Deep within the base, Kai and I are inside his lab, looking over the specimen Isaiah just delivered to us before leaving. A gigantic sea monster, like something out of a movie, lies across four of the combined table drones, and his tail is still on the floor. Its chest is heaving, but the creature is unconscious. A giant crater is carved out of its face where one of the eyes used to be. I waste no time and begin draining the power. Kai and I could not possibly hope to contain this creature, especially if Isaiah’s injuries are any indication.
“God, I wish we didn’t have to take the power. I’d love to dissect him,” Kai remarked sadly.
“I’m sure you would learn a lot from it, but he’s far too dangerous in this form to be left as is. This base is not equipped to handle someone like him,” I said as the transfer finished.
“You’re right. But the next one will be.”
“Careful, Doctor, I may hold you to that,” I said.
Big Phish begins to change before our eyes gradually. He shrinks and contorts as his DNA is reset back to the factory model. Claws become fingernails, and gray, wet flesh gives way to sandy-colored skin. Pieces and parts change and grow as the shark becomes a man. Kai is right that it is a shame we cannot study him more. Eventually, we’re left with a twenty-something man who’s missing an eye.
“Fascinating. The damage he received transferred over. There’s a scar on his left side from where Isaiah stabbed him. Oddly enough, despite him being in his forties, his skin is that of a person twenty to thirty years younger. Nearly no aging of the tissue, no wear or tear of musculature or even bones if my scans are correct. Nobody, we might be the first people ever to discover this. Because he spent decades as Big Phish, Javier seemingly was immune to the ravage of time. It’s honestly beautiful,” Kai said excitedly.
“You might be correct. I said before that morals would not impede our progress, and already, we have learned something. You can autopsy him later. I would like to move on to our other subjects,” I said.
“Alrighty.”
The table drone carries Javier away from us. And he gives me bloodlust. Not the worst piece I have collected, but still a problematic one. I will have to be mindful not to let myself get caught up in it. The only thing that separates what we are doing from some of the more unsavory human experiments throughout history is that cruelty is a consequence, not a motivator of our actions. Isaiah said he was going to be taking a few days to rest and heal before going after Phantasmo and Carapace. It would be preferred to get actual emotions from them instead of bothersome quirks.
“How are the empowered subjects doing?”
“Six, Thirteen, and Zero are all adjusting to the transfer at different speeds. Zero has become more vocal than ever. She has asked if we are God, the government, aliens, and even extradimensional beings. Both Six and Thirteen are scared, but Six is adaptive and already shows signs of excitement at the prospect of having superpowers,” Kai answered.
“Good, keep an eye on them. Speaking of Zero, it occurs to me that using Swaim’s ability may allow her to escape her cage. Do we have any hallucinogenic drugs? We should try to keep her heavily medicated; nearly catatonic is best.”
“What was the point of detox if we were just going to drug her again?” Kai grumbled.
“Yes or no on the drugs, Doctor?”
“Yes, Master, anything you wish, Master,” Kai said, hunched over and clawing at me.
“Just do it. It will make this easier in the long run,” I responded.
“You are not fun at all,” Kai whined.
On one of the larger screens I can see all of the guests we have in their respective rooms. Subject Zero looks healthier than before and is lying down on the cot inside her room. She’s holding her finger up, and it slowly dissolves before appearing across the room. Then, as soon as it appears, it’s gone, and her hand is back to normal. Then, fingers begin to sprout from the walls. She shows such promise. Kai taps something on his tablet, and bluish-green gas flows into her room. Zero begins to look around the room in a panic, coughing, and then tries to hold her breath. After a minute, her lungs give up, and she breathes in the gas. She falls over, collapsing onto her bed. One of the smaller table drones enters the cell through a hole in the wall and injects some chemical concoction into her with its stinger.
“There we go. Zero gets to experience a psychotropic cocktail of my own creation. I call it Manic Panic. It’ll make her dissociate, hallucinate, and induce slight mania. It should be perfect for what you want,” Kai said.
“Why do you have something like that?” I asked. Have I misjudged Kai’s moral alignment?
“Oh, you’re probably feeling like this is a bit too convenient. Don’t worry; I’m not a sex pest or a psychic. I microdose Manic Panic throughout the day. Helps my flow state and makes the edges of reality just a twinge brighter.”
He was high when he operated on me. Has he been high this whole time?
“Does it affect your ability to do surgery?” I asked.
“It depends on who you ask. I’d say it doesn’t, but the medical board disagreed with me,” Kai laughed.
“Kai, if your recreational drug use ever affects the company or our goals, I will make you Subject Twenty,” I said, leaving the lab.
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
----------------------------------------
The last two days have passed in a blur. Today, we will ramp up our experiments and directly interact with the three empowered subjects rather than watching them and recording their actions. Nothing too crazy, just slight prodding by us. I look over at Kai sitting in front of the giant monitor and main computer. He’s been so lively lately and less reserved around me—a welcome change in demeanor.
“So, what’s the plan for today?”
“Subject Thirteen has been using her smoke power but not the electrical power, correct?” I asked.
“Yep. She’s tried to escape a few times by smoke clouding, but I’ve set the vents to close on her automatically. It was actually a stroke of genius on my part, hooking up the vents to several smoke detectors. I did learn that she does not need to breathe while in that form, so I just waited her out. She hasn’t shown any signs of any electricity based abilities, and I believe the lack of light is getting to her now. Two days in complete darkness is fraying the subject’s sanity,” he replied.
“Unfortunate. But at least we were able to discover Thirteen can’t generate electricity on her own. The original owner of the ability needed to absorb electricity, but I had hoped that perhaps the smoke power might compensate for it in some way. Give her a small battery, and let’s see what she is capable of producing in terms of effects.”
“You want to start small with some double A’s?” Kai asked.
“Yes. Drop one into her cell and see what happens.”
Kai walks away, leaving me alone to watch the screen showing me all of the subjects. Twenty different people, all separated into nearly identical cells, wearing the same brown outfits, trapped like rats in a maze. By the end of these four weeks, none of you will be alive. Barring exceptional circumstances, we will dispose of twenty people like trash. Standing here, observing all twenty subjects, really highlights that poverty is indiscriminate. Each of them is a main character in their own story, even if they won’t amount to a footnote in mine.
The screen focusing on Thirteen is dark and at an odd angle. The camera is no longer inside her room but outside it. Kai had to move all the electronics out of her cell to ensure she couldn’t use them to escape. She’s lying in her bed, muttering to herself in the darkness. The panel on the wall that Kai uses to feed them opens up, and a battery falls out onto the floor.
“Hello? Is someone there? I don’t know who you are or why you’re doing this, but please let me out. I won’t tell anyone,” Thirteen moaned fearfully.
She begins muttering a prayer to herself. The rooms are set up to receive noise, not to project it. Even if I wanted to talk to her, it is not possible. After not getting a response, she goes quiet and then carefully gets off the bed. Despite it being pitch black in her cell, she gracefully navigates the dark room, stopping in front of where the battery is. Thirteen crouches down, picking it up and staring at it intensely. So she can sense the electricity. Holding it in the palm of her left hand, she delicately pokes the battery with her finger. Her room lights up with a small flash as the electricity arcs into her appendage. She screams at the sudden light and falls backward.
“Why are you doing this to me?” Thirteen cried.
Kai comes up next to me, back from whatever he was doing. “Did she soak it up or just discharge it?” He taps his tablet and all the screens fade except for Thirteens. The feed from her room now takes up the entire display.
“I’m not sure. Give Thirteen another battery; no, give her five,” I said.
“You got it,” he said, walking away.
We can’t risk her stealing electricity from Kai’s drones, which forces Kai to deliver her batteries manually. All of this is inconvenient but necessary. Containing that power is dangerous and very difficult. One wrong move, and she escapes and kills us with a shock. I watch the five batteries drop into the room, and this time, Thirteen transforms into smoke racing for the opening. As soon as she changes, every single vent in the room shuts. The cloud bounces against the vents, but she can’t muster any force in that form, so the smoke just disperses harmlessly with every bump. Kai and I watch in silence as she struggles fruitlessly. He’s taking notes, but I don’t bother to ask what they are about. If it is important, he will tell me. Micromanaging my people will only sour our working relationship.
----------------------------------------
Two more days, and still, we are no closer to seeing if Thirteen will show a new ability. Six and Zero have both shown off new abilities, so we’re going to have to take drastic measures. We will put Thirteen through a gauntlet today, pushing her to her limits. Thirteen is on an operating table in front of me, and Kai is in the process of finishing up a surgery that ensures she cannot escape anymore.
“I’ve been brainstorming ideas for how to permanently prevent her from escaping. You had mentioned that the original owner of the smoke power could not transform parts of their body that were stuck with the other guy’s chains. That gave me the idea for a slightly brutish solution, but a solution nonetheless,” Kai said.
He’s created thick metal manacles that will clasp around her limbs. Each manacle also has a thick pencil rod that will pierce through her wrists and ankles. It will no doubt be incredibly painful, but it will mean she can’t escape by changing into a smoke cloud.
“And what have you come up with for feeding her electricity?” I asked.
“Again, it is an inelegant solution. I’ve just set up twenty car batteries and some jumper cables. Thirteen can either absorb it or die,” Kai responded.
He finishes tightening the bolts that go through her skin and then sets up the cables. He’s also set up a safe zone behind blastproof glass for the two of us to observe.
“What are you hoping to discover with this?”
“I’m not hoping for anything. I just refuse to leave any stone unturned. I know the sample size is small, but why would Zero and Six develop new abilities while Thirteen doesn’t? Is it age or the specific type of powers I gave her? We will find out before today is over,” I said.
“I’m connecting the cables now. She is going to be panicked when this wakes her up. Stand back,” Kai said, attaching the cables to Thirteen’s body.
Thirteen’s hair stands up, and her body shakes violently from the moment Kai shocks her. Fighting against her bindings, Thirteen lets out a guttural noise unlike anything I’ve ever heard. Her skin is blistering at a rapid rate, and she won’t stop shaking. She tries to shift into smoke, but just like with Ciggs, the pierced portions of her person prevent her from prevailing. She is not in her cell but in the lab, and there’s a chance this all goes poorly. If she dies without me noticing, I could lose the powers forever.
“If you don’t draw in the electricity, you are going to die,” Kai said to her.
Thirteen’s screams stop suddenly. All at once, the batteries start making a popping sound as all the electricity inside them arcs into her through the air. In less than thirty seconds, the batteries are fried and melted. Thirteen’s eyes shoot open, staring hatefully at the two of us. Despite her being chained to that table, injured, and over fifty years older than both of us, she’s radiating power. Smoke billows off her singed flesh while grey electricity dances across her skin. The color changed. Lee Daeshim had purple lightning, while Thirteen’s is grey.
“ARGH! Let me go,” Thirteen roared.
“Ooooh. Granny’s angry,” Kai joked.
“What are the precautions we have if she gets off that table?” I asked.
“She can’t get off the table.”
“Okay, but what if she does?”
Thirteen is vibrating as smoke continues to pool around her limbs. Kai’s lack of response tells me he did not account for the possibility of her escaping. I will have to shoot her and simultaneously take the powers back, all without Kai knowing. We thankfully already moved anything electrical far away from her because otherwise, she’d absorb it all. We’re watching her with a hawk-like focus for any changes, and we are rewarded as she flashes bright white. My helmet protects me, but Kai isn’t so lucky, and he falls over, clutching his face in pain.
Time slows to a halt as Thirteen flickers back and forth from the table to right in front of the glass. She’s transformed into something else, a creature of grey lightning and thick black smoke. Thirteen has become an elemental of stormy rage. It reminds me of the first time I saw Vivienne as she fought Lee Daeshim. Gone is the frail elderly woman; standing in front of me is a being of sharp, jagged edges and cloudy smog. Her hands end in zigzagging claws, and her legs are pointed. Blindingly bright and impossibly hazy at the same time. And all it took was pushing her to her limits.
She advances toward us, sparks zapping off her body and frying every camera drone they come in contact with. The lights in the lab flicker, and the computer screen goes dark. The filters in my helmet protect me from the smell, but the air is rich with electricity, and I feel my arm hairs rising. This was a catastrophically bad idea.