Eve, or Samantha as she had gotten used to thinking of herself as again, sat back and watched the wall. Her cell, and it was a cell no matter what they tried to tell her, was pretty boring. It was small, about the size of her old bedroom. It was also pretty empty, with not much more than a bed, an unused dresser, an equally unused toilet, and a well-used TV.
Unfortunately, Samantha had already gone through the limited offerings the TV had to offer. It was pretty clear that capturing Strain-whatever hadn’t been the plan, let alone it turning out to be a kid. So they had just stuck her in here and hastily put all the movies rated higher than ‘G’ under a parental lock.
She’d blown through the small handful of animated movies they had and now had to pick between either watching nature documentaries or looking at the rough gray walls.
She had already found a favorite bit of concrete sticking out from the wall. His name was Bob and he looked like a narrow cloud.
The door swished open and she sat back up. Agent Kennedy walked in as she got to her feet.
“Am I out of here yet?” she asked while trying to ignore the fact that Kennedy had a gun specially made to kill her under his coat. She’d gotten better at it over the course of the last few days.
In fact the two of them had gotten to know each other a lot over the last few days. To the point the agent had told her some things the night before which she still didn’t know how to feel about.
How he still didn’t know how to feel about her. How one second he looked at her and saw a normal girl who wouldn’t warrant a second glance, and the next a monstrosity that had tried to kill him back on Angel Eye Island.
He’d still reassured her he was getting used to having her around, However, he also admitted he was still ready and willing to blow her head off if she tried killing people. He had also told her he was sure he’d feel bad about it later though.
Neither of them had been sure what to think of that part.
“Maybe.” He flinched a bit as Samantha pumped the air in victory. “It’s one of the things we’ll be talking about after today’s tests. Put on your… necklace and walk with me.”
“Come on, Kennedy, don’t try to pretend it’s not a collar.” She laughed as she walked to the dresser and picked up a narrow silver bangle split open. She placed it around her neck and locked it into place. They waited a few seconds for it to light up green before walking out of the room.
The second the collar was past the door to her cell, the second mechanism inside activated. Samantha could try to pull it off now, but she knew it wouldn’t end well for her.
The pair walked down the sterile, gray hallway as she once again wondered where they were. After agreeing to surrender to Kennedy, she’d been led to a small van with no windows. From there she’d been driven somewhere far away, and when she came out, she’d been in an underground parking lot.
From there she’d been led to her room and then through some basic testing they had apparently wanted to do on her.
The lab coat guys had been a little scared of her until she managed to convince them she was willing to cooperate with whatever they wanted. That she freely wore a collar which could kill her if she ever tried to do anything violent probably helped more than she would have liked to admit.
But as soon as they got that, it was like the floodgates opened. They had put her through so many tests she was learning stuff about her powers she might not have ever figured out on her own.
The pair finally came to a door which Kennedy opened for Samantha, who walked through without a word. It was all old hat for her at this point. She waited a little for him to close the doors behind her before walking down the hall. As she walked, her form shifted around. Her ‘jeans’ and ‘blouse’ flattened out and changed. She had no idea what they were going to have her do today, but it was probably going to be something athletic.
When she stepped out of the hall, she wore a plain t-shirt and basketball shorts. The room she walked into was familiar to her by then, large and open, covered in panels and with a single wall which was taken up by a gigantic glass window.
Behind the glass she could see ‘almost-doctor’ Kazami along with some other people in lab coats as well as…
“Mom, Dad, you’re finally here!” she cried out as she ran to the glass. Up until then, she had only been able to contact them via daily video call. The first meeting had brought a lot of tears and some explanations, most of which were handled by a guy in a suit who had made her parents sign some papers before they allowed her to appear on screen.
But she didn’t care. She’d been able to talk to her parents about where she had been for the past few months and what she had been up to. They had been overjoyed to learn she hadn’t just run from home and was safe out there somewhere. The conversation ended with a promise they would try to get to her as quickly as possible.
And here they were, just as promised, right behind the glass.
“Samantha.” The hesitation in her father’s voice cut her off mid-run.
She glanced up again and saw them both walk back a little from the microphone. It was only a few steps, but it was more than enough to hurt.
“Sorry, Sammy,” her mother tried to explain as they got closer again. “It’s just that… in order to come here they made us watch some things…”
“Oh,” She rubbed the back of her head as she thought of the only thing which came to mind. “Was it the videos from the island?”
Instead of saying anything, they just nodded as she growled under her breath. They had shown her the same ones the day she had arrived, just to drive home to her how dangerous she was.
She had had trouble sleeping that night. The stuff those things had done to people was bad enough. That a lot of them looked a little like her old dog or chitin armor forms made it even worse.
It made sense why her parents would want to keep their distance after seeing them…
Jacob hadn’t freaked out when he learned it though. She wondered if she would ever see the boy she’d come to think of as her best friend again.
She shook her head as another voice came over the loudspeaker.
“Alright, as much as I would love to watch a classic American family crumble under the weight of illegal bioengineering, we do have work to do.” She scowled at the almost-doctor who just sneered back at the child.
She guessed Kazami was still mad about her breaking into her tent and scattering the almost-doctor’s stuff everywhere. Of course as one of the people technically responsible for turning her into a crime against nature, Samantha had plenty of reason to dislike her back.
“Alright, not-doc, what do you have for me today.” She bristled from the nickname before coughing into her fist.
“We’re going to start with some basic trials for your strength.” As she spoke, a panel on the ceiling pulled away and a machine dropped down. It looked like a big, metal cylinder surrounded by a large frame. It settled into place as the panel underneath gave way to another panel containing a red circle.
“Please step onto the red circle,” Samantha heard the not-doctor explain as she found herself weirdly impressed. From what she’d heard from the scientists, this testing room was brand new and practically built for her. New equipment had been added every day since she got there.
All this money and they couldn't splurge on more movies for her cell? What a waste.
She did as she was told as Kazami quickly explained the idea to her. The press above her would slowly push down on her, increasing in strength over time. All she had to do was push it upwards to keep it in place. The test would end when either she couldn’t keep going, or the machine couldn’t push any harder.
“Easy enough,” she boasted as she got in place and lifted her hands until her fingers were firmly against the press. She calmly exhaled as the press came down on her and her hands spread out to catch it.
It was easy going for a little while, the guys in lab coats saying something over the radio which she blocked out in favor of concentrating on what she was doing. It was mostly all science jargon anyway, so it wasn’t like she would have gotten it if she paid attention anyway.
After a while, she started feeling the pressure building in her arms. She still had plenty of fight in her, but her shape wasn’t letting her access all of it. Months of living on her own had taught her one thing, it was that if your current shape didn’t help, change it.
Her eyes narrowed as her legs began to change. Small tendrils erupted out of them and hurled themselves onto the ground to keep her steady. Once they were in place, similar tendrils came out of her arms. They reached up and started spreading over the surface of the press, in turn spreading out the weight.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
She kept it up, feeling a bit of pain in her limbs as she started feeling the strain all over her body.
Just as she was starting to get worried, the weight began to subside.
Her many arms went limp, falling around her as the press came back up.
“Looks like I beat you,” she sneered as the machine went back into the ceiling. “Take that.”
Her good cheer only lasted a few more seconds until she looked back down and saw her parents staring at her. The pair were huddled together with her father holding her mother in a protective hug. She quickly glanced down at herself and her incredibly unhuman form.
“Oh right,” she mumbled while feeling like an idiot.
“Okay, we have a few more tests to do today,” Kazami loudly cut in, making all three family members jump. “We just got this facility, and we’re getting some use out of this baby.”
The almost-doctor put the girl through a few more physical examinations, while Samantha tried her best to ignore the looks her parents were giving her.
Which might not have been the best idea, as the pair seemed to calm down a little the longer the tests went on. The longer she kept at them, the more the pair got used to seeing their daughter shape shift. By the time the final tests rolled around, they weren’t even flinching as she jumped off the treadmill and transformed back from her six-legged beast form.
“Alright that’s all for today,” Kazami said over the microphone. “Agent Kennedy wanted to talk to you and your folks for a bit so he’ll be waiting for you by the exit. I’d tell you to hit the showers first, but we both know you don’t sweat.”
Samantha glared at the almost-doctor who quickly ignored her in favor of looking over the screen in front of her. She waited a bit longer to see if she had anything else to say, but the almost-doctor kept quiet.
“Shower would still be nice,” she mumbled as she walked into the hallway and changed back into her more normal clothes. “But, no, they can’t risk me escaping via the drains, even though I can’t.”
She glanced down at her chosen set of clothing: a pair of long, black pants and a blue t-shirt, and found them acceptable.
Still, a part of her wanted to change into her chitin armor. It looked cool and made her feel like a superhero. She hadn’t had a chance to wear it since she got there, and despite what she wanted, she knew there were cameras on her at all times.
The last thing she needed was to freak everyone out and lower her chances of getting out of there.
Maybe they would let her do it if she asked for permission first and said she just wanted to look cool? A question to be saved for some other time maybe.
She came out of the room to find Agent Kennedy patiently waiting for her there.
“Have… Have you been waiting there the whole time?” she asked as he stood from the chair he’d been sitting in.
“Patience is just one of those things you learn when you get older,” he spoke sagely, as though he hadn’t spent the time listening to music while he watched the security footage of the tests on his phone.
“If patience means having to sit on a chair doing nothing for… How long was I in there again?” The two fell into conversation as he started leading her down the empty hall again.
“Around half an hour,” he told her as he glanced forward checking to make sure everyone was following protocol. No one was allowed out in the hallway while she was there except for him.
Less casualties in case of an incident and all that.
“Yeah, if patience means doing nothing for half an hour, maybe I don’t want it,” she huffed as he found himself smiling despite his wishes.
“You’ve spent the last few days waiting to learn if you get out of here or not, and even longer waiting to see your parents again. I would say you’re already pretty patient.”
She rolled her eyes at his needling as the pair came to a stop in front of another door.
“Are you ready for this?” he asked as Samantha gulped. “The director is a powerful man, and he’s pretty much going to be the one to decide what’s going to happen to you.”
“Ready as I’ll ever be,” she replied as they walked into the room.”
At the center of the room was a small desk with two chairs in front of it. Behind it was a gigantic screen which took up most of the wall.
The two of them quickly took their seats as the screen came to life. Three images appeared in front of the pair. On the left were Samantha’s parents, on the right was almost-doctor Kazami, and in the very center was the director.
The director was an older man with graying hair and an intense glare in his eyes.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, Samantha.” His expression slightly softened as he looked down at her. “My name is Director Freemen, Head of the Department of Strange Phenomena, or DOSP as everyone seems to keep calling us these days.”
“Hello, sir.” She forced back the gulp and sat up as straight as she could. Every single bit of politeness her parents ever taught her flashed through her brain. She was going to make as good an impression as possible, she had to if she wanted to get out of here.
“Let’s get right down to business. I was speaking with your parents earlier and we’ve come to a set of scenarios we can follow.” He reached for some papers on his desk and held them in front of him. “The first and most simple… we relocate you from your current location to a more permanent secure facility for you to live out the rest of your life. Your parents would have free access to see you whenever they wanted, but something tells me you might not want this option?”
“Yes, sir.” she nodded as quickly as possible while trying to not think about having to live the rest of her life in a cell.
“I imagined so.” He shuffled the papers around. “The next idea we spoke of is to allow you to go home and continue your normal life.”
Samantha ears perked up as a smile grew on her face.
“Of course, this option was dismissed out of hand.” The director’s words cut right through her even as she knew she should have seen them coming.
“Well, I sort of figured, but I still hoped.” She deflated a bit as a bitter taste filled her mouth.
“Don’t get us wrong,” he started to explain. “You’ve been nothing but cooperative since you’ve arrived. So cooperative it actually threw us wildly ahead of schedule. At first we were even worried you were some kind of new life form only pretending to be Samantha Evets.”
She blinked as the idea played in her head. From the outside, it kind of made sense. Well at least she knew she was herself.
“We ruled that out relatively quickly,” the director continued. “We’ve had a team analyze you since you first stepped foot in this facility. As far as they, and by extension us, can tell, you are who you claim to be. That is, a little girl who has been through some very long and stressful couple of months.”
Samantha sat up and beamed at the praise.
“In light of these facts, we have created a solution which we believe will suit all parties, a compromise between two extremes.” Her head snapped up and she watched as the director calmly shuffled his papers again. “You will be allowed to lead a somewhat normal life, but you will be under careful surveillance. You will also have to live in a special DOSP facility currently under construction in the Willowood area.”
“Will I still be able to see my parents and go to school?” She glanced at her parents, who softened their eyes a little.
“Your parents will be able to freely visit you, and you will be allowed to attend school albeit under the heaviest of supervision. Since you’ll be attending your old school, you’ll have to use a new identity, a new face as well. We’ll also be having our best agent on the scene in case of the worst. You’ll also have to use a new version of your current… neckwear. I’ll leave it to specialist Kazami to explain.”
Samantha raised an eyebrow at the new title as Kazami started speaking.
“It’s pretty simple. To make a long, complicated story short, we’ll be upgrading that collar of yours.” She held up a similar-looking thin, metal ring. “Unlike your current neckwear which only monitors your use of your powers and alerts us if you try to remove it, this one will give us a lot more. Not only does it do everything the old one used to do, it also tracks you and more importantly it’s able to deliver a payload of enough destabilizing agent to blow your head clean off if you ever decide you want to start killing people.”
The giant smile on her face as she described the way the object in her hand could kill Samantha was not lost on anyone. As soon as the almost-doctor finished her explanation, the rest of the room fell into a short silence.
“I mean, I get,” the girl in question finally said. “But… did you need to put it that way?”
“Of course I did, how else are we supposed to keep you in line?” Kazami replied as twisted the collar in her hand. “If you have any other ideas besides the threat of immediate painful termination, I’m all ears. You have to give us humans some sort of way of evening the…”
“Thank you, Specialist Kazami,” the director interrupted as Kazami noticed the looks she was getting from the other four adults on the call. “That will be all.”
“I understand. I’ll be on standby.” She cheerfully waved as though she had said nothing wrong. “Farewell.”
“What a horrible woman,” Samantha’s mother bristled as she glared at the screen where Kazami had been a few moments earlier.
“As difficult as she is, Specialist Kazami is both a brilliant mind and the closest thing we have to an expert on the kinds of research that Red-Stars was doing,” the director tried to justify, even if he looked like he was doing it for his own sake more than anyone else’s.
“That still doesn’t excuse her implying my daughter’s not being human anymore,” her father argued as they hit a topic which Samantha had been thinking about for a good while now.
“I mean… am I?” she finally said, a weight coming off her chest. “Human, that is. I don’t think so, not anymore anyway.”
“Look plenty human from here,” Agent Kennedy added as she shook her head.
“Yeah, and a few minutes ago I had six legs,” she explained. “I don’t think I should keep pretending I’m human. I can talk to them, I can walk among them, but I’m something… different, I guess.”
“So what do you want to do?” Kennedy asked as the rest of the adults watched her carefully.
“I guess… I kind of know how science works. If Red-Stars managed to make something like me, it means other people could make stuff like me too.” She nervously grasped the leg of her pants under the table. “If I can’t be part of humanity, then I’ll just protect it instead. I want to join DOSP.”
“A commendable attitude, but let’s wait a few years on that,” the director interrupted, killing the wind in her sails. “As useful as you would be as an asset, the U.S. government is not in the business of hiring child soldiers.”
“If it’s any consolation, you’d ace the physical exams as you are now.” Agent Kennedy clapped his hand on her shoulder. “So focus on hitting those books in school to pass the written test for the next few years.”
Samantha spoke a bit longer to the director before finally getting a chance to talk to her parents again. They told her some things she had missed in the family since she vanished. She had apparently missed two marriages, and a birth. After a bit, Kazami came back to inform them the meeting room was ready.
There weren’t many words when the lost daughter returned to her parents’ arms, mostly crying and tears of happiness. And hugs, plenty of those.
A few weeks later, Samantha walked out of the car along with Agent Kennedy.
“I can’t believe they assigned me to this cover,” he grumbled. “It’d make more sense for me to be a security guard than a gym teacher.”
“I think the director was messing with you when he chose it,” she pointed out as she adjusted her green-and-bronze backpack. “And come on, I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”
“Oh, I am not ready for this.” He grunted as she started walking away. “And make sure to keep to your cover.”
“Don’t worry, I went a few weeks using the name, it won’t take long for me to get used to it again,” she told him as she headed into the school’s courtyard.
Willowood might have been a small town, but it had a pretty big middle and high school. It made sense. The town was pretty centrally located and a lot of the other tiny towns around just bussed their kids there instead of having their own schools.
Tiny towns like Oakwood.
It didn’t take long to find him, a perk of having superhuman hearing. Plus, she had experience tracking his voice. Those days of waiting for him in a cave certainly helped.
She quickly found her target, sitting on a bench in the courtyard slumped over and looking kind of down. With all the stealth of a future secret agent, she worked her way behind him, smiling like an idiot the whole time. As soon as she was in range, she quickly reached out and placed her hands over his eyes.
“Guess who?”
“Eve?”