Lan Feng closed the book on chinese philosophy and frowned slightly, furrowing his brows, as he glanced at the patient file in front of him.
~So, this little one dreams of being a tiger, huh?~ he chuckled slightly, as he picked up the documents again.
Looking at the picture, her features seemed listless and her eyes seemed to hint at a weak willed person. Studying the picture a little more, she was not ugly, but very rough at the edges, hinting at a life of poverty.
~A stray cat. Very much so.~
A small sneer formed on his lips, but vanished as he turned pensive. He had seen her around, probably. Not many mutated DNA Subjects survived the treatment. And now it was her turn to mentally destabilize, like the rest of them. A failure?
The research showed a little promise though. Compared to other mutated DNA patients, she did not turn overly rabid or hostile. Her brain waves had shown improvements, and the killer instincts were suppressed while awake.
Nodding, he looked over the test results again. It was indeed an improvement in the results. But there seemed to be a problem in mental health. Or was that the Instincts?
A knock on the door, and two research assistants – or more like the wards of the mental patient area led the woman inside. Lan Feng nodded to them and they retreated, after placing her on the chair.
She was not restrained, what was a positive sign.
The researcher hoped that there would be no need to restrain her during the talk.
She obviously would see him for the first time today, but he felt a slightly familiar atmosphere, for he had been studying her documents since a long time, in preparation for treatment, when she turned rabid, like other genetically mixed or ‘improved’ subjects.

“Good afternoon, Harriet.” his calm baritone voice was like a cool wave on the ears. “I will ask you the usual questions, as you may know from other treatments, but maybe there is something you would like to tell me first?” he inquired, while analyzing the woman’s actions and movements carefully.
~Even a tiger can pretend to be a sheep. Or a stray cat.~ This timid personality might as well be a mask of disguise.
There were patients, that jumped up trying to harm the researchers or themselves. His scar on his left temple was a remains of one incident, where a patient feigned his death in order to escape.
Lan Feng had been the unlucky coroner. From that point on, he would not turn his back on even dead subjects, carefully immobilizing the bodies before doing his work.

________________
² Modeled after the musings of "Zhuangzi", a chinese Philosopher. Quotation from https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Zhuangzi

Harriet looked nervously at the man who was about to ask her a bunch of questions. She was unsure of what he wanted her to say. She was scared, she felt like she was stuck in this place, since the mutations kept coming more and more. First, she had gotten a tail, then, cat ears. Maybe she could pass off the looks as a costume, but what if someone tried to pull them off? They would see they were very real indeed. That, and the security here was tight. She wasn't getting out of here even if she wanted to.
"I...am not sure what you mean? Do...you know something about me? Do, you know what is happening to me? The dreams do you know about the dreams?"
Really, the veil between reality and the dreams were so thin. She often dreams of the past, when she was still living on the street and alone.
"You can't know about the dreams, no..no you can't."
She was rather mad because of them, her mind was getting worse and worse. She was not sure you were there even. She reaches out to touch you gently.
"You are not a dream, I can feel you here. Why do you want to ask me so many questions? I am nobody, nobody at all. Worse than nobody."

~Hrm, not one of the worst mental states I've seen, but still pretty bad. A case of paranoia, reailty-drifting and very low self confidence.~ was the first impression.
Lan Feng did deal with any kinds of mental issues, but personally this combination was one of his least favourite.
He was not keen on dealing with this, but she was the only promising subject so far.

Ignoring the desire to either jump back or swat her hand away, he allowed her to touch him. Instead he suppressed his streak of misogyny, as he used her reached out hand as a leverage to take it calmly to guide Harriet to the chair she had stood up from as soon as the two 'bodyguards' had left, and sit her down properly this time.
Even a fool could see how jumpy she was, and as a professional, he would not make it worse with his own behaviour. However, in his eyes, this was basically a research subject. A Cat-DNA imbued female with lots of mental issues.
Breaking it down, he had seen so many bodies in his lifetime, that he could even draw in his mind how her mutated ears and tail were connected and included in her body. He might even take a guess what would appear next, or event try to prognose if the fur or the whiskers would appear if she mutated a little more...
"Yes. I know about most of it." he continued speaking calmly, but inside he was sarcastically remarking each of his carefully placed sentences.
"First, my name is Lan Feng." He looked at the patient with a slight smile, putting a little professional warmth into it, just about as much as a cold and stoic person would be able to manage, without looking insincere.
~ Hah the usual approach, you hypocrite ~ Some females might fall at this sight, others would be indifferent, but there had been no negative reaction to his words and mannerisms up to this day.

"Second, I can say I have seen many situations like yours. Also the dreams."
~Yeah, you hypocrite, because we actually intend for those changes to happen. ~
He sat down in the seat opposite of her in a carefully relaxed position and placed his hands on his legs, trying to get the patient to relax more as well.
"Third, I will not ask many questions. You need to tell me on your own, Harriet. I am not a mind reader, so I can only help you if you are honest with me."
~Hah your hobby is just analyzing brainwaves and interpret them. As far as science is concerned this is mind reading.~
His sarcasm in his thoughts had no place in normal conversation.
Lan Feng didnt know why, but he expected more from this one than the boring routine. Her personality did not seem staged at least - or maybe he had not looked deep enough into the data yet.

He seemed to be kind, her dreams haunted her and she felt that telling him maybe would help her. But, how would he know of her past? Did he know if she actually killed people or not? This place was like a prison to her. Maybe she was here because of that. She hardly remembered volunteering to be here. Her mind was fuzzy, the only thing that was clear was him and the dreams that seemed to meld into reality.
"I have a gun...I have a gun in my hands."
She said, making her hands in a gun shape like a child would. Her mind was so disturbed, she was thinking like a child.
"I shoot someone. I see blood, so much blood. I see them dead. I see them dead and I killed them. It...it was my parents. I killed them. I was mad, I was mad and I killed them."
She wasn't the one who killed them, but someone else. She had hid and saw her parents being killed. It was like a memory stuck in her mind. Why had they gotten killed though? Who had really done it?
"So much anger..."
She gasps.
"They had so much anger for them."
The way she spoke, it was like the dream out her in someone else's body. She had seen the scene of the killing through the killer's eyes.
"The anger scares me, these dreams are hard to talk about...I am always killing people in them though. Always killing."
She closed her eyes shaking.

Lan Feng grinned a little at the childish gestures of his 'guest' , but he transformed that grin into a soft smile as she looked at him again.
"Its okay." he replied in a soft voice. ~Well I dreamt of killing my parents daily, at some time in my life. But thats not therapeutical enough. Hah.~ he added inwardly, listening to her explanations.

"Dont let the dreams confuse you." ~Later you probably will be like all the other sheep in the flock, greedily wanting more dreams, anyway.~

As he usually did, he stood up and was behind her chair in a moment, pressing his hands on her shoulders, softly but with a tight grip. She had been given another dose of medicines before the visit probably, to loosen her tongue a little.
But he wasnt informed of this! What control-freaks. Lan Feng took note to force them to give the medication rights to him, for this one. Did they want to break them all or actually make a progress? Ah yeah, there was an animal-phobe in that team, no wonder the mutants would die or go crazy first... He remembered the guy, he saw him torturing another stray once. Not a very clinical sight with all that splatter. But for now Lan Feng needed to concentrate on the one before him.
Softly, as to not interrupt her recollections, he whispered to her:
"Try to relax and observe the situation. Dont be afraid of it. Its just a dream, no? What do you do, how are you dressed, what time is it, and what is around you.. - concentrate on these details. Dont let emotions flood you." he guided his patient, coaxing her softly.
~Emotional ones are the hardest to deal with~ he sighed inwardly, as he touched the shivering one.
But he might believe her innocent act, who knows? Though, Lan Feng was still wary. All of the patients were potential killers. Or they were already killers with potential.

She smiled, it was easy to relax with him...but the medicine,..was giving her a bad reaction..it was making her remember the dreams in vivid detail. More than she wanted.
"In every dream I look different, but..it is mostly men...it..seems to be a group of people that I dream about. They all wear, well...kind of like clown outfits. It is very strange for what they are doing. All the killing. You wouldn't think a clown would do something like that. Right? Clowns are funny. But, they aren't...they aren't at all. They are psychotic. They torture people...experiment with people...they don't care about anyone. They don't even care about each other really. But..there is one strange one...in love with the leader of them. She is the loving one. She really doesn't belong with them."
With how her eyes moved, you can see she really related to the woman she was talking about. It was hard for her to relate to the others.

~A clown?~ Lan Feng frowned inwardly and raised an eyebrow. ~Trust issues, being afraid of being foolish infront of stranger's eyes, or an alltogether negative relation to clowns.~ He combed his mind for possible triggers of clown-dreams.

Suddenly, he could not suppress a grin. Luckily he was facing her back.
~I see.~
The 'clowns' were probably the tricksters. Researchers. The ones who fool them all.
~ She's an interesting seedling, even through all that brainwashing, she can still subconsciously relate to it.
Well, dream and reality can overlap, so there is also definitely someone else. Something else. The woman, huh? Is it her .. or another female figure she can relate to?~
The researcher's interest was piqued. But first, he just waited, if she would tell him more details.

After the first moment of silence he slowly started a small comment.

"I see." Lan Feng made another pause while his hands rested softly on her shoulders.
Then he probed carefully, with a quiet voice:
"Harriet, do you know who she is? Is that woman.. possibly... you?"

Harriet thought about his question, she always thought of herself as loving but..the leader was insane, even past insane. She couldn't see her loving that guy. "I am pretty sure she is not, she is very crazy. I am not crazy..am I?" Really, now she wasn't sure. The dreams were so vivid, they almost seemed real. "The leader...he leads her on..he doesn't love her back. I feel sorry for her." Maybe she was in denial. Maybe she was as crazy as that woman. Maybe there was someone she loved that she knew would never love her back. It was obvious that she was going through a lot of pain. "She is not all bad, the others are evil...she can help people when they need it sometimes. She has a heart. The others are ruthless. I can feel the evil when I am them. I am the men. I become the men when I see them fight. But,. I never been the leader. I am glad. The things I seen him do. Are...so awful..."

Lan Feng raised an eyebrow, thinking about her words. It wasnt her experiencing a memory, probably. If it was, its unlikely she was sympathizing with one of the perpetrators, and pointing out one extremely evil person while being a minor character at the sidelines.
~She should have been at the frontline, like the other subjects. Or is it a side effect of her timid personality?~

The hallucinations induced partly memories and partly a new experience. Twisting reality, as they called it.
He wondered though, why Harriet would see her both as the perpetrator and the victim... Torturing herself - was that another side effect? To feel compassionate to their own jailers? Something like Stockholm Syndrome?

Shrugging his shoulders, he softly left her back, as she stilled for a while and sat again in front of her, giving her undivided attention.
"Now, distance yourself even more from the situation." he said softly.
"And then recap what you have seen them do. Think of being a bystander. Just a simple passerby. What is happening, why might the men be you, yourself?"

She didn't think of herself as the men at all, even though she kept seeing things through the men's eyes. She wasn't sure why it was happening, she didn't like to think about it. "Most passerbys would be killed by them. Maybe this is my fantasy of people who came in my life but didn't help me out. They saw me suffering, but just didn't do anything about it at all. Maybe killing these people is my way of getting revenge on them?" Really, she didn't think she was that mad at people, she knew the world could be blind to troubles of others.
She shook her head. "I don't think that is it though, maybe..it is the people here...they...they...made me into this beast. Don't think I didn't notice these ears. That I am looking more and more like a cat everyday..." was she really upset about that? Sure, she wouldn't be accepted in society, but she wasn't before. "I...I am not sure that is it either. I am just not a killer at all."

~Not a killer? They all say that, at the start. The hypocrites, who want to appear like normal people. The psychos who have a mask of a friendly normal citizen. Consulting psychos daily, you would know what I mean. Anyway, It will be your future. Probably..~ Lan Feng thought. He was controlling his expression quite well, listening attentively, without looking too bored.
"Yeah, of course, you are not them... what I mean is you should try to look at the overall picture. Details like ambiente, a place, an important beacon - all of them can give keypoints...".~ he emphasized, while smiling softly.
~Revenge? Its simple, but feasible... Thats what I'd say, If I didnt know better...~ He thought, while recapping her words. She wasnt far off, but there was no way she would get to the core of the problem. And even if she did, her mind would be shattered.
Lan Feng had seen some cases where the patient found out through accident or snooping around what had happened to them. Part of them were vegetables. The others committed suicide. He wouldnt want that to happen to an important subject as Harriett.
Did he already accept her as his subject? Lan Feng noticed. Him thinking this way, was a little strange - usually the live subjects of this project were basically forced on him. For he was the specialist. The specialist for human and non-human minds.
"However its important to get it all out of your system, and, who knows, maybe we can get a lead on what is happening to you." Rolling his eyes at himself on the inside, he continued, after a small pause.
"And, arent animal mutations quite popular nowadays? There are even people who have hormonal and genetic therapies to make them look like yours, for example. The ears are quite cute." He didnt go overboard with the compliments. It would look insincere. But It was necessary to win a bit of a patient's trust - or at least not lose too much of it.

"Well, they all meet in an abandoned zoo. It has decorations of jesters, clowns, and cards all around. I know the woman painted the pictures on the wall, she is a rather talented artist. She has a sensitive soul. Makes me wonder why she is hanging around these guys, why she kills. I think it is the leader that seduced her...oh, but I am getting off the subject. Well, even thought the pictures on the wall are cheerful, it seems very dark. Dangerous. I can almost see it as lions in a cage, waiting to be freed. They need to have freedom. That is what they want the most. These people they kill, are taking the freedom away from them somehow."
At the compliment, she touched her ears slightly feeling the furriness. "People want to have ears like this? So they can be like those shows...with nekos in them? Some people are strange. But, here I am wanting to be a killer clown. At least, that is what I think my dreams are trying to tell me. What does a clown mean? Entertaining? And killing? Cleansing....maybe...I am...am...thinking of cleansing myself. From..my past? To become new, and not Harriet Whisper. But that woman, who sits among killers and is cheerful. Yes, I want happiness. It seems impossible here. I have nobody who I can talk to besides you." She then pauses. "I always look forward to talking to you. I feel like..my insanity isn't so bad around you. You are really helping me a lot."

~Hmm?~ Lan Feng frowned inwardly. Harriets only flaw was that her CV had an empty space. He hadnt paid attention to when she joined the facility (or more like she was brought in), but, contrary to many other patients, she had a blank space before that!
Most of the experiments were raised at the facility, or even bred or cloned here. Then they would go into a hiddenly observed orphanage, where they were being dropped in a mostly 'naturally harsh' or sometimes even predatory environement.
Harriet was also observed, even before she joined them. However, she was not raised or bred from the facility or other affilated test centres!
She was a 'wildborn' experiment. That was one of her intriguing parts, and Lan Feng was very much interested in the differences she brought with her.
~Could that be her own memories? ~ He kept it to himself, just smiling enigmatically.

"Dreaming about a clown means, that you pay too much attention to how others view you and try to please others. It could also be that you are very dependant on others' opinion of yourself."he answered her question.
"And cleansing is what we do here, when you tell me your worries and can forget or put them behind you afterwards.."he chuckled slightly as he said so.

He did not put her words of gratitude too much to heart. It wasnt like he was a saint or her helper. ~ Even if you are a 'lady-killer', each of those has her own agenda.~ he reminded himself, just nodding slighly at her words. A neutral smile framed his expression, as he answered after a pause.

"Thats what I am here for."
~ You hypocrite.~ he commented dryly in his thoughts.

"Who is around for me to please? Just you really. Before mostly people didn't pay much attention to me. I was just a homeless person that nobody cared about. Maybe I do want people to care about me. To make someone happy would be nice. So, are you trying to make me into a killer? Is that the goal of this place? I thought it was just to make me better. I am not meant to be a soldier. I just, can't really see me killing anyone. The dreams seem so unreal. I see what is happening, but all the time it is going on, I feel scared..not in control of my actions. It is more like I am an observer than anything else."
She seemed to jump from one topic to another, like she had a hard time thinking.
"Who will I become? If I am not Harriet Whisper anymore who am I? Am I that woman in my dreams? Am I becoming her? I...I don't want to be.."
She sounded frightened thinking about it.

~Oh oh.. she is getting unstable.~ Lan Feng frowned. If this got out of hand, there were people already waiting outside the door to pull her back to her 'room'. If she got too much sedatives or got too unstable.. he would not have a subject, but a vegetable!
As the woman infront of him got more and more out of hand, he was calculating the possibilities in his head to calm her down, before she got taken in again.
Not listening too much to her words, since at that point of time it might as well be fruitless to chatter on, he tried the mammal approach.
Stretching a hand out, since he was just half a meter apart, and still sitting, he placed it on the head of the confused one.
A bit roughly, for he was not proficient with animals, he patted her head and scratched Harriet behind her ears, to calm her down.

~I dont think the human in her will like it, but I dont think there is an alternative.~ were his thoughts, as the doors opened again, and more people in white coats entered!

Lan Feng kept his bland face, while he was still stroking and rubbing Harriets head.

"What are you doing?" a screechy voice asked. A skinny old man was entering behind the more bulkier 'bodyguards in white' of his. ~Haha, Verbe, that old viper seemed to have taken a fancy to this subject as well, huh?~ Lan Feng thought, as he answered nonchalantly. "Therapy. Dont interrupt us."

Now, the only thing was, what would Harriet do?
Lan Feng avoided catching her eye at the moment with an iron mask void of emotions on his face, since that old viper was a keen one on emotions. And this was the least thing Lan Feng wanted to show.

~The small line between subject and experiment can be crossed any time, if you arent careful in here. ~

Seeing the people come in, just made her more frightened. She wanted to run away. But if she tried, they would catch her and put her alone in her room. She hated being alone, she had nothing to do, nothing but her thoughts and the endless tests they made her do. She didn't like those tests. She also wanted to hug him for stability, but she couldn't do that either. She just put her hands on her head, and faked a smile.
"I am fine, I am really fine. Nothing wrong here. Please let me finish my session."
The sessions is what she lived for, Lan was her only comfort in this world.

The other 'brain doctor', how Verbe liked to call himself,
just sneered and continued to stand in the middle of the room.
"Why dont you show me?"
Lan Feng frowned, but he kept his emotions in check. "You can watch the video recording later." he shrugged the shoulders. "You are disturbing the patient." his voice had a chilling cold tone, as his face was darkening slowly.
~That old bat wants to lure me out, with making her emotionally unstable. But If I show any reaction besides the usual one ~ Verbe had stolen lots of patients to experiment on them, when Lan Feng was still fresh. The 'brain doctor' enjoyed not only driving the patients, but also the therapists crazy with his antics.
Not only had he support as financial backers, but he had some underworld support as well. A fish in these murky waters. Or maybe a watersnake.
Verbe was still grinning his toothy old man grin, when Lan Feng suddenly stood up, as he let go of Harriets head.
"Miss Harriet, we will continue this session soon." he said with a softer voice, but still emotionless face.
Then he turned towards the old man.

"Josephine."
A cold word escaped his lips, and the side doors opened. A blonde woman with grey eyes and a glass hour figure stepped into the room. She had an assistant white gown that framed that figure very seductively.
Verbe gulped, and gritted his teeth while giving Lan Feng a dark look. It was just answered with a cold sneer.
Josephine smoothly passed by the two muscle men, and took Harriet by the arm, leading her into a side room.
The woman had an air of sofness but hardness at the same time, and her steely grey eyes were mechanic, if you looked closely.
It was the only weapon against that lecher Verbe. But also a part of why that geezer made Lan Fengs life more difficult.

She had a feeling that brain doctor was trying to make her upset, she wasn't sure why. She didn't understand just what this lab was trying to do to people really. She had never seen any of the others, and she didn't know what kind of state they were in. All she saw was doctors. When Josephine took her from Len, she whimpered a bit. She was glad to be away from Verbe, but the woman was cold. She didn't make her feel the way Len did. But, little did she know, Len didn't care either. She slumped in the corner of the side room, crying. "What did I ever do to deserve being here. What sin did I commit?"

Josephine motionlessly stood, as the subject was crying. Recording the data, the woman wasnt moving or reacting to Harriets collapse.
It felt like she wasnt even here, just a part of the furniture.

Outside, Lan Feng sneered at the lecher, who didnt dare to give order to attack Josephine. Last time, his 'boys' suffered a major defeat, and Verbe had a crazy fetish for breaking women. The stronger, the more he desired them.
~He would probably lose interest in Harriet, if she was with him for a while. ~ Lan Feng thought inwardly, wondering why he had acted so swiftly. Usually, he would have remained a neutral bystander, until the end.
But, Harriet was important. An important subject. Her mental stability was barely in the green zone. Josephines recording sounded in one of his ears, echoing Harriets wails, and he frowned again.
If he didnt want to sedate her, he needed to finish this up quickly.
Sitting down again and forcibly relaxing his body, he looked at Verbe, while he calmly put out a file and started studying it, making the 'visitors in the room' feel like they were unnecessary ballast.
Gritting his teeth at such impoliteness, the old geezers skin color turned purplish red and blue from anger - it reminded of an aubergine by now.
Enduring the situation for another few minutes, he turned and finally left, muttering "you will see, this is not over yet!"
Only after waiting a while, Lan Feng sighed, and relaxed for real.
He needed to make some arrangements for Harriet.