Bramble

In early 2012, a Legion scientist by the name of Dr. Robyn Kepler had a brilliant idea. She would take three healthy monkey embryos, each from a different set of parents, and infuse them with the DNA of various animals, then grow them in pods in her lab. This way, the Legion could create super-soldiers - too far from monkeys to be under the Sun God's control, or to have any problem with killing other monkeys, but still monkey enough for the Legion to understand and train them.

The three monkeys were born without issue. Bramble was large and healthy, and often acted like a young puppy in the way she tussled with her siblings and stuck her nose into everything and anything. Fern, a tiger-monkey, was smaller and a bit calmer, but had no problem keeping up with her sister - at least for now. And Stormy, a sickly little wolf-monkey who barely moved, passed away from a heart defect at the age of five months. Neither Bramble nor Fern remember him.

It was now that Kepler realized her mistake. She loved the cubs dearly, but she wished she'd never created them. The Legion wouldn't treat them as living beings, and if she ever tried to save them, she'd be exiled.

When Fern was four years old, she slowly started becoming less and less active. When she stopped walking entirely one day, tests revealed that the padding between her joints had completely eroded due to malformations in her joints. She'd been given the DNA a day or two too late, and her body had tried to change the shape of its bones after they'd already formed partially. This resulted in widespread skeletal issues, that would keep her from walking ever again. Luckily, another Legion scientist was able to assemble a tiny electric wheelchair just for Fern, which could be adjusted as she grew. After a few days, her life was pretty much back to normal. Bramble noticed she'd seemed more comfortable than she had in months.

Because the monkey modified too early had issues with his organs, and the monkey modified too late had issues with her bones, the scientists now knew what the best, safest time to modify an unborn monkey was, and they could make more hybrids whenever they wanted.

The cubs grew much faster than others their age. By age five, Bramble and Fern were developmentally almost eight. Kepler attributed this to the faster aging rate of cats - monkeys spend one-fourth of their life growing (20 years out of 80), while big cats spend one-tenth (3 years out of 30). She often worried she would outlive them.

Bramble grew up enduring lots of trials and tests, while the team of scientists were much more gentle with Fern. Back then, little Bramble just thought the scientists were playing games with her, but they were actually testing her strength, endurance, and agility. Dr. Kepler managed to get them to hold off the harsher tests until Bramble was a little older. By the time Bramble was six, she saw nothing out of the ordinary about being suddenly pulled away from playtime to be taken into a steel room and put on a treadmill until her legs gave out, or pumped full of strange chemicals.

Kepler was often disturbed by the other scientists' use of force, and they were annoyed by her hesitance to do so. If Bramble refused to comply, they would use electricity to "encourage" her to go along with what they were doing. The "dose" was carefully calculated - small enough not to damage her tiny body, but large enough to cause severe pain.

In January 2021, Kepler formally raised her concerns with the other scientists, calling an official meeting to discuss their treatment of Bramble. But instead of reconsidering how they treated and saw the hybrids, the director kicked Kepler off her own project, saying that she'd become "too attached" and even threatening to reccomend her exile to Lord Stormtail. Kepler was crushed, and so were Bramble and Fern.

Without Kepler in the way, the scientists could be much crueler towards the cubs. They forbade the cubs from ever leaving the lab, locking them in their own steel room full of recording instruments. They even took away Fern's wheelchair, saying it would only give her more opportunities to escape. Over the course of a few weeks, Bramble turned from a playful, energetic cub, to a bitter, aggressive shell of her former self with nothing left to lose. Fern just gave up. Their whole life was test after test after test, with no end in sight.

Bramble overheard something awful one day during a test. She heard that in a few years, she would be sent to battle, forced to fight alongside the Bloons.

One night, Bramble talked to Fern about running away, whispering so quietly that the cameras wouldn't pick up their voices.

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