It was an ordinary day at the Institute. I woke up on time, flirted with Andreas, bullied Ezra, went to the cafeteria; a normal day. All until it wasn't.
As I sat in the chair from the sixth circle of hell, a completely unfamiliar scent slithered into my nostrils. My heart stopped. Perched on the edge of a razor blade, my senses fired like rocket launchers. I knew every scent in this place, even the garbage. Nothing had ever changed in this environment. There was always a tag that I could recognise, like guard uniform or the disinfectant of the nurse's gloves. But this, this was completely new. 𝒮𝑜𝓂𝑒𝓉𝒽𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝒾𝓈𝓃'𝓉 𝓇𝒾𝑔𝒽𝓉. It smelt spicy and natural. Smoky. Pine, tobacco and sour dirt. I scrunched my nose at it.
Then the source appeared. My breathing hitched. A man walked towards me, carrying his aura like a cloak of power, designed to demand and allure. His cropped hair held streaks of grey that in no way diminished his dominance as he strode through the doors of the Clearing. Dressed in an expensive, black ensemble that hugged him perfectly, he held my file in his hand. A mask of serenity and calm slipped onto my face as I exhaled. 𝐻𝑒𝓇𝑒 𝓌𝑒 𝑔𝑜. The man smiled dangerously; I instantly knew the rules to the game and every trick in the book of conversation. Curtesy of Andy.
I smirked.
𝐿𝑒𝓉'𝓈 𝒹𝒶𝓃𝒸𝑒.
"And you are?" I asked, my voice unwavering like an icy lake.
Small: I wanted him to feel out of place and under the thumb of another. He was in my territory and he'd damn well heed my warnings. I wanted him to squirm under my rule. 𝒯𝒽𝒾𝓈 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝓎 𝓉𝓊𝓇𝒻, 𝒷𝑜𝓎. The man chuckled, brushing my frost from his shoulders.
"The Benefactor." His voice was husky, not from disuse but from cigar smoke. I could smell it. I hardened my mask at once, not letting my surprise or confusion slip through to the surface. Any unbidden emotion could give him an advantage in the dance and I hate to lose.
"Your mother must not have loved you." I sniggered, toying with the clasps on my collar as I regarded my scoffing prey intently.
"My real name is none of your concern." He snapped, drawing angry goose bumps across my skin. Quickly, I swallowed it down. The situation couldn't deteriorate to violence just yet. I needed to know more.
"Fine, I'll bite. Benefactor of what?" I questioned with a smirk as I watched him like the lioness I was.
"Surely you didn't think a project like this could fund itself?" He scolded with a lopsided smile.
I almost raised my eyebrow. 𝐼𝓃𝓈𝓊𝓁𝓉𝒾𝓃𝑔 𝓂𝓎 𝒾𝓃𝓉𝑒𝓁𝓁𝒾𝑔𝑒𝓃𝒸𝑒 𝒾𝓃 𝓂𝓎 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝒽𝑜𝓊𝓈𝑒? 𝒯𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝑒𝒾𝓉𝒽𝑒𝓇 𝓂𝒶𝓀𝑒𝓈 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒷𝓇𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝑜𝓇 𝒶 𝓂𝒾𝓃𝒹𝓁𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝒻𝑜𝑜𝓁. His soft, carefree gaze gave nothing away. We were both very familiar with the waltz of small talk. I tilted my head up with a straight but playful face, keeping all my cards close to my chest.
"My money bought you life, Subject Xero." He continued with a smirk as he flipped through my file, not paying me much attention. His cockiness was hollow. 𝐼𝒻 𝒽𝑒 𝓇𝑒𝒶𝒹 𝓂𝓎 𝒻𝒾𝓁𝑒 𝒽𝑒'𝒹 𝓀𝓃𝑜𝓌 𝓌𝒽𝒶𝓉 𝐼'𝓂 𝒸𝒶𝓅𝒶𝒷𝓁𝑒 𝑜𝒻. But it still annoyed me. I bristled but threw the emotion to the back burner. This was serious.
"Now I don't understand what any of these means, but what I can see is that all these percentages are less than 100." Looking up at me he cheekily grinned, carelessly flicking through the rest of my file. This time I couldn't help it; my nostrils flared with indignation. 𝐿𝑒𝓈𝓈 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃? 𝐼 𝓌𝒶𝓈 𝓂𝑜𝓇𝑒 𝓅𝑒𝓇𝒻𝑒𝒸𝓉 𝓉𝒽𝒶𝓃 𝒽𝑒 𝒸𝑜𝓊𝓁𝒹 𝑒𝓋𝑒𝓇 𝒹𝓇𝑒𝒶𝓂 𝑜𝒻 𝒷𝑒𝒾𝓃𝑔.
Swallowing my anger once again, I shrugged fluidly at him, not letting go of my poker faced stance. Good thing too, because as quick as his smile came, it went and a daring, hungry look overshadowed his formerly light features. I stared him straight back in the face with the slightest of smirks playing on my lips.
"I paid for perfection and I will not settle for less."
Just like that, he commanded his will with his eyes, commencing a hurricane of movement I was in no way prepared for: armed guards poured into the room. I hissed as they grabbed my arms and secured my collar to a metal table with chains that weighed worlds. Thrashing and biting, I fought back, throwing a couple of them across the room but it was no use. Pinned by arms and legs they locked down my movements as I fumed. My body tensed as yet another unfamiliar scent permeated the air. 𝒮𝑒𝒹𝒶𝓉𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓈. Eyes darting around the room, I felt the pressure of the situation sink in.
"Listen closely, Subject, and let this sink in." He whispered, getting as close to my face as the threat to his safety allowed. "You belong to me. You are my investment, the seeds I've sown, and I'm here to reap the harvest."
I growled at his words. My fury quickly taking hold of the situation as my eyes melted between shades of rage. The colours in the room dampened as my tunnel vision on his jugular set in; I struggled to maintain focus as the clouds in my vision drew closer. 𝒴𝑜𝓊 𝒹𝑜𝓃'𝓉 𝑜𝓌𝓃 𝓂𝑒.
"What do you want from me?" The words bubbled up my throat like acid as I spat them at him. He didn't even flinch. 𝒯𝒽𝑒𝓎 𝓂𝓊𝓈𝓉 𝒽𝒶𝓋𝑒 𝓅𝓇𝑒𝓅𝒶𝓇𝑒𝒹 𝒽𝒾𝓂. A ReVi-23 like me isn't one you approach without vigorous training - or a death wish.
"I want you to be ready." He stated, as greed, pride and hunger flashed in succession across his eyes. I could smell his desire from a mile away. Another one of those power hungry bastards out for my blood. I licked my lips and smirked, feeding on the power my anger fed me.
"For what?" I lilted, relaxing my features and stilling my movements. Playing dead, pretending their sedative was working, was the only way to ensure the element of surprise.
"Stage two."
The guards that detained me took a couple steps back, their minds tricked into thinking I was incapacitated. Training their weapons on my skin brought out a mixture of emotions in me like a fever, as I screamed and shouted all the colours of profanity I knew. Instinct overran rationality as I fought to live. The onslaught must have awakened a likeness in Andreas; I could feel him on the other side of the titanium door doing the same. My heart fluttered.
The weight in my chest only grew as I noticed a foreign group of scientists wheel in a bag of black fluid that smelt like death, the letters and numbers dancing in and out of focus as the adrenaline rushed through my veins. Struggling away from their prying fingers at my collar, I snapped my jaws like an angry wolf, hoping to catch one or two. With a horrifying squelch, they pierced underneath it, catching the base of my throat with the sharp, angled edge of the tube.
"That Serum is one we've developed. Your final cycle before you are complete." The awe in his eyes spoke volumes before he hid the emotion away. A need, a vulnerability had slipped through the cracks of his mask, as he struggled to get the upper hand on me, but despite my capture, I was winning.
"Everything will be amplified and your memory will be wiped. You will know nothing but what we tell you is true. And by the time the first snowflake falls next winter, you will be reborn a Red Viper, gifted with an affinity unique to you which will classify your worth." He continued proudly, pacing in front of me like he had all the time in the world, while mine was running out.
𝒜𝓃𝒹𝓎? 𝒯𝒽𝑒��'𝓇𝑒 𝑔𝑜𝓃𝓃𝒶 𝓉𝒶𝓀𝑒 𝓎𝑜𝓊 𝒶𝓌𝒶𝓎 𝒻𝓇𝑜𝓂 𝓂𝑒...
The pain in my chest twisted like a poisoned blade as the realisation dawned. My lips parted, as a guttural howl escaped my lungs, ripe with rage and agony.
"Gives me more ways to rip your head off your shoulders."
My veins ran black, straining against my skin, as their serum travelled any inch of my body like a road map. Slowly it reached my face, bringing with it a smouldering fire. A surge of energy powered through me as I ripped through my restraints and tore the tube out with a cry, shattering my collar. Blood spurted from me but I didn't care. Overcome by a tidal wave of fire, I threw the metal table at the guards as they shot me with pellets of tranquiliser, crushing them under the weight. I blurred across the room, gripping the Benefactor's face in my hands as I lifted him off the ground.
"And I will. Slowly and painfully. I'll make it last until you beg me for death like the miserable serpent you are." I sliced him down to mincemeat with my eyes, as more guards rushed to overpower me once again. But I was already retreating. The blow I had delivered to his senses could scar him for life, as his lips parted with fear.
"You're the real monster here." I spat, shaking off the hands from my body and walking back to my regular seat in Shaw's chair. "Afraid to get your hands dirty so you enslave someone else, a child, to do it for you? You coward. I spit on the graves of people like you."
He heard me.
"Shaw was right, you'll make an excellent candidate. Promising survival rates too but make no mistake. The process will be excruciating." He said as he straightened his now bloodied tie. His voice was tense and constricted; he cleared his throat in an attempt to recompose himself.
I hit a nerve.
But before I could gloat, my body began to shut down, the freak rush of energy quickly draining from my pores. It was like nothing I'd ever felt before. My body had a will of its own as I seized and shook uncontrollably, scratching at my own tender flesh. Shaw ordered my confinement from some distance place in the room, I felt their hands, but I couldn't process what was going on.
My eyes rolled to the back of my head as a familiar hand wrapped its fingers around my throat and I stared into the dark eyes of the Benefactor. As I laid there, frothing at the mouth, the sound of breaking bones filled the air. I hardly registered the sound as my own. My limbs found angles I thought impossible as my ribs cracked and crunched, giving way to the thumping path of my heart. Panting, I attempted to breathe through the pain. The anguish. It was a horror I couldn't even begin to describe.
Skin, like a snake, peeled from my body, stretching and ripping like plaster or paint to give way for the fresh layer of darkness underneath. Metamorphosis. I had to die to live. My love, my life, my nature was being stripped from me like a piece of cloth from my back, a new identity shoved in its place.
Blood was pouring out of me: my eyes, my nose, my ears, my mouth. As fast as it came out, it was replaced by the Serum, the blackening that wiped the slate white clean. Life sucked out of me, to be replaced by eternal death and damnation. Forced into my system, I felt inside out. My organs were twisting themselves up, throwing my breakfast out and onto the shoes of a poor, unfortunate soul.
I don't know how long I laid there. Hours could have been weeks for all I know.
Bag after bag of liquid death was pumped through my body until I forgot my own name. Living with a pain, a longing and a loss had me consumed by madness. It was all too much. Andy's face flitted across my vision, morphing and changing until I couldn't tell what was what. My own eyes faded away, their colour dissipating, giving way to a deep, dark red.
The eyes of Veronica.