by Luca Braña
3
It had been a month since that meeting occurred after the revolt in the Coliseum, and true to his word, Dr. Gacha created two, new specialized teams to conduct the proposed projects, one led by himself and the other by a scientist of his choosing. On the fifth floor, both labs had acquired new, cutting-edge equipment for engineering and conducting research.
The ‘Duplicate’ project was expected to produce over a hundred clones per week, but for now, it would be a place to test suitable cloning with the equipment for dealing with failed experiments or defects.
The ‘Limit Break’ project was ready for their new assignment the day after the meeting with Mr. Whale. Using his personal office, which was already a highly specialized lab for personal tests, the team consisting of him, Dr. Ivanovski, and Dr. Ferdinand immediately went to work analyzing Subject 444’s samples.
“Dr. Gacha, sir, we have finished today’s experiments,” the bespectacled scientist said as he approached Dr. Gacha, accompanied by his bearded partner.
Dr. Gacha looked up from his console, nodding as the man handed the document to him.
“I never expected to find the exact components that caused the abrupt transformation in that subject, let alone discover a way to make it work for others. But I believe we finally made a breakthrough. Once you read the report, I’m sure you’ll understand, sir,” the bearded scientist said with enthusiasm.
“You may be done for today. Good work.” Dr. Gacha glanced over the paper.
At first, the trio had thought it would be hard to find what exactly caused the sudden increase in power, but with the new equipment and technology they had access to, it had been relatively easy. By the end of the first week of research, they had found the source and the substances that triggered the ‘limit break’ in Subject 444. However, it was one thing to know the source, and another to trigger ‘limit breaks’ in different subjects.
For the basis of Project R.N.G., they had created a series of steps that would ready a subject for the eventual awakening of their genes. They had defined stress, adrenaline, suffering, desperation, and hope as the essential conditions required for the awakening, but too much would either cripple a subject’s emotions, make them vegetables, or end in death. Thus, the shock therapy was born.
Requiring just the minimum amount of a harsh environment for each subject, the treatment forcibly awakened the genes thanks to a combination of electric shocks and a special fluid, engineered using genetic information of each individual, which guaranteed the awakening of the hidden genes in just a few sessions, many of them on the very first one.
The scientist noted as he read over the report from today’s latest breakthrough in their project; they had been partly successful in integrating the new source with his daughter’s blood. The report noted that a few more adjustments would be necessary for the blood sample to seamlessly integrate with the source, theoretically making the perfect serum for his Shiro.
She always offered to donate blood for testing the moment she heard they needed some, wanting to please him in any way she could.
“Papa, are you finished for today?” his beloved daughter asked as she walked towards him in human form.
He smiled. “Of course, my dear Shiro. Thanks to you, things are progressing much faster now.” He set the report aside as the girl took a spot on his lap.
“Yay! I’m happy to help you, Papa!” Shiro exclaimed joyfully, purring at her father’s praise. Few things could cause him to laugh, but his daughter was one of those things.
“How about you, my child? I heard you kept the doctors busy today,” he asked in a kind voice, causing the girl to tilt her head towards him.
“I had a good workout! I beat my record at the robots by a whole ten seconds!” she exclaimed, causing the doctor to chuckle and put his hand on her head.
“You did great, my daughter. I’m proud of you.”
Unlike all the subjects in the facility who had been forced to train their powers, Shiro did it out of her own will. Ever since she awakened, she was charged with an enormous motivation to protect him, and for that, she had to get stronger. One of her favorite pastimes was to train herself and master her own abilities, willing her body to become stronger, faster, and more resilient with each exercise session.
In fact, she was the one who recommended the use of their current training facilities. A gauntlet against a thousand robots, enduring the force of crushing gravity, resistance against elemental attacks, holding one’s breath to its absolute limit, ultimately forcing the body to adapt and evolve. She tested and trained in all of them, making sure her body was as strong as it could be. Of course, also being a cat, she loved her rest hours and often took cat naps to re-energize.
He noticed that she stopped purring and had a worried look on her face. “Shiro, is something wrong?” he asked the cat girl, causing her tail and ears to stand up in surprise, she turned to him with an awkward smile.
“It’s nothing papa, I’m just… worried about them. I know you said I shouldn’t be, but they are still my friends…” the girl mourned, causing the scientist to sigh.
His daughter’s friendship with those subjects was problematic. She had disappeared for a long time, making him worried that she might have been caught in something, but he knew she could take care of herself. Even Drago was nothing compared to his daughter’s strength. When he had found her in that room with the other children, on friendly terms, he explained to her the importance of this project.
He had told her that if she were to find a subject, that she should not, under any circumstances, get attached to them. She did, and they now likely hated her for her association with him. To make matters worse, Subject 443, Myo, had perished during the pandemonium. He had yet to tell her of that fact, so whenever she asked how they were doing, he changed the subject.
“It’s all right to worry about people you are close to, my Shiro, but remember… They only met you as a pet, a cat, not as the person you truly are. They expected you to comfort them like a pet would, they didn’t expect you to have a family,” he explained to her, gently rubbing the tip of her left ear.
She sighed, purring slightly, but still looking down. “You always speak in hard words, Papa, but I get it… I was just curious to see them, the soldiers who would one day help protect everyone. I still want to be friends with them,” Shiro said, her eyes glistening at the possibility.
She saw how sad and angry they seemed to be most of the time. Being a cat made things harder to understand, but even then, she could still see they were unhappy being there, especially in Myo’s case, who would sometimes hug her against his chest whenever he couldn’t get to sleep. As a cat, Shiro did whatever she could to try to comfort them, and for a while, it worked, but… When they learned of her true identity and who her father was, affection turned into shock, and then hate. They hated her father, and it hurt her a great deal.
She wasn’t stupid, not as much as she knew others thought she was. She knew that the whole project her father was directing was hard and stressful. She suggested some treatment herself and she tested them all out. If they persisted, if they had the determination to become strong, they could get through it. She knew what was at stake, her father explained the situation about Luni, how dangerous she was and what could happen to not only her and her papa, but to the entire world if the Creator were to go berserk.
If only they could see it her way that what they were doing would make them strong…
“If you want to write a letter to your friends back home, I can have Mr. Whale send it to them. You would like to know how they are doing after so long, would you not?” the scientist suggested, still gently patting her head.
Shiro blinked at his words! She had been so focused on getting stronger and trying to help, she completely forgot to write her friends she left behind! They must be so worried!
“Can I really write to them? Wouldn’t it be a… security… bleach?” she asked in hesitation as her papa chuckled and ruff
led her hair again. She meowed indignantly.
“It’s ‘security breach,’ and don’t worry about it, Mr. Whale knows how to be discreet, I’m sure he can deliver your letters.”
“Thanks, papa, I love you!” she exclaimed before running towards his desk to get writing materials for her letters.
Dr. Gacha sighed as he watched her wracking her brain to figure out what to write her friends back home. He hated that his daughter had to go through this, he would have liked to leave her home until they concluded the project. It was selfish and irresponsible, but he could never bear the thought of leaving her alone for so long because his little Shiro, his daughter, was the only light that could keep him sane in this life.
4
As time passed, things changed for them. The death of one of their own had been scarred into every child in the facility, but little by little, they learned to move on, to focus on tomorrow, on the moment, as if what they had experienced in the past was nothing but a terrible dream.
Ever since the incident, their prison changed to become increasingly more comfortable and livable. Their rooms seemed even more so now, having gained many more decorations over time, more comfortable beds, pillows and even clothes. The television set even got upgraded to a larger model, providing much clearer pictures than before.
The guards no longer bothered them, preferring to stay stoically quiet or conversing with one another, avoiding the children if possible. Rather than bang on their door as they used to, they now had installed a small, electronic chime that was used to call them when needed.
The Coliseum seemed to disappear, and, in its place, the gymnasium came back with daily meetings that lasted even longer. Sure, now guards would stay in the corners of the buildings, watching them like eagles for the slightest sight of a rebellion brewing, but that didn’t take the enjoyment of being able to meet friends from other wards away.
They had brought the experiments and training to a full stop, and in its place, they only needed to partake in painless blood exams every week. The scientists had told them that use of experiment labs or training facilities was optional now, to be requested at their own initiative rather than obligatory sessions. Many children cheered at this, feeling like they had been finally freed from their torment and that things would get better for them. Many others, however, used the training facilities to become stronger or the experiment labs to train their endurance, which is exactly what the new leader of the mutant ward, Leo, was taking advantage of.
With the death of the previous leader of the mutant ward, the second strongest took his chance to assert his dominance, naming himself as the new leader. Unlike the aggressive dragon, however, Leo took the defeats he suffered during both the Coliseum battles and the riot to heart and adopted a much more cautious stance than Drago had. Instead of forcefully trying to make others join the army, he left that part to the scientists. As a policy, however, he demanded that all mutants, no matter their loyalties, requested access to the training facilities every day.
This caused a small problem for the other children who wanted to train themselves. There were limited training facilities and for each subject, training took about two hours, which meant that they had to wait in queues when more than one person wished to use the same facility. For people that wanted to train for their final push against the scientists, not being able to was inconvenient.
During this period of change, the scientists also declared that they could request anything they wanted, as long as it didn’t breach security. Each subject received a small manual that described what they could and could not request and, as expected, freedom wasn’t on the list.
However, they could ask for an abundance of things that made their lives more comfortable. New clothes, tastier food, offline video game consoles, magazines, newspapers, manga, anime… virtually anything that didn’t result in contact with the outside world. The whole staff made their lives as comfortable as possible.
It sickened Cyko.
“A Creator is a being of ultimate power, born from nothingness with the purpose of creating life as we know it. Our very own universe and its seemingly infinite vastness was created by our very own ultimate being, Luni. One thing that should be noted, is that these Creators possess a consciousness not too different from a human,” the documentary host said, “it is, however, a little frightening to observe how many signs of stress she is displaying. Is Luni taking care of herself, is she taking time off to rest? What would happen if she were to snap, what would happen to us? That is, unfortunately, a question we do not know the answer to,” he concluded before the screen changed to show several documented cases of Luni losing her temper, comparing it with ones where she was relaxed.
“Pfft, they really are going all out with trying to make us fear or hate the Creator, huh?” Cyko commented with an annoyed sigh, lying down on his bed to rest after returning from his training session.
“It’s everywhere, dear friend. We have that poster on our door for a reason. They want to brainwash us and Scythe agrees with me.” Magy, who was also lying down on her own bed, gestured towards the poster stuck on the main door. On it were motivational words about honor, friendship, and glory that waited them when they fully became members of the ‘army’ that would protect the world from the worst of evils.
“After what happened at the Coliseum… They are afraid, afraid of us,” Cyko said with a small smile, even as his eyes looked angry.
Magy shook her head, aware that Cyko couldn’t have seen it from his position. “I don’t think it’s that, Cyko. If they truly feared us, they would have resorted to more extreme methods of control. They still underestimate us,” she reasoned as Cyko sighed in reluctant agreement.
“It’s just… What they are doing, Magy, it’s working. Kids are falling for it! And don’t even get me started on that lion!” Cyko seethed as he thought about what the scientists’ latest plot achieved.
Many children took the new comforts and privileges as a sign that their lives would be better, that it made up for their past torment. Sure, they still supported Tela and wanted to be free, but their spirits were slowly giving in and to make matters worse, Drago’s death didn’t change much for the mutant ward, since the new ‘leader’ still openly supported the project for the strength it gave them.
“I know, my friend, and it saddens me that some of us are losing the desire to be free in exchange for comfort, but what matters now is what we want, those of us that want to be free.” She got up as she heard an electronic chime. “We still have people who would fight alongside us and if there’s one thing we can be glad about… it’s that they still let us meet with them. Even if Tela’s power is good for communication, nothing beats a face-to-face talk.”
Cyko sighed and got up from his own bed to prepare for today’s meeting. Now, instead of a guard banging down their door, they called them through an electronic chime. Even still, Cyko opened the door and was greeted by that same giant brute of a guard.
“The meeting will start soon; would you like to go?” the guard asked in a clipped voice, likely wishing he could go back to insulting and threatening him. The guard stepped aside so Cyko and Magy could walk out. A small army of heavily armed guards, who would still be thrilled to strike them at the slightest provocation, escorted them towards the gate.
As the children stepped inside the gymnasium, Cyko and Magy looked for their friends, ignoring the guards that positioned themselves in the corners. After a few minutes, they spotted Cyko’s family sitting together at one table, and a little further away, Tela stood amidst a small crowd of people, serious looks on their faces as they were deep in discussion. They both wanted to speak with Tela, to see how she was doing and what she had planned, but they knew it wasn’t the time, besides, Cyko’s family spotted him and was calling him over.
“Cyko! Hey there, how are you doing?” One of his older sisters, Anna, greeted him with a huge smile.
“Hey everyone, it’s been a while,” the enhancer said, pattin
g Starry’s head as she went near him, causing the small girl to giggle.
“It’s been a few weeks, are you sure you are all right?” Henry, his eldest brother asked in a worried voice.
It had been a while since Cyko last saw them. Even with the meetings being held every day, he often missed them to use the time for training instead. Because of the queue, he sometimes had to wait before he got to use the facility and that meant training when everyone else was having ‘fun’ in the gymnasium.
“Yes, brother, I’m as fine as I can be,” he paused. “I wish Myo was here. I hate that they are trying to make us forget what they did, but I know Myo would’ve liked this, not being forced to fight or be tortured anymore.”
Cyko and Magy weren’t the only ones affected by his death. For Cyko’s family, it was a blow that almost broke them. The older siblings felt the pain of losing yet another younger sibling, a great shame that kept them up at night. Starry had cried for days, seeing the death of Myo firsthand had struck her hard and even Torch’s own attempts at comforting her couldn’t lift her mood. Eventually one day she woke up and demanded to be taken to the training facilities to get stronger to protect her family.
Soon enough, they all took up training to improve themselves. Those who were helping Tela directly started to focus on their abilities to use them to better scout and map the facility.
There was one thing that worried them… their brother, Cyko. The massacre that happened during the battles was so unlike him, to kill, to mock his enemies with such little care, enjoying their suffering and fear as they desperately tried to save themselves. Cyko killed all those that he deemed responsible for Myo’s death.
“This is a cursed place, isn’t it?” Magy said sadly, her serene face adding a melancholic tone to her words. “They torture us, experiment on us, they make us go through things no child should ever go through. A tragedy happens, we fight back and then, they kill us with kindness to make us forget what they did.”
Magy clapped her hands, startling everyone.