The next day Dr.Willow led her to the familiar testing room. The spacious corridor with the red doors that reminded her of blood. Not mine, she told herself. Her blood wasn’t a pure red anymore.

Harver met up with her after her chains were removed. He scanned her with his eyes and told her to start testing her strength. 636 had to lift various weights with her bandaged arms. Every once in a while the weight would slip out of her grip and she’d catch it with her foot before kicking it back up to her hand. She hoped Harver hadn’t been watching her.

“Just because you’ve got above average strength for a human doesn’t mean you can’t be stronger.” He had told her. So for weeks on end she’d lift weights. Each day the weight would be heavier but she was expected to raise it above her head anyway.

Eventually they started her up on running too. An insane amount of laps around the track after lifting weights would tire her out but she couldn’t show an ounce of weakness. She didn’t want Harver to think she was a ‘weak weapon’.

Today was going to be no different. She’d wake up, eat, and train. Yet another cycle. When she entered the training room Harver was waiting for her. He had a strange circular object in his hand. A hollowed circular blade with an extravagant gold design edged into the silver material. Like a giant bladed ring. It was beautiful but 636 didn’t get to spend much time admiring it before Harver spoke up.

“A weapon with power is not enough,” he said, “you also need precision and skill. Today that’s what we’re going to work on.” Harver motioned to the circular blade with a smile. “This weapon will serve as a new improvement for you. It’s called a chakram. An ancient throwing weapon used to kill someone from a distance. You will learn how to use it today.”

Harver held it out for her to take, hands on the innermost part to prevent it from cutting him. 636 was skeptical and looked to Dr.Willow for assurance. He nodded to her saying it was okay for her to take the weapon. As soon as it was in her hand she noticed the guards stiffen. Ready for anything.

She tried not to laugh at them. If she wanted them dead she wouldn’t need the chakram to do it.

Harver led her to a separate room attached to the training grounds. Inside there were six human modeled targets. She wanted to ask why she’d need to practice hitting people if what she was made for was protecting them against monsters but had a feeling Harver wouldn’t answer her.

Harver showed her how to throw the chakram. Holding mainly the inside of the blade and the motion of the release. The chakram ricocheted across the room and back into his hand. 636 was impressed by his control but would never tell him such.

Harver left the room and watched from behind a glass window. His voice echoed through the speakers telling her to hit a target. Voice stern and commanding. In his eyes he only ever saw mistakes. Impressing him would be almost impossible.

636 aimed for the one closest to the left wall but missed terribly. The chakram hit the back wall and bounced back towards her. She barely ducked in time to prevent it from chopping off her head.

She subtly looked behind her at Harver and Dr.Willow. The older man looked disappointed, his brows creased in distain, but the doctor looked worried.

636 picked up the chakram and tried again. She didn’t stop throwing it until she hit a target. Each time it hit the back wall it would come back towards her. She managed to catch it a few times but it left her with bloody hands. By the time she managed to hit the target, the room was full of gashes in the walls and blood on the ground underneath her.

The cuts went deep and took longer to heal than normal due to the size of the gashes. The white bandages on her arms were stained red and gold from her blood and would have to get changed.

636 kept throwing the circular blade until she felt like she had a good handle on it. The process must have taken hours before she could actually aim it accurately.

Dr.Willows voice rang through the speakers. “That’s enough. We’re going to call it a night. We’ll continue your training in the morning.”

If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

Harver entered the room and took the chakram from her hands. She followed him out as he shook it and then pulled a cloth out to get some of her blood off the blade.

“It’s a start but you still have a long way to go.” Were his parting words to her.

Dr.Willow led her back to her cell to start the cycle over again.

The next day she trained with the chakram again. 636 still didn’t have as much control as Harver and lacked when it came to impressing him but she did see a steady improvement whenever she threw it. Her aim had greatly increased since yesterday and she was proud of herself. It’s not easy to master the chakram, if she didn’t have the Sallice coursing through her veins she would have lost a hand or at least a few fingers.

“We’re going to work on your combat skills.” Harver said when they exited the target room. “The chakram is for long distance fighting and won’t do you much good in close proximity.” They continued walking towards a dummy with different points marked to display the lethal targets to aim for.

“This is Adam. He will be training you.” Harver introduced 636 to a tall man in his early twenties. He had black hair to match his dark features and when 636 looked at his face she saw a stoic expression. It was likely Adam had not wanted to be the person to train her. Not that either of them had a choice in the matter.

“I’ll leave her to you.” Harver dismissed himself to talk with Dr.Willow in the corner.

Adam pointed to the different targets on the dummy and showed her how to make a fist. He demonstrated a combination of punches for her to mimic and perfect.

636 went to copy his moves but he stopped her before she could strike. “Your stance is wrong.” He told her calmly but 636 could hear his heart pick up when Adam got closer to correct her. He was most likely scared of the fifteen year old. 636 wondered if he had been watching her train. She tended to block out the guards’ faces from her memories.

Adam moved her foot to create a wider and stronger stance and then gave her the okay to hit. 636 had observed his every move when he had shown her the combo and was determined to get it on the first try.

When she hit the metal dummy the impact left dents in its armor. Pieces fell to the ground and landed near her feet. Adam’s eyes had slightly widened and shock was evident before he put his masked expression back on.

“You should learn to control your strength.” He said. “Only break things when you need to.” Adam directed her to a new dummy and had her do the combo again. This time without destroying the equipment.

Training with Adam was a lot better than working with Harver. Sure, Adam didn’t really show many emotions but she’d take that over the condescending looks Harver would give her.

Once Adam was sure she wouldn’t break him, he decided to have 636 work on fighting a real person. Without using her advanced strength, Adam took her down easily. She’d come at him and he’d toss her on the mat like she was nothing. Every time he did, 636 noticed he would get a little more comfortable being around her. As if knowing he could beat her in a fight put him at ease.

Throughout the whole day, 636 hadn’t even managed to beat him once. Adam would tell her what she did wrong but it was harder for her to adjust to fighting a real person instead of an object.

“We’ll pick up on this tomorrow. I think Harver wants you to work on your …” Adam hesitated. 636 knew he was still uncomfortable with her ability and with good reason too. She still hadn’t mastered it. Hadn’t even tried to use it after her operation.

636 folded her arms and ran her hands along the bandages. It had been a month and the scars were still there. Her body was covered in small scars from over the years of various experiments but every injury after her ability had awoken had healed. All except the ones on her arms and back. If they hadn’t healed by now, they most likely never would, unless the Sallice implants were removed.

636 didn’t want to think about what that operation would look like.

“Adam.” Harver called as he walked over to the two. “How is she doing?” Harver always spoke about 636 as if she wasn’t there. But she would rather have him ignore her existence than have a conversation with the man.

Adam straightened his back. “She is doing great for her first time. I expect to see great improvement in the following weeks.”

Harver nodded and smiled at 636. It made her skin crawl.

“You’re dismissed.” He told Adam, who looked eager to leave.

“Now it’s time to work on your ability. Once you gain control over that then you’ll be a real force to be reckoned with.” He gave her a lopsided grin. “Isn’t that exciting?”

636 worked on her ability with Harver until she felt like she would collapse. She’d slouch down and Harver would tell her to practice more. So she’d do the same thing over and over again.

Every day for a year, she’d walk into the training room and work on mastering the chakram, combat skills and her gravity manipulation. Despite her gradual and steady improvement in all aspects of her training, Harver always seemed to find something to be disappointed in.