They come in dressed in black suits, their federal badges flashing in the man's face. They push their way through the threshold, the man stepping backwards into his home as they shut the door behind them. His wife walks through a swinging door holding a dish towel.
"Mr. and Mrs. Jordan, we have been made aware of your previous illegal experiments regarding the human brain and its strengths. Instead of stopping your experiments and arresting you, we've decided we need you. We'd like to enlist you both to work on an army to go onto the front lines. Something stronger than the strongest we currently have. We need something as a back-up. Lately, the war in the middle-east has grown. We're vulnerable in the states, if anything were to happen that would endanger our country we need a plan of attack that's bigger and better than what we're dealing with." The first man stops.
"If you agree, we will provide you with an in-house lab, along with anything you would need to continue your experiments. If you do not, we will arrest you for conducting your latest experiments illegally. Do you understand?"
The couple is silent for a moment. They look at each other, the woman with pursed lips and the man with flared nostrils. Finally, they shift their attention back to the men and each nod once.
"No arrest will be issued after the task is completed." The woman states, she stares at them with hard eyes. Each of the men nod.
"We have a pair that were also involved in our past work. They have proven to be very helpful in our research, it would be beneficial for them to be included."
"Then it is settled, your friends will be included in your work, given that they are in agreement with our conditions." He pauses. "And they'll need to be background checked, as well as legally bound to the experiments as you both will be."
"I do not believe that will be a problem in that area of your concern. They are very serious about their work."
"Mr. and Mrs. Jordan we have a lot resting on a successful outcome of this project. Do you understand the severity of the consequences you will face if you do not succeed?"
"Yes sir."
The next day, men waving badges and wearing black suits identical to the ones the men wore the day before stood around the house, watching as a lab was constructed in the basement of the Jordan's single story home. The New Mexican heat barely affecting them, their suits untainted with the sweat usually dripping from those not accustomed to the blistering heat. Korey and Cyrus Marsh joined the project, working quickly to chemically change the brain frequencies and muscle strength of their test subjects.
Soon the Marsh's volunteered their first son to be their initial patient. Their next son would also be part of the initiative. The team injected their first round of chemicalbiotics into the 3 year old, watching closely at the effect it had on his small brain. Their first attempts had little success and a few substantial side-effects. As their son grew into the enhancements and sustained a majority of the failures, he also grew a strong hatred for his parents.
Their next son however, was the first major success. He was introduced into the initiative at 6 months in the womb. He was to be subject A, his name, while not used much, was assigned as Avery.
Within the next month, Mrs. Jordan was pregnant and the project continued. The fetus was injected with all of the chemicalbiotics previously used on the first two patients and born shortly after, almost 2 months prematurely. He was written off from birth, thought dead from the moment his mother was induced due to lack of oxygen reaching umbilical cord. After many months of rehabilitation done only by lab assistants, he was pronounced fit to be taken off numerous tubes and needles piercing his beautiful skin. He was pronounced subject Z and was named Zayne by his caretakers rather than his parents. To them he was already a failure. As he developed his parents monitored him but their tests were that of a normal infant. They recorded his abilities, or lack thereof, as stunted by his premature birth.
Mrs. Jordan was once again pregnant before subject Z was even 2. With a new test subject they had no need to further their studies in a non- active case. The toddler was sent to a relative in Washington and was to be forgotten. In the 9 months before the new subject was born volunteer subjects were tested and each were ranging in success. By the birth of subject Y most of the formulas had been tested and nearly perfected and subject Y was pronounced a success before she was 6 months old.
In the months after her birth, she was the center of the initiative. She developed an extreme bond with Subject A. They grew together, endured the tests together and, helped each other through the absence of their parents. Mrs. Marsh was again with child and they would continue the initiative through the fetuses. They started the treatments of the twin females but early into the pregnancy, the initiative was violently shut down because of a malfunction in one of the volunteers, risking the secrecy of the project and endangering the initiative in general.
Those who were in any way bound to anything to do with it dispersed, when they were found, the government took them, either imprisoning them or resetting them depending on how much they knew about the initiative. The Marshes moved to rural Colorado and the Jordan's moved around to many different towns still furthering their research and keeping close attention to their daughter. Subject Y excelled in many different things including quick calculations and extreme situational analysis. She was solitarily confined to minimal contact with her cold, unfeeling parents and was distant toward many people. Expressing any emotion was prohibited and she was confined to the white walls of her home, only permitted to leave with one of her parents. They settled to town in Washington but shortly after moving, there was a house fire. Subject Y was left parentless and was sent to a small island off the coast of the upper peninsula of Michigan.
…
"Gram? Grandma I'm home, where are you?" She closed the door, turning the lock back with a click. She walked slowly, eyes searching each room. Her light footsteps were the only sound in the still house. Through the foyer, into the living room. "Gram?" she stopped in the kitchen, her heart skipping when only the toes of her grandmother's white house shoes peaked out from the pantry door. She was stuck, frozen in the kitchen doorway, staring until her vision blurred with tears.
Blue and red flashing lights flooded in through the front windows of the house she'd spent the better part of her life in. The men in suits asked her question after question, only to be answered with slight nods of her head. They wrapped her in one of the blankets laying on the couch behind her. After the gurney was wheeled out, the black bag zipped completely, they drove her to the boat. They left the island, drove through the city on the mainland, and into the police department. She stared at her hands in her lap, the blanket still wrapped tightly around her. The men in suits led her into a white room, the only furniture a metal table and a plastic chair. They sat her there, only a glass of lukewarm water in front of her. The door opened after a while, or maybe it wasn't that long at all. The girl was numb, oblivious to the time passing around her. A new man in a stark black suit stepped in, leaving the door open in his wake.
An unfriendly smile stretched across his face.. "Hello Subject Y. We've been looking for you."
