assessed them for something completely different.

Whether or not they'd be able to co-exist with each other.

They were all made from the same DNA sample, but each of them were twisted along the way in various ways to become something entirely new- the scientists were hesitant to think they might see each other as competition and wipe each other out.

Luckily though, you were happy to report daily that they in fact interacted with each other as some makeshift pack- it was all quite fascinating, especially after overhearing some conversation between two scientists about hives and colony mentality.

Humming as a thin blush dusted your cheeks, you waited patiently as the door slid open, only to go rigid hearing screams and struggling.

Rushing into the chamber, you felt your own face twist in alarm seeing experiment number one thousand six hundred and fifty two, but you personally named him Kidd for simplicity- and that you felt uncomfortable with branding him as a number, you stumbled seeing him fiercely rattle his cage and snarl aggressively at his attackers.

Immediately shoving aside the two guards harming him with their voltage spears, you rushed up to the bars of his cage unafraid.

"Shh, shh, Kidd it's okay, they're not gonna hurt you anymore" smiling at the way the gigantic humanoid swiftly halted at your appearance, his bared, black, inky lips transformed into a loose, small smile, "(Y/N-N)..." struggling to pronounce the most defined syllables in your name, you smiled rosily, absentmindedly rubbing your hand soothingly over his large, metallic arm, allowing him to curve his large, scythe-like claws around your torso without actually being able to get a grip of you.

Kidd was the oldest living experiment, and the first successful attempt to create something that could stay alive for more than a few hours- despite his few deformities, the scientists have decided to nickname him 'the golem'- most likely from his gigantic, synthetic figure, though many of them avoided him as much as they could due to his dubbed 'highly aggressive behavior'.

It seems during the genetic processing stuff something was overlooked- and resulted in the creation of a physically indestructible, instinctively destructive, highly tempered, metallic golem.

But when you were around him, he was a huge fluffy sweetheart.

"It's social Sunday Kidd! Aren't you excited to get out of this tin box?! Are ya?! Are ya?!" Smiling down at you, he began to make small, antsy cooing noises in response to hearing the intense excitement in your voice, yellow eyes gleaming in happiness seeing the smile on your face.

"Would you stop treating it like some puppy?" Glaring back at the two guards who were just previously antagonizing Kidd, you merely huffed and turned away, "how many times have I told you not to hurt him? He's never done anything to you"

Fullbody turned to Jango with a sneer, "nothing? That beast was throwing a hissy fit while you weren't around, nearly got me with it's claws when I wasn't even doing anything!" Raising his hands in innocence, you didn't buy it for one second, "you were probably saying mean things in front of him again, I told you he's not stupid, he can understand us just fine- ain't that right Kidd?!" Nodding with a cute expression, you melted.

"Awe, Kidd! You're such a sweetie pie! Soon you'll be out of this place in no time!" Hearing that, the golem began to eagerly shake his cage- wanting to get out now, causing the room to creek under the pressure and the bars to make nervous screeching sounds, "now look what you did, he's going out of control! Stupid woman!"

Freezing up, the red golem growled low and soft, giving Jango a dangerous stare, "no.. she s-smart.." you smiled brightly at that, "Kidd! Your vocabulary is getting so good! Soon you'll be able to say super big words in no time!" Flushing into an even deeper red, the golem was unperturbed with allowing the two men to chain him up, too busy with getting lost in your eyes.

"Now be good okay? I need to go check on the other two" whining out at that, Kidd moved to reach out at you, but was cut short by his shackles, "easy buddy, I'll see you in the social room" waving goodbye, you watched as Kidd's cage was slowly rolled into a darker area of the lab, doors soon sliding shut behind him.

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Moving to the next chamber, you took in a deep breath to steady your heartbeat before entering, immediately being greeted by experiment two thousand and twenty three- you named him Law.

"Hey Law!" Giving him a soft smile, from inside his thinner, narrower cage, the creature turned to you and blinked in acknowledgement, giving you a short lived stare before turning back to the opposite wall.

Law was a later experiment that was focused on creating something that could specifically thrive in the toxic pools that infested more than half the planet, the result was surprisingly close to the average human male appearance, but he had scales, and gills, and faint patterns all over his skin, and sharp ass fangs- basically he was like an aquatic human- alike the mermaids early humans would fantasize about.

Law didn't show emotion too often- and who could blame him? Being kept in a cage in a stark white room the majority of his life, though it did make you feel bad, you reasoned that it would all be worth it when he was ready to go out and conquer the New World with the other two.

Walking up to his cage- much to his guard's dismay, the raven haired creature gave you a one eyed glance, silver orb thinning into a stripe momentarily before his nictitating membrane slid over his eye and disappeared just as fast.

"Hello (Y/N), I'm glad to see you in a good mood" Law was notably more literate than Kidd, you've even heard scientists marvel over his ability to solve decently challenging equations.

It sometimes made you curious- how smart was Law? But you never really wanted to ask either, considering that must have been what the basis of all the experiments the scientists put him through every day.

"It's social Sunday Law!" Humming loudly in response, one of the frills coating his gills flickered to your amusement, making you smile even more, "okay, okay" being shoved aside, Law immediately focused all of his attention on you, stabbing knifes into the man who pushed you with his eyes, "let's get this over with freak, come on"

Hissing defiantly, Law moved further away, opposed to getting closer for the demeaning insult, "treat him with respect! He's not a freak!" The guard whirled on you, glaring hard into your eyes, "listen-" gripping hard on the collar of your coat, he was about to lift you up when an unsettling hiss erupted from the cage.

Turning to Law, your eyes widened drastically seeing his fangs completely bared- now that he was trying to get as close to you as possible you could see them glint in sharpness, his silver orbs were dark and narrowed, and the tiny frills on his head flared up in warning- creating the illusion that his hair was standing on end, instantaneously causing the man to back off, "Jesus!"

"Easy, easy, it's okay Law, I was gonna kick his ass anyway" soothing the other down, the other's facial expression melted back to one of indifference, monotonously keeping calm as the guard frightfully shackled him up for transport- as you petted him soothingly, you didn't notice the soft pink tinting his cheeks.

Staring at his patterned scales absentmindedly, you gave him a soft smile, reaching through the bars and cupping his cheeks, sneaking your pinky under his chin to play with the frills sprouting from his chin- you smiled seeing that made the mutant hum, "now be a good boy and wait okay? Kidd will keep you company in the social room till we get there"

Walking away, now seeing that he's seemingly lost interest in the conversation, the other sat back down and allowed his guard to push his cage away, subtly staring at your retreating form with a blush until you were out of sight.

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"(Y/N)!" Smiling at experiment four thousand and nine, you watched him try to climb onto the walls of his glass cage without success, "hey Luffy!"

"(Y/N)! (Y/N)! (Y/N)!" Grinning widely at him jumping up and down, you smiled at the young humanoid.

Luffy was the most normal looking result- and the friendliest too, which made your relationship quite fun and perky, though like you, the scientists didn't quite like Luffy.

He was originally dubbed a failed experiment.

A while after the four thousandth experiment, they began to focus on creating a female, after all, no matter how many males they created, without females how would their population stabilize? Not to mention they were beginning to get testy to start reproduction based experiments- most likely wanting to finish this masterpiece as soon as possible.

But during Luffy's creation, there was an accident within the process- an unpredictable incident, and Luffy the female turned male was born.

At first the scientists were thinking it to be best to put him out of his misery like the majority of their failures and dissect him for more DNA tests, but then they discovered that Luffy was their most adaptable creation yet- with a distinctive unique genetic code that gave him the highest chance of survival out in the new world.

As such, finding him too important for progress, they kept him alive as another male.

"Pretty (Y/N)! Lovely (Y/N)!" Blushing at the compliments, you always wondered who the hell used such language in front of the innocent minded mutant.

"Hey Luffy! It's social Sunday!" Hooting in excitement, the rubbery boy bounced against the walls, shooting around like a ball in his container, watching him do so, you couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if Luffy came out female as intended.

"I'm gonna play with Kidd! And Torao!" Nodding along with him, his several guards cautiously began to open the seals around his glass container, preparing to shackle him up for the transport.

"I'm sorry Luffy, it must be so bleak being all alone all the time" the other stilled for a moment, uncaring as he allowed the guards to secure the shackles on him, "nah, being alone is kinda okay sometimes- but being alone with you would be better!" Giving you a bright smirk, you shied away, not exactly understanding the intensity in his gaze.

"Ah- well that's- that's sweet Luffy" nodding happily, the teen began to press himself quite harshly onto the glass, "I mean it! I wish I could be with you all the time (Y/N)!"

Flushing even deeper you turned away, "o-okay Luffy, time to go to the social room now" watching as his cage was slowly brought into a different chamber for a safe transport to the other containment chamber, you smiled and began to head for the aforementioned social room, smiling warmly at the raven haired boy in fondness.

"See you soon!" The doors boomed once they clamped shut, leaving Luffy in a dark corridor that led to various areas of the lab, plopping onto his ass and sitting down quietly, he continued to stare in the direction where he last saw you, memories of you still running fresh in his head.

The smile on his face couldn't grow any fonder.

"See you soon, queen" he softly whispered with a loving chill.

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Taking in a final deep, full breath of relatively fresh air, you hastily pulled on your protective suit and connected your gas mask to your tank of breathable, healthy air.

Forcing out the loud screeches of the sirens, the gates to the social room opened up slowly, allowing you to walk in before it slowly sealed shut again.

Sitting on a nearby rock, you smiled as you pulled out your camera and notebook.

Law was typically floating about in a miniature version of the toxic pools outside, swimming around in the ghastly substance as if he couldn't feel anymore at ease, dare you say he was tranquil.

Turning to the other two, you blinked watching Kidd persistently grind his claws into a particular area of the artificial hill- reminding you of just how sharp they were seeing how easily he stripped away pieces of the metallic dirt that was tough as steel, Luffy sat on Kidd's hunched back- blatantly unafraid and indifferent around the other- evidently eager for whatever Kidd was doing to finish with the way he hopped on his shoulders.

Taking a photo of their interaction, you wrote notes down.

As time went by, Law noticed your presence and stared at you from his puddle, half of his face hid in the acid, resulting in you only being able to see a pair of eyes on the surface, and not the tiny smirk he possessed underneath.

Waving at him, the other blinked before diving out of view, leaving you to watch the other two.

A few hours have now gone by at this time, and Kidd has finally dug so far into the hill that it could now be considered as a tunnel, a part of you wanted to see what Kidd was doing inside- but another part of you reasoned that was against the rules.

You were only supposed to watch from a distance, you couldn't interfere with their interactions, looking to Luffy, you smiled watching him hop around and do all sorts of silly things to gain your attention- knowing that if he tried to approach you then you would leave- and you periodically noted how the boy would carefully glance around, as if he was on the lookout for something.

Looking through your photos, you thought that you've gotten all you needed for this week's report and packed it up, now just leaning back and enjoying the way they moved around.

Honestly you wished you could let them roam in here all the time, but the scientists didn't like keeping them together for too long, and your clean supply of oxygen would be running thin soon.

On cue, men dressed in white, skintight hazmat suits appeared with their cages and chains, "psssh, time for the experiments to return, psssh" willingly stepping out of their way, Law surfaced during all the commotion and Kidd emerged from his self made cave.

At first they shrunk back from the men with hesitant scowls, but ultimately Kidd glanced at you and gave himself up first- the other two reluctantly following afterwards.

Once they were all secured, you gave them all a weak smile, one they all waved back to.

Leaving the social room, you wrestled yourself out of your suit and sucked in the air around you happily, nothing was greater then the air ventilated throughout the lab.

Entering the elevator with the intention of going to write your report in your room, the metal box slowly droned up before jerking to a halt, and another scientist entered.

"Ah, (Y/N) I've been looking for you" straightening up, you rigidly stood as straight as a pencil and gulped, it was the head scientist Caesar.

"Master Caesar!" Giving him a short bow, the other man glided next to you and sighed, "so how were they today?" Blinking at the question you thought back to the highlights of their activity, "Kidd was clawing at another spot again- and it's like a little cave now" humming smugly- as if he expected as much, he grinned.

"Just as I thought! The golem is building a network of tunnels, which means.." glancing to you, sweat began to form on your back seeing him stare at you intently, "u-um" "(Y/N), you are now relieved of duty"

In that moment the elevator doors opened, but you weren't paying enough attention to take a step out, "..what?" The raven haired man sighed annoyed, "I said, you're fired, go pack your stuff up and leave" Your stomach dropped in dread.

What?!

"S-Sir I don't understand?" Groaning out in irritation, Caesar got into your face and cornered you in the elevator, "here, let me explain it to you so there's no way you can't understand me, we don't need you anymore" you wilted.

"Those, 'caves' the golem is creating are the beginning networks of a hive! A nest for a colony! Which means he's finally reached reproductive maturity! The sludge diver and rubber menace have already reached that point, which means all three of them are now merely waiting for a queen!" You blinked in wonder at all the information being thrown at you, a queen? "You mean the female that's currently forming?" Caesar lit up at that, "yes! That female is to be the queen! And once we introduce her to them, they shall become her faithful soldiers- if the experiment turns out like it's supposed to, then they will be completely imprinted on her, but-" pointing down at you accusingly, he began to walk away, "with you- a foreign female around, your presence will confuse their mating patterns, and the female is bound to be complete in less than a week now, as such, you are not needed anymore, simple as that"

Dropping to your knees, Caesar exited the elevator, waving you off as he moved to where his lab was, "pack your things and leave your data in your room, you'll be gone next morning" the elevator slammed shut on you, leaving behind an empty hum of the ventilation system.

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Timidly packing away your few clothes, you teared up again, having already cried a few times by now.

You were as good as dead- well you knew from the beginning you weren't going to have a full life but, you didn't want to die yet.

After being kicked out of the lab, you would have to try your chances out in the New World- which you knew was practically an indirect execution, there was nowhere left that was habitable, best case scenario- you would slip and melt instantly in a toxic pool, then the worst case scenario- you died a painful death through radiation poisoning.

Choking up once everything made its way into your single suitcase, you collapsed onto your naked mattress and began to sob, you knew this was it for you, but at least this meant that those three would be free soon- once the scientists got a positive response with the female, it would be their time to rule.

"A-At least those three-ree w-will be okay" you sobbed yourself to a dreamless sleep.

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In Kidd's chamber, the gigantic golem watched the small, evil creatures dressed in white flowing gowns rush by from across the blurry windows, absentmindedly scratching his larger claw against his cage, he found his thoughts returning to the lovely female that cared for him.

He missed her, he wanted to see her lovely (E/C) eyes gleam, her smile broaden before it transitioned into a wide grin, he wanted to always see her happy.

He wanted to make her happy.

Glancing at the two male creatures- or he assumed they were male since their body structures looked awfully different from (Y/N)'s- the redhead wasn't rightly sure, but he didn't bother to listen in on their conversation, too eager in wanting to lose himself more to thoughts of the lovely female.

"-(Y/N)?" That was until he heard her name, then he focused completely on their conversation.

"Yeah! Master Caesar finally gave that bitch the boot! Since the female project is coming up soon, they got rid of her so the freaks could focus on banging their 'queen'" grinning widely, Fullbody elbowed Jango in the side, "finally that crazy bitch is gone! No more miss bossy!"

(Y/N)- gone- female project- queen-

Kidd felt his head slowly piece together the information given to him, at first he wasn't quite sure at what he heard- having not understood a majority of it, but then suddenly a light of brilliance flashed in his mind, and everything abruptly clicked into place.

(Y/N) was gone, because of some female project and something about another queen.

Feeling his blood hammer throughout his system, Kidd felt panic overtake him, his breathing becoming jagged and feral, eyes blowing up in ferocious alarm.

(Y/N) was going off on her own- alone, (Y/N) was going away from the nest- from the lab, on her own, without him, or any of the other two, there was nobody around to protect her-

"(Y-Y/N)!" Gripping onto the tiny, tightly clustered bars as firmly as he could with his gigantic claws, the two guards fell back in alarm at the sudden explosion of his temper, "w-what the?!"

"(Y/N)!" Now rattling the cage more frantically, the golem shook it almost violently, causing the bars to nearly bend under his strength, "o-oi! If he keeps that up!-" "(Y/N)!"

Snarling in anger, the golem continued to struggle, but to no avail the cage wouldn't snap- and then resorted to trying to break the lock through the outside by wrapping his arm around the space in between the bars, scratching at it messily.

"Call reinforcements!" Whipping out his voltage spear, Fullbody began to jab at the experiment urgently, causing Kidd to reflexively bat Fullbody harshly, and without fully realizing the gap between his own strength and the creature assaulting him- it resulted in the man crumpling onto the ground, a small pool of blood forming below his head.

"Aie!" Frightened by the display of savagery, Jango pulled out his own voltage spear as self defense and began to desperately shove at the buttons, dialing urgently for help.

"Hey! Hey! We have a!-" not being able to finish, Kidd spotted the voltage spear in his hand and attacked out of fear, causing Jango to fly into the opposite wall with a sickening splat before ultimately falling over as well.

"Hello?! Hello?! Containment centre no. 2 what is happening down there?! Hello?!" Kidd looked down at the mess he made and began to fidget stressfully- he couldn't get out, how could he get out?

"(Y/N)!" Hoping inside the female would answer his call, the golem felt his heart shutter in anxiety hearing nothing in response.

There had to be a way out- he jolted in shock when something sleek reflected light into his eyes, looking down at the culprit, he blinked slowly seeing something flat poking out of Fullbody's pocket.

"Here, you stupid beast, go play with the other two" pulling something out of his uniform, Kidd watched the creature poke something in the lock, causing it to glow green before jolting in response.

Pushing hesitantly on the cage door, to his amazement it slid open.

Blinking lazily at the memory, slowly and steadily, the golem delicately reached down to grab the small plastic card, he nearly snapped it a few times at first, feeling frustration grip him as he fumbled with it but- "ah" yellow eyes widening in awe once he had a fragile grip, the mutant carefully moved it to the lock.

'Click' seeing the green glow, the beast felt his body jitter before letting out a ferocious, unrestricted roar of urgency.

"(Y/N)!"

His queen needed him.