Seven years, that was how much time has passed since her ninth birthday. The girl with no real name, other than Subject 000. She had recently turned fifteen, and with her increasing age, so did the severity of her tests.
Currently, the doctors were filtering her blood again, running tests on her DNA. Laying down on the familiar cold medical bed, tubes inserted into the metal slots that were housed in the flesh of her back. The machines did their work, humming and whirring away while getting her results. The girl herself was staring blankly to the ceiling, her arms cuffed down next to her.
Dr. Warne had been focusing on his prized Subject for the last years, as she had shown remarkable results to the tests as well as actually surviving them, unlike many of her fellow subjects in the Anthill. He stared through his window at her, speaking into his recorder as always. He'd invested too much in this subject for his operation to fail. Billions of dollars were funded, it would take his life but he would be damned if he let it all slip away.
Her DNA had rearranged itself time and time again, as if it was sentient. He knew better, it was her cells unconsciously shifting, rearranging to accommodate the new strands of DNA coming into its body. No mutations had occurred, but he hypothesized that very soon they would finally sprout. Though, he could say that he had some nervousness to that news, as she could easily end up like many of his deceased subjects.
"Dr. Fuyomi," Benjamin Warne had greeted his lead scientist who stood next to him.
"Dr. Warne." The pale Japanese man greeted back. "She is beautiful, is she not?"
"Sentiment towards the subjects will only inhibit your work Kanrou," he replied icily. "They are no higher on the earth than lab rats, they are a necessary sacrifice for the betterment of billions of lives."
"Even a rat can keep a man company, doctor. The readings say her mutative stage will be appearing soon, we must be ready for anything." His narrow black eyes gazed curiously into the room where she lay near motionless, as if she were dead. "I suspect she will gain the abilities we are looking for, and once we isolate her final genome, it will only be a matter of time until project H.I.V.E is complete."
"Splendid news, Dr. Fuyomi." The middle aged man spoke with elation. "Soon all of humanity's imperfections will become obsolete and we will adopt a better, controlled state of mind."
The younger man hadn't responded, in favor of observing the subject in the chair. She looked at him, their eyes locked in a stare. His thumb tapped against his knuckle slowly, periodically.
"She is intelligent," He observed, interest playing in his narrow eyes.
"For a mere subject, I suppose." Benjamin replied idly, watching the readings on his monitor.
"A subject...hmm.." The Asian man mused, locking eyes with the girl in the sterilized room.
"Tell me Kanrou, what of group B-4? Their genealogy is beginning to change in an odd pattern." The subjects who replaced the terminally ill, dangerous or basically dying specimens were imbued with the genes of the previous iteration. This made it simpler to predict their behavior and track their genome.
"I have been notified of that yes," He sent a spreadsheet of information to Dr. Warne's monitor. "I've gathered the results from their blood tests, one of the subjects' skin was hardening, found to be the beginnings of an exoskeleton. I've put the military research division on further tactical development."
"Enticing," He muttered, sifting through the information like the many dollars it would pay him. They often sold off any of the more volatile mutations to the military, it was to be expected. They hadn't come this far on donations and student loans, after all.
Dr. Fuyomi sent a glance to the way of his superior and mentor, before flitting back to the subject in the room, her blood finally done circulating through the improved dialysis machine. "Dr. Warne, do you remember why we are doing all of this?"
"I could never forget, Kanrou. This world will hail us as heroes once this succeeds."
He gripped the pen in his hand with fervor, like his life depended on it. For all the young Asian knew, even his very salvation stood hanging in the balance.
"I am utterly certain of it."
He didn't receive a response from the younger man, who simply nodded and left him to his business. Hours later, Subject 000 sat atop her aching thighs on her bed, her thin pale digits clutching her arms, still burning from the operation.
The doctors had started becoming restless. Something was making them nervous, she needed to figure out what that was. Any bit of information could help her now. She was testing herself, the guards were clustered about her quarters more normal.
That left two options, one potentially lethal, the latter potentially her golden ticket out. But that silver lining was sharp enough to cut her down should she make a mistake, she was treading on a minefield. She only had one chance to escape, she couldn't afford to be captured during her getaway. Then she would truly never leave this place.
She hadn't known what had the doctors and guards so on edge, but her finding out was critical. A potential containment breach? No...then they would not have clustered near her sector, nearly making it airtight. No..it was something else. Were they protecting the subjects?
Couldn't be, all the subjects- sans herself- were all expendable, replaceable. But that begged the question, were they protecting her? It would have made sense if the potential breach would be too much to contain, but then they would also have liquidated the subject in question without a second thought, long before they had a chance to attempt escape.
She blinked, her mute lips parting slightly at the sudden, enlightening epiphany. They were protecting her, while also containing her. A two pronged initiative.
But then, that brings another question, had they known that she was planning escape? No, she'd made sure to destroy any evidence of her plans and gave nothing away. Then why...had their experiments on her begun to bear fruit?
She looked over her thinly veiled body, no clear changes in sight. What could they see that she couldn't? But then...she could feel changes they perhaps couldn't see.
She looked at the small glass box filled with sand on her desk. A small forimcarium containing about 500 scuttling creatures. A small colony of Myrmica rubra, the European Fire ant, being housed inside. It was 'gifted' to her upon her fourteenth solar cycle, upon her written request. She had been surprised that they had actually followed through with it, but there they sat, squirming about on their hexapedal limbs.
...perhaps her six-legged friends would help her.
A ghost of a horrible idea caught sail in her mind.
Meanwhile, Dr. Fuyomi was in his personal laboratory, sorting through today's information and test results. The data from groups A-2 to B-4 was looking good, the subjects were progressing to mutation well. On the other hand, the entirety of groups C and D were experiencing problematic mutations. A guard was injured today in a minor containment breach, which was startling. Security measures needed to be improved.
However, those were not the only thing on the man's mind. He respected Dr. Warne, and his drive for the cause. When they had first met, Dr. Fuyomi was a student at Harvard, studying genetic modification. At the time, Dr. Warne himself was still but a lecturer at said university, and three years later they founded the Anthill as mentor and student. They had similar mannerisms, and were good friends. But something changed, when subject 000 was brought in for the first time. Back then, she was just above the Japanese man's knee, barely out of her toddler years. She was curious, but quiet. After the testing started, neither she, nor his mentor were ever the same.
He supposed that experimenting on a child would change anyone, but this was not the change he thought he would see. He was more driven than ever, and now, had long since grown used to seeing the now teenage girl staring through the ballistic glass at him.
He almost couldn't hold down his breakfast every time their eyes locked. However, a scientist had left once, saying that this work was too much for him to handle. He never left the facility, and joined the subjects he was researching. That wasn't a fate he was willing to succumb to.
However, that doesn't mean that he would not perhaps find a way to assist the subjects, not not all.
He was but a researcher after all.
That left quite a few loopholes for him to look through. However, he would have to take a less pedestrian approach. The image of subject 000 being displayed on his monitor was burned into his retina, and he clenched his fist.